Music

10 May 2023

SEVENTEEN Break Down Latest No. 1 Album ‘FML’ Track-by-Track: Exclusive

From a musical and commercial perspective, SEVENTEEN’s best-ever chart rankings and sales numbers all feel wholly deserved for their 10th mini album FML.

With 135,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the week ending May 4, according to Luminate, the set marks the K-pop group’s biggest sales week, plus a new chart peak of No. 2 on the Billboard 200. (With just 3,000 units separating them from ending Morgan Wallen’s two-month run atop the chart). As the top-selling album of the week, as well as the fourth-largest sales week for all of 2023, SEVENTEEN also notch their fifth No. 1 on Top Album Sales as well as seventh No. 1 on World Albums.

After FML racked up over a reported 4.64 million in pre-orders globally to be the most-ordered album in K-pop history, SEVENTEEN tell Billboard that their latest accomplishments are hardly comprehensible.

“I think [our debut album] 17 CARAT sold 1,400 copies and we were really grateful,” Mingyu reflects. “So, 4.64 million is a number that’s really difficult to grasp. [Laughs] It’s close to 3,000 times how many were sold for our debut album—it’s all very surreal. It makes me think a lot about what we need to do to return this enormous amount of love.”

Throughout FML, the 13-member boy band share with fans—known affectionately as CARATs—how they remain honest about life’s hardships but also offer hope.

“Within our album, we offer two ways of defining the expression ‘FML,’” Joshua explains. “There’s ‘F*ck My Life,’ which is what the acronym usually means, and we also offer ‘Fight for My Life,’ which is what we want the acronym to mean. There are multiple other ways to turn the expression ‘FML’ around to mean something else other than ‘F*ck My Life,’ and that’s what we hope our fans, CARATs, and listeners will also take a stab at after listening to the album.”

Adds Woozi, who wrote on every track on FML and co-produced five songs, “From a macroscopic view, we often only see the good parts, the picturesque parts of everyone’s lives, but there are so many battles that are not visible to the naked eye. Everyone goes through rough times, fiercely fighting to live their lives. We wanted FML to be a reflection of these different layers.”

The guys recognize an uncharacteristically boldness in the group’s two new K-pop singles, “F*ck My Life” and the anthemic, energizing “Super,” the latter of which marked SEVENTEEN’s first Top 40 hits on the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. US, but say it’s necessary in order to express themselves genuinely.

“These are our honest thoughts without an attempt to dress them up,” Wonwoo shares. “By letting everyone know the things we feel and asking ourselves to fight for our lives, we hope those listening will also gain a bit more energy to do the same together with us. I think it’s a mindset that we all relate to even if the trailer and our song might not look like they offer the most pleasing or comforting set of words.”

Through SEVENTEEN’s hard battle as K-pop underdogs—with twice as many members as most groups—members S.Coups, Mingyu Joshua, Woozi, Woowoo, Jeonghan, Hoshi, Jun, DK, The 8, Seungkwan, Vernon and Dino rose to the top ranks of the global charts motivated not just by their inherent talent to express themselves creatively as a “self-producing” group but find peace from delighting their supportive fans around the world.

“We always work to make our CARATs proud,” SEVENTEEN’s leader S.Coups says. “And I think they would be the most proud of us now.”

Read on for the exclusive track-by-track breakdown with SEVENTEEN below.

10 May 2023

‘Disney 100’ Tops Billboard Album Charts

Walt Disney Records’ new Disney 100 album launches at No. 1 on both Billboard’s Compilation Albums and Kid Albums charts (dated May 13). The 29-track multi-artist set, boasting familiar Disney favorites from decades of film, TV and theme park attractions, is part of the ongoing celebration of 100 years of the Walt Disney Company.

Disney 100 was released on April 28 and exclusively available as a vinyl release (a two-LP set priced at $34.98). In the tracking week ending May 4, it sold a little over 2,000 copies in the United States, according to Luminate.

Disney 100 includes previously released songs from Disney’s films, TV programs and theme parks. Among the selections: “Whistle While You Work” (from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), “When You Wish Upon a Star” (from Pinocchio), “Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room” (from the Disney Parks attraction Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room), “It’s a Small World” (from the attraction of the same name), “Mickey Mouse March” (from The Mickey Mouse Club), “We’re All In This Together” (from High School Musical), “Under the Sea” (from The Little Mermaid), “Let It Go” (from Frozen) and the No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” (from Encanto).

Disney 100

Courtesy Photo

The Disney 100 celebration continues at No. 2 on both Kid Albums and Compilations, as a 23-song Walmart-exclusive alternative edition of the Disney 100 debuts (2,000 sold). The Walmart variant, also only on vinyl LP, has the same title but a different tracklist than the general market edition at No. 1, and thus it charts separately.

