Friday, March 29, 2024

Charts: Beyonce & Jay Z, Kanye Are Not Selling Enough Downloads or Streams to Get Hits

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Drake released a new album today. It went straight the top of iTunes, and most of its tracks are lodged on the iTunes singles chart. They’re all getting lots of play on Spotify. “Scorpion” is a hit, whether you like it or not.

But Drake always sells like that. I’ve written about him before. He swamps the streaming songs chart.

This week, though, he’s also knocked off Beyonce and Jay, and Kanye West. The first couple of hip hop has “The Carters” album out. Kanye has his “Ye” album. They are really not selling, and not selling enough to have made a difference.

This week “The Carters” sold around 59,000 “copies.” They did streaming equivalent of 37,000 copies, and another 20,000 in paid downloads. (They skew older as it turns out.)

Kanye sold a total of 25,000 copies, most of which came from streaming. He had about 2,000 paid downloads.

These are not big numbers. Kanye certainly alienated his audience, so it’s understandable. But Bey and Jay have no hit single. “The Carters” has had a long lukewarm response despite the fact that they’re touring.

Listen, financially, I’m not worried about any of these guys. But the reality is, recordings is not where they’re making their money. Only Drake can say that.

By the way, an unreleased John Coltrane album was released today from the height of his career. The tapes were just put away. Now they’re finally out. If you’re interested in actual music, take a listen.

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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