Music

16 Jul 2024

Taylor Swift Reveals Which Song Is the Next Single From ‘The Tortured Poets Department’

Try and come for her job. In the midst of the European leg of her global Eras Tour, Taylor Swift has announced which song from The Tortured Poets Department will serve as the album’s next single: the deceptively cheerful “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.”

The news arrives via a message on Taylor Nation’s official account Tuesday (July 16). “We’re so depressed we act like it’s #ICanDoItWithABrokenHeart’s birthday every day! But today is special because Taylor’s declaring it the next single from #TSTTPD!” the pop star’s team wrote, referencing some of the track’s lyrics and sharing its new solo artwork. “Lights, camera, b—h, listen to see the cute new cover on all streaming platforms.”

The cover aptly features a photo of Swift beaming while performing the song at one of her Eras shows, decked out in a glittery top and blazer as showgirl feathers surround her. Written and released after the 14-time Grammy winner embarked on the trek back in 2022, “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” finds her hyping herself up to perform in front of tens of thousands of people every night even though she’s suffering after a painful breakup.

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“I’m a real tough kid, I can handle my s–t/ They said, ‘Babe, you gotta fake it ’til you make it’ and I did,” she sings. “Breaking down, I hit the floor/ All the pieces of me shattered as the crowd was chanting, ‘More!’”

The cloying sad-girl anthem marks the second song on TTPD to get the single treatment, following the Billboard Hot 100-topping “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone. Shortly after the album’s release on April 19, “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” debuted at No. 3 on the chart.

Swift’s first order of business in the track’s single cycle was sharing it as a standalone release, as well as dropping an instrumental version on streaming services for fans to take part in some cathartic karaoke. Both arrive as Tortured Poets enters its 12th week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

See Taylor Nation’s announcement below.

16 Jul 2024

Ingrid Andress’ Home Run Derby Performance Has Fans Calling It the ‘Worst National Anthem of All Time’

Much like Fergie‘s unforgettable performance at the 2018 NBA All-Star game, Ingrid Andress‘ rendition of the national anthem at the Home Run Derby Monday (July 15) is going viral for all the wrong reasons.  

The four-time Grammy winner was subjected to online ridicule well before she stepped away from the microphone at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, with critics pointing to the “More Hearts Than Mine” singer’s pitchy performance immediately. Separate camera angles captured fireworks exploding over the arena as she sang, while others showed a few of the MLB pros gathered on site appearing to stifle laughter as she sang. 

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In short, it wasn’t exactly a home run. And when it came to criticizing Andress online, it didn’t take long for fans on social media to step up to the plate. “My ears are bleeding,” one viewer tweeted. “One of the worst national anthem renditions ever.” 

“It is impressive that this Ingrid Andress has missed every single note,” another person wrote. “That was painful.” 

Billboard has reached out to Andress’ reps for comment. 

The “Star-Spangled Banner” is a famously difficult tune to sing. She’s also far from the first star to face criticism for her attempt at conquering the patriotic anthem, with Andress now joining the company of Christina Aguilera, Kat DeLuna, Steven Tyler and, perhaps most notably in recent history, Fergie. (Although, some people are saying that Andress has actually dethroned the Black Eyed Peas frontwoman for “worst national anthem of all time,” as one user put it on X.) 

In any case, one commented said it best: “I hope Ingrid Andress stays off of social media for a minute,” they wrote. Keep reading to see more reactions to Andress’ performance of the National Anthem below. 

16 Jul 2024

How Jelly Roll’s ‘I Am Not Okay’ Shines a Light on a Dark National Crisis

Life is psychologically challenging in 2024.

The planet gets hotter by the month, the technology that was supposed to improve lives stalls or breaks down, artificial intelligence poses a threat to future employment and there’s a chance democracy could crumble before the United States turns 250. It’s no wonder that one in six American adults are currently battling depression, according to a 2023 Gallup poll. That figure is even higher among women, minorities and people younger than 45.

It’s almost as if the marketplace had been primed for Jelly Roll. His country singles thus far – “Son of a Sinner,” “Need a Favor,” “Halfway to Hell” and the Lainey Wilson collaboration “Save Me” – have captured souls in battles with darkness. He extends that string with “I Am Not Okay,” released by Stoney Creek to country radio via PlayMPE on June 11.

