Thursday, March 28, 2024

Pop: Drake Zooms to Number 1, Knocks Off Beyonce “Lemonade” and Prince Catalog

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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.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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