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20 Mar 2024

Noah Kahan, Dave Matthews Band Are Headlining the 2024 Pilgrimage Festival: See the Lineup

The star-packed lineup for this year’s Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival has been revealed, with Dave Matthews Band making a long-awaited return, alongside “Stick Season” hitmaker Noah Kahan, Hozier (who released the Brandi Carlile collab “Damage Gets Done” last year), and NEEDTOBREATHE as headliners. The festival will again return to The Park at Harlinsdale Farm in Franklin, Tennessee, on Sept. 28-29.

The Pilgrimage festival is known for its eclectic mix of performers, drawing from country, rock, Americana, folk and more. Others included on this yer’s bill are Better Than Ezra, Sierra Hull, Lukas Nelson, Allison Russell, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Chance Peña, Band of Heathens, The Cadillac Three, Charlie Worsham, Wyatt Ellis and Stephen Sanchez.

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“We are beyond proud to present this amazing lineup of talented musicians for Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival’s 10th anniversary,” ” said festival founders Kevin Griffin, W. Brandt Wood and Michael Whelan in a statement. “2024 promises to deliver so much of what has made this late-September festival weekend special over the last nine years. We look forward to sharing another memorable event with everyone who ‘makes the Pilgrimage’ to the Park at Harlinsdale Farm.”

Last year’s lineup featured Zach Bryan, The Lumineers, Ashley McBryde, The War and Treaty, and The Black Crowes.

Tickets go on sale Thursday (March 21) at 10 a.m. CT. Guests can select from 2-Day GA passes, 2-Day VIP passes, Single Day GA passes, and Single Day VIP passes, all of which can be purchased through the festival’s website. Parking passes will also be available for advance purchase.

Check out the official trailer for this year’s Pilgrimage Festival below:

20 Mar 2024

Intocable Is Back in Command on Regional Mexican Airplay Chart With ‘Ojalá Estuvieras Aquí’

Intocable returns to No. 1 on Billboard’s Regional Mexican Airplay chart as its latest single, “Ojalá Estuvieras Aquí,” climbs 6-1 on the March 23-dated list.

“We are incredibly grateful to our fans for their support and to Billboard for recognizing our music once again,” Ricardo Muñoz, lead singer of Intocable, tells Billboard.

“Ojalá Estuvieras Aquí,” released on Good Music I, takes the Greatest Gainer award on Regional Mexican Airplay, a weekly honor for the song with the largest increase in audience impressions. The song leads thanks to a robust 67% gain in audience impressions, to 8 million, earned in the U.S. during the March 8-14 tracking week, according to Luminate.

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“Ojalá” is the first single of the Texas group’s 16-track album, Modus Operandi, released Feb. 8. The song was written by Pablo Preciado (Matisse) and marks the return of the imprint sound of Intocable.

With the new No. 1, Intocable captures its 19th champ on Regional Mexican Airplay and ties with Banda MS de Sergio Lizarraga for the second-most rulers among all acts since the chart’s inception in 1994. The two acts trail only Calibre 50, who continues at the helm with 24 No. 1s on its chart account.

“Having our 19th song hit No. 1 is unbelievable,” Muñoz adds. “It’s a huge honor, and we feel lucky and humbled. ‘Ojalá Estuvieras Aquí’ is a song that holds a special place in our hearts, and we are thrilled to see it connect with audiences in such a meaningful way.”

As Intocable bags a new ruler, here’s a refreshed rundown of the artists with the most No. 1s on Regional Mexican Airplay:

  • 24, Calibre 50
  • 19, Banda MS de Sergio Lizarraga
  • 19, Intocable
  • 18, Banda El Recodo de Cruz Lizarraga
  • 17, La Arrolladora Banda el Limon de Rene Camacho
  • 16, Conjunto Primavera
  • 16, Los Tigres del Norte

As “Ojalá” takes Intocable to No. 1, it sends El Fantasma’s “El Exitoso” to No. 3, after one week in charge, with a 20% dip in impressions, to 6.65 million.

“Ojalá” dominates Regional Mexican Airplay a year and two months after Intocable last took over the Mexican radio ranking, when “Un Poquito Tuyo” advanced from the runner-up slot to lead the Jan. 14, 2023-dated list. In between, two songs reached a double No. 3 high: “No Se Vuelve a Repetir” (September 2023) and “Obsesión” (December 2023).

