After a quiet Christmas break on the music front, artists are back and ready to take over the first quarter of 2016. This past Friday, we saw TONS of new releases from some of our favorite names in music – from Wiz Khalifa’s Khalifa to Future’s Evol, Young Thug’s I’m Up, Boosie’s In My Feelings, Majid Jordan’s self-titled debut and Lion Babe’s Begin. We also saw the physical release of Rihanna’s ANTI, which prior to Friday, had only been available via digital retailers. Though not all forecasts are in yet for the aforementioned artists, we have the numbers for the biggest ones. Hit the jump to see what Wiz, Future, Thugger and Rih are expected to move this week.
The RIAA Adds Streaming To Album Certifications; Big Sean, Kendrick + More Now Platinum!
Effective today, February 1, the RIAA will now include audio and video streams and a track sale equivalent in gold and platinum album certifications. While Billboard and Nielsen Soundscan began factoring streaming in some time ago, artists were still not being awarded for going gold or platinum until they were all via traditional sales. In 2013, RIAA first added on-demand streams to its Digital Single Award only, and now they have adapted to the times once again, as streaming continues to grow rapidly in popularity. To calculate the formula for album certification, 1,500 on-demand audio and/or video song streams will equal 10 single sales, which is 1 album sale. (In the same token, if 10 singles are purchased on iTunes, that is also 1 album sale.) For single certification, they have now updated the 2013 formula from 100 on-demand streams = 1 download to 150 on-demand streams = 1 download. This update was done “to reflect streaming’s enormous growth in the two plus years since that ratio was set.”
NBA: Nick Young Says Adidas Won This Year & Iggy Azalea Will Have Best Album of 2016
Despite the Lake Show turning into the Sh*t Show, Nick Young aka Swaggy P has continued to make a name for himself. He hit the pinnacle of his aspirations after Kanye West shouted him out on his new track “Facts”; a song many deemed a Nike diss. Young did an interview with Billboard and he discussed the song, Michael Jordan’s son’s response to it and his fiancee Iggy Azalea.
(Photos) Hotline Bling Video To Premiere Tomorrow
Hotline Bling, the best-selling song in the United States, video is finally set to debut tomorrow. Drake announced it on his Instagram page today, October 18.
The Roots To Executive Produce Broadway Play ‘Hamilton’
Billboard has the exclusive announcement that Atlantic Records will release Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) this fall and will be executive produced by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter of The Roots. Pre-order will be available on Aug. 7 via all digital retailers.
