Why Did Lady Gaga Delay Her Album While Others Forged Ahead Amid Coronavirus?

Many artists likely felt uncomfortable releasing and promoting a new album during a pandemic, while others may have been confronted with incredible limitations on the traditional rollout and promotion of an album (including the lack of live appearances and concerts, as well as many brick-and-mortar music stores temporarily closed).

For some acts, however, they held to their release schedule and forged ahead. Perhaps because those acts don’t have to rely on brick-and-mortar retail or album sales at all. Rod Wave’s new Pray 4 Love, for example, was released on April 3 and debuted on the Billboard 200 albums chart at No. 2 with 97% of its first-week units driven by streaming activity (it earned 72,000 equivalent album units total in the week ending April 9, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data).

Also on the new Pop Shop Podcast, hosts Keith and Katie discuss big chart news from Drake (who lands his seventh No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with “Toosie Slide”), The Black Eyed Peas (who notch their first top 10 on the Pop Songs airplay chart in over a decade) and The Weeknd (spending a third week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with his album After Hours).

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard's weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard's senior director of charts Keith Caulfield and deputy editor, digital Katie Atkinson every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the showon Billboard.com.)