Less than 48 hours after video emerged of Morgan Wallen saying a racial slur, more than a dozen major media companies, nearly every major radio station, and multiple streaming services have canceled the country singer. That has caused a massive drop in radio plays and playlist slots, but the negative publicity appears to be driving heavy streaming and album sales increases.
Early Wednesday morning, Digital Music News first reported that Morgan Wallen was being removed by hundreds of Cumulus radio stations. The radio conglomerate issued an urgent email to station program directors to remove Wallen’s music from their playlists after video of the singer saying the n-word emerged. But that was just the start of a string of companies removing, suspending, disqualifying, or otherwise canceling their ties to the fast-rising country star.
The list of cancellations is now steep. Just in the past 24 hours alone, Wallen has been nixed from SiriusXM, which also includes Pandora. William Morris Agency, which managed Morgan Wallen’s touring career, has also severed its relationship with the singer (though Wallen’s tour dates haven’t been canceled). Others dropping the artist include hundreds of iHeartRadio and Entercom stations, CMT, and the Academy of Country Music Awards, which disqualified the star from receiving future accolades.
Elsewhere, both Spotify and Apple Music removed the ‘7 Summers’ singer from marquee country playlists, while Wallen’s label, Big Loud/Republic, a division of Universal Music Group, has suspended the star ‘indefinitely’. On that last point, it’s important to note that Big Loud/Republic didn’t drop the singer — instead choosing to retain the artist while issuing a vague ‘suspension.’
Now, data from the past few days is starting to trickle in, and it shows massive increases in both streaming volumes and total single and album sales for the singer.
As mentioned, Spotify has scrubbed the country superstar from their coveted country playlists. Yet a quick scan of Spotify’s top 100-streamed tracks reveals actual increases for Wallen’s music. A total of 15 of Wallen’s songs from various albums rank in Spotify’s top 100 tracks, with ‘Wasted On You,” “Sand In My Boots,” and “Somebody’s Problem” all ranking among the 20 most-streamed songs on the platform on Wednesday, February 3rd.
Each of those tracks garnered more than 500,000 plays on Wednesday, with only the likes of Olivia Rodrigo, Ariana Grande, Bad Bunny, The Weeknd, SZA, and other pop superstars edging Wallen out in total plays.
In total, a just-released tally from MRC Data shows a 339% increase in total song and album sales over the previous day, with more than 22,500 aggregated sales on Wednesday alone.
Those above-referenced songs are just three tracks out of 15 in Spotify’s top 100 alone, with Wallen’s chart positions likely to rise over the coming days. “Wasted On You,” for example, was played more than 561,000 times over the past day, up more than 11% from the weekend. The staying power is even more surprising given that Wallen is nowhere to be found on mega-playlists like Hot Country, which boasts more than 6 million followers. That means Wallen isn’t getting many accidental or background listens, but rather more active on-demand plays.
But perhaps the more surprising story surrounds Wallen’s recently-released Dangerous: The Double Album.
Also according to MRC Data, sales of the double album (which includes streaming, downloads, and physical purchases), jumped more than 500% (i.e., 6 times) on Wednesday. In total, Wallen sold more than 7,000 copies on February 3rd, up 511% over sales generated on February 2nd. The album itself was released on January 8th. Those sales figures include aggregated streams of songs contained on the album, a bulk of which come from platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube.
Beyond Dangerous, earlier releases are also enjoying a newfound surge. Wallen’s earlier LP, If I Know Me, topped sales of 1,500 on Wednesday, a bounce of 1,519% compared to near-zero sales the day before.
Elsewhere, Wallen is dominating song downloads on Apple’s iTunes Store.
While most of Apple’s energies are now focused on streaming, its download store remains active. Currently, Wallen has an astounding 24 tracks ranked in the iTunes Top 100 song download chart, with 5 tracks in the top 10. MRC also notes that Wallen’s top-ranked songs each crossed sales of 1,000 on Wednesday, with none crossing the mark the day before.
