Music News

Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance’ Concert Movie on Track For Big Opening Weekend

Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé is expected to top the box office charts this weekend when the concert film by Queen Bey opens on screen across the world. According to Deadline, on what is typically a slow post-Thanksgiving period, the movie is aiming for a $30-$40 million global opening.

The film is the second one to be distributed by AMC, following on the heels of the massive opening and box office for Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, which has raked in $250 million to date; the three-hour-plus Swift movie is headed to on-demand on Dec. 13 with three bonus songs.

Deadline reported that sources have been saying that despite the huge ticket sales for the Renaissance tour — close to $600 million, which puts it at eighth on the highest-grossing concert tours of all-time list — Bey’s appeal is very different from Swift’s, so it was always unlikely that Renaissance would open with a figure close to the Eras movie’s 92.8 million domestic.

A sign of the differing expectations can be glimpsed in the first-day presales for the films, with the Eras movie racking up $65 million to Renaissance‘s $6 million. The Renaissance movie is booked into 2,539 theaters domestically and another 2,780 abroad in 94 territories, with U.S. previews slated to begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday (Nov. 30) before it settles into a Thursday-Sunday schedule for the two-and-a-half-hour movie directed by the singer. The only major competition this weekend will come from the monster movie Godzilla Minus One.

The 42-year-old singer made a splash on Saturday night when she strutted on the red carpet with long silver hair and a body-hugging Versace dress at the movie’s premiere at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, CA. She was joined by Destiny’s Child members Kelly RowlandMichelle Williams, LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett, as well as Janelle MonáeLizzoChloe X Halle‘s Chloe and Halle Bailey, Gabrielle Union, Lupita Nyong’o, Tyler Perry and Kris Jenner.

Spotify Artist Wrapped 2023 Includes Listening Parties & Merch Discounts for Top Fans

Spotify‘s Artist Wrapped is back for a seventh year — and in 2023, the platform is offering even more ways for artists to engage with their top fans.

Available this year in 37 languages, the Artist Wrapped experience will be available to all artists on Spotify who have at least three listeners; to find it, artists can either log in or sign up for Spotify for Artists and click the “Your 2023 Artist Wrapped” card.

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Once again, artists were given the opportunity to record personalized video messages for their top fans on the platform. Among the artists to take part this year were superstars including Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, Peso Pluma, NewJeans, SZA, KAROL G and Jung Kook. Those messages will show up in top fans’ Wrapped data stories, in the Wrapped feed on the Spotify homescreen and elsewhere.

Additionally this year, artists in the United States and Canada were given the opportunity to reward their top fans in those markets with discounts on select merch items, which will be promoted through the Wrapped experience on Spotify, via email and more. Fans across the globe will also receive concert recommendations from their top artists in the Wrapped feed, the Live Events feed and other off-platform promotion.

One new feature in 2023 is Wrapped listening parties, described as digital live audio experiences that will allow artists to speak directly to their fans and thank them for their support, stream their top tracks of 2023, answer fan questions, sell merch and more. These listening parties will be available to top fans of a select group of artists, including Ava Max, JVKE, Chelsea Culter and Lauren Daigle.

Also available to artists this year is a series of data stories with the following stats: the number of listeners who heard an artist for the first time in 2023, the top three places where touring artists saw the highest ticket sales and the average time spent listening by each of an artist’s top 0.001% of fans. Artists will additionally receive a summary share card highlighting fan engagement, including the number of new listeners, saves and playlists as well as the number of fans who had them as a top artist.

Last but not least, Spotify brought back Songwriter Wrapped for a second straight year. Once again, songwriters and producers with an active songwriter page and “Written By” playlist on the platform will receive an exclusive Songwriter Wrapped experience and share card recapping how the songs they wrote performed on Spotify in 2023. This year, songwriters can also fill out customizable social share forms that will allow them to call out their fellow creators and favorite songwriting or production moments with categories like “My Favorite Songwriter of 2023,” “My Pick for Best Lyrics of 2023,” “My Favorite Producer of 2023,” “My Pick for Best Beat of 2023,” “My Favorite Mixing Engineer of 2023” and “Thank you to my 2023 collaborators.” All are accessible on Spotify’s @SpotifySongwriter Instagram page and here.

