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14 Jul 2023

The Clipse, Rick Ross & Wale to Perform at NYC’s Pier 17 for Amazon Music’s ’50 & Forever’ Series

Amazon Music is looking to give back to the culture in a massive way as hip-hop’s 50th anniversary inches closer. Beginning July 17, Amazon Music will launch its celebration 50 & Forever, which includes a string of performances, in-depth discussions and broadcasts from live festivals. 

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Fans can enjoy various performances in NYC on July 20 and July 28. The first date will feature a live performance from Wale and a special guest at The Rooftop at Pier 17 at the Seaport. The second will spotlight The Clipse and Rick Ross at the same location, with tickets to both events available on Ticketmaster for $10. The livestream performances will reside on Amazon Music’s channel on Twitch. The proceeds will go toward the artists’ charity of choice. 

Fans will also enjoy Group Thread conversations hosted by Speedy Morman every Monday, and Breakthrough Live performances from rising hip-hop talent each Tuesday. Lastly, episodes of Rotation Roundtable featuring Morman, Nyla Symone, Gabe P and Rob Markman will air every Wednesday. Then, Rolling Loud Miami will air on Amazon Music’s channel on Twitch July 21-23.

Check out the entire schedule below.

  • July 17 – Group Thread: The Blog Era Live from the Seaport
  • July 18 – Breakthrough Live: New Voices in Hip-Hop Live from the Seaport
  • July 19 – Rotation Roundtable: Live from the Seaport
  • July 20 – Wale & Special Guest – City Sessions New York: “50 & Forever” Live from The Rooftop at Pier 17
  • July 21 – Rolling Loud: Day 1
  • July 22 – Rolling Loud: Day 2
  • July 23 – Rolling Loud: Day 3
  • July 24 – Group Thread: The Brick Tape Live from the Seaport
  • July 25 – Breakthrough Live: New Voices in Hip-Hop Live from the Seaport
  • July 26 – Rotation Roundtable: Live from the Seaport
  • July 28 – City Sessions New York: “50 & Forever” Live from The Rooftop at Pier 17
  • July 31 – Group Thread: The South Has Something To Say Live from Atlanta
  • Aug. 1 – Breakthrough Live: New Voices in Hip-Hop Live from Atlanta
  • Aug. 2 – Rotation Roundtable: Live from Atlanta
  • Aug. 3 – City Sessions Atlanta: “50 & Forever”
  • Aug. 7 – Group Thread: Ladies First Live from the Seaport
  • Aug. 8 – Breakthrough Live: New Voices in Hip-Hop Live from the Seaport
  • Aug. 10 – City Sessions New York: “50 & Forever” Live from The Rooftop at Pier 17

14 Jul 2023

Demi Lovato Reveals She Still Has Hearing Loss & Vision Impairment Following 2018 Overdose

Demi Lovato was lucky to survive her 2018 drug overdose, immediately after which the musician suffered three strokes and a heart attack. But in a raw new interview with Andy Cohen for SiriusXM, Lovato shared that almost exactly five years out from the near-fatal incident, they still experience hearing loss and vision impairment as a result.

“I wouldn’t change my path because I don’t have any regrets,” the 30-year-old “Cool for the Summer” singer began. “When I think about things, the closest thing that I get to a regret is when I overdosed … that overdose caused me a lot of … it actually caused a disability. I have vision impairment and hearing impairment to this day.”

“I don’t drive because I have blind spots in my vision,” she continued. “It’s a daily constant reminder. You know, anytime I look at something, like, I have blind spots in my vision when I look at your face, and so it’s a constant reminder to stay on the right path because I never want that to happen again.”

Lovato was rushed to the hospital July 24, 2018, after overdosing on heroin, having relapsed earlier that year after six years of sobriety. The former Disney star is now sober, revealing last year they completed another round of treatment in 2021 before starting work on 2022 album Holy Fvck.

“Luckily in the mind state that I’m in now — you know, being sober, having a clear head — I just think in a more positive mind space and I’m not focusing on the shame at all,” she reflected. “I know I have a lot of sympathy for where I was at that time and the choices that I made and I understand why it happened and what happened, but there’s no shame that comes with it because it was just a life lesson that I had to learn.”

In recent years, Lovato has pivoted from pop to rock music — even holding a “funeral” for their former genre — and recently announced that an album of rockified versions of older pop hits such as “Heart Attack” and “Sorry Not Sorry” called REVAMPED is dropping in September. But Lovato also told Cohen that she’s not necessarily done with pop music forever and even dreams of collaborating with Kelly Clarkson someday.

