André

lol guys, are you for real? I am going for 450k+

I am 100% certain she will have no issue whatsoever outselling Abba.

I see. It's a theory but a fairly believable one considering few artists care as much about charts and breaking records as Ed Sheeran. I think him and Taylor Swift are the most chart-obsessed acts in the Western world.

The song was pushed back? Had no clue. As for his underperformance, it's not really a surprise to me because, as I said, the social media engagement for his comeback announcement were shockingly low. Clearly he doesn't really have a faithful fanbase or anything like that. I am a bit surprised at the UK results though solely because I though in the UK market that'd be an exception and he'd actually have a base. Still, the UK results were much better than anywhere else. "Shape of You" was an instant #1 in the entire Europe and this comeback is basically registering in European Spotify for now.

Dude, that's literally a failure though lol. Of course it's not a failure if you compare to a random popstar but for his own standards, that's WAY below expectations and that's not on Buzzjack, are you kidding me? Ed Sheeran's previous era was one of the most successful eras of all time. His current single is immediately in a high position in pretty much every single big Spotify playlist. He is being promoted hardcore on TikTok. He gave over 200 interviews on his first day. That was supposed to be the easiest #1 of all time. Instead, he debuted at #7 WW with less streams than Lorde's first day. And #2 on the UK, which is his home market and somewhere where he always had the easiest ride ever. Lol. That's like Adele debuting at #2 on the album charts or Taylor Swift failing to top the US album charts. It's obvious WAY BELOW what the industry was expecting of him (even though that was easy to predict considering the lack of engagement on any of his announcement posts on social media), no reason to pretend otherwise. It's a very commercial, made for radio song though and it'll be obviously shoved everyone's throat because Sheeran's marketing budget is probably humongous so of course it can still have a decent run but its first day was clearly bad. Pretending as if Sheeran, his team or the industry aren't scared shitless of these mediocre results on the first day (for his standards) isn't very honest lol.

Think their reign will be much shorter than people expect.

I think it'll have an underwhelming result. Good first 24 hours but the buzz won't last very long. The song sounds dated as hell.

The fact 6ix9ine is a criminal is part of his appeal. It's disgusting but there's a huge segment of people that want to look hard and glamourize this messed up lifestyle. It's arguably a pretty big streaming hit. It just didn't get much radio support. It's also pretty huge on streaming in the US, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands. I think the UK is one of the only European countries where it didn't went top 10.

In the UK, right? Cause those songs are both huge in the US and among the biggest in the planet right now. But yes, I'm inclined to agree the Latin genre may have peaked in the UK, at least for now. But the UK is extremely influenced by what's hot in the USA so as long as Latin-inspired music is big there, chances of it coming back in the UK are extremely high. I mean, "Taki Taki" features Cardi B and Selena, neither of which are particularly big in Britain while "Mia" is entirely in Spanish (which is also a huge obstacle in the UK market) but you can bet that if Drake released an English or Spanglish Latino song or a hot act like Dua Lipa went in that direction than it'd easily be a hit imo.

The UK is definitely an outlier when it comes to that because Latin music is still huge in the US and in the rest of the world. But yes, it might explain it's underperformance on UK Spotify. Not in the rest of the world though.

In what world are you guys in? Surely not the real one, where a bunch of Latin vibe songs are still among the biggest pretty much everywhere.

Nah, I doubt her fanbase grew that much since No Tears Left to Cry. The reason why this song is so huge is because it became a meme. It's all over social media, with countless viral tweets talking about it. Also, it's pretty topical -- about her break-up and personal life, which causes a lot of interest -- and also people love a (well done) surprise drop.

That's overall. I'm willing to bet the % of paid users in the UK is much higher than in most other countries. Especially because the UK is one of the countries where Spotify is actually making a decent profit.

It's 2018 and we're still acting as if people who enjoy rap music fit one specific stereotype (male/tracksuit-wearing/on benefits), lol. Rap is literally the most popular genre in the world right now, among young people in general. Either way, the reason rap songs are bigger in Apple Music is because, in its first year, Apple went hard after the rap-listening demographic (wise, since it's the biggest one right now, especially in the US) with a bunch of exclusives, including Chance the Rapper and, most notably, Drake.

It's not that surprising. His features aren't usually big hits. This one with Eminem is the exception.

Considering most people consume music through streaming nowadays and Spotify is by far the biggest streaming platform, yes, it does.

LMAO @ people crying out about white people being prosecuted. Get over it. I think Ed/Eminem will not be big tbh. Ed has been featured in a lot of songs and they're usually nowhere near as huge as his own songs.

The Critics' Choice winners usually have huge debuts and the full support of the industry. Everyone 'cept for Ellie Goulding, Tom Odell and Jack Garratt went on to sell over 1 million with their debut albums, with at least three of them surpassing 2 million copies sold. Ellie reached the 1 million mark with her second album (helped by a reissue, of course) and Rag'N'Bone Man will also probably reach the mark soon. Until Jack Garratt, the worst performing winner was Tom Odell which still went Platinum (and had a super messed-up roll out because the album was released a long time after his hit since since it was postponed to match the US release date).

Stormzy and Rita Ora are all over TV. Especially Ora. They're big names (especially Stormzy. Rita I have my doubts considering how hard she has been pushed and marketed vis-a-vis what she has actually achieved) but there's nothing special about having them on for a performance. Not that they shouldn't be on. Of course they should. It's just not impressive. And it's weird for me Dua Lipa and Rag n Bone Man weren't on because they're both obviously the two biggest British breakouts and usually those are featured in the show.

Oops, forgot to mention them. They are!

Worth noting that The Sun is *also* reporting P!nk as one of the final show acts, which would be big. If she's really on she'll join Sheeran, Sam Smith and maybe Harry Styles as the only big acts they had on this series. I mean, they serve the purpose of giving The X Factor some credence. It's a bit like Paul McCartney a few years back. Obviously they're not as legendary as Paul but they add some ~real music~ glitz to a final. PRETTYMUCH, on the other hand, is a D-list boyband and Louis Tomlinson -- although he was part of a huge group -- is a C-list act at best. Having them on a final as big name acts is lol-worthy. That said, I agree with you there's probably more TXF rabid viewers (i.e.: young teens and tweens) interested in Louis than on Madness. But in terms of getting big names, which is what people supposedly expect from a final, they're definitely the definition of "scrapping the bottom of the barrel". Of course SYCO has an interest in promoting them but it does cheapen their "event television" brand even further imo.

LOL what? Madness are legendary act and have an iconic song. I don't really see the point of them being in TXF but it's not "scrapping the barrel". Having a D-list boyband and the least successful ex-1D however........ I mean, we know they're SYCO acts but yeah.

Lol, no way this "some HMV stores are banned from selling the album" thing is true.

I think it'll outsell Sam Smith's first week. 90k+ with a chance of crossing the 100k mark. Her fans are super loyal. It won't outsell 1989 but it'll probably have a better first week.

Taylor Swift is doing Saturday Night Live next week. I highly doubt she'd be in the UK not in the US during her album release week. Then again she can always pre-shoot her performance.....