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It’s no secret that Taylor Swift and Beyoncé staged the two biggest tours of 2023, with Swift even continuing the Eras Era throughout 2024. But not only did both artists earn record-breaking grosses and affect local economies with their treks, the stage shows also juiced each artist’s recorded music consumption.
Luminate and Billboard partnered to dig deeper into the connection between touring and streaming, capping a colossal year of headline tours. Beyoncé and Swift proved perfect examples of artists’ abilities to capitalize on their concert calendar to not only score a local bump in each city but sustain long-term national interest throughout the duration of their tours and beyond.
Both Beyoncé and Swift saw expected bumps to their consumption totals upon their respective tour kick-offs. When The Eras Tour launched, Swift’s U.S. on-demand audio streaming count increased by 59% in the week ending March 23, according to Luminate. For Beyoncé, the effects were teased out, as the tour’s first leg in Europe allowed domestic streaming to build slowly before her North American arrival. By the end of their U.S. runs, streams were up – from the week before each tour began through the release of each artist’s concert film – by 106% and 34%, respectively.
Initially, these bumps could be explained by the analysis of touring’s local short-term impact on consumption. In each city that Beyoncé and Swift played, market-level streams immediately grew by 89% and 95%, respectively, on average. But as their tours continued, isolated regional bumps compounded on one another, with particular narratives and trends aggregating to a mountain of consumption at the national level.
The mere announcement (Feb. 1, 2023) of Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour – coupled with the 65th Annual Grammy awards, where she did not perform but accepted two record-breaking trophies – spurred three weeks of gains, as the tour’s on-sale kept excitement alive. The beginning of Beyoncé’s domestic dates naturally fueled consumption in dramatic fashion with six consecutive weeks of increases (July 7 – Aug. 17).
Beyoncé stretched out her summer streaming bump with intention, focusing on individual moments of choreography and arrangements within the setlist. For “Energy,” a deep cut from Renaissance, she made a meal out of the lyric, “Look around, everybody on mute.” She took it literally, pausing the song and freezing alongside her dancers and band, teasing the audience before resuming, “Look around, it’s me and my crew/ Big energy.”
The Mute Challenge soon became an integral part of the show. By the time “Energy” hit its own streaming peak of 1.7 million clicks (week ending Sept. 7), it had nearly tripled its consumption from before the tour.
When Beyoncé performed “My Power,” a non-single from The Lion King: The Gift, she was joined by daughter Blue Ivy Carter on stage. Their much-memed and much-imitated dance routine entered the cannon of iconic Beyoncé choreography, with fans tracking Blue’s progress throughout the tour. The track posted explosive streaming gains over several months, ultimately up 449% by its peak (the week ending Aug. 17) from before the tour’s launch (the week ending May 4).
Spotlights for under-the-radar tracks like “Energy” and “My Power” yielded organic, drawn-out increases in consumption that snowballed alongside a parade of guest stars, controversy over the Queens Remix of “Break My Soul,” and a constant influx of social media content showcasing Beyoncé’s rotating wardrobe from local designers.
Swift’s catalog soared as soon as her tour began on March 17. Even before the July 7 release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), which warped her streams beyond the impact of The Eras Tour, consumption had almost doubled, at 372.9 million clicks in the week ending June 1. After the new release receded, her catalog maintained, at 391.4 million by the U.S. leg’s end in the week ending Aug. 10.
Like Beyoncé, Swift found songs within her ever-expanding catalog to highlight, particularly those that weren’t already world-conquering hits. Even with a nightly setlist of more than 40 songs, she left room each night to perform two rotating “surprise songs.” On average, the surprise songs got a 27% bump the week of their performance. Removing performances of songs from Speak Now after the release of the Taylor’s Version set, more affected by new-release streaming patterns than the typical tour impact, the average gain bumps to 31%.
After the exposure and subsequent streaming increase, the typical next-week drop was just 5%, indicating that inclusion in the surprise-song section encouraged sustained streaming action.
Within the show’s routine set pieces, Swift turned a fan-favorite into a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit. Lover’s “Cruel Summer,” from 2019, was the first properly performed song each night at The Eras Tour, helping to reignite Swifties’ passion for the album cut. Without an official music video or announcement, even as Swift launched the 2022 Midnights track “Karma” as a single with its Ice Spice remix, “Cruel Summer” showed unstoppable growth from the tour’s launch. Steady between 1.9-2.1 million streams in the early months of 2023, the song ballooned to 16.7 million by the final U.S. show (in the week ending Aug. 10).