“I never say never because you never know what’ll happen, but I’ve just been really influenced by rock music and it’s what I have fun performing live,” Lovato shared. “It was just the path that I took at that time and then when I started, I got sober and I was reevaluating everything in my life including my music and I was like, ‘What makes me happy?’ Like, that’s the most important question and I was like, ‘What makes me happy is listening to rock music and performing rock music.’”

Watch Lovato on SiriusXM above.

14 Jul 2023

Juanes, Elena Rose, Edgar Barrera & More Songwriters Who Could Score Big at the Latin Grammys

So strong and deep is the tradition of the cantautor, or singer-songwriter, in Latin music that the Latin Recording Academy is carving out more space for such multifaceted artists. This year, it debuts its best songwriter of the year category as part of the also newly created songwriting field. As with the mainstream Grammy Awards, the category recognizes songwriters credited as writers or co-writers on at least six tracks where they are not the performer, producer or engineer.

In addition, another new category, best singer-songwriter song, will fall under the singer-songwriter field (which has existed since the inception of the Latin Grammy Awards almost 25 years ago and has included the best singer-songwriter album award). To be eligible for this new award, at least 51% of the lyrics on singles or tracks must be in Spanish, Portuguese or any native regional dialect and must be from a singer-songwriter album competing in the best singer-songwriter album category that year. Below are six songwriters who stand a good chance of landing in one ­— or both — of the newly unveiled categories.

Elena Rose

As fans wait for Elena Rose to drop her long-awaited debut album, the Venezuelan singer-songwriter has kept busy with a string of singles recorded under her own name, plus a plethora of hits in the pop and urban realms. As one of the first women to actively collaborate with reggaetón stars, Elena Rose has opened the door for a new generation of women songwriters — making her a prime pick for the first class of best songwriter of the year nominees. The prolific collaborator has co-written massive hits like Karol G and Becky G’s “MAMIII,” Bad Bunny’s “Party” and, this year, TINI and Maria Becerra’s “Miénteme.”

Edgar Barrera

Perhaps the most versatile songwriter in Latin music today, Barrera has spent over 100 weeks on Billboard’s Latin Songwriters chart, second only to Bad Bunny, thanks to credits on cross-genre hits. In the past 12 months alone, the 32-year-old has worked with regional Mexican act Grupo Frontera on all of its hits, including blockbusters like “un x100to” with Bad Bunny and “Frágil” with Yahritza y Su Esencia. He also boasts credits on Manuel Turizo’s global smashes “La Bachata” and “El Merengue,” as well as multiple singles performed by longtime collaborators Maluma and Christian Nodal, among others, making him a shoo-in for the best songwriter of the year category.

Edén Muñoz

The former frontman of norteño group Calibre 50 has emerged as a successful solo artist and a sought-after songwriter for artists like Pepe Aguilar and Christian Nodal, among others. In June, the SESAC Latina Awards honored Muñoz as regional Mexican songwriter of the year for the fourth consecutive year thanks to a long string of hits. At this year’s Latin Grammys, Muñoz may be a contender in the best singer-songwriter album and song categories with his first solo studio album, Consejos Gratis (for which he wrote 13 out of its 14 tracks), boasting clever lyrics full of wordplay with uptempo fare and romantic ballads.

Gale

The Puerto Rican singer-songwriter got her start writing for other artists while she honed her solo chops. Now, in the wake of the release of her debut album, Lo Que No Te Dije, Gale could be nominated in all three songwriting fields. Her personal strain of alt-rock and pop was highlighted throughout her album and best heard on the uptempo, rock-leaning “Problemas” (making her a likely nominee in the best singer-­songwriter album and song categories). She could also be a contender in the best songwriter category thanks to co-writes for the likes of Manuel Turizo and Marshmello (“El Merengue”), Juanes (“Ojalá”) and Aitana, Emilia and Ptazeta (“Quieres”).

Juanes

The Colombian veteran arguably reshaped the singer-songwriting mold when he burst on the scene with his 2000 debut album, Fíjate Bien. In 2023, he’s still innovating, albeit in a more collaborative fashion. On his new album, Vida Cotidiana, Juanes brings in many co-writers, including Tomás Torres and Alexis Díaz-Pimienta. But the album’s standout song, “Gris,” a revealing look into his longtime marriage, is his alone. A Latin Grammy favorite, Juanes is a contender for the best singer-songwriter album and song categories.

