Pop Shop Podcast – New Every Tuesday

18 Jul 2023

Could Morgan Wallen’s ‘Last Night’ Break the Hot 100 Record for Most Weeks at No. 1?

Morgan Wallen‘s “Last Night” is currently spending its 14th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — but does it have a shot at the 19-week record currently held by Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus?

On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, we’re talking about the seemingly unstoppable country crossover smash (which just tied the fifth-longest streak at No. 1 on the chart) and how much longer it could hold the top spot. Will it surpass Harry Styles’ 15 weeks up top with “As It Was”? How about Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day” or Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito,” featuring Justin Bieber, with 16 weeks apiece?

It remains to be seen, but see what Katie & Keith have to say in our latest episode below:

Also on the show, we’ve got chart news about Taylor Swift mounting a takeover on the Billboard 200 albums chart, led her latest No. 1 album Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), which not only marks her 12th No. 1, but also pushes her past a legendary singer for the most No. 1s among women.

Plus, Eminem surprised his hometown fans by dropping in onstage at Ed Sheeran’s Detroit concert over the weekend and Troye Sivan released his new single “Rush” and a steamy new video to match, and we’re talking all about both headlines.

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)

11 Jul 2023

We Can See What Taylor Swift Was Up To With Her Crafty ‘I Can See You’ Video Casting

We always knew Taylor Swift was a mastermind, but she really outdid herself with the music video for her Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) “From the Vault” track “I Can See You.”

Late Friday, Swift surprised Eras Tour concertgoers in Kansas City when she was joined onstage by the top-secret cast from the new visual: 2011 “Mean” video co-stars Joey King and Presley Cash (who were 12 and 14, respectively, when they acted in that clip) and Swift’s ex-boyfriend Taylor Lautner, the alleged inspiration behind Speak Now hit single “Back to December.” In the new video, directed and written by Swift, the trio conspires to rescue the music superstar from a (literal) vault, thereby reuniting all her Speak Now songs with their rightful owner.

On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are talking all about Swift’s latest re-recorded album, as well as “I Can See You,” its buzziest “From the Vault” track. Listen below:

Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how there are new No. 1s on both the Billboard 200 albums and Billboard Hot 100 songs chart — and by two different artists! Plus, could Swift surpass a longstanding record held by Barbra Streisand next week on the Billboard 200 with Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)? We’ve got all the details in the podcast above. Also, Madonna shared her first message to fans since her hospitalization last month and also updated ticket-holders on the status of her postponed Celebration Tour, and we’re talking about all that too.

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)

04 Jul 2023

Olivia Rodrigo Takes a Bite Out of Sophomore Slump With ‘GUTS’-y Lead Single ‘Vampire’

It had been more than two years since we’d heard new music from Olivia Rodrigo, but that all changed first thing Friday when she released “Vampire,” the lead single from her Sept. 8-scheduled sophomore album GUTS.

In a tight, under-four-minute package, the melodramatic new song transitions from a “Drivers License”-style piano ballad to a My Chemical Romance-indebted popera, telling the story of a life-sucking user who won’t be satisfied until their victim is bled dry. On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are talking all about Rodrigo’s new era, how she’s making deft maneuvers to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump, and why it’s exciting to see the young pop star turn a song (and its artsy music video premiere) into a big event.

Listen below:

Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on Morgan Wallen’s continued domination on the Billboard 200 (and how he’s now blocked 11 different albums from hitting No. 1) and how Nicki Minaj, Ice Spice and AQUA have teamed up for a new top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Barbie World.” Plus, we’re discussing the scary news out of Team Madonna last week, when the Queen of Pop was hospitalized for a serious bacterial infection and forced to pause the start of her upcoming Celebration Tour.

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)

22 Jun 2023

Kelly Clarkson Breaks Down What Her Song ‘Rock Hudson’ Is About… And What It Isn’t

On Kelly Clarkson’s just-released 10th studio album Chemistry, the song “Rock Hudson” tells the tale of a silver-screen love story that turned out to be all Hollywood smoke and mirrors. The first line of the song: “You were my Rock Hudson/ It was real but it wasn’t.”

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“I thought I found my Rock Hudson,” Clarkson tells Billboard‘s Pop Shop Podcast about her eight-year marriage to Brandon Blackstock that ended in a 2021 divorce. (Clarkson’s full podcast interview will air on Tuesday’s Pop Shop episode next week.) “I never thought that even existed, if I’m being honest with you. I thought that was total bullsh–. So I didn’t even think that was real.”

Clarkson says Hudson — an Academy Award-nominated actor who was one of the most popular leading men of the late ’50s — became her “movie guy” after watching him opposite Doris Day in the 1959 romantic comedy Pillow Talk when she was a kid. “I fell in love with him.”

As she re-examined her ill-fated marriage for the new album, Clarkson realized that the early days “kind of played out like a movie. Like how we met, how we ended up together, things we had in common — like childhood things. We grew up in the same town and didn’t know each other … it just felt like a movie. And it felt too good to be true — which, OK, it was, but that was the reference.”

What she wasn’t expecting after co-writing “Rock Hudson” with producer Jesse Shatkin was that the song could be interpreted another way: While Hudson portrayed a dashing ladies’ man onscreen, the actor was privately a gay man who kept his sexuality under wraps to maintain his Hollywood career, even marrying his agent’s secretary in the ’50s to keep up the illusion. He died of AIDS in 1985 at age 59.

