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U2 is on the brink of ending a decade-long drought in the U.K., where the Irish rockers’ Songs of Surrender (via Island) is cantering to No. 1.
The collection will be tough to overcome in the chart race. Based on midweek sales and streaming data, Songs of Surrender is outselling the rest of the top 5 combined, according to the Official Charts Company, and should become the band’s 11th leader when the chart proper is published late Friday (March 24).
The last time U2 was crowned on the U.K. chart was 2009 with No Line on the Horizon, while subsequent releases Songs of Innocence (from 2014, peaking at No. 6) and Songs of Experience (from 2017, peaking at No. 5) both cracked the top 10.
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On Songs of Surrender, Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. revisit — and rework — 40 songs from across their 40-plus year career, including “One,” “Bad,” “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses,” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” “Desire,” “With Or Without You,” “I Will Follow,” and more.
The compilation, a companion to singer Bono’s recent memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, leads the Official Chart Update, ahead of Miley Cyrus‘ Endless Summer Vacation (RCA), set to dip 1-2.
The Rock And Roll Hall of Famers could see another hits collection surge into the top 40. The November 2006 compilation U218 Singles (Mercury) reenters the midweek chart at No. 33, having peaked at No. 6 following its initial release.
Meanwhile, Brighton, England indie-rock foursome Black Honey could stick a second top 10 record with A Fistful of Peaches (FoxFive). It’s new at No. 3 on the Official Chart Update, and could become the band’s highest-charting album (2021’s Written & Directed reached No. 7).
Also, U.S. pop-punk veterans All Time Low are heading for a fifth U.K. top 10 with Tell Me I’m Alive (Parlophone), new at No. 6 on the chart blast.
Finally, with Taylor Swift’s The Era Tour getting away to a buzzy start in North America, Swifties on the other side of the Atlantic are gobbling up her music, in anticipation of their turn.
Four of the U.S. pop superstar’s LPs rise on the Official Albums Chart Update: Midnights (up 12-7), 2014 (32-25), Lover (51-29) and folklore (58-37), all via EMI. Swift’s U.K. tour dates have yet to be announced.
Taylor Swift’s surprise four-pack should have an immediate impact on the U.K. singles chart.
The U.S. pop superstar last Friday (March 17) dropped a batch of recordings, including “All The Girls You Loved Before” a previously-unreleased song that didn’t make the final pressing of 2019’s Lover LP.
Perhaps it should have made the cut. “All The Girls” is on track for the week’s highest debut, at No. 7, for what would be Swift’s 22nd top 10 appearance, according to the Official Charts Company’ first chart blast of the week.
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Swift’s fresh four songs included re-recordings of Swift’s The Hunger Games tracks, plus “If This Was a Movie (Taylor’s Version),” all dropping on the eve of her The Eras Tour opener.
At the top end of the First Look chart, which captures sales and streaming data from the first 48 hours in the cycle, Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” is on target for a 10th consecutive week at No. 1.
Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding could have a say in that. The pair’s latest collaboration, the ‘90s rave-channeling “Miracle” is set to lift 3-2 in its second week. Meanwhile, Pinkpantheress appears to have missed the chance for a maiden No. 1 with “Boy’s a liar,” which, after several weeks at No. 2, slips to No. 8 on the chart blast.
Further down the list, BTS’ Jimin could snag his debut solo top 20 with “Set Me Free Pt. 2.” It’s new at No. 14 on the chart blast, coming soon after bandmate J-Hope cracked the top 40 (and made chart history) with his J. Cole collaboration, “On The Street.”
Finally, Lewis Capaldi could crack the top 20 with his new tear-jerker, “How I’m Feeling Now,” set to arrive at No. 19, while Irish singer-songwriter Hozier is hovering just outside the top 20 with his comeback single “Eat Your Young.” It’s new at No. 21 on the chart blast, the OCC reports, and is expected to become the “Take Me To The Church” singer’s third first top 40 single and first in eight years — since “Someone New” hit No. 19 in 2015.
All will be revealed when the Official U.K. Singles Chart is published late Friday.
The VOCALOID Collection, also known as VocaColle, is a biannual event featuring Vocaloid submissions, held every spring and autumn. Entrants compete to claim top rankings in five different categories: “TOP100,” “Rookies,” “REMIX,” “Enso Shitemita,” and “MMD&3DCG.” The number one songs in the TOP100 and the Rookies categories are included in the “Project SEKAI Colorful Stage! feat. Hatsune Miku” smartphone game. There is also a Chokaigi 2023 Theme Song contest, a VocaColle & UtaColle & OdoColle collaborative project, and many other ways to enjoy Vocaloid culture.
We interviewed Yuri Kuriyama, a Vocaloid producer and a member of Van de Shop, in the days leading up to this year’s VocaColle. He talked about the Vocaloid songs and producers that influenced him, the future of the Vocaloid scene, and more.
