Music

02 Apr 2024

The Red Clay Strays Set European Concert Dates

The Red Clay Strays, the quintet behind the recent viral hit “Wondering Why,” are set to launch their inaugural European tour in August.

The group, who just inked a major label deal with RCA Records and are signed with WME for booking, will play five shows, beginning Aug. 18 in Dublin, Ireland, and followed by shows in Glasgow, UK (Aug. 20), Manchester, UK (Aug. 21), London (Aug. 23) and wrapping the trek with a show at The Long Road Festival in Leicestershire, UK, on Aug 24.

The group, hailing from Mobile, Alabama, first released “Wondering Why” in 2022, though the song began surging in late 2023 thanks to social media. The group — which includes lead singer Brandon Coleman, electric guitarist Zach Rishel, guitarist/vocalist Drew Nix, bassist Andrew Bishop and drummer John Hall — has been making music since 2016, blending elements of rockabilly, gospel, soul, blues, rock and country into a sonic mesh Coleman refers to as “non-denominational rock ‘n’ roll.” Coleman, Nix and songwriter Dan Couch wrote “Wondering Why.”

The band is working on a Dave Cobb-produced album. “Since we’ve started, the goal from day one was to work with Dave Cobb,” Coleman previously told Billboard. “The fact that it actually happened is surreal.”

Trending on Billboard

The Red Clay Strays released their debut album Moment of Truth in 2022, and have since opened shows for artists including Eric Church and Dierks Bentley. In September 2023, they also launched their headlining Way Too Long Tour, and are set to appear on a slate of music festivals this summer, including Moon Crush and Cattle Country Fest.

Tickets for the slate of European shows go on sale April 5 at 10 a.m. local time. Fans can also sign up for a passcode for an artist presale on April 3 beginning at 10 a.m. local time.

02 Apr 2024

Travis Kelce Opens Up About 2024 Kelce Jam Music Festival, His ‘Last Hoo-rah’ Post-Super Bowl

Ask Travis Kelce about his favorite music, and his face will light up. The outer corners of his eyes crinkle with excitement, and he talks with overflowing glee through a wide, toothy smile.

It’s the same expression that the lovable Chiefs tight end might wear after scoring an unbelievable touchdown at Arrowhead Stadium, or while joking about being the Yoko Ono to girlfriend Taylor Swift‘s John Lennon alongside his brother, retired Eagles center Jason Kelce, on their joint podcast, New Heights. It’s definitely the same passion with which he’s known for discussing his love for Kansas City, for whom the Ohio native secured a second Super Bowl win in a row this February.

Now, in his latest love letter to the city he currently calls home, Travis is bringing back Kelce Jam — a self-curated music festival he launched last year in honor of the Chiefs taking home the 2023 Lombardi Trophy. Following the inaugural event’s lineup of Machine Gun Kelly, Rick Ross and Loud Luxury, this year’s offering will feature headliners Lil Wayne, Diplo and 2 Chainz, plus performances from Irie and E-V, as announced by the athlete Tuesday (April 2).

Trending on Billboard

“I’m super excited for it,” a charged-up Travis tells Billboard the same day, rocking a baseball cap emblazoned with “L.A.,” the initials of his whereabouts at the time of our Zoom call. “We got Jim Beam as the big sponsor, and they’re bringing so many cool new things to it, like a drone show. They’ll be out there giving out free barbecue — you know how much Kansas City loves their barbecue.”

Slated for the evening of Saturday, May 18, at Azura Amphitheater, the 2024 Kelce Jam is also backed by Medium Rare, this year’s partner, as well as an array of other brands like Takis, which will livestream the festival globally across Travis’ socials. Fans can already register online for an event pre-sale starting Friday (April 5), with Travis advertising plainly and confidently on Instagram, “All tickets will sell out.”

Much like last year, the festival will serve as one last celebration of the Chiefs’ incredible season before Travis and his teammates, led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes, start the process over again in training camp this summer. Unlike 2023, however, this year’s Kelce Jam comes in the wake of a community tragedy, with the Feb. 14 Super Bowl parade ending in a deadly shooting that killed one person and injured 22 others.

The gravity of this isn’t lost on Travis, but neither is the real importance of coming together in the face of tragedy (or, as he likes to put it, fighting for his right to party). Below, he catches up with Billboard about his favorite artists, Chiefs Kingdom, playing the role of festival curator and more ahead of 2024’s Kelce Jam:

This year’s Kelce Jam is billed as featuring some of your own personal favorite artists. What was the process of curating the lineup like?

