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Tori Kelly opens up about her celebrity crush, dating pet peeve, favorite fast food spot and more on this episode of Billboard’s Speed Dating.Rania Aniftos:Hey everybody, it’s Rania Anfitos with Billboard News and we’re going Speed Dating with Tori Kelly. Okay, are you ready? Let’s get into it.
Tori Kelly:Okay!
Rania Aniftos:Where are you from?
Tori Kelly:I am from Inland Empire, California. SoCal.
Rania Aniftos:What’s your sign?
Tori Kelly:I am a Sagittarius.
Rania Aniftos:Me too! Wait when’s your birthday?
Tori Kelly:Are you? December 14th.
Rania Aniftos:I’m the 15th!
Tori Kelly:No way!
Rania Aniftos:Yeah!
Tori Kelly:What?
Rania Aniftos:And he’s also the 15th!
Tori Kelly:You guys!
Rania Aniftos:We’re all Sagittarius.
Tori Kelly:I don’t think I’ve ever been in a room with like that many same birthdays.
Rania Aniftos:Favorite fast food?
Tori Kelly:I’m really… I’m a Cali girl so In-N-Out is one but then it’s like a toss-up between In-N-Out and Chick-fil-A.
Rania Aniftos:Oh, okay.
Tori Kelly:Chick-fil-A doesn’t even feel like fast food to me it’s like gourmet.
Rania Aniftos:Dream job as a kid?
Tori Kelly:Honestly, what I’m doing now.
Rania Aniftos:Childhood crush?
Tori Kelly:Oh gosh, my fans are so sick of hearing this I said it like every interview forever. Justin Timberlake, just like *NYSNC in general.
Rania Aniftos:Girl, same.
Tori Kelly:Yeah.
Rania Aniftos:I feel you.
Dating pet peeve?
Tori Kelly:So I haven’t dated in a while and I’m married. I feel like a pet peeve is like when they don’t ask you questions like if they’re just talking about themselves.
Rania Aniftos:Favorite place to vacation?
Tori Kelly:Honestly, anywhere with a beach. I just love tropical. Cabo is fun. Yeah, just like quick you know if you’re in LA.
Rania Aniftos:And dream collab?
Tori Kelly:There’s a lot. I have kind of a list but a few would be… I love Bruno Mars, I think would be incredible. J. Cole, I’m a big fan of him as well. I feel like Beyoncé would be dope too.
Rania Aniftos:Thank you for going Speed Dating with me, Tori.
Tori Kelly:Thank you!
Rania Aniftos:We got to know you a little bit more!Watch the full video above!
Festival-goers at Australia’s Beyond The Valley got more than they bargained for when Dom Dolla and Rüfüs Du Sol — two heavyweights of electronic music — shared the stage for the very first time. During a secret set last Thursday (Dec. 30), Dom worked the wheels of steel while the lads from Rüfüs Du Sol (Tyrone Lindqvist, Jon George and James Hunt) joined in the fun and tweaked nobs to a remix of their Surrender cut “Make It Happen.”Nick Greco, co-founder of independent Melbourne-based festival and live events specialist Untitled Group, organizer of BTV, captured the moment from the sidelines.
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Born in Manila, raised in outback Northern Australia, Dom Dolla (real name Dominic Matheson) is the reigning ARIA Awards champion for best dance/electronic release, winning the category last November with his MK collaboration “Rhyme Dust” (Area 10/Big On Blue/Sony Music UK), one of his six nominations. Dolla has never missed a BTV, having now played at all eight editions, including the most recent, 2023 show which ran Dec. 28-Jan. 1. The previous year, Dom nabbed international headlines when he brought Nelly Furtado to the stage for a performance of “Say It Right.”
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With the release of Surrender in 2021, Rüfüs du Sol (previously known as Rufus) spread their wings as a stadium act. The album went straight to No. 1 on the ARIA Chart, their third leader. In the U.S., the Sydneysiders headlined multiple dates at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles; the LP peaked at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Dance/Electronic Albums Chart; and earned the trio a Grammy Award, with “Alive” scooping best dance album and best dance recording.
