Music News

13 Jun 2023

Jelly Roll’s ‘Whitsitt Chapel’ Debuts on Rock & Alternative and Country Album Charts

Jelly Roll’s Whitsitt Chapel blasts onto Billboard’s Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart (dated June 17) at No. 1 and the Top Country Albums tally at No. 2. Released June 2, the set earned 90,000 equivalent album units in the United States, with 63,000 in album sales, in the week ending June 8, according to Luminate.

Whitsitt Chapel also arrives at No. 3 on the all-genre Billboard 200, giving the Nashville-born artist, named Jason Bradley DeFord, his first top 10 on the ranking.

Thanks to his first country album, Jelly Roll earns the largest week for an initial entry on Top Country Albums since the chart transitioned to a consumption-based methodology (from one based on pure sales) in February 2017. It surpasses The Highwomen, whose lone Top Country Albums entry (a self-titled set) started at No. 1 in September 2019 with 34,000 units. (The group comprises Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris and Amanda Shires.) The previous best first week on the chart for a solo male belonged to Bailey Zimmerman’s Leave the Light On (32,000 units, October 2022).

Whitsitt Chapel becomes Jelly Roll’s first No. 1 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums in his second appearance on the tally. Previously, Ballads of the Broken peaked at No. 35 in September 2022.

Notably, the new set follows multiple albums in reaching the top two of both Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Top Country Albums. Those have included, this decade: HARDY’s The Mockingbird & the Crow (No. 1 on both charts, this February), Zach Bryan’s American Heartbreak (No. 1 on both, June 2022), and Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s Reunions (No. 1 on both, May 2020).

Whitsitt Chapel’s album sales were helped by three vinyl LPs (including a color-variant exclusive for Walmart), a standard CD, a signed CD sold through Jelly Roll’s webstore, a deeply discounted digital album (only $4.20 for a limited time during the tracking week in his webstore), nine deluxe CD boxed sets that included branded merch and a copy of the CD, and a “hymnal” zine/CD package.

The album sports 13 tracks, including collaborations with Brantley Gilbert, Struggle Jennings, Lainey Wilson and Yelawolf.

Meanwhile, the LP’s lead single, “Need a Favor,” holds at its No. 2 high on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and pushes 7-4 on Hot Country Songs, with 20.2 million in airplay audience, 11.2 million official streams and 3,000 sold. The track keeps at its No. 3 high on Mainstream Rock Airplay and ascends 14-12 on Country Airplay. On the former, Jelly Roll reigned for a week in May 2022 with “Dead Man Walking.” On the latter list, he led for a week in January with “Son of a Sinner.”

13 Jun 2023

Black Music Month Is Here to Stay: Co-Founders Celebrate Biden’s Presidential Proclamation Locking In the Name

This year, the 44th anniversary of the monthlong celebration of Black music’s rich legacy and influence carries an extra special meaning for the observance’s co-founders: Kenneth Gamble and Dyana Williams. That’s because — by presidential proclamation — the name of the annual June campaign has been changed back to Black Music Month after also being called African-American Music Appreciation Month in recent years.

President Joe Biden signed the proclamation on May 31, 2023. It reads in part, “During Black Music Month, we pay homage to legends of American music, who have composed the soundtrack of American life. Their creativity has given rise to distinctly American art forms that influence contemporary music worldwide and sing to the soul of the American experience.”

In tandem with the proclamation, Biden and first lady Jill Biden are hosting a Juneteenth concert on the South Lawn on Tuesday (June 13) at 7 p.m. ET. Performers include Jennifer Hudson, Ledisi, Audra McDonald and Method Man. Biden signed bipartisan legislation two years ago that established Juneteenth as a federal holiday. Celebrated on June 19, Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S.

