When The Lion King soundtrack rose to the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart in 1994, it marked not only the first No. 1 for the Walt Disney Records label, but the first soundtrack from a fully animated film ever to top the tally.

The album – with songs written by Elton John and Tim Rice, and its score composed by Hans Zimmer – ascended to the summit on the July 16, 1994-dated Billboard 200 in only its fourth week on the chart. It collected 10 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 and lingered in the weekly top 40 for over a year.

During the course of The Lion King’s run on the Billboard 200, the album spun off hits in John’s “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” (No. 4 peak on the Billboard Hot 100) and “Circle of Life” (No. 18). The former marked John’s highest charting Hot 100 hit unaccompanied by another artist since 1988, when “I Don’t Wanna Go On With You Like That” reached No. 2.

The Lion King proved to be so popular that it finished 1994 as the year’s top-selling album in the U.S., according to Luminate, with 4.9 million copies sold that year. The soundtrack’s success ran concurrent with the film’s smash status at the box office. The Lion King closed 1994 as the highest-grossing film at the U.S. and Canada box office, with $295.7 million earned that year.

In March 1995, John and Rice won the Academy Award for best original song for “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” marking the first nomination and win for John, and the second win for Rice. The two were largely competing against themselves, as three of the five nominees were The Lion King songs that they penned – “Circle of Life” and “Hakuna Matata” also made the cut. Zimmer additionally took home his first Oscar, for best original score.

On the April 29, 1995-dated Billboard 200, a few weeks after the Oscars and the film’s release on home video, The Lion King returned to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for its 10th and final week on top, more than seven months after it had last led.

In the years since The Lion King’s release, Walt Disney Records has produced 10 more No. 1 soundtracks on the Billboard 200, including chart-toppers from Pocahontas, High School Musical, Frozen and Encanto.

In the first half of 2024 in the United States, Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department was the most popular album, while Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” was the most-streamed song (by on-demand audio streams), respectively, according to data tracking firm Luminate.

Read more about midyear metrics in the 2024 Luminate Midyear Music Report.

‘Poets’ Perched on Top: For the tracking period of Dec. 29, 2023, through June 27, 2024, Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department was the most popular album in the U.S. The pop superstar’s studio set was released on April 19 via Republic Records and earned 4.66 million equivalent album units in the first half of 2024. (See full top 10 chart, below.) Poets spent its first 12 weeks atop the weekly Billboard 200 chart – the first album by a woman to spend its first 12 weeks at No. 1.

Poets is also the top-selling album, by traditional album sales, at the midyear point, with 2.47 million sold. The set is the top-selling album on CD (1.07 million), vinyl (988,000) and digital download (395,000) of 2024’s first six months.

The most-streamed song by on-demand audio streams (inclusive of user-generated content [UGC] streams) was Boone’s breakout hit “Beautiful Things,” with 448.7 million clicks in the first six months of the year. “Beautiful Things,” released via Night Street/Warner Records, marked Boone’s first top 40-charting hit on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 chart, and peaked at No. 2 on the tally in March.

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 in this story, 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 The Tortured Poets Department’s 4.66 million equivalent album units earned at midyear, album sales comprise 2.47 million, SEA units comprise 2.16 million (equaling 2.82 billion on-demand official audio and video streams of the 31 songs on the deluxe edition of the album) and TEA units comprise 23,000.

The top five most popular albums at the midyear point in the U.S. are The Tortured Poets Department, Morgan Wallen’s March 2023 release One Thing at a Time (1.78 million), Noah Kahan’s October 2022 release Stick Season (1.22 million), Beyoncé’s March release Cowboy Carter (1.10 million) and SZA’s December 2022 release SOS (1.06 million). In 2023, One Thing at a Time and SOS  were the Nos. 1 and 3 most popular albums of the year in Luminate’s year-end report.

2024’s Midyear Top 10 Albums in U.S. (by Equivalent Album Units)
1. Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department (4.660 million)
2. Morgan Wallen, One Thing at a Time (1.776 million)
3. Noah Kahan, Stick Season (1.224 million)
4. Beyoncé, Cowboy Carter (1.105 million)
5. SZA, SOS (1.064 million)
6. Future & Metro Boomin, We Don’t Trust You (1.046 million)
7. Morgan Wallen, Dangerous: The Double Album (1.010 million)
8. Zach Bryan, Zach Bryan (984,000)
9. Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (953,000)
10. Taylor Swift, Lover (948,000)
Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through June 27, 2024. 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.

2024’s Midyear Top 10 Selling Albums in U.S. (Physical & Digital Album Sales Combined)
1. Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department (2.474 million)
2. Billie Eilish, Hit Me Hard and Soft (306,000)
3. Beyoncé, Cowboy Carter (257,000)
4. Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (250,000)
5. Taylor Swift, Lover (208,000)
6. TOMORROW X TOGETHER, Minisode 3: TOMORROW (193,000)
7. ATEEZ, Golden Hour: Part.1 (191,000)
8. Taylor Swift, Folklore (174,000)
9. TWICE, With YOU-th (174,000)
10. Taylor Swift, Midnights (171,000)
Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through June 27, 2024.

2024’s Midyear Top 10 Selling Vinyl Albums
1. Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department (988,000)
2. Billie Eilish, Hit Me Hard and Soft (160,000)
3. Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (117,000)
4. Taylor Swift, Folklore (108,000)
5. Taylor Swift, Lover (106,000)
6. Taylor Swift, Midnights (100,000)
7. Beyoncé, Cowboy Carter (94,000)
8. Taylor Swift, Evermore (88,000)
9. Noah Kahan, Stick Season (87,000)
10. Olivia Rodrigo, Guts (74,000)
Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through June 27, 2024.

Total Album Consumption Increases 7.4% at Midyear: Year-to-date, total equivalent album units grew by 7.4% (to 527.3 million) as compared to the same time frame in 2023 (491.1 million in the span of Dec. 30, 2022, through June 29, 2023). However, Luminate notes in its midyear report that due to changes in methodology and provider reporting, a trend break occurred in the first half of 2024, and they are unable to provide an accurate representation of year-over-year changes with regards to independent retail physical sales. In turn, for the above total equivalent album unit comparison, sales from independent retail stores are excluded from both the midyear 2024 and 2023 numbers above as there is no comparable historical data to provide an accurate year-over-year trend. Indie store album sales are included in the top 10 album rankings in this story. (In January 2024, Luminate retired a weighted data modeling method that previously measured physical sales in the indie retail sector. In April, Luminate launched a partnership with data provider StreetPulse to collect music sales from independent retailers.)

On-Demand Audio Streaming Up 8%, ‘Beautiful Things’ Most-Streamed Song: Boone’s “Beautiful Things” was the most-streamed song by on-demand audio streams in the first half of 2024 in the U.S. (see list, below), with 448.7 million streams (inclusive of UGC). Zach Bryan’s “I Remember Everything,” featuring Kacey Musgraves (437.3 million) and Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” (409.7 million) round out the top three.

Total on-demand audio streams at midyear grew 8% in the U.S. as compare to the same point a year ago (665.8 billion versus 616.5 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.

2024’s Midyear Top 10 Most Streamed Songs in U.S. (On-Demand Audio)
1. Benson Boone, “Beautiful Things” (448.7 million)
2. Zach Bryan featuring Kacey Musgraves, “I Remember Everything” (437.3 million)
3. Teddy Swims, “Lose Control” (409.7 million)
4. Tommy Richman, “Million Dollar Baby” (374.9 million)
5. Future, Metro Boomin & Kendrick Lamar, “Like That” (374.9 million)
6. Kendrick Lamar, “Not Like Us” (362.1 million)
7. Noah Kahan, “Stick Season” (342.9 million)
8. Jack Harlow, “Lovin On Me” (340.8 million)
9. Shaboozey, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (333.1 million)
10. Hozier, “Too Sweet” (333.1 million)
Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through June 27, 2024. Includes UGC streams.

Digital Song Sales Fall 11%: Digital song sales declined 10.9% in the first six months of 2024, falling to 61.96 million, as compared to 69.57 million sold in the first half of 2023. The top-selling digital song at the midyear point is Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” with 219,000 sold.

2023’s Midyear Top 10 Selling Digital Songs in U.S.
1. Shaboozey, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (219,000)
2. Benson Boone, “Beautiful Things” (200,000)
3. Teddy Swims, “Lose Control” (195,000)
4. Beyoncé, “Texas Hold ‘Em” (178,000)
5. Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen, “I Had Some Help” (156,000)
6. Megan Thee Stallion, “Hiss” (107,000)
7. Jack Harlow, “Lovin On Me” (95,000)
8. Tom MacDonald & Ben Shapiro, “Facts” (93,000)
9. Eminem, “Houdini” (88,000)
10. Hozier, “Too Sweet” (85,000)
Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through June 27, 2024.

Harlow Hot at Radio: The most-heard song on U.S. radio in the first half of 2024 was Harlow’s “Lovin On Me,” with a cumulative 1.743 million audience impressions across all formats monitored by Luminate.  “Flowers,” with a cumulative 2.409 billion audience impressions across all formats monitored by Luminate. The track led Billboard’s weekly Radio Songs airplay chart for 12 consecutive weeks (from Jan. 27, 2024 through April 13, 2024).

2024’s Midyear Top 10 Radio Songs in U.S. (Based on Audience Impressions)
1. Jack Harlow, “Lovin On Me” (1.743 billion)
2. Teddy Swims, “Lose Control” (1.692 billion)
3. Doja Cat, “Agora Hills” (1.544 billion)
4. Taylor Swift, “Cruel Summer” (1.402 billion)
5. Tate McRae, “Greedy” (1.388 billion)
6. Luke Combs, “Fast Car” (1.248 billion)
7. Tyla, “Water” (1.210 billion)
8. Benson Boone, “Beautiful Things” (1.142 billion)
9. Sabrina Carpenter, “Feather” (1.123 billion)
10. SZA, “Snooze” (1.111 billion)
Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 29, 2023, through June 27, 2024.

UNESCO has announced that International Jazz Day 2025 (April 30) will be celebrated in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Tangier, Morocco served as the global host city for this year’s celebration.

In a statement announcing next year’s locale, UNESCO director-general Audrey Azoulay said, “International Jazz Day heads to Abu Dhabi in 2025, infusing new energy and basking in the mélange of cultures. The celebration in this cosmopolitan city will embody the power of jazz to unite and delight in our shared humanity.”

Added UNESCO goodwill ambassador Herbie Hancock, “Jazz is a language of unity and a beacon of hope that continues to inspire new generations of artists from all corners of the globe. In Abu Dhabi, a renowned group of international artists will join us to share their musical vision, build bridges through the power of music and create harmony in our diverse world.”

International Jazz Day 2025 will be presented in partnership with Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT). With a focus on the city’s Arab and Emirati musical heritage, the annual observance will introduce audiences to Arabic jazz by spotlighting the decades-long interplay between local musical traditions — through classical instruments such as the oud, qanun and ney — and jazz. In addition, educational programs and community outreach will be part of the celebration. Alongside music education program at local schools, higher-level learning institutions such as Berklee Abu Dhabi, New York University Abu Dhabi and other UAE-based universities will offer workshops and masterclasses.

“We are honored that Abu Dhabi has been selected as the global host for the 2025 edition of International Jazz Day,” stated DCT Abu Dhabi chairman HE Mohamed Al Mubarak. “This recognition underscores our city’s thriving music scene and unwavering commitment to cultural diversity and artistic excellence. As a UNESCO Creative City of Music, Abu Dhabi has long been a beacon of musical innovation, where traditional Arabian melodies blend seamlessly with global genres, creating a vibrant and unique cultural tapestry. Hosting International Jazz Day reaffirms our dedication to the arts and provides a global stage to showcase our dynamic music scene. Our city consistently celebrates and nurtures musical talent from around the world.”

Vinyl and CD music sales grew 7.9% to £164 million ($213 million) in the United Kingdom in the first six months of 2024, due in no small part to the all-conquering, seemingly unstoppable success of Taylor Swift, according to mid-year figures from the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA).

Released in April, Swift’s eleventh studio set The Tortured Poets Department is the singer’s fastest-selling album in the U.K., shifting the equivalent of 270,000 units across all formats in its first seven days, according to Official Charts Company (OCC) data.

To date, The Tortured Poets Department has spent eight non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 in the United Kingdom — surpassing Swift’s previous best chart run of five weeks at the summit with 2022’s Midnights — making it the biggest-selling album in the country so far this year by some distance.