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It’s “real music for real people with real problems,” Jelly Roll says. “That struggle is something that a lot of my music touches on. It’s something I am honest about with my own life and something that’s for anyone who is going through that.”

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“I Am Not Okay” reflects both real-life anxieties and the audacity of optimism. Songwriters Ashley Gorley (“Bulletproof,” “I Had Some Help”) and Casey Brown (“Blue Tacoma,” “Girl In Mine”) booked flights to meet Jelly Roll and fellow writer Taylor Phillips (“Hurricane,” “World On Fire”) on tour in North Carolina last fall, but a series of airline issues delayed their commute by eight hours and took them to a different airport. They rented a car in Charlotte and drove four more hours.

Despite their frustrations, the group composed two or three songs prior to the Oct. 5 show in Wilmington, a concert that proved particularly inspirational.

“I found myself multiple times during the show kind of looking at the crowd to see the reaction of these people that were soaking in this music,” Phillips remembers. “And as you look amongst this crowd, you see people crying, you see people rejoicing, and you see people putting their hands in the air.”

Later, as the bus rolled out for Greensboro, Phillips told Jelly Roll the concert was like going to church. The singer noted that he was essentially making it “okay for people to not be okay.” That corresponded with a title Gorley had logged in his phone, “I Am Not Okay,” and he sat down at a piano, singing the title as a melody and progression began to unfold. He created a cautiously ascendant bassline, with the piece moving instinctively from darker chords into brighter triads.

“I started all the phrases with the six-minor chord, but then I always ended up on a major chord,” Gorley says. “Not that I was thinking about that. If I was smart, I’d be like, ‘Oh, I did it on purpose.’ But it just sounded like that.”

Gorley was psyched to explore the topic – he’d gone on the trip hoping they could write something that would bring attention to depression, a topic that’s important to him and to Phillips, who lost a friend, Brian Kindle, to suicide on Christmas Eve in 2020. (Phillips now does an annual benefit in Kindle’s honor). The issue resonates with people in every walk of life.

“Everybody has to go through something,” Phillips says, “whether you have a billion dollars in your bank account, or if you got zero dollars in your bank account.”

The “I Am Not Okay” text emerged in linear fashion, each line building on the previous one. Additionally, the song’s individual sections gave a big-picture view of the protagonist’s battle. He starts in verse one mired in total depression. The chorus acknowledges the issue’s prevalence – “I know I can’t be the only one” – and ultimately settles into a quiet confidence: “I’m not okay/ But it’s all gonna be alright.”

Verse two has the character vacillating between progress and backsliding, confessing that some days he can barely get out of bed.

“I’ve been blessed beyond belief,” Gorley says, relating the message to his own life, “But some days, I’m still like, ‘Oh, shoot, this is gonna be rough.’ You know, I lay there, and everybody in the room feels the same. Anybody around the world feels the same, if we’re honest about it.”

By the time “Not Okay” hits the bridge, the singer envisions an afterlife when the struggle is over. It gives some motivation to keep improving, though it’s unclear if the protagonist will ever crawl out of the emotional hole completely.

“If you put too much of a bow on it, it doesn’t feel like an authentic Jelly song,” Brown says. “There’s a really cool thing that all of his songs do, where it kind of meets you in the middle of hurting, and sits there with you and encourages you in a way that doesn’t feel forced. I think he’s a really unique voice that can kind of approach songs from that way.”

Gorley had to leave early the next morning for a family commitment, so he laid down a piano track and sang a rough vocal for the demo. Brown got Jelly Roll to redo the vocal the next day, but left it in that simple form for producer Zach Crowell (Sam Hunt, Dustin Lynch).

“I didn’t really want to do a ton to it,” Brown says. “It felt like a really special way to present the song and just kind of put it in his camp and let Zach kind of treat it however he wanted to.”

“I Am Not Okay” was the first song recorded for the next album at Saxman Studios, owned by session drummer Grady Saxman. Crowell’s primary goal was to inject more grit into the performance than he heard in the demo. “It had a happier feel, a softer feel,” Crowell says. “When we went to record it, we tried to find a different vibe, just to put it a little more in Jelly Roll land and have a little more of a motion to it.”

