State Champ Radio Chart Beat
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Norah Jones’ Visions bows at No. 9 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated March 23) and at No. 1 on both the overall Jazz Albums and Contemporary Jazz Albums rankings. It’s the eighth top 10 on the Album Sales tally for Jones, and her fourth leader on both Jazz Albums and Contemporary Jazz Albums.
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Visions also enters at No. 40 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart, her first debut on the list since Dec. 2013, when Foreverly, her collaborative album with Billie Joe Armstrong, opened at No. 7 on its way to a No. 4 peak in Jan. 2014.
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Visions was preceded by the radio-promoted single “Running,” which has so-far peaked at No. 7 on the Adult Alternative Airplay chart – marking her eighth top 10 and highest-charting song on the list in over a decade, since “Happy Pills” hit No. 4 in 2012.
Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart: the latest releases from Ariana Grande, Judas Priest, xikers and Bleachers arrive.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
In the tracking week ending March 14 (which is reflected on the March 23-dated Top Album Sales chart), Visions sold 7,000 copies in the U.S., according to Luminate. Of that sum, physical sales comprise 5,500 (3,500 on CD and 2,000 on vinyl) and digital download sales comprise 1,500. The album was available in four vinyl variants (including exclusive iterations for Barnes & Noble, indie retailers and Spotify), a standard CD, a Target-exclusive CD (with a bonus track and a poster) and a signed CD (available in Jones’ webstore).
At No. 1 on Top Album Sales, Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine starts with 77,000 copies sold – earning Grande her sixth chart-topper. The set was available in a dozen physical configurations and two digital download offerings.
Veteran rock band Judas Priest starts at No. 2 with Invincible Shield (23,000 sold), scoring the group its third top 10-charting set on Top Album Sales. (The list began in 1991, well after Judas Priest began its overall Billboard chart career in 1978 on the Billboard 200 with Stained Class.) The new album’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across six vinyl variants, a standard CD and a Target-exclusive CD with a lenticular cover.
South Korean pop group xikers nabs its highest-charting effort on Top Album Sales, and second top 10-charting set, as House of Tricky: Trial and Error debuts at No. 3 with 12,500 copies sold (the act’s best sales week). The set’s sales were almost entirely from CDs, with a minimal number of sales from digital downloads. The album was issued in 10 collectible CD editions, all including branded paper merchandise (some randomized).
TWICE’s With YOU-th falls 1-4 in its third week on the chart, selling 10,500 copies (down 37%).
Bleachers’ new self-titled album opens at No. 5 with 9,500 copies sold. It’s the second top 10-charting effort the for the act, led by Jack Antonoff. The album was available in a standard 14-track edition on digital download, CD and cassette. It was also available on 10 vinyl editions, all boasting bonus tracks and most pressed on colored vinyl.
Rounding out the rest of the top 10 on the new Top Album Sales chart: Taylor Swift’s chart-topping 1989 (Taylor’s Version) falls 3-6 (9,000; up 2%), Swift’s former leader Lover is steady at No. 7 (8,000; up 8%), LE SSERAFIM’s Easy falls 2-8 (7,000; down 30%) and Swift’s chart-topping Folklore dips 8-10 (6,000; up 4%).
In the week ending March 14, there were 1.196 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 3.7% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 909,000 (up 7%) and digital albums comprised 287,000 (down 5.5%).
There were 474,000 CD albums sold in the week ending March 14 (up 7.3% week-over-week) and 430,000 vinyl albums sold (up 6.7%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 4.792 million (down 30.8% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 5.031 million (down 48%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 13.132 million (down 36.3% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 9.872 million (down 40.9%) and digital album sales total 3.260 million (down 16.5%).
Ariana Grande is having a massive week on Billboard’s charts. Along with claiming the No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, the No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 and reigning as the No. 1 act on the Billboard Artist 100, she also rules the Hot 100 Songwriters and Hot 100 Producers charts for the first time.
As such, Grande becomes just the fourth artist to top all five of those surveys simultaneously, a feat achieved just 10 times since Billboard launched the songwriter and producer charts in 2019. Here’s a look at every such week.
Chart Date, Artist, Billboard 200 No. 1 album, Hot 100 No. 1 songMarch 23, 2024: Ariana Grande, Eternal Sunshine, “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)”Nov. 18, 2023: Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), “Cruel Summer”Nov. 11, 2023: Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), “Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version) [From the Vault]”Sept. 9, 2023: Zach Bryan, Zach Bryan, “I Remember Everything” ft. Kacey MusgravesDec. 3, 2022: Taylor Swift, Midnights, “Anti-Hero”Nov. 26, 2022: Taylor Swift, Midnights, “Anti-Hero”Nov. 12, 2022: Taylor Swift, Midnights, “Anti-Hero”Nov. 5, 2022: Taylor Swift, Midnights, “Anti-Hero”Nov. 27, 2021: Taylor Swift, Red (Taylor’s Version), “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)”April 4, 2020: The Weeknd, After Hours, “Blinding Lights”
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Taylor Swift has led all five charts simultaneously a record seven times, and via three albums: Red (Taylor’s Version), Midnights and 1989 (Taylor’s Version). The Weeknd and Zach Bryan have both achieved the feat once, thanks to their LPs After Hours and Zach Bryan, respectively.
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Grande tops the latest Hot 100 Songwriters and Hot 100 Producers charts thanks to her credits on all 12 of her charting songs on the Hot 100, all from Eternal Sunshine. Notably, she’s the only co-songwriter and co-producer on all 12 songs. Here’s a recap.
Rank, TitleNo. 1, “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)”No. 10, “Yes, And?” (up from No. 31; debuted at No. 1 on Jan. 27)No. 16, “The Boy Is Mine”No. 17, “Supernatural”No. 23, “Eternal Sunshine”No. 25, “Bye”No. 28, “Don’t Wanna Break Up Again”No. 30, “True Story”No. 37, “Imperfect for You”No. 38, “Intro (End of the World)”No. 39, “I Wish I Hated You”No. 55, “Ordinary Things,” feat. Nonna
Eternal Sunshine is Grande’s first album cycle in which she’s credited as a co-producer. She logged her first career Hot 100 entry as a credited producer on “Yes, And?,” with Max Martin and ILYA. Of the 12 charting songs from the set, Martin is a co-producer on all but “Intro (End of the World)” and “I Wish I Hated You.” ILYA co-produced all except “Intro,” “Supernatural” and “Ordinary Things.” Martin and ILYA rank at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, on Hot 100 Producers.
Martin has an unprecedented history on Billboard’s charts, having produced a record 25 No. 1 songs on the Hot 100. He tallied his record-breaking 24th leader in January with “Yes, And?” (passing late Beatles mastermind George Martin). He tallies his 25th with “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love).”
As for ILYA, 26 of Grande’s Hot 100-charting entries have been produced or co-produced by the hitmaker, including her two most recent No. 1s, as well as her first top five hit, “Problem,” featuring Iggy Azalea, in 2014. He also co-produced Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ 2022 No. 1 “Unholy,” along with songs by Justin Bieber, Jonas Brothers, Lizzo and Normani.
Billboard’s weekly Hot 100 Songwriters and Hot 100 Producers charts are based on total points accrued by a songwriter and producer, respectively, for each attributed song that appears on the Hot 100. As with Billboard’s yearly recaps, multiple writers or producers split points for each song equally (and the dividing of points will lead to occasional ties on rankings). Billboard launched its Hot 100 Songwriters and Hot 100 Producers charts, as well as genre-specific rankings for country, rock & alternative, R&B/hip-hop, R&B, rap, Latin, Christian, gospel and dance/electronic in June 2019. Alternative and hard rock joined in 2020, along with seasonal holiday rankings in 2022.
Judas Priest lands its third No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Hard Rock Albums chart, as Invincible Shield starts atop the ranking dated March 23. Invincible Shield bows with 25,000 equivalent album units earned March 8-14 in the U.S., according to Luminate. Of that sum, 23,000 units are via album sales. It’s the first new No. […]
Ariana Grande snags the biggest streaming debut of 2024 with “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love),” which opened at No. 1 on Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart dated March 23.
“We Can’t Be Friends” earned 32.6 million official U.S. streams in its first week (March 8-14), according to Luminate.
It exceeds the 29.2 million streams accumulated by Megan Thee Stallion’s “Hiss” in its first week (Feb. 10) to become the biggest debut week for a song in 2024. And it’s the biggest bow of any song since three songs from Drake’s 2023 album For All the Dogs started on the Oct. 21, 2023, survey: “First Person Shooter,” featuring J. Cole (42.2 million), “IDGAF,” featuring Yeat (40.8 million) and “Virginia Beach” (34.5 million).
The song also sports the second-biggest week for any non-holiday song this year, second only to “Carnival” by Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) and Ty Dolla $ign. The Rich the Kid– and Playboi Carti-featuring song racked up 33.7 million streams toward the March 16 list, its fourth week on the tally and third at No. 1.
“We Can’t Be Friends” and “Carnival” are the only non-holiday songs to boast more than 30 million streams in a given week this year.
It’s Grande’s sixth No. 1 on Streaming Songs, a chart that began in 2013. That ties her with Justin Bieber for the third-most rulers in the list’s history; Drake leads all acts with 20 reigns.
Most No. 1s, Streaming Songs20, Drake8, Taylor Swift6, Ariana Grande6, Justin Bieber5, Travis Scott4, Beyonce4, Cardi B4, Kanye West4, Lil Baby4, Megan Thee Stallion
She first crowned the ranking with “Thank U, Next,” a seven-week leader beginning in November 2018. Prior to “We Can’t Be Friends,” she had last led via “Yes, And?,” for a week this January.
Both “We Can’t Be Friends” and “Yes, And?” are songs from Eternal Sunshine, Grande’s seventh studio album, which concurrently debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 227,000 equivalent album units earned, as previously reported. All 12 chart-eligible songs from the LP appear on Streaming Songs, including four of the top 10; the No. 1 track is followed by “The Boy Is Mine” (No. 7, 17.6 million streams), “Yes, And?” (No. 8, 17.3 million streams) and “Supernatural” (No. 9, 16.4 million streams).
As previously reported, “We Can’t Be Friends” also starts at No. 1 on the multi-metric Billboard Hot 100.
Intocable returns to No. 1 on Billboard’s Regional Mexican Airplay chart as its latest single, “Ojalá Estuvieras Aquí,” climbs 6-1 on the March 23-dated list.
“We are incredibly grateful to our fans for their support and to Billboard for recognizing our music once again,” Ricardo Muñoz, lead singer of Intocable, tells Billboard.
“Ojalá Estuvieras Aquí,” released on Good Music I, takes the Greatest Gainer award on Regional Mexican Airplay, a weekly honor for the song with the largest increase in audience impressions. The song leads thanks to a robust 67% gain in audience impressions, to 8 million, earned in the U.S. during the March 8-14 tracking week, according to Luminate.
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“Ojalá” is the first single of the Texas group’s 16-track album, Modus Operandi, released Feb. 8. The song was written by Pablo Preciado (Matisse) and marks the return of the imprint sound of Intocable.
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With the new No. 1, Intocable captures its 19th champ on Regional Mexican Airplay and ties with Banda MS de Sergio Lizarraga for the second-most rulers among all acts since the chart’s inception in 1994. The two acts trail only Calibre 50, who continues at the helm with 24 No. 1s on its chart account.
“Having our 19th song hit No. 1 is unbelievable,” Muñoz adds. “It’s a huge honor, and we feel lucky and humbled. ‘Ojalá Estuvieras Aquí’ is a song that holds a special place in our hearts, and we are thrilled to see it connect with audiences in such a meaningful way.”
As Intocable bags a new ruler, here’s a refreshed rundown of the artists with the most No. 1s on Regional Mexican Airplay:
24, Calibre 50
19, Banda MS de Sergio Lizarraga
19, Intocable
18, Banda El Recodo de Cruz Lizarraga
17, La Arrolladora Banda el Limon de Rene Camacho
16, Conjunto Primavera
16, Los Tigres del Norte
As “Ojalá” takes Intocable to No. 1, it sends El Fantasma’s “El Exitoso” to No. 3, after one week in charge, with a 20% dip in impressions, to 6.65 million.
“Ojalá” dominates Regional Mexican Airplay a year and two months after Intocable last took over the Mexican radio ranking, when “Un Poquito Tuyo” advanced from the runner-up slot to lead the Jan. 14, 2023-dated list. In between, two songs reached a double No. 3 high: “No Se Vuelve a Repetir” (September 2023) and “Obsesión” (December 2023).
