Albums get the franchise treatment

The Future. Artists are betting that releasing a steady stream of albums, not singles, is what will keep them in the conversation all year long. If the franchise model is successful, labels may wait for artists to record multiple interconnected albums before breaking them.

Package plays
Some artists are releasing more music this year than they have in the past five.

• Future and Metro Boomin just released the first part of the two-part We Don’t Trust You last week.
• Ye and Ty Dolla $ign are climbing the charts with Vultures 1 and are prepping two more albums to release over the next couple of months.
• Beyoncé is releasing the country-focused Act II: Cowboy Carter less than two years after Act I: Renaissance and is already creating hype for Act III.
• Weezer has been releasing multiple albums a year since 2019, including a cycle of four albums that corresponded to each season.

While artists have been dropping sequels to albums for decades, the current crop of releases is meant to be more than the sum of their parts — they either have distinct vibes, explore different genres, or tell a larger story.

But they’re also great marketing — each album is a promotion for the next one and so on and so forth. Come to think of it, the next trend in music may be burnout.