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16 Nov 2022

Nicki Minaj, Maluma & Myriam Fares to Join Forces for New World Cup Anthem

After fans had been speculating about a new World Cup-inspired song by Nicki Minaj, Maluma and Lebanese artist Myriam Fares, FIFA has officially confirmed that the trio is set to release a new official World Cup anthem that will be out Friday (Nov. 18), via Universal Arabic Music/Universal Music Group/ Republic Records. 

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Titled “Tukoh Taka,” the track will make history as the first FIFA World Cup song featuring English, Spanish and Arabic lyrics. This cross-continental collaboration features a high-energy synergy between Minaj, Maluma and Fares as they rap and sing about uniting fans worldwide and celebrating together. Fans can also expect a “cinematic” music video premiere to accompany the track that same day.

This year, FIFA has released a handful of official songs for the 2022 World Cup. The first song released was the uplifting track “Hayya Hayya (Better Together),” featuring Trinidad Cardona, Davido and Aisha, which fuses R&B and reggae influences. For the first time ever, the tournament’s soundtrack will feature a multi-song collection, with international artists “showcasing diverse musical genres that span the world, setting the tone for a truly global celebration,” according to FIFA.

In 1990, almost sixty years after the first-ever edition of the World Cup, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) began to adopt songs that would become the official soundtrack of the global soccer event, which happens every four years.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup kicks off on Nov. 20 with host nation Qatar’s tournament opener against Ecuador. A total of 32 teams representing different countries will participate. In the end, one is crowned the World Cup champion on Dec. 18. 

16 Nov 2022

How Do You Get to the Front of Stage for a Harry Styles Concert? These Fans Camp Overnight

It’s 4 in the afternoon at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, two-and-a-half hours before doors open for Harry Styles‘ Monday night show, one of the final 15 residency-style concerts the Grammy-winner is hosting at the iconic venue. But the atmosphere outside is hardly the calm before the storm. In fact, it’s a glittery, brightly colored, feather boa-filled party filled with hundreds of young fans, lined up through the parking lot and down the street to ensure a spot standing as close to the stage as possible.

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“We got out here at 3 a.m.,” 26-year-old Jalyssa Brown tells Billboard, as she’s sitting on the pavement with her friend, Kaitlynn Beeler, 22, so close to the front of the line that they’ve seemingly guaranteed a great spot. “We didn’t sleep because it was so cold, but we wish we could have slept.” Ahead of her are dozens of fans who have been waiting even longer.

Beeler then explains that they waited in line with other fans from 3 a.m. to 10 a.m., and then after seven hours, they receive an “early general admission” wristband, which allows them to be one of the first to enter the venue. The fans are then encouraged to go home, rest and get ready, before returning at 3 p.m. to get back in line until doors open at 6:30 p.m. To pass the time, the groups keep it fun with card games, making TikToks or simply just talking to each other.

While there is inherently some risk of danger when young women are camping out overnight in a major city like Los Angeles or New York City, where there were similar scenes outside Styles’ shows at Madison Square Garden in August and September. But there’s strength in numbers when it comes to Styles fans, affectionately called Harries. “I fully slept on the street by myself, two feet away from a random car,” 19-year-old Julianna Malek, who was standing with a group of friends she just met, shares. “Harry is the only artist that I would feel safe camping by myself for. I knew this morning that I could come and make friends and be OK.”

“If we meet someone and they’re a die-hard Harrie, we know they’re going to be a good person,” one of Malek’s new pals, Darcy Callaway, 28, adds, before 24-year-old Olivia Nicholas agrees. “I would trust anyone here,” she says.

Julianna Malek, Cressie Rynne, Olivia Nicholas and Darcy Callaway.

Julianna Malek, Cressie Rynne, Olivia Nicholas and Darcy Callaway.

Rania Aniftos

And, yes, they have a specially planned bathroom schedule. “I’m queen of pee,” Brown jokes. “You pee before you leave, and then again when you get here because there are Porta Potties. You get through the line and they let you pee again. Hopefully, by then, you’re fully drained but, if not, our number is lower so we’ll get inside then have five minutes to pee. But we haven’t been drinking water. It’s planned all day long.”

For the average music fan, waiting more than 15 hours outside in the cold just to see a concert might sound strange or even absurd. But talking to these fans for just a few minutes, it quickly becomes clear that all the time, effort and money spent is for more than their love of the 28-year-old star. There’s a sweet sense of community among the Harries, something that Styles himself often encourages throughout his shows and in songs like Fine Line‘s “Treat People With Kindness.”

