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After a four year hiatus, the DJ Awards returned Wednesday (Oct. 2) in Ibiza, with a flurry of DJs and industry execs being honored in the ceremony at island venue Chinois. Awards were handed out by the hosts of the show, Jaguar of BBC Radio 1 and presenter Katie Knight. The awards were awarded to […]

Get the tissues ready—Eminem is about to hit us right in the feels again.
The rapper is releasing the music video for his deeply emotional track “Temporary” on Oct. 3, and fans are already bracing themselves for a tearjerker.

In a post on Instagram on Oct. 2., the Detroit native shared a picture of his daughter, Hailie Jade, as a child, taken on the iconic stage of The Eminem Show. The image was handcrafted into a card by Hailie herself, and the post included a poignant quote from the song: “It won’t be too long…” followed by the tag “#Temporary.”

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If that wasn’t enough to get fans tearing up, Em also dropped a sneak peek of the music video, which features never-before-seen Polaroids of him and Hailie over the years.

He then shared a snippet of the music “The tears are temporary,” he captioned the post, before revealing that the visuals for “Temporary” will drop tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET.

Trending on Billboard

On the track from his latest album, The Death of Slim Shady, Eminem gets personal, lamenting the countless hours and days he missed due to his struggle with drugs and alcohol; Em celebrated 16 years of sobriety in April.

The 51-year-old rapper’s emotional tribute to his daughter has already struck a chord with fans. Hailie, now 28, recently opened up on her Just a Little Shady podcast about how the album’s songs, especially “Temporary” and “Somebody Save Me,” brought her to tears.

 “I audibly sobbed… I think for both songs, but especially ‘Temporary.’” However, after watching the video and listening to the songs, Hailie praised her parents for “doing such a good job” when she was growing up to shield her from the reality of “how bad things were.”

“But now as an adult in hindsight, it’s so scary to think about and I think that’s why I get emotional… I will say if you’ve ever lost an addict or loved one, I feel for you,” she added.

“The older I get the less I can listen to any of the songs.”

For longtime fans, “Temporary” feels like a continuation of Eminem’s history of dedicating music to his daughter, like “Hailie’s Song” and “Mockingbird.” The tracks have always given a glimpse of the softer, more vulnerable side of Em—a stark contrast to his fiery diss tracks and rapid-fire rhymes. And with “Temporary,” it looks like we’re about to get another look into that emotional side of Slim.

The Death of Slim Shady has proven to be yet another success for Eminem. The album, released in July, peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and marked his 11th chart-topper.

The lead track, the rhythmically tight and razor-sharp “Houdini,” quickly soared to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, while “Somebody Save Me,” a deeply personal collaboration with Jelly Roll, reached No. 27. “Brand New Dance” and “Tobey,” both climbed into the top 30, while “Temporary,” featuring vocals with longtime collaborator Skylar Grey, debuted at No. 56.

Check out the teaser for “Temporary” below.

Shed Seven are on the brink of securing their second U.K. No. 1 album of 2024 as their latest release, Liquid Gold, pulls ahead in this week’s fiercely competitive race for the top of the U.K. Official Albums Chart.

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The U.K. rockers have widened their lead to 2,700 chart units over Bring Me The Horizon and their album POST HUMAN: NeX GEn, according to the midweek blast from the U.K. Official Charts Company.

Liquid Gold, which marks Shed Seven’s seventh studio album, has been a hit with fans, driving both physical sales and downloads. Their creative promotion, including limited edition CDs styled like retro concert tickets, has helped push them to the top.

Trending on Billboard

Currently the best-selling and most-downloaded album of the week, the band are looking to repeat the chart success they achieved earlier this year with A Matter of Time, which also topped the U.K. Albums Chart. If they hold on, this will be the band’s second No. 1 album in just 10 months.

However, Bring Me The Horizon’s POST HUMAN: NeX GEn isn’t out of the running just yet. Though it trails in physical sales, the Sheffield band is performing exceptionally well on streaming platforms, where they’re outpacing Shed Seven. The album, which is tracking for a new peak at No. 2, initially debuted at No. 5 back in July but has gained significant traction after its release on vinyl and other physical formats this week.

In third place is Nines’ new album Quit While You’re Ahead, making an impressive debut as the rapper looks to land another Top 3 hit after his 2023 release, Crop Circle 2, which peaked at No. 2.

Close behind, Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet, a former chart-topper, is sitting comfortably at No. 4 midweek, thanks to her strong streaming numbers, and could move higher as the week progresses.

