Music

12 Jul 2023

New Artists Offer a Variety of Sounds With Country Debuts in the Last Half of 2023

Country music can be difficult to define, and the pack of new artists serving up debuts over the next six months won’t make it any easier.

At least a dozen artists have their inaugural albums or EPs on the way during the last half of 2023, and each of them has a distinct look, sound, and backstory. The crowd includes two women (Ashley Cooke and Harper O’Neill) with distinctly different sounds; party-leaning, biracial duo Neon Union; Latin American ex-cop Frank Ray; and rough-edged Warren Zeiders.

John Morgan and Dylan Marlowe have both snared hits as songwriters for other acts, though Morgan introduced himself as an artist through a TV competition and Marlowe emerged via TikTok.

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Shane Profitt, like Ray, already has a top 20 single under his belt, and The Frontmen have over 50, given that the trio consists of lead singers from established groups that hit their strides in the 1990s.
Here’s an overview of the acts who could help define country’s future with their debut albums or EPs expected between now and Dec. 31:

Ashley Cooke (Big Loud) — Cooke’s debut album — shot in the dark, due July 21 — includes guest appearances by Brett Young, Colbie Caillat, Nate Smith and Jackson Dean among its 24 tracks, anchored by Cooke’s smoky timbre and reflective writing approach. She will be further boosted by opening on 16 Luke Bryan tour dates, beginning July 13.

Jordan Fletcher (Triple Tigers) — The Jacksonville, Fla., native lost his dad at age 11, and his scant knowledge about his father made him fiercely dedicated to telling his own story in his music, which results in a self-titled album in November. His sometimes soulful productions are loaded with honest vocals, delivered with understated conviction.

The Frontmen (BMG/BBR Music Group) — Larry Stewart, Tim Rushlow and Richie McDonald were introduced as lead singers for Restless Heart, Little Texas and Lonestar, respectively, in the 1990s, but have worked as a separate collective since around 2011. The trio finally announced its label signing in March and is working on its first project.

Alex Hall (Monument) — An astute guitarist with an expansive vocal range and classic approach to words and music, Hall explores a variety of sounds on his first album, Side Effects of the Heart, expected Sept. 15. The project conveys an optimistic world view, but it’s clearly filtered through real-world heartache and familiar disappointment.

Ryan Larkins (Red Street Country) — His songs have been covered by Tim McGraw, Cody Johnson and Bill Anderson & Dolly Parton. The Nashville-bred Larkins phrases with an old-school Trace Adkins clarity and is prepping the release of his first single, with his debut EP, Meet Ryan Larkins, on tap for a Sept. 29 street date.

Dylan Marlowe (Sony Music Nashville) — Hailing from Statesboro, Ga., Marlowe earned viral attention with a country version of Olivia Rodrigo’s “drivers license,” then co-wrote Jon Pardi’s “Last Night Lonely.” His first EP — Dirt Road When I Die, released July 7 — ranges from banjo-flecked country to headbanger tones with tight, edgy harmonies certifying his country roots.

John Morgan (Broken Bow) — Hot off his May 19 Grand Ole Opry debut, Morgan has achieved several milestones, netting hits as a writer of Jason Aldean’s “Trouble With a Heartache” and the Aldean/Carrie Underwood duet “If I Didn’t Love You,” and competing on NBC’s American Song Contest. His initial EP is under construction.

Neon Union (Red Street Country) — The biracial duo, blending North Carolina’s Andrew Millsaps and Miami’s Leo Brooks, has a gritty tone that approximates Montgomery Gentry’s precedent by playfully mixing blue-collar country with obvious Southern rock influence. Introduced to country radio with “Bout Damn Time,” Neon Union’s first EP, Double Wide Castle Sessions, arrives July 21.

Harper O’Neill (Harper O’Neill Music) — Affiliated with QPrime South management, plus publishers Jody Williams Songs and Warner Chappell Nashville, O’Neill approaches a song with the timeless simplicity and directness of Patsy Cline, but with a ragged, world-weary tone. She self-releases her inaugural EP this summer in between tour dates with Ashley McBryde and Morgan Wade.

Shane Profitt (BMLG) — The Tennessean’s first EP, Maury County Line, included the top 20 Country Airplay hit “How It Oughta Be.” Introduced to Music Row by Chris Janson, Profitt’s powerful tones are built on classic country roots and a brash frankness. His first full album, its release date TBD, is tentatively titled I Am What I Am.

Frank Ray (Stoney Creek) — Ray owns a clear, rangy voice and a fluid stylistic bent with a brand of country that folds in pop, rock, hip-hop and Latin influences, allowing for a fair amount of variation in his first, self-titled album, released July 7. It includes top 20 single “Country’d Look Good on You.”

Warren Zeiders (Warner) — The 14-track Pretty Little Poison, named after Zeider’s current single, presents a voice full of sandpaper, sorrow, whine and snarl. The uncluttered production is part outlaw, part Southern rock and part post-grunge, creating a dark surface pastiche, though underneath there’s a sense of survivor instinct and determination for something better.

12 Jul 2023

Watch Paramore’s Hayley Williams Cover a Beyoncé Deep Cut in Houston

There are a few things synonymous with Houston: NASA’s Johnson Space Center, the Rockets and, of course, Beyoncé. When Paramore touched down in the city on Tuesday (July 11) during its This Is Why Tour, the band couldn’t help but pay tribute to one of Houston’s most iconic figures, with Hayley Williams delivering a haunting cover of Beyoncé’s “I Miss You.”

Co-written with Frank Ocean, “I Miss You” is a fan-favorite deep cut that appears on Queen Bey’s 4, her aptly titled fourth solo studio album. “It hurts my pride to tell you how I feel, but I still need to/ Why is that,” Williams crooned in the shadows as she and her bandmates remained strikingly still on the red-lit stage. She belted out half of the second verse, the chorus and the song’s bridge completely a cappella before launching into a rendition of “Crystal Clear,” a track from Petals for Armor, her debut solo studio album.

Paramore is currently in the midst of its This Is Why Tour in support of the band’s sixth studio album of the same name. At the top of this year, This Is Why became the band’s fourth consecutive top 10 album on the Billboard 200, reaching No. 2. The record also debuted atop Top Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums. Featuring supporting acts ranging from Bloc Party to The Linda Lindas, the band’s latest trek will wrap on Aug. 2 after visiting fans across North America, Europe and South America.

Those who missed the Grammy-winning band on this tour need not worry. Paramore is set to return the stage next year. Beginning May 9, 2024, the group will be the main supporting act for 14 stops on the European leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. Hayley Williams recently appeared as a featured artist on “Castles Crumbling,” a “From the Vault” track from Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), Swift’s latest re-recording.

Check out some fan clips of Hayley Williams covering “I Miss You” below:

12 Jul 2023

Here’s Why Zayn Malik Says He ‘Completely Selfishly’ Left One Direction

March 25, 2015, lives on in infamy for One Direction fans as the beginning of the end — aka, when Zayn Malik decided to leave the band. But in a candid new interview on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast, the 30-year-old pop star hinted that if he hadn’t separated from the group to pursue his own solo career, one of the other five guys probably would have sooner rather than later.

“There was a lot of … look, I don’t want to go into too much detail, but there was a lot of politics going on,” Malik told Cooper on the Wednesday (July 12) episode, careful not to call out ex-bandmates Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson by name. “Certain people were doing certain things, certain people didn’t want to sign contracts, so I knew something was happening. So I just got ahead of the curve.”

“If I’m being honest with you, I was like, ‘I’m just going to get out of here.’ I think this is done and I just seen it, and I completely selfishly wanted to be the first person to go and make my own record if I’m being completely honest with you,” he added. “I’m a passive dude, but when it comes to my music and my business, I’m serious about it and I’m competitive, so I wanted to be the first to go and do my own thing.”

Malik — who announced earlier this week that his new single “Love Like This” will drop July 21 — also admitted that by the end of his run with the boy band, everyone was little bit tired of one another. “We’ve been together every day for five years and we’ve got sick of each other, if I’m being completely honest,” he admitted.

“We were close. We done crazy things with each other that nobody else in the world will ever understand or have those experiences that we’ve shared with each other, and I look back on it now in a much fonder light than I would’ve as I just left,” he continued. “There were great experiences, I had great times with them, but yeah, we just run our course.”

Listen to the full episode below:

12 Jul 2023

Why Do Corridos Tumbados Generate Controversy?

In May, local authorities of a famous resort in Cancún, Mexico, banned live concerts of corridos tumbados, and other musical genres that authorities believe encourage violence. 

At the same time, in the United States and in Mexico, the most important artist of the moment in Latin music is Peso Pluma, the newest Mexican star who this week has 11 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 (dated July 15).

And while Peso Pluma is known for many styles of music, from romantic sierreño (like the hit “Ella Baila Sola” with Eslabon Armado) to party songs like “La Bebe Remix” with Yng Lvcas, he also sings corridos tumbados, a subgenre of traditional Mexican corridos that fuses rap, hip-hop and even reggaetón, and that often openly address the issue of weapons and drugs.  

He’s not the only one. Artists such as Natanael Cano, Junior H, Luis R. Conriquez and Fuerza Regida, among many others, also sing corridos tumbados as part of their repertoire, managing to enter the global Billboard charts with those songs. 

The music can be successful, but in Mexico, it has been a source of controversy. Along with their popularity, corridos tumbados raise controversy precisely because of their lyrical themes, in a country with thousands of violent deaths and more than 111,000 missing people, according to official data. 

Performances of narcocorridos — corridos that narrate the lives and exploits of real or fictional drug traffickers — have been banned in several Mexican states for decades, and now, those bans have been extended against corridos tumbados in some places. 

Specifically, on May 18, local authorities did not allow a second concert by Alfredo Ríos, better known as El Komander, to take place.

El Komander had a second show scheduled for May 19 at the Plaza de Toros along with Chuy Lizárraga, Ángel Preciado and Francisco “El Gallo” Elizalde. But the general secretary of the Cancún City Council, Jorge Aguilar Osorio, announced on social media that the city council had approved a new measure that would not allow the concert to take place. 

“Not allowing the concert to take place has to do with the fact that the city council has decided not to continue authorizing public performances that encourage violence,” said Aguilar Osorio. “We do not limit freedom of expression. Artists can sing whatever music they want. But the authorities cannot have this ambiguity of looking for a better, more peaceful society and, on the other hand, raise alerts every time we have these concerts due to the probabilities of violence that these type of public spectacles can generate”. 

Controversial Rhythms 

The controversy that corridos tumbados generate today is the same that was generated in the past by the so-called narcocorridos, which glorify drug traffickers. 

Because it is considered a justification for the crime, the dissemination of narcocorridos has been prohibited since the early 2000s in the states of Baja California, Chihuahua and Sinaloa, the latter is the home state of Mexican cartel kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. The prohibition consists of million-dollar fines and even the veto of concerts for those who perform them live. 

Sanctions against corridos have even reached popular groups like Los Tigres del Norte, fined in 2017 by Chihuahua authorities for singing narcocorridos, and Los Tucanes de Tijuana, who were banned by Tijuana authorities in 2008 from playing live for allegedly giving a shout out to a capo during a concert in that city. 

As for corridos tumbados, these are equally popular among the youth on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. The lyrics about drug use and the war between cartels are a fundamental part of the composition — although over time, some performers have integrated lyrics of love and heartbreak. 

“People like the sound of tumbados and when the new genre started, they sang about drugs and other situations, but now they sing about heartbreak,” Danny Felix, singer-songwriter and co-writer of several of Natanael Cano’s first hits, told Billboard Español.

For Oswaldo Zavala, journalist and academic at the City University of New York (CUNY), the justification discourse is based on a political-social position that seeks to regulate this type of cultural expression associated with drug trafficking. 

“There is a way of imagining northern Mexico as a place of violence, in the case of corridos tumbados, or Latin America in general, and also of a lot of sensuality and eroticism. These two pathways are constantly activated in much of the popular music that is currently consumed,” Zavala says.

The issue of corridos is so debated that even the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has spoken about it on several occasions. “Forbidden to prohibit,” he said last week in one of his daily conferences with the press, stressing that he did not believe in censorship. But, he added: “We have the right and obligation to guide young people and give our opinion that nothing that leads to drug use should not be accepted […] There is a wide repertoire of songs that have nothing to do with drugs or with violence.” 

12 Jul 2023

Kylie Minogue Could ‘Very Possibly’ Be Planning a Vegas Residency or Tour

The Las Vegas residency is the new staple in the careers of pop icons — superstars such as Adele, Katy Perry and Kelly Clarkson are currently lighting up the Strip with their shows. Now, Kylie Minogue is teasing that she might be joining their ranks soon.

On the Tuesday (July 11) episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, Minogue appeared with fellow guest Adam Lambert, and was grilled by Cohen about her plans for the future. At one point, Cohen specifically asked if she had any plans when it came to a “tour or Vegas residency.” Squinting her eyes mischievously, Minogue answered, “Very possibly.”

The tease comes on the heels of the viral success of Minogue’s latest single “Padam Padam,” which currently sits at No. 7 on Billboard‘s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart — a career first for the pop legend.

Elsewhere in the episode, Minogue opened up about the pressures of performing pop music live, especially when it comes to translating the breakout success of “Padam Padam” into a live performance. “It takes some consideration, but I think ‘Padam’ is kind of living its best life on stage, as well,” she said. “I can’t imagine how Cher did it with ‘Believe.’ But I think people understand, with the way a song is produced, there’s production. I don’t press a button and sound like that — I sing live on stage.”

Check out a clip from Watch What Happens Live, in which Minogue and Lambert break down their favorite live performances, below:

12 Jul 2023

Britney Spears Slams Comment That She ‘Deserved to Be Smacked’ In Alleged Vegas Incident With Victor Wembanyama

Britney Spears has promised to be super-candid in her upcoming memoir, The Woman in Me. That radical honesty has also seemingly extended to her feelings about the recent incident in which she alleged that she was struck by highly touted NBA rookie Victor Wembanyama’s security detail in Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas Police Department concluded its probe last week into the incident and said in a statement that no charges would be filed “against the person involved.”

In an Instagram video posted on Tuesday night (July 11), the singer addressed what she said was a recent comment about the run-in in Vegas “that a lot of people are talking about.” Without naming names, Spears said she heard a news report about a radio station “talking smack… and talking s–t” saying that “I deserved to be smacked” because Wembanyama’s security detail were just doing their job and protecting their client.

“I’ve been with the most famous people in the world… *NSYNC at one time, girls would like literally throw themselves at them on my way into the place actually I was knocked down by three 12-year-olds trying to get my picture,” the singer said about her 1998 Second II None Tour, on which she opened for future boyfriend Justin Timberlake’s boy band.

“My security, not one time, touched them or even came near them,” she explained. The point or relaying that story, she said, was that, “I didn’t appreciate the people saying that I deserved to be hit. Because no woman ever deserves to be hit.” Spears explained that she tapped the 7′ 5″ tall San Antonio Spurs center on the back and then was “backhanded.. hit my face,” causing her to fall to the floor, where her best friend scooped her up and held her.

She said she got an apology at her table 30 minutes later, but noted that she has yet to receive a public apology. Before the LVPD investigation, Spears filed a police report alleging battery after she claimed that she was stuck in the face by a member of Wembanyama’s security team while trying to greet him in a Vegas hotel.

According to TMZ, which first reported the news, Spears was dining with husband Sam Asghari and two friends at Catch at the Aria Hotel when she saw the Spurs No. 1 pick and wanted to take a photo with him. When she tapped Wembanyama on the shoulder, Director of Team Security for the Spurs Damian Smith reportedly pushed her, hitting her in the face and causing the singer to fall to the ground.

As Britney noted, Smith then reportedly apologized to her, saying he didn’t recognize the pop star at the time of the incident, with Spears reportedly accepted the apology. TMZ reported that law enforcement checked the Aria Hotel’s security footage, which reportedly showed Smith pushing Spears’ hand away from Wembanyama, causing her own hand to strike her in the face before she fell.

In a statement shared by Associated Press, Wembanyama said that Spears “grabbed me from behind,” and that he didn’t know it was the “Womanizer” singer until several hours later. “I just know the security pushed her away. I don’t know with how much force but security pushed her away. I didn’t stop to look so I could walk in and enjoy a nice dinner,” he said.

In an Instagram post last week, Spears first recounted her Beatlemania-style experiences while touring with *NSYNC and praised herself for resisting the instinct to hit the security guard back, even as she said she was still a “huge fan” of the preternaturally gifted Wembanyama. “It’s not his fault his security hit me … s— happens !!!,” she said.

Billboard has reached out to Spears’ team and the Spurs for additional information and comment on the incident, with neither responding at press time.

Watch Spears discuss the Wembanyama run-in below.

12 Jul 2023

The Cure Doubles Its Previous Best With $37.5 Million North American Tour

The Cure is more than 40 years deep into its career, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late for new peaks. The British band embarked on the Shows of a Lost World Tour and generated its biggest grosses and attendance ever. After playing its final show earlier this month, the tour grossed $37.5 million and sold 547,000 tickets over 35 shows in the U.S. and Canada, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore.

While those figures are personal highs among the band’s global touring career (dating back to The Cure’s first Boxscore reports in 1985; the band has been touring since the late ‘70s), apples-to-apples comparisons against its North American treks spotlight the tour’s success even better. The $37.5 million revenue total is more than double the band’s previous North American high of $18 million in 2016. And the 547,000 tickets surpass 1992’s 402,000.

Routing for the Shows of a Lost World Tour mixed arenas and amphitheaters in the U.S., yielding its biggest returns in the expected markets. Three shows at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl grossed $4.9 million and sold 50,800 tickets, while a three-peat at New York’s Madison Square Garden brought in $4.1 million from 44,300 tickets. Atlanta, Montreal and San Francisco follow.

Nightly attendance never dipped below 12,000, and averaged 15,629. That marks a 43% improvement over 2016’s 10,952, which itself was a 48% bump from The Cure’s 2008 tour. The band hadn’t averaged such a high attendance since 1989, when it paced 19,539 tickets in support of Disintegration. (That album was, at the time, the band’s highest charting album on the Billboard 200 [No. 12], containing its highest ranking hit on the Billboard Hot 100: “Love Song” [No. 2].)

This bar graph mirrors the peak-valley-peak trajectory that Billboard reported on Janet Jackson’s comeback spring tour. Both acts have sprawling discographies with close to a half century’s worth of beloved songs. That’s the kind of pitch that, after an extended break, can elevate an artist into their highly profitable legacy era, so-to-speak, soaking one’s deep roster of hits in a bath of nostalgia and extra disposable income.

Janet Jackson and The Cure may not make for the most obvious apples-to-apples comparison. But like Jackson, The Cure established a Boxscore peak around the turn of the ‘90s, before letting its legacy build to a new peak in the 2020s. Like Jackson, The Cure is touring without new material, many years away from its last album. (The band last released a new studio set in 2008.) Their 2023 shows marked the first North American tour for either act since the mid-2010s.

And while the effects of Jackson’s highly publicized mid-’00s controversy don’t quite apply here, the Shows of a Lost World Tour generated its own batch of headlines earlier this year. Frontman Robert Smith spoke out about various “scams” and fees, courtesy Ticketmaster and the larger secondary market, resisting dynamic pricing, platinum ticketing and scaled re-sale. The band went as far as to ensure that every show had a price option of $30 or less. Further, after fans made Smith aware of exorbitant fees, he negotiated with Ticketmaster to issue refunds.

As lines between primary and secondary ticket sellers blur and pricing strategies become more creative, concert revenues for arena acts have surged. And though it may seem like perfect timing to pair those ticketing practices with The Cure’s much-anticipated return to the stage, the band’s defiant public stand against gouging fans worked out in the end.

The Shows of a Lost World Tour averaged a $68.54 price, 37% less than the triple-digit average ticket among the top 50 tours on Billboard’s midyear 2023 recap. Only one artist in that top 50 – The 1975 – averaged less ($63.01), and that was with mostly European shows, where tickets haven’t exploded in the same way as the U.S., where The Cure played.

Still, the tour made enough money to have ranked among the top 20, had its shows been eligible (The midyear charts are based on shows between Nov. 1, 2022 – April 30, 2023. The Cure’s tour began on May 10.). The Cure’s bulked-up, career-high grosses are owed to consistently sold-out crowds, perhaps nudged along by the band’s steadfast dedication to affordable tickets.

Though the Shows of a Lost World Tour has wrapped, The Cure will play a slew of festivals plus a few standalone shows in Latin America between September and December.

Stretching back to 1985, The Cure has grossed a reported $146.1 million and sold 3 million tickets.

12 Jul 2023

Miley Cyrus’ ‘Party in the U.S.A.’ Returns to Hot 100 After July 4 Gains

Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.” is back on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (dated July 15) for the first time since its initial chart run in 2009-10, thanks to annual Fourth of July gains.

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The song (released on her former label Hollywood Records; she’s now signed to Columbia Records) re-enters the Hot 100 at No. 50 with 8 million U.S. streams (up 64%), 5.2 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 34%) and 6,000 downloads sold (up 560%) in the June 30-July 6 tracking week, according to Luminate. The sales sum helps it also re-enter the Digital Song Sales chart at No. 7.

“Party in the U.S.A.” was a smash hit during its original chart run. It debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100 in August 2009, becoming Cyrus’ highest charting song at the time. She had previously reached the top 10 with “See You Again” (No. 10 peak in 2008), “7 Things” (No. 9; 2008), “The Climb” (No. 4; 2009) and “He Could Be The One” (No. 10; 2009).

The re-entry is an added bonus to an already huge year for Cyrus. In March, she dropped her eighth studio album, Endless Summer Vacation, which hit No. 3 on the Billboard 200 after its debut, becoming her 14th top 10. Ahead of the LP’s release, lead single “Flowers” debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in January and spent eight weeks on top. It ranks at No. 5 this week in its 25th consecutive week on the chart — all of which has been spent in the top five. The song became her second No. 1, after the three-week reign of “Wrecking Ball” in 2013.

“Flowers” also hit No. 1 on four individual radio formats: Adult Pop Airplay (for 17 weeks), Adult Contemporary (14 and counting), Pop Airplay (10) and Dance/Mix Show Airplay (four). It ruled the all-format Radio Songs chart for 18 weeks, setting a new record for a title by a woman. In the chart’s history, only The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” has spent more time at No. 1, with 26 weeks.

In total, five songs from Endless Summer Vacation have charted on the Hot 100: “Flowers,” “River” (No. 32 peak), “Jaded” (No. 56), “Thousand Miles” featuring Brandi Carlile (No. 68) and “Rose Colored Lenses” (No. 91).

Older songs such as “Party in the U.S.A.” are eligible for the Hot 100 if they rank within the top 50 and have a meaningful reason for their resurgences. We occasionally see this phenomenon during the year if catalog songs go viral and/or are newly promoted, as with Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” (from 2019 and now in the Hot 100’s top 10) or have notable TV/film synchs that generate newfound interest, as was the case with Kate Bush’s 1985 classic “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” last year. And we see it during every holiday season, when festive songs storm the higher ranks of the Hot 100.

12 Jul 2023

Morgan Wallen’s ‘One Thing at a Time’ & Miley Cyrus’ ‘Flowers’ Lead Luminate’s 2023 Midyear Charts

In the first six months of 2023, Morgan Wallen’s monster album One Thing at a Time was the most popular album, while Miley Cyrus’ smash single “Flowers” was the most-streamed song (by on-demand streams, audio and video combined), respectively, at the midyear point in the U.S., according to Luminate. “Flowers” was also the most-heard song on radio airwaves, with over 2.4 billion in radio audience impressions.