Clarkson says that piece of Hudson’s identity didn’t inspire the song.

“That can be misleading,” Clarkson tells Billboard. “It’s not referencing Rock’s life, like his personal life and what he was, unfortunately, having to hide from the public. … My producer [Shatkin] didn’t have a clue about [Hudson’s] story at all, and I wasn’t even thinking about that. And it was funny, because somebody at the label [Atlantic Records], I think, is the first person who was like, ‘So, Kelly…’ I was like, ‘Oh no!’ It’s just about having that movie life that people think that you have that’s so perfect, and it’s not [perfect] behind closed doors.”

Elsewhere on “Rock Hudson,” Clarkson references her 2016 Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit “Piece by Piece,” an emotional song she wrote in tribute to her then-husband Blackstock. “By the way, piece by piece, I found out my hero’s me,” Clarkson confidently sings on the new song.

Listen to “Rock Hudson” below, and hear Clarkson’s full interview with Billboard‘s Pop Shop Podcast on Tuesday, June 27.

–Additional reporting by Keith Caulfield

13 Jun 2023

She’s ‘Popular,’ She’s ‘Vulgar,’ She’s Madonna: Queen of Pop Delivers Back-to-Back Bops

Thanks to The Weeknd’s new song “Popular,” Madonna is back where she’s been many times before: on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Popular” (also featuring Playboi Carti) from the new HBO series The Idol lands at No. 43 on this week’s Hot 100 — Madonna’s highest-charting song in more than a decade, since “Give Me All Your Luvin,” featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A., peaked at No. 10 in February 2012. Also thanks to “Popular,” Madonna now joins Cher as the only women to have debuted on the Hot 100 in five separate decades.

But that’s not Madonna’s only new music. On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, we’re also talking about the Queen of Pop’s club-friendly collab with Sam Smith on “Vulgar.” Plus, Madonna is all over Christine and the Queens’ new album Paranoia, Angels, True Love too. What is it like for Keith and the rest of Madonna’s fans to get all this new material in the year 2023? Listen below.

Also on the show, we’re talking about the major Glee moments from Sunday’s Tony Awards, including Alex Newell (who played Unique Adams on the show) winning best performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical for Shucked and Lea Michele closing the show with “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from Funny Girl. Plus, we’ve got chart news on how there are a whopping six debuts in the top 10 on the Billboard 200 albums chart — and it’s the first time that’s happened in more than two and a half years. And over on the Hot 100 songs chart, Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” hits double-digit territory at No. 1, as the song spends a 10th week in charge.

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)

06 Jun 2023

Good 4 Us: Olivia Rodrigo Teases Post-‘Sour’ Era, But What Can We Expect?

Olivia Rodrigo had one of the splashiest arrivals in recent pop history, with her eight-week Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “Drivers License” and her five-week Billboard 200 No. 1 album Sour culminating in her best new artist win at the 2022 Grammys. We haven’t heard any new music from Rodrigo since she released her blockbuster debut album back in spring 2021 — but that might be about to change.

Last week, fans spotted a countdown clock on Rodrigo’s website ticking down to June 30 — but what is coming at the end of the month? On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, we discuss the possibilities (Song? Album? Tour?) as well as all the pressure on the young star to recapture the magic of her first project.

Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time surrenders the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 after 12 weeks in a row as a familiar face returns to the top of the list: Taylor Swift, whose former No. 1 Midnights jumps back to No. 1 for a sixth nonconsecutive week. Plus, Swift’s latest single, the Midnights track “Karma” — freshly remixed with new featured guest Ice Spice — surges up the Hot 100, jumping 27-2, a new peak.

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)

30 May 2023

Come on ‘Barbie,’ Let’s Go Party! Dua Lipa Sets the Tone for Dolled-Up Soundtrack

Dua Lipa took the first fuzzy-stilettoed step toward the release of the Barbie film soundtrack last week when she dropped “Dance the Night,” the maiden song from the Greta Gerwig-directed summer movie.

In addition to Lipa’s disco-ready song and a sparkling video to match, we also learned that the soundtrack is executive produced by Mark Ronson (Lipa’s previous collaborator on Silk City’s “Electricity”) and saw the partial track list. Some of the biggest revelations from the track list are that Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice are teaming up with “Barbie Girl” band Aqua on the new song “Barbie World” and that Barbie star Ryan Gosling has his own song, appropriately titled “I’m Just Ken.”

On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are talking all about the star-studded soundtrack — which also features Lizzo, Karol G, Tame Impala and more — ahead of its July 21 release. Listen below:

Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how Bad Bunny hops straight into the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 with his latest single “Where She Goes”; how Beyonce’s Renaissance track “America Has a Problem” re-enters the chart, and into the top 40, thanks to a new remix with Kendrick Lamar; and how Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time now has the most weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart for a country album in over 30 years. Plus: Could Taylor Swift’s Midnights be a contender to dethrone Wallen thanks to the new Til Dawn Edition and a series of new tracks, including a “Karma” remix with Ice Spice and the “More Lana Del Rey Version” of “Snow on the Beach”?

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)