7/12/2023
By Keith Caulfield
They were the U.S.' most popular album and most-streamed song in the first half of 2023, respectively.
In the first six months of 2023, Morgan Wallen’s monster album One Thing at a Time was the most popular album, while Miley Cyrus’ smash single “Flowers” was the most-streamed song (by on-demand streams, audio and video combined), respectively, at the midyear point in the U.S., according to Luminate. “Flowers” was also the most-heard song on radio airwaves, with over 2.4 billion in radio audience impressions.
‘One Thing’ is Tops: For the tracking period of Dec. 30, 2022, through June 29, 2023, Wallen’s One Thing at a Time was the most popular album in the U.S. The country star’s latest studio effort was released on March 3, 2023 via Big Loud/Mercury/Republic Records and earned 3.312 million equivalent album units in the first half of 2023. (See full top 10 chart, below.) One Thing at a Time spent 15 nonconsecutive weeks atop the weekly Billboard 200 chart in March-July – the most weeks at No. 1 for any album since Adele’s 21 racked up 24 nonconsecutive weeks in 2011-12.
Concurrently, the One Thing at a Time single “Last Night” was the most-streamed song by on-demand audio streams in the first half of 2023 in the U.S., with 588.7 million on-demand audio streams (inclusive of user-generated content streams). “Last Night” spent 13 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on the weekly all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart from March through July – the singer-songwriter’s first leader on the tally.
The most-streamed song by total on-demand streams (audio and video combined, inclusive of user-generated content streams) was Cyrus’ “Flowers,” with 750.7 million clicks in the first six months of the year. “Flowers” led the Hot 100 eight for nonconsecutive weeks from January through early April. It marked Cyrus’ second chart-topper, following 2013’s “Wrecking Ball.”
Equivalent album units – for album titles and chart rankings cited below (but not industry volume numbers) – comprise traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sales, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album, or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official and audio streams generated by songs from an album.
Equivalent album units cited for album titles below, and in the “Midyear Top 10 Albums in U.S.” chart do not include user-generated content (UGC) streams. UGC streams are included in Luminate’s industry volume numbers and its midyear song streaming rankings. (UGC streams are not factored into any of Billboard’s weekly charts.)
For the sake of clarity, equivalent album units do not include listening to music on broadcast radio or digital radio broadcasts. All numbers cited in this story are rounded, and for the U.S. only. Programmed streams are not included in any of the data in this story.
Luminate (formerly MRC Data, Nielsen Music and SoundScan) began tracking music consumption in 1991. Luminate’s sales, streaming and airplay data is used to compile Billboard’s weekly charts.
Of One Thing at a Time’s 3.312 million equivalent album units earned at midyear, SEA units comprise 3.024 million (equaling 4.023 billion on-demand official streams of the set’s 36 songs), album sales comprise 242,000 and TEA units comprise 46,000.
The top five most popular albums at the midyear point in the U.S. are One Thing at a Time, SZA’s December 2022 release SOS (1.982 million equivalent album units), Taylor Swift’s October 2022 release Midnights (1.876 million), Wallen’s January 2021 release Dangerous: The Double Album (1.172 million) and Metro Boomin’s December 2022 release Heroes & Villains (1.038 million). In 2022, Midnights and Dangerous were the Nos. 2 and 3 most popular albums of the year in Luminate’s year-end report.
2023’s Midyear Top 10 Albums in U.S. (by Equivalent Album Units)
1. Morgan Wallen, One Thing at a Time (3.312 million)
2. SZA, SOS (1.982 million)
3. Taylor Swift, Midnights (1.876 million)
4. Morgan Wallen, Dangerous: The Double Album (1.173 million)
5. Metro Boomin’, Heroes & Villains (1.038 million)
6. Bad Bunny, Un Verano Sin Ti (967,000)
7. Drake & 21 Savage, Her Loss (898,000)
8. Zach Bryan, American Heartbreak (769,000)
9. Karol G, Mañana Séra Bonito (716,000)
10. Taylor Swift, Lover (711,000)
Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022, through June 29, 2023. UGC (user-generated content) streams are not included in this chart, but are included in Luminate’s on-demand streaming charts (below). Luminate’s equivalent album unit totals include SEA and TEA for an album’s songs registered before an album’s release, but only during the tracking period.
