If you already had a popular album when record stores started getting popular…record stores needed something the feature on the aisle end cap…so they put the yours there because that’s probably what people wanting to buy.
Similarly, when music streaming services were becoming the norm around 2013, if you were already a popular artist, that’s what’s going to be most popular on the platform…and that’s what’s going to get on the digital end cap. And because streaming services are still the norm, artists who had a big arc back then are more likely to ride it longer.
A friend of mine sent me this Rick Beato video, where he brilliantly goes into more depth on this…highlighting that the average age of the top twenty five Spotify artist is 36.