Further, “Ojalá” surges 21-2 on the overall Latin Airplay chart, the biggest ascension in 2024 thus far. It concurrently bests Intocable’s lasts three top 10s there and marks the group’s highest appearance since “Te Amo (Para Siempre)” landed at the summit, for one week in charge, in 2013.

The new No. 1 achievement on Regional Mexican Airplay lands as Intocable commemorates its 30-year career anniversary.

20 Mar 2024

Sexyy Red on Pace for Biggest Hot 100 Hit Yet With Viral Single ‘Get It Sexyy’

Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up column, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip. 
 
This week: Sexyy Red is once again the “Get-It” girl for the early year, while a risng Justin Timberlake tide lifts all *NSYNC and a Milwaukee rap phenom scores his first viral TikTok hit.

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Sexyy Red Continues to ‘Get It’ Into 2024



There was little question that Sexyy Red was one of the breakout rappers of 2023, with her “Pound Town,” “SkeeYee” and “Lookin’ for the Hoes” all proving viral sensations and her Hood’s Hottest Princess album demonstrating that she could keep up that single-level excitement for a full LP. But for all her success last year, Sexyy still hasn’t reached the top half of the Hot 100 with any of her own singles; her lone appearance in that region of the chart to date has come with her appearance (along with SZA) on Drake’s “Rich Baby Daddy,” a No. 11-peaking hit that spent 22 weeks on the listing before finally falling off this week.

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That might change next week with the debut of Sexyy Red’s new single, “Get It Sexyy,” released through Open Shift/gamma. The song, another collab with “Pound Town” producer Tay Keith, had been teased extensively on TikTok before its release on Friday (March 15), and also benefitted from the rapper’s internet-conquering performance at Rolling Loud over the weekend. With its riotous beat and shout-along hook, the song immediately took off on streaming, even rising to the No. 1 spot on Apple Music’s realtime chart on Saturday. The song racked up 8.4 million official on-demand U.S. streams in its first four days of release (March 15-18), according to Luminate, while climbing in streams from Sunday to Monday, implying that it may still only be gathering steam as a hit.

The song will likely make its debut on next week’s Hot 100 (dated March 30), and seems all but certain to pass the No. 62-peaking “SkeeYee” for the rapper’s biggest hit on the chart date — suggesting that even after her impressive 2023, things are only going to get Sexyy-er in hip-hop in 2024. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

*NSYNC’s Surprise Reunion (And New Song) Boost Boy Band’s Back Catalog



If “Better Place,” last year’s *NSYNC single for the Trolls Band Together soundtrack, was a delightful new treat after more than two decades without any music from the best-selling boy band, fans of the quintet are downright feasting this week. Not only do *NSYNC diehards have a sprawling new album from Justin Timberlake, Everything I Thought It Was, but that 77-minute opus also includes another new *NSYNC track, the heartfelt ballad “Paradise.” Plus, Timberlake brought out JC Chasez, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick at his pre-release Los Angeles show last Wednesday night (Mar. 13), for a surprise mini-set of *NSYNC hits like “Girlfriend” and “It’s Gonna Be Me.”

Naturally, the combination of the new track on Timberlake’s album and unexpected reunion gave *NSYNC’s full discography a healthy boost on streaming services last week. In the three days following the Los Angeles performance (Mar. 14-16), *NSYNC’s catalog earned 3.9 million on-demand U.S. streams — a figure that’s nearly 25% higher than the same period during the prior three days (3.1 million streams from Mar. 11-13), according to Luminate. No word on *NSYNC’s future from here, but with Timberlake beginning a world tour next month, let’s hope the boy band makes a few more appearances together before saying “Bye Bye Bye” for a while. – JASON LIPSHUTZ

Milwaukee Rapper J.P. Puts on for the Midwest With Viral Hit “Bad Bitty” 



Milwaukee has something to say. As hip-hop continues its love fest with the danceable bounce of Jersey club and later iterations of New York drill, Milwaukee rapper J.P. is injecting some Midwest flair into the conversation. His breakout single, “Bad Bitty,” collected 1.2 million official on-demand U.S. streams during the period of March 8-14, according to Luminate. That’s a whopping 170% increase in streaming activity from the 440,000 streams the song earned three weeks earlier, during the period of Feb. 16-22. “Bad Bitty” has increased in streams every week for the past three weeks, jumping nearly 75% between Feb. 16-22 and Feb. 23-29, and increasing a further 38% between March 8-14 and March 1-7. 