Further down the chart, Mercury Prize winners Ezra Collective are holding firm at No. 6 with their jazz-influenced Dance, No One’s Watching, which is on track to become their first-ever U.K. Top 10 album. Also eyeing a Top 10 debut is Smitten, the latest release from Pale Waves, currently positioned at No. 7.

Elsewhere in the Top 10, Ed Sheeran makes a mark with his newly released + – = ÷ x Tour Collection, entering at No. 5, while Maxïmo Park’s Stream of Life is on course to debut at No. 9.

Shed Seven’s lead remains strong, but with streaming continuing to dominate the charts, the race for No. 1 is far from over. Stay tuned until the final chart positions are confirmed this Friday.

Charlie Puth was convinced his shout-out on Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department was the result of an artificial intelligence hoax. Swift’s Billboard 200-topping Tortured Poets featured the lyric, “We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist,” on its title track. The “Attention” singer sat down with SiriusXM this week, where he admitted that his first reaction […]

As the impact of Hurricane Helene continues to affect communities in parts of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, it is not only people who are impacted; animals and pets have been impacted too.

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Miranda Lambert has always been a fierce advocate for helping animals, most notably through launching her MuttNation Foundation. The MuttNation Tractor Supply Relief for Rescues Fund has already donated nearly $100,000 to help relief efforts to aid pet shelters, pets and animals that have been impacted by Hurricane Helene.

On Oct. 2, Lambert posted a video on Instagram, sharing more about the MuttNation Foundation’s work to help animals affected by the natural disaster, and showing photos and videos highlighting the devastating impact Hurricane Helene has had on animal shelters.

Trending on Billboard

“As y’all know, Hurricane Helene hit the Southeast hard. It’s hard to wrap my mind around the devastation that our neighbors in Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia are experiencing,” Lambert said in the Instagram video. “Our MuttNation Tractor Supply Relief For Rescues Fund has already provided nearly $100,000 to help animal shelters, pets and their families impacted by the hurricane, as well as support emergency response organizations.”

She added, “It’s a very dire situation because many of the shelters that got hit were already struggling with overcrowding. As we’ve been in contact with the shelters, we’re also hearing really heroic stories. People are risking their lives to help. It’s that type of courage that gives me hope that we’ll all get through this.”

Lambert also noted that they have set up fundraisers to go to the MuttNation Tractor Supply Relief For Rescues Fund, with 100% of donations going to disaster relief.

Lambert is not the only country artist aiding those impacted by the hurricane. East Tennessee native Morgan Wallen, through his Morgan Wallen Foundation, donated over $500,000 to the Red Cross to help in disaster recovery efforts, while North Carolina native Luke Combs told his fans on social media that he is working on a plan to aid recovery efforts.

The category four Hurricane Helene has left massive destruction across several states since making landfall on Sept. 27, washing out roads and rendering some communities nearly inaccessible to aid. According to CNN, more than 180 people have died across six states, as communities were affected by flash floods, landslides, high winds, heavy rain and wide-range power outages.

Five weeks after Incómodo debuted at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart — and Regional Mexican Albums — Tito Double P celebrates his first No. 1 on any album ranking as his first studio album rises 2-1 to lead the Oct. 5-dated list.

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Tito Double P’s 21-track effort dethrones label mate and cousin, Peso Pluma’s Éxodo from its 12-week domination, encompassing the majority of its chart run. Of the 15 weeks Peso’s fourth album album has been on the chart, it’s only missed No. 1 three times – and two of those weeks were at No. 2.

Incómodo, released on Double P Records, which Peso Pluma and George Prajin co-founded in 2023, lands at the summit on Top Latin Albums with 26,000 equivalent album units earned during the Sept. 20-26 tracking week in the U.S., according to Luminate: that’s a 2% gain from the prior week. That weekly unit sum equals to 38.8 million official U.S. streams for the songs on the album.

Trending on Billboard

“Wow, I’m so honored,” the Mexican singer-songwriter told Billboard of the album’s debut. “I didn’t expect this but I’m so grateful that the fans are embracing my project like this.”

Top Latin Albums ranks the week’s most popular Latin albums by multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Each unit equals 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.

Incómodo also advances 2-1 on Regional Mexican Albums, for Tito’s first ruler there. Plus, one song from the album debuts on Latin Streaming Songs: “Escápate,” with Chino Pacas, arrives at No. 15 with 3.7 million on-demand official U.S. clicks, up 14%.

Omar Courtz Makes Billboard Album Charts Debut: Elsewhere, Puerto Rican Omar Courtz visits Top Latin Albums for the first time with Primera Musa, his maiden studio album which opens at No. 8 with 11,000 equivalent album units. Streaming contributes most of the 17-track effort’s first week sum in the U.S., equating to 15.4 million official streams.

