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The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday (Jan. 17) upheld a federal statute that will effectively ban TikTok from the country over national security concerns, rejecting the company’s arguments that the law violates the First Amendment.
In a unanimous ruling, the high court said the law – set to go into effect on Sunday — was fair game because the U.S. government has valid fears about China’s control over TikTok, a popular social media service with 170 million American users that has also become a key cog in the modern music industry.
Attorneys for TikTok’s Chinese-owned parent ByteDance had argued that the law was clearly unconstitutional because it violates the First Amendment’s protections for free speech. But in Friday’s decision, the high court was unswayed.
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“There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community,” the justices wrote. “But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”
The ruling has major implications for the music industry. TikTok has become a key part of the modern music ecosystem – a core promotional tool for labels and a jumping off point for many new artists, albeit one that has occasionally butted heads with rights owners and can sometimes prove difficult to harness into lasting success.
Friday’s decision will allow the ban to go into effect on Sunday, but it’s unclear exactly what will happen next. President-elect Donald Trump, set to take office on Monday, has vowed to “negotiate a resolution” to save the platform. And even outgoing President Joe Biden, who championed and signed the law, has reportedly signaled openness to prevent TikTok from going dark.
The TikTok law, which requires the app’s Chinese-owned parent ByteDance to either sell the app to a U.S. company or face a total ban on January 19, was approved by wide bipartisan majorities in Congress last year and signed by President Biden in April. Proponents have argued that TikTok presents a national security threat because of its connections to the Chinese government and access to millions of Americans.
TikTok and ByteDance sued in May, calling the law “unprecedented” violation of free speech aimed at “silencing” more than 170 million Americans. But in December, a lower federal appeals court rejected those arguments, ruling the law was aimed at protecting Americans from a “foreign adversary nation.”
Friday’s decision upheld that ruling, repeatedly stressing concerns about the Chinese government’s control over TikTok and the information it could pull from it.
“Petitioners do not dispute that the Government has an important and well-grounded interest in preventing China from collecting the personal data of tens of millions of U. S. TikTok users,” the justices wrote. “Nor could they. The platform collects extensive personal information from and about its users.”
Much of the ruling – a so-called “per curiam” decision that was not signed by any particular justice – was spent deciding on the level of “scrutiny” that such a ban should face under the First Amendment. While TikTok’s attorneys argued it was the kind of egregious intrusion into free speech that merits “strict scrutiny” by judges, the high court instead ruled that the law was the kind of less-problematic restriction that warrants only “intermediate scrutiny.”
Under that looser standard, the justices ruled Friday that the TikTok ban passed constitutional muster — deciding that the law served an “important government interest” and didn’t restrict free speech any more than was necessary to accomplish that goal.
The federal government was clearly justified in preventing a foreign adversary from “collecting vast swaths of sensitive data about the 170 million U. S. persons,” the justices wrote. And they said the TikTok ban was sufficiently limited in addressing that specific goal to avoid violating the First Amendment.
“Rather than ban TikTok outright, the Act imposes a conditional ban,” the justices write. “The prohibitions prevent China from gathering data from U. S. TikTok users unless and until a qualified divestiture severs China’s control.”
The government had also separately argued that the TikTok ban was fair game because of the power China could wield by using TikTok’s algorithm to influence Americans. But the justices effectively sidestepped that argument in their decision, saying it was not necessary to decide the case.
Ahead of Friday’s ruling, the music industry was already preparing for such an outcome. As Billboard‘s Elias Leight writes, record labels have been gearing up for the potential of life without TikTok: “Where is new artist discovery happening in 2025 if this app completely disappears?” The live music business has also been preparing to lose the platform, Billboard’s Dave Brooks writes, since festivals and other promoters have increasingly relied upon TikTok in recent years to reach ticket buyers.
Read the Supreme Court’s full decision here.
Spotify announced that it has canceled all of its Grammy Week events, including its annual Best New Artist and Songwriter of the Year parties, in light of the devastating L.A. wildfires.
In a blog post on Thursday (Jan. 16), Joe Hadley, Spotify’s global head of music partnerships & audience, wrote that funds from the canceled events will be redirected “to support efforts to reach local fans and charitable organizations.”
“It’s also important to remember the effect this has on the production industry, so we are ensuring our vendors are compensated despite this shift,” Hadley wrote. “While this year will look and feel different, our commitment to emerging artists is unwavering.”
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Hadley notes that Spotify’s charitable efforts will include Spotify-funded donations to MusiCares and FIREAID, the benefit concert slated for Jan. 30 at the Intuit Dome that will donate proceeds to rebuilding L.A. infrastructure, supporting displaced families and advancing fire prevention technologies and strategies. The company will also be joining with GoFundMe “to support and spotlight fundraisers dedicated to helping members of the artist and music community who’ve been affected by the fires.”
Additionally, Spotify will be “dedicating on-platform promotion and offering pro bono ad inventory to drive awareness of causes supporting the relief and artist and creator support via studio time” at the company’s L.A. headquarters located in the Arts District.
“The summation of these efforts means we are committing a combined total of $5 million,” Hadley wrote.
Thursday’s announcement follows previous Grammy Week cancellation announcements by all three major labels and various other companies and organizations following the horrific blazes, which displaced tens of thousands of Angelenos and killed at least 25. The remaining Grammy Week events, including Clive Davis’ annual gala, have been reframed as fundraisers for wildfire victims. The Grammys themselves are still slated to move ahead on Feb. 2.
You can read Hadley’s letter in full below.
The devastation of the past week is hard to put into words. I’ve lived in Southern California for 20 years, and my heart aches for our community. Los Angeles is home to hundreds of Spotify employees, millions of music fans, and countless individuals whose lives have been upended by this unprecedented crisis.
