State Champ Radio Music
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Since opening in Las Vegas in September 2023, the 360-foot-plus tall venue the Sphere has become an instant iconic Vegas structure. Artists including U2, the Eagles and Dead & Company have played the 18,600-capacity venue, which has become known for its immersive live entertainment video and audio experience, including a wraparound interior LED screen, its LED exterior and 4D effects.
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Now, some music fans are speculating that eight-time entertainer of the year winner (four times each for CMAs and ACMs) and mainstay stadium headliner Kenny Chesney is the next artist slated to play the Sphere.
That’s because on Wednesday (Jan. 15), the Sphere posted a video on its social media pages showing the iconic venue lit up with a video that showed ocean waters receding to show a weathered blue chair nestled on an idyllic island beach, and later, an acoustic guitar and a cowboy hat. The social media post from the Sphere was accompanied by a side-eyes emoji.
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“I was waiting for Kenny Chesney to appear in his “old blue chair,” one person commented on the Sphere’s Instagram post. Added another, “Kenny!!! This is going to be a good show.”
A rep for Chesney declined to respond to Billboard‘s request for comment.
The image of an old blue chair has long been associated with East Tennessee native Chesney, who has made island imagery an essential part of his brand. More than two decades ago, Chesney recorded the song “Old Blue Chair” as the concluding song on his 2004 album When the Sun Goes Down. The following year, he released the album Be As You Are (Songs From an Old Blue Chair). The album’s cover featured Chesney seated on a beach, leaning back on an old, weathered blue chair. Chesney also launched his line of Blue Chair Bay rum in 2013. In 2014, he also recorded the song “Christmas in Blue Chair Bay.” Throughout the past several years, numerous promotional videos and photos have featured Chesney and his signature “old blue chair.”
Additionally, Chesney is set to make an unknown announcement on Thursday, Jan. 16, during a visit to TODAY during the 8 a.m. hour. That same day, he will appear on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
“I have always been one to let the music do the talking,” Chesney said in a recent press statement announcing his upcoming television appearances. “This year is going to be unlike any other. This is one time when I probably do need to get out and explain exactly what we’re up to. But for now, I can say this: I am incredibly ramped up about what we’re in the middle of making happen for 2025. It’s one of those things where you can’t just throw it out there – so I am really glad we’re getting to spend some time at TODAY, then The Tonight Show.”
See Sphere’s post below:
The wintry video for Wham!‘s beloved holiday hit “Last Christmas” has joined YouTube billion-views club. Fittingly, the feat for the song originally released in 1984 comes just after the track skated to the top of the U.K. charts for the second year in a row during the holiday season.
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Written and produced by late singer George Michael, the song first hit No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart in 2021, marking the fifth No. 1 for the duo that also included singer Andrew Ridgeley. Shot in Switzerland by director Andrew Morahan (“Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”), the playful clip features the two singers enjoying a fun ski vacation with their girlfriends.
Though the pair and their significant others are all smiles as they pile into a cable car to enjoy some Christmas R&R in a picturesque chalet, trimming the tree, lobbing snowballs at each other and enjoying a festive meal, it becomes clear through furtive glances and a tell-tale glittery brooch that Ridgeley’s significant other has an unspecified romantic past with Michael.
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Pining for what appears to be a lost love, Michael sings, “Last Christmas, I gave you my heart/ But the very next day, you gave it away/ This year, to save me from tears/ I’ll give it to someone special.”
“Last Christmas” is the first Wham! video to join the YT billion club, joining Michael’s 1984 debut solo hit from that same year, “Careless Whisper.”
According to the U.K. Official Charts report, with its No. 1 slot in December, “Last Christmas” became the first song in the chart’s history to snag two consecutive Christmas No. 1 slots; in its release year, the song was blocked from the top spot by the all-star Band-Aid song “Do You Know It’s Christmas?,” which featured vocals from Michael. It finally hit the Christmas No. 1 in 2023, marking the longest trip to the top holiday spot at 39 years; it first hit No. 1 on the New Year’s Day charts for the week ending January 7, 2021.
Watch the “Last Christmas” video below.
