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Olly Murs lands his fifth U.K. No. 1 with Marry Me (EMI), which bows at No. 1.
Marry Me is the British singer and songwriter’s seventh album, with In Case You Didn’t Know (2011), Right Place Right Time (2012), Never Been Better (2014), 24 HRS (2016) and now Marry Me all reaching the summit of the weekly survey.
The X Factor alum brushed-off controversy surrounding the lyrics to album track “I Hate You When You’re Drunk” to lead at the halfway point, and then on Friday, Dec. 9 when the chart proper was published.
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Murs outpaces Taylor Swift‘s former leader Midnights (EMI), which lifts 3-2 on the latest survey, published Dec. 9.
Meanwhile, Atlanta recording artist and producer Metro Boomin blasts to No. 3 with Heroes & Villains (Island). That’s easily his highest charting album in the U.K., ahead of 2018’s Not All Heroes Wear Capes, which peaked at No. 16, and 2020’s Savage Mode II, a collaborative LP with 21 Savage that enjoyed a No. 10 best.
The U.K. singles chart is dominated by holiday singles, and, in particular, one “queen of Christmas.” It’s a similar tale on the albums survey, where festive sets by Cliff Richard (Christmas With Cliff down 2-4 via EastWest/Rhino), Michael Bublé (Christmas up 13-5 via Reprise), André Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra (Silver Bells up 8-6 via Decca) and the Bocellis (A Family Christmas down 4-7 via Decca) impact the top 10.
As fans of Fleetwood Mac digest the sad news of Christine McVie’s death Nov. 30, aged 79, two of the Rock Hall-inducted band’s LPs appear in the U.K. top 20: Rumours (up 24-11 via Rhino/Warner Bros) and career retrospective 50 Years – Don’t Stop (up 23-15 via Rhino).
Finally, veteran electronic act Leftfield land in the top 20 with This Is What We Do (Virgin Music), their first studio album release in seven years. The duo (Neil Barnes and Adam Wren) have three previous top 10 appearances, starting with their classic debut from 1995’s Leftism (No. 3), followup Rhythm And Stealth in 1999 (No. 1) and 2015’s Alternative Light Source (No. 6).
The Christmas invasion is in full swing on the U.K. singles chart, as Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” (via Columbia) returns to the summit.
Carey’s 1994 holidays classic took 26 years to reach No. 1 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, a record-setting feat it finally achieved in 2020. It’s right back at the top, having returned to the top 40 earlier than usual.
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“All I Want For Christmas Is You” rockets 8-1, with 10.8 million streams during the latest cycle, the Official Charts Company reports, to unseat Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” (down 1-5 via EMI) after six weeks.
It’s the second stint at No. 1 for Carey’s “Christmas,” which, in 2020, set a new mark for weeks spent in the top 40 before reaching the summit.
As the mercury dives in the U.K., Christmas songs warm the chart. No less than five yuletide numbers impact the top 10, including Wham’s “Last Christmas” (up 9-3 via RCA), Ed Sheeran & Elton John’s “Merry Christmas” (up 15-4 via Atlantic), Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” (up 18-6 via MCA) and Michael Buble’s “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas” (up 20-10 via Reprise).
A total of 24 Christmas songs, new and old, impact the top 40, published Dec. 9. It’s a list that includes Shakin’ Stevens’ “Merry Christmas Everyone” (up 26-12 via RCA), The Pogues ft. Kirsty MacColl’s “Fairytale of New York” (up 30-14 via Atlantic), Ariana Grande’s “Santa Tell Me” (up 28-16 via Republic Records), Kelly Clarkson’s “Underneath The Tree” (31-17 via RCA), Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” (up 34-18 via Mercury) and Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” (up 36-19 via MCA).
The highest debut on the latest chart belongs to Raye, with “Escapism” (Human Re Sources) featuring 070 Shake. “Escapism” lifts 6-2, a new solo career high for the British singer and songwriter.
Grime star Stormzy bags a 14th top 10 single with “Firebabe” (0207/Merky), a ballad lifted from his third and latest No. 1 album, This Is What I Mean. “Firebabe” rises 11-9.
U.S. producer and artist Metro Boomin bags two top 40 debuts with “Creepin’” (via Republic Records) featuring The Weeknd and 21 Savage, new at No. 13, and “Superhero” “(Heroes & Villains)” with Future and Chris Brown, new at No. 39. Both appear on Metro Boomin’s new album Heroes & Villains.
