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When Madonna shared a touching message to her fans across her socials, one very special fan put her hand out — Lady Gaga.
The Queen of Pop shared a video in which she thanked fans for their overwhelming “love and support” this past week, during which time tickets for her Celebration Tour moved like hotcakes.
“I don’t take any of this for granted,” Madonna enthuses. “I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. And I’m so grateful for all of your support. And I can’t wait to put the show together and have a moment with each and every one of you on the stage. To celebrate the last four decades of my journey.”
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One of those fans who’ll cheer Madonna on will be Mother Monster herself. Gaga responded to the pop legend’s unscripted piece to camera, “We love you M.”
But wait, there’s more. Friend and collaborator Diplo responded, “U better book me for afterparty.”
Gaga isn’t wrong. Fans bought up 600,000 tickets in one day for Madonna’s retrospective trek. To keep up with demand, 23 concerts were added the 37 dates already announced on both sides of the Atlantic, when 98% of all tickets sold out in a matter of hours, Billboard reports.
The Celebration Tour begins July 15 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver and will include performances of music from Madonna’s entire catalog, spanning her 40-year career as the best-selling female touring artist of all time.
For those pop fans with a long memory, Madonna and Gaga reportedly had a frosty, decade-long rivalry.
In a 2019 interview with British Vogue, however, Madonna suggested those rumors of a beef were blown out of proportion because people wanted to believe them.
“People got very excited about [the thought of Lady Gaga and myself as] enemies, when we never were enemies,” she told the title.
The pair were spotted partying together at a Met Gala afterparty in 2015, and in 2019 Gaga came to Madonna’s Oscars party after winning for original song for “Shallow,” even posing for photos together, looking cuddly.
Live Nation is producing The Celebration Tour. Visit www.madonna.com/tour for more.
Almost 15 years after its release, Courteeners’ debut St. Jude (via Polydor/UMR) hits No. 1 on the U.K. album chart — setting a new mark in the process.
The 2008 debut album blasts to the summit of the Official U.K. Albums Chart, published Jan. 20, powered by a 15th anniversary edition containing remastered tracks, rarities and previously-unreleased works.
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St. Jude becomes the album with the longest span between release and charting at No. 1 in U.K. chart history, the Official Charts Company reports, doing so in 14 years, 9 months and 14 days after its initial release.
It’s the first leader for the Manchester trio, and it sees them join the rarest of company. Liam Fray, Michael Campbell and Daniel “Conan” Moores are, collectively, only the third act to chart at No. 1 with a reissued album. The others? The Rolling Stones (Goats Head Soup, Exile On Main St.) and the Beatles (Abbey Road, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band).
St. Jude previously peaked at No. 4 back in 2008, and carries three U.K. top 40 singles: “Not Nineteen Forever,” “No You Didn’t, No You Don’t” and “What Took You So Long?”
Physical sales (97%) fueled its big week, as St. Jude tops the Official Vinyl Albums Chart.
Meanwhile, London rapper Clavish bows at No. 4 with his 28-track mixtape Rap Game Awful (via Polydor), while former Supergrass guitarist Gaz Coombes scores his first solo top 10 with Turn The Car Around (Hot Fruit), his fourth effort. Turn The Car Around parks at No. 6.
Liverpool indie rocker outfit Circa Waves score a fifth top 40 with Never Going Under (Lower Third). The followup to 2020’s Sad Happy (No. 4 peak), Never Going Under bobs up at No. 15.
Finally, Garthamlock, Scotland singer Joesef earns a top 20 on debut with his first album, Permanent Damage (Bold Cut). It’s new at No. 18.
Spotify is set to have layoffs as soon as this week as the company moves forward with plans to reduce operational expenses, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The layoffs are expected to be more broad than a previous round of cuts in October, which impacted staff members working on canceled shows from in-house podcast studios Gimlet and Parcast.
A representative for Spotify declined to comment.
Spotify executives have previously signaled plans to reduce headcount-related expenses, with CEO Daniel Ek telling staff last June that the company would reduce its hiring growth by 25 percent and “be a bit more prudent with the absolute level of new hires over the next few quarters.” Paul Vogel, the company’s chief financial officer, also pointed to “increasing uncertainty regarding the global economy” at Spotify’s investor day in June as a reason for “evaluating [Spotify’s] headcount growth in the near term.”
Though the exact number of layoffs — first reported by Bloomberg — is not immediately clear, other tech companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Meta have each announced major rounds of layoffs impacting thousands of employees in recent months. The most recent layoff announcement came from Google parent company Alphabet, which is set to reduce its staff by 6 percent, which represents around 12,000 employees.
As of the end of the third quarter, Spotify employed around 9,800 people. The audio company brought in €3.04 billion in revenue and added 195 million paid subscribers during the third quarter. At the time, Ek said the economic downturn had not had a “material impact” on the company’s business but that Spotify would be “more selective” with its “overall spending.”