With a bill featuring RÜFÜS DU SOL, Dom Dolla, Peggy Gou, Central Cee, FERG, Destroy Lonely, Mall Grab, DMA’S, G Flip, Channel Tres, The Jungle Giants, the multi-day BTV was a sellout, shifting 35,000 tickets, reps say.
Untitled Group’s suite of brands includes Pitch Music & Arts, Wildlands, Grapevine Gathering, Ability Fest and more.
Taylor Swift commands Australia’s albums chart, and hits double figures at the summit as 1989 (Taylor’s Version) knocks-up week 10 at No. 1.
1989 (Taylor’s Version) (via Universal) is by some distance the most successful of Swift’s re-recorded albums in these parts, ARIA notes. Her previous projects, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version), each spent one week in 2021, while Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) led for two weeks in 2023.
Closing out the top three is the Weeknd’s 2021 career retrospective The Highlights (Universal), up 6-2, equaling its peak position, while Swift’s 2022 studio release Midnights holds at No. 3. Close behind is Morgan Wallen’s former leader One Thing At A Time (Mercury/Universal), gaining 12-4.
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Swift, who brings her The Eras Tour to Sydney and Melbourne next month for seven stadium shows, produced by Frontier Touring, collects five of the top 10 album titles on the latest Australian tally.
As Christmas recordings shuffle out of the main ARIA charts, published Friday, Jan. 5, Jack Harlow is one of the beneficiaries. The Louisville artist’s latest hit “Lovin On Me” (Atlantic/Warner) enjoys new life in the new year, up 7-1 for its seventh non-consecutive week leading the ARIA Singles Chart.
There are similar rebounds for Tate McRae’s “Greedy” (RCA/Sony), up 15-2, equaling its peak position, and Doja Cat’s “Paint The Town Red” (RCA/Sony), which ruled the national tally for 10 weeks last year and roars up the latest list, 21-3.
Also, Swift’s “Cruel Summer” heats up 24-4; “Prada” by Casso, Raye and D-Block Europe bounces 25-5 (Ministry of Sound/Sony); South African artist Tyla’s international breakthrough hit “Water” (Sony) flows 28-7, its equal best spot; and Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season” (Universal) improves 26-6, for a new high.
U.S. country star Zach Bryan is double trouble on the ARIA Singles Chart, with two songs in the top 10 — “I Remember Everything” featuring Kacey Musgraves (Universal/Warner), up 30-8, and “Something In The Orange” (Warner), up 36-10. In a sign of the strength of country music in the land Down Under, Wallen’s “Last Night” pounces 35-9.
Finally, just one new release appears in the ARIA Top 40 this time around, English producer Fred Again and U.S. rapper Baby Keem’s “leavemealone” (Atlantic/Warner), new at No. 34.
You’ve bought the records, concert tickets and merch, seen the film. Now you can spice up your life with commemorative Spice Girls postage stamps, 15 in total. The U.K.’s Royal Mail will issue the stamps later this month as a small way of celebrating the Girl Power pack’s 30th anniversary.All told, the mail service’s bounty includes stamp sets, posters, postcards and collectables, with each piece available from Jan. 11. The top prize is the “Spice Girls Gold Stamps Set,” presented as a limited-edition (1,000 sets) featuring the issue’s stamps layered in 24-carat gold, and priced at £149.99 ($190).
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For the skint among us following the Christmas break, 30p (38c) will buy a Spice Girls “First Day” envelope.
The campaign, which celebrates the “U.K.’s biggest-ever girl group,” reads a statement, marks the first time the Royal Mail has dedicated an entire stamp issue to a female pop group.
The 10 main stamps feature images from the Brit Awards in 1997, including Ginger Spice in her iconic Union Jack dress, and their performance at the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games.
An additional five stamps are available on a miniature sheet, comprising individual snaps from the photoshoot for the 1998 feature film, Spice World.