Robbie Williams has long had a cordial relationship with the British royal family. But when it came to an invitation to perform at King Charles III’s coronation ceremony in 2023, the singer said he had to politely decline. Appearing on Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live earlier this week, Williams said he was, as rumored, asked to celebrate the royal passing of the torch, but had a professional conflict.
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Williams told Cohen that there was definitely “a reason” he could not accept the gig. “I was working. I got something I couldn’t turn down because of money,” Williams said, without elaborating on what gig kept him from the royal honor.
Williams has shown his support for the royals before, acting as the opening act at the 2012 diamond jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace, which was organized by his former Take That bandmate, Gary Barlow. And while he didn’t make it to the coronation concert held for King Charles III and Queen Camilla on May 7, 2023, that glitzy event did feature sets from Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, Andrea Bocelli and the other members of Take That: Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen, joined by DJ Robin Schulz and Calum Scott.
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Other acts who took the stage included Tiwa Savage, Paloma Faith, Steve Winwood, Olly Murs, Pete Tong and Nicole Scherzinger.
Though fans couldn’t see him then, they can catch the British superstar in his unusual new biopic, Better Man, in which a CGI monkey version of Williams takes viewers through a series of over-the-top musical numbers illustrating the singer’s wild days and nights as a boy bander and solo star.
Paramount paid $25 million to acquire the $110 million movie directed by The Greatest Showman‘s Michael Gracey, only to see it tank at the U.S. box office in its opening weekend, where it took in a modest $1 million on more than 1,200 screens. To date, the movie has reportedly earned just under $5 million in Williams’ native U.K., marking it as the first major box office bomb of the year.
Watch Williams discuss the coronation rebuff below.
The Eagles have pledged $2.5 million to FireAid, the Jan. 30 benefit concert for Los Angeles fire victims to be held at Intuit Dome. There is no word whether the band, who is in the middle of a residency at Sphere in Las Vegas, will play the show. The event, billed as “an evening of music […]
While a number of U.S. awards shows and nomination announcements have been postponed or reworked due to the ongoing devastating wildfires in Los Angeles, England’s BAFTA Film Awards announced its nominations slate on Wednesday morning (Jan. 15).
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Among the films garnering multiple nods was the musical drug drama Emilia Pérez, which snagged 11 nominations, including best film, director and leading actress for Golden Globe winner Karla Sofía Gascón, as well as supporting actress for co-stars Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldaña.
The first part of Wicked was nominated seven times, including best leading actress for Globe nominee Cynthia Erivo and best supporting actress for Ariana Grande, as well as costume design, hair/makeup, production design, sound and special visual effects. Notably, though, the box office smash re-telling of the Wizard of Oz-inspired Broadway musical was shut out in a number of major categories, including best film, director and adapted screenplay.
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The BAFTA nominations were the first for Grande and Gomez.
The top-nominated film was the Vatican thriller Conclave, which had 12 nominations, while post-WWII epic The Brutalist scored nine, followed by the stripper drama Anora and Dune: Part Two, which each snagged seven. Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown was tapped for six BAFTAs, including best film, adapted screenplay and leading actor for Timothée Chalamet and supporting actor for Edward Norton.
Scrappy Irish music comedy Kneecap also had six, including outstanding British film, outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer for writer/director Rich Peppiatt and original screenplay.
There have been a number of postponements due to the fires that have killed 25 so far an scorched more than 14,000 acres, including a push-back of the Critics Choice Awards, an extra week for academy members to vote on this year’s Oscars (and a postponement of the nomination announcement until Jan. 23) and the cancellation of the major label events surrounding this year’s Grammy Awards.
In light of the devastation in L.A., BAFTA film chair Sara Putt told Variety, that the British Academy’s thoughts are “very, very much” with everyone impacted by the still raging wildfires, the worst in the city’s history. “It’s a dreadful, dreadful time,” she added, noting that the BAFTAs have not yet decided if they would move the dates for the final voting rounds. The BAFTA Film Awards ceremony is slated to take place on Feb. 16 at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
Check out the full list of 2025 BAFTA nominations here.
The night of Oct. 20, 2024, was full of firsts for Xavi. The 20-year-old Mexican American singer-songwriter gave his first televised performance of his breakout hit, “La Diabla,” at the Billboard Latin Music Awards, where he also won his first trophy, for artist of the year, new. And this occurred just eight days after he released his celebrated debut album, Next, which became his first top 10 on any albums chart.
