bbnews
Page: 121
Kobalt Music Group, the publishing home to such names as Paul McCartney and Karol G, has landed a new $450 million revolving credit facility (RCF), the independent music publisher announced Tuesday (March 19). Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Coupled with the previously announced joint venture with […]
The Voice 2024 has entered the Battles phase. And, for two Team Dan + Shay hopefuls, a fight to the end with a twist.
Karen Waldrup, a Mandeville, Louisiana native, all turbo power, and Ryan Argast, a Plainfield, Illinois man with range and gravel in his voice, were sent into the ring with a cover of Dan + Shay‘s 2023 number “Save Me The Trouble”.
The contestants impressed the coaches with their obvious talent, and earned a few hollers with a smoking hot conclusion. “That was just steamy at the end,” Chance the Rapper remarked.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“That’s better than the original version,” Dan Smyers insisted.
“That was so good. The energy, the passion, the power coming out of you two,” John Legend said. The rasp in Argast’s voice is his “superpower,” he enthused. Though he’s “mad he didn’t turn” for Waldrup, whose tone and vibrato worked magic. Legend would chose the latter, if he had the option.
Trending on Billboard
Reba McEntire did turn for Waldrup. “I think you’re fantastic,” she remarked. And there’s a lot of love for the “growl” in Argast’s voice.
That performance was “awesome,” Chance chimed, though the pair had mismatching “energy levels.” Karen, he continued, has a “true talent. It was like there was a storm around you and you were just shining through it.” The Chicago rapper was quietly kicking himself for not turning for her when he had the chance. The final moments of the Battle were “steamy,” he reiterated, and exactly what the cameras adore.
Dan + Shay had the last word. Argast’s “presence on stage is incredible,” claimed Smyers, while Waldrup “rose to the occasion,” belting out a “guy’s song.”
It’s a voice that reminds Mooney of old country, classic stuff he grew up listening to. “I love that sound, it’s very unique.” Argast’s voice, he continued, is “powerhouse.”
With the kind words out the way, a decision had to be made. They chose Waldrup.
Dan + Shay are the newbies on this 25th season of NBC’s The Voice, joined by returning coaches Reba McEntire, John Legend and Chance the Rapper.
Watch the Battle below.
[embedded content]
A beautiful week looms for Benson Boone, whose “Beautiful Things” (via Warner Records) leads the U.K. chart race.
“Beautiful Things” has topped the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. surveys but, in eight weeks on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, has never gone higher than No. 2.
That could be about to change. Based on midweek sales and streaming data published by the OCC, the Washington-born singer-songwriter’s breakout hit takes pole position, lifting 2-1.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Meanwhile, after four weeks at the summit – for her longest U.K. reign – Beyonce’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” (Columbia/Parkwood Ent) finally loses its grip. It’s down 1-2 on the midweek tally.
Trending on Billboard
Closing out the top three on the chart blast is Ariana Grande’s “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love),” up 6-3. The track is housed on Grande’s current U.K. No. 1 album, Eternal Sunshine (Republic Records), her fifth leader.
The top new release at the midway mark belongs to Mark Knopfler, whose charity fundraising single “Going Home” (BMG) is set for a top 10 start.
The former Dire Straits frontman assembled a starry cast of guitar heroes for the 9-minute recording, a remake of the theme from the 1983 feature film Local Hero. The likes of David Gilmour, Ronnie Wood, Slash, Eric Clapton, Sting, Joan Armatrading, Bruce Springsteen, Joan Jett, Pete Townshend and the late Jeff Beck are among the scores of performers on the recording, which raises funds for Teenage Cancer Trust and Teen Cancer America.
“Going Home” had briefly led the U.K. chart race, but slips to No. 6 midweek. The original cut, an instrumental, spent three weeks on the chart in 1983 with a peak of No. 56. The Northern Englishman recently sold 120 guitars and amplifiers, with charities the British Red Cross, Tusk, Brave Hearts of the North East and Teenage Cancer Trust among the beneficiaries.
[embedded content]
Also eyeing a top 10 berth is BTS member V (real name: Kim Tae-hyung), whose “FRI(END)S” (BigHit Entertainment) is predicted to open at No. 7. That would mark V’s first solo U.K. top tier appearance. If “FRI(END)S” holds its course, V would join bandmates Jimin (“Like Crazy” at No. 8) and Jung Kook (“Too Much” with The Kid Laroi and Central Cee at No. 10, “3D” with Jack Harlow at No. 5, “Standing Next To You” at No. 5, and “Seven” with Latto at No.3) as the BTS members with U.K. solo top 10 notches on their belts.
All will be revealed when the Official U.K. Singles Chart is published Friday, March 22.
Pink’s Summer Carnival tour of Australia and New Zealand is yet to wrap, but it’s already logged in the history books.
With just three dates left on the itinerary, Live Nation, producer of her latest epic trek Down Under, reveals nearly one million tickets have changed hands – a volume that’s by far the biggest for any female headliner to have toured ANZ.
That’s “almost the highest ever tour sales in this market,” reads a statement from LN, issued Tuesday (Feb. 19) on the eve of her final date at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Only two other tours are in the same ballpark: Dire Straits’ Brothers In Arms visit of 1986 and Ed Sheeran’s Divide jaunt in 2018.