Total Album Consumption Increases 13.4% at Midyear: Year-to-date, total equivalent album units stand at 538.9 million – up 13.4% compared to the first half of 2022 (475.4 million in the tracking period of Dec. 31, 2021, through June 30, 2022).
Album Sales Up! Total album sales across all formats (physical CDs, vinyl, cassettes, etc., along with digital album downloads) increased by 7.9% in the first half of 2023 as compared to the same point in 2022. At the 2023 midyear point, 50.6 million albums were sold – up from the 49.6 million sold in the first half of 2022. The top-selling album of 2023 so far is Swift’s Midnights, with 607,000 copies sold
In total, there were 41.6 million physical albums sold (up 13.3% compared to 36.7 million at midyear 2022) and 9.234 million digital albums sold (down 11.2 percent compared to 10.4 million at midyear 2022).
CD album sales grew by 3.8% in the first half of 2023 (17.5 million vs. 16.9 million at midyear 2022), while vinyl album sales jumped by 21.7% (23.6 million vs. 19.4 million at midyear 2022). Even cassette tape album sales perked up. The mostly dormant format sold 212,000 in the first half of 2023 – up 5.8% compared to the 200,500 sold in the first half of 2022.
The top-selling album across all physical formats (CD, vinyl, cassette, etc.) at the midyear point is Swift’s Midnights, with 430,000 sold. It’s also the top-selling digital album (177,000) and vinyl LP (251,000). The biggest-selling CD album in the first half of 2023 was TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION with 395,000 copies sold.
Taylor Swift was the top-selling artist by total album sales in the first half of 2023, with 1.45 million albums sold across her entire catalog across all formats. Swift was also the top-selling in total physical album sales (1.19 million), vinyl album sales (808,000) and digital album sales (256,000). Stray Kids was the top-selling act in CD album sales (509,000).
2023’s Midyear Top 10 Selling Albums in U.S. (Physical & Digital Album Sales Combined)
1. Taylor Swift, Midnights (607,000)
2. TOMORROW X TOGETHER, The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION (399,000)
3. Stray Kids, 5-STAR (327,000)
4. TWICE, Ready to Be (286,000)
5. Morgan Wallen, One Thing at a Time (242,000)
6. SEVENTEEN, SEVENTEEN 10th Mini Album: FML (236,000)
7. Metallica, 72 Seasons (215,000)
8. Agust D, D-Day (200,000)
9. Jimin, FACE (152,000)
10. Melanie Martinez, Portals (194,000)
Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022, through June 29, 2023.
2023’s Midyear Top 10 Selling Vinyl Albums
1. Taylor Swift, Midnights (251,000)
2. Lana Del Rey, Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. (132,000)
3. Taylor Swift, Folklore (107,000)
4. Tyler, The Creator, Igor (104,000)
5. Fleetwood Mac, Rumours (103,000)
6. Boygenius, The Record (100,000)
7. Melanie Martinez, Portals (93,000)
8. Michael Jackson, Thriller (85,000)
9. Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon (85,000)
10. Lana Del Rey, Born to Die (84,000)
Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022, through June 29, 2023.
On-Demand Streaming Up 15%, ‘Flowers’ Most-Streamed Song: “Flowers,” Cyrus’ Hot 100-topping single, was the most-streamed song in the first half of 2023 in the U.S., with 750.7 million on-demand streams (inclusive of UGC). SZA’s “Kill Bill” (701.2 million) and Wallen’s “Last Night” (642.8 million) round out the top three.
Total on-demand streams (audio and video combined) at midyear grew 15% in the U.S. as compared to the same point a year ago (713.5 billion vs. 620.2 billion). On-demand audio streams rose 13.5% (616.5 billion vs. 543.2 billion) while on-demand video streams grew 26% (97 billion vs. 77 billion).
UGC streams are included in Luminate’s industry streaming on-demand volume numbers (above) and its midyear streaming song charts (below). UGC streams are not factored into any of Billboard’s weekly charts.
In general, all songs in the below charts combine the assorted remixes of a song into one overall total. Thus, PinkPantheress’ “Boy’s a Liar” includes activity for its remix with Ice Spice, “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2,” The Weeknd’s “Die for You” includes activity for its remix with Ariana Grande,” Ice Spice’s “Princess Diana” includes activity of its remix with Nicki Minaj, and so forth.
