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The Citizens of Halloween are, at last, first-time residents on the Billboard Hot 100 (chart dated Nov. 11), thanks to “This Is Halloween,” from Tim Burton’s classic 1993 stop-motion animated film, The Nightmare Before Christmas.
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The song, on Walt Disney Records, debuts at No. 41 with 12.4 million streams (up 152%), 511,000 radio impressions (up 815%) and 3,000 downloads (up 58%) Oct. 27-Nov. 2, according to Luminate.
The song’s parent album The Nightmare Before Christmas jumps from No. 54 to No. 25 on the Billboard 200 with 25,000 equivalent album units (up 61%). The collection reached No. 22 last year, a new high. On the Soundtracks chart, the set rebounds for a fourth total week at No. 1.
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Although he doesn’t earn an official artist billing on the song, “This Is Halloween” was written, composed and produced by Danny Elfman, also the main composer for The Nightmare Before Christmas.
In 2018, for the film’s 25th anniversary, Elfman began performing a live concert experience of its music, complete with a live orchestra and Elfman embodying the character Jack Skellington; he still performs such shows today. Catherine O’Hara and Ken Page also reprised their roles as Sally and Oogie Boogie, respectively.
In an interview with Billboard that year, Elfman said that despite The Nightmare Before Christmas becoming the first animated movie to earn an Academy Award nomination for best visual effects, he was initially disappointed by the film’s reception. “It came and went pretty quickly and didn’t do very well,” he said. “Nobody understood what it was or how to market it. I put so much into this project, including so much of my own personality, that it really hurt. At the time, I was really depressed after it came out. I put so much into it and it was gone.”
The film’s lasting impact, however, has brightened his outlook. “Of all the things I’ve worked on that I would have wished to find a second life,” he mused, “and I’ve worked on a million movies that died early deaths, it would have been Nightmare.”
Elfman has appeared on the Hot 100 in one additional iteration: as a member of new wave group Oingo Boingo. The band charted two songs on the list in the 1980s: “Weird Science,” the theme from the 1985 fantasy sci-fi film, and John Hughes TV series of the same name, reached No. 45 in 1985, and “Just Another Day” peaked at No. 85 in 1986. He’s credited as the sole songwriter on both tracks, and as a co-producer, alongside Steve Bartek.
Outside of the debut of “This Is Halloween,” three other Halloween hits re-enter the Hot 100: Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” Bobby “Boris” Pick and the Crypt-Kickers’ “Monster Mash” and Ray Parker Jr.’s “Ghostbusters.”
Aretha Franklin owned the title “Queen of Soul,” for good reason.
The Detroit native was electric, with power, substance, and the versality to sing anything from pop through to “Nessun Dorma,” famously stepping in for the late Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti at the 1998 Grammy Awards.
Franklin commanded respect. You don’t just go and cover one of her great R&B songs on national TV.
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Kaylee Shimizu didn’t get the memo. And she sure didn’t need it.
When the Knockouts kicked off Monday night (Nov. 6) on NBC’s The Voice, Shimizu did no harm to her chances of progressing all the way in the competition with an explosive performance of “Ain’t No Way,” lifted from Franklin’s Lady Soul album from 1968.
The Team Legend singer hit all her runs, high notes, low notes, the lot. She was so good, and so audacious, rival coach Niall Horan spent a good chunk of the performance belly-laughing.
Shimizu has been laughing through this 24th season.
Hailing from Ewa Beach, Hawaii, the teen scored a four-chair turn during the auditions with a cover of the Beatles’ “Golden Slumbers,” a minutes-long flex with elite high notes, control and all the good stuff that captures the attention.
“We’re just stunned right now. Your voice was just dazzling, it was so creative it was so musical,” remarked Legend, prior to recruiting the 17-year-old to his team. “You know you could win The Voice, right,” he added. “You have so much confidence delivering these impossible notes.”
He’s not wrong.
Shimizu went up against Team Legend singers Caleb Sasser and Mara Justine, both of whom earned perfect four-chair turns during the auditions phase. She shone under those bright, Knockout lights.
“There’s a lot of richness and warmth and body to your voice,” Legend remarked. “It’s just supernatural that it comes out of your body at the same time. That you’re hitting those high notes…it’s actually insane.”
The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays on NBC and streams the following day on Peacock.
Watch below.
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While BTS simmers, Jung Kook is red hot.
