Music
Page: 38
Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
This week: Linkin Park’s second act is off to a remarkable start on streaming, Rich Homie Quan’s catalog skyrockets on streaming after his tragic passing, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce give an ’00s classic a singalong bump and much more.
Linkin Park’s Streaming Catalog Soars Following Comeback News
[embedded content]
Next week’s Hot 100 chart will likely feature a new Linkin Park single — a sentence that would have seemed improbable just one week ago. Yet the band’s return, as covered in Billboard’s exclusive cover story last Thursday (Sept. 5), has produced new arena tour dates (kicking off tonight at The Forum in Los Angeles), a new studio album (From Zero, out Nov. 15) and a high-powered new song, “The Emptiness Machine,” that’s off to a hot start at streaming.
Trending on Billboard
After being released at 6 pm ET on Thursday as Linkin Park launched into a global livestream performance, “The Emptiness Machine” earned 2.22 million U.S. on-demand audio streams on Friday, its first full day of release, according to Luminate. The single hovered about one million U.S. audio streams over the next three days, and ended its first full four-day stretch with 6.47 million streams, while also racking up over 6,000 in digital sales — likely setting it on pace for a big Hot 100 bow.
Yet Linkin Park’s return is also boosting the band’s back catalog and biggest hits, as listeners revisit their past albums before receiving a new one in November. From Sept. 6-9, the band’s catalog (minus “The Emptiness Machine”) earned 30.11 million combined U.S. audio streams — a 62% increase compared to the same four-day period during the previous week. That spike also included big week-over-week gains for hits like “Numb” (up 60%), “One Step Closer” (up 76%) and “Faint” (up nearly 100%), as fans heard new co-vocalist Emily Armstrong sing all three during the band’s livestream and wanted to hear the classic versions, too. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Rich Homie Quan Catalog Surges on Streaming Following Rap Great’s Death
[embedded content]
The hip-hop world was shaken last week (Sept. 5) by the tragic news of Rich Homie Quan’s death at the age of just 33. The Atlanta rapper, whose real name was Dequantes Devontay Lamar, had been one of hip-hop’s leading hitmakers of the mid-2010s, during a time in which his home city essentially took over as the U.S.’s rap capital. Over the days that followed, tributes poured in from Quan’s collaborators and contemporaries, saluting both the man and artist and expressing shock over his premature passing.
Fans of Rich Homie Quan of course also expressed their grief by streaming his music in massive numbers. Over Sept. 2-4, the three days before his death, the rapper amassed 1.7 combined million official on-demand U.S. streams for his solo catalog as a lead artist – but that number skyrocketed to 31.7 million total over the following three days, according to Luminate, an eye-popping gain of 1,727%. Leading songs from his catalog over that period include his Hot 100 hits “Type of Way” (4.5 million combined streams, a 1,892% gain) and “Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh)” (3.6 million streams, up 1,666%).
Those numbers do not account, however, for perhaps the song most celebrated on social media following Quan’s passing: “Lifestyle,” his classic 2014 team-up with Atlanta rap icon Young Thug, released under the collective name Rich Gang. Over the same period, “Lifestyle” was up to 4.7 million combined streams, a 598% gain from the previous three-day period. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
The Taylor Bump: Works for ‘00s Retro-Rockers as Well as Presidential Candidates
[embedded content]
Taylor Swift made global headlines on Tuesday night (Sept. 10) with her official endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, announcing her support of the current vice president with a social media blast following Harris’ debate with former president Donald Trump. The impact of the biggest figure in contemporary pop culture’s co-sign will likely be major — but Harris isn’t the only person benefiting from the Taylor Swift Bump this week.
On Sunday (Sept. 8), Swift attended the U.S. Open men’s tennis finals in Queens, New York (featuring another Taylor in American finalist Taylor Fritz), along with celebrity beau Travis Kelce. There, the pair were spotted singing (and even air-guitaring) along to a ’00s classic — “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” signature hit for ’00s U.K. retro-rockers The Darkness — with Swift of course dramatically pantomiming the lyrics as well.