It’s the first top 10 on an album chart for Courtz, who scored his first top 10 on a Billboard chart through the No. 7-peaking “Beachy,” with Daddy Yankee, on Latin Rhythm Airplay in July 2023.

Beyond its top 10 start on Top Latin Albums, Primera Musa also opens at No. 2 on Latin Rhythm Albums, Courtz’s highest-charting entry across all charts.

Tito Double P, Peso Pluma & Omar Courtz will speak at Latin Music Week Oct. 14-18 at the Fillmore Miami Beach. To register, please visit Billboardlatinmusicweek.com.

Westside Gunn said he was done making traditional studio albums, but he didn’t say he was going to stop making music. Actually, his exact words were, “It’s back to dumping.”

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With his third and final installment of the Flygod trilogy still on the way, the Griselda boss announced a Nov. 1 release date for the “perfectly curated” Still Praying that he mentioned in the summer with a lengthy Instagram caption. “Westside Gunn ‘Still Praying,’ perfectly curated by WSGUNN, Nov 1st,” he wrote. “This is for Big Dump, Michelle, GDad, Virgil, Chinegun, Sly Green, Kutter, Shots, Bacon, behind the wall and Buffalo!!!!!! I promise y’all about to witness a new chapter in this sh—t starting now!!!!”

Adding, “Still praying is the beginning of a new era of Griselda Records I promise y’all I’m a make sure y’all never forget this sh—t, just support the art and watch how life change for the better. Flygod Is an Awesome God, when everybody thought i was just chillin I was actually curating the illest art (wrestling/fashion/music) I ever made, but now it’s time to show y’all everything I been working on, I’m a show y’all why it’ll never be another Westside Gunn.”

Trending on Billboard

He revealed the album art last month in September, which features a picture of wrestler Sid Vicious, who recently passed away a few months ago in August, lending to Gunn’s infatuation with pro wrestling.

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Gunn has teased a couple tracks back in January. First, his song “Chocolate Face” featuring DJ Khaled was used as TNA’s Slammiversary official theme song, and a few days later he tweeted out a snippet of “Big Dump” featuring Stove God Cooks. Although, neither song has been officially release yet.

Madonna is loving Emilia Pérez. The Jacques Audiard-directed film, in which Selena Gomez appears as Jessi Del Monte, held a New York Film Festival screening at Alice Tully Hall of the Lincoln Center on Monday night (Sept. 30), and after the event, the Queen of Pop spent time with the cast and choreographer, Damien Jalet. […]

Billboard‘s International Power Players list recognizes the leaders that are driving the success of the music business in countries outside the United States. Avex’s CEO, Katsumi Kuroiwa, was chosen from the music industry leaders of the world for inclusion in the list for the second consecutive year. Billboard Japan interviewed Kuroiwa upon his selection for the list and talked with him about the response to ONE OR EIGHT and the issues Avex faces when creating global hits.
You were selected for inclusion in the Billboard International Power Players in recognition of AEGX’s success in bringing artists like Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift to perform in Japan. It seems like this collaboration with AEG has truly gained steam in the post-pandemic era.

Trending on Billboard

Katsumi Kuroiwa: In February, Taylor Swift played four days of shows in Tokyo Dome. There was huge demand for tickets, both from Japanese and overseas fans. There was particularly high demand from overseas fans, primarily in China and Southeast Asia, so I think the shows also had a major economic impact.

The newspapers were talking about it, too.

Kuroiwa: Taylor Swift’s only stops in Asia were Tokyo and Singapore, so the shows really drew a lot of attention. We need to make sure that when major artists like that come to Asia on tour, they never skip Japan, no matter what. For artists, performing in Japan is somewhat of a status marker, so we communicated closely with AEG members to provide a high level of hospitality.

In last year’s interview (https://www.billboard-japan.com/special/detail/411), you said “we can shift from these being isolated successes to a tide that creates a new market.” Just recently, boy band ONE OR EIGHT made their debut and took the top spot on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart dated August 28. How do you see the response to the band?

Kuroiwa: Last May, we strategically invested in S10 Entertainment, a U.S.-based management company, through Avex USA, and we reinforced our overseas expansion efforts. As part of that, ONE OR EIGHT has also been coordinating closely with Avex USA. Their debut song, “Don’t Tell Nobody,” was produced by David Stewart and OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder, and the band is being managed by an international team with members from the U.S., Japan, and Korea.

Creating a global hit song is extremely difficult, but we’re not one of the big three record companies, so without going after foreign revenue, I don’t think we could survive.

Do you think anime tie-ups are essential to producing global hits?

