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29 Sep 2024

Barbra Streisand Pays Tribute to Kris Kristofferson: ‘He Was Something Special’

Barbra Streisand has shared a heartfelt tribute to her A Star Is Born co-star Kris Kristofferson, who passed away at age 88 on Sept. 28.

Reflecting on their friendship and professional partnership, Streisand spoke of the qualities that made Kristofferson not just a talented performer, but also a deeply respected figure in both music and film.

“The first time I saw Kris performing at the Troubadour club in L.A., I knew he was something special,” Streisand wrote on social media. “Barefoot and strumming his guitar, he seemed like the perfect choice for a script I was developing, which eventually became A Star Is Born.”

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Their collaboration on the 1976 version of A Star Is Born became one of the most iconic moments in both of their careers. Streisand starred as Esther Hoffman, an aspiring singer whose career ascends as her lover, played by Kristofferson, spirals into self-destruction. Kristofferson’s portrayal of the troubled rock star John Norman Howard earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, while Streisand’s performance cemented her as a powerhouse in film and music.

In the film, the duo performed “Evergreen,” the love theme that Streisand herself had written for the movie. The song went on to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song, becoming a hallmark of their collaboration. Streisand fondly recalled the magic of their musical partnership: “In the movie, Kris and I sang the song I’d written for the film’s main love theme, ‘Evergreen.’”

Their chemistry on-screen translated into a genuine friendship that endured beyond the film’s success. Streisand reminisced about a memorable moment from her 2019 concert in London’s Hyde Park, where she invited Kristofferson to join her on stage.

“For my latest concert in 2019 at London’s Hyde Park, I asked Kris to join me on-stage to sing our other A Star Is Born duet, ‘Lost Inside Of You.’ He was as charming as ever, and the audience showered him with applause. It was a joy seeing him receive the recognition and love he so richly deserved,” she shared.

Their collaboration on A Star Is Born not only marked a significant moment in cinema but saw Kristofferson’s transition from country music star to acclaimed actor.

By the time he took on the role of John Norman Howard, Kristofferson was already well-established in the country music scene, having penned classics like “Me and Bobby McGee” and “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down.” His rugged charm made him a natural fit for the role, and his performance opposite Streisand brought a depth to the film that made it a lasting classic.

Streisand closed with a message of sympathy for Kristofferson’s family, particularly his wife of 40 years, Lisa. “My thoughts go to Kris’ wife, Lisa who I know supported him in every way possible,” she wrote.

Kristofferson’s career saw him secure 19 entries on the Billboard 200, including the No. 1 A Star is Born soundtrack alongside Streisand. He also claimed three No. 1 albums on the Top Country Albums chart, including Jesus Was a Capricorn and Full Moon with Rita Coolidge. His songwriting became legendary, with hits like “Me and Bobby McGee” (No. 1 for Janis Joplin), “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” (No. 1 for Johnny Cash), “For the Good Times” (No. 1 for Ray Price), and “Help Me Make It Through the Night” (No. 1 for Sammi Smith).

Read Barbra Streisand’s tribute to Kris Kristofferson below.

29 Sep 2024

Fans Choose Stevie Nicks’ ‘The Lighthouse’ as This Week’s Favorite New Music

Stevie Nicks‘ “The Lighthouse” tops this week’s new music poll.

Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (Sept. 27) on Billboard, choosing the rock icon’s fresh song as their favorite new music release of the past week.

The poll presented stiff competition, but Nicks’ new song brought in almost 72% of the vote. Voters this week chose “The Lighthouse” over hot new music releases from talent including Lady Gaga, The Weeknd and Playboi Carti, Rosalía featuring Ralphie Choo, and more.

“The Lighthouse,” Nicks stated upon releasing the track on Sept. 27, “may be the most important thing I ever do.”

“I have my scars, you have yours/ Don’t let them take your power,” she sings with skilled restraint, with verses leading up to a dynamic chorus that urges listeners to “see the future and get mad.”

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“I wrote this song a few months after Roe v. Wade was overturned,” wrote Nicks in a post on Instagram. “It seemed like overnight, people were saying ‘what can we, as a collective force, do about this…’ For me, it was to write a song.”