Click here for the full story on The Darkness’ Taylor/Travis streaming bump. – AU
‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ Has the Recipe for a “MacArthur Park” Revival
[embedded content]
For the recently released box office-topping film Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – sequel, of course, to the cult classic 1988 comedy Beetlejuice – the filmmakers wanted to recreate the magic of the first film’s famous cast lip sync scene, set to Harry Belafonte’s “Banana Boat (Day-O).” They didn’t want to re-use Belafonte’s ‘50s staple for the scene, however, so they decided to go with something very, very slightly more modern for the 36-years-later sequel: “MacArthur Park,” the bizarre Jimmy Webb-penned psych-pop rhapsody that became a No. 2 Hot 100 hit for actor-singer Richard Harris in 1968, before Donna Summer took her discofied version of it all the way to No. 1 in 1978.
Since appearing in the hit sequel, “MacArthur Park” has been rising on streaming, with the Harris version featured in the film racking up over 110,000 U.S. on-demand audio streams from Sept. 8-11 – the film’s four days of release – a 939% gain over the same period in the prior tracking week, according to Luminate. Summer’s version, which also appears on the film soundtrack, has been a similar beneficiary – it’s up 241% to 98,000 streams over the same period – and Belafonte’s “Day-O,” which only appears on the soundtrack through a cover version from Alfie Davis & The Sylvia Young Theatre School Choir, is also up 52% to 485,000 streams. – AU
Season’s Gainings: Kendrick Lamar Super Bowl Announcement Strikes a Chord on DSPs
[embedded content]
The NFL season has kicked off once again, and even if you weren’t following the action on Sunday (Sept. 8), you might’ve still felt the excitement of football’s return – thanks to the early-day announcement that the upcoming Super Bowl LIX in New Orelans would be headlined by rapper-of-the-moment Kendrick Lamar. The announcement was met with some controversy, as many rap purists voiced their support for Big Easy hip-hop icon Lil Wayne as an alternate headliner, but plenty of streaming listeners were evidently still pumped by a prospective K Dot set – the rapper’s total streams for Monday were over 11.6 million, according to Luminate, a 12% gain from the prior Monday. – AU
The closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympics Games leaned fully into French electronic music, and with dazzling results. The ceremony, which happened at Paris’ Stade De France on Sept. 8, assembled not only athletes, but a legendary crew of French dance producers that included the pioneering Jean Michel Jarre, Ed Banger founder Busy P, […]
It would be an understatement to say that 2024 has been the year of Sabrina Carpenter. The former Disney Channel (Girl Meets World) child star’s sixth studio album, Short N’ Sweet, just gave the singer her first-ever Billboard 200 No. 1 album when it debuted at the top of the tally on the chart dated Sept. 17.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
That lofty peak came after pre-release singles “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” hit, respectively, No. 3 and No. 1 on the the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, with the latter representing Carpenter’s first chart-topping single. How did the 25-year-old born in Quakerton, PA go from posting videos of herself singing songs by Adele and Christina Aguilera as a homeschooled fifth grader to dominating the charts?
The story begins 13 years ago when Carpenter landed the first in a series of small TV roles that eventually landed her a gig in the Disney Channel’s Girl Meets World playing Maya Hart, a role she reprised in the spin-off Boy Meets World. During her run on Girl, Carpenter scored her Billboard chart debut in 2014 on the Kids Digital Song Sales chart with the show’s theme song, “Take On the World,” which she sang alongside co-star Rowan Blanchard.
After signing with Disney’s Hollywood Records, Carpenter released her debut EP, Can’t Blame a Girl For Trying, which spawned the single of the same name, co-written by Meghan Trainor. The singer then made her Billboard 200 chart debut in April 2015 with her first full-length album, Eyes Wide Open, which peaked at No. 43.
Her second album, Evolution, followed in October 2016, peaking at No. 28 on the 200 album chart and spawning her first radio hit, “Thumbs,” which topped out at No. 28 on the Pop Airplay chart. Her third album, November 2018’s Singular: Act I, featured the singles “Almost Love” and “Sue Me,” and was followed by its second part, Singular: Act II, in July 2019.
After leaving Hollywood Records for Island Records in 2021, Carpenter released her first single for her new label home, “Skin,” which landed the star’s first Hot 100 charting song when it debuted at No. 48. Her 2022 follow-up LP, Emails I Can’t Send, became her highest-charting album to date, peaking at No. 23 on the 200 tally and scoring her first No. 1 on the Pop Airplay chart with a song she co-wrote, “Feather,” which also peaked at No. 21 on the Hot 100.
All of that was plenty to brag about, but 2024 is the year that Carpenter blew up in a major way. She kicked things off by booking two major gigs: first, opening for Taylor Swift on some South American dates of the pop superstar’s Eras Tour in 2023 and again in early 2024 in Australia and Singapore and then performing a memorable set at the Coachella Festival in April of this year.
But when she unleashed the bubbly “Espresso” on fans in April, the tune she co-wrote blew up and instantly became her signature hit and an inescapable meme on its way to the No. 3 slot on the Hot 100. The song catapulted the singer to a new career peak, which was quickly supplanted by her first Hot 100 No. 1, “Please Please Please,” whose accompanying steamy video co-starred real-life boyfriend actor Barry Keoghan (Saltburn). With the release of her No. 1 Short N’ Sweet album, Carpenter has cemented her spot as a fixture on the Billboard charts.
Watch Billboard Explains: Sabrina Carpenter’s Sweet Success on the charts in the video above.
After the video, catch up on more Billboard Explains videos and learn about Peso Pluma and the Mexican music boom, the role record labels play, origins of hip-hop, how Beyoncé arrived at Renaissance, the evolution of girl groups, BBMAs, NFTs, SXSW, the magic of boy bands, American Music Awards, the Billboard Latin Music Awards, the Hot 100 chart, how R&B/hip-hop became the biggest genre in the U.S., how festivals book their lineups, Billie Eilish’s formula for success, the history of rap battles, nonbinary awareness in music, the Billboard Music Awards, the Free Britney movement, rise of K-pop in the U.S., why Taylor Swift is re-recording her first six albums, the boom of hit all-female collaborations, how Grammy nominees and winners are chosen, why songwriters are selling their publishing catalogs, how the Super Bowl halftime show is booked and more.
The Nelons’ Loving You arrives at No. 9 on Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart (dated Sept. 14), as the act reaches the top 10 in its first appearance on the ranking.
The 11-song set, released Aug. 30, earned 3,000 equivalent album units, almost entirely in album sales, in the United States in the week ending Sept. 5, according to Luminate.
Unfortunately, the achievement follows tragic news. Nelons co-founder Kelly Nelon Clark, husband Jason Clark and Amber Nelon Kistler (Kelly’s daughter and Jason’s stepdaughter) were among seven people who died in a plane crash in northeast Wyoming in the afternoon of July 26. The only surviving member of the foursome is Autumn Nelon Streetman (also Kelly’s daughter and Jason’s stepdaughter), who was not on the flight.
The three members of the Georgia-based act were traveling to join the Gaither Homecoming Cruise to Alaska, according to its label, Gaither Music Group, the sponsor of the cruise.
Trending on Billboard
“Thank you for the prayers that have been extended already to me, my husband, Jamie, and our soon-to-be-born baby boy, as well as Jason’s parents, Dan and Linda Clark,” Streetman shared in a statement. “We appreciate your continued prayers, love and support as we navigate the coming days.”
The Nelons launched in 1977 by founding member Rex Nelon as The Rex Nelon Singers. (He died in 2000.) They were inducted into the Gospel Music Association (GMA) Hall of Fame in 2016 and won 10 GMA Dove Awards, including multiple album and song of the year trophies.
Streetman, who is expecting a baby boy in December, sang “Family Chain” with The Isaacs to at the Nelons’ memorial service in Roopville, Ga., on Aug. 6. “People have asked me, ‘How did you get up there and sing at the funeral?’ And I told them, ‘This is what we do. We sing in good times and bad times,’” she told Billboard in August. “The Lord just gave me the strength to get up there and do it.”
Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “Lilac” returns to No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated Sept. 11, logging its second week atop the chart.
The track debuted at No. 11 on the chart dated Apr. 17, and after rising to No. 3 the following week, it coasted along in the top five and reached No. 1 for the first time on the July 17 list. Streaming and downloads for the Oblivion Battery opener increased this week, leading to rise in overall points. Downloads are up 117% and streaming up 102% from the previous week.
[embedded content]
RIIZE’s “Lucky” debuts at No. 2. The seven-member group’s first Japan single topped sales with 250,470 copies sold in its first week and entered the chart fueled only by this metric.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
[embedded content]
GEMN’s “Fatal” rises to 15-3. The Oshi no Ko Season 2 opener debuted at No. 21 on the chart dated July 10 and peaked at No. 8 the following week. The release of the CD version powers the track by the duo consisting of Kento Nakajima and Tatsuya Kitani to its highest position yet. Downloads for the song are up 142%, streaming up 101%, radio airplay up 428%, and karaoke up 108% week-over-week.
Trending on Billboard
[embedded content]
Mrs. GREEN APPLE has another song in the top five this week, with “familie” rising two notches to No. 4. The three-man pop band appeared on the music program With MUSIC on Sept. 7, which probably helped boost all metrics except radio.
Kocchi no Kento’s “Hai Yorokonde” climbs five rungs hit No. 5 to enter the chart. The multi-talented creator recently appeared on the popular YouTube channel THE FIRST TAKE, which led to a rise in streams (109%).
LE SSERAFIM’s “CRAZY” soars 67-8. Streams for the track is up 393% this week because it was released on Aug. 30, giving it only three days to count towards its debut week.
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 Sept. 2 to 8, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.
Travis Kelce is ready to see Taylor Swift score at the MTV Video Music Awards, and so is his brother, Jason Kelce.
At the start of the Sept. 11 episode of New Heights, both siblings wished their girl luck at this year’s ceremony in light of the VMAs sponsoring part of the podcast episode posted the same day of the awards. “Hopefully Taylor can walk away with a few [awards],” the Kansas City Chiefs tight end said. “She’s nominated for about 10 of those things tonight.”
Actually, Swift is nominated for 12 prizes — more than any other artist — at the Sept. 11 award show, which kicks off 8 p.m. ET at the UBS Arena in New York. In addition to artist of the year and best pop, the 14-time Grammy winner’s “Fortnight” music video featuring Post Malone is also up for best collaboration, video and song of the year.
After shouting out Swift on the podcast, both Travis and the retired Philadelphia Eagles center went into coaching mode. “Let’s go, Tay! Come on, Tay!” Jason cheered, while his younger brother clapped his hands.
Trending on Billboard
“Stay on top,” Travis added to his girlfriend. “Wishing everybody the best, though.”
“Unless you’re up against Tay, then I hope lose,” Jason quipped in response, making the tight end laugh.
The Kelces had a lot of ground to cover on the new episode, from Travis’ first Chiefs game of the 2024-25 NFL season — which his team won with Swift watching from a suite at Arrowhead Stadium — to Jason’s wardrobe snafu on his Monday Night Countdown debut. Basically, the elder brother wore a shirt that was slightly too small during his first broadcast on the ESPN show and quipped on the air, “It fits my belly now … I’ve lost a little bit of weight, but my tits are still struggling.”
“Me and Taylor were watching that, absolutely dying laughing at it,” Travis told Jason on the show.
Plus, the Grotesquerie star had to dish on his time at the U.S. Open on Sunday (Sept. 8), which he attended alongside Swift and Patrick and Brittany Mahomes. While there, Travis and the “Anti-Hero” singer packed on the PDA and passionately sang along to The Darkness’ “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” but when tennis was actually being played, No. 87 said it was hard to keep quiet.
“It’s very quiet, and you know us — when it’s very quiet, we want to say something,” he told Jason on New Heights. “The entire time I wanted to heckle the Italian Sinner, the No. 1 player in the world.”
“But I played it cool, I played it respectful,” he added, noting that he only let loose during the intermissions when music came on over the speakers. “That was about the only time I was really showing my personality.”
Watch the Kelces talk about Swift on the latest episode of New Heights above.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: Johnny Nunez / Getty
Sean “Diddy” Combs is getting sued, again. Dawn Richard of Danity Kane fame has accused the disgraced mogul of sexual and physical abuse.
TMZ reports that Dawn Richard, who starred in the 2004 reality series Making The Band on MTV, has filed a lawsuit against Diddy accusing him sexual abuse, physical violence and heinous demands while she was part of his Bad Boy Records fold. Besides Danity Kane, was also part of Diddy – Dirty Money, a trio with Diddy and singer Kalenna Harper.
The accusations in Richard’s suit are aligned with the various lawsuits Diddy is already embroiled in along with the claims laid out by Cassie in her settled lawsuit—and the aforementioned singer is also mentioned by name as is the late Kim Porter, the Bad Boy founder’s ex-girlfriend and mother of three of his children.
Per TMZ:
The former Danity Kane member said during on-set auditions, Diddy called female contestants “fat,” “ugly,” “bitches” and “hoes.” She said Diddy had particular disdain for her because she was young and excited to work with such a famous person.
In 2005, the court docs say, Richard saw another of Diddy’s former girlfriends, Kim Porter, crying as she left a music studio with her face all banged up. It was then Richard says she realized Diddy was capable of violence and her life could be in danger.
A year later, Richard was present when Diddy was first introduced to Cassie, invading her space while transfixed on her in a predatory fashion, according to the docs. In 2009, she says she personally witnessed Diddy — high on drugs — throw Cassie against a wall, choke her and drag her up a flight of stairs in his L.A. home.
Richard says Diddy also hurled a scalding pan of eggs at Cassie while yelling, “I’ve been asking you for my s**t; I can’t stand you bitch, you never do it right!”
Along with more descriptions of Cassie being allegedly abused by Diddy, Richard also claims he touched her buttocks and breasts inappropriately, abused her mentally and threatened her and Diddy-Dirty Money’a Kalenna Harper after getting word that they urged the singer to leave him.
“Y’all bitches don’t get in my relationship,” allegedly said Diddy per the lawsuit, “Don’t tell my bitch [Cassie] what she need to be doing … Just make money and shut the f**k up … I end artists … I shelve careers … You could be missing … You bitches want to die today.”
Hip-Hop Wired reached out to Diddy’s representatives for comment on this latest lawsuit.
It’s still Young Angel and Young Lion. The Young Money ties are running deep, as Drake has shown support for Lil Wayne after some in the hip-hop community were outraged Weezy was overlooked for Kendrick Lamar to headline the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show next year. The 6 God posted a series of photos of […]
Maroon 5 and Cardi B‘s cameo-stuffed 2018 video for “Girls Like You (Volume 2)” has reached the billion views mark on YouTube. The female empowerment anthem and fifth single from the band’s fifth album, 2017’s Red Pill Blues, got a bonus-edition visual in May 2018 with Cardi slotted-in midway through for a verse about her her come up from stripper to world-beating rap superstar.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The ascension to the billie club for the Vol. 2 version of the tune marks the fifth time both M5 and Cardi have landed billion view music videos on YouTube.
The original video for Billboard Music Award-winning song — which spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and 33 weeks in the top 10 — has racked up more than 3.6 billion views to date. That David Dobkin-directed clip found the camera swinging in a circle around M5 singer Adam Levine as a series of famous female singers, comedians, athletes, activists, politicians, actresses and models materialized behind the vocalist and danced along to the bouncy pop tune.
Trending on Billboard
Among the stars popping in were: Camilla Cabello, Phoebe Robinson, Aly Raisman, SarahSilverman, Gal Gadot, Lilly Singh, Amani al-Khatahtbeh, Trace Lysette, Tiffany Haddish, Angy Rivera, Franchesca Ramsey, Millie Bobby Brown, Ellen DeGeneres, Jennifer Lopez, Chloe Kim, Alex Morgan, Mary J. Blige, Beanie Feldstein, Jackie Fielder, Danica Patrick, Ilhan Omar, Elizabeth Banks, Ashley Graham and Rita Ora, as well as Levine’s wife, model Behati Prinsloo and their daughter, Dusty Rose.
In addition to dancing and lip synching along to the tune, a number of the women in the clip rock message T-shirts with pointed social messages, including immigration activist Rivera’s “Undocumented Unafraid Unapologetic” one, as well as U.S. gymnast Raisman’s “Always Speak You Truth” shirt and activist Fielder’s “Divest, Water Is Life” top.
Watch the “Girls Like You (Volume 2)” video below.
[embedded content]
Taylor Swift made global headlines on Tuesday night (Sept. 10) with her official endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, announcing her support of the current vice president with a social media blast following Harris’ debate with former president Donald Trump. The impact of the biggest figure in contemporary pop culture’s co-sign will likely be […]