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American Idol loves a bit of drama. Hollywood is a drama factory. Match it up, and Sunday night’s Hollywood Week episode of Idol delivered so much of the stuff you could chew on it.
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Ziggy, the so-called Dutch pop prince, has gone full diva during this 22th season, sporting colorful, custom suits with matching candy-colored hair. Ziggy isn’t just testing his talents, he’s keen to make his old man proud; the rocker passed away before the season began, before getting the chance to see Ziggy shine in the U.S. singing competition. Mackenzie Sol, a Las Vegas-based TikTok content creator known for his prank videos, has sailed through to LaLa Land, and made fans along the way.With a spot in the final 24, the drama intensified. Ziggy (real name: Ziggy Krassenberg) went first with “This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman. Sol followed up with a performance of The Beatles’ “With A Little Help From My Friends”.The judges couldn’t separate them, so a challenge was set: a sing-off to “Jealous” by Labrinth or Harry Styles’ “Falling,” with just one hour to prepare. “Jealous” it was. Drama.
Neither singer was happy about the scenario. Nerves were shredded. “I don’t like the fact I’ve got to sing against him, he’s incredible,” remarked Sol backstage.
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A crestfallen Ziggy took his concerns to another level. “This is just insane,” he stated. Sol is “such a good singer, such a pure soul.”
At one point, Ziggy was so freaked out, he stepped into Sol’s rehearsal space and asked him to stop singing. “I am so nervous and you’re making me really nervous,” was the explanation. More drama.
If Ziggy was mortified, he had right to be. Sol, we learned, isn’t just familiar with the song, he used to sing it with his ex, to whom he assured he’d never sing it again if they broke up. “Why not use that pain and sing it for the last time ever,” Katy Perry remarked.
The youngsters took their turn to belt it out. “They both are really good,” Perry later remarked. Good, however, isn’t enough for one competitor.
Perry, speaking on behalf of the three judges, praised Sol’s energy that is “a little unbridled.” Ziggy “you should be so proud because you were so pure and honest,” she enthused. “It’s going to take you to the highest of heights.”
Not in this competition.
Sol shone bright enough to secure a spot in the top 24, and progress to filming at Disney’s Aulani Resort & Spa in Ko Olina in Hawaiʻi.
Watch the sing-off below.
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Ye – formerly known as Kanye West – and Ty Dolla $ign have nixed Vultures listening parties that were slated to be staged in multiple U.S. arenas later this month, Billboard can confirm.
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The listening parties were dubbed “Vultures 1 & 2 Listening Experience,” but notably, the Vultures 2 album, which was originally announced for release on March 8, about one month after the release of Vultures 1, still hasn’t materialized.
There’s still no word or sign of Vultures 2, and, now, those listening parties have gone quiet. A spokesperson for Ye tells Billboard those playbacks will no longer go ahead, but is confident new replacement dates will be announced shortly. No explanation has been given for the change of plan.
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At the time of writing, Kanye and Ty are still holding a listening party at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt on April 21, with tickets on sale here.
The listening sessions were quietly announced, and largely overlooked by the mainstream media.
Evidence of those shows can spotted, however, at Ticketmaster which hosts a page for the Washington D.C. “experience,” with a broken link.
A statement from Amelie Arena in Tampa, FL reads, “We regret to report that due to the time constraints for Ye and Ty Dolla $ign to curate production and meet logistic requirements, the upcoming dates for the VULTURES 1&2 listening experience will need to be revisited at a later date.” Amelie Arena was scheduled to host the playback on April 14.
Variety’s Chris Willman was first to report the canceled U.S. playbacks, which were also penciled-in for venues in Fort Lauderdale, FL; Pittsburgh, PA; Nashville, TN; and Charlotte, NC.
The delayed Vultures 1 project enjoyed a fast start around the globe when it finally dropped, including a back-to-back stint at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in February, for Ye’s eighth consecutive No. 1 album dating all the way back to 2005’s Late Registration.
That two-week stint at the summit for Vultures 1 marked the first time West held the top spot for more than a week since 2011’s collaborative album with Jay-Z, Watch The Throne. The latest LP also topped Australia’s ARIA Albums Chart and opened at No. 2 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart.
A handful of listening parties built the buzz for Vultures 1, and the hip-hop pair would appear on stage at Rolling Loud California on March 14, for a performance that divided audiences as either a spectacle of high-art or next-level trolling.
Michael McMartin, the Canada-born entrepreneur who settled in Australia, where he established the framework for a professional music management community and guided the Hoodoo Gurus for four decades, died Sunday (March 31) following a lengthy illness. He was 79.
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“Michael had been undergoing treatment for cancer for a number of years but, despite the best efforts of his medical team, he succumbed to his illness peacefully around noon on Easter Sunday, surrounded by his beloved family,” reads a statement from the McMartin family.
