State Champ Radio Pop Shop
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While it may seem like most every major artist has released a full-length holiday album, there are still quite a few superstars that have yet to drop a seasonal project – including such chart-topping acts as Adele, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Ed Sheeran.
On the latest Billboard Pop Shop Podcast (listen below), hosts Katie and Keith discuss a dozen artists that are missing from the holiday cannon and debate whether we’ll ever actually get a seasonal album from them. (We’re looking at you, Paul McCartney!)
Also on the show, the Pop Shoppers chat about SZA scoring her first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with SOS (and securing one of the biggest debuts of 2022) and how Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” reaches double-digits at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, spending its 10th nonconsecutive week atop the list.
Katie and Keith also take a stroll down chart memory lane in the chart stat of the week feature, revisiting the all-star charity album A Very Special Christmas and what became the start of a mega-successful holiday music series.
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 senior director of charts 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.)
When Alicia Keys set out to make her first holiday album, Santa Baby, she wanted to make sure it sounded like a project she would put out at any time of year.
“It has a soulfulness, a rawness, it has that New York energy in it too, but it just feels like something you could play from top to bottom,” Keys tells the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast (listen below) about the Apple Music-exclusive album. “And I recorded it like that; we recorded it very consistently over about seven days, and it all really feels cohesive and great. And so I love it. I think now is the time.
“And it’s my first release off of my own independent record label, Alicia Keys Records, so it makes it even better.”
“Soulfulness” was the vibe Keys kept returning to for the album, which was released last month, saying, “It really does harness a sound, and that sound is always going to have that soulfulness. Everything that I touch is going to have a soulfulness, it’s gonna have something that feels warm, I want it to feel meaningful, I want the lyrics to be things that you never forget. I want to create memories.”
The album’s lead single, “December Back 2 June,” is the perfect example of an original on the album, which Keys co-wrote with Tayla Parx, that could really fit in on any year-round Keys project. But there is one Yuletide touch from producer Tommy Parker that gives the song some festive flair.
“I was like, ‘Where did he find this Christmas Jackson 5 song that I’ve never heard in all my life?’” Keys recalls thinking when she heard the high-pitched “It’s just Christmastime” line in the production. “And so I talked to him, and I’m like, ‘Is this a sample? What is this?’ And he had actually created that voice and that kind of sample-sounding pitch. And I fell in love with it, because to me it felt like a ‘You Don’t Know My Name’ or one of these songs that are my style, like that kind of ’70s sample, we’ll put a modern approach on it. And so it totally was 100% me, and he said that he created it with that in mind.”
As for the album’s namesake song, Keys has always appreciated the 1953 original for its ahead-of-its-time boldness. “‘Santa Baby’ by Eartha Kitt is like, by far to me, one of the best-written songs of all time,” she says. “I just love that cheekiness, the flirtiness. I love the way that she approached it, especially … as a woman in that time, that she was totally bold, brave, she wasn’t trying to meet anybody else’s standards. She set her own direction and journey and lane, and so … I was very excited to bring that out, in my style.”
But Keys is most thrilled to become part of people’s holiday traditions with her addition to the Christmas catalog. “There’s timeless music that, every year, you’re gonna hear it and you need it and you love it,” she says. “And I really want to be a part of that group of timeless compositions that you can just forever love, forever depend on, and forever create memories with your family and your loved ones.”
Listen to the full interview with Keys above, in which she also names some of her all-time favorite Christmas music, including Boyz II Men’s 1993 album Christmas Interpretations; Vince Guaraldi Trio’s 1965 soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas (she covers “Christmas Time Is Here” on her new album); So So Def’s 12 Soulful Nights of Christmas from 1996 (on which Keys performs “Little Drummer Girl” — the then-teenager’s first album appearance); George Winston’s 1982 project December; 1973’s A Motown Christmas; and, last but not least, James Brown’s holiday albums, including her personal favorite song “Santa, Go Straight to the Ghetto.”
Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” returning to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart and producer Metro Boomin scoring his third No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with the chart-topping debut of Heroes & Villains.
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 senior director of charts 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.)
Mariah Carey has declared that “it’s time” to enjoy Christmas music, and on the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, we’re discussing 10 new pop holiday hits from 2022 to add to your party playlists.