When it came to this year’s lineup, I wanted to keep it fresh, keep it new and keep everybody coming back for something. We got Lil Wayne – Tunechi — who’s been one of my favorites since I was in high school. 2 Chainz as well, another one that’s been one of my favorites since high school. And then Diplo, who I’ve gotten to know, and I’ve gotten to appreciate his music so much. One of my favorites in the game as well.

It’s just so much fun being able to bring this to Kansas City, because of how much Kansas City shows out for me and the Chiefs every single game day. To be able to bring this to them, a music and food fest, something where we can all celebrate and have a great time — I’m just so blessed and so fortunate to be able to do this. It’s gonna be exciting.

This year’s Super Bowl parade in Kansas City obviously ended in a deeply upsetting way. (After gunfire broke out at the celebration, which Travis attended on a float with his teammates, he tweeted that he was “heartbroken.”) How has that experience affected your approach to putting on an event like this?

The parade was very sad on our hearts, and our hands are still out to everybody involved in terms of what went down. It’s not easy to deal with stuff like that as a community.

Security is going to be something that I take seriously, so that everybody feels safe when they’re there. But also, I think it is another chance to be able to celebrate. Last year I was fortunate to be able to do this for the first time after we won the [2023] Super Bowl. It was kind of like my last hoo-rah, the last time I was going to celebrate that Super Bowl. I think this is going to be the last hoo-rah for me this year, celebrating the [2024] Super Bowl with the city of Kansas City because of how much I appreciate and love them.

If you ever host a third Kelce Jam, which artists would be your dream headliners?

Woo! I got a list of about a hundred people that I absolutely – music is one of my favorite things. On top of that, live music is something I never pass up on. The Chainsmokers are my brothers, I love those guys. Marshmello is one of my brothers. T-Pain is one of my favorite performers of all time. I’ve gotten to love guys like Morgan Wallen.

The list just goes on, and the genres vary everywhere. I’m a real music lover. I’m just fortunate we got the guys that we have this year, and I think it’s going to be a blast.

Do you plan to make Kelce Jam its own annual festival independent of your football career? Or do you plan on keeping it as a post-Super Bowl event that’s special to Kansas City?

That’s been in talks, to see where [Kelce Jam] fits and where we could go with it. I know one thing, and it’s that I love celebrating with Kansas City. I don’t know what the future holds or how much more fun we could have with it outside of KC, but it’s interesting, and I guess we’ll have to see where it takes us.

Will your Chiefs teammates be in attendance? How about the Kelce family?

I’ve got my fingers crossed that I can have the whole shebang, have all my teammates, even my coaches – Andy Reid, come on down baby, have some fun with us. Anybody that shows up, I’m just ultimately appreciative of.

It’s such a unique opportunity for me to be able to host an event like this – on May 18! I don’t know if I plugged that [date] yet. [Laughs.] Hopefully I can get everybody to sign up for this one, knowing how much fun last year’s was.

Travis Kelce

Courtesy Photo

02 Apr 2024

Michelle Obama Praises Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ While Encouraging Fans to Register to Vote: ‘We All Have Power’

Michelle Obama is loving Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album.

The former First Lady of the United States took to Instagram on Tuesday (April 2) to share a photo of the recently released album’s cover art, alongside a plea for fans to register to vote for the upcoming presidential election this year. “@Beyonce, you are a record-breaker and history-maker. With Cowboy Carter, you have changed the game once again by helping redefine a music genre and transform our culture. I am so proud of you,” she captioned the post. “Cowboy Carter is a reminder that despite everything we’ve been through to be heard, seen, and recognized, we can still dance, sing, and be who we are unapologetically. This album reminds us that we ALL have power. There’s power in our history, in our joy, and in our votes — and we can each use our own gifts and talents to make our voices heard on the issues that matter most to us.”

Obama then asked American to register to vote at WhenWeAllVote.org, adding, “Together, we can stand up for what we believe in, and we must do that at the ballot box this year. The issues that impact us most are on the ballot across the country — from equal pay and racial justice to reproductive healthcare and climate change. And as Queen Bey says at the end of Ya Ya, we need to ‘keep the faith’ and ‘VOTE!’”

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

See Michelle Obama’s post here.

Trending on Billboard

Upon its release, Cowboy Carter became Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day in 2024, the streaming service announced last week. This is the first time a country album holds the title this year. Before the album’s release, lead single “Texas Hold ‘Em” was streamed over 200 million times. The album also marks the most first-day streams for a country album by a female artist in the history of Amazon Music.

02 Apr 2024

Hozier Notches Second Hot Rock & Alternative Songs No. 1 With ‘Too Sweet’

Hozier claims his first No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart in nine years, as “Too Sweet” debuts atop the April 6-dated tally.

The song bows with 28.8 million official U.S. streams, 268,000 radio audience impressions and 4,000 downloads in the U.S. March 22-28, its first week of release, according to Luminate.

