The music industry must reinvent how it measures success—and who gets to claim it.
Maybe it’s time to rethink what value means in the music industry.
Or, maybe it's time to accept that a Drake and Morgan Wallen collaborative album is the current definition of the music industry's most lucrative future possible.
Don’t laugh, but Garth Brooks was right. It’s honestly correct to blame country and roots music for ruining the music industry’s expectations of what it could mean to attend a metaphorical black-tie celebration honoring its success.
But eventually, pop music caught up with country and even surpassed it.
Now, they're unprecedentedly conjoined.
In 1976, the success of The Eagles’ “Greatest Hits” and the album “Wanted! The Outlaws” by Jessi Colter, Tompall Glaser, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson led to the introduction of the platinum plaque, which recognized one million albums or singles shipped. This set a new standard for the industry’s value.
15 years later, in 1991, when actual point-of-sale barcode scans replaced shipments, and Billboard started using Nielsen SoundScan data for the Billboard 200 albums and Billboard Hot 100 singles charts, we expanded on that notion.
Morgan Wallen and Ella Langley perform onstage to celebrate the launch of new exclusive SiriusXM channel at The Pinnacle on April 02, 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Kevin Mazur, Getty Images for SiriusXM)
However, 50 years later, streaming music on digital platforms like Spotify has changed the game again.
Maybe now we should picture a room where the ceiling can’t go any higher, but more and more people keep squeezing in.
Since 2023, country star Morgan Wallen has released 103 tracks across three albums and sold the equivalent of 15 million albums in just three years.
Imagine that by 2030, Wallen could earn the equivalent of 50 gold records at once, even from songs that haven’t been officially released yet.
Think about what it might look like if pop music reaches that level by 2040.
Maybe we should start measuring pop success by how well an artist’s music reaches both domestic and global markets.
Drake performs live on stage during day two of Wireless Festival 2025 at Finsbury Park on July 12, 2025 in London, England. Drake is headlining an unprecedented all three nights of Wireless Festival. (Photo by Simone Joyner/Getty Images for ABA)
70 percent of the world’s adults currently use streaming platforms. Presume the number will reach 100 percent within 10 years. That type of immersion removes shipping and sales from the marketplace entirely, thus placing the full weight of measurement on the likely near-gamification of the who, what, when, where, why, and how of content consumption.
Thus, a singular comprehensive unit based on physical sales, digital downloads, streaming-equivalent units, catalog market value capitalization, touring, fan community growth on social media, brand partnerships aligned with the rollout of albums and singles, live event engagement tracked via social media posting and content creation, plus the cross-platform velocity of how fast an artist can verticalize dominating conversation in niche online spaces to broader cultural discussions will be necessary.
If we use this all-in-one metric, the top ten artists from 2021 to 2026 would be Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, The Weeknd, Drake, BTS, Kendrick Lamar, Morgan Wallen, Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, and Tyler, The Creator.
These artists represent six genres and come from four different countries.
It’s an unprecedentedly crowded room, defined by a world of consumers finally unified.
Interestingly, even though country artist Ella Langley is topping the Billboard singles charts, this new way of measuring success makes her achievements seem notable, but also perhaps, less significant.
The ceiling might be lower now, but reaching a wider audience matters more than ever.
Ella Langley’s number one hit is “Choosin’ Texas.” For context, Texas has a 4,200-mile perimeter.
Meanwhile, Canada—home to Drake and The Weeknd—has a coastline 30 times longer than Texas.
Morgan Wallen appeared in Drake’s 2023 video for “You Broke My Heart,” and people have been speculating for a while that they might collaborate on an album.
So, even though a lot has changed in the music industry, some things might stay the same.
Don’t laugh, but Garth Brooks was right. It’s honestly correct to blame country and roots music for ruining the music industry’s expectations of what it could mean to attend a metaphorical black-tie celebration honoring its success.
