{"id":92612,"date":"2024-07-17T18:05:43","date_gmt":"2024-07-17T22:05:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2024\/07\/17\/from-taylor-swift-to-benson-boone-why-2024s-midyear-charts-are-the-most-unusual-in-a-decade\/"},"modified":"2024-07-17T18:05:43","modified_gmt":"2024-07-17T22:05:43","slug":"from-taylor-swift-to-benson-boone-why-2024s-midyear-charts-are-the-most-unusual-in-a-decade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2024\/07\/17\/from-taylor-swift-to-benson-boone-why-2024s-midyear-charts-are-the-most-unusual-in-a-decade\/","title":{"rendered":"From Taylor Swift to Benson Boone, Why 2024\u2019s Midyear Charts Are the Most Unusual In a\u00a0Decade"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tIn several different ways, the modern era of the U.S. recorded music business can date its origins to the year 2015. That was the year that Apple Music and TIDAL debuted in the United States; the year that streaming finally matured, taking up the baton as the dominant revenue stream among all formats in the country; and the year that, after more than a decade of decline, the business finally began to see its first shoots of growth, kicking off an upward trend that has still, 10 years later, not abated.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis week, Luminate released its annual midyear report on the U.S. business, providing a relatively convenient bookend to the first 10 years of what can reasonably be referred to as the official streaming era. The midyear charts threw up a few surprises (the enduring success of Benson Boone<\/a>\u2019s \u201cBeautiful Things\u201d led to it becoming the most-streamed song of 2024 so far) and some more obvious conclusions (Taylor Swift<\/a>, of course, dominated the album charts with The Tortured Poets Department<\/em>).\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Benson<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tTaylor Swift\u2019s \u2018Tortured Poets Department\u2019 & Benson Boone\u2019s \u2018Beautiful Things\u2019 Lead Luminate\u2019s 2024\u2026\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tBut it also revealed several milestones and achievements that have not happened in the past 10 years of the Luminate (and, prior to it, MRC Data and Nielsen) reports. So with the caveat that it\u2019s still just the midway mark, and release dates and other factors weigh more heavily in smaller sample sizes, here are five stats that demonstrate that the first half of 2024 has been the most unusual year of the past decade.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Sheer Scale of Taylor\u2019s Dominance<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tSwift\u2019s Tortured Poets Department<\/em> easily outstripped every other album at the midyear mark, having spent 12 of the 26 weeks of the year so far atop the Billboard 200. But at the midyear mark, its dominance could also be referred to as historic compared to the past 10 years. At 4.66 million equivalent album units, TTPD <\/em>has outstripped the No. 2 album, Morgan Wallen<\/a>\u2019s One Thing At a Time<\/em>, by more than double \u2014 and nearly triple \u2014 the latter\u2019s 1.776 million, with a total that\u2019s 2.62 times higher than Wallen\u2019s album (which, to be fair, was released in March 2023).<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s the first time in the past decade that the No. 1 album\u2019s first-half total doubled, much less more than doubled, the No. 2 album. The differential between the two, 2.884 million units, is over 1.5 million more than the disparity between any other top two albums over the time period, with 2023 being the only other year the disparity topped 1 million units. (Last year, Wallen\u2019s One Thing At a Time<\/em> came in at 3.312 million units, 1.33 million more than SZA<\/a>\u2019s SOS<\/em>.) The closest race of the past 10 years? That\u2019d be in 2017 when Kendrick Lamar<\/a>\u2019s DAMN.<\/em> edged out Ed Sheeran<\/a>\u2019s divide<\/em> by just 23,000 units at the midway mark.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe No. 1 Song Didn\u2019t Reach No. 1 on the Hot 100<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tBoone\u2019s \u201cBeautiful Things\u201d was an early breakout story this year, as the singer seemed to explode out of nowhere with the biggest hit of his career so far. The song got off to a flying start, debuting at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January \u2014 and then spent all but two weeks in the top 10 of the chart, landing at No. 1 for the most-streamed song of the year so far on Luminate\u2019s mid-year tally.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe only quirk? \u201cBeautiful Things\u201d peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100, never quite reaching No. 1. Given that, it may seem odd that it finished No. 1 in streams at the midyear point, though that can be explained by its sustained dominance in the top 10 and its early-year debut, which gave it the full six months to rack up all those streams. What is odd, however, is that it\u2019s the only song in the past decade that landed at No. 1 at the midyear mark and also never reached the top of the Hot 100. In fact, every other year since 2015, the top song halfway through the year had spent at least five weeks in the top slot \u2014 ranging from the Encanto<\/em> cast\u2019s \u201cWe Don\u2019t Talk About Bruno\u201d in 2022 (five weeks) to Mark Ronson<\/a> and Bruno Mars<\/a>\u2019 \u201cUptown Funk!\u201d in 2015, which hit 14 weeks. (Lil Nas X<\/a>\u2019s \u201cOld Town Road,\u201d No. 1 at the halfway mark in 2019, ultimately spent 19 weeks at No. 1, though it was only halfway through that run at the midyear point.)<\/p>\n

\n\tMidyear No. 1 Songs by On-Demand Streams (Weeks at No. 1)
2023: Miley Cyrus<\/a>, \u201cFlowers\u201d (8 weeks)
2022: Encanto<\/em> Cast, \u201cWe Don\u2019t Talk About Bruno\u201d (5 weeks)
2021: Olivia Rodrigo<\/a>, \u201cDrivers License\u201d (8 weeks)
2020: Roddy Ricch<\/a>, \u201cThe Box\u201d (11 weeks)
2019: Lil Nas X\u2019s \u201cOld Town Road\u201d (19 weeks)
2018: Drake<\/a>, \u201cGod\u2019s Plan\u201d (11 weeks)
2017: Ed Sheeran, \u201cShape Of You\u201d (12 weeks)
2016: Rihanna<\/a> feat. Drake, \u201cWork\u201d (9 weeks)
2015: Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars, \u201cUptown Funk!\u201d (14 weeks)<\/p>\n

