State Champ Radio Chart Beat
Page: 394
Emilia, Big One and Callejero Fino’s “En La Intimidad” ascends to No. 1, after two weeks in the top 10, on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 chart (dated Feb. 25). The song was released Feb. 1 through Fifty One. The song sends Luck Ra’s “Ya No Vuelvas,” featuring La K’Onga and Ke Personajes, to No. 4 after its one week on top.
It’s the first champ for Emilia, Big One and Callejero Fino, who have all reached the top 10 in the past before with at least one song. For Big One, the new leader arrives after he scored his first top 10 with first entry “Perfecta,” with Rusherking and Dread Mar (No. 6 high), last October.
Emilia, meanwhile, secured the No. 2-peaking “Cuatro Veinte” in April 2022. It became her only entry as a soloist, unaccompanied by another act, to reach the upper tier among her eight total top 10s.
As Callejero Fino claims his first No. 1 with “En La Intimidad,” it bests “Tu Turrito,” with Rei, which peaked at No. 3 last August.
Further, Bizarrap and Shakira’s “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53″ climbs 3-2, while TINI, La Joaqui and Steve Aoki’s “Muñecas” ascends 4-3. Plus, Bm’s “M.A (Mejores Amigos)” holds at No. 5 for a second week.
The week’s Greatest Gainer honors goes to Tini’s “Cupido,” which rockets up the chart 52-6, the biggest jump within the first two months of 2023. Plus, the Argentinian adds two new entries to her Billboard Argentina career count, a total of 30, as “Las Jordans” and “Te Pido” open at No. 53 and No. 58, respectively. Both songs stem from her latest Cupido album which debuts at No. 8 on Billboard’s Latin Pop Albums chart (dated March 11).
Elsewhere, Duki’s “Si Me Sobrara El Tiempo” scores the Hot Shot Debut of the week with a No. 27 start.
Lastly, three other songs debut this week, starting with Milo J’s “Rara Vez” at No. 61, following with Marama and Rodrigo Tapari’s “Dame un Besito” at No. 67, while Marc Anthony’s clocks his third chart entry as “La Fórmula,” with Maluma bows at No. 79.
Morgan Wallen’s “Thought You Should Know” becomes the first song of 2023 to rule Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart for three weeks, as it extends its reign on the March 11-dated survey. In the tracking week ending March 2, it gained by 1% to 34.9 million impressions, according to Luminate.
Wallen co-authored the track with Nicolle Galyon and Miranda Lambert. It’s from Wallen’s 36-song album One Thing at a Time, released Friday (March 3).
In a press release about the new LP, Wallen said: “I just try to tell it how it is – the good, the bad, the love, the heartbreak. That’s all I know how to do. My hope is that this album makes my fans proud; makes ’em laugh, smirk, cry, and think – just like it did for me.”
To celebrate the set’s arrival, Wallen is headlining a free show at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Friday night.
Notably, of the 29 titles to ascend to the Country Airplay summit in 2022, only five dominated for three weeks or more – and two were by Wallen: “Wasted on You” (three weeks, beginning July 2) and “You Proof” (a record 10, starting Oct. 15). The others were: Jason Aldean’s “Trouble With a Heartache” (three, May 28); Scotty McCreery’s “Damn Strait” (three, July 23); and Cole Swindell’s “She Had Me at Heads Carolina” (four, Sept. 17).
Concurrently, Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time,” his newest single at country radio, rises 37-36 on Country Airplay (3.4 million impressions, up 21%). “Last Night,” also from One Thing at a Time, jumps 47-41 (2.2 million, up 51%). The latter is being promoted to pop radio and climbs 40-34 on the Pop Airplay chart.
Meanwhile, among Wallen’s eight Country Airplay No. 1s, half have now led for three weeks or more. Prior to “Thought,” “Proof” and “Wasted,” he reigned for three weeks in June 2019 with “Whiskey Glasses.”
All charts dated March 11 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, March 7.
Death Cab for Cutie collects its eighth No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart, as “Pepper” jumps to the top of the ranking dated March 11.
It’s the Ben Gibbard-fronted band’s second No. 1 in a row, following the eight-week ruler “Here to Forever,” which led in August-October 2022. The act previously linked leaders in back-to-back visits with “Gold Rush” (eight weeks at No. 1, 2018) and “Northern Lights” (three, 2019).
