Thanks to ample momentum, a discounted price point and the release of “Fifty Shades Darker,” ZAYN & Taylor Swift’s “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” remains the song to beat on the US iTunes sales chart.
The soundtrack single dethroned Lady Gaga’s “Million Reasons” to capture #1 very early Friday. Having held off Ed Sheeran’s similarly hot “Shape Of You” and Katy Perry’s new “Chained To The Rhythm (featuring Skip Marley)” for over forty hours, it still has the crown as of 5:15PM ET Saturday.
“Shape Of You” is currently #2 on the chart, while Lady Gaga’s “Million Reasons” is #3.
“Chained To The Rhythm,” which went as high as #3 following its Friday release, is #4 as of press time. The new single received mammoth first-day support at radio and generated over 3 million opening day streams on Spotify, but its domestic iTunes performance has garnered some criticism.
It is a different era for music consumption, and no one expected “Chained” to open as well as Perry’s previous lead single “Roar” did in 2013 (over 550K first-week US copies). Many did, however, expect it to reach #1 on the US iTunes chart with ease.
Could it reach #1 in the near future? It will certainly have an opportunity to make the jump!
Katy Perry will be performing the song at the Grammy Awards, and the exposure will surely increase the song’s sales pace. Whether that increase will be enough for a trip to #1 remains to be seen.
Sam Hunt’s “Body Like A Back Road” is currently #5 on the US iTunes sales chart.