“I think it speaks for itself when we can be like, ‘Oh we can name everyone in the line around us.’ Everyone is so open and kind and wanting to connect,” 24-year-old Cressie Rynne explains, before Malek chimes in, “Most people here have followed Harry since his 2011 One Direction days, so we have such a huge piece of our lives growing up with this man. It’s surprisingly a very connecting factor.”

“I mean, we just met her 10 minutes ago,” Rynne says, pointing at Malek, who begins to gush over the noticeable variety in races, ethnicities and sexual orientations among the fans in line. “His message is so positive and he provides such a safe space for so many different identities of people. That’s one of his biggest attractors,” she says.

And, of course, his looks don’t hurt. “Have you seen him?” Nicholas says with a laugh.

16 Nov 2022

STATE CHAMP RADIO MIX 156

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DJ Frosty’s State Champ Radio Mix 156




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16 Nov 2022

The Contenders: Can Louis Tomlinson, Bruce Springsteen and Nas Compete With Taylor Swift and Drake for No. 1?

Welcome to The Contenders, a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming Billboard 200 albums chart dated Nov. 26): Two of the most historic names in rap and rock compete with a solo Directioner, as each of them try to knock Taylor Swift’s Midnights and Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss out of the top two spots. 

Louis Tomlinson, Faith in the Future (BMG): Back in early 2020, Louis Tomlinson became the last of the five One Direction alums to release a solo album with the No. 9-peaking Walls. He seems likely to return to the top 10 next week with sophomore set Faith in the Future, released last Friday (Nov. 11), which Tomlinson recently described to Billboard as “the record I always wanted to make.” 

Helping Tomlinson’s sales total for the new album will be a wide variety of physical options for sale: 10 vinyl variants (including a signed one), a Newbury Comics-exclusive CD with a signed insert, a Target-exclusive CD, a zine CD deluxe package, and even three cassettes. 

Bruce Springsteen, Only the Strong Survive (Columbia): Only a handful of artists in history have visited the top of the Billboard 200 more often than The Boss, who has 11 No. 1 albums ranging from 1980’s The River to 2014’s High Hopes. Can he get there again with a new set of covers? He’ll try with Only the Strong Survive, which honors what Springsteen calls “the great American songbook of the ’60s and ’70s,” including classics made famous by Jerry Butler, Ben E. King and The Temptations.  

He almost did once already. We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, a tribute to folk legend Pete Seeger, peaked at No. 3 in 2006 — and every album of newly recorded studio material released by Springsteen so far this century has reached the chart’s top three.  

Nas, King’s Disease III (Mass Appeal): Nas received acclaim for the first two installments of his King’s Disease series, both recorded with producer Hit-Boy — including a pair of top five entries on the Billboard 200 and a Grammy nomination each for best rap album, with the first set even giving the rapper his first Grammy win in 2019.  

We’ll need to wait another year to find out if King’s Disease III can make it three-for-three with the Grammy recognition, but next week we’ll see if it can match the chart success of the first two. But unlike the first two sets, which boasted guest appearances from the starry likes of Lil Durk, Eminem and Ms. Lauryn Hill, King’s Disease III includes no big features.  

In the Mix

GloRilla, Anyways, Life’s Great… (CMG/Interscope): GloRilla is one of this year’s hip-hop breakout success stories, with a pair of vicious Hot 100 hits in HitKidd collab “F.N.F.” and Cardi B teamup “Tomorrow 2,” and now a Grammy nomination for the former in best rap performance. Both songs are featured on her debut EP, Anyways, Life’s Great…, along with seven other hard-hitting tracks to prime audiences for one of the most-anticipated rap debut albums of the next few years.  

Rauw Alejandro, Saturno (Sony Music Latin/Duars): Few Latin pop stars outside of his “Party” collaborator Bad Bunny have been as visible on the Billboard charts recently as Rauw Alejandro, who scored his first Hot 100 top 40 hit last year with “Todo de Ti” and has kept the momentum going in 2022 with hits like “Desperados” and “Lokera.” It’s led to the release of his high-octane third studio album, Saturno, which features Alejandro motoring down the same dark, neon-lit sonic highways as The Weeknd’s last couple efforts.  

