News

21 Mar 2023

NMIXX’s ‘Young, Dumb, Stupid’ Makes Waves Atop Hot Trending Songs Chart

NMIXX lands at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Trending Songs chart for March 25 with new single “Young, Dumb, Stupid.”

Billboard’s Hot Trending charts, powered by Twitter, track global music-related trends and conversations in real-time across Twitter, viewable over either the last 24 hours or past seven days. A weekly, 20-position version of the chart, covering activity from Friday through Thursday of each week, posts alongside Billboard’s other weekly charts on Billboard.com each Tuesday, with the latest tracking period running March 10-16.

“Young” was released March 12 as the first taste of the K-pop six-piece’s debut EP Expergo, released March 20.

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

In addition to its music video, which boasts nearly 30 million global views as of March 20, NMIXX promoted the song with dance practice, performance and reaction videos uploaded to its YouTube channel throughout the week.

It’s NMIXX’s second time on the weekly chart, following “O.O,” which peaked at No. 19 in March 2022.

NMIXX reigns over Jao and Anitta’s collaboration “Pilantra,” which debuts at No. 2. Released March 13, the song was also teased in a trailer at the beginning of the tracking week on March 10.

“All of the Girls You Loved Before,” a Taylor Swift outtake from the sessions for her 2019 album Lover, bows at No. 3 after its official release (premiered March 17, the song was discussed online beforehand during the March 10-16 tracking period), and Jimin’s “Set Me Free Pt. 2” and Lana Del Rey’s “The Grants” round out the top five.

Keep visiting Billboard.com for the constantly evolving Hot Trending Songs rankings, and check in each Tuesday for the latest weekly chart.

21 Mar 2023

Morgan Wallen Charts Second-Most Songs Ever in a Week on Hot 100 After Rewriting Record

A week after Morgan Wallen broke the record for the most songs simultaneously charted on the Billboard Hot 100 – 36, on the survey dated March 18, marking the entirety of his new album, One Thing At a Time – he tallies 28 on the March 25 chart, the second-most ever in a single week.

Released March 3, the set launched as Wallen’s second No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, with the biggest week by equivalent album units for any album, among all genres, in 2023: 501,000 (through March 9), according to Luminate.

In its second week (March 10-16), the collection earned 259,000 units, down 48%, sparking its second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

Wallen now boasts the two top weeks in terms of the most songs charted on the Hot 100 simultaneously. Below Wallen’s hauls of 36 and 28 entries, Drake totaled 27 on the July 14, 2018-dated chart and Taylor Swift logged 26 on the Nov. 27, 2021-dated list. As with Wallen a week earlier, Drake and Swift translated big Billboard 200 debuts into their hefty weeks on the Hot 100 in those frames: Drake thanks to Scorpion and Swift via Red (Taylor’s Version).

Here’s a recap of Wallen’s 28 tracks on the latest Hot 100, again, all from One Thing at a Time. “Last Night” repeats as his highest charting, a week after it became his first No. 1.

  • No. 2, “Last Night”
  • No. 9, “Thought You Should Know”
  • No. 10, “You Proof”
  • No. 17, “Thinkin’ Bout Me”
  • No. 20, “One Thing at a Time”
  • No. 29, “Everything I Love”
  • No. 31, “Ain’t That Some”
  • No. 33, “I Wrote the Book”
  • No. 41, “Man Made a Bar”
  • No. 48, “’98 Braves”
  • No. 49, “Sunrise”
  • No. 51, “Cowgirls” (feat. ERNEST)
  • No. 61, “Whiskey Friends”
  • No. 63, “Devil Don’t Know”
  • No. 67, “Born With a Beer in My Hand”
  • No. 70, “Dying Man”
  • No. 73, “Neon Star (Country Boy Lullaby)”
  • No. 74, “Tennessee Numbers”
  • No. 76, “Tennessee Fan”
  • No. 77, “Hope That’s True”
  • No. 80, “Keith Whitley”
  • No. 81, “Me + All Your Reasons”
  • No. 85, “I Deserve a Drink”
  • No. 88, “In the Bible” (feat. HARDY)
  • No. 90, “Single Than She Was”
  • No. 96, “180 (Lifestyle)”
  • No. 97, “F150-50”
  • No. 100, “Wine Into Water”

21 Mar 2023

HHW Gaming: Microsoft Really Wants To Bring It’s Own Xbox App Store To iPhone

HipHopWired Featured Video

In this photo illustration the Xbox Game Pass logo is seen...