The prolonged championing of “Cruel Summer” and the one-after-another success of Swift’s surprise songs underlined The Eras Tour’s ability to transform her from superstar to stratosphere. Her relationships, philanthropy and seemingly every move during the tour continued to fuel her consumption, consistently more than double the streams she drew from earlier that year.
Both Beyoncé and Swift extended their good fortunes with the release of record-breaking concert films, each delivering profits for distributor AMC and more consumption boosts for their catalogs. The seeds they planted with “Energy, “Cruel Summer” and more took full bloom, even inside movie theaters, with audiences singing and dancing along — except when they had to be on mute.
Months after each tour wrapped in the U.S., Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé scored the pop-dance-R&B(-country) chameleon a streaming increase of 54% the week of its Dec. 1 release, while Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour earned its once-country-now-pop star a 20% boost upon its Oct. 13 release.
Beyoncé and Swift are, of course, enormous stars that were likely to attract some amount of attention for going on tour even if they didn’t plan and work for these kinds of long-term rewards. But this kind of long-term, national growth isn’t only reserved for top-of-the-line megastars, as Maluma, ODESZA and Weezer experienced similar touring impact last year.
Both five years removed from their last stadium tours, Beyoncé and Swift designed their shows for maximum impact and staged campaigns that turned each trek into an era of its own.
Click here for more on the symbiotic relationship between touring and streaming.
Ariana Grande is the top musical act in the U.S., as she returns to No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated March 23) for a 16th total week on top, thanks most prominently to her new album, Eternal Sunshine.
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The Artist 100 measures artists’ activity across key metrics of music consumption: streaming, radio airplay, album sales and track sales. Using a methodology comprising those metrics, the chart provides a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.
Eternal Sunshine arrives at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, as Grande’s sixth leader, with 227,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in its opening week (March 8-14), according to Luminate. The set scores the biggest weekly sum of 2024. Concurrently, the LP’s “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)” launches as her ninth No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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With 16 weeks at No. 1 on the Artist 100, Grande passes Ed Sheeran for the sixth-most frames spent in charge since the chart began in 2014.
Artist 100, Most Weeks at No. 1:102, Taylor Swift38, Drake28, The Weeknd21, BTS20, Adele16, Ariana Grande15, Ed Sheeran
Here’s a breakdown of the metrics contributing to Grande’s latest reign on the Artist 100.
Streaming
In the March 8-14 tracking week, Grande’s catalog generated 219.3 million on-demand official U.S. streams (encompassing songs on which she has lead artist billing). She ranks as the third-most-streamed artist in that span, after only Taylor Swift (286.7 million) and Drake (224.7 million).
Grande’s songs that generated the most official streams (on-demand and programmed) during the week: “We Can’t Be Friends” (32.6 million, making it the most-streamed song overall), “The Boy Is Mine” (17.6 million), “Yes, And?” (17.3 million), “Supernatural” (16.4 million) and “Eternal Sunshine” (15.9 million).
Radio airplay
Grande’s songs earned a combined 33.7 million in radio airplay audience March 8-14. Her songs that drew the most impressions in that span: “Die for You,” with The Weeknd (14.4 million), “Yes, And?” (13.7 million) and “We Can’t Be Friends” (4.6 million).
Grande is also charting on the following radio rankings:Adult Pop Airplay: “Yes, And?” (No. 11) and “We Can’t Be Friends” (No. 29)Dance/Mix Show Airplay: “Yes, And?” (No. 12)Pop Airplay: “Yes, And?” (No. 20) and “We Can’t Be Friends” (No. 31)Adult Contemporary: “Yes, And?” (No. 24)Radio Songs: “Yes, And?” (No. 48)
Album sales
As for Grande’s album sales March 8-14, here’s a breakdown, by configuration:
Overall album sales: 79,000, the most among all actsVinyl sales: 34,000, the most among all actsCD sales: 32,000, the most among all actsDigital sales: 13,000, the most among all acts
Eternal Sunshine sold 77,000 copies, almost the entirety of Grande’s album sales for the week. It’s the top-selling album overall, as well as the top-seller on both vinyl and CD.
