Billboard

In the first half of 2024 in the United States, Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department was the most popular album, while Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” was the most-streamed song (by on-demand audio streams), respectively, according to data tracking firm Luminate.
Read more about midyear metrics in the 2024 Luminate Midyear Music Report.

‘Poets’ Perched on Top: For the tracking period of Dec. 29, 2023, through June 27, 2024, Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department was the most popular album in the U.S. The pop superstar’s studio set was released on April 19 via Republic Records and earned 4.66 million equivalent album units in the first half of 2024. (See full top 10 chart, below.) Poets spent its first 12 weeks atop the weekly Billboard 200 chart – the first album by a woman to spend its first 12 weeks at No. 1.

Poets is also the top-selling album, by traditional album sales, at the midyear point, with 2.47 million sold. The set is the top-selling album on CD (1.07 million), vinyl (988,000) and digital download (395,000) of 2024’s first six months.

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The most-streamed song by on-demand audio streams (inclusive of user-generated content [UGC] streams) was Boone’s breakout hit “Beautiful Things,” with 448.7 million clicks in the first six months of the year. “Beautiful Things,” released via Night Street/Warner Records, marked Boone’s first top 40-charting hit on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 chart, and peaked at No. 2 on the tally in March.

Equivalent album units – for album titles and chart rankings cited below (but not industry volume numbers) – comprise traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sales, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album, or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official and audio streams generated by songs from an album.

Equivalent album units cited for album titles in this story, and in the “Midyear Top 10 Albums in U.S.” chart do not include user-generated content (UGC) streams. UGC streams are included in Luminate’s industry volume numbers and its midyear song streaming rankings. (UGC streams are not factored into any of Billboard’s weekly charts.)

For the sake of clarity, equivalent album units do not include listening to music on broadcast radio or digital radio broadcasts. All numbers cited in this story are rounded, and for the U.S. only. Programmed streams are not included in any of the data in this story.

Luminate (formerly MRC Data, Nielsen Music and SoundScan) began tracking music consumption in 1991. Luminate’s sales, streaming and airplay data is used to compile Billboard’s weekly charts.

Of The Tortured Poets Department’s 4.66 million equivalent album units earned at midyear, album sales comprise 2.47 million, SEA units comprise 2.16 million (equaling 2.82 billion on-demand official audio and video streams of the 31 songs on the deluxe edition of the album) and TEA units comprise 23,000.

The top five most popular albums at the midyear point in the U.S. are The Tortured Poets Department, Morgan Wallen’s March 2023 release One Thing at a Time (1.78 million), Noah Kahan’s October 2022 release Stick Season (1.22 million), Beyoncé’s March release Cowboy Carter (1.10 million) and SZA’s December 2022 release SOS (1.06 million). In 2023, One Thing at a Time and SOS  were the Nos. 1 and 3 most popular albums of the year in Luminate’s year-end report.

2024’s Midyear Top 10 Albums in U.S. (by Equivalent Album Units)1. Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department (4.660 million)2. Morgan Wallen, One Thing at a Time (1.776 million)3. Noah Kahan, Stick Season (1.224 million)4. Beyoncé, Cowboy Carter (1.105 million)5. SZA, SOS (1.064 million)6. Future & Metro Boomin, We Don’t Trust You (1.046 million)7. Morgan Wallen, Dangerous: The Double Album (1.010 million)8. Zach Bryan, Zach Bryan (984,000)9. Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (953,000)10. Taylor Swift, Lover (948,000)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through June 27, 2024. UGC (user-generated content) streams are not included in this chart, but are included in Luminate’s on-demand streaming charts (below). Luminate’s equivalent album unit totals include SEA and TEA for an album’s songs registered before an album’s release, but only during the tracking period.

2024’s Midyear Top 10 Selling Albums in U.S. (Physical & Digital Album Sales Combined)1. Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department (2.474 million)2. Billie Eilish, Hit Me Hard and Soft (306,000)3. Beyoncé, Cowboy Carter (257,000)4. Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (250,000)5. Taylor Swift, Lover (208,000)6. TOMORROW X TOGETHER, Minisode 3: TOMORROW (193,000)7. ATEEZ, Golden Hour: Part.1 (191,000)8. Taylor Swift, Folklore (174,000)9. TWICE, With YOU-th (174,000)10. Taylor Swift, Midnights (171,000)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through June 27, 2024.

2024’s Midyear Top 10 Selling Vinyl Albums1. Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department (988,000)2. Billie Eilish, Hit Me Hard and Soft (160,000)3. Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (117,000)4. Taylor Swift, Folklore (108,000)5. Taylor Swift, Lover (106,000)6. Taylor Swift, Midnights (100,000)7. Beyoncé, Cowboy Carter (94,000)8. Taylor Swift, Evermore (88,000)9. Noah Kahan, Stick Season (87,000)10. Olivia Rodrigo, Guts (74,000)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through June 27, 2024.