Source: SOPA Images / Getty / Xbox

Microsoft is working hard to get Xbox on as many platforms as possible, including smartphones. That could be a reality soon, but it all hinges on one big thing.

Speaking with the Financial Times, Xbox Chief Phil Spencer, spoke on the company’s ambition to bring an Xbox Games Store to the iPhone sometime this year, but that all depends on current regulatory measures.

The biggest roadblock is Microsoft’s $75 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, currently in limbo, according to the chief executive of Microsoft Gaming, that would give the tech giant a wide portfolio of mobile games. The app store’s launch also hinges on the EU’s Digital Markets Act plus other regulations that will allow for the enforcement of other app stores to appear on iOS.

“We want to be in a position to offer Xbox and content from both us and our third-party partners across any screen where somebody would want to play,” Spencer said to the Financial Times. “Today, we can’t do that on mobile devices, but we want to build towards a world that we think will be coming where those devices are opened up.”

Apple Is Preparing For The Launch of Alternative Store Apps on The iPhone

Apple, who is notoriously protective of its sh*t, is prepping iOS for the upcoming change by preparing to allow alternative app stores on the iPhone to comply with the Digital Markets Act that reportedly coming into play in March 2024, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.

Gurman further reports Apple will roll out the changes with iOS 17 updates for iPhone next year in Europe only so that still leaves American iPhone users out of the loop.

Currently, you can access Xbox games on your mobile devices through the Xbox Cloud Gaming’s web client, and while it works smoothly depending on certain factors like internet connection, it’s not as stable as a dedicated app would be.

—

Photo: SOPA Images / Getty

21 Mar 2023

Post Malone Reaches Last-Minute Settlement to End ‘Circles’ Songwriting Lawsuit Without Trial

Post Malone has reached an apparent settlement with a musician who claims he helped create the smash hit “Circles,” ending a contentious lawsuit minutes before a jury trial was set to begin. 

Tyler Armes sued in 2020 over allegations that he and Malone co-wrote the song during an all-night jam session in 2018, but that the superstar refused to give him credit. Malone strongly denied the allegations, and a hotly-anticipated trial was set to kick off Tuesday (March 21) in Los Angeles federal court.

But in an abrupt turn of events, U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright indicated Tuesday morning that a settlement had been reached to avert trial.

Just before a jury was to be selected, the judge jokingly waved goodbye to assembled media and cleared the courtroom. Staffers could later been seen removing musical equipment from the courtroom that had been prepared for the pending trial, and Armes himself was eventually seen leaving. A deputy court clerk later confirmed to Billboard a settlement had been reached. 

The terms of the agreement have not been publicly disclosed, and neither side’s attorneys immediately returned a request for comment. 

Armes, best known as a member of the Canadian rap-rock band Down With Webster, sued Malone in 2020, claiming he had played a key role (along with Malone and collaborator Frank Dukes) during an August 2018 all-nighter that led to the creation of “Circles.” That allegation was no small thing, because the song was eventually a smash hit, spending three weeks atop the Hot 100 and ultimately spending 61 weeks on the chart. 

After the “Circles” was released and Armes reached out to complain, he claimed that Malone offered to give him a 5% share of the publishing royalties. But when he tried to negotiate for a better deal, he says the star’s people revoked the offer and refused to give him anything.

Malone (real name Austin Richard Post) strongly denied the allegations, arguing that Armes “did not write or author any portion of the ‘Circles’ composition” and that he was simply trying to get an undeserved cut from a lucrative song. 