Session musician Nathan Keeterle translated the demo’s piano intro on a guitar with a rubber bridge – it sounds a tad like the resonator guitar in the intro of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain.” Combined with scrape-y, ethereal electric guitar and pedal steel sounds, the track has a mysterious, ominous tone, eventually giving way to a subtle spiritual current created by a string section led by arranger David Davidson, who overdubbed a quartet multiple times.

“It’s probably 100 tracks of strings, just mixed real low,” Crowell says. “I wanted strings on it, just for the emotion of it. But I didn’t want it to get too triumphant and too dramatic.”

During the final vocal session, Jelly Roll tinkered with several small lyrics – “I’m,” “it’s,” “we’re” – at the end of the chorus. As a result, the song takes on a wider meaning as the personal “I’m not okay/But it’s all gonna be alright” becomes more cultural the second time around: “It’s not okay/But we’re all gonna be alright.”

“It felt like the message we wanted to leave people with,” Jelly Roll says. 

His unconventional vocal style – frequently loud and a little raspy at the height of a phrase, trailing off at the end with little diaphragmatic support – was perfect for the song. “It’s not a secret that I am not a classically trained vocalist,” he says. “When I sing, I sing what I feel, what I felt, and I know what it feels like to be in that moment and know what it feels like to have fans tell you what they are going through. I pull from that, and that’s what you hear.”

Stoney Creek had several options for the first single from the next album, but settled on “I Am Not Okay” because of its emotional heft. It currently sits at No. 14 on the Hot Country Songs chart dated July 20, and rises to No. 19 on the corresponding Country Airplay list. Clearly, the world is responding to the much-too-familiar battle with depression that “Not Okay” depicts.

“It’s not a linear path or cure-all, and in the case of addiction, it’s an active choice each moment and still a back and forth,” Jelly Roll says. “In those moments where you’re saying or feeling ‘I am not okay,’ it’s that push and pull of that moment we wanted to capture.”

16 Jul 2024

Amber Rose Backs Donald Trump During RNC Speech: ‘This Is Where I Belong’

Amber Rose completed her 180-degree pivot in throwing her support behind Donald Trump. The 40-year-old model took the stage at the Republican National Convention on Monday night (July 15), where Rose detailed her journey to becoming a fan of the former president.

“I’m here tonight to tell you, no matter your political background, that the best chance we have to give our babies a better life is to elect Donald Trump president of the United States,” she said.

Rose alleged that the media misguided her views about Trump, and she now sees the light that this is the path toward a better America.

“[I] care about the truth, and the truth is that the media has lied to us about Donald Trump. I know this because for a long time I believed those lies,” she added.

After letting go of her fear of being judged and “attacked from the left,” Rose said she figured out being a Trump supporter and with the Republican party is where she belongs.

“I realized Donald Trump and his supporters don’t care if you’re Black, white, gay or straight. It’s all love. And that’s when it hit me: These are my people. This is where I belong,” she continued.

Rose pointed to the sky-rocketing prices and inflation rate impacting the average American. “When you go to the store to buy food for your family, you’re shocked,” she said. “When you fill up your gas tank, you’re pissed. I know I am, and when you turn on the news, you are just exhausted, inflation is out of control.”

Amber Rose believes that American families were “better” when Trump was in office for his first term. “The left told me to hate Trump and, even worse, to hate the other side — the people who support him,” she concluded. “When you cut through the lies, you realize the truth: American families were better when Donald Trump was president. We were safer, wealthier, and stronger.”

Political commentator Van Jones was impressed with Rose’s speech and believes it was the “most dangerous” of the night for Democrats.

“That was probably the most dangerous speech for the Democratic coalition,” he said on CNN. “That is a young woman of color. She is describing the experience that a lot of people have — feeling that maybe, if you’re around too many liberals, you might get criticized too much or you might not be able to speak your mind, and she spoke to it really well.”

He continued: “And she’s way more famous than any of us up here — I’m going to tell you that — way more famous. And so to the extent that these guys are trying to bust up our coalition, that was a bunker buster right there.”

Rose went public with her support of Trump in May when posting a photo to social media alongside the former president and his wife, Melania. In 2016, Rose called Trump a “f—king idiot” in an interview with The Cut.

Monday marked Trump’s first public appearance since the assassination attempt; he appeared with a bandage around his wounded ear.