She continued, “It took a while because I was on the road. Then early one morning I was watching the news on TV and a certain newscaster said something that felt like she was talking to me~ explaining what the loss of Roe v. Wade would come to mean. I wrote the song the next morning and recorded it that night. That was September 6, 2022. I have been working on it ever since. I have often said to myself, ‘This may be the most important thing I ever do. To stand up for the women of the United States and their daughters and granddaughters ~ and the men that love them.”

“This is an anthem,” Nicks said.

Among the new music trailing behind “The Lighthouse” on this week’s poll is Lady Gaga’s Harlequin project, nearing 18% of the vote, and The Weeknd and Playboi Carti’s new collab “Timeless,” with 3% of the vote.

See the final results of this week’s poll below.


29 Sep 2024

Songs by Adele, Bob Dylan, Kendrick Lamar & More Blocked on YouTube in Dispute With SESAC

Until YouTube and performing rights organization SESAC reach an agreement on renewal terms of their expiring contract, consumers might find many of their favorite songs unplayable on the video streaming service.

Some (but not all) songs by artists including Adele, Mariah Carey, Bob Dylan, Green Day, Kendrick Lamar, Nirvana and R.E.M. were among those unavailable on YouTube over the weekend, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

At press time Sunday night (Sept. 29), Billboard can confirm hits like Adele’s “Hello” and “Someone Like You,” and R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion,” as just a few examples of music videos that remain unplayable on YouTube while its licensing deal with SESAC remains unsettled. When the page loads, an error message appears in place of a music video preview. The message reads, “Video unavailable. This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country.”

In a statement sent to Billboard, a YouTube spokesperson wrote, “We have held good faith negotiations with SESAC to renew our existing deal. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were unable to reach an equitable agreement before its expiration. We take copyright very seriously and as a result, content represented by SESAC is no longer available on YouTube in the US. We are in active conversations with SESAC and are hoping to reach a new deal as soon as possible.”

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Billboard reached out to SESAC but did not receive a response on Sunday.

SESAC, which licenses the public performance of more than 1.5 million songs, collects royalties and helps protect copyrights on behalf of thousands of songwriters and publishers in the U.S.

As THR points out, YouTube customer service has been addressing users’ frustrations in responses on X (formerly Twitter). On the TeamYouTube account, replies to complaints have read, “Our music license agreement with SESAC has expired without an agreement on renewal conditions despite our best efforts. For this reason, we have blocked content on YouTube in the US known to be associated with SESAC – as in line with copyright law … We understand this is a difficult situation and our teams continue to work on reaching a renewal agreement.”

29 Sep 2024

Matthew West & Brandon Lake Win Top Honors at 2024 ASCAP Christian Music Awards

Matthew West and Brandon Lake received top honors at the 47th annual ASCAP Christian Music Awards, which were held in downtown Nashville on Sunday (Sept. 29). West was named Christian music songwriter of the year. Lake won Christian music songwriter/artist of the year.

This is the sixth time West has been named ASCAP Christian music songwriter of the year. His most performed songs this year are “Any More,” “Don’t Stop Praying,” “Heaven Changes Everything,” “Never,” “Running Home” and “Strong.” In 2023, West received the ASCAP Golden Note Award.

West, 47, is a five-time Grammy nominee. He has released 15 albums, had cuts by such artists as Casting Crowns, Amy Grant, Scotty McCreery and Rascal Flatts, and penned six books. West’s Don’t Stop Praying Tour runs through November.

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Lake, 34, penned four most performed songs – “Fear Is Not My Future,” “Praise,” “Praise You Anywhere” and “Trust in God.” The five-time Grammy-winner recently released For the One: A Tour Documentary with Phil Wickham and is currently on his Tear Off the Roof Tour. He leads this year’s Dove Awards nominations with 16 nods, including artist of the year. Lake was ASCAP Christian music songwriter of the year in 2023.

“Thank God I Do,” co-written by Nate Ruess and published by Bearvon Music and Warner Chappell Music, won Christian music song of the year. The song was Lauren Daigle’s sixth No. 1 hit on Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart, holding the top spot for 20 weeks. Ruess was the 2015 recipient of the Hal David Starlight Award given by the Songwriters Hall of Fame, is a two-time Grammy winner as a member of the pop trio fun., and has had cuts by such artists as Keith Urban, P!nk, Halsey, Kesha, Maroon 5 and Ellie Goulding.