The lineup of Baby (Emma Bunton), Posh (Victoria Beckham), Ginger (Geri Halliwell-Horner), Sporty (Melanie Chisholm) and Scary Spice (Melanie Brown) assembled in 1994.
Two years later, with Simon Cowell on board as manager, the girl group dropped “Wannabe,” a debut that would set the tone for a new era of British pop.
“Wannabe” was the first of the Spice Girls’ nine No. 1 songs in the U.K., and, in the U.S., the catchy track logged four weeks at the summit of the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1997. It’s still going strong; “Wannabe” passed one billion streams on Spotify over the recent holiday period.
The Spice Girls reunited in 2022 to celebrate Geri’s 50th birthday, an event that doubled-up as the 25th anniversary of their sophomore album Spiceworld, released back in 1997. There’s no talk, however, on the classic lineup hitting the studio or the road anytime soon.
Previously, the Royal Mail has issued stamps celebrating the careers of The Beatles (in 2007), Pink Floyd (2016), Queen (2020), Paul McCartney (2021), The Rolling Stones (2022) and Iron Maiden (2023).
Check out the Spice Girls Stamps here.
Lil Nas X responds to jokes made by Dave Chappelle and says he is going to have the “greatest comeback of all time.” Britney Spears set the record straight about rumors she is working on new music, taking to Instagram to say she will “never return to the music industry.” Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco […]
Banda Los Recoditos add an eighth No. 1 to their ledger as “Vas A Querer Volver” jumps 2-1 on Billboard’s Regional Mexican Airplay chart dated Jan. 6.
“It’s great news to start off the year this way,” Rafael Gónzalez and Santos de Jesús Pérez “JeyPi”, lead singers of Banda Los Recoditos tells Billboard. “Being No. 1 on a Billboard chart makes us happy and creates a stronger commitment to work on new music for our fans.”
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“Vas a Querer Volver,” which entered the top 10 in its eighth chart week, at No. 8, ascends from the runner-up slot with a 3% increase in audience impressions, to 6.9 million, earned in the U.S. during the Dec. 22-28 tracking week, according to Luminate. The song ejects Grupo Frontera and Junior H’s “En Altavoz” from the lead and sends it to No. 9 with a 33% decrease, to 4.9 million impressions.
As “Volver” takes the lead on Regional Mexican Airplay, UMLE claims the chart’s top four titles – a feat the company has achieved many times over the past decade. On the chart dated Jan. 6, UMLE has “Volver” at No. 1 (released via El Recodo/Fonovisa/UMLE), Julión Álvarez y Su Norteño Banda’s “Buscándole a La Suerte” at No. 2 (released via Fonovisa/UMLE), La Fiera de Ojinaga’s “La Neta Que No” at No. 3 and La Maquinaria Norteña’s “Perro Amor” at No. 4, both via Azteca/Fonovisa/UMLE.
UMLE last claimed the top four in 2022, when it held the Nos. 1-4 slots for four straight weeks on the April 2-23-dated lists. UMLE is the only label to have monopolized the top four on the chart in the last 10 years.
With “Volver” Los Recoditos score their eighth champ, dating back to “Ando Bien Pedo,” their longest-charting ruler, with 12 weeks atop in 2010. Here’s a review of the groups’ collections of No. 1s on the radio chart:
Peak, Title, Weeks at No. 1Feb. 13, 2010, “Ando Bien Pedo,” 12Dec. 28, 2013, “Mi Último Deseo, oneNov. 1, 2014, “Hasta Que Salga El Sol,” oneApril 14, 2018, “Tiempo,” fiveJuly 13, 2019, “Perfecta,” threeApril 23, 2022, “Me Siento A Todo Dar,” oneOct. 15, 2022, “Fuerte No Soy,” oneJan. 6, “Vas A Querer Volver”
Elsewhere, “Volver” repeats Los Recoditos’ last two top 10 entries on the overall Latin Airplay chart, jumping 8-7; “Me Siento a Todo Dar” and “Fuerte No Soy” also reached No. 7 high in 2022.