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The group first led Adult Alternative Airplay in 2005, when “Soul Meets Body” claimed the top spot for 10 frames. It reigned again with “I Will Possess Your Heart (five weeks, 2008), “You Are a Tourist” (eight, 2011) and “Black Sun” (two, 2015).
With eight leaders, Death Cab for Cutie slots into a tie for the fifth-most in the Adult Alternative Airplay chart’s 27-year history, alongside John Mayer. Coldplay and U2 lead all acts with 13 No. 1s apiece.
Most No. 1s, Adult Alternative Airplay:13, Coldplay13, U211, Dave Matthews (solo and with Dave Matthews Band)11, Jack Johnson8, Death Cab for Cutie8, John Mayer7, Counting Crows7, R.E.M.7, Sheryl Crow7, The Black Keys
Concurrently, “Pepper” pushes 13-12 on Alternative Airplay. On the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, the song lifts 20-19 with 1.8 million audience impressions (Feb. 24-March 2), up 3%, according to Luminate.
“Pepper” is the second single from Asphalt Meadows, Death Cab for Cutie’s 10th studio album. The set debuted at No. 4 on Billboard’s Top Alternative Albums chart dated Oct. 1, 2022, and has earned 46,000 equivalent album units to date.
All charts dated March 11 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, March 7.
Bad Omens score their first Billboard airplay chart No. 1 with “Just Pretend,” which jumps to the top of the March 11-dated Mainstream Rock Airplay survey.
“Pretend” crowns the list, up from No. 3, in its 27th week on the tally. It wraps the fourth-longest trip to No. 1 in the chart’s 42-year history; Trapt’s “Headstrong” leads all songs with 40 weeks from its debut to its first week atop the ranking.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The last song to take as long as “Pretend” was Young Guns’ “Bones,” which ruled in its 31st week in 2013.
Longest Trips to No. 1, Mainstream Rock Airplay:
40 weeks, “Headstrong,” Trapt (2003)
31, “Bones,” Young Guns” (2013)
28, “Paralyzer,” Finger Eleven (2007)
27, “Just Pretend,” Bad Omens (2023)
26, “Masterpiece,” Motionless in White” 2022)
25, “S.O.S. (Sawed Off Shotgun),” The Glorious Sons (2019)
25, “Tired,” Stone Sour (2014)
Bad Omens’ first Mainstream Rock Airplay No. 1 follows three previous appearances. The band first charted with “Limits” in 2020 (No. 19 peak), followed by “Never Know” (No. 25, 2021) and its first top 10, “Like a Villain” (No. 10, 2022).
The Richmond, Va., four-piece is the first act to earn a first Mainstream Rock Airplay No. 1 in 2023. The last initial leader was Motionless in White‘s “Masterpiece” last October.
Concurrently, “Pretend” bullets at No. 31, after reaching No. 30 the previous week, on Alternative Airplay. On the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, it rises 7-5 with 3.6 million audience impressions (Feb. 24-March 2), up 10%, according to Luminate.
The song has spent 11 weeks at No. 1 on the multi-metric Hot Hard Rock Songs chart. On the latest survey (dated March 4), it ranked at No. 3; in addition to its radio airplay, “Pretend” earned 2.3 million official U.S. streams and sold 1,000 downloads in the Feb. 17-23 tracking week.
“Pretend” is the second single, following “Villain,” from The Death of Peace of Mind, Bad Omens’ third studio album. The set has earned 164,000 equivalent album units since release.
The March 11-dated Mainstream Rock Airplay chart will update on Billboard.com on Tuesday, March 7.
No song debuts in the top 50 of the March 4-dated Billboard Global 200 or Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t significant new entries. Grupo Frontera, the regional Mexican group with a fast-growing roster of global hits, arrives on both rankings with “Di Que Si,” alongside Grupo Marca Registrada.