Keityn

The Colombian songwriter-producer was ASCAP’s 2023 songwriter of the year — a perfect setup for his inclusion in the inaugural group of best songwriter nominees. A favorite co-writer for two of the biggest Colombian stars of the moment — Shakira and Karol G — he worked alongside Bizarrap and Shakira on the surprise smash “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53,” which spent five weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart earlier this year. Keityn also has songwriting credits on Shakira and Karol G’s “TQG,” which peaked at No. 7 on the Hot 100. It’s no small feat for a 26-year-old — nor is regularly writing hits for Manuel Turizo, J Balvin and Maluma (including the global smash “Hawái”).

This story will appear in the July 15, 2023, issue of Billboard.

14 Jul 2023

Could Regional Mexican Music Finally Dominate the Latin Grammys?

Regional Mexican music — an umbrella term given to the broad range of subgenres with folk roots that include banda, mariachi, norteño and corridos — has long been absent from the main categories of the Latin Grammy Awards. Though regional Mexican has its own field with five categories, a living regional Mexican artist hasn’t taken home the trophy for album, record or song of the year in the 23-year history of the Latin Grammys. (Juan Gabriel won posthumously in 2016 for Los Dúo, Vol. 2.)

The absence reflects an unspoken stigma: Regional Mexican is considered unsophisticated music for the masses and, therefore, unworthy of a win in the Big Four categories. Only one act associated with the genre — Monterrey, Mexico, DJ collective 3BallMTY — has won a Big Four award (best new artist), and that was over a decade ago in 2012.

But now, with a 42.1% increase in consumption of regional Mexican music year over year, according to Luminate, the genre’s crossover may be impossible to ignore. The growth started in May 2021, when Gera MX and Christian Nodal’s collaboration “Botella Tras Botella” became the first regional Mexican song to enter the Billboard Hot 100 in its 63-year history. Two years later, regional Mexican is the dominant Latin genre on the Hot 100: For the week ending June 25, 13 of the 17 Spanish-language tracks on the chart fell under the regional Mexican umbrella as acts like Grupo Firme and Fuerza Regida sell out arena tours alongside veterans like Pepe Aguilar. Also in June, Génesis, the new album from ascendant superstar Peso Pluma, debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200.

“Regional Mexican is no longer seen as the ugly duckling,” says Maria Inés Sánchez, head of marketing at AfinArte Records and a vocal advocate of the genre, on its potential presence at the Latin Grammys. “This will definitely be the year — and it’s just the beginning.”

Following are 10 regional Mexican acts that have a chance at a main-category nomination.

Yahritza y Su Esencia

The Washington state family band is fronted by Yahritza, whose glorious voice floats over the guitars of her brothers Mando and Jairo. Nominated last year for best new artist, the trio stands a chance in the song and record of the year categories this year, with a new Columbia Records deal and a poignant single, “Frágil,” featuring Grupo Frontera.

Carín León

León’s velvety voice, melodic approach and outside-the-box collaborations with C. Tangana and Matisse make him better known in pop and alternative than other regional Mexican acts. His new album, Colmillo de Leche, arrived in May just ahead of the eligibility cutoff, making him a top candidate for an album of the year nod.

Eslabon Armado

Last year, the Mexican American group known for its romantic sierreños was shut out of the Latin Grammys, even though the band’s 2022 album, Nostalgia, became the first top 10 regional Mexican title ever on the Billboard 200. This year, the act returned with a vengeance: Its runaway smash, “Ella Baila Sola” with Peso Pluma (a No. 4 hit on the Hot 100), should be a contender for both song and record of the year.

Edén Muñoz

The former Calibre 50 frontman has emerged as a formidable solo artist who collected his fourth consecutive SESAC Latina songwriter of the year award in June and is also making waves as a producer. (Credits include Ángela Aguilar’s “Qué Agonía.”) His first solo album, Consejos Gratis, arrived in October and could be a contender.

Grupo Frontera

The sextet from the border town of McAllen, Texas, got its start late last year covering pop songs to its Mexican cumbia beat, but with the help of a mentor in songwriter-producer Edgar Barrera, the band has quickly evolved. Hit singles with Bad Bunny (“un x100to”) and Carín León (“Que Vuelvas”) should give the act a shot at both song and record of the year, as well as best new artist.

Ángela Aguilar

The 19-year-old daughter of ranchera icon Pepe Aguilar lost best new artist to Karol G in 2018, but that hasn’t stopped her from bringing traditional Mexican music to the masses. In the five years since, she has become a fixture of the Latin Grammys telecast, while also touring alongside her famous father and releasing major collaborations with artists like Steve Aoki and Fito Páez. “Qué Agonía,” her successful duet with Yuridia, could get a nod for song or record of the year.

Fuerza Regida

The quintet from San Bernardino, Calif., is known for bold music that straddles Mexican and U.S. sensibilities, mixing tuba and guitars with delicious crunch. Although the act’s in-your-face sound and cheeky lyrics may not suit all voters, Fuerza Regida has a finger on the pulse of the streets — don’t discount the group for album of the year with its back-to-back releases Pa Que Hablen and Sigan Hablando.