“I’m still processing it,” Xavi says today. “It’s something that I didn’t really expect, but it’s a blessing. My grandpa and my whole family would always talk about this type of stuff; it was their dream to make it in the music industry. I’m really trying to push their dreams forward.”
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Jennifer McCord
This digital cover story is part of Billboard’s Genre Now package, highlighting the artists pushing their musical genres forward — and even creating their own new ones.
It was a fitting, and familiar, flurry of events for the young artist. After the August 2023 release of “La Víctima,” “La Diabla” followed in November and took off in 2024, helping maintain Xavi’s momentum and quickly establishing him as one to watch.
“La Diabla” has since tied for the second-longest-reigning title of the year on the Hot Latin Songs chart, dominating for 14 weeks. (“La Víctima,” Xavi’s first chart entry, peaked at No. 2.) By the end of 2024, Xavi had placed nine songs on the tally while Next debuted at Nos. 6 and 9 on the Regional Mexican Albums and Top Latin Albums charts, respectively. But Xavi’s greatest accomplishment in a year of many is the spread of his hybrid subgenre: tumbados románticos.
Xavi photographed December 3, 2024 in Los Angeles.
Jennifer McCord
Jennifer McCord
With his pioneering blend of the musicality of corridos tumbados with the melodies of sad sierreño, Xavi has paved a clear path for himself to explore other genres, too. Growing up between Sonora, Mexico, and Phoenix, his mother would wake him up with music by Vicente Fernández and Selena, but he says coming to the United States was “a whole different world” and he quickly became a fan of artists like Justin Bieber and Daniel Caesar. Now he’s eager to explore all kinds of sounds — sometimes simultaneously.
“We’re talking about R&B, we’re talking about música mexicana. When you get all those elements and put them into one, it literally becomes its own — it brings out this new sound,” he says. “Since it’s something new and we’re getting to the bottom of it, it’s done with so much love and patience. We do it with a lot of passion.
“The studio is a kitchen, you know?” he continues. “And we’ve just been working on the sound of the fusion because there’s a lot of styles out there. But what happens when you put two, or three, or four or five genres into one song? It’s a fusion of corridos — I don’t want to say we invented it, but we definitely brought something new.”
This story appears in the Jan. 11, 2025, issue of Billboard.
Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department finished 2024 as the most popular album of the year in the U.S., according to music data tracking company Luminate. Meanwhile, the most-streamed song by on-demand audio streams was Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” and the most-heard song on the radio was Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control.”
Total music consumption in the U.S. – as measured in audio equivalent album units – increased by 5.6% in 2024. (View Luminate’s 2024 Year-End Music Report.)
See Luminate’s year-end top 10 albums, along with other year-end rankings and industry volume numbers, below.
But first, the fine print:
Equivalent album units – for album titles and chart rankings cited below (but not industry volume numbers) – comprise traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album, or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. Album titles and album chart rankings by equivalent album units do not include user-generated content (UGC) streams, but UGC streams are included in Luminate’s industry volume numbers. (UGC streams are not factored into any of Billboard’s weekly charts.)
For the sake of clarity, equivalent album units do not include listening to music on broadcast radio or digital radio broadcasts – including programmed streams – operating under Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) regulations. All numbers cited in this story are rounded, and reflect U.S. consumption only.
Luminate’s equivalent album unit totals include SEA and TEA for an album’s songs registered before an album’s release, but during the tracking period of Dec. 29, 2023, through Jan. 2, 2025.
Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991 when the company was known as SoundScan. Luminate’s sales, streaming and airplay data is used to compile Billboard’s weekly charts. Luminate’s 2024 tracking year ran from Dec. 29, 2023, through Jan. 2, 2025.
Luminate’s 2024 tracking year contained 53 weeks, instead of the usual 52 weeks. So, for 2024 volume comparisons to 2023, a corresponding 53-week period was used by Luminate for 2023: Dec. 30, 2022, through Jan. 4, 2024.
Highlights from Luminate’s 2024 U.S. year-end data:
Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department was Luminate’s top album of 2024 in the U.S. It’s the third time Swift has led the year-end list. She was also tops with 1989 (in 2014) and Fearless (in 2009).
