State Champ Radio Billboard
Page: 15
Billboard cover star Cynthia Erivo is gearing up to release her new album, ‘I Forgive You.’ The actress and singer shares insights into how she created the album and discusses the differences between filming ‘Wicked’ and ‘Wicked: For Good.’ She also opens up about her queerness, the role ‘The Color Purple’ played in her journey […]
The performance this week by Nigerian star TEMS is one eagerly awaited moment at the inaugural SXSW London, which opens Monday (June 2) and runs through Saturday (June 7), building on the four-decade legacy of the South By Southwest music, arts, film and tech conference and festival launched by four young colleagues in Austin, Texas, in 1987.
TEMS will headline The Stage at SXSW London on Thursday (June 5) in an exclusive concert presented by Billboard at London’s iconic music venue Troxy. She was featured on the cover of the magazine’s May 17 issue.
London is some 4,900 air miles from Austin where, in the mid 1980s, the idea of a conference and festival, initially focused on music, was hatched by the co-founders of SXSW: Roland Swenson, Louis Jay Meyers, Louis Black and Nick Barbaro. At the first event, held in March 1987, an expected 150 registrants reached 700 on the opening day.
In 2021, following the challenges of the pandemic, SXSW gained an investment partner in Penske Media Corporation (which also owns Billboard) and the film and production company MRC. Two years later, Penske took majority ownership of SXSW.
Under its new owners, SXSW has gone global. The third SXSW Sydney will take place in Australia’s largest city from Oct. 13-19.
This first SXSW London takes place at a time when the creative industries of the United Kingdom are more vital than ever, with the music business finding global success with superstars like Dua Lipa, Charli xcx, Coldplay and others. The event also follows the publication by Billboard of its annual Global Power Players list and its first U.K. Power Players list, whose honorees will be recognized at an invitation-only gathering.
Here are seven highlights to watch for at SXSW London.
By the Numbers
Tetris Kelly & QTCinderella were at the AMA’s on the red carpet, and they asked Kehlani, Megan Moroney, Shaboozey, Becky G and more who they’d want to party in Vegas with.
Who would you want to spend 24 hours in vegas with? Let us know in the comments!
Tetris Kelly:
We’re in Vegas. If you’re going out with anybody tonight, you can pick one person to hit the streets with. Who are you taking?
Shaboozey: Man, I’ll probably take Morgan Wallen.
Okay. That’s gonna be a night.
QTCinderella: You would have to go. I think you might have to leave Vegas for that one. I don’t know Sin City. I don’t know if that’s God’s country.
Kehlani: Oh, my God. Bruno Mars, I watched this compilation video of him yesterday, of him purposely answering all the interview questions hilariously. And I think he’s hysterical. I would love to have a crazy 24 hours.
Two Friends: I think someone that would be able to, like come on stage and do a couple songs with us. I think Eminem would be cool.
Tetris Kelly: What?!
QTCinderella: That’s incredible.
Two Friends: He hasn’t done really anything EDM. Eminem, if you’re watching this, let us know.
Tommy Richman: I mean, people here, I’m trying to meet Janet Jackson, for real. I’m trying to, you know, get a number, make a song with her, man.
Mark Manio & Scott Hoying: Lady Gaga, she’s my favorite. Beyonce. I mean, Ariana, Ariana, it’s just a super group of girls. It would be so cool.
Tetris Kelly: Power group of girls, love that.
Megan Moroney: I mean, I’d probably go with my girl, Lainey.
Keep watching for more!
No Na comes to L.A., and we’re taking you inside a day in the life of the newest Indonesian girl group. They show us their process of recording a song in the studio, how they cook, share the story of how they met and more!
Are you excited to hear more of No Na’s music? Let us know in the comments!
No Na:Hey, everyone for No Na, come spend 24 hours with us with Billboard. Let’s head into the 88 Studio. Let’s do it!
Lyndsey Havens:This group has worked together before, it seems?
Sean Miyashiro:Yes.
Lyndsey Havens:OK on all the music so far?
Sean Miyashiro:A lot of it, yeah, this is kind of like the consistent crew got it. I mean, everybody has made songs with the girls that are coming out, basically. They only have one song out.
Lyndsey Havens:Amazing.
No Na:Coming soon.
Sean Miyashiro:Hey, this is kind of fire, actually.
Lyndsey Havens:Do you usually wait to find a beat before you start writing? Or sometimes–
No Na:Yeah.
Lyndsey Havens:OK, cool. Feel the vibe, and then you see what fits that?
No Na:Yeah. Baila comes up with the best melodies.
Lyndsey Havens:That’s a good strength.
No Na:She makes the best lyrics.
