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Drake extends his record for the most No. 1s in the history of Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart, as “First Person Shooter,” featuring J. Cole, debuts atop the Oct. 21-dated tally.
The song reigns with 42.2 million official U.S. streams earned in its first week (Oct. 6-12), according to Luminate.
Drake adds his 19th leader, more than three times the amount of the next-closest acts dating to the survey’s 2013 inception; he’s followed by Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift, with six apiece. Of Drake’s No. 1s, he has logged 15 in a lead role.
Most No. 1s, Streaming Songs:19, Drake6, Justin Bieber6, Taylor Swift5, Travis Scott4, Cardi B4, Miley Cyrus4, Ariana Grande4, Lil Baby
As for featured act J. Cole, “First Person Shooter” is his second Streaming Songs No. 1, following the one-week rule of “Interlude” in May 2021.
Drake now boasts four Streaming Songs rulers in 2023, with his latest preceded by “Search & Rescue” in April, Travis Scott’s “Meltdown” (on which he’s featured) in August and “Slime You Out,” featuring SZA, in September.
Drake first reigned in 2016 as featured on Rihanna’s “Work,” an eight-week No. 1 beginning that March. His first lead No. 1, “One Dance” (featuring WizKid and Kyla), followed that May.
The entire top 11 of Streaming Songs comprises songs from Drake’s new album For All the Dogs, which concurrently premieres atop the Billboard 200. “First Person Shooter” is followed by “IDGAF,” featuring Yeat, at No. 2, with 40.8 million streams.
It’s the third time that a single act has occupied the top 11 or more on Streaming Songs. Drake did so first – claiming the top 14 spots – on the Sept. 18, 2021, ranking with music from his LP Certified Lover Boy. Swift followed on Nov. 5, 2022, taking the top 13 via material from her album Midnights.
Thanks to his latest haul, Drake now boasts 96 Streaming Songs career top 10s, over double the amount of the next-closest act, Swift, with 39.
Most Top 10s, Streaming Songs:96, Drake39, Taylor Swift34, Lil Baby30, The Weeknd28, 21 Savage28, Travis Scott25, Future24, J. Cole24, Kanye West
All 23 tracks on For All the Dogs make Streaming Songs, all the way down to “Screw the World Interlude,” at No. 33, with 11.8 million streams.
As previously reported, “First Person Shooter” also starts atop the multi-metric Billboard Hot 100, becoming Drake’s 13th leader – tying him with Michael Jackson for the most leaders among solo men – and J. Cole’s first No. 1.
NBC’s The Voice has entered into the battle rounds. It’s a place where hopes are dashed, where dreams are kept alive, and where the coaches are made to suffer at decision time.
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Niall Horan, who is on good form having coached the winner in his debut season, paired Lennon VanderDoes and Tanner Massey for a toe-to-toe Tuesday night (Oct. 17) to Billy Joel’s “She’s Always a Woman.”
“Wow, wow, wow, that was so incredible,” Gwen Stefani remarked at the close. “Both of you are mindblowing in your own way.” If she had to choose, she’d go with Massey.
“Really, both amazing,” John Legend said. Legend has his own connection with “She’s Always a Woman”; it’s the inspiration for “All of Me,” the “song that changed my life. And hearing you two sing it was just magical.” If he had to make the call, he’d lean “ever so slightly” toward Massey.
Reba McEntire was impressed with both contestants, especially Massey. “To be as young as you are, you’ve got great stage presence.”
There can be only one, and Horan had to wield the axe.
“I think this was always going to be a great battle with the difference in your two voices, the way Lennon can sing up there with such control and, your tone is so captivating.” Tanner, with his flares at the end of some sentences, are just “so beautiful” to hear. “This is one of those battles where I’ve been battling myself.
Horan ignored the advice of his fellow coaches and rivals, and tapped VanderDoes to progress.
The story doesn’t end there. Legend and Stefani both tried to “steal” the young talent. Another decision had to be made, this time by Massey who just minutes earlier had to cope with the bitter disappointment of rejection. He chose Team Gwen.
The popular singing competition show airs at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC (check your local listings for channel information). Episodes of The Voice will stream on-demand via Peacock the next day after they air on TV, but viewers can also watch live with Peacock Premium Plus.
Watch the season 24 performance below.
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INXS got the band back together this week, for a few hours at least, to celebrate the release of several, special new projects.
The surviving band members — Garry Gary Beers, Kirk Pengilly and brothers Andrew, Jon and Tim Farriss — gathered Tuesday (Oct. 17) at Sydney’s Intercontinental Hotel, towering over Sydney Harbour and all its famous landmarks, for a rare reunion — their first since 2017.