The Milwaukee rapper’s song has been exploding on TikTok for the past two weeks thanks to an aggressive campaign from the artist that includes intense fan engagement, simple head-bobbing choreography, and a meme involving the “noooo” ad-libs in the song’s chorus. In an interview with DJ Jerry, JP explained that he laid the foundation for “Bad Bitty” by beating the algorithm at its own game. As fellow Milwaukee emcee 414BigFrank scored his own viral hit with “Eat Her Up,” J.P. would make videos to that song while slowly trickling in videos featuring snippets of the then-unreleased “Bad Bitty.” Eventually, TikTok users flooded his comment section begging him to drop the full song, resulting in the track’s Feb. 9 street date. 

To further stoke the flames of virality, J.P.’s sexuality also became a hot topic on TikTok following a resurfaced picture of what appears to be him cozied up in matching pajamas with another man. Unsurprisingly, in typical Gen Z fashion, a majority of users could not care less and J.P.’s sexuality, taking the time to make separate TikTok posts pledging their allegiance to the rapper. Furthermore, J.P. himself commented on the situation during a TikTok live, saying, “I don’t like n—as, I just tapped that n—a.” The “controversy” has proven to be nothing but good press for both J.P. and “Bad Bitty,” underscoring a changing tide in younger generation’s attitude towards male rappers exploring their sexuality — and racking up a viral hit in the process. – KYLE DENIS

20 Mar 2024

4Batz & Drake’s ‘Act II’ Flies to No. 1 on Hot R&B Songs Chart

The challenger defeats the champion on Billboard’s Hot R&B Songs chart this week as rookie singer 4Batz’s “Act II: Date @ 8,” now featuring Drake, rockets 7-1 to crown the list dated March 23. The buzzy single’s rise comes after the release of a remix, which added the heavyweight, on March 8. In taking the summit, the new leader ends a historic run for SZA, who had reigned atop the chart for the last 53 weeks through four songs – “Kill Bill,” “Snooze,” a featured turn on Drake’s “Slime You Out” and “Saturn.”

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“Act II: Date @ 8” debuted on the chart dated Jan. 6 and spent its first 11 weeks on the list (including nine in the top 10) billed solely to 4Batz. With the majority of the song’s activity in the latest tracking week coming from the Drake-assisted remix, the song’s chart listing undergoes two key changes: The artist billing switches to “4Batz featuring Drake” and the servicing label, previously just 4Batz, is updated to 4Batz/OVO Sound. From a business perspective, 4Batz and Drake will be partners again soon, as Billboard reported the budding singer signed with OVO Sound — which Drake co-founded — for a one-EP deal.

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In the tracking week of March 8-14 for the multimetric Hot R&B Songs chart — which combines streaming, radio airplay and sales data — “Act II: Date @ 8” generated 19.9 million official U.S. streams, according to Luminate, a 187% burst from the week prior. The nearly tripled improvement shoots the track 6-1 on the R&B Streaming Songs chart, where it becomes 4Batz’s first champ on the list and Drake’s ninth. It also nabs the week’s Greatest Gainer honor, as the song with the largest streaming increase.

“Act II: Date @ 8” sold 1,000 digital downloads in the same period, sparking a No. 5 debut on R&B Digital Song Sales. The track also registered 8.4 million audience impressions, helped by gains on multiple radio charts: It climbs 19-16 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay (up 21% in plays during the tracking week) and 28-24 on Rhythmic Airplay (a 33% increase).

Elsewhere, “Act II: Date @ 8” powers 26-3 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, where it captures both the Sales Gainer and Streaming Gainer honors, and 61-7 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, with the Streaming Gainer prize to boot.