Sean Miyashiro:Oh that’s so fire. The best. So the key is these, like lead bass lines that he does. He’s insane with this stuff. It kind of drives everything, right? It leads us. Should we start? Should we start coming up with the melodies. Let’s do it.
No Na:I like how we started this. What did you say? Got you in my glass? Got you in my hole? Got you in my what? Caught you in a lie. Caught you in a lie, love. Time to say goodbye.
Keep watching for more!
Los Tigres del Norte play ‘How Well Do You Know Your Bandmates’ and they share who they think the worst cook is, who likes tequila the most, who spends the most money and more!
What did you think of the game? Let us know in the comments!
Leila Cobo: Welcome to Miami, Los Tigres del Norte! It’s so great to have you guys here.
Los Tigres del Norte: Thank you!
Now we’re going to see how well Los Tigres del Norte know each other.
Let’s see.
Who plays the most instruments?
Eduardo.
How many?
On stage, I play three: the saxophone, accordion and bass.
And off the stage?
Yes, just like that.
And you sing on top of that, so technically it’s four.
But when I have to play something at a party or sometimes in emergencies, I play the electric bass, piano, acoustic guitar, electric guitar.
So everything.
Yes, multiple.
Eduardo is multipurpose. Who tells the best stories?
Stories? What kind? Like in songs?
No, stories around the table.
Ah, anecdotal stories around the dinner table. It would be Óscar. Oh you know I’m good at it when we haven’t slept. It helps us wake up. He shares anecdotes, but also we share our anecdotes with him
Oh really?
Yes, I’m like that. Sometimes I’m desperate and nervous and they put me on a schedule. The funniest time was when I was coming with Luis from Colombia and we landed in Los Angeles for our connecting flight and I put my shoes on the wrong foot. Luis tells me, “you have your shoes on backwards,” and I look down and I’m like” they really are, no wonder they were hurting me a lot.”
Billboard cover star Chris Stapleton gets real in an intimate interview with Josh Brolin, in which he reflects on his musical journey about his roots and finding his voice. He dives into how he balances the demands of his professional ambitions with his personal life, the power of authenticity, and more.
Chris Stapleton:
You can stand up here and just hang out.
Josh Brolin:
Let’s do it.
Chris Stapleton:
Yeah, let’s grab — this is where you grab a table sitting.
Josh Brolin:
I don’t know. Where do you think? Okay, I think we should start with a sit down and just talk.
Chris Stapleton:
Sounds good.
Josh Brolin:
Tell me what this staircase is. What’s on the other side of it? Nothing?
Chris Stapleton:
Just like a-
Josh Brolin:
Hot water heater.
Chris Stapleton:
It’s all right, we shored it up.
Josh Brolin:
So perfect.
Unknown:
Josh says-
Josh Brolin:
That didn’t sound too good. This is a board.
Chris Stapleton:
It’s a real one.
Josh Brolin:
Okay, we can disco on it if we need to disco that is to cope. What’s the thing that most means something in this whole place?
Chris Stapleton:
There’s lots of things in here that mean things to me, instrument wise. There’s a guitar that I wrote most of my songs on.
Josh Brolin:
I would love to see that. How did we get here? Why are we doing this?
Chris Stapleton:
Well, I don’t think either one of us are exactly sure.
Josh Brolin:
Right.
Chris Stapleton:
But I think it kind of started, you guys showed up to a show,
Josh Brolin:
Right? It was Ryman.
Chris Stapleton:
It was the Ryman.
Josh Brolin:
It was here. I’d never heard you before. Right? And then we went, you started playing. And a guy who grew up with, you know, I grew up at the Palomino club, listening to Mel Tillis, listening to Marty Robbins. We had, you know, Waylon Jennings over at our ranch.
Keep watching for more!
Linkin Park’s 2024 album From Zero returns to a bevy of Billboard’s album charts (dated May 31) following its deluxe reissue with additional tracks on May 16. The set reenters Top Album Sales (at No. 5), Top Hard Rock Albums (No. 4), Vinyl Albums (No. 8), Top Alternative Albums (No. 9), Top Rock Albums (No. 15), Top Rock & Alternative Albums (No. 17), Indie Store Album Sales (No. 17) and the Billboard 200 (No. 71).
From Zero debuted at No. 1 on all of the above charts last November, save for the Billboard 200 and Top Album Sales, where it arrived at No. 2.
Trending on Billboard
The album was bolstered with three new studio recordings (“Up From the Bottom,” “Unshatter” and “Let You Fade”) on its digital and streaming editions, while physical formats (two double-CD sets and two double-vinyls) also added in five live tracks. The same week From Zero’s deluxe impacted the album charts, one of the new songs added to the project, “Up From the Bottom,” hit No. 1 on both the Alternative Airplay and Mainstream Rock Airplay charts.