Poets earned 6.955 million equivalent album units in 2024 in the U.S., according to Luminate. That’s the biggest yearly total for an album since 2015, when Adele’s third album, 25, earned 8.008 million units.
Swift is the first artist in Luminate history (1991-present) to have three different albums be a year-end No. 1.
Poets was also the top-selling album overall in the U.S. in 2024, by traditional album sales. It was also the top-selling album in each of CD, vinyl and cassette tape formats, as well as among digital download albums.
Total U.S. audio album consumption increased 5.6% in 2024.
U.S. on-demand audio streams increased 6.4% in 2024.
Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” was the most-streamed song in the U.S. in 2024 by on-demand audio streams: 912.7 million.
U.S. vinyl album sales increased by 4.3% in 2024.
Seven of the year’s top 10-selling albums were K-pop projects.
Digital track sales declined for a 12th year in a row in the U.S. in 2024.
Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” was the biggest song at U.S. radio in 2024: 3.250 billion audience impressions.
Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart dated May 4, 2024, and has spent 17 nonconsecutive weeks atop the tally (through its most recent week at No. 1 on the chart dated Dec. 21). The last album by a woman to spend as many weeks at No. 1 was Adele’s 21, which earned 24 nonconsecutive weeks on top in 2011-12.
Poets is the third Swift album to be named Luminate’s year-end No. 1 album, following 1989 (2014) and Fearless (2009). In both 2014 and 2009, the year-end list was based solely on traditional album sales. In 2015, the year-end ranking started being based on equivalent album units.
Since Luminate began electronically tracking music consumption in 1991, Swift is the first artist to have three different albums be Luminate’s year-end No. 1. Adele is the only other act to have the year-end top album in three different years, but Adele did it with two albums: 21 (2011-12) and 25 (2015).
Poets is the first album not by a solo male to be Luminate’s year-end No. 1 since 2015, when Adele’s 25 was tops.
Poets earned 6.955 million equivalent album units in 2024 in the U.S., according to Luminate. That’s the biggest yearly total for an album since 2015, when Adele’s third album, 25, earned 8.008 million units. (Previous to Poets, the last album to clear 6 million units in a single year was 25.)
Half of Poets’ 2024 units was generated by traditional album sales (3.491 million of 6.955 million) – via purchases of physical (CD, cassette and vinyl) and digital download albums. Streaming equivalent album (SEA) units comprise 3.434 million and track equivalent album (TEA) units comprise 30,000. Poets was also the most-streamed album of 2024, by total on-demand official streams generated by its songs, with 4.490 billion streams.
Poets was initially released on April 19 as a standard 16-song digital download album, as well as in an array of 17-song physical configurations. Two hours after the album dropped, Swift issued an expanded 31-song edition of the album, dubbed The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, which added 15 additional songs. However, the Anthology edition was only available as a digital download and streaming set until Nov. 29, when its CD and vinyl editions became available for purchase exclusively through Target. The Target CD and vinyl additionally boast four bonus acoustic tracks (which were previously released in other alternate versions of the album). All told, more than 40 variants of Poets were released to U.S. customers in 2024, across CD, vinyl, cassette and digital download album versions.
Poets yielded 10 top-10 charting songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including the No. 1 “Fortnight,” featuring Post Malone.
Rounding out Luminate’s year-end top 10 albums are titles by Morgan Wallen, Sabrina Carpenter, SZA, Billie Eilish, Noah Kahan, Chappell Roan, Zach Bryan, and Future and Metro Boomin.
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2024 IN U.S., BY TOTAL EQUIVALENT ALBUM UNITS1. Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department (6.955 million)2. Morgan Wallen, One Thing at a Time (3.183 million)3. Sabrina Carpenter, Short n’ Sweet (2.491 million)4. SZA, SOS (2.473 million)5. Billie Eilish, Hit Me Hard and Soft (2.259 million)6. Noah Kahan, Stick Season (2.213 million)7. Chappell Roan, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (1.946 million)8. Morgan Wallen, Dangerous: The Double Album (1.895 million)9. Zach Bryan, Zach Bryan (1.723 million)10. Future & Metro Boomin, We Don’t Trust You (1.606 million)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through Jan. 2, 2025. UGC streams are not included in this chart, but are included in Luminate’s on-demand streaming charts (below).
