Keeping track of television ratings, streaming viewership and music revenue has become a hopeless task in the digital age. Everyone is mad at Nielsen though how can they realistically capture all the eyeballs content on TVs, phones, laptops and tablets? Meanwhile, Billboard keeps changing the formula they use to count album sales by working in various flavors of streaming. What the most popular shows, movies, albums or songs are at any given moment has become impossible to decipher.
The good news is, according to new data from the Recording Industry Association, music revenue for the first half of 2021 grew $1.5 billion driven by music streaming, which accounted for 84% of the $7.1 billion earned.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including an executive shakeup at Paramount Pictures, the outcome of Apple’s epic legal battle and the Venice Film Festival kickstarts this year’s awards season in a big way.

‘Shang-Chi’ Lifts To $258M Global; ‘Free Guy’ At $277M
https://deadline.com/2021/09/shang-chi-free-guy-quiet-place-china-global-international-box-office-1234831503/
‘Shang-Chi’ Strong Second Weekend With $35M+; ‘Malignant’ DOA
https://deadline.com/2021/09/shang-chi-strong-second-weekend-with-31m-malignant-dying-1234831053/
Book Publishing’s Rousing First Half of 2021
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/87347-book-publishing-s-rousing-first-half-of-2021.html
Stufish Designing Hexagonal Arena for ABBA Reunion Tour
https://www.dezeen.com/2021/09/07/stufish-arena-london-abba-reunion-tour/
‘Raging Fire’ Star Nicholas Tse to Renounce Canadian Citizenship, Embrace China Instead
https://variety.com/2021/global/asia/nicholas-tse-canada-china-citizenship-raging-fire-1235057612/
French Abortion Drama ‘Happening’ Takes Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival, Penélope Cruz Wins Best Actress
https://variety.com/2021/film/festivals/venice-film-festival-awards-ceremony-gets-under-way-with-penelope-cruz-and-jane-campion-among-those-invited-updating-live-1235061864/
Brian Robbins Expected to Take Over Leadership of Paramount Movie Studio
https://www.wsj.com/articles/brian-robbins-expected-to-take-over-leadership-of-paramount-movie-studio-11631281748
With Brian Robbins, ViacomCBS Bets a Kids’ TV Veteran Can Bring Paramount Into a Streaming Future
https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/viacom-cbs-paramount-brian-robbins-1235061211/
Disney Releasing ‘Eternals,’ ‘Encanto’ Exclusively in Theaters