State Champ Radio Chart Beat
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On February’s Top Tours list, U2 is in the winner’s circle with monthly earnings of $56.5 million from 166,000 tickets sold.
February is U2’s first month at No. 1, after sitting at No. 2 in December of 2019 and 2023, both behind Trans-Siberian Orchestra. This marks the first Irish act to claim monthly honors.
Since launching in 2019, the monthly Boxscore recap has detailed touring breakthroughs, particularly in country and Latin music — highlighted by Morgan Wallen and Bad Bunny, respectively — as well as reporting quirks along the way, including Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s dual coastal ensembles during the holiday season. The latest oddity: U2’s recent domination makes the band the first act to lead Top Tours without actually going on tour.
The group’s haul north of $50 million comes from 10 shows, all at Las Vegas’ Sphere. The rock quartet christened the Sin City arena with the first show from its U2:UV Achtung Baby Live residency in September, and to date, is still the only act to play at the venue. Concert series by Dead & Company and Phish are scheduled for later on Sphere’s 2024 calendar.
Residencies at this scale – 40 arena shows in six months – are unprecedented. Prior to U2’s kickoff, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars were the only residency acts to crack the top 10 of Top Tours. The traditional Vegas model is for acts such as them to play sold-out theaters to roughly 5,000 fans each night, with the flexibility to charge extravagant prices for the opportunity to see an A-list artist in a more intimate setting.
U2 is playing by similar rules, with its $340 average ticket within 5% of Mars (No. 19), but expanded to an arena audience. Demonstrating the same intensity of demand as theater residencies but broadened to an audience three times as big, U2’s monthly victory, ahead of stadium tours at Nos. 2-3, is groundbreaking.
With all that activity from one arena, U2 also crown Top Boxscores, with Sphere reigning as the month’s top-grossing venue. Both victories were decisive, by a margin of more than 3:1.
U2’s recent run began on Jan. 26 and stretched through March 2, earning $84.7 million during that period. Dating back to opening night (Sept. 29, 2023, and through its close on March 2), the U2: UV Achtung Baby Live residency brought in $244.5 million and sold 663,000 tickets over 40 shows.
That is the lowest show count – by far – for any residency with a gross of $100 million or more. Mars and Billy Joel (Madison Square Garden) are the only others with a nine-digit gross and fewer than 100 shows.
Former chart-topper P!nk is No. 2 on Top Tours with a $48.3 million gross. Shows from the Australian leg of the Summer Carnival Tour sold 437,000 tickets in February, marking the highest attendance total of the month. This is P!nk’s third time at No. 2, following stints in April 2019 and August 2023, adding to her three months at No. 1 (March 2019, July 2019, October 2023).
Oceania brought in more revenue than North America or Europe on P!nk’s I’m Not Dead Tour (2006-07), the Funhouse Tour (2009) and The Truth About Love Tour (2013-14). Her recent leg, stretching through March 23, marks her first time in stadiums in Australia and New Zealand, having made the outdoor transition elsewhere on the Beautiful Trauma World Tour (2018-19).
Including her March dates, P!nk’s 20 continental shows grossed $104.3 million and sold 980,000 tickets, bringing the tour’s total to $361.8 million and 2.8 million tickets. With more dates scheduled in the U.S. and Canada, and Europe through November, the Summer Carnival will easily become P!nk’s first to cross $400 million. The Beautiful Trauma World Tour came agonizingly close when it wrapped in 2019 with $397.3 million.
Karol G follows at No. 3, leading a trifecta of Latin stars in the top 10. Luis Miguel sits just beneath at No. 4, and Bad Bunny rounds out the group at No. 10. Across shows in the U.S. (Bad Bunny), Mexico (Karol G) and South America (Luis Miguel).
Stars of the 21st century fill out most of the rest of the top 10, with Madonna, Depeche Mode, Blink-182 and the Eagles filling out Nos. 5 and 7-9, respectively. Ed Sheeran rounds out the top 10 at No. 6 as the last of six $30 million tours from February. Emerging from the slow winter months, the last time more acts crossed the $30 million threshold was August, when Beyoncé led P!nk, Metallica, Morgan Wallen, The Weeknd, Drake and the Jonas Brothers.
Behind Sphere as the month’s top venue, London’s O2 Arena and Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena bring the U.K. and Australia to the top of the heap at Nos. 2-3, respectively, peppered by Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena at No. 6 and Manchester’s AO Arena at No. 7.
A version of this story will appear in the March 30, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Flo Milli reaches a milestone for her breakthrough single, “Never Lose Me,” as it becomes her first top 10 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart with an 11-6 jump. The move, on the chart dated March 30, comes after the release of its parent album, Fine Ho, Stay, and support from a new remix featuring SZA and Cardi B.
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In the latest tracking week (March 15 – 21) for the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, which combines streaming, radio airplay and sales data for its ranks, “Never Lose Me” amassed 16.7 million official U.S. streams, a 31% surge from the prior week’s 12.7 million clicks, according to Luminate. The rally drives the track 8-2 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs chart to a new peak.
