Music News

24 Jul 2023

Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’ Hits One Billion Streams on Spotify

Britney Spears is officially the member of the Spotify Billions club. The singer scored her first billion-streaming song on the service on Sunday (July 23) when her beloved 2003 banger “Toxic” reached a billie.

This would normally be the spot where we refer to Spears’ latest post on her Instagram account, but Brit deleted her Insta again over the weekend, shortly after the release of her new single with will.i.am, “Mind Your Business.”

The page went dark on Saturday and remained offline on Monday (July 24) in the latest example of Spears, 41, shutting down her social media accounts with no warning; in the past they have typically come back on-line within days, or weeks. The stealth mode came just as Spears released her first new music since last year’s hit collab with Elton John on “Hold Me Closer”; before that Spears’ most recent release was her 2016 album Glory.

The third collaboration between Brit and the Black Eyed Peas rapper/producer is a bouncy club track with a minimal beat that seems to be a broadside against those that can’t stop sticking their noses into Spears’ private life with the no-reading-between-the-lines refrain, “Mind your business b—h.”

The song dropped with just one day’s notice, more than a decade after the pair first worked together on the 2012 single “Scream & Shout.” The song also reprises the iconic phrase from “Scream & Shout” in which Will says the tagline, “You are now rockin’ with Will.i.am and Britney, b—h.”

While Spears has not announced a new album to go with the seemingly one-off single, she did recently confirm the upcoming release of her memoir, The Woman in Me, which is due out on Oct. 24.

Listen to “Mind Your Business” below.

24 Jul 2023

Rosalía Ends Motomami Global Tour With Emotional Speech at Lollapalooza Paris

“Today Motomami ends,” Rosalía tweeted just hours before the last show of her ambitious Motomami World Tour. The Spanish singer-songwriter wrapped the nearly 70-date global trek with a last performance at Lollapalooza Paris on Saturday (July 22), where she gave an emotional speech reflecting on not only the tour, but also her Grammy-winning Motomami album.

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“The blessings that Motomami has given me are endless and Motomami ends in Paris,” she told a euphoric crowd. “Many of you discovered me thanks to this project, thanks to this album. I’m so thankful to all of you. I don’t know what the next chapter will look like, there are some ideas but I don’t know. Only God knows. To all my fans around the world, I want you to know that I love you and you’re the best thing that could ever happen to me.”

Rosalía’s first-ever global tour included 66 performances in 21 countries across three continents. According to a press statement, the “Saoko” singer performed to nearly two million people around the world.

“The way I approach that stage, how sacred that stage is for me, never changes, no matter where I am, big or small,” Rosalía previously told Billboard about touring in different markets. “[Audience-wise], there are cultures who demonstrate their appreciation in different ways; some are louder, some are more internal, but that doesn’t mean it’s worse or better. It’s simply different, and I try to always be generous onstage.”

Rosalía’s Motomami festival run across Latin America, United States and Europe kicked off in March at Lollapalooza Argentina. It was preceded by her Motomami arena and theater dates, which grossed $33.7 million and sold 443,000 tickets worldwide, landing her at No. 65 on Billboard’s 2022 year-end Top Ticket Sales chart and No. 7 on the year-end Top Latin Tours list, according to Billboard Boxscore.

See her speech below:

24 Jul 2023

Selena Gomez Celebrates 31st Birthday With Paris Hilton, Christina Aguilera, Saweetie & Private ‘Barbie’ Screening

Selena Gomez celebrated her 31st birthday over the weekend by doing what a lot of us did: seeing Barbie. Of course, The Only Murders in the Building star had a private screening of the record-setting Greta Gerwig smash that brought in more than $155 million and celebrated with some of her famous friends, including Paris Hilton, Diplo, Saweetie and many more.

She, of course, hosted all of them at a major party — pink-themed, naturally — with the gang of famous attendees including Hilton, Christina Aguilera, Diplo, Sabrina Claudio, Benny Blanco, Karol G, Tyga and many more, according to snaps from the soiree posted by attendees.

