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Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” hoists a ninth nonconsecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, extending 2024’s longest rule. The hit became the singer-songwriter’s first leader on the chart in July.
“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” likewise furthers the longest domination this year on the multimetric Hot Country Songs chart, adding a 13th week at No. 1.
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Meanwhile, Sabrina Carpenter logs three songs in the Hot 100’s top five for a second consecutive week, as “Espresso” returns to its No. 3 best, from No. 4; “Please Please Please” dips 3-4, after it became her first No. 1 in June; and “Taste” falls 2-5 in its second week.
All three songs are from Carpenter’s new album, Short n’ Sweet, which scores a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Notably, as Carpenter’s three songs mark her first three top five Hot 100 hits, she becomes only the second act – and first soloist – ever to chart three initial top five hits in the region simultaneously in multiple weeks. She joins only The Beatles, who first achieved such a triple over five weeks in 1964, with “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “She Loves You” and “Please Please Me.” (No other act has charted three first top five hits in the region simultaneously for even one week.)
The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data, the lattermost metric reflecting purchases of physical singles and digital tracks from full-service digital music retailers; digital singles sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites are excluded from chart calculations. All charts (dated Sept. 14, 2024) will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, Sept. 10. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
‘Tipsy’ Top Shelf in Airplay, Sales
Ed Sheeran only has one year left of touring in support of his +, –, =, ÷ and × albums, but he’s found a way to make sure that the global Mathematics trek lasts for ∞.
On Instagram Monday (Sept. 9), the 33-year-old superstar announced plans to drop a collection of live recordings from his three-year tour Sept. 27 following the conclusion of his 2024 run of dates. “It’s been 15 years of releasing these Mathematics albums and it’s been a hell of a journey so far,” Sheeran wrote, sharing a video of highlights from his time on the road.
“I wanted to make a collection of the songs I play on the tour, but also just to have all the big songs in one place for fans, or new coming fans, a journey of where its been and where it is now,” he continued. “The tour collection vinyl / CD will also have some voicenotes from me hidden in them, talking about all my memories behind the songs and from tour, so look out for them.”
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The announcement comes more than two years after the Mathematics Tour kicked off in 2022, which ended with Sheeran selling more concert tickets that year than any other musical act. In July, the “Bad Habits” singer confirmed that the trek would finally end in 2025, unveiling a final set of European dates for spring and summer next year.
“We have one more year of this tour then Mathematics is over for good, and onto the next set of symbols…,” he added in his post, seemingly teasing his next era.
Sheeran released the first of his math-themed albums in 2011, with + marking his breakthrough into global stardom. Since then, he’s fleshed out the series with four more albums, three of which — =, ÷ and = — topped the Billboard 200 and helped make him Billboard‘s 24th greatest pop star of the 21st century.
See Sheeran’s announcement below.
Elton John loves a good joke. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer revealed over the weekend that he thought former one-term President Donald Trump’s repurposing of the pop star’s 1972 classic “Rocket Man” as a nickname for North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un was “hilarious.”
That’s what John, 77, told Variety during the Toronto Film Festival after Friday’s premiere of the Disney+ documentary Elton John: Never Too Late. Trump, who frequently boasted of his good relations with dictators such as Un and Russian president Vladimir Putin during his term in office — and who has made a habit of referring to friends and foes alike with taunting nicknames — proudly referred to the North Korean leader as “Little Rocket Man” in press briefings.
“I laughed, I thought that was brilliant,” said John. “I just thought, ‘Good on you, Donald.’ … Donald’s always been a fan of mine, and he’s been to my concerts many, many times. So, I mean, I’ve always been friendly toward him, and I thank him for his support. When he did that, I just thought it was hilarious. It made me laugh.”
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Trump administration CIA director/Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote in his 2022 Never Give An Inch memoir that Trump had to explain the nickname to Un, who was reportedly not familiar with John’s music when Trump autographed one of Elton’s CD’s as a gift to the dictator.
In 2018, South Korean media reported that when Pompeo visited North Korea that July for a round of denuclearization talks, the commander-in-chief sent along two gifts for his North Korean counterpart: a personal note as well as a signed CD with a recording of John’s “Rocket Man” after Un said during an earlier meeting with Trump that he did not know the Honky Chateau hit.
John said he was not surprised by any of it. “Of course he hasn’t heard of me, Kim Jong Un. I’d be very surprised if he had,” John told the magazine. “I’ve never toured North Korea, and I have no intention of doing so. But, I thought it was a light moment, and it was fun.”
Though John had a jovial attitude about the musical way twice-impeached Trump cozied up to the North Korean strongman whose decade-plus in office has been marked by the reported assassinations of family members, repression of human rights and widespread starvation, Variety noted that the singer also seemed to take a veiled swipe at the convicted felon who will face off with Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris in their first, and only, debate on Tuesday night (Sept. 10).
“Kindness will always win out… that’s what I hope for the American election in November,” said John, who later elaborated on what many political experts warn is an existential choice American voters are facing in November’s presidential face-off. “I don’t go on stage and say to people, ‘You must vote for the Republicans, you must vote for the Democrats.’ It’s none of my business how they vote. They come to see me, and I’m so grateful they have,” said John. “What I want by saying that last night … there is a danger, as Dick Cheney said the other day. America is in a very volatile position. And it’s a country I love, and I’ve always loved, and I’m so thankful that it made me who I am.”