The RNC continues on Tuesday night (July 16). Watch Amber Rose’s speech below.

16 Jul 2024

Adele Planning to Step Back From Music: ‘I Want a Big Break’

Adele will wrap up her Weekends With Adele residency in Las Vegas on November 23. That means her superfans have exactly 10 chances left to catch the singer’s long-running stay-put show before, as she recently revealed in an interview, she goes away for a while.

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Speaking to Germany’s ZDF, Adele, 36, dropped the bombshell, “I don’t have any plans for new music at all.” In fact, the star who said she “doesn’t like being famous,” added, “I want a big break after this and I think I want to do other creative things, just for a little while.”

Adele kicked off her Weekends run in November 2022 and plans to call the show at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace quits with her final scheduled performance on Nov. 23. Before then, she will play a series of gigs in Munich at a specially built 80,000-capacity venue on August 2, 3, 9, 10, 14, 16, 23, 24, 30 and 31.

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She said that the run of 100 live shows over the past two years have left her feeling as if her “tank is quite empty.”

After announcing the initial run of Munich shows, Adele wrote on Instagram, “So a few months ago I got a call about a summer run of shows. I’ve been content as anything with my shows in London’s Hyde Park and my residency in Vegas, so I hadn’t had any other plans. However, I was too curious to not follow up and indulge in this idea – a one off, bespoke pop-up stadium designed around whatever show I want to put on.”

The singer — who has not gone on a world tour since her 2016-2017 run in support of her 25 album — has made a habit of taking time for herself between albums and tours. Those stretches out of the public eye have increased over time, from three years between her 2008 debut, 19, and 2011’s 21, to four years until her 2015 LP 25 and six between that album and 2021’s 30.

Back in December, the mother of 11-year-old song Angelo told The Hollywood Reporter, ” I have nothing to say yet. I haven’t even thought about it… I have to wait for a feeling. If I get antsy, that’s when I know I have to go to the studio, and I am the opposite of antsy right now.” Speaking of new endeavors, in that same interview, Adele said that there was one unnamed movie she wants to do, but, “the guy whose movie it would be, he’s not mentally ready to write the script for it… I bug him every now and then about it, but he’s just not there yet. But that’s the only role I ever want. Because I think I’d nail it. I think I’d do really, really, really good at it.”

Then, in January during one of her Weekends shows, Adele told the audience “I just don’t think I’m gonna write an album for quite some time,” teasing that when she does she may be ready to hit the road properly again. At press time a spokesperson for Adele had not returned Billboard‘s request for additional comment on her future plans.

16 Jul 2024

Garth Brooks to be Honored at ‘Austin City Limits’ 10th Anniversary Hall of Fame Induction

Austin City Limits will kick off its 50th anniversary year by honoring Garth Brooks for its 10th anniversary Hall of Fame celebration.

Brooks and his band will perform Sept. 5 at ACL Live at the Moody Theater in Austin, Texas. Brooks’ induction from the Hall of Fame ceremony will air as an hourlong broadcast of Austin City Limits premiering Sept. 28 on PBS. Tickets for the event go on sale Aug. 2. The golden anniversary celebration will last through 2025. 

The country superstar is no stranger to Austin City Limits. He appeared twice during the 25th anniversary year to open and close the season and first appeared on the program in 1990, at the beginning of his career. 

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“To be part of anything Austin City Limits is and always has been an honor,” Brooks said in a statement. “I am humbled and grateful to not only be a part of the 50th Anniversary, but to be inducted into the ACL Hall of Fame is over the top.”

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Austin City Limits’ 10th annual Hall of Fame Honors is produced by Austin PBS and proceeds benefit the public television station. 

Austin City Limits, which taped its pilot episode on Oct. 17, 1974, premiered on PBS in 1975. Since its inception in 2014, the ACL Hall of Fame has honored artists who have played a pivotal role in the music series’ half-century. The inaugural awards in 2014 honored Willie Nelson and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Brooks’ wife, Trisha Yearwood was honored at the 9th annual Hall of Fame Honors last September. 

Brooks is in the second year of his residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The run currently concludes Dec. 8. He also recently released the 777 Jackpot boxed set, a 7-CD collection of new and previously released material that  commemorates his Caesars Palace stint. The $40 set, available through Ticketmaster,  includes 77 songs and a custom 88-pagebook full of photos. Earlier this year, Brooks opened his new bar on Lower Broadway in Nashville, Friends in Low Places Bar & Honky-Tonk. 

