Unusual Music Report Mid-Year 2024

In many ways, the origins of the modern era of the recorded music industry in the United States can be traced back to 2015. It was the year that Apple Music and TIDAL made their U.S. debuts; the year that streaming finally matured and took over as the country’s dominant revenue stream among all formats; and the year that, after more than a decade of decline, business finally began to see its first shoots of growth, kicking off an upward trend that has yet to abate, 10 years later.

This week, Luminate released its annual U.S. report, providing a relatively fitting end to the first 10 years of what could reasonably be referred to as the official streaming era. The mid-year charts featured some surprises (the continued success of Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” has made it the most-streamed song of 2024 so far) and some more obvious conclusions (of course, Taylor Swift dominated the album charts with Tortured Poets Section).

But it also revealed several milestones and achievements that didn’t happen in the past decade of Luminate reports (and before that, MRC Data and Nielsen reports). So, with the caveat that it’s still halfway through, and that release dates and other factors weigh more heavily in smaller sample sizes, here are five stats that show the first half of 2024 was the weirdest year of the past decade.

The sheer scale of Taylor’s dominance

Swift Tortured Poets Section The album easily outsold all other albums at the halfway point of the year, spending 12 of the year’s 26 weeks so far atop the Billboard 200. But at the halfway point of the year, its dominance can also be seen as historic compared to the previous 10 years. At 4.66 million equivalent album units, TTBD It surpassed Morgan Wallen’s #2 album. one thing at a timemore than doubling — and nearly tripling — the last album’s 1.776 million copies, a total about 2.62 times higher than Wallen’s album (which was released in March 2023, to be fair).

This is the first time in the past decade that the first half total of a No. 1 album has doubled, let alone doubled, the No. 2 album. The difference between the two, 2.884 million units, is more than the 1.5 million-unit disparity between any other two top albums during the time period, with 2023 being the only other year to exceed the 1 million-unit disparity. (Last year, Wallen one thing at a time Its sales reached 3.312 million units, 1.33 million more than SZA’s. call for help.) Closest race in the last 10 years? That was in 2017 when Kendrick Lamar competed against the curse. It beats Ed Sheeran’s song. swear With only 23,000 units at the halfway point.

The #1 song to never reach #1 on the Hot 100.

Boone’s “Beautiful Things” was an early success story this year, with the singer seemingly bursting out of nowhere with the biggest hit of his career to date. The song got off to a great start, debuting at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January — and then spending every other week in the chart’s top 10, reaching No. 1 as the most-streamed song of the year so far on Luminate’s mid-year tally.

The only oddity? “Beautiful Things” peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100, never reaching No. 1. Given that, it might seem odd that it’s the No. 1 song in mid-year streams, though that could be explained by its continued dominance in the top 10 and its early-year debut, which gave it a full six months to rack up all those streams. What’s strange, though, is that it’s the only song in the past decade to land at No. 1 at the mid-year mark and never reach the top of the Hot 100. In fact, every other year since 2015, the No. 1 song in mid-year has spent at least five weeks at No. 1—ranging from Incanto “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” in 2022 (five weeks) to Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk!” in 2015, which reached 14 weeks. (Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” No. 1 at the halfway mark in 2019, eventually spent 19 weeks at No. 1, despite only being halfway through the year.)

Top Mid-Year #1 Songs on On-Demand Streaming (Weeks at #1)
2023: Miley Cyrus, “Flowers” ​​(8 weeks)
2022: Incanto We Don’t Talk About Bruno Cast (5 weeks)
2021: Olivia Rodrigo, “Drivers License” (8 weeks)
2020: Roddy Ricch, “The Box” (11 weeks)
2019: Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” (19 weeks)
2018: Drake, “God’s Plan” (11 weeks)
2017: Ed Sheeran, “Shape Of You” (12 weeks)
2016: “Work” featuring Rihanna and Drake (9 weeks)
2015: Mark Ronson features Bruno Mars on “Uptown Funk!” (14 weeks)

Warner Records Gets Top 3 Songs

What about the most streamed songs? Boone took the No. 1 spot, followed by Zach Bryan’s “I Remember Everything” and Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” in second and third. All of these songs were released by Warner Records, giving the label a triple-digit haul. No other label has had three mid-year top-ten songs in the past decade, giving Warner sole ownership of the feat in this era.