When Pink finishes her last lap this Saturday (March 23) at Townsville’s Country Bank Stadium, her 20 stadium shows will represent the most ever performed by any artist in Australia and NZ on a single tour.
Trending on Billboard
And along the way, Pink has broken the attendance records at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium and at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium.
“Pink is one of the most amazing live performers to ever walk onto the stage,” comments Michael Coppel, chairman of Live Nation Australasia and Pink’s long-standing promoter in Australia. “I’ve been very privileged to share in her epic 20-year journey in Australia and New Zealand, where she has played more than 200 shows.”
In Australia, Pink’s punches in the heavyweight class in every statistical category.
When Summer Carnival wraps, her total ticket sales in this territory will lift to more than 3.1 million across six tours, the largest career ticket sales ever accumulated by an international performer in ANZ, according to LN.
That career tally includes more than 658,000 tickets sold on her 2009 Funhouse tour, which spanned 58 arena shows; and her 2013 The Truth About Love trek, which played 46 arena shows and shifted more than 600,000 tickets.
According to Billboard Boxscore, Pink is the highest-grossing act of the 2010s in Oceania with about $135 million. She even has her own ladies’ toilet block at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, where she has eliminated old attendance marks.
On the recording side, her ninth and most recent studio album, Trustfall, opened at No. 1 on the ARIA Chart in February 2023, for her seventh leader.
Earlier this week, Coppel, Pink’s manager Roger Davies and staff from Sony Music Australia and Live Nation presented the Philadelphia pop superstar with a special award, a memento of her latest recording-busting efforts.
“There is a palpable mutual love affair between the Australasian audience that love seeing her perform live,” adds Coppel, “and an artist who clearly loves being here. Congratulations, Alecia, on yet another stunning record-breaking tour and on an incredible career, with even greater success surely to come.”
Ariana Grande is on track for another week atop the U.K. chart with Eternal Sunshine (via Republic Records). Though she has competition.
Based on midweek sales and streaming data captured by the Official Charts Company, Eternal Sunshine has a slim edge and should clinch a second week at No. 1. Eternal Sunshine became Grande’s fifth U.K. leader when it debuted at the zenith of the national chart last Friday, March 15.
As it stands, less than 1,000 chart units separate Grande’s seventh studio album with U.S. country artist Kacey Musgraves’ sixth LP, Deeper Well (Interscope).
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Deeper Well is predicted to bow at No. 2, giving Musgraves a third U.K. top 10 after 2018’s Golden Hour (No. 6 peak) and 2021’s Star-Crossed (No. 10).
Trending on Billboard
There’s another challenger in this race: Caity Baser and her 13-track mixtape Still Learning (EMI). The collection is just 1,500 behind the leader in third place on the OCC‘s chart blast. Baser was shortlisted for the BRITs Rising Star 2024 award, won by The Last Dinner Party.
Meanwhile, Justin Timberlake’s solo comeback album Everything I Thought I Was (RCA) should yield the U.S. pop star a sixth U.K. top 10. It’s new at No. 4 on the Official Chart Update.
U.S. rock veterans the Black Crowes could nab a third U.K. top 10 album, and first in 30 years, with Happiness Bastards (Silver Arrow), set to open at No. 7.
As AC/DC celebrates 50 years rocking, the legendary Australian band releases its full set of albums on vinyl. The first nine reissues in the “AC/DC 50” collection dropped March 15, powering several classics up the midweek chart. Among them, the rockers’ 1980 blockbuster Back in Black (Epic), their first U.K. No. 1, which rebounds to No. 10 on the midweek chart, while 1979’s Highway to Hell drives to No. 22, against an historic peak of No. 8.
Finally, new releases from electronic music producer Four Tet (Three at No. 25 via Text), teenage Manchester rapper Nemzzz (Do Not Disturb at No. 31 via Nemzzz), and Hastings, England punk outfit Kid Kapichi (There Goes The Neighbourhood at No. 36 via Spinefarm) are on track for top 40 debuts.
All will be revealed when the Official Albums Chart is published Friday, March 22.
We spent the weekend at Rolling Loud California, and here is everything you may have missed! Country legend Reba McEntire denies dissing Taylor Swift. North West gave her first on-camera interview at Rolling Loud this weekend and discussed her debut album, ‘Elementary School Dropout.’ Taeyong of NCT is set to enlist for mandatory military service […]
Ariana Grande is back with another big week on Billboard’s charts (dated March 23), thanks to her new album, Eternal Sunshine.
The set soars in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, marking her sixth career leader, with 227,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in its opening week (March 8-14), according to Luminate – the biggest one-week sum of 2024.
All 12 chart-eligible songs from the album also land on the Billboard Hot 100, led by “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love),” which launches at No. 1, marking her ninth career leader.
[embedded content]
Here’s a recap of Grande’s Hot 100 entries on the latest chart (all songs are debuts except for lead single “Yes, And?,” released before Eternal Sunshine).