Mid-year sales for The Tortured Poets Department stand at 542,000 equivalent units in the U.K. across all formats, just under half of which (251,000) were physical format purchases, according to ERA data for the first 26 weeks of 2024. The Tortured Poets Department additionally sold just under 20,000 digital downloads.

The second highest-selling album year-to-date is The Weeknd’s Highlights with 220,000 equivalent sales units.

Swift was also behind the half-year period’s biggest-selling physical single, “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone, which topped the U.K.’s official singles charts for one week in May, selling more than 16,500 copies on CD, the only physical format it was available on, reports ERA.

In total, Swift had six of the Top 20 best-selling albums across all formats (digital and physical) in the U.K. during the sales period, including fan favorites 1989 (Taylor’s Version), Lover, Midnights and Folklore. 

The singer’s ubiquitous chart success helped lift physical format and download music sales to £164 million ($213 million) in the U.K. in the first half of 2024, a rise of 7.9% on the same period the previous year, said ERA CEO Kim Bayley, who also credited April’s Record Store Day with further boosting retailers’ revenues.

ERA’s half-year sales figures do not include music streaming, which account for more than 88% of all music sales in the U.K. ERA said overall music streaming consumption was up 11% year-on-year in the first six months of the year but did not provide value figures.   

Breaking down physical format sales, vinyl album purchases were up 13.5% year-on-year to just over £86 million ($111 million), while CD sales showed a 3.2% year-on-year increase to £58 million ($75 million). In total, there were 8.5 million physical albums sold in the U.K. during the period, said ERA.

As a result, growth of physical format and download music sales outpaced growth of video sales (comprising of DVD and Blu-ray sales, video downloads and digital rental), which totaled £214 million ($277 million), up 5.4% year-on-year, not including revenues from video streaming services like Netflix or Apple TV.

Music sales also outpaced equivalent growth of video games (combining physical and digital downloads), which fell by almost 30% year-on-year to just under £350 million ($454 million) due to what ERA called a “soft release schedule” in the first half of the year.

The United Kingdom is the world’s third-biggest recorded behind the United States and Japan with sales of $1.9 billion in 2023, according to IFPI. 

Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom have been singing each other’s praises since first getting together more than eight years ago. But in a recent Instagram Live chat with fans to celebrate her new single, “Woman’s World,” Perry got super candid about one of the reasons the couple have managed to stay together for so long.

“Tell us about Orlando’s ‘magic stick,’” Perry read with a smile on her face while scrolling through fan questions during the session. Perry let out a hearty raspberry and smiled at someone off camera, appearing to be thrown by the intimate nature of the query. “Well, we’ve been together for a while,” she said while chewing gum and signing promotional items.

“So I guess he’s got the magic in him,” she finally replied, singing the last bit to the tune of B.o.B.’s 2010 hit “Magic.” Cracking herself up with the NSFW-adjacent response, Perry then got serious about Bloom, with whom she shares four-year-old daughter Daisy Dove.

“No, it’s really his heart,” she said. “And he gave me my greatest gift ever… Daisy Dove,” she whispered.

Over the weekend, Perry appeared to respond to a wave of criticism for the “Woman’s World” video, sharing behind-the-scenes clips to explain her intentions for the visual that mixes feminist tropes and lyrics with lots of cheeky visuals. “YOU CAN DO ANYTHING! EVEN SATIRE!” Perry captioned her Instagram post.

Between criticism that Perry’s song misfired in its attempt to be a feminist anthem and her team-up with track co-producer Dr. Luke — who was accused of sexual misconduct by Kesha before the singer and producer settled a bitter, nine-year legal battle in 2023 before it went to to trial — “Woman’s World” did not appear to land the way the singer intended.

“We’re kind of just having fun being a bit sarcastic with it, it’s very slapstick, and very on the nose,” Perry says says in the first half of the video that seemed to anticipate some potential backlash. “With this set, it’s like, ‘We’re not about the male gaze but we really are about the male gaze,’ and we’re really overplaying it and on the nose because I’m about to get smashed, which is like a reset, a reset for me, and a reset for my idea of feminine divine, and it’s a whole different world we go to after this.”

“Woman’s World” is the first single from Perry’s upcoming follow-up to her Smile album from 2020, 143, which is due out on Sept. 20.