Bigger than Ed Sheeran – have you heard of Mrs Green Apple? Why are so many old bands in the album charts? (And so few in the singles chart?) Plus: The Wiggles!

2026-02-25

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Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. Become a ⁠⁠⁠Superfan of the podcast for free – and enjoy a weekly Superfan Lock-in section!This week... Steve and Stu dig into the charts – and take a look at a load of data that’s been released about singles, albums and streams:Do you know Japanese rock band Mrs Green Apple? They were the 13th biggest artist in the world last year. (Bigger than Eminem, Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber)The Fleetwood Mac chart syndrome: why are there so many old ba...

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. Become a ⁠⁠⁠Superfan of the podcast for free – and enjoy a weekly Superfan Lock-in section!

This week... Steve and Stu dig into the charts – and take a look at a load of data that’s been released about singles, albums and streams:

Do you know Japanese rock band Mrs Green Apple? They were the 13th biggest artist in the world last year. (Bigger than Eminem, Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber)
The Fleetwood Mac chart syndrome: why are there so many old bands in the albums chart?
And why are there so few bands in the Top 30 singles?
Sam Fender and Olivia Dean are number one – but why has it taken 35 weeks after its release to reach the top spot?
And in non-chart news: it’s been dragging on for a while… but now EU regulators have approved Universal’s deal to buy independent music firm Downtown Music. So what happens next? And why are so many people still so angry?
Another children’s music superstar for Stu and Steve to discuss: behold, it’s The Wiggles!
How to get tickets into the hands of fans, not touts,
Streaming full songs inside of TikTok (kind of...).

And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our ⁠⁠Patreon Superfans⁠⁠, Steve and Stu prop themselves at the bar to discuss this week's bonus material:

Gold discs: how much are they worth - and why does Steve have more of them than he knows what to do with? (and who did he give his Stone Roses gold disc to?)
Why is Zara Larsson battling a Wikipedia editor about her Wikipedia photo?
(And what vital – and incorrect – info did Steve wrestle with Wikipedia over?)
The live music landscape is changing fast: artists are now playing sold-out multi-night residencies at big venues – so is there growing appetite for arena gigs?
You can use AI powered apps to make your own remixes – but do you even want to?

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As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!

Email us: ⁠⁠thepriceofmusicpodcast@gmail.com⁠⁠

See you next week!

Steve and Stuart

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