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Tracy Chapman’s Original Version of ‘Fast Car’ Sent to Radio by Label Following Grammy Performance

Tracy Chapman‘s 36-year-old original version of “Fast Car” is coming to radio again.

One of the most beloved moments at the Feb. 4 Grammy Awards was a rare public performance from Chapman, who collaborated with country artist Luke Combs for a duets version of the song. Originally a hit for Chapman in 1988, Combs’ version brought about a chart resurgence of the song last year.

Now, Rhino Records is servicing Chapman’s song to adult alternative, adult contemporary, Americana, classic hits, classic rock, college and non-commercial formats, according to a source. The recording originally came out on Elektra but now falls under Warner Music Group’s catalog division handled by Rhino.

Rhino is also servicing the video of the pair’s Grammy performance and asking radio stations to add the clip to their socials and websites, but there are no plans to make a quality audio version of the clip available to radio.

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Following Chapman and Combs’ duet at the Grammys, the original version of “Fast Car” earned 6 million official U.S. streams from Feb. 2 to Feb. 8, marking a 153% rise, according to Luminate. “Fast Car” also earned 35,000 digital downloads, elevating it to the top of the Digital Song Sales chart for the first time.

On Monday (Feb. 5), the day immediately following the Grammys performance, “Fast Car” earned 949,000 official on-demand streams — a 241% increase from the 278,000 it earned the previous Monday (Jan. 29). The song also saw its digital sales surge, rising 38,400% from “a negligible amount to nearly 14,000,” Billboard previously reported on Feb. 7. Combs also saw streams of his version rise 37% to nearly 1.6 million while it was up nearly 3,900% in sales to just over 6,000.

Chapman’s original “Fast Car” also re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 this week, landing at No. 42. Her version had previously appeared on the Hot 100 in October 1988, peaking at No. 6. Combs’ version reached No. 2 on the same chart in 2023.

Assistance in reporting this story was provided by Melinda Newman.

Kanye West Calls Taylor Swift & Beyoncé “Big Inspirations,” Sexyy Red Gives Birth & More | Billboard News

Kanye West posted a message on his social media seemingly praising Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. Drake drops the video for his track “Rich Baby Daddy” where Sexyy Red is seen going into labor. Shakira announced her new album ‘Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran’ is coming in March. Maná is Billboard Español’s newest cover stars! Fher Olvera sat down with Billboard’s Leila Cobo to talk through the band’s tour, writing their hit tracks, their new album and more!

Tetris Kelly
Kanye, Beyoncé and Taylor part 2 plus March music madness and a labor inducing music video, we break down the top songs on TikTok, Billboard ranks Bob Marley’s best songs. You have a chance to see a ILLENIUM at South by Southwest and we sit down with the lead singer of Maná for the cover of Billboard. Welcome back to Billboard News, I’m Tetris Kelly it’s Thursday, February 15th. There’s so much going on and we’ve only got so much time. So here’s three of the top stories for today. Now that Beyoncé has a new track eyeing the No. 1 spot and so does Ye. Swifties were aiming to support Beyoncé just the block the problematic rapper he posted about Tay, “She and Beyoncé are big inspirations to all musicians. We always say how both sell out tours and movies. Also, I’m sure I’ve been far more helpful to Taylor Swift career than harmful. To all Taylor Swift Fans. I’m not your enemy. I’m not your friend either though. lol.” I say all is fair in stan wars and I’m sure the best song will come out on top. Drake is used to topping the charts and he’s got the people talking with his new video for “Rich Baby Daddy” where Sexyy Red goes into labor.

Watch the full video above!

2024 Grammy Performance Videos Are Now Rolling Out on YouTube & More After 10 Days of Limited Availability

Grammy telecast performance videos are rolling out on YouTube and other sites following a 10-day window in which most were available for viewing only on select sites.

All cleared Grammy performances were previously approved for posting on Grammy.com and CBS.com as well as on The Recording Academy, CBS and artists’ and labels’ Instagram and Facebook accounts for 10 days, according to the Academy. After this 10-day run, they are approved to also post on other platforms including YouTube. This is the third year the Academy has had a “first-dibs” deal with Meta, which owns and operates Facebook and Instagram.

The Recording Academy posted the vast majority of Grammy-night performances on Grammy.com on Feb. 6, two days after the ceremony at Crypto.com Arena in L.A. The videos are featured in a post headlined “Watch All the Performances From The 2024 GRAMMYs: Tracy Chapman & Luke Combs, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo & More.”