Though “Act II: Date @ 8” gets most of the shine, two other 4Batz installments also occupy spots on the Hot R&B Songs chart: “Act I: Stickerz 99” rebounds 24-19 in its seventh week on the list, while “Act III: On God (She Like)” slips 10-11 in its second frame.

20 Mar 2024

Black Panther & Captain America Butt Heads In First Trailer For ‘1943: Rise of Hydra,’ X Salutes Khary Payton

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'1943: Rise of Hydra' Features Khary Patyon As Black Panther

Source: Marvel / Skydance / 1943: Rise of Hydra

Marvel video game fans, we might have a banger! The first trailer for the Black Panther and Captain America game, now titled 1943: Rise of Hydra, is here and looks absolutely amazing.

We didn’t see what the Amy Hennig-led game looked like until now, as it was first unveiled during the Disney and Marvel Games Showcase during the D23 Convention in 2022 that was until now.

During the State of Unreal keynote, Marvel and Skydance New Media delivered an epic story trailer showcasing the power of Unreal Engine 5, and it’s f***ing awesome.

Per Kotaku via Marvel, the game’s narrative reads as follows:

As the game’s narrative unfolds, players will assume the role of four central characters: a young Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America; Azzuri, T’Challa’s grandfather and the WWII-era Black Panther; Gabriel Jones, a US soldier and member of the Howling Commandos; and Nanali, a Wakandan spy embedded in Occupied Paris.

In the gorgeous cinematic trailer for 1943: Rise of Hydra, we follow both Captain America and Black Panther as they take down Nazis in Paris. At the same time, Captain America is hunting Black Panther, and the two heroes eventually bump heads on a bridge, but we all know they will eventually team up at some point in the game.



We have no idea how this game will play, but the trailer has already hooked us.

Gamers Are H Y P E D

Gamers on X, formerly Twitter, have been sharing their reactions, specifically showing love to actor Khary Payton (The Walking Dead), who plays T’Challa’s grandfather Azuri, who carries the Black Panther mantle in the game.

We also have to salute the fact that we have not one, not two, but three lead Black protagonists in a AAA video game.

What a time to be alive.

Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra will be released in 2025 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Sorry, Nintendo Switch owners, you cannot take this ride.

You can see more reactions to the game in the gallery below.

2. SAY LESS!

3. We do too.

4. Yes, yes it is.

5. Video games have come a loooooonnnnnngggggg way.

6. He’s incredible

20 Mar 2024

Ye & Ty Dolla $ign Announce Egyptian Pyramids ‘Vultures’ Show

Ye — the artist formerly known as Kanye West — and Ty Dolla $ign are taking their talents to Egypt next month.

The rapper announced on Wednesday (March 20) that the next Vultures listening experience will be taking place at the Step Pyramid of Djoser on April 20. The show is set for a tentative start time of 8 p.m. locally in the desert of Saqqara, Egypt. There aren’t any other details regarding the show available at this time, but tickets are currently on sale. If the pair go through with it, Ye and Ty will be some of the first in rap to perform at the pyramids.

Travis Scott attempted to put together a show at Egypt’s nearby Great Pyramid of Giza last summer, but plans were eventually scrapped due to “production issues” after the Egyptian Musicians Syndicate reportedly revoked La Flame’s license to perform, citing “rituals” surrounding his artistic values that they believed contradicted Middle Eastern culture.

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“After examining social media opinions and feedback, as well as the news circulating on search engines and social media platforms, which included authenticated images and information about peculiar rituals performed by the star during his performance, contradicting our authentic societal values and traditions, the Syndicate’s president and board of directors have decided to cancel the license issued for hosting this type of concert, which goes against the cultural identity of the Egyptian people,” the Syndicate said at the time. 

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Scott pushed back against the notion and voiced that his music is meant to “unite” his fans around the globe. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” he replied in a statement last year. “My only intent with live performances is to unite people around the world over a shared bond in music.”

Only a few American artists have ever had the chance to perform at the pyramids, including the Grateful Dead in 1978 and Mariah Carey, who brought her five-octave vocal range to the Middle East in 2010.

On the rap side, Russ performed at the Pyramids of Giza in 2022. He’s also been spotted with Ye at various stops throughout the Vultures rollout.

