Scoreboard: Taylor Swift, Eminem

On this week’s Scoreboard Taylor Swift has the year’s biggest selling week; Eminem has a new single ft. Beyoncé

Billboard Artist Top 10

For the magazine dated December 2, 2017

See the full chart at http://www.billboard.com/charts/artist-100

The day for Taylor Swift‘s Reputation has finally arrived. After a three-year break between albums, the longest in her career, @taylorswift is back on top of the Billboard 200 and the Artist 100. The first week’s numbers are in and the new album achieved sales of 1.238 million, becoming Swift’s fourth debut week million-seller. Of that total, 1.216 million are traditional album sales. @taylorswift has held back the album from all streaming services, with only 4 out of the 14 tracks available for streaming consumption. That limited distribution strategy has paid off – in one week, Reputation became the year’s biggest-selling album.

Over on the Hot 100, Post Malone stays at #1 for the sixth week in a row with “Rockstar” ft. 21 Savage.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BapL_2QlLBr/?hl=en&taken-by=lilpump

Miami rapper Lil Pump surges to #3 on the Hot 100 this week with breakout hit “Gucci Gang”

It’s All About That Reputation

Everything in the lead up to Taylor Swift’s Reputation – the social media purge, the UPS trucks, the heavy-handedness of “Look What You Made Me Do” – demanded attention and brought a too-big-to-fail quality to the album’s release. Its lack of availability on streaming platforms also ensured that Reputation would not be easy (or cheap) to acquire. Today you can buy it on iTunes for $13.99, on Amazon for $13.49 ($12.97 if you want the CD), and on Swift’s website for $15.00 (CD only). If you’re a hardcore Swiftie, you can also buy a $125 Black Hoodie with Green Snake Design through the website. Clearly, @taylorswift is looking to get paid and she has plenty of past baggage to exploit to drive those sales – from the celebrity boyfriends to the neverending feud with Kanye West.

At least Reputation brings the drama that Swift is famous for. Because “Look What You Made Me Do” was not enough, we get “I Did Something Bad,” a “Bad Taylor” anthem that takes the idea of her 2014 #1 “Blank Space” to a dark trap-pop place that Swift has also inhabited with second single “…Ready For It.” On Reputation Swift does not really succeed in the EDM-trap-pop arena that has been well-exploited by Halsey, Demi Lovato, and Ariana Grande. Swift has always been a mainstream pop star and the club beats are not her comfort zone. Those beats are also present on the third single “End Game.” On it, she is joined by the strange companions Future and Ed Sheeran, and while Swift holds up her end of the track, Sheeran proves that he really does NOT belong in that EDM-trap-pop world. The mix of genres on the album makes it unclear in what direction Swift wants to take her musical reputation. Back when her previous album 1989 sold a million and took #1 she stood on safe pop ground. That week, “Shake It Off” was #1 on the Hot 100, but this week “…Ready For It” is her highest-charting track at #18. Yet Swift likely earned far more money this year given Reputation’s restricted distribution strategy. And if the “Bad EDM Diva” thing does not work out, Reputation also has ballads. Clearly, like Pink, the Old Taylor is not that dead. Case in point: fourth single “New Year’s Day” is built for lite FM or country radio. It’s no “Bad Blood,” but it’s there to ensure @taylorswift has her safety blanket.

Taylor Swift’s Instagram feed is all reputation, no comments allowed

Eminem Returns, with Help from Beyoncé

Taylor Swift’s three year absence seems short when compared to Eminem‘s four-year hiatus since his last album The Marshall Mathers LP 2. This week, Em is back with new single “Walk On Water,” which brings in Beyoncé on the chorus for the first ever collaboration between the two stars. With both Eminem and Beyoncé nearing 20 years of pop culture relevance, the track is a reflection on stardom. @beyoncé is somber on the chorus: she walks on water, “but only when it freezes” (that also makes her “no Jesus”). On the verses Eminem revisits the struggles in the second half of his career: “sales decline, the curtain’s drawn.” Yes, Em, it’s hard to be a veteran rapper. Earlier this year Beyoncé’s husband Jay-Z  released 4:44, a mature, moody album on which he apologized for past sins and pondered his legacy. Eminem’s only 2 years younger than Hova and on “Walk On Water” legacy is top of mind, but Marshall Mathers is defiant. He ends the track by stating “me and you are not alike / bitch, I wrote ‘Stan‘.” On a recent episode of Saturday Night Live, @eminem even performed “Stan” following “Walk On Water,” employing the versatile Skylar Grey as the Beyoncé/Dido stand in. The single is the first off of Eminem’s forthcoming album Revival and by the sound of it, Marshall Mathers is ready to revive.

Eminem and Chance The Rapper took over Saturday Night Live a week ago