Over the past two weeks, the Pop gods answered the prayers of many-a-faithful music lover as two of the genre’s most beloved divas – Taylor Swift and Rihanna – dropped the season’s most highly anticipated efforts.

For Tay, her beloved fans – affectionately called #Swifties – had ample forewarning about the dawning of her new era, ‘Midnights.’  Finally unleashed October 21, the history-making set not only entered the Billboard 200 at #1 with the year’s biggest first-week sales but also saw half of its tracks occupy the Hot 100’s entire top 10.

Elsewhere, Rih’s devoted fan base – affectionately called #Navy – helped ‘Lift Me Up,’ her first new single in six years, break records at radio after its October 28 unveiling.

The proximity of their release dates made a Billboard battle between them inevitable, but – if industry analysts are to be believed – the updated print of the Pop chart will reveal it’s Swift who will have the upper edge.

Thanks to first-week streams of nearly 60 million, sales of more than 13,000, and radio impressions of over 32 million, Swift’s ‘Anti-Hero’ flew into the #1 spot of the current Hot 100 – marking the ninth visit of her career to the Pop pole position (as we reported here).

And while it’s typical for most tunes that debut atop the tally to experience a steep fall, Taylor – despite stiff competition from Rih and others – isn’t loosening its grip.  In fact, reports have it the tune enjoyed an additional 15,000 sold its second week alongside streams of nearly 35 million and radio impressions of approximately 36 million.  Its commercial performance is aided by multiple versions available for purchase and stream.

The potent combo proved just enough to keep the Bajan beauty at bay.

Early Billboard reports indicated Rih’s ‘Black Panther’ soundtrack tune racked up impressive streaming and sales figures in its first two days of availability – action that reportedly led to a performance sum of 39,000 in sales, 27.3 million in streams, and 49.2 million by the week’s end.

If the figures reported above tally with Billboard’s news on Monday (November 7), Rih is assured a #2 opening on the Hot 100.

Keep it locked to That Grape Juice for when the official final call is made.

[main photo sources: Getty Images/AP Photos]

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