Peso Pluma

The 24-year-old from Guadalajara, Mexico, is the genre’s current golden boy, debuting just one year ago and already charting 11 tracks on the Hot 100 and 20 on Hot Latin Songs. A disruptor who collaborates both within and outside the genre, Peso Pluma could take home best new artist.

Natanael Cano

Since bursting onto the scene three years ago, the 22-year-old has been considered by many to be the originator of the current corridos tumbao movement — and yet he has not received a single Latin Grammy nod. While his new album, Nata Montana, released in June, didn’t make the deadline, a trio of singles on the Hot 100 do: “PRC” (with Peso Pluma) and “Pacas de Billetes” and “AMG” (with Peso Pluma and Gabito Ballesteros).

Christian Nodal

Widely seen as a successor to the grand ranchera tradition of Alejandro and Vicente Fernández, Nodal may be the most versatile regional Mexican singer today. Although he has already won Latin Grammys in the regional Mexican field, newfound awareness (including a single with Romeo Santos, “Me Extraño”) may boost his chances at main category nods.

This story will appear in the July 15, 2023, issue of Billboard.

14 Jul 2023

Amazon’s ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ Store Will Have You Channeling You Inner Belly, Conrad & Jeremiah

All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

Are you Team Conrad, Jeremiah or Belly? Well, no matter who you’re rooting for during the latest season of The Summer I Turned Pretty, you can channel your favorite character with clothing and accessories inspired by the show. Amazon has released an official shop with everything from apparel, jewelry, shoes, beauty and more that’ll have you repping Cousins Beach and your favorite character’s style.

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Get excited for T-shirts announcing your team and the iconic infinity sign necklace as seen on the show. If you’re a sucker for declarations of love, there’s even apparel for that too.

Season two premiered Thursday (July 13) at 8 p.m. ET on Prime Video, with the first three episodes available. Even before the show aired its latest season, it already had fans raving over the trailer — especially as it debuted Taylor Swift’s “Back to December (Taylor’s Version)”, which had previously been unheard.

Keep reading to shop some of our picks from the shop and see the entire collection here.

back of blue sweatshirt that reads

Amazon

American Eagle AE x The Summer I Turned Pretty Oversized Full Zip Fleece

$59.95

The famous line that stole viewers’ hearts is now written across the back of this oversized sweatshirt. It features a zip-up design on the front with a simple daisy pattern across the pockets, while the back has “There’s only you. For me there’s only ever been you,” allowing all who see your outfit to live that line over and over again.

pink t-shirt that reads

Amazon

The Summer I Turned Pretty – Team Belly Floral T-Shirt

$19.99

Make it known who you’re rooting for with a cotton T-shirt that outright says it. You can snag this pink Belly’s Team tee or, if you’re rooting for a specific brother, pick up a Team Jeremiah or Team Conrad one.

14 Jul 2023

Can You Hear Me Now? Why Cell Phone Service Is Improving at Festivals


Anyone who has attended a music festival has experienced the frustration of attempting to send and receive calls and texts amid tens of thousands of other phone-wielding fans. Messages often don’t go through, arrive an hour after being sent or show up en masse when the night is over, creating confusion and leaving meet-ups unmet.

Anyone who has attended many of the leading U.S. music festivals over the past few years has likely noticed improvements, however, with cell service approaching real-time efficiency. This isn’t a fluke, but the result of focused improvements in how service is provided both generally and at music-related mass gatherings specifically.

“Frankly, I consider phone conductivity kind of like running water these days. Venues have to have it,” says Matthew Pasco, who as vp of information for the Las Vegas Raiders oversaw construction of the distributed antenna system (DAS) at Allegiant Stadium, which has hosted major tours from Taylor Swift, Metallica, The Rolling Stones and Garth Brooks since opening in summer 2021.

That’s because while cellphones used to just be a way of connecting with (or trying to connect with) friends at shows, they’re now seen as part of the concert and festival experience, with mobile ticketing, venue apps and digital payment systems demanding fully functional coverage. Connectivity also fosters greater safety, allowing fans in need of assistance to dial out during emergencies. Social media is another important consideration, with coverage at events now expected to keep up with the ballooning data demands of TikTok, Instagram and even fans livestreaming entire shows, as has happened recently on tours by Swift and Bruce Springsteen. According to Verizon, at Governors Ball 2022, its subscribers alone used roughly 14.5 terabytes of data, which equates to one person streaming 3 million songs continually for over 10 years. So, too, do fans arrive with phones, Apple Watches and iPads ­— and the expectation all of them will work.