Meanwhile, Grande’s collections earned a combined 241,000 equivalent album units in the tracking week, the second-most among all acts after Swift (261,000).
Track sales
Grande’s songs sold a combined 14,000 downloads March 8-14, making her the third-best-selling artist of the week in terms of digital song sales, after Swift (26,000) and Teddy Swims (16,000).
Grande’s songs that sold the most in that period, all from Eternal Sunshine: “We Can’t Be Friends” (9,000), “The Boy Is Mine,” “Bye” and “Imperfect for You” (1,000 each).
March has ended up a much more crowded pop month in 2024 than it has the past few years, with new albums delivered or expected from big names like Justin Timberlake, Kacey Musgraves, Shakira, Future x Metro Boomin and Beyoncé. But up first among the A-listers was Ariana Grande, and her first-week performance should set the star standard for the rest of the month, if not even longer.
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Grande debuts atop the Billboard 200 this week with her recently released seventh album Eternal Sunshine, moving 227,000 units in the set’s first week of availability — easily outshining the 149,000 first-week units previously moved by Ye & Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures 1, 2024’s prior high-water mark. Meanwhile, the set’s new single “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)” also debuts atop the Hot 100, making for the album’s second No. 1, following the fast-starting, quickly receding “Yes, And?”
How should Ariana feel about her big debut week? And will “We Can’t Be Friends” have better chart endurance than its predecessor? Billboard staffers answer these questions and more below.
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1. Ariana Grande debuts atop the Billboard 200 with 227,000 units moved — up about 30% from the 174,000 Positions bowed with in 2020, though still down from the 360,000 Thank U, Next debuted with the year before. On a scale from 1-10, how excited do you think Grande should be with that entrance?
Katie Atkinson: 10. Any time a veteran artist builds on their last release – in this case, selling even more than she did with her most recent Billboard 200 No. 1 album – it’s cause for celebration. Her fanbase clearly missed her and didn’t go anywhere, and in fact grew in numbers this time around. So she didn’t match her Thank U, Next numbers… yes, and? This is excellent news for Ari all around.
Kyle Denis: 9. Eternal Sunshine pulled first-week numbers that are comparable to that of the two albums she released when she was arguably at a popularity peak in terms of her social media presence and general media coverage. Furthermore, Eternal Sunshine arrived on the back of considerable controversy regarding Grande’s personal life, as well as a lead single that garnered fairly lukewarm reception. Despite those obstacles, Grande pulled off the year’s best sales week yet with an album on which she wrote nearly every song by herself. That’s got to feel pretty amazing – especially for an artist who has spoken at length about how much Eternal Sunshine feels like a new chapter in her life and career.
Lyndsey Havens: 10. Regardless of units, I think the cultural imprint of Eternal Sunshine is almost (if not just) as significant as Thank U, Next. Plus, Thank U had the added boost of following Sweetener — which likely led to a larger first-week sum, as it arrived within six months of its predecessor and continued to offer a behind-the-scenes look at Ari’s most front-facing era. With Eternal Sunshine, the first week showing is impressive for a variety of factors: the rollout was swift, with only one single in “Yes, And?” arriving ahead of the album’s release; Ari herself has been somewhat out of the spotlight – despite inspiring countless headlines – as she filmed Wicked; and she was selective with press leading up to its arrival. All in all, a No. 1 debut is always something worth celebrating – and even if its opening week had fallen short, Ari made this album for herself. As she declared in “Yes, And?”: “I’m so done with caring with you think.”
Jason Lipshutz: An 8. Eternal Sunshine follows the longest recording gap in her career, and while lead single “Yes, And?” debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in January, the song hasn’t functioned like a months-long top 10 smash on the level of something like the Thank U, Next title track. With those factors in mind, Grande returning with the biggest debut of the years so far, and an even stronger first-week performance than that of Positions, has to feel highly encouraging, and the confirmation of a superstar who still generates a ton of excitement even after a relatively prolonged break.
Andrew Unterberger: Without “Yes, And?” and its relatively muted reception, I would’ve said 7. Following it, I might say 9. We’ll split the difference and say 8 overall here: It’s a very fine first-week total that feels even finer since Grande looked at least slightly at risk of coming in soft following the somewhat iffy response to its lead single.