Essential Music Publishing won Christian music publisher of the year. Their most-played songs of the past year are “Any More,” “Don’t Stop Praying,” “Fear Is Not My Future,” “Never,” “Rescue,” “Running Home,” “Praise,” “Praise You Anywhere,” “Somebody to You,” “Strong,” “These Days” and “Trust in God.” Essential Music Publishing vp Jamie Rodgers accepted the award.

The event was hosted by ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews, chairman of the board and president Paul Williams, vp of Nashville membership Mike Sistad and Nashville assistant vp, Strategic Services, Kele Currier. Ben Glover, a five-time ASCAP Christian music songwriter of the year, kicked off the event with a performance.

A complete list of ASCAP Christian Music Award winners is available at ASCAP’s website.

29 Sep 2024

Kris Kristofferson, Country Songwriting Legend and Celebrated Actor, Dies at 88

Kris Kristofferson, a Rhodes scholar with a deft writing style and rough charisma who became a country music superstar and A-list Hollywood actor, has died.

Kristofferson died at his home in Maui, Hawaii, on Saturday (Sept. 28), spokeswoman Ebie McFarland said in an email. He was 88.

McFarland said Kristofferson died peacefully, surrounded by his family. No cause was given. He was 88.

Starting in the late 1960s, the Brownsville, Texas, native wrote such classics as “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” “For the Good Times” and “Me and Bobby McGee.” Kristofferson was a singer himself, but many of his songs were best known as performed by others, whether Ray Price crooning “For the Good Times” or Janis Joplin belting out “Me and Bobby McGee.”

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He also starred opposite Ellen Burstyn in director Martin Scorsese’s 1974 film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, starred opposite Barbra Streisand in the 1976 A Star Is Born and acted alongside Wesley Snipes in Marvel’s Blade in 1998.

Kristofferson, who could recite William Blake from memory, wove intricate folk music lyrics about loneliness and tender romance into popular country music. With his long hair and bell-bottomed slacks and counterculture songs influenced by Bob Dylan, he represented a new breed of country songwriters along with such peers as Willie Nelson, John Prine and Tom T. Hall.

“There’s no better songwriter alive than Kris Kristofferson,” Nelson said during a November 2009 award ceremony for Kristofferson held by BMI. “Everything he writes is a standard and we’re all just going to have to live with that.”

Kris Kristofferson

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As an actor, he played the leading man opposite Barbara Streisand and Ellen Burstyn, but also had a fondness for shoot-out Westerns and cowboy dramas.

He was a Golden Gloves boxer and football player in college, received a master’s degree in English from Merton College at the University of Oxford in England and turned down an appointment to teach at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, to pursue songwriting in Nashville. Hoping to break into the industry, he worked as a part-time janitor at Columbia Records’ Music Row studio in 1966 when Dylan recorded tracks for the seminal Blonde on Blonde double album.

At times, the legend of Kristofferson was larger than real life. Cash liked to tell a mostly exaggerated story of how Kristofferson, a former U.S. Army pilot, landed a helicopter on Cash’s lawn to give him a tape of “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” with a beer in one hand. Over the years in interviews, Kristofferson said that with all respect to Cash, while he did land a helicopter at Cash’s house, the Man in Black wasn’t even home at the time, the demo tape was a song that no one ever actually cut — and he certainly couldn’t fly a helicopter holding a beer.

In a 2006 interview with The Associated Press, he said he might not have had a career without Cash.

“Shaking his hand when I was still in the Army backstage at the Grand Ole Opry was the moment I’d decided I’d come back,” Kristofferson said. “It was electric. He kind of took me under his wing before he cut any of my songs. He cut my first record that was record of the year. He put me on stage the first time.”

One of his most recorded songs, “Me and Bobby McGee,” was written based on a recommendation from Monument Records founder Fred Foster. Foster had a song title in his head called “Me and Bobby McKee,” named after a female secretary in his building. Kristofferson said in an interview in the magazine, Performing Songwriter that he was inspired to write the lyrics about a man and woman on the road together after watching the Frederico Fellini film La Strada.