We asked you to pick out which of the countless Vocaloid songs have made a big impression on you and influenced your own work. One song you mentioned was “Melt” (2007). This was the song that led to the formation of supercell, a group of creators led by Vocaloid producer ryo.
Yuri Kuriyama: A lot of the first Vocaloid songs had really fast vocals or had vocal melodies that hit notes human singers couldn’t reach. In other words, there were aspects of them that leveraged the unique capabilities of the software. “Melt” was different. It was a somewhat laid back song. It’s a wonderful song that would be great even if sung by a human singer, and I think it really shows what makes ryo such a talented producer. Hatsune Miku’s pitch in the song is also wonderful. In the early days of the scene, there were a lot of songs where the pitch was a little bit off, and that always felt awkward to me. There’s none of that in “Melt.” It feels very natural. Among supercell’s songs, I particularly like “Juuzoku Ningen” and “Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari.” ryo was one of the first artists to break out from the Vocaloid scene to the major music scene.
“last Night good Night” (2008) is a song from livetune, kz’s solo unit. “Matryoshka” (2010) is one of Hachi’s most famous songs. Hachi later began releasing songs as Kenshi Yonezu, becoming one of Japan’s top artists.
Kuriyama: With “last Night good Night,” kz applied Auto-Tune to Hatsune Miku. When I met him in person and asked him why he used Auto-Tune, he told me “because the pitch was bothering me,” which made a lot of sense. This song is what made me like Hatsune Miku’s voice, and what got me really into the Vocaloid scene. It influenced me a lot, to the point that I think it would be fair to say that if this song hadn’t existed, I wouldn’t have listened to Vocaloid music.
Hachi’s “Matoryoshka” is, for me, the platonic ideal of the kind of Vocaloid song I like. It uses the “MaruSa chord progression” (a chord progression frequently used in J-pop songs like Shiina Ringo’s “Marunouchi Sadistic”), but it’s doing something really new with it.
I think the drum line of “THE WORLD END UMBRELLA” is really interesting.
You’d need four arms to actually play it live (laughs). The arrangement is one that’s only possible because it was made on a computer. I like how the emotions of the song come across so directly. “Wonderland to Histujinouta” is another example of how much of an impact Hachi has had on the Vocaloid scene.
There’s also “Nihonbashi Koukashita R Keikaku” (2012) by Shizen no Teki-P (Jin) and “Kimi no Taion” by Kuwagata-P.
Kuriyama: Jin’s Kagerou Project was just amazing. (The Kagerou Project is a mixed-media project with novels, comics, and anime all based on Jin’s music.) Plus, none of the songs sound alike. The chord progressions are different, the sounds are different, and they’re all great songs. “Nihonbashi Koukashita R Keikaku” was a wonderful fusion of a song and an anime music video. The music videos for the Vocaloid songs that came out before that were generally single static illustrations or very handmade-feeling animations, and I mean that in a good way. When I saw the “Nihonbashi Koukashita R Keikaku” music video, I thought “Wow, that’s professional!” (laughs)
“Kimi no Taion” featured both piano and guitar. I think it also used the MaruSa chord progression, but it put the piano part out in front, and that showed me a new approach. I think that it affected my own arrangements.
You also listed Sasanomaly and sasakure.UK as artists from the Vocaloid producer scene that you liked.
Kuriyama: Sasanomaly used to be a Vocaloid producer going by the name Neko Boro. His songs are great, but so is his sound production and mixing. Mixing involves several stages, and when you do it you’re thinking about different ways the music will be heard — from earphones, headphones, speakers, etc. Sasanomaly sounds good no matter how you’re listening. I like a lot of his songs, but last summer I had “game of life feat. Boku no Lyric no Boyomi” on repeat. He was also in a band called Dios, and I’ve been impressed by the breadth of his musical activities.
I also love sasakure.UK! Everybody in our band (Van de Shop) really likes UK Rampage (the band headed by sasakure.UK). He’s both a Vocaloid producer and a band member, and his technique in both is great. I’ve always wanted do the kinds of things Sasakure.UK is doing, and I had so many questions for him when I actually met him. (laughs)
You also said that syudou, Yoh Kamiyama, nulut, and Harumaki Gohan resonate with you.
Kuriyama: They’re active Vocaloid producers, active as soloists using the same name, creating new units with different names, and the like. They’ve all got their own different approaches, but what they all share in common is that they write and sing their own songs.
I’m sure they have varied reasons for that, but for me there were definitely sounds I could learn while working with Vocaloid and sounds I could learn from changing my approach and environment, which made me realize that I can enjoy music at an even deeper level.
I think the broader your music horizons are, the better. I want to create Vocaloid songs that reflect what I’ve learned, not just following some template.
For units made up of a Vocaloid producer and a female singer, like YOASOBI or DUSTCELL, if you simply look at their structure, it’s the same as a music producer and the Vocaloid software, but it feels like they’re creating new sounds that you can’t hear in typical Vocaloid songs. If people gain an appreciation for Vocaloid by learning of it through them, that would be wonderful.
Who knows, one day Yonezu might be like, “I’m back!” and release another Vocaloid song. The Vocaloid scene is a really free, fun scene right now.
The number of Vocaloid producers who are making music for idols and bands is on the rise, and we’re seeing a lot of genre crossovers.
Kuriyama: Right. When I’m writing music for my band, I’m often thinking “I want to make a Vocaloid song,” and vice versa. It’s fun bouncing back and forth between the expressive styles of people and the expressive styles of software. It’s like switching back and forth between eating potato chips and chocolate. (laughs)
Let’s talk a bit about your own music. First, there’s “Limelight” (2017). You posted this under the artist name “Hachiya Nanashi,” and it was your first song to reach one million plays. It’s an electroswing song, a genre you’re particularly fond of.
Kuriyama: Electroswing was originally made by taking swing jazz samples or new songs based in swing jazz and then reworking them with an electro feel. Recently, there’s been a lot of pop with a swing feel that’s created entirely on the computer, but I’m more interested in the former approach. I like actually performing the music, using an old mic to record it, and then intentionally degrading the sound quality. I made “Limelight” that way, on my own. Of course, I got help from some musician colleagues, but I wanted to take on the challenges of songwriting and arrangement on my own, working off only my own ideas. There are elements of glitch hop and dubstep, and I think it came out as an interesting song.
When you uploaded “Neurosis” (2019), you commented that it was your “first love song.” “Jitterbug” (2019) was a fun song, a new evolution in electroswing.
Kuriyama: I wrote “Neurosis” when I was suffering from a broken heart. As far as genres go, it’s 200 BPM rock. I didn’t really think too deeply about it, I just did what I felt like when I made the song. I used a Les Paul guitar, and it had a bit of a strange tone.
With “Jitterbug,” I decided to back to electroswing again, based on what I’d done with “Limelight.” The rhythm was really difficult, and when the song was included in the game “Project DIVA MEGA39’s,” there were people complaining on Twitter that “Jitterbug” was too hard. I’m not very good at rhythm games, so I was thinking “I know how you feel!” (laughs)
In March 2022, you uploaded “Pheles,” which had elements of both jazz and rock. The mysterious lyrics and feeling also really stand out.
Kuriyama: I wrote the song for “GABULI,” a masked battle manga project, and I think I really conveyed the feeling of GABULI’s world. I put distorted guitars front and center, and gave the song a swing feel. It’s got a “rock-swing” groove, so I think I was able to achieve something new with it. I don’t want to repeat myself if at all possible. I want to try new approaches, and if there’s something I was unable to do in the past, I want to overcome that hurdle.
You have a lot of songs with a live instrumental feel to them, which must take a lot of time and cost a bit of money.
Kuriyama: I might be a bit of an outlier in the Vocaloid world. My friends will tell me, “Instead of going into the studio for hours and paying all that money to record live parts, wouldn’t it be better to just go online and look for samples?” Or they’ll say, “You’re really focusing and working on that part, but do you really think listeners will even notice?” I end up thinking, “Yeah, maybe,” and I sometimes feel a bit dumb for focusing so much on some details (laughs), but I’m confident that there are people out there who will understand what I’m doing.
What future do you see for the Vocaloid scene?
Kuriyama: I feel like Vocaloid fads and “meta” templates change in two year cycles. Of course, there are some wonderful chords and styles that never change. Over the last few years, I’ve been feeling like there’s been a lot of programmed melodies and EDM-like songs, and not much live instrumentation. But lately there’s been a rise in the number of songs that are trying new things, and I’m discovering songs that fit my current tastes. I like the feeling right now that everyone’s doing what they do because they truly want to. They’re all bringing their passion and putting out what they really like. I feel like we’re going to be seeing a lot more new things coming out soon.
In closing, could you share your own expectations for VocaColle?
Kuriyama: I’ve always felt that Nico Nico Douga is the true home of Vocaloid. I’m happy that this event that sprang from Niconico Chokaigi is still being held. However, it’s also come to feel like a gateway to success for people who want to make a living through music, and getting all uptight and focusing on views and likes takes away from the fun magic of the event. It takes the thrill away. People can enjoy it however they want to, of course, but I’d like it to be more of a carnival, more of an uninhibited party.
I like carnivals myself, and when people who like Vocaloid come together because they think something’s fun or interesting, it really makes the atmosphere electric.
—This interview by Tomoyuki Mori first appeared on Billboard Japan
This week, Billboard, the world’s most influential music media brand, announces the expansion of its definitive charts with the recent launch of two weekly Billboard charts in Thailand: Billboard Top Thai Songs and Billboard Top Thai Country Songs.
Based on streaming and sales activity from leading music services in the region, as compiled by Luminate, the pre-eminent entertainment and data insights company, the 100 most popular Thai-language songs will be ranked in the Billboard Top Thai Songs chart. Billboard Top Thai Country Songs will rank the 50 most popular Thai-country genre songs.
“We are thrilled to expand Billboard’s chart footprint in Thailand,” said President of Billboard, Mike Van. “The data captured in our weekly charts have always been a reflection of the music trends and palette of our audience, and it is an honor to bring our world-class methodology and music ranking system to this market.”
The rankings are announced every Tuesday on Billboard Thailand’s official website, billboardth.com, and social media channels, including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Abridged rankings for both Thailand charts will also be featured within the Hits of the World section of billboard.com.
Laura Pausini sits in front of a gorgeous terrace. She is already packed and ready to head off to Spain for a few days of promotion. And she has a message for her doubters.
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“There’s only one way to respond to those who tell me that I’m too old to do something, or who express doubts because I’m a woman,” she tells Billboard Italy over Zoom. “Then I’ll do it.”
One of Italy’s most-revered singers, the Grammy-winning Pausini, 48, says she “went through some sort of crisis” over the past two years. “I felt like I was lacking support from those around me, I thought I couldn’t make it,” she says. “But now I’m feeling more confident than ever.”
And she is proving it.
Born in Faenza, a small town between Bologna and Rimini, Pausini started a music career at age 19 that few Italian artists can compete with. Her records have sold more than 70 million copies worldwide, she did nine world tours and landed three songs in the top 10 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart (“Las Cosas Que Vives,” “Viveme” and “Como Si No Nos Hubieramos Amado”; all of them are Spanish versions of songs originally in Italian).
Billboard Italy accompanied Pausini to concerts in Madrid and Milan, two of the three gigs (the first at New York’s Apollo Theater) on her 24-hour live marathon on Feb. 27 to celebrate a 30-year career that started with her breakthrough single “La Solitudine” (“Solitude”).
How do you respond to those who thought [the 24-hour marathon] was a bizarre idea? Was it worth it?
I wanted to do it for a long time. At first, I wanted to sing 30 songs, each one in a different city of Italy, from south to north. I would have travelled with a van and reached my fans with very short notice. But I wouldn’t have made it in 24 hours, and that was essential to me. The celebration must last one day. It couldn’t go on for a year, that would mean being stuck in the past. I don’t reject the past, it’s just that we must look forward with courage.
How did you get prepared for it?
The preparation lasted six months. I worked with my phoniatrician (a doctor specializing in vocal cord issues), nutritionist and personal trainer. Not to lose weight, but for the vocal and physical effort I was about to endure. I abstained from all acid foods to avoid reflux. I used to eat at precise hours and train like an athlete to make sure my legs and my diaphragm would be strong enough. When I finish a concert, I never fall asleep easily – I actually slept very little in between those shows. And we had different set lists and different roadies. It’s been hard, but also one of the three most meaningful experiences I’ve ever had, after the victory at Sanremo in 1993 and the concert at the San Siro stadium in Milan. Also, I thought I had owed my fans something.
What do you mean?
So many people have been following me since 1993 and did crazy things to see me in concert. People from Italy spent a lot of money to see me in New York, Miami, London, Las Vegas. I saw them with my own eyes. That’s why I often felt like I was in debt, my songs were not enough to thank them. I had to do something special.
In Madrid you said that in Spain you feel freer than in Italy. How so?
In Italy, people know who my parents are, their job, what schools I attended, the little village I’m from. They have been following my personal growth since my teenage years. But it’s not like that when I’m abroad. They have a different form of respect and maybe see me like a huge star, like it happens when someone comes from far away.
What was the most valuable teaching you learned singing abroad?
Coming from such a small village and going abroad opened my mind in a way that no course of studies would. After high school, I wanted to study architecture at university but stopped there. Sometimes I feel like I fail to express myself in a ‘cultured’ way.
Well, you speak five languages…
But that creates confusion. My life is so fast that sometimes I lose track of time and forget where I am. Sometimes I’m in Italy and think in Spanish or Portuguese, for example. When I won Sanremo in 1993, Eros Ramazzotti was the only Italian singer who was famous in Latin countries.
And then you came. The only woman.
That’s right. There was not much room for women back then. What happened to me was the result of several coincidences. For example, I won the contest Sanremo Famosi in 1991 so, in theory, should have participated among the New Artists of Sanremo 1992, but they didn’t call me. If they did, I wouldn’t have sung “La Solitudine,” which was the key to my success. In 1993 the head of Dutch radio attended the festival. He saw me and decided to make the most important radio stations of the Netherlands play my song. Then Dutch television and other countries followed. Belgium, France, Germany… It all started from an honest song and a good amount of luck.
Don’t you think it would have happened anyway?
Many people told me this, but I don’t believe it. I know so many artists that are great singers but stopped after a few songs.
Singing well is not enough. Is your “Italianness” equally appreciated in Latin countries and in English-speaking countries?
We’re still labeled with many stereotypes and that’s annoying. I notice that I am appreciated in English-speaking countries when I don’t mock their music. They usually want to hear “Pausini’s melody,” as they call it. I also don’t like artists who follow trends that are not theirs. I mean, if I listen to Shakira, I expect her to do her own thing. There’s a reason why we’ve been chosen by the audience, and that’s our authenticity. I couldn’t do R&B, it’s not part of my culture. I only used to sing it when I performed at a piano bar.