Until recently, cell coverage has been wonky at big events as the demands of smartphones collided with networks designed before devices burned through so much data. With upwards of 125,000 people squeezed into a square mile (the size of Coachella’s site), all of whom texting and posting simultaneously, carriers — primarily AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile in the United States — would often overload. Event organizers, who sought to solve this by providing Wi-Fi, found those networks crashed easily due to high volume.

Enter Irvine, Calif.-based tech company MatSing. Founded in 2005, the company builds antennas that, instead of reflecting signals like a traditional antenna, refracts them, creating multiple independent signals beamed in multiple directions. Instead of implementing 10 individual antennas, an event can then employ one ­MatSing lens antenna that creates 10 separate coverage sectors and allows multiple carriers to utilize it.

“Festivals are the hardest thing to create coverage capacity for,” says MatSing executive vp Leo Matytsine. “That was our best way of getting a foot in the door.”

The first music carrier to use MatSing’s technology at a festival was AT&T at Coachella in 2014. “People actually got connectivity that year,” says Matytsine. “After that, Verizon and T-Mobile saw what was deployed, and it started to snowball because the technology worked.” Indeed, it’s how networks function — or don’t — in high-demand settings like festivals that typically cause carriers to lose subscribers, making performance at mass gatherings crucial to customer retention.

MatSing sells its 150-plus antenna models directly to carriers, and they are now permanently installed at 32 U.S. stadiums, arenas, raceways and venues including the Hollywood Bowl, with temporary deployments at myriad Super Bowls, presidential inaugurations and festivals including South by Southwest, Austin City Limits, Lollapalooza, Outside Lands, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Burning Man. The lattermost employs one antenna — incorporated by law enforcement as a safety measure, but which provides many attendees with service — while Coachella uses a few to cover its entire festival grounds. Prices vary depending on size and range from a couple of thousand for smaller models to tens of thousands of dollars for larger ones.

Carriers have also caught up with demand. While companies previously deployed mobile cell towers (along with MatSing tech) at mass gatherings to supplement coverage, Verizon representative Karen Schulz notes that “the network has evolved significantly over the past several years.” Improvements include fiber network expansion, carrier aggregation (which lets data flow freely across multiple spectrum bands) and U.S. deployments of high-speed 5G networks starting around 2019.

Unsurprisingly, venues themselves are now building and retrofitting to suit coverage requirements. Allegiant paid for the venue’s eight-figure DAS to maintain ownership over this asset, which the three major carriers rent out. (“I don’t want to sign away all the plumbing in my building so every time someone flushes the toilet, someone else gets paid,” says Pasco.) This DAS system also utilizes 28 MatSing antennas that hang from the roof around the ring of the stadium and service the 60,000-capacity bowl. (This option was chosen over deploying mini antennas under every seat, an option Los Angeles’ 3-year-old SoFi Stadium went with for its DAS.) At Allegiant, traditional cellular antennas have been installed in walkways, VIP suites and other areas MatSing antenna signals can’t reach. The stadium also offers Wi-Fi that has a 60% to 70% adoption rate among fans.

Some older stadiums and arenas, which are often “cement monstrosities,” says Pasco, “really struggle with deploying premium DAS systems because they don’t have the pathway to run cabling.” When such retrofits happen, they’re often “a little bit ugly,” he says.

However this coverage is implemented, its evolution is fostering increased connectedness among individuals in massive crowds, between attendees and venues themselves and with audiences well outside the confines of a show. This festival season, attendees might not even have to ask, “Hey, U there?”

14 Jul 2023

Missy Elliott Defends Flyana Boss After Social Media Critique of Their Viral Videos

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Flyana Boss

Source: press handout / press handout

Missy Elliott is using her star power to defend Flyana Boss after social media users posted open criticism over the continued running theme in the young Hip-Hop duo’s videos.

Best friends Folayan and Bobbi LaNea, better known as the sprinting musical team, Flyana Boss, have swiftly become the latest sensation to conquer the internet. Their viral presence has garnered widespread attention online– even snagging a Grammy.

Last week, the “DripDemeanor” rapper/icon clapped back at a critic who felt the need to assert their opinion on the group — who has become known for physically running through their videos while reciting lyrics to their songs ⁠— and their marketing method after labeling the methods as “redundant.”

“How many times they gon do the same thing in different videos for this song?” In their visuals, the girls are seen running through crowds of people while rapping their hit song “You Wish.”

The tweet received a response from Missy Elliott, who defended Flyana Boss’ artistic decisions by shedding light on how she experienced similar criticism when breaking out in the late-1990s.