Finally, Scottish singer and songwriter Lewis Capaldi scores a seventh top 40 appearance with “Pointless” (Vertigo), co-written with Ed Sheeran. It’s new at No. 20.
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Phoenix links its third consecutive, and total, No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart, as “Tonight” climbs to the top of the Dec. 10-dated survey.
The song features Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig, who leads in his first solo appearance on the list. Vampire Weekend as tallied two Adult Alternative Airplay No. 1s, both in 2019.
“Tonight” follows the two-week rules each for Phoenix’s “Alpha Zulu” in August and “Identical” in late 2020. The band first hit the top 10 with “1901” in 2010. It has also scored a top 10 with “J-Boy” in 2017.
Phoenix is the first act to earn three straight Adult Alternative Airplay No. 1s since Cage the Elephant, which snagged three in a row in 2019-20: “Ready to Let Go,” “Social Cues” and “Black Madonna.”
Concurrently, “Tonight” lifts 15-12 on Alternative Airplay, where it’s the band’s highest rank since “Trying to Be Cool” peaked at No. 10 in 2013. The band boasts a top 10 there via “1901” in 2010 and an additional top five with “Lisztomania” later that year.
On the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, “Tonight” jumps 19-13 with 2.4 million audience impressions, up 38%, according to Luminate. The band last ranked that high in 2010, when “Lisztomania” hit No. 5 (its all-time best, “1901,” peaked at No. 3).
“Tonight” is the third single from Phoenix’s seventh album, Alpha Zulu, following “Identical” and the title track. The set was released in November and has earned 20,000 equivalent album units to date.
Paul Kelly scores an early Christmas gift, as the veteran Australian singer, songwriter and wordsmith bags the chart crown with his holiday collection.
Kelly’s “2022 Edition” of Christmas Train (GAWD/EMI) stops at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart, published Dec. 9. That’s one better than Christmas Train’s No. 2 debut and peak position following its original release in 2021, an effort that made it the highest-charting Christmas album of the year in Australia.
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Christmas Train collects a batch of classics, and features a new recording of Ron Sexsmith’s “Maybe This Christmas” — recorded with Kelly’s live band at Soundpark Studios in Melbourne — and, of course, Kelly’s own holiday standard, “How to Make Gravy,” a tale of a prisoner reflecting on the friends and family he’ll miss while he’s locked up for Christmas.
Guest vocalists on the LP include Marlon Williams, Waleed Aly, Lior, Emma Donovan, Kasey Chambers, Kate Miller-Heidke, Vika & Linda Bull, and more.
With another Aussie Christmas set blazing to No. 1 last week, Jimmy Barnes’ Blue Christmas (down 4-1 this cycle), ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd is calling the result “amazing” and “one more thing to celebrate as we enter the festive season. Congratulations to Paul for his success, it’s fantastic to see such an accomplished and important national storyteller continue to reach new heights.”
Kelly had to wait for his first No. 1. It finally came in 2017 with Life Is Fine, his 23rd studio album. Its followup, 2018’s Nature, also scaled the summit.
A smattering of Christmas gifts are placed on the ARIA Charts, including Michael Bublé’s Christmas (Reprise/Warner), up 36-8 on the albums survey, and the Bocellis’ A Family Christmas (Decca/Universal), which holds at No. 9.
Leaping in at No. 3 on the ARIA Albums Chart, just behind Taylor Swift’s Midnights (Universal), is Australian Frog Calls: Songs of Disappearance (via MGM), an album that features calls from 43 of Australia’s most threatened frogs.
The set is a collaborative project of Australia Museum FrogID project, the Bowerbird Collective, Listening Earth and Mervyn Street of Mangkaja Arts, and aims to raise awareness for Australia’s declining frog population. Currently, one in six Australian native frog species are threatened.
The amphibian benefit recording is from the same well as Australian Bird Calls: Songs of Disappearance, an album of bird songs that reached No. 2 on the national chart in 2021.
Also new to the ARIA Albums Chart is Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains (Republic/Universal), new at No. 5, while BTS star RM’s starts at No. 26 with his solo debut Indigo (Interscope/Universal), and Magic Dirt singer Adalita bows at No. 29 with Inland (Liberation/Universal).
Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, Sam Smith & Kim Petras’ “Unholy” (Capitol/Universal) unseats “Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” (Universal) after six weeks, while Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” (Columbia/Sony) races 11-3.
Metro Boomin’ has the top debut on the singles survey with his Heroes & Villains release, “Creepin’” featuring the Weeknd and 21 Savage. It’s new at No. 8.