Further, “Ojalá” surges 21-2 on the overall Latin Airplay chart, the biggest ascension in 2024 thus far. It concurrently bests Intocable’s lasts three top 10s there and marks the group’s highest appearance since “Te Amo (Para Siempre)” landed at the summit, for one week in charge, in 2013.
The new No. 1 achievement on Regional Mexican Airplay lands as Intocable commemorates its 30-year career anniversary.
Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up column, 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: Sexyy Red is once again the “Get-It” girl for the early year, while a risng Justin Timberlake tide lifts all *NSYNC and a Milwaukee rap phenom scores his first viral TikTok hit.
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Sexyy Red Continues to ‘Get It’ Into 2024
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There was little question that Sexyy Red was one of the breakout rappers of 2023, with her “Pound Town,” “SkeeYee” and “Lookin’ for the Hoes” all proving viral sensations and her Hood’s Hottest Princess album demonstrating that she could keep up that single-level excitement for a full LP. But for all her success last year, Sexyy still hasn’t reached the top half of the Hot 100 with any of her own singles; her lone appearance in that region of the chart to date has come with her appearance (along with SZA) on Drake’s “Rich Baby Daddy,” a No. 11-peaking hit that spent 22 weeks on the listing before finally falling off this week.
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That might change next week with the debut of Sexyy Red’s new single, “Get It Sexyy,” released through Open Shift/gamma. The song, another collab with “Pound Town” producer Tay Keith, had been teased extensively on TikTok before its release on Friday (March 15), and also benefitted from the rapper’s internet-conquering performance at Rolling Loud over the weekend. With its riotous beat and shout-along hook, the song immediately took off on streaming, even rising to the No. 1 spot on Apple Music’s realtime chart on Saturday. The song racked up 8.4 million official on-demand U.S. streams in its first four days of release (March 15-18), according to Luminate, while climbing in streams from Sunday to Monday, implying that it may still only be gathering steam as a hit.
The song will likely make its debut on next week’s Hot 100 (dated March 30), and seems all but certain to pass the No. 62-peaking “SkeeYee” for the rapper’s biggest hit on the chart date — suggesting that even after her impressive 2023, things are only going to get Sexyy-er in hip-hop in 2024. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
*NSYNC’s Surprise Reunion (And New Song) Boost Boy Band’s Back Catalog
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If “Better Place,” last year’s *NSYNC single for the Trolls Band Together soundtrack, was a delightful new treat after more than two decades without any music from the best-selling boy band, fans of the quintet are downright feasting this week. Not only do *NSYNC diehards have a sprawling new album from Justin Timberlake, Everything I Thought It Was, but that 77-minute opus also includes another new *NSYNC track, the heartfelt ballad “Paradise.” Plus, Timberlake brought out JC Chasez, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick at his pre-release Los Angeles show last Wednesday night (Mar. 13), for a surprise mini-set of *NSYNC hits like “Girlfriend” and “It’s Gonna Be Me.”
Naturally, the combination of the new track on Timberlake’s album and unexpected reunion gave *NSYNC’s full discography a healthy boost on streaming services last week. In the three days following the Los Angeles performance (Mar. 14-16), *NSYNC’s catalog earned 3.9 million on-demand U.S. streams — a figure that’s nearly 25% higher than the same period during the prior three days (3.1 million streams from Mar. 11-13), according to Luminate. No word on *NSYNC’s future from here, but with Timberlake beginning a world tour next month, let’s hope the boy band makes a few more appearances together before saying “Bye Bye Bye” for a while. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Milwaukee Rapper J.P. Puts on for the Midwest With Viral Hit “Bad Bitty”
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Milwaukee has something to say. As hip-hop continues its love fest with the danceable bounce of Jersey club and later iterations of New York drill, Milwaukee rapper J.P. is injecting some Midwest flair into the conversation. His breakout single, “Bad Bitty,” collected 1.2 million official on-demand U.S. streams during the period of March 8-14, according to Luminate. That’s a whopping 170% increase in streaming activity from the 440,000 streams the song earned three weeks earlier, during the period of Feb. 16-22. “Bad Bitty” has increased in streams every week for the past three weeks, jumping nearly 75% between Feb. 16-22 and Feb. 23-29, and increasing a further 38% between March 8-14 and March 1-7.