Kuroiwa: I want a hit anime tie-up so badly I can taste it (laughs). I’ve been really impressed with Creepy Nuts and YOASOBI. Of course, simply releasing a tie-up isn’t all there is to it. It’s also important that the tie-up matches the artist’s vibe. The scale of exports from the anime industry is totally different from the music industry, so I think anime plays an important role in expanding the global reach of Japanese music.

In September 2023, we launched the Global Japan Songs Excl. Japan chart, which ranks Japanese music that’s become a hit overseas. I feel like Japan’s music industry has kicked it into higher gear. Physical media sales still account for a lot in Japan. Do you think there’s any potential for physical media sales in the global market?

Kuroiwa: I think it depends on the country and the artist. I recently went to Korea, for the first time in a while. They’ve seen a lot of growth in CD sales over the past few years, but not because people have gone back to listening to music on CD. Instead, CDs are seen as merchandise, and there has been some discussion about whether or not those sales should be reflected in music rankings. I was surprised to hear that one artist recently sold their CD with an artist-branded CD player. I heard that it sold extremely well, and 30 or 40 percent of the people who went to shops to buy it were Japanese. But the values people have, and the way they listen to music, varies by country, so it would be hard to successfully apply that same approach in the U.S., for example.

What potential do you see for Japanese artists?

Kuroiwa: Looking at the Billboard JAPAN charts, I see a lot of different things going on. There are times when an artist will take a top position in the first week after their debut but then fall immediately out of the rankings, but on the other hand you have artists like Mrs. GREEN APPLE that stay on the charts week after week. For Avex, Da-iCE has been releasing steady hits recently.

Going forward, we’ll be putting even more energy into our overseas efforts, but we need to keep creating hits inside Japan, too. I think the biggest pitfall to avoid now is immediately setting out to take on the overseas market as soon as an artist has had a little success in Japan. The approach used in creating a hit in Japan is totally different than that used to create a hit in the U.S., and (the industry) needs to change the way they think about that.

Japanese anime and games have achieved some degree of market share worldwide, but for music, there’s still a long way to go. What challenges do you think the Japanese music industry still faces?

Kuroiwa: Compared to games and anime, Japan’s music industry has only recently really tried to take on the global market. Japan’s video game consoles saw the world as their market from the very start, and the Anime Expo has been going on for over 30 years now. These industries have been engaging with the world and establishing their own cultures.

If I could digress for a moment, we operate Anime Times, an unlimited anime streaming channel, together with companies like Kodansha, Shueisha, and Shogakukan. In expanding it overseas, the biggest challenges we’ve faced have been subtitling and casting voice actors. There have been discussions about the potential for AI to help resolve these problems. If viewers could watch anime in their local languages, but with the voices of the original voice actors, that could further boost exports. So I think the anime industry still has a lot of potential for future overseas growth.

When it comes to music, though, I feel like the number of artists who create music with overseas audiences in mind is still incredibly small. The industry is based around production in Japan—achieve success in Japan and then set your sights on the international market, that sort of thing. I think that’s what’s keeping Japanese music from spreading organically worldwide.

The way you make music differs completely based on what markets the artists and staff are looking to. Over the past few years, a lot of artists have been trying to tackle overseas markets, and those efforts have created a foundation of taking on these challenges. We’re also seeing a gradual increase in the number of successes. As more and more artists achieve overseas success, they’ll form a critical mass that will play an important part in the content industry.

In Korea, this was achieved through the public and private sectors working together. I want us to look to their example as we strive to take on overseas markets ourselves.

Avex has continued to grow by actively partnering with foreign companies like AEG or S10 Entertainment. Are there any philosophies you share with your employees regarding the future growth of your business?

Kuroiwa: Yes, “always generate buzz” and “keep taking on new challenges.” I believe that if our employees do the kinds of things that make friends and family members say “Your company is amazing,” this will, ultimately, contribute to improved business performance. Another is our tag line, “Really! Mad+Pure.” People aren’t receptive to “mad” alone, and “pure” alone doesn’t generate buzz, but I think our company has a good balance of both.

We’re a newcomer to the Japanese recording industry, founded in 1988. We found openings during the height of the CD sales boom, working passionately to do things that nobody else was doing. I tell our employees that it’s vital that we never lose that mentality of looking for new openings and taking on new challenges.

—This interview by Seiji Isozaki and Naoko Takashima first appeared on Billboard Japan

Hoshimachi Suisei surprised passersby in Shibuya, Tokyo on Monday (Sept. 30) by appearing unannounced at Udagawa Crank Street in Center Gai for a compact set promoting her upcoming new single. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news With over 2.4 million subscribers on her channel, Hoshimachi Suisei is […]