The real King is dead. Little Richard, born Richard Penniman, has died at age 87. Don’t be fooled by anyone else: he invented rock and roll with Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, and Jerry Lee Lewis. There is only one Little Richard, he was so unique that the Beatles literally created themselves in his image. He’d been living in a penthouse suite at the Nashville Hilton for the last decade or more.

I was lucky enough to see Richard perform twice. I was at his last show ever at the Apollo (June 2006). He had to be ferried out to the stage, but when he sat down his fingers found the keys and he was off in a blaze of glory. The other time was earlier, at Lou Rawls’s famous funeral in Los Angeles, where families were fighting, it was a scene. Into the middle of this, Richard came swanning in and took over. It was surreal.

Richard’s songs — “Long Tall Sally,” “Tutti Frutti,” “Slippin’ and Sliding” and dozens more are part of the foundation of rock and roll. It’s what everyone built on. Paul McCartney, Elton John, Billy Joel and so many stars who could play a piano, and then turn it into vehicle, worshiped at his feet. It was the music and the showmanship. And the yell. Good Golly miss Molly.

He’s in every Hall of Fame, and remembered for history on video. Grammy Awards? Who cares? He IS the Grammy Award. PS Many people don’t realize this but Billy Preston, the “Fifth Beatle,” joined Richard’s band as a kid after recognizing Billy’s genius at 15. That’s how Billy met the Beatles when Richard took with him to Hamburg in 1962. The Beatles were Little Richard’s opening act.

The divide between streaming and downloading was made clear this week by the the two biggest stars of the hitsdailydouble chart.

Kenny Chesney beat Drake to the number 1 position. Kenny sold 233,841 copies of his new “Here and Now.” Most of the sales were CDs or paid downloads. Streaming was about 5% of sales.

Drake sold 225,783 copies and most of it was from streaming. About it 10% came from downloads. “Dark Lane Demo Tapes” does not come in physical form. As with most rap and hip hop or urban, there are no CDs to commemorate the album’s existence. It’s just…in the air.

And so these two new releases tell the definitive story of how music is selling these days. Chesney skews older, country and white. Drake is younger, with an urban audience.  Older fans do want the music in their phones or iTouch’s or computers or iPads. They want the CD, too.

It’s funny. Drake is a superstar. If I were young, I’d want a complete collection of his “albums” that I could look at, read the liner notes, lyrics, etc. But his fans don’t seem to care about that. I guess it’s also generational. I think even at this advanced age I’d like to have the Drake CDs with some information to read along with the songs.

Anyway, with all this success Kenny Chesney can now afford sleeves. And I don’t mean record sleeves. (Kids, those were white envelopes that protected the album inside the cardboard cover…Oh, never mind.)

Bob Dylan — I wonder if he knew today was the 55th anniversary of his famous video for “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” At midnight he sent out the news of a third new single– “False Prophet”– and his first new album of original music called “Rough and Rowdy Days.” It’s set for June 19th release. Dylan’s last album of new songs was 2012’s “Tempest.” The new album will contain the two recent singles, the 17 minute long “Murder Most Foul,” and “I Contain Multitudes.” On the CD, “Murder Most Foul” will be a second CD unto itself.

“False Prophet” is a stompin’ blues number with some great gruff Dylan vocals and sweet guitar. It’s a balm for a day that sees some other, far less interesting releases.