“This old school tactic if you do a bunch of things you confuse the audience,” Missy explained. “They don’t know who you are That’s why most successful artist have eras and for that era they consistently do the same style and sound so you build a particular fan base. [For] Example, my 1st album I wore FingerWaves the entire time,” she wrote. “My sound was a futuristic vibe even down to the way I danced it was a jerky move. But all the elements established the type of artist I was… you must be consistent when you are a new artist.”

Missy’s authoritative teaching continued after another user asked the entertainment legend if confusing the audience by “doing a bunch of things” pertains to an artist’s sound as well; to which Missy replied that artists should focus on crafting a signature sound before experimenting with other creative decisions.

“I feel you should create a sound 1st so ppl can attach that sound to the artist and it becomes your signature,” Missy wrote. “Once the consumer know your sound then you can experiment. TeddyRiley he had the new Jack swing sound. Prince always used that flair drum it was his signature. So it’s like a entire package. That’s why you may see people say this was riri pop era or this was this artist R&B era because for that album they pretty much stay consistent the whole album even down to hair and clothes. Think of the group TLC oversized combat boots era.”

In other Missy Elliott news, fellow legend Busta Rhymes has completely shut down the idea of facing off against the “Supa Dupa Fly” rapper in a Verzuz battle; citing that he wouldn’t be able to fully flex on her with bravado as the reason. In a recent interview with Apple Music, the “Beach Ball” rapper shared that he was told there are two valid competitors that might be able to take him on in a Verzuz: Jay-Z or Missy Elliott.

“See, there’s never a Missy option,” Busta replied. “The reason why I can’t ever do a Verzuz or compete with Missy on a challenging level is ’cause that’s my twin. I’m Missy and she’s Busta Rhymes. I will never ever ever ever ever because I love her so much, I can’t talk my shit the way I would want to in a Verzuz. I love her too much and I hold her in a regard that’s so crazy.”



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14 Jul 2023

Taylor Swift Ties for Most No. 1s on Pop Airplay Chart Thanks to ‘Karma’

Taylor Swift ties the record for the most No. 1s in the history of Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart, as “Karma” ascends to the top of the list dated July 22. The song becomes her 11th leader on the list, matching the marks of Maroon 5, Katy Perry and Rihanna.

(Justin Bieber, with 10 Pop Airplay No. 1s, is the only other act with a double-digit total.)

Meanwhile, dating to the Pop Airplay chart’s inception in October 1992, Swift and Maroon 5 are the only acts to have reigned in the 2000s, ‘10s and ‘20s.

Here’s a recap of Swift’s 11 No. 1s on Pop Airplay, which measures songs’ weekly plays, as tabulated by Mediabase and provided to Billboard by Luminate, on over 150 U.S. mainstream top 40 radio stations.

Title, Weeks at No. 1, Year(s):

  • “Karma,” one (to date), 2023
  • “Anti-Hero,” three, 2022-23
  • “Delicate,” one, 2018
  • “Look What You Made Me Do,” one, 2017
  • “Wildest Dreams,” two, 2015
  • “Bad Blood” (feat. Kendrick Lamar), five, 2015
  • “Style,” three, 2015
  • “Blank Space,” six, 2014-15
  • “Shake It Off,” two, 2014|
  • “I Knew You Were Trouble,” seven, 2013
  • “Love Story,” one, 2009

Also notably, “Karma” is the second Pop Airplay No. 1 from Swift’s 2022 album Midnights, following “Anti-Hero.” The set is her third to generate multiple leaders, after Reputation (two, 2017-18) and 1989 (five, 2014-15).

Contributing to airplay for “Karma,” which gained by 1% in plays on Pop Airplay reporters July 7-13, is its remix featuring Ice Spice. The song (all versions combined) hit a No. 2 high on the all-genre, multimetric Billboard Hot 100 in June. It originally debuted, at No. 9, on the Hot 100 100 dated Nov. 5, 2022, as Swift made history as the first artist to monopolize the chart’s entire top 10 in a single week, with all tracks all from Midnights.

Swift concurrently ascends to the Pop Airplay top 10 with “Cruel Summer,” which surges 14-8 as the list’s Greatest Gainer (up 29%). The song becomes her 22nd top 10, tying Maroon 5 for the second-most, after Rihanna’s 30.

Originally released on Swift’s 2019 album Lover and now being promoted by Republic Records as a new single, the song has been gaining momentum in recent weeks, as Swift has been performing it on her current The Eras Tour, her first in which she’s been able to spotlight songs from Lover, which was released shortly before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each concert on the tour is divided into 10 acts, encompassing nine of her LPs; the Lover era kicks off the show, with “Cruel Summer” performed in the opening set.