It’s the Irish singer-songwriter’s second Hot Rock & Alternative Songs No. 1, after “Take Me to Church” reigned for 23 weeks, all consecutively, from the Nov. 1, 2014, through April 4, 2015, surveys.

Hozier’s nine-year break between No. 1s marks the longest in the chart’s nearly 15-year history, exceeding the six years, 11 months and two weeks between Coldplay’s “A Sky Full of Stars” in 2014 and the band’s “My Universe,” with BTS, in 2021.

In between the debut of “Take Me to Church” and his new No. 1, Hozier racked up 37 chart appearances, including four top 10s, led by the No. 6 debut and peak of “Eat Your Young” last April.

Concurrently, “Too Sweet” starts atop the multimetric Hot Rock Songs and Hot Alternative Songs charts. On the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, it debuts at No. 5, marking Hozier’s second top 10, and first time in the top 30, since “Take Me to Church” hit No. 2 in 2014.

Additionally, “Too Sweet” blasts in at No. 1 on both Rock Streaming Songs and Alternative Streaming Songs, his first leader on each list since “Take Me to Church.” The all-format Streaming Songs chart finds the song represented at No. 3, just one position below his best rank, set by “Take Me to Church” in 2015.

“Too Sweet” also slots in at No. 1 on Rock Digital Song Sales and Alternative Digital Song Sales, again Hozier’s second chart-topper on each, after “Take Me to Church.” It’s No. 5 on the all-genre Digital Song Sales chart, becoming his second top 10, after “Take Me to Church” reached No. 2.

“Too Sweet” is one of four songs on Unheard, Hozier’s EP released March 22. The set starts at No. 4 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums with 38,000 equivalent album units earned, including 34,000 in streaming units and 3,000 in album sales. The EP also debuts at No. 10 on the all-genre Billboard 200.

All four Unheard tracks make Hot Rock & Alternative Songs. After “Too Sweet” are “Wildflower and Barley,” with Allison Russell (No. 11, 6.1 million streams), “Empire Now” (No. 14, 5.5 million streams) and “Fare Well” (No. 19, 4.2 million streams). “Wildflower and Barley” (No. 88) and “Empire Now” (No. 98) also reach the Hot 100, where the former is Russell’s first entry.

Hozier doubles his total of career Hot 100 hits, with five of his six charted titles logged in the past year; in between “Take Me to Church” and the charted trio of tunes from Unheard, “Eat Your Young” reached No. 67 last April, while Noah Kahan’s “Northern Attitude,” on whose remix Hozier was added as a co-lead, hit No. 37 last November.

Unheard features music that originally recorded during the sessions for Hozier’s 2023 album Unreal Unearth but did not make its final tracklist. The LP debuted at No. 1 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart dated Sept. 2, 2023, and has earned 417,000 equivalent album units to date.

02 Apr 2024

Janet Jackson Returns to Japan for Triumphant Together Again Tour Chronicling Legendary Career

Janet Jackson returned to Japan for the first time in five years for her 2024 Together Again Tour, making stops in Nagoya, Osaka and Yokohama. At her K Arena Yokohama show on March 20, the icon treated the packed crowd to a nonstop 90-minute spectacle of her career-spanning, hits-filled set.

The concerts also featured TLC as the special guest only in Japan, and tickets were sold out in all three cities.

K-Arena Yokohama, the venue for the final night of Jackson’s Japan trek, is one of the world’s largest music-specific arenas, which opened on Sept. 29. Since it’s still a brand-new venue, many appeared to be visiting for the first time and people were snapping pictures on their phones while looking around even before the show began. In addition to the state-of-the-art sound system, all seats are positioned like a fan facing the front of the stage to allow fans to fully experience their favorite artist’s performance. The seats are also comfortable, ideal for those who want to relax and enjoy the concert, but when the lights went down for this particular show, the audience shot up from their seats in unison to greet TLC with loud cheers.

Trending on Billboard

As the DJ hyped up the crowd with a “T-L-C!” call and response, T-Boz and Chilli appeared onstage accompanied by four dancers and opened the set with their debut single “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg.” With Chilli’s vocals overlapping with T-Boz’s deep voice during the chorus, the two also performed with the late Left Eye during the rap part, bringing the voice of the third member who died in a tragic accident in 2002 along for the ride. Chilli thanked fans in between songs for celebrating the 30th anniversary of the release of the group’s hit album CrazySexyCool, and after a DJ break, the two members returned to perform a few more hits including one of their biggest, “No Scrubs,” to huge cheers from the crowd. Led by a gorgeous horn arrangement, the pair closed their set with “Waterfalls,” as Chili and the dancers danced beautifully to the Left Eye’s rap. The audience cheered loudly, clapping along with the beat, and enthusiastically responded in unison to the “T-L-C!” call and response at the end of the set to express their appreciation.

The venue went dark after a brief set change and the words “50 YEARS OF ME” flashed on the huge screens set up in the center, left, and right sides of the stage. As a montage of flashback photos featuring Janet since childhood flickered by, the central screen rose to reveal the superstar standing immobile on the circular stage wrapped in a purple hooded cloak. Kicking off her set with “Damita Jo,” she sang completely still, then briefly receded to removed the cloak and returned in a sparkly gold bodysuit with a large purple ribbon around her waist. Singing to a simple beat with a heavy bass sound, she performed “Feedback” with her four dancers, the audience gleefully screaming every time they struck a pose. The band consisted of a drummer and bassist on the right side of the stage, keyboardist, guitarist, and DJ on the left. The seamless sound system had no time lag even for fans in the stands, immersing the audience in the concert experience.

The crowd went wild when Janet performed “That’s the Way Love Goes” from her eponymous hit album from 1993. Families with children could be seen here and there in the audience, and it was clear that the concert was a space where the pop icon’s timeless music was being passed down from the generation who lived through the same era as the hitmaker to the next generation of fans.

The concert was divided into four acts, and Janet took the stage in the second decked in a broad-brimmed black hat and long, ruffled black skirt. The second section consisted mostly of songs from her 1986 album Control, including “What Have You Done for Me Lately,” “Nasty,” and “The Pleasure Principle,” and the songstress captivated the audience with vocals and dynamic choreography set to the big beat and scratches by the DJ. She removed her hat and skirt and performed the majority of this act in wide pants along with four dancers dressed in white.

“Now I’m going to take you back,” she said with a grin. “Way back. Bass!” With her cue, the familiar, catchy bass line of “When I Think of You,” began, and she continued, “Back to 1986. This was my first No. 1 song. I was just a baby. But I still look good!” Towards the end of the act, she slowed things down to perform some of her most famous ballads seated on the stage, including “Come Back to Me,” “Let’s Wait Awhile,” and “Again.” Janet encouraged the Yokohama audience to sing along with her on “Again” with her mic raised towards the crowd, and seemed genuinely moved by the rousing sing-along by her fans in Japan.

Returning in a bright orange outfit, the Grammy winner began her third act with “All for You.” She went on to perform tracks including “Girlfriend/Boyfriend,” her collab with Blackstreet, and “Do It 2 Me,” singing and dancing aggressively with her dancers almost non-stop. By this point, it’s been about an hour into the show, and her performance has been phenomenal.

The fourth and final act featured songs from Rhythm Nation 1814, with Janet performing tracks such as “Miss You Much,” “Love Will Never Do (Without You),” and “Alright” rocking a casual T-shirt and jeans get-up as if she were out on the street. The hits from 1989 blending delicate melodies with edgy sounds have stood the test of time, dynamically shaking the hearts and bodies of those witnessing them live.

Then suddenly, the venue went dark and white noise filled the screens. Cued by an all-too-familiar scream, the band began rocking out as the late Michael Jackson’s voice and image appeared majestically on the screens for the brother-sister duet “Scream.” Deafening shouts erupt from the audience as Michael continues to sing his part in the Sci-Fi-inspired, black-and-white music video, later joined by his sister’s live vocals onstage. Janet faced the guitarist towards the end of the song in what looked like a tribute to her late older brother. The voltage in K Arena peaked as the band segued into “Rhythm Nation” and Janet performed the iconic choreography with her dancers surrounded by intensely flashing lighting and beats, ending the main set with an impressive shout.

The icon promptly answered the call for an encore and sang “Together Again,” the title of her tour, as the final song of the concert. Singing along with the audience while casually moving from one end of the stage to the other, she jumped up and down and encouraged everyone to do the same, bringing the audience together as one for a joyful ending to the show. “Yokohama! This is the very last show of this leg of our tour. I hope you enjoyed it,” Janet addressed her fans. “May God bless each and every one of you on your journey through the world. I love you so much, please be safe! Good night! I love you!” A breathtaking 90 minutes of almost non-stop dancing and singing, the concert left one with a sense of awe and respect for the undiminished passion for live performance by an artist who has created some of the leading music of our time.

—This article by Takayuki Okamoto first appeared on Billboard Japan

02 Apr 2024

Taylor Swift Is Officially a Billionaire

Taylor Swift has yet another milestone to add to her endless list of accomplishments — she’s now officially a billionaire.

The superstar was included on Forbes World’s Billionaires List published this week, and Swift amassed an estimated $1.1 billion fortune this year, according to the publication. The revenue is based on earnings from her record-breaking Eras tour and the value of her music catalog, as well as her real estate portfolio. Per Forbes, Swift is the first musician to hit ten figures in fortune solely based on songs and performances.

Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Christian Louboutin are also among the famous newcomers on the Billionaires list, which is led by Bernard Arnault, who earned $233 billion fortune as the overseer the LVMH empire of 75 fashion and cosmetics brands, including Louis Vuitton and Sephora. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, Mukesh Ambani and Larry Page round out the top 10.

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

Last year, Billboard estimated that the Swift grossed approximately $1.82 billion in music sales and royalties, concert tickets, merchandise sales at concerts and movie ticket sales in 2023 through Dec. 7. Billboard calculated music royalties based on data from Luminate, concert ticket sales using publicly available information and her concert merchandise revenue was estimated based on Billboard’s reporting.

Trending on Billboard

Swift’s The Eras Tour generated approximately $900 million in ticket sales in 2023. That figure is based on Billboard’s estimate that Swift sold 3.3 million tickets to 53 concerts in the U.S. at about $250 per ticket. An additional 13 shows in Latin America likely earned another $60 million to $75 million from 750,000 ticket. At those concerts, Swift sold an estimated concert merchandise sales of $132 million of merchandise. Her per-show average merchandise sales at roughly $2 million, based on Billboard’s reporting.

02 Apr 2024

Shakira’s ‘Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran’ Storms In at No. 1 on Top Latin Albums and Latin Pop Albums

Shakira makes a splash across Billboard’s charts as her latest album, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, her twelfth studio album over a four-decade career, debuts at No. 1 on Top Latin Albums and Latin Pop Albums (dated April 6). The set concurrently bows at No. 2 on Top Album Sales, No. 4 on Vinyl Albums and at No. 13 on the overall Billboard 200 chart.

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, released March 22 through Sony Music Latin, earned 34,000 equivalent album units, earned in the U.S. during the March 22-28 tracking week, according to Luminate.

Trending on Billboard

Of Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran’s first-week sum, 19,000 units derive from streaming, equaling 26.73 million official on-demand streams of the album’s songs. Album sales contribute just under 15,000, while the remaining 500 units derive from track-equivalent album units. (On Top Latin Albums, Latin Pop Albums and Billboard 200, one unit equals to one album sale, 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams for a song on the album.)

Shakira’s new No. 1 on Top Latin Albums follows the top 20-charting live set, Shakira In Concert: El Dorado, World Tour (Soundtrack), which took the singer-songwriter to No. 18 in 2019. El Dorado, her eleventh-studio album, offered her last No. 1, claiming the top spot for five weeks starting in 2017.

Shakira Becomes First Woman With No. 1 Albums Across Four Decades: As Shakira reclaims the No. 1 spot on Top Latin Albums with Las Mujeres, she banks her seventh No. 1 among 11 career entries, and her first in the 2020s decade, after she managed at least one No. 1 every year from 1998-2017.

Notably, with the new ruler, the Colombian becomes the first woman with a No. 1 in four different decades on Top Latin Albums. Only one other artist has achieved the feat: Alejandro Fernández, who scored an equal seven No. 1 albums during the 1990s (one), 2000s (one), ’10s (four) and the ’20s (one).

Here’s a recap of Shakira’s chart-toppers on Top Latin Albums since her first, Donde Están Los Ladrones? landed at the summit in Nov. 1998:

Peak, Title, Weeks at No. 1
Nov. 28, 1998, Donde Están Los Ladrones?, 11
April 8, 2000, MTV Unplugged, two
Nov. 23, 2002, Grandes Éxitos, one
June 25, 2005, Fijación Oral: Vol. 1, 17
Nov. 6, 2010, Sale El Sol, 12
July 1, 2017, El Dorado, 5
April 6, 2024, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran

Elsewhere, Las Mujeres debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales (15,000 sold in its opening week). The 17-track set concurrently opens at No. 4 on the Vinyl Albums tally with –6,000 vinyl LPs sold– her first top 10 on her first try there, plus, it bests El Dorado’s No. 15 debut and peak on the overall Billboard 200, starting at No. 13.

‘Puntería’s’ Marksmanship Blasts Shakira To Different Orbit Across Songs Charts: On the songs realm, Las Mujeres parades three new cuts on the multi-metric Hot Latin Songs chart: “Puntería,” with Cardi B, leads the new recruits, launching at No. 3 –Shakira’s highest debut since “TQG,” with Karol G, debuted at No. 1 on the chart-dated March 11, 2023. The chart ranks the most popular Latin songs of the week by blending streaming, airplay, and sales data.

“Puntería” opens at No. 3 on Hot Latin Songs mainly on the strength of streaming data and strong radio support. The album’s eighth single logged 6.6 million official U.S. streams during the same tracking week, enough to shoot the collab to a No. 6 start on Latin Streaming Songs.

“Puntería” also sold 3,000 digital downloads in the same period, sparking a No. 1 start on Latin Digital Song Sales and a No. 10 start on the overall Digital Song Sales survey.

Meanwhile, “(Entre Paréntesis),” with Grupo Frontera, arrives at No. 22, while “Cohete,” her second partnership with Rauw Alejandro (after the No. 10-peaking “Te Felicito” in 2022), bows at No. 48.

Extends Latin Airplay No. 1 Record Among Women: Further, with “Puntería,” Shakira extends her record for the most No. 1s on the overall Latin Airplay ranking among female artists, with 22, as the song debuts atop the list with 9 million audience impressions. With the new leader, the Colombian opens a larger gap from her closest competitor: Karol G, who comes in second with 17 No. 1s. Plus, she ties with Wisin for the seventh-most rulers among all acts.

Here’s a look at the mainly male-dominated list of Latin Airplay highfliers:

36, J Balvin
34, Ozuna
32, Enrique Iglesias
28, Daddy Yankee
24, Bad Bunny
24, Maluma
22, Shakira
22, Wisin

First No. 1 Debut on Latin Pop Airplay: Shakira steps on different ground on Latin Pop Airplay, where “Puntería,” with Cardi B, debuts at No. 1. It’s the first time either act has debuted atop the list. The new achievement earns Shakira her maiden debut at the summit since 1996, when “Estoy Aquí” ruled for four weeks.

In sum, 24 of her songs have led the Latin pop ranking, the most for any woman since the chart’s inception in 1994, where Enrique Iglesias continues to rule with 25 No. 1s.

Cementing Her Regional Mexican Airplay Prescence: Beyond her Latin Airplay command, Shakira snatches her second top 10 on Regional Mexican Airplay as “(Entre Paréntesis),” with Frontera, debuts at No. 10. Her second chart appearance generated 4.33 million audience impressions across regional Mexican stations in its first tracking week.

Shakira’s latest entry on the Mexican radio ranking, follows her Fuerza Regida collab, “El Jefe,” which reached to No. 9 last November.

Lastly, as “(Entre Paréntesis)” starts in the top 10, Shakira becomes the second Latin pop act to secure a top 10 on Regional Mexican Airplay in 2024. Previously Becky G’s “Por El Contrario,” her first team-up with siblings Angela and Leonardo Aguilar, ruled for one week (chart dated March 9).

02 Apr 2024

Soca Superstar Kes Breaks Down Five Favorite Tracks From First Album in 10 Years: ‘It’s Time to Position Ourselves in a Global Way’

Last year, the world celebrated the 50th anniversary of hip-hop with months of star-studded concerts, awards show tributes, museum exhibitions and more – but that wasn’t the only genre commemorating its golden anniversary in 2023. Soca – which Road March-winning Kes frontman Kees Dieffenthaller describes as “happy music, a young version of calypso… a mixture of Afro, Indian and ‘world’ beats in one place” — also celebrated its half-century milestone.  

To kick off the next 50 years of soca’s evolution, Kes has returned with its first studio album in ten years, Man With No Door. Inspired by a man who litter lived in a house with no door – whom Kes met while wandering around Trinidad and rediscovering his favorites places on the island – the new LP is a manifestation of that man’s energy. “He just lives free,” he says. “I felt like that creatively at the time. I am the man with no door. I want to create this world based on that experience.”

The new album marks something of a renaissance for Kes. The band officially formed in 2005, and have for nearly two decades provided some of the most dominant Carnival anthems of the young century. From instant soca classics like “Wotless” (2011) to breezier tunes like “Hello” (2017), Kes’ singular sound and vibrant live show has lifted the band to international stages such as Essence Festival and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and collaborations with this likes of Wizkid and Snoop Dogg. 

Soca, of course, is infused with live instrumentation at its core. Although the genre has recently began to shift towards a producer-first bent, Kes remains steadfast in its commitment to upholding the legacy of live playing, especially in their studio recordings. “It goes back to the tradition of it all,” he muses. “In a band, you get to understand how different people play the same instruments differently. There is something very powerful about actually witnessing what that is, rather than [getting it] off a computer. Live instrumentation also give a unique blend and mix. You can’t play the same thing twice, it’s a fingerprint unique to that time and air. We can from that live world and that’s a big part of our entire act. I feel like there is a hidden language that is translated to people through live music.”