TOTAL U.S. AUDIO ALBUM CONSUMPTION INCREASES 5.6%: Audio equivalent album units increased by 5.6% in 2024, to 1.1 billion. For this figure, audio equivalent album units comprise traditional album sales (excluding independent retail sales*), track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA, excluding video streams). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported on-demand official audio streams generated by songs from an album, or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio streams generated by songs from an album.
*Note: There was a change in methodology behind Luminate’s independent retail store reporting beginning in January 2024, and, in turn, independent retail physical sales under the new methodology for 2024 are isolated and no trending analysis is provided versus 2023. So, any year-over-year album sales volume excludes independent retail physical sales, including the “total U.S. audio album consumption” figure above. Independent retail sales are included in all figures for individual album titles throughout this story.
TAYLOR SWIFT’S ‘TORTURED POETS’ IS 2024’S TOP-SELLING ALBUM: Poets is also by far the top-selling album of 2024, with 3.491 million copies sold across all configurations (physical and digital purchases combined: CD, vinyl LP, cassette, digital download album). That makes it the highest-selling album of any calendar year in the U.S. since 2015, when Adele’s 25 sold 7.441 million copies. See the top 10-selling albums, below.
Poets’ sales were so big that it outsold the year’s Nos. 2-8 top sellers combined.
TOP 10-SELLING ALBUMS OF 2024 IN U.S. (PHYSICAL & DIGITAL SALES COMBINED)1. Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department (3.491 million)2. Billie Eilish, Hit Me Hard and Soft (570,000)3. Travis Scott, Days Before Rodeo (493,000)4. Sabrina Carpenter, Short n’ Sweet (484,000)5. Chappell Roan, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (472,000)6. Stray Kids, ATE (449,000)7. Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (414,000)8. ENHYPEN, Romance: Untold (378,000)9. Taylor Swift, Lover (343,000)10. Beyoncé, Cowboy Carter (329,000)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through Jan. 2, 2025.
An album by Swift has been the year’s top-seller in seven of the last 11 years: Poets in 2024, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) in 2023, Midnights in 2022, Folklore in 2020, Lover in 2019, Reputation in 2017 and 1989 in 2014. She also had the year’s top seller in 2009 with Fearless. Swift is the only act to have the top-selling album of the year at least eight times since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991.
Poets was also the year’s top-selling album on CD (1.512 million), vinyl (1.489 million), digital download (465,000) and cassette (24,000).
As mentioned earlier in this story, Poets was available across more than 40 different variants in the U.S. in 2024 – helping its sales figures. In total, there have been 15 CD editions, seven vinyl variants, four cassettes, and 19 digital download versions. Most versions contain at least one bonus track (ranging from bonus studio songs to acoustic or live renditions of songs from the album).
Taylor Swift sold the most albums of any act in 2024 in the U.S., as her collected catalog of albums sold 6.003 million copies (across all configurations, physical and digital combined). The second-biggest act, by album sales in 2024, was Stray Kids, with 1.009 million sold. Swift and Stray Kids were also the Nos. 1 and 2-selling acts, by album sales, in 2023.
PHYSICAL & DIGITAL ALBUM SALES DECLINE: Luminate reports that physical album sales – excluding independent retail store sales – declined 1% in 2024 to 55.6 million. (Indie store sales are excluded from this year-over-year album sales volume comparisons due to a methodology change, as noted earlier in this story, behind Luminate’s independent retail store reporting in 2024 versus 2023.) Digital album sales fell 9.5% in 2024 to 16.8 million.
VINYL ALBUM SALES INCREASE 4.3%: Luminate’s year-end report reveals that U.S. vinyl album sales increased 4.3% in 2024 as compared to 2023, when excluding independent retail store sales (due to the methodology change noted above in this story). In 2023, industry-wide, vinyl sales increased for an 18th consecutive year.
TOP 10-SELLING VINYL ALBUMS OF 2024 IN U.S.1. Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department (1.489 million)2. Billie Eilish, Hit Me Hard and Soft (340,000)3. Chappell Roan, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (336,000)4. Sabrina Carpenter, Short n’ Sweet (291,000)5. Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (200,000)6. Taylor Swift, Folklore (267,000)7. Taylor Swift, Midnights (188,000)8. Taylor Swift, Lover (185,000)9. Fleetwood Mac, Rumours (178,000)10. Olivia Rodrigo, Guts (175,000)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through Jan. 2, 2025.