For full details, check out Spotify’s full Artist Wrapped and Songwriter Wrapped blog post here.

Taylor Swift Is Spotify’s Most Streamed Artist of 2023

Are you ready for it? Spotify unveiled its 2023 Wrapped campaign on Wednesday (Nov. 29) and revealed the most streamed artists, songs, albums and podcasts of the year. Taylor Swift, who’s already had a banner year with her massive Eras Tour and the release of two re-recordings, reigned as the streaming platform’s overall top artist, replacing Bad Bunny, who was No. 1 the three previous years.

The 12-time Grammy winner — who nabbed 10 Billboard Music Awards on Nov. 19 — ruled with a massive 26.1 billion streams since Jan. 1. Her 2022 album Midnights was the second most streamed album around the world and her resurgent 2019 album Lover was the seventh. On the song side of things, “Cruel Summer” and “Anti-Hero” were the sixth and 10th most streamed songs globally.

To celebrate the singer/songwriter’s success on the platform, Spotify shared clues around the world 48 hours before revealing Swift to be its top artist of the year, with puzzle pieces on billboards featuring Easter eggs that were capped off with a video and more.

Bad Bunny was the second most streamed global artist of the year; his 2022 hit album Un Verano Sin Ti was the platform’s most streamed album around the world, with 4.5 billion listens. (Spotify confirmed to Billboard in July that the Puerto Rican star’s set had overtaken Ed Sheeran’s Divide as the most streamed album in the platform’s history.) As for the most streamed song globally? That would be Miley Cyrus’ eight-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Flowers,” which snagged 1.6 billion streams.

On the podcast side of things, The Joe Rogan Experience was tops for the fourth year in a row, with Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy coming in at No. 2.

Also as part of Spotify Wrapped’s Wednesday reveal, the platform rolled out its popular annual Wrapped feature, which lets users review and share their listening habits of 2023.

Keep reading to see how artists, songs, albums and podcasts ranked on Spotify’s 2023 Wrapped global charts.

Most Streamed Artists Globally:

  1. Taylor Swift
  2. Bad Bunny
  3. The Weeknd
  4. Drake
  5. Peso Pluma
  6. Feid
  7. Travis Scott
  8. SZA
  9. Karol G
  10. Lana Del Rey

Most Streamed Songs Globally:

  1. “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus
  2. “Kill Bill” by SZA
  3. “As It Was” by Harry Styles
  4. “Seven (feat. Latto)” by Jung Kook
  5. “Ella Baila Sola” by Eslabon Armado, Peso Pluma
  6. “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift
  7. “Creepin’ (with The Weeknd & 21 Savage)” by Metro Boomin, The Weeknd, 21 Savage
  8. “Calm Down (with Selena Gomez)” by Rema, Selena Gomez
  9. “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” by Bizarrap, Shakira
  10. “Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift

Most Streamed Albums Globally:

  1. Un Verano Sin Ti by Bad Bunny
  2. Midnights by Taylor Swift
  3. SOS by SZA
  4. Starboy by The Weeknd
  5. MAÑANA SERÁ BONITO by KAROL G
  6. One Thing At a Time by Morgan Wallen
  7. Lover by Taylor Swift
  8. HEROES & VILLAINS by Metro Boomin
  9. GÉNESIS by Peso Pluma
  10. Harry’s House by Harry Styles

Most Popular Podcasts Globally:

  1. The Joe Rogan Experience
  2. Call Her Daddy
  3. Huberman Lab
  4. Anything Goes With Emma Chamberlain
  5. On Purpose With Jay Shetty
  6. Crime Junkie
  7. This Past Weekend W/ Theo Von
  8. Serial Killers
  9. The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
  10. TED Talks Daily

For the most streamed artists, albums, songs and podcasts in the U.S., check out Spotify’s For the Record blog.

Usher Hopping on Jung Kook ‘Standing Next to You’ Remix

Usher has an early Christmas present for his fans and for ARMY. Bit Hit Music announced on Tuesday that Usher will hop on a remix of BTS member Jung Kook‘s “Standing Next to You,” which is due out on Friday (Dec. 1).