The chaps were relaxed and chatty as they flicked through old photos, wound back the years.
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Some of those memories are preserved in Calling All Nations, a new 400-plus “love letter” created by a global fanbase and the band. UMG’s Andrew Kronfeld and Live Nation’s Arthur Fogel contributed essays.
Until the project came together, the artists had “no idea how much it meant to so many individual fans. It wasn’t always about the show,” recounts Pengilly. Those tales include deeper, shared experiences of road trips “driving six hours to meet their friends to get ready to go to the gig. And then, you know, they might just somehow meet us backstage or have an interaction and a look from one of us on stage,” and “they feel a connection. Yeah, I found it really emotional.”
Bass player Beers, now based in California, relished the chance to meet his old bandmates on home soil. He offers a different glimpse at the life of a group on the rise, and their connection with fans. “Being broke and young back in the day, we used to take up offers to go to people’s houses and eat their food. So, you got to meet a lot of people. When you look back at the book, you remember that we did matter to people, not just musically, or for successes. People helped us along in many ways.”
A partnership of Petrol Records, UMe, uDiscover Music and This Day In Music Books, Calling All Nations is available via INXS.com in three configuration — the standard “First Edition” hardback book, a limited-edition “Deluxe” boxset, and an extremely limited-edition “Super Deluxe” box, hand-signed by the members of INXS.
Also on the release slate, All Juiced Up – Part 2, a collection of nine limited edition colored vinyl 12” records featuring remixes of classic INXS songs, including “Need You Tonight,” “Listen Like Thieves” and “New Sensation,” plus the 30th anniversary edition of Full Moon Dirty Hearts, for which Giles Martin has created an exclusive, immersive audio edition; it’s due out Nov. 2.
The last time the surviving band members were in a room together, prior to this week, was for the celebration of their 40th anniversary, in 2017, when they were honored for 50 million global record sales at the State Theatre masquerade party.
Formed in Western Australia in 1977, INXS scaled the highest mountain of popular music with six U.K. top 10 albums (including a No. 1 with Welcome To Wherever You Are from 1992) and five U.S. top 20 albums, a BRIT Award (in 1991 for best international group) and, in 2001, elevation into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
The band’s journey was tragically derailed by the 1997 death of lead singer Michael Hutchence, at the age of just 37, though INXS continued with replacement singers.
In Sydney, talk turned to Hutchence, and “seventh member” Chris Murphy, who died in 2021, aged 66. “Chris was hungry,” recounts Pengilly. “He just took no prisoners”.
The question every fan, or reporter, would ask INXS is on a return to live performances. A tour, perhaps, or a one-off show at an iconic venue. The answer isn’t a flat no.
Beers put his hand up (“I really miss playing with these guys”). Tim Farriss’ fretting hand, however, isn’t what it was following a grim injury to his left ring finger back in 2015. “We loved every bit of it,” notes Pengilly of the band’s journey. “But you know, we did it all.”
INXS called time on touring in 2012, with a gig where it all started – in Perth.
“To be fair to us is that,” comments Andrew Farriss, “as people losing someone as talented, dynamic a frontman as Michael, it became really in the forefront of our minds that, okay, we’ve created this legacy and we own it. And so we’ll decide when we want to play or not. That’s the important point, to not have it dictated to what we can and can’t do when we feel like it.”
The other side of the coin, “which is appealing to me,” he adds, “is who that singer could possibly be. There must be someone that we haven’t even thought of or discovered or found it. That could be an amazing thing to happen.”
In a surprise for the band members, Universal Music Australia president Sean Warner presented INXS with global awards for four billion streams, featuring a powerful Indigenous “full moon” design. A sixth award was forged for the late Hutchence.
Much of the electronic music industry is currently en route to Amsterdam, with the genre’s biggest conference, ADE, starting tomorrow (Oct. 18.) Approximately 8,000 professionals are expected to attend.
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The four-day event is, as always, putting on a dizzying number of panels and adjacent events that will take over more than 100 clubs and event spaces throughout the city. ADE 2023 is again divided into Lab and Pro programming, with Lab content tailored for people trying to get into or just starting out in the industry, while Pro programming is designed for established managers, label execs, artists, streamers, marketers, promoters and more.
While the conference is “inspiring and gets everyone together,” says ADE co-organizer Meindert Kennis, “we also focus on hands-on information … In the end, that’s what a lot of professionals are coming for, and they need to take home value for themselves or their organization. We try to implement that in all the different elements of ADE to really help the industry push itself forward.”