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Sales, too, push the song into new territory, prompting its No. 6 debut on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales chart with 2,000 sales for the week. Thanks to the improvements, “Never Lose Me” wins the weekly Sales Gainer and Streaming Gainer awards on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs for the largest increases among the chart’s 50 titles. Notably, however, as the song’s original version still contributes the majority of consumption activity, neither SZA nor Cardi B joins the song’s billing on the charts.
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Turning to radio airplay, “Never Lose Me” registered 11.6 million audience impressions across all formats. Rhythmic stations are most receptive to the song, which glides 10-8 on Rhythmic Airplay following a 7% jump in plays for the latest tracking week. On the R&B/hip-hop side, the song slides 24-25 on the latest Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay ranking, though it likewise improved 7% in plays in the tracking period.
Elsewhere, “Never Lose Me” rebounds 6-5 on the Hot Rap Songs chart, matching the peak position it first achieved in February. It also rockets 34-15 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 to a new best and nabs that chart’s Sales Gainer and Streaming Gainer prizes.
“Never Lose Me” appears on Flo Milli’s studio album, Fine Ho, Stay, which was released on March 15 through RCA Records. The set debuts at No. 20 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, becoming the budding rapper’s best showing on the list. Her lone prior visit, Ho, Why Is You Here?, peaked at No. 46 in 2020.
Taylor Swift and K-pop set the benchmark for global album sales in 2023, new data published by the IFPI reveals.
Following the release last week of its Global Music Report 2023, the IFPI published three year-end albums charts, breaking down the biggest titles by sales and formats (vinyl and streaming).
The K-pop phenomenon continues to power ahead, proof of which can be seen on the IFPI Global Album Sales Chart 2023. SEVENTEEN’s FML leads an all-K-pop top five on the tally, which measures global unit sales – or “pure sales” – across all physical formats, as well as full album downloads.
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Following its release in 2023, FML landed at No. 1 in South Korea and Japan, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and went on to sell 6.4 million units globally, sending the title to No. 1 on the previously-announced IFPI Global Album Chart. FML also smashed the record for most pre-orders ever for an album in South Korea, according to the Federation.
An “unprecedented” 19 of the top 20 titles on the IFPI Global Album Sales Chart were created by South Korean acts, demonstrating the K-pop genre’s “global dominance of the physical album format,” reads a statement from the IFPI, issued Thursday, March 28.
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The one only non-Korean act to crack the top 20 (at No. 6) was reigning, four-time IFPI global recording artist of the year Taylor Swift, whose album 1989 (Taylor’s Version) also topped the IFPI Global Vinyl Album Chart. Indeed, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) leads an all-TayTay top 3 on the wax tally, ahead of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and Midnights, respectively. Swift snags seven of the top 20, including folklore (at No. 7), Lover (No. 9), evermore (No. 13) and Red (Taylor’s Version) (No. 15).
U.S. country star Morgan Wallen lassos his first IFPI Global Chart No. 1 with One Thing at a Time, his Billboard 200 leader. The 36-track double LP tops the IFPI Global Streaming Album Chart, which counts global streams from both ad-supported and subscription platforms. The streaming list calculates a weighted global unit number taking into account differing economics across regions. Wallen also appears at No. 9 with Dangerous: The Double Album, released in 2021.
“As highlighted in IFPI’s Global Music Report,” comments Lewis Morrison, director of global charts & certifications at IFPI, revenues from both digital and physical music formats continue to see healthy growth, and the combination of fantastic artistry, format variety and the tireless work of record labels is the foundation on which this growth is built.
The charts, he continues, “are a great summary of a fantastic year for global recorded music.”