When Guns N’ Roses come to an arena or stadium near you, there won’t be any chance of Axl Rose’s microphone smacking you in the face.
The reunited rock legends’ front man has pledged to quit throwing his mic into the crowd, a decades-long tradition, after a fan apparently sustained facial injuries when she was hit during a concert in Australia.
According to the Adelaide Advertiser, Rebecca Howe was left with two black eyes and a bloody nose when Rose threw his mic at the completion of their set.
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Following a rendition of the final song “Paradise City,” Rose “took a bow and then he launched the microphone out to the crowd … and then bang, right on the bridge of my nose,” she told the title.
The microphone then reportedly bounced into the hands of another concertgoer.
“My mind went, ‘Oh my God, my face is caved in,” she continued, adding that she was left hyperventilating following the incident, and in a state of “shock”.
Rose heard the story, he saw the photos, and he’ll change the show accordingly.
“It’s come to my attention that a fan may have been hurt at r show in Adelaide Australia possible being hit by the microphone at the end of the show when I traditionally toss the mic to the fans,” he writes in a social post.
“If true obviously we don’t want anyone getting hurt or to somehow in anyway hurt anyone at any of r shows anywhere,” Rose wrote.
Having tossed the mic at the end of show for over 30 years, the singer continued, the band felt “it was a known part” the performance “that fans wanted and were aware of to have an opportunity to catch the mic.”
That said, “in the interest of public safety from now on we’ll refrain from tossing the mic or anything to the fans during or at r performances.”
GNR’s stadium tour down under wraps this Saturday (Dec. 10) at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, the finale of an eight-city swing. TEG Dainty is producing the Australia and NZ leg, which features the classic line-up of Axl, Slash and Duff McKagan, with The Chats, Cosmic Psychos and Alien Weaponry in support.
ABC will no longer air its planned Backstreet Boys holiday special this month, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
A Very Backstreet Holiday was scheduled for Dec. 14 but has been pulled from the network’s schedule, and comedy reruns will air in its place. The special was set to feature the boy band singing tunes from its holiday album of the same name that was released in October.
The decision to pull the special follows a lawsuit filed Thursday alleging that Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter raped a 17-year-old fan on his tour bus after a 2001 concert in Tacoma, Washington. According to the civil suit filed in Nevada, now-39-year-old Shannon “Shay” Ruth claims that the singer chose her amid a group of autograph seekers to join him on the tour bus, gave her an alcoholic beverage called “VIP juice” and assaulted her.
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The lawsuit alleges that three other anonymous Jane Doe accusers experienced similar assaults by Carter between 2003 and 2006. One of the three unnamed accusers was allegedly underage.
In a statement shared with Page Six, Carter’s attorney Michael Holtz called the allegations “not only legally meritless but also entirely untrue.”
These are not the first accusations leveled against the pop singer. In 2017, Melissa Schuman, a former member of singing group Dream, publicly accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2003 when she was 18 years old. At the time, Carter denied the allegations by saying Schuman hadn’t previously expressed to him that “anything we did was not consensual.”
Prosecutors investigated Schuman’s claims and declined to bring criminal charges against the star, citing the statute of limitations having expired.
This article originally appeared in THR.com.
Earlier this week, superstar rappers Future, A$AP Rocky, 21 Savage and Playboi Carti were victims of a massive music leak, which included over 200 unreleased songs.
Future, Rocky, and Savage had two songs leaked, while Playboi Carti had three. The YSL duo of Young Thug and Gunna each experienced losses on a bigger scale, losing 20 records, respectively. SahBabii had 41 tracks leaked, while Yung Nudy suffered the most brutal blow with 172.
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Nudy responded to the leaks in a video posted online saying, “I’m a say this sh– one time, bro. I don’t know if y’all know, I’m not like other rappers, bro. I’m 100 percent finna take my time out to find out 100 percent who exactly is leaking my music. And I’m 100 percent gonna pull up at whatever studio it is, and I’m 100 percent gon’ beat your ass, on my mama.”
The unreleased records featured some promising collaborations. For Gunna, he has a potential song with Lil Baby titled “Sunfall” and another one called “On Sight” with Roddy Ricch. On the list, A$AP Rocky has two records with Playboi Carti, one named “Go.”
Two weeks ago, Latto underwent a similar issue when she reportedly had 130 songs leak online, including unreleased collaborations and reference tracks for several prominent songs such as Bia’s “Whole Lotta Money” and Coi Leray’s “Blick Blick.” Bia quashed claims of any possible ghostwriting help, tweeting: “No London jae wrote the hook, I wrote the pre and verse it’s not rocket science.”
