Well, it’s been a week since Prince died and his catalog of albums overwhelmed the top 10 on iTunes.
Then Beyonce released her album on Monday morning, and she knocked Prince off handily. Beyonce put a bunch of tracks on the singles chart, and went into a tug of war with Prince.
Now it’s Friday morning. At midnight, Drake’s “Views” was released just to iTunes and went straight to number 1. Bang! Zoom! Just like that. This is all in the space of eight days. Crazy, huh?
“Views” has helped push Drake’s latest single, “One Dance” up into the top 5. The album also contains “Hotline Bling,” Drake’s seminal track from this last year. It’s the last of 20 titles on “Views.”
No one can say the record business isn’t hopping! But where is it hopping? Albums are dropping without notice, or just on some services and not on others. It’s all kind of random, which makes marketing hard. What’s next? Alicia Keys is playing a new song next Saturday on “Saturday Night Live.” Maybe she’ll surprise release it.
But all this digital releasing means there really is no physical product anymore. The CD has become an adjunct. The digital download isn’t even important. Very, very weird.
PS At least Drake is on iTunes and not Tidal. The one album that’s really screwed up from all this chaotic mess is Kanye West’s “Life of Pablo.”
But just think — it’s the end of April and we already have potential Grammy nominees in Adele, David Bowie, Beyonce, Kanye, Rihanna, and Drake. That part is pretty exciting.
