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Hit singles by Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and SZA helped lift the U.K. streaming market to a record high last year with more than 179 billion music tracks streamed across the 12 months, up 12.8% on 2022’s total, and nearly double the volume of audio streams registered five years ago, according to year-end figures from labels trade body BPI.
Female artists fueled the growth in streaming consumption, spending an unprecedented 31 weeks at No. 1 on the United Kingdom’s official singles chart – the highest total since the charts launched in 1952.
Leading the pack is Cyrus’s “Flowers,” which spent 10 weeks atop the U.K. charts and was the year’s biggest song with 198 million streams.
In total, seven of the ten most popular songs in the U.K. in 2023 were by female acts with SZA, Swift, Cameroonian American singer Libianca and U.K. artists PinkPantheress, RAYE and Ellie Goulding (in collaboration with Calvin Harris) joining Cyrus in the annual best-sellers list. BPI reports it is the highest number of female artists in the year-end top 10 in more than 70 years.
The rest of the top 10 was made up of tracks by British rappers Dave and Central Cee, Nigerian singer Rema and Harry Styles.
Across the year, almost half (48.5%) of the songs that entered the top 10 of the U.K.’s weekly official singles chart were by female acts, either solo or in collaboration with other artists.
Jo Twist
Courtesy Photo
Reflecting on a record-breaking year for female artists, BPI chief executive Jo Twist said the achievements of stars like Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and RAYE should be celebrated, but cautioned against complacency in the industry “to ensure that this becomes the norm.”
BPI reports that streaming now makes up more than 88% of all music sales in the U.K., compared to 64% five years ago, with physical formats accounting for 9.4% of today’s market.
The trade body says that more than 2,500 tracks generated over 10 million audio and video streams in 2023, compared to around 1,100 songs reaching the same total in 2018.
Overall, music consumption rose for a ninth consecutive year with the equivalent of 182.8 million albums streamed or purchased in 2023 across digital and physical formats, up 10% on the previous 12 months.
Vinyl album sales rose for the 16th consecutive year, growing at their fastest rate this decade (up almost 12%) to 6.1 million units and marking the highest level of vinyl purchases in the country since 1990, when Phil Collins, Elton John and Madonna were among the year’s best-selling 12-inch releases.
In 2023, that accolade was won by Swift, who holds three places in the year’s top-selling vinyl album charts, including the No. 1 spot with 1989 (Taylor’s Version). Other entries in the top 10 included records by The Rolling Stones, Lana Del Rey, Fleetwood Mac, Blur, Lewis Capaldi and Olivia Rodrigo.
CD sales dropped 6.9% year-on-year to 10.8 million units, while cassette sales stayed broadly level with recent years at 136,000 units. Digital album sales dropped 4.6% to 3.5 million units with best-sellers including Trustfall by Pink and But Here We Are by Foo Fighters.
Despite the dominance of streaming, BPI reports that physical format sales made up more than half of all chart-eligible sales for the vast majority (86%) of albums that debuted at the top of the U.K. charts last year.
Across digital and physical formats combined, The Weeknd’s The Highlights was the year’s most popular album in the U.K., followed by Swift’s Midnights and her 1989 (Taylor’s Version) set. Elton John’s Diamonds, which was first released in 2017, ranked at No. 4 thanks to the singer’s farewell tour and high-profile Glastonbury headline performance in the summer.
Harry Styles’ Harry’s House secured fifth place in the overall year-end albums tally, while Barbie: The Album was the year’s top compilation.
BPI’s preliminary year-end report, published Wednesday (Jan. 3), doesn’t include financial sales data. Instead, it uses Official Charts Company data to measure U.K. music consumption in terms of volume.
The London-based organization will publish its full year-end report, including recorded music revenues, later this year. Another British trade body, the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), is due to report on annual music retail spending later this month.
The U.K. is the world’s third biggest recorded music market behind the U.S. and Japan with sales of just under $1.7 billion in trade value, according to IFPI’s 2023 Global Music Report.
U.K. OFFICIAL ARTIST ALBUMS CHART 2023
1. The Weeknd – The Highlights
2. Taylor Swift – Midnights
3. Taylor Swift – 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
4. Elton John – Diamonds
5. Harry Styles – Harry’s House
6. Fleetwood Mac – 50 Years – Don’t Stop
7. Eminem – Curtain Call – The Hits
8. SZA – SOS
9. Arctic Monkeys – AM
10. ABBA – Gold – Greatest Hits
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U.K. TOP TEN OFFICIAL SINGLES CHART 2023
1. Miley Cyrus – Flowers
2. Dave & Central Cee – Sprinter
3. RAYE ft 070 Shake – Escapism
4. Taylor Swift – Anti-Hero
5. Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding – Miracle
6. Rema – Calm Down
7. SZA – Kill Bill
8. PinkPantheress – Boy’s A Liar
9. Harry Styles – As It Was
10. Libianca – People
12/29/2023
The year saw K-pop companies making mega moves on a global scale, while the catalog market remained hot.
12/29/2023
Each week we’ll be sharing the most important news from the north with Canada’s top music industry stories, supplied by our colleagues at Billboard Canada.
For more Canadian music coverage visit ca.billboard.com.
Longtime Host and DJ George Stroumboulopoulos Appointed to the Order of Canada
Governor General Mary Simon named 78 new appointments to the Order of Canada on Thursday to recognize “people across all sectors of society who have made extraordinary and sustained contributions to our nation.” This year’s honourees include journalists, politicians, doctors and more, plus prominent figures from music and arts.
One name that stands out is George Stroumboulopoulos. Strombo, as he’s often known, has been one of the most recognizable people in music media for more than two decades.
Stroumboulopoulos has long been a household name in Canada, with some brief crossover moments in the U.S., including a short-lived talk show on CNN and an ABC reality competition show called The One: Making a Music Star.
