The success of Paul McCartney as part of the Beatles has been out of this world for 55 years and counting. What about his solo career through? At 76, he is still able to shot to the top of the US album chart as shown by his last effort Egypt Station. He also landed at #1 multiple times with both albums and singles during the 70s and the 80s. Will that be enough to crack the 73 million equivalent album sales registered by his former band partner John Lennon?
Expectedly, streaming numbers of the Beatles are impressive. Paul McCartney released 25 studio albums plus classical material since then, including an album which came out during the streaming era. Is that enough to challenge results of the fab four with his own catalog?
What is the 3rd most streamed track of 1955, the 8th most streamed track of 1973 or the 12th most streamed track of 1997. You probably won’t know this of the top of your head, but fret not, we are now going to present to you, overall decade lists, broken down year by year, of the most streamed tracks on Spotify. Ultimately, when updating them, we will also be able to identify the pace of increase of songs, albums, and catalogs of some artists to know how much they will increase in terms of equivalent album sales in the future.
From local newcomers to selling millions of albums globally and topping the Billboard 200 twice! It’s safe to say that K-pop group BTS is the hottest boyband in the world at the moment. But have they really hit mainstream status everywhere?
The Greatest Showman, Mamma Mia 2, A Star Is Born, and more recently Bohemian Rhapsody, reminded to all if that was needed how big a soundtrack can be. The movie industry has always been bigger than the music industry, appealing to a wider audience. This is why exposing songs that people like through theaters can be so rewarding. It is nothing new as shown by this study of the iconic 1983 soundtrack Flashdance.
Of course, the elitist press will think it’s outrageous to call the most streamed albums from the 90s the greatest ones. Some artists are arguably critics darlings, but some others are favored by the general public and we are left wondering who are we to contradict them. Surely, nearly 20 years after the end of this era, to belong to the most remembered music that came out of it tells something. It tells they are regarded as the greatest by a lot of people. So which are these albums that continue to appeal the masses so many years after their release?
During the 80s everything got bigger. Arena rock, heavy metal, power ballads, dancefloor anthems, kings & queens of pop, existing genres got louder, heavier. The scene also became more diverse with rap and electronic music breaking the main audience. Are the flagships of this generation, Michael Jackson and Madonna, still the most popular artists from this era?
On a global scale, Avril Lavigne was one of the biggest names of the 2000s decade. Her debut album moved nearly 20 million equivalent album sales. She has huge sales all over Asia, but how does the Canadian superstar perform all around the world?
Playing with numbers isn’t always a good idea. You are no doubt aware that the internet is full of false data. If you have been reading us for some time, it’s just as clear for you that official data can be inaccurate too. That article pointed out various severe flaws of UK’s Official Chart Company (OCC). They have now gone a step further by trying to re-write history, erasing everything that happened before their personal involvement.
The career of Taylor Swift is pretty unique. For many years, she was seen as a pure US star from the country family. She then moved to pop music, trying to make her success global. Her sales are undoubtedly massive, but has she managed to turn her popularity as big abroad as stateside?