Billboard reached out to the reps of Young Thug, Gunna, Playboi Carti, A$AP Rocky and Future for comment.
Jenni Rivera‘s untimely passing left a void in Latin music. At the time of her death in a plane crash in Mexico on December 9, 2012, Rivera, 43, was at the peak of her career and the single most successful woman in regional Mexican and on the Billboard Latin charts.
With anthems such as “Inolvidable,” “De Contrabando,” “Basta Ya” and “Resulta,” Rivera was able to create a blueprint for herself in a male-dominated genre, and was on the verge of a major crossover, with a residency in Las Vegas in the works and her very own television series. Still, the regional Mexican icon may no longer be here but her presence on and off the Billboard charts looms larger than life.
Ten years after her tragic death, Rivera’s legacy is very much alive thanks to her five children — Chiquis, Jacqie, Michael, Jenicka and Johnny who spoke at length about their mother at this year’s Billboard Latin Music Week — and her empowering anthems sang by a strong yet vulnerable woman for women from all walks of life. She’s also been an inspiration for the new generation of regional Mexican acts such as Grupo Firme, who’s frontman Eduin Caz told Billboard of her influence on him.
With more than 30 entries on the tally on the Regional Mexican Airplay, fourteen of those hit the top 10, and 25 songs on the Hot Latin Songs chart, Billboard‘s Latin editors have chosen Rivera’s 10 best songs (in no particular order). From “Ovarios” to “La Gran Señora” and “Las Malandrinas,” check out the list below.
Daft Punk debuts on Billboard‘s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart (dated Dec. 10) with Homework: Remixes at No. 17. The limited edition two-LP Record Store Day release earned 2,000 equivalent album units, with nearly all from physical sales, Nov. 25 (its release day) through Dec. 1, according to Luminate.
The set supports the 25th anniversary of the original Homework album, which spent 18 weeks on the Billboard 200 in 1997-98 (peaking at No. 150); it predated the June 2001 inception of the Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart.
Homework: Remixes contains original remixes of Homework hits “Around the World,” by Masters at Work and Todd Terry; “Burnin’,” by DJ Sneak and Ian Pooley; and “Revolution 909,” by Roger Sanchez and Junior Sanchez, among others.
Homework: Remixes is Daft Punk’s 11th charted title on Top Dance/Electronic Albums. The act’s six No. 1s are tied with The Chainsmokers’ total for the second-most of all acts – and the most among duos or groups. Only Lady Gaga and Louie DeVito have more (seven each).
Daft Punk also improves on the latest list with Random Access Memories (9-7, up 15%) and Discovery (23-16, up 3%). Random, the act’s longest-running title with 369 chart weeks and counting, reaped 21 weeks at No. 1 in 2013-14. Discovery, released just prior to the chart’s start in 2001, hit No. 4 that year and made it to No. 1 at last, following the announcement of the act’s dissolution, in 2021.
‘All’ in Top 10
Shifting to the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, Alok, Sigala and Ellie Goulding lift into the top 10 with “All by Myself” (15-10). Alok’s third top 10, Sigala’s sixth and Goulding’s 10th, the song is scoring core-dance airplay on Music Choice’s Dance/EDM channel, iHeartRadio’s Evolution and Channel Q, among others. (The Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart measures radio airplay on a select group of full-time dance stations, along with plays during mix shows on around 70 top 40-formatted reporters.)
On the multi-metric Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, “Myself,” which samples Depeche Mode’s 1990 smash “Enjoy the Silence,” motors to a new peak (33-26). The track earned earning 629,000 U.S. streams, up 38%, in the wake of the Nov. 25 release of its club mix.
More ‘Good’ News
Speaking of Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, David Guetta and Bebe Rexha reign for an 11th week with “I’m Good (Blue).” The total ties Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul” for the second-most weeks at No. 1 in 2022; Elton John and Dua Lipa’s “Cold Heart (Pnau Remix)” spent 22 of its total 36 frames at No. 1 this year, after first reigning in October 2021.
“Good,” which earns top Airplay Gainer honors with 62.9 million all-format radio airplay audience impressions (up 8%), also matches Guetta and Rexha’s longest commands on the chart, as his “Hey Mama,” featuring Rexha, Nicki Minaj and Afrojack, dominated for 11 weeks in 2015.
“Good” leads the Dance/Electronic Streaming Songs and Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales charts for a 12th week each, with 10.1 million streams and sold 5,000 downloads sold in the tracking week.