Joplin, who had a close relationship with Kristofferson, changed the lyrics to make Bobby McGee a man and cut her version just days before she died in 1970 from a drug overdose. The recording became a posthumous No. 1 hit for Joplin.

Hits that Kristofferson recorded include “Why Me,” “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do),” “Watch Closely Now,” “Desperados Waiting for a Train,” “A Song I’d Like to Sing” and “Jesus Was a Capricorn.”

In 1973, he married fellow songwriter Rita Coolidge and together they had a successful duet career that earned them two Grammy awards. They divorced in 1980.

He retired from performing and recording in 2021, making only occasional guest appearances on stage.

29 Sep 2024

Spotify Back After Brief Outage

The music streaming service Spotify was down temporarily on Sunday (Sept. 29), leaving thousands of listeners without access to tunes and podcasts earlier in the day.

More than 40,000 people reported outages with the music platform on downdetector.com, a website that allows users to report problems with popular apps and services. The highest amount of reported outages came in just after 12 p.m. ET. As of 5 p.m. ET, the number of outages reported on the website dropped to 351.

Spotify wrote on X Sunday afternoon, “We’re aware of some issues right now and are checking them out!”

Responding to the post, Spotify users complained about the outage disrupting workout routines and plans to stream a playlist at a child’s birthday party.

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About an hour later, the streaming service posted that everything was looking much better. The app appeared to be working normally.

Millions of people use Spotify, which was the largest streaming service in 2023. The music platform reports having more than 626 million users, with 246 million subscribers.

According to MusicWatch, Billboard recently reported, Spotify ranks behind only Amazon Prime in terms of subscriber passion. When the economy gets rough, Spotify users are relatively unlikely to cancel their plans.   

Last week, Spotify announced The Weeknd has the most songs — a total of 18 — to hit 1 billion streams on Spotify, as of Sept. 24.

The Weeknd broke a 17-song tie with Drake with the title track of his fourth studio album, After Hours. Meawhile, the set’s Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Blinding Lights” was revealed to be the most streamed song on Spotify, with nearly 4.5 billion streams.

29 Sep 2024

Hideo Kojima Provides An Update on ‘Death Stranding 2: On The Beach’s Release Date & Reveals The Game’s Impressive Photo Mode

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TGS (Tokyo Game Show) has come and gone, and we got a minor update on Hideo Kojima’s next video game opus, Death Stranding 2: On The Beach.

We have no idea when Death Stranding 2: On The Beach will arrive, which makes us all want a PS5 Pro. Hideo Kojima knows the game’s release date but can’t tell us yet due to “unforeseen circumstances.”

During a panel for the forthcoming sequel to his post-apocalyptic walking simulator, which stars Norman Reedus as the game’s main protagonist, Sam Porter Bridges, Kojima revealed that he could yet give a firm release date “in preparation” for the release date. Still, we can expect it to arrive at “some point next year.”

“I haven’t said the release date today, but the release date has already been decided, and I’m currently working on it in preparation for that,” VGC reports.

He continued, “Since we are talking about 2025, it will be released next year, so we will announce it at some point next year. But, due to some unforeseen circumstances, we cannot announce it today.”

The panel also featured roughly 20 minutes of gameplay footage that also showed off DS2’s photo mode, which looks like it will probably take the title of the greatest photo mode ever.

We also learned that Elle Fanning will be joining the all-star cast for the game as a character named Tomorrow. Joining Reedus and Mad Max director George Miller.

Kojima Hints At His Age Catching Up With Him

Kojima didn’t reveal those “unforeseen circumstances,” but he admitted to not being at his best due to his age.

“Yes, I got tired today, and my back still hurts. So, I’m gonna watch a movie by a director I love. I guess I’m getting old,” Kojima wrote on his English account on X, formerly Twitter.

Kojima’s back could be hurting for having to carry the industry on his back for so long.

Just saying.

You can see more reactions in the gallery below.

1. This merch is sick!

2. Hideo Kojima continues to innovate in the video game space

3. This is so crazy

4. Kojima the goat!

5. We all do!

29 Sep 2024

Frances Bean Cobain and Husband Riley Hawk Welcome Baby Boy

Congratulations are in order for Frances Bean Cobain and her husband, Riley Hawk, who have welcomed their first child together.