Although Man With No Door marks Kes’ first studio LP in a decade, they did release We Home – a joyous live album that reimagines the band’s catalog – during the pandemic (Aug. 28, 2020). During the same period, the band was also working on several singles that would eventually become part of Man With No Door. “Doing We Home was therapy,” Kes reveals. “I felt like I was closing a chapter in my creative life where I pay homage to the last decade of music that I did. [Doing] We Home while creating new music felt like death and a beginning at the same time. And both are glorious in their own way.” 

The new LP recruits a flashy list of guest stars to execute Kes’ “application” of soca across different styles and sonic traditions, including Shaggy, Queen Omega, Busy Signal, Dwala, Tano, J Perry and Michaël Brun. While Kes is most excited about “Rise Up,” a collaboration with fellow Trinbagonian Queen Omega, whose music he calls “powerful,” he also highlights his work with J. Perry and Michael Brun, noting, “We experienced freedom because of [Haiti]. I just really wanted them a part of the Caribbean of my experience musically. The language barrier and history have kept a lot of us apart, it was important for them to be on this record.” 

For Kes, Man With No Door is part of a concerted effort to usher in the next era of soca. Despite the genre’s storied history, its global crossover appeal has been somewhat limited, due to its allegiance to single releases timed to the Carnival season calendar. “We as a genre need to diversify all dimensions,” proclaims Kes. “Get some more energy outside of just the Carnival calendar situation, and step into Billboard and step into different venue spaces and create collabs that bridge gaps. It’s time for us to really position ourselves in a global way, and I think creating bodies of work is very important [for that].” 

“Everybody listens to soca. There’s that one soca song that caught someone’s ear that influenced the next studio session. We all know that,” Kes says. “[Soca] has provided the world with a particular energy that only it can provide. And there’s still so much of the word that is yet to discover it.”  

Keep reading to find out the stories behind Kes’ five favorite tracks on the band’s brand new Man With No Door album, told in his own words.

02 Apr 2024

Hot 100 First-Timers: Artemas Debuts With Viral Hit ‘I Like the Way You Kiss Me’

Artemas is officially a Billboard Hot 100-charting artist.

The English-Cypriot singer-songwriter lands his first entry on the April 6-dated list, as “I Like the Way You Kiss Me” opens at No. 70. The song, released March 19, debuts almost entirely on the strength of its streaming sum: 8.3 million official U.S. streams – up 555% – in the March 22-28 tracking week, according to Luminate.

The single also opens at No. 8 on Hot Alternative Songs and No. 9 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, as well as No. 11 on Billboard Global Excl. U.S. and No. 19 on the Billboard Global 200, led by 34.7 million streams worldwide.

Artemas himself also vaults 42-11 on the Emerging Artists chart.

“Kiss Me” has been boosted by exposure on TikTok, where Artemas teased the song for weeks leading up to its official release. The song has soundtracked over 300,000 clips on the platform to date.

Trending on Billboard

Artemas first appeared on Billboard’s charts in January, when his prior viral hit “If U Think I’m Pretty” debuted on Hot Alternative Songs and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs. It currently ranks at Nos. 22 and 26, after reaching Nos. 15 and 20, respectively, with 3.5 million streams (up 7%). “Pretty” has also been aided by TikTok, as the song has been used in over 200,000 clips.

Artemas (full name: Artemas Diamandis), from Oxfordshire, England, has been releasing music since 2020. He has self-released two full-length albums: I’m Sorry I’m Like This in 2022, and Pretty (which includes “If U Think I’m Pretty”) on Feb. 9.

One other song from Artemas’ catalog is also showing notable growth: “Cross My Heart,” from Pretty, has been used in 23,000 TikTok clips, helping the song rake in 400,000 streams March 22-28, up 61% from the previous week.

02 Apr 2024

John Sinclair, Former MC5 Manager and Activist, Dies at 82

A few years back, as he released one of many albums combining his poetry and music, John Sinclair explained that, “I’m trying to do that while I’m here so when I go, I’ll have the feeling I left it behind the way I wanted,” he said. “I’ve always approached each thing I do like it’s the last, just like every day like it’s the last. I’m kind of a practicing existentialist in that way.”

Sinclair — who died Tuesday morning (April 2) from heart failure at Detroit Receiving Hospital at the age of 82 —honed that existentialism throughout a storied career. A poet, writer, author, critic, scholar, activist, recording artist and performer, he was beloved as a raconteur and an iconoclastic personality, and best known as the original manager of rock band MC5 and a marijuana proponent who was championed by John Lennon.

“(Sinclair) is one of those ‘a lot of things to a lot of people’ kind of guys,” MC5 co-founder Wayne Kramer, who himself passed away on Feb. 2, told Billboard in 2018. “He has a lot of passions, a lot of interests, a lot of causes that he maintains … Not always a saint or the easiest guy to get along with, and sometimes we hated him. But I would say he was a mentor and a friend … and he was as a very important part in what the MC5 became.”

Trending on Billboard

Grammy Award winning-producer and Blue Note Records president Don Was, who recorded and performed with Sinclair on a number of occasions, adds that, “To me he was as important and influential as any activist, any politician or any musician, doubling as a voice of a generation…as such he made the world a better place.”

Sinclair was born in Flint, Mich., and studied at Albion University and the University of Michigan’s Flint branch, from which he graduated in 1964 after working for the school’s newspaper and serving on its Publications Board and Cinema Guild. He went on to the Fifth Estate, Detroit’s counter-culture newspaper, and the Detroit Artists Workshop Press. He wrote about jazz for Down Beat magazine, read at the Berkeley Poetry Conference during July of 1965 and co-founded the Ann Arbor Sun, another underground newspaper, in the spring of 1967 with his first wife, photographer Leni Sinclair, and psychedelic poster artist Gary Grimshaw.

Was, who considered Sinclair “one of my heroes,” tells Billboard that “in the 60s, culture — art, music, film and poetry — was weaponized in part of a global struggle for all different kind freedom. And in Detroit, John stood in the leadership position in the intersection of all that. I don’t think every city had their own John Sinclair. He was a unique character who had this combination of coolness and vision and a kind of principled energy — along with a sense of playfulness that made it fun as well as serious.”

During the mid-60s, Sinclair met the members of the MC5, who hailed from the Detroit suburb of Lincoln Park. Kramer credited Sinclair with helping to expand the band’s musical horizons further in the direction of R&B, free jazz and blues. “They were very ambitious, more sophisticated than the usual rock ‘n’ roll guys in what they were trying to do,” Sinclair remembered earlier this year, when Kramer passed. “And they were willing to work, as hard as they had to, to be great.”

Sinclair managed the MC5 through 1969, helping the group score its contract with Elektra Records. Working with the White Panther Party, Sinclair also steered the band in a political direction, including a performance at an anti-Vietnam War rally that was broken up by police. The group eventually found Sinclair’s politics stifling, however, and parted ways with him.

In 1969, Sinclair was arrested for marijuana possession, after offering to joints to an undercover police officer, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Abbie Hoffman invoked his name during The Who’s performance at Woodstock that summer, and Lennon wrote a song “John Sinclair” to champion his cause. (It appears on his 1972 album Some Time in New York City). Lennon and Yoko Ono also performed at the John Sinclair Freedom Rally during December 1971 in Ann Arbor, joining a lineup that included Stevie Wonder, Bob Seger, Phil Ochs, David Peel and others; Sinclair was freed three days later after the Michigan State Supreme Court deemed the state’s marijuana statues unconstitutional.

“He was the Nelson Mandela of pot, he really was,” says Martin “Tino” Gross, a longtime friend and musical collaborator in Detroit who produced Sinclair’s last two albums — Mobile Homeland and Still Kickin’ — for his laebl Funky D Records. “He took the fall, man — 10 years for two joints. There’s a whole (cannabis) industry now that owes him a debt.”

Sinclair also faced charges of conspiracy to destroy government property in 1972, which went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and resulted in a landmark decision that prohibited the government’s use of electronic surveillance without a warrant.

After those cases, Sinclair spent time living in Amsterdam — where he established the John Sinclair Foundation to promote arts and media — and New Orleans, where he continued writing and performing. He formed bands, including several iterations of his Blues Scholars, and recorded a litany of albums, including the highly regarded Guitar Army in 2007. He also hosted performances at the Detroit Jazz Center in the city’s downtown and launched the Radio Free Amsterdam channel online.

“John was my mentor in the 70s self-determination music,” says Detroit musician and label operator RJ Spangler, whose Planet D Nonet collaborated with Sinclair on the Viper Madness album in 2008. “John really turned us onto New Orleans music and culture; we had grand times together in the Big Easy. It will not be the same without him.”

Gross — who like many in Sinclair’s circles refers to him as “The Chief” — adds that, “If you could hang out with the guy, it was incredible. To experience his love for jazz and what he could teach you in an hour was amazing.” And, Gross notes, “He never for one second veered of his path of pushing back against The Man. John stood up for the downtrodden, as cliché as that might sound. He would champion black culture and blues and jazz music, and anybody who seemed oppressed, John was in their corner.”

Sinclair had been in poor health for a number of years, including diabetes, and was admitted to the hospital during the weekend to treat a leg sore that had become infected and turned into sepsis. He’s survived by two daughters, Marianne and Celia. Memorial arrangements are pending.