Born on Vancouver Island on March 12, 1945, McMartin completed his BA (Political Science) at Loyola College in Montreal. He relocated to Australia in 1971, and, several years later, joined forces with producer Charles Fisher to form Trafalgar Records, the independent recording and publishing enterprise.
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In 1985, he established Melody Management. His first clients were the Hoodoo Gurus, whom he signed to their first record deal in 1982 and commenced managing three years later, in 1985. It was a relationship that would see the Gurus enter the ARIA Hall of Fame, in 2009, and would last until McMartin announced in February of this year that he would be stepping down from that role due to ill health.
“I really can’t find the words to express my feelings at this time but respect, love and gratitude would be among them,” he wrote in a message distributed Feb. 22, announcing his decision to hand over Gurus duties to Mick Mazzone of Mighty Management. “Thanks to the Hoodoo Gurus I have lived a life that I only otherwise could have dreamt of.”
McMartin was a founding member of the Music Managers’ Forum in Australia, he served as chairman and then executive director of the International Music Managers’ Forum (IMMF), the umbrella organization for managers from some 24 countries which has NGO status at WIPO, the United Nations agency dealing with worldwide copyright issues, and was, for 19 years, a board member of Support Act, the music industry benevolent charity.
The much-loved artist manager received the APRA Ted Albert Award for his lifetime contribution to Australian Music in 2007, one of the Australian music community’s highest honors, and in 2015 he was awarded the Medal of the Order Of Australia (OAM) for “services to the performing arts, especially music.”
He’s the reigning legacy award recipient at the AAM Awards, presented last year in Sydney.
John Watson was on hand to present McMartin, his mentor, with the special honor. “When someone passes it’s easy to list what they did but it’s much harder to explain how they did it. In an era where far too many men acted badly, Michael proved that nice guys don’t have to finish last,” Watson writes in a statement to Billboard. “He was an unbelievably kind mentor to hundreds of people, including me, and his political advocacy for the industry as a whole – and managers in particular – was an inspiration across decades. Without him there would not be an AAM and Support Act would be nowhere near the force that it has become.”
Colin Hay, former frontman of Men At Work, remembers McMartin for his kindness. “After I was dropped by MCA Records in 1991, I was unsure of what to do next. I knew Michael McMartin a little. He said to me one day, ‘why don’t you just make an acoustic album, and I’ll release it.’” That happened, and the pair became friends. “Friends that could tell each other the truth. He told me one day that I was wallowing in self pity, and that I could be a much better person. He was right. He helped me whenever I asked, even when I didn’t,” explains Hay. McMartin was “a rarity among men,” someone who “believes in making the industry that we inhabit a better place for all, a place that fosters creative endeavor, instead of the all too often obstacle course that this here music industry can be.”
McMartin “left an indelible mark on the Australian music industry, and his loss is acutely felt within our management community which he supported and uplifted so generously,” reads a statement from the Association of Artists Managers. In recent years, the AAM points out, McMartin “formalized his desire to lift up developing managers” by spearheading the Patron’s Gift; a fund that would enable opportunities to bring in diverse communities, POC and First Nations emerging managers.
McMartin is survived by his wife, Saskia, and his son, Hamish and his extended family, including Michael’s two grandchildren, Kiara and Koby.
A private family funeral held in the coming days and, a little later, an announcement of a public gathering to be held in Sydney to celebrate the late music man’s life and legacy, with friends and music industry acquaintances invited.
Billie Eilish took to social media to clear up public speculation after her interview with Billboard on sustainability went viral. Peso Pluma surprised Anitta with a birthday cake onstage during her set at Tecate Pa’l Norte and shared a kiss. We have a new No. 1 track on the Hot 100 this week. We’re breaking […]
Sean “Diddy” Combs has maintained a steady presence on Billboard’s charts since the mid-1990s, when he founded Bad Boy Records and began charting with his own smash singles “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down,” “I’ll Be Missing You” and more. These songs and others from his catalog have continued to rack up millions of streams and are radio classics, still earning hundreds of plays every week. But due to a string of sexual misconduct allegations and, most recently, two raids of his homes on March 25 by the Department of Homeland Security in connection with an ongoing sex-trafficking investigation, his familiar presence on radio and top streaming playlists may be in jeopardy.
Diddy’s music catalog* (see below) has been consistently dropping on radio since Cassie, the mogul’s former girlfriend, filed a lawsuit on Nov. 16, 2023, accusing Combs of years of abuse and one accusation of rape. The lawsuit alleged that she had “endured over a decade of his violent behavior and disturbed demands,” including repeated beatings and forcing her to “engage in sex acts with male sex workers.”