The Milwaukee rapper’s song has been exploding on TikTok for the past two weeks thanks to an aggressive campaign from the artist that includes intense fan engagement, simple head-bobbing choreography, and a meme involving the “noooo” ad-libs in the song’s chorus. In an interview with DJ Jerry, JP explained that he laid the foundation for “Bad Bitty” by beating the algorithm at its own game. As fellow Milwaukee emcee 414BigFrank scored his own viral hit with “Eat Her Up,” J.P. would make videos to that song while slowly trickling in videos featuring snippets of the then-unreleased “Bad Bitty.” Eventually, TikTok users flooded his comment section begging him to drop the full song, resulting in the track’s Feb. 9 street date.
To further stoke the flames of virality, J.P.’s sexuality also became a hot topic on TikTok following a resurfaced picture of what appears to be him cozied up in matching pajamas with another man. Unsurprisingly, in typical Gen Z fashion, a majority of users could not care less and J.P.’s sexuality, taking the time to make separate TikTok posts pledging their allegiance to the rapper. Furthermore, J.P. himself commented on the situation during a TikTok live, saying, “I don’t like n—as, I just tapped that n—a.” The “controversy” has proven to be nothing but good press for both J.P. and “Bad Bitty,” underscoring a changing tide in younger generation’s attitude towards male rappers exploring their sexuality — and racking up a viral hit in the process. – KYLE DENIS
The challenger defeats the champion on Billboard’s Hot R&B Songs chart this week as rookie singer 4Batz’s “Act II: Date @ 8,” now featuring Drake, rockets 7-1 to crown the list dated March 23. The buzzy single’s rise comes after the release of a remix, which added the heavyweight, on March 8. In taking the summit, the new leader ends a historic run for SZA, who had reigned atop the chart for the last 53 weeks through four songs – “Kill Bill,” “Snooze,” a featured turn on Drake’s “Slime You Out” and “Saturn.”
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“Act II: Date @ 8” debuted on the chart dated Jan. 6 and spent its first 11 weeks on the list (including nine in the top 10) billed solely to 4Batz. With the majority of the song’s activity in the latest tracking week coming from the Drake-assisted remix, the song’s chart listing undergoes two key changes: The artist billing switches to “4Batz featuring Drake” and the servicing label, previously just 4Batz, is updated to 4Batz/OVO Sound. From a business perspective, 4Batz and Drake will be partners again soon, as Billboard reported the budding singer signed with OVO Sound — which Drake co-founded — for a one-EP deal.
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In the tracking week of March 8-14 for the multimetric Hot R&B Songs chart — which combines streaming, radio airplay and sales data — “Act II: Date @ 8” generated 19.9 million official U.S. streams, according to Luminate, a 187% burst from the week prior. The nearly tripled improvement shoots the track 6-1 on the R&B Streaming Songs chart, where it becomes 4Batz’s first champ on the list and Drake’s ninth. It also nabs the week’s Greatest Gainer honor, as the song with the largest streaming increase.
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“Act II: Date @ 8” sold 1,000 digital downloads in the same period, sparking a No. 5 debut on R&B Digital Song Sales. The track also registered 8.4 million audience impressions, helped by gains on multiple radio charts: It climbs 19-16 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay (up 21% in plays during the tracking week) and 28-24 on Rhythmic Airplay (a 33% increase).
Elsewhere, “Act II: Date @ 8” powers 26-3 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, where it captures both the Sales Gainer and Streaming Gainer honors, and 61-7 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, with the Streaming Gainer prize to boot.
Though “Act II: Date @ 8” gets most of the shine, two other 4Batz installments also occupy spots on the Hot R&B Songs chart: “Act I: Stickerz 99” rebounds 24-19 in its seventh week on the list, while “Act III: On God (She Like)” slips 10-11 in its second frame.
The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming Billboard 200 dated Mar. 30), Kacey Musgraves and Justin Timberlake both have much-anticipated new albums – but will they be well-received enough to take down Ariana Grande’s 2024 pace-setting set?
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Ariana Grande, Eternal Sunshine (Republic): In its debut week, Ariana Grande’s seventh studio album moved an impressive 227,000 units in the U.S. March 8-14, according to Luminate. That’s not just up more than 50,000 units from Grande’s most recent first-week performance (for 2020’s Positions), but nearly 70,000 units higher than the previous best single-week performance of 2024 (the 149,000 posted by Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures 1 in its first frame). Needless to say, it landed at No. 1 last week by a decisive margin, and may not be moved from the top spot all that easily in its second week.