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2. This album was promoted somewhat unusually compared to Grande’s other recent releases, considering that it was announced months in advance, but only with one new song dropped pre-release — the No. 1-debuting but somewhat coolly received “Yes, And?” Do you think the first-week debut justifies the promotional strategy, or did she potentially leave units on the table?
Katie Atkinson: It justifies the strategy, because her fans consumed almost everything all at once, instead of skipping over the pre-release tracks they’d already heard. The album’s commercial success appears to be the icing on top of an artistically and emotionally fulfilling rollout for Grande, too, given that the project is themed around the end of her marriage and the start of her new relationship, so she’s able to deliver it as a complete work from start to finish. “Sharing it has re-opened a lot of little and big feelings alike and it has been an emotional week in many ways!” she wrote on Instagram to celebrate her No. 1 debut, “but your overwhelmingly loving response to it all has made me feel such joyful, human connection and comfort.” Much of that response was possible by saving almost the full album for release day.
Kyle Denis: Absolutely — to both, kinda. There’s no doubt in mind that with a stronger-performing lead single, Eternal Sunshine could have at least crossed the 250,000 mark. Nonetheless, I do think the limited appearances and intentional focus on the music is a campaign much better suited for 2024 Ariana Grande than, say, 2014 Ariana Grande.
Lyndsey Havens: I’ve always been a fan of a highly anticipated album being preceded by one track – and not even its best one. My guess if that Ari may have not cared all that much about her album’s debut week, and instead of worrying about leaving units on the table she was more concerned with making an album that would last. It seems as if the rollout plan is just heating up, rather than coming to a slow stop – and to me, that’s a strategy that only a seasoned pop player can pull off so well.
Jason Lipshutz: The first-week performance of Eternal Sunshine — plus the fact that both its lead single and second single hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 — makes the rollout look like a stroke of genius. Grande was able to generate excitement around her return with “Yes, And?,” then preserve a lot of that anticipation around the rest of the album; “We Can’t Be Friends” was a clear standout upon its release, and a new music video was locked and loaded in order to help Grande score back-to-back chart-toppers. Of course, none of this works if Grande didn’t come correct with the new music, but as far as releasing that music for maximum impact, I’m not sure how you could have drawn it up better.
Andrew Unterberger: It maybe validated it, but it definitely rescued it. “Yes, And?” was a fine-enough “I’m back” single, but it probably wasn’t quite the undeniable smash that fans were hoping for after what was essentially a three-year absence for Grande. To see that song quickly tumble out of the top 10 and decline to follow it up was really putting herself at risk if the album didn’t deliver immediately. But it did — helps of course that the album is very, very good — and now the whole thing seems like it’s unfolded exactly as it should have. All part of Grande’s brilliant design? Only she knows for sure, but it doesn’t really matter at this point anyway.
3. Eternal Sunshine ultimately outperformed most early first-week projections, largely because consumption of the album — in particular lead single “We Can’t Be Friends” — continued rising past the weekend. Why do you think the album managed to maintain its momentum at a time when albums so often begin fading almost immediately after release?
Katie Atkinson: There was a lot of discourse online about what each song was about and what it said about her relationships, old and new. And for “We Can’t Be Friends” specifically, there’s the music video that takes the album’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind inspiration to its literal conclusion by re-creating vignettes from the film with Ariana stepping for Kate Winslet and Evan Peters stepping in for Jim Carrey. It bears repeat viewings for how beautiful and very, very sad it is. (And as the YouTube commenters have pointed out, it’s nice to see a “playful/smiley” version of Peters, who typically plays very dark characters.)
Kyle Denis: It’s not the most mind-blowing answer, but Eternal Sunshine is simply a great album that gets better and reveals more layers (both musically and conceptually) with each listen – and not too many mainstream pop albums are doing that currently. Grande also used to be notorious for how she would shower fans with snippets and teases months before releasing an album. With none of that happening this time around, fans had no choice but to sit with the album and immerse themselves in the world Grande and her collaborators crafted.
Lyndsey Havens: I think it’s directly correlated to the fact that projections were low for this album. On a musical level, it’s clear that Eternal Sunshine is Ari at her most confident – each song, especially lead single “Yes, And?” proves as much. And as it pertains to the album’s rollout, that self-assuredness has seemed to carry over. It’s as if Ariana knew she was sitting on gold – it was only a matter of time until everyone else saw the sparkle, too.