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That post included all but three performances from the three-and-a-half-hour Grammy telecast. Missing are Travis Scott’s “My Eyes,” “I Know?” and “So Fe!n” (the latter song featuring Playboi Carti); Billy Joel’s “You May Be Right” (featuring Laufey); and Stevie Wonder and Tony Bennett’s “For Once in My Life” and “The Best Is Yet to Come” from the extended In Memoriam segment.

“We get permission from artists and their teams prior to posting any post-show performances,” says an Academy spokesperson. “We do not obligate these [permissions as a condition for] performing on the telecast. Approvals are all secured following the live telecast for individual performances.”

Another Joel performance (his new single “Turn the Lights Back On”) is in the bundle of videos that went up on Grammy.com. Additionally, three other tributes from the extended In Memoriam segment are included: Annie Lennox’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” (featuring Wendy & Lisa), Fantasia Barrino’s “Proud Mary” and Jon Batiste’s “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Lean on Me” and “Optimistic.” Missing completely is Scott, who was nominated for best rap album for Utopia, but lost, in an upset, to Killer Mike’s Michael. Scott’s track record at the Grammys currently stands at 0-10.

Two songs that were performed at this year’s Premiere Ceremony, the event preceding the Grammy telecast where the vast majority of awards are presented, are also in the bundle of clips available on Grammy.com. They are “Luna de Xelajú” by Gaby Moreno & El David Aguilar and a cover of Prince & the Revolution’s “Let’s Go Crazy” by Pentatonix, J. Ivy, Larkin Poe, Jordin Sparks and Sheila E.

In addition to the videos already mentioned, the bundle also includes Tracy Chapman & Luke Combs’ “Fast Car” (which Chapman previously performed at the close of the 1989 Grammy telecast), Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides, Now” (which, remarkably, was her first performance ever on the Grammys), U2’s “Atomic Bomb” (live from the Sphere in Las Vegas) and Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” (which she is expected to perform again at the Oscars on Mar. 10).

Also in the bundle are Dua Lipa’s “Training Season” and “Houdini”; Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers”; SZA’s “Snooze” and “Kill Bill”; Olivia Rodrigo’s “vampire”; and a three-song set from Burna Boy, 21 Savage and Brandy: “On Form,” “City Boys” and “Sittin’ on Top of the World.”

Grammy telecast performances weren’t widely available after Music’s Biggest Night until 1994, when the Recording Academy released 47 of them on a four-CD set entitled Grammy’s Greatest Moments through Atlantic Records. There were corresponding videotapes released (through A*Vision Entertainment) for the first two CDs in the set. I wrote the liner notes for those four CDs, which included such prized performances as Aretha Franklin’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (from the first live Grammy telecast in 1971), Barbra Streisand & Neil Diamond’s “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” (1980) and Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do With It” (1985).

In 1996, a live performance from that year’s Grammy telecast was released as a single that became a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know,” recorded live on Feb. 28 at the 38th annual Grammy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, was released as a double-A-sided single with “You Learn.” The single debuted and peaked at No. 6 that July 27.

Dua Lipa’s ‘Training Season’ Is in Session: Stream It Now

Dua Lipa doesn’t have time for anything below her standards for a partner. The pop superstar unveiled her new single, “Training Season,” on Thursday (Feb. 15).

Lipa announced the single last month in a clip posted to her TikTok, declaring that she’s very tired of mediocre men. “I need someone to hold me close, deeper than I’ve ever known/ Whose love feels like a rodeo, knows just how to take control,” she sings over a pounding beat.

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The singer also shared a statement, revealing that the song was inspired by a series of unimpressive dates. “The last one was the final straw,” she wrote. “The next morning I arrived to the studio to Caroline [Ailin] and Tobias [Jesso Jr.] asking me how it all went and I immediately declared ‘TRAINING SEASON IS OVER,’ and like the best ‘day after’ debriefs with your mates, we had a lot of laughs and it all quickly came together from there.” 

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She continued, “While it is obviously about that feeling when you are just absolutely done telling people … men specifically in this case, how to date you right; it is also about my training season being over and me growing with every experience,” she wrote. “I have never felt more confident, clear or empowered. And while it may be that training season is never over for any of us, you start to see the beauty in finding that person to experience it with.”

She went on to premiere the single at the 2024 Grammy Awards earlier this month.

Lipa’s last album was 2020’s Future Nostalgia, which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. The nostalgic pop and disco set was nominated for album of the year and won best pop vocal album at the 2021 Grammy Awards. Its lead single “Don’t Start Now” was nominated for record and song of the year as well as best pop solo performance.

Listen to “Training Season” below.