The Tortured Poets Department was the top-selling vinyl LP of 2024, with 1.489 million sold – more than four times the number of copies that the second-biggest vinyl set of the year, Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft, sold: 340,000. Poets is only the second album to sell a million copies on vinyl in a calendar year since Luminate started tracking sales in 1991. Swift’s own 1989 (Taylor’s Version) was the first, in 2023, with 1.014 million copies sold on wax that year.
Poets scored the single-largest sales week for a vinyl album in the modern era (since Luminate began tracking data in 1991) with its opening sales week of 859,000.
Swift finished 2024 with five of the top 10-selling vinyl albums. Further, her catalog of albums sold 2.935 million copies on vinyl in 2024 – the most of any artist. (Billie Eilish was the second-biggest selling act on vinyl in 2024, with 520,000 sold.)
K-POP CONTINUES TO DOMINATE CD TOP SELLERS: Seven of the year’s top 10-selling CD albums are by K-pop acts, while efforts from Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish are the lone non-K-pop projects among the top 10 best sellers. Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department is the top-selling CD album, with 1.512 million copies sold. A year ago, seven of the top 10 sellers were also K-pop titles. All of the titles in the 2024 year-end top 10 ranking below profit from their availability across multiple collectible editions aimed at superfans.
TOP 10-SELLING CD ALBUMS OF 2024 IN U.S.1. Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department (1,512,000)2. Stray Kids, ATE (442,000)3. ENHYPEN, Romance: Untold (363,000)4. ATEEZ, GOLDEN HOUR: Part.1 (250,000)5. Stray Kids, HOP (248,000)6. TOMORROW X TOGETHER, minisode 3: TOMORROW (240,000)7. ATEEZ, GOLDEN HOUR: Part. 2 (225,000)8. Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (175,000)9. TWICE, With YOU-th (174,000)10. Billie Eilish, Hit Me Hard and Soft (165,000)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through Jan. 2, 2025.
ON-DEMAND AUDIO STREAMS UP 6.4%: Total U.S. on-demand audio streams (inclusive of UGC streams) grew 6.4% in 2024 to 1.4 trillion. (Note: UGC streams are included in Luminate’s industry streaming on-demand volume numbers and its year-end streaming song charts. UGC streams are not factored into any of Billboard’s weekly charts.)
TOP 10 MOST STREAMED SONGS OF 2024 IN U.S., ON-DEMAND AUDIO1. Shaboozey, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (912.7 million)2. Kendrick Lamar, “Not Like Us” (823.5 million)3. Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen, “I Had Some Help” (822.9 million)4. Benson Boone, “Beautiful Things” (800.5 million)5. Teddy Swims, “Lose Control” (785.8 million)6. Sabrina Carpenter, “Espresso” (758.9 million)7. Zach Bryan featuring Kacey Musgraves, “I Remember Everything” (739.5 million)8. Tommy Richman, “Million Dollar Baby” (731.3 million)9. Billie Eilish, “Birds of a Feather” (660.7 million)10. Hozier, “Too Sweet” (630.9 million)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through Jan. 2, 2025. Includes UGC streams.
DIGITAL TRACK SALES DROP FOR 12TH YEAR IN A ROW: Digital track sales declined for a 12th year in a row, falling 12.8% to 118.77 million in 2024 (down from 136.20 million in the comparable 53-week period of 2023). The top-selling digital song of 2024 was Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” with 480,000 sold. It was the third year in a row that no song sold at least a half-million downloads. Prior to 2022, it last happened in the early days of downloading, in 2004 (the first full year of the iTunes Store, which launched in mid-2003).
2024 also marks the third year in a row that no song sold at least 1 million downloads. Before 2022, the industry last had a year without a million-selling download in 2005.
