Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and the album’s comeback – BBC News

Beyoncé released two songs at once, while Dua Lipa let her fans have three. Taylor Swift? She kept everything secret.

The Tortured Poets section dropped last week with no previously released singles, and next month, Billie Eilish says she will do the same.

For years, commentators have been warning that the album is dead and that the song is taking over.

This is partly due to streaming apps like Spotify and Apple Music that allow fans to choose their favorite tracks from artists and curate personalized playlists for them.

But can two of the world’s biggest stars who chose to ditch singles bring albums back to life?

When announcing Hit Me Hard and Soft, Billie said she wanted her fans to listen to the album in one go.

“Every time an artist I love releases a song without the context of the album, I actually tend to hate it,” she said.

“I really don’t like things to be out of context. This album is like a family: I don’t want a little kid to be in the middle of the room alone.”

Although he is responsible for the weekly Official Singles Chart, Martin Talbot, CEO of the Official Charts Company, admits that he himself is a fan of the album.

He told BBC Newsbeat: “It’s great that Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift are doing what appears to be something designed to push music fans back to the concept of an album.”

“There is a danger that music fans will lose sight of what the album is and what the album represents.

“An album represents the pinnacle of a particular artist’s creative vision.

“And it’s really important for the creative health of the music and the cultural environment that we maintain that.”

In the charts’ 70-year history, Martin says the compilation of Top 40 singles has changed dramatically.

It started with calling a few record stores each week to ask which singles—specially selected and released by the musicians—were the best sellers.

Now, thanks to streaming platforms, anything can be a single — and anything can make it into the chart.

“The great thing about the digital environment is that it puts control in the hands of the consumer, in the hands of the music fan,” Martin tells Newsbeat.

“Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift, they may only release albums, but each of those songs that make up those albums are available to stream separately,” he says.

“And if those songs get enough streams, they will enter the singles chart, regardless of whether the artist considers them singles or not.”

This decision may be a thing of the past for major artists like Taylor and Billie, although Taylor released a music video for one song—Fortnight—on the day her album dropped.

That went straight to number one, but other songs that were not officially promoted, including Down Bad and The Tortured Poets Department, also debuted in the top five.

But for up and coming talent like Beth McCarthy, singles are as important as ever.

“Singles are a big part of how you start your career,” the singer tells Newsbeat.

“It creates a way to release music without the pressure of doing a whole body of work and discovering a complete sound.

“It lets people get to know you but in short, little bits rather than having to do the whole big thing.”

“I’ve been doing singles and EPs because it’s a shorter way to create something that doesn’t fully roll out on the album,” she says.

“And for me, when I make an album, I want it to be done right and in a way that it works together and feels like art.”

Aside from improving an artist’s sound, another good thing about releasing singles is how it excites fans with a new album.

“The single remains one of the album’s strongest promotional tools,” says Martin.

He gives Texas Hold ‘Em as an example, one of two singles Beyoncé released from Cowboy Carter that he says “feed directly into the success of her album” — which debuted at No. 1.

But Martin says for most artists, singles play an important role in keeping album sales up.

“Part of the job of releasing singles is to keep the album in the public eye and continue to ensure people are reminded of its existence,” he says.

“It’s very easy to fall under the radar.”

Low profile may not be a concern for Taylor, who broke Spotify records within five days of launching his Tortured Poets section with more than a billion streams.

It also broke records in the UK charts, where the album reached number one and outsold the rest of the top ten albums combined.

Could this be the beginning of a comeback album?

Billie’s brother and collaborator Finneas suggested that a return to listening to albums in their entirety was due.

“We don’t care about the song anymore,” he told the magazine, adding that music is increasingly being consumed in trending tracks on TikTok.

“Everything is an anti-movement,” he added.

“I think this will immerse you in the album. I really do.”

Taylor and Billy aren’t the first artists to eschew singles, but Martin says it’s an interesting coincidence to see two major stars taking this approach at similar times.

“This won’t be the last time they do this,” he says.

“It also doesn’t mean that the old model will die by the wayside and that people will no longer start releasing singles.”