Wizkid, More Love, Less Ego (Starboy/RCA): It’s been a slow and steady trek to global domination for Afrobeats star Wizkid, who topped the Hot 100 in 2016 as a guest on Drake’s “One Dance” and hit the top 10 as a lead artist in 2021 with the unstoppable “Essence.” The Nigerian star takes another victory lap with this month’s More Love, Less Ego, boosted by an internationally streamed live performance in London this Monday, hosted by Apple Music.  

Guns N’ Roses, Use Your Illusion (UMG): Guns N’ Roses‘ dual album set of Use Your Illusion I & II debuted in the top two spots of the Billboard 200 back in October 1991 — with II inching past its counterpart. The two sets are combined on this month’s Use Your Illusion (Super Deluxe) box set of seven CDs and 12 LPs, including two early-’90s live shows, while CD and vinyl reissues of each of the individual UYI sets are also available for purchase.  

16 Nov 2022

Drake Holds Entire Top 10 of Streaming Songs Chart for Second Time

Drake nabs the entire top 10 of Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart for a second time, as songs from his new collaborative album with 21 Savage, Her Loss, debut on the Nov. 19-dated ranking.

“Rich Flex” leads the pack with 58.9 million official U.S. streams earned in the Nov. 4-10 tracking week, according to Luminate.

The single-week stream count of “Flex” is the second-largest of any song in 2022, behind Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” which accumulated 59.7 million streams in its first week (Nov. 5).

“Flex” is followed by “Major Distribution” at No. 2 (47.8 million) and runs through to No. 10, “Broke Boys,” with 29.6 million.

Drake’s top 10 lockdown is the third such accomplishment in the chart’s nine-year history. He was the first to do so, grabbing the entire top 10 on the Sept. 18, 2021, list upon the release of his album Certified Lover Boy. Swift followed earlier this month following the release of Midnights.

21 Savage nearly accomplishes the feat, grabbing nine of the top 10; the No. 7 song, “BackOutsideBoyz” (35 million), is credited only to Drake.

Still, 21 Savage becomes one of just four acts to occupy at least nine of the top 10 spots on Streaming Songs in a given week. In addition to Drake and Swift’s 10-song feats, Drake earned nine on July 14, 2018 (around the release of Scorpion), while J. Cole also did so May 29, 2021 (The Off-Season).

Drake extends his record for the most top 10s in chart history, having now accumulated 83; the next closest, Lil Baby, boasts 34.

Each of the 16 songs from Her Loss reach Streaming Songs, down to the 21 Savage-only track “3AM on Glenwood” at No. 19 (16.1 million).

Concurrently, as previously reported, each of songs from Her Loss reach the multi-metric Billboard Hot 100, led by “Flex” at No. 2. The album itself starts atop the Billboard 200.

16 Nov 2022

King & Prince’s ‘Tsukiyomi’ Soars to No. 1 on Japan Hot 100

King & Prince’s “Tsukiyomi” soared 92-1 on the latest Billboard Japan Hot 100, released Nov. 16, selling 614,173 CDs this week.

The five-member Johnny’s boy band’s 11th single ruled sales and look-ups, while also coming in at No. 2 for Twitter, No. 3 for video views, and No. 17 for radio airplay to topple Official HIGE DANdism’s “Subtitle” from the top spot where it reigned for three consecutive weeks. 614,173 weekly copies is about 100,000 more than the group’s previous single, “TraceTrace,” and follows its biggest hit so far, “Cinderella Girl,” which launched with 622,701 copies and currently clocks in at 838,244 copies total. 

The popular group — with members Sho Hirano, Yuta Kishi, Yuta Jinguji, Ren Nagase, and Kaito Takahashi — shocked fans on Nov. 4 when it announced that the first three members listed above would be leaving the group and agency next year. This news led to a uptick in rankings for the group’s preexisting works and this trend is expected to continue for a while.

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Meanwhile, HIGE DAN’s “Subtitle” continues to break its own record in streaming and downloads. Streams have increased by 1.6 percent from 21,044,966 to 21,377,507 this week, maintaining over 20 million streams for the third week in a row (No. 1 for the metric). The drama theme is also at No. 1 for downloads this week, improving by 8.5 percent from 20,945 to 22,717 units. It also continues to perform fairly well overall, coming in at No. 2 for video, No. 5 for radio, and No. 21 for karaoke, but slips to No. 2 on the Japan Hot 100 by a slim margin against King & Prince’s new single.

YOASOBI’s “Shukufuku” rises 7-4 this week on the Japan Hot 100 after the CD sold 24,926 copies to come in at No. 4 for sales and look-ups. In other metrics, the single hits No. 2 for downloads (up 30.7 percent from 13,753 to 17,973 units), and No. 6 for streaming (up 10.8 percent from 6,796,758 to 7,530,364 streams).

The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, Twitter mentions, YouTube and GYAO! video views, Gracenote look-ups and karaoke data.

Check out the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Nov. 7 to 13, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.

16 Nov 2022

The Right Stuff! New Kids on the Block Funko Pops Are Finally Here

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Blockheads, rejoice! New Kids on the Block Funko Pops are finally here and they might just become your new obsession.

NKOTB Funko Pops! went up for pre-order on Wednesday (Nov. 16) featuring Jonathan, Joey, Jordan, Donnie and Danny as cute little vinyl figures – each showcasing a different look.

Danny’s Pop! vinyl wears an American-flag T-shirt, black pants, and suspenders. Donnie holds up the peace sign while sporting a white, cutoff shirt, grey pants and peace-sign chain. Jonathon rocks out in a red leather jacket with jeans, Jordan wears all black, and Joey is dressed in a blue jacket with black jeans.

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These adorable Pop! vinyls measure 4.1 to 4.4 inches tall and are packaged in a plastic box making them easy to display (click here for durable, plastic display cases). Fans have the option of buying each NKOTB Funko Pop! separately ($12) and as a 5-pack ($60) available at Walmart and Funko.com.

NKOTB released their breakout album, Hangin’ Tough, in 1988. The LP went No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and spawned some of their most classic hits, including “Please Don’t Go Girl” (a Billboard Hot 100 top 10), “You Got It (The Right Stuff)” (No. 3), “I’ll Be Loving You Forever” and the title track (both No. 1s on the Hot 100) and “Cover Girl” (No. 2).

Earlier this year, the group hit the road for the Mixtape Tour alongside Salt-N-Pepa, Rick Astley and En Vogue, before setting sail with fans on the four-night NKOTB Cruise last month.

Block Nation has long been waiting for NKOTB to join Blink-182, TLC, BTS and other music groups and recording stars that have their own collectible figures. There’s even a petition urging Funko to release NKOTB Pop! vinyls.

Funko’s music vertical includes Pop! Rocks, Pop! Albums, GOLD and Tha Dogg House, a co-branded retail store with Snoop Dogg that is slated to open in early 2023.

Pre-order NKOTB Funko Pop! figures below.

Funko

NKOTB Funko Pop – Danny

$12

Funko

NKOTB Funko Pop – Donnie

$12

Funko

NKOTB Funko Pop – Joey

$12

Funko

NKOTB Funko Pop – Jordan

$12

Funko

NKOTB Funko Pop – Jonathan

$12

16 Nov 2022

kenzie to Join Billboard at 2022 AMAs as Our Red Carpet Host

kenzie is taking over the red carpet at the American Music Awards this Sunday, joining the Billboard News team as our on-camera host to chat with today’s top artists.

The 18-year-old pop star and Dance Moms alum announced the news in a selfie video shared to hers and Billboard‘s socials.

“Hey, guys! It’s Kenzie Ziegler. I have super exciting news,” she says in the announcement video. “I’m going to be chatting with all of your favorite artists at the AMAs this Sunday with Billboard, November 20th, so make sure to tune in!”

You can catch kenzie’s AMAs red carpet coverage on Billboard.com, as well as Billboard‘s Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube pages.

The 2022 AMAs, hosted by Wayne Brady, and the pre-show red carpet will take place at the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles. Bad Bunny leads this year’s list of nominations with eight nods. Beyoncé, Drake and Taylor Swift follow closely with six nominations each. See the full list of nominations here. Lionel Richie will also take the stage to accept the Icon Award.

kenzie, meanwhile, has had a busy year. She released her steamy new single “100 Degrees” in October and is gearing up to drop her next song, “paper,” on Jan. 13. “I actually wrote this song about one of my friend’s breakups, not my personal one,” the star previously told Billboard News of “100 Degrees,” noting that her pal got broken up with on Christmas Eve. “I just wanted to shed light on how something can ruin everything for you during breakups. It’ll ruin seasons, restaurants you went to.”

“This is just an all-around new era for me,” she continued. “I’m so happy, I’m comfortable with my music and I’m trying new things.”

See her announcement below: