\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tThe digital download is a relic of an era when iTunes ruled the music industry and streaming was in its infancy. Over the years, as consumers shifted to subscription streaming platforms, downloads have all but disappeared from the landscape. In 2024, downloads accounted for $329 million, according to the RIAA, approximately 2% of U.S. recorded music revenue. That\u2019s down 86% from 2015, when downloads generated $2.3 billion and represented 34% of the U.S. market. Revenue from subscription streaming platforms, which now play a major role in the most well-known charts, climbed 860% to $11.7 billion over the same time span.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tPop songs put up much better numbers. As Billboard noted in an article on country executives\u2019 reactions<\/a> to Breaking Rust and Walker, the top track on the all-genre Digital Song Sales chart, Taylor Swift<\/a>\u2019s \u201cThe Fate of Ophelia,\u201d sold 29,000 copies. But even the most popular pop download doesn\u2019t do the numbers seen just a decade ago. The No. 1 track in the same first week in November 2015, \u201cHello\u201d by Adele<\/a>, sold a whopping 636,000 units. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tTo put Breaking Rust and Walker\u2019s popularity into a better context, it helps to know where they rank amongst their human peers. For the week ended Nov. 6, Breaking Rust was ranked No. 228 among country artists in terms of equivalent album units (EAUs, which combine streams and sales into a single metric). No. 1 country artist Morgan Wallen<\/a> had 113 times more EAUs and 227 times more EAUs than Walker, who was No. 359. It would take 13 Breaking Rusts and 25 Walkers to equal the No. 18 artist, Bailey Zimmerman<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBillboard<\/p>\n \n\tThe most successful AI artist is currently Xania Monet. Her creator, Telisha Jones, writes the lyrics and uses an AI platform to create the music. Monet has been on Billboard charts such as R&B Digital Song Sales<\/a>, Hot Gospel Songs<\/a> and Emerging Artists<\/a>. But among artists of all genres, Monet ranked only No. 927 in terms of EAUs in the week ended Nov. 6, about equal to Cyndi Lauper<\/a> and French Montana<\/a> \u2014 artists who, unlike Monet, aren\u2019t currently being promoted to terrestrial radio and attracting worldwide fascination.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tTo be sure, many human artists would love to have the sales and streaming numbers of these AI-assisted artists. Walker and Breaking Rust are No. 9 and No. 11, respectively, on the Emerging Artists<\/a> chart, right behind country singer Alexandra Kay, who is signed to BMG-owned BBR Music Group and regularly sells out theaters around the country. In the U.S., Breaking Rust has 9.3 million streams to date, while Walker has 1 million, according to Luminate \u2014 the kind of numbers achieved by developing artists backed by record labels and artist managers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tBut the AI artists attracting headlines and creating consternation within the music industry don\u2019t have popularity to match the attention they\u2019re getting. They are making noise mainly by getting onto download charts, which don\u2019t reflect how most Americans consume music. Nor are they likely to have the longevity of other artists. Walker, ranked No. 359 amongst country artists, is just a few spots below country legend Hank Williams<\/a>. But nobody is saying that Walker matches the popularity of Williams, an inductee into the Country Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThat\u2019s not to say AI artists aren\u2019t having an impact. They\u2019re quickly growing in numbers, and it\u2019s not difficult to imagine that they could soon gobble up much more market share.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tTake the 10 AI-generated or AI-assisted artists mentioned in Billboard\u2019s Nov. 4 article about AI artists who landed on the charts<\/a>. The 10 artists mentioned in that article \u2014 including Juno Skye, Enlly Blue, Unbound Music, Ruby Darkrose and ChildPets Galore \u2014 have an average EAU in 2025 of approximately 7,200 units. That\u2019s not much. But 1,000 of these AI artists, in aggregate, could have a legitimate impact: 1,000 artists at 7,200 units is 7.2 million units \u2014 equal to a 0.7% year-to-date U.S. market share. That\u2019s on par with large independent record labels like Big Machine Label Group (0.78%), BMG (0.77%) and Secretly Distribution (0.75%). Two thousand AI artists with an average of 3,600 AEUs would have the same collective market share. Or 4,000 AI artists with an average of 1,800 AEUs. \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAn invasion of AI music may feel like a dystopian future to most people, but it\u2019s a plausible scenario. A person reading about Xania Monet or Breaking Rust could experience the same spark of inspiration felt by teenagers seeing punk rock bands in the mid to late \u201870s. Punk grew quickly because starting a band required a passion for music, not musical expertise. When millions of people read about AI artists on the charts, some of them will have the same realization that kids had in the \u201870s: \u201cIf they can do it, why can\u2019t I?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBillboard determines if a charting title is AI or AI-assisted through checking the artists\u2019 official pages, some of which say they are generated with the help of AI; cross-checking the songs using\u00a0Deezer\u2019s AI detection tool<\/a>, which adds a flag to all AI-generated content on the platform; and reaching out to the creators themselves, among other methods.<\/p>\n![\"Cain](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cain-walker-the-working-man-billboard-1800.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"AI](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-billboard-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
<\/p>\n![\"Xania](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Xania-Monet-2025-1-Talisha-Jones-billboard-1800.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
![\"Billboard](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2HpFicp.png\")