In other Brooks’ news, he plans to wrap up his weekly Monday series, “Inside Studio G,” by the end of the year. The chat with fans, which originally aired on Facebook and SiriusXM, and now airs on his website and The Garth Channel on TuneIn, launched eight years ago this month. “I think we’re going to put an end to Inside Studio G this year, probably sometime around Christmas,” he announced Monday (July 15), giving no reason for the end.

16 Jul 2024

ACM Awards Returning to Texas in 2025

The Academy of Country Music will celebrate a major milestone next year, when the 60th Academy of Country Music Awards are held May 8, 2025 at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. The ACM Awards will again be streamed live on Amazon Prime Video, according to an announcement on Tuesday (July 16) from the ACM, Prime Video and Dick Clark Productions.

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This marks the third consecutive year that the ACM Awards are broadcasting live from Texas (the ACM also celebrated its 50th-anniversary awards show in 2015 at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas). The Ford Center at the Star in Frisco opened in 2016, and serves as the practice facility for the Dallas Cowboys, as well as hosting major sporting events throughout the year. The 2023 ACM Awards were the first awards show to be held at the venue.

As previously announced, 16-time ACM Award winner Reba McEntire will return to host the event, marking her 18th time hosting the ACM Awards.

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“We’re excited to honor and celebrate the legacy of the ACM Awards all year long surrounding the 60th anniversary show returning to Amazon Prime Video next May,” Academy of Country Music CEO Damon Whiteside said in a statement. “Reba McEntire has hosted more ACM Awards shows than any other artist in history, and after her triumphant return this year for the 59th show, there is clearly no one better suited to helm this milestone show! Our landmark 50th anniversary show in 2015 marked our debut in Texas, and we’re thrilled to return again to celebrate another major moment in ACM history. We look forward to seeing our industry, artists, and fans celebrate in Frisco, Texas next May for an unforgettable week!”

“I’m thrilled to be coming back to host the 60th ACM Awards on Prime Video,” McEntire added. “It’s going to be an absolute can’t miss show and I can’t wait to see everybody back in Texas!”

The Academy of Country Music was founded in Southern California in 1964, operating as a regional trade organization, but in the six decades since its founding, the organization has enjoyed global reach in supporting and promoting country music. Now based in Nashville, the ACM boasts a record-high membership of over 5,000 members globally.

The 59th annual ACM Awards streamed live for an international audience across more than 240 countries and territories, via Prime Video and the Amazon Music channel on Twitch. The show featured performances from Kane Brown, Jelly Roll, Cody Johnson, Miranda Lambert, Post Malone, Lainey Wilson and more.

Wilson earned the ACM’s highest honor, entertainer of the year, which gained the Louisiana native the coveted ACM Triple Crown in only three years. Chris Stapleton led the evening with four overall wins, followed by Wilson with three trophies, and Luke Combs and Jordan Davis with two wins each.

More details regarding award submissions, voting timelines, nominees, performers, ticket sales and more will be revealed in the coming months.

16 Jul 2024

Chart Rewind: In 1994, ‘The Lion King’ Roared to No. 1 on the Billboard 200

When The Lion King soundtrack rose to the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart in 1994, it marked not only the first No. 1 for the Walt Disney Records label, but the first soundtrack from a fully animated film ever to top the tally.

The album – with songs written by Elton John and Tim Rice, and its score composed by Hans Zimmer – ascended to the summit on the July 16, 1994-dated Billboard 200 in only its fourth week on the chart. It collected 10 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 and lingered in the weekly top 40 for over a year.

During the course of The Lion King’s run on the Billboard 200, the album spun off hits in John’s “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” (No. 4 peak on the Billboard Hot 100) and “Circle of Life” (No. 18). The former marked John’s highest charting Hot 100 hit unaccompanied by another artist since 1988, when “I Don’t Wanna Go On With You Like That” reached No. 2.

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The Lion King proved to be so popular that it finished 1994 as the year’s top-selling album in the U.S., according to Luminate, with 4.9 million copies sold that year. The soundtrack’s success ran concurrent with the film’s smash status at the box office. The Lion King closed 1994 as the highest-grossing film at the U.S. and Canada box office, with $295.7 million earned that year.