Trending on Billboard
Rank, Title:No. 1, “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)”No. 10, “Yes, And?” (up from No. 31; debuted at No. 1 on the chart dated Jan. 27)No. 16, “The Boy Is Mine”No. 17, “Supernatural”No. 23, “Eternal Sunshine”No. 25, “Bye”No. 28, “Don’t Wanna Break Up Again”No. 30, “True Story”No. 37, “Imperfect for You”No. 38, “Intro (End of the World)”No. 39, “I Wish I Hated You”No. 55, “Ordinary Things,” feat. Nonna
“We Can’t Be Friends” earns Grande her ninth Hot 100 No. 1, and second from Eternal Sunshine, following “Yes, And?”
With 11 debuts, Grande ups her total to 85 career Hot 100 entries. She ties Beyoncé for the third-most among solo women in the chart’s history, after only Taylor Swift (232) and Nicki Minaj (148). Grande first hit the Hot 100 with her debut hit, and first of 22 top 10s, “The Way,” featuring Mac Miller, in April 2013.
Notably, Grande’s grandmother, Marjorie Grande, scores her first career Hot 100 entry thanks to her featured billing – as Nonna – on “Ordinary Things.” At 98 years old, she makes history as the oldest living person to have appeared on the chart.
One other member of the Grande family has also reached Billboard’s charts: Frankie Grande, Ariana’s brother (and, thus, Nonna’s grandson), spent a week at No. 35 on the since-shuttered Billboard Twitter Top Tracks survey in July 2017 with “Queen.”
One week after her arrival on Billboard’s charts, Dasha becomes a Billboard Hot 100-charting artist, thanks to her breakthrough viral single “Austin.”
The song, released in November via Version III, debuts at No. 74 on the March 23-dated Hot 100 with 6.7 million official streams (up 65%), 84,000 in radio airplay audience (up 173%) and 2,000 downloads sold (up 116%) in the U.S. March 8-14, according to Luminate.
The track also jumps 31-17 on Hot Country Songs, which uses the same multi-metric methodology as the Hot 100.
Trending on Billboard
[embedded content]
Dasha is based in Nashville, via San Luis Obispo, Calif. Gains for “Austin” have been sparked by TikTok, where she boasts over 400,000 followers. Seemingly boosted by the rising wave behind Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” – which tops Hot Country Songs for a fifth week – “Austin” soundtracks a line-dance trend started by Dasha. The song has been featured in over 300,000 videos on the platform. Billboard reported that in the tracking week ending Feb. 15, in which Beyoncé released “Texas Hold ‘Em” midway through, “Austin” vaulted from 82,000 official on-demand streams the week before to over 830,000 – up 916%. The next week (ending Feb. 22), the song grew 182% to 2.3 million.
Airplay-wise, SiriusXM is championing the song on TikTok Radio and its country-formatted The Highway. Terrestrially, Country Airplay chart reporter KBAY San Francisco leads in early exposure for the track.
“Austin” is on Dasha’s new eight-track LP What Happens Now?, released Feb. 16. Before that, she released the collection Dirty Blonde in January 2023, via Quadio Records, and her six-track EP $hiny Things in 2021.
Dasha, who co-wrote “Austin,” also surges from No. 29 to No. 11 on Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart.
Beyoncé‘s been a hitmaker ever since she stepped onto the music scene as part of Destiny’s Child. Her musical golden touch has continued well into her solo career, with her latest single, “Texas Hold ‘Em” marking her milestone 22th Billboard Hot 100 top 10 as a soloist — and ninth No. 1 total. Bey released […]
Elleigh Marie Francom is a typical American girl, confronted by difficult circumstances.
The 20-year-old realized a years-long dream when she auditioned on American Idol Sunday night (March 19), and made fans everywhere with her appearance.
Francom is a full-time cosmetologist, a miliary daughter based in American Fork, Utah. Her mom, a singer who teaches theater and has tuned into Idol with Elleigh since the contestant was a kid, is battling multiple serious illnesses.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“Dad was gone for much of the time,” she said in the prerecorded package. The youngster had to step up. “A lot of the responsibilities did fall on me,” she explained.
On the day of her audition, Elleigh learned that her dad will be deployed for a year, starting from April. How does she feel about that? “It really sucks,” she told the judges, as she burst into tears.
Trending on Billboard
Elleigh admitted she’s torn by choices. Chase the Idol dream, or go home and help out with her younger siblings when dad is away?
With her performance, the path ahead is now illuminated.
Elleigh channeled her emotions into a cover of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me”. And drained it.
As she completed the performance, the tears rolled. “Nobody’s ever hit that note at the end,” quipped Katy Perry. “It was great. You gave me the feels. You started off somewhat average, then you landed it. If you sang from that space every time, you would be in superstar territory.”
“I think she’s top 10,” Luke Bryan added. “There’s just really beautiful things going on in your voice.” When she slots into her groove, there were “classy” and “older than your years” tones. “I just loved it.”
Lionel Richie is a believer. “You went to a place that was so pure, so angelic, that it was really one of those moments where we couldn’t keep our eyes off of you.”
The family came out, the judges stood and applauded, Idol had a moment and Elleigh is going to “Hollywood Week.”
Watch below.
[embedded content]