40% of Lana del Rey listeners are under the age of 22

‘Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd’ by Lana del Rey is the current number 1 in the UK and Music Week publishes an interesting report about. In it, his label explains how it has reached those 42,000 copies shipped in 1 week only within the islands.

Ben Mortimer, president of Polydor, says that Lana played the record for them in October 2022 and they immediately loved it. “It was obvious that she was working on something special and we’ve been working on the album ever since. She is one of the brightest authors in the world and we feel lucky to support her.” On the other hand, Stephen Hallowes from the same label, answers an interview detailing the strategy.

Hallowes assures that Lana del Rey’s audience has grown a lot on TikTok over the last 18 months, especially citing the case of ‘Summertime Sadness’. And it is particularly analyzed, because Lana del Rey is not active on social networks, except on the honeymoon Instagram account, where sometimes followers are allowed and sometimes not: “Her fan community is so passionate, that marketing is not so much about what she is broadcasting as well as how to retain her followers. That helps maintain an aura of mystery. TikTok has been the key, without her being particularly active there.”

In addition, taking advantage of all the visuals they had for the album, they have worked on several versions with alternative covers for vinyl, CD and cassette. Of course, he emphasizes that although there have been various forms of merchandising (necklaces, pillowcases, bombers), there have been no “ticket bundles” or signed records.

Despite the success of the physical format, Hallowes highlights the success of streaming, which has led 3 of the songs to appear in the top 75 in the United Kingdom, which would have been 5 if the regulations had allowed it (only 3 songs per artist can appear on the British charts to prevent the likes of Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift or Drake from taking over the entire charts in the weeks of release).

Almost the most surprising thing is said at the end, when he specifies that the audience that follows Lana del Rey is very young. And it is that one would expect that due to the maturity of her lyrics and the way in which her records have become small books in which texts prevail over music, her audience would be around at least 30 years old. If only because a decade ago the singer began to publish records.

But no: “it’s incredible to see that more than 40% of his followers on Spotify are under 22 years old,” he says. «A new generation of followers listens to her. Less is more in terms of content and marketing means that we have not made specific agreements and all partners have supported the album both editorially and from a marketing point of view without us hiring ads.

Finally, he explains that with Lana del Rey they don’t think about new singles beyond the advances, but he invites them to stay tuned to the artist’s show at Glastonbury for more surprises.