After the hard work, the K-pop star can now watch the numbers trickle in following the release of Golden, his debut solo album. Based on midweek data, it’s set to debut at No. 3 in the U.K., for what would be the highest charting solo release from a BTS member. The album includes “Seven” with Latto, which last month set a new record for the fastest entry into Spotify’s one billion streams club, at 108 days. As at Monday, Nov. 6, the single is platinum certified by RIAA.
Expect a whole lot more to come.
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Jung Kook stopped by NBC‘s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday for a chat, a dance, a slice of pizza, and a glimpse at the road ahead.
“Of course I want to do a world tour as a solo artist, but I don’t think I have enough songs for that,” he tells the late-night host. “So I want to complement them more and make more songs. And maybe when I’m ready, I can do the tour in full swing.”
That mission statement should get ARMY buzzing. Golden is here, now, and it’s got something for everyone, he assures Fallon. Indeed, it tops this week’s new music poll on Billboard, with 88% of the vote.
“I wanted to have this universal emotion, love. Everyone can relate to it,” he says of the album. “I wanted to show the change of this emotion. And also in terms of the versatility. I wanted to become a solo artist who can pull off a lot of genres and that’s what I try to do here.”
During his guest spot, the pop star discussed the origin of the name “Golden” (he’s the “golden youngest” in BTS, a nickname coined by RM), his proudest achievements (ARMY and BTS. “If it weren’t for them I would not be what I am today”), and the response from his fellow bandmates when he first played them the LP (“They just said, ‘It’s great.’”).
Yung Kook also joked about the surprise hit that was the Weverse video of him sleeping, a clip that captured some six-million sets of eyeballs. Those folks who tuned in, it was “something a little unexpected,” he explains in English, before switching to his native tongue: “actually its’ a little embarrassing”.
The 26-year-old artist also stuck around to perform album track “Standing Next to You,” a song that “could best show my vocals and performance as an artist. Of course it had to be the main track for my album,” he reckons.
Watch the interview and performance below.
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There’s not so much as a morsel of hope for a reunion, though a U.K. No. 1 album should give some comfort to long-suffering fans of Oasis.
The Britpop-era heavyweights lead the chart race with The Masterplan (via Big Brother), which enjoys a revival thanks to a 25th anniversary reissue.
Originally released in 1998, the LP collects b-sides from the Manchester band’s classic first three albums, 1994’s Definitely Maybe, 1995’s (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? and 1997’s Be Here Now, and is led-off by “Acquiesce,” considered a stone-cold Oasis classic.
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The original version of The Masterplan peaked at No. 2 on the national chart. If it does manage to go one better, it would give Oasis a ninth leader (including all seven studio albums), and first in 13 years — since 2010 hits compilation Time Flies… (1994-2009).
The Masterplan would need to dethrone Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (via EMI), which is does on the Official Chart Update. The fourth in Swift’s recording projects, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) dips 1-2 on the chart blast.
Meanwhile, BTS singer Jung Kook is on track to land the top debut on the national chart with Golden (Interscope), which is forecast to start at No. 3. That would Jung Kook the highest-charting solo album in the U.K. from a member of BTS.
Legendary English pop singer Cliff Richard is on course for a 48th U.K. top 10 appearance with Cliff with Strings – My Kinda Life (EastWest/Rhino). The career retrospective, which collects some of Richard’s top hits, reimagined with orchestral arrangements by Chris Walden, is set to start at No. 4.
The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr could nab a fifth U.K. top 10 album with Spirit Power: The Best of Johnny Marr (BMG), new at No. 6 on the midweek tally, while records from Caroline Polachek (Desire, I Want To Turn Into You reentering at No. 7 via Perpetual Novice) and Van Morrison (Accentuate The Positive at No. 9 via Exile) are close behind.
Finally, as the The Beatles fly towards a record-setting 18th No. 1 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart with “Now And Then,” the Fab Four’s hits collection 1 (Apple Corps) is set for a top 40 reentry, at No. 19. The album led the survey for nine consecutive weeks following its release back in 2000.
As previously reported, “Now And Then” is currently outselling the rest of the top 5 combined.
All will be revealed when the Official U.K. Albums and Singles Charts are published late Friday, Nov. 10.
Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker welcomed their first child together, and Stormi Webster stormed the stage with a performance alongside her rapper dad Travis Scott. Dua Lipa teased a special “surprise launch event” in three different cities to celebrate the release of her new single ‘Houdini.’ K-pop girl groups (G)I-DLE, aespa & IVE announce that […]
Aquaman star Jason Momoa will host Saturday Night Live for the second time on Nov. 18, while the rising star that is Tate McRae will make her musical guest debut. McRae, the Canadian singer and songwriter, is riding a wave with “Greedy,” which caught fire on TikTok before crossing over on charts around the globe. […]
Paul McCartney is more active than most folks a quarter of his age. The 81-year-old two-time Rock Hall inducted singer and songwriter dropped a “new” Beatles song last Thursday, its official music video on Friday, and completed a stadium tour of Australia on Saturday, produced by Frontier Touring. Add-in a 12-minute Beatles mini-film and media commitments, and McCartney has seemingly managed to be everywhere, all at once.
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Speaking with BBC Radio 1, McCartney revealed that “Now And Then” is more than an ambitious passion project. The single, which took more than 40 years to complete, had a touch of magic about it.
“When we were in the studio we had John’s voice in our ears so you could imagine he was just in the next room in a vocal booth or something and we were just working with him again so it was joyful,” he says, “it was really lovely you know, because we hadn’t experienced that for a long time obviously and then suddenly here we were working with ol’ Johnny.”
The track was originally a demo, written and sung by John Lennon into a tape recorder at New York’s Dakota Building back in the 1970s. McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr attempted to resurrect the recording in the 1990s, but the audio quality was beyond help. That was, until Get Back director Peter Jackson and his team at WingNut Films developed the MAL audio technology, powered by artificial intelligence, which could separate the stems.
Completed with a string arrangement, written by Giles Martin, Paul and Ben Foster, and featuring contributions from all four Beatles, it’s pitched as the “last” Beatles record.
“It was kind of magical doing it,” McCartney adds.
The single has blasted out of the gates in the United Kingdom. According to the Official Charts Company, “Now And Then” leads the race for the chart crown, by outselling the rest of the top 5 combined.
“Now And Then” was completed with the assistance of AI, a story thread that arguably sidetracked the message around the announcement. Technology always intrigued the Beatles, McCartney notes.
“The first time we heard a tape go backwards by mistake we went ‘Oh what’s that?’ and we wanted to put that on our record, whereas other people would just go ‘Oh come on get the tape on the right way and let’s get on with it’,” he explains. “But we always grabbed little things like that so Peter Jackson, he’s organized it so it’s magic. It’s very special for me to be singing with John again.”
McCartney also recounted his latest, hits-laden performance at Glastonbury Festival 2023, in June of this year. “Well you know Glastonbury is special,” he enthuses. “We’d done an American tour to get up to speed with the band, we were excited to do Glastonbury just ’cause it’s Glastonbury and then you get that many people singing something like ‘Hey Jude’ and you know, in this world today when the news is so often bad, it’s just so great to see all these humans with such a loving vibe that you get at Glastonbury. No, it was great to do and I’m glad we pulled it off.”
Stream the interview here.
The Beatles’ “last” song “Now And Then” is on track for the U.K. chart title.
Based on sales and streaming data captured from the first 48 hours in the chart week, “Now And Then” is in pole position, outselling the rest of the top 5 combined, the Official Charts Company reports.
If it holds its spot, “Now And Then” will become the Fab Four’s 18th U.K. chart-leader, and their first in 54 years, since “The Ballad of John and Yoko” topped the weekly tally back in 1969.
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“Now And Then” actually debuted at No. 42 in the U.K. last week based on just 10 hours of sales, but is now expected to jump 41 places to the top of the Official Singles Chart when chart is published this Friday, Nov. 10.
The crown would cap a remarkable journey for “Now And Then.” The track began life as a demo written and sung by John Lennon, was later developed and worked on by Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, and now completed by Paul and Ringo, the surviving members of The Beatles, more than 40 years after the group began work on it.
The late Lennon’s vocals and piano part were recorded to tape at New York’s Dakota Building in the 1970s, and remained there until film director Peter Jackson and his team at WingNut Films developed the MAL audio technology, powered by AI, which could separate the stems. The result is a lush production, with a string arrangement, written by Giles Martin, Paul and Ben Foster, and featuring contributions from all four Beatles.
On the day of its release last Thursday (Nov. 2), “Now And Then” was named as BBC Radio 1’s Hottest Record. The song is all-love, McCartney told Radio 1’s Clara Amfo. “Just a loving feeling,” he says of the recording, “because that’s often what we were trying to do with our records, we were trying to spread love. And in this one it is very poignant. It’s John talking about ‘I miss you’ and stuff like that so, I think emotion, that would be the key word for people to take away from it, ‘emotion’.”
