Billboard

05 Oct 2023

Gracie Abrams & Aaron Dessner: Photos From the Billboard Shoot

The first time Gracie Abrams met Aaron Dessner, at his famed Long Pond studio near Hudson, N.Y., the pair wrote over 10 songs. “We hit it off,” recalls Dessner, 47, of their first session in spring 2021. That’s a bit of an understatement, considering what followed: Dessner went on to produce and co-write Abrams’ acclaimed debut album, Good Riddance, released in February and brimming with honest reflections sung in her delicate voice that float over intriguing chord progressions and indie-rock riffs. In June, following the album’s vinyl release, Abrams topped Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart.

In early September, following appearances by both on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour (Abrams as an opener, Dessner as a guest), the duo played three sold-out, intimate acoustic shows in New York, Nashville and Los Angeles, where they performed songs of Abrams’ both old and new. The gigs bookended a recording pit stop at Long Pond. “We made a lot of music, and it feels really different than what we’ve done before… like the best stuff we’ve made,” Dessner reveals.

Abrams, 24, is one of the newest artists to become a Long Pond regular, joining an eye-­popping group of talent that includes Swift, Ed Sheeran and, of course, Dessner’s band, The National — all of whom have been incredibly active in recent years, continuing Dessner’s streak as one of the most in-demand, and busiest, collaborators in music today. As such, and with Abrams a likely best new artist contender, could Dessner finally score a long-awaited nod for producer of the year, non-classical?

Read the full story here.

04 Oct 2023

Star Q&A With Sebastián Yatra | Billboard Latin Music Week 2023

Presented by Disney.

The Colombian star is redefining Latin pop on a global scale with his multimedia approach to creativity. In this interview with Venezuelan singer/songwriter Lasso, Sebastian Yatra talks about his creative process, his forays into acting and video direction, multi-tasking in a pop world and what come next.

04 Oct 2023

D4vd Shares What’s on His Playlist | Billboard

D4vd chatted with Billboard and shared what’s on his playlist.

D4vd:
Hey, everybody. I’m D4vd, and this is my playlist.

Songs that would be on my road trip playlist would be “Pink + White” by Frank Ocean, “My Future” by Billie Eilish, “Lovesick” by Laufey.

What would be on my pump-up playlist? No pun intended, but “Gucci Gang” by Lil Pump is still on there to this day, “Shotta Flow” by NLE Choppa, “Goosebumps” by Travis Scott.

Some songs that will be on my shower playlist: “Hello” by Adele, “Misty” by Ella Fitzgerald, any of The Weeknd’s songs. I said, yeah, any Weeknd song, and that is my playlist.

04 Oct 2023

Here’s Five Things You Didn’t Know About Eladio Carrión | Billboard

Eladio Carrión reveals to Billboard five things you didn’t know about him.

Eladio Carrion:
Hi, everyone! My name is Eladio Carrion and there are five things you didn’t know about me.

No. 1: I was a professional swimmer for many years, but now I hate pools. I won’t get into pools.

No. 2: I like to have some tequila before a show.

No. 3: I’m hooked on Naruto right now. I’m watching Shippuden right now.

No. 4: This is something not a lot of people know. My dog Kemba has a girlfriend right now. Her name is Cali and they are gonna have babies soon. Kemba is my dog, you guys know that. So we’re gonna have a Kemba Jr. somewhere.

I like raisins, but not when they are within a dish, like in a pie or pudding or things like that. I hate it, it’s disgusting. I like them with nothing else.

Those were five things you didn’t know about me.

03 Oct 2023

The Nicky Jam Rockstar Show Live From Billboard Latin Music Week With JOP | Billboard Latin Music Week

Nicky Jam once again brings his Rockstar Show to Latin Music Week, this year featuring intimate interviews with JOP.

Jesús Ortiz Paz
Back in the day, when we were doing music, if you had a million listeners on Spotify. You were doing it because no Mexican artist had that. And now you drop a song, boom 6 million that’s how you know how the audience got big you hear me?

Nicky Jam
You prefer an English or Spanish?

Jesús Ortiz Paz
Let’s do English man’s do English. Okay, let’s.

Nicky Jam
Okay, let’s do English today I’m ready for English. Um, your story’s amazing. I was studying a little bit of your background and studying about your story. Obviously. I want people I want people to hear from you, obviously. But I want to ask you some questions because it’s amazing that you’re you’re a barber, right?

