Is Taylor Swift bigger than Michael Jackson? 🐍🎤🎶

Also: is “Blinding Lights” REALLY the most popular song ever???

Another week, another NST.

Here’s another one we’ve mulled over for years. Whenever a huge new album comes out from a megastar like Taylor Swift, reports come rolling in of unprecedented sales and tons of records being broken. But we can’t shake the feeling that no matter how rabid her fanbase is, Swift just can’t compare in global popularity to someone like Michael Jackson. Finally, three men in their thirties weigh in on the legacy of Taylor Swift.

(Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Others)

Our guest this week is music data analyst Chris Dalla Riva, who helps us crunch the numbers on Swift’s popularity, how streams and albums sales are tallied now, and some of tricks, new and old, that artists use to game the charts. Keep scrolling for a few relevant links!

Related links

• Here’s the referenced post from our guest

  Chris Dalla Riva
  from his newsletter
  Can't Get Much Higher
  :

How Unprecedented is Taylor Swift's Popularity?

• Also, a more recent take from Chris on Swift: Is Taylor Swift an Overrated 35-Year-Old?

• Pre-order his book: Uncharted Territory: What Numbers Tell Us about the Biggest Hit Songs and Ourselves

• And, a much under-appreciated No. 1 single discussed in his book:

• From Uproxx, Ask A Music Critic: When (If Ever) Will Taylor Swift’s Popularity Fade? by

  Steven Hyden
  .

• And from the New York Times, a nice visualization of some of this chart data regarding Swift, MJ, The Beatles, and more.

• From Billboard re: “Blinding Lights”, The Greatest Hit: The New No. 1 Song of All Time, and The Weeknd’s ‘Blinding Lights’ Becomes First Song to Hit 5 Billion Streams on Spotify (Okay…)

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Do you like the new Swift album? What other songs belong in the “white DNA” canon? Let us know what you think in the comments below! And put us on to any deep cuts we might be missing out on.

Have a question you want us to answer? Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286.

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