The wide-release Disney 100 and the Walmart-exclusive iteration also debut at Nos. 60 and 62 on the Top Album Sales chart, respectively, and at Nos. 31 and 33 on the Top Current Album Sales chart.

The Disney 100 albums are one part of Disney’s company-wide celebrations, which includes festivities in Disney Parks and Disney100: The Exhibition at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, among other activations.

Billboard’s Kid Albums and Compilation Albums charts ranks the week’s top-selling children’s albums and all-genre compilations, respectively. Top Album Sales rank the week’s overall top-selling albums, and Top Current Album Sales lists the week’s top-selling current albums (excluding any older, catalog titles – generally those that are at least 18 months old).

10 May 2023

Beyoncé’s Full Setlist for Renaissance Tour Opening Night in Stockholm

Beyoncé‘s long-awaited Renaissance World Tour kicked off on Wednesday night (May 10) with an opening show at Stockholm’s Friends Arena, and the superstar surprised fans with robotic dancing arms, a musical nod to Britney Spears and much more.

She also did not disappoint when it came to her setlist. The jaw-dropping, 37-song set featured a wide range of tracks from throughout her illustrious career, with a heavy focus on her 2022 album, Renaissance, of course.

Night one included every one of Renaissance‘s 16 tracks, three songs from 2003’s Dangerously in Love, three songs from 2006’s B’Day, one song from 2008’s I Am… Sasha Fierce, five songs from 2011’s 4, three songs from 2013’s Beyoncé, two from 2016’s Lemonade and many more. She even through in some Destiny’s Child hits, Lion King: The Gift tracks and some of her popular collaborations.

The Renaissance World Tour will continue throughout Europe until July 9, with stops in London, Barcelona, Brussels and Amsterdam before heading to Toronto for two dates at Rogers Centre. The tour heads to the United States, starting with Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field and making stops in Chicago, East Rutherford, N.J., Atlanta, Houston and more before concluding Sept. 27 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

See below for the full setlist from the tour’s opening night in Stockholm, Sweden.

10 May 2023

Foo Fighters Match Shinedown for Most Mainstream Rock Airplay Top 10s with ‘Rescued’

Foo Fighters tie Shinedown for the most top 10s in the history of Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, as “Rescued” zooms from No. 11 to No. 5 on the May 13-dated tally.

“Rescued” is the Foos’ 30th top 10, tying the band with Shinedown for the most upper-chart hits dating back to the ranking’s 1981 inception.

The Dave Grohl-led band first reached the chart’s top 10 with its breakthrough hit “This Is a Call,” which reached No. 6 in August 1995. Prior to “Rescued,” it had last reached the top 10 with the No. 3-peaking “Love Dies Young” in March 2022.

Of Foo Fighters’ 30 top 10s, 11 have reached No. 1, most recently one-week ruler “Making a Fire” in September 2021.

Most Top 10s, Mainstream Rock Airplay:
30, Foo Fighters
30, Shinedown
29, Five Finger Death Punch
28, Godsmack
28, Tom Petty (solo and with the Heartbreakers)
26, Metallica
26, Van Halen
25, Disturbed
25, Papa Roach

Shinedown broke out of a prior tie with Foo Fighters for the most Mainstream Rock Airplay top 10s and became the first act to reach 30 with “Dead Don’t Die,” which reached No. 2 in March and currently ranks at No. 6.

Concurrently, “Rescued” lifts 5-4 on Alternative Airplay — where Foo Fighters set a new mark for the most top 10s (29) a week earlier – and leaps 40-16 on Adult Alternative Airplay.

On the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, “Rescued” remains at its No. 2 high with 9 million audience impressions, up 14%, according to Luminate. Two weeks earlier, the band also garnered a share, again with Shinedown, of the chart’s top 10 record (15 each) with the single.

“Rescued” ranks at No. 3 on the multi-metric Hot Hard Rock Songs survey. In addition to its radio airplay in the tracking week, the song earned 905,000 official U.S. streams and sold 1,000 downloads.

“Rescued” is the lead single from But Here We Are, Foo Fighters’ 11th studio LP and the band’s first since the March 2022 death of drummer Taylor Hawkins. The album is due out June 2.

10 May 2023

Eslabon Armado & Peso Pluma’s ‘Ella Baila Sola’ Makes History Atop Streaming Songs Chart

Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma’s “Ella Baila Sola” climbs to No. 1 on Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart dated May 13.

It’s the first regional Mexican song to top Streaming Songs in the tally’s 10-year history.