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Read more about midyear metrics in the 2023 Luminate Midyear Music Report.

‘One Thing’ is Tops: For the tracking period of Dec. 30, 2022, through June 29, 2023, Wallen’s One Thing at a Time was the most popular album in the U.S. The country star’s latest studio effort was released on March 3, 2023 via Big Loud/Mercury/Republic Records and earned 3.312 million equivalent album units in the first half of 2023. (See full top 10 chart, below.) One Thing at a Time spent 15 nonconsecutive weeks atop the weekly Billboard 200 chart in March-July – the most weeks at No. 1 for any album since Adele’s 21 racked up 24 nonconsecutive weeks in 2011-12.

Concurrently, the One Thing at a Time single “Last Night” was the most-streamed song by on-demand audio streams in the first half of 2023 in the U.S., with 588.7 million on-demand audio streams (inclusive of user-generated content streams). “Last Night” spent 13 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on the weekly all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart from March through July – the singer-songwriter’s first leader on the tally.

The most-streamed song by total on-demand streams (audio and video combined, inclusive of user-generated content streams) was Cyrus’ “Flowers,” with 750.7 million clicks in the first six months of the year. “Flowers” led the Hot 100 eight nonconsecutive weeks from January through early April. It marked Cyrus’ second chart-topper, following 2013’s “Wrecking Ball.”

Equivalent album units – for album titles and chart rankings cited below (but not industry volume numbers) – comprise traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sales, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album, or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official and audio streams generated by songs from an album.

Equivalent album units cited for album titles below, and in the “Midyear Top 10 Albums in U.S.” chart do not include user-generated content (UGC) streams. UGC streams are included in Luminate’s industry volume numbers and its midyear song streaming rankings. (UGC streams are not factored into any of Billboard’s weekly charts.)

For the sake of clarity, equivalent album units do not include listening to music on broadcast radio or digital radio broadcasts. All numbers cited in this story are rounded, and for the U.S. only. Programmed streams are not included in any of the data in this story.

Luminate (formerly MRC Data, Nielsen Music and SoundScan) began tracking music consumption in 1991. Luminate’s sales, streaming and airplay data is used to compile Billboard’s weekly charts.

Of One Thing at a Time’s 3.312 million equivalent album units earned at midyear, SEA units comprise 3.024 million (equaling 4.023 billion on-demand official streams of the set’s 36 songs), album sales comprise 242,000 and TEA units comprise 46,000.

The top five most popular albums at the midyear point in the U.S. are One Thing at a Time, SZA’s December 2022 release SOS (1.982 million equivalent album units), Taylor Swift’s October 2022 release Midnights (1.876 million), Wallen’s January 2021 release Dangerous: The Double Album (1.172 million) and Metro Boomin’s December 2022 release Heroes & Villains (1.038 million). In 2022, Midnights and Dangerous were the Nos. 2 and 3 most popular albums of the year in Luminate’s year-end report.

2023’s Midyear Top 10 Albums in U.S. (by Equivalent Album Units)
1. Morgan Wallen, One Thing at a Time (3.312 million)
2. SZA, SOS (1.982 million)
3. Taylor Swift, Midnights (1.876 million)
4. Morgan Wallen, Dangerous: The Double Album (1.173 million)
5. Metro Boomin’, Heroes & Villains (1.038 million)
6. Bad Bunny, Un Verano Sin Ti (967,000)
7. Drake & 21 Savage, Her Loss (898,000)
8. Zach Bryan, American Heartbreak (769,000)
9. Karol G, Mañana Séra Bonito (716,000)
10. Taylor Swift, Lover (711,000)
Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022, through June 29, 2023. UGC (user-generated content) streams are not included in this chart, but are included in Luminate’s on-demand streaming charts (below). Luminate’s equivalent album unit totals include SEA and TEA for an album’s songs registered before an album’s release, but only during the tracking period.

Total Album Consumption Increases 13.4% at Midyear: Year-to-date, total equivalent album units stand at 538.9 million – up 13.4% compared to the first half of 2022 (475.4 million in the tracking period of Dec. 31, 2021, through June 30, 2022).

Album Sales Up! Total album sales across all formats (physical CDs, vinyl, cassettes, etc., along with digital album downloads) increased by 7.9% in the first half of 2023 as compared to the same point in 2022. At the 2023 midyear point, 50.6 million albums were sold – up from the 49.6 million sold in the first half of 2022. The top-selling album of 2023 so far is Swift’s Midnights, with 607,000 copies sold

In total, there were 41.6 million physical albums sold (up 13.3% compared to 36.7 million at midyear 2022) and 9.234 million digital albums sold (down 11.2 percent compared to 10.4 million at midyear 2022).