The new duet hits the Global 200 at No. 152 and the Global Excl. U.S. chart at No. 190. At first look, a Spanish-language title with primary impact on Billboard’s regional Mexican charts might be expected to debut higher on the Global Excl. U.S. ranking than on the Global 200. But all four of Grupo Frontera’s currently charting global hits are higher on the Global 200. “Bebe Dame,” with Fuerza Regida, is No. 28 on the latter chart and No. 34 on the former. “Que Vuelvas,” with Carin León, is Nos. 40 and 48, respectively. And “No Se Va” stands at Nos. 101 and 111.
While Grupo Frontera makes regional Mexican music, its members hail from McAllen, Texas, as second-or-third-generation Mexican-American immigrants. The band’s success is one example of many in the genre finding major success in America, specifically through Texas and other western states. Eslabon Armando, Gerardo Ortiz and Grupo Firme are some of the other U.S.-based acts topping the regional Mexican charts.
“Di Que Si” arrives with 14.5 million streams in the week ending Feb. 23, according to Luminate. That breaks down to 4.6 million in the U.S. and 9.9 million outside, or 32% and 68%, respectively. That is slightly above the band’s other chart hits, all between 26-30% of domestic streams. The group’s new debut climbs to No. 11 on the Mexico Songs chart, while its three other charting hits land at Nos. 3, 5 and 13 on the survey
Grupo Frontera’s growing global presence kicked off with the debut of “No Se Va” hitting both charts in October. “Que Vuelvas” and “Bebe Dame” arrived in January, ahead of “Di Que Si.” These songs are part of a larger profile of regional Mexican acts populating both lists, with Natanael Cano, Peso Pluma and Chino Pacas, among others, also scoring recent debuts.
On the March 4-dated global charts, 10 regional Mexican tracks appear on both rankings, marking a 5% share of all titles. Six months ago, on the Sept. 3, 2022-dated Global 200, there were five. A year ago (March 5), there was one.
Argentinian Tini checks off two career milestones with her first top 10 and first entry on any Billboard albums chart as Cupido, her fourth studio album, debuts at No. 8 on the Latin Pop Albums chart dated March 4.
Cupido, released on Feb. 16 through Hollywood/5020 Records, starts with 2,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 23, according to Luminate.
Streaming powers most of Cupido’s opening sum. The 2,000 streaming-equivalent album units equal to 3 million official on-demand streams of the album’s songs in the tracking week. On Latin Pop Albums, one unit equals to one album sale, 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams for a song on the album.
Cupido concurrently opens at No. 45 on Top Latin Albums.
Notably, Tini becomes the first Argentinian act to debut in the top 10 on Latin Pop Albums since the late tango bandoneonist and composer Miguel Calo secured his first and only entry with the No. 8 high Siguen Los Exitos de La Orquesta de Miguel Calo in Sept. 2016. Moreover, Tini becomes the first Argentinian woman to claim a top 10 debut since Soledad scored a No. 9 entry with the collaborative set Raiz, with Lila Downs and Nina Pastori, in 2014.
Cupido was preceded by two songs on Latin Pop Airplay: “Maldita Foto,” with Manuel Turizo, peaked at No. 15 in Oct. 2021, while “La Loto,” with Becky G and Anitta, earned Tini her first top 10 on the ranking.
Further, “Miénteme,” with Maria Becerra, “La Loto,” with Becky G and Anitta, and the album’s title track “Cupido,” secured entires on the Billboard Global 200 chart. Plus, all three titles plus “Bar,” with L-Gante, and “La Triple T,” also earned Tini career entries on the Global Excl. U.S. chart (all below the top 50).
While Cupido may be Tini’s first entry and top 10 on any U.S. Billboard albums chart, the 25-year-old already landed multiple chart toppers and top 10s on the songs side with 29 career entries on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100, including three No. 1s and 14 top 10s. “Bar,” with L-Gante, the album’s third single dominated for seven consecutive weeks there in 2021.
Harry Styles is king of the road, and king of the charts as Harry’s House returns to No. 1 in Australia.
As he winds his way around the country for a run of stadium shows, Styles’ third studio album returns to No. 1 on the national chart for a ninth non-consecutive week, ARIA reports.
Harry’s House first summited in May 2022 and stayed there for three weeks. Then, a four-week block at No. 1 in July and August, and another week-long stint in late August 2022.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Styles seven-show Love On Tour lap of Australia and New Zealand, produced by Live Nation, has also put heat on his sophomore album Fine Line, up 7-5, and a string of singles.
