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Explaining why Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” & Harry Styles’ “Golden” are underperforming, a thread:
i want to say this first, this is NOT at all a drag towards dua or harry. i’m just simply showing the differences between their past singles this year and their most recent singles. this thread isn’t meant to discredit these artists.
part one: history
lipa and styles have had two massive hits off of their recent albums, both charted high and received large praise from its targeted audience.
levitating & golden are apparently the last singles off of both artist’s albums. usually by this time, albums have hit their peaks and have already achieved commercial success.
part two: radio and streams
let’s start with levitating. given dua’s huge hits this year, it was expected she’d be able to pull off another hit single. but it appears that the gp are “dried up” with lipa. comparing her radio callouts, you see a noticeable decline with levitating.
as of right now, it’s too early to know what audiences think of golden but styles has had similar callouts like lipa’s which could be alarming if callouts turn out bad. golden currently has an audience of 23 million.
let’s compare streams with DSN, BMH, and LV...
- LV (PEAKS): WW: 21, US: 26
Streams: WW: 2.1, US: 533K
- BMH (PEAKS): WW: #6, US: #7
Streams: WW: 4.2M, US: 971K
- DSN (PEAKS): WW: #2, US: #4
Streams: WW: 6.1M, US: 1.2M
as you can see, there is a huge drop with levitating.
- LV (PEAKS): WW: 21, US: 26
Streams: WW: 2.1, US: 533K
- BMH (PEAKS): WW: #6, US: #7
Streams: WW: 4.2M, US: 971K
- DSN (PEAKS): WW: #2, US: #4
Streams: WW: 6.1M, US: 1.2M
as you can see, there is a huge drop with levitating.
let’s also compare AY, WS, and GD...
- WS (PEAKS): WW: #5, US: #3,
Streams: WW: 4.3M, US: 1.6M
- AY (PEAKS): WW: #3, US: #1
Streams: WW: 4.5M, US: 1.8M
- GD (PEAKS): WW: #21, US: #6
Streams: WW: 2.9M, US: 1.4M
golden has hold up WELL against fine line’s two other singles.
- WS (PEAKS): WW: #5, US: #3,
Streams: WW: 4.3M, US: 1.6M
- AY (PEAKS): WW: #3, US: #1
Streams: WW: 4.5M, US: 1.8M
- GD (PEAKS): WW: #21, US: #6
Streams: WW: 2.9M, US: 1.4M
golden has hold up WELL against fine line’s two other singles.
part three: the truth
the reason GD and LV aren’t preforming as while as their predecessors is because of christmas. right now the entire charts are dominated by christmas songs and radio has even increased playing christmas songs leaving GD & LV less airplay to connect with audiences..
another reason is that locals might not be clicking well with the songs as fans do. golden has a completely different sound from WS and AY. i personally enjoy the song.
but don’t panic, after christmas these two songs could see a HUGE surge. levitating would be #18 WW/#21 US & golden would be #88 WW with no christmas songs.
levitating as also seen a huge increase in sales and has been holding up steady on itunes since lipa’s SNL performance.
regardless, golden and levitating don’t need to be commercial success to be amazing songs. they are each unique in their own ways and stand out against many other pop songs.