“We will be closer this 2024, with dates in Mexico, U.S. and Central America, performing new music,” Gónzalez and JeyPi add. “Thanks to our listeners, platforms, media, and our loyal followers.”
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As sales of vinyl grew for the 16th consecutive year in the U.K., Taylor Swift and The Beatles reigned supreme.
Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (via EMI) was the U.K.’s biggest-selling vinyl album of 2023, according to data published by the Official Charts Company, shifting 84,700 copies on the format since its release last October.
The fourth in Swift’s re-recording projects blasted to the biggest opening week for any album in 2023 (with more than 184,000 combined units), and logged three weeks at No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart. Based on midweek data, it’s set to log a fourth when the weekly chart is published this Friday, Jan. 5.
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Swifties love their wax. 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is one of three Swift LPs to crack the top 10 on the Official Top 40 best-selling vinyl albums of 2023, ahead of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (No. 4) and Midnights (No. 8), while another five titles impact the year-end chart: Lover (No. 20), folklore (No. 21), reputation (No. 27), evermore (No. 37) and the Record Store Day limited-edition release folklore – The Long Pond Studio Sessions (No. 38).
Completing the podium on the U.K.’s year-end vinyl albums chart is The Rolling Stones’ Hackney Diamonds (Polydor), at No. 2; and Lana Del Rey’s Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (Polydor), at No. 3, respectively.
Meanwhile, The Beatles’ “last” single “Now And Then” (via Apple Corps), released 53 years after the Fab Four split, is crowned the best-selling vinyl single of 2023 in the U.K.
The song, which began life as a demo recorded by John Lennon in the late 1970s, and which features contributions from all four members of the legendary band, moved 33,000 copies on vinyl since its release, which included 12” and 7” versions, with fans snapping up clear, light blue and blue/white marble editions.
En route to No. 1 on the weekly tally last November, “Now And Then” established a flurry of records, including the longest span between an artist’s first and last No. 1, and the U.K.’s fastest-selling vinyl single of the century.
On the year-end vinyl singles tally, Boygenius’s “The Rest” (Interscope) comes in behind the Beatles, at No. 2, while veteran electronic music wizard Aphex Twin completes the top 3 with “Blackbox Life Recorder 21F” (Warp). British punk icons the Sex Pistols land three vinyl releases in the U.K.’s top 10, all via Virgin: “Anarchy in the U.K.” (No. 5), “Holidays in the Sun” (No. 6) and “Pretty Vacant” (No. 9).
Vinyl is no trifling matter. Data published by the BPI, which operates the OCC in a joint venture with entertainment retail body ERA, shows that the format posted its 16th consecutive year of growth in 2023.Year-on-year growth was 11.7% to 5.9 million units (up to week 51), for the highest annual sales figures for the format since 1990. That’s well up on the 2.9% growth recorded in the previous year.
See the full year-end vinyl charts here.
Rage Against The Machine fans will need to find another outlet to release their anger, because the ‘90s rock legends won’t be playing live again.
That’s according to comments posted by drummer Brad Wilk, and shared widely by RATM’s official X (formerly Twitter) page late Wednesday (Jan. 3).
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RATM pushes out a news story published by Blabbermouth and based on comments made by Wilk, who insists the band “will not be touring or playing live again.”
Earlier, Wilk shared his thoughts on Instagram. “I know a lot of people are waiting for us to announce new tour dates for all the canceled RATM shows. I don’t want to string people or myself along any further,” he writes.
“So while there has been some communication that this may be happening in the future… I want to let you know that RATM (Tim, Zack, Tom and I) will not be touring or playing live again.
“I’m sorry for those of you who have been waiting for this to happen. I really wish it was…”
RATM’s post is a curious one which, at the time of writing, wasn’t shared to the rockers’ Facebook or Instagram pages and fails to mention whether recording projects are still in the cards. Bandmates Zack de la Rocha (vocals), bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford (bass) and Tom Morello (guitar) have not commented.