IFPI Global Album Sales Chart 2023
PositionArtistAlbumUnits1SEVENTEENFML6.4m2Stray Kids5-STAR5.3m3NCT DREAMISTJ4.6m4SEVENTEENSEVENTEENTH HEAVEN4.5m5Stray KidsROCK-STAR4.2m6Taylor Swift1989 (Taylor’s Version)2.8m7Jung KookGOLDEN2.7m8EXOEXIST2.3m9IVEI’ve MINE2.2m10VLayover2.2m11ZEROBASEONEYOUTH IN THE SHADE2.2m12aespaMY WORLD2.1m13TOMORROW X TOGETHERThe Name Chapter : FREEFALL2.0m14(G)I-DLEI feel2.0m15NCT 127Fact Check1.9m16ENHYPENDARK BLOOD1.7m17IVEI’ve IVE1.7m18JiminFACE1.7m19ENHYPENORANGE BLOOD1.7m20aespaDrama1.5m
IFPI Global Vinyl Album Chart 2023
PositionArtistAlbumUnits1Taylor Swift1989 (Taylor’s Version)1,400k2Taylor SwiftSpeak Now (Taylor’s Version)684k3Taylor SwiftMidnights562k4Travis ScottUTOPIA415k5Pink FloydThe Dark Side of The Moon402k6Olivia RodrigoGUTS398k7Taylor Swiftfolklore377k8Lana Del ReyDid you know that…352k9Taylor SwiftLover323k10Fleetwood MacRumours323k11The Rolling StonesHackney Diamonds305k12Lana Del ReyBorn To Die256k13Taylor Swiftevermore237k14QueenGreatest Hits227k15Taylor SwiftRed (Taylor’s Version)225k16Tyler, The CreatorIGOR218k17Michael JacksonThriller217k18Metallica72 Seasons206k19Harry StylesHarry’s House204k20boygeniusthe record200k
IFPI Global Streaming Album Chart 2023
PositionArtistAlbum1Morgan WallenOne Thing At A Time2SZASOS3Taylor SwiftMidnights4Bad BunnyUn Verano Sin Ti5Metro BoominHEROES & VILLAINS6Taylor SwiftLover7The WeekndStarboy8KAROL GMañana Será Bonito9Morgan WallenDangerous: The Double Album10Taylor Swift198911Miley CyrusEndless Summer Vacation12Travis ScottUTOPIA13Harry StylesHarry’s House14Taylor Swiftfolklore15Drake & 21 SavageHer Loss16DrakeFor All The Dogs17The WeekndAfter Hours18Taylor Swiftreputation19Zach BryanAmerican Heartbreak20Olivia RodrigoSOUR
Kacey Musgraves’ Deeper Well album makes a splash on Billboard’s charts (dated March 30), as the set debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales, Top Country Albums, Americana/Folk Albums, Vinyl Albums, Top Current Album Sales and Tastemaker Albums.
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With 66,000 copies sold in the tracking week ending March 21 in the U.S., according to Luminate, Deeper Well notches Musgraves her biggest sales week ever. And, of that sum, vinyl sales account for 37,000 – her biggest sales week on vinyl, the largest vinyl week of 2024, and the fourth-largest week for a country album on vinyl since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991. (The only bigger sales weeks on vinyl for country sets were all registered by Taylor Swift’s re-recordings.)
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Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart: Justin Timberlake’s Everything I Thought It Was starts at No. 2 while The Black Crowes’ Happiness Bastards bows at No. 5.
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 units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Top Country Albums and Americana/Folk Albums rank the week’s most popular country and Americana/folk albums, respectively, by equivalent album units. Vinyl Albums tallies the top-selling vinyl albums of the week. Top Current Album Sales ranks the week’s top-selling new/current albums (non-catalog/older titles). Tastemaker Albums ranks the week’s best-selling albums at independent and small chain record stores.
Of Deeper Well’s 66,000 sold, physical album sales comprise 48,000 (37,000 on vinyl, 11,000 on CD and negligible sum on cassette) and digital album sales comprise 18,000.
Deeper Well’s first-week sales were supported by its availability across nine vinyl variants, including eight different-colored versions and exclusive editions for Amazon, Spotify and Target. Deeper Well was also issued in four different CD versions, three different digital editions (two were exclusive to her webstore – one with a bonus track, and another with the same bonus track an alternate cover art) and as a cassette tape.
Deeper Well is Musgraves’ second No. 1 on Top Album Sales, fifth leader on Top Country Albums, third on both Americana/Folk and Vinyl Albums and second on both Top Current Album Sales and Tastemaker Albums.
At No. 2 on Top Album Sales, Justin Timberlake’s Everything I Thought It Was debuts with 41,000 copies sold. It’s the sixth consecutive top two-charting effort for Timberlake, the entirety of his full-length studio albums. Of the 41,000 sold, physical sales comprise 27,000 (15,000 on CD and 12,000 on vinyl) and digital album sales comprise 14,000.
Everything’s first-week sales were aided by its availability across four different vinyl variants (including exclusives for Amazon, Target and his webstore), four different deluxe CD boxed sets (each with a piece of branded clothing and a CD) and a standard CD.
Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine falls 1-3 (13,000; down 84%) after debuting atop the tally a week ago. Taylor Swift’s chart-topping 1989 (Taylor’s Version) rises 6-4 with 10,000 sold (up 14%).
The Black Crowes collect its first top 10 in 16 years as Happiness Bastards enters at No. 5 with 9,000 sold. The band was last in the top 10 with 2008’s Warpaint, which debuted and peaked at No. 5 on the March 22, 2008-dated list. The new album sold 3,500 on vinyl, 2,500 on CD and about 3,000 copies via digital download. All told, Happiness is the fourth top 10-charting effort, and 16th total entry, on Top Album Sales for The Black Crowes.
Three former No. 1s are next up on the list: Swift’s Lover (7-6 with nearly 9,000; up 16%), TWICE’s With YOU-th (4-7 with nearly 9,000; down 15%) and Swift’s Folklore (10-8 with 7,000; up 7%). LE SSERAFIM’s Easy falls 8-9 with just over 6,000 (down 16%) and Swift’s chart-topping Midnights rises 12-10 with 6,000 (up 13%).