Jason Lipshutz: Multiple factors could have helped Eternal Sunshine sustain its streaming numbers beyond its first weekend, but the main reason is the most obvious one: the album is really, really good. Eternal Sunshine has been met with acclaim by both Arianators and overall pop fans alike, and along with immediate interest in “We Can’t Be Friends” as a breakout single, fans kept returning to, and gobbling up, the album on streaming services. The album outpacing its early projections bodes well for its long-term commercial health — I could see Eternal Sunshine hanging around the top 10 of the Billboard 200 for a while based on this type of universal embrace.
Andrew Unterberger: Grande’s extremely busy and visible weekend no doubt helped a good amount: Following the release of Sunshine that Friday, she brought “Friends” (and albummate “Imperfect for You”) to SNL on Saturday, while also acting in a couple sketches, then appeared at the Oscars to present best original song with her Wicked co-star Cynthia Erivo on Sunday. For a star who felt like she’d largely been absent for the past three years to suddenly be everywhere again undoubtedly made sure she was on everyone’s mind throughout the rest of the week, and no doubt helped those first-week streams a decent amount.
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4. While “Yes, And?” bowed at No. 1 at the Hot 100, it also slipped out of the top 10 two weeks after, not returning to the top tier until this week (when it rebounds to No. 10). Do you think “Friends” will follow a similar trajectory of sliding post-release, or will it be more enduring as a hit than “Yes, And?” has thusfar proven to be?
Katie Atkinson: Well, if you’re asking for me personally, I love “Yes, And?” and its Paula Abdul-indebted music video a lot. But after hearing the full project, “We Can’t Be Friends” feels far more in line with the theme of the album. So while I hope there is a world where “Yes, And?” endures, I will totally understand if the song that’s more emblematic of the album is what fans associate with it in years to come.
Kyle Denis: I think “Friends” will dwarf “Yes, And?” pretty easily. It’s much more easily digestible from a sonic and lyrical standpoint, Grande’s SNL performance was stellar, and the track’s stability throughout its first week signals that audiences are genuinely connecting with it. Although it’s a highly competitive spring — with Cowboy Carter, Tortured Poets and more Vultures LPs on the way — I see “Friends” sticking around the Hot 100 top 10 well into the summer. Hopefully by then, however, “The Boy Is Mine” will have emerged as the album’s next single.
Lyndsey Havens: I think now that we have the full Eternal Sunshine package, both songs could sustain top-tier placements – though I do think “Friends” is more likely to stick around the top 10, especially as Ari continues to reveal more behind the scenes clips online. And while I love “Friends,” I think the question isn’t is if it will be more enduring than “Yes, And?” but if it will be the most enduring track on the album at all. Grande also chose album standout “Imperfect for You” to perform on Saturday Night Live, a stunning ballad that has yet to reach its full mainstream potential, and we’re now seeing stars like Olivia Rodrigo and Megan Thee Stallion sing along to a sped-up version of “The Boy is Mine” on TikTok. All is to say, I think the genius of this album is that there isn’t one true standout song – we need them all.
Jason Lipshutz: “We Can’t Be Friends” sounds like the defining hit of this Ariana Grande era, a synth fantasia with blurring relationship lines and a big, heartfelt hook. “Yes, And?” has grown on me quite a bit, but its tone is slightly off-center compared to the rest of Eternal Sunshine; “Friends” captures the main ideas and sound of an album that fans have immediately championed, and I think that will help the single find more chart success than Grande’s previous No. 1 hit.
Andrew Unterberger: It does feel like “Friends” is a bit more of a pop bullseye than “Yes, And?,” and we should see that reflected in its chart performance. I don’t know if its run at No. 1 will ultimately be that much longer than the one week for “Yes, And?” however — the turnover on the charts this year has been much more consistent than it was early in the past couple years, and my recent prediction of a long run atop the Hot 100 for “Texas Hold ‘Em” already appears to have been proven over-enthused.
5. It’s been about a week and a half — where, roughly, do you rank Eternal Sunshine within Grande’s catalog so far?
Katie Atkinson: I would probably put it at No. 3 or 4 at the moment. I love that Ari took a big autobiographical swing on this one, but I might have needed a few dance floor moments to move it up in my ranking.
