NEW! NEW! NU?

It seems so obvious to us now, based on daily metrics, that we hardly think to mention it—but it may not be obvious to everyone: With a few exceptions, new artists are the recorded-music biz now.

Apart from J. Cole, the Spotify U.S. Top 10 is solidly new (or very new-ish) acts like Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X, Post Malone, Khalid and A Boogie Wit da Hoodie. The rest of the chart is dominated by recent (or fairly recent) arrivals: Juice WRLD, Mabel, Marshmello, BLACKPINK, Alec Benjamin, Ava Max, Mustard/Migos, Lil Baby, 21 Savage, YNW Melly, Ski Mask the Slump God, Calboy, Pedro Capó.

Several of the veterans who do appear on the upper regions of the chart, meanwhile, are features: Billy Ray Cyrus and Snow, both of whom happened to have smashes in 1992, appear on tracks by other artists: Cyrus on a remix of the “country trap” phenomenon “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X, and Snow on a reworked “Informer” hook for Latin rocket “Con Calma” by Daddy Yankee. John Mayer, meanwhile, is a feature on one of Khalid’s top-streaming songs. So even their presence, boosting cuts by new acts, underscores the primary lesson: New artists are the business now.

That doesn’t mean established artists don’t resurface every once in a while to run the table. But week in and week out, what you’ll find on our streaming and revenue charts is artists who weren’t on the radar a couple of years back.