In the week ending March 21, there were 1.207 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 0.9% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 901,000 (down 0.9%) and digital albums comprised 306,000 (up 6.7%).
There were 437,000 CD albums sold in the week ending March 21 (down 7.8% week-over-week) and 458,000 vinyl albums sold (up 6.5%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 5.229 million (down 30.8% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 5.489 million (down 47.9%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 1 million (down 36.1% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 10.773 million (down 40.8%) and digital album sales total 3.566 million (down 16%).
Ozuna adds a 34th No. 1 to his Billboard Latin Airplay chart history as “Baccarat” climbs 6-1 on Latin Airplay list (dated March 30).
“Baccarat” leads the way on the 50-deep tally as the Greatest Gainer of the week thanks to a 26% increase in audience impressions, to 9.2 million, earned during the March 15-21 tracking week, according to Luminate.
Among “Baccarat’s” biggest supporters during the tracking week, New York’s WSKQ (1.4 million) and WXNY (1.2 million) steer the ship, with KXOL in Los Angeles (1.1 million), coming in on second place.
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As the Chris Jedi and Gaby Music-produced tune rises to No. 1 on Latin Airplay, Ozuna captures his 34th champ on the overall radio ranking, still the second-most leaders since the chart launched in 1994. Here’s a recap of the leaderboard, with Shakira being the only female representation among acts with at least 18 No. 1s::
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36, J Balvin34, Ozuna32, Enrique Iglesias28, Daddy Yankee24, Bad Bunny24, Maluma22, Wisin21, Romeo Santos21, Shakira18, Ricky Martin
“Baccarat” is one of the 15 tracks from Ozuna’s sixth-studio album, Cosmos (his seventh top 10 on Top Latin Albums), which reached No. 9 high last December. The song concurrently grants Ozuna his eighth champ on Latin Airplay as a soloist, unaccompanied by any other act, and first since “Deprimida” reached No. 1 in June 2022, for one week in charge.
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Elsewhere on the Latin radio rankings, Myke Towers’ “La Capi” takes the Hot Shot Debut of the week on Tropical Airplay, as the song opens at No. 7 with 2.3 million audience impressions during the tracking week.
“La Capi,” released via One World International/ Warner Latina, grants independent label One World International its first top 10 on Tropical Airplay. Warner Latina, meanwhile, collects its first top 10 through a Towers’ entry.
“La Capi” becomes Towers second entry on the tropical radio tally, after “Travesuras,” his collab with Nio García, Casper Mágico, Ozuna, Wisin & Yandel and Flow La Movie, which topped the chart for one week in 2021.
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Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip. This week: Future and Metro Boomin’s latest smash comes courtesy of an incendiary Kendrick Lamar verse, Hozier is on his way to his biggest hit in a decade, March Madness commercials have viewers flocking to Shazam and more.
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‘Like That’ is Boomin — For Future, Metro, Kendrick and Older Drake Songs, Too
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A quick rule of thumb for current hip-hop artists: when your track contains an out-of-nowhere, earth-scorching Kendrick Lamar verse dissing two other rap giants, a lot of people are going to want to hear that track!
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“Like That,” the standout track from Future and Metro Boomin’s collaborative project We Don’t Trust You featuring K. Dot’s Internet-shattering takedown of Drake and J. Cole, has (not surprisingly) exploded on streaming services following the album’s release last Friday (Mar. 22). After earning a whopping 10.26 million U.S. on-demand streams on Friday alone (according to Luminate), thanks to both hardcore supporters and casual fans who simply had to hear Lamar’s fire-breathing, “Like That” kept racking up high seven-figure streaming totals over the weekend, ending up with 25.62 million streams in its first three days of release.
That’ll be enough for a big bow on next week’s Hot 100 — but along the way, “Like That” also has rap obsessives re-exploring a pair of Drake tracks that may have inspired the sneak attack. “First Person Shooter,” Drake’s own Hot 100 chart-topper featuring J. Cole that Lamar directly references on “Like That,” was up 10% in streams this past weekend (1.69 million streams between Mar. 23-24) compared to the previous weekend (1.53 million streams). Meanwhile, as listeners ponder what “Like That” means for the relationship between Drake and Future, “What Would Pluto Do?” — in which Drizzy questions what his (former?) pal would do in similar situations — experienced an even greater streaming bump, up 34% in streams to 413,000 over the weekend. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Hozier’s New Runaway Streaming Smash Is Just “Too Sweet”
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It’s been a little over a decade since Hozier saw the Billboard Hot 100’s top 10 – who can forget “Take Me to Church” (No. 2)? — and he’s poised to make a splashy return to the region with a funky new track titled “Too Sweet.” Housed on the Irish rocker’s Unheard EP, which serves as epilogue of sorts to 2023’s sprawling Dante-inspired Unreal Unearth, “Too Sweet” has amassed over 11.8 million official on-demand U.S. streams in just three days (March 23-25), according to Luminate. The song earned its biggest daily tally upon release (March 23), raking in 4.7 million streams and over 1,000 U.S. digital sales.
