The biggest star on the planet is taking the fastest growing social media platform by storm in an unusual and undeniably authentic way.
Billie Eilish did two incredible things last week. First, she released her new single, “Therefore I Am,” and immediately topped every song chart she qualified for worldwide. The track and its accompanying video earned millions of streams and mentions online, all of which reaffirmed Eilish’s immense celebrity.
The second thing received far less press, at least at first. On the same day “Therefore I Am” dropped, Billie Eilish posted her first TikTok video. The clip arrived without a press release or the use of her music. The account didn’t feature her name, and it was not verified when the first videos went live. She didn’t even use hashtags to gain attention. It was just Billie being herself for anyone lucky enough to see it, but news of the account soon got out.
It didn’t take long for Billie’s account to amass millions of followers and millions of hearts (the TikTok equivalent to Facebook Likes). Eilish did not post about her account anywhere, but the clips were undeniably authentic. The account wasn’t a diehard fan re-sharing content from other channels, but Billie herself making silly clips specifically for TikTok. That kind of content win is the stuff that social media companies’ dreams are made of, and it seemingly happened without pressure from Eilish’s team or TikTok leadership.
But why was it such a success? Rumors abound that Eilish and her team worked with TikTok to ensure the clips reached more people than the typical anonymous new account, but those allegations cannot be substantiated. The more likely answer is a simple one: People like what Eilish is doing with her channel.
When you look at Billie’s TikTok account, which is found under the username CoochieDestroyer5, you directly access the music superstar without the fake glitz and glamour of the music business. Eilish is making content for her fans using her cellphone and her personality. There are no directors or editors, or costume designers. More than any other platform, TikTok gives Eilish’s fans direct access to their favorite artist in the most unfiltered way possible. It’s deepening the connection and relatability of someone who lives a life that is unlike anyone else. It’s humanizing but also fun and weird.
In case it’s not clear, the big lesson here is that marketing today is all about connection. Forget trying to sell your merch or getting people to click a link. Before those things can happen, artists must first forge a relationship with people online. They need to become someone or some group that people want to see in their timelines. They need to be viewed as friendly, relatable, and above all else, human. If musicians can accomplish that, then they’re miles ahead of everyone else.
The Nielsen mid-year music report is here, and it shows the reign of streaming services over the industry is far from over.
Nielsen is widely considered to be the authority on the business of entertainment, and their latest mid-year report reveals the music industry is in good standing. The recently published data found the first half of 2019 shattered previous 6-month records with more than 507 billion on-demand combined music and video streams and milestones led by singles and albums from Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Halsey, Khalid, BTS, and Bad Bunny.
The fall is widely considered the busiest time of the year for music, so it is likely the total on-demand combined streaming numbers will be equal to, if not greater than the statistics above. If true, that would mean 2019 is on pace to be the first year where streams of recorded music surpass one-trillion plays in the United States and Canada.
To date, many of this year’s most significant music moments were aided by exposure in popular films. The success of A Star Is Born, for example, gave Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s smash hit duet “Shallow” a major boost following the Acadamy Awards. The song has earned more than 684,000 track downloads, 316 million on-demand song streams, and over one-billion audience impression on the radio to date.
Nielsen sites other areas of entertainment as playing a very influential role in the rise of the year’s most popular songs. The music featured in film and television continued its upward trend from 2018 when soundtracks accounted for two of the year’s top 10 biggest sellers (The Greatest Showman and Black Panther: The Album). The impact good placement has on songs can be understood by looking at the success of Post Malone and Swae Lee’s “Sunflower” ( 47.6 million U.S. streams), which appeared in the equally popular animated film Into The Spiderverse, or through the continuing success of rock biopics such BohemianRhapsody and Rocketman.
There is a wide range of Global pop genres that made a sizeable impact in the U.S as well, including K-Pop and Latin. K-Pop’s global domination, which reached record peaks in 2018, continued to reach new audiences.
230,000 equivalent album units earned for BTS’ Map of the Soul: Persona, a career-best for the K-Pop group, during the week ending April 12.
BTS and Halsey’s “Boy With Luv” reached 125 million on-demand streams so far this year, including spikes after their performance at the Billboard Music Awards on May 1.
18.6 million first week on-demand streams for BLACKPINK’s “Kill This Love,” which broke the band’s own record for highest-charting single by a K-Pop girl group on the Billboard Hot 100.