There will be a lot of momentum to be gleaned 170 Pro sessions happening from Wednesday to Saturday. Talks on streaming, labels, social engagement, royalties and much more will be given by execs from Spotify, YouTube, Tiktok, Beatport, TuneCore and many other organizations. After dark, the industry will flex what it does best, with musical performances by 2,900 artists both rising and established happening throughout the city.
Here, ADE organizers Kennis and Jan-Willem van de Ven share key 10 things to know about ADE 2023.
1. Over the past 15 years, ADE’s musical offerings have expanded from 33 nightclubs to, in 2023, more than 200 venues. ADE doesn’t produce all of these events themselves, but facilitates promoters from around the world utilizing these spaces while throwing parties under the ADE banner.
“The concept is that we don’t program all these events ourselves,” says van de Ven. “We help facilitate individual promoters to showcase what they know and do best.”
2. As ADE has grown to feature consumer-facing events, it’s become a platform for global festival brands to test run new concepts. This week will see 35 locations around Amsterdam hosting outdoor and big tent festival-style events.
“What you see now is a lot of concepts being tried at ADE,” says van de Ven. “It’s not a DJ showcase festival anymore, but it’s more a concept showcase festival where you’ll see a lot of concepts being tried out for the first second time. But if it works at ADE, it might work for the rest of the world.
Meindert Kennis & Jan Willem van de Ven
Sarah Wijzenbeek
3. As with previous editions, ADE 2023 features hundreds of panels, networking sessions, drink mixers, musical performance and other adjacent programming.
“If you’re at this panel, or at a drinks thing or another event, you’re missing out on 100 other ones,” says Kennis. “That’s difficult, but that’s also the strength of it and the reason why ADE is such a thrilling event…because it’s just too much to handle. That’s why ADE means so so many different things to so many different people, and there’s something for everyone.”
4. To help guide attendees’ schedules, ADE 2023 Pro programming is organized by three tracks: strategies, opportunities and responsibilities.
“Strategies is all about the business and the value chain,” says Kennis. “Opportunities is really for future startups like A.I. adn responsibilities, is stuff like green initiatives and [industry gender equity associations like] SheSaid.So. This way, we try to at least give people the possibility of making an efficient time schedule.”
5. These Pro and Lab tracks are designed to work in tandem. Lab programming this week includes production demos, mastering social media, music rights education and much more.
“The idea behind it was to create an ecosystem that that feeds itself,” says Kennis, “so that the young people or aspiring producers and professional needs are serviced in that way that they will be a pro visitor maybe in a few years later.”
6. Not everyone who goes to Amsterdam attends the actual conference, with many people traveling to the city simply to be around so much of the industry.
“Not everyone is buying a ticket to go to a panel,” says van de Ven. “That’s our preferred situation obviously, but at the same time, having these all these people over here doing business and creating this momentum together is is really important for us. That’s our greatest value.”
7. ADE recently received official designation as a Dutch nonprofit cultural organization. For the first time ever, the conference will hold an opening night party at the city’s Rijksmuseum, where members of the electronic music community will mingle while surrounded by the works of Rembrandt, Vermeer Van Gogh and other Dutch masters.
“There are these two cultural moguls, and Rijksmuseum are one of them, and we’re on the other one,” says van de Ven. “We can create this jaw dropping momentum, if we can have several audiences together and show the world that day culture and night culture [don’t need to be separate.] It can be one and the same. It’s going to be amazing.”
Amsterdam Dance Event
Tom Doms
8. That cultural organization classification also helps ADE define itself in the eyes of the industry.
“A lot of people think we’re a big commercial company with huge budgets that can fly in any artist in that will fit the narrative,” says Kennis. “Unfortunately, that’s not the case. The stamp of approval of being an official nonprofit cultural organization within the Netherlands kind of helps us fight the stigma that [ADE is] money-hungry, commercial activities, which is nice.”
9. With ADE musical showcases often drawing huge crowds, organizers have developed a new tool that will help attendees figure out what venues are at capacity.
This in-app feature will allow people to “look at every festival location on a map and see if there’s room for entrance,” says van de Ven, “so people aren’t going 50 minutes by Uber” to events they can’t get into. “We’ve wanted this for many years and knew we really needed to solve this issue, so this year is going to be our pilot with 40 or 50 locations.”
10. ADE 2023 is expecting many industry professionals from the U.S., which doesn’t currently have its own dance industry conference.
“There are some parts of the world that are buying more tickets than we expected,” says van de Ven. “For example, Australia’s quite big this year, and there a lot of people coming from the United States.”
While the moon eclipsing the sun up in the heavens will serve a the event’s primary headliner, Texas Eclipse 2024 has today (Oct. 17) dropped the lineup for all the artists that will play in honor of this celestial event.