Although Unreal Unearth – which reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200 – spawned a pair of Adult Alternative Airplay chart-toppers in “Eat Your Young” and “Francesca,” none of the album’s official singles cracked the top half of the Hot 100. Then again, none of those singles had the pre-release hype of “Too Sweet.” Hozier first teased a snippet of the track during a March 6 appearance on the How Long Gone podcast hosted by Chris Black & Jason Stewart. That snippet quickly went viral amongst Hozier’s fanbase, with a popular TikTok account uploading the “Too Sweet” tease as a sound. In less than a month, that sound has collected nearly 50,000 posts on the app, and Hozier even used it TikToks officially announcing the new EP and debuting what appears to be clips of a visualizer for the song.
Having already hit No. 2 on US Spotify upon release, “Too Sweet” is already shaping up to be a runaway hit for Hozier – and potentially his biggest one since “Church.”
Yahir Saldivar Wields Quirky 4batz-Esque Video to Score Viral Hit in “SC-9”
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Just as 4batz took off with music videos that paired brooding shiesty mask-accented shots with delicate R&B odes to relationship woes, Yahir Saldivar is employing a similar trick with his new viral hit “SC-9.”
Over a jaunty cumbia arrangement, Saldivar croons of his guns, his gangster nickname (Scorpion 9) and gang life in general. The track’s accompanying music video features him and his buddies dancing along to infectious instrumental while toting guns, bottles of liquor and bulletproof vests. Released last month (Feb. 1), “SC-9” has enjoyed a slow burn that started to speed up once the music video started making the rounds on TikTok. During the week of Feb. 23-29, “SC-9” pulled just over 370,000 official on-demand U.S. streams. That marks a whopping 769% jump to over 3.2 million streams four weeks later (March 15-21).
On TikTok, “SC-9”soundtracks over 30,000 posts, most of which feature girls flaunting their quinceañera gowns, users showing off what makes them Mexican, TikTokers dancing along. One especially viral video – which does not use the official “SC-9” — sound amassed over 4.6 million views. In the video, the user captions a clip of the “SC-9” music video with “POV: the song and video [don’t] match.” Needless to say, Spanish speakers corrected the user in the comment, explaining that video and lyrics are perfect in sync with one another.
Already at No. 2 on Spotify USA’s Viral 50 chart, “SC-9” could very well find some Billboard chart success should its momentum continue.
March Synch Madness Lifts Terrance Martin & Ludacris Songs
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Speaking of Future: His favorite season, March Madness, is in full swing across roughly 40% of the channels on your cable dial. For those who are still watching the NCAA men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments the old-school way – and not, say, through an app or web browser you’re barely disguising from your co-workers and/or college professors – you’ve likely seen a couple commercials (maybe more often by now than you’d prefer) that have had fans Shazaming and streaming the songs that soundtrack them by the thousands.
Apple’s recent iPhone 15 Storage ad features a man browsing through pictures of people his phone, all of which are singing to him in the heavily vocodered voice of Terrace Martin’s “Don’t Let Go” – essentially begging him not to delete them. The slightly disconcerting spot has sent official on-demand U.S. streams soaring for Martin’s song, with it lifting from a negligible number of streams over the March 16-18 period to over 32,000 streams in the same period the following week (March 23-25), according to Luminate, following incessant airing of the ads during tourney games. Similarly, Ludacris’ 2004 rager “Get Back” is also up, thanks to a much-played Nissan ad featuring several college mascots blasting it in their Rogue – lifting 21% to 188,000 streams over that same period.
One NCAA-featured commercial song that isn’t way up this week? Christina Aguilera’s “What a Girl Wants.” Perhaps listening to Oklahoma City Thunder stars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren warbling AT&T-sloganfied versions of that pop classic’s chorus isn’t exactly doing the original version any favors for viewers. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Q&A: Chissy Nkemere, Rock, Alternative & Catalog Artist Partnerships at Spotify, on What’s Trending Up in Her World
What led to the rebranding of Spotify’s flagship rock playlist?
In recent years, rock music and the culture that surrounds it has experienced a revival that spans generations, subgenres and disparate music cultures alike. In rebranding Spotify’s global rock flagship playlist, we sought to reinvest in and more accurately reflect the genre’s progression. It’s an exciting time for rock listeners of course, but also for pop culture as a whole, which is experiencing rock’s influence in a new way!
Over time, rock has evolved beyond its previous definitions and MARROW is Spotify’s response: it mirrors what connects with and drives alternative youth culture. It is a reflection of the limitless trajectory of the genre and community as well as the vibrancy and diversity of the music.
Searches for phrases like “rock music” and “alt/rock” have recently exploded on Spotify. What do you think is causing that increased interest?