TOP 10-SELLING DIGITAL SONGS OF 2024 IN U.S.1. Shaboozey, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (480,000)2. Teddy Swims, “Lose Control” (311,000)3. Benson Boone, “Beautiful Things” (293,000)4. Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen, “I Had Some Help” (252,000)5. Beyoncé, “Texas Hold ‘Em” (192,000)6. Hozier, “Too Sweet” (162,000)7. Jelly Roll, “I Am Not Okay” (152,000)8. Jimin, “Who” (131,000)9. Sabrina Carpenter, “Espresso” (125,000)10. Kendrick Lamar, “Not Like Us” (121,000)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through Jan. 2, 2025.
TEDDY SWIMS’ ‘LOSE CONTROL’ DOMINATED AIRWAVES: Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” was the most popular song on radio in 2024, with 3.260 billion audience impressions earned across all monitored radio stations in the U.S. Audience impressions are measured by cross-referencing plays with Mediabase, Nielsen Audio and/or Luminate Metro Radio Streaming audience data – i.e., a play of a song on a top-rated New York station at 8 a.m. on a Monday has more listeners (audience) than an overnight weekend play in a smaller city.
TOP 10 RADIO SONGS OF 2024 IN U.S. (BASED ON AUDIENCE IMPRESSIONS)1. Teddy Swims, “Lose Control” (3.250 billion)2. Shaboozey, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (2.767 billion)3. Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen, “I Had Some Help” (2.591 billion)4. Benson Boone, “Beautiful Things” (2.565 billion)5. Hozier, “Too Sweet” (2.436 billion)6. Jack Harlow, “Lovin’ On Me” (2.325 billion)7. Sabrina Carpenter, “Espresso” (2.253 billion)8. Doja Cat, “Agora Hills” (2.098 billion)9. Taylor Swift, “Cruel Summer” (2.054 billion)10. Luke Combs, “Fast Car” (1.993 billion)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through Jan. 2, 2025.
My Morning Jacket announced on Wednesday morning (Jan. 15) that their 10th studio album, Is, will be released via ATO Records on March 21. The group’s first new full-length LP in more than three years was produced by Grammy-winner Brendan O’Brien (Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam).
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The Louisville-bred group that has typically self-produced their albums in the past mostly recorded Is at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles with O’Brien. Lead singer/guitarist Jim James — who has produced or co-produced all of their studio albums since 1999 — explained in a statement that their interest in working with the acclaimed producer came from a “newfound willingness to open up their process and involve an outside creative force.”
“Up until now I’ve never been able to let go and allow someone else to steer the ship,” James said in the statement. “It almost felt like an out-of-body experience to step back and give control over to someone who’s far more accomplished and made so many more records than us, but in the end I was able to enjoy the process maybe more than I ever have before.”
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The first fruits of those efforts is available now via the gauzy lead single “Time Waited,” which dropped on Wednesday along with a Danny Clinch-directed video. The impressionistic clip from the photographer/director known for his work with the Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam features a mix of performance footage and floating flowers with archival photos from throughout the band’s quarter-century-plus history.
“I made a loop of that piano intro and listened as I went for a walk, and all these melodies started coming to me,” said James about the song that was inspired by a sample of a piano part the singer found on pedal steel master Buddy Emmons’ classic 1969 Emmons Guitar Inc. album.
“For a long time, I didn’t have lyrics, but then I had a dream where I was in a café and a song was playing, and the lyrics to that song became the lyrics to ‘Time Waited’ – the melodies just fit perfectly,” he added. “And the lyrics are about how flexible time is, how we can bend and warp time, especially if we are following our hearts, the universe and time itself can flow to work with us.”
“Well they say time waits for no one dear/ And it takes near death to show one, yeah/ But time waited… for you and me,” James sings over a hypnotic piano and gentle drums in the first verse before the track expands into one of the group’s patented psychedelic pop slow-burns.
According to the release, before teaming up with O’Brien for the sessions for their follow-up to 2021’s self-titled ninth album, they had recorded more than 100 demos to land on the final 10 that made the cut.
The final list includes: “Out in the Open,” “Half a Lifetime,” “Everyday Magic,” “I Can Hear Your Love,” “Time Waited,” “Beginning From the Ending,” “Lemme Know,” “Squid Ink,” “Die For It” and “River Road.”
“It feels really great to have a collection of songs we all love this much, and to know that we worked as hard as we possibly could on them,” James said. “Hopefully those songs will be helpful to people and give them some kind of peace as they try to deal with the insanity of the world – because that’s what music does for me, and doing the same for others is always my greatest dream come true.”
