Billboard

01 May 2024

Drake Seemingly Responds to Kendrick Lamar’s ‘euphoria,’ Mariah Carey’s All Access in Vegas, ENHYPEN Throw First Pitch & More | Billboard News

It’s Wednesday, May 1st, and Drake possibly responded to Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “euphoria.” Drake joined Nicki Minaj during the Toronto stop of her tour, and although he didn’t respond to the diss track on the stage, he may have made a reference to it on his Instagram Story with a monologue from Julia Stiles’ ‘10 Things I Hate About You.’ We give you All Access to Mariah Carey’s: The Celebration of Mimi Live in Las Vegas. Shenseea stops by our studio to talk about her new album, ‘Never Gets Late Here,’ her big collabs with Kanye West and more! ENHYPEN gave us details about throwing the first pitch for the Seattle Mariners, Mckenna Grace talks about her new music and more!

Tetris Kelly: 
Did Drake react to Kendrick’s diss track? We’re talking to Shenseea and McKenna Grace. We take you inside Mariah Carey’s Vegas residency and chat within ENHYPEN about throwing out the first pitch. Tetris Kelly back with Billboard News and I hope you’re hungry because beef is what’s for dinner. Drake took a trip to Gag City, but did he respond to Kendrick Lamar’s diss track? Let’s break it down. Drake joined Nicki Minaj onstage during the Toronto stop of the Pink Friday 2 World Tour just hours after Kendrick Lamar dropped “euphoria,” which took aim at Drizzy. While the Toronto native didn’t address the track onstage, fans think he may have been responding to it on his IG Story. He posted the iconic Julia Stiles monologue from ’10 Things I Hate About You’ with a broken heart and a winky face. If those two are related, it looks like he’s not taking the diss track too seriously. Everyone’s waiting to see if Drake responds lyrically. His last track “Push Ups” debuted at No.2 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, while Kendrick’s OG diss track with Metro Boomin and Future “Like That” spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100, proving this beef is the feud that keeps on giving. I had the pleasure of seeing one of the best vocalists of all time and I’m taking you along for the ride.

Keep watching to learn more!

30 Apr 2024

Bun B and Chase B Debate the Best Get Up Anthems of Houston | Billboard x Tres Generaciones Tequila

Billboard and Tres Generaciones Tequila are partnering to find the Get Up Anthems of select cities, and the first stop is Houston, Texas. In conversation with Rocsi Diaz, Houston natives Bun B and Chase B sat with Billboard’s Damien Scott and Cat Johnson to curate their top 10 Get Up Anthems for Houston. The list includes songs that inspired and energized their city, by Houston artists, presented by Tres Generaciones Tequila.

Bun B:
All right, look, I’m gonna just, I’m gonna just throw it out there because somebody’s got to say, this is No. 1.

Cat Johnson:
One?

Bun B:
I’m gonna let y’all argue this with me. I’m gonna let you argue this, but there is no record in Houston, I think, in 2024 that more people will agree represent Houston.

Rosci Diaz:
Hi, I’m Rosci Diaz, and I’m on a journey with Billboard and Tres Generaciones Tequila to celebrate and toast the power music has to inspire us. Together, we’re setting out to curate the official Get Up Anthems for cities across the country. We’re going to be crowning those iconic tracks which have inspired, captivated and energized each city’s essence. And first up, The Bayou City, Houston, Texas. Thanks, Cliff.

Joining me is none other than the legendary rapper and entrepreneur, Bun B, whose lyrics have shaped the very essence of Houston’s rap scene. Alongside him we have acclaimed DJ and music producer Chase B, whose electrifying sets have ignited stages worldwide. And let’s not forget Billboard‘s very own Damien Scott and Cat Johnson, whose editorial insight and passion for music have illuminated countless narratives within the industry.

So a few weeks ago, we all met up to start the process of identifying the city’s official Get Up Anthems. We started using Billboard‘s charts and the data that they have and use it as a springboard to narrow … 

Watch the full video above!

30 Apr 2024

Myke Towers Spends the Day With Billboard in Miami | Billboard Cover

Billboard spends the day with its latest cover star and Latin superstar Myke Towers, who takes us around Miami to share his gym routine and leads us behind the scenes of his Billboard cover shoot, how he works in the recording studio and more!

Myke Towers
Hi my people, this is the Young King, Myke Towers and I’m inviting you to spend the day with me. We are at the gym now. Let’s work out.

Myke Towers
I’ve been working out for a year or so, it’s not really like I love to work out, but when I saw the results at the shows, I thought “Hmmm, I have to keep on working out in the gym.” Also it helps me clear my mind. I usually train with a coach because I get bored if I do it alone and, you have someone who motivates you like, “Come on, do this.” Otherwise I wouldn’t even come. I need to have music to keep me motivated and even more so if it’s hardcore going out music. I work out five days a week and the other days… I don’t. It helps me be calmer about things because I am able to release that energy and deal with things better.

Myke Towers
When I wrote my first song, I was 18 years old, and it was like a freestyle. It wasn’t even a song but I already had something written. I don’t remember it, but I know it was the first thing I memorized to sing to everyone. I sang it a lot. Nobody believed I had written it. It helped me break the ice.

Watch the full video above!

29 Apr 2024

Taylor Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ Breaks More Records, Rihanna Teases New Album Again, Hot 100 Reveal & More | Billboard News

It’s Monday, April 29th, and Taylor Swift hits another record on the Billboard 200 with the release of her double album ‘The Tortured Poets Department.’ She makes a huge debut at No. 1, securing her 14th chart topping album. The Hot 100 is in, who takes the cake? Keep watching to find out. Rihanna is at it again teasing her new album and what type of tracks could potentially be on it. Jess Glynne takes us behind the photo, WILLOW stopped by the Billboard studio to share more about her upcoming album and more!

Tetris Kelly:

Taylor Swift makes a historic debut with ‘The Tortured Poets Department.’ The album does a complete takeover on The Hot 100, Rihanna teases R9 leaving fans wanting more and we give you a preview of our chat with WILLOW Smith. Welcome to a brand new week of Billboard News we’ve got a lot to get into, so let’s start with our top story. To no one’s surprise Taylor Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ made a huge debut on the Billboard 200, it broke some other records too. Taylor herself reacted to the huge news posting on Twitter, “My mind is blown. I’m completely floored by the love you’ve shown this album.” The album debuted at No. 1 on the chart is the superstars 14 chart topping album. That makes her tied with Jay-Z for the most No. 1 albums for solo artist in the nearly 70 year history of the chart. Only The Beatles are ahead with 19 No. 1 albums. The album launch with 2.61 million equivalent album sales and over 891 million official streams with 1.9 million traditional album sales, it’s instantly the top selling album of 2024. To put that number into context, the second biggest selling album counting weekly sales from January to now is Beyonce ‘Cowboy Carter’ with 228,000 copies total. Taylor does it again. Taylor Swift breaking records who would have guessed? Here’s this week’s chart. Taylor Swift’s the ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ has done a complete takeover.

Keep watching to learn more!

29 Apr 2024

Jess Glynne Shares the Story Behind Her Photo With the Spice Girls & More | Behind the Photo | Billboard

Jess Glynne shares stories behind her photo with the Spice Girl, photos in the studio, performing on stage and more in this episode of Behind the Photo with Billboard.