He first rose to prominence as a VJ on TV music station MuchMusic in the early 2000s and has since hosted a variety of shows on CBC, Rogers and Apple Music. He even dabbled in sports as the host of Hockey Night In Canada from 2014-2016. After Apple Music picked up his House of Strombo concert series in 2017, he became a host and curator on Apple Music Hits when it launched in 2020 as part of Apple Music Radio and has become a tastemaker on the platform. His Up Next Canada series has recently included rising musicians like Punjabi-Canadian producer Ikky and country singer-songwriter Owen Riegling.
“With very rare exceptions, I have been 100% myself the whole way,” he recently told Canadian Press. READ MORE
— Richard Trapunski
The Biggest Homegrown Hits On the Year-End Billboard Canadian Hot 100
The Canadian Hot 100 tallies the biggest songs in Canada each week (whether or not they’re by Canadian artists). This year, the top 10 spots on the year-end Canadian Hot 100 are all dominated by international acts — with Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers”, Rema and Selena Gomez’s “Calm Down” and Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” claiming honours as the biggest songs of the year — but Canadians made a strong showing on the rest of the top 100.
The year-end chart takes into account chart performance throughout the year, with longevity sometimes counting for more than high placement and measuring charts dated Nov, 19, 2022, to Oct 21, 2023 — which explains why a big song like Tate McRae’s December chart-topper “greedy” got left off.
But Canadian artists still showed up in prominent spots on the Year-End Chart, even beyond the usual high spots for Drake and The Weeknd.
At No. 23 is Ottawa singer Talk’s soulful ballad “Runaway To Mars,” which was released in 2021 but went viral on TikTok this year, shooting it up the charts. It hit No. 1 on the Adult Alternative Airplay chart in January 2023.
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Preston Pablo from Timmins, Ontario, linked up with Quebec production duo Banx + Ranx on melancholy dance-pop track “Flowers Need Rain,” which landed at No. 26.
At No. 29, Quebec pop sensation Charlotte Cardin’s “Confetti” was a major Canadian success this year. The song has spent 34 weeks on the Canadian Hot 100, peaking at No. 10. A hit in both Canada and across Europe, the catchy pop tune is in English but also exists in a bilingual English/French version.
Other hits by Canadian artists in the top 100 include Tiësto’s Tate McRae-featuring “10:35,” “If Anything’s Left” by Ottawa pop singer Jamie Fine, “Next To You” by Canadian-born production duo Loud Luxury, “Whitney” by up-and-coming Montreal singer Rêve and more. READ MORE
— Rosie Long Decter
Music Regulation and AI high on Music Association Agendas for 2024
Billboard Canada asked a number of national music industry association leaders to provide their own unique perspective on 2023 and the year ahead.
“The passing of C-11 (the Online Streaming Act) in 2023 represents both an accomplishment and a challenge,” says Andrew Cash, president of the Canadian Independent Music Association. “Bringing some of the largest, most powerful corporations in the history of capitalism under regulation in Canada is an important step. It has also kick-started a long overdue and much-needed conversation about Canadian content policy in the age of the internet. Even that sentence sounds dated!“2024 should answer some big questions with regards to C-11– the most pressing being: which platforms will be included in regulations currently being considered before the CRTC, how much will these platforms be required to contribute to the Canadian music sector, and where this contribution will go?”
According to Amy Jeninga, president of the Canadian Country Music Association, 2023 has been a big year for Canadian country music.
“The genre continued to outpace industry growth in countries around the world, claiming a bigger piece of the cultural pie than in recent years, including here at home, where Canada saw a 32% growth in on-demand audio and video streams in Q3, outpacing the overall industry growth of 18%,” she says. “We continue to celebrate a growing community and fanbase set to engage and continue propelling the genre forward in 2024.”
For Patrick Rogers, CEO of Music Canada, artificial intelligence is high on the agenda for 2024.
“This past year saw rapid advancements in artificial intelligence that can unlock an exciting new era for creativity and content — but which also pose a serious threat to the creative industries and artists if not regulated,” he says. “It’s never been more critical that our copyright and legal frameworks remain strong in the face of bad actors who want to exploit artists’ work, voice and image without their consent, credit or compensation…We’re excited to work with the government and our creative industry peers in 2024 to help set policies that encourage the ethical development of this exciting new marketplace.”
Heads of the Canadian Independent Music Association, Canadian Live Music Association, SOCAN and Music Publishers Canada, meanwhile, highlight modernized rights management, arts funding and increased promotion of Canadian artists in both recorded music and on the live stage. READ MORE
— David Farrell
YOASOBI, the musical unit that produces music inspired by novels, shows no signs of stopping. Their song “Idol” — written as the opening theme song of the TV anime【OSHI NO KO】— has taken top positions in five year-end Billboard Japan charts since it began streaming in April. Their next single, “The Brave,” is the opening theme of the popular TV anime Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End and continues to hold a high position in the charts. This year, they also completed a Japanese arena tour and performed overseas, in Los Angeles, in August. As one of the most iconic artists of the J-pop scene, they’ve demonstrated tremendous presence the whole year long.
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On Nov. 18, YOASOBI released its newest single, “Biri-Biri.” The song was inspired by Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, which celebrated its one-year anniversary on the same day. Composer Ayase has always been a big fan of Pokémon, and the song has little touches that will bring a smile to any fan of the game. “Biri-Biri” is already generating tremendous buzz.
Billboard Japan invited Ayano Takeda, who wrote the novel the song is based on, After the Rain With You, to talk with YOASOBI about their shared love of Pokémon and the making of “Biri-Biri.” After their discussion, there was a “Trade of Pokémon” ceremony and a special commemorative photo shoot. Famitsu.com is also running an article with a greater focus on Pokémon.
Ayase, you’ve played almost every game in the Pokémon series, but how about you, Ayano?