Your new single “Un Buon Inizio” [“A Good Start”] was written by Riccardo Zanotti of Pinguini Tattici Nucleari. His style is very recognizable. Didn’t you fear it would overshadow yours?
No, I didn’t. In the last two years, I tried to sing on the backing tracks of famous songs. For example, I tried to sing Mahmood and Blanco’s “Brividi” (“Shivers”) [with which they won Sanremo 2022], but it was not for me. I want to step out of my comfort zone, but at the same time I don’t want to lose the character people expect from me. I always try to work with younger people who can give me a more contemporary perspective. When I worked with Madame for “Scatola” (“Box”), many people wondered what we had in common. But she knows my entire album “Simili” (“Similar”) by heart, even more than me. After all, we artists influence each other. We take inspiration from the past to create something new. I was influenced by Claudio Baglioni, Vasco Rossi, Eros Ramazzotti, even Jethro Tull, and brought them into my own world. Now that I am a certain age and experience level, I must listen to what’s new and try to understand why and how newer artists say certain things. That’s fundamental. Two years ago, I thought I had nothing more to say.
How did you overcome that phase?
I listened to too many songs and got even more confused than before, so I reached out to [former director of Island Records Italy] Jacopo Pesce for advice. I listened to many songs that others sent me, without knowing who wrote them. I always do that. Zanotti’s song immediately caught my attention, but I struggled to identify with the lyrics. I asked him to change them a bit and he was more than willing to do so. We met in Milan and realized that we had many things in common, despite the differences in age and gender. Of course, he hasn’t had all the experiences I have had.
Such as the feeling of having achieved too much?
That’s right. It’s what I felt when I won the Golden Globe in 2021 with “Io Sì (Seen),” but also when I felt like I was missing the support from those around me. Those who used to encourage me had started to behave the opposite way.
How much did you have to fight as a woman in an industry that was – and is – dominated by men? From the outside you look so strong and confident.
That’s how I am on stage because that’s where I belong. But in my private life I’m more insecure, I have my weaknesses. The bigger the success, the more you get both positive and negative consequences from it. People will tell you: ‘Now you are a certain age and you’re even a woman.’ It’s crazy to see how this way of thinking spreads to all countries. But I push back. If you diminish me and tell me to do things in a certain way, I’ll do the opposite. I’ve been facing a lot of discrimination since the beginning of my career.
For example?
When I participated in Sanremo in 1993 I didn’t have an album, nor a contract. All the artists had one, except me. My record label, Warner Music Italy, didn’t expect it and prepared one quickly. I signed it 15 days after the festival. It said that my debut record should sell at least 30,000 copies in order to make a second album. I didn’t question the fact that another new artist, a male, had a minimum of a 100,000. And I would get 4% of the revenues, while his cut was 8%. The day my album was released, it sold 60,000 copies. Within six months, that figure grew to 1.5 million. My perspective changed and my manager demanded a cut of 8%. Anyway, I perfectly remember the diffidence I faced when I started. When I signed my contract, they told me to keep in mind that the last woman who had sold so many copies was Anna Oxa. But those were the 80s. Can I tell you something that bothers me about journalism?
Sure.
Everyone talks about about women and gender equality, but in at least in six or seven countries I’ve seen that a magazine won’t put a woman in her 40s on the cover.
Age becomes a problem. Madonna also said that.
But men over 40 don’t have that problem. And editors in chief are often women. Not everyone is like that, and it’s not like I have to be on the cover at all costs. I’m just saying that words don’t always match actions. As a woman I learned that there’s a need to be concrete. Between 1993 and today so much has changed. But we still have a lot to fight for and must convince ourselves that we’ll make it, even when it seems all odds are against us. Even when we just want to lock ourselves in and stay with our children. In Italy, everyone is ready to say: “What is Pausini even doing nowadays?” In the last two years I couldn’t even react, I only felt like crying. But now I react. It’s important to feel both energy and urgency. That’s why my new logo depicts a woman running forward.
Is there anything you would say or do differently if it happened today?
Just one thing. I’d be more careful when it comes to trusting people. If I could speak to the young Laura, I’d give her a list of names of people to avoid. I mean, those people were also important. I am who I am today also thanks to the experiences I went through. I may look strong but I’m very emotional and I suffered a lot.
What can you say about the spirit of the concerts in Venice and Seville this summer?
I want to look forward without forgetting the past. Over the next weeks I’ll start a radio tour in Italy, even the small local stations, which I haven’t done since my victory at Sanremo. And then I’ll perform in public squares, just like I did in 1993. That’s why I chose two iconic ones such as Piazza San Marco in Venice and Plaza de España in Seville. I’d like all these moments to have a common theme, such as celebrating the past, but at the same time to make the audience see what’s coming next. I want to create a setlist specifically for those two locations. We’re still planning things, but everything is clear in my mind. Now I have to look at the details, which is difficult, but I like it, because when I find something that makes a difference I go crazy. I want to communicate the will not to settle for what you achieved, to always challenge yourself and chart new paths.