Jess Glynne
Hey, I’m Jess Glynne and this is behind the photo with Billboard. This picture was taken in Rack studios in North London, where I’ve recorded a lot of this album. I remember it quite specifically, I wrote the intro to the album. And this was a moment where I was obviously listening to the record back and my friend Jolene, who’s my creative director for it, let’s take a nice little snap. This is a really like beautiful moment, because there was like a few tears actually, that day. This picture is me onstage last year at Radio 1, this was quite a special moment for me because I had not been onstage for I would say, three to four years. It’s been a minute, it was actually like a really big relief being onstage and like everyone’s reaction, and this moment, captures it all. This is a picture of me at Wembley Stadium with the Spice Girls. And this was just before our last show. This was one of the most surreal moments of my life. The Spice Girls was the first gig I ever went to at Wembley Arena as a kid, my manager came up to me, he was like, the Spice Girls are getting back together and doing a tour and they want you to go on tour with them. And I was like, shut up. And he was like, yeah, like, do you want to do it? And I was like, Is this real? Fast forward, it was real. I went on the tour with the Spice Girls. And it was one of the most insane moments and probably one of the biggest highlights of my career. And I will never forget walking out into that stadium for the first time. And there shows that in and I actually felt like a little kid. So that was a moment I will never forget. This is me pouting with my new merch hat on that says I take you for breakfast. And that is a lyric from my musical. “Enough” is a really important song for this record. It was the first song that I wrote that I decided was going to be on the album, it kind of set me up for the messaging of this record. And like when we were announcing the album, The only song that made sense to kind of release with that moment was this song because it kind of summarizes the journey that I’ve been on and where I’m at now. And it’s crazy because the songs kind of evolved for me in its meaning over the years, but when I listened to it now it’s like a really nice kind of reassuring message that I am enough.

28 Apr 2024

Pearl Jam’s ‘Dark Matter’ Debuts in Top Five on Billboard 200 Chart

Pearl Jam debuts at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated May 4) with its latest studio album, Dark Matter, marking the 13th top 10-charting effort for the band. The set launches with a little over 59,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending April 25, according to Luminate.

Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, as earlier reported, Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department makes a milestone debut atop the list, with 2.61 million equivalent album units earned in its first week.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new May 4, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on April 30. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

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Of Dark Matter’s first-week sum of 59,000 units, album sales comprise 52,000, SEA units comprise 7,000 (equaling 9.33 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 11 songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. Notably, of its 52,000 sales sum, vinyl sales comprise a little over 24,000, enhanced by its availability across 12 different color vinyl variants.

The new album was led by the set’s title track, which hit No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart in March (the group’s fourth No. 1 and first since 1998) and has reached the top 10 on Alternative Airplay (the act’s 20th top 10 hit).

At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200, Future and Metro Boomin’s former leader We Don’t Trust You rises one spot with 69,000 equivalent album units earned (down 17%). Beyoncé’s chart-topping Cowboy Carter slips 2-3 with 66,000 (down 33%), and Morgan Wallen’s former No. 1 One Thing at a Time is a non-mover at No. 4 with 64,000 (down 11%).

Future and Metro Boomin’s We Still Don’t Trust You falls 1-6 with 54,000 equivalent album units earned (down 57%), Noah Kahan’s Stick Season slips 5-7 with 45,000 units (down 11%) and Benson Boone’s Fireworks & Rollerblades glides 7-8 with 40,000 units (down 8%). Rounding out the top 10 is a pair of former No. 1s: SZA’s SOS dips 8-9 with 39,000 units (down 2%) and Swift’s Lover climbs 11-10 with 37,000 (down 6%).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

28 Apr 2024

Taylor Swift Makes Historic Debut at No. 1 on Billboard 200 With ‘The Tortured Poets Department’

The Tortured Poets Department sold 1.914 million copies in traditional album sales in its first week (purchases of digital downloads, CDs, vinyl LPs and cassette tapes). That marks the third-largest sales week for an album in the modern era — since Luminate began electronically tracking music sales in 1991.

The Tortured Poets Department’s sales were bolstered by its availability across 19 different physical configurations (nine CDs, six vinyl LPs and four cassettes, with four of the physical configurations exclusively sold by Target stores) and two digital download offerings (the standard 16-song album, and a surprise deluxe 31-song edition that was released two hours after the original album bowed). All of the variants are itemized later in this story.

Of The Tortured Poets Department’s first-week sales of 1.914 million, physical sales comprise 1.64 million (859,000 vinyl LPs — a modern-era single week record for an album on vinyl, 759,500 CDs and a little over 21,500 cassettes) and digital downloads comprise 274,000.

The Tortured Poets Department is the seventh Swift album to have sold at least 1 million copies in a single week, following the debuts of 1989 (Taylor’s Version), Midnights, reputation, the original 1989, Red and Speak Now. She is the only act with seven different albums to each sell at least 1 million copies in a single week in the modern era. In total, there have been 26 instances — by 24 different albums — in which an album has sold at least 1 million copies in a week in the modern era. One of those albums, Adele’s 25, sold more than 1 million in three separate weeks.

Six of the top 10 million-selling weeks occurred in the early 2000s, in the pre-digital and pre-streaming heyday of the CD — when essentially the only way to listen to music on-demand was by purchasing an album. The year 2000 was the high-water mark in the modern era for album sales, when 785 million albums were sold in the U.S. Comparably, in 2023, there were 105.32 million albums sold, and Swift sold the most of any act — accounting for 6% of all U.S. album sales in 2023. (Popular streaming services Spotify and Apple Music did not launch in the U.S. until 2011 and 2015, respectively.)

Here’s a recap of the top 10 biggest-selling weeks by albums in the modern era (1991-present), ranked in order by sales volume.

Rank, Artist, Title, Sales, Chart Date
1, Adele, 25, 3.378 million, Dec. 12, 2015
2, *NSYNC, No Strings Attached, 2.416 million, April 8, 2000
3, Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department, 1.914 million, May 4, 2024
4, *NSYNC, Celebrity, 1.88 million, Aug. 11, 2001
5, Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP, 1.76 million, June 10, 2000
6, Backstreet Boys, Black & Blue, 1.591 million, Dec. 9, 2000
7, Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), 1.359 million, Nov. 11, 2023
8, Eminem, The Eminem Show, 1.322 million, June 15, 2002*
9, Britney Spears, Oops! …I Did It Again, 1.319 million, June 3, 2000
10, Taylor Swift, 1989, 1.287 million, Nov. 15, 2014
(Sales source: Luminate. *All weeks are debuts, except for The Eminem Show, which debuted on the chart dated June 8, 2002, from a partial week of sales due to an off-cycle early release. The June 15, 2002, chart reflected the album’s first week of availability.)

26 Apr 2024

Anitta’s Rise on the Charts | Billboard Explains

With the release of Anitta’s album, ‘Funk Generation’ we take a look at her various Billboard charts accomplishments especially with her debut on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Me Gusta” and later hits like “Bellaqueo” and “Envolver.”

Anitta:

Now I’m working on an album like in full funk, full like of my culture!

Narrator:

Anitta is bringing the funk with the release of her upcoming album ‘Funk Generation.’ To celebrate the release of her sixth studio album, we’re looking back at some of her biggest chart accomplishments. This is Billboard Explains: Anitta’s Rise On The Charts. Anitta made her Billboard Hot 100 debut with “Me Gusta” featuring Cardi B and Myke towers back in October 2020, where it peaked at number 91. Since then, she’s had two more songs on the Hot 100 “Bellaqueo” with Peso Puma that reached number 53. And “Envolver” which peaked at number 70. “Envolver” was a viral hit for Anitta that spent one week at No. 1 on the Billboard global excluding U.S. chart. Over on Hot Latin Songs, the song is one of Anitta’s four Top 10 hits alongside “Machika” with J Balvin and Jeon which reached No. 10. That collab also saw success on Latin Airplay, where it spent one week at No. 1 in 2018. Anitta also has five Top 10s on Latin Pop Airplay, and three Top 10s on Latin Rhythm Airplay, where will ‘Funk Generation land on the charts? We can’t wait to find out.

26 Apr 2024

Steve Aoki Has No Problem Using Artificial Intelligence To Build Tracks: ‘You Can’t Stop AI… You Just Have To Ride The Wave’

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Steve Aoki has seen the future and he’s unafraid. The world-beating DJ/producer and cake boss tells Billboard in this week’s cover story that while he’s still a bit of a “novice” at using artificial intelligence to create music, he thinks AI is here to stay and we should all just figure out a way to ride that bucking digital sandworm.

“I use it mainly for lyric generation. It has actually helped me quite a lot,” Aoki, 46, says of incorporating AI into his studio routine. “If I have an idea of what lyrics I want to put down on a record, I’ll work that out with AI, and if I have a songwriting team in my house and we get stumped, we can always use AI. As far as sampling, I’ve used AI to get a particular female sound using certain words, and that has been fantastic.”

Aoki, however, is clear-eyed and confident that AI is not the solution to all our musical conundrums. For instance, asked if his creativity is based more on experience or data, he says you can’t type “What’s Steve Aoki’s biggest song on the festival circuit?” into a database and get the right answer. “[Artificial intelligence] cannot generate that,” he says, noting that his 2011 Afrojack collab “No Beef” came out before streaming was a big thing, “but everyone knows the vocals to that at my shows.”

As for the possible worst-case-scenario that AI could replace producers and DJs in the future, Aoki says he’s sure the powers-that-be are building in “safeguards” to avoid such a situation now that the digital genie is fully out of the bottle. “You can’t stop AI. It’s not like, ‘Oh, f–k. AI is going to take away our jobs. F–k technology, it’s going to take away jobs,’” he says. “You can’t. You just have to ride the wave with it and just start building safeguards as we go. We’ve been doing this the whole time with the internet.”

Elsewhere in the chat, Japanese American Aoki also talked about the importance of AAPI representation in music and how it’s changed in the years he’s been behind the decks. “I remember when I first got into music in high school, the first thing I did was sing. You just didn’t see Asian singers,” he says. “You just didn’t see Asian people in music, period, and if you did, they were really quiet, like the singer of Hoobastank [Doug Robb], whom I looked up to.”

In fact, in a full-circle moment, Aoki reveals in the cover story that he’s currently working on a remake of the band’s 2004 hit “The Reason,” that he’s super excited about. “There’s a Steve Aoki-Hoobastank record coming soon,” he says. “But it was cool to actually work with that guy [Robb] because I remember looking up to him when I was in high school.”

Another artist he recalls admiring around 2003 when he was first getting into production was the Neptunes’ Chad Hugo. “I was in L.A., and I remember hiring someone on Craigslist to teach me how to use Pro Tools because I just started dabbling on the computer,” he says. “And I was like, ‘Chad Hugo, that’s my hero because he’s Asian, but he’s also quiet.’ I’m always like, “Where are the loud ones?” I wanted to see someone Asian that’s just loud and in charge and commanding audiences.”

Check out the full story and photos from the cover shoot here.

26 Apr 2024

VVS Talks About What Fans Can Expect From Their Debut, Their Sound & More | Billboard Korea Cover

New K-pop girl group VVS talk about what fans can expect from their debut, how their girl group concept is different from other girl groups, how they describe their R&B and pop sound and more in their Billboard Korea cover interview.

VVS
Hi Billboard, we are VVS!

Britney
Hello my name is Brittney and I’m the leader of the group.

Ilee
Hello I’m Ilee and I’m a rapper in our group.

Rana
Hello I’m Rana and I’m the main dancer in this group.

Jiu
Hello I’m Jiu and I’m the main vocalist in this group. Nice to meet you.

Liwon
Hello I’m Liwon and I’m youngest in this group.

Question: We heard you just learned your group name?

Brittney
So we finally finally finally got our name, we’ve been like waiting for this moment. So we’re so excited. Yeah, so we should tell them our name. So how about we introduce our group name?

VVS
Hello we are VVS!

Question: What’s the meaning of the group name?

Brittney
So we have three meanings to our group name. So our first meaning is that VVS means the highest commercial grade diamonds, so the first meaning shows our luxury side.

Ilee
Additionally, the second meaning of our group name VVS stands for the Roman numeral 5, representing the number five and VS or to be against, which represents our aspiration to overcome all obstacles together.

Watch the full video above!