Since the Beatles went on Spotify on December 24th their songs have been added to more than 650,000 playlists.

But the most streamed Beatles song so far is not what we might have guessed was their most popular — either “Hey Jude” or “Yesterday.” It’s “Come Together,” John Lennon’s plea for peace and unity that opens the “Abbey Road” album and was a hit years later for Aerosmith. “Come Together” is number 1 both in the U.S. and around the world.

Meantime, Apple lost its exclusivity on the Beatles for iTunes after five years. You can buy digital downloads of  the albums on Amazon now. The “1” album is at number 25, The White Album is at 40, “Rubber Soul” is 50, the rest are scattered through Amazon’s top 100. This is all without fanfare since I broke the story. Amazon hasn’t advertised this at all. Don’t know why. Strange.

1. “Come Together”
2. “Hey Jude”
3. “Here Comes The Sun”
4. “Let It Be”
5. “Twist And Shout”
6. “Blackbird”
7. “I Want To Hold Your Hand”
8. “In My Life”
9. “She Loves You”
10. “Help!”

The top 10 Beatles tracks on Spotify globally:

1. “Come Together”
2. “Let It Be”
3. “Hey Jude”
4. “Love Me Do”
5. “Yesterday”
6. “Here Comes The Sun”
7. “Help!”
8. “All You Need Is Love”
9. “I Want To Hold Your Hand”
10. “Twist And Shout”

Hey, remember Adele? “Star Wars” kinda took her headlines away. But guess what? Her “25” album sold 1,112,092 copies in the week leading up to Christmas. That means she’s up around 6.5 to 7 million copies total. We’ll know more on Monday. Hello!

The “Star Wars” soundtrack sold over 100,000 copies and came in at number 5. This is amazing because it sounds like the scores to all the other “Star Wars” movies. But you know, cool, right?

Justin Bieber is still selling “Porpoise” to someone– 143,271 copies. I hope all the producers are getting good royalties.

Chris Brown, unfiltered Tweeter, did 139,734 copies of “Royalty.” The album is named for his illegit daughter, who poses with him on the cover. Was there a mother involved? Does she get a royalty? Is that what the kid is named for? (Just kidding, tho I know Chris prob has no sense of humor.)

Oh yes other Adele news: she sold another 90K combined of her other two albums. Just for fun. If Sony isn’t making a “25.2” live album from that TV special, I’d be very very surprised.

Just a little add on: Janet has played about 26 shows total on the Unbreakable tour. Including the ones she already missed and has just cancelled, more than 50 dates went into oblivion. So FYI.

Hey you guys… Happy Holidays to each and every one of you. I need you to know, I learned today, from my doctors that I must have surgery soon. It breaks my heart to tell you that I am forced to postpone the Unbreakable Tour until the spring. Every date will be rescheduled. Please hold on to your tickets. They will be honored in a special way when the new schedule is announced. Please pray for me, my family and our entire company during this difficult time. There will be no further comment. I love you all so much and am ever grateful for your understanding and your love. Gon’ b alright.

With these words, Janet Jackson took to Instagram and invoked the memory of brother Michael and his idol, Elizabeth Taylor. Things not going well? Tickets not selling? Getting bored? Announce an illness  and then get out of Dodge. I really like this line especially– the tickets will be honored in a special way when the new schedule is announced.

That should be good.

Well, we all hope Janet is 100% healthy and wish her well. Sorry if I can’t be less cynical. But the album didn’t sell, the concert dates drag on, and you know, it’s not as fun as it used to be. Insurance covers this. And the comeback next spring will give her a publicity hook. It’s very old school Hollywood p.r. I applaud it. Because if you’re a fan of certain people, like Janet or Liza or Cher, this is what they were taught. And we need that drama, don’t we?

Janet is following in the footsteps of her late Brother Michael, He was famous for not showing up or cancelling appearances, pleading illness. Michael learned how to do this from the Queen of All Illness, Elizabeth Taylor. He even missed court dates with a range of illness excuses.

This is a big deal, however. This is over 30 or more dates including key Northeast cities where media is really concentrated. No Brooklyn, Jones Beach, Boston, Washington. Those dates are important. So let’s hope Janet gets well and returns fit as a fiddle.

We never knew how long the iTunes deal for exclusive downloading of The Beatles was supposed to last. But after five years it does seem to be over. Amazon Prime is now offering all of the main Beatles albums for $7.99 apiece. The Apple party is over. The Fab Four are free of the closed iTunes world. Yippee.

The original deal, cut at the end of 2010, was the result of many legal disputes the Beatles had with Apple computers over the Apple Records name. Steve Jobs had liked the name and logo, so he took it. In an earlier settlement Jobs agreed that his Apple would never have a music company. But then Jobs did it anyway.

What’s interesting is that there was no announcement of the Apple deal coming to an end. The albums just appeared on amazon.com with a “Buy” button for $7.99. This is a very deep discounted price for Beatles albums, too. The physical CDs are rarely offered for anything less than $12.99. With amazon dipping to $7.99, iTunes has done the same thing, too.

One theory: this is the equivalent of an inventory sale. Now that the Beatles have finally remixed their hits on the “1+1” album, it’s only a matter of time before they sell all new mixes on all the albums. The sound on “1+1”
is amazing. If you play it side by side with the 2009 box set, there’s a huge difference. So my guess is Christmas 2017 we get the Beatles Remixed. We’ll have to buy the catalog all over again. It’s brilliant. Evil genius.