Numlock News: May 18, 2026 • King of the Box Office, iHeartPodcasts, Mr. Nice Man

May 18, 2026

By Chris Dalla Riva

Walt is on vacation, today’s edition comes from Chris Dalla Riva. He is the writer behind Can’t Get Much Higher, a newsletter focused on the intersection of music and data. Dalla Riva’s debut book Uncharted Territory: What Numbers Tell Us about the Biggest Hit Songs and Ourselves came out last year and received praise from Rolling Stone, The Economist and CNN.

King of the Box Office

People cannot get enough of Michael Jackson. A month after the release of his biopic Michael, the late King of Pop is still beating out everybody else at the box office. Michael’s global gross has already crossed $700 million, likely on its way to becoming the most lucrative music biopic in history. First place is currently held by Bohemian Rhapsody, the 2018 Queen biopic starring Rami Malek that, and Michael, was produced by Graham King.

Anthony D’Alessandro, Deadline

Welcome to the Library of Congress. It’s Been Waiting For You.

The Library of Congress announced its latest 25 recordings to be preserved in its National Recording Registry, a collection of just over 700 recordings that “are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and inform or reflect life in the United States.” Along with recordings by Ray Charles, Gladys Knight and The Go-Gos, 2026 is the first year to preserve respective recordings by Beyoncé and Taylor Swift. The former’s number one single “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” got the nod, while the entirety of the latter’s album 1989 was chosen.

Jazz Monroe, Pitchfork

iHeartPodcasts

Despite its major holdings in the declining terrestrial radio business, iHeartMedia showed strong financial results last quarter powered by its expansive podcasting division. Revenue increased 9.6 percent up to $884 million with the podcast division alone growing 26.9 percent up to $147 million. Still, not everything was rosy for the audio company. They posted a net loss of $96 million while announcing more cost-cutting measures. Investors are beginning to beg that the media conglomerate starts to heart profits.

Frank Racioppi, Forbes

Gold Diggers

Ye, the rapper and recovering Nazi formerly known as Kanye West, can add copyright infringement to his list of troubles. A California jury ruled that he and his companies have to pay out more than $400,000 for having sampled music on his songs “Moon” and “Hurricane” without permission. A spokesperson told The New York Times that despite the unfavorable verdict this was a “failed shakedown.” I would have much preferred the spokesperson to paraphrase Ye’s “Gold Digger”: “They take your money when you’re in need.” Maybe next time.

Michaela Towfighi, The New York Times

Pray You Catch Me

If you steal an idea for a song, you get fined. If you physically steal a recording, you go to jail. Kelvin Evans learned this difference the hard way. Evans, a 41-year-old Atlanta man, pleaded guilty to breaking into a vehicle rented by one of Beyoncé’s choreographers and stealing hard drives containing unreleased music. Evans will serve two years in prison with an additional three years of probation. Authorities have not been able to recover the hard drives.

Nardine Saad, BBC

No More Mr. Niceman

After announcing his new album ICEMAN, Drake surprised fans (and foes) by coupling the release with two more albums: MAID OF HONOR and HABIBITI. That’s 43 new songs for the Canadian. As of writing, songs from those albums make up 34 percent of Spotify’s global songs chart and 50 percent of Spotify’s U.S. songs chart. If you didn’t have 2.5 hours to kill to listen to all this music, I can summarize it for you: Drake is upset, and he’s going to tell you about it. (I realize this description also describes most of the last decade of his work.)

Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone

Area Man Happy He Didn’t Die Before Getting Old

Pete Townshend, The Who’s 80-year-old guitarist and songwriter who famously wrote the lines “I hope I die before I get old,” reportedly sold his entire songwriting catalog to Primary Wave for over $100 million. Boasting the likes of Bob Marley, Prince and Stevie Nicks, Primary Wave has been one of the premiere destinations for famous catalogs since it was founded in 2006. I’m sure now that his pockets are lined with cash, Mr. Townshend is happy that he has outlived most of his contemporaries.

Jem Aswad, Variety

Send links to me on Twitter at @WaltHickey or email me with numbers, tips or feedback at walt@numlock.news. Send corrections or typos to the copy desk at copy@numlock.news.

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