Jackson helmed the official music video for “Now And Then,” which dropped last Friday.
The closest competition on the First Look chart, according to the Official Charts Company, is BTS star Jung Kook’s “Standing Next To You,” which is eyeing a No. 2 start. That would be the K-pop artist’s highest peak of his solo career in the U.K. Jung Kook has three U.K. top 10s to his name, with a best of No. 3 for 2023’s “Seven” featuring Latto.
Taylor Swift buries her rivals under a mountain of sales and streams in the U.K. as 1989 (Taylor’s Version) debuts at No. 1.
Swift’s latest release, the fourth of her six recording projects, clocks up a “massive” 184,000 chart units, the Official Charts Company reports, more than double that of the original 1989’s opening-week sales of 90,000, accumulated following its release in 2014.
That opening result crushes the previous record holder for 2023, Lewis Capaldi’s Broken By Desire to Be Heavenly Sent, which scored 95,000 chart units in its week one.
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The runaway leader at the midweek stage, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) outperforms the rest of the top 10 combined during the latest cycle, and is the fastest-selling vinyl release of the year, with 62,000 copies sold, according to the OCC.
It’s Swift’s 11th chart-topping U.K. album, extending her own record as the woman with the most U.K. leaders this century, and the female artist with the 11 consecutive No. 1 albums in the briefest timeframe, at 11 years.
Among female artists, only Madonna has more — with 12. It’s only a matter of time before TayTay catches up with the Queen of Pop.
With Swift’s “Vault” cut “Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version) reigning over the national singles survey, TayTay collects another chart double.
It’s by no means the only new release to make its impact felt on the latest albums tally. Veteran electronic act Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark snag a highest-charting studio album across a career spanning 45 years, with Bauhaus Staircase (100 Percent Records), new at No. 2. That equals the peak position of OMD’s 1988 hits compilation The Best of OMD, one of their eight U.K. top 10s.
Rolling Stones’ latest leader Hackney Diamonds (Polydor) drops 1-3, while Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inducted pop-rock band Duran Duran earn a 12th U.K. 10 with Danse Macabre (BMG), their Halloween-themed 16th studio album.
Also new to the top 10 are albums from James Blunt (Who We Used to Be at No. 5 via Atlantic), CASISDEAD (Famous Last Words at No. 7 via XL Recordings) and Alfie Boe (Open Arms – The Symphonic Songbook this week at No. 10 via BMG).
Taylor Swift is having her way on the U.K. charts, as “Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version)” bows at No. 1 on the national singles survey, and its parent LP arrives at the summit of the albums chart.
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“Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version)” starts atop the Official U.K. Singles Chart, published Friday, Nov. 3, with a market-leading 4.9 million streams, the Official Charts Company reports.
Swift now boasts three career chart leaders in the U.K., a list that includes a “Look What You Made Me Do” (in 2017) and “Anti-Hero” (2022).
“Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version) is one of three new TayTay tracks from the “Vault” which crash the top 10, as “Now That We Don’t Talk (Taylor’s Version)” starts at No. 2 and “Slut!” (Taylor’s Version) bows at No. 5.
The top five is completed by Casso, Raye, D-Block Europe’s “Prada” (down 2-3 via Ministry of Sound) and Kenya Grace’s “Strangers” (down 1-4 via FFRR).
Halloween is done and dusted for 2023, but the spooky celebration makes its impact felt on the U.K. singles survey. Danny Elfman’s “This is Halloween” (No. 14 via Walt Disney) from The Nightmare Before Christmas, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” (No. 20 via Epic), Ray Parker Jr.’s “Ghostbusters” (No. 21 via Arista) and Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s “Monster Mash” (No. 29 via TheMonsterMash.com) all power into the top 40 on the latest tally.
Meanwhile, there’s new chart peaks for Drake, Sexyy Red and SZA’s “Rich Baby Daddy” (up 17-15 via OVO/Republic Records), Chase & Status, Hedex and ArrDee’s “Liqour & Cigarettes” (up 20-18 via EMI), Doja Cat’s “Agora Hills” (up 28-26 via Ministry of Sound), and Tems’ “Me & U” (up 36-34 via Since 93/RCA).
Further down the list, Wheatus’s breakthrough number “Teenage Dirtbag” (Columbia) reenters the U.K. Top 40 at No. 38, for its first top flight appearance since 2001. “Teenage Dirtbag” peaked at No. 2 that year.