After Ye and Ty Dolla earned a No. 1 album atop the Billboard 200 and “Carnival” topped the Billboard Hot 100, the Vultures duo is rolling into the sequel. However, Vultures 2‘s arrival remains murky after earlier tentative release date in March came and went.

Find Ye’s announcement below.

20 Mar 2024

Madonna & Her Twin Daughters Return to Malawi to Visit Singer’s Charity

Madonna took some time between her Celebration Tour stops to head back to Malawi.

The Queen of Pop took to her Instagram Stories on Tuesday (March 19) to share a series of photos and videos from the trip, which she took alongside her 11-year-old twin daughters Estere and Stella. Madonna adopted the duo in February 2017 from the East African country.

“#EstereAndStella @raisingmalawi,” Madonna wrote over one of the photos, in which the superstar is seen sitting in a chair, wearing a green shirt, camo pants and a straw hat. Estere and Stella, meanwhile, stand on either side of her rocking camo pants with black t-shirts and black jackets. The hashtag refers to her charity organization, Raising Malawi, which the “Vogue” singer founded in 2006 and works in “addressing the most critical needs of vulnerable children,” according to its website.

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Madonna is also mom to her daughters, 27-year-old Lourdes Leon and 18-year-old Chifundo “Mercy” James, as well as her sons, 23-year-old Rocco Ritchie and 18-year-old David Banda. Both Mercy and David were also born in Malawi.

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Last July, after the star’s hospitalization due to a bacterial infection, Madonna took to Instagram to share gratitude for her children. “As a Mother you can really get caught up In the needs Of your children and the seemingly endless giving,” she wrote. “But when the chips were down my children really showed up for me. I saw a side to them I had never seen before. It made all the difference.”

20 Mar 2024

It’s Not About the Equity, Baby: Griping About Private Equity Buying Music Catalogs Misses the Point

If you believe everything you read — and the state of U.S. politics suggests that, unfortunately, many people do — private equity has replaced money as the root of all evil. The truth, as usual, is a bit more complicated.

The latest piping hot take comes from The New York Times opinion section, in a piece that argues that “private equity is destroying our music ecosystem.” (No, not the ecosystem!) The problem seems to be that private equity, which often loads companies up with debt and can be unrealistic in its goals for returns — this much is true, although it’s not clear that public companies or other sources of capital are better — is “gobbling up the rights for old hits and pumping them back into our present.” This sounds downright grotesque, what with the gobbling and the pumping and so on, but it’s really just an ostentatious way to say that companies with money are buying creators’ rights as an investment.

This is bad for the ecosystem, the Times says, because the investors behind these deals — the most prominent example in the piece is Primary Wave’s purchase of 50% of Whitney Houston’s music and other rights — promote the songs they own in a way that somehow squeezes out new music. If that’s the case, though, they’re doing a terrible job of it. In 2023, a full 48% of U.S. on-demand audio streaming came from music released between 2019 and 2023, according to Luminate. A Billboard analysis of 2021 music consumption in the United States showed that music from after 2010 accounted for 78.7% of on-demand streaming, music released in or after 2000 accounted for 90% and all music recorded before 1980 accounted for fewer streams than Drake.

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This idea that new music is losing ground to old songs seems to come from a misunderstanding of catalog music, which consists of tracks released more than 18 months ago. The market share of catalog has never been higher — it was 72.6% last year, up from 65.1% in 2020, and it was much lower before streaming took off. But while many people associate catalog with classic rock — AC/DC, the Eagles and the ’60s and ’70s acts that dominated the category in the CD era — that’s an outdated idea. The music that drives this category isn’t that “deep catalog,” but rather what many executives call “shallow catalog” — releases from the last five or 10 years, often from artists who are still active. Some journalists see the size of some private equity deals and jump to the conclusion that classic rock is killing new music. Even by music business standards, though, this is bad math. When it comes to on-demand streaming, Drake isn’t only bigger than the Beatles — he’s more popular than all the music from the ’60s, plus the ’70s and the ’50s, combined.