In the party pics, Gomez posed on a set of stairs in a frilly red dress and danced the night away with her A-list guests, blowing out the candles on a giant flower-bedecked cake. According to People magazine, Gomez also posted some images from the private screening of Barbie with her little sister Gracie on her Instagram Story, with the whole girl gang rocking pink outfits for the movie that easily topped the weekend box office.

Earlier in the day, Gomez shared a thankful message alongside a pic of her blowing out the candles on an elaborate cake covered with edible flowers. “I am thankful for so much in my life and one of the things I am most thankful for is the work we’ve been able to do with the Rare Impact Fund through @Rarebeauty,” she said of her beauty line that helps to support the fund that focuses on mental health and self-acceptance.

“Because of YOU we’ve been able to raise awareness and increase access to mental health services for young people,” she added. “This is my true passion in life. People keep asking me what I want for my birthday, and I tell everyone the same thing please do not get me anything but if you want to do something for my birthday, please donate to the Rare Impact Fund. If you have the means, consider donating to help us make a difference.”

Check out Gomez’s posts below.

24 Jul 2023

Tony Bennett’s Widow Susan Fondly Recalls Singer’s ‘Wonderful Soul,’ Shares Favorite Picture

Tony Bennett‘s widow, Susan Benedetto, share some of her favorite memories of the “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” singer with People magazine just days after the beloved pop singer died at age 96 following a long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease.

Susan, who married Bennett in 2007 after 20 years with the singer, shared one of her treasured photos with the magazine in which Bennett stared out of a window in Italy during their 2007 honeymoon.

“This is one of my favorite personal photos of Tony taken during our honeymoon in 2007 in Villa San Michele, in Florence,” Benedetto wrote alongside the snap in which the always dapper crooner and 20-time Grammy winner wore a dark blue suit with matching sky blue tie. “Tony, naturally, loved visiting his ancestral homeland, and we spent many summers in Italy over the years, and it was always a special time for us to be together, just the two of us.”

Susan opened up about some of her late husband’s favorite things, telling People, “Tony would paint all day, and then we would eat pasta, which was his favorite meal. I love how this photo captured his thoughtful demeanor….everyone knows Tony had heart, but he also was a wonderful soul.” She also shared that Bennett’s birth name, Benedetto, translates into “the blessed one,” adding that “I was most certainly blessed to have Tony in my life.”

Many of Bennett’s musical peers also paid tribute to the incomparable singer following his passing. “Rest in peace, Tony. You were the epitome of a gentleman with a God given one-of-a-kind voice. It was truly a great honor of my career and of my life to get to share the stage with you,” wrote Carrie Underwood on Instagram. The country star appeared on Bennett’s 2011 Billboard 200-topping Duets II album.

Oscar and Grammy winner Elton John also weighed in on Instagram, writing, “Without doubt the classiest singer, man, and performer you will ever see. He’s irreplaceable. I loved and adored him.”

24 Jul 2023

Paramore Reschedule Three More Dates Due to Illness in Band’s Touring Party

Paramore postponed another trio of dates due to what the band has described as an “illness within the touring party.” The move came after the Hayley Williams-fronted band canceled a show in San Francisco on Saturday night at the Chase Center due to illness just hours before the show was slated to take place.

That show was quickly rescheduled at the same venue for August 7.

In a statement to fans on Sunday, the band wrote, “after much deliberation, in the interest of our health and the ability to put on a show you all deserve, we have decided to reschedule our shows this week in Seattle, Portland and Salt Lake City.”

Those shows, at, respectively, Climate Pledge Arena, Veterans Memorial Coliseum and Vivint Arena, with openers Foals and the Linda Lindas, will now take place (again respectively) on August 9, August 10 and August 13.

As with the San Francisco show, previously purchased tickets to all the shows will be valid for the rescheduled dates; if fans are unable to attend the new dates and prefer a refund, instructions will be sent to them and refunds will be offered over the next week. The next scheduled date on the band’s current tour in support of their This Is Why album is slated to take place on July 29 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, OK.

At press time a spokesperson for the band had not returned a request for additional information on the cause of the postponements.

After their current North American tour wraps on August 13 in Salt Lake, the group will move on to a tour of Australia and New Zealand in October before teaming up with Taylor Swift again next spring for the European leg of her Eras Tour, which kicks off on May 9 with the first of four dates at the Paris La Défense Arena in Paris; Paramore will appear on all 48 dates of the European leg.

Check out the band’s announcement below.

23 Jul 2023

Harry Styles Ends Love on Tour With New Instrumental Song, Heartfelt Speech in Italy

It’s a wrap for Harry Styles‘ Love on Tour. The Harry’s House hitmaker ended his massive tour in Reggio Emilia, Italy, at RCF Arena on Saturday night (July 22), and he topped the last concert off with an extra encore.

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Styles closed the show with an as-yet-untitled song that was new to fans: It went on for about 10 minutes and it was an instrumental ballad, with Styles on piano.

His name and the phrase “new song” trended on Twitter on Saturday as fans reacted to hearing new music from Styles at his final Love on Tour date. It was an emotional end to a tour that went on for nearly two years.

“I don’t get to do this if you guys don’t come,” Styles told the audience during a speech that had fans in tears. “I know that more than anyone else. You guys being here tonight, I know you wanted to make it special for me. You make it special for me every single night.”

“The atmosphere that you have created, the family that you have created, this safe space that you have created,” he said during his speech. “I want to thank you for everything.”

Styles continued, “I know feeling so incredibly small in this world it can be really, really difficult to feel like anything you can do can make a difference. I promise you, I see it all the time in the little things that you do and the way that you treat each other. How it has affected all the people around me, how it has affected people out there, it is so much bigger. It does not end when this tour ends. I want you to continue it. Put love out into the world. It needs it a bit right now. I love you all so much, and I’m gonna miss you. I will be loving you so, so much — if you’ve been supporting me for one year, five years, 13 years, whatever it is. Not only have you changed my life over and over again, but you’ve made me the happiest. I’m so thrilled and happy to be here tonight. I’m so, so happy.”

The trek, which launched on Sept. 4, 2021 in Las Vegas, brought Styles to five continents and has become one of the 10 highest-grossing tours of all time, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. The former One Direction singer had earned almost $600 million from the tour as of a week ago.

Watch him perform his new song and see a clip from his thank you speech below.

23 Jul 2023

Miranda Lambert Reacts to Fan’s ‘Shoot Tequila, Not Selfies’ Shirt at Vegas Show

Miranda Lambert took a moment to address a fan in the crowd again Saturday night (July 22), but this time it was to give a compliment.

The country star, performing at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino at Zappos Theater during her Miranda Lambert: Velvet Rodeo The Las Vegas Residency, spotted something that amused her in the audience.

“Her shirt says, ‘Shoot tequila, not selfies,’” Lambert announced on stage.

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“She did it. I didn’t,” she said with a laugh.

Last weekend, Lambert paused her Vegas concert during “Tin Man” to call out a group of fans she believed were “worried about their selfie and not listening to the song.” “It’s pissing me off a bit,” Lambert said at the time. “Sorry, I don’t like it. At all.” One of the audience members whose mid-show selfie-taking irked Lambert later told NBC News she was “appalled” by the singer’s reaction and said, “It felt like I was back at school with the teacher scolding me for doing something wrong and telling me to sit down back in my place.”

But this weekend, what Lambert saw in the crowd seemed to leave her in good spirits: “That’s bad—,” she commented on the “shoot tequila, not selfies” shirt. She then leaned forward and accepted a mini bottle of what was probably tequila, said cheers and took a swig from the bottle.

See a fan-captured clip of the lighthearted bit below.

23 Jul 2023

Fans Choose Britney Spears & Will.i.am’s ‘Mind Your Business’ as This Week’s Favorite New Music

Britney Spears and Will.i.am‘s “Mind Your Business” has topped this week’s new music poll.

Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (July 21) on Billboard, choosing the collaboration between the pop superstar and Grammy-winning producer as their favorite new music release of the past week.