In its second week, Eternal Sunshine will undoubtedly see a heavy drop-off in sales – it sold 77,000 copies in its first week – but its streaming activity should be considerable. As of Tuesday (Mar. 19), the album still had six songs in Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA’s top 40 and four in the Apple Music real-time top 40, led on both by “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love),” which bowed atop the Billboard Hot 100 and will remain one of the top-streamed songs in the country this week. It should be enough to ensure that a new album will need to post first-week units in the high five digits to unseat it at No. 1 next week.
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Kacey Musgraves, Deeper Well (Interscope/MCA Nashville): Despite being one of the most acclaimed artists in country music for over a decade – and now an arena-touring, album of the year Grammy-winning crossover star as well – Kacey Musgraves has still yet to score a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200. Each of her four non-holiday studio albums has reached the chart’s top five, with her 2013 debut set Same Trailer, Different Park even getting to the runner-up spot. But she’s never quite gotten over the top – with her most recent charting effort, 2021’s lukewarmly received Star-Crossed, only making it to No. 3.
Musgraves no doubt hopes that the fifth time is the charm with the release last Friday (Mar. 15) of her new set, Deeper Well, which pulls back a little on the multi-media (and multi-genre) ambitions of Star-Crossed for a lower-key, more gently introspective singer-songwriter vibe. The album should stream respectably – though not quite as well as Eternal Sunshine, even in that album’s second week – and should sell well, with nine vinyl variants of the LP currently available, including eight different-colored versions and exclusive variants for Target, Walmart, Spotify and Amazon, as well as four different CD versions, three different digital editions and a cassette.
Justin Timberlake, Everything I Thought It Was (RCA): Unlike Musgraves, Justin Timberlake has visited the Billboard 200’s top spot – four times in a row, in fact – most recently with 2018’s Man of the Woods. It’s been over 20 years since Timberlake released an album that didn’t reach No. 1: his 2002 solo debut set Justified, which got stuck at No. 2 behind the Eminem-led 8 Mile soundtrack. However, JT’s No. 1 streak is at risk of coming to an end with his latest LP, the Friday-released Everything I Thought It Was.
The album should sell fairly well, helped by four different vinyl LPs (including exclusives for Target, Amazon and his webstore) and three different CD box sets (each with a specific branded T-shirt) — as well as by a fairly successful lead single in the radio hit “Selfish,” which debuted at No. 19 on the Hot 100 and is still in the top 40 six weeks later. But the album’s streaming presence should be fairly minimal, even with an extensive 18-track runtime. Not one of the set’s cuts appeared in either the 200-spot Spotify Daily Top Songs USA or iTunes real-time charts in the day following its release – which may leave Timberlake looking up at Grande and Musgraves on the Billboard 200 next week.
IN THE MIX
Bossman Dlow, Mr Beat the Road (Alamo/Sony Music): Bossman Dlow has become one of the breakout rappers of early 2024, largely thanks to his viral hit “Get in With Me,” which has crossed over from TikTok to the top half of the Hot 100. That song can be found on the rapper’s new 22-track set Mr Beat the Road, along with still-growing streaming fixtures “Mr. Pot Scraper” and “Piss Me Off,” though whether Bossman can carry over the level of interest in his hits to a full album remains to be seen.
Black Crowes, Happiness Bastards (Silver Arrow): The Brothers Robinson are back together again as co-pilots of Southern Rock staples the Black Crowes on new album Happiness Bastards, the duo’s first together in over a decade. It’s been three decades since the bros’ early-’90s commercial peak, but modern-day country gold-spinner Jay Joyce is behind the boards for the new set — which is available in three vinyl variants, as well as on standard and indie-exclusive CD.
Muni Long’s viral hit “Made for Me” solidifies its status as a radio winner by crowning Billboard’s Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart dated March 23. The song moves from No. 3 after a 20% surge in plays that made it the most-played song on U.S. monitored R&B/hip-hop radio stations in the tracking week of March 8-14, […]
2023 was a banner year for live events, with grosses from the top 100 tours up 53% from 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. But beyond these record-breaking earnings, concerts also affect artists’ recorded music consumption, spurring local boosts as they tour the country.