Kanye West’s ‘Vultures 1’ Already Has a New Distributor

Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign‘s collaborative album Vultures 1 moved between distribution companies on Thursday (Feb. 15), starting the day with FUGA and then moving over to Label Engine.

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Label Engine, a distribution company acquired by Create Music Group in 2015, had previously put out the two lead singles from Vultures 1. Confusingly, however, the album then arrived via FUGA.

A FUGA spokesperson told Billboard on Thursday that “a long-standing FUGA client delivered the album Vultures 1 through the platform’s automated processes, violating our service agreement.” As a result, the company said it planned “to remove Vultures 1 from our systems.” This created some turbulence for West’s release, which was briefly pulled off Apple Music and iTunes before it reappeared.

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The album’s new home, Label Engine, was founded by Rich Billis; in 2022, he said that “over 1,500 labels and a total of over 90,000 artists” use his company for distribution.

Billis said the company built its client base in part because “we had a very low [distribution] rate which was 15%, compared to 25% (what a lot of other distributors were charging).”

“We also provided free use of all the accounting and promotion tools I had created,” he continued. “That seemed to do very well. We quickly acquired customers and grew quite quickly in the upcoming years. From there, we got purchased by Create Music Group, which was a client of ours for a year or so. That’s when I took over as CTO of Create Music Group.”

On Wednesday, Spotify also removed the song “Good (Don’t Die)” from Vultures 1 after Donna Summer‘s estate complained it interpolated the singer’s work without permission, as did Amazon Music and Apple Music later, too.

But despite the hiccups around the new album release, listeners continue to seek it out. The song “Carnival” is No. 1 on Spotify’s Daily Top Songs Global chart, picking up nearly 6 million daily streams on the service. “Burn” and “FUK SUMN” are also in the top 20.

Which of Megan Thee Stallion’s Billboard Hot 100 Hits is Your Favorite? Vote!

Since February began, Megan Thee Stallion scored a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, unveiled a partnership with Nike, inked a distribution deal with Warner Music and celebrated her birthday — that’s some serious hot girl s–t right there.

And in honor of the Houston rapper turning 29 Thursday (Feb. 15), Billboard wants to know: of all the entries Meg has scored on the Hot 100, which one has been your favorite?

There’s certainly a lot to choose from. In total, the Dicks: The Musical star has landed 32 songs on the chart to date — 17 of which made it to the top 40, four of which landed in the top 10 and three of which reached the summit. She made her first appearance on the Hot 100 in April 2019 with “Big Ole Freak,” which peaked at No. 65 that May. Almost exactly one year later, she went No. 1 for the first time ever thanks to her viral single-turned-Grammy-winning Beyoncé duet “Savage.”

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Later that year, her larger-than-life collaboration with Cardi B, “WAP,” became her second track to peak atop the Hot 100. And flash forward to present day, the birthday girl’s latest single “Hiss” has conquered the ranking.

“Thank you thank you thank you !” she tweeted earlier this month after discovering that the snake-themed song had gone No. 1. “Thank you GOD, Thank you MAMA HOLLY, Thank you to EVERYONEEEEE that took the time out of their week to go hard and make this happen.”

Which of Meg’s entries on the Hot 100 is your favorite? Tell us by voting below.

Top 3 Bob Marley Songs You Should Listen To | Billboard News

Billboard is highlighting the top 3 Bob Marley songs you should check out from our list of the 30 best Bob Marley songs not on the 1984 compilation album ‘Legend.’

Tetris Kelly
With new movie ‘One Love’ in theaters everybody is listening to Bob Marley, Billboard has listed the top 30 Bob Marley songs that aren’t on his ‘Legend’ compilation and we’re giving you three to check out.

Tetris Kelly
In “Blackman Redemption” to get the introduction of the popular Jamaican phrase “Cool Runnings” nearly a decade before the Jamaican bobsled team made history at the Olympics, and were immortalized in the 1993 classic film. “Trenchtown Rocks” never wound up on any of Bob’s studio albums existing largely through live versions, but contains one of his most popular quote.

Tetris Kelly
Some could say “So Much Things to Say” is one of Marley’s most famous songs not to be included on the ‘Legend’ album. This song is without a doubt a top five Wailers’ track, when Bob could say so much through so little.

Tetris Kelly
For the full list of Bob Marley’s best songs best songs head to Billboard.com.

Benson Boone Reaches No. 1 on Streaming Songs Chart With ‘Beautiful Things’

Benson Boone reaches No. 1 for the first time on Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart, as “Beautiful Things” lifts 5-1 on the Feb. 17-dated ranking.

