Morgan Wallen is certainly the outlier in popular music.
The country star sells millions and millions of streaming music but is not taken seriously by anyone.
His latest album, “I’m the Problem,” has steamed the equivalent of almost 4 million copies. Of course, less than 10% are actual sales. Maybe 250,000 in CDs, LPs, and and paid downloads. Otherwise, it’s all in the air.
Anyway, Wallen — according to hitsdailydouble.com — has not submitted “I’m the Problem” for Grammy consideration. The deadline is August 31st.
That means no Wallen on the Grammys next winter.
What’s the problem? Is he the problem?
The Grammys don’t care much for Wallen. He’s never gotten any Grammy nominations. He was accused of using the N word on a home video and only got his hand slapped. His punishment is to just keep making more money, money, money. Whatever mansion he lives in is lined with expensive beer bottles and gold records from the RIAA.
Year to date, according to Luminate, he’s sold a total of 6 million equivalent sales, with a total of 303,000 in physical sales.
The streaming is what his sales are all about, which means someone’s just hitting the play button on Spotify over and over.
But those physical sales — iTunes is always listing “I’m the Problem” in the top 10. In reality the album sold an actual 4,000 copies last week which demonstrates how anemic record sales really are.
So no Morgan, no cry at this year’s coming Grammys — which just clears the path for country artists who deserve the accolades.