Kyle Denis: No. 2. Give it until the fall, and we just might have a new No. 1.
Lyndsey Havens: This is the question I have grappled with the most. On one hand, I have always considered my top album Sweetener and Thank U, Next to be an unsplittable pair, coming in at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively. But the thing about Eternal Sunshine is that, to me, it is so good that I think it has done the impossible: broken the dynamic duo apart. Which is to say, Eternal Sunshine is looking at a runner-up spot to my forever No. 1 Sweetener, creating a bittersweet reality for Thank U, Next.
Jason Lipshutz: In a seven-album race, it earns the bronze medal. Eternal Sunshine represents another mature, high-quality album from Grande that’s more consistently pleasing than Positions but comes up just short of the transcendent nature of the Sweetener/Thank U, Next one-two punch. No shame in that game, of course; taken as a whole, Grande’s albums output has been dizzyingly good since 2018, turning her from a reliable hitmaker to one of pop’s very elite.
Andrew Unterberger: It’s in the exact middle of the pack for me: richer and more considered than her first three sets, but not as sonically satisfying as Sweetener, as sublime as Positions or as emotionally striking as Thank U, Next. Regardless, Grande is undoubtedly in the midst of one of the great album runs for any pop artist this century — maybe any artist, period.
Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” ascends to the top 10 on Billboard’s all-format Radio Songs chart (dated March 23). The track advances to No. 10, from No. 12, with 40 million impressions, up 11%, March 8-14, according to Luminate. It drew airplay on nearly 575 stations in the tracking week – the most of any song […]
Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” lifts to No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Pop Airplay chart (dated March 23). The song marks the Atlanta native’s first leader on a Billboard radio ranking. It rose to No. 2 on Adult Alternative Airplay in January and ascends to a new No. 6 best on Pop Airplay. The single concurrently […]
A beautiful week looms for Benson Boone, whose “Beautiful Things” (via Warner Records) leads the U.K. chart race.
“Beautiful Things” has topped the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. surveys but, in eight weeks on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, has never gone higher than No. 2.
That could be about to change. Based on midweek sales and streaming data published by the OCC, the Washington-born singer-songwriter’s breakout hit takes pole position, lifting 2-1.
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Meanwhile, after four weeks at the summit – for her longest U.K. reign – Beyonce’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” (Columbia/Parkwood Ent) finally loses its grip. It’s down 1-2 on the midweek tally.
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Closing out the top three on the chart blast is Ariana Grande’s “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love),” up 6-3. The track is housed on Grande’s current U.K. No. 1 album, Eternal Sunshine (Republic Records), her fifth leader.
The top new release at the midway mark belongs to Mark Knopfler, whose charity fundraising single “Going Home” (BMG) is set for a top 10 start.
The former Dire Straits frontman assembled a starry cast of guitar heroes for the 9-minute recording, a remake of the theme from the 1983 feature film Local Hero. The likes of David Gilmour, Ronnie Wood, Slash, Eric Clapton, Sting, Joan Armatrading, Bruce Springsteen, Joan Jett, Pete Townshend and the late Jeff Beck are among the scores of performers on the recording, which raises funds for Teenage Cancer Trust and Teen Cancer America.
“Going Home” had briefly led the U.K. chart race, but slips to No. 6 midweek. The original cut, an instrumental, spent three weeks on the chart in 1983 with a peak of No. 56. The Northern Englishman recently sold 120 guitars and amplifiers, with charities the British Red Cross, Tusk, Brave Hearts of the North East and Teenage Cancer Trust among the beneficiaries.
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Also eyeing a top 10 berth is BTS member V (real name: Kim Tae-hyung), whose “FRI(END)S” (BigHit Entertainment) is predicted to open at No. 7. That would mark V’s first solo U.K. top tier appearance. If “FRI(END)S” holds its course, V would join bandmates Jimin (“Like Crazy” at No. 8) and Jung Kook (“Too Much” with The Kid Laroi and Central Cee at No. 10, “3D” with Jack Harlow at No. 5, “Standing Next To You” at No. 5, and “Seven” with Latto at No.3) as the BTS members with U.K. solo top 10 notches on their belts.
All will be revealed when the Official U.K. Singles Chart is published Friday, March 22.
Ariana Grande is on track for another week atop the U.K. chart with Eternal Sunshine (via Republic Records). Though she has competition.