2023’s Midyear Top 10 Most Streamed Songs in U.S. (On-Demand Audio & Video Combined)
1. Miley Cyrus, “Flowers” (750.7 million)
2. SZA, “Kill Bill” (701.2 million)
3. Morgan Wallen, “Last Night” (642.8 million)
4. PinkPantheress, “Boy’s a Liar” (580.7 million)
5. Lady Gaga, “Bloody Mary” (531.7 million)
6. Rema & Selena Gomez, “Calm Down” (486.3 million)
7. Twisted featuring Oliver Tree, “Worth Nothing” (462.7 million)
8. J. Cole featuring Amber Coffman & The Cults, “She Knows” (455.6 million)
9. Fifty Fifty, “Cupid” (427.7 million)
10. Lil Uzi Vert, “Just Wanna Rock” (416.1 million)
Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022, through June 29, 2023. Includes UGC streams.
2023’s Midyear Top 10 Most Streamed Songs in U.S. (On-Demand Audio)
1. Morgan Wallen, “Last Night” (588.7 million)
2. SZA, “Kill Bill” (567.6 million)
3. Miley Cyrus, “Flowers” (464.6 million)
4. PinkPantheress, “Boy’s a Liar” (370.4 million)
5. The Weeknd, “Die for You” (349.8 million)
6. Zach Bryan, “Something in the Orange” (331.2 million)
7. Metro Boomin, The Weeknd & 21 Savage, “Creepin’” (308.3 million)
8. Eslabon Armado x Peso Pluma, “Ella Baila Sola” (307.4 million)
9. Morgan Wallen, “You Proof” (303.3 million)
10. Taylor Swift, “Anti-Hero” (302.8 million)
Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022, through June 29, 2023. Includes UGC streams.
Digital Song Sales Drop 13%: Digital song sales fell 13% in the first six months of 2023, dipping to 69.57 million, as compared to 79.98 million sold in the first half of 2022. The top-selling digital song at the midyear point is Cyrus’ “Flowers” with 380,000 sold. Six songs sold more than 100,000 downloads in the first half of 2023. At midyear 2022, there were eight songs that sold in excess of 100,000.
2023’s Midyear Top 10 Selling Digital Songs in U.S.
1. Miley Cyrus, “Flowers” (380,000)
2. Jimin, “Like Crazy” (289,000)
3. Morgan Wallen, “Last Night” (217,000)
4. Luke Combs, “Fast Car” (126,000)
5. Beyoncé, “Cuff It” (119,000)
6. Rema & Selena Gomez, “Calm Down” (110,000)
7. Taylor Swift, “Anti-Hero” (97,000)
8. Lainey Wilson, “Heart Like a Truck” (89,000)
9. Ice Spice, “Princess Diana” (87,000)
10. Jelly Roll, “Need a Favor” (86,000)
Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022, through June 29, 2023.
‘Flowers’ Blooms at Radio: The most-heard song on U.S. radio in the first half of 2023 was Cyrus’ “Flowers,” with a cumulative 2.409 billion audience impressions across all formats monitored by Luminate. The single was released in early January and became one of the biggest radio hits in the modern era. It spent 18 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s all-format Radio Songs chart, tying Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris” for the second-most weeks at No. 1 since the chart began in 1990. The song with the most weeks at No. 1 on Radio Songs is The Weeknd’s enduring “Blinding Lights,” which ruled for 26 weeks in 2020.
2023’s Midyear Top 10 Radio Songs in U.S. (Based on Audience Impressions)
1. Miley Cyrus, “Flowers” (2.409 billion)
2. Metro Boomin, The Weeknd & 21 Savage, “Creepin’” (2.359 billion)
3. SZA, “Kill Bill” (1.909 billion)
4. The Weeknd, “Die for You” (1.877 billion)
5. Taylor Swift, “Anti-Hero” (1.730 billion)
6. David Guetta & Bebe Rexha, “I’m Good (Blue)” (1.691 billion)
7. Rema & Selena Gomez, “Calm Down” (1.580 billion)
8. Harry Styles, “As It Was” (1.362 billion)
9. Sam Smith & Kim Petras, “Unholy” (1.275 billion)
10. Chris Brown, “Under the Influence” (1.142 billion)
Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022, through June 29, 2023.