“It is an age-old story in the music business that when a song earns the type of runaway success that ‘Circles’ has garnered, an individual will come out of the woodwork to falsely claim to take credit for the song, and demand unwarranted and unearned windfall profits from the song,” Post’s lawyers wrote. “This lawsuit arises from such a story.” 

Last year, Judge Wright refused to dismiss Armes’ allegations, ruling that he might ultimately be able to persuade a jury that he deserved to own a piece of “Circles.” If the jury believed Armes, the judge said, they could find that Malone, Dukes and Armes “shared equal control in the session, making nonhierarchical contributions to a unitary whole.”

That set the stage for a trial set to kick off on Tuesday, which had been expected to run through the end of the week.

21 Mar 2023

Taylor Swift Makes Good on Promise to 13-Year-Old Burn Survivor With Tour Tickets

Taylor Swift just made good on a promise to a fan, five years later.

One of thousands of fans in attendance at the opening Eras Tour shows in Glendale, Ariz., was Isabella McCune, a longtime fan who’d been waiting since 2018 to see the pop star live. In fact, the 13-year-old was there as a special guest of Swift’s, who gifted McCune four free tickets to night two of her State Farm Stadium dates.

The bittersweet night was years in the making, as McCune had hoped to see Swift’s Reputation Tour five years prior. Leading up to the 2018 show, she suffered a severe accident that left her hospitalized for nine months as she recovered from burns covering 65% of her body, according to ABC 15 in Arizona. During that time, she listened to the “Anti-Hero” singer’s music to help her get through the difficult time.

Swift eventually visited her young fan — then 8 years old — in the hospital after the accident, and left a sweet note reassuring McCune. “Isabella, I hope you feel better soon,” the superstar wrote in 2018. “I’m so honored you’ve been listening to my music. You’re so awesome and I can’t wait to have you at a show. Stay strong, gorgeous. Love, Taylor.”

No one could have predicted how long it would take for Swift to be able to deliver on her promise, though. Lover Fest, which was supposed to be her first tour after the Reputation trek, was initially scheduled for summer of 2020. Like most tours around that time, however, it was canceled due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

Now that the 11-time Grammy winner is finally back on the road, though, McCune’s story has finally come full circle. With the help of Live 101.5 and the Valleywise Health Foundation, Swift’s team surprised her with Eras Tour tickets, which were given to her by a medical professional while she was sitting in a hospital bed like the one she spent months of her life in five years ago.

“Not only the fact that I’m able to go and I got these tickets gifted to me, they’re from Taylor Swift and her team and they remembered me, and thought of me to give me these tickets,” she told ABC15 of the surprise.

21 Mar 2023

Nick Cannon Calls Mariah Carey a ‘Gift From God’: ‘She’s the Coolest Person I Ever Met’

Nick Cannon looked back on his relationship with Mariah Carey in a new interview.

“Like the greatest? I mean, I always talk about that. Then it goes viral, and our fans get mad at me,” he told The Shade Room when asked about the love of his life. “But I was 12 years old with Mariah Carey pictures on my wall, and that becomes my wife. And the fact that she’s the coolest person I ever met.”

The former couple split in 2016 after eight years of marriage, but Cannon still has nothing but glowing words to say about the superstar singer. “I get a lot of this delightful disposition from her. She’s just always happy, always doing for others. No matter what’s happening in life. I’m like, ‘Wow, a person can really operate like that and don’t allow negative energy into their space.’ When I found that out, about how remarkable she was, that woman is not human. She’s a gift from God.”

Cannon and Carey share 11-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe — known by the Lambily as Dem Babies. Since his split from Mimi, the host of The Masked Singer has also welcomed 10 other kids with five different women as part of his belief in consensual non-monogamy.

He’s even parlaying his reputation for baby-making into a new game show called Who’s Having My Baby With Nick Cannon. Hosted by his pal Kevin Hart, the series is tentatively set to premiere sometime this spring on E!.

Watch Cannon gush over Mariah below.

21 Mar 2023

Isley Brothers Battle in Court Over Trademark Rights to Band Name

The Isley Brothers are headed to court over the trademark rights to the band’s name.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in Chicago federal court, Rudolph Isley accused his brother Ronald Isley of improperly attempting to secure a federal trademark registration on the “The Isley Brothers” – even though the name is supposed to be jointly owned.

“Counsel for defendant Ronald Isley has asserted in correspondence that defendant alone has exclusive ownership of the [trade]mark,” Rudolph’s lawyers wrote in their complaint. “These assertions … are false.”

The lawsuit claims that Ronald, “acting without the knowledge or approval of Rudolph,” applied in 2021 at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to register “The Isley Brothers” as a trademark under his name alone. The agency approved the application and registered the trademark last year.

In filing the case, Rudolph is asking a judge to declare that the trademark rights to the name are “jointly owned by Plaintiff and Defendant equally.” He also wants a ruling that forces Ronald to explain how he has “exploited” the trademark and to share any revenue derived from it.

An attorney for Ronald did not immediately return a request for comment.

Band names are a constant source of trademark disputes, typically among various current and former members who disagree about who has the right to keep using a famous title. Who truly constitutes the band? Is it the members, or an LLC that owns the rights to the name? Is it the original lineup, or the one that produced the biggest hits?

Journey, Stone Temple Pilots, Jefferson Starship, the Rascals, the Ebonys, the Commodores and the Platters have all resorted to such litigation over the years. Members of the Beach Boys spent more than 10 years fighting over their name, before a settlement was reached in 2008. And Morris Day recently had an ugly fight with the Prince estate over the trademark rights to his band name, The Time.

In the case of the Isleys, Rudolph claims that since the 1986 death of their third brother O’Kelly Isley, he and Ronald have been the equal co-owners of the group’s intellectual property. He says that arrangement is formalized in two overlapping holding companies, Isley Brothers Royalty Venture I SPC Inc. and Isley Brothers L.L.C.

“Both plaintiff and defendant are currently 50% owners of all rights and interests of the group, with neither party having the authority to enter into deals concerning the group or the exploitation of the mark without consent of the other party,” Rudolph’s lawyers wrote.

Ronald’s lawyers see things differently. In back-and-forth legal correspondence sent before Monday’s case was filed, his attorneys had argued that the “Isley Brothers” trademarks are the property of those who have actually been using a name – and that Rudolph has not performed with the band since 1986.

“Rudolph has not used the mark in approximately thirty-six (36) years,” Ronald’s lawyer, Navarro W. Gray, wrote to his brother’s attorneys in a January letter. “Thus, Ronald’s profits from the business endeavors he has sought and created for himself, in relation to The Isley Brother’s brand, are not to be shared as he has been the party actually using the mark in commerce.”

Read Rudolph Isley’s entire complaint here:

21 Mar 2023

BLACKPINK’s Jisoo Goes High Fashion in Second Visual Teaser for Solo Debut ‘ME’

The arrival of Jisoo’s solo album, ME, is imminent. To further drum up anticipation for its release, the BLACKPINK singer’s record label YG Entertainment shared a second teaser visual that provides one more piece to the puzzle of her debut as a solo artist.

The stunning video features a color palette primarily consisting of black and white. Jisoo first appears on screen as an elegant silhouette before her face and body are revealed. She poses in a black crop top and a satin-finished, voluminous skirt, gazing fiercely into the camera until her solo album and its release date appear in red text at the end of the video.

The new teaser visual also slipped a major nugget of information to fans of the K-pop star. In the description box of the video, the text reads #FLOWER,” potentially hinting at the title of the album’s lead single.

In YG’s post of the visual teaser on Twitter, several fans hilariously replied with the same block of text (also known as a copypasta), “ME isn’t just an album, it’s a cultural reset, it’s the oxygen you breathe, it’s a lifestyle, a reason to breathe, an escape from this cruel world, it’s art, the first gift you open on Christmas, a hug from a loved one, everything uv [sic] ever wanted and more. It’s a blessing.”