Gorillaz swing in at No. 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart, published March 3, with Cracker Island.
The album, which features collaborations with Perth, Australia producer and Tame Impala leader Kevin Parker, plus Bad Bunny, Stevie Nicks, Adeleye Omotayo, Thundercat and others, is the virtual band’s eighth studio set and second leader after Plastic Beach, which reached the penthouse in 2010.
Also new to the latest albums survey is The Twin Set’s Tines of Stars Unfurled, the solo debut from You Am I frontman Tim Rogers. It’s new at No. 4. Also, U.S. pop artist Adam Lambert debuts at No. 7 with High Drama.
Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, Miley Cyrus’ ”Flowers” locks down a seventh consecutive week at No. 1, equaling the reign of Miley’s dad Billy Ray Cyrus, with 1992’s “Breaky Heart.”
Following the release of fresh cut with Ariana Grande, The Weeknd’s 2016 track “Die For You” finds new life, blasting 41-3 to the national chart, for a new peak position.
The top debut on the latest tally belongs to Harry Styles’ former One Direction bandmate Niall Horan, with “Heaven,” opening at No. 30, while homegrown house producer Dom Dollar marks his first appearance on the ARIA Top 50 with “Rhyme Dust.” A collaboration with U.S. electronic producer MK, “Rhyme Dust” bows at No. 32.
A Mariah Carey track more than a decade old makes its debut on Billboard’s Hot R&B Songs chart, as “It’s a Wrap” arrives at No. 24 on the list dated March 4. The track, first released in 2009, earns its debut after the song became the latest viral hit on TikTok, leading to increased streams and sales. (Activity directly on the TikTok platform does not currently count toward the Billboard charts.)
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“Wrap” earned 3.6 million official U.S. streams in the week ending Feb. 23, according to Luminate, a 4% jump from the week prior. The tune also sold 1,000 downloads in the same period, though a 60% drop from the week before. One week ago, the cut entered the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales chart at No. 22.
With “Wrap,” Carey achieves her 12th visit to the Hot R&B Songs chart, which launched in 2012, well into the superstar’s recording career. On the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, which encompasses Carey’s entire career, she claims 60 appearances since her 1990 debut, including 10 No. 1 hits.
“Wrap” first appeared on Carey’s 2009 album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, and surfaced again in a remix form with Mary J. Blige on the deluxe edition of Carey’s 2014 set, Me…I Am Mariah: The Elusive Chanteuse, though it was never released as a single. The song generated attention earlier this year on TikTok, particularly through a sped-up version, that became a common soundtrack on many users’ posts on the social media app. Carey herself has joined the trend, posting a clip of herself and Kim Kardashian, and their daughters, North and Monroe, lip-syncing to the track.
Carey’s newest success is the latest example of an older song finding a new audience and streaming gains thanks to TikTok. It has plenty of company on the Hot R&B Songs chart: The Weeknd’s 2016 track “Die for You” sits at No. 3 on the current ranking, Chris Brown’s 2019 track “Under the Influence,” ranks at No. 5, after peaking at No. 2 last November, and Miguel’s “Sure Thing,” a 2011 release is at No. 6. Due to the viral streaming support and fan engagement, “Die for You” and “Sure Thing” were re-promoted to radio stations as official singles, while “Influence” was sent out for the first time. Plus, Justine Skye’s 2014 single “Collide,” featuring Ty Dolla $ign, in its own revival on the app, debuted at No. 25 two weeks ago on Hot R&B Songs thanks to its social traction.
The wealth extends to other genres too. Songs outside the R&B realm also enjoying a TikTok-fueled rise include Lady Gaga’s 2011 pop cut “Bloody Mary,” at No. 47 on this week’s all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart and rock band Arctic Monkeys’ “505” from their 2007 album, Favourite Worst Nightmare, which climbs one spot to No. 14 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart after having reached a No. 12 best last month.
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: The Weeknd aims to score a Hot 100-topper with an Ariana Grande remix for the second time in the last two years, Selena Gomez’s social media back-and-forth leads to a surge of streaming support, a golden-age rap hitmaker sells a whole lot of discounted downloads, and loads more.
The Weeknd’s “Die For You” Surges in Streams as It Eyes Hot 100’s Top Spot
Could the Ariana Grande-assisted remix of The Weeknd’s “Die For You” help the years-old song vaunt to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100? The slow-burning single, originally released on 2016’s Starboy album, has exploded over the past few months and reached a No. 6 peak on the Hot 100, thanks to a TikTok revival which then crossed over to streaming and pop radio. The last time Grande hopped on a remixed Weeknd track — two years ago, with “Save Your Tears” — the juiced-up version from the two Republic labelmates sped straight to the top of the Hot 100, and now they’re hoping lightning can strike twice with “Die for You.”
And so far, the remix has helped the song surge across different platforms: daily total streams for “Die for You” were up 269% from Feb. 23, the day before the Grande remix was released, to Feb. 24 — rising from 1.77 million U.S. on-demand streams to 6.55 million, according to Luminate. That daily streaming total dipped a bit in the days following the release, but by Monday, “Die for You” was still collecting over 4.25 million daily streams.
Digital sales for the track also rose considerably thanks to Grande’s addition, from a negligible amount pre-mix to 3,600 last Friday. “Die For You” faces stiff competition near the top of the Hot 100, with Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” and SZA’s “Kill Bill” entrenched in the top two spots for multiple weeks — but early returns suggest that The Weeknd and Grande will at least be tightening the competition on next week’s chart. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Team Selena: Internet Drama Helps Give Selena Gomez a Catalog Bump
While she hasn’t released a new album since Rare in early 2020, and her 2022 solo single “My Mind & Me” came and went without making a huge impact, Selena Gomez is off to a promising start in 2023. Her “Calm Down” remix collaboration with Afrobeats star Rema has been scaling the Hot 100, breaking into the top 20 this week. And now, fans are flocking to her back catalog to show her support in the midst of a long-simmering celebrity conflict.
The drama stems from Gomez’s relationship with Hailey Bieber, the model/influencer married to Justin Bieber, who was famously involved with Gomez in the early 2010s. Their recent online back-and-forth has involved a mix of subtweets, deleted TikToks, resurfaced old TV clips and other intrigue that you practically need a doctorate in 21st century pop social media to properly understand. But it’s gotten Gomez back in the headlines over the past week and has resulted in some of her best streaming numbers of the young year.
Gomez’s catalog – not counting songs in which she’s a featured or co-lead artist, like “Calm Down” – racked up over 2.5 million official on-demand U.S. streams on Monday (Feb. 27). That’s up 26% from her Sunday total of 2 million, and up 52% from her 1.6 million total the previous Monday (Feb. 20). Combined with her recent crossover collab and the recently teased upcoming third season of her hit Hulu series Only Murders in the Building, it’s looking like a good 2023 so far for the veteran multi-platform star. — ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Loc-ed After Discount: iTunes Pricing Spurs Massive Tone-Loc and Young MC Sales Gains
With digital song sales an ever-shrinking part of the music marketplace in the 2020s, you might think it quaint that something as simple as an iTunes price discount could generate huge sales boosts for a catalog hit. But we see evidence of it still being a factor every year – and this week, it’s the driving force between an explosion in numbers for a trio of songs from late-’80s hitmakers Tone-Loc and Young MC.
Loc’s singles “Funky Cold Medina” and “Wild Thing” and Young MC’s “Bust a Move” were prominently featured as part of an iTunes sale on classic hip-hop staples last week, with the songs discounted from their usual $1.29 price point to 69 cents. The three songs – all of which were co-penned by Young MC, a.k.a. Marvin Young – saw gigantic sales gains, jumping from negligible numbers for the track week ending Feb. 16 to multiple thousands on the week ending Feb. 23, according to Luminate.