Ayano: I was biggest into Pokémon when I was in elementary school, so I was playing Pokémon Gold and Silver and Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. I have a brother who is six years younger than me, so we’d play together.
How about you, ikura?
ikura: The first one I’ve really properly played is Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet. When I was a little kid, though, I did watch family members play Pokémon Red and Green. I also played a lot of Pokémon Ranger on the Nintendo DS.
Which are your favorite Pokémon?
Ayano: My favorite is Vaporeon. When I was playing Pokémon Silver, my friend’s older brother gave me a level 96 Vaporeon, so was able to just lay waste to everything before me. Ever since then, it’s been my favorite Pokémon.
ikura: For me, it’s Eevee. But if I were to become a Pokémon, I’d want to be Charizard.
Ayase: For me, Mew. It’s cute, and I like its almost mythical nature.
Ayano, what was your first impression when you heard “Biri-Biri?”
Ayano: My first impression that it was like a cool, cute Pokémon. The first time I heard it, I was moved to tears. I saw how all these different people worked together to turn a novel into a song. Also, I’d researched a lot about Nemona in order to write the novel, so there was a strong emotional connection. When I saw the music video, I was like, “yes, that expression right there!”
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There’s a lot of great Pokémon music, like game soundtracks and anime theme songs. Did you get any inspiration from them?
Ayase: There are background music videos and playlists on the official Pokémon YouTube channel, and last year, by chance, I was listening to them a lot. When they approached me about writing the song, I decided that I wanted to draw on some motifs. What I did wasn’t exactly sampling, but instead kind of creating new arrangements. This was the first time we’d tried that kind of homage-style approach, so I wanted to give it a shot.
The intro is really an homage to battle music.
Ayase: I was playing Pokémon Violet, so I had this futuristic, mechanical image. I realized I wanted to make a kind of electric [in Japanese, “biri-biri” is used to describe the feeling of electrical shock], techno-like feel, and I realized that battle music would be a good fit for that.
Past Pokémon titles are sprinkled through the lyrics. There, as well, there’s this sense of playful homage.
Ayase: At first, I wasn’t planning on putting the names of other works in the lyrics, but the phrases came to mind because how the parts of the song fit in together. I thought I worked in some of the titles in really subtle ways, and they’d be hard to find, but looking at social media and YouTube comments, people found them all really quickly. You really get a sense of how much love people have for Pokémon.
I think this song has also shown a new side of YOASOBI. Were there any artists or songs that inspired you with respect to the vocals?
ikura: For the high-pitched parts, instead of straining, I tried to let go and loosen up when I sang. During the chorus, there’s a bit of a cushion zone before launching into a light dance part, and I think that technique for loosening up is going to become part of my repertoire.
What part of the song is your favorite, Ayano?
Ayano: I like the “ABC and to XYZ” part. It feels really good.
Ayase: When it comes to really feeling good, that’s the part of the song I’m most proud of, too.
ikura: Singing that part is really fun.
Recently, you performed at events Hong Kong and Taipei, where you performed “Biri-Biri” live for the first time.
Ayase: Performing “Biri-Biri” is great. The live elements really work well.
ikura: The song has a totally different tone than our other songs, so it completely changes up the mood. Plus, it’s a blast to sing. It makes me feel like dancing, and even though we just released the song, audiences are already singing along.
You’ve also released an English version of “Biri-Biri.” What differences should people keep an eye out for between the English and Japanese version?
ikura: This is also true for all of the past English versions of our songs, but the way the lyrics roll off the tongue, and how they fit in with the music, feels great. But, personally, even among all those songs, I think “Biri-Biri” matches the best. I’ve felt that way since we were recording. The speed and stylishness of English meshes really well into the song.
Ayase: In Hong Kong, “Biri-Biri” climbed high in the charts immediately after its streaming release. Also, and this is a bit of a tangent, but Taiwan opened their first Pokémon Center, and we were able to go there before it opened.
ikura: We had the opportunity because of this collaboration, or, I guess, because of this connection we’ve established.
In closing, do you have any last words for our readers?
Ayano: I feel very proud to have been able to be a part of a big IP like Pokémon. I hope anyone who’s never tried Pokémon before tries it out, and that people enjoy both the novel and our song.
YOASOBI: From the other works in the series to the recent Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, Ayano Takeda’s novel, and “Biri-Biri,” Pokémon has truly created a world of its own, so we hope that everyone savors everything it has to offer.
Pokémon image: ©2023 Pokémon. ©1995-2023 Nintendo/Creatures Inc. /GAME FREAK inc. TM, ®, and character names are trademarks of Nintendo.
This interview by Takuto Ueda first appeared on Billboard Japan.
In June 2023, comedian Tonikaku Yasumura appeared on the British audition show Britain’s Got Talent and became the first Japanese contestant to make it to the finals. Recently, he released “PANTS,” his first-ever digital single, under the name MC TONY.
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The track was produced by Double Clapperz, a grime unit made up of producers UKD and Sinta. The song plays on the juxtaposition of its production and its lyrics. The sound features elements of U.K. drill, a dark, menacing genre from South London, iconic for its ski masks and gun sounds. The lyrics, on the other hand, extol being “naked” — unarmed and non-violent.
Billboard Japan talked to Tonikaku about the making of the song and the story of his overseas success.
How have things changed around you since you appeared on Britain’s Got Talent?
I’ve got more international job offers, and recently I’ve been going overseas for work at least once a month. In October I made it through auditions for the French version of Britain’s Got Talent, and I also appeared on audition shows in Italy and Korea. The other day, I also appeared at the OC JAPAN FAIR in Los Angeles.
Have the audience reactions been different in different countries?
I got the biggest reaction in the U.K., but I got a standing ovation in France, too. I performed in French, and it even turned into a call and response (laughs). The reaction has also been good in Italy, Korea and the U.S. So far, every country I go to, I’ve been warmly received.
What led to you appearing on Britain’s Got Talent in the first place?
I wasn’t originally trying to break out overseas, but my talent agency, Yoshimoto Creative Agency, sends out videos of comedians that overseas audiences might enjoy to audition shows around the world. Britain’s Got Talent just happened to like my material. So at first, it felt like going on an overseas vacation. I was like, “I get to go to the U.K.! How lucky!”
But when I actually got there, the schedule was really tight. I arrived in London at around 11:00 at night, and then the next morning we started with rehearsals, filming, interviews, and the like. And then the day after that I flew back to Japan (laughs). It was really a whirlwind trip, and I wasn’t able to do any sightseeing. I took a brief detour to Buckingham Palace and saw a guard riding a horse. And on that little sightseeing detour, I got pickpocketed.
What?!
I was obviously a tourist, looking around at this and that, so I guess I made an easy target (laughs). It felt like I’d gone through a rite of initiation.
What was the response like when you performed your material for the first time in the U.K.?
They loved me in the auditions. But I wasn’t so sure, and I didn’t really get my hopes up. We filmed in January and the show was broadcast in April, I think, so there was a pretty big gap. So at the time I simply thought, “Well, that was a good experience,” and I pretty much forgot it. I was really surprised when they told me I passed the auditions.
It seems like you carefully tweaked your strategy for foreign audiences, like making your stage name “Tonikaku.”
To be totally honest, I wasn’t really thinking about hitting it big with overseas audiences, I was just hoping the fact that I went to the U.K. would generate some buzz in Japan. So I didn’t think too deeply about my stage name, “Tonikaku,” I just picked it so that when I appeared on shows in Japan, my co-performers would be like, “What’s up with picking that as your stage name?” Actually, I used to be part of a comedy duo, but we broke up and I started performing on my own. Up on stage I’d tell the audience “My name is long and kind of hard to remember [his Japanese stage name is Tonikaku Akarui Yasumura], so just remember ‘Tonikaku.’” “Or you can call me Tony, if you’d like.” I never dreamed that one day in the future, people overseas would be calling me “Tony!”
It was really striking seeing the call and response that happened with the audience on the U.K. show when you said your iconic line, “Don’t worry, I’m wearing pants.” In Japanese, you don’t need an object after “wearing,” but in English you do, so when you say, “Don’t worry, I’m wearing,” other people have to jump in with “pants.” I feel like that’s another reason for your victory.
Right. In Japanese, you wouldn’t spell it all out, “Don’t worry, I’m wearing ‘pants’.” But I translated it literally into English, which turned into this unexpected call and response. I was surprised, too.
I wanted to keep the act simple, with few lines. I didn’t want to practice there in the U.K. (laughs), so I just kept it stuck to simple, easy to remember phrases, and I think that’s another reason people liked it. In that sense, I struggled with French. I’m less familiar with French than English, and it’s harder to pronounce.
Now, you’ve released a digital single, “PANTS,” as MC TONY.
The genre, U.K. drill, is a popular genre that came from a really dangerous part of the U.K. Everyone dresses all in black, wearing ski masks, but there I am, unarmed, wearing just underpants. I thought that gap was pretty funny. I also tried out various ways of delivering the lyrics. At first, I sang it in a brighter, happier voice, but Mitsunaga, the lyricist, said “It’ll sound cooler if you sing it in a lower voice to match the track.” I took his advice, and now it’s got over two million plays (laughs).
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What led you to try your hand at music?
It’s because I met Takaya Mitsunaga [HYTEK Inc.], who handled overall production for the song. Mitsunaga said that the wall separating comedy and music is much lower in the U.K. than in other countries. The other day, I went to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe [the world’s largest performing arts festival, spanning three to four weeks each August in Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh], and I was surprised to see several performances in which comedians were doing freestyle rap.
There’s never been that much separation between comedy and music in Japan. For example, the comedy duo Downtown collaborated with composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. What kind of things would you like to do going forward?
As I mentioned earlier, at this point last year I had no idea how much would change over the course of this year. That’s how it is every year. There are always unexpected turns of events, and those reveal new possibilities. I want to just go with the flow, without thinking too hard about what lies ahead.
You want to play it by ear.
Exactly. That’s what I’ve done so far. If I think of new material for overseas audiences, the next thing I know things could be taking totally new turns, so I want to take on each challenge as the ideas come to me. For example, the Paris Olympics are coming up, so I might do all-nude poses of the different sporting events (laughs). I still haven’t appeared on America’s Got Talent, so I’d like to take on that challenge in the near future, too.
This interview by Takanori Kuroda first appeared on Billboard Japan.
Imagine a land where it’s never cold but Christmas celebrations, and the holiday music associated with them, last for months. Such is life in the Philippines, where Christmas songs are played from Sept. 1 through the holiday itself, generating good cheer — and royalties for rightsholders — for almost a full third of the year.
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The global pattern of Christmas music consumption is that countries with colder weather start listening to it earlier, which generally translates into more streams, according to internal data from a major label shared with Billboard. The Philippines is the giant exception.
The country, which has a population of 109 million — a bit less than a third that of the U.S. — was the sixth biggest market for holiday music for Spotify in 2021, according to the company, after the U.S., Germany, the U.K., Canada and Sweden. (This data is skewed by the popularity of Spotify itself in various markets, and it and YouTube are the dominant platforms in the Philippines.) It’s also Sony’s sixth biggest market for streaming holiday catalog music, according to that company. In general, the Philippines is the 32nd-biggest market for recorded music revenue, according to the trade organization International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).
One reason for the popularity of Christmas music in the Philippines is that it’s a predominantly Roman Catholic country — the only one in Asia — because it was ruled Spain from the 16th century to the end of the 19th century. Later U.S. rule brought English and an immersion in American pop culture. One popular saying has it that the country spent “300 years in a convent, 50 years in Hollywood.”
The Christmas season traditionally starts in what Filipinos call the “ber” months — SeptemBER, OctoberBER and so on — when the weather turns a bit cooler and workers look forward to a bonus 13th month of pay.
“There’s a stereotype that we can all sing, and we have a very communal culture,” says Victoria Maria Malong, Warner Music Philippines’ marketing & audience engagement director, domestic. “So we have lots of Christmas parties, with lots of food and singing — sometimes drunken singing.”
The big Christmas hits in the Philippines are mostly the songs you would expect — there’s a lot of “lean-back listening,” driven by playlists, according to Sony. “In terms of Christmas songs, it’s mostly the same around the world,” says Enzo Valdez, managing director of UMG Philippines Inc. (Universal Music Group’s business there goes by that name, since there’s an independent label Universal Records in the country.)
There’s one major exception, in the form of Jose Mari Chan, a performer, songwriter, and businessman known as the King of Philippine Christmas Carols. Although music isn’t his main job — he also runs a sugar company owned by his family — Chan is one of the country’s iconic singers, who is known for holiday songs like “A Perfect Christmas” and especially “Christmas in Our Hearts.” His biggest Christmas album, Christmas in Our Hearts, came out on Universal Records — the local company — but is now distributed by Ingrooves, which is owned by Universal Music.
As the dominance of streaming drives Christmas recordings to the top of the charts every year in the Philippines, just as it does in the U.S., Chan has become an online harbinger of the season, albeit one that appears earlier than Mariah Carey. Memes of Chan peeking through an opening door start to appear around Sept. 1, and he has capitalized on this success. In a country where tours of malls are part of promotion and endorsements are an important revenue stream, Chan has signed a deal with Uniqlo that has him singing the chain’s Christmas jingle, and appearing at events.
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Playlist promotion works much the same as in other markets, and preparation for holiday music marketing starts in the summer. Sony Music has a Christmas music team with a core of eight to 10 executives that expands to about 30 internationally. “It’s international music and some of ours,” Malong says, “so it’s Mariah Cary and Jose Mari Chan and our challenge is to put [Warner Music Group artist] Michael Bublé into the conversation.”
Emerging local artists want to be part of that, too, and “we also have a lot of younger acts who are making new Christmas songs,” Valdez says. The duo Ben and Ben collaborated with Chan, and the young singer Juan Karlos has a new song, “Maligayang Pasko” (Merry Christmas in Tagalog, a dominant language), which came out November 10. Now, Valdez says, “Karlos plans to do a full Christmas album next year.”
Each week we’ll be sharing the most important news from the north with Canada’s top music industry stories, supplied by our colleagues at Billboard Canada.
For more Canadian music coverage visit ca.billboard.com.
Bryan Adams Splits With Longtime Manager
After a memorable handshake agreement in Vancouver 44 years ago, manager Bruce Allen and client Bryan Adams have broken up. As confirmed by a source with direct knowledge of the situation, Adams is now self-managing his career.
Bruce Allen
There has been no public announcement of the falling-out, but Bruce Allen Talent’s website no longer lists Adams as a client, and the “Run to You” rocker’s website similarly strikes any mention of Allen as his manager. Insiders say that Adams, short-term, is handling his own affairs.
Allen, now 78, has earned his mostly Canadian client list untold millions of dollars. Among them include some household names such as Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Loverboy and, more recently, Michael Bublé and Jann Arden.
The breach in the handshake agreement is believed to be over artistic direction, in particular Adams’ insistence on investing heavily in new music and videos in recent years. READ MORE
Spotify’s Global Job Cuts Hit Canada
On Dec. 4, Spotify announced it would be slashing its global workforce by 17%. Billboard Canada has learned that Nathan Wiszniak, Head of Artist & Label Partnerships at Spotify Canada, was among those laid off.
At the time of Spotify’s announcement, just a few days after unveiling its popular Spotify Wrapped campaign, it was unclear how many of the roughly 1,500 jobs cut would come from Canada. A spokesperson from Spotify Canada declined to share, but confirmed that Wiszniak was part of the layoffs.
Wiszniak has worked at Spotify Canada for nine years and was one of the founding members when the music streaming company expanded to Canada in 2014. In his role in Music Partnerships, he worked to promote Canadian music and artists and give them a global platform on Spotify.
“From the outset, my mission was to establish and promote an ecosystem that would propel the growth of our industry,” Wiszniak writes in an email to Billboard Canada.
Asked about his accomplishments, he highlights his role in championing Punjabi-Canadian artists like Ikky, Karan Aujla and AP Dhillon (all three appeared on Billboard Canada’s inaugural Punjabi Wave cover) and contributing to their exponential growth and in nurturing the early careers of breakout Canadian artists like Jessie Reyez, Daniel Caesar and Charlotte Cardin.
In the last two years however, he says, Wiszniak’s primary role has been “educating government stakeholders about the intricacies of streaming…during a regulatory phase that occurs once in a generation.” He’s likely referring to Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, which will update Canada’s media policy for the first time in decades. Spotify is at the heart of that bill’s implementation, which could require the company to make more direct and mandatory financial contributions to the Canadian music industry via government regulations.
On Nov. 30, just a few days before the layoff announcement, Wiszniak spoke at the Online Streaming Act hearings, arguing that “imposing initial base contributions on platforms before defining critical elements of the broadcast policy is premature, and risks overlooking the many ways that Spotify already contributes to and supports Canadian and Indigenous artists.” READ MORE
New IFPI Report Reveals Canadian Distrust of AI
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has released a new report detailing how music fans all over the world listen to music, with specific stats for participating countries. Music Canada has shared new data about Canadian listening habits from the report.
Most notably, it includes some vital Canadian perspectives on one of this year’s hot-button topics in the music industry: artificial intelligence. Many are not in favour, at least not of the wild west version of AI that has flooded the internet this year. 76% of Canadians believe that AI shouldn’t be employed to impersonate or clone a musician without their approval.
