The iTunes Store is having a second life, and pop stars are the reason. Apple retired the iTunes app on the Mac in 2019 in favor of separate Music, Podcasts and TV apps, and streaming took over from there. Now some of the biggest names in pop are using the store to sell releases that fans cannot get anywhere else.
Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Charli XCX, Doja Cat, Summer Walker and Tinashe have all put out iTunes-only releases in recent years, the Financial Times reports. The store has become a place to sell collectibles to superfans, reach audiences that streaming misses and lift chart positions.
Ariana Grande’s iTunes-only live album pushed Petal from number 15 to number 6
Ariana Grande released Petal (The Complete Live Album) on September 8, five weeks after the studio album Petal arrived on July 31. It has live versions of all 12 studio tracks and sells for $9.99 on iTunes. It is not on any streaming service.
The Financial Times says the release moved Petal from 15th to 6th place in the rankings. Fans who wanted the live versions had to buy them, and every purchase counted toward the chart.
The studio album was already a sales story. Petal opened at number 1 on the Billboard 200 with 295,000 equivalent album units, and about 168,000 of those were album sales against 126,000 from streaming. All 12 songs also landed in the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 that week.
Those album sales include vinyl, CD and cassette, so iTunes is only part of the number. It still shows how much superfans shape a big release week.
Charli XCX sold the B-sides from Music, Fashion, Film only on iTunes
Charli XCX made the B-side songs from her album Music, Fashion, Film an iTunes exclusive. Anyone who wanted those tracks had to buy them from Apple’s store, which kept them off streaming services.
Taylor Swift, Doja Cat, Summer Walker and Tinashe have run their own iTunes-only releases in recent years. Grande and Charli XCX are the latest additions to a longer list.
A 2021 class-action lawsuit claimed iTunes purchases are only licensed content
A 2021 class-action lawsuit argued that Apple’s Buy and Rent wording leads customers to believe they own content that is actually licensed to Apple and can be pulled from their Purchased folder. That applies to anyone picking up an iTunes-only release.
The case was filed in the District Court for the Western District of New York.
