GWR 2024 Look Inside - Flipbook - Page 17
CHART-TOPPERS
Best-selling digital single
Released on 25 Apr 2020, “Spotlight” (aka “Light Spot”, or
“Made to Love”) by Xiao Zhan (aka Sean Xiao, CHN) had shifted
54.31 million copies by 4 Jan 2023. It enjoyed 24.37 million
download sales in the 昀椀rst 24 hr alone. The best-selling physical
single remains “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby (USA), with
an estimated 50 million copies purchased since 1942. (For the
best‑selling physical single since charts began, see pp.134–35.)
Most streamed track
on Spotify (current year)
“As It Was” by Harry Styles (UK)
racked up more than 1.5 billion
streams on Spotify in 2022. The
single went on to win Song of
the Year at the BRIT Awards on
11 Feb 2023 – one of four gongs
claimed by the former 1D star.
Most streamed act on YouTube (current year)
In 2022, Indian playback singer Alka Yagnik was YouTube’s
most watched artist worldwide, with 15.3 billion streams –
an average of almost 420 million a day over the year. In
a four‑decade career, Kolkata‑born Yagnik has recorded
more than 20,000 songs for 昀椀lms and albums.
First No.1 hit on The O昀케cial MENA Chart
On 29 Nov 2022, “Calm Down” by Nigerian rapper
Rema (b. Divine Ikubor) became the inaugural No.1
on The O昀케cial MENA Chart – the 昀椀rst authoritative
pop‑music ranking in the Middle East and North Africa
(MENA). Its weekly Top 20 collects data from the
major streaming platforms across 13 MENA countries,
covering a population of more than 300 million.
TOP 10
STREAMING SERVICES
(TOTAL TRACKS)
Most cumulative weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 (one single)
On 22 Oct 2022, British indie‑rock band Glass Animals spent
their 91st week on the US Billboard Hot 100 with “Heat Waves”.
The track debuted at No.100 on 16 Jan 2021 before kicking
o昀昀 an unbroken 90‑week run on 6 Feb 2021. It 昀椀nally reached
the top on 12 Mar 2022, after a 59‑week journey – the
slowest climb to No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
1
SoundCloud
(DEU)
300 million
2
Napster
(USA)
110 million
=3
Amazon Music
Unlimited
(USA)
100 million
=3
Apple Music
(USA)
100 million
=3
YouTube
Music (USA)
100 million
=6
Deezer
(FRA)
90 million
Longest gap between UK No.1 singles
Kate Bush’s (UK) two British chart‑toppers to date came
44 years 83 days apart. Her debut, “Wuthering Heights”,
spent its last week at No.1 on 1 Apr 1978. “Running Up
that Hill (A Deal with God)” hit No.1 in the week ending
23 Jun 2022, after its inclusion in Season 4 of Stranger
Things (inset). Bush was aged 63 years 342 days at the
time – the oldest female artist to have a UK No.1 single.
Highest-charting Spanish-language track
on the Billboard Hot 100 (female)
“TQG”, by Colombian vocalists KAROL G (b. Carolina
Giraldo Navarro) and Shakira (b. Shakira Isabel
Mebarak Ripoll), debuted at No.7 on the Hot 100
on 11 Mar 2023. “TQG” arrived just six weeks after
Shakira debuted at No.9 with “BZRP Music Sessions
Vol. 53” on 28 Jan 2023 – the 昀椀rst female vocalist to debut in
the Top 10 of the Hot 100 with a Spanish-language track.
Most streamed on Spotify
• Act: Drake (b. Aubrey Drake Graham, CAN) –
75.56 billion combined streams, as of 16 Feb 2023.
• Track: “Blinding Lights”, by The Weeknd (b. Abel Tesfaye,
CAN) – 3.413 billion streams, as of 16 Feb 2023.
• Album: Ed Sheeran’s (UK) ÷ (Divide), deluxe edition –
12.83 billion streams as of 16 Feb 2023.
=6
KKBOX
(CHN)
90 million
=6
Qobuz
(FRA)
90 million
=6
TIDAL
(NOR/USA)
90 million
10
31
Spotify
(SWE)
80 million
188
First female K-pop group
to reach No.1 on the US albums chart
On 1 Oct 2022, Born Pink – the second full‑length
studio album by BLACKPINK (KOR) – took the top
spot on the US Billboard 200. In the same week, they
became the 昀椀rst female K-pop group to reach No.1
on the UK albums chart with the same release.
FLY FIRST CLASS
Splash some cash and travel in style. Or perhaps you’d like the whole plane to yourself? The
largest private jet is the Boeing Business Jet 747-8, with a maximum take-o昀昀 weight of 447,700 kg
(987,000 lb). Its list price was around $418 m (£360 m) as of 2022 – so you’d best get saving!