Spotify will report its fourth-quarter earnings on Jan. 31 before the market opens.
This article originally appeared in THR.com.
Miley Cyrus stands tall on the U.K. singles chart as “Flowers” (via Columbia) arrives at No. 1, for her third leader.
“Flowers” blooms with imposing numbers. During its first chart cycle, “Flowers” racks up 92,000 chart units, including total streams of nearly 10 million. That’s Cyrus’ biggest-ever opening week for streams, the Official Charts Company reports, and the market’s biggest debut week since Harry Styles’ “As It Was” blasted to the summit in May 2022.
Lifted from Cyrus’ forthcoming eighth studio album Endless Summer Vacation, “Flowers” got away to a hot start everywhere. The single opened at No. 1 on Australia’s chart, and it smashed Spotify’s global one-week streaming mark. The track will make its official mark on the Billboard Hot 100 when the latest charts are unveiled Monday (Jan. 23), though Billboard readers already voted it as their favorite new release last week.
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Previously, Cyrus lead the Official U.K. Singles Chart with “We Can’t Stop” (from 2013) and “Wrecking Ball” (2013), the latter earning her a chart double as its parent Bangerz simultaneously led the national albums survey.
Positions 2-6 are unchanged on the current survey, while St. Louis-raised Metro Boomin bags a career-best with “Creepin’” (Republic Records), featuring the Weeknd and 21 Savage. It’s up 11-7 for Metro Boomin’s first-ever U.K. top 10 single.
Further down the list, British singer and songwriter Mimi Webb lands her sixth top 40 with “Red Flags” (Epic). It’s the second-highest new entry this week at No. 23.
Also new to the chart, published Jan. 20, is Fredo’s “Flow” (PG Records), new at No. 30. It’s the London rapper’s 17th top 40 appearance.
Finally, Shakira scores her first U.K. top 40 appearance in almost a decade with “Bizarrap – BZRP Music Sessions #53” (via Dale Play), the break-up song cut Argentine DJ and YouTuber Bizarrap. It’s new at No. 31, Shakira’s 13th top 40 hit — and first for the Colombian star since 2014’s “Empire” (No. 25 peak).
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Yellowstone continues to have a strong impact on Billboard’s Top TV Songs chart, powered by Tunefind, ranking four songs within the top 10 of the December 2022 list, including the No. 1.
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Rankings for the Top TV Songs chart are based on song and show data provided by Tunefind and ranked using a formula blending that data with sales and streaming information tracked by Luminate during the corresponding period of December 2022.
Lainey Wilson’s “Watermelon Moonshine,” heard in the Dec. 11 episode of the Paramount show, leads at No. 1. It scored 4.9 million official U.S. streams and 10,000 downloads in December 2022, according to Luminate.
As a result of its Yellowstone synch, the song, originally released Aug. 12, 2022, reached No. 5 on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart, as well as No. 15 on the all-format Digital Song Sales ranking.
Wilson, who also acts on the show, performed the song as her character in the episode.
Other Yellowstone appearances on the chart include a pair of Zach Bryan songs (“Motorcycle Drive By,” No. 4 — 3.9 million streams, 6,000 downloads; “Summertime Blues,” No. 7 – 3.7 million streams, 2,000 downloads) and one from Flatland Cavalry (“Mountain Song, No. 8 – 2 million streams, 2,000 downloads). Bryan performed both songs on the Dec. 18 episode.
The top non-Yellowstone title, meanwhile, belongs to Mitski, whose “Washing Machine Heart” bows at No. 2 after a Dec. 2 synch in Mythic Quest. In December 2022, the song earned 13.1 million streams.
See the full top 10, also featuring music from Fire Country, The White Lotus, The Rookie, Harry & Meghan and The Good Doctor, below.
Rank, Song, Artist, Show (Network)1. “Watermelon Moonshine,” Lainey Wilson, Yellowstone (Paramount)2. “Washing Machine Heart,” Mitski, Mythic Quest (Apple TV+)3. “Never Say Never,” Cole Swindell & Lainey Wilson, Fire Country (CBS)4. “Motorcycle Drive By,” Zach Bryan, Yellowstone (Paramount)5. “Ciao Ciao,” La rappresentante di lista, The White Lotus (HBO)6. “Katla,” Zander Hawley & Abby Gundersen, The Rookie (ABC)7. “Summertime Blues,” Zach Bryan, Yellowstone (Paramount)8. “Mountain Song,” Flatland Cavalry, Yellowstone (Paramount)9. “Follow the Sun,” Xavier Rudd, Harry & Meghan (Netflix)10. “What Makes You Sad,” Nicotine Dolls, The Good Doctor (ABC)