Based on midweek sales and streaming data captured by the Official Charts Company, Eternal Sunshine has a slim edge and should clinch a second week at No. 1. Eternal Sunshine became Grande’s fifth U.K. leader when it debuted at the zenith of the national chart last Friday, March 15.
As it stands, less than 1,000 chart units separate Grande’s seventh studio album with U.S. country artist Kacey Musgraves’ sixth LP, Deeper Well (Interscope).
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Deeper Well is predicted to bow at No. 2, giving Musgraves a third U.K. top 10 after 2018’s Golden Hour (No. 6 peak) and 2021’s Star-Crossed (No. 10).
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There’s another challenger in this race: Caity Baser and her 13-track mixtape Still Learning (EMI). The collection is just 1,500 behind the leader in third place on the OCC‘s chart blast. Baser was shortlisted for the BRITs Rising Star 2024 award, won by The Last Dinner Party.
Meanwhile, Justin Timberlake’s solo comeback album Everything I Thought I Was (RCA) should yield the U.S. pop star a sixth U.K. top 10. It’s new at No. 4 on the Official Chart Update.
U.S. rock veterans the Black Crowes could nab a third U.K. top 10 album, and first in 30 years, with Happiness Bastards (Silver Arrow), set to open at No. 7.
As AC/DC celebrates 50 years rocking, the legendary Australian band releases its full set of albums on vinyl. The first nine reissues in the “AC/DC 50” collection dropped March 15, powering several classics up the midweek chart. Among them, the rockers’ 1980 blockbuster Back in Black (Epic), their first U.K. No. 1, which rebounds to No. 10 on the midweek chart, while 1979’s Highway to Hell drives to No. 22, against an historic peak of No. 8.
Finally, new releases from electronic music producer Four Tet (Three at No. 25 via Text), teenage Manchester rapper Nemzzz (Do Not Disturb at No. 31 via Nemzzz), and Hastings, England punk outfit Kid Kapichi (There Goes The Neighbourhood at No. 36 via Spinefarm) are on track for top 40 debuts.
All will be revealed when the Official Albums Chart is published Friday, March 22.
Ariana Grande is back with another big week on Billboard’s charts (dated March 23), thanks to her new album, Eternal Sunshine.
The set soars in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, marking her sixth career leader, with 227,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in its opening week (March 8-14), according to Luminate – the biggest one-week sum of 2024.
All 12 chart-eligible songs from the album also land on the Billboard Hot 100, led by “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love),” which launches at No. 1, marking her ninth career leader.
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Here’s a recap of Grande’s Hot 100 entries on the latest chart (all songs are debuts except for lead single “Yes, And?,” released before Eternal Sunshine).
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Rank, Title:No. 1, “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)”No. 10, “Yes, And?” (up from No. 31; debuted at No. 1 on the chart dated 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
“We Can’t Be Friends” earns Grande her ninth Hot 100 No. 1, and second from Eternal Sunshine, following “Yes, And?”
With 11 debuts, Grande ups her total to 85 career Hot 100 entries. She ties Beyoncé for the third-most among solo women in the chart’s history, after only Taylor Swift (232) and Nicki Minaj (148). Grande first hit the Hot 100 with her debut hit, and first of 22 top 10s, “The Way,” featuring Mac Miller, in April 2013.
Notably, Grande’s grandmother, Marjorie Grande, scores her first career Hot 100 entry thanks to her featured billing – as Nonna – on “Ordinary Things.” At 98 years old, she makes history as the oldest living person to have appeared on the chart.
One other member of the Grande family has also reached Billboard’s charts: Frankie Grande, Ariana’s brother (and, thus, Nonna’s grandson), spent a week at No. 35 on the since-shuttered Billboard Twitter Top Tracks survey in July 2017 with “Queen.”
One week after her arrival on Billboard’s charts, Dasha becomes a Billboard Hot 100-charting artist, thanks to her breakthrough viral single “Austin.”
The song, released in November via Version III, debuts at No. 74 on the March 23-dated Hot 100 with 6.7 million official streams (up 65%), 84,000 in radio airplay audience (up 173%) and 2,000 downloads sold (up 116%) in the U.S. March 8-14, according to Luminate.
The track also jumps 31-17 on Hot Country Songs, which uses the same multi-metric methodology as the Hot 100.