Over the weekend, Wallen was filmed by a neighbor calling a friend the n-word while returning from a rowdy night of partying. The video, published by TMZ on Tuesday, sparked a massive backlash and apology from the singer.
My band arrived in Brazil in the 70s where we had had three number one hit records. On the first day there we held a Press conference and the Promoter of the tour came over to us and suggested that during the conference we pick up some chairs and throw them through the windows! Strange request I thought but we went ahead and did what he requested and the next day we were FRONT PAGE HEADLINES on all the major Brazilian newspapers! And ALL our concerts were sold out! Funny how publicity works and BAD NEWS and GOOD NEWS work well to sell music! Nothing better than “Band member arrested for selling drugs” to help make money!
There’s a funny episode of the Sopranos where a rapper contracts the family to fake shoot him to get publicity. Makes you wonder how much of this all is real and how much is fake.
puritan woke cancellation is the new dogecoin. enjoy suckers
I bought his CD and I hate country music.
Fuk ur cancel culture, America.
i’m sure you’ve never uttered anything objectionable in your whole life, Sven.
This isn’t about me, but you can’t stick to topic. You just divert in an effort to justify and support racism. Nice move. You make yourself look like a fool. Sure, I’m a loser. Whatever. Coming from you, that’s a laugh.
Thank you for your kind words. Do you kiss your mom with that nasty mouth of yours? Loser
No he kisses your mom dumbass.
I haven’t seen any evidence of his repeated offenses. He prob is a racist, considering the dump he comes from. So what. As if no black people are racists. This is a tired narrative that makes the left look stupid and elitist.
BLM needs to spend more time worrying about how many people black men shoot with guns ever year. It’s 50x? the number of black men killed by police.
What matters most is labor vs elites, demonstrated by the insane ability of these monopolies to shut down a musician’s career with impunity. THAT is what is truly offensive.
Do you have your head up an orifice? He called a friend a bad name — not in a racist way (not a black friend), but in the way you’d call someone an “asshole.” Poor decision, but what kind of piece of human excrement is a neighbor who tapes that sort of conversation?
Sven, if you’re going to use this standard, then almost every rapper in the US needs to be canceled. I don’t see any of Wallen’s lyrics with that sort of foul language. Are you saying it’s okay for Cardi B to scream out “Make a n-word act right, Broke boys don’t deserve no pussy,” but it’s not okay for someone to be stupid and call a friend a horrible name? Or are you just a plain ‘ol hypocrite?
“Artist Says N-Word” is the new “Artist Dies” in terms of sales. UMG is probably sending memos to their entire Country roster: “C’mon guys, who’s next for the n-word?!”
You’re an idiot. That’s apples and oranges, and you know it.
the line of a dejected idiot whose cancel campaign has gone awry as the artists is now raking in cash faster than ever.
Very intelligent response. It just shows how you are the actual loser. You failed, yet again. Hey, at least you’re consistent.
Losers defend their loser culture. Is anything worse than modern crap hop and autotune.
What an embarassment to the legacy of jazz, blue, rock and reggae.
Modern culture is a whining atrocity.
Who’s next? Just about every single rapper that ever made an album. Are they next? Or do we have different standards for people based on race, skin color, or music styles?
What i understand is that at least 74 Million people within the USA are confirmed racists ( I know you just got mad) but the Country music business has been “Lilly White” since its inception except for 2 or 3 singers.
The audience believes in racial separation and this increase in sales proves it.
Sad but true…
Try to see it from the other side. Does the punishment fit the crime here?
This would be like giving a life sentence for driving 80 in a 65. Should he get the speeding ticket? Sure. Lock him up for life? No.
That’s a stretch, at best. This guy has done several things that not only go against the grain of social acceptance, but bucks what is know to be wrong without concern for anything or anyone. He has made his choices a number of times and now he’s getting called on it. Don’t do stupid things if you don’t want to pay the price. It’s pretty simple. He made his bed.
i forgot that you are the arbiter of morality for the entire world
He’s just cry baby loser. He should be canceled.
Hardly, but its not hard to tell right from wrong…for most people. You’re obviously not most people.