“Mind Your Business” brought in nearly 48% of the vote, beating out new music by Travis Scott, Bad Bunny and The Weeknd (“K-Pop”); the Barbie movie soundtrack; Chris Stapleton (“White Horse”); ZAYN (“Love Like This”); and others.

After giving fans just a one-day heads up, the two all-star musicians dropped their new single “– a full decade after first working together on 2012’s “Scream & Shout.”

On the track, Brit and the Black Eyed Peas founder riff over spacey synth ripples, with the Princess of Pop declaring, “Mind your business, b—-.” “Mind Your Business” also recycles a tagline featured throughout “Scream & Shout”: “You are now rockin’ with Will.i.am and Britney, b—-.”

The project was only announced one day ahead of time, with Will.i.am simply tweeting out a 16-second snippet of the electronic dance track. “UH OH!!! You are now NOW rocking with will.i.am and @britneyspears…,” he captioned the sneak peek.

Trailing behind “Mind Your Business” on the poll is Scott, Bad Bunny and The Weeknd’s collaboration “K-Pop,” which brought in 15% of the vote.

See the final results of this week’s new music release poll below.

23 Jul 2023

‘Barbie’ Takes Box Office Crown With $155 Million Opening in Historic Weekend

“Barbenheimer” didn’t just work — it spun box office gold. The social media-fueled fusion of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer brought moviegoers back to the theaters in record numbers this weekend, vastly outperforming projections and giving a glimmer of hope to the lagging exhibition business, amid the sobering backdrop of strikes.

Warner Bros.’ Barbie claimed the top spot with a massive $155 million in ticket sales from North American theaters from 4,243 locations, surpassing The Super Mario Bros. Movie (as well as every Marvel movie this year) as the biggest opening of the year and breaking the first weekend record for a film directed by a woman. Universal’s Oppenheimer also soared past expectations, taking in $80.5 million from 3,610 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, marking Nolan’s biggest non-Batman debut and one of the best-ever starts for an R-rated biographical drama.

It’s also the first time that one movie opened to more than $100 million and another movie opened to more than $80 million in the same weekend. When all is settled, it will likely turn out to be the fourth biggest box office weekend of all time with over $300 million industrywide. And all this in a marketplace that increasingly curved towards intellectual property-driven winner takes all.

The “Barbenheimer” phenomenon may have started out as good-natured competition between two aesthetic opposites, but, as many hoped, both movies benefitted in the end. Internationally, Barbie earned $182 million from 69 territories, fueling a $337 million global weekend. Oppenheimer did $93.7 million from 78 territories, ranking above Barbie in India, for a $174.2 million global total.

The only real casualty was Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part I, which despite strong reviews and a healthy opening weekend fell 64% in weekend two. Overshadowed by the “Barbenheimer” glow as well as the blow of losing its IMAX screens to Oppenheimer, the Tom Cruise vehicle added $19.5 million, bringing its domestic total to $118.8 million.

“Barbenheimer” is not merely counterprogramming either. But while a certain section of enthusiastic moviegoers overlapped, in aggregate the audiences were distinct.

Women drove the historic Barbie opening, making up 65% of the audience, according to PostTrak, and 40% of ticket buyers were under the age of 25 for the PG-13 rated movie.

“It’s just a joyous time in the world. This is history in so many ways,” said Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros.’ president of domestic distribution. “I think this marketing campaign is one for the ages that people will be talking about forever.”

Oppenheimer audiences meanwhile were 62% male and 63% over the age of 25, with a somewhat surprising 32% that were between the ages of 18 and 24.

Both Barbie and Oppenheimer scored well with critics with 90% and 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, respectively, and audiences who gave both films an A CinemaScore. And social media has been awash with reactions and “takes” all weekend — good, bad, problematic and everywhere in between — the kind of organic, event cinema, watercooler debate that no marketing budget can buy.

“The ‘Barbenheimer’ thing was a real boost for both movies,” Goldstein said. “It is a crowning achievement for all of us.”

