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It’s Friday which means we’ve got some new music! Kesha dropped two new singles, SEVENTEEN’s ‘FML’ is finally here, Jack Harlow surprised everyone with a new album called ‘Jackman’, and more! Gayle credits Taylor Swift with helping her put backlash into perspective when it comes to her success or her polarizing smash hit “abcdefu.” Doechii shared some of her Florida slang with us. And more!
Drake and 21 Savage’s “Spin Bout U” lifts to No. 1 on Billboard’s Rap Airplay chart dated May 6, extending Drake’s record for the most leaders in the list’s history.
In the April 21-27 tracking week, “Spin” accumulated 20.5 million airplay audience impressions, according to Luminate.
The song is Drake’s chart-leading 41st Rap Airplay No. 1, pushing him 28 leaders ahead of the next-closest act, Lil Wayne, with 13. (Rap Airplay began as a weekly survey in February 1999.)
“Spin” is 21 Savage’s fourth Rap Airplay ruler, and his and Drake’s second each of 2023, following their “Rich Flex,” which led for five weeks beginning in January. It’s their third together overall; the pair also reigned with “Jimmy Cooks,” for two weeks last November.
Most No. 1s, Rap Airplay:41, Drake13, Lil Wayne10, Kanye West9, Jay-Z8, Nicki Minaj7, 50 Cent7, Cardi B7, T.I.6, Chris Brown6, Nelly
Drake first topped Rap Airplay with “Best I Ever Had” in 2009, while 21 Savage first reigned as featured on Post Malone’s “Rockstar” in 2017.
Concurrently, “Spin” rises 4-2 on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart and 6-5 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay.
The latest, April 29-dated Billboard Hot 100 shows “Spin” at No. 45, after hitting No. 5 upon its debut in November. In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 7.5 million official U.S. streams in the April 14-20 tracking week.
Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss, the parent album of “Spin,” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in November and has earned 1.7 million equivalent album units to date.
Rema and Selena Gomez’s “Calm Down” ascends to No. 1 on Billboard’s Rhythmic Airplay chart, jumping to the top of the May 6-dated survey.
It’s Rema’s first Rhythmic Airplay No. 1, earned with his first charting title. The format now has two straight No. 1s by first-time leaders, following Coi Leray’s six-week reign with “Players.”
“Calm Down” is the first No. 1 by an artist in a first Rhythmic Airplay appearance since Steve Lacy, whose “Bad Habit” led for a week last November.
As for Gomez, “Calm Down” is also her first No. 1 on Rhythmic Airplay, logged with her 14th charting title. She boasts a pair of previous top 10s: “Good for You,” featuring A$AP Rocky (No. 4, 2015), and “Same Old Love” (No. 6, 2016).
Concurrently, “Calm Down” lifts 3-2 for a new high on Pop Airplay. It also bullets at No. 24 on Adult Pop Airplay and No. 35 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay.
On the all-format Radio Songs chart, “Calm Down” held at its No. 4 best on the April 29-dated list with 72.4 million audience impressions in the April 21-27 tracking week, according to Luminate.
The April 29-dated Billboard Hot 100 found “Calm Down” at No. 7, after rising as high as No. 6 so far. In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 15.7 million official U.S. streams and sold 5,000 downloads April 14-20.
The collaboration has also topped the Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart for 34 weeks running, the longest rule since the ranking began a year ago in partnership with music festival and global brand Afro Nation.
“Calm Down” is the second single from Rave & Roses, Rema’s debut studio album, released in March 2022. Since its release, the set has earned 291,000 equivalent album units.
He might be sidelined from his U.S. tour, citing doctor-ordered vocal rest, but Morgan Wallen is the talk of Australia right now.
For the very first time, Wallen has a chart double in the land Down Under.
The country star’s hit “Last Night” (Republic/Universal) holds at No. 1 on the ARIA Singles Chart for the third straight week, while its parent One Thing At A Time (Mercury/Universal) returns to the summit of the national albums survey for a second, non-consecutive week.
Wallen, who recently completed a tour of Australia, produced by Frontier Touring, becomes the first male American country singer to achieve the chart double in more than three decades, ARIA reports.
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The last was Billy Ray Cyrus, back in October 1992 when he ruled with his hit single “Achy Breaky Heart” and the album Some Gave All.
In his homeland, Wallen is facing a fair amount of backlash for scrapping a stadium show in Oxford, Mississippi at the last minute, then wiping a week of shows, citing those health issues. There were no such problems on his six-date run of arena and festival shows here last month.