In the tracking week ending May 22, From Zero earned 14,000 equivalent album units (up 173%), with traditional album sales comprising 7,500 of that sum (up 531%). The latter figure pushes the album’s reentry on Top Album Sales at No. 5.
Elsewhere in the top 10 of the all-genre Top Album Sales chart, five albums debut in the region from Morgan Wallen, Jin, BOYNEXTDOOR, Sleep Theory and MEOVV.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album (TEA) units and streaming equivalent album (SEA) units.
Wallen’s I’m the Problem launches at No. 1 on Top Album Sales with a career-best 133,000 sold, marking his fourth top 10-charting effort (all have reached the top three). Jin’s Echo enters at No. 2 with 35,000 sold, garnering the singer his second effort to reach the top three. BOYNEXTDOOR’s 4th EP: No Genre starts at a career-high No. 3 with nearly 14,000 sold; it’s the fourth top 10 for the act.
Sleep Token’s Even in Arcadia falls 1-4 in its second week on the chart (nearly 8,000; down 90%), while the aforementioned From Zero reenters the list at No. 5.
Kali Uchis’ Sincerely. retreats 2-6 in its second week (just over 7,000; down 81%), Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topping GNX climbs 8-7 (7,000; up 6%) and P1Harmony’s DUH! dips 3-6 in its second week (nearly 7,000; down 69%).
Rounding out the latest top 10 is Sleep Theory’s first full-length set Afterglow, which scores the band its first top 10 (and chart entry) with its No. 9 debut (6,500) and MEOVV, who sees their debut EP My Eyes Open VVIDE start at No. 10 (6,000).
Gloria Estefan is about to release her first Spanish album in 18 years, ‘Raíces’. She sits down to talk about how the album was created with her husband, Emilio, dedicating a song to her grandson, her opinions on the new Pope, her thoughts on immigration issues in the U.S., and more. Are you excited for […]
More than six years on from their last studio record, pioneering Australian hip-hop outfit the Hilltop Hoods have announced their new album, Fall From the Light.
Set for release on Aug. 1 via Island Records/UMA, Fall From the Light is the Hilltop Hoods’ ninth album, and their first since the release of 2019’s The Great Expanse.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
They’ve not been resting on their laurels since the release of their last record, however. In 2020, they released one of the first pandemic-influenced songs by way of “I’m Good?” and would later drop singles such as “Show Business” and “A Whole Day’s Night” in 2022.
More recently, 2025 has brought with it the likes of “The Gift” and “Don’t Happy, Be Worry,” which will appear on Fall From the Light alongside 2023’s “Laced Up.”
Trending on Billboard
“This album has been an exercise in patience,” explained Suffa (aka Matt Lambert). “Six years is a long time between albums, but there’s a good reason for that. There was a lot happening, in the world and in our lives. But it turns out (from my perspective anyway), that time was the album’s strength, not its weakness.
“We’ve never been so thorough, so pedantic with an album before. The result is something that’s been carefully crafted with an extreme attention to detail. It’s an album that we’re really proud of, and a body of music that we can’t wait to share with everyone.”
“We really took our time with this one,” adds Pressure (aka Daniel Smith). “We put more years into it than any other of our albums because we wanted it to be our best work to date. Putting it out after so long feels more monumental and exciting than ever.”
Hilltop Hoods were formed in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in 1994 by Suffa, Pressure, and DJ Debris (aka Barry Francis), and became one of the first Australian hip-hop acts to receive mainstream success with the release of third album The Calling in 2003.
In 2006, they became the first hip-hop group to reach No. 1 on the ARIA charts thanks to The Hard Road – a feat they have achieved with every subsequent album. That year also saw them become the first Australian group in the genre to be nominated for an ARIA Award, with the trio having since won a total of ten awards from 36 nominations to date.
In 2019, the release of The Great Expanse saw the Hilltop Hoods break the record of most chart-topping albums for an Australian band or group, and would later reach one million record sales in their native country that same year.
The group will celebrate the release of their forthcoming album with their Never Coming Home Tour, which sees the band performing across Europe and the U.K. in the summer. They first toured the U.S. in 2014, later returning in 2019, but have not announced any further North American shows as yet.
Tiësto tells us all about his collab with Sexyy Red and Kaskade talks about what it’s like to perform at EDC festival 2025. we also run down the highlights from Suenos Festival and Bottle Rock, all presented by Amazon Prime. From the blasting beats of EDM in Vegas to hot Latin sounds in Chicago and […]
