Music Chart Break.
Wednesday, January 6, 2021 at 10:19PM 
The Grammy Awards rescheduled their ceremony today only to choose the exact date that's been occupied by the Screen Actors Guild Awards for months now. RUDE. We'd say this will be a tough call for celebrities as to which to attend but given that there seems to be no end in sight to the pandemic with even the vaccine rollout botched (thus far at least), we imagine both will end up virtual even though they're not happening until March 14th.
But given that the world is in chaos once again we sought distraction today and noticed that both Billboard and Rolling Stone released their 2020 year-end charts for the top albums and top songs. A few notes of interest...
THE TOP DOZEN ALBUMS ACCORDING TO ROLLING STONE
- FOLKLORE - Taylor Swift (album of the year nominee)
- MY TURN - Lil Baby
- SHOOT FOR THE STARS AIM FOR THE MOON - Pop Smoke
- AFTER HOURS - The Weeknd
- LEGENDS NEVER DIE - Juice Wrld
- HOLLYWOOD'S BLEEDING - Post Malone (album of the year nominee)
- PLEASE EXCUSE ME FOR BEING ANTISOCIAL - Roddy Ricch
- WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET - Luke Combs
- FINE LINE - Harry Styles (best pop vocal album nominee)
- HAMILTON - Original Broadway Cast (grammy winner 2015 best musical theater album)
- THIS ONE'S FOR YOU - Luke Combs
- ETERNAL ATAKE - Lil Uzi Vert
THE TOP DOZEN ALBUMS ACCORDING TO BILLBOARD
- HOLLYWOOD'S BLEEDING - Post Malone
- MY TURN - Lil Baby
- PLEASE EXCUSE ME FOR BEING ANTI-SOCIAL - Roddy Ricch
- FINE LINE - Harry Styles
- FOLKLORE - Taylor Swift
- ETERNAL ATAKE -Lil Uzi Vert
- SHOOT FOR THE STARS AIM FOR THE MOON - Pop Smoke
- AFTER HOURS - The Weeknd
- LEGENDS NEVER DIE - Juice Wrld
- WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET - Luke Combs
- WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO - Billie Eilish
- HAMILTON - Original Broadway Cast
We don't know why these differ in ranking but we suspect it's because music figures are much less defineable than say, movie box office... though obviously the movies will eventually be forced to come up with new methodologies in the near future (streaming affected the music industry much earlier). We're a ways off from that still though since powerful filmmakers and stars are not yet demanding accurate verifiable streaming numbers so Netflix (and their competitors) just occassionally will tell us some numbers and we can choose to believe them or not and argue about whether watching 2 minutes of something should count as a view. The current undefinable situation won't last forever since money is involved in these deals and eventually people will want the hard numbers for negotations and profit sharing and the like.
Some other notes from the Rolling Stone list (Billboards differ but we had completed this post before we noticed the Billboard charts which are similar but different)
• Taylor Swift is the undisputed champ with Folklore (#1) triumphantly heading into Grammy voting as well as four other albums charting: 2019's Lover (#28) the brand new Evermore (#63), 1989 (#116), and Reputation (#165). So prolific lately. (Drake had the most albums on the year-end chart though with six... though none were in the top ten)
• Rankings of the "Album of the Year" nominees that didn't make the top ten: Chilombo by Jhene Aiko (#19), Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa (#42). The other nominees (Black Pumas, Djesse Vol 3, Everyday Life, and Women in Music Pt III) didn't make the top 200 unless we somehow missed them in perusing the list.
• MUSICALS! The following musicals charted in the top 200 of 2020: Hamilton (#10), Frozen 2 (#33), Moana (#78), The Greatest Showman (#118), and Lady Gaga's A Star is Born (#156). Hilariously all of those have been streamed at TFE HQ at least once this past calendar year but then we love musicals more than the average person so we listen to lots of them.
• Catalogue Albums? Old albums that charted indicating either longevity or renewed interest for various reasons (but usually both): The Eagles - The Eagles (#46), Greatest Hits - Queen (#58), Abbey Road - the Beatles (#64), Rumours - Fleetwood Mac (#73), Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac (#87), Appetite for Destruction - Guns N Roses (#98), Nevermind - Nirvana (#101), Back in Black - AC/DC (#105), Thriller - Michael Jackson (#108), Merry Christmas -Mariah Carey (#149), The Wall - Pink Floyd (#167), The Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd (#180), and White Christmas - Bing Crosby (#199).
• Streams vs Sales -Strangely hip hop artists beat pop artists in streaming only charts whereas the reverse happens in sales only charts.