Oppenheimer had the vast majority (80%) of premium large format screens at its disposal. Some 25 theaters in North America boasted IMAX 70mm screenings (Nolan’s preferred format ), most of which were completely sold out all weekend — accounting for 2% of the total gross. Theaters even scrambled to add more to accommodate the demand including 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. screenings, which also sold out.

“Nolan’s films are truly cinematic events,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution.

IMAX showings alone made up 26% of the domestic gross (or $21.1 million) from only 411 screens and 20% of the global gross, and Oppenheimer will have at least a three-week run on those high-demand screens.

“This is a phenomenon beyond compare,” said Rich Gelfond, the CEO of IMAX, in a statement. “Around the world, we’ve seen sellouts at 4:00 a.m. shows and people travelling hours across borders to see Oppenheimer in IMAX 70mm.”

This is the comeback weekend Hollywood has been dreaming of since the pandemic. There have been big openings and successes — Spider-Man: No Way Home, Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way of Water among them, but the fact that two movies are succeeding at the same time is notable.

“It was a truly historic weekend and continues the positive box office momentum of 2023,” said Michael O’Leary, President & CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners. “People recognized that something special was happening and they wanted to be a part of it.”

And yet in the background looms disaster as Hollywood studios continue to squabble with striking actors and writers over a fair contract.

Barbie and Oppenheimer were the last films on the 2023 calendar to get a massive, global press tour. Both went right up to the 11th hour, squeezing in every last moment with their movie stars. Oppenheimer even pushed up its London premiere by an hour, knowing that Emily Blunt, Matt Damon and Cillian Murphy would have to leave to symbolically join the picket lines by the time the movie began.

Without movie stars to promote their films, studios have started pushing some falls releases, including the high-profile Zendaya tennis drama Challengers.

But for now, it’s simply a positive story that could even continue for weeks to come.

“There could be a sequel next weekend,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “The FOMO factor will rachet up because of this monumental box office event centered around the movie theater experience.”

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

23 Jul 2023

‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’ Spends Second Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200

Taylor Swift’s third re-recorded album, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), spends a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated July 29). It’s the first time a re-recorded Swift album has spent its first two weeks at No. 1. The pop superstar’s re-recorded Fearless and Red each bowed at No. 1 in 2021, and then fell from the top slot in their second frames — though the former returned to No. 1 six months later after its release on vinyl and signed CD.

Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) earned 121,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending July 20 (down 83%), according to Luminate.

Swift leads a quiet top 10, where the region hosts zero debuts for the first time in six months. The top 10 was last absent of debuts on the Jan. 28-dated list, when SZA’s SOS led the chart for a sixth week.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new July 29, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (July 25). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’s 121,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending July 20, SEA units comprise 73,000 (down 65%, equaling 95.6 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 22 songs), album sales comprise 47,000 (down 91%) and TEA units comprise 1,000 (down 72%).

For a second week in a row, Swift has four albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. A week ago, she became the first living artist to chart four albums in the top 10 at the same time since 1966. On the latest chart, those same four sets (all former No. 1s) are still in the top 10, as Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is joined by Midnights (rising 5-4 with 51,000 units; down 7%), Lover (7-6 with 44,000; down 2%) and Folklore (a non-mover at No. 10 with 34,000; up 5%).

Morgan Wallen’s former No. 1 One Thing at a Time is stationary at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 105,000 equivalent album units (up 2%). One Thing at a Time has earned in excess of 100,000 equivalent album units in all 20 of its chart weeks. It extends its own record as the album with the most weeks of 100,000-plus units since the Billboard 200 began ranking titles by units in December of 2014.

Peso Pluma’s Génesis returns to its peak, rising 4-3 (55,000 equivalent album units; down 5%); Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album climbs 6-5 (48,000; up 3%); SZA’s SOS ascends 8-7 (43,000; down 1%); Lil Uzi Vert’s former leader Pink Tape dips 3-8 (40,000; down 34%); and Gunna’s A Gift & a Curse is steady at No. 9 (nearly 40,000; down 6%).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.