The daughter of late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain revealed through Instagram on Saturday (Sept. 28) that she and the son of skateboarding legend Tony Hawk are now proud parents to a baby boy.

“Ronin Walker Cobain Hawk,” Frances, 32, captioned adorable black-and-white photos of the newborn, revealing he was born on Sept. 17. “Welcome to the world most beautiful son. We love you more than anything.”

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In the first photo, the tiny baby is seen holding his mother’s hand, while another shows proud dad Riley, 31, cradling his son in a soft blanket.

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The couple’s friends and family flooded the comments section of France’s post, sharing messages of well-wishes and congratulations. New grandfather Tony Hawk joked, “My favorite grandson!” and Harper Grohl, the daughter of the Kurt’s former bandmate Dave Grohl, replied with heart and teary-eyed emojis.

The comments section also included touching notes from famous musicians, including R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon and Dresden Dolls’ Amanda Palmer, among others.

“With all the love and energy in the whole world,” commented Stipe, who is France’s godfather. Gordon added, “Huge congratulations!” And Palmer wrote, Oh my god!!! MAZEL TOV to all of you and everyone over there. I am so incredible happy to see this universe-stitching news. All the love to you.”

Frances and Riley’s romance was first revealed through social media in 2022, and the couple married about a year later in an intimate ceremony officiated by R.E.M.’s Stipe.

See France Bean Cobain’s baby announcement on Instagram here.

29 Sep 2024

Future Scores Third No. 1 Album in Six Months as ‘Mixtape Pluto’ Debuts Atop Billboard 200

Future notches his 11th No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart — and third in 2024 — as Mixtape Pluto debuts atop the list dated Oct. 5. The long-teased set’s Sept. 20 release date was announced on Sept. 11. Mixtape Pluto earned 129,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 26, according to Luminate, largely driven by streaming activity.

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Future scored two No. 1s earlier in 2024 with his two co-billed sets with Metro Boomin: We Don’t Trust You (a debut atop the April 6 chart) and We Still Don’t Trust You (also debuting at No. 1, April 27). The last act to notch three new No. 1 albums faster than Future — who has earned his three latest in a span of just six months — was the Glee Cast, which notched three chart-topping soundtracks in less than two months in 2010. If one discounted the Glee titles, as they were soundtracks and not traditional artist-driven albums, the last act to notch three new No. 1s as fast as Future was The Beatles in 1965-66. The Fab Four collected its fifth, sixth and seventh No. 1 albums also in a span of six months, as Beatles VI hit No. 1 on the July 10, 1965 chart, followed by the Help! soundtrack on Sept. 11 and then Rubber Soul on Jan. 8, 1966. (Since the Billboard 200 began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March of 1956, no other solo artist has accumulated three new No. 1s as fast as Future.)

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With an 11th No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Future ties Eminem, Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand and Ye (formerly Kanye West) for the fifth-most No. 1s on the Billboard 200, dating to March 1956. Ahead of them are The Beatles (a record 19 No. 1s), Jay-Z and Taylor Swift (each with 14) and Drake (13).

Also in the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200 chart, Chappell Roan scores her best week yet in terms of units and album sales, as The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess returns to its peak of No. 2 in the wake of promotion surrounding its first anniversary. Plus, Katy Perry lands her sixth top 10 with the arrival of 143, and Lil Tecca nabs his fourth top 10-charting set with the debut of Plan A.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Oct. 5, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (Oct. 1). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Of Mixtape Pluto’s first-week equivalent album units of 129,000, SEA units comprise 118,500 (equaling 156.62 million on-demand official streams of the 17 songs on the streaming edition of the album; it debuts at No. 1 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 10,000 and TEA units comprise 500. The album was available to purchase either as a standard 11-song album (via download, CD and vinyl) or as an expanded 17-song album (download).

Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess rises 3-2 on the Billboard 200 for a third nonconsecutive week at its peak position. The set earned 105,000 equivalent album units in the tracking week (up 64%) — it’s biggest week yet by units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise a career weekly-best 56,000 (up 328%; it’s also the top-selling album of the week, reaching No. 1 on Top Album Sales for the first time). The week-over-week growth is owed to the release of four new vinyl variants and a cassette tape in celebration of the album’s first anniversary on Sept. 22. Of the album’s sales, vinyl comprises 50,000 — easily Roan’s best week on vinyl and the sixth-largest week for any vinyl album in 2024.