TOP 20 SONGS OF THE YEAR ACCORDING TO ROLLING STONE
- THE BOX - Roddy Ricch
- BLINDING LIGHTS - The Weeknd
- ROCKSTAR DaBaby feeat. Roddy Ricch
- LIFE IS GOOD Drake and Future
- WHAT'S POPPIN Jack Harlow feat. DaBaby, Tory Lanez & Lil Wayne
- SAVAGE Megan Thee Stallion feat. Beyoncé
- WAP Cardi B feat. Megan The Stallion
- I HOPE - Gabby Barrett
- ROSES (Imanbek Remix) - Saint JHN
- CIRCLES -Post Malone
- DON'T START NOW - Dua Lipa
- DANCE MONKEY - Tones and I
- SAY SO - Doja Cat
- BLUEBERRY FAYGO - Lil Mosey
- INTENTIONS - Justin Bieber feat. Quavo
- SOMEONE YOU LOVED - Lewis Capaldo
- FOR THE NIGHT Pop Smoke feat. Lil Baby & DaBaby
- TOOTSIE SLIDE Drake
- WATERMELON SUGAR - Harry Styles
- THE BONES Maren Morris
TOP 20 SONGS OF THE YEAR ACCORDING TO BILLBOARD
- BLINDING LIGHTS - The Weeknd
- CIRCLES - Post Malone
- THE BOX - Roddy Ricch
- DON'T START NOW - Dua Lipa
- ROCKSTAR -DaBaby feat. Roddy Ricch
- ADORE YOU - Harry Styles
- LIFE IS GOOD Drake and Future
- MEMORIES - Maroon 5
- THE BONES - Maren Morris
- SOMEONE YOU LOVED - Lewis Capaldi
- SAY SO - Doja Cat
- I HOPE - Gabby Barrett feat. Charlie Puth
- WHAT'S POPPIN -Jack Harlow feat. DaBaby, Tory Lanez, & Lil Wayne
- DANCE MONKEY - Tones and I
- SAVAGE - Megan Thee Stallion
- ROXANNE - Arizona Zervas
- INTENTIONS - Justin Bieber feat. Quavo
- EVERYTHING I WANTED - Billie Eilish
- ROSES - SAINt JHN
- WATERMELON SUGAR - Harry Styles
How does WAP -- which was inescapable all summer -- make the top ten in one list and is all the way done at 24 in the other? It's a mystery!
But then so much of this is a mystery. These lists make us feel a bit old as some of the names are unfamiliar. Thankfully you never get too old for movies and TV! So... back to your regularly scheduled programming (aka movies with a little tv thrown in).
Grammys, Hamilton, Taylor Swift, musicals
Reader Comments (13)
Slow wednesday, right? I don't know if you guys got the British mutation of the virus but it spreads like a motherfucker so all the dates might change again.
I’m so bad with music. Honestly, unless a song is used in a movie I’ve probably never heard of it. It’s so embarrassing when people ask me what kind of music I listen to and I can only say, well lots of Alexandre Desplat and Carter Burwell these days.
I don't listen to any of this shit. I'm 40 years old and I'm too old for that shit. The best album this year is Fiona Apple's Fetch the Bolt Cutters. My runner-up is Gigaton by Pearl Jam. Other albums I enjoyed are Ghosts V-VI from NIN, AC/DC's Power Up, the Strokes' The New Abnormal, Paul McCartney-McCartney III, and Kylie Minogue's Disco. I haven't listen to a lot of new music as I'm not going to bother with the new stuff by new people.
Taylor Swift’s both albums, objectively, are amazing.
Bradley -- nothing wrong with that. to each their own.
Peggy -- i think so yeah.
Joseph -- agreed.
Dua Lipa's album was phenomenal. It's probably all I'll remember from 2020, though The Chicks and Gaga had great new albums as well.
No Kylie Disco.
Love this post!!!
To answer your question, Rolling Stone values streaming a lot more heavily than Billboard as they're trying to establish themselves as the "younger, more relevant" music chart, so WAP (which was much more a streaming hit than a radio it because of... the content... lol) is valued a lot more highly here. That's a good reason why "Circles" was so much higher on Billboard (radio) than Rolling Stone.
Love when you guys chat music/Grammys!!!
I know 2 of those songs! "Watermelon Sugar" and "Circles"! I am, like, so hip! Like, totally!
2020 was a crap year but a GREAT year for music. My personal favorites:
1. Fiona Apple--Fetch the Bolt Cutters
2. Taylor Swift--Folklore/Evermore
3. Phoebe Bridgers--Punisher
4. Perfume Genius--Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
5. Haim--Women in Music III
6. Moses Sumney--Grae
7. Honey Harper--Starmaker
8. Margo Price--That's How Rumors Get Started
9. The Weeknd--After Hours
10. Jonsi--Shiver
11. Lianne La Havas--Lianne La Havas
12. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit--Reunions
I think Billboard released their end of year charts around 1 December, which means they were based on November 2019-November 2020 data which advantages older releases (like Blinding Lights, Circles and Don't Start Now) by including an extra month of streaming data for them.
And as stevewolfnish said, Billboard would probably include more airplay and sales (digital and physical) data than Rolling Stone which also accounts for some variations.
How did Swift get top album but none of her individual songs chart?
Goog
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