Chart Beat
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Jelly Roll’s “Save Me,” with Lainey Wilson, spends a second week at No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart (dated Dec. 16). The song drew 32.6 million audience impressions Dec. 1-7, according to Luminate.
The collab is the 18th to rise to No. 1 during 2023. That’s after 29 leaders in 2022, 32 in 2021, and 38 in 2020 – more than twice as many as this year.
Since Country Airplay launched in January 1990 (with Clint Black’s “Nobody’s Home,” the first No. 1), 934 songs have led, for an average of 27.5 No. 1s per year. 2016 housed the most, 40, while 2003 brought a yearly low of 18. Even if there’s a new No. 1 on each of the final two charts this year (dated Dec. 23 and 30), 2023 will sport the fewest since 2005, when 19 songs reigned.
(In 2003, one politically-themed hit, Daryl Worley’s “Have You Forgotten?,” commanded Country Airplay for seven weeks, while two superstar duets also logged long reigns: Toby Keith and Willie Nelson’s “Beer for My Horses,” for six weeks, and Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett’s “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” for eight.)
Notably, Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” amassed eight weeks at No. 1 beginning this May – and is Billboard’s top Country Airplay song of the year. Plus, in 2023, and for the first time in 13 years, six consecutive chart-toppers scored multi-week rules. The run started in February with Wallen’s “Thought You Should Know,” which led for three weeks, and continued with, in order, Luke Combs’ “Going, Going, Gone” (two), Bailey Zimmerman’s “Rock and a Hard Place” (six), Wallen’s “Last Night” (eight), Combs’ “Fast Car” (five) and Jelly Roll’s “Need a Favor” (four).
Notably, “Fast Car” did not start as a radio single. As Columbia Nashville vice president of promotion and artist development Lauren Thomas tells Billboard, “We declared ‘Love You Anyway’ as the [lead] single [from Combs’ LP Gettin’ Old] based on listener/fan voting, but the demand for ‘Fast Car’ quickly became undeniable.”
Ultimately, both songs reached No. 1 on Country Airplay, reflecting a mix of tried-and-true label planning and independent audience activity both influencing chart runs, as streaming continues to help labels identify potential singles.
“I think we have a couple things happening,” KBAY San Jose, Calif., program director Bo Matthews said when Billboard examined the increasing lack of turnover atop Country Airplay at midyear. “The pop music cycle is not strong currently, and clearly country music is the winner. Consumption is higher with country music, and programmers are being smart, playing what their listeners want and embracing new country stars. What a great time to be in country music. We have the rock stars right now.”
“Familiarity breeds comfort,” Charlie Cook, Cumulus Media vp of country, said earlier this year. “Okay, that’s a mashup of the saying, but that’s the case with today’s country music. I know that some acts and labels are eager to move on, but I doubt that Wallen, Combs and the writers of these longtime radio hits feel the same.”
Last week, Billboard kicked off its 2023 year-end Boxscore coverage. Beyoncé led reported tours, Taylor Swift is poised for a record-setting finish and BLACKPINK and Karol G are helping usher in a new generation of genre diverse headliners. Plus, Boxscore breaks down the highest-grossing venues in the world, split between four capacity categories, plus a chart for stadiums.
New York City is spotlighted atop two of these lists. Madison Square Garden reigns supreme amongst venues with a capacity of 15,001 or more (excluding stadiums), while Radio City Music Hall is tops for venues with a capacity of 5,001-10,000.
For Madison Square Garden, 2023 marks its 15th year at No. 1 in its capacity category, dating back to 1999. It’s been No. 1 for six of the last seven years, after dipping to No. 2 in 2021. And for the second consecutive year, it’s the highest-grossing venue, regardless or capacity or structure. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, MSG’s 116 shows grossed $223 million and sold 1.6 million tickets between Nov. 1, 2022 and Sept. 30, 2023.
For Radio City Music Hall, it’s back at No. 1 for the first time since 2020, after Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheater led in 2021-22. Over 231 shows in the tracking period, the theater earned $122 million from 1.2 million tickets.
Red Rocks remains the venue with the most tickets sold in the 5,001-10k category (1.4M), while London’s O2 Arena takes top honors for 15,001+ (2.4M).
