“The world knows what the real #1 song is” – Drake’s producer, Vinylz, appears to shade Taylor Swift as “Rich Flex” debuted at #1 on Billboard Global Chart after she blocked him on the Hot 100

Drake’s producer, Vinylz, appears to shade Taylor Swift as “Rich Flex” debuted at #1 on Billboard Global Chart after she blocked him on the Hot 100. (Read More Here).

Vinylz, producer of Drake and 21 Savage’s ‘Rich Flex,’ seemingly shades Taylor Swift after she blocked them on the Billboard Hot 100.

“The world knows what the real #1 song is.. No tricks on this side”. 

The world never has to wait too long for Taylor Swift, who released her album Midnights on Friday, Oct. 21. It’s her fourth new record in three years, following the dreamy Lover in 2019 and her twin indie-infused records Folklore and Evermore in 2020. But in that time, she also re-released Fearless and Red as part of a longstanding dispute over her masters.

Midnights is a concept album about “sleepless nights” throughout Swift’s life. The album is both streamable and downloadable, but more importantly it is available for purchase in a wide variety of physical formats.

This isn’t just some retro marketing ploy: Vinyl is having a moment. While streaming subscription services such as Spotify and Apple Music dominate the music industry, raking in about 68% of industry revenue, vinyl is the most popular format for people purchasing music. In 2021, vinyl outsold CDs for the first time in three decades. CDs sales also increased last year, and Swift took notice. She released four editions of her album on CD too. Meanwhile, the digital download, made famous by the $0.99 iTunes single, has never been so unpopular.

Luminate, the music research firm formerly known as Nielsen Soundcan, said that US consumers bought 19.4 million LPs in the first six months of 2022, up 1% since the same period in 2021. But in that time, new music releases on vinyl were up 27%, showing that vinyl is becoming a prevailing format for the day’s biggest pop artists.

The big question, Luminate senior director of music insights Jaime Marconette, said last week was whether Swift would dethrone Harry Styles for the weekly US vinyl sales record. When Styles first released his album Harry’s House in May 2022, he sold 182,000 copies in the first week, setting the record in the process.

“Swift’s vinyl sales are impressive, and she is expected to perform well in this first week of release. So far in 2022, she’s sold 432,000 vinyl albums in the US, making her the number two selling vinyl artist this year overall, second to Styles,” Marconette wrote in an email to Quartz. “In fact, five of her albums are listed in the top 100 vinyl sales year to date, with three in the top 25.”