Nicky Jam
You was a barber?

Jesús Ortiz Paz
Yeah, barber man, I was everything. He was…

Nicky Jam
A barber? And you started as a barber. And then somebody said that they needed somebody to sing on their group. And, and and then you just, that’s when you started right?

Jesús Ortiz Paz
It was something like that. I was cutting some hair. And then the guy was like hey they need a bass player. I knew how to play the bass a little bit, so I pulled up. And then at the end of the practice, I was like, ‘Hey, I sing too.’

Nicky Jam
And so that’s how you started? He didn’t know you will sing.

Watch the full interview above!

03 Oct 2023

Kylie Minogue’s ‘Tension’ Tops Billboard’s Dance/Electronic Albums Chart

Kylie Minogue collects her second No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart as her new studio release Tension opens atop the tally (dated Oct. 7). She previously led the 22-year-old list with 2020’s Disco.

The new album’s chart-topping debut comes after its lead single, “Padam Padam,” became a viral hit over the summer, and went on to become her first top 10 hit on the 10-year-old Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart in June.

Tension, released Sept. 22 via Darenote/BMG, earned 24,500 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 28, according to Luminate. That marks Minogue’s best week, by units, since the industry began measuring by that metric in December 2014. On the all-genre Billboard 200 chart, Tension debuts at No. 21, her highest-charting album in over a decade, since Aphrodite hit No. 19 (July 24, 2010-dated chart).

Further, of Tension’s first-week units, album sales comprise 19,500 – the pop star’s biggest sales week for an album in nearly 20 years. She last sold more in a single week with an album when Body Language debuted with 43,500 (Feb. 28, 2004-dated chart). Of Tension’s 19,500 sold, physical sales comprise nearly 14,000 (7,000 on vinyl – her biggest week on vinyl since Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991; 6,000 on CD and 1,000 on cassette) and digital album sales comprise about 5,500.

Tension was issued as a standard 11-song album, a 14-track deluxe edition (on CD, digital download and streamers) and in a 16-song edition (sold as a digital download exclusively through Minogue’s webstore). Sales of the album were bolstered by more than 15 physical formats, including seven vinyl variants (all with the same standard 11-song tracklist, with many in different colors with alternative covers – including some retailer-exclusive offerings), five cassettes (four with the album’s standard tracklist, and one with the 14-song tracklist – all in different colors) and five CDs (including a signed edition sold through Newbury Comics, and versions in alternative collectible packaging).

Tension was ushered in by the No. 7-peaking “Padam Padam” on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs in June. (The chart ranks the week’s most popular songs of the genre in the U.S., by blending streams, sales and airplay.) The track also became her first entry on the Dance/Electronic Streaming Songs chart (peaking at No. 14) and spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart and two weeks atop the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart.

The viral hit went on to earn 34.19 million on-demand official audio and video streams in the U.S. – making it Minogue’s third-biggest streaming song ever in America. “Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” released in 2001, is her most-streamed hit in the U.S. (176.66 million) and her seasonal cover of “Santa Baby,” released in 2000, is in second place (44.62 million). (Minogue made her Billboard chart debut in May of 1988, bowing on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Should Be So Lucky.”)

Following “Padam,” the new album has spun off a second dance hit with the title track, which hit No. 18 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs in September, No. 1 on Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales and debuts at No. 7 on Dance/Mix Show Airplay on the Oct. 7-dated chart. Plus, concurrent with the album’s debut on the charts, the set’s “Hold On to Now” bows at No. 32 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs and No. 10 on Dance/Electronic Song Sales.

Outside of the dance world, “Padam Padam” gave Minogue her first entry on the Pop Airplay chart since 2004’s “Slow,” and her first hit on the Adult Pop Airplay chart since 2002’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head.”

The Billboard 200 and Top Dance/Electronic Albums charts rank, respectively, the week’s most popular overall albums, and dance/electronic albums, 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. Top Album Sales ranks the week’s top-selling albums by traditional album sales (CD, vinyl, cassette, digital download album, etc.).

03 Oct 2023

The Power of Latin Catalog | Billboard Latin Music Week 2023

Presented by HarbourView

How Latin catalogs are valued, marketed, bought, and sold in a global economy.