CD album sales grew by 3.8% in the first half of 2023 (17.5 million vs. 16.9 million at midyear 2022), while vinyl album sales jumped by 21.7% (23.6 million vs. 19.4 million at midyear 2022). Even cassette tape album sales perked up. The mostly dormant format sold 212,000 in the first half of 2023 – up 5.8% compared to the 200,500 sold in the first half of 2022.

The top-selling album across all physical formats (CD, vinyl, cassette, etc.) at the midyear point is Swift’s Midnights, with 430,000 sold. It’s also the top-selling digital album (177,000) and vinyl LP (251,000). The biggest-selling CD album in the first half of 2023 was TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION with 395,000 copies sold.

Taylor Swift was the top-selling artist by total album sales in the first half of 2023, with 1.45 million albums sold across her entire catalog across all formats. Swift was also the top-selling in total physical album sales (1.19 million), vinyl album sales (808,000) and digital album sales (256,000). Stray Kids was the top-selling act in CD album sales (509,000).

2023’s Midyear Top 10 Selling Albums in U.S. (Physical & Digital Album Sales Combined)
1. Taylor Swift, Midnights (607,000)
2. TOMORROW X TOGETHER, The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION (399,000)
3. Stray Kids, 5-STAR (327,000)
4. TWICE, Ready to Be (286,000)
5. Morgan Wallen, One Thing at a Time (242,000)
6. SEVENTEEN, SEVENTEEN 10th Mini Album: FML (236,000)
7. Metallica, 72 Seasons (215,000)
8. Agust D, D-Day (200,000)
9. Jimin, FACE (152,000)
10. Melanie Martinez, Portals (194,000)
Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022, through June 29, 2023.

  1. Taylor Swift, Midnights (251,000)
  2. Lana Del Rey, Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. (132,000)
  3. Taylor Swift, Folklore (107,000)
  4. Tyler, The Creator, Igor (104,000)
  5. Fleetwood Mac, Rumours (103,000)
  6. Boygenius, The Record (100,000)
  7. Melanie Martinez, Portals (93,000)
  8. Michael Jackson, Thriller (85,000)
  9. Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon (85,000)
  10. Lana Del Rey, Born to Die (84,000)

On-Demand Streaming Up 15%, ‘Flowers’ Most-Streamed Song: “Flowers,” Cyrus’ Hot 100-topping single, was the most-streamed song in the first half of 2023 in the U.S., with 750.7 million on-demand streams (inclusive of UGC). SZA’s “Kill Bill” (701.2 million) and Wallen’s “Last Night” (642.8 million) round out the top three.

Total on-demand streams (audio and video combined) at midyear grew 15% in the U.S. as compared to the same point a year ago (713.5 billion vs. 620.2 billion). On-demand audio streams rose 13.5% (616.5 billion vs. 543.2 billion) while on-demand video streams grew 26% (97 billion vs. 77 billion).

UGC streams are included in Luminate’s industry streaming on-demand volume numbers (above) and its midyear streaming song charts (below). UGC streams are not factored into any of Billboard’s weekly charts.

In general, all songs in the below charts combine the assorted remixes of a song into one overall total. Thus, PinkPantheress’ “Boy’s a Liar” includes activity for its remix with Ice Spice, “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2,” The Weeknd’s “Die for You” includes activity for its remix with Ariana Grande,” and so forth.

2023’s Midyear Top 10 Most Streamed Songs in U.S. (On-Demand Audio & Video Combined)
1. Miley Cyrus, “Flowers” (750.7 million)
2. SZA, “Kill Bill” (701.2 million)
3. Morgan Wallen, “Last Night” (642.8 million)
4. PinkPantheress, “Boy’s a Liar” (580.7 million)
5. Lady Gaga, “Bloody Mary” (531.7 million)
6. Rema & Selena Gomez, “Calm Down” (486.3 million)
7. Twisted featuring Oliver Tree, “Worth Nothing” (462.7 million)
8. J. Cole featuring Amber Coffman & The Cults, “She Knows” (455.6 million)
9. Fifty Fifty, “Cupid” (427.7 million)
10. Lil Uzi Vert, “Just Wanna Rock” (416.1 million)
Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022, through June 29, 2023. Includes UGC streams.

2023’s Midyear Top 10 Most Streamed Songs in U.S. (On-Demand Audio)
1. Morgan Wallen, “Last Night” (588.7 million)
2. SZA, “Kill Bill” (567.6 million)
3. Miley Cyrus, “Flowers” (464.6 million)
4. PinkPantheress, “Boy’s a Liar” (370.4 million)
5. The Weeknd, “Die for You” (349.8 million)
6. Zach Bryan, “Something in the Orange” (331.2 million)
7. Metro Boomin, The Weeknd & 21 Savage, “Creepin’” (308.3 million)
8. Eslabon Armado x Peso Pluma, “Ella Baila Sola” (307.4 million)
9. Morgan Wallen, “You Proof” (303.3 million)
10. Taylor Swift, “Anti-Hero” (302.8 million)
Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022, through June 29, 2023. Includes UGC streams.

