Apple’s download chart becomes a new battleground for pop – and politics

Over 20 years after its launch, Apple’s online music store has found a surprising new life – as a battleground for online turf wars of music fans and political statements.
Shaad D’Souza for The Guardian:
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Last week, at least five songs rose to the upper reaches of the Apple Music (formerly iTunes) download charts, powered by different internet factions. Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion fans waged war against each other as foot soldiers in the rappers’ feud; Britney Spears fans mass-bought the singer’s years-old songs Liar and Selfish as a way to troll her ex-boyfriend, Justin Timberlake, who released a song also called Selfish last month; and rightwing media influencer Ben Shapiro encouraged his fans to drive Facts, his new rap song with Canadian former wrestler Tom MacDonald, up the charts.

Fans mobilising to push certain albums or songs up the Apple Music download charts is nothing new – in 2018, a group of Mariah Carey fans mass-bought the singer’s 2001 flop Glitter as part of a campaign called #JusticeForGlitter. But musician and writer Jaime Brooks says that the cratering of the digital download market in recent years – around 152m digital songs were sold in the US in 2022, less than half of 2018’s 412m – has allowed campaigns that are smaller and far less coordinated than #JusticeForGlitter to disproportionately affect the charts. “I don’t think anybody’s actually using their phones and iTunes to listen to files any more, except people who have not upgraded their setup since 2012 – there are a lot of people like that in America, but not enough to sustain these huge numbers,” she says. “This [downloading] is a purely performative gesture – it only ever happens as a result of some kind of factional culture war that somebody has the money and inclination to try to represent on the charts.”
In July, Jason Aldean’s single Try That in a Small Town was sent to No 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 after its video was pulled from Country Music Television amid criticisms… In August, the total unknown Oliver Anthony debuted at No 1 with his libertarian… single Rich Men North of Richmond.

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MacDailyNews Take: Hey, a download sold is a download sold!
Also, a download sale can affect the Billboard charts since a single sale counts for 150 streams of the same track.
MacDailyNews Note: To buy songs on Apple Music: Settings > General > Show: iTunes Store. Then just visit the iTunes Store in Apple Music’s sidebar.
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