The biggest gainer was “Medina,” up 4,817% to 5,800, followed by “Move” (up 3,159% to 4,800) and “Wild” (up 3,712% to 3,900). The three songs all debut on Billboard’s Digital Song Sales chart this week, at No. 5, No. 8 and No. 12. Their totals might not be as robust as the best-selling songs of a decade ago, but it’s still an impact worth paying attention to – you don’t need to go too deep into the math to know that selling thousands of a song at 69 cents is worth a little more than selling hundreds at $1.29 — AU
Tune Into TV Girl’s Latest Viral Smash
If you’re not plugged into new-school social media or artist streaming totals, you might not know that indie-pop trio TV Girl are absolutely enormous online. The California group’s dreamy, harmony-heavy tunes didn’t make too much mainstream noise upon the release of 2014 debut French Exit and 2016 follow-up Who Really Cares, but some of the singles from those albums — like the lilting, strings-heavy “Lovers Rock”; the shuffling, percussive “Not Allowed”; and the whirring clap-along “Cigarettes out the Window” — have now earned hundreds of millions of streams each, adopted by TikTok users and used to turn the still-active group into unwitting stars.
Next month, they’ll play Coachella, most likely to a massive crowd; over the past month, however, they’ve added another viral hit to their growing collection. “Blue Hair,” a gentle, cymbal-riding lullaby from TV Girl’s 2018 third album Death of a Party Girl, has taken off on TikTok in a sped-up version, with users zeroing in on the melancholy lyric “And I guess I’ll just miss her / Even though she isn’t even really gone”; the line is soundtracking sing-alongs, bedroom tours and, in one poignant case, a photo collage from a trans TikTok user demonstrating their personal evolution.
However it’s being hoisted up, “Blue Hair” is now booming at streaming: its weekly U.S. official on-demand streams are now 20 times what they were a month ago, from 107,000 for the week ending Jan. 26 to 2.12 million for the week ending Feb. 23, according to Luminate. The band has never earned a Hot 100 hit over the course of their nearly decade-long run together — maybe they’ll have one by the time Coachella rolls around. — JL
Metro Boomin’s Star-Studded “Trance” Goes Viral After Missing Verse Revealed
There’ve been countless examples of a Drake feature helping a song take off on the charts over the past decade and a half, but Metro Boomin, Young Thug and Travis Scott’s “Trance” might be the first example of a song exploding partly for its lack of a Drake feature. After a verse Drake submitted for the Heroes and Villains track leaked in January, Metro went viral on TikTok for a clip of him explaining to an understandably incredulous DJ Drama why the biggest rapper in the game ended up on his cutting room floor (“It just really wasn’t no room”).
“Trance” had originally debuted at No. 42 on the Hot 100 during Heroes’ release week, spending three weeks on the chart before falling off around the new year. But listeners perhaps had to hear (or re-listen to) the song that was so perfectly complete that its creator had to give Drake a thanks-but-no-thanks response for his belated contribution. Official on-demand U.S. streams for the song started climbing back up in February, rising from 3.1 million on the week ending Feb. 9 to 5.8 million the week ending Feb. 23. The song even re-entered the Hot 100 at No. 76 this week, proving even Drake’s negative presence on a song guarantees a positive chart impact. — AU
Q&A: Kevin Meenan, Music Trends Manager at YouTube, on What’s Trending Up in His World
Which music trends from the first two months of 2023 have stood out to you the most?
Regional Mexican has really been top of mind in these first two months of the year, with the diverse sounds of the genre having really broken through. The impact of the genre on our charts can hardly be overstated – this week alone it is responsible for over 15 entries on our US Top Songs chart. The rise of Grupo Frontera has been particularly inspiring – just a year ago the group was getting their start by uploading covers directly to YouTube, and now they regularly are landing multiple songs in the upper echelons of our charts. Their Fuerza Regida collaboration “Bebe Dame” even spent two weeks at No. 1 for us in the U.S.
Sonically speaking, Jersey Club’s latest brush with the mainstream has also proven to be an interesting space to watch, with varying levels of its influence taking form across the pop landscape. Both Lil Uzi Vert’s “Just Wanna Rock” and Coi Leray’s “Players” (DJ Smallz 732 – Jersey Club Remix) have proven to be inescapable on YouTube Shorts and beyond, and now PinkPantheress and Ice Spice’s more loosely Jersey Club-inspired “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2” is just taking the platform by storm. And finally, the continued global takeover of BZRP Music Sessions has been a real early 2023 bright spot. The Argentinian producer has long been a charts mainstay for us, but his latest feat – BZRP Music Sessions #53 with Shakira – really lived up to the “broke the internet” cliché. The video earned 54.3M views for us in under 24 hours, and reached No. 1 in 20 markets.
