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29 Nov 2023

Housefires, JWLKRS Worship, Blake Wiggins & Ryan Ellis’ ‘I Thank God’ Tops Christian Airplay Charts

Housefires and JWLKRS Worship rise to No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian Airplay chart dated Dec. 2 with “I Thank God,” featuring Blake Wiggins and Ryan Ellis.

The collaboration also reaches No. 1 on Christian AC Airplay.

During the Nov. 17-23 tracking week, the song drew 5.4 million audience impressions, according to Luminate.

“I Thank God” was written by Dante Bowe, Chuck Butler, Jesse Cline, Maryanne George, Enrique Holmes and Aaron Moses. It was produced by Tony Brown, Jonathan Jay and Aaron Robertson.

The song is the first entry on both Christian Airplay and Christian AC Airplay for Atlanta-based worship collective Housefires, following four entries, including two top 10s, on Top Christian Albums: Housefires lll hit No. 3 in September 2016 and We Say Yes reached No. 6 in June 2017.

On the streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Christian Songs survey, the act has logged five tracks. “I Thank God” lifts 14-13 on the latest list, a new career high for Housefires.

Orlando, Fla.-based JWLKRS Worship (the first word in their name is pronounced Jaywalkers) logged one prior Christian Airplay appearance as “Silence” reached No. 43 in August, as well as No. 31 on Hot Christian Songs in February.

“I Thank God” marks the first billed Christian Airplay and Christian AC Airplay entry for Wiggins, who is a member of Housefires. Ellis, meanwhile, has one additional top 10 on both lists: his own “Heart of the Father” hit No. 3 on the rankings in 2022.

Angel Taylor’s ‘Speak’ Now No. 1

Angel Taylor ascends to No. 1 on Gospel Airplay with her first solo entry on the chart, “Speak,” which increased by 13% in plays Nov. 17-23.

Taylor is one of the founding members of Trin-I-Tee 5:7, which formed in New Orleans in 1997. The act has notched three No. 1s on Top Gospel Albums: its self-titled LP, in 1998; Spiritual Love (2000); and Angel & Chanelle (2011).

The outfit has earned three top 10s on Gospel Airplay: “Listen” (No. 9, 2008), “Over & Over” (No. 2, 2011) and “Spirit Break Out” (No. 3, 2016).

29 Nov 2023

Drake’s ‘Dogs’ Deluxe Draws Double Debuts in Top 10 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart

Drake scores another pair of top 10 hits on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart as “You Broke My Heart” and “Evil Ways,” featuring J. Cole, debut at Nos. 5 and 10, respectively, on the list dated Dec. 2. Both songs spring from the deluxe “Scary Hours” edition of the rapper’s latest studio album, For All the Dogs, which rebounds to No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 and grabs a seventh straight week in charge of Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.

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In addition to a top-five start on the multi-metric Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart — which combines streaming, radio airplay and sales into its rankings — “You Broke My Heart” also leads the six new deluxe Dogs additions in streams for the week. The cut registered 18.3 million official U.S. streams in the tracking week of Nov. 17 – 23, according to Luminate, and opens at No. 2 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs chart.

“Evil Ways,” meanwhile, wins the sales race among the new half-dozen tunes. The collaboration sold 2,500 downloads in the week, enough to nab a No. 3 entrance on R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales.

With two new top 10 deposits, Drake’s account swells to 130 such hits on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. It extends his record for the most top 10s among all artists, which the superstar took from James Brown in February 2018. Here’s an updated count of the acts with the most top 10s on the chart, dating to October 1958, when the chart became the first all-encompassing songs survey for the genre:

  • 130, Drake
  • 57, James Brown
  • 52, Aretha Franklin
  • 51, Lil Wayne
  • 48, Stevie Wonder

Plus, the “Evil Ways” arrival secures J. Cole’s 27th top 10 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and third of 2023. Both prior visits this year – also through featured roles – captured the No. 1 slot, with the Lil Durk-collab “All My Life” leading the list for seven weeks and another Drake teamup, “First Person Shooter,” reigning for one frame.

Beyond the new top 10s, the other four deluxe Dogs cuts all land in the top 25 on this week’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. “Red Button” begins at No. 15, with “The Shoe Fits” (No. 16), “Stories About My Brother” (No. 18) and “Wick Man” (No. 23) closely behind.

29 Nov 2023

Golden State Warriors Bounced From NBA In-Season Tourney By Sacramento Kings

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Golden State Warriors v Sacramento Kings

The Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings locked horns for a thrilling NBA In-Season Tournament contest that appeared to be all but handled by the visiting Bay Area squad. However, the Kings took care of business on their home court and won the game while eliminating the Warriors from tournament play and advancing.

