Today’s newsletter marks the 50th release of Mic-Check. Thank you to the five thousand of you who start your week with us. In order to improve our content and grow, we need your help. Starting today, we are implementing a referral program, which will improve as our readership grows. We will start by giving away limited edition copies of Black Country New Road’s Ants From Up There. Details are provided at the end of the newsletter. Thanks again for your continued support — music is meant to be shared.

Click here for a Spotify playlist with the songs mentioned in this email.

BIGGEST Songs of the Week 📈

We live in a post-Despacito world where foreign songs can dominate the airwaves. Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s 2017 monster hit Despacito represented a turning point in the world’s appetite for non-English music. Prior to Despacito, the last non-English song to top the Billboard 100 was Macarena in 1996. During the 21 years between Macarena and Despacito, PSY’s Gangnam Style and Gentleman were the only two non-English songs to breach Billboard’s Top 10. In the five years since Despacito, a wave of songs have achieved this feat, including Mi Gente, Fake Love, MÍA, Boy With Luv, ON, DÁKITI, Life Goes On and Yonaguni. Singing in English is no longer a prerequisite to commercial success on a global scale, as evidenced by artists like BTS, Bad Bunny, BLACKPINK, Maluma and ROSALÍA.