Yakult

Obsessed with @Link16 refreshing Kworb each week, patiently waiting for the Sunday Spotify figures so they can post their weekly Beyoncé thread once the numbers have hit rock bottom; a true stan who is going crazy waiting for the visuals alongside the rest of the Beyhive.

Naughty Girl on both accounts, but both are 10/10 pop moments.

Kelela didn't release her debut album until the age of 34 & she's the best artist of all time, so anything is possible.

correct

James Joint next

Adore Shiver. Was a massive airplay hit in Europe (#1 on the Euro Airplay chart in May 2005, #6 on the year end chart) - yet despite that it didn't chart well in most territories & the album only really sold well in the UK.

Streaming stats don't reflect the impact artists have had on culture throughout the decades; consistent hit singles/influential albums aren't rewarded in the form of recurrent streams, but that doesn't lessen their importance in music history/shaping culture. Spotify numbers are getting closer to radio these days, as a larger part of the user base sticks to what the algorithm feeds them and would rather play the usual big classic hits (Wonderwall, I Wanna Dance with Somebody, Like a Prayer, Mr Brightside etc) than discover something new/undiscovered to them. No wonder the Spotify top charts are filled with songs from 2/3 years ago and the same old throwback hits, and the year end charts feature less new music as years go by. The hit singles from years past that aren't party/wedding staples etc are generally forgotten by most people who are uninterested in music; people who were more interested in music had more control over the charts back when you had to actually buy a CD/download a song; now it's more democratised with people who treat music as an afterthought. Real music fans are putting their money into concerts, merch & occasionally vinyl/CD. So many important Madonna hit singles (Borderline, Justify My Love, Erotica, Ray of Light) have terrible recurrent streams, but that doesn't lessen their quality or importance in pop music history. Janet has so many hit singles at this level, which is exasperated by the fact that r&b/new-jack swing influenced pop isn't as popular/pushed on Spotify anymore. That doesn't negate that albums like Control, Rhythm Nation 1814, janet. & The Velvet Rope are some of the most revered, acclaimed & influential albums of their time, and still resonating with people who adore music to this day.

Beyoncé excels visually & sonically because her quality control is second to none; she would never put out anything as rudimentary as Stupid Love.

Kelly wasn't making money with dance music tho; Ms Kelly & Here I Am barely scraped the top 100 in the few EU countries they charted in. Europe had long been a tough market for Black American artists to breakthrough as album artists & the type of dance music Kelly was making was associated with singles artists at the time. I don't blame Kelly for focusing on the US; the biggest problems were endlessly delayed albums & that there wasn't any cohesive vision for the album rollouts at the time (no through line between the videos, artwork, music etc made it tough to latch onto anything). That & Kelly self-admittedly (despite being a hard-worker) not having the same drive as some of her peers. Here I Am had some great songs & could've been bigger with more vision/less mismanagement - however Kelly did well getting the record out after the endless slew of canned buzz singles and significantly raised her profile in the UK thanks to her stint on the X Factor.

Bulletproof discography. I wish their b-sides/remixes were on streaming - especially since their output is so infrequent + the quality is so high.

I mean even if Xtina's evacuation of the charts proves to be a permanent move, she's an icon forever. Plus she's managed by Roc Nation, who are generally great at arranging endorsement deals for their clients.

No. Recurrent streams depend greatly on trends, playlisting, algorithmic auto-play etc (hence why you occasionally see big shake ups when Spotify changes their algorithm). Up-tempo turn of the 10s dance/pop bangers & alt-rock are currently doing well recurrently, with bling/swag era hip-hop, old-school balladry and R&B as a whole declining on Spotify. People also generally don't play certain popular songs often outside of parties, clubs, events etc. Enrique Iglesias' Hero fluctuates between 90-120k daily streams (110k yesterday), but I don't think that negates that it's one of the most well known hit singles of the 00s. People generally just don't wanna go out of their way to listen to melodramatic ballads these days.

No tea at all they're pretty low-key. Apart from their beef with Azealia back in the day, the only mess I can remember is KAYTRANADA accusing them of ripping him off on a Chloe x Halle song in a series of now deleted tweets.

MNEK is known for being messy behind the scenes but most of the people he beefs with are equally awful if not worse (Duke Dumont is known for stealing credits, Leon Thomas is horrible and allegedly associates with sex tr**fickers).