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From Nov. 3 to 16, 2023 – the two tracking weeks preceding Cassie’s filing – Diddy’s catalog generated 11,000 radio spins, which translated to 23.3 million radio airplay audience impressions, according to Luminate. In the two tracking weeks after (Nov. 17-30), his catalog raked in 8,000 spins (down 28%), equaling 17.3 million impressions (down 26%).
In almost every week since then, Diddy’s catalog has seen decreases in radio play. In the most recent two-week span (March 15-28), his catalog tallied 1,000 spins that garnered 4 million impressions. Compared with the two weeks leading up to Cassie’s filing in November, that’s an 88% drop in radio spins and an 83% plummet in radio audience.
The most drastic single-week drop in radio occurred between Nov. 24-30 and Dec. 1-7. Diddy’s music saw a 41% plunge in radio spins in that span (from 3,000 to 2,000) and a 31% fall in audience (6.9 million to 4.7 million). The drop came as Diddy was hit with another pair of lawsuits on Nov. 23: One, filed by Joi Dickerson-Neal, claimed that the superstar drugged and sexually assaulted her in 1991, while a second – from an anonymous accuser – alleged that the music mogul sexually assaulted and beat her. Also contributing to the plunge, many radio stations (though not primarily R&B/hip-hop formats) start playing holiday music after Thanksgiving. Thus, non-holiday fare could see a decline in activity to make way for holiday music.
While Diddy’s radio presence has been decreasing, his streaming totals don’t tell the same story. Excluding his latest LP The Love Album: Off the Grid (released Sept. 15; making for a fairer catalog comparison), Diddy’s catalog garnered 6.7 million on-demand U.S. streams** (see below) Nov. 3-16 – the two weeks preceding Cassie’s filing – and 4.5 million in the two most recent tracking weeks (March 15-28), down 31%.
Last week, Diddy’s day-to-day streams increased after the raids of his homes on Monday (March 25). On Saturday and Sunday (March 23-24) Diddy’s catalog earned 930,000 streams. In the two days following the home raids (March 26-27), it earned 1.28 million, a 38% increase.
On March 26, the day after the raids of Diddy’s L.A. and Miami homes, his attorney Aaron Dyer spoke out against the “gross overuse of military-level force” in the raids of the musician’s residences, and vowed to end the “witch-hunt” against his client. While the results of that have yet to be seen, Diddy’s decline on the airwaves shows that many stations have already made up their minds.
*Diddy’s music catalog encompasses all titles billed to Diddy, P. Diddy, Puff Daddy, Puff Daddy & The Family, and Diddy Dirty Money. This excludes featured credits, like The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Mo Money Mo Problems,” on which Diddy is featured.
**Diddy’s streaming sum includes user-generated content, or UGC, streams, which don’t count towards Billboard’s charts.
–Kevin Rutherford and Trevor Anderson contributed to this report
Elbow pushes its way to the top of the U.K albums chart with Audio Vertigo (via Polydor).
The Bury band blasts to No. 1 on debut with Audio Vertigo, their 10th studio album and the market’s best-seller on wax.
The leader at the midweek stage, Audio Vertigo is Elbow’s fourth leader on the all-genres survey – joining previous No. 1s The Take Off And Landing Of Everything (from 2014), Little Fictions (2017) and Giants Of All Sizes (2019).
The veteran British alternative rock act beats Future and Metro Boomin‘s first collaborative album We Don’t Trust You (Epic/Freebandz), new at No. 2. That effort matches Future’s previous chart peak, set with 2022’s I Never Liked You; and gives Metro Boomin a new career best, eclipsing the No. 3 peak for 2022’s Heroes & Villains. Three tracks from We Don’t Trust You crack the top 40 on the national singles survey, led by “Like That” at No. 6.
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Completing the podium on the latest Official U.K. Albums Chart, published Friday, March 29, is Olivia Rodrigo’s former leader GUTS (Geffen), which rebounds 15-3 following the release of the deluxe “Spilled” edition. The reissue includes one brand-new track, “So American,” which debuts in the U.K. top 40, at No. 24; plus a further four songs previously available across vinyl releases, including the track “Obsessed,” new at No. 10 on the singles tally.
Scottish alternative rock favorites The Jesus and Mary Chain bag their highest-charting album in 37 years this week with Glasgow Eyes (Fuzz Club), new at No. 7 on the Official Albums Chart. It’s the band’s third U.K. top 10 after 1987’s Darklands (No. 5) and 1988’s Barbed Wire Kisses (No. 9).
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Johannesburg, South Africa breakout star Tyla ties up her first U.K. top 20 album with her eponymously titled debut. Tyla (Since 93/RCA) starts at No. 19. The Billboard cover star won the 2024 Grammy Award for best African music performance, for her amapiano hit “Water.”