“I’m elated that President Biden issued the proclamation,” says Gamble, co-founder of legendary label Philadelphia International with songwriting-production partner Leon Huff. “Black music represents a multibillion-dollar business and cultural asset that informs human beings globally. When we established the Black Music Association in the late 1970s, it was our intention to galvanize different aspects of the Black music business, along with the all-important consumers, to elevate our industry and garner respect for the creatives and professionals. Black is more than just a color; it’s a frame of mind. All genres of music created by Black folks in America are our heart and soul gifts — as well as a universal language widely felt and embraced worldwide.”

The first observance of Black Music Month, which also featured a concert on White House’s South Lawn, occurred on June 7, 1979, under President Jimmy Carter. Inspired by the efforts of the Country Music Association, which had established October as Country Music Month, BMA members Williams, Gamble and Cleveland radio DJ Ed Wright enlisted the assistance of then-Motown president Clarence Avant, veteran label executive Joe Smith and other industry professionals to petition Carter and launch an annual observance. However, in christening June as Black Music Month at the time, Carter didn’t sign a presidential proclamation.

“Had he done that, every American president that came into office after him would have done so,” says Williams, a veteran broadcaster/media strategist.

Dyana Williams

Dyana Williams

Whitney Thomas

At the suggestion of President Clinton’s administration, Williams began lobbying Congress in the late ’90s. With the help of Philadelphia Congressman Chaka Fattah, the African-American Music Bill was introduced in the House of Representatives. It subsequently secured passage as House Resolution 509 in 2000. But over the years, confusion emerged about which name to use: Black Music Month or African-American Music Appreciation Month.

“I wanted to eliminate the confusion and re-establish the name Black Music Month because that’s how it has always been celebrated in the music industry and broader communities,” says Williams. So she began sending “countless” emails to the succeeding White House administrations over the years. And she kept writing until May 31 when Erica Loewe, the White House director of African American Media, sent her a copy of the Biden-signed presidential proclamation.

“It was a joyful moment,” says Williams, who will also be attending the White House’s Juneteeth concert celebration.

In the meantime, Williams’ and Gamble’s son Caliph Gamble is carrying his family’s music-activism legacy into the next generation as a co-founder of the Sons of Legends Foundation. Like the BMA before it, the foundation will further foster the importance of Black Music Month in addition to launching community initiatives and other projects.

“It’s an honor to have observed my parents’ work over the course of my life,” says Caliph Gamble. “And it’s with great pleasure that we look forward to establishing a blueprint of what they’ve accomplished, so generations to come can use their model as an option toward their own success.”

In lockstep with BMA’s mission nearly 50 years ago to annually recognize and celebrate the economic and cultural power of Black music, Gamble coined the slogan “Black Music Is Green.” Notes Williams, “Kenny was right 44 years ago, and he’s still right now. It’s a profitable business but one that doesn’t always get the respect it deserves. To my very last breath, I will be promoting this music.”

13 Jun 2023

Hillary Scott Reveals Beyonce Was the Best Concert She’s Been to While Playing Fishing for Answers | Billboard Country Live

Lady A’s Hillary Scott plays Fishing for Answers at Billboard‘s Country Live event.

Hillary Scott:

Hi, I’m Hillary Scott, and I’m going Fishing for Answers with Billboard.

“Most embarrassing onstage moment?” We were playing a rodeo in Texas, it was in San Antonio, Lady A show and those have rotating stages. And at one point, Charles [Kelley] hits my arm. I think it was during “Need You Now,” maybe? And the mic hits my teeth, and my lip … and my lip starts bleeding. And so he said that I looked like someone who was in a boxing ring, like, the rest of the song because I had, like, blood on my teeth. And I’m pretty sure it was up on the big screens. So that was kind of embarrassing.

Let’s see the next one: “Recording or touring?” That’s a great question. I would have to say right now, it kind of changes depending on what season I’m in, I guess, but touring would have to be my favorite thing right now. The Request Line Tour that we’re doing is so up close and personal with the fans. It is giving me all the feels, so touring.

“What is your favorite album or country album of the year so far?” This is really hard. But just recently, I started listening to Jordyn Shellhart’s Primrose, and I cannot quit it. I was driving around town yesterday and just had it on repeat. Her voice is incredible. If you’ve not listened, you should. Love her.