The song becomes the third Pop Airplay top 10, and second-highest-charting, from Lover, joining lead single “Me!,” featuring Brendon Urie (No. 7 peak, May 2019), and “You Need to Calm Down” (No. 9, August 2019). The set spun off two other top 20 hits: the title track (No. 16, November 2019) and “The Man” (No. 20, April 2020).

14 Jul 2023

Get to Know the Three New Major Grammy Categories

The Recording Academy has added three new categories for the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, which are set for Sunday Feb. 4, 2024 — best African music performance, best alternative jazz album and best pop dance recording. This brings the total number of categories to 94, the highest total since the number reached an all-time peak of 109 in 2010.

“By introducing these three new categories, we are able to acknowledge and appreciate a broader array of artists,” Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, said in a statement. “We are excited to honor and celebrate the creators and recordings in these categories, while also exposing a wider range of music to fans worldwide.” 

Here’s a closer look at the three new Grammy categories. —Paul Grein

Best Alternative Jazz Album

From swing to bebop to fusion, evolution has defined jazz throughout its history. The Grammys’ new best alternative jazz album category acknowledges that constant change, as a new generation brings the storied genre into the 21st century.

In recent years, the Grammys’ existing best jazz instrumental album category has recognized esteemed musicians of yesteryear, awarding the likes of Ron Carter, Wayne Shorter and Chick Corea — who all played with Miles Davis in the late 1960s and early ’70s. By contrast, less conventional jazz artists such as Kamasi Washington and Makaya McCraven, and bands such as Sons of Kemet and The Comet Is Coming (both led by acclaimed British saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings), have remained absent from the category’s nominees. Robert Glasper, the genre-hopping musician who has played with artists from Herbie Hancock to Mac Miller, received a single jazz category nomination in 2016, but snuck into the best R&B album category last year; his surprise win with Black Radio III caused fellow nominee Chris Brown to infamously remark: “Who the f–k is Robert Glasper?”

In its announcement of this new category, the Recording Academy noted that alternative jazz “may be defined as a genre-blending, envelope-pushing hybrid that mixes jazz … with other genres,” including R&B, hip-hop, classical, rap and dance music. As genre distinctions become less rigid, the category’s value rests in how it will allow musicians like Washington — who earned recognition outside the jazz community for his contributions to Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 album, To Pimp a Butterfly — to be honored without conforming to more traditional conceptions of jazz.

Contenders may include Dinner Party, the collaborative project of Washington, Glasper and fellow jazz-meets-hip-hop traveler Terrace Martin; Angel Bat Dawid, the clarinetist-composer signed to influential contemporary jazz label International Anthem; saxophonist Sam Gendel, a prolific puveyor of ambient jazz; and the trio comprising Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily and Arooj Aftab for Love in Exile. (Aftab was nominated for best new artist and won for best global music performance in 2022.). —Eric Renner Brown

Best African Music Performance

From Afrobeats crossover hits like Burna Boy’s “Ye” and Wizkid’s “Joro” in 2018 and 2019, respectively, to more recent smashes like Rema’s “Calm Down” and CKay’s “Love Nwatiti,” the myriad sounds of Africa have become increasingly dominant in the U.S. and U.K. mainstream markets. After the broad best global music performance category flattened the diversity of non-Western musical stylings, the Recording Academy’s new best African music performance category aims to respond to the explosive growth of the continent’s music.

In 2021, the Grammys awarded the inaugural best global music performance trophy to Arooj Aftab’s “Mohabbat” — a shock to those betting on Wizkid & Tems’ “Essence,” by far the most commercially successful song in the category. The following year, “Bayethe,” a collaboration among South African artists Wouter Kellerman, Zakes Bantwini and Nomcebo Zikode, beat out Burna Boy’s cultural and commercial juggernaut, “Last Last,” yet another marker that an adjustment was needed to properly recognize Afrobeats and its impact.

From its inception, the global music category was an attempt to recognize hundreds of genres across a plethora of languages, cultures and countries. But the rise of Afrobeats, Afro-pop and, more recently, amapiano, has become undeniable. Thanks to a Selena Gomez remix, Rema’s “Calm Down” holds the longest reign on the Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart (45 weeks and counting, as of the July 15 chart).

On the Hot 100, it peaked at No. 3. In July, Burna Boy became the first Nigerian artist to headline a U.S. stadium with his stint at New York’s Citi Field as a part of his Love, Damini tour.