“We are pleased to announce the release of the remix version of ‘Standing Next to You,’ the main track of Jung Kook’s solo album, Golden,” read the statement from Big Hit. “Featuring the U.S.-based R&B artist Usher, this remix adds a velvety touch to the energetic vibe of the original version, showcasing the synergy between the two artists in full force. We ask for you enthusiastic love and support for ‘Standing Next to You – Usher Remix’ and Jung Kook’s future endeavors.”

The original song appeared on JK’s debut solo album, Golden, which was released earlier this month and at press time no additional information was available on the remix. Golden came pre-loaded with a number of other big-name collabs, opening with the hit Jack Harlow single, “3D,” followed by the Major Lazer-assisted “Closer to You.”

It also features “Seven” featuring Latto and “Please Don’t Change” with DJ Snake.

Earlier this month, Usher completed a R&B/Hip-Hop radio trifecta when his song “Good Good” featuring Summer Walker and 21 Savage rose to No. 1 on Billboard‘s Adult R&B Airplay chart after the single also topped the plays-based Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart and the audience-based R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay charts for two weeks each.

Prior to announcing the Usher team-up, Jung Kook dropped another “3D” remix last week featuring Justin Timberlake over a slick track with a throwback mid-2000s dance vibe. “Jung and JT on the main now/ You can still find me in a drop top/ With the top down but I got so many lanes now,” Timberlake sings on his verse. “Come with me, I’ll just call up the plane now/ Now let me fly you out to Seoul, Korea/ I Just wanna get into your soul like Aretha. I got the volume when you wanna get the beat up.”

See the Big Hit announcement below.

Yes, Ally Brooke Is ‘Trying to Reunite’ With Her Former Fifth Harmony Members

As a teaser for the new music that she has on the horizon, former Fifth Harmony member Ally Brooke dropped “Gone to Bed” this past September as a way to go back to her pop roots.

In a new interview with Billboard News, Brooke breaks down her latest single. “I love it so much, it’s basically about two lovers. You want to see your lover but you don’t and you end up seeing that person, and you’re like ‘Man, I really should’ve gone to bed,’” she explains.

The track comes years after Fifth Harmony — which was reduced to Normani, Lauren Jauregui and Dinah Jane after Camila Cabello left — disbanded in 2018. During her interview, Brooke says she hadn’t seen any of her former collaborators until recently, when she and Dinah Jane reconciled at a party for the first time in five years. The reunion was healing, she shares, especially since they’ve had time to grow separately.

“We’re women now and we have grown so much and we have done our own thing, gone our own ways and gone our own path. And now we’re together in a different light,” she explains, while hinting at more reunions with the other members in the future. “I’m trying to reunite with them, so I think some sort of reunion may happen.”

In the years since her work with Fifth Harmony, Brooke dabbled in Latin music, but revealed that she ultimately missed making the pop sounds of her earlier career. “I felt I really wanted to go back to who I truly was, the pop artist that I am,” she recalls. “I recently reconnected with my former A&R from my Fifth Harmony days … he’s amazing, he’s responsible for all the hits. We recently reconnected. He played ‘Gone to Bed’ and I completely fell in love. I was like, ‘That’s my record.’”

As for what’s next for Brooke’s solo endeavors, she promises that an album is on the horizon for 2024: “There is 100 percent an album, but that will be for next year,” she says. “Fingers crossed, but it’s really true. We’re just beginning to work on it and we have a lot that’s in store.”

Watch Brooke’s full Billboard News interview in the video above.

Are Holiday Hits by Kelly Clarkson, Ariana Grande & Justin Bieber Poised to Be the New Christmas Classics?

It’s almost December, so Mariah Carey and Brenda Lee are back in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and snuggled up in the top two spots of our newly returned Holiday 100 chart. But if you look beyond “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” what songs are poised to become the next Christmas classics?

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On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are identifying relatively modern holiday songs — released less than 20 years ago but adorning the Holiday 100 for at least five Christmas seasons — that look like they might have the staying power to become evergreen hits.

