Chartmetric data as of: Dec 1 2017 | Chartmetric daily podcast available | Title photo credit: Ajeong_JM

“I have been anticipating a return to the globalized Billboard pop charts of the ’60s for years now…all it took was loosening the stranglehold that radio has muscled on the mainstream for nearly half a century.” - Jakob Dorof, K-pop expert (via The FADER’s Owen Myers)

We’ve seen this before: the Beatles, New Kids on the Block, *NSync, and most recently, One Direction. Lots of high-pitched screaming, lots of security, and a whole lot of people making money.

But since One Direction’s split in 2015, who are American teens going to fangirl/boy over? Simon Cowell/Columbia’s PRETTYMUCH? Maybe. Atlantic’s Why Don’t We? Why not? Both have massive industry machines behind them, and forming only in 2016, they have a lot of runway ahead.