The new best African music performance category seeks to honor “recordings that utilize unique local expressions from across the African continent, highlighting regional melodic, harmonic and rhythmic musical traditions.” The award will highlight subgenres including, but not limited to, Afrobeats, Afro-fusion, Afro-pop, alté, amapiano, genge, fuji, Ghanaian drill, Afro house, South African hip-hop and Ethio-jazz.

As the eligibility period draws to a close, keep an eye on these potential best African music performance nominees: “2:30” by Asake; “Sittin’ on Top of the World,” Burna Boy; “Charm,” Rema; “People,” Libianca; “Unavailable,” Davido & Musa Keys; “Soweto,” Victony; “Party No Dey Stop,” Adekunle Gold & Zinoleesky; “Reason,” Omah Lay; “Mnike,” Tyler ICU, Tumelo.za, DJ Maphorisa, Nandipha808, Ceeka RSA & Tyron Dee; and “Amapiano,” Asake & Olamide. —Kyle Denis

Best Pop Dance Recording

The Recording Academy has long attempted to cram dance and electronic music’s disparate styles into an all-encompassing pair of categories: best dance/electronic recording and best dance/electronic album. The collision of house, EDM, intelligent dance music and other subgenres has made for strange nominee bedfellows over the years — like in 2022, when Tiësto’s pop-centric crossover smash, “The Business,” competed against the delicately experimental “Loom” from Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds featuring Bonobo.

But nowhere has the Grammys’ dance/electronic culture war been so acute as with pop dance (or “dance pop,” as it’s more commonly called), the style that rides the line between the two genres with big melodies, center-of-attention vocals and traditional pop structures. In 2005, Britney Spears’ “Toxic” triumphed over songs like The Chemical Brothers’ “Get Yourself High” for best dance recording. While the categories started shying away from pop stars amid the EDM boom of the 2010s, the pop structures inherent to EDM presented their own challenges.

The dance screening committee, which employs a panel of experts to review submissions to the two dance categories that may be better suited elsewhere, historically struggled with where to place dance pop songs. A source on this committee says it was always hard to classify songs with, for example, a house beat but otherwise fully pop production. Which is why the Grammys have taken an overdue step in their acknowledgment of the music’s wide appeal with its addition of best pop dance recording. The change also earns the genre at large a greater Grammys presence with the addition of five more nominees.

The pop dance category would neatly fit a few early front-runners, including Illenium and the output from his self-titled rock/EDM hybrid album and Jessie Ware’s disco-infused set, That! Feels Good! The category will also likely be the new home for major pop stars making dance-centric songs, with Kylie Minogue’s thumping “Padam Padam” a contender for 2024. While the dance genre is dizzyingly eclectic, the addition of pop dance is one thing everyone can agree on. —Katie Bain

This story will appear in the July 15, 2023, issue of Billboard.

14 Jul 2023

Taylor, Beyoncé & Beyond: Who Could Challenge Elton John’s Boxscore Record?

Now that the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour has ended, a slew of competitors is racing up the road to $940 million.

Chris Martin, Coldplay, Elton John, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, BTS

Clockwise from left: Chris Martin of Coldplay, Elton John, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift & BTS.

Ole Jensen/Getty Images; Leon Neal/Getty Images; Kevin Mazur/WireImage; John Shearer/TAS23/Getty Images; Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Elton John played the last of 330 shows on the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour last Saturday night (July 8) in Stockholm. In doing so, he further extended his record for the highest grossing tour of all time, closing out at $939.1 million.

John secured the record earlier this year, bypassing Ed Sheeran’s The Divide Tour and U2’s U2 360 Tour. With one last leg of almost 50 arena shows in Europe, he’s now $150 million ahead of those two tours, with almost another $150 million separating them from the rest of the all-time leaderboard.

That sounds like a secure lead for Sir Elton, but even his old competitors can’t be counted out. Sheeran is on the road again with The Mathematics Tour. It launched last year and continues throughout the summer in stadiums.

In fact, there are a number of artists eyeing John’s record. The inner circle of stadium acts is constantly expanding as more contemporary artists seek to maximize their touring business. Tours are seemingly getting longer, with Sheeran himself releasing another new album mid-tour. In addition, ticket prices, particularly in arenas and stadiums in North America, are surging thanks to platinum and dynamic ticketing, plus primary market re-sale.

All of that is combining to create an era in the concert business that allows for eye-popping Boxscore reports across genres and generations. John proved patience is key, touring arenas and stadiums for almost five years (including during the COVID-19 blackout) to reach $900m-plus heights. On that note, we look to the second half of 2023, and further into 2024, and 2025 as we speculate on future contenders for the crown.

Scroll through some of the most likely challengers to see how the all-time Boxscore top 10 could shift in the months and years to come.