In between, Dickies Arena (Fort Worth, Texas) completes a steady climb to its first year-end No. 1 in the 10,001-15,000 category. After opening in November 2019, the arena was No. 10 on the 2020 year-end recap, and No. 4 in 2021 and 2022. With $70.5 million, it narrowly takes the gold over Berlin’s Mercedes-Benz Arena ($69.3M), Austin’s Moody Center ($67.8M) and Glasgow’s OVO Hydro ($67.3M).
Even newer, Las Vegas’ Resorts World Theatre claims the top spot among venues with capacity of 5,000 or less. It opened in December 2021 and remains undefeated after crowning last year’s chart. Bolstered by residencies by Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Carrie Underwood, the theater hosted 90 shows and grossed $45.3 million.
Finally, the Top Stadiums chart is led by SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., outside Los Angeles. Like Dickies, it’s a relatively new building, after launching in September 2020. This year marks a return to the top, after leading in 2021 and sitting at No. 2 last year behind Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The venue reported 19 shows that collectively earned $175.1 million and sold more than 1 million tickets.
The numbers are in for the first leg of Madonna’s The Celebration Tour. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, the European leg grossed $77.5 million and sold 429,000 tickets.
In January, Madonna announced The Celebration Tour, slated to honor the biggest hits of her legendary career. After a medical emergency forced a postponement of the first batch of North American dates, she launched the trek on Oct. 14 at London’s O2 Arena.
Over four shows that week, Madonna earned $14.7 million and sold 60,000 tickets, only to return to the O2 for the leg’s final two shows on Dec. 5-6, which added another $7.5 million and 31,000 tickets. Since returning from the pandemic, only Elton John and Queen + Adam Lambert have amassed bigger totals at the O2, and they did it with nine and 10 shows, respectively. When Madonna last played the O2, it was just two nights in 2015, compared to this year’s six.
In between, Madonna stopped in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and more, for a total of 27 shows across 11 European markets. Four nights at Paris’ Accor Arena provided the tour’s other eight-figure gross, bringing in $10.7 million from 62,000 tickets on Nov. 12-13 and 19-20.
Madonna’s European totals average out to $2.9 million and 15,900 tickets per night on a $180.53 ticket. Compared to the theater-residency run of her last tour, the Madame X Tour (2019-20), she’s up by 312% in nightly earnings and by 518% in average attendance.
On more level footing with the European leg from the Rebel Heart Tour from 2015-16, Madonna’s last arena tour, her 2023 shows are still up – by 9% in attendance, sold out on every show, and by 70% in average gross, thanks in large part to bulked up ticket pricing.
Immediate demand for The Celebration Tour expanded Madonna’s initial routing of 12 shows in Europe to 27. Likewise, the first batch of 26 shows in the U.S. and Canada has swelled to 47. She kicks off the North American leg on Wednesday (Dec. 13) at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. After a handful of shows this month, she’s back for the rest in 2024, playing through April 15 in Austin, plus five shows from April 20-26 at Mexico City’s Foro Sol.
Looking at the relationship between Madonna’s European shows and stateside shows on the Rebel Heart Tour, Billboard expects the U.S. and Canadian leg to earn about $150 million from 650,000 tickets.
With the handful of Mexico shows to follow, the current routing for The Celebration Tour is headed toward a total haul of $240-245 million and 1.1-1.2 million tickets over 79 shows. That would situate it behind stadium runs on the Sticky & Sweet Tour (2008-09; $407.7 million) and The MDMA Tour (2012; $305.2 million), but ahead of arena treks the Confessions Tour (2006; $194.8 million) and the Rebel Heart Tour (2015-16; $169.8 million).
Miley Cyrus’ “Used To Be Young” ascends to No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Pop Airplay chart (dated Dec. 16). The ballad, on Columbia Records, becomes Cyrus’ second leader on the list, after “Flowers” dominated for 17 weeks beginning in March – the most among songs by women since the survey began in Billboard’s pages in […]
Last week, Billboard revealed its year-end Boxscore charts, ranking the top tours, venues, and promoters of 2023. That coverage included analysis of the new wave of genre diverse artists crashing stadium stages, and in turn, our charts. This week, we are breaking down the year’s biggest tours, genre by genre. Today, we continue with rock. […]
Tate McRae gets “Greedy” to No. 1 on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart.
The song becomes the first leader on the list (dated Dec. 16) for the Calgary, Alberta-born, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter, who reached a prior No. 2 best with her breakthrough hit, “You Broke Me First.,” in 2021.
