SZA, Taylor Swift, And Morgan Wallen Show Out On Billboard Mid-Year Report

BYLavender AlexandriaPublished on July 12, 2023768 Views

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - MARCH 19: Singer SZA performs on stage during her 'The SOS North American Tour' at Rogers Arena on March 19, 2023 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Andrew Chin/Getty Images)

There were very few surprises on the Billboard Mid-Year report for 2023.

Earlier today, Billboard released a massive sweeping mid-year report detailing which songs and albums have been the most popular in the first half of 2023. While there are a few surprises here and there, most of the big names you'd expect made the list. Country star Morgan Wallen proved absolutely dominant with both the first and fourth highest selling albums of the year. His newly released One Thing At A Time was particularly dominant. The album sold over a million more copies than anything else this year. He also scored the top streaming song of the year with his mega-hit "Last Night" which has spent 13 weeks at number 1 on the Hot 100.

Another big performed as expected was Taylor Swift. She clocked in on the albums chart with the third and tenth highest selling albums of the year so far. Her album Midnights from last year topped the charts in terms of pure album sales. The album's single Anti-Hero also turned up on both the On-Demand Streaming and Top Radio Songs lists. The other big star of the show was SZA, whose long-awaited album SOS was the second highest selling record of the year so far. She also placed the albums smash hit single "Kill Bill" on both the On-Demand Streaming and Top Radio Songs list.

Billboard's 2023 Mid-Year Report

In a year where much has been made about the lack of major hit songs and albums in rap music, the genre wasn't completely under-represented. Two rap albums turned up in the Top 10 Best Selling albums, though they are both from last year. Metro Boomin's Heroes & Villains slotted in at number five while Drake and 21 Savage's Her Loss came in at number 7.

While recently released hit albums like Lil Uzi Vert's Pink Tape and Taylor Swift's Speak Now (Taylor's Version) don't appear on the report, it's only because they're too new. Pink Tape became the first rap album to hit number one all year earlier this week and Speak Now just racked up the highest selling week of any album so far this year in just 4 days. What do you think of the Billboard Mid-Year Report for 2023? Let us know in the comment section below.

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About The Author

Lavender Alexandria

Lavender Alexandria is a music and culture journalist based in Los Angeles, California. She’s covered dozens of musical genres and styles from the most mainstream to the most experimental and underground on her blog and accompanying YouTube channel that looks at music, pop culture, and Billboard charts since 2017: Lav’s Music Corner. Lavender has produced editorial and listicle content both in written and video form over the past far years and has also interviewed up-and-coming artists like Censored Dialogue. Her experiences covering culture have taken her from Hyperpop parties in LA to underground rap shows in Atlanta, to DIY punk shows in Charlotte. Lavender has also written for iHeartRadio, covering some of the biggest artists in Hip Hop such as Ice Spice, Drake, Doja Cat and Cardi B. She also has bylines with ScreenRant and continues to write for Ringtone magazine. Lavender is a lifelong Charlotte Hornets fan and her favorite rap artists include Clipping, Little Simz, Earl Sweatshirt, and Kendrick Lamar.