Even more Canadians — 85% — believe that music created solely using AI should be labelled as AI-generated, and also that human musicians are an essential part of music creation. The data indicates that in ongoing debates over the role of AI in music, Canadian consumers could support certain amounts of regulation and protections for artists.
AI music is already flooding streaming services, and Spotify allegedly removed tens of thousands of AI-generated songs from its platform earlier this year, to prevent those songs from acquiring fake streams and inflated royalties. Meanwhile, TikTok user @ghostwriter977 released an AI-created fake Drake and The Weeknd song earlier this year, gathering millions of streams before the song was taken off streaming platforms. According to the IFPI report, 77% of Canadians agree that AI systems should list which music has been used to train their tools.
The report included over 43,000 respondents from 26 countries, and concludes that globally, we’re listening to more music in more ways than ever. People around the world listen to an average of 20.7 hours of music per week — up from 20.1 hours in 2022 — and the use of paid streaming platforms is rising. For the 16-24 demographic, though, short-form videos are the top method of music listening, not audio streaming services.
On average, Canadians use 7.2 different methods to encounter music and hop between eight different genres. Half of Canadians subscribe to audio streaming services, while a quarter access music through unlicensed methods. In addition to how we listen to music, the report also highlights what music does for us: 83% of Canadians say that music is important to their mental health. READ MORE
Last Week’s Headlines: Top TikTok Tracks, Montreal’s Music and Noise Laws
The French government’s decision to impose a new tax on music streaming platforms will be highly damaging for the country’s music industry and sets a “dangerous precedent” for other markets, warn streaming executives opposing the levy.
France’s National Assembly officially approved the tax charges on Tuesday (Dec. 19) as part of the country’s 2024 finance bill.
It specifies that streaming services such as Spotify, Deezer and Apple Music earning above 20 million euros ($22 million) in annual turnover will have to pay a new tax charge of 1.2% on all streaming revenue generated in France in addition to their existing tax duties. Social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok which license and feature music will also be subject to the tax charges.
The money will be used to help fund a national body to support the French music sector, The Centre National de la Musique (CNM), which was created in 2020 and is already partly financed by the live music industry.
The new levy comes into effect from Jan. 1, although music streaming services are still waiting for confirmation of when the first payment will be due to the French authorities.
‘A REAL BLOW’
Deezer CEO Jeronimo Folgueira says the tax on streaming platforms’ earnings will have “negative consequences for the entire music industry in France.”
“It is the worst possible outcome of all the different scenarios that we could have ended up with,” Folgueira tells Billboard. “Adding taxes is the worst way of trying to support the industry. It sets a very dangerous precedent for other markets.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for Spotify France called the tax “a real blow to innovation, and to the growth prospects of recorded music in France.”
The company said it is “assessing the implications of such a tax” and “strongly remain opposed to this unfair, unjust and disproportionate measure.”
On Wednesday (Dec. 20), Spotify France announced that it was pulling financial support for two local music festivals, the Francofolies de la Rochelle and the Printemps de Bourges, to help offset the extra tax burden.
Plans to tax music streaming platforms’ earnings in France have long been mooted by authorities and were first proposed in April by then-senator Julien Bargeton, who initially suggested a tax rate of 1.75% for services like Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube Music to support the French music industry.
In response, streaming executives and stakeholders from across the country’s music industry put forward a number of alternative funding solutions, including making a voluntary annual contribution of 14 million euros ($15 million) towards The Centre National de la Musique.
Executives closely involved in those talks tell Billboard that the voluntary contribution proposal — which involved the participation of collecting societies and music producers and was tiered depending on a company’s business and turnover — received “near unanimous” backing from across the sector, apart from Amazon, which refused to commit. (Amazon Music, Apple Music and YouTube Music all declined or didn’t respond to requests to comment when contacted by Billboard).
With the music industry unable to agree on an alternative offer, the French Senate voted in November to approve the new tax measures, which were formally ratified earlier this week.
TAX BURDEN
President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to tax music streaming companies to fund cultural programs follows the same principles the country already applies to the film industry. For many decades, the French government has imposed a tax levy on cinema ticket sales (currently amounting to 10.7% of the ticket price) to fund public body The French National Centre of Cinema (CNC).
Since 2010, publishers and distributors of television services, including streaming platforms like Netflix and ad-funded videos platforms such as YouTube, as well as DVD and Blu-Ray retailers, have paid a similar mandatory contribution set at 5.15% of turnover.
Like its cinema counterpart, funding for The Centre National de la Musique will come from across the French music industry, but executives at Spotify and Deezer believe it places an unfair burden on streaming companies who already pay out around 70% of their revenues to rights holders alongside their existing tax commitments in France. They include sales tax (VAT) at 20% and a 3% tax on digital services.
At present, the French live music industry pays a higher rate of tax contribution (3.5% on concert tickets) towards the CNM, but ticketing companies pay a lower rate of VAT sales tax (around 5%) compared to digital music platforms.
Physical music retailers, recording studios, radio services and labels are exempt from paying the new 1.2% levy.
“We’re not questioning the need to finance The Centre National de la Musique or be taxed. What we’re questioning is the decision to only target one distribution format – DSPs,” says one France-based music executive, speaking to Billboard anonymously.
Folgueira says the tax unfairly impacts on European streaming platforms like Deezer and Spotify, which have heavily invested in developing the local market, and disproportionately advantages American tech giants like Google, Apple and Amazon who have a smaller on-the-ground presence and “can easily absorb the costs.”
Paris-based Deezer is the market leading subscription streaming service in France and generates around 60% of its 451 million euros ($478 million) yearly revenue in the country. A tax rate of 1.2% on domestic turnover works out at around 3.2 million euros ($3.5 million), according to Billboard’s calculations.
CUTS COMING?