What I love about this resurgence in rock is the curiosity around it. Rock has always existed as an outlet of emotion — a place where we can put and express the full range of our emotions without seeking approval from society at large. There’s a general angst in our culture right now that’s starting to reach younger generations as well, and with that, a large part of youth culture is searching for what else is out there. In those searches, they’re finding and building communities that they haven’t experienced before. It hasn’t mattered when certain songs or albums were released, or what artists are current or legacy — we as a collective, are consuming and creating sounds that can be reminiscent of past generations or entirely new.
Which trend in new rock music is most interesting to you, and that you hope MARROW highlights?
The resurgence in nu metal is so exciting for me personally. I grew up in the golden age of this era, and seeing Gen Z consume & create what feels like an aural homebase for me has been fun to say the least. MARROW will definitely continue to follow this trend!
Which rock song or artist will have surprising growth over the next six months?
Amira Elfeky is one of my favorite new artists. She released her first song last summer and has steadily gained a following that we’ve been keeping an eye on. I’m keen to watch what she does with the release of her first EP and her upcoming tour schedule this spring and summer! – J.L.
Season’s Gainings: A St. Patrick’s Day Bump for Irish Artists
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Feels a lot longer ago at this point, but St. Patrick’s Day came and went just a week and a half ago, with the annual March 17 holiday falling on a Sunday this year. Perhaps the weekend inspired even greater revelry than usual for those celebrating, as it inspired some major bumps in listening for Irish artists compared to the prior Sunday, including for Sinéad O’Connor (up 73% in official on-demand streams to 306,000), Van Morrison (up 22% to 1.9 million), U2 (up 43% to 1.8 million) and The Cranberries (up 45% to just over 2 million). And then of course, there was a particularly massive gain for the St. Patrick’s anthem to end ‘em all: the Dropkick Murphys’ “I’m Shipping Up to Boston,” which posted over 960,000 St. Patrick’s Day streams – even entering the top 50 on Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA chart. – A.U.
The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming Billboard 200 dated Apr. 6), a big week of new releases is headlined by Future and Metro Boomin, who could break the mark for first-week units set by Ariana Grande just two weeks earlier.
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Future & Metro Boomin, We Don’t Trust You (Freebandz/Boominati/Epic/Republic): It was always gonna be big-time when hip-hop superstars Future and Metro Boomin got together for their first collaborative album. Not only have they proven to be two of the most consistently successful figures in the last decade-plus of rap, but they have extensive history and chemistry with one another — down to Future providing Metro’s famous “If young Metro don’t trust you, I’m gon’ shoot you” producer tag (via his appearance on Uncle Murda’s “Right Now”), which partly inspired the name of their recent team-up, We Don’t Trust You.
Now, the two hip-hop greats with 11 No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 already between them are likely gonna be in line for their 12th. We Don’t Trust You immediately dominated the internet upon its release last Friday (March 22), with its entire tracklist swarming the top of the Spotify and Apple Music daily charts. Somewhat ironically, the thing the album is getting the most attention for has little to do with either Future or Metro, but rather the “Like That” guest verse from an arguably even bigger superstar in Kendrick Lamar – with its shots fired against Drake and J. Cole sending social media into an absolute tizzy, likely propelling the song to a No. 1 debut next week on the Billboard Hot 100.
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Its parent album also seems all but certain to grace the top of the charts. Trust has remained a blockbuster on streaming — as of Tuesday, Future and Metro still commanded four of the top 10 spots on Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA, and nine of the top 10 on Apple Music’s real-time chart – likely helped by an initially hidden guest list, which prompted users to listen to the 17-track set in full to discover the features for themselves. Even without a physical release yet, its streaming and digital sales numbers should be robust enough for the set to challenge Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine mark (227,000) for the biggest first week yet of 2024 – though Future and Metro would still have to do better as a duo than either did with their own most recent solo sets, 2022’s I Never Liked You (222,000) and Heroes and Villains (185,000), respectively.
Shakira, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran (Sony Latin): Future and Metro are far from the only longtime hitmakers who released new sets on Friday: arguably the biggest global superstar from the last 30 years of Latin pop also made her return. Shakira’s 16-track new set Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran is essentially divided into two parts – half entirely new pop bangers, including the New Music Friday-leading Cardi B collab “Puntería,” and half singles Shak has already had success with over her highly productive past couple years, including 2023’s barnstorming Bizarrap team-up “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53.”
That combination of explosive new bangers (also including guest appearances from the starry likes of Grupo Frontera, Rauw Alejandro and – again – Bizarrap) and established hits should result in a pretty formidable showing on streaming, though Shakira has nowhere near the established history there (especially in this country) as Future and Metro. She does have a physical presence, though, with Las Mujeres available for sale in four different vinyl editions (each with a different cover and different-colored LP), as well as four different CDs (also with different covers) and a standard digital release.