Staying with the ARIA Albums Chart, published Friday, April 28, Metallica’s 72 Seasons (down 1-2 via Universal) and Taylor Swift’s Midnights (unchanged at No. 3 via Universal) complete the podium, respectively.
There’s a new arrival at No. 4 for D-DAY (BigHit Entertainment), the debut solo album from BTS’ Suga, released under his other stage name Agust D. Suga’s 2020 mixtape D-2 peaked at No. 2 in these parts.
Animated Aussie kid’s TV star Bluey fetches another No. 10 on the ARIA Albums Chart with Dance Mode! (Rkt/Orchard). It’s new at No. 7. The international phenomenon led the chart in 2021 with Bluey The Album and went on to win best children’s album at the ARIA Awards of that year.
After scooping a string of RIAA “Diamond” certifications, and releasing a greatest hits album to celebrate the achievement, Post Malone makes a sparkling chart appearance. The U.S. singer and rapper’s The Diamond Collection (Republic/Universal), which gathers eight of his most popular numbers, plus his new pop cut “Chemical,” starts at No. 16 on the ARIA Chart. It’s his fifth top 20 appearance on the tally, including two leaders with Beerbongs & Bentleys (2018) and Hollywood’s Bleeding (2019).
With Wallen reclaiming the top spot on the singles chart, TikTok star David Kushner makes his first appearance in the top five with viral number “Daylight” (Virgin/Universal), up 6-5, while ascendant K-pop girl group Fifty Fifty enjoys a fresh high with “The Beginning: Cupid” (Warner), up 9-6.
The highest entry on the latest chart belongs to The Weeknd and Future, with “Double Fantasy” (Universal). It’s new at No 9, giving The Weeknd two top 10 hits on the latest survey (“Die For You” is down 5-7), and his eighth top 10 hit in Australia across his career. “Double Fantasy” represents Future’s second ARIA top 10.
The National unleash something of a monster with First Two Pages of Frankenstein, the alternative rock band’s collaboration-stacked ninth studio album, one that pulls star power from Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers and Sufjan Stevens.
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Arriving at the stroke of midnight, Frankenstein stretches across 11 tracks and includes previously released cuts “Tropic Morning News,” “New Order T-Shirt,” “Eucalyptus” and “Your Mind Is Not Your Friend,” featuring Bridgers, a track which, according to reps, came to fruition when frontman Matt Berninger worked through a case of writer’s block with the help of “Frankenstein,” Mary Shelley’s classic novel which gives the album its name.
Swifties will no doubt show up for buzzy number “The Alcott,” which features Taylor Swift.
Guitarist, pianist and bass player and TayTay collaborator Aaron Dessner says “The Alcott” took its baby steps when Berninger wrote the main part to some music he’d already written. Swift heard it, she dug it, “so I thought it might be something she would really click with,” Dessner says.
“I sent it to her, and was a little nervous as I didn’t hear back for 20 minutes or so. By the time she responded, Taylor had written all her parts and recorded a voice memo with the lyrics she’d added in a dialogue with Matt,” he adds, “and everyone fell immediately in love with it.”
“The Alcott” is something a return of favor for Dessner, who worked closely with Swift on her pandemic-era 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore.
On it, Swift and Berninger duet on several verses. “I sit there silently waiting for you to look up/I see you smile when you see it’s me/ I had to do something to break into your golden thinking/ How many times will I do this and you’ll still believe?,” they sing.
First Two Pages of Frankenstein is the followup to I Am Easy to Find, which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, and 2017’s Sleep Well Beast, which hit No. 2 on the national albums chart and won a Grammy Award for best alternative music album.
To give the new collection a nudge along, The National performed album track “Eucalyptus” late Thursday (April 27) on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
The National will perform the new album live when they hit the road for a North American trek, starting May 18 at Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, IL.
Watch the late-night performance below.
Almost a decade has passed since Kesha unlocked the next level to pop stardom with “Tik Tok.” It feels more like several lifetimes, during which the pop artist has dabbled in reality TV, reshaped her sound, style, image, and gone through the wringer with a high-profile court case.
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Now, she’s entering her next musical phase with the album Gag Order, set to drop May 19 via Kemosabe/RCA Records, which her reps say excavates “the deepest recesses of her soul to date.”
But first, the lead tracks from it, “Eat the Acid” and “Fine Line,” which arrived at the stroke of midnight, and are accompanied with the dark album artwork that depicts Kesha’s head in a plastic bag — a literal visualization to its “gag order” title.