The Times opinion essay gets the trend backward: Private equity doesn’t make songs popular, it buys songs that are steady in the popularity they already have. Even before music streaming got big, some investors realized that classic songs generate steady royalties that are far less vulnerable to market cycles than most assets. U.S. songwriters got more interested in selling their rights after 2006, when the IRS began to treat income from catalog sales as a capital gain, which is subject to a lower tax rate than personal income from publishing royalties. Streaming simply smoothed out the peaks and valleys of reissue revenue into predictable returns that appeal to investors — especially for songs that have stood the test of time.

Although private equity invests in song catalogs, it rarely manages them, and most of the executives who do come from the music business. (At least some of what they do now is not so different from what they did then.) For that matter, most of the ways the opinion piece says investors are “building extended multimedia universes around songs” aren’t quite as new as they seem. The Monkees and Alvin and the Chipmunks were both “multimedia universes” in their day, as was Tom T. Hall’s “Harper Valley PTA,” a country hit (for Jeannie C. Riley) that inspired a movie, a TV show, Spanish and Norwegian translations, and a sequel song. Nicki Minaj built her hit “Super Freaky Girl” around Rick James’ “Super Freak” — with encouragement from the 50% owner Hipgnosis Songs Fund, according to the Times — but James’ song was the basis for a hit back in the CD era. Remember “U Can’t Touch This?” Hammer time?

The radical thing about on-demand streaming is that most of the music ever made is now easily available, in a way that its popularity can be measured by consumption rather than purchase. And it has become clear that music from the last few years is more popular with listeners than industry executives thought, especially relative to brand-new and older music. When older songs do blow up big on streaming services, it often has less to do with promotion than serendipity — Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” returned to the Hot 100 in 2020 after a TikTok video of a skateboarder went viral and Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill hit No. 3 two years later after Stranger Things music supervisor Nora Felder decided it would be the perfect song to use as a plot device. And although many adults consider those songs classics, one reason they became hits again is that, from the perspective of younger fans, they are new. Isn’t this a good thing?

There are plenty of problems with streaming, including its low payments to most creators and the difficulty of breaking new acts. But neither of these has anything to do with private equity — the first comes from the way royalties are distributed and the reluctance of consumers to pay more for subscriptions, while the latter has more to do with how hard it is to stand out amid the sheer volume of new music that comes online every day. More serious discussion about these issues is important, but lamenting the fact that important creators earn so much money for the rights to their work isn’t the right way to start it.

20 Mar 2024

Billboard’s Forum on Spanish Language Music in Madrid: Best Photos

The first ever Forum on Spanish Language Music in Madrid, presented by the Community of Madrid and powered by Billboard, took place on Tuesday (March 19) at the WiZink Center.

The one day, invite-only event — attended by some 500 artists, managers and industry execs — sought to highlight the growing consumption of music in Spanish across continents, and featured four panel conversations, as well as a Q&A and performance by Argentine superstar Nicki Nicole.

The forum focused on the new generation of cross-continent, cross-genre, cross-focus Latin acts who are now dominating the charts and the fact that Madrid is an epicenter of that fluidity.

“Spain fully embraces its role as part of a new Latin music movement,” said Jorge “Pepo” Ferradas, who manages Colombian artist Camilo and Spanish artist Rels B, both of whom have had success on opposite sides of the Atlantic. He was part of a powerhouse panel that also featured Walter Kolm, founder of WK Entertainment and manager of Maluma and Carlos Vives, among others; Fede Lauria, founder of Dale Play Records and manager of Bizarrap and Nicki Nicole; Alex Gallardo, president of Sony Music U.S. Latin; and Rosa Lagarrigue, founder of RLM Entertainment and manager of Rozalen and Raphael.

Spanish icon Raphael had a one-on-one conversation with Leila Cobo; artists La Mala Rodríguez, Yotuel, Maikel Delacalle and Paula Cendejas sat down for a discussion on the current state of music; followed by an interview with conductor Luis Cobos, president of the newly minted Spanish Academy of Music.

Below, see the photos inside the Forum on Spanish Language Music in Madrid.

20 Mar 2024

Will Kacey Musgraves or Justin Timberlake Be Able to Out-’Shine’ Ariana Grande’s Second Week?

The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming Billboard 200 dated Mar. 30), Kacey Musgraves and Justin Timberlake both have much-anticipated new albums – but will they be well-received enough to take down Ariana Grande’s 2024 pace-setting set? 

