Global charted territory

 

The Billboard Global 200 showed up quite discreetly one day of September 2020. Granted, there was a lot going on then (still is, arguably), so not everyone took notice. The first announcement had actually taken place back in 2019 (i.e. pre-Covid, i.e. the good ol’ days), interestingly as a top 100 instead of 200. While the change may seem minor, it is actually quite telling: for decades now, Billboard’s Hot 100 has been signaling what the top songs are, while the Billboard 200 handles albums. However, the company must have quite rightly realized that trying to encompass all of the world’s current songs might call for a top 200…

While many companies, websites and organisations tried to do the very same before, none quite achieved such an established, recognized and robust global chart before. With good reason: while gathering data on any market can prove difficult, imagine doing that x 200: that is pretty much what Billboard did, working with local and international distributors, streamers and stakeholders across 200+ territories, while setting rules and guidelines to calculate “sales” in a post-disc, social media-driven, streaming-based musical economy. The formula they came up with tries to reflect actual revenue, with varying ratios depending on how streams are consumed, be they on a premium or ad-based plan. While experts may argue till the end of time on whether that formula is accurate — and it may potentially evolve with time — the first upside is that it exists, and the second is that it somewhat makes sense…

So, with 15+ weeks of global charting behind us, what are the first trends we can outline? First, that global music is rather eclectic: in terms of styles, you get everything from Bad Bunny and Jhay Cortez’ “Dakiti” (which held the top spot for 3 non-consecutive weeks) to BTS’ “Dynamite” to Cardi B’s “WAP“. “Dakiti” is Spanish-language reggaeton / Latin trap song; “Dynamite” is a straight-up, old-school, earwormy pop tune; “WAP” is a (dirty) rap song. That being said, if you take a step back, you may actually be able to discern an underlying global trend through all of these, one that encompasses Pop and Hip Hop (call it Hip Pop?) with a lot of electronic-based post-production — including auto-tuning (thank you, Cher…). While we have yet to see where the 2020’s will lead us, this is arguably where the 2010’s left us..

Second trend: mix the old with the new. While “Dakiti” or “WAP” are brand new releases, the current top spot is held by none other than the Diva of all Divas: Mariah Carey. With her 1994 “All I want for Christmas is you”. Granted, that is a seasonal song, even more so this year with a sizeable chunk of the world’s population celebrating the fact that said world did not actually end in 2020… Still, the countercyclical trend is arguably more potent here than on Billboard’s Hot 100, where Carey only grabbed the spotlight for a week: it has held on those global charts for 4 weeks and counting…

Third takeaway: we don’t really know what’s coming. Much in the way we don’t know if Trump will still be President tomorrow (although we all know he won’t be the day after tomorrow), there are quite a few unknowns as to how the global music market will evolve, how that chart will look like, how actual musical trends will develop. And that is the beauty of the Global 200: it may be the best tool we have at our disposal to try and track all that…