Billboard Hot 100: 08/26/2023

[Baby Yoda Hot100Fan]

Electronic Producer Oliver Anthony Skyrockets in Streams Due to… Well, You Can Probably Guess

08/23/2023

In this week's Trending Up, an obscure electronic artist benefits from a similarly named viral sensation, a Marvin Gaye homage takes over R&B radio and more.

The Other Oliver Anthony: Viral Country Sensation Gives Bump to Similarly Named Electronic Producer

Folks who read about the chart-topping phenomenon that was Oliver Anthony last week and went on to buy or stream his 2021 EP Breaking Bread were likely a little disappointed – or at the very least, extremely confused. That’s because Breaking Bread was not released by the Oliver Anthony who connected with country fans (and right-wing signal-boosters) with his breakout hit “Rich Men North of Richmond” – the one whose artist name is officially Oliver Anthony Music, and who has only released singles thus far – but rather, by the producer Oliver Anthony, whose lone release on streaming services is a six-song, seven-minute, independently released set of unassuming lo-fi electronic instrumentals.

Not much information seems to be publicly available about this other Oliver Anthony – there’s no biographical info on their Spotify page, their YouTube uploads are all automated and it’s not clear if they’re present on social media. But whoever they are, they’re enjoying a massive streaming bump from the Oliver Anthony Music confusion: The original Oliver Anthony netted over 36,000 official on-demand U.S. streams for the week ending Aug. 17, according to Luminate – up 523% from the under 6,000 the week before, and up 144,548% from the negligible amount of streams they posted the week before that.

They also sold over 500 digital songs last week after a minimal amount the week before – and on iTunes, Breaking Bread has even reached the top 10 on their real-time albums chart. Hopefully those consumers looking for country-folk working-class anthems are also in the market for some low-intensity midtempo beats! – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

[Baby Yoda Hot100Fan]

Oliver Anthony Music’s Streams Up 102,741% Since Two Weeks Ago

8/24/2023

By Keith Rutherford

In all, he earned 32.8 million official on-demand streams in the U.S.

From Aug. 11-17, Anthony’s catalog received 32.8 million official on-demand streams in the U.S., according to Luminate.

That’s in stark contrast to Aug. 4-10, when Anthony’s music was streamed 1.2 million times, a 2,606% jump.

But by then, Anthony’s star had begun to rise. “Rich Men North of Richmond,” Anthony’s eventual No. 1 debut on the Billboard Hot 100 dated Aug. 26, was uploaded to the radiowv YouTube channel Aug. 8, but it was not yet available on other major streaming platforms until Aug. 11. Anthony did, however, have other songs ready to stream, among them “Aint Gotta Dollar,” “Rich Mans Gold,” “Ive Got to Get Sober” and more. Curious listeners gravitated to those songs, pulling Anthony’s streaming count north of 1 million.

Before Aug. 4-10? That’s the number that best illustrates Anthony’s leap from Virginia farmer to a No. 1 song. The July 28-Aug. 3 tracking period saw 32,000 streams for Anthony, making the two-week gain from July 28-Aug. 3 to Aug. 11-17 a 102,741% boost.

The majority of those streams in the latest week – 17.5 million – came from “Rich Men North of Richmond.” But that majority is slim at 53%; 15.4 million streams went to Anthony’s other songs, most of which were available before the official release of “Rich Men North of Richmond.”

Leading that pack was “Aint Gotta Dollar,” which accumulated 3.5 million streams, up 1,222% from 267,000 the previous frame (it was Anthony’s most streamed of the Aug. 4-10 week that saw him earn 1.2 million on-demand clicks in all). Then came “Ive Got to Get Sober” at 2.3 million streams, up from 180,000, a 1,66% boost.

The streams of “Rich Men North of Richmond” were enough to chart the song at No. 4 on Billboard’s Streaming Songs ranking, as well as No. 2 on Country Streaming Songs. And more gains – both for the runaway hit and the rest of Anthony’s catalog – are possible on the Billboard charts dated Sept. 2.