Are you a pirate?
Here at Digital Music News, we don’t believe in pirating. But we do agree with TorrentFreak’s philosophy that monitoring piracy networks gives us a clue as to what is actually popular today here in the States.
So today, we’re bringing a list of the top downloaded albums on piracy networks. To avoid any legal issues, we are not providing any links to actual content. The data we’re providing is merely for informational and possibly educational references only.
Albums
- Frank Ocean – Blonde
- Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart – July 2, 2016
- NRJ 300% Hits 2016
- Kanye West – The Life of Pablo
- The Official UK Top 40 Singles Chart – June 17, 2016
- Suicide Squad: The Album (OST)
- Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly
- 100 Disco Hits 90s [2016]
- Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
- Ed Sheeran – X
MP3s
- The Chainsmokers Ft. Hasley – Closer
- Sia ft. Sean Paul – Cheap Thrills
- Calvin Harris – This is What You Came For
- The Chainsmokers ft. Daya – Don’t Let Me Down
- Major Lazer ft. Justin Bieber – Cold Water
- Charlie Puth ft. Selena Gomez – We Don’t Talk Anymore
- Shawn Mendes – Treat You Better
- Martin Garrix ft. Bebe Rexha – In the Name of Love
- Adele – Send My Love
- Justin Timberlake – Can’t Stop the Feeling
So Frank Ocean and Kanye West are at the top of the Album list (not counting 2 and 3, which look like compilations that pirates put together). They both released their albums as exclusives. One might surmise that their place at the top of the list is somehow a bad thing for them and their labels.
However, this list doesn’t give the whole picture. The question we should be asking is, how much money did these albums actually make, and how much more or less would they have made if they were non-exclusives? If they made more money, then does it really matter if they are on this list?
I’m not saying piracy is a good thing. I’m just saying, maybe we shouldn’t let piracy dictate how we release albums.
This is an interesting list! Could it be a regular feature??