The band also said they will announced tour dates in support of the album soon. Before that, they will head down to Florida for the next edition of their three-night My Morning Jacket’s One Big Holiday festival at Miramar Beach’s Seascape Resort from April 3-5.
Watch the “Time Waited” video and check out the band’s album announcement below.
Just 72 hours after launching an emergency fund to support families who’ve lost their homes in the Los Angeles wildfires, Paris Hilton announced on X on Tuesday (Jan. 14) that her 11:11 Media Impact nonprofit has raised $800,000 for relief efforts. “Thank you. This community is incredible,” she wrote. “Help me reach my goal to continue supporting those impacted by wildfires in LA.” Click here to support the fund.
Last week, Hilton revealed that she’d lost her home in Malibu, posting video of the burned-out shell of her family’s house. “This house wasn’t just a place to live— It was where we dreamed, laughed, and created the most beautiful memories as a family,” she wrote. “It was where Phoenix’s little hands made art that I’ll cherish forever, where love and life filled every corner. To see it reduced to ashes… it’s devastating beyond words.”
Days later, she said as a mom of two she could not imagine the “pain and fear of not having a safe place for your babies,” in announcing the fund to support displaced families with young children. She pledged at the time to match the first $100K and then personally contribute $100K to the effort that will help families through the emergency relief organization CORE, including short-term housing and hotel stays for displaced families, as well as supporting local animal shelters.
Hilton also chronicled her volunteer work at Baby2Baby and the Pasadena Humane Society this weekend. At the latter, she agreed to foster a little dog named Zuzu. “As an animal lover, I am heartbroken by those who have lost their furry friends or have had to give them up due to being displaced,” Hilton wrote. “🥹 I want to do my part and take care of Zuzu and I encourage others who are able to to reach out to their local shelter to see how they can support them!”
At Baby2Baby, Hilton said she and her team helped pack essential supplies for babies and young children.
The historic fires have killed 25 people to date, with the two largest blazes burning nearly 40,000 acres to date. Officials warned that expected high winds on Wednesday (Jan. 15) could hinder efforts to contain the two largest fires, the Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire, which are, respectively, only 18% and 35% contained.
A number of resources are available for those who have lost their homes or need assistance in other ways. The MusiCares and the Recording Academy Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort will help music professionals impacted by the crisis, with a combined pledge of $1 million to kick off the efforts. People who have worked in the music industry for more than five years may qualify for immediate assistance, including up to $1,500 in financial aid and $500 in food vouchers.
See Hilton’s post below.
Celine Dion paid loving tribute to her late husband, René Angélil, on Tuesday (Jan. 14) on the night anniversary of his death. “René, we can’t believe you’ve been gone nine years already. Not a day goes by that we don’t feel your presence, RC, Eddy, Nelson and I,” Dion wrote in an Instagram post featuring her and the couple’s three children, sons René-Charles, 23, and twins Nelson and Eddy, 14.
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“You were my greatest champion, my partner, and the one who always saw the best in me,” she added. “I honor you and you are forever missed mon amour…. We love you.” Angélil died of throat cancer in 2016 at 73. Dion and Angélil met when the singer was 12 and he was 38 and he later mortgaged his home to fund her debut album, 1981’s La voix du bon Dieu. The couple married at Notre-Dame Basilica of Montréal on Dec. 17, 1994.
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Back in December, Dion marked another milestone when she honored Angélil on what would have been their 30th wedding anniversary. She posted a throwback black and white picture of the two from their wedding day, writing, “You still fill our hearts, every day. You are everything to us. We miss you so much. Happy 30th anniversary, mon amour!”
Earlier this week, Dion sent her thoughts and prayers to those suffering during the historic L.A. wildfires. “My heart goes out to everyone in Los Angeles affected by these devastating fires. In moments like this, it’s so important for us to come together and help,” she wrote on Instagram, where she included a list of resources for those who’ve lost their homes or been forced to flee the conflagrations that have killed 25 people to date. Officials are warning that high winds on Wednesday (Jan. 15) could hamper efforts to contain the two largest fires, which have burned nearly 40,000 acres to date.
For a longer list of organizations providing relief to those impacted by the fires click here.