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The lineup features Bob Moses, LP Giobbi, STS9, CloZee, Big Gigantic, Dirtwire, LSDream, Claude VonStroke playing under his bass-forward Barclay Crenshaw project, Lee Burridge, the Desert Hearts crew, Tycho, Zeds Dead, The Disco Biscuits and other heady heavy hitters.
Produced by Disco Donnie Presents and experiential event company Probably Nothing, Texas Eclipse will happen at the Reveille Peak Ranch in Burnett, Texas (located about an hour’s drive from Austin) on April 5-9, 2024. Tickets go sale this Thursday (Oct. 19) with two, three and four day ticket options available. (Ticket prices are not yet available.) Texas Eclipse is an all ages event, with children 12 and under getting in for free and discounted tickets available for 13–17 year olds.
Four festival stage areas — appropriately titled the Earth, Sky, Moon and Sun areas — will be curated by a crew of event producers from around the world, including Canada’s Bass Coast, California’s Symbiosis (a crew that did its own eclipse festival in Oregon in 2017), Germany’s Bachstelzen and 10 others.
In addition to music, Texas Eclipse will offer art installations, wellness areas, science workshops, kids and family education areas, yoga and more. The total solar eclipse will take place on Monday, April 9, 2024.
“We’ve curated an incredible mix of artists from around the world, representing diverse genres and styles, all coming together under the captivating backdrop of the 2024 total solar eclipse,” Disco Donnie says in a statement. “This promises to be an extraordinary experience where music, art, and technology and space converge in a truly unique way.”
See the complete lineup for Texas Eclipse 2024 below.
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Drake jumps from No. 8 to No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated Oct. 21), reigning as the top musical act in the U.S. for a 38th total week, thanks to the arrival of his new studio album, For All the Dogs.
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The set launches at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 402,000 equivalent album units earned in its opening week (Oct. 6-12), according to Luminate. That’s the fourth-biggest week of the year, after only the first frames of Taylor Swift’s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (716,000 units), Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at at Time (501,000) and Travis Scott’s Utopia (496,000).
For All the Dogs tallied 514 million on-demand official streams for its 23 tracks in its first week, the fourth-highest single-week sum ever for an album. The biggest streaming weeks were achieved by first weeks of Drake’s own Scorpion (745.9 million, 2018) and Certified Lover Boy (743.7 million, 2021) and Swift’s Midnights (549.3 million, 2022).
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Further, all 23 songs from the new album land on the Billboard Hot 100, helping Drake extend many of his chart records, including the most top five hits (41), top 10s (76), top 20 entries (132), top 40 titles (199) and overall entries (320). “First Person Shooter,” featuring J. Cole, debuts at No. 1, becoming Drake’s 13th career leader, tying him with Michael Jackson for the most among solo males. (J. Cole claims his first No. 1.)
Drake’s 38 weeks at No. 1 on the Artist 100 are the most among males in the chart’s nine-year history, and second overall only to Swift’s 81.
Rounding out the Artist 100’s top five, Swift dips to No. 2, Morgan Wallen falls 2-3, Olivia Rodrigo holds at No. 4 and Zach Bryan repeats at No. 5.
Elsewhere, NCT 127 re-enters at No. 8, thanks to the group’s new set Fact Check: The Fifth Album. The collection opens at No. 16 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on World Albums, where it’s the act’s seventh leader, with 31,000 units.
The Artist 100 measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.
Huntley looks like a Viking, sings like a rock star.
The 33-year-old from Fredericksburg, Virginia showed his form when he stepped onto The Voice stage Monday night (Oct. 16) for the Blind Auditions.
That muscular voice sits somewhere between country, blues, rock and grunge, with shades of Bob Seger meets Mark Lanegan. It’s a frontman voice, the kind that tells stories and has its own to share.
From the opening notes of his cover of “She Talks To Angels,” Huntley caught the attention. The four coaches’ chairs turned almost in unison.
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“Your voice is incredible,” Reba McEntire enthused. “When I first listened to you, I heard Chris Stapleton. So everything about your voice I absolutely loved.” And with that, the pitches started.
Niall Horan chimed in, recounting the vocals of Australian Daniel Merriweather and Brit James Morrison.
“That’s a tone that comes naturally. I bet you were singing like that when you were 15,” the Irishman noted. “You sing your own way, you sing direct, and so much power and the control you have. It’s so beautiful to listen to.”
Gwen Stefani likened his talents to those of Bradley Nowell from Sublime. “Your voice is just so automatic. You know exactly at what point you’re going to be raspy. And it’s pure and honest and you sound like you’ve been singing forever, on stage performing.”
