Pop Shop Podcast – New Every Tuesday

On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are opening up the mailbag to answer your burning questions – starting with a question about why radio is still important (and valuable) in the streaming age.

Listener “yaelkaa” asks: “I’m still unclear about the point of (a) radio-released single in the time of streaming.”

We can start by looking at Billboard’s own charts to show how big of an imprint radio still has on American music fans. A few weeks ago, on the July 6-dated Radio Songs chart, the No. 1 song was Post Malone’s “I Had Some Help,” featuring Morgan Wallen, with 76.5 million audience impressions in the U.S., according to data tracking firm Luminate — meaning, it was estimated that song was heard 76.5 million times by people that week. Compare that to the same week’s No. 1 on the Streaming Songs chart, which was Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” with 45.4 million official streams in the U.S. And of course, that number includes repeated plays by the same person through the week. The numbers, at least that week, speak for themself: Radio is still very powerful when it comes to the sheer number of people that will hear a song.

Also, we can look at the financials of radio plays versus on-demand audio streaming plays. We dug into the numbers to estimate how much money was generated for the publishers and the songwriter for one major hit song, Noah Kahan’s top 10-charting Billboard Hot 100 hit “Stick Season.” How much would that have generated from radio plays and on-demand audio streams? Which of the two, radio or streaming, likely generated the bigger financial win? Listen to our special Ask the Pop Shop episode below to learn more about that and other questions.

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)

Katy Perry is returning to music, and she’s ready to prove that it’s a “Woman’s World.”

On Monday, Perry announced that the first single from her sixth studio album will arrive on July 11. On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are talking what music fans will want from Perry in 2024 — just over 10 years removed from her last Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit, “Dark Horse,” which topped the chart in February 2014.

Listen to our full conversation below:

Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how Charli XCX scores her highest-charting album ever on the Billboard 200, how Bon Jovi becomes only the fifth group with newly charting top 10s on the Billboard 200 in each of the past five decades, how Sabrina Carpenter has two songs in the top three of the Billboard Hot 100, and how Chappell Roan rises to the top 10 on the Billboard 200 albums chart for the first time with her buzzy album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)

Music videos might not be getting the prime-time TV premieres or big TRL rollouts they did in past decades, but a pair of pop stars are making sure they’re still major events.

Last week, Ariana Grande premiered a video for her latest Eternal Sunshine single “The Boy Is Mine,” which stars You actor Penn Badgley as the object of Grande’s obsession. The visual also includes cameos from Brandy and Monica — nodding to their shared song title — as well as Grande’s transformation into Catwoman to combat the city’s rat problem and claw her way to Badgley’s mayor.

Also last week, Sabrina Carpenter unveiled the new single and video “Please Please Please,” co-starring her Saltburn-actor boyfriend Barry Keoghan. This one also includes a cinematic storyline, with Carpenter and Keoghan’s characters meeting as the pop star gets bailed out of prison and the actor is on his way inside.

On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are talking about the splashy new music videos and why we’re hoping it’s the start of a new trend. Listen below:

Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how Taylor Swift locks in a seventh week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, while Eminem makes a high debut on the Billboard Hot 100 with his new single, the “Abracadabra”-referencing “Houdini.”

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)