In the April 28-May 4 tracking week, “Ella Baila Sola” earned 34.6 million official U.S. streams, a 2% increase, according to Luminate.

The song is the first No. 1 on Streaming Songs for both acts. For Peso Pluma, it’s his first in his premiere appearance on the ranking, while Eslabon Armado had charted once before with the No. 43-peaking “Jugaste y Sufri,” featuring DannyLux, in October 2021.

“Ella Baila Sola” marks the first Streaming Songs ruler either predominantly or completely in Spanish since Bad Bunny and Chencho Corleone’s “Me Porto Bonito” crowned the survey for two weeks – July 30, 2022, and Aug. 6, 2022.

Pluma boasts two tunes in Streaming Songs’ top 10, with “Ella Baila Sola” joined by his Yng Lvcas collaboration “La Bebe” at No. 5 (21.6 million streams).

Concurrently, “Ella Baila Sola” reigns on Hot Latin Songs for a fifth week and remains at No. 4 on the all-format Billboard Hot 100.

The song’s parent album, Eslabon Armado’s Desvelado, also debuts at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 with 44,000 equivalent album units earned, as previously reported.

10 May 2023

YOASOBI’s ‘Idol’ Logs Fourth Week at No. 1 on Japan Hot 100

YOASOBI’s “Idol” continues to rule the Billboard Japan Hot 100, holding at No. 1 for the fourth consecutive week on the chart dated May 10.

While figures for both metrics are down slightly from the previous week, the Oshi no Ko opener continues to rule streaming with 25,433,131 streams and video with 8,570,370 views. The track also returned to No. 1 for downloads this week with 32,878 units, up 7 percent from the week before. These results show the diversification of fan activity in terms of contact and ownership, indicating that this latest hit could be expanding the fanbase of the breakout duo itself.

Additionally, the song rises 9-3 for karaoke with a 90 percent increase, also showing the rapidly expanding fanbase of the “Monster” pair. The track’s point total is more than double that of the song at No. 2 this week and its domination of the Japan charts is likely to continue.

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THE RAMPAGE from EXILE TRIBE’s “16BOOSTERZ,” the song at No. 2, and Sexy Zone’s “Cream” at No. 5 were the two new singles vying for No. 1 for physical sales this week, and the four-man Johnny’s group’s 23rd single came out on top with 227,372 copies, ahead of the 16-member LDH group’s 19th single, which launched with 197,450 copies. But “16BOOSTERZ” racked up points in other metrics, coming in at No. 2 for radio, No. 86 for downloads, and No. 45 for streaming, overtaking “Cream,” which only added points through radio airplay (No. 10) and video (No. 55).

The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, video views and karaoke data.

See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from May 1 to 7, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account. 

10 May 2023

Priyanka Chopra Shares the Nick Jonas Song That Makes Her ‘Weak in the Knees’

Priyanka Chopra appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast on Wednesday (May 10) to chat about her relationship with Nick Jonas.

Sitting down with host Alex Cooper, the Citadel actress said that she was initially attracted to her pop star hubby after he “had the confidence to slide into my DMs and ask me out” after crossing paths at the Met Gala.

“Literally, like, his message was ‘I’ve been told we should meet,” she revealed. “How cocky! [gasps] So sexy. I love it!”

When Chopra googling the Jonas Brothers singer, the first result that came up was the music video for his 2016 solo single “Close” featuring Tove Lo, which prompted her to “immediately” send the singer her number. “I mean, I knew of the Jonas Brothers but I…different generations, also,” she confessed. “I grew up in India, you know? I was doing Indian pop culture at that time, I didn’t know about the music as much.

“At least a date. That body deserves at least a date,” she said after watching the video. “That video! His voice. That song, still, every time he sings that song on stage for me, like, I get weak in the knees.”

As fans know, the superstar couple got married in a lavish Indian wedding with multiple ceremonies in Dec. 2018 and Chopra told Cooper the secret to their relationship is in their unflinching support of one another. “Like, I’ve found my husband and I have this incredible partnership of ‘I’ve got you,’ and we communicate and we feel a sense of…you know that trust exercise? I would never do that with anyone else except Nick,” she added with a laugh. “I don’t trust people, but he’s one that, just, I know has my back.”

Listen to Chopra’s appearance on Call Her Daddy below.

10 May 2023

Here’s Why BLACKPINK Fans Think Jennie Teased a Song Collab With The Weeknd

Jennie stars in The Weeknd‘s upcoming HBO show The Idol, but that might not be the only project the two pop music titans are cooking up together. Fans are convinced that the BLACKPINK star, while playing DJ at a recent event honoring her partnership with Calvin Klein, just previewed a sultry new duet with the “Blinding Lights” singer — and they couldn’t be more excited.