The first half of the contest on Tuesday (November 28) saw the Warriors, led by Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thompson’s scoring, go up big on the Kings and looked to be cruising to an easy win and advancing to the knockout round of the tournament. However, the second half saw an offensive explosion from Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter, who the Warriors couldn’t seem to stop.

There were also a number of careless turnovers due to errant passing by the Warriors. that led to fast-break opportunities for the Kings. The game was also the return of Draymond Green after a five-game suspension for slapping a rear-naked choke onto Rudy Gobert during an on-court altercation.

De’Aaron Fox led all Kings scorers with 29 and was equally unstoppable down the stretch. Fox and Huerter’s burst in the second half was timely as Kings big man Domantas Sabonis only contributed 9 points.

The story of the game and the topic of discussion online was the play of Stephen Curry, who also scored 29 points but made just 4 of 12 three-point attempts, including some way outside the arc while heavily guarded. This has led to some calling the Warriors’ loss a choke job online. We’ve got some of those reactions to the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings game below.

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Photo: Lachlan Cunningham / Getty

29 Nov 2023

Offset Announces 2nd Annual Toyz 4 the Nawf Charity Event: ‘I’m Excited to Bless Others’

To close out his banner year — which included an appearance on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Year-End Chart (“Annihilate,” No. 100) — Offset has announced his plans and goals for his second annual Toyz 4 the Nawf Christmas charity event.

The event will return to Offsett’s hometown of Gwinnett County, Ga., on Dec. 2. “We had a great turn out last year, and I’m hoping for an even better one this year,” Offset said in a statement. “I’ve been so blessed this year, I’m excited to bless others. That’s the reason for the season.”

Offset launched the event last December with the assistance of more than 85 community volunteers and partnerships, including the Lawrenceville Boys & Girls Club and BGLOs such as Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. More than $35,000 in toys was distributed across 248 families, including around 500 children. Last year’s Toyz 4 the Nawf event netted both the charity and the “FAN” rapper an honorary key to Gwinnett County and an honorary key to the city of Lawrenceville, Ga..

As a father of five — including Kulture Kiari Cephus and Wave Set Cephus, his children with his Grammy-winning wife Cardi B — Offset’s own experience with fatherhood has spurred him to set even more ambitious goals for the sophomore iteration of Toyz 4 the Nawf. Most of the goals focus on expanding the services provided by the charity event, including a winter coat drive, on-site wellness checks, raising awareness for the Internet Affordable Connectivity Program, barber services for kids and a hope to double the number of families served.

This year’s event — which Offset is hosting in partnership with the Ann Cephus Family Fund Corporation — will have a “Christmas carnival” theme, with fun eats such as cotton candy and corn dogs available to all.

Toyz 4 the Nawf will help put a cap on a big year for Offset. In 2023, the Migos rapper unleashed his sophomore studio album Set It Off, which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and spawned the Billboard Hot 100-charting singles “Jealousy” (with Cardi B, No. 55), “Say My Grace” (with Travis Scott, No. 48) and “Worth It” (with Don Toliver, No. 92).

29 Nov 2023

Travis Kelce Shouts Out Taylor Swift for Liking a Post About His New NFL Record

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have got this whole supportive couple thing on lock. Soon after the 33-year-old pop star showed some love to the 34-year-old football player’s exciting new NFL record on social media, Kelce gave his superstar girlfriend a special shoutout on his New Heights podcast Wednesday (Nov. 29).

The sweet moment came after Travis’ older brother and podcast co-host Jason Kelce, who plays center for the Philadelphia Eagles, brought up Swift’s headline-making “like” on a post from the Kansas City Chiefs’ official Instagram account celebrating the tight end’s latest feat: fourth and fastest player to reach 11,000 receiving yards in NFL history, and the only Chiefs player to ever do it.

“Thanks, Tay,” Travis said, suddenly bashful. “I appreciate you.”

Jason went on to sarcastically ask whether the “Anti-Hero” singer has always been such a fan of NFL tight-end news, to which Travis said, “I’m not sure, that’s a good question.”

“Maybe, I don’t know,” he added, smiling. “I don’t know if she’s a fan of tight ends or not. I’ll have to ask her.”

The latest podcast episode comes days after fans went wild over Swift giving the Chiefs’ post a double tap, the second time she’s done so to “like” a post about her new beau. She also “liked” a post about Travis becoming Kansas City’s all-time leading receiver earlier this month.

The pop star’s most overt show of love for Travis so far, however, was definitely when she changed her “Karma” lyrics onstage at an Eras Tour show in Rio de Janeiro to “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs coming straight home to me.” Immediately after, videos from the concert show that a blushing Travis hid his face in his hands before continuing to dance along to Swift’s performance, after which they shared a big hug and kiss.

Watch Travis thank “Tay” on New Heights above.

29 Nov 2023

Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo & Noah Kahan Set As Final ‘SNL’ Musical Guests of 2023

Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo and Noah Kahan are set to be Saturday Night Live‘s musical guests for its last three episodes of 2023, NBC announced on Wednesday (Nov. 29).