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We’ve got new songs from previous Pop Shop guests Backstreet Boys, Harry Connick Jr., Pentatonix and Meghan Trainor on the lineup, as well as Santa-approved smashes from Lizzo, Sam Smith, Alicia Keys and Sia. Phoebe Bridgers is back with her annual holiday cover for charity, Blake Shelton covers a Christmas confection by his wife Gwen Stefani, and Lindsay Lohan is channeling her Mean Girls past with a new rendition of “Jingle Bell Rock.”
But which new holiday hit is your favorite? Below, listen to the latest podcast, and also vote for your personal festive fave.
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 senior director of charts 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.)
Adele made her long-awaited Las Vegas residency debut over the weekend, and Katie & Keith — the co-hosts of the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast — were lucky enough to be in the Colosseum at Caesars Palace for Friday’s night 1 of Weekends With Adele.
On the latest episode of the podcast (listen below), Katie & Keith talk all about our experience inside the intimate concert and discuss the purposeful production choices and sweeping vocal performances that made the residency more than worth the wait.
But wait, there’s more! The Pop Shop duo then flew back to Los Angeles to attend Elton John’s second-to-last U.S. tour stop at Dodger Stadium, and the new podcast takes listeners inside that monumental concert as well.
Listen below:
Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how Taylor Swift reigns supreme on both the Billboard 200 and Hot 100 yet again with Midnights and “Anti-Hero,” respectively, how David Guetta and Bebe Rexha hit the top 10 on the Hot 100 with “I’m Good (Blue),” how Louis Tomlinson scores his highest-charting album yet on the Billboard 200 with the top five debut of Faith in the Future, and how Bruce Springsteen and Nas rack up new top 10 albums on the chart.
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 senior director of charts 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.)
When the 2023 Grammy nominations were unveiled on Tuesday (Nov. 15), there were a lot of names we were expecting in the Big Four categories, including leading nominees Beyoncé (9), Kendrick Lamar (8), and Grammy faves Adele and Brandi Carlile (7 each).
But there were also some names we weren’t expecting – or hadn’t even seen before, especially in the best new artist field. On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast (listen below), Katie & Keith are joined by Pop Shop founder Jason Lipshutz to share our fast first impressions of the top categories: record of the year, album of the year, song of the year and best new artist.
Listen below to get our hot takes:
Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how Drake and 21 Savage team up for the year’s biggest hip-hop debut as Her Loss starts atop the Billboard 200 and gives Drake his 12th No. 1 album. Plus, Taylor Swift stays put atop the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart with “Anti Hero,” while eight songs from Her Loss start in the top 10.
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 senior director of charts 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.)
This week, Sia‘s “Unstoppable” tops yet another new Billboard chart — six years after it was released.
The anthemic hit, which was on Sia’s 2016 album This Is Acting alongside the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Cheap Thrills,” has found new life over the past year, and this week, it rises 2-1 on the Adult Contemporary airplay chart. Last month, the song topped the Adult Pop Airplay chart too, and it’s so far peaked at No. 28 on the Hot 100.
Just how high can this revived song climb? On the latest Billboard Pop Shop Podcast (listen below), Katie & Keith discuss its unlikely trajectory and what has driven its “Unstoppable” recent run on our charts.
Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how both Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” and SZA’s “Shirt” make high debuts on the Hot 100, how Taylor Swift’s Midnights logs a second — big! — week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and how the latest expanded reissue of a classic Beatles album returns to the Billboard 200 top 10. We also discuss the Billboard chart legacy of Aaron Carter, the pop star, TV personality and brother of Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter, who died over the weekend at age 34.
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 senior director of charts 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.)
Rihanna made her long-awaited return to solo music last week when “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever arrived, ending a drought that goes back to the 2016 release of her last album ANTI.
On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are talking all about the emotional ballad, which serves as a tribute to late Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman. What has the response been to the song? Do we think she’ll have any more contributions to the Wakanda Forever soundtrack? And will these songs — or any other new songs — make an appear during her Super Bowl halftime headlining gig in February?
To hear about all this and more, listen to the podcast below.
Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how Taylor Swift absolutely dominates both the Billboard 200 albums chart and the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart this week. Her Midnights album scores the biggest week for any album in nearly seven years, while she holds down the entire top 10 songs on the Hot 100 chart — the first time any act has done that — led by “Anti-Hero” at No. 1.
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 senior director of charts 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.)
The early numbers are in for Taylor Swift‘s Midnights, and while it was safe to assume her 10th studio album would be a hit, fans might not have predicted just how big it could be.