(The Pop Airplay chart reflects plays on over 150 reporting mainstream top 40-formatted stations. Airplay is monitored by Mediabase and provided to Billboard by Luminate.)
“Greedy,” on RCA Records, has also become McRae’s first top 10 on the all-genre, multi-metric Billboard Hot 100, reaching a No. 7 high to date. It topped the Billboard Global 200 chart for two weeks and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. and the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 for one frame each.
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McRae wrote “Greedy” with Amy Allen, Jasper Harris and Ryan Tedder, and Harris and Tedder produced it. It’s Tedder’s sixth Pop Airplay No. 1 as a writer and producer and Harris’ second, and Allen’s third as a writer and McRae’s first.
Meanwhile, McRae bookends Pop Airplay as “Greedy” follow-up “Exes” debuts at No. 40. (McRae and Tedder are likewise two of its writers, while Tedder co-produced it.)
“Greedy” and “Exes” are from McRae’s second LP, Think Later, released today (Dec. 8). She recently performed “Greedy” in her first appearances on both NBC’s Saturday Night Live (Nov. 18) and the Billboard Music Awards (Nov. 19). In April 2024, she’s set to kick off her Think Later World Tour in Dublin.
“I think what defines a pop star is how iconic [they are],” McRae mused in her recent first Billboard cover story. “Madonna, Britney [Spears], Christina [Aguilera]; they would put on these shows and blow everybody away and make timeless art. And that’s what I want to do: make timeless art and timeless performances – and strive to keep on doing that.”
All charts dated Dec. 16 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, Dec. 12.
On Dec. 9, 1978, Charlie Rich and Janie Fricke’s “On My Knees” hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.
Rich solely authored the song — which Billy Sherrill produced — and he initially recorded it in 1976 as a solo track before it became a duet.
For Rich, originally from Forrest City, Ark., and nicknamed the Silver Fox thanks to his shiny mane, the single became the last of his nine chart-toppers. Fricke, from South Whitney, Ind., earned her first of eight leaders with the team-up.
Rich first led Hot Country Songs in 1973 with “Behind Closed Doors” and followed with “The Most Beautiful Girl,” the latter also a No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100. Both hits helped him earn the entertainer of the year award from the Country Music Association in 1974. He passed away in 1995 at age 62 and was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2015.
In 2008, Mark Chesnutt scored the most recent of his 32 top 40 Hot Country Songs hits with “Rollin’ With the Flow,” an update of Rich’s eighth No. 1, from 1977.
Fricke, 75, began as a background vocalist for the likes of John Conlee, Johnny Duncan and Crystal Gayle. She claimed the CMA’s female vocalist of the year trophy in 1982 and 1983. Still active as a touring artist, she has a round of dates scheduled to begin in April.
Notably, in 1984, Fricke appeared in the seventh and final season premiere of CBS’ The Dukes of Hazzard, in a flashback origin story in which she played a bank robber named Ginny whose getaway car would later become the famed General Lee. “That was really an exciting time for me,” she recalled in 2019. “I was doing a show with Merle Haggard in LA when the casting director came backstage and asked me if I wanted to be on the show. She said if I could sing, I could surely act. I was the only country singer to ever play an acting role on the show. Other stars like Dottie West, Oak Ridge Boys and Freddy Fender all got to perform songs on the show in the Boar’s Nest.
“When we filmed the episode,” Fricke further reminisced, “it took us 10 days to tape that one show and we had to wear the same outfit every day. It was really funny because even the chickens on the show had a manager and agent. Yes, animals have agents, too! Fans bring General Lee cars for me to sign all the time at shows and it just proves that people still love the down-home country lifestyle that all the Dukes lived.”
Record Store Day’s Black Friday festivities on Nov. 24 yielded big gains for vinyl album sales in the U.S., thanks to hot-selling titles by the likes of Linkin Park, Olivia Rodrigo, The Doors, U2 and Post Malone – all released exclusively for the indie store holiday.
According to Luminate, in the tracking week ending Nov. 30, the top five-selling Record Store Day (RSD) Black Friday album release were Linkin Park’s Lost Demos (on translucent sea blue vinyl), Rodrigo’s four-song Guts: The Secret Tracks (on opaque deep purple vinyl), The Doors’ Live in Bakersfield, California, August 21, 1970 (on double vinyl), U2’s U2 Live: Under a Blood Red Sky (on red vinyl, naturally) and Post Malone’s The Diamond Collection (on clear double vinyl). (See lists below, which are ranked by album sales generated in the week ending Nov. 30.)
