Amid Kendrick vs. Drake and Taylor vs. Billie Chart Wars, The Weeknd Takes the Crown Despite Two Years of No Releases
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Charts are important, for artists and fans alike. More chart-topping days automatically means more artist credibility, but it is also a badge of honor for fans backing their favorites as worthy of the hype. Lately, industry heavyweights have been locked in a battle for chart domination. While Kendrick Lamar and Drake fired shots with their diss tracks for weeks, Taylor Swift's never-ending album rollout clashed with Billie Eilish's latest drop. Amid this clash, The Weeknd, out of nowhere, quietly seized the crown without anyone noticing.
The Weeknd recently grabbed a top chart spot which had others scrambling for weeks to claim, all without even releasing an album.
The Weeknd becomes the ultimate king of charts
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The Weeknd released his last album in the year 2022, titled, 'Dawn FM', and has since been on an album hiatus. But that did not affect his chart domination at all. This year, The Weeknd turned out to be the only artist who stayed at the #1 spot of Spotify’s monthly listeners chart for an entire month. Even though the 34-year-old has almost a decade of chart success under his belt, his getting this achievement at a time when big players of the industry are fighting tooth and nail over chart domination is commendable.
The Weeknd's 'Blinding Lights' became the first song ever to pass 4 billion streams on Spotify earlier this year, even surpassing Ed Sheeran’s 'Shape of You'. However, a lot of his chart domination's credit needs to be given to social media, especially TikTok and Instagram, where content creators use his tracks as backdrops, mainly because they are quite easy to listen to in the background. Out of all the artists battling in the charts, Taylor Swift has become the most scrutinized one because of one major reason.
While artists like Kendrick Lamar and Drake have released new music to maintain chart success, Taylor Swift has opted to expand her already existing album with an eyebrow-raising number of variants.
Taylor Swift's chart domination strategy is not working for fans anymore
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Fans have always taken issue with the trend of releasing multiple vinyl records, as it is neither artistically valuable nor economically sustainable. However, the moment Billie Eilish chose to talk about it, it was made out to be a shade at Taylor Swift. Speculations also suggested that Swift was trying to block Eilish and other artists off the charts to remain at the top. Nonetheless, whatever may be the reason for the 'Cruel Summer' singer's multiple variant and vinyl releases, fans have recently made it clear that it is not working.
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Swift recently released three new digital variants of 'The Tortured Poets Department', making it a jarring 31-variant collection. And fans quickly expressed their frustration at this practice on social media, suggesting that the album should wrap up at this point. And with The Weeknd's chart success, it is all the more clear that there is no specific formula for clinching the top spot in the charts.
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What do you think about The Weeknd's chart success? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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Edited By: Itti Mahajan
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