We’ve spent the last few days considering how to best show up for LA, the music industry, and the creative community. Ultimately, we’ve decided that the most impactful approach is canceling all our Grammy Week events, including our annual Best New Artist party, and redirecting funds to support efforts to reach local fans and charitable organizations. It’s also important to remember the effect this has on the production industry, so we are ensuring our vendors are compensated despite this shift. While this year will look and feel different, our commitment to emerging artists is unwavering.
These efforts include Spotify-funded donations to MusiCares, an organization that provides a safety net of critical assistance in times of need, and FireAid, a benefit concert on January 30 with proceeds centered on rebuilding infrastructure, supporting displaced families, and advancing fire prevention technologies. We’re also joining forces with GoFundMe to support and spotlight fundraisers dedicated to helping members of the artist and music community who’ve been affected by the fires. In addition to these donations, we’re dedicating on-platform promotion and offering pro bono ad inventory to drive awareness of causes supporting the relief and artist and creator support via studio time at our LA office in the Arts District. The summation of these efforts means we are committing a combined total of $5 million.
Thanks to all of our partners for your patience as we decided how best to support. We’ve got each other’s backs here in L.A. – let’s keep showing up for each other.
Joe
Kenny Chesney will become the first country artist to have a residency at Sphere when he brings his show to the Las Vegas venue starting May 22 for a 12-date run. Chesney announced the news on Today this morning.
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“I’m always looking for ways to deepen the way No Shoes Nation experiences this music,” said Chesney in a statement. “Over the years, they have shown me through their own response to these songs how passionate they are about what they mean, how these songs are part of their lives. When people give you that much heart, I want to give them even more.
The 17,600-seat Sphere’s one-of-a-kind immersive experience played into Chesney’s decision. “When we started talking about all of the possibilities playing Sphere offered, I was all in. Just the idea of 4D technology and the impossibly dialed in sound raises the experience for No Shoes Nation, literally immersing them in music, visuals, sound and being together. To me, this is going to be a whole new way of rocking the fans, and I can’t wait.”
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Kenny Chesney Live At The Sphere
Courtesy Photo
Chesney, whose Sphere run will be promoted by his long-time promoter The Messina Group, is the only country artist to hit $1 billion in grosses reported to Boxscore. His 2022 Here and Now Tour, which brought in $135 million, landed at No. 9 on Billboard’s all-genre 2022 Year-End Top 40 tours chart, making Chesney the first country artist to reach the Top 10. Last year, his tour grossed $159.5 million, according to Billboard’s 2024 year-end chart. He’s come quite a long way since his first-ever Billboard Boxscore report entry, for a Sept. 23, 1995 concert at Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, which brought in $135,000.
Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday (Jan. 31) starting at 10 a.m. PT via KennyChesney.com. The run is presented by Chesney’s Blue Chair Bay Rum.
Since opening in September 2023 with a 40-show run by U2, Sphere has hosted a number of acts, including Phish, Dead & Co. and Anyma. The Eagles are currently in a residency that started in September.
Chesney will appear on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon tonight.
Universal Music Group (UMG) is firing back at Drake’s lawsuit accusing the music giant of defaming him by promoting Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us,” calling the case “illogical” and accusing Drake of trying to “weaponize the legal process.”
In a strongly-worded statement issued Wednesday afternoon (Jan. 15), UMG flatly denied the allegations in Drake’s lawsuit — filed earlier in the day in New York federal court — and sharply criticized its superstar artist for bringing it.
“Not only are these claims untrue, but the notion that we would seek to harm the reputation of any artist—let alone Drake—is illogical,” the company wrote. “We have invested massively in his music and our employees around the world have worked tirelessly for many years to help him achieve historic commercial and personal financial success.”
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The lawsuit claims that UMG knew that “inflammatory and shocking allegations” in Lamar’s scathing diss track were false, but chose to place “corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists.”
But in UMG’s response, the music giant said that Drake himself had often engaged in rap beefs featuring bombastic claims about his opponents — the very thing that he now claims is illegal.
“Throughout his career, Drake has intentionally and successfully used UMG to distribute his music and poetry to engage in conventionally outrageous back-and-forth ‘rap battles’ to express his feelings about other artists,” UMG wrote. “He now seeks to weaponize the legal process to silence an artist’s creative expression and to seek damages from UMG for distributing that artist’s music.”
Drake’s case repeatedly makes clear that he is not suing Lamar himself, and that he holds UMG responsible for releasing a song that it allegedly knew was defamatory.
In its statement, UMG denied that claim — and said it would defend Lamar or any other artist if they were hit with such a lawsuit.
“We have not and do not engage in defamation—against any individual,” UMG said in the statement. “At the same time, we will vigorously defend this litigation to protect our people and our reputation, as well as any artist who might directly or indirectly become a frivolous litigation target for having done nothing more than write a song.”
Drake and Lamar exchanged stinging diss tracks last year, culminating in Lamar’s knockout “Not Like Us” — a track that savagely slammed Drake as a “certified pedophile” and reached the top of the charts. In November, the star filed stunning legal petitions suggesting that he planned to sue UMG, claiming that the company had artificially boosted a song that contained defamatory statements about him.
Earlier on Wednesday, Drake made good on those threats — filing a federal lawsuit that claimed UMG had boosted a “false and malicious narrative” that the star rapper was a pedophile, severely harming his reputation and even putting his life in danger.
“UMG intentionally sought to turn Drake into a pariah, a target for harassment, or worse,” the star’s lawyers wrote in their complaint. “UMG did so not because it believes any of these false claims to be true, but instead because it would profit from damaging Drake’s reputation.”
The accusations — and Wednesday’s response statement — represent a remarkable rift between the world’s largest music company and one of its biggest stars. Drake has spent his entire career at UMG, first through signing a deal with Lil Wayne’s Young Money imprint that was distributed by Republic Records, then by signing directly to Republic.
Drake has filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) over allegations that the music giant defamed him by promoting Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us,” claiming the label boosted a “false and malicious narrative” that the star rapper was a pedophile and put his life in danger.