Looking stunning in a simple purple dress, Jennie was captured on video manning the sound system at the fashion celebration in Seoul alongside twin sisters/DJ duo Simi and Haze Khadra (P.S., Simi Khadra is The Weeknd’s rumored girlfriend of over a year). The three ladies dance as a vibey track plays out, featuring two voices that sound an awful lot like Jennie Kim and Abel Tesfaye’s.

But if that wasn’t convincing enough, Jennie herself reposted the video onto her own Instagram Story and tagged both The Weeknd and The Idol‘s official Instagram pages, seemingly confirming that the unreleased track is a collaboration set for the show’s soundtrack. The Khadra sisters also shared similar footage on their Story, and tagged The Weeknd, The Idol and Jennie.

“Am i dreamin? We got Jennie x the weekend, this is so cool,” one fan commented on the Instagram video reposted by Jennie. “jennie x the weeknd??? OH HELL,” wrote another.

So far, only one song has been released from The Idol‘s soundtrack as the drama series approaches its much-delayed June 4 premiere on HBO. The Weeknd and Future dropped lead single “Double Fantasy” late last month, just a few days after the “Die For You” musician debuted the track live during Metro Boomin’s Coachella performance.

Co-created by The Weeknd and Euphoria‘s Sam Levinson, The Idol stars Tesfaye as a nightclub owner/cult leader who takes over the career of a pop star named Jocelyn, played by Lily-Rose Depp. Not much is known yet about Jennie’s supporting role, but you can catch glimpses of her in some of the show’s trailers.

Check out Jennie’s sneak peek at her (possible) new song with The Weeknd below.

10 May 2023

WWE Women’s Tag Champs Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez Want a Dream Match With Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion

Last Saturday night (May 6), Bad Bunny proved “Bunnies can fly” during his electric performance against WWE superstar Damien Priest in a San Juan Street Fight at the sport’s premium live event, Backlash. After his rousing effort, fans began floating names for who they would love to see in the square circle next. If you ask WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez, they suggest two of hip-hop’s preeminent talents, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion.

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“I would love to see Cardi and Meg The Stallion,” the tandem offer. “I think Meg would be incredible. They’ve also been so active with us on Twitter and just responded to different things. Those two would be interesting to see in the ring. Us versus Cardi and Meg. Make it happen.”

The chemistry between Cardi and Megan is there, as the two netted a Hot 100 chart-topper with “WAP” in 2020 and resided at the mountaintop for four weeks. “I’m not gonna go easy on them, though,” relays Morgan. “They look like they could take the titles: an Extreme Rules Match, Last Woman Standing Match. Let’s do all of it.”

In 2021, Cardi shared a series of tweets regarding her fandom for the sport and went far enough to list her favorite wrestlers during her childhood, such as Booker T, Edge, and Trish Stratus, who responded to her praise on Twitter. “Cardi knows,” said the former seven-time WWE Women’s Champion. The starstruck MC swiftly responded saying: “OMMMMMMMGGGGGG !!!!! Bitch I’m gagging !!!! I’m so hype !!!”

In a brief chat with Billboard, Morgan and Rodriguez speak about the importance of staying focused ahead of their matches and not relying on warm-up music to prepare them. “I’m so chaotic before I wrestle,” says Morgan. “I’m pacing back and forth. I’m like nowhere to be found. [Raquel] is usually trying to find me. I’m somewhere lost in the shuffle and very much in my head. I wish I was calm enough to listen to music, to get into a vibe, but I can’t. I have to be super laser focused and overthink everything I’m about to do.”

Rodriguez echoes her partner’s sentiments but says she has a bit more flexibility when getting ready, looking to Karol G and Bad Bunny to set the mood.

“We’re so focused on what we’re about to do, but when I have time while I’m getting ready, I love to listen to reggaetón because it gets me moving,” she says. “I love listening to Karol G, Bad Bunny — which gets me in a good mood and moving. I feel good about myself, and then once it’s time for business, let’s go.”

And if fans were hoping for a John Cena revival in the music space, the chances of that happening are pretty slim. However, Rodriguez credits her colleague Dominik Mysterio for being a great freestyler: “He’s really good. I heard he does some freestyles sometime in the cars with the boys, and he goes in-between Spanish and English, so it’s really, really good.”

10 May 2023

Ed Sheeran Came Out on Top in His Copyright Trial — Is the Billboard 200 Next?

The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming charts dated May 20), one of the biggest pop stars of the past decade takes his turn attempting to depose Morgan Wallen’s Billboard 200 incumbent before its potential 10th week on top.

Ed Sheeran, – (Subtract) (Asylum/Atlantic): For the fifth and presumably final entry in Ed Sheeran’s mathematical symbols series, Sheeran linked up with writer-producer Aaron Dessner for a personal, stripped-down 14-track set. Subtract lacks the kind of obvious pop singles that bolstered prior albums No.6 Collaborations Project (2019) and = (Equals) (2021), though Midas-touched top 40 maestros Max Martin and Shellback are here (along with dance sensation Fred again..) as co-producers on lead single “Eyes Closed.”  

“Closed” has not yet achieved the kind of Billboard Hot 100 success of previous No. 2-peaking advance singles “I Don’t Care” (with Justin Bieber) and “Bad Habits” — debuting at just No. 26 and sliding down from there. But there is an obvious precedent for this kind of album finding major success even without a big pop hit, courtesy of Sheeran’s old pal Taylor Swift, whose 2020 album Folklore boasted similarly stark songwriting and stripped-down arrangements (also largely produced and co-authored by Aaron Dessner) and still posted blockbuster first-week numbers. And while Sheeran’s latest single might not have impacted pop culture much yet, his name has certainly been all over headlines lately — thanks to the closely watched copyright trial over his alleged infringement of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On,” on his “Thinking Out Loud,” for which he was found not liable last week.

Since Sheeran’s streaming numbers are not what they  used to be, he’ll need to depend significantly on sales to pass Morgan Wallen’s nine-week No. 1 One Thing at a Time. To that end, – (Subtract) is available in both a standard 14 track edition and a deluxe 18 track edition on DSPs and for digital download, as well as on CD or vinyl. He also has vinyl variants of the standard edition for purchase, including exclusives for Amazon, Barnes & Noble, independent record stores, Target, Urban Outfitters and Walmart. He also has multiple CD editions available in various collectible packages (including a signed CD, an iteration with a lenticular cover, a “textured sand” cover and a “Zine” CD package), and a deluxe boxed set containing a shirt and a signed CD. 

Will it all be enough? One Thing’s numbers have continued to slip, now down to 138,000 equivalent album units in its ninth week at No. 1. However, that number is still comfortably higher than the first-week numbers (118,000 units) posted by Sheeran’s Equals album – which had a big pop smash – so he will need fans to really connect with this highly personal album to earn his fifth No. 1 in a row.  

IN THE MIX 

Le Sserafim, Unforgiven (Source/YG Plus/Geffen): Korean girl group Le Sserafim made its first splash on the Billboard 200 in October 2022 with its No. 14-peaking Antifragile EP – several tracks of which also appear on its first studio album, Unforgiven. The set boasts 11 collectible CD editions — including exclusives for Target, Walmart and Weverse and comes with a standard set of bonus materials , plus randomized photocards – as well as a guest appearance from a chart-topper of yore: the legendary Nile Rodgers of Chic, on the title track.  

Destroy Lonely, If Looks Could Kill (Opium/Interscope/Ingrooves): One of the few real success stories in hip-hop the past year has been the breakthrough of Atlanta rapper Destroy Lonely, whose guitar-heavy “If Looks Could Kill” became a viral sensation in March after taking off on TikTok. The artist’s debut album is named after that hit single, and features 26 guest-free tracks of woozy, grungy trap — which should make the set one of the week’s biggest new streaming successes.  

Various Artists, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3: Awesome Mix Vol. 3 (Hollywood/Marvel Music): The third entry in the popular series of soundtracks the blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy films sees its faux-mixtape format embracing Generation X-era hits from Radiohead, the Beastie Boys and The Replacements – while also keeping a little of its ‘70s core with classics from Heart, Rainbow and Bruce Springsteen. Currently unavailable on streaming, the set is expected to sell well – and can be purchased in a wide-release standard CD, a Walmart-exclusive CD with a poster packaged inside, a Target-exclusive CD variant with collectible “Guardians” branded trading cards, as well as in vinyl exclusives on Disney Music Emporium’s website, and at Target and Walmart. 

Taylor Swift, Speak Now (Big Machine): You know how this works by now: Taylor Swift announces a new Taylor’s Version re-recording of one of her early albums, and fans stream the originals in anticipation. Speak Now had already enjoyed the chart bump that all of Swift’s studio albums received following the launch of her breathlessly anticipated Eras Tour – climbing to No. 58 on the most recent Billboard 200. Now, after Swift’s revelation that she plans to revisit her third album next, it’s poised for another big leap on the chart.