“Fine Line,” an introspective ballad, and “Eat the Acid,” an experimental pop number, are notable for the absence of drums or a beat of any kind.
Rick Rubin produced the forthcomingalbum, which Kesha and her team describe as a “post-pop” “emotional exorcism” on which she finds empowerment in baptism-by-fire self-discovery and acceptance.
“Without the darkness there is no light. So I let my darkness have the light. I can’t fight the truth. Life is difficult and painful. It is for everyone,” she writes in an album manifesto. “An artist doesn’t exist to make others happy. I believe an artist gives voice, motion, color to the emotions we all have. The good emotions, and the unmanageably fucking miserable ones.”Kesha has notably been in a legal battle with Dr. Luke since 2014, when the producer and Kemosabe Records founder filed a defamation suit against her for claiming that he drugged and raped her in 2005. Just a few months ago, a New York judge scheduled a new trial start date — July 19 — for the case after key issues made its prior February start date unworkable.
Kesha is credited as executive producer on Gag Order, her fifth solo studio album and the followup to 2020’s High Road, which peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Stream “Fine Line” and “Eat the Acid” below.
Andrew Stone, CEO of Chugg Music, was named manager of the year at the 2023 AAM Awards, held Thursday (April 27) at Sydney’s Crowbar.
Alongside legendary concerts promoter Michael Chugg, Stone guides the Sydney-based independent music company, and manages the careers of Lime Cordiale, Sheppard, Teenage Dads, Mia Rodriguez, Mason Watts, and Casey Barnes.
Managers are the “steady hand” for artists,” Australia’s freshly-anointed top manager explained. “We’re specialized generalists, we’re visionaries in terms of seeing the potential in artists and being able to pull together teams that can turn something that’s almost there to something world-beating, a global phenomenon. That’s an incredibly powerful skill and that’s what people look to us for.” Ask questions of your peers and “stick at it,” he concluded from the podium.
Now in its second year, the AAM Awards are organized by the Association of Artist Managers, to celebrate the domestic and international achievements of the Australian artist management community.
Also during the lunchtime presentation, Young Strangers director Jane Slingo won the community engagement award. Slingo, who manages Sampology and Middle Name Dance Band, led 12 months of consultation across the NSW music sector, and collaboratively developed the “Vote Music” policy paper and election campaign. As a result of her work, the NSW Labor government entered — and won — the recent state election with a pledge to pump $103 million into the music industry.
Slingo also designed and executed the “Cultural Union,” which funded five Australian acts to visit to the U.K. to perform, write and collaborate.
After collecting her trophy, Slingo was promptly invited back to the stage to receive the “Patron’s Greatest Hits” plaque.
The lunchtime ceremony was presented ahead of the 2023 APRA Music Awards, with former triple j presenter Gen Fricker on emcee duties, and special guest performance from singer-songwriters Julia Jacklin and Dean Brady.
Breakthrough manager of the year went to Powerhouse’s Charlotte Ried, who has enjoyed success with Gretta Ray, who she co manages with Jamie-Rose Fowler; and with Blusher, which recently signed to Atlantic/Warner; and with Polish Club, who secured a sync with the NRL/NRLW 2023 season.
Meanwhile, the APRA AMCOS Lighthouse Award went to Sundowner Artists’ Simone Ubaldi, who manages the careers of Amyl & The Sniffers, Grace Cummings, Nice Biscuit, Baby Cool and Girl & Girl. Ubaldi was recipient of the manager of the year at the inaugural 2022 event.
Other winners included Ricky Simandjuntak, who bagged the Patron’s Gift, a cash prize intended to give the recipient a much-deserved leg-up. Simandjuntak was recognized for his work discovering Sampa the Great, developing The Kid Laroi, and guiding the homegrown hip-hop act ONEFOUR.
The big prize, however, went to Melody Management chief Michael McMartin, co-founder of the founder of AAM, Trafalgar Records, and decades-long manager for Hoodoo Gurus, the ARIA Hall of Fame inducted rock.
Fellow artist manager John Watson inducted McMartin, whom he declared the “greatest Canadian export since Neil Young.”
With his acceptance speech, McMartin recounted some his memorable victories in the music industry, and how they were invariably facilitated through collaboration, and a united front.
Check out the 2023 AAM winners below.
Manager of the Year
Presented by Oztix – Andrew Stone, Chugg Music
Breakthrough Manager of the Year
Presented by Select Music – Charlotte Ried, Powerhouse Management
Community Engagement Award
Presented by Live Event Logistics – Jane Slingo, Young Strangers
Legacy Award
Presented by Frontier Touring – Michael McMartin (OAM), Melody Management
Patron’s Gift
Presented by AAM Patrons and 2023 Legacy Award Winner – Ricky Simandjuntak, When Worlds Collide
Dance music reigned at the 2023 APRA Music Awards at Sydney ICC, where Flume and Rüfüs Du Sol scooped several of the industry’s top honors.
With a swag of Grammys, ARIAs and APRAs to his credit, Flume (real name: Harley Streten) is no stranger to awards nights. The producer and DJ was at it again Thursday (April 27), as “Say Nothing” featuring MAY-A won the peer-voted APRA song of the year, the evening’s coveted category.
Flume (in 2017) and co-writer Sarah Aarons (2019) have previously taken out songwriter of the year at the APRA Awards.
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Accepting his latest trophy via a pre-recorded Zoom, Flume pointed out the clubby hit was created through the wonders of technology, as the world’s borders shut fast.
“This song came about during COVID,” he explained. “We were in different places – Sarah was in London, I was in Byron (Bay) and we were just kind of sending stuff back and forth.”
The song, which came in at No. 1 in triple j’s Hottest 100 countdown in January, and is lifted from Flume’s full-length album Palaces, was “done from all corners of the globe,” he continued, “in all different cities and ram shackled together to be something that has obviously connected with people – we’re really grateful to make something that does that.”
Making songs “during COVID was definitely hard,” added Aarons, “and we definitely had a bit of a COVID connection as some would say.”
This time, the songwriter of the year category went to Jonathon George, James Hunt and Tyrone Lindqvist, who together perform as Rüfüs Du Sol. The EDM trio also snagged most performed dance / electronic work for “On My Knees.” Though Rüfüs Du Sol has led the ARIA Albums Chart with three of their four studio album, and won a Grammy Award in 2022, this brace represents their first-ever APRA Music Award wins.
Songwriter of the year “is a pretty ridiculous accolade to get,” enthused Lindqvist in a pre-taped thank-you from South America, where the act is on tour. “We feel really blessed and grateful we can get the nod from the room and everyone in Australia. There’s so much talent coming out of Australia and there has been for as long as music’s been around.”Sydney-raised, Los Angeles-based singer and rapper The Kid LAROI extended his winning streak at the APRAs, as his global hit “Stay,” co-written and performed with Just Bieber, won for most performed Australian work for 2023, and most performed pop work.Unlike his contemporaries, the Kid (real name: Charlton Howard) didn’t prepare an acceptance video, with organizers pointing out he’d lost his voice after performing over two weekends for Coachella Festival.Also on the night, Zambia-born rapper and two-time Australian Music Prize winner Sampa the Great was named breakthrough songwriter of the year by the APRA board of writer and publisher directors.In a taped piece to camera, Sama noted that September 2022 release As Above, So Below is her first album “done fully in my home country Zambia. It also happens to be the first album I have my first producer credits, so this is very special to me. I choose to share my culture. I choose to share stories from my country, and I choose to share them in my language with this album and I’m thankful for APRA for recognising and appreciating that.”
Other APRAs winners included Miiesha, The Chats, Tones And I, Casey Barnes, Xavier Rudd and others. The highlight of the ceremony, however, belonged to Men at Work frontman Colin Hay and the late concerts pioneer Colleen Ironside, both of whom were inducted with the Ted Albert Award for outstanding service to the Australian music industry – arguably the most prestigious award on the industry calendar. It was the first time in the APRAs’ 41-year history that the Ted Albert Award had been bestowed to two individuals.
Legendary concert promoter Michael Chugg was on hand to induct his good friend Ironside with a tribute that was both hilarious and touching, while Hay was introduced by his long-time friend Kim Gyngell, the Australian comedy actor, and via video messages from collaborator Ringo Starr and actor Zach Braff. Hay put the icing on the cake with a speech that poked fun at the Australian vernacular, included a poem on the experience of climbing the summit of pop music, insights on turning failure into victory, songwriting, and a remembrance to his late bandmate Greg Ham. The APRAs found the perfect note to finish on, with indigenous indie-rock outfit King Stingray performing “Down Under,” which they had previously recorded for a national tourism campaign. Hay joined the band on stage, with an acoustic guitar, for the most-Australian musical moment you’re likely to see in this or any other year.See the full list of winners below:
Peer-Voted APRA Song of the YearTitle: Say Nothing (feat. MAY-A)Artist: FlumeWriters: Flume* / Sarah AaronsPublishers: Kobalt Music Publishing obo Future Classic* / Sony Music Publishing
Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian MusicColin HayColleen Ironside
Songwriter of the YearRÜFÜS DU SOLJonathon George / James Hunt / Tyrone LindqvistPublisher: Kobalt Music Publishing
Breakthrough Songwriter of the YearSampa the GreatPublisher: Kobalt Music Publishing
Most Performed Australian WorkTitle: STAYArtist: The Kid LAROI & Justin BieberWriters: The Kid LAROI / Justin Bieber* / Isaac De Boni# / Omer Fedi* / Magnus Hoiberg^ /Michael Mule# / Charlie Puth+ / Subhaan Rahman^ / Blake Slatkin*Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Universal/MCA Music Publishing* /Warner Chappell Music^ / Kobalt Music Publishing+ / Concord Music Publishing#
Most Performed Alternative WorkTitle: HurtlessArtist: Dean LewisWriters: Dean Lewis / Jon Hume*Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing / Concord Music Publishing*
Most Performed Blues & Roots WorkTitle: We Deserve To DreamArtist: Xavier RuddWriter: Xavier RuddPublisher: Sony Music Publishing
Most Performed Country WorkTitle: God Took His Time On YouArtist: Casey BarnesWriters: Casey Barnes / Kaci Brown* / Samuel Gray*Publishers: Mushroom Music / Kobalt Music Publishing*
Most Performed Dance/Electronic WorkTitle: On My KneesArtist: RÜFÜS DU SOLWriters: Jonathon George / James Hunt / Tyrone Lindqvist / Jason Evigan*Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing / Sony Music Publishing*
Most Performed Hip Hop / Rap WorkTitle: LET’S TROT!Artist: Brothers & Joel FletcherWriters: Brothers / Joel Fletcher*Publisher: 120 Publishing*
Most Performed Pop WorkTitle: STAYArtist: The Kid LAROI & Justin BieberWriters: The Kid LAROI / Justin Bieber* / Isaac De Boni# / Omer Fedi* / Magnus Hoiberg^ /Michael Mule# / Charlie Puth+ / Subhaan Rahman^ / Blake Slatkin*Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Universal/MCA Music Publishing* /Warner Chappell Music^ / Kobalt Music Publishing+ / Concord Music Publishing#
Most Performed R&B / Soul WorkTitle: Still DreamArtist: MiieshaWriters: Miiesha* / Lucy Blomkamp* / Stephen CollinsPublisher: Sony Music Publishing*
Most Performed Rock WorkTitle: Struck By LightningArtist: The ChatsWriters: Matthew Boggis / Joshua Hardy / Eamon SandwithPublisher: Universal Music Publishing
Most Performed Australian Work OverseasTitle: Dance MonkeyArtist: Tones And IWriter: Tones And IPublishers: Kobalt Music Publishing / Warner Chappell Music
Most Performed International WorkTitle: As It WasArtist: Harry StylesWriters: Harry Styles / Thomas Hull / Tyler Johnson*Publishers: Universal Music Publishing / Concord Music Publishing*
Licensee of the YearTriple M
Happy birthday, Lizzo! The Grammy-winning superstar turned 35 years old on Thursday (April 27), and to celebrate, we’re looking through some of her biggest Billboard hits.
“About Damn Time” gave Lizzo her second Hot 100 chart topper, as the TikTok-viral hit made its way to the top of the tally dated July 30, 2022. Her first leader was “Truth Hurts,” which dominated the chart for seven weeks beginning in September 2019.
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In total, Lizzo has eight tracks that have made the Hot 100, including jams like “Good As Hell,” “Juice” and her Cardi B collaboration, “Rumors.” Most recently, her “Special” collaboration with SZA, “2 Be Loved (Am I Ready) and her holiday hit “Someday at Christmas” all appeared the tally.
To celebrate Lizzo’s birthday, we want to know which of her Hot 100 hits is your favorite. Let us know by voting below!
Take Our Poll
Selena Gomez’s ‘Selena + Chef’ has been nominated for Outstanding Culinary Series and Kelly Clarkson’s ‘The Kelly Clarkson Show’ leads all talk series with 11 nominations. Billboard News’ Tetris Kelly caught up with Doechii after her set at Coachella. Ice Spice, Nessa Barrett, PinkPatheress, & RAYE are the face of the new Skims campaign. And more!