Global Citizen Festival Lineup

2018’s Global Citizen Festival will take place on the 2nd of December in Johannesburg, South Africa, to celebrate the centenary of Nelson Mandela’s birth. Beyonce and Jay-Z were recently added to the lineup of the festival, joining an array of other internationally renowned artists, including Pharrell Williams, Eddie Vedder, Ed Sheeran, Usher and Coldplay’s Chris Martin. South African rappers Cassper Nyovest and Sho Madjoz will also perform, next to Nigerian singers Wizkid, D’banj and Tiwa Savage.

A statement from the festival read: “Global Citizen is a movement of engaged citizens who are using their collective voice to end extreme poverty by 2030. On our platform, Global Citizens learn about the systemic causes of extreme poverty, take action on those issues, and earn rewards for their actions — as part of a global community committed to lasting change.”

More information can be found here.

Drake Breaks Global Streaming Record

Drake’s newest album Scorpion broke the global streaming record by earning one billion streams within one week. Both Spotify and Apple Music were dominated by Drake’s new LP which allowed Scorpion to become the most popular debut album of 2018 so far. It also makes Drake the fourth artist in the history, after Kanye West, The Beatles and Eminem, to earn eight consecutive No. 1 albums.

On Spotify alone, Scorpion was streamed more than 132 million times on the first day of its release, while Apple Music reported 170 million streams of the album on its debut day. Those varying results between the two platforms are said to emphasize the importance of paying subscribers in streaming, whose engagement is claimed to be higher, as in the case of Apple Music.

‘American Idiot’ Is Back On Charts Before Trump’s UK Visit

The topic of Donald Trump’s visit to the UK is becoming increasingly controversial, which is also being reflected in the music charts. Green Day’s 2004 song ‘American Idiot’ bounced back into UK music charts, including Amazon Music and iTunes downloads, just days before the American president is due to visit the UK on the 13th of July. The music-focused campaign encourages Trump critics to buy and stream the song, which is only 4,000 downloads short of entering the Top 10 in the UK, as reported by the Official Charts Company. Protests are also planned in London on the day of Trump’s visit.