The long-running late-night comedy show returns from a brief break Dec. 2 with Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone joining the Five-Timers Club for her fifth shot helming the show. Kahan will be making his SNL debut as the musical guest that night.

Up next on Dec. 9 is Ferrari star Adam Driver, who is set to host for a fourth time that night. Rodrigo returns for a second time as the musical guest, and the first since she released her sophomore album, Guts.

SNL alum and Barbie star Kate McKinnon — who in the past has delivered hilarious impressions of everyone from Justin Bieber to the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg — returns to Studio 8H to host for the first time on Dec. 16. Eilish, whose song “What Was I Made For” for the Barbie soundtrack has been nominated for several 2024 Grammy awards — will be the musical guest for the third time.

Recent musical guests on Saturday Night Live include Tate McRae, Boygenius, Foo Fighters and more. Latin superstar Bad Bunny both hosted and was the musical guest on the Oct. 21. In addition to announced musicians, the long-running show has seen some artists make surprise appearances as well. Taylor Swift showed up unannounced to introduce Ice Spice on the season premiere. Lady Gaga did the same to introduce Bunny’s performance the night he did double duty; that same evening, Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger showed up to support the Puerto Rican star in several sketches.

Saturday Night Live airs on NBC at 11:30 p.m. ET, and streams live on Peacock.

29 Nov 2023

Making the Case for AI-Powered Music Marketing (Guest Column)

Most conversations around AI in music are focused on music creation, protecting artists and rightsholders, and differentiating human-made music from machine-made works. And there is still discourse to be had as AI has some hidden superpowers waiting to be explored. One use for the technology that has immense potential to positively impact artists is music marketing.

As generative and complementary AI is becoming a larger part of creative works in music, marketing will play a larger role than ever before. Music marketing isn’t just about reaching new and existing fans and promoting upcoming singles. Today, music marketing must establish an artist’s ownership of their work and ensure that the human creatives involved are known, recognized, and appreciated. We’re about to see the golden age of automation for artists who want to make these connections and gain this appreciation.

While marketing is a prerequisite to a creator’s success, it takes a lot of time, energy, and resources. Creating engaging content takes time. According to Linktree’s 2023 Creator Report, 48% of creators who make $100-500k per year spend more than 10 hours on content creation every week. On top of that, three out of four creators want to diversify what they create but feel pressure to keep making what is rewarded by the algorithm. Rather than fighting the impossible battle of constantly evolving and cranking out more content to match what the algorithm is boosting this week, creatives can have a much greater impact by focusing on their brand and making high-quality content for their audience.

For indie artists without support from labels and dedicated promotion teams, the constant pressure to push their new single on TikTok, post on Instagram, and engage with fans while finding the time to make new music is overwhelming. The pressure is only building, thanks to changes in streaming payouts. Indie artists need to reach escape velocity faster.

Megh Vakharia

AI-powered music marketing can lighten that lift–generating campaign templates and delivering to artists the data they need to reach their intended audience. AI can take the data that artists and creators generate and put it to work in a meaningful way, automatically extracting insights from the information and analytics to build marketing campaigns and map out tactics that get results. 

AI-driven campaigns can give creators back the time they need to do what they do best: create. While artificial intelligence saves artists time and generates actionable solutions for music promotion, it is still highly dependent on the artist’s input and human touch. Just as a flight captain has to set route information and parameters before switching on autopilot, an artist enters their content, ideas, intended audience, and hopeful outcome of the marketing campaign. Then, using this information, the AI-powered marketing platform can provide all of the data and suggestions necessary to produce the targeted results.  

Rather than taking over the creative process, AI should be used to assist and empower artists to be more creative. It can help put the joy back into what can be a truly fun process — finding, reaching, and engaging with fans. 

A large portion of artists who have tapped into AI marketing have never spent money on marketing before, but with the help of these emerging tools, planning and executing effective campaigns is more approachable and intuitive. As the music industry learns more about artificial intelligence and debates its ethical implications in music creation, equal thought must be given to the opportunities that it unlocks for artists to grow their fanbases, fuel more sustainable careers, and promote their human-made work.

Megh Vakharia is the co-founder and CEO of SymphonyOS, the AI-powered marketing platform empowering creatives to build successful marketing campaigns that generate fan growth using its suite of smart, automated marketing tools.

29 Nov 2023

LaKeith Stanfield Is The Fugazi Messiah In New ‘The Book Of Clarence’ Trailer

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The Book Of Clarence

Source: Moris Puccio / Legendary Entertainment

With Donald Glover’s Atlanta officially off the air (damn it!), fans of LaKeith Stanfield have been missing his comedic antics as he’s since been taking on more serious roles since he blew up when the series debuted back in 2016.

The Book Of Clarence

Source: Moris Puccio / Legendary Entertainment

Luckily for us, the man is once again returning to his funnier side as he will be turning the biblical era on its head in Jeymes Samuel’s upcoming comedy film, The Book of Clarence. Set in the time of Jesus Christ, The Book of Clarence stars Stanfield as the titular character who witnesses the rise of the son of God in Nazareth and decides he needs to get in on that miraculous action and make some bank to help his family. But instead of becoming a disciple of Christ, Clarence goes about copying his style and “performing” miracles of his own with the help of his trusty “followers.”

Unfortunately for him, Clarence learns that the Roman Empire isn’t too keen on messiahs giving the oppressed people any sort of hope. In order to save his own hide, Clarence must give up Jesus Christ to the Roman authorities. For his betrayal, he would be rewarded handsomely. This is Judas and The Black Messiah all over again!

How far will Clarence take his fraudulent ways? We don’t know, but we do know that Atlanta‘s Darius Epps wouldn’t give up anybody.

Check out the trailer for The Book of Clarence below, and let us know if you’ll be checking for this when it hits theaters Jan. 12, 2024.



29 Nov 2023

Machine Gun Kelly Offers Travis Kelce $500K to Leave Kansas City Chiefs for Cleveland Browns 

Look out, Chiefs Kingdom — there are some powerful forces at play trying to poach Travis Kelce. In a hilarious moment on the Wednesday (Nov. 29) episode of the New Heights podcast, Machine Gun Kelly genuinely tried to bribe the tight end to leave Kansas City for the Browns in Cleveland, which both MGK and Kelce have called home. 

“I’m sure you get asked this question behind closed doors a lot, but I would be remiss if due to the nature of our friendship and just as a Clevelander if I did not insert this question personally,” began the rapper-turned-rocker, calling in to New Heights with a surprise request.  

“I will give you $500,000 cash upon arrival just for shopping or whatever you want,” he continued. “As well as matching that same amount as a donation to both of our high schools — both Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights — as well as every day breakfast and coffee delivery from my restaurant, if you would just come home and put on these colors right here.” 

“Come on home, Trav!” added the “My Ex’s Best Friend” musician. “Come home, put these colors on and rock the city.”

Both Travis and his older brother/podcast co-host Jason Kelce — who plays center on the Philadelphia Eagles and was later extended the same offer by MGK — laughed out loud with bewildered shock. “You know that was the original dream, dawg,” Travis replied. “You know that was the dream!”

And although the 34-year-old football star admitted it was “an intriguing offer,” Chiefs fans need not worry. He won’t be sporting an orange and brown uniform any time soon (and consequently, his superstar girlfriend Taylor Swift will probably stick to watching his games from her usual suite in Arrowhead Stadium). “You know how much we love the East side of Cleveland, the Heights,” Travis told his friend. “I’m not gonna lie, the situation’s pretty good in Kansas City.”

“My fingers [are] crossed, there is no decision that needs to be made right now, but just know my offer is real and it’s on the table,” conceded MGK, noting he’d be sending new music soon to Travis, who he called his “secret muse.”

Watch the new episode of New Heights above.

29 Nov 2023

Universal, Sony and Warner Establish Music Industry Climate Collective 

Ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference starting tomorrow (Nov. 3) in Dubai, Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group have announced the creation of the Music Industry Climate Collective (MICC). This alliance will work to address the challenges and changes in the global climate and how they relate to the music industry.

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The MICC’s first initiative will be offering comprehensive sectoral guidance for measuring scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions, defined as “emissions that are not produced by the company itself and are not the result of activities from assets owned or controlled by them, but by those that it’s indirectly responsible for up and down its value chain.”

For the music sector, the vast majority of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are in scope 3.

MICC’s members have already worked with scientific experts on their first draft of the sectoral guidance, which will be made available to industry participants. MICC’s members have also initiated calls for wider industry input through an advisory council composed of independent record labels, value chain partners, and climate experts. The guidance will be further developed through an inclusive, multi-stakeholder process.

The American Association of Independent Music, a non-profit trade organization representing more than 600 independently owned U.S. record labels, will serve as an advisor to the MICC. A2IM will assist in myriad ways, initially with recommendations on how best to include small-to-medium-sized businesses in this initiative.

 “This initiative demonstrates what can be achieved when music leaders come together with a shared vision and commitment to sustainability,” the MICC’s founding members say in a group statement. “We are proud to collaborate to amplify environmental stewardship and offer practical recommendations and strategies tailored to the unique needs of music companies, regardless of their size or scale of operations.

“Together, we must continue to make progress on this vital priority,” the statement continues. “We welcome all to join us in reducing our industry’s carbon footprint by working together to ensure an environmentally responsible future for music and our planet.”

2023 is on track to be the hottest year on record, with many concerts and festivals affected by climate change since the start of the year.