Over the past two weeks, the gods of pop have answered the prayers of many a loyal music lover as two of the genre’s most beloved divas – Taylor Swift and Rihanna – dropped out of the most anticipated efforts of the season.
For Tay, her beloved fans – affectionately known as #Swifties – had given ample warning of the dawn of her new era, ‘Midnights.’ finally released 21st of Octoberthe historic set not only entered the Billboard 200 at No. 1 with the biggest sales of the first week of the year, but also saw half of its tracks occupy the entire top 10 of the Hot 100.
Elsewhere, Rih’s devoted fan base – affectionately referred to as #Navy – has helped ‘Lift me up’ her first new single in six years, breaking radio records after her October 28 unveiling.
The proximity of their release dates has made a Billboard battle between them inevitable, but – if industry analysts are to be believed – the updated Pop chart printout will reveal that it’s Swift who will take the lead. ‘advantage.
With first-week streams of nearly 60 million, sales of over 13,000 and radio impressions of over 32 million, Swift’s ‘anti-hero’ has surged to No. 100 current – marking the ninth visit of his career. to Pop pole position (as we reported here).
And while it’s typical for most tracks that debut at the top of the count to experience a steep drop, Taylor — despite fierce competition from Rih and others — doesn’t loosen his grip. In fact, reports say the song sold an additional 15,000 copies in its second week, alongside streams of nearly 35 million and radio impressions of around 36 million. Its commercial performance is facilitated by several versions available for purchase and streaming.
The powerful combo proved just enough to keep the Bajan beauty at bay.
Initial reports from Billboard indicated that Rih ‘Black Panther’ The soundtrack recorded impressive streaming and sales numbers in its first two days of availability – a move that reportedly led to a performance sum of 39,000 sales, 27.3 million streams and 49.2 million at the end of the week.
If the numbers reported above match Billboard news on Monday (November 7), Rih is assured of a #2 opening on the Hot 100.
Keep it locked for This grape juice for when the official final call is made.