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Dasha is based in Nashville, via San Luis Obispo, Calif. Gains for “Austin” have been sparked by TikTok, where she boasts over 400,000 followers. Seemingly boosted by the rising wave behind Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” – which tops Hot Country Songs for a fifth week – “Austin” soundtracks a line-dance trend started by Dasha. The song has been featured in over 300,000 videos on the platform. Billboard reported that in the tracking week ending Feb. 15, in which Beyoncé released “Texas Hold ‘Em” midway through, “Austin” vaulted from 82,000 official on-demand streams the week before to over 830,000 – up 916%. The next week (ending Feb. 22), the song grew 182% to 2.3 million.
Airplay-wise, SiriusXM is championing the song on TikTok Radio and its country-formatted The Highway. Terrestrially, Country Airplay chart reporter KBAY San Francisco leads in early exposure for the track.
“Austin” is on Dasha’s new eight-track LP What Happens Now?, released Feb. 16. Before that, she released the collection Dirty Blonde in January 2023, via Quadio Records, and her six-track EP $hiny Things in 2021.
Dasha, who co-wrote “Austin,” also surges from No. 29 to No. 11 on Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart.
Ariana Grande’s “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)” debuts at No. 1 on both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts. Grande achieves her fourth leader on the former and her third on the latter.
The song is the second single from Grande’s seventh studio album, Eternal Sunshine, which premieres at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. “Yes, And?,” the lead single from the set, released on Republic Records, debuted atop both global surveys in January.
The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts, which began in September 2020, rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by Luminate. The Global 200 is inclusive of worldwide data and the Global Excl. U.S. chart comprises data from territories excluding the United States.
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Chart ranks are based on a weighted formula incorporating official-only streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of audio and video music services, as well as download sales, the latter of which reflect purchases from full-service digital music retailers from around the world, with sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites excluded from the charts’ calculations.
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‘Friends’ First on Global 200
Released March 8 on Eternal Sunshine, followed by the premiere of its official video the same day, Ariana Grande’s “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)” begins atop the Billboard Global 200 with 97.5 million streams and 14,000 sold worldwide through March 14. (It bests the streaming start of “Yes, And?,” which drew 94.4 million globally in its first frame.)
Grande earns her fourth Global 200 No. 1, after “Yes, And?” led for its first two weeks; “Save Your Tears,” with The Weeknd, reigned for a week in May 2021; and “Positions” bowed atop the chart and ruled for two weeks in November 2020. She ties Bad Bunny and Taylor Swift for the most leaders among soloists; only BTS boasts more (seven) overall.
Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” drops to No. 2 on the Global 200 after four weeks at No. 1 beginning in February; Ye (the artist formerly known as Kanye West) and Ty Dolla $ign’s “Carnival,” featuring Rich the Kid and Playboi Carti, falls to No. 3 from its No. 2 high; Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” holds at its No. 4 best; and Djo’s first entry on the chart, “End of Beginning,” enters the top five (6-5).
Grande Also No. 1 on Global Excl. U.S.
Ariana Grande’s “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)” concurrently launches atop the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart, with 65.5 million streams and 5,000 sold outside the U.S. March 8-14.
Grande tops Global Excl. U.S. with a third title, after “Yes, And?” led in its first two weeks and “Positions” spent its debut week at No. 1 in November 2020. As on the Global 200, she ties for the most leaders among soloists, matching Bad Bunny and Jung Kook’s totals. BLACKPINK has also scored three No. 1s; among all acts, only BTS has more (seven).
Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” retreats to No. 2 after four weeks at No. 1 on Global Excl. U.S. beginning last month.
Creepy Nuts’ “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” rebounds 6-3 on Global Excl. U.S., after hitting No. 2. As on Global Excl. U.S., the song becomes the Japanese duo’s first top 10 on the Global 200 (13-8), with 53.9 million steams (up 72%) and 19,000 sold (up 48%) worldwide in the tracking week.
Plus, Djo’s first Global Excl. U.S. hit, “End of Beginning,” reaches the top five (7-4) and Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” slips to No. 5 from at its No. 3 high.
The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated March 23, 2024) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, March 19. For both charts, the top 100 titles are available to all readers on Billboard.com, while the complete 200-title rankings are visible on Billboard Pro, Billboard’s subscription-based service. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
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.