Luminate and Billboard collaborated to dig deeper into touring’s effect on streaming totals. Examining a sample of nearly 1,000 shows from 50 of 2023’s top-grossing acts, the analysis found that the median concert yielded a 42% increase in local on-demand audio streams during the week of each event as compared to the eight weeks prior.
Of course, the size of the bump varies by artist. There’s a spectrum of effects, from Odesza doubling its local consumption after an average concert (+143%) to Blake Shelton‘s bump coming in slightly below the overall median (+32%).
But one of the defining factors in how big of a local streaming bump an artist receives is genre. Fan bases across pop, rock, country and beyond boast their own demographic and geographic characteristics, and as a result, their consumption habits vary widely.
Some of the biggest boosts in local consumption are reserved for the dance/electronic acts included in this analysis. The genre’s live footprint is often tied to festivals or nightclubs, meaning few of its marquee acts tour in the traditional sense. When they do play ticketed headline shows, in many cases those concerts amount to mini residencies in particular pockets of the country.
Pretty Lights exemplifies this phenomenon. When the producer played three shows in two Colorado markets — plus three each in Atlanta and Philadelphia — last year, his local streams averaged a 132% bump. And shows played by LCD Soundsystem during the group’s 20-date residency at New York City’s Brooklyn Steel translated to a 125% jump in its New York-area streams, which sustained throughout the residency’s duration.
K-pop acts function in a similar way. In the United States, K-pop is a relatively young genre that has firmly established itself in only a handful of markets. SUGA and TOMORROW X TOGETHER each played a small number of American cities on tour in 2023, with both hitting New York and Los Angeles as well as cities like Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Similar to dance acts, SUGA and TOMORROW X TOGETHER enjoyed local weekly streaming gains of 133% and 129%, respectively — roughly three times higher than the average touring artist.
In stark contrast, R&B/hip-hop acts see comparatively small upticks in their local streaming activity after concerts. For much of the last decade, R&B/hip-hop has been the most popular genre in America, and its rise coincided with the dawn of the streaming era. For these artists, sky-high streaming activity tends to be a baseline, so adding a concert to the mix doesn’t yield the same growth rates.
Still, tours by Drake, 50 Cent and J.I.D. & SMINO generated local weekly boosts of 28%-34% — far less than K-pop or dance/electronic artists and below the 42% average, but a material increase across lengthy national tours nonetheless.
Local streaming increases for the country genre also tend to be slightly below average, with the size of the increases often dependent upon how long the acts have been around. Little Big Town and Blake Shelton, both of which began their careers in the early 2000s, post typical post-show gains of 36% and 32%, respectively. Jelly Roll and Morgan Wallen, both of whom scored the biggest hits of their careers last year, sit lower at 18%.
Jelly Roll and Wallen have led a new class of crossover country stars who have enjoyed more success on the Billboard Hot 100 and Streaming Songs charts than the genre has seen in years. Much of that success is owed to a more focused digital footprint, with robust activity across social media and streaming platforms compared to acts like Shelton and Little Big Town, who rose to fame in the CD era. That positions them closer to hip-hop acts who boast higher consumption figures on streaming platforms than older artists, therefore giving them less room to grow.
Of course, many artists cross genre lines or operate within sub-genres or different sects of genres, blurring its effects. The Jonas Brothers, a pop band that blossomed in the 2000s and reunited five years ago, typically see massive local streaming increases, with the group averaging a 129% boost following last year’s shows. RBD, a Latin pop vocal group with a similar timeline as the JoBros, demonstrated even bigger local streaming gains, which were up an average of 285% following dates on the band’s reunion tour last year. This pattern continues with tours by Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block (172%), suggesting that classic pop acts are perhaps the biggest benefactors in terms of streaming numbers when they go on tour.
Speaking of reunions, last year also marked the 20th anniversary of landmark records by Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service, both of which are the brainchildren of indie-rock stalwart Ben Gibbard. Both acts, fronted by Gibbard, returned to the stage in 2023 to co-headline the Give Up & Transatlanticism 20th Anniversary Tour. During that run, their local streams bloomed by 195% — a number outdone only by RBD among the 50 artists in the analysis.
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