Digital Song Sales Drop 13%: Digital song sales fell 13% in the first six months of 2023, dipping to 69.57 million, as compared to 79.98 million sold in the first half of 2022. The top-selling digital song at the midyear point is Cyrus’ “Flowers” with 380,000 sold. Six songs sold more than 100,000 downloads in the first half of 2023. At midyear 2022, there were eight songs that sold in excess of 100,000.

2023’s Midyear Top 10 Selling Digital Songs in U.S.
1. Miley Cyrus, “Flowers” (380,000)
2. Jimin, “Like Crazy” (289,000)
3. Morgan Wallen, “Last Night” (217,000)
4. Luke Combs, “Fast Car” (126,000)
5. Beyoncé, “Cuff It” (119,000)
6. Rema & Selena Gomez, “Calm Down” (110,000)
7. Taylor Swift, “Anti-Hero” (97,000)
8. Lainey Wilson, “Heart Like a Truck” (89,000)
9. Ice Spice, “Princess Diana” (87,000)
10. Jelly Roll, “Need a Favor” (86,000)
Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022, through June 29, 2023.

‘Heat Waves’ Hottest on Radio: The most-heard song on U.S. radio in the first half of 2023 was Cyrus’ “Flowers,” with a cumulative 2.409 billion audience impressions across all formats monitored by Luminate. The single was released in early January and became one of the biggest radio hits in the modern era. It spent 18 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s all-format Radio Songs chart, tying Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris” for the second-most weeks at No. 1 since the chart began in 1990. The song with the most weeks at No. 1 on Radio Songs is The Weeknd’s enduring “Blinding Lights,” which ruled for 26 weeks in 2020.

2023’s Midyear Top 10 Radio Songs in U.S. (Based on Audience Impressions)
1. Miley Cyrus, “Flowers” (2.409 billion)
2. Metro Boomin, The Weeknd & 21 Savage, “Creepin’” (2.359 billion)
3. SZA, “Kill Bill” (1.909 billion)
4. The Weeknd, “Die for You” (1.877 billion)
5. Taylor Swift, “Anti-Hero” (1.730 billion)
6. David Guetta & Bebe Rexha, “I’m Good (Blue)” (1.691 billion)
7. Rema & Selena Gomez, “Calm Down” (1.580 billion)
8. Harry Styles, “As It Was” (1.362 billion)
9. Sam Smith & Kim Petras, “Unholy” (1.275 billion)
10. Chris Brown, “Under the Influence” (1.142 billion)
Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022, through June 29, 2023.

12 Jul 2023

LL Cool J Announces Rescheduled Dates For All-Star F.O.R.C.E. Tour

After announcing last month that he was rescheduling some dates on the first leg of his all-star F.O.R.C.E. North American tour to ensure that he gives fans a truly “unforgettable” experience, LL Cool J revealed the revamped routing for the trek on Tuesday (July 11).

LL’s first headlining tour in 30 years is now slated to kick off on August 11 in Baltimore and keep him on the road through a November 19 date in Boston. The tour, whose acronym means “Frequencies of Real Creative Energy,” will feature LL joined by The Roots, DJ Z-Trip and DJ Jazzy Jeff, along with a long roster of special guests in select cities, including: Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa, Big Boi, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Common, De La Soul, Doug E. Fresh & Slick Rick, Goodie Mob, Ice-T, Jadakiss, Juvenile, MC Lyte, Method Man & Redman, Rakim, Rick Ross and more.

In the since-removed video from last month (via Hip Hop DX), LL explained the reason for the tour launch pushback, writing, “I have to give my fans an experience that is unforgettable. I want to make sure everything is done right, and in order to do that, I had to change some things up. The updated tour dates are now live.” The tour was originally slated to launch on June 25 at Boston’s TD Garden and wrap up in Los Angeles on Sept. 3.

At press time the venues for the tour had not yet been revealed.

Check out the routing for the F.O.R.C.E. tour below.

August 11 – Baltimore, MD

August 12 – Cleveland, OH

August 13 – Chicago, IL

August 18 – Detroit, MI

August 19 – Toronto, ON

August 21 – Atlanta, GA

August 22 – Memphis, TN

August 24 – Forth Worth, TX

August 25 – Houston, TX

August 27 – Albuquerque, NM

August 29 – Denver, CO

Sept. 1 – San Francisco, CA

Sept. 2 – Las Vegas, NV

Sept. 3 – Los Angeles, CA

Sept. 9 – Charlotte, NC

Sept. 10 – Raleigh, NC

Oct. 15 – Washington, D.C.

Nov. 19 – Boston, MA

Check out the tour poster below: