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    Popcast (Deluxe): Morgan Wallen, Indie Sleaze and ‘Survivor’

    Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Amazon MusicWelcome to Popcast (Deluxe), a new weekly video show hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli that breaks down essential pop culture. This week’s episode includes segments on:Morgan Wallen, the country singer who continues to top both the Billboard album chart and the Hot 100 despite the postponement of several dates on his stadium tour because of a vocal cord injuryThe Dare, a rising star of New York neo-electroclashThe Hulu documentary “Queenmaker,” about early 2000s It Girls and the blogs that alternately fawned over and savaged themThe season finale of “Survivor,” in which a gaggle of star-level outcasts made it to the end of the gameNew songs from YoungBoy Never Broke Again and Lana Del Rey More

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    Morgan Wallen’s ‘One Thing at a Time’ Earns a 12th Week at No. 1

    The Nashville star’s latest album will be challenged next week by an older one: Taylor Swift’s “Midnights,” which was rereleased as a deluxe version with bonus tracks.The country superstar Morgan Wallen continues to dominate the Billboard album chart. His latest release, “One Thing at a Time,” holds No. 1 for a 12th straight week, surpassing a milestone by Whitney Houston and marking the longest chart-topping run for a country album since Billy Ray Cyrus three decades ago.The 36-track “One Thing at a Time,” which first arrived at the top of the Billboard 200 chart in early March, remains undefeated after three full months. In its latest week, it had the equivalent of 129,000 sales in the United States, including nearly 163 million streams and 6,000 copies sold as a complete package, according to the tracking service Luminate. Since the album came out, it has been streamed 2.8 billion times in the United States.Last week, Wallen tied a chart feat by Houston, whose 1987 album “Whitney” spent its first 11 weeks at No. 1. The last album to debut at No. 1 and hold there for a longer stretch is Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life,” which had 13 weeks in 1976 and 1977.As a country album that has made it to No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200, “One Thing” has also now surpassed Taylor Swift’s “Fearless,” which logged a total of 11 weeks there in 2008 and 2009. The last country album to have a longer run on the main chart was Cyrus’s “Some Gave All” — which included the ubiquitous “Achy Breaky Heart” — in 1992. (It opened at No. 4 and then notched 17 consecutive weeks at the top.)Wallen’s song “Last Night” also clinches the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100 singles chart for an eighth week.How much longer can Wallen hold the No. 1 album? His next major challenger is not a new release, but Swift’s “Midnights,” which came out in October and racked up a total of five weeks at No. 1. (This week it is in third place.) With a new deluxe version of the album, including extra tracks like a version of “Karma” featuring Ice Spice, “Midnights” has a shot at retaking No. 1 on the next chart.Also this week, SZA’s “SOS” rises five spots to No. 2, propelled by its release on vinyl and CD. Wallen’s last LP, “Dangerous: The Double Album,” is No. 4. Dave Matthews Band’s new “Walk Around the Moon” opens at No. 5 with the equivalent of 44,000 sales. More

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    Morgan Wallen Joins an Elite Club With 11 Weeks at No. 1

    The country star’s chart run with “One Thing at a Time” puts him in a league with Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder and the “Titanic” soundtrack.There was snow on the ground when Morgan Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time” arrived at No. 1 in early March. Now, in balmy late spring, the country superstar’s latest LP is racking up its 11th consecutive week on the chart — a feat that puts Wallen in the company of Whitney Houston and Stevie Wonder.The 36-track “One Thing at a Time” has been a streaming blockbuster since it came out, and its numbers have cooled only modestly since then. Week after week, it has fended off competition from the likes of Ed Sheeran, Metallica and two members of BTS to remain music’s most popular album. In its latest week, “One Thing” had the equivalent of 134,500 sales in the United States, including 165 million streams and 8,000 copies sold as a complete package, according to the tracking service Luminate.Long runs on the Billboard 200, the magazine’s flagship album chart, are not unheard-of. Bad Bunny, Drake and the “Frozen” soundtrack have all notched a total of 13 weeks; Taylor Swift has gotten 11 twice before. But none of those were for consecutive streaks, which are far more rare.According to Billboard, the last album to hold No. 1 for at least 11 weeks in a row was the “Titanic” soundtrack, which reigned for 16 back in 1998. But the last to spend its first 11 weeks at the top — to open at No. 1 and hold there 10 more times — came in 1987 with Houston’s “Whitney,” which featured hits like “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” and “So Emotional.” Before that, Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life” logged its first 13 weeks at No. 1 back in 1976 and 1977.Wallen’s accomplishment surpasses even his own record, after the singer’s “Dangerous: The Double Album” topped the chart for its initial 10 weeks in early 2021. That run came amid an industrywide rebuke after Wallen was caught on video using a racial slur, resulting in his temporary disappearance from radio and streaming playlists.Also this week, the Jonas Brothers open at No. 3 with “The Album,” while the hyper-prolific Louisiana rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again comes in at No. 4 with “Richest Opp,” his third release to reach the Top 10 this year alone — the last time just three weeks ago.Swift, whose triumphant stadium tour comes to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., for three shows this weekend, is No. 2 with her latest, “Midnights,” and SZA’s “SOS” is No. 5. More

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    Morgan Wallen Postpones Six Weeks of Shows After Vocal Cord Injury

    The country superstar, who has held No. 1 on the Billboard album chart for nine straight weeks, said the pause was recommended by his doctors.Morgan Wallen, the chart-dominating country star, is postponing six weeks of shows on his current tour, saying in a statement on Tuesday that he had injured his vocal cords and that the pause was recommended by his doctors.“I performed three shows last weekend in Florida and by the third one I felt terrible,” Wallen said in a video posted on social media. “So I went in and got scoped yesterday, and they told me that I reinjured my vocal cords and that I have vocal fold trauma. Their advice is that I go on vocal rest for six weeks, so that’s what I’m going to do.”He also announced that he would not perform as scheduled at the Academy of Country Music Awards show this Thursday, where he is up for entertainer of the year.A spokeswoman for Wallen said that 14 shows would be postponed, starting with a planned date in Hershey, Penn., on May 18, and including two shows at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. The tour is set to resume on June 22 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.Rescheduled dates will be announced.Last month, Wallen canceled a stadium show at the University of Mississippi shortly before he was to take the stage, saying that he had lost his voice. Even so, angry fans took to social media to complain.Wallen has held the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s album chart for the last nine weeks with his 36-track new album, “One Thing at a Time,” which has now been streamed about 2.3 billion times in the United States alone. His last LP, “Dangerous: The Double Album,” was No. 1 for 10 weeks two years ago, even amid an industry rebuke — including his temporary removal from country radio playlists — after he was caught on video using a racist slur.In his statement on Tuesday, Wallen said: “They told me that if I do this the right way, I’ll get back to 100 percent, and they also said that if I don’t listen and I keep singing, then I’ll permanently damage my voice.”“So for the longevity of my career,” he added, “this is just a choice I had to make.” More

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    Morgan Wallen’s ‘One Thing at a Time’ Notches a 9th Week at No. 1

    The country superstar held off a release from the K-pop group Seventeen to maintain his streak atop the Billboard 200. Ed Sheeran will challenge him next week.Morgan Wallen, the country superstar who dominates streaming, holds the No. 1 spot on the Billboard album chart for a ninth consecutive week, fending off a formidable challenge from the K-pop group Seventeen.Wallen’s latest, “One Thing at a Time,” notched the equivalent of 138,000 sales in the United States in its latest week out, according to the tracking service Luminate. That total is a composite number that includes 174 million streams of the 36-track LP and 5,500 copies sold as a complete package.The last release to post at least nine weeks in a row at No. 1 was Wallen’s previous LP, “Dangerous: The Double Album,” which ruled for 10 weeks without interruption in early 2021. (Since then, SZA’s “SOS” had 10 nonconsecutive times at the top, and Bad Bunny’s “Un Verano Sin Ti” had 13.) More than two years later, “Dangerous” remains a hit, landing at No. 5 this week, its 118th time in the Top 10.With Ed Sheeran on deck for next week’s chart with his new album, “-” (pronounced “Subtract”), this chart could represent the end of Wallen’s winning streak, at least on the album chart. His song “Last Night” holds at No. 1 on the Hot 100 singles chart, its fifth time as the top track.Also this week, Seventeen opens at No. 2 with the equivalent of 135,000 sales of its six-track mini-album “FML.” It came out in a flurry of digital and physical variations. Those included multiple CD editions with goodies like lyric books, photos and stickers, and 17 downloadable versions, which included “exclusive digital signed covers” featuring each of the group’s 13 members.Altogether, Seventeen sold 132,000 copies of “FML” as a complete package, and had four million streams for the week.Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” is in third place this week, and SZA’s “SOS” is No. 4.“Desvelado” by the group Eslabon Armado opens at No. 6, which Billboard said is the highest-charting album of regional Mexican music in the history of the chart. “Desvelado” had the equivalent of 44,000 sales in the United States, including nearly 64 million streams. More

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    Taylor Swift and Morgan Wallen Dominate Billboard’s Album Chart

    Wallen spends an eighth week at No. 1 with “One Thing at a Time,” and Swift lands three albums in the Top 10, including the new vinyl set “Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions.”Half of the Billboard album chart’s Top 10 this week belongs to Morgan Wallen and Taylor Swift, with Wallen holding two slots, including No. 1, and Swift taking three.Wallen’s 36-track “One Thing at a Time” remains at the top for an eighth time, with the equivalent of 149,000 sales in the United States, according to the tracking service Luminate. His previous release, “Dangerous: The Double Album,” is No. 7.Agust D — better known as Suga of the K-pop titans BTS — debuts at No. 2 with his first solo studio album, “D-Day.” It had the equivalent of 140,000 sales, including 18 million streams and 122,000 copies sold as a complete album.Swift opens at No. 3 with “Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions,” a two-LP vinyl set released on April 22 as part of Record Store Day, an annual promotion in which artists and labels issue one-day special releases. It was limited to 75,000 copies in the United States, and every one of them was sold, according to Luminate. That is the biggest week for any album on vinyl so far this year, Billboard said.Swift, who is still playing stadiums on her Eras Tour, also occupies No. 4 this week, with her latest studio album, “Midnights,” and No. 10, with “Lover,” from 2019.Also this week, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, the prolific Louisiana rapper, arrives at No. 5 with his new “Don’t Try This at Home,” which features guest appearances by Nicki Minaj, Mariah the Scientist, Post Malone and others. The 33-track album, his 14th to reach the Top 10, had the equivalent of 60,000 sales, including 88 million streams. More

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    Morgan Wallen Fends Off Metallica for a Seventh Week at No. 1

    The country star has two releases in the Top 5 of Billboard’s album chart, continuing a dominating run anchored by streaming.The country star Morgan Wallen fended off a challenge from Metallica to hold the top spot on the Billboard album chart for a seventh week with “One Thing at a Time,” his latest streaming blockbuster.In its most recent week out, “One Thing at a Time” had the equivalent of 166,000 sales in the United States, according to the tracking service Luminate. That total, a composite that incorporates both streams and old-fashioned unit sales, included 202 million streams and 12,000 copies sold as a complete package. Since its release, “One Thing at a Time” has been streamed nearly two billion times in the United States.For weeks, Wallen has stayed at No. 1 by holding off challenges from new releases by the alt-pop singer Melanie Martinez, the rapper NF and the K-pop acts Jimin and Twice.Metallica posed more of a threat to Wallen than any other with “72 Seasons,” its first studio album in seven years. It opens at No. 2 with the equivalent of 146,000 sales, including 16 million streams and 134,000 copies sold as complete albums. The album’s publicity campaign included a four-night residency on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and an online “Metallica Logo Generator” that let fans render their chosen text in the band’s signature lightning-bolt font.Also this week, SZA’s “SOS” is No. 3, Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” is No. 4 and Wallen’s last album, “Dangerous: The Double Album,” is in fifth place. More

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    Morgan Wallen’s Billboard Chart Streak Enters Its Sixth Week

    The country star’s latest album, “One Thing at a Time,” maintains its dominance over the Billboard chart. Can it match the 10-week run of Wallen’s “Dangerous”?Can Morgan Wallen do it again?Two years ago, he became the brightest star in country music, and one of most notable new hitmakers in the music industry overall, when his “Dangerous: The Double Album” became a streaming blockbuster and held the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s album chart for 10 weeks straight. That success came even as Wallen faced an industry rebuke — including his temporary removal from country radio playlists — after the singer was caught on tape using a racial slur.Now his latest release, the 36-track “One Thing at a Time,” has notched six weeks at the chart’s peak spot, and shows no sign of slowing down. In its most recent week, it had the equivalent of 167,000 sales in the United States, including 211 million streams and 6,000 copies of the album sold as a complete unit. For weeks, nothing has come close to challenging its position.And so far, “One Thing” is posting even better numbers than “Dangerous” did. Over its first six weeks, “Dangerous” has had just under 1 billion streams, or an average of about 33 million for each of the 30 tracks on its standard edition. “One Thing” is currently at 1.7 billion streams, or 48 million per track.How long can Wallen hold at the top? So far his biggest challenger on next week’s chart is Metallica, whose latest album, “72 Seasons,” was released on Friday.Also this week, the Michigan rapper NF opens at No. 2 with “Hope,” his fifth studio album, which had the equivalent of 123,000 sales, including 57 million streams and 80,500 copies sold as a complete package.Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” is No. 3, SZA’s “SOS” is No. 4 and Melanie Martinez’s “Portals” drops three spots to No. 5 in its second week out. More