The Doors’ Live in Bakersfield set was released on both vinyl and as a two-CD set, and their combined sales across the two configurations make the album the RSD Black Friday top-seller overall for the week.
Typically, many unique and limited-edition titles – both albums and singles – are released for RSD Black Friday celebrations, exclusively sold through independent and small chain music stores. Record Store Day traditionally has its main indie store holiday in the springtime (2023’s edition was held on April 22), followed by a secondary shindig for Black Friday.
In the week ending Nov. 30, U.S. vinyl album sales industry-wide (across all sellers of music, not just indie stores and small chains) grew 67% to 1.748 million sold (up from 1.046 million sold the previous week). Independent store vinyl album sales for the week jumped 149% to 829,000 (up from 333,000 the previous week). 47.4% of all vinyl albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 30 were purchased at independent and small chain music stores (829,000 of 1.748 million).
With 1.748 million vinyl albums sold industry-wide, that marks the fifth-largest week for vinyl album sales in the U.S. in the modern era, since Luminate began electronically tracking music sales in 1991. (It’s also the second-largest week of 2023 for vinyl album sales, following the week ending April 27, which captured Record Store Day 2023, with 1.809 million sold). The biggest week since 1991 for vinyl album sales was the week ending Dec. 22, 2022, when 2.232 million vinyl albums were sold.
Top-Selling Record Store Day Black Friday 2023 Exclusive Albums at Independent Record Stores in U.S. (By Configuration)Rank, Artist, Title1. Linkin Park, Lost Demos (translucent sea blue vinyl)2. Olivia Rodrigo, Guts: The Secret Tracks (opaque deep purple vinyl)3. The Doors, Live in Bakersfield, California, August 21, 1970 (double vinyl)4. U2, U2 Live: Under a Blood Red Sky (red vinyl)5. Post Malone, The Diamond Collection (clear double vinyl)6. Rilo Kiley, Under the Blacklight (translucent “blacklight” purple vinyl)7. Noah Kahan, Cape Elizabeth (color marbled vinyl)8. Grateful Dead, Filmore West 1969, March 2nd (five vinyl LP box set)9. Coheed and Cambria, Live at the Starland Ballroom (solar flare colored double vinyl)10. Gram Parsons and The Fallen Angels, The Last Roundup: Live From the Bijou Café in Philadelphia, 3/16/73 (double vinyl)11. Jerry Garcia & John Kahn, Pure Jerry: Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium San Rafael, California – February, 28, 1986 (double vinyl)12. Joni Mitchell, Court and Spark: Demos (vinyl)13. CZARFACE, CZARtificial Intelligence (translucent Czarbury orange vinyl)14. The Beach Boys, The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album (green vinyl)15. My Morning Jacket, Happy Holiday! (clear vinyl with “white snow splatters”)16. Faces, Had Me a Real Good Time: Live at the BBC, In Session & In Concert 1971-1973 (vinyl)17. Nas, I Am… The Autobiography (double vinyl)18. The English Beat, I Just Can’t Stop It (double vinyl)19. Willie Nelson, Shotgun Willie (double vinyl)20. Bill Evans / Chuck Israels / Larry Bunker, Tales: Live in Copenhagen (1964) (vinyl)21. Various Artists, Jazz Dispensary: At the Movies (purple marble vinyl)22. Kim Petras, Problematique (apple red vinyl)23. Jonas Brothers, The Family Business (clear double vinyl)24. Soundtrack, Asteroid City (orange double vinyl)25. The Flaming Lips, Live at the Paradise Lounge (pink vinyl)
Top-Selling Record Store Day Black Friday 2023 Exclusive Singles at Independent Record Stores in U.S.Rank, Artist, Title1. Prince and The N.P.G, Gett Off (12-inch vinyl)2. Billy Strings featuring Willie Nelson, California Sober (green 12-inch vinyl)3. Turnstile x BADBADNOTGOOD, Mystery / Alien Love Call, featuring Blood Orange / Underwater Boi (12-inch vinyl)4. Motley Crue, Too Young to Fall In Love (Remix) / Knock em’ Dead Kid / Too Fast for Love (orange/black 12-inch vinyl)5. Cypress Hill, Insane In the Brain (2023 Remix) / Hits From the Bong (2023 Remix) (12-inch vinyl)6. Phoenix, Winter Solstice / Winter Solstice (Braxe+Falcon Remix) (7-inch vinyl)7. Aimee Mann, Dead Eyes / Dead Eyes (demo) (7-inch vinyl)8. Jeff Beck, Midnight Walker Lament, featuring Imelda May / Elegy for Dunkirk (Live), featuring Olivia Safe / Goin’ Down (Live) (12-inch vinyl)9. The Hold Steady, The Death of the Punchline / Radar & Leda (random color 12-inch)10. Waterboys, This Is the Sea (Fast) / The Passenger (10-inch vinyl)
Source: Luminate, for the week ending Nov. 30, 2023.
Emilia and TINI’s “La_Original.Mp3” holds steady atop the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 chart for a fourth week at No. 1 on the chart dated Dec. 9. The song enters a tie with Bizarrap and Shakira’s “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” for the eighth-most weeks in charge in 2023. Singer-songwriter Abel Pintos nabs his first top […]
Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip. This week: Late rock legends Tom Petty and Shane McGowan see huge gains for a pair of late-’80s favorites, a turn-of-the-century U.K. pop smash gets some U.S. love for a cheeky film synch and much more.
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‘GTA’ Trailer Leads to ‘Long’ Season for Tom Petty on Streaming
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1989’s Full Moon Fever album was a career apex for Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Tom Petty. His first LP recorded without usual backing band the Heartbreakers, the set was certified 5x platinum by the RIAA in the U.S., and spawned the massive radio and MTV hits “Free Fallin’,” “I Won’t Back Down” and “Runnin’ Down a Dream.” But it’s one of the album’s deeper cuts that’s lighting up streaming services this week: the hi-octane synth-rocker “Love Is a Long Road.”
The song is taking off due to its use in the recently released trailer for the highly anticipated upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI, which set viewership records in its first 24 hours of release on YouTube. Though “Long Road” was only drawing between 4,000-5,000 daily official on-demand U.S. streams before over the weekend, that number was up to 78,000 on Monday (Dec. 4) – when the trailer first leaked on social media – and rocketed to 376,000 on Tuesday after the trailer’s proper release, according to preliminary numbers from Luminate: a gain of 8,421% from the prior Sunday. (The song also sold nearly 1,000 digital copies over those two days, after a negligible number the days before.)
Those numbers may only continue to increase as the GTA trailer spreads around the internet, possibly making “Long Road” a contender on some of Billboard’s rock charts next week. It wouldn’t be the first time the song made a chart impact – back in 1989, it made it to No. 7 on Mainstream Rock Airplay, despite never being released as an A-side in the U.S. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Fans Mourn the Late Shane MacGowan by Reliving a “Fairytale of New York”
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Last Thursday (Nov. 30), Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan died from pneumonia after a monthslong ICU stint earlier this year. In the days since his passing — which painfully coincided with the beginning of December, a.k.a. the height of Christmas music season – fans have rallied around the Pogues’ holiday-themed Kirsty MacColl duet “Fairytale of New York” to soundtrack their collective mourning.
On TikTok, the four official “Fairytale” sounds have a combined total of just over 10,000 posts, but that only tells half of the story. In the wake of MacGowan’s passing, several celebrity covers of the song have garnered renewed traction on TikTok – including clips of Ed Sheeran, Saoirse Ronan, and, of course, Travis Kelce, who recently earned his first Billboard chart-topper with “Fairytale of Philadelphia,” a spoof on the Pogues’ original featuring his brother Jason Kelce. The general Christmas spirit has also bolstered the song’s circulation on the app, and a microtrend of British creators highlighting the different regional uses of the F-slur between the U.S. and U.K. did the same.
According to Luminate, “Fairytale of New York” earned just under 400,000 on-demand U.S. streams the day MacGowan passed (Nov. 30), marking a 227.2% increase in streams from the day prior. During the first four days of this tracking week (Nov. 30-Dec. 3), “Fairytale” logged 1.19 million streams, a 146.1% increase from around 483,000 streams during the period of Nov. 26-29.
“Fairytale of New York” served as a single from the Pogues’ 1988 If I Should Fall From Grace With God album, which became their highest-peaking entry on the Billboard 200 (No. 88). Although none of their songs have entered the Billboard Hot 100, “Fairytale” — which is a certified Christmas classic in the U.K. — recently reached a new peak of No. 16 on Holiday Digital Song Sales (chart dated Dec. 9, 2023). Should streams continue to remain up, “Fairytale” might get within striking distance of becoming the Celtic band’s very first Hot 100 hit. – KYLE DENIS
Barry Keoghan’s Cheeky NSFW Saltburn Scene Revives a Sophie Ellis-Bextor Classic on Streaming
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Barry Keoghan’s lengthy full-frontal scene in Emerald Fennell’s much-discussed Saltburn has become an inescapable part of day-to-day social media discourse, but it’s not just the swoon-worthy actor people are fawning over. In the scene – which features the nude Oscar nominee dancing through a seemingly empty mansion – Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder on the Dancefloor” booms in the background, making it a prime selection for TikTok’s latest musical obsession.
On TikTok, the most popular “Murder on the Dancefloor” sound – which originated from a June post by a Sophie Ellis-Bextor fan-page – has garnered over 99,600 posts, with the official sounds boasting a combined 2,109 posts. The vast majority of recent “Murder on the Dancefloor” posts are split between users lauding the song’s greatness outside of Saltburn and users expressing admiration and shock for Keoghan’s daring performance. “Just found out in this scene of [Saltburn], Barry Keoghan didn’t use a prosthetic,” reads one cheeky caption, while another proclaims, “Barry Keoghan twirling around a mansion naked lives rent free in my head.”
According to Luminate, “Murder” earned over 670,000 on-demand U.S. streams during the period of Nov. 24-30. That marks an enormous 362.3% increase from just under 145,000 streams during the period of Nov. 17-23. From Dec. 1-4, “Murder” had already pulled 547,000 streams, signaling an even faster rate of growth than the week prior.
“Murder on the Dancefloor” may have never reached the Hot 100, but the track did top out at No. 9 on Dance Singles Sales back in 2002. The song fared much better in Ellis-Bextor’s home of the U.K., reaching No. 2 in late 2001. With Saltburn headed to on-demand streaming later this month, “Murder on the Dancefloor” has plenty of room to keep growing. – KD
‘Little Life,’ Big Streams: Cordelia Scores Celebratory TikTok Hit
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“I think I like this little life.” So goes a refrain that’s becoming increasingly popular on TikTok, with users soundtracking sentimental moments alongside friends, as well as glistening nature shots, with “Little Life” – the gentle and emotionally arresting song by independent singer-songwriter Cordelia. “Little Life” was released as the final song on Cordelia’s four-track Caramel EP in October, and since then, the song has steadily ballooned in weekly streams to become a potential breakthrough for the rising artist.
During the week ending Nov. 9, “Little Life” earned 2,500 U.S. on-demand streams, according to Luminate; that number grew by a factor of 100 (265,000 weekly streams) by the week ending Nov. 30, and looks to keep swelling in December, as the song earned 216,000 streams in the first three days of the month. For her part, Cordelia is reveling in the TikTok explosion: “People are using my song ‘Little Life’ to soundtrack their own wonderful little lives,” she wrote last month. “It’s TOO CUTE.” – Jason Lipshutz
Q&A: Alex Tear, VP music programming at SiriusXM + Pandora, on What’s Trending Up in His World
What’s the number one trend that you think we’ll remember when we look back at 2023 in popular music?
The art and controversy of the sped-up single peaking at a new high. Although sped-up versions have been present since the 2000s, 2023 feels to have been a breakthrough year with mass appeal acceptance, charting, radio airplay and totally normalized consumption.
What was the year’s most surprising trend to you?
Music’s reset to innovate and push boundaries again vs. being predictable and formulaic. The growing mass acceptance and appetite to blur genre lines and era boundaries has allowed artists to really shine with strong audience reaction. The resurgence of retro-inspired pop that embraces the sounds of previous decades has also been very welcomed.
The charts are currently being dominated by holiday music, but do you think there are any songs from late 2023 that will carry over as big hits in early 2024?
I feel there are several that will continue to melt the snow, from Tate McRae with her new album Think Later, to Jack Harlow to Dua Lipa, and let’s keep our eye on Noah Kahan. Noah’s creeping momentum is poised to roll into 2024 with a presence.
Fill in the blank: the major artist I’m hoping has a big 2024 is ______.
Teddy Swims and Tyla. These are two artists first embraced by SiriusXM + Pandora to amazing audience reaction. We’re excited to be a part of their rise and will continue spreading the word across North America as they become major artists. – J.L.