Travis Scott's 'Utopia' Income Revealed

New Trippie Redd album at midnight and DJ Khaled’s dropping the first single from his upcoming album ft. Lil Baby, Lil Uzi Vert, and Future 🔥 In other news today:

• Travis Scott’s Utopia song streams & revenue 💰️ 

• Lil Tay is not dead, but her story doesn’t convince fans 🔍️ 

• Donald Trump claims Young Thug’s YSL co-founder slept with DA behind RICO indictment 😳 

• New Music Friday releases 💿️ 

• Industry Insights 📈 

‘Utopia’ Song Streams & Revenue

It’s a new Thursday and a new song revenue chart. As reported by Hits Double Daily, which tracks streaming revenue week over week, the above chart reflects the streaming period from July 28th to August 3rd.

Travis Scott broke streaming records with Utopia, and the numbers for first-week streaming revenue are finally here. It wouldn’t be pocket-watching if we didn’t calculate the total—see highlights below.

• It only took 11 songs and 220M streams for Travis to make over 1M 💰️ (tallying “Meltdown” to “Telekinesis” on the above chart)

• All 19 songs combined amassed over 323M streams and generated 1.5M in revenue 🤑 

Lil Tay Is Not Dead Claims Social Media Was Hacked, But Fans Aren’t Buying It

Yesterday, news broke that viral internet sensation Lil Tay and her older brother, Jason Tian, were both dead. Fans grieved while others didn’t believe it and came up with conspiracy theories. TMZ confirmed this morning that her death was a hoax and she is, in fact, alive. Find out why her death was suspicious, who is suspected of foul play, and what happened below.

On Wednesday, a cryptic message was posted to the 14-year-old rapper’s IG account announcing her death with no further explanation than her “sudden and tragic passing” was an “unbearable loss” to her family.

In a statement sent to TMZ, Lil Tay says she and her brother are alive and well, but the last 24 hours were traumatizing. She’s been bombarded with phone calls from loved ones as the internet mourned her fake passing.

“My Instagram account was compromised by a 3rd party and used to spread jarring misinformation and rumors regarding me, to the point that even my name was wrong. My legal name is Tay Tian, not Claire Hope,” she said.

Other than the IG post, no official sources could confirm Tay’s death which is what made people skeptical of the news. Her father, Christopher Hope, declined to comment, her former manager, Harry Tsang, couldn’t deny or confirm, and neither the LA nor Vancouver police had any information regarding her death.

So what in the Netflix true crime documentary is going on? Lil Tay became internet famous in 2017 as an ignorant 9-year-old with a rapper starter pack: swearing, stacks of cash, expensive cars, and designer clothes—the usual hallmarks of great parenting. See for yourself below, but the plot thickens if you dig deeper into her online history.

Context for those of you out touching grass

In 2018, a video emerged online of Tay’s older brother feeding her lines to say on camera. Fans began questioning how much influence her family had on her online persona and if they were exploiting her for profit. That same year, a nasty custody battle began between her parents, leaving Tay and her brother in the middle. Then her socials went silent until 2021, when concerning posts appeared of Tay crying and multiple posts accused her father of mental and physical abuse.

The posts were allegedly from her brother, who also started a GoFundMe to raise money for legal fees to emancipate Tay. A representative later said her account was hacked, and her father denied the allegations saying they were part of a plot by Tay’s mother and brother.

Why this matters

The general opinion is that Lil Tay’s death was faked as a publicity stunt. The dodgy statements from those close to her, the prolonged period where she couldn’t clear her name, and the random hack seems suspect. But her online history would suggest Tay is more of a puppet than a puppeteer, and there’s a family feud going on behind the scenes that occasionally spill out in public. Either way, it’s a relief that the news wasn’t true, and Tay is alive.

Donald Trump Claims Young Thug’s YSL Co-Founder Slept With Georgia DA

You can add this headline to the list of bizarre news surrounding Young Thug’s YSL RICO trial that sounds like a parody and not real life. At a rally in New Hampshire earlier this week, Trump accused Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis of “having an affair” with YSL co-founder Fremondo “Mondo” Crenshaw.

What does the YSL trial have to do with Trump? DA Willis, who led the YSL RICO indictment, is currently investigating Trump on allegations of meddling in the 2020 presidential election. She’s particularly looking into a phone call between Trump and the Secretary of State during which the former president pressured the secretary to “find” the votes to help him win.

In true form, Trump fired back maturely. “They say there’s a young woman — a young racist in Atlanta — they say that she was after a certain gang and she ended up having an affair with the head of the gang or a gang member,” he said at the rally.

“And this is a person that wants to indict me. She’s got a lot of problems but she wants to indict me to try to run for some other office. By the way she wants to indict me for a perfect phone call,” he continued to say. Willis denies the accusations.

An ad run by Trump (his favorite war move), with the same allegations, references a 2023 Rolling Stone interview with YSL co-founder Mondo who is not part of the RICO trial but does have a history with DA Willis when she was his lawyer for a 2019 aggravated assault case.

“This is not her character, this is not who she is. I done had auntie-to-nephew, mother-to-son type talks with her. This is what made me start looking at [the YSL case] like I know it’s bigger than just her. It’s politics behind this shit. It’s other people that’s behind her pulling strings,” Mondo said to Rolling Stone.

There’s no mention of a sexual relationship in the article, and the journalist that interviewed Mondo confirmed he didn’t imply anything inappropriate during their conversation.

Context for those of you out touching grass

In May 2022, Young Thug and 27 other YSL members were arrested in a lengthy RICO indictment that alleges YSL is a criminal street gang affiliated with the Bloods. DA Willis was the face of the indictment, affirming that YSL is behind a series of violent crimes in Atlanta, including murder and armed robbery.

Why this matters

As Young Thug remains behind bars awaiting trial, not much progress has happened, but it’s a topic heavily explored in the media. A new podcast series, King Slime, explores the trial in depth, dubbing it “the craziest trial in Atlanta and hip-hop’s history.” The teaser promised to “uncover secrets about the people at the center of this case,” and you can be sure DA Willis is a subject of interest for the series. The first episodes arrive next Tuesday, August 15th.

New Music Friday

After delays, singles, and a public breakup—Trippie Redd is finally dropping ALLTY5. DJ Khaled has also assembled Lil Baby, Lil Uzi Vert, and Future for a new single. Here’s all the music dropping tonight—categorized by 💿️ for albums and 🎶 for singles:

• 💿️ A Love Letter To You 5 by Trippie Redd

• 💿️ El Toro 2 by EST Gee

• 💿️ 4GODII by Rob49 (deluxe)

• 💿️ Unfinished Business by Fredo

• 🎶 Supposed To Be Loved by DJ Khaled, Lil Baby, Lil Uzi Vert, Future

•  🎶 Bigger Than Everything by Yeat

•  🎶 Number 9 by Lil Yachty, Miguel

• 🎶 Warriors by Lil Yachty, 1017 ALYX 9SM

• 🎶 Yupp! by Ghostface Killah, Remy Ma

• 🎶 Now It’s Real by Gucci Mane

• 🎶 Booty Drop by Doechii

• 🎶 Good Summer by French Montana

• 🎶 More Money More Problems by Headie One

• Offset drops lawsuit against Quality Control and has reportedly come to a settlement with his former label. He initially claimed QC was trying to control the rights to his solo music in breach of a previous agreement.

• 6ix9ine ordered to pay massive 6-figure debt after ignoring credit card lawsuit. American Express has filed subpoenas to seize his assets for repayment of $119K debt.

• Bobbi Althoff secured her viral Drake interview by sliding into his DMs. She flew to Memphis two days after he agreed to record the episode and calls her content “a parody of a good interview.”

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