*since 96.4% of Chinese streaming platforms are free users, that paid-for users pay less than $2 a month and that they are also used as video streaming platforms, their streams are weighted in par with YouTube streams.Īudio Stream value – 1500 plays equal 1 album unit – China* : Xiami streams * 125/6.5 (Xiami has just over 5% of the Chinese streaming market)
– Elsewhere : Spotify streams * (370 – 8.5 – 9.5 – 33 – 9) / 207 (370 million global subscribers minus 8.5 million from South Korea minus 9.5 million from Japan minus 33 million from China divided by the number of Spotify only users minus 9 million more Asian users) + Genie streams * 3.05 (uses Genie rather than Spotify to extrapolate markets like Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam) – Japan : AWA streams * 100/5.5 (AWA has 5.5% of the Japanese streaming market) – South Korea : Genie streams * 3.05 (consistent with Gaon streaming numbers) In order to account for their real popularity in each relevant country, the below sources have been used along with the mentioned ratios that reflect the market share of each area. To factor in the growing impact of multiple Asian countries where these platforms aren’t always the go-to site for music streaming, more sources have been added. The main source of data for each avenue is respectively Spotify and YouTube. Our CSPC methodology now includes both to better reflect the real popularity of each track. Streaming is made up of audio and video streams. Now that this market dominates the industry, the artist releases his highly anticipated comeback, After Hours. And where else to go from there but to the original blueprint of his wounded, bleeding heart-“Wicked Games” and “The Morning” (both from House of Balloons)-where the lines between pleasure and pain blur into oblivion.Since 2015, Canadian singer The Weeknd is one of the leading forces of streaming platforms. By the time the run of songs that includes “Call Out My Name” (from 2018's My Dear Melancholy,), “Die for You” ( Starboy), and “Earned It” ( Beauty) arrives, it's all id and nothing to cut it. Then it pivots, slowly but steadily, to the comedown, where the singer's self-loathing finds a natural match in hazier, muddier productions. Songs like “Save Your Tears” (from 2020's After Hours), “Can't Feel My Face” (from 2015's Beauty Behind the Madness), and “Starboy” (from 2016's Starboy) sound like neon club lights and the sins committed beneath them. The bright keys and danceable Max Martin-produced '80s pop that have defined the latter half of his career open the proceedings like the climb of an intensely euphoric high. Instead, it gets moodier and darker as it goes on. In a clever touch, the compilation doesn't unfold sequentially.
( The Highlights' release only misses the 10-year anniversary mark by a month.) His second such collection, The Highlights, manages the task with ease, pulling together all of his, well, highlights, stretching all the way to the beginning to include two cuts from his 2011 debut House of Balloons. For an artist like The Weeknd, putting together a greatest hits compilation must be especially difficult each era and microevolution of his career feels deserving unto itself.