Why was this album expected?
With her first record “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?”, Billie Eilish entered the history of contemporary Music, at just 18 years old, winning five major awards at the 2020 Grammy Awards: “Album de l ‘year’, ‘Revelation of the year’, ‘Record of the year’, ‘Pop vocal album’ and ‘Song of the year’. Since then, the young Californian artist has brilliantly continued her conquest of the world by accumulating hits in spades, billions of streams and two Oscars. Just that! Having become the icon of a generation, Billie Eilish has concentrated all expectations with a third opus for which she orchestrated risky communication: no song was revealed before the arrival of the album on the platforms! Total surprise therefore when starting to listen to “Hit Me Hard and Soft”, written and composed, as always, by the star with his brother Finneas… “ I recommend listening to the album in its entirety, from the first to the last track, because that’s how it was designed » insisted the singer when delivering this musical project with a mysterious and underwater cover. Winning bet?
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And in terms of sales?
The expected tidal wave did indeed occur. With 72.7 million plays on Spotify in 24 hours, “Hit Me Hard and Soft” was immediately a resounding success. Receiving 500 million streams in one week and 2 billion in just two months, the album marked the best start to Billie Eilish’s career, propelling it to the top in more than 20 countries including the United Kingdom, Canada and the France with 27,700 sales, a score well above that of “Happier Than Ever”: his previous album sold 14,600 copies in seven days during the summer 2021. If “Lunch”, chosen as the first single, greatly stirred up discussions for its raw and lesbian text, it is the captivating ballad “Birds of a Feather” which entered the hearts of the public with the fervor of massive use on TikTok. The song, triple nominated for the 2025 Grammy, already has 1.73 billion streams on Spotify and has earned platinum certification in France… while three other tracks from the album have been gold records.
So you will have understood: France loves Billie Eilish, and Billie Eilish returns it! While she will give two full concerts at Bercy in June 2025, the singer phenomenon attracts more than 173,600 music lovers with “Hit Me Hard and Soft” on our floor. It has the luxury of holding the fourth best seller of the year behind Werenoi, PLK and Indochine, even surpassing Pierre Garnier or Les Enfoirés. It is also the best international seller of 2024 ahead of “The Tortured Poets Department” by Taylor Swift. A royal welcome!
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