However, some labels have come close: In 2022, Atlantic Records had a #1 hit (“We Don’t Talk About Bruno”), a #4 hit (“Super Gremlin” by Kodak Black) and had one of its stars, Jack Harlow, on a #2 hit (“Industry Baby” by Lil Nas X and Harlow, released on X’s Columbia label). In 2018, Republic Records had three of the top four hits, with one of its artists, Drake, on a #3 hit: Blocboy JB feat. Drake, “Look Alive.” However, “Look Alive” was released on Drake’s OVO Sound label, which was distributed by Warner at the time. In 2016, Def Jam had two No. 2 and No. 3 hits (Desiigner’s “Panda” and Justin Bieber’s “Sorry,” respectively) and signed a distribution deal with Roc Nation, which released the No. 1 single, Rihanna’s “Work,” featuring Drake — even though Def Jam technically didn’t release it.

Republic Records Tops Top 3 Albums Chart

Not to be outdone, the top of the mid-year albums chart also saw a record label trilogy: Republic Records, which released albums by Swift and Wallen (the latter in partnership with Big Loud), as well as No. 3, Noah Kahan’s Stick season (In partnership with Mercury.) Somewhat surprisingly, given Republic’s recent dominance of the market share rankings as well as Wallen and Swift’s overall dominance in recent years, this is the first time Republic has held the top three at midyear—and over the past decade, this is the only time any brand has held the top three at this point in the year.

The only time another label has come close to this was, predictably, Republic. In 2023, the label had four of the year’s top five albums at the halfway point, but was thwarted from claiming the top three by SZA. call for helpwhich was released by Top Dawg/RCA.

Only five albums have been released in the top 10 in the past 12 months.

The Top 10 Albums by Equivalent Units list featured plenty of familiar titles this year: Swift, Wallen, Kahan, SZA, and Bryan, as well as albums from Beyonce (cowboy carterNo. 4) and Future & Metro Boomin (We don’t trust you.No. 6). But surprisingly, only five of the top 10 songs were released in the past 12 months: Swift’s album TTBD,Beyonce Carter And the future and the metro trustall of which were released in 2024. Bryan’s album of the same name, which debuted at No. 8, was released last August, while Swift’s album, which debuted at No. 9, was released in 1989 (Taylor’s version)The Last Songs, a re-recording of a 2014 album, was released last October. This is the fewest number of titles in the top 10 on any mid-year consumption chart in the past 10 years released within the previous 12 months (dating back to the previous mid-year mark), with no other year dating back to 2015 offering fewer than six titles.

In fact, that number has been steadily declining for half a decade now: Since 2019, when nine of the top 10 songs were released within the previous 12 months, there have been nine (2020), seven (2021), seven (2022) and six (2023) in the top 10. (In 2017, all 10 songs met the criteria.) The streaming era has done many things for the music industry, but one thing it has done more than any other is reveal people’s listening habits rather than their buying habits. The consumption figures for current songs (releases within the past 18 months) versus catalog (releases older than 18 months) have confirmed the now-established trend that catalogue rules consumption: This year, Luminate calculated that catalogue listening accounted for 72.8% of listening share, a figure that remained the same as it was midway through 2023.

But it’s the sheer staying power of some of these top ten albums that’s most impressive. one thing at a time It’s been over a year since it was released; but his 2021 album, Dangerous: The Double AlbumStill in seventh place. SZA’s call for helpNo. 2 at the halfway mark last year, came in fifth. Stick season Originally released in October 2022. 1989 (Taylor’s version) It’s a collection of songs that date back a decade in their original form. At number ten is Swift’s song Lover It is approaching its fifth anniversary in August.

Will the charts remain stable in the future? Is this a result of the maturity of the streaming era? Or are these albums simply very dominant Did they manage to eliminate everyone else? That’s worth watching.