July 4^th weekend is in the rearview mirror, which means we’ve officially crossed the halfway mark of 2018. Right on schedule after six-months, Nielsen Music has released their Mid-Year 2018 charts. Check out some highlights in music news for the year so far as reported by Billboard:

• Drake’s “God’s Plan” rules as the most streamed song of the first six months with over 1 billion streams in combined audio and video streams.
• Post Malone’s beerbongs & bentleys leads as the most popular album in the U.S. with close to 2 million equivalent album units. 
• Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” accumulated 2.86 billion impressions making it the top song in all radio formats.
• R&B/hip-hop continues to maintain its lead as the most popular genre in the U.S.
• Latin music gained 15% in share of total audience between the first half of 2016 and the first half of 2018.
• Vinyl album sales grew 19.2% in the U.S. compared to the first six months of 2017.

When it comes to the best selling tracks of the year, it may come as no surprise that Ed Sheeran and Drake top the list. Here are the top 10 best selling digital tracks of the year so far. Click the links for a shortcut to download on BPM Supreme.

1. Ed Sheeran – Perfect
2. Drake – God’s Plan
3. Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line – Meant to Be
4. Camila Cabello ft. Young Thug – Havana
5. Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey – The Middle
6. Imagine Dragons – Whatever It Takes
7. Bruno Mars ft. Cardi B – Finesse (Remix)
8. Imagine Dragons – Thunder
9. Camila Cabello – Never Be the Same
10. Jason Aldean – You Make It Easy

In the first half of 2018, audio and video streaming continued to grow at a rapid pace (over 40% since the first half of 2017!) Below are the mid-year top 10 on-demand audio streams:

1. Drake – God’s Plan
2. Post Malone ft. Ty Dolla $ign – Psycho
3. BlocBoy JB ft. Drake – Look Alive
4. Drake – Nice for What
5. Post Malone ft. 21 Savage – Rockstar
6. XXXTentacion – Sad!
7. Migos – Stir Fry
8. Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line – Meant to Be
9. Kendrick Lamar & SZA – All the Stars
10. Bazzi – Mine

They say time flies when you’re having fun. What do you think about the top songs listed here? Let us know which tracks you think will rule the rest of 2018. Leave a comment below.