In the Feb. 2-8 tracking week, “Beautiful Things” earned 22.8 million official U.S. streams, according to Luminate. That’s up 23% from the previous frame (Jan. 26-Feb. 1), when the song accumulated 18.5 million streams.

The song premiered at No. 5 on the Feb. 3-dated survey via 15.7 million streams, meaning the song has gained by at least 18% in streams in every week since its release so far (it debuted on streaming platforms on Jan. 18 following a multi-week tease on TikTok).

Boone’s No. 1 on Streaming Songs makes him the first act to snag their first ruler on the chart as a lead artist since Doja Cat, whose “Paint the Town Red” reigned in October 2023.

As Doja Cat had a multi-song history on Streaming Songs prior to her first No. 1, unlike Boone, Boone becomes the first to top the list in their first appearance as a lead act since Oliver Anthony Music, with “Rich Men North of Richmond,” in September 2023.

The other claim to fame for Boone is that “Beautiful Things” is the first song of 2024 to rise to No. 1 for its first reign on Streaming Songs rather than debuting there. The last song to do that was Jack Harlow’s “Lovin on Me,” which reached the top in its second week (Dec. 2, 2023) after debuting at No. 2 the week before.

Concurrently, as previously reported, “Beautiful Things” jumps 8-3 on the multi-metric Billboard Hot 100. In addition to its streams, the song earned 3.4 million radio audience impressions, (up 321%) and 9,000 downloads (up 15%). Early airplay success has been courtesy of the Adult Pop Airplay (No. 28) and Pop Airplay (No. 32) charts.

The tune also tops the Global 200 for the first time.

“Beautiful Things” is currently a standalone single for Boone, who’s released two EPs, Walk Me Home… (2022) and Pulse (2023).

1 Dead, 23 Injured In Shooting At Kansas City Chiefs Parade

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Shooting At Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl Victory Parade Leaves Multiple People Injured

Source: Jamie Squire / Getty

Tragedy struck the Super Bowl celebration parade of the Kansas City Chiefs after a shooting left one person dead and multiple injured victims.

On Wednesday (February 14), fans of the Kansas City Chiefs had assembled outside of Union Station, the 19th-century rail depot-turned-shopping center and science hall located in the downtown area after the parade honoring the team’s Super Bowl LVIII win in Las Vegas. According to police reports, shots were fired on the west side of Union Station at 2 P.M. sending the gathered crowd of nearly a million people fleeing. When police regained control, one person was pronounced dead and twenty victims were rushed to the area hospitals. Eleven children were among those shot. The deceased victim was later identified as Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a radio DJ with the local station KFFI who was the host of the popular “Taste of Tejano” program.

The police are still conducting investigations into what sparked the shooting. Kansas” City Police Chief Stacey Graves confirmed that they had people in custody, referencing social media videos of Chiefs fans tackling someone. “I do want to comment on the question that I got earlier about a video of some fans tackling someone. We do have three persons detained and under investigation for today’s incident. We are working to determine if one of the three are the one that was in that video where fans assisted police,” she told the press. The FBI has also set up a website where people can share videos from the incident with investigators.

In the aforementioned press conference, Kansas City Mayor Quentin Lucas confirmed that he was at Union Station with his wife and mother when he heard the gunfire. “When you have people who decide to bring guns to events, when you have people who are deciding to try to mar events — celebratory ones, like this one — all of us start to become members of this club that none of us want to be a part of,” he said. Players from the Chiefs expressed their grief, with star quarterback Patrick Mahomes writing on X that he wasPraying for Kansas City”, and tight end Travis Kelce writing that he was “heartbroken” over the shooting in his post on the platform.

Drake, Sexyy Red & SZA Celebrate Parenthood In Visuals To “Rich Baby Daddy”

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Drake Rich Baby Daddy video

Source: YouTube / OVO

Now that Drake has brought back the baggy pants look from yesteryear, it seems like the man isn’t done with the retro vibes as he’s taken to using an OG camcorder for his directorial work on his latest visuals for the SZA and Sexyy Red assisted, “Rich Baby Daddy.”

For the video celebrating the pregnancy he has with his “wife” Sexyy Red, Drake captures the beautiful moments of their baby shower before Red goes into labor and they dash to the hospital where she gives birth to their little bundle of joy.

To help mark the joyous moment, Drake, Red and SZA are joined by a gang of thick young women who seem to have made their way to the hospital directly from the club as they twerk up and down the hallways of the medical center. Even Sexyy Red joins in on the twerking competition right after pushing a whole little person out her body. That’s… impressive?

Check out the visuals to “Rich Baby Daddy,” and let us know your thoughts on the joint in the comments section below.