I'm the original poster and I wanted to give an update since others are still reporting problems.
Definitely turning off crossfade works for the majority of us. I've been running v11.0.1 thru the paces this morning and I can report that yes, it seems this bug survived. However, there have been some improvements. With crossfade turned off I get consistent play count and last played updating even if Up Next is engaged. This means that the iTunes DJ replacement is finally usable to me.
Up Next seems to have two states indicated by a black or blue-highlight status. If black, you can still rearrange the upcoming songs in the Up Next playlist. With crossfade off, play counts and last played dates are now consistently updated. If you click on the encircled > next to a song and select "Play Next", then the Up Next icon is highlighted. In 11.0 this would inconsistently update playcount, etc. even with crossfade turned off. I'm seeing consistent updating now as long as crossfade is turned off. This is inconsistent behavior for Up Next, but for me it is consistently updating that meta data now.
Anybody else seeing this improvement?
Side note: My bug report to Apple about this was closed because it was a dupe. However, the first bug report was also closed. Since it wasn't my bug report, I cannot access it to see why. Obviously, this bug is still present. I regret I have no further info to give you.