Folgueira says the new tax burden could possibly mean that Deezer is forced to pass on the extra costs “along the value chain,” which could include reviewing agreements with labels and rights holders.
The CEO says that it’s likely to mean Deezer cutting spend on domestic music projects and marketing, while price rises for subscribers is another possible outcome. “None of which is a good outcome for boosting the French market,” cautions Folgueira.
France is the world’s sixth largest recorded music market with €920 million in revenue in 2022, up 6.4% on the previous year, according to IFPI’s Global Music Report.
Folgueira’s concerns are shared by executives at Spotify. Speaking last week to local news network France Info, Antoine Monin, director general of Spotify France said that the company will reduce its investment in the market as a result of the taxes and said “France will no longer be a priority for Spotify.”
Billboard understands that Spotify France will be making further cost saving announcements in the coming weeks with subscription price rises among the options on the table.
Confirmation of a new tax charge for streaming companies in France comes at a pivotal time for Spotify, which posted an operating profit of 32 million euros ($35 million) in the third quarter of 2023 but has also undergone three rounds of job cuts this year.
Earlier this month, Spotify co-founder and chief executive Daniel Ek announced that the company was to close more than 1,500 posts internationally, representing around 17% of its global workforce.
“For many months now, we have been denouncing the risks underlying the creation of such a tax, particularly in terms of the loss of attractiveness for platform investments in France,” says Alexandre Lasch, managing director of French labels body SNEP. “It is precisely the artists produced in France who will be the victims.”
Despite streaming companies’ opposition to the levy, other sectors of France’s music business have welcomed the increased funding towards domestic culture.
Guilhem Cottet, managing director of the French association of independent music companies UPFI, says the establishment of a mandatory contribution to the CNM from streaming companies will help drive diversity and innovation in the sector.
“The current remuneration model is unjust towards a lot of musical genres which are not heavily listened to by young people — mostly rap and electronica — in France. And if there’s no decent remuneration, labels will cease producing these genres,” says Cottet.
“The tax is a regulation tool to ensure the CNM is able to finance them and make sure diversity prevails.”
Vinyl Group announced on Thursday a binding agreement to acquire The Brag Media, publisher of Australian and New Zealand editions of Rolling Stone and Variety, as well as publisher of its own tiles including TheBrag. com, Tone Deaf and industry news outlet The Music Network.
The proposed takeover of Brag Media, pending certain conditions and expected to close by Jan. 31, is being funded by an $11 million AUD ($7.5 million USD) round of investment in Vinyl Group by billionaire Wisetech Global chief executive Richard White, who when completed will own more than a third of the ASX-listed business. With funding in place, Vinyl Group’s purchase of 100% of Brag Media will break down as $8 million in cash and a further $2 million in deferred compensation through cash or stock.
Brag Media originated as Seventh Street Media in 2017, launching local trade outlet The Industry Observer and youth-focused title Don’t Bore Us, before rebranding as The Brag Media in 2019 — the same year it partnered with Billboard parent Penske Media to launch Rolling Stone Australia. Brag also represents the digital audiences in the market for Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter, as well as Rotten Tomatoes, Hypebeast and others. In 2022, Brag bought The Music Network and shuttered Industry Observer. Based on unaudited figures disclosed in the announcement, The Brag Media generated $8.39 million in revenue in its current fiscal year, generating a net profit of $334,824.
Once the acquisition is complete, Brag Media’s portfolio will join a Vinyl Group that also includes music credits specialist Jaxsta, social networking platform Vampr and online record store Vinyl.com. As part of the deal, Brag Media’s co-founder and CEO Luke Girgis is set to remain as publisher and managing director of the company’s publishing business.
“Vinyl Group’s suite of products work together to empower participants of the music ecosystem and reach all corners of the creator economy, and we can’t wait to start working with the iconic mastheads that Luke and The Brag Media have successfully developed in Australia,” said Vinyl Group CEO Josh Simons, who took over the top job in late June following the departure of Beth Appleton. “We’ve identified several impactful synergies between the two businesses that will deliver immediate cost efficiencies and revenue, including streamlining Vampr’s in-app ads business and leveraging The Brag Media’s impressive audience reach to bolster Jaxsta, Vinyl.com and Vampr in the market.”
Girgis added that he “couldn’t be happier about” the consolidation. “Right from the earliest discussions we had, it was clear that the Board, Josh and the team shared our vision for the future of the business, and I’m thrilled that they’ve made this commitment with us.”
White said there is “no doubt that iconic brands like Rolling Stone and Variety make sense and add value to VNL. Combined under the leadership of Josh and Vinyl Group, the consolidated business and team will have a lot more growth levers and options.”
Vinyl Group is Australia’s only ASX-listed music business and trades under the ticker code VNL (it was JXT before a recent parent company name change). Its share price jumped 22% to .055 following the acquisition announcement.
In the 36 years since The Pogues released the band’s now-seminal “Fairytale of New York,” the acerbic holiday classic has occupied every single position on the Official U.K. Singles Chart’s top 20 — except for No. 1.
If there was ever a year when that changed, this would be it.
Following frontman Shane MacGowan‘s death on Nov. 30, “Fairytale of New York” is once again in the running for the coveted top spot on the annual “Official Christmas Number 1” chart put out by the U.K.’s charts organization, The Official Charts Company (OCC). On Monday, the track was No. 5 on the preliminary Christmas chart, which closes at midnight on Thursday (Dec. 21); the winner will be announced on BBC Radio 1’s The Official Chart show the following day. A mix of fan engagement and label strategy may push it up the ranking — but, as in previous years, the song faces strong competition, and a fairy tale ending is far from guaranteed.
“It’s going to be very, very tight this year and it’s not really until the week itself that you can tell who the main contenders are going to be,” says Martin Talbot, chief executive of the OCC.
Sales for MacGowan’s duet with Kirsty MacColl, co-written with Jem Finer, climbed to 77,000 in the week after MacGowan’s death, a rise of 170% from the week before, according to the OCC.