British indie rock act Starsailor glides into the chart with Where The Wild Things Grow (Starsailor), their first full-length release in seven years. It’s new at No. 25 for the Warrington, England formed band’s and sixth U.K. top 40.
Finally, new releases from FLETCHER (In Search Of The Antidote at No. 26 via Capitol), The Staves (All Now at No. 32 via Communion) and Big Thief band member Adrianne Lenker (Bright Future at No. 35 via 4AD) and Waxahatchee (Tigers Blood at No. 38 via Anti) enter the top 40 on debut.
It’s another beautiful week for Benson Boone, as the U.S. singer and songwriter enters a second week at the chart summit with “Beautiful Things”. The 21-year-old Monroe, Washington native had the most-streamed song in the U.K., as “Beautiful Things” (via Warner Records) clocked up 5.4 million plays over the seven-day chart cycle. Explore See latest […]
It’s Friday, March 29th, and we’ve been blessed with a ton of new music this week. Beyoncé’s long-awaited ‘Cowboy Carter’ is finally here. J-Hope dropped his new album, ‘Hope on the Street Vol. 1.’ Machine Gun Kelly teamed up with Trippie Redd for ‘Genre: Sadboy.’ Fans are raving about the features on ‘Cowboy Carter’ with […]
Cage the Elephant notches its 11th No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart as “Neon Pill” jumps to the top of the April 6-dated survey.
The song becomes the band’s first leader since “Skin and Bones” reigned for four weeks beginning in February 2021.
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Cage the Elephant first topped the Alternative Airplay chart in 2010 with “Back Against the Wall” — and their nine No. 1s during the 2010s marked the most among all acts in that span.
The group takes sole possession of the fifth-most leaders in the Alternative Airplay chart’s 35-and-a-half-year history, breaking out of a tie with twenty one pilots.
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Most No. 1s, Alternative Airplay:15, Red Hot Chili Peppers12, Foo Fighters12, Green Day12, Linkin Park11, Cage the Elephant10, twenty one pilots8, U28, Weezer7, The Black Keys7, Imagine Dragons
“Neon Pill” concurrently tops Adult Alternative Airplay for a third week, having become Cage the Elephant’s sixth No. 1 at the format. It also lifts 29-27 on Mainstream Rock Airplay.
On the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, the song bullets at No. 4, after reaching No. 3, with 6.3 million audience impressions, up 4%, March 22-28, according to Luminate.
On the most recently published, multimetric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart (dated March 30, reflecting consumption March 15-21), “Neon Pill” placed at No. 39. In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 572,000 official U.S. streams.
The song is the lead single and title track from Cage the Elephant’s sixth studio album, due May 17 on RCA Records. It follows 2019’s Social Cues, which debuted at No. 3 on the Top Alternative Albums chart that May and has earned 471,000 equivalent album units to date.
All Billboard charts dated April 6 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, April 2.
Blusher puts the pedal to the metal with “Accelerator,” the Australian pop-trio’s latest single.
Produced by Donny Bravo (Disclosure), the club-ready electro-pop track is the product of an inspired and highly-caffeinated morning, the singers still buzzing from a late, late night watching a Tove Lo and Associanu DJ set.
Bravo captures the “chaotic vibes” and energy that spilled out during the sessions, recounts the Melbourne trio. “’Accelerator’ feels like a late night highway chase – when you embrace the chaos of not knowing where you’re going and jump head first into a feeling,” the Aussie artists tell Billboard via email. “We have never been more excited about a song.”
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Blusher (Miranda Ward, Lauren Coutts and Jade Ingvarson-Favretto) formed in 2021, and got tongues wagging the following year with the independently-released “Softly Spoken,” which enjoyed support from national youth network triple j and its Unearthed sister station (triple j premiered “Accelerator” this week).
They produce and write together, share vocals on many of their songs and swap instruments during their choreographed live performances, which have included showcases at the Bigsound conference in Brisbane and the inaugural SXSW Sydney. In 2023, Atlantic Records signed the pop group to its roster.
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Currently, Blusher is on the road with Dadi Freyr playing their first U.S. shows. “It’s been the perfect opportunity to test out ‘Accelerator’ on a live audience, and we have been blown away by the crowds’ reaction,” Blusher tells Billboard. “When we pull out sci-fi sunglasses and synchronized dance moves they are always down to match our chaotic energy on stage.”
They’re getting around in a small band van, which has the cute nickname Vangelina Jolie. “Now we have met so many lovely new fans at the shows who really feel like they will be fans for life. It means the world to us that America has embraced us with open arms on our first tour here,” Blusher gush. “It’s just the beginning and we can’t wait to play a lot more U.S. shows in the future.”
Blusher was nominated for best new artist at the 2024 Rolling Stone Australia Awards, presented this week at Sydney’s The Ivy.
Stream “Accelerator” below.
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