A good piece of investigative journalism by Rolling Stone. Country singer Morgan Wallen has in July pledged $500,000 to black-led groups, in a move to make amend for his racial slur earlier in the year. The Black Music Action Coalition had received some money from Wallen, they said the $500,000 number “seems exceptionally misleading”. RS reached out to 56 other state, regional and national Black-led or Black-founded charities. None of them reported receiving any money from Wallen.

Country's music
July 14, 2021

Rolling Stone: Morgan Wallen is America

"Morgan Wallen's 'Dangerous' is far and away the biggest album of 2021 in the US so far: It has netted 241,000 album sales and 2.3 billion audio streams, blowing out of the water any of the runner-ups" - Rolling Stone looks back at the numbers of the album stained by the racial slur scandal. What does that mean?: "Wallen is not a dysmorphic product of a toxic genre or niche fanbase growing like fungus in the armpit of some much healthier and more noble thing. He’s America. America loves him. Nobody wants to say it".

Persona non marketed
June 11, 2021

Morgan Wallen quietly returns to the radio

Morgan Wallen has quietly slipped back onto the air at most country stations in the US in the last few weeks, after being banned for four months due to a racial slur. Wallen however remains persona non grata at awards shows and other high-profile events. Variety reports. “It’s a thing that people are going to do quietly and not want to make a lot of noise about. It’s like, have him blend back into the mosaic of the thing and not make a big deal about it” - says a radio insider, who added that Wallen’s ongoing status is “the most over-discussed topic in the history of country music”.

Country music star Morgan Wallen has been announced as a headliner for this year’s Kicker Country Stampede, a country music festival in Kansas in June, Uproxx reports. It marks Wallen’s first confirmed performance since he was caught on camera using a racial slur in February. The three-day music festival, which touts Bud Light as a sponsor, goes down June 24th-26th at Heartland Motorsports Park in Topeka, Kansas. Along with Wallen, the lineup features Luke Combs, Riley Green, Blanco Brown, Maddie & Tae, and Ashley McBryde, among others. Variety reports, however, that the so-called comeback show was actually announced last September, not this week, and sources say it’s highly unlikely he’ll fulfill the gig.

Morgan Wallen spends his tenth consecutive week on top of Billboard 200 chart with his latest release 'Dangerous: The Double Album', Billboard reports. It is the first album to spend its first 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 since 1987 and Whitney Houston’s 'Whitney' album. 'Dangerous' earned 69,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending March 11, a slight deep of 11% from the previous week.

Morgan Wallen spends a ninth week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 'Dangerous: The Double Album', which is most weeks at No. 1 for any album since Drake scored 13 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 in 2016 with 'Views'. 'Dangerous' is also one of four country albums ever to spend at least nine weeks in the lead. Billboard reports. 'Dangerous' earned 78,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending March 11, down a meager 6% from the previous week.

Morgan Wallen’s 'Dangerous: The Double Album' holds on to the top of Billboard 200 chart for an eighth consecutive week, amidst the racial slur scandal. 'Dangerous' earned 82,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending March 4, which is a slight dip of 7% compared to the previous week, Billboard reports. 'Dangerous' now ties Taylor Swift’s 2020 album 'Folklore' for the second-most weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the last five years -- among albums of all genres.

Morgan Wallen makes Billboard history with his latest release 'Dangerous: The Double Album' as the only country album to spend its first seven weeks at No. 1 in the 64-year history of the Billboard 200. Previously, Garth Brooks held the top of Billboard 200 for six weeks in 1992 with 'The Chase'. 'Dangerous' earned 89,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 25 (down 5%), Billboard reports.

No such thing as bad publicity
February 26, 2021

Morgan Wallen is becoming only more popular. What's going on?

"Morgan Walenn's second studio album, 'Dangerous: The Double Album', is at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. His singles have been bobbing in the country-music top 10 and the cross-genre Hot 100. Billboard’s ranking of the most popular artists in the United States had him in the top spot for five straight weeks" - The Atlantic writes trying to understand/explain how a racial slur helps somebody's career. It isn't the first time. Michael Jackson's catalog became even more popular after child-molestation allegations, a similar thing happened to R. Kelly after criminal charges of sexual assault were filed against him, Chris Brown and Tekashi 6ix9ine - convicted abusers - still hold places on pop charts.

Morgan Wallen stays on top of the Billboard 200 chart for the sixth week in a row, amidst his racial slur scandal which got him canceled from the radio, Billboard reports. 'Dangerous: The Double Album' sold 93,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 18, down 38% from the previous week. Wallen captures the most weeks atop the list for a male artist’s album since Drake’s 'Views' in 2016, and the most for a male country artist since Garth Brooks' 'TheHits' in 1995.

Billboard examines the financial side of Morgan Wallen's scandal, estimating that Wallen's label, Big Loud, is currently making more than $1.5 million a week from sales and streaming of his album 'Dangerous'. This record has been the #1 album in the US for five weeks, two of those weeks coming after his racial slur. Officially, Big Loud has suspended Wallen, but his fans are coming to his defense, so the sales of that double album have gone up. Country star Maren Morris sums it up pretty good: "I think that your fans are a reflection of you and what you’re about. And you can’t control a human being, but you absolutely can let them know where you stand", meaning it's a change that'll take time.

The radio has pretty much cancelled Morgan Wallen due to his racial slur scandal, but his album sales have seen an uptick, Billboard reports. His latest record 'Dangerous: The Double Album' continues to rule the Billboard 200 chart for a fifth straight week - it earned 150,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 11 (up 1%). Wallen’s previous set, 2018’s 'If I Know Me', reaches the top 10 for the first time with 29,000 equivalent album units earned, which also marks the album’s best weeks, in terms of units earned.

Country singer Morgan Wallen got pretty much cancelled after using a racial slur (toward a white friend) taking "what was too far of a public step in what had largely been a possibly too narrowly divided space", Medium explained in an essay. "Regarding the first of what should be many reparational steps, Rissi Palmer offers a concise yet definitive proclamation. 'White people lost the privilege to use the n-word the moment that they enslaved and hung Black people. They don’t get to say it. They don’t get to say it for fun or with an ‘a’ or ‘er’ at the end. It’s simple. White people just can’t say it anymore'”.

Morgan Wallen's racial slur scandal proved beneficial for his album sales in the US, the latest Billboard 200 chart shows. His double album 'Dangerous' earned 149,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 4, which is up 14% when compared to the previous week, Billboard reports. It is Walen's fourth week in a row on top of Billboard 200. The last country album to spend its first four weeks at No. 1 on this chart was Shania Twain's 'Up!' in 2003.

Dangerous liaisons
February 06, 2021

Morgan Wallen’s sales rise sharply after racial slur

After country star Morgan Wallen was caught on camera using a racial slur, his music was pulled from hundreds of radio stations in the US, his radio play fell 70% and his record contract was suspended. On the other hand, however, sales of his music skyrocketed by 339%, according to Billboard. The day before the story about his use of the n-word broke, he sold 5,000 total units, about 1,000 of which were copies of his recent release 'Dangerous: The Double Album'. As the backlash grew, on the first day of the scandal, he sold 7,000 albums and 22,500 total units, an increase of 339% compared to sales the day before. Breaking down album vs. song sales, Wallen's albums sold a little over 8,000 copies Feb. 3, up 593% from 1,000 on Feb. 2, while his songs sold 14,000 downloads Feb. 3, up 261% from 4,000 on Feb. 2.

US country music star Morgan Wallen has been removed from more than 400 US radio playlists after a video emerged of him saying the n-word to a friend, Variety reports. In the footage, reportedly filmed by a neighbor last weekend, the 27-year-old Nashville star is seen saying goodbye to some friends and using the racial slur. Wallen, who is currently one of the biggest country stars in the US, and had a No. 1 album in the US for the past three weeks, has apologized - "I'm embarrassed and sorry. There are no excuses to use this type of language, ever. I promise to do better".

Morgan Wallen’s 'Dangerous: The Double Album' spends a second week in a row at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, earning 159,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 21, Billboard reports. 'Dangerous' might be the album to mark a shift in the way country-music lovers consume music - the big majority of its sales comes from SEA units, 133,000, equaling 177.11 million on-demand streams of the album’s songs. Album sales - where traditionally the majority of country music sales comes - comprise 22,000 and TEA units comprise 4,000. 'Dangerous' is the first country album to spend two weeks in a row at No. 1 since Chris Stapleton’s 'Traveller' in 2015.

Plenty of country for new men
January 18, 2021

Morgan Wallen breaks country streaming record, tops Billboard 200

Morgan Wallen’s 'Dangerous: The Double Album' debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with the largest streaming week ever for a country album, Billboard reports. The 30-song album starts with 265,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 14, including 240.18 million on-demand streams of the album’s songs, the largest streaming week ever for a country album. Jazmine Sullivan hits a career-high on the Billboard 200 as 'Heaux Tales' bows at No. 4 with 43,000 equivalent album units earned.