Hannah Karp
I am Hannah Karp. I’m the editorial director of Billboard I’m so happy to be here. And over the past few years, we have Billboard have spent a lot of time reporting on some eye popping ly big deals in the Latin music world. Artists from Shakira to Maluma to Ozuna have been selling their catalogs meaning that they’re selling the income streams they received from either their publishing copyrights or their master recording rights or their performance rights, sometimes for tens of millions of dollars. And while the buying frenzy has cooled off a little bit lately, for reasons that we’re going to talk about today, there are still plenty of opportunities for artists and songwriters who want to sell their catalogs and for buyers who might want to buy in. So to explain it all. I’m thrilled to have here with us today. Three of the top dealmakers in this space Sherrese Clarke Soares,, the founder and CEO of HarborView Equity, who has been betting very big on a very diverse portfolio of Latin music, and other genres, since she founded her company just two years ago, and perhaps most notably buying Luis Fonsi’s publishing catalog, which of course includes the right to “Despacito.” We also have Denny Marte, who helped broker that deal and who has become the go to guy the one stop shop. For anybody that’s looking to buy or sell music catalogs in the Latin space. He’s helped to sell catalogs for Nicky jam and Rauw Alejandro, Maluma, just to name a few. And then we have last but not least, Angie Martinez, the real Angie Martinez, who is one of Billboard’s top music lawyers for many years running, and who represents artists looking to sell their catalogue and strike these deals. And she’s also advised on the Fonsi sail to HarborView. And she has a lot of very valuable advice and many warnings, urgent warnings for anyone out there who’s thinking about selling their catalog.

Watch the full panel above!

03 Oct 2023

Hot 100 First-Timers: Mitski Debuts With ‘My Love Mine All Mine’

Mitski already has a number of Billboard chart accolades, but she’s now officially a Billboard Hot 100-charting artist, as “My Love Mine All Mine” debuts on the latest ranking (dated Oct. 7) at No. 76, becoming her first career entry on the survey.

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The song appears on Mitski’s seventh LP The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We (released Sept. 15 via Dead Oceans/Secretly Group), which debuted at No. 12 on the Sept. 30-dated Billboard 200 with 32,000 equivalent album units earned in its opening week, according to Luminate; it ranks at No. 38 on the latest chart. It also opened at No. 2 on Alternative Albums, Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Vinyl Albums, and No. 3 on Top Album Sales.

“My Love Mine All Mine” enters the Hot 100 with 6.5 million official U.S. streams, up 58%, according to Luminate.

TikTok has been a major factor in the song’s growing profile, as a portion of its audio has been used in over 300,000 clips on the platform to date. (Activity on TikTok is not included in Billboard’s charts except for the newly-launched TikTok & Billboard Top 50.) On Instagram, the song has been used in over 13,000 Reels.

The song also becomes just the second Hot 100-charting song for Dead Oceans/Secretly Group, the independent record label founded in 2007 by Chris Swanson and Phil Waldorf. The label first reached the chart with Phoebe Bridgers and Maggie Rogers’ charity cover of Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris” (No. 57, 2020).

Mitski (full name: Mitski Miyawaki) first appeared on a Billboard chart in July 2016 with her fourth studio album Puberty 2. The set, her first release on Dead Oceans, reached No. 19 on Alternative Albums and No. 32 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums.

Since then, she has charted three albums on the Billboard 200: Be the Cowboy (No. 52, 2018), Laurel Hell (No. 5, 2022) and her latest a week ago. Laurel Hell also hit No. 1 on Alternative Albums, Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Album Sales and Vinyl Albums.

In 2018, Mitski scored her first No. 1 on a Billboard chart, when “The Only Heartbreaker,” from Be the Cowboy, topped Adult Alternative Airplay. The song became her first of four total entries at the format, followed by “Love Me More” (No. 23 peak in 2022), “Should’ve Been Me” (No. 16, 2022) and current single “Bug Like an Angel” (up 17-16 on the latest chart, a new high).

03 Oct 2023

Taylor Swift Extends Artist 100 Longevity Record to 80 Weeks at No. 1

Taylor Swift spends a record-extending 80th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated Oct. 7), thanks to nine albums on the Billboard 200, and three songs on the Billboard Hot 100.

Leading Swift’s titles on the Billboard 200 is Midnights at No. 10, with 42,000 equivalent album units earned Sept. 22-28, according to Luminate. It’s followed by Lover at No. 12 (38,000 units).