I think he’ll pull out of this ok. Just like the dixie chicks and every n word spewing rapper.
Hope you never make a mistake.
Whose social acceptance, Timothy? And do we hold everyone to the same standard, then? If you call a friend a terrible name, will you then deserve to lose your livelihood? What about if you’re a complete asshole and film you neighbor having a drunk conversation with a friend of theirs? What should you lose for being such a Nazi?
I voted against fascism, not racism. There is plenty of racism among liberals, particularly black people, who broadbrush all white people on such a regular basis, it’s pathetic. No black people cancelled for anything, including supporting murderers.
Odd that black people made better music when American society was supposedly more racist than it is today.
American confederate rot is about anti-elitism as much as racism. They hate the control of corporations and government telling them what to do while impoverishing them. One can hardly blame them. Meanwhile, the left is dominated by culture warriors who won’t face the rampant criminality in their ranks. Cori Bush herself said 135 black men killed since 2015. How many black men (and white men and white women) killed by black men since 2015? 5000? 30k Americans are murdered by guns per year. How many are killed by black men? You can’t even ask that question. F modern society, and F America and that includes ALL sides.
I want nothing to do with black rap culture. It is violent, ignorant, and represents the worst of humanity.
It has nothing to do with the color of their skin, and everything to do with how they behave.
This article isn’t about that, but you can’t help yourself. As usual, a dick move on your part. Talk about this article, this artist, his comments, etc.
This guy was at HIS own home…talking to HIS own friend…so drunk he could hardly walk. People who have too much to drink tend to say stupid things. His neighbor is a nosey jackass who was just trying to make some cash..hope his nosey ass is happy. Several people said he’s been in a lot of trouble before this…he got a DUI and kissed a couple of girls during COVID…pretty sure he’s not alone on either of theses. He’s young and I’m sure a lot of us did things when we were young that we’re glad some asshole didn’t have a camera recording us! Everyone needs to chill.
People who are drunk tend to say revealing, honest things.
Most people are racist of all races. However, only one race gets the endless pity card.
Yes, the human race. You’re a fool.
lol this and that . n word this n word that. blacks even went after suarez and cavani soccer stars who used spanish to talk to their friends they do not care about severity of word but controling people having power to destroy somebodies life well here it backfired love it. and there is other form of discrimination out there libs discrimination of skin color every race is racist, of hair color weight and many other and another thing why do liberals think people will constantly be ok too be under your magnifiying lense. nobody wants to be objectified by biggest racist blacks and biggest hypocrites and frustrated idiots like libs whos job is to go around country and world see care free people minding their own buisness being happy and serene to destory that peace and queit
libs? Yeah, you just lost your ability to be taken seriously.
At least come back with something intelligent, Yoli. Please show me a chart comparing conservatives who get canceled vs. liberals who get canceled. Don’t fall back on simply attacking the poster rather than the post. It’s dishonest.
Hip-hop and rap want all colors to listen to and buy their music. But don’t repeat or otherwise adapt any of their language or culture from the music else you are racist and appropriating their culture. MW used this term (albeit not a good term) in the same fashion as rappers do their friends, etc.. This word isn’t even close to the modern-day Karen usage. This word in the way he said it and used it (not derogatory and towards a good friend) isn’t advised but in no way indicates hebis a racist. Im not sure how we went from him using this word jokingly towards a white person to “MW thinks that, by the color of his skin, he is superior to all black people and also thinks all black people are scum.”
Coming from someone who obviously doesn’t understand the difference when one race uses the word over another. It’s not the same.
Coming from someone who doesn’t understand how to contextualize a word. Was he using it to denigrate black people? Or was he using it in a way that he is used to hearing in music? Question is, does MW using this word make him a racist? Is it worse to use this word in this context or do blackface? I’m waiting for the mob of moral authority to be consistent.
Just for this I’m streaming this guy’s songs on Spotify. I’m Black and don’t even like Country lol. I can not stand this stupid cancel cult. Its getting very old.
Just made my purchased.