Billboard (Magazine)

AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThe ChartsMorgan Wallen Debuts at No. 1 and Smashes a Country Streaming Record“Dangerous: The Double Album” had 240 million streams — more than double the previous high set by Luke Combs.Morgan Wallen’s success is the latest step in the slowly evolving story of country music and streaming. Credit…Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and MuseumJan. 18, 2021, 12:48 p.m. ETThe new year has started with a bang for the music industry, as two young stars have arrived with monster streaming hits.Morgan Wallen, a 27-year-old singer-songwriter, tops the latest Billboard album chart with his second release, “Dangerous: The Double Album,” which broke the country streaming record by a wide margin. And Olivia Rodrigo, a 17-year-old singer and actress, has a smash single with “Drivers License” that has become a social-media meme unto itself.“Dangerous: The Double Album” opens at No. 1 on the album chart with the equivalent of 265,000 sales in the United States, according to MRC Data, formerly known as Nielsen Music, which was bought by Billboard’s parent company a little over a year ago. Songs on “Dangerous” racked up 240 million streams — by far the biggest weekly tally for a country album, beating the 102 million earned by the expanded version of Luke Combs’s “What You See Is What You Get” in October.Wallen’s success is the latest step in the slowly evolving story of country music and streaming. For years, country has lagged behind hip-hop, pop and even rock in the transition to streaming, with many country fans preferring to download their favorite albums or even buy them on CD. But the pandemic has begun to change that. In 2020, country represented 7.1 percent of all on-demand music streams in the United States (counting both audio and video plays), up from 5.9 percent the year before, according to MRC.Also this week, Taylor Swift’s “Evermore” fell one spot to No. 2 and Pop Smoke’s “Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon” is No. 3. The R&B singer Jazmine Sullivan’s “Heaux Tales” opened at No. 4, a new chart high for her, while Lil Durk’s “The Voice” is No. 5.The results of Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart will be released on Tuesday, but Rodrigo’s “Drivers License,” which broke Spotify’s record for the most streams in a single day for a non-holiday song, is widely expected to take easily the No. 1 spot.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More