U.K. streams of “Fairytale of New York” crossed 9 million over the same period, reports OCC, giving the song its biggest-ever streaming total in the country outside the Christmas period. Total U.K. streams over the past month stand at just under 23 million, up 13% on average compared to the same period over the past five years.
The singer’s death also saw several covers of the song generate renewed traction on TikTok — including clips of Ed Sheeran, Saoirse Ronan and, of course, Travis Kelce, who recently earned his first Billboard chart-topper with “Fairytale of Philadelphia,” a spoof on The Pogues’ original version featuring his brother, Jason Kelce.
Despite the song’s New York setting and memorable black and white video (featuring a cameo from Pogues fan and Hollywood star Matt Dillon), “Fairytale of New York” has proved considerably less popular in the United States, where it has never reached the Billboard Hot 100. It has charted on Billboard‘s Holiday Digital Song Sales chart, climbing to a new peak of No. 16 in the wake of MacGowan’s passing (on the chart dated Dec. 9, 2023). According to Luminate, “Fairytale of New York” also earned just under 400,000 on-demand U.S. streams the day MacGowan passed (Nov. 30), marking a 227.2% increase in streams from the day prior.
Tom Gallacher, the London-based senior director of digital and marketing at Warner catalog imprint Rhino Music, which owns the worldwide rights to The Pogues’ repertoire, including “Fairytale of New York,” says that organic searches for the song and the group’s catalog on streaming services were “significantly up” across multiple markets in the week following MacGowan’s passing, with the biggest surges taking place in the United Kingdom and Ireland. (The song returned to No. 1 in Ireland in early December).
In tribute to the late frontman, who was born on Christmas day 1957 and died from pneumonia in a hospital aged 65, Rhino is re-releasing “Fairytale of New York” on 7-inch vinyl (limited to 5,500 copies) in the United Kingdom, with all proceeds going to homeless charity Dublin Simon Community. The direct-to-consumer release shipped on Monday (Dec. 18), meaning that those sales will count towards the all-important Christmas week tally.
“When you have a very tight chart race, physical product can make the difference,” says Talbot. “It also acts as a good marketing tool, reminding people about a record.”
MacGowan’s widow, Victoria Mary Clarke, has meanwhile given her backing to a fan-led social media campaign to get the song to No. 1 almost four decades after it was first released in 1987.
“Fairytale of New York” propelled The Pogues to a new level of mainstream success and is the band’s highest charting song to date; when it peaked at No. 2 on the U.K. chart, it was behind only the Pet Shop Boys‘ version of “Always On My Mind.”
The song served as a single from the Pogues’ 1988 album If I Should Fall From Grace With God — which became their highest-peaking entry on the Billboard 200, at No. 88 — and is routinely voted the U.K. public’s favorite Christmas song in polls.
Despite its enduring popularity, “Fairytale of New York” has also generated controversy over the years concerning its lyrics, in particular the Kirsty MacColl-sung line “You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy fa–ot.”
Shane MacGowan of The Pogues performs at 02 Arena on December 20, 2012 in London, England.
Caitlin Mogridge/Redferns/Getty Images
In 2007, BBC Radio 1 announced that it would be bleeping out the slur to avoid offending listeners before immediately reversing its decision following complaints by fans and MacGowan’s mother, Therese.
In 2020, the BBC Radio 1 again announced that it would play a censored version of the track with the offending word, along with “slut,” removed. In response, musician Nick Cave accused the broadcaster of “mutilating” the festive classic.
Addressing the issue in 2018, MacGowan said that the words were not intended to offend but reflected the language that the song’s female character — “a woman of a certain generation at a certain time in history… down on her luck and desperate” — would use.
“Sometimes characters in songs and stories have to be evil or nasty in order to tell the story effectively,” said MacGowan.
Currently leading the race for the U.K. Christmas No. 1 is pop duo Wham!, whose evergreen 1984 single “Last Christmas” has spent the past two weeks at the top of the British charts.
The Yuletide-themed George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley song first went to No. 1 on New Year’s Day 2021, at the time breaking a chart record — now held by Kate Bush‘s “Running Up That Hill” — for the longest time a track has taken to top the U.K. singles chart.
“Last Christmas” has now topped the Official U.K. Singles Chart on five non-consecutive occasions, but never on the “Official Christmas Number 1” tally — traditionally seen as the most coveted chart position in the U.K. music industry.
To give “Last Christmas” a final push, Wham’s label, Epic, is releasing a limited-edition vinyl version of the track as well as a CD single release, complete with download promotion.
Hot on Wham’s heels is U.K. Eurovision 2022 entry, Sam Ryder, whose original song “You’re Christmas To Me” (East West/Rhino) climbed eight places to No. 2 in the first 48 hours of the current Dec. 15-21 chart week.
Other front runners include Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” (currently No. 3 based on preliminary sales), Ed Sheeran and Elton John‘s “Merry Christmas” (No. 4), Noah Kahan‘s “Stick Season” (No. 6) and British TikTok collective Creator Universe’s charity fundraising cover of Wizzard‘s “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday,” which is just outside the top 10.
If “Fairytale of New York” does finally top the charts on Friday it would be a “beautiful and fitting” tribute to the late singer, reflects Gallacher, who says MacGowan’s best-known song continues to resonate with audiences because “it goes beyond the usual saccharine sentiment of a lot of Christmas songs.”
“It’s totally unique,” adds Mike McCormack, U.K. MD of Universal Music Publishing Group, which represents “Fairytale of New York” on the publishing side.
“Only a lyricist as gifted and uncompromising as Shane could have written a Christmas song so joyfully sad and unconventional,” McCormack continues. “It’s the antithesis of all the other mainstream perennial hits but is honest and heart-warming… I don’t think it’ll ever be beaten as the greatest Christmas song.”