“What is the most country thing you’ve ever done?” The most country thing I’ve ever done was on a family trip to visit my aunt and uncle and my cousins in South Carolina. I threw hay bales for a week. I got paid, but that’s probably the country-est thing I’ve ever done.

Oh, these are hard questions. OK, “the best concert you’ve ever attended?” The first thing that jumped out to me was the I Am Sasha Fierce, Beyoncé tour. I have the best memory of being in Dallas, Texas, at American Airlines Center with Miranda Lambert. She took us to that show and it was one of the best I’ve ever seen. Beyoncé!

13 Jun 2023

Hailey Bieber Asks Fans to Stop Leaving ‘Mean or Rude Comments’ on Her Behalf

Hailey Bieber is speaking out to stop social media toxicity.

The model took to her Instagram Stories on Tuesday (June 13) to ask her fans to stop sending negative comments to others. “If you’re leaving mean or rude comments on my behalf on anyone’s posts just know that I don’t want that, nor do I ever or will ever support or condone hateful, mean or nasty comments,” she wrote in her statement. “Doing that is not supporting me … if you are participating in that you are part of a culture that I want no part of.” 

While she didn’t mention what her post was specifically about, the Rhode founder’s thoughts come just three months after Selena Gomez, who previously dated Hailey’s husband Justin Bieber, also shared a lengthy message amid reports of a rumored feud between the two women. Gomez revealed that Hailey had recently reached out to the Only Murders in the Building star to let her know that she’d been receiving death threats and “such hateful negativity.”

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“This isn’t what I stand for,” Gomez said unequivocally. “No one should have to experience hate or bullying. I’ve always advocated for kindness and really want this all to stop.”

Ever since, Gomez and Hailey have followed each other on Instagram, with the model even liking one of the “Rare” singer’s recent posts.

13 Jun 2023

Foo Fighters’ ‘But Here We Are’ Leads Alternative, Hard Rock Album Charts

Foo Fighters earn multiple No. 1 placements on the Billboard charts dated June 17 as their new set But Here We Are crowns Top Alternative Albums and Top Hard Rock Albums, while the LP’s lead single “Rescued” commands Hot Hard Rock Songs.

But Here We Are bows with 62,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the June 2-8 tracking week, according to Luminate. Of that sum, 55,000 units are via album sales.

The release is Foo Fighters’ seventh No. 1 on Top Hard Rock Albums since the chart began in 2007. The band first ruled with Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace in October 2007 and had most recently led with Medicine at Midnight in February 2021.

The Dave Grohl-fronted band slots into a four-way tie for the most leaders in the tally’s history, alongside Five Finger Death Punch, Linkin Park and Pearl Jam.

Most No. 1s, Top Hard Rock Albums:
7, Five Finger Death Punch
7, Foo Fighters
7, Linkin Park
7, Pearl Jam
6, Disturbed
6, Korn

Foo Fighters also boast six Top Alternative Albums rulers with the addition of But Here We Are, their first and most recent also having been Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace and Medicine at Midnight, respectively. The band’s only set to lead Top Hard Rock Albums but not Top Alternative Albums is 2009’s Greatest Hits, which peaked at No. 2 on the latter.

Foo Fighters take sole possession of the second-most Top Alternative Albums No. 1s. Lana Del Rey leads all acts with seven.

Most No. 1s, Top Alternative Albums:
7, Lana Del Rey
6, Foo Fighters
5, Coldplay
5, Disturbed
5, Imagine Dragons
5, Pearl Jam
5, Jack White

But Here We Are also begins at No. 2 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums.

On the all-genre Billboard 200, the album starts at No. 8, marking Foo Fighters’ 10th top 10. The band first reached the region with the No. 10-peaking The Colour and the Shape in June 1997. Of those top 10s, two – 2011’s Wasting Light and 2017’s Concrete and Gold – hit No. 1.

Concurrently, “Rescued,” the first single from But Here We Are, rises 3-1 on the multi-metric Hot Hard Rock Songs list in its eighth week on the tally. It’s the band’s third No. 1 dating to the chart’s 2020 inception, following the eighth-week rule of “Waiting on a War” beginning in February 2021 and the three-week reign of 1997’s “Everlong” in April 2022, the latter following the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins.

“Rescued” totaled 10.5 million radio audience impressions, 1.6 million official streams and 1,000 downloads sold June 2-8.

Concurrently, “Rescued” rules Rock & Alternative Airplay and Mainstream Rock Airplay for a fifth week each and Alternative Airplay for a fourth frame.

Seven songs from But Here We Are appear on Hot Hard Rock Songs, with “Rescued” followed closest by “The Glass” at No. 5 (1.6 million streams).

“Rescued” also jumps 17-12 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, followed by “The Glass” at No. 33.

13 Jun 2023

Joseph Fiennes Reflects on ‘Wrong Decision’ to Play Michael Jackson

Back in 2017, Joseph Fiennes ruffled feathers when he was cast as Michael Jackson in an episode of Urban Myths, a British biographical dramedy series. The decision by Fiennes, who is white, to accept the role of the Black pop superstar sparked heated conversations around “whitewashing” and representation in media.

Although the episode was eventually shelved, Fiennes recently expressed his contrition in an interview with The Guardian published over the weekend.

“I think people are absolutely right to be upset,” Fiennes said. “It was a wrong decision. Absolutely.” The Emmy-nominated actor added, “I’m one part of that – there are producers, broadcasters, writers, directors all involved in these decisions. But obviously if I’m upfront, I have become the voice for other people.”

When Fiennes’ casting was revealed, several members of the Jackson family expressed their dismay and objected to the decision. Sky never aired the episode, explaining at the time that the decision was made “in light of the concerns expressed by Michael Jackson’s immediate family.”

Given that the casting announcement landed the summer after a fiery political season and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, having a white man portray one of the most famous and beloved Black artists of all time did not go over well with online critics. “It came at a time where there was a movement and a shift and that was good, and it was, you know, a bad call,” Fiennes acknowleged. “A bad mistake.”

After initially defending the decision to portray Jackson, Fienne’s new outlook is more in line with the “Human Nature” singer’s steadfast objection to ever being portrayed by a white actor.

13 Jun 2023

‘AGT’ Winner Michael Grimm Is ‘Awake’ But ‘Has a Really Long Road Ahead’ After Hospitalization

A week after America’s Got Talent season five winner Michael Grimm was hospitalized for an unknown illness, his wife has posted an update.

Lucie Zolcerva-Grimm took to Instagram on Monday (June 12) to share that Grimm is off the ventilator and “medically, he seems to be pretty stable.” He is, however, struggling with side affects from his medication. “His voice is slowly coming back but unfortunately a lot of the medications he was on for sedation…one of the side effects of it is hallucinations and confusion and anger and anxiety,” she explained.

“The hallucinations have really been the worst part of it because he’s really kind of now waking up to reality,” she continued. “With the medications causing hallucinations, he’s having a hard time distinguishing what’s actually in the room and what’s not.”

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Zolcerva-Grimm added that doctors said the side effects will wear off within a week, but “he still has a really long road ahead of him.”

On June 6, Zolcerva-Grimm said that her 44-year-old husband started getting concerned about his health over Memorial Day weekend, as he began looking sickly and had trouble lifting his head or responding to conversation, experiencing tremors and eventually speaking “gibberish.” He was rushed to the ICU and placed on a ventilator, heavily sedated so that he wouldn’t stroke out or flatline.

A Las Vegas, four-hour benefit to help pay for Grimm’s medical costs has since been set for July 9, and his family has also set up a PayPal for donations.

See Zolcerva-Grimm’s latest update below.

13 Jun 2023

NCT DREAM Announces New Album ‘ISTJ’: Here’s When It Arrives

NCT DREAM is coming back with new music. On Tuesday (June 13), the K-pop group announced that it will be releasing a brand new album this summer, with a single from the forthcoming LP to be released six days from now on June 19.

“The return of NCT DREAM! Third full length-album ‘ISTJ’ releases on July 17th! B-side track ‘Broken Melodies’ pre-releases on June 19th!” the group’s official Twitter account shared, along with an image of the seven members — Mark, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Chenle, Jaemin and Jisung — wearing baseball jerseys and gazing up at the scoreboard for the “Dream Stadium.”

The message also promised that the new era for the K-pop group will mark “the beginning of a full-scale comeback promotion” and is a look at “the impact NCT DREAM will bring to the music industry.”

NCT DREAM’s previous studio album release was Glitch Mode. The set — which arrived in March of last year — peaked at No. 5 on Billboard‘s Top Current Album Sales and at No. 2 on the World Albums chart. The reissued version of the album, Beatbox, peaked at No. 8 on World Albums.

NCT DREAM most recently hit the stage earlier this month as part of its The Dream Show 2: In A Dream tour with a series of three sold out performances at the Gocheok Dome in Seoul June 1-3. The Latin American leg of the tour will continue between July 4-11, with stops in São Paulo, Santiago (Chile) and Lima before concluding in Mexico City.

See NCT Dream’s announcement below.

13 Jun 2023

Niall Horan’s ‘Science’ Claims No. 1 on Hot Trending Songs Chart

Niall Horan’s “Science” paces Billboard’s Hot Trending Songs chart dated June 17, ahead of the song’s June 9 premiere as part of the One Direction member’s new album, The Show.

Billboard’s Hot Trending charts, powered by Twitter, track global music-related trends and conversations in real-time across Twitter, viewable over either the last 24 hours or past seven days. A weekly, 20-position version of the chart, covering activity from Friday through Thursday of each week, posts alongside Billboard’s other weekly charts on Billboard.com each Tuesday, with the latest tracking period running June 2-8.

“Science,” the ninth track on The Show, had not been heard in full prior to June 9. But the song received pre-release buzz due to a brief teaser of Horan singing the song on social media on June 7.

It’s Horan’s first No. 1 on Hot Trending Songs and his second appearance, following the No. 20 debut of “Heaven” in March. One other song from the album reaches the tally June 17: “Must Be Love” at No. 5.

Horan reigns over SHINee, whose “The Feeling” bows at No. 2. The K-pop boyband’s new single was released June 9, but its music video was first teased June 8.

The rest of the top five includes Slipknot, whose “Adderall” bows at No. 3 after a new EP featuring the song was released June 9 (the song originally premiered as the lead track on Slipknot’s 2022 full-length The End, So Far) and BTS’ “Take Two,” which ranks at No. 4 after starting at No. 1 June 10.

Keep visiting Billboard.com for the constantly evolving Hot Trending Songs rankings, and check in each Tuesday for the latest weekly chart.

13 Jun 2023

Doja Cat Finally Reveals Release Date for New Single

New Doja Cat music is finally on the way.

The star took to social media on Tuesday (June 13) to share that her new single will be arriving on Friday (June 16). While she didn’t reveal the name of the song, she included a blood drop emoji and a corresponding cover art with a bloody, upside down letter “A.”

Leading up to the news, Doja’s been sharing some The Scarlet Letter-themed hints, tweeting back on May 24 that “scarlet was here” along with the same blood drop emoji. On June 9, the emoji made another appearance with the tweet, “scarlet’s watching.” Finally, over the weekend, she wrote, “let myself heal, scar finally sealed.”

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A full-length album would follow her 2021 breakthrough project Planet Her, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart dated July 10, 2021, and produced a number of long-lasting hits including “Need to Know,” “Woman,” “Ain’t S—” and “Get Into It (Yuh).”

Doja surprised fans in May when she took a dig at the highly successful album, as well as her 2019 project Hot Pink. “Planet her and hot pink were cash-grabs and yall fell for it,” she wrote. “Now i can go disappear somewhere and touch grass with my loved ones on an island while yall weep for mediocre pop.”

See her new single announcement below.