Do you think you’re as demanding with those around you as you are with yourself?
I do. Because this job is like a mission to me. It’s commitment, dedication, discipline. Regardless of the results, I like when people working with me believe in the project. The most difficult thing is maybe staying focused on what we do, in terms of availability and work schedules. But I think that it’s the only way to do a good job. Music must not be taken lightly. It can actually change people’s lives. The artistic part has to be pure instinct, but the work that makes it possible must be taken very seriously.
What is your ultimate goal?
To demonstrate that pop music matters. Even the most light-hearted songs can change a few hours in the life of someone we don’t know. Over the last 30 years I often visited hospitals that use music therapy to help the patients. I experienced one of the most touching moments of my life when I sent an Italian guy in a coma a vocal message in which I sang and spoke to him. After a few days, he woke up. That was incredible. We should never underestimate what we write and sing. That’s why I’m not able to sing as a mere performer. Writing lyrics or at least taking part in the process is fundamental to me. I value what people will get from my music. I think that’s my mission and the reason why I’m still here.
There’s no end in sight for Miley Cyrus’ chart reign in Australia as the pop star snags a rare chart double.
Cyrus’ “Flowers” (via Columbia/Sony) enters a ninth week at the singles chart summit, published Friday (March 17), and its parent Endless Summer Vacation debuts at No. 1 on the national albums survey.
With Endless Summer Vacation topping the ARIA Chart, Cyrus earns a sixth top five title, and her third No. 1 — her first in a decade.
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Miley previously led the tally with Breakout (2008) and Bangerz (2013), which both spent one week in the top spot, ARIA Reports.
If Endless Summer Vacation hangs around for another week in the penthouse, Miley will equal a family record. Billy Ray Cyrus’ Some Gave All logged two weeks at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart in 1992, though he hasn’t tasted life at the top ever since.
As “Flowers” extends its unbroken streak, “River,” the second single from her eighth and latest LP, starts at No. 22 on the ARIA Chart and two other tracks from it appear in the Top 100.
“Flowers” leads an unchanged ARIA top four ahead of cuts by PinkPantheress (“Boy’s a liar” via Parlophone/Warner), The Weekend (“Die For You” via Universal) and SZA (“Kill Bill” via RCA/Sony), respectively, while Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” (Republic/Universal), from the U.S. country star’s latest, 36-track set One Thing At a Time, improves 6-5.
With the exception of Miley, no new releases debut on the top 50 of either main chart.
ARIA’s weekly charts are based on wholesale data collected from a combination of physical and digital retailers, and music-streaming services.
There are 29 debuts on the March 18-dated Billboard Global 200 and 25 of those come from Morgan Wallen. The hit parade doesn’t stop there, with Wallen breaking ground among country – and all – artists on Billboard’s flagship global chart.
On top of Wallen’s 25 debuts, he adds five re-entries. More, four of his tracks hold over from last week’s chart. All of that adds up to 34 placements on this week’s Global 200, more than any artist has ever simultaneously charted in the list’s two-and-a-half-year lifespan. Taylor Swift previously held the record, with 31 songs on the Nov. 27, 2021, list in the wake of the release of her country-pop rerecording Red (Taylor’s Version).
Wallen’s total streaming figure and record-breaking hold on the chart are unqualified triumphs for any artist and especially so for country acts. Since launching in September 2020, the Global 200 has had 125 instances of an artist charting 10 or more songs at once, but only three of those belong to a current core country artist – in each case Wallen. He landed 19 songs on the Jan. 23, 2021-dated tally and 10 the following week. His new album, the Billboard 200-topping One Thing at a Time, sparks his latest chart haul, just as the arrival of his prior LP, Dangerous: The Double Album, yielded his big weeks on the Global 200 two years ago.
To find a full-on country act other than Wallen with a noteworthy robust one-week sum, we arrive at Luke Combs, who totaled six songs on the Nov. 7, 2020-dated Global 200. There have been 591 counts of an artist with six or more titles on the Global 200, spread among 65 distinct acts, but just 11 by two artists – 10 by Wallen and one by Combs – among country artists.
Country music has long struggled to find crossover success internationally. The genre is native to the United States, headquartered in Nashville and driven in large part by U.S.-based country radio, while often honoring authenticity above all else. That means that hometown (and in the case of these charts, home-country) pride goes a long way and could make exporting to Asia, Europe, South America and beyond difficult.
Wallen’s own chart entries perhaps prove that point. His song titles alone are specifically American, referencing Ford trucks (“F150-50”), Tennessee (“Tennessee Numbers” and “Tennessee Fan”) and the particulars of a certain baseball team’s near-championship run from 25 years ago (“’98 Braves”). Those songs, and most others from his latest album, storm the Global 200 powered by domestic streams but miss out on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart.