John Legend was blown away. “Your voice sounds so ready. So ready for the world, so ready for the radio,” he explained. It’s “truly one of the best voices we’ve heard. It’s so impressive, dude.
Huntley had a big call to make. He passed down the responsibility to his daughter Stella, who joined him on stage. The youngster went with Team Niall.
Watch the performance from NBC‘s The Voice below.
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Cassö, RAYE and D-Block Europe’s “Prada” (Ministry of Sound) moves into pole position in the U.K. chart race. Based on midweek sales and streaming data published by the Official Charts Company, “Prada” is on track for its first stint at No. 1. The bouncing electronic track bumps Kenya Grace’s “Strangers” (RCA) into second place on […]
The U.K. albums chart is about to be Rickrolled.
According to data published by the Official Charts Company, Rick Astley leads the midweek chart with Are We There Yet? (via BMG), his ninth studio album.
If it holds its place, the “Never Gonna Give You Up” singer would nab his third leader, after Whenever You Need Somebody from 1987, and 50 from 2016.
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It’s not a done deal.
Less than 400 chart units currently separate Astley’s new collection with Sick Boi (The Other Songs), the sophomore release from Welsh singer and songwriter Ren. The musician (full name: Ren Erin Gill) “shouldn’t be counted out” at this stage of the chart race, the OCC reports.
Based on sales and streaming data captured by the charts compiler, BRITs Rising Star winner Holly Humberstone is poised to complete the podium with her debut record Paint My Bedroom Black (Polydor). It’s new at No. 3 on the Official Chart Update.
Mike Skinner’s The Streets returns with its first album of new material in nearly 13 years, The Darker the Shadow the Brighter the Light (Rhino). It’s new at No. 4 on the chart blast, and should give Skinner’s project its sixth consecutive U.K. top 10 album, dating back to critically acclaimed debut Original Pirate Material from 2002, which peaked at No. 10.
Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of The Moon (Rhino) is moving into a top 10 position, thanks to a new-reissue in celebration of its 50th anniversary. One of the best-selling albums of all time, with 1,052 weeks on the tally, Dark Side peaked at No. 2 following its initial release in 1973. Based on new OCC data, the album could bounce to No. 5. That’s following the top 10 placement last Friday (Oct. 13) of Roger Waters’ The Dark Side of the Moon Redux.
Also eyeing top 10 starts are new releases from British blues pair When Rivers Meet (Aces Are High at No. 6 via One Road) and Australian pop singer Troye Sivan (Something to Give Each Other at No. 7 via Polydor), while ABBA’s Agnetha Fältskog could return to the top 10 with her 2013 solo LP A, following of a special rerecord called A+ (BMG). It’s at No. 9 on the chart blast.
All will be revealed when the Official U.K. Albums Chart is published late Friday.
Burgers and fries, sticky Thai rice, ice-cream: Christina Aguilera and Latto have got the lot for a new campaign.
The U.S. stars of pop and rap join forces for the first time on a new recording of “Did Somebody Say” and its “hip-hopera” video, a project for the online food delivery service.
Latto, the Powerhouse Award recipient at Billboard’s 2023 Women In Music event, takes the lead and dishes out rhymes on how the Aussie business offers more than just “burgers and fries,” its menu has more “flavors than you tasted or you heard in your life.”
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Staged in what appears to be a Versailles-inspired palace, the official video sees Aguilera and Latto dressed to impress in elaborate 18th century outfits, as a team of men present their selection of tacos, poke bowls, sushi and more.
Christina brings the house down – or at least a crystal chandelier – with a run of high notes.
“Working with Menulog and my girl Latto on this genre-fusing project was honestly a blast,” comments Christina Aguilera in a statement. “We laughed a lot, sang loud and got to make a lavish video all in celebration of our favorite takeaway and grocery app.”
Latto adds: “When I heard about the opportunity to work with Menulog I was actually abroad on tour using the app! It was a no-brainer for me especially with the iconic Christina Aguilera involved. I had so much fun with this collab and have loved seeing it come to life.”
The “Just Eat Takeaway” campaign builds on previous, music- promotions led by Snoop Dogg and Katy Perry.
““Did Somebody Say’ has “helped put the Menulog brand on the cultural map and it’s amazing that the latest evolution reflects our own evolution as a business,” comments Simon Cheng, marketing director at Menulog, “with Latto and Christina speaking to our move into delivering grocery, convenience and non-food essential.”Following Deliveroo’s exit from Australia’s app-based food delivery space in November 2022, three major food delivery platforms operate, led by UberEats, with Menulog said to occupy second place, ahead of Doordash.
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