The L.A. group was finally tapped for the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2023, after five tries. Internal band issues were obvious then; Morello was the only member to attend the induction ceremony at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
RATM released just four albums during their initial 1991-2000 run before reforming for live dates from 2007-2011 and again in 2019 for a string of shows that were first interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and then by de la Rocha’s leg injury.
LPs Evil Empire (from 1996) and The Battle Of Los Angeles (1999) both peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
RATM has made eight total appearances on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay, with three songs in the top 10 (all in 2000), including “Guerrilla Radio,” which peaked at No. 69 on the Hot 100.
Few songs, however, have the power and fury of RATM’s signature song from 1992, “Killing In The Name,” a record that connected with youths everywhere and sprayed enough energy to enable them run through walls.
When their name was called out for induction into the Rock Hall class of ’23, the band recounted, by way of a statement, how they put their rage into action.
They were, the statement reads, “A band who shut down the NY Stock Exchange for the first time in its history.
“A band who was targeted by police organizations who attempted to ban us from sold out arenas for raising our voices to free Mumia Abu Jamal, Leonard Peltier and other political prisoners
“A band who sued the US State Department for their fascist practice of using our music to torture innocent men in Guantanamo Bay.”
And, “a band who wrote rebel songs in an abandoned, industrial warehouse in the valley that would later dethrone Simon Cowell ’s X Factor pop monopoly to occupy the number 1 spot on the UK charts and have the most downloaded song in U.K. history.”
It’s now an amusing piece of U.K. chart history that, following a public campaign, “Killing In The Name” became 2009’s coveted Christmas U.K. No. 1 – and in doing so killing the established tradition that the winner of X Factor would claim the prize.
Jennie of BLACKPINK has launched a new label for her solo music and is planning on dropping her debut solo album soon, Selena Gomez hints at potentially retiring from music and Ariana Grande confirms her seventh studio album will drop later in this year. Kid Cudi responds to an internet troll who claims his 2021 […]
Mexican American singer-songwriter Xavi starts off 2024 big, achieving his first No. 1 on a Billboard chart, as “La Diabla” crowns the Hot Latin Songs chart dated Jan. 6. The song rises 4-1 to become the first champ of the year on the multi-metric ranking.
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“Super grateful with everyone and the whole team; we’ve been doing everything with love, giving it our all to keep pushing our music and culture to new heights,” Xavi tells Billboard.
“La Diabla” takes the lead on Hot Latin Songs as the week’s Greatest Gainer in streams and sales. The song logged 11.1 million official U.S. streams in the tracking week of Dec. 22-28, according to Luminate; that’s a 24% gain from the week prior. Plus, the sum pushes the track 4-2 on Latin Streaming Songs. Although sales still account for a negligible amount, “La Diabla” jumps 10-4 on Latin Digital Songs Sales with a 43% increase.
With “La Diabla,” Xavi earns his second top 10 on Hot Latin Songs, which blends airplay, digital sales, and streaming activity. The new champ joins “La Víctima” which advances 7-5 with 7.4 million official streams during the same tracking week. Further, the singer-songwriter also makes progress through two other tracks: “Poco a Poco,” with Dareyes De La Sierra, jumps 26-18 and “Modo DND,” with Tony Aguirre, lifts to its new No. 21 peak.
Thanks to “La Diabla,” released Nov. 30 via Interscope, the record label returns to No. 1 on Hot Latin Songs for its first champ of the year. Karol G and Peso Pluma’s “Qlona” was the label’s last leader, completing a fifth week at No. 1 on the Oct. 14-dated ranking.
On a global scale, “La Diabla” takes Xavi to his highest-charting effort on Billboard Global Excl. U.S., peaking at No. 23. While the track dips 32-33 on Billboard 200, “La Víctima” climbs 79-64.
Elsewhere, Xavi stands strong leading the Latin Songwriters chart for a fourth consecutive week, tying with Ivan Cornejo for the fifth-most weeks in charge among regional Mexican soloists. Both rank behind Peso Pluma’s 20 weeks at No. 1, Eslabon Armado’s Pedro Tovar with a 10-week domination, and DannyLux with six weeks atop.
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