Total Album Consumption Increases 7.4% at Midyear: Year-to-date, total equivalent album units grew by 7.4% (to 527.3 million) as compared to the same time frame in 2023 (491.1 million in the span of Dec. 30, 2022, through June 29, 2023). However, Luminate notes in its midyear report that due to changes in methodology and provider reporting, a trend break occurred in the first half of 2024, and they are unable to provide an accurate representation of year-over-year changes with regards to independent retail physical sales. In turn, for the above total equivalent album unit comparison, sales from independent retail stores are excluded from both the midyear 2024 and 2023 numbers above as there is no comparable historical data to provide an accurate year-over-year trend. Indie store album sales are included in the top 10 album rankings in this story. (In January 2024, Luminate retired a weighted data modeling method that previously measured physical sales in the indie retail sector. In April, Luminate launched a partnership with data provider StreetPulse to collect music sales from independent retailers.)

On-Demand Audio Streaming Up 8%, ‘Beautiful Things’ Most-Streamed Song: Boone’s “Beautiful Things” was the most-streamed song by on-demand audio streams in the first half of 2024 in the U.S. (see list, below), with 448.7 million streams (inclusive of UGC). Zach Bryan’s “I Remember Everything,” featuring Kacey Musgraves (437.3 million) and Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” (409.7 million) round out the top three.

Total on-demand audio streams at midyear grew 8% in the U.S. as compare to the same point a year ago (665.8 billion versus 616.5 billion).

UGC streams are included in Luminate’s industry streaming on-demand volume numbers (above) and its midyear streaming song charts (below). UGC streams are not factored into any of Billboard’s weekly charts.

In general, all songs in the below charts combine the assorted remixes of a song into one overall total.

2024’s Midyear Top 10 Most Streamed Songs in U.S. (On-Demand Audio)1. Benson Boone, “Beautiful Things” (448.7 million)2. Zach Bryan featuring Kacey Musgraves, “I Remember Everything” (437.3 million)3. Teddy Swims, “Lose Control” (409.7 million)4. Tommy Richman, “Million Dollar Baby” (374.9 million)5. Future, Metro Boomin & Kendrick Lamar, “Like That” (374.9 million)6. Kendrick Lamar, “Not Like Us” (362.1 million)7. Noah Kahan, “Stick Season” (342.9 million)8. Jack Harlow, “Lovin On Me” (340.8 million)9. Shaboozey, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (333.1 million)10. Hozier, “Too Sweet” (333.1 million)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through June 27, 2024. Includes UGC streams.

Digital Song Sales Fall 11%: Digital song sales declined 10.9% in the first six months of 2024, falling to 61.96 million, as compared to 69.57 million sold in the first half of 2023. The top-selling digital song at the midyear point is Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” with 219,000 sold.2023’s Midyear Top 10 Selling Digital Songs in U.S.1. Shaboozey, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (219,000)2. Benson Boone, “Beautiful Things” (200,000)3. Teddy Swims, “Lose Control” (195,000)4. Beyoncé, “Texas Hold ‘Em” (178,000)5. Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen, “I Had Some Help” (156,000)6. Megan Thee Stallion, “Hiss” (107,000)7. Jack Harlow, “Lovin On Me” (95,000)8. Tom MacDonald & Ben Shapiro, “Facts” (93,000)9. Eminem, “Houdini” (88,000)10. Hozier, “Too Sweet” (85,000)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through June 27, 2024.

Harlow Hot at Radio: The most-heard song on U.S. radio in the first half of 2024 was Harlow’s “Lovin On Me,” with a cumulative 1.743 million audience impressions across all formats monitored by Luminate.  “Flowers,” with a cumulative 2.409 billion audience impressions across all formats monitored by Luminate. The track led Billboard’s weekly Radio Songs airplay chart for 12 consecutive weeks (from Jan. 27, 2024 through April 13, 2024).

2024’s Midyear Top 10 Radio Songs in U.S. (Based on Audience Impressions)1. Jack Harlow, “Lovin On Me” (1.743 billion)2. Teddy Swims, “Lose Control” (1.692 billion)3. Doja Cat, “Agora Hills” (1.544 billion)4. Taylor Swift, “Cruel Summer” (1.402 billion)5. Tate McRae, “Greedy” (1.388 billion)6. Luke Combs, “Fast Car” (1.248 billion)7. Tyla, “Water” (1.210 billion)8. Benson Boone, “Beautiful Things” (1.142 billion)9. Sabrina Carpenter, “Feather” (1.123 billion)10. SZA, “Snooze” (1.111 billion)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through June 27, 2024.