Nielsen Music’s Mid-Year 2019 Charts:
2019’s Mid-Year Top 10 Albums (Based on Overall Equivalent Album Units)
1. Ariana Grande, Thank U, Next (1,552,800) 2. Billie Eilish, When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (1,304,000) 3. Khalid, Free Spirit (929,000) 4. Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born (Soundtrack) (889,000) 5. A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, Hoodie SZN (810,000) 6. Post Malone, beerbongs & bentleys (756,000) 7. Drake, Scorpion (718,000) 8. Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody (Soundtrack) (705,000) 9. Juice WRLD, Death Race for Love (675,000) 10. Jonas Brothers, Happiness Begins (663,000)
2019’s Mid-Year Top 10 Selling Albums
1. Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born (Soundtrack) (404,000) 2. Jonas Brothers, Happiness Begins (374,000) 3. Billie Eilish, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (343,000) 4. BTS, Map of the Soul: Persona (343,000) 5. Backstreet Boys, DNA (299,000) 6. Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody (Soundtrack) (253,000) 7. Ariana Grande, Thank U, Next (228,000) 8. Soundtrack, The Greatest Showman (181,000) 9. P!nk, Hurts 2B Human (158,000) 10. Lauren Daigle, Look Up Child (154,000)
2019’s Mid-Year Top 10 Selling Vinyl Albums
1. Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody (Soundtrack) (61,000) 2. Queen, Greatest Hits (49,000) 3. Billie Eilish, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (47,000) 4. Soundtrack, Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 (33,000) 5. The Beatles, Abbey Road (33,000) 6. Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon (32,000) 7. Bob Marley & The Wailers, Legend (30,000) 8. Fleetwood Mac, Rumours (29,000) 9. Michael Jackson, Thriller (29,000) 10. Billie Eilish, Don’t Smile at Me (28,000)
2019’s Mid-Year Top 10 Selling Digital Songs
1. Lil Nas X, “Old Town Road” (958,000) 2. Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper, “Shallow” (684,000) 3. Post Malone & Swae Lee, “Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)” (488,000) 4. Ariana Grande, “7 Rings” (420,000) 5. Halsey, “Without Me” (388,000) 6. Post Malone, “Wow.” (381,000) 7. Jonas Brothers, “Sucker” (357,000) 8. Lauren Daigle, “You Say” (322,000) 9. Taylor Swift featuring Brendon Urie, “Me!” (322,000) 10. Ava Max, “Sweet But Psycho” (321,000)
2019’s Mid-Year Top 10 On-Demand Song Streams (Audio and Video Combined)
1. Lil Nas X, “Old Town Road” (1,337,995,000) 2. Post Malone & Swae Lee, “Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)” (850,194,000) 3. Ariana Grande, “7 Rings” (776,696,000) 4. Travis Scott, “Sicko Mode” (623,498,000) 5. Halsey, “Without Me” (599,335,000) 6. J. Cole, “Middle Child” (582,748,000) 7. Post Malone, “Wow.” (582,633,000) 8. Blueface, “Thotiana” (588,277,000) 9. Marshmello & Bastille, “Happier” (528,640,000) 10. YNW Melly, “Murder On My Mind” (498,806,000)
2019’s Mid-Year Top 10 On-Demand Audio Streams
1. Lil Nas X, “Old Town Road” (596,113,000) 2. Post Malone & Swae Lee, “Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)” (458,470,000) 3. Ariana Grande, “7 Rings” (433,904,000) 4. Post Malone, “Wow.” (416,231,000) 5. J. Cole, “Middle Child” (395,872,000) 6. Meek Mill featuring Drake, “Going Bad” (337,025,000) 7. Halsey, “Without Me” (319,879,000) 8. YNW Melly, “Murder On My Mind” (287,219,000) 9. Lil Baby & Gunna, “Drip Too Hard” (284,613,000) 10. Travis Scott, “Sicko Mode” (276,802,000)
Streaming has changed the way artists make money, but that doesn’t mean the biggest stars of today have fallen on hard times.
When its the last time someone told you about buying an album? When is the last time someone who wasn’t a collector (vinyl, cassette) told you they bought an album? Unless your inner circle is filled with devoted, old school music fans the answer is probably not anytime in the recent past. We live in the age of digital, which means we live in the streaming era, and that evolution has changed the ways musicians make money.
Depending on who you ask, this is a good and bad thing. Newer artists, especially in the world of rock and metal, claim streaming has made it harder to earn money because fewer people are willing to pay $5 or $10 to purchase their music outright. On the other hand, artists who create strong singles have found that the ease of access that Spotify and similar platforms provide has lowered the barrier to discovery. Those artists still make far less per stream than they would if each play was tied to a sale, but high stream counts can prove more beneficial than sales over time.
Whatever the struggles for newer artists may be, those talents at the top of the industry hierarchy are continuing to rake in plenty of cash in the age of streaming. Understanding the math behind the streams is often a struggle, but Billboard recently uncovered the top 5 streaming earners of 2019 so far, as well as a rough estimate of just how much money they’ve brought in for their label and team.
1. ARIANA GRANDE Total label streaming revenue YTD: $12.08M Total audio and video on-demand streams YTD: 2.83B
2. DRAKE Total label streaming revenue YTD: $11.29M Total audio and video on-demand streams YTD: 2.58B
3. POST MALONE Total label streaming revenue YTD: $10.90M Total audio and video on-demand streams YTD: 2.63B
4. JUICE WRLD Total label streaming revenue YTD: $8.38M Total audio and video on-demand streams YTD: 1.92B
5. BILLIE EILISH Total label streaming revenue YTD: $7.93M Total audio and video on-demand streams YTD: 1.89B
Billboard’s estimates are based on Nielsen Music data and other information as of the week ending April 18. It’s a month later now, but the top five most likely remains the same, only with larger play counts.
It’s important to note that the second figure under each artist’s name combines song and video streams. Audio streams generate more revenue than video streams, but YouTube is an incredibly popular platform for music.
The figures above cover the sound recording royalty that the record label collects and doesn’t include publishing.