Which trends do you think will define the rest of the year?
In recent years, we have increasingly seen that a hit on YouTube can really come from any time and any place, and I expect this to continue to be a real throughline for us in 2023. It has just been a super exciting phenomenon, with fans getting exposed to sometimes unfamiliar sounds – a throwback like City Pop, or a modern melting pot like Drift Phonk – and finding their new favorite artist or musical inspiration in the process.
And increasingly, we are seeing artists really learn how to lean into these moments, embracing the user-generated content that might have sparked a viral moment while engaging fans with their own new touchpoints – Shorts, visualizers, music videos and everything in between – that just add further fuel to the fire. I see this as a real defining theme of 2023, with entry points like Shorts continuing to break both new releases and unexpected material, and artists finding ways to really own that moment and narrative via their own content.
Which of your 2023 initiatives have most effectively amplified these trends?
To me, it is ultimately all about the platform itself and its continued evolution. With YouTube, artists are really in control of creating multiple touch points to tease out a new release, spark a trend or lean into a viral moment. There are just so many ways to share new music and connect with the fans, be it via Premieres, After Party, Community posts, Shorts, chat in a live stream or the traditional video drop. Shorts in particular is the area that excites me the most – looking forward to a growing feature set there that will help fans and artists connect in exciting ways.
Fill in the blank: in terms of maximizing audience, more popular artists should be thinking about…
Getting creative across video formats. We just continuously see artists find new fans and chart success when they enhance their releases in that way. Take NewJeans as an example, who fans have speculated are behind a mysterious channel that compliments the lore they created with a pair of creative music videos (side a and side b) for their track “Ditto” – which itself had multiple performance videos, behind-the-scenes clips and related Shorts. Each of these creates a new touchpoint for the rising K-pop stars to engage with their fans and keep them coming back for me.
There is no one size-fits-all approach, so I would just encourage artists to experiment – engage with Shorts, host a Premiere, have fun with creative teasers and visualizers and continue to make a moment with the time-tested music video drop. – JL
Billy Joel kicked off a residency at New York’s Madison Square Garden in 2014 with the intention of playing one show every month as long as demand dictates. Nine years later, the concerts are bigger than ever as he crosses another major milestone. Joel’s Valentine’s Day show marked the 87th concert of the residency, pushing the entire run’s earnings past the $200 million milestone.
According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, Billy Joel at The Garden has grossed $201.5 million and sold 1.6 million tickets. That dates back to Jan. 27, 2014, running monthly, without break, through February 2020 before pausing for obvious reasons. The residency resumed in November 2021.
And even prior to the residency beginning, Joel had reported 28 shows at MSG in the decades prior, adding up to $32.6 million to his career venue total. On top of that, there was a pair of co-headline dates with Elton John for another $4.3 million.
Joel’s plan has been to play until these shows stop selling out, and sell out they have. Scaling and attendance has barely budged among all 87 shows so far, ranging from 17,900 to 18,800, or a differentiation of less than 5%.
But despite its humble beginnings as a sold-out arena residency, there has still been room for growth. Gross per show kicked off with $1.973 million on Jan. 27, 2014, and has stretched beyond $3 million for Joel’s first two shows of 2023.
Cheap seats for Joel’s shows started off at $59.50, and nearly a decade later, fans can still find tickets for almost the same price, having nudged up to $63.50 for the ’23 dates. But the range of ticket scaling has become more elastic, with top-tier prices growing from $119.50 to $159.50.
Year-to-year ticket prices and grosses were typically increasing between four and eight percent – until now. A post-pandemic surge of demand paired with new industry-standard practices of platinum ticketing and dynamic pricing has produced the sharpest one-year uptick since the residency began. After average grosses climbed by 5% in 2021 and 4% in 2022, the early ’23 shows are up by 14%, jumping from $2.7 million per show to $3.1 million.
The two 2023 shows of Joel’s residency are the highest grossing dates of the run so far. Concerts are scheduled, once a month, through August, with more likely to follow. For those who don’t live in the New York Metropolitan area, catch him elsewhere throughout 2023, joined by Stevie Nicks.
In all, Billy Joel has earned $1.05 billion and sold 14.2 million tickets across his career, dating back to early Boxscore reports in 1986.