Here’s a recap of Swift’s current Billboard 200-charting albums.

Rank, Title:
No. 10, Midnights
No. 12, Lover
No. 16, Folklore
No. 18, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)
No. 19, 1989
No. 20, reputation
No. 25, Red (Taylor’s Version)
No. 33, Evermore
No. 61, Fearless (Taylor’s Version)

This is the 49th consecutive week that Midnights has spent in the top 10; it hasn’t left the region since it debuted in November 2022. Swift’s only albums to spend more time in the tier overall are 1989 (60 weeks) and Fearless (58).

On the Hot 100, Swift charts three songs: “Cruel Summer” (up 6-4, after reaching No. 3), “Anti-Hero” (26-21, after spending eight weeks at No. 1) and “Karma,” featuring Ice Spice (38-31, after hitting No. 2).

Rounding out the Artist 100’s top five, Olivia Rodrigo dips to No. 2, Zach Bryan rises 5-3, as his new five-track EP Boys of Faith debuts at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 (44,000 units), Morgan Wallen holds at No. 4 and Doja Cat jumps 10-5, powered by her new LP Scarlet, which opens at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 (72,000 units).

The Artist 100 measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.

Are you the ultimate music buff? Play trivia based on your favorite artists and earn exclusive prizes!

02 Oct 2023

Rod Wave’s ‘Nostalgia’ Notches Second Week Atop Billboard 200 Chart

Rod Wave spends a second week atop the Billboard 200 chart (dated Oct. 7) with Nostalgia, after debuting at No. 1 a week ago. The set earned 88,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 28 (down 36%) according to Luminate. It’s the first of his three No. 1s to have led for multiple weeks.

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Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Doja Cat’s Scarlet starts at No. 4 while Zach Bryan’s new Boys of Faith bows at No. 8.

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 Oct. 7, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Oct. 3. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of Nostalgia’s 88,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Sept. 28, SEA units comprise 87,500 (equaling 124.51 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 18 songs), album sales comprise 500, and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

Nostalgia’s 88,000 sum is the smallest total for a No. 1 album in seven months, since SZA’s SOS led the list dated March 4 with 87,000 units.

Olivia Rodrigo’s chart-topping Guts holds at No. 2 on the new Billboard 200 (87,500 equivalent album units; down 34%) and Morgan Wallen’s former No. 1 One Thing at a Time climbs one rung to No. 3 (73,000; down 3%).

Doja Cat captures her third top 10 album on the Billboard 200, all notched consecutively, as her new studio set Scarlet starts at No. 4 with nearly 72,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 65,000 (equaling 88.35 million on-demand official audio and video streams of the set’s 17 songs), album sales comprise 6,000 (the set was only available as a digital download, CD and in a deluxe boxed set with a T-shirt and CD) and TEA units comprise 1,000. The digital and streaming edition of the album was available in a standard 15-song edition and a deluxe 17-track version.

Scarlet was preceded by three charting songs on the Billboard Hot 100: “Demons,” “Paint the Town Red” and “Attention.” “Paint the Town Red” became her second No. 1 on the Hot 100 on the Sept. 16-dated chart (following 2020’s “Say So,” featuring Nicki Minaj).

Doja Cat previously hit the top 10 on the Billboard 200 with Planet Her (No. 2 in 2021) and Hot Pink (No. 9 in 2020).

Zach Bryan’s chart-topping self-titled album falls 3-5 on the new Billboard 200 (66,000 equivalent album units; down 16%), SZA’s SOS dips 5-6 (49,000; down 7%) and Travis Scott’s former leader Utopia descends 6-7 (just over 44,000; down 6%).

A second Bryan album appears in the top 10, as his new five-song Boys of Faith project bows at No. 8 with 43,500 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 39,000 (equaling 50.35 million on-demand official audio and video streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 4,000 and TEA units comprise 500. Boys of Faith is the third top 10-charting effort for Bryan, and second in 2023, following his self-titled No. 1, which debuted at the summit just four weeks earlier. He has also hit the top 10 with the No. 5-peaking American Heartbreak in 2022.

Rounding out the top 10 on the new Billboard 200 is Peso Pluma’s Génesis (moving 7-9 with 43,000 equivalent album units earned; down 7%) and Taylor Swift’s former leader Midnights (8-10 with 42,000; up less than 1%).

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.