Hours after his attorneys withdrew an earlier petition, they filed a full-fledged defamation lawsuit Wednesday against his longtime label – claiming UMG knew Lamar’s “inflammatory and shocking allegations” were false but chose to place “corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists.”
“UMG intentionally sought to turn Drake into a pariah, a target for harassment, or worse,” the star’s lawyers write in a complaint filed in Manahttan federal court. “UMG did so not because it believes any of these false claims to be true, but instead because it would profit from damaging Drake’s reputation.”
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In one of the lawsuit’s most vivid accusations, Drake claims that the release of “Not Like Us” has subjected him to risk of physical violence, including a drive-by shooting on his Toronto area home just days after the song was released.
“UMG’s greed yielded real world consequences,” his lawyers write. “With the palpable physical threat to Drake’s safety and the bombardment of online harassment, Drake fears for the safety and security of himself, his family, and his friends.”
Notably, the case does not target Lamar himself — a point that Drake’s attorneys repeatedly stress in their filings.
“UMG may spin this complaint as a rap beef gone legal, but this lawsuit is not about a war of words between artists,” Drake’s attorneys say.
A spokesman for UMG did not immediately return a request for comment.
Wednesday’s lawsuit is yet another dramatic escalation a high-profile beef that saw Drake and Lamar exchange stinging diss tracks last year, culminating in Lamar’s knockout “Not Like Us” — a track that savagely slammed Drake as a “certified pedophile” and became a hit in its own right.
Drake shocked the music industry in November when he filed petitions suggesting he might sue over the fued — first accusing UMG and Spotify of an illegal “scheme” involving bots, payola and other methods to pump up Lamar’s song, then later claiming that the song had been defamatory. But those cases were not quite full-fledged lawsuits, and Drake withdrew one of them late on Tuesday.
Now it’s clear why: In Wednesday’s lawsuit, he formally sued UMG over the same alleged scheme, claiming the label “unleashed every weapon in its arsenal” to drive the popularity of Lamar’s track even though it knew the lyrics were “not only false, but dangerous.”
“With his own record label having waged a campaign against him, and refusing to address this as a business matter, Drake has been left with no choice but to seek legal redress against UMG,” his lawyers write.
The filing of the case represents a doubling-down for Drake, who has been ridiculed in some corners of the hip-hop world filing legal actions over a rap beef. It also will deepen further his rift with UMG, where the star has spent his entire career — first through signing a deal with Lil Wayne’s Young Money imprint, which was distributed by Republic Records, then by signing directly to Republic.
In his complaint, Drake’s lawyers said the label opted to boost “Not Like Us” despite its “defamatory” lyrics because they saw it as a “gold mine” — partly because UMG owns Lamar’s master recordings outright, but also because it could use the song to hurt Drake’s standing in future contract talks.
“UMG’s contract with Drake was nearing fulfillment … UMG anticipated that extending Drake’s contract would be costly,” his lawyers write. “By devaluing Drake’s music and brand, UMG would gain leverage to force Drake to sign a new deal on terms more favorable to UMG.”
This is a breaking news story and will continue to be updated with additional details as they become available.
Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department finished 2024 as the most popular album of the year in the U.S., according to music data tracking company Luminate. Meanwhile, the most-streamed song by on-demand audio streams was Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” and the most-heard song on the radio was Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control.”
Total music consumption in the U.S. – as measured in audio equivalent album units – increased by 5.6% in 2024. (View Luminate’s 2024 Year-End Music Report.)
See Luminate’s year-end top 10 albums, along with other year-end rankings and industry volume numbers, below.
But first, the fine print:
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 sale, 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 audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. Album titles and album chart rankings by equivalent album units do not include user-generated content (UGC) streams, but UGC streams are included in Luminate’s industry volume numbers. (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 – including programmed streams – operating under Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) regulations. All numbers cited in this story are rounded, and reflect U.S. consumption only.
Luminate’s equivalent album unit totals include SEA and TEA for an album’s songs registered before an album’s release, but during the tracking period of Dec. 29, 2023, through Jan. 2, 2025.
Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991 when the company was known as SoundScan. Luminate’s sales, streaming and airplay data is used to compile Billboard’s weekly charts. Luminate’s 2024 tracking year ran from Dec. 29, 2023, through Jan. 2, 2025.
Luminate’s 2024 tracking year contained 53 weeks, instead of the usual 52 weeks. So, for 2024 volume comparisons to 2023, a corresponding 53-week period was used by Luminate for 2023: Dec. 30, 2022, through Jan. 4, 2024.
Highlights from Luminate’s 2024 U.S. year-end data:
Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department was Luminate’s top album of 2024 in the U.S. It’s the third time Swift has led the year-end list. She was also tops with 1989 (in 2014) and Fearless (in 2009).
Poets earned 6.955 million equivalent album units in 2024 in the U.S., according to Luminate. That’s the biggest yearly total for an album since 2015, when Adele’s third album, 25, earned 8.008 million units.
Swift is the first artist in Luminate history (1991-present) to have three different albums be a year-end No. 1.
Poets was also the top-selling album overall in the U.S. in 2024, by traditional album sales. It was also the top-selling album in each of CD, vinyl and cassette tape formats, as well as among digital download albums.
Total U.S. audio album consumption increased 5.6% in 2024.
U.S. on-demand audio streams increased 6.4% in 2024.
Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” was the most-streamed song in the U.S. in 2024 by on-demand audio streams: 912.7 million.
U.S. vinyl album sales increased by 4.3% in 2024.
Seven of the year’s top 10-selling albums were K-pop projects.
Digital track sales declined for a 12th year in a row in the U.S. in 2024.
Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” was the biggest song at U.S. radio in 2024: 3.250 billion audience impressions.
Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart dated May 4, 2024, and has spent 17 nonconsecutive weeks atop the tally (through its most recent week at No. 1 on the chart dated Dec. 21). The last album by a woman to spend as many weeks at No. 1 was Adele’s 21, which earned 24 nonconsecutive weeks on top in 2011-12.
Poets is the third Swift album to be named Luminate’s year-end No. 1 album, following 1989 (2014) and Fearless (2009). In both 2014 and 2009, the year-end list was based solely on traditional album sales. In 2015, the year-end ranking started being based on equivalent album units.
Since Luminate began electronically tracking music consumption in 1991, Swift is the first artist to have three different albums be Luminate’s year-end No. 1. Adele is the only other act to have the year-end top album in three different years, but Adele did it with two albums: 21 (2011-12) and 25 (2015).
Poets is the first album not by a solo male to be Luminate’s year-end No. 1 since 2015, when Adele’s 25 was tops.
Poets earned 6.955 million equivalent album units in 2024 in the U.S., according to Luminate. That’s the biggest yearly total for an album since 2015, when Adele’s third album, 25, earned 8.008 million units. (Previous to Poets, the last album to clear 6 million units in a single year was 25.)
Half of Poets’ 2024 units was generated by traditional album sales (3.491 million of 6.955 million) – via purchases of physical (CD, cassette and vinyl) and digital download albums. Streaming equivalent album (SEA) units comprise 3.434 million and track equivalent album (TEA) units comprise 30,000. Poets was also the most-streamed album of 2024, by total on-demand official streams generated by its songs, with 4.490 billion streams.
Poets was initially released on April 19 as a standard 16-song digital download album, as well as in an array of 17-song physical configurations. Two hours after the album dropped, Swift issued an expanded 31-song edition of the album, dubbed The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, which added 15 additional songs. However, the Anthology edition was only available as a digital download and streaming set until Nov. 29, when its CD and vinyl editions became available for purchase exclusively through Target. The Target CD and vinyl additionally boast four bonus acoustic tracks (which were previously released in other alternate versions of the album). All told, more than 40 variants of Poets were released to U.S. customers in 2024, across CD, vinyl, cassette and digital download album versions.
Poets yielded 10 top-10 charting songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including the No. 1 “Fortnight,” featuring Post Malone.
Rounding out Luminate’s year-end top 10 albums are titles by Morgan Wallen, Sabrina Carpenter, SZA, Billie Eilish, Noah Kahan, Chappell Roan, Zach Bryan, and Future and Metro Boomin.
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2024 IN U.S., BY TOTAL EQUIVALENT ALBUM UNITS1. Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department (6.955 million)2. Morgan Wallen, One Thing at a Time (3.183 million)3. Sabrina Carpenter, Short n’ Sweet (2.491 million)4. SZA, SOS (2.473 million)5. Billie Eilish, Hit Me Hard and Soft (2.259 million)6. Noah Kahan, Stick Season (2.213 million)7. Chappell Roan, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (1.946 million)8. Morgan Wallen, Dangerous: The Double Album (1.895 million)9. Zach Bryan, Zach Bryan (1.723 million)10. Future & Metro Boomin, We Don’t Trust You (1.606 million)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through Jan. 2, 2025. UGC streams are not included in this chart, but are included in Luminate’s on-demand streaming charts (below).
TOTAL U.S. AUDIO ALBUM CONSUMPTION INCREASES 5.6%: Audio equivalent album units increased by 5.6% in 2024, to 1.1 billion. For this figure, audio equivalent album units comprise traditional album sales (excluding independent retail sales*), track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA, excluding video streams). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported on-demand official audio streams generated by songs from an album, or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio streams generated by songs from an album.
*Note: There was a change in methodology behind Luminate’s independent retail store reporting beginning in January 2024, and, in turn, independent retail physical sales under the new methodology for 2024 are isolated and no trending analysis is provided versus 2023. So, any year-over-year album sales volume excludes independent retail physical sales, including the “total U.S. audio album consumption” figure above. Independent retail sales are included in all figures for individual album titles throughout this story.
TAYLOR SWIFT’S ‘TORTURED POETS’ IS 2024’S TOP-SELLING ALBUM: Poets is also by far the top-selling album of 2024, with 3.491 million copies sold across all configurations (physical and digital purchases combined: CD, vinyl LP, cassette, digital download album). That makes it the highest-selling album of any calendar year in the U.S. since 2015, when Adele’s 25 sold 7.441 million copies. See the top 10-selling albums, below.
Poets’ sales were so big that it outsold the year’s Nos. 2-8 top sellers combined.
TOP 10-SELLING ALBUMS OF 2024 IN U.S. (PHYSICAL & DIGITAL SALES COMBINED)1. Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department (3.491 million)2. Billie Eilish, Hit Me Hard and Soft (570,000)3. Travis Scott, Days Before Rodeo (493,000)4. Sabrina Carpenter, Short n’ Sweet (484,000)5. Chappell Roan, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (472,000)6. Stray Kids, ATE (449,000)7. Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (414,000)8. ENHYPEN, Romance: Untold (378,000)9. Taylor Swift, Lover (343,000)10. Beyoncé, Cowboy Carter (329,000)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through Jan. 2, 2025.
An album by Swift has been the year’s top-seller in seven of the last 11 years: Poets in 2024, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) in 2023, Midnights in 2022, Folklore in 2020, Lover in 2019, Reputation in 2017 and 1989 in 2014. She also had the year’s top seller in 2009 with Fearless. Swift is the only act to have the top-selling album of the year at least eight times since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991.
Poets was also the year’s top-selling album on CD (1.512 million), vinyl (1.489 million), digital download (465,000) and cassette (24,000).
As mentioned earlier in this story, Poets was available across more than 40 different variants in the U.S. in 2024 – helping its sales figures. In total, there have been 15 CD editions, seven vinyl variants, four cassettes, and 19 digital download versions. Most versions contain at least one bonus track (ranging from bonus studio songs to acoustic or live renditions of songs from the album).
Taylor Swift sold the most albums of any act in 2024 in the U.S., as her collected catalog of albums sold 6.003 million copies (across all configurations, physical and digital combined). The second-biggest act, by album sales in 2024, was Stray Kids, with 1.009 million sold. Swift and Stray Kids were also the Nos. 1 and 2-selling acts, by album sales, in 2023.
PHYSICAL & DIGITAL ALBUM SALES DECLINE: Luminate reports that physical album sales – excluding independent retail store sales – declined 1% in 2024 to 55.6 million. (Indie store sales are excluded from this year-over-year album sales volume comparisons due to a methodology change, as noted earlier in this story, behind Luminate’s independent retail store reporting in 2024 versus 2023.) Digital album sales fell 9.5% in 2024 to 16.8 million.
VINYL ALBUM SALES INCREASE 4.3%: Luminate’s year-end report reveals that U.S. vinyl album sales increased 4.3% in 2024 as compared to 2023, when excluding independent retail store sales (due to the methodology change noted above in this story). In 2023, industry-wide, vinyl sales increased for an 18th consecutive year.
TOP 10-SELLING VINYL ALBUMS OF 2024 IN U.S.1. Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department (1.489 million)2. Billie Eilish, Hit Me Hard and Soft (340,000)3. Chappell Roan, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (336,000)4. Sabrina Carpenter, Short n’ Sweet (291,000)5. Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (200,000)6. Taylor Swift, Folklore (267,000)7. Taylor Swift, Midnights (188,000)8. Taylor Swift, Lover (185,000)9. Fleetwood Mac, Rumours (178,000)10. Olivia Rodrigo, Guts (175,000)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through Jan. 2, 2025.
The Tortured Poets Department was the top-selling vinyl LP of 2024, with 1.489 million sold – more than four times the number of copies that the second-biggest vinyl set of the year, Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft, sold: 340,000. Poets is only the second album to sell a million copies on vinyl in a calendar year since Luminate started tracking sales in 1991. Swift’s own 1989 (Taylor’s Version) was the first, in 2023, with 1.014 million copies sold on wax that year.
Poets scored the single-largest sales week for a vinyl album in the modern era (since Luminate began tracking data in 1991) with its opening sales week of 859,000.
Swift finished 2024 with five of the top 10-selling vinyl albums. Further, her catalog of albums sold 2.935 million copies on vinyl in 2024 – the most of any artist. (Billie Eilish was the second-biggest selling act on vinyl in 2024, with 520,000 sold.)
K-POP CONTINUES TO DOMINATE CD TOP SELLERS: Seven of the year’s top 10-selling CD albums are by K-pop acts, while efforts from Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish are the lone non-K-pop projects among the top 10 best sellers. Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department is the top-selling CD album, with 1.512 million copies sold. A year ago, seven of the top 10 sellers were also K-pop titles. All of the titles in the 2024 year-end top 10 ranking below profit from their availability across multiple collectible editions aimed at superfans.
TOP 10-SELLING CD ALBUMS OF 2024 IN U.S.1. Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department (1,512,000)2. Stray Kids, ATE (442,000)3. ENHYPEN, Romance: Untold (363,000)4. ATEEZ, GOLDEN HOUR: Part.1 (250,000)5. Stray Kids, HOP (248,000)6. TOMORROW X TOGETHER, minisode 3: TOMORROW (240,000)7. ATEEZ, GOLDEN HOUR: Part. 2 (225,000)8. Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (175,000)9. TWICE, With YOU-th (174,000)10. Billie Eilish, Hit Me Hard and Soft (165,000)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through Jan. 2, 2025.
ON-DEMAND AUDIO STREAMS UP 6.4%: Total U.S. on-demand audio streams (inclusive of UGC streams) grew 6.4% in 2024 to 1.4 trillion. (Note: UGC streams are included in Luminate’s industry streaming on-demand volume numbers and its year-end streaming song charts. UGC streams are not factored into any of Billboard’s weekly charts.)
TOP 10 MOST STREAMED SONGS OF 2024 IN U.S., ON-DEMAND AUDIO1. Shaboozey, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (912.7 million)2. Kendrick Lamar, “Not Like Us” (823.5 million)3. Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen, “I Had Some Help” (822.9 million)4. Benson Boone, “Beautiful Things” (800.5 million)5. Teddy Swims, “Lose Control” (785.8 million)6. Sabrina Carpenter, “Espresso” (758.9 million)7. Zach Bryan featuring Kacey Musgraves, “I Remember Everything” (739.5 million)8. Tommy Richman, “Million Dollar Baby” (731.3 million)9. Billie Eilish, “Birds of a Feather” (660.7 million)10. Hozier, “Too Sweet” (630.9 million)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through Jan. 2, 2025. Includes UGC streams.
DIGITAL TRACK SALES DROP FOR 12TH YEAR IN A ROW: Digital track sales declined for a 12th year in a row, falling 12.8% to 118.77 million in 2024 (down from 136.20 million in the comparable 53-week period of 2023). The top-selling digital song of 2024 was Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” with 480,000 sold. It was the third year in a row that no song sold at least a half-million downloads. Prior to 2022, it last happened in the early days of downloading, in 2004 (the first full year of the iTunes Store, which launched in mid-2003).
2024 also marks the third year in a row that no song sold at least 1 million downloads. Before 2022, the industry last had a year without a million-selling download in 2005.
TOP 10-SELLING DIGITAL SONGS OF 2024 IN U.S.1. Shaboozey, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (480,000)2. Teddy Swims, “Lose Control” (311,000)3. Benson Boone, “Beautiful Things” (293,000)4. Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen, “I Had Some Help” (252,000)5. Beyoncé, “Texas Hold ‘Em” (192,000)6. Hozier, “Too Sweet” (162,000)7. Jelly Roll, “I Am Not Okay” (152,000)8. Jimin, “Who” (131,000)9. Sabrina Carpenter, “Espresso” (125,000)10. Kendrick Lamar, “Not Like Us” (121,000)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through Jan. 2, 2025.
TEDDY SWIMS’ ‘LOSE CONTROL’ DOMINATED AIRWAVES: Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” was the most popular song on radio in 2024, with 3.260 billion audience impressions earned across all monitored radio stations in the U.S. Audience impressions are measured by cross-referencing plays with Mediabase, Nielsen Audio and/or Luminate Metro Radio Streaming audience data – i.e., a play of a song on a top-rated New York station at 8 a.m. on a Monday has more listeners (audience) than an overnight weekend play in a smaller city.
TOP 10 RADIO SONGS OF 2024 IN U.S. (BASED ON AUDIENCE IMPRESSIONS)1. Teddy Swims, “Lose Control” (3.250 billion)2. Shaboozey, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (2.767 billion)3. Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen, “I Had Some Help” (2.591 billion)4. Benson Boone, “Beautiful Things” (2.565 billion)5. Hozier, “Too Sweet” (2.436 billion)6. Jack Harlow, “Lovin’ On Me” (2.325 billion)7. Sabrina Carpenter, “Espresso” (2.253 billion)8. Doja Cat, “Agora Hills” (2.098 billion)9. Taylor Swift, “Cruel Summer” (2.054 billion)10. Luke Combs, “Fast Car” (1.993 billion)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through Jan. 2, 2025.
Lil Baby collects his fourth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, all tallied consecutively, as WHAM opens atop the chart dated Jan. 18. The set earned 140,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 9, according to Luminate. The rapper previously topped the list with his last three releases: It’s Only Me (2022), The Voice of the Heroes (with Lil Durk, 2021) and My Turn (2020).
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In total, WHAM marks Lil Baby’s seventh top 10 on the Billboard 200, stretching back to 2019’s Harder Than Ever (No. 3 peak).
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WHAM’s Friday (Jan. 3) release was announced by Lil Baby in late December.
Also in the top 10: Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS debuts at No. 2, securing the superstar his seventh top 10-charting set. Bunny’s album was released on an off-cycle Sunday (Jan. 5) and, thus, it arrives on the chart with only five days of activity (as the chart’s tracking week runs Friday through Thursday). The album’s release date was announced on Dec. 25.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Jan. 18, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (Jan. 14). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X and Instagram.
Of WHAM’s 140,000 first-week equivalent album units, SEA units comprise 90,000 (equaling 119.77 million on-demand official streams of the streaming version of the album’s songs; the set debuts at No. 3 on the Top Streaming Albums chart), album sales comprise 50,000 (it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
WHAM was available to purchase as a 15-song standard digital download album and a standard CD (the latter exclusively sold via the artist’s official webstore). On Jan. 7, an extended edition of WHAM — with four additional songs — was released exclusively via Lil Baby’s label webstore for purchase. The extended edition was later issued widely through streaming services and digital retailers on Friday (Jan. 10). Both digital versions of the album were discounted to $4.99 in the webstores of the artist and his label (Motown), along with in the iTunes Store.
The standard version of WHAM features guest turns from 21 Savage, Future, GloRilla, Rylo Rodriguez, Travis Scott, Young Thug and Rod Wave.
Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS starts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 122,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 113,500 (equaling 152.16 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 17 songs; it debuts at No. 1 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 8,000 and TEA units comprise 500. The album was only available as a standard 17-song set via streaming services and to purchase as a digital download (also discounted to $4.99 in Bad Bunny’s official webstore and the iTunes Store).
DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS was preceded by a pair of entries from the album on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart: “EL CLúB” and “PIToRRO DE COCO.”
Three former No. 1s follow on the Billboard 200: SZA’s SOS falls 1-3 on the (113,000 equivalent album units earned; down 13%), Kendrick Lamar’s GNX moves 2-4 (67,000; down 4%) and Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet slips 3-5 (51,000; down 9%).
The Wicked film soundtrack dips 4-6 (45,000 equivalent album units; down 7%); Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft falls 5-7 (43,000; down 5%); Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time is a non-mover at No. 8 (40,000; down 1%); Gracie Abrams’ The Secret of Us is steady at No. 9 (38,000; down 5%); and Tyler, The Creator’s former leader CHROMAKOPIA is stationary at No. 10 (37,000; down 3%).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Sam Moore, half of the seminal duo Sam & Dave, died Friday (Jan. 10) in Coral Gables, Fla. The cause of death was complications from surgery. He was 89.
Moore, who was revered by artists including Bruce Springsteen, Phil Collins, Garth Brooks and Jon Bon Jovi, had an instantly recognizable tenor, first heard on such call-and-response classics as Sam & Dave’s 1960s hits “Hold On, I’m Coming” and the Grammy-winning “Soul Man,” both of which reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Singles chart, as well as “I Thank You” and “When Something Is Wrong with My Baby.” The duo, who performed at Martin Luther King Jr.’s memorial concert at Madison Square Garden following his assassination in 1968, was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 by Billy Joel.
Moore, who grew up in Miami, began singing in church and drew the attention of another legendary Sam, Sam Cooke, who wanted Moore to replace him in his gospel group The Soul Stirrers. However, after seeing Jackie Wilson perform, Moore shifted from gospel to pop and was performing at the King O’Hearts Club when he met Dave Prater and the two formed Sam & Dave.
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Legendary Atlantic Records executives Ahmet Ertegun, Tom Dowd and Jerry Wexler saw the pair at the King O’Hearts Club and signed them to the label in 1965. Wexler passed them to Atlantic’s southern partner, Stax Records, where Isaac Hayes and David Porter took them under their wing and produced their iconic hits.
Following Sam & Dave’s breakup in 1970, Moore signed to Atlantic as a solo artist. He recorded a solo album produced by King Curtis featuring Donnie Hathaway and Aretha Franklin. However, after Curtis was murdered in 1971, the album was shelved. He reunited with Dave for a few years, but spiraled into heroin addiction, which was chronicled in the DA Pennebaker/Chris Hegedus documentary Only the Strong Survive.
Interest in the duo was greatly revived by 1980’s The Blues Brothers movie, starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. The pair’s main theme was their boisterous version of “Soul Man.”
The song “turned out to be an anthem, sort of like ‘Blowin’ in the Wind” or one of those,” Moore told the Library of Congress in a 2002 interview when “Soul Man” was added to the Library’s National Recording Registry. “And, I tell you, it doesn’t matter where I sing — perform it — at the end of the night; if we didn’t do ‘Soul Man, the room would go up in smoke!”
Moore also shared how he and Prater worked out how to trade verses, with the help of Hayes. “By me at that time being the dominate one — and I’m not bragging here — I always sang the high parts,” he said in the same interview. “We went back with Isaac and he took us back and forth [with the verses]. Isaac was like, ‘Sam, try something like this.’ I remember him saying, ‘We want it bright. Not a dull opening.’ That’s why you hear all the high. Isaac was the one that suggested that.”
In the early ‘80s, Moore became sober with the help of Joyce McRae, whom he married in 1982 and who became his manager.
Moore went on to perform for six U.S. presidents — Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump — and was a frequent performer at the Kennedy Center Honors.
Springsteen asked Moore to perform on his 1992 Human Touch album, as well as Only the Strong Survive, his 2023 album of soul covers.
Moore recovered his lost 1970 album, Plenty Good Loving, and released it in 2002 via EMI. “I met Sam and his wife, Joyce, when I was in my 20s and working for Rhino Records, who reissued the classic Sam & Dave albums,” says Exceleration Music creative director David Gorman, who was instrumental in the album finally seeing daylight. “Drooling fanboy that I was, I showed up to our first meeting holding a 45 and asking for his autograph. The 45 was his solo single ‘If I Should Lose Your Love.’ When he picked it up, his jaw dropped because he had completely forgotten that he ever made a solo record at all. Over dinner, his memories came flooding back and he remembered making an entire album but had no recollection around its fate. As soon as I got back to LA, I asked [mastering engineer] Bill Inglot if it really existed and within a few days he’d found the tapes and sent over a CD-R. It was brilliant. Sam, Joyce, and I worked together to find a new home for the solo album nobody remembered making.”
Four years later, Moore released his first new album in 30 years, Overnight Sensational, which featured Bon Jovi, Sting, Springsteen and Billy Preston, with whom he received a Grammy nomination for their duet of “You Are So Beautiful.”
In 2019, Moore and Prater received the Recording Academy’s highest honor, its Lifetime Achievement Award.
In his later years, in addition to continuing to perform, Moore became an artists’ advocate, including testifying in Congress on behalf of the Fair Play Fair Pay Act, which would pay performers for radio airplay.
“His loss is deep,” Gorman says. “He was a force of joy as a human being, who lit up everyone around him. As an artist he had the explosive ability to work a crowd out — even Otis [Redding] feared following Sam & Dave on stage — but I found Sam’s genius alone with his records, especially the ballads. Sam’s cries, his knowing asides, the way would use time as a weapon to hit you when it would hurt or heal the most, gave me comfort and companionship in ways no other artist could. He could turn up the tempo and turn up the heat, but his slow-burn just couldn’t be touched. He was a master, the last of his kind.”
At the time of his death, Moore was working on a gospel album with Rudy Perez. He is survived by Joyce, daughter Michelle and grandchildren Tash and Misha.
SZA’s SOS secures a 12th nonconsecutive week atop the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Jan. 11), continuing to profit from its deluxe reissue on Dec. 20 with 15 additional tracks. The set surged 15-1 on the Jan. 4 chart, following the reissue (dubbed SOS Deluxe: LANA). The set was originally released on Dec. 9, 2022, as a 23-track album and spent 10 weeks at No. 1 in late 2022 and early 2023. All versions of the album, old and new, are combined for tracking and charting.
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SOS earned 130,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 2 (down 27%), according to Luminate.
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The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Jan. 11, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (Jan. 7). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter and Instagram.
Of SOS’ 130,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Jan. 2, SEA units comprise 125,500 (down 25%, equaling 166.31 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it holds at No. 1 on the Top Streaming Albums chart), traditional album sales comprise 4,000 (down 59%, falling 23-36 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise 500 (down 63%).
With a 12th total week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, SOS has the most weeks atop the chart for an R&B/hip-hop album by a woman, or an R&B album by a woman, since Whitney Houston’s self-titled set tallied 14 weeks at No. 1 in 1986. (Honorable mention to the Houston-led soundtrack to The Bodyguard, which logged 20 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 in 1992-93. The 12-track album has six songs by Houston and six songs by other artists.)
The last R&B/hip-hop album with at least 12 weeks atop the Billboard 200 was Drake’s Views, which notched 13 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 in 2016 (May 21-Oct. 8). The last R&B album with at least 12 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 was The Bodyguard, with its 20-week reign. (R&B/hip-hop and R&B albums are defined as those that have hit or are eligible for Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Top R&B Albums charts, respectively.)
As we move farther away from Christmas (Dec. 25), and with the chart’s latest tracking week covering the Dec. 27, 2024-Jan. 2, 2025 frame, no holiday albums dot the entire top 100 of the 200-title deep chart. A week ago, six of the top 10, and 32 of the top 100, were holiday efforts. In turn, on the latest chart, nonseasonal sets race up the list — many with week-over-week declines in activity — as the chart shakes off the festive last bits of merriment.
Kendrick Lamar’s former No. 1 GNX climbs 5-2 (70,000 equivalent album units earned; down 9%), Sabrina Carpenter’s chart-topping Short n’ Sweet jumps 12-3 (56,000; down 7%), the Wicked film soundtrack flies 8-4 (49,000; down 31%) and Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft vaults 14-5 (46,000; down 16%).
Taylor Swift’s former leader The Tortured Poets Department moves 7-6 (44,000 equivalent album units; down 40%) and Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess rises 16-7 (41,000; down 20%).
To close out the top 10 at Nos. 8-10, three titles that were outside the top 20 a week ago all rush back to the top 10. Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time jumps 29-8 (nearly 41,000; up 10%), Gracie Abrams’ The Secret of Us bounces 25-9 (40,000; up 2%) and Tyler, The Creator’s former No. 1 CHROMAKOPIA drives 27-10 (38,000; down less than 1%).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
After 22 months, SZA’s chart-topping SOS returns No. 1 on the Billboard 200, as the set jumps 15-1 on the Jan. 4-dated chart. It bolts back to the top thanks largely from activity generated by the album’s deluxe reissue on Dec. 20 (dubbed SOS Deluxe: LANA) that added 15 additional songs to the album. The set was originally released on Dec. 9, 2022, with 23 tracks. All versions of the album, old and new, are combined for tracking and charting purposes and continue to chart under the title SOS.
SOS surges to No. 1 with 178,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 26 (up 297%), according to Luminate. With its return to No. 1, the set collects an 11th nonconsecutive week atop the list, and its first since the March 4, 2023-dated chart. That 22-month gap between weeks at No. 1 is the longest for any album since the Billboard 200 began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March 1956.
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Notably, had the 15 new songs on the LANA deluxe edition of the album been released as a new stand-alone album, its track activity alone would have been enough for that stand-alone set to debut atop the list. (The 15 new songs generated 105,000 in SEA and TEA units. The No. 2 title this week, Michael Bublé’s former leader Christmas, earned 100,000 units from SEA, TEA and traditional album sales combined.)
SOS debuted atop the Billboard 200 dated Dec. 24, 2022, and logged 10 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on the list through the March 4, 2023-dated chart. It has never left the weekly top 20 of the chart during the 107 consecutive weeks that it has spent on the list. SOS closed 2024 at No. 6 on the year-end Billboard 200 Albums chart, after it was No. 3 on the year-end list in 2023.
Also in the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200 chart, Frank Sinatra scores his first top 10-charting in over a decade, as his holiday compilation Ultimate Christmas vaults 17-10.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Jan. 4, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (Dec. 31). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of SOS’ 178,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Dec. 26, SEA units comprise 167,000 (up 341%, equaling 220.22 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it hits No. 1 on the year-old Top Streaming Albums chart for the first time), traditional album sales comprise 10,000 (up 44%, rising 39-23 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise 1,000 (up 1,744%).
A deluxe reissue of SOS had been in the works since at least February of 2023, and SZA first mentioned LANA as the name of the expansion in September 2023. The deluxe reissue was preceded by the Billboard Hot 100-charting hit “Saturn” (one of the 15 added tracks), which debuted and peaked at No. 6 in March.
The last R&B/hip-hop album with at least 11 weeks atop the Billboard 200 was Drake’s Views, which notched 13 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 in 2016 (May 21-Oct. 8). SOS has the most weeks at No. 1 for an R&B/hip-hop album by a woman, or an R&B album by a woman, since Mariah Carey’s self-titled debut spent 11 weeks, all consecutively, at No. 1 in 1991. (Honorable mention to the Whitney Houston-led soundtrack to The Bodyguard, which logged 20 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 in 1992-93. The 12-track album has six songs by Houston and six songs by other artists.) SOS has the most weeks at No. 1 for any R&B album since The Bodyguard’s 20-week reign. (R&B/hip-hop and R&B albums are defined as those that have hit or are eligible for Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Top R&B Albums charts, respectively.)
At No. 2 on the latest Billboard 200, Michael Bublé’s former leader Christmas jingles 5-2 with 100,000 equivalent album units earned (up 47%). The set spent a total of five weeks atop the list in late 2011 and early 2012, following its release in October of 2011. It has climbed to No. 2 in four of the last six holiday seasons. With 100,000 units earned, Christmas tallies its largest week, by units, since the Billboard 200 began ranking by units in December 2014.
The Jan. 4-dated Billboard 200 is set to be the last chart of the holiday season to showcase high-ranking Christmas efforts, as the tracking week for the chart closed on Dec. 26, the day after the Christmas Day holiday.
Bing Crosby’s Ultimate Christmas rallies 6-3 on the new Billboard 200, marking the late entertainer’s highest-charting effort since the Jan. 5, 1959-dated chart, when his former No. 1 Merry Christmas ranked at No. 2. Merry Christmas had previously spent a week at No. 1 on Jan. 6, 1958-dated chart.
Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song moves 11-4, matching its peak, with 84,000 equivalent album units earned (up 56%). Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topping GNX falls 2-5 (76,000; down 24%), Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas rises 10-6 (nearly 76,000; up 36%), and Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 The Tortured Poets Department dips 3-7 (74,000; down 13%).
The Wicked film soundtrack falls 7-8 on the Billboard 200 with 71,000 equivalent album units earned (up 9%) and the festive compilation A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector climbs 16-9 with 70,000 units (up 60%).
Rounding out the top 10 is Frank Sinatra’s Ultimate Christmas, climbing 17-10 with 63,000 equivalent album units earned (up 55%). The title — which previously peaked at No. 12 and reaches the top 10 in its 52nd week on the chart, dating to its December 2017 debut — is the late legend’s first visit to the top 10 since August 2012, when his 2008 hits package Nothing Best the Best returned to the top 10 (re-entering at No. 3 on the Aug. 25, 2012-dated list after sale pricing and promotion). Nothing had previously debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the May 31, 2008-dated chart.
Ultimate Christmas becomes Sinatra’s 33rd top 10-charting effort, the most among solo males. The Rolling Stones have the most top 10s, with 38. They are followed by Barbra Streisand (with 34), Sinatra and The Beatles, whom he passes (32).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.