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Ariana Grande, Eternal Sunshine (Republic): In its debut week, Ariana Grande’s seventh studio album moved an impressive 227,000 units in the U.S. March 8-14, according to Luminate. That’s not just up more than 50,000 units from Grande’s most recent first-week performance (for 2020’s Positions), but nearly 70,000 units higher than the previous best single-week performance of 2024 (the 149,000 posted by Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures 1 in its first frame). Needless to say, it landed at No. 1 last week by a decisive margin, and may not be moved from the top spot all that easily in its second week.  

In its second week, Eternal Sunshine will undoubtedly see a heavy drop-off in sales – it sold 77,000 copies in its first week – but its streaming activity should be considerable. As of Tuesday (Mar. 19), the album still had six songs in Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA’s top 40 and four in the Apple Music real-time top 40, led on both by “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love),” which bowed atop the Billboard Hot 100 and will remain one of the top-streamed songs in the country this week. It should be enough to ensure that a new album will need to post first-week units in the high five digits to unseat it at No. 1 next week. 

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Kacey Musgraves, Deeper Well (Interscope/MCA Nashville): Despite being one of the most acclaimed artists in country music for over a decade – and now an arena-touring, album of the year Grammy-winning crossover star as well – Kacey Musgraves has still yet to score a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200. Each of her four non-holiday studio albums has reached the chart’s top five, with her 2013 debut set Same Trailer, Different Park even getting to the runner-up spot. But she’s never quite gotten over the top – with her most recent charting effort, 2021’s lukewarmly received Star-Crossed, only making it to No. 3.  

Musgraves no doubt hopes that the fifth time is the charm with the release last Friday (Mar. 15) of her new set, Deeper Well, which pulls back a little on the multi-media (and multi-genre) ambitions of Star-Crossed for a lower-key, more gently introspective singer-songwriter vibe. The album should stream respectably – though not quite as well as Eternal Sunshine, even in that album’s second week – and should sell well, with nine vinyl variants of the LP currently available, including eight different-colored versions and exclusive variants for Target, Walmart, Spotify and Amazon, as well as four different CD versions, three different digital editions and a cassette.  

Justin Timberlake, Everything I Thought It Was (RCA): Unlike Musgraves, Justin Timberlake has visited the Billboard 200’s top spot – four times in a row, in fact – most recently with 2018’s Man of the Woods. It’s been over 20 years since Timberlake released an album that didn’t reach No. 1: his 2002 solo debut set Justified, which got stuck at No. 2 behind the Eminem-led 8 Mile soundtrack. However, JT’s No. 1 streak is at risk of coming to an end with his latest LP, the Friday-released Everything I Thought It Was.  

The album should sell fairly well, helped by four different vinyl LPs (including exclusives for Target, Amazon and his webstore) and three different CD box sets (each with a specific branded T-shirt) — as well as by a fairly successful lead single in the radio hit “Selfish,” which debuted at No. 19 on the Hot 100 and is still in the top 40 six weeks later. But the album’s streaming presence should be fairly minimal, even with an extensive 18-track runtime. Not one of the set’s cuts appeared in either the 200-spot Spotify Daily Top Songs USA or iTunes real-time charts in the day following its release – which may leave Timberlake looking up at Grande and Musgraves on the Billboard 200 next week.  

IN THE MIX 

Bossman Dlow, Mr Beat the Road (Alamo/Sony Music): Bossman Dlow has become one of the breakout rappers of early 2024, largely thanks to his viral hit “Get in With Me,” which has crossed over from TikTok to the top half of the Hot 100. That song can be found on the rapper’s new 22-track set Mr Beat the Road, along with still-growing streaming fixtures “Mr. Pot Scraper” and “Piss Me Off,” though whether Bossman can carry over the level of interest in his hits to a full album remains to be seen.  

Black Crowes, Happiness Bastards (Silver Arrow): The Brothers Robinson are back together again as co-pilots of Southern Rock staples the Black Crowes on new album Happiness Bastards, the duo’s first together in over a decade. It’s been three decades since the bros’ early-’90s commercial peak, but modern-day country gold-spinner Jay Joyce is behind the boards for the new set — which is available in three vinyl variants, as well as on standard and indie-exclusive CD.