In March 1995, John and Rice won the Academy Award for best original song for “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” marking the first nomination and win for John, and the second win for Rice. The two were largely competing against themselves, as three of the five nominees were The Lion King songs that they penned – “Circle of Life” and “Hakuna Matata” also made the cut. Zimmer additionally took home his first Oscar, for best original score.

On the April 29, 1995-dated Billboard 200, a few weeks after the Oscars and the film’s release on home video, The Lion King returned to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for its 10th and final week on top, more than seven months after it had last led.

In the years since The Lion King’s release, Walt Disney Records has produced 10 more No. 1 soundtracks on the Billboard 200, including chart-toppers from Pocahontas, High School Musical, Frozen and Encanto.

16 Jul 2024

Every Rap Hit to Land a Grammy Nod for Record of the Year (Full List)

Kendrick Lamar was just three years old in late 1990, and perhaps not yet an avid Grammy watcher, when MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This” became the first rap hit to receive a Grammy nomination for record of the year. At the Grammy ceremony in February 1991, Hammer’s mass-appeal smash lost to Phil Collins’ socially-conscious ballad “Another Day in Paradise,” which featured a backing vocal by David Crosby.

As we approach this year’s Grammy nominations, which will be announced on Nov. 8, Lamar’s “Not Like Us” stands an excellent chance of becoming the 26th rap hit to receive a record of the year nod. We define a rap hit as a track that appeared on Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs chart, which originated as Hot Rap Singles in the March 11, 1989 issue.

Just one rap hit has won record of the year – Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” in 2019. That sentence may need updating after the 67th annual Grammy Awards, set for Feb. 2, 2025. It’s easy to see “Not Like Us,” which returns to No. 1 on this week’s Billboard Hot 100 in the wake of the release of the song’s video, winning that award. The Mustard-produced smash may have originated in a dis battle with Drake, but it already seems like the kind of classic single that will live on after this dis battle becomes a dim and distant memory.

As you’ll see as you scroll through this list, at the Grammy ceremony in 2003, two rap hits were nominated for record of the year for the first time. At the ceremony in 2011, three rap hits were nominated for the first time. Bear in mind, this was back when there were just five nominees in the category, making this very hard to do. In 2019, a record four rap hits were nominated, but that year there were eight nominees, making it at least somewhat easier.

You may be wondering why Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop (That Thing),” which topped Hot Rap Songs for four weeks in 1998, doesn’t appear on this list. In 1999 her accompanying album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, famously became the first hip-hop project to win album of the year. “Doo Wop (That Thing)” was entered for both record and song of the year at that year’s Grammys, but it wasn’t nominated in either category. Go figure.

Here’s a chronological list of every rap hit to receive a Grammy nomination for record of the year. We show how high each hit climbed on Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs chart and what won that year for record of the year. The year shown is the year of the Grammy ceremony. If “Not Like Us,” and/or some other rap hit, receives a record of the year nod in November, you can bet we’ll update this list.

16 Jul 2024

Taylor Swift’s ‘Tortured Poets Department’ & Benson Boone’s ‘Beautiful Things’ Lead Luminate’s 2024 Midyear Charts

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

Read more about midyear metrics in the 2024 Luminate Midyear Music Report.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Digital Song Sales Fall 11%: Digital song sales declined 10.9% in the first six months of 2024, falling to 61.96 million, as compared to 69.57 million sold in the first half of 2023. The top-selling digital song at the midyear point is Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” with 219,000 sold.

2023’s Midyear Top 10 Selling Digital Songs in U.S.
1. Shaboozey, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (219,000)
2. Benson Boone, “Beautiful Things” (200,000)
3. Teddy Swims, “Lose Control” (195,000)
4. Beyoncé, “Texas Hold ‘Em” (178,000)
5. Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen, “I Had Some Help” (156,000)
6. Megan Thee Stallion, “Hiss” (107,000)
7. Jack Harlow, “Lovin On Me” (95,000)
8. Tom MacDonald & Ben Shapiro, “Facts” (93,000)
9. Eminem, “Houdini” (88,000)
10. Hozier, “Too Sweet” (85,000)
Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through June 27, 2024.

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

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