Kenny Chesney, Born (Blue Chair/Warner Nashville): Another decades-spanning star returns this week from the country world in Kenny Chesney with his 19th studio album (and first in four years), Born. The album doesn’t have the kind of advance radio hits Chesney might have landed in the past; only “Take Her Home” had been previously pulled from the set, and had peaked at No. 13 on Billboard’s Country Airplay listing. But Chesney does have both standard and signed editions of Born for sale — as well as a “Tour Edition” of its digital release with three bonus live cuts, available for purchase to anyone who bought tickets to his upcoming summer trek or are members of his fan club – and he has the chart history of nine No. 1 albums, spanning from 2002’s No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem to Born’s predecessor, 2020’s Here and Now.
IN THE MIX
Olivia Rodrigo, Guts (Geffen): While Olivia Rodrigo largely refused to play the reissue game with her game-changing debut album Sour, she’s diving into the deluxe editions with sophomore set Guts. Last Friday saw the release of Guts (Spilled), which tacked five stellar new cuts (previously each found on different specific vinyl variants of the album’s original release) onto the 12 of the chart-topping original LP – including the fan favorite “Obsessed,” which Rodrigo had been playing at stops on her current Guts World Tour. There’s no new physical drop for the deluxe set at the moment, but the resounding streaming and sales activity for the new cuts should help the album (which is still lingering in the Billboard 200’s top 20 a half-year after its initial release) rebound on the chart this week, possibly getting it back to the top 10 for the first time since early December.
Hozier, Unheard (Rubyworks/Columbia): About a half-year since his latest album Unreal Unearth debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, Irish singer-songwriter Hozier is back with a new EP of songs that just missed the cut for that set, Unheard. Though it’s only available on streaming and for digital sale at the moment, and only has four tracks to rack up consumption totals with, it should be in line for a sizeable debut – largely because one of those songs, the TikTok-teased “Too Sweet,” is off to a massive start on streaming, likely on pace to become the artist’s biggest Hot 100 hit since “Take Me to Church” reached No. 2 in 2015.
Tyla, Tyla (Fax/Epic): One of the most anticipated pop debuts of the year comes from South African crossover star Tyla, whose breakout smash “Water” reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 2023. Her 14-track LP features both the original and remix versions of “Water,” as well as a decently wide array of big-name guest stars, including Travis Scott, Tems and Becky G, and is available for purchase in three vinyl editions — including two color variants, one with a signed insert.
Billboard has more than 200 different weekly charts, encompassing numerous genres and formats.
While established artists often compete for a spot on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart and Billboard 200 albums ranking, which track the most popular songs and albums of the week, respectively, up-and-coming talents typically start off on genre-specific lists.
Here’s a look at five artists who appear on surveys for the first time on the March 30, 2024-dated charts.
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Cloonee
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The house DJ arrives on Billboard’s charts with “Sippin’ Yak.” Released March 15 via Polydor/Hellbent/Black Book, the song tallied 644,000 U.S. streams and sold 1,000 downloads in its first week of release (March 15-21), according to Luminate. Those sums help the track debut at No. 25 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, as well as No. 6 on Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales. The song samples Tracey Lee’s 2001 song “We Like” featuring Fatman Scoop.
Cloonee, from the U.K., has been performing the song during his live shows for months, but began teasing the song on his TikTok page in January. (The song is no longer available on TikTok due to the ongoing dispute between the platform and Universal Music Group.)
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Cloonee has been performing and releasing music, including multiple EPs, for more than a decade. He has collaborated with many fellow dance acts, including Brisotti, Caleb Calloway, Dances, Chris Lake and Wade. He has North American and European tour dates lined up through August, including Coachella this April.
Alek Olsen
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The singer-songwriter scores his first career entry on Billboard’s charts thanks to “Someday I’ll Get It.” The song, which he self-released Oct. 23, debuts at No. 17 on Hot Alternative Songs, No. 22 on Hot Rock Songs and No. 24 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (all of which use the same multimetric methodology as the Hot 100) with 2.6 million official U.S. streams (up 126%) in the March 15-21 tracking week.
The song has been surging in recent weeks due to buzz generated on TikTok, where it has been used in more than 375,000 clips on the platform to date. Many creators are using the song to soundtrack their experiences losing beloved pets, namely with the lyric, “I think of you all the time/ now that you’re gone.” The virality led to the song’s No. 19 debut on the Billboard TikTok Top 50 chart dated March 23.
Olsen originally released the song earlier this decade under the name Imsad., before he rebranded to his birth name. He has released five other songs on streaming services, all since 2015.
King Hendrick$
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The Houston rapper debuts on Billboard’s charts with his breakthrough single “Leaving the Lot.” The song, released Feb. 15 via Bigmoneymissions Records, debuted at No. 48 on the March 23-dated Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs survey and ranks at No. 49 on the latest list. It tallied 3.3 million U.S. streams March 15-21, up 10%. King Hendrick$ also rises 40-35 on the Emerging Artists chart.