The biggest “new” classic: Kelly Clarkson‘s “Underneath the Tree,” which returns to the Holiday 100 top 10 this week at No. 9. The song, which Clarkson co-wrote with Greg Kurstin, was the lead single from her first Christmas album, 2013’s Wrapped in Red. It has so far peaked at No. 8 on the Holiday 100, in 2014. Could this be the year it climbs even higher?

For the rest of our modern merry melodies, listen to this week’s Pop Shop Podcast below:

Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how Jack Harlow hits No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Lovin’ On Me” and how Dolly Parton scores her highest-charting album ever on the Billboard 200 with Rockstar.

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)

ENHYPEN Score Sixth Top 10 on Album Sales Chart With ‘Orange Blood’

ENHYPEN score their sixth top 10 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Dec. 2), as the Korean pop ensemble’s Orange Blood bows at No. 2. The set sold 87,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 23, according to Luminate.

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Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart, Dolly Parton notches her first No. 1 on the 32-year-old list with the arrival of Rockstar; Taylor Swift has half of the top 10 thanks to sale pricing and promotions for Black Friday, and Cher’s Christmas vaults 23-10 after its release on vinyl.

Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of the 87,000 copies sold of Orange Blood, physical sales comprise 86,000 (all on CD) and digital download album sales comprise 1,000. Its sales were bolstered by its availability across a dozen collectible CD packages (including exclusive versions sold by Barnes & Noble, Target and Walmart; all with branded merchandise inside, some with randomized elements).

As previously reported, Parton’s Rockstar rules Top Album Sales with her biggest sales week of the modern era (since Luminate began electronically tracking sales in 1991), with 118,500 copies sold. Its sales were enhanced by a variety of iterations available on vinyl and CD.

Swift has half of the top 10 on Top Album Sales for a third time, thanks to sale pricing and promotions previewing the Black Friday shopping holiday on Nov. 24. (Swift previously had five of the top 10 on the Nov. 11-dated list, and six of the top 10 on the July 22-dated chart.) On the latest Top Album Sales ranking, Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) falls 2-3 (64,000; down 7%), Folklore jumps 14-6 (20,000; up 77%), Midnights rallies 11-7 (19,000; up 57%), Lover leaps 16-8 (18,000; up 80%) and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) shoots 15-9 (17,000; up 72%). All are former No. 1s on the tally.

Stray Kids’ ROCK-STAR falls 1-4 in its second week on Top Album Sales, selling 46,000 copies (down 78%). Jung Kook’s chart-topping Golden dips 4-5 with 20,000 sold (down 42%).

Rounding out the top 10 is Cher’s Christmas, which returns to the region, zipping 23-10 with 14,000 sold (up 82%) following the set’s release on vinyl on Nov. 17. It sold a little over 6,000 copies on vinyl. Christmas debuted and peaked at No. 5 on the Nov. 4-dated chart.

In the week ending Nov. 23, there were 2.34 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 1.7% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.98 million (up 2.6%) and digital albums comprised 361,000 (down 3.1%).

There were 923,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Nov. 23 (down 3.4% week-over-week) and 1.046 million vinyl albums sold (up 8.6%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 31.921 million (up 2.9% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 41.441 million (up 17.1%).

Overall year-to-date album sales total 90.474 million (up 6.1% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 73.857 million (up 10.4%) and digital album sales total 16.617 million (down 9.4%).

Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood Perform ‘Imagine’ During First Lady Rosalynn Carter Memorial

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood were among those who gathered in Atlanta on Tuesday (Nov. 28) to pay their respects and honor the life of former first lady Rosalynn Carter, who died Nov. 19 at age 96.

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The memorial service took place at Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church, on the campus of Atlanta’s Emory University, just over two hours away from the longtime home Rosalynn Carter shared with her husband, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who also attended the memorial service.

Brooks and Yearwood took part in the service, with Yearwood singing the John Lennon classic “Imagine,” and Brooks accompanying her on guitar. Following the performance, Yearwood briefly touched Carter’s coffin before the couple exited the stage.