Sabrina Carpenter’s former No. 1 Short n’ Sweet slips 2-3 on the Billboard 200 with 100,000 equivalent album units earned (down 7%); Post Malone’s chart-topping F-1 Trillion is a non-mover at No. 4 (53,000; down 12%), and Morgan Wallen’s former leader One Thing at a Time is steady at No. 5 (53,000; up 2%).

Katy Perry lands her sixth top 10-charting effort on the Billboard 200 as her new studio album 143 debuts at No. 6. The set earned 48,000 equivalent album units in the tracking week ending Sept. 26. Of that sum, album sales comprise 37,500 (her best sales week since 2017), SEA units comprise 10,000 (equaling 13.11 million streams of the album’s songs) and TEA units comprise 500. The album’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across eight vinyl variants (including a signed edition), four CD variants (including a signed edition), a cassette tape and multiple digital download variants (including two exclusive to her webstore, each with bonus tracks).

The album was preceded by a trio of songs, including its first single, “Woman’s World,’ which reached the top 30 on the Pop Airplay, Adult Pop Airplay and Adult Contemporary radio charts.

Taylor Swift’s chart-topping The Tortured Poets Department falls 6-7 on the latest Billboard 200 (47,000 equivalent album units; down 9%), while Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft is steady at No. 8 (45,000; up 2%).

Lil Tecca captures his fourth top 10-charting set on the Billboard 200 as Plan A arrives at No. 9 with 42,000 equivalent album units earned — his biggest week by units since 2019. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 28,500 (equaling 40.45 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 13,500 (his best sales week ever) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The set’s sales were aided by its availability in two CD variants (including a signed edition) and multiple digital download variants (including three exclusive to the artist’s webstore, two of which included bonus tracks).

The album was preceded by a pair of charting songs on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs: “Number 2” (peaking at No. 45) and “Bad Time” (No. 25).

Closing out the top 10 of the new Billboard 200 is Noah Kahan’s Stick Season, falling 9-10 with 38,000 equivalent album units earned (down 1%).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

29 Sep 2024

Issa Rae Is Reportedly Done Working With Amanda Seales

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Issa Rae

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Issa Rae confirmed that she has no interest in working with Amanda Seales in a recent appearance in New York.

It looks as if there will be no future collaborations between Insecure star and writer Issa Rae and former co-star Amanda Seales, based on comments Rae recently made. The Breakfast Club aired comments that were recorded at an event for Viarae, the star’s prosecco brand, which was held in Brooklyn, New York. In the clip, Rae was asked if there was anyone whom she would never work with again. “I mean, anybody who’s on a podcast to talk shit about me,” she responded at the 2:03 mark, adding: “I’ve had great experiences with everybody I’ve worked with though. So for the most part, like, I’m always grateful when people come back.”

The audience immediately went into a frenzy, realizing that Rae was likely referring to Seales, who in her appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast in April said she was done protecting Issa because she felt she wasn’t vested in the best interests of Black women overall. Seales referred to the 2019 incident between her and Rae’s publicist, Vanessa Anderson, when Anderson requested that Seales be removed from an Emmy Awards party Rae was hosting. Seales then recalled that Rae called her directly to express that the ejection was not her doing and arranged a phone call between Anderson and Seales to patch things up.

Seales would go on to state that Rae’s failure to promote her show, Get Your Life (which was under Rae’s HOORAE Media) and Anderson initiating a “smear campaign” against her that Rae didn’t intervene in left tensions on the Insecure set heightened and made her feel unprotected while there.

“They keep saying, you know, that I’m this mean girl on this set, that I harmed these people on this set,” Seales said. “I just want to point out something very basic. How can I be a mean girl on a set that ain’t my set? How? It’s your show. You are my boss. I don’t even have the capacity to be the mean girl here because you can fire me,” she added, continuing: “So there’s no way for me to be a mean girl in this situation. And I know some people that may buck up against, like, the confirmation bias that they’ve created, but it simply is the truth.”