\n\tWarner Records Lands Top 3 Songs<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tAbout those top-streamed songs? Boone\u2019s was No. 1, followed by Zach Bryan<\/a> feat. Kacey Musgraves<\/a> with \u201cI Remember Everything\u201d and Teddy Swims<\/a>\u2019 \u201cLose Control\u201d at Nos. 2 and 3. All of those songs were released by Warner Records, giving the label a trifecta. No other label has had the top three songs at the midyear mark in the past decade, giving Warner sole possession of the feat in this era.<\/p>\n

\n\tA few labels have come close, however: in 2022, Atlantic Records had the top song (\u201cWe Don\u2019t Talk About Bruno\u201d), the No. 4 song (Kodak Black<\/a>\u2019s \u201cSuper Gremlin\u201d) and had one of its stars, Jack Harlow<\/a>, on the No. 2 song (Lil Nas X and Harlow\u2019s \u201cIndustry Baby\u201d, which was released on X\u2019s label Columbia). In 2018, Republic Records had three of the top four, with one of its artists, Drake, on the No. 3 song: Blocboy JB<\/a> feat. Drake, \u201cLook Alive.\u201d However, \u201cLook Alive\u201d came out on Drake\u2019s label OVO Sound, which was distributed by Warner at the time. In 2016, Def Jam had Nos. 2 and 3 (Desiigner<\/a>\u2019s \u201cPanda\u201d and Justin Bieber<\/a>\u2019s \u201cSorry,\u201d respectively) and a distribution deal with Roc Nation, which put out the No. 1 song, Rihanna\u2019s \u201cWork\u201d featuring Drake \u2014 though Def Jam didn\u2019t technically release it. <\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t2024 Midyear Market Share: Taylor Swift Helps Republic Beat WMG; Interscope, Warner Records\u2026\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tRepublic Records Lands Top 3 Albums<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tNot to be outdone, the top of the midyear albums chart also threw up a trifecta for a label: Republic Records, which released Swift and Wallen\u2019s albums (the latter in partnership with Big Loud), as well as the No. 3 album, Noah Kahan<\/a>\u2019s Stick Season<\/em> (in partnership with Mercury). Somewhat surprisingly, given Republic\u2019s recent dominance in the market share standings<\/a> as well as the overall dominance of Wallen and Swift in recent years, this is the first time Republic has taken the top three slots at the midyear mark \u2014 and, over the past decade, the only time any label has held down the top three at this point in the year.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe only time another label came close was, unsurprisingly, Republic. In 2023, the label had four of the top five albums of the year at the midway mark, but it was thwarted from claiming the top three by SZA\u2019s SOS<\/em>, which was released by Top Dawg\/RCA.<\/p>\n

\n\tJust Five Albums in the Top 10 Came Out Within the Past 12 Months<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThe top 10 albums chart by equivalent units served up plenty of familiar titles this year: Swift, Wallen, Kahan, SZA and Bryan, as well as albums from Beyonc\u00e9<\/a> (Cowboy Carter<\/em>, No. 4) and Future<\/a> & Metro Boomin<\/a> (We Don\u2019t Trust You<\/em>, No. 6). But incredibly, only five of the top 10 were released within the past 12 months: Swift\u2019s TTPD<\/em>, Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s Carter<\/em> and Future & Metro\u2019s Trust<\/em>, all of which came out in 2024. Bryan\u2019s self-titled album, which finished at No. 8, was released last August, while Swift\u2019s No. 9-ranking 1989 (Taylor\u2019s Version)<\/em>, a re-recording of an album that came out in 2014, was released last October. That\u2019s the fewest number of titles in the top 10 of any midyear consumption chart in the past 10 years to have been released within the prior 12 months (dating back to the midyear mark of the year before), with no other year going back to 2015 serving up fewer than six.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn fact, that number has been steadily dropping for a half-decade now: Since 2019, when nine of the top 10 were released within the prior 12 months, there have been nine (2020), seven (2021), seven (2022) and six (2023) in the top 10. (In 2017, all 10 fit the criteria.) The streaming era has done many things for the music business, but one thing it has done more than any other is to expose people\u2019s listening habits rather than buying habits. And the consumption numbers of current (releases within the past 18 months) vs. catalog (releases older than 18 months) have borne out the by-now long-established trend that catalog rules consumption: This year, Luminate calculated that catalog listening accounted for 72.8% of listening share, a figure that remained the same as it was at the midway point in 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBut the sheer staying power of some of these top 10 albums is what\u2019s most impressive. Wallen\u2019s One Thing At a Time<\/em> is over a year old by now; but his 2021 album, Dangerous: The Double Album<\/em>, is still at No. 7. SZA\u2019s SOS<\/em>, No. 2 at the midyear mark last year, came in at No. 5. Kahan\u2019s Stick Season<\/em> originally came out in October 2022. 1989 (Taylor\u2019s Version)<\/em> is a collection of songs that, in their original form, date back a decade. And at No. 10, Swift\u2019s Lover<\/em> is approaching its fifth anniversary in August.<\/p>\n

\n\tWill the charts remain so static in the future? Is it a product of the maturation of the streaming age? Or is it just that these albums are simply so dominant<\/em> that they elbowed out all others? It\u2019s something to keep an eye on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Aller \u00e0 la source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In several different ways, the modern era of the U.S. recorded music business can date its origins to the year 2015. That was the year that Apple Music and TIDAL debuted in the United States; the year that streaming finally matured, taking up the baton as the dominant revenue stream among all formats in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musique","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92612\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}