According to initial reports to Luminate on Monday, the album earned more than 1.2 million equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first three days alone. With that news, Midnights has the biggest week for an album, by units, since Swift’s own reputation in 2017 and is already the year’s top-selling album, year to date.
On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith discuss all the circumstances that allowed Swift to reach that elusive million mark again, from the curiosity surrounding the album and the awareness campaign that included a prominent Thursday Night Football teaser to the positive word-of-mouth from early listeners and dozens of collectible (and clock-building) variations.
Listen below to hear all about it:
Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how Sam Smith and Kim Petras hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart with “Unholy” — the first chart-topper for both acts — and how Lil Baby captures his third No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with “It’s Only Me.” Plus, listen to the show for even more early numbers from Swift’s blockbuster album-release week.
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 senior director of charts 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.)
In a sea of out-of-left-field hit songs this year (Kate Bush, anyone?), David Guetta and Bebe Rexha‘s “I’m Good (Blue)” stands out as one of the most unpredictable.
Guetta and Rexha’s throwback dance-floor filler interpolates Eiffel 65’s 1999 novelty hit “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” (itself an unexpected success story), and as Rexha tells Katie & Keith on the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast (listen to the new episode below), the collab was actually made years ago and then unearthed by savvy fans.
“[David] had played it at a festival after we had cut it, and somebody took a YouTube video of it and posted it,” Rexha recalls. “Then somebody found that and made a remix and posted it to TikTok. Then this big gamer posted it from TikTok, and then it blew up from her page.
“It’s crazy, because you just never know what people want,” she adds. “Everybody was going crazy and being like, ‘We want this song! Why can’t we find it?’ And I was hitting up David [saying], ‘David, people really want this record! We should just put it out!’ At this point, it’s viral on TikTok, and people are asking for it. Let’s just give the people what they want. Let’s not judge it for what it is, and just put it out. It’s just a great, fun record.”
Now that great, fun record is on quite the ride up our charts, climbing 18-16 on this week’s Billboard Hot 100, holding at No. 2 on both the Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts, and spending a fourth week atop Hot Dance/Electronic Songs. Rexha is marveling at the song’s global success and trying to piece together the secret to its popularity.
“Never did I think in a million years that it would be so big,” she says. “I guess people want to feel that 2000s nostalgia, especially after the three years of a pandemic and being cooped in their houses. It brings back that feeling of nostalgia, and it makes you feel kind of warm. I will put my hands up on this one and say I get it, but I’m also confused and shocked, but also very grateful.”
Although Rexha just released her sophomore album Better Mistakes last year, she hinted to fans on Twitter last week that her next project might be out sooner than they think – but she wants to give her hit with Guetta a little space before putting out the “very focused” new project.
“I’m not gonna lie: ‘I’m Good’ has thrown a little bit of a wrench into the whole plan,” she tells the Pop Shop Podcast. “I’m trying to let ‘I’m Good’ have its moment. But the one thing that’s really good about my project is that it does have dance elements to it. It has rock as well as dance elements to it. It’s inspired by one of my favorite female artists of all time. ”
Let the guessing games begin!
Here are a few more hints about the album: “I really spent a lot of time studying this time period and what this artist was saying and how she said it. And then how she said it when she was with her band and by herself, and I really want to make sure that it’s a real artist project. I think it was a natural evolution. I love rock music, and I love dance music. I was like: ‘How can I evolve naturally?,’ because I’m not a child anymore. I’m a grown woman, so this felt like a really great natural growth for me.”
Next up: Rexha will hit the Jingle Ball Los Angeles stage on Dec. 2 at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif.
Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how Doja Cat gets her sixth top 10 hit on the Hot 100 with “Vegas” while Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit” holds atop the list for a third straight week. Meanwhile, Glass Animals’ former No. 1 “Heat Waves” marks another milestone in its storied chart career, becoming the song with the most week ever on the Hot 100 — collecting its 91st week on the chart. And, on the Billboard 200 albums chart, Stray Kids notch their second No. 1 album (and second of this year!), while new albums from Quavo & Takeoff, G. Herbo and Charlie Puth all debut in the top 10.
Katie & Keith also take time to chat about all the Grammy controversies that bubbled up after preliminary ballots were sent to voters last week. From Nicki Minaj and Silk Sonic to The Weeknd and Drake, these were the biggest headlines from the ballots.
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 senior director of charts 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.)