ME is set for release on March 31 via YG Entertainment and Interscope Records. It comes after Lisa’s LALISA and Rosé’s -R- in 2021 and Jennie’s “SOLO” in 2018.

See Jisoo’s new teaser above.

21 Mar 2023

Blake Shelton Vows He’s ‘Never Helping’ Niall Horan Again After Kelly Clarkson Prank Goes Awry on ‘The Voice’

Warring coaches, silly pranks, sass from Blake Shelton — it’s just another ordinary day on The Voice. On the Monday (March 20) episode of NBC’s singing competition, the country crooner’s fan-favorite friendship with new coach Niall Horan was put to the test after the former boyband star fumbled an attempted prank on Kelly Clarkson.

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

The hilarious moment happened after both Horan and Clarkson turned around for 18-year-old Gina Miles, who performed a gorgeous rendition of Katy Perry’s “The One That Got Away.” As the two coaches tried to convince the young singer to join their respective teams, Shelton wrote a helpful note on a piece of paper and slyly passed it to the “Slow Hands” singer — who proceeded to read the secret message out loud.

“Kelly can’t coach nerves, she admits it,” Horan read aloud to Shelton’s dismay.

“I am never helping you again … ever!” Shelton responded in a clip captured by viewers. “I write something down on the pad and hand it to you in privacy, and you’re like, ‘Oh, and it says …’ What is wrong with you?!”

“I don’t know if in Ireland it’s common practice to be passed a note about somebody and then read the note aloud to the person,” the “God’s Country” singer later told the cameras.

The senior Voice coach’s disownment of Horan puts a temporary pause on the two stars’ self-professed father-son relationship that’s developed over the course of this season, which marks Shelton’s final lap as a coach following nine wins and 23 total seasons. He’s the longest running coach on the four-person panel, while Horan and Chance the Rapper are both Voice newcomers.

Last week, pranking roles were reversed as Shelton was put on the spot by Clarkson, who facilitated a hilarious lie-detector test on the OG Voice coach.

Watch Blake Shelton and Niall Horan’s prank-gone-wrong on Kelly Clarkson below:

21 Mar 2023

Rauw Alejandro’s Management Duars Entertainment Launches Live Events Company

Duars Entertainment, the indie label, management, booking and publishing company that handles Puerto Rican star Rauw Alejandro, Cauty and Sie7e, among other artists, has formally launched a new events production company, Duars Live.

Duars Live is led by Duars Entertainment founder Eric Duars Pérez, along with veteran Puerto Rican promoter Paco López as co-producer, Orlando “Chispa” Acosta as stage manager, Omar Rodríguez as head of pre-production and Alexis Soto as production manager.

The launch of Duars Live formalizes an event production and concert promotion operation that Duars Entertainment las long had in place, but is now ready to expand. A catalyst was Alejandro’s “Saturno” tour, which kicked off in March and will play over 70 dates around the world, making stops in 34 North American arenas, 19 European arenas and 17 Latin American arenas. Duars Live is producing the tour in partnership with Outback Presents.

“Producing events is my real passion” says Duars, who began managing Alejandro several years ago and eventually signed him to his label, Duars Entertainment (which now releases his music via a joint venture with Sony Music Latin). “At some point in my career I had the opportunity to manage artists and release music, but I feel like in an odd turn of events, life has led me back to event production which I am totally enjoying now.”

In hiring touring veterans as his support staff, Duars was also aiming at sustained growth of his company overall. “I want to develop people within my structure so that in 10 years they can function without me,” he says. “I want to grow, sign artists, do more projects. My goal is, literally, to grow.”

In addition to Rauw Alejandro’s tour, Duars Live is also producing two shows at Coliseo de Puerto Rico by reggaetón star De La Ghetto and will soon launch another major tour.