Of Wallen’s 34 Global 200 entries, just one appears on Global Excl. U.S., where “Last Night” debuts at No. 103. It’s his first song to ever hit that tally, and though it’s a debut worth celebrating, it’s dwarfed by the track’s No. 5 rank on this week’s Global 200 (and No. 1 status on the U.S.-based Billboard Hot 100, where Wallen achieves his first leader). Further, it’s just the second song by a country act (excluding Swift), to appear on Global Excl. U.S.. The other was Combs’ “Forever After All,” which hit No. 105 for one week before falling off, while peaking at No. 4 on the Global 200 in the first of 38 weeks on the chart.
Among songs on both of this week’s global charts, the average streaming breakdown is 25% domestic and 75% international. Wallen’s “Last Night” is all the way at one end of that spectrum, with 84% U.S., well more than three times the average and distinctly separated from even the next highest-U.S. share, Nicki Minaj’s “Red Ruby Da Sleeze,” with 65%. One Thing at a Time’s 36 songs go even further, averaging out to 88%. Hip-hop has its own noted difficulty spreading outside the U.S., making Wallen’s more extreme lack of international streaming even more stark.
Wallen’s drastically stateside lean falls in line with the near-total lack of country consumption outside the U.S., but there are small caveats. “Last Night” is on two of Billboard’s Hits of the World charts, at No. 6 on Australia Songs and No. 10 on New Zealand Songs. Oceania has historically been a friendly non-U.S. market to country acts, even supplementing Morgan’s top 10 appearance with Zach Bryan’s “Something in the Orange” at No. 23 on the former chart. Next week, Wallen will play two arena shows each in Sydney and Melbourne alongside ERNEST, Hardy, and Bailey Zimmerman, before returning to North America for a supersized stadium tour.
Like Wallen, most country acts don’t play many concerts outside of North America. Australia and London have been welcoming, but barring major pop crossover stars like Swift or Shania Twain, genre artists remain focused on honing their U.S. fan bases. As the premier country superstar of the streaming era – a democratized and globalized evolution of a previously segmented music industry – Wallen’s ballooned presence on Billboard’s global charts could be the foot in the door for Bryan, Combs, Zimmerman, and others to test the boundaries of international music consumption.
NiziU’s “Paradise” shoots to No. 1 on this week’s Billboard Japan Hot 100, tracking the week from Mar. 6 to 12 and released Mar. 15.
The latest track from the nine-member girl group hit No. 1 after debuting at No. 23 on last week’s chart, powered by downloads (No. 1 for the metric). The CD version went on sale this tracking week and the song came in at No. 2 for sales with 168,938 copies sold, while also faring well in the other metrics of the chart’s methodology: No. 3 for downloads, No. 13 for streaming, and No. 4 for video views and radio.
Naniwa Danshi’s “Special Kiss” debuts at No. 2 on the Japan Hot 100 this week, ruling sales with 512,690 copies but unable to support that advantage in the other metrics — for example, No. 13 for video and No. 24 for radio.
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Looking at first-week sales figures of both groups’ previous singles, NiziU’s “Blue Moon” sold 207,252 copies, meaning the new single is down by about 18.5 percent. Naniwa Danshi’s “Happy Surprise” sold 517,381 copies, so the new release is also down but only slightly by about 0.9 percent. However, “Blue Moon” came in at No. 46 for downloads, No. 92 in streaming, No. 42 in video, and No. 61 in radio, so the J-pop girl group managed to significantly improve in various other metrics besides sales for their new single to take the top position on the latest song chart.
The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, video views and karaoke data.
For the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Mar. 6 to 12, see here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.
J-pop boy band ONE N’ ONLY dropped a new single called ”We’ll rise again” on March 8, the third in the group’s five-month streak of new releases currently underway celebrating the group’s fifth anniversary, following “YOU???” and “Get That (PT-BR ver.).” “We’ll rise again” is also the six-member group’s first single in about four years to be released in physical form since “Category/My Love” from 2019.
Members EIKU, TETTA, REI, HAYATO, KENSHIN, and NAOYA chatted with Billboard Japan about their March offering and broke down each of the tracks included on the CD single.
“We’ll rise again” is featured as the theme of the your movie Battle King! -We’ll rise again-, set for release in Japanese theaters March 10.
HAYATO: This song has been around for a while, but when we were casted as a group in our first starring movie, we changed the lyrics to link it to the film’s content.
Since you knew it would be the theme of the group’s first starring movie, it must have felt different than usual when you were recording it.
EIKU: Yes. We recorded the first verse before we started filming. Then we recorded the second verse after we wrapped, so it helped us put more feeling into it because we could see how faithful the song was to the film and it was like the meaning of the lyrics became clearer.
HAYATO: The scenes came to mind, didn’t it?
EIKU: Yeah. We later re-recorded the first verse and made it even better. The character I play, Genjiro, used to be a delinquent, but he gets into hip-hop dance and finds his dream. There’s this scene where he expresses his determination to the art school principal and it’s a really touching moment. I sang my part with that scene in mind, so my voice sounds more emotional.
TETTA: The movie depicts a future where the characters aim for global success, and singing with that feeling is the same as where we’re at right now as ONE N’ ONLY, so it was easy for me to get into the feeling.
REI: The lyrics are really linked to the story, so I think you can enjoy it twice!
Will fans be able to check out your movie outside of Japan?
TETTA: Unfortunately, there’s no plan for international theatrical release.
HAYATO: But on-demand video streaming services are everywhere now so it’d be nice if people could catch it.
TETTA: We could do our own voice-overs.
NAOYA: Come on, there will be subtitles! [Everyone laughs]
HAYATO: But if it’s dubbed, I’d love to see who does our voices.
NAOYA: The movie version of the drama series I was in called his – Koi suru tsumori nante nakatta – (“I didn’t intend to fall in love”) is being distributed in Brazil with subtitles. I know someone from Brazil who got to know ONE N’ ONLY because of that.
KENSHIN: We could do a Portuguese version of the first rap battle scene.
EIKU: Then we’d have to ask everyone who performed with us to learn Portuguese.
KENSHIN: Sounds like a lot of work, but fun!
“We’ll rise again” will be released on CD along with its digital formats. How do you feel about that?
NAOYA: The last time was “Category/My Love” in 2019, so it’s been a long time.
HAYATO: Putting songs out in physical format is always a great feeling.
Two other songs are included in the CD single. Tell us about “GIFT.”
HAYATO: It’s a gentle love song, following “My Love.” I think our SWAGs also enjoy these kinds of straightforward J-POP numbers. It has a more mature worldview than “My Love,” and the chorus contains a message about the importance of the ordinary things in life. We performed it at our Christmas concert last year, so I’m really looking forward to sharing it with everyone.
REI: The lyrics are straightforward, and the song changes keys so it’s not boring. We sing the lyrics clearly so the message probably comes through.
HAYATO: The choreography is cute too.
REI: It’d be great if people could remember the hand-waving at the end and the hugging gestures since they’re easy to imitate.
NAOYA: The other song, “QUEEN,” is pretty daring for us. It’s the sexiest song we’ve ever done.
HAYATO: It depends on how you look at it, but it’s steamy! [Laughs]
NAOYA: No doubt about it. I want people to see our performance after memorizing the lyrics.
HAYATO: We did a performance using a microphone stand as one of the highlights of our tour, and when you hear it with the song’s content in mind, it’s definitely different!
REI: The lyrics are hard to understand on first listen, aren’t they?
TETTA: We encourage everyone to read the lyrics while listening to it.
REI: People will be like, “Ooh la la!” [Laughs]
TETTA: It’s a song that we can sing because we’re who we are today.
REI: You don’t find many songs like this in Japan. Content like this would be glossed over in other J-pop songs, but here it’s up front, which I think is a message from our songwriters that they expect us to express these kinds of things and compete with our musicality.
KENSHIN: The song is finely broken up for each of our parts, and we try new expressions down to our fingertips, so I’d like people to look out for that, too.
I look forward to seeing these songs live again.
EIKU: They’re tracks that will definitely add more power to our live performances, so I hope everyone enjoys these three songs this month.
—This interview by Kana Yoshida first appeared on Billboard Japan
It might take a miracle to halt Miley Cyrus’ reign over the U.K. singles chart. Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding could have just the thing.
The all-British collaboration “Miracle” (via Columbia), a throwback to ‘90s warehouse raves, dropped last Friday (March 10) and is dancing to a fast start on the national survey.
“Miracle” debuts at No. 4 on the Official U.K. Chart Update, and is set to become Harris’ 29th and Goulding’s 12th top 10 singles, and their third as a duo. The pair previously landed hits with 2012’s “I Need Your Love” (peaking at No. 4) and 2014’s “Outside” (No. 6).
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The top of the chart update looks no different from recent weeks. Cyrus “Flowers” (Columbia) is the midweek leader, and looks set to land a ninth consecutive week at No. 1, while its parent Endless Summer Vacation, has a strong grip on the U.K. albums chart race. If matters stay as they are, Cyrus will bag a U.K. chart double later in the week. The U.S. pop star also looks to enter the singles chart with “River” (No. 13) and “Jaded” (No. 29), for what would be Cyrus’ 22nd and 23rd top 40 appearances.
An unchanged top three on the singles chart update sees PinkPantheress’ “Boy’s a liar” (Warner Records) and the Weeknd’s “Die For You” (Republic Records/XO) hold positions No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, while Afrobeats artist Libianca could snag a new high with “People” (5K), up 10-6.
Finally, the U.K.’s entrant to the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest 2023, Mae Muller, is enjoying early support in her homeland with “I Wrote A Song” (Capitol). It’s on target for a No. 24 debut for what would be the 25-year-old singer’s first-ever solo charting single in the U.K.
All will be revealed when the Official U.K. Singles Chart is published Friday.