Brooks and Yearwood came to know the Carters through volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity. During a press conference on Nov. 20 to celebrate his Friends in Low Places Bar & Honky-Tonk in downtown Nashville, Brooks noted that Georgia natives Yearwood and Rosalynn Carter had forged a close friendship over the years. Brooks told reporters that Yearwood called Carter a “quiet warrior.”

“What she says is very quiet, yet very powerful,” Brooks told reporters, “and what she taught Miss Yearwood — what she teaches us all — is the lion doesn’t have to roar, and the statement doesn’t have to be more than a few words to get your point across. She was great at that, and everyone loved her for that.”

In 2021, Brooks and Yearwood honored the Carters’ 75th wedding anniversary by gifting them with a fully restored red 1946 convertible, which was made the same year the Carters wed.

Watch Brooks and Yearwood’s “Imagine” cover at the memorial service below:



BTS Unleash Career-Spanning Trailer for ‘Monuments: Beyond the Star’ Disney+ Docuseries

From their trainee days through their current solo projects, the life of BTS will be on display in the upcoming Disney+ docuseries BTS Monuments: Beyond the Star — and now we have a trailer for the expansive project.

Released on Tuesday (Nov. 28), the trailer kicks off as the then-newly-formed group — Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jung Kook — train to become the biggest band on the planet. And they achieve their goal, as images flash of the septet winning awards and headlining U.S. stadiums. “It felt like we were leveling up,” J-Hope says in the trailer.

Everything grinds to a halt with the 2020 pandemic, as their tour is canceled and their daily activities come to a standstill. “I was hoping and waiting for a change in my personal life,” V says. But BTS comes out of the pandemic bigger than ever with their Permission to Dance On Stage in the US tour. And now, the members are exploring their individual talents as they release solo projects — with all seven scoring their own Billboard Hot 100 hits and Jimin and Jung Kook even topping the chart (with “Like Crazy” and “Seven” featuring Latto respectively) — before they come back together as a group in 2025.

With the tagline “10 Years of BTS and Beyond,” the eight-part Monuments series will debut Dec. 20 on Disney+, with two new episodes released every Wednesday over four weeks. BTS previously teamed with Disney+ last year for their BTS: Permission to Dance On Stage – LA concert film, which is streaming now on the service.

Watch the BTS Monuments: Beyond the Star trailer below:



Nardo Wick Responds to Viral Video of Fan Being Assaulted by Security After His Show

A video showing two members of Nardo Wick‘s entourage knocking out a fan who was trying to ask for a photo made the rounds on social media earlier Tuesday (Nov. 28), and now Wick has released a statement.

The video, filmed after Wick’s performance at Club Skye in Tampa, Fla., on Monday night, shows a man approaching the “Who Want Smoke?” rapper before being stopped and then punched repeatedly by two men as he falls to the ground. As he’s being assaulted, a voice believed to be Wick’s can be heard in the background telling the men to “chill.” (You can watch the video here; warning that it’s violent.)

The Tampa Police Department said in a statement they are “interested in speaking to anyone who witnessed the incident or may have information that would assist in identifying the suspects.” The victim’s mother took to Facebook in an attempt to bring attention to the situation, posting, “My son wanted a stupid f—in picture with his favorite artist!!! And this is what he gets!!! I am sick to my stomach to think about how this could have turned out!!!!”

Wick, who initially refused to respond to TMZ‘s request for comment about the video, posted a statement to his Instagram page.

The Jacksonville, Fla., rapper wrote: “I don’t condone what happened to my fan George after my show in any type of way, I expressed to him and his mama how sorry and concerned I was that it happened to him, multiple times before anything was even posted or on the internet. I sent his mama my number instantly the night it happened. I was even gone make a post to try to find out who he was before his mama text me. I cant control another grown man actions, I ain’t know that was gone happen, and I was mad when it happened. I tried to stop it as u can see in the video, and if somebody got the longer video you can see how mad I was, I love and appreciate all my fans and don’t condone in what happened at all dat sh– ain’t gangsta or cool in no type of way.”

A spokesperson for the Tampa Police Department said they are currently investigating the situation and that the victim is in “critical, but stable condition.”