On Nielsen Music’s mid-year dance/electronic charts, there’s The Chainsmokers… and then everybody else.
The dance duo dominates the dance genre impressively, with the most popular album of the year (Memories… Do Not Open), the top three most-streamed songs, and the top selling song (“Something Just Like This,” with Coldplay). (See lists, below.)
Memories leads the Mid-Year Top 10 Dance/Electronic Albums tally (see list, below), with 759,000 equivalent album units earned in the tracking period of Dec. 30, 2016 through June 29, 2017. Equivalent album units are comprised of traditional album sales, track equivalent albums [TEA] and streaming equivalent albums [SEA]. Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from one album, or 1,500 on-demand audio streams generated by songs on an album.
The Chainsmokers’ earlier EP, Collage, is the No. 2 most popular dance/electronic album so far in 2017, with 353,000 units earned. Yet another EP from the act, Bouquet, is the No. 8 biggest set, with 71,000 units.
The duo’s collaboration with Coldplay, “Something Just Like This,” is the top selling dance/electronic song so far in 2017, with 988,000 downloads sold. It’s one of four songs by The Chainsmokers among the top 10 best sellers.
The act’s dominance continues in the world of streaming, as they own the top three most streamed songs (by on-demand audio and video streams, combined). “Closer,” featuring Halsey, is tops with 318.3 million streams, followed by “Something Just Like This” (240.2 million) and “Paris” (228.9 million).
Overall consumption of dance/electronic albums (as measured in equivalent album units) climbed 16.2 percent in the first half of the year, rising to 9.3 million units (up from 8 million in the same time frame of 2016). Traditional album sales in the genre dropped 9.7 percent to 1.71 million (down from 1.89 million). Dance/electronic digital song sales were down 17.6 percent to 15.48 million (down from 18.79 million).
Streaming, however, grew robustly: overall on-demand dance/electronic streams (audio and video combined) rose 27.4 percent to 13.26 billion (up from 10.41 billion). On-demand audio streams climbed 42.8 percent to 9.06 billion (from 6.35 billion) and on-demand video streams rose 3.4 percent to 4.2 billion (up from 4.06 billion).
2017’s Mid-Year Top 10 Dance/Electronic Albums (Based on Overall Equivalent Album Units)
1. The Chainsmokers, Memories… Do Not Open (759,000)
2. The Chainsmokers, Collage (353,000)
3. Lady Gaga, The Fame (171,000)
4. DJ Snake, Encore (153,000)
5. Various Artists, Now That’s What I Call a Workout 2017 (80,000)
6. Gorillaz, Demon Days (74,000)
7. Major Lazer, Peace Is the Mission (71,000)
8. The Chainsmokers, Bouquet (71,000)
9. Kygo, Cloud Nine (66,000)
10. Odesza, In Return (65,000)
2017’s Mid-Year Top 10 Selling Dance/Electronic Albums
1. The Chainsmokers, Memories… Do Not Open (255,000)
2. Various Artists, Now That’s What I Call a Workout 2017 (80,000)
3. Lady Gaga, The Fame (59,000)
4. The Chainsmokers, Collage (56,000)
5. Lindsey Stirling, Brave Enough (28,000)
6. Gorillaz, Demon Dayz (23,000)
7. Lady Gaga, Born This Way (22,000)
8. Soundtrack, Saturday Night Fever (22,000)
9. Bonobo, Migration (16,000)
10. Daft Punk, Discovery (14,000)
2017’s Mid-Year Top 10 Selling Digital Dance/Electronic Songs
1. The Chainsmokers & Coldplay, “Something Just Like This” (988,000)
2. Clean Bandit featuring Sean Paul & Anne-Marie, “Rockabye” (736,000)
3. Zedd & Alessia Cara, “Stay” (734,000)
4. Kygo x Selena Gomez, “It Ain’t Me” (680,000)
5. The Chainsmokers, “Paris” (657,000)
6. The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey, “Closer” (535,000)
7. Calvin Harris featuring Frank Ocean & Migos, “Slide” (327,000)
8. DJ Snake featuring Justin Bieber, “Let Me Love You” (315,000)
9. The Chainsmokers featuring Daya, “Don’t Let Me Down” (220,000)
10. Starley, “Call On Me” (165,000)
2017’s Mid-Year Top 10 On-Demand Dance/Electronic Song Streams (Audio and Video Combined)
1. The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey, “Closer” (318,296,000)
2. The Chainsmokers & Coldplay, “Something Just Like This” (240,177,000)
3. The Chainsmokers, “Paris” (228,859,000)
4. Zedd & Alessia Cara, “Stay” (225,496,000)
5. Kygo x Selena Gomez, “It Ain’t Me” (216,656,000)
6. Clean Bandit featuring Sean Paul & Anne-Marie, “Rockabye” (199,100,000)
7. The Chainsmokers featuring Daya, “Don’t Let Me Down” (168,579,000)
8. Calvin Harris featuring Frank Ocean & Migos, “Slide” (155,518,000)
9. DJ Snake featuring Justin Bieber, “Let Me Love You” (142,331,000)
10. Martin Garrix & Bebe Rexha, “In the Name of Love” (109,686,000)
2017’s Mid-Year Top 10 On-Demand Dance/Electronic Audio Streams
1. The Chainsmokers & Coldplay, “Something Just Like This” (165,392,000)
2. The Chainsmokers, “Paris” (163,988,000)
3. Zedd & Alessia Cara, “Stay” (156,945,000)
4. Kygo x Selena Gomez, “It Ain’t Me” (151,557,000)
5. Calvin Harris featuring Frank Ocean & Migos, “Slide” (151,188,000)
6. The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey, “Closer” (150,452,000)
7. Clean Bandit featuring Sean Paul & Anne-Marie, “Rockabye” (95,971,000)
8. DJ Snake featuring Justin Bieber, “Let Me Love You” (91,447,000)
9. The Chainsmokers featuring Daya, “Don’t Let Me Down” (84,321,000)
10. Martin Garrix & Dua Lipa, “Scared to Be Lonely” (83,632,000)
2017’s Mid-Year Top 10 On-Demand Dance/Electronic Video Streams
1. The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey, “Closer” (167,843,000)
2. Gummibar, “I Am a Gummy Bear” (105,055,000)
3. Clean Bandit featuring Sean Paul & Anne-Marie, “Rockabye” (103,130,000)
4. The Chainsmokers featuring Daya, “Don’t Let Me Down” (84,258,000)
5. The Chainsmokers & Coldplay, “Something Just Like This” (74,785,000)
6. Zedd & Alessia Cara, “Stay” (68,551,000)
7. Kygo x Selena Gomez, “It Ain’t Me” (65,099,000)
8. The Chainsmokers, “Paris” (64,871,000)
9. Alan Walker, “Faded” (63,990,000)
10. DJ Snake featuring Justin Bieber, “Let Me Love You” (50,884,000)
Source: Nielsen Music, for the tracking period of Dec. 30, 2016 – June 29, 2017.