Recent gains for “Leaving the Lot” can be attributed in part to the Twitch streamer Sketch (aka @thesketchreal), who boasts more than 500,000 followers on the platform and streams himself chatting and playing video games. After playing the song on a Feb. 14 stream, it drew 500,000 on-demand official U.S. streams Feb. 16-22. From Feb. 23-29, it surged 175% to 1.4 million. Sketch has continued to play the song, which has led to other viral clips with the cut’s audio across TikTok and Twitter. King Hendrick$ gave Sketch a shoutout in a March 20 Instagram post celebrating his chart debut.
King Hendrick$ has released eight albums, all since 2016. He has already released nearly two dozen songs this year alone, including, most recently, “Blocking on a Sunday” with Hoodrich Keem (March 13), and “Special Teams Anthem” with Top$ide and Sketch (March 6). He has also collaborated with Babyface Ray on “Wavy Gang Immortal” and “Big Meech Holiday.”
Novulent
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The shoegaze artist reaches on Billboard’s charts with his breakout song “Scars.” Released in June 2023 via The Royals, the track debuts at No. 45 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs with 1.5 million streams (up 11%). TikTok has been a contributing factor in the song’s growing exposure, as a portion of its audio has soundtracked more than 90,000 clips on the platform to date, including one by Megan Thee Stallion on March 11.
“Scars” appears on Novulent’s third LP Vol. 1, released in October. He has released three additional albums: My Story (2022), My Story 2 (2023) and DEARY DIARY (this January). He has a new set, Secret Letters, due this Friday (March 29).
Bjrnck
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The Chicago native lands her first Billboard chart entry thanks to her featured appearance on Omarion’s “Taking Off.” Released in December on Omarion’s latest LP Full Circle: Sonic Boom Two (on Omarion Worldwide), the track debuts at No. 28 on Adult R&B Airplay with a 28% gain in spins. “BJRNCK is a pure superstar,” Omarion wrote in a Jan. 28 post on Instagram. “Loved working with her.”
Bjrnck has released six solo songs on streaming services, all since 2019, including collaborations with Big Freedia, HappyBirthdayCalvin and Lucky Daye. In February, she released a new collaboration with Eric Bellinger, “Pheenin.”
As for Omarion, “Taking Off” is the R&B veteran’s second song from Full Circle to hit Adult R&B Airplay, after “Serious” reached No. 18 in January. Before that, he had last charted at the format in 2006, with “Entourage.”
Christian Nodal and Peso Pluma take over Billboard’s Regional Mexican Airplay chart as “La Intención” lands at No. 1 on the list dated March 30. Nodal and Pluma’s first collab springs from No. 5 to crown the chart with 8.3 million audience impressions earned in the U.S. in the week ending March 21, according to […]
310babii’s “Soak City” douses the competition on two Billboard charts as it takes the throne on both Rhythmic Airplay and Rap Airplay. The new radio champ advances from the runner-up slot on both rankings to rule the lists dated March 30 and gives the rapper, who solely wrote the song, his first No. 1s on any Billboard charts.
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“Soak City” rises from No. 2 on Rhythmic Airplay after a 5% increase in plays that made it the most played song on U.S.-monitored rhythmic radio stations in the tracking week of March 15-21, according to Luminate. WHTP-FM, in Portland, Maine, led the way, with 140 plays, while three stations – WHZT-FM (Greenville, S.C.), KPHW-FM (Honolulu, Hawaii) and KHTN-FM (Modesto, Calif.) – shared second place after each registered 134 plays.
“Soak City” first caught viral attention through TikTok with the squabble dance, which soon became further popularized as multiple NFL players, including the Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce and Houston Texans’ C.J. Stroud, performed versions of it as an end-zone celebration. Thanks to the growth, the song reached a No. 17 peak on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart in November.
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The viral buzz fueled momentum for a radio campaign, and “Soak City” landed on Rhythmic Airplay in late November. In reaching the summit in its 19th week, it ties for the fourth-longest wait to the top spot in the chart’s 31-year history.
Here’s a review of the songs that required the most weeks to attain the No. 1 rank on Rhythmic Airplay:
Weeks to No. 1, Song Title, Artist, Date Reached No. 1
24, “Waterfalls,” TLC, Aug. 5, 1995
20, “Day ‘N’ Nite,” Kid Cudi, May 23, 2009
20, “Sky Walker,” Miguel featuring Travis Scott, Feb. 3, 2018
19, “Don’t Let Go (Love),” En Vogue, Feb. 15, 1997
19, “Work Out,” J. Cole, Dec. 31, 2011
19, “Soak City,” 310babii, March 30, 2024
On Rap Airplay, “Soak City” steps 2-1 following a 4% improvement in audience in the latest tracking week. As with its Rhythmic Airplay rise, patience was rewarded – “Soak City” leads in its 17th week, becoming the 14th of 217 No. 1s to need at least that much time to complete a chart-topping trek.
If the dual radio coronations weren’t enough, “Soak City” is already looking to expand to a third radio ranking soon. The track climbs 3-2 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, where it added 11% more plays in the most recent tracking window.