During the 2016 presidential contest, John hailed then Democratic candidate former Senator and Sec. of State Hillary Clinton. “America is already great – and Hillary is a part of the reason why. So tonight, I’m proud to say: I’m with her!” he said at an all-star fundraiser for the former First Lady in what turned out to be a losing contest with Trump.
Over the weekend, former Bush administration Vice President and staunch Republican Dick Cheney announced that he will be voting for Democrat Harris over Trump while issuing a warning that Trump should “never be trusted with power again,” adding, “In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him.”
John, who is a citizen of the UK despite owning homes in the U.S. for decades, made it clear that he is not the type to tell people how to vote or how to feel about their elected officials. “I just want people to vote for things that are just, things that are important to people: the right to choose, the right to be who you are, and not let anybody else tell you who to be. And that goes all the way up to the Supreme Court,” he said.
Trump has repeatedly boasted of seating three conservative justices on the Supreme Court who helped reverse more than half a century of precedent when they overturned the constitutional right to abortion in 2022; in his concurring opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, conservative justice Clarence Thomas appeared to suggest that other long-established precedents, including the 2015 decision legalizing gay marriage, could also be up for reconsideration, or reversal, in the future.
John, who shares two young children with husband/manager David Furnish, fell short of an explicit endorsement of either major party candidate, but did encourage Americans to vote with their hearts and choose hope over bluster and division. “I just hope that people make the right decision to see what the future is going to be. Is it going to be fire and brimstone … or are we going to have a much calmer, a much safer place?” John said. “People can vote for who they like, but as far as I’m concerned, I love love. And I’m a loving person, and I want that to come back to America. I feel it’s been lost in the last 12 years.”
Elton John: Never Too Late will have a limited theatrical run in November before streaming on Disney+ beginning Dec. 13.
BTS’ global ARMY issued a statement over the weekend in which the K-pop superstars’ most ardent fans emphasized that they are ride or die, no matter what. “The BTS ARMY is a vast fandom based around the world, yet a small number of people have recently released statements through the media claiming opinions that are contrary to the beliefs of the overwhelming majority of ARMY.”
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The statement posted on a variety of social platforms from the band’s biggest global fan groups came after recent comments and claims from South Korean media and some fans in the wake of member Suga’s drunk-driving episode last month. In early August, Seoul police said they spoke to Suga (born Min Yoon-gi) on August 6 after he fell off his electric scooter while driving it near his home.
“Despite ARMY’s opposition to this imperious behavior, they continue to act against the fandom’s wishes while using ARMY’s name,” the statement continued. “It was further revealed that fans of other groups organized these actions. Therefore, we would like to clarify our position as the Global ARMY Alliance both domestically and internationally.”
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The message then spotlighted the three-point support plan proposed by the global ARMY:
The group that claims to speak for ARMY, while dismissing the majority of ARMY’s opinions, cannot in fact represent ARMY. The Global ARMY Alliance calls on them to stop abusing ARMY’s name.
The Global ARMY Alliance supports all seven members of BTS.
The Global ARMY Alliance does not ask BTS members to take any more responsibility than legally required.
While the statement representing 127 ARMY divisions from around the world did not specifically mention the Suga incident, the message posted on Sunday (Sept. 8) ended with the double-down, “as stated above, global ARMY fan bases, both domestic and international, have gathered to affirm with one voice that we continue to support all seven members of BTS. Additionally, we strongly urge media not to give credibility to individuals with unconfirmed representation.”
After the scooter stop, Suga issued the first of two apologies to fans, writing on Weverse, “I bow my head and apologize to those who have been hurt by my carelessness and wrong action.” In addition, the 31-year-old rapper assured ARMY that no property or people had been impacted in the incident he said happened after he had drinks at dinner and then hopped on his electric kickboard, not realizing he could not operate a two-wheeled scooter while intoxicated during what he described as a short trip to his home.
“In the process of setting up an electric kickboard at the front door of the house, I fell alone, and there was a police officer around me, so I took a breath test,” he said, noting that a fine was issued and his license was suspended. In a second, handwritten note posted on August 25, Suga again apologized for what he said was the “disappointment and hurt of my misbehavior to my fans and everyone who loves me. I’ve made a big mistake, forgetting the responsibility to repay you with actions worthy of the love I’ve received… Due to this incident, I have greatly damaged the precious memories I made with the members and fans and put a lot of pressure on the name of the BTS. I feel so sorry and painful that it’s hard to express because it’s causing damage to the members and the team. I’m sorry that the members who always trusted me have a hard time because of me. And I know the disappointment that the fans who supported and supported me must have felt.”
Suga’s license was suspended after police said he had a blood-alcohol content of 0.227, well above above the 0.08 level that triggers license revocation after he drove the seated electric scooter while impaired in the Yongsan District in central Seoul.
According to Variety, in the weeks following the stop, more than 1,400 stories have been posted on Korean media sites about the DUI, with many reportedly containing speculative details and others spotlighting “fake news.” Among the reports were two from mainstream media outlets Yonhap and JTBC, which reportedly featured footage of a man using a scooter on a a road at night that they claimed was Suga, though after police revealed a week later that Suga was riding on a footpath during the incident JTBC reportedly apologized for “causing confusion.”
After some commentors online suggested that Suga should be booted from the band in the wake of the DUI, the statement makes it clear that the global ARMY group supports all seven members of BTS; the K-pop superstars are currently on a hiatus slated to last through next summer while its members complete their mandatory South Korean military service.
Check out the statement below.
As conversations about weird fan behavior continue to dominate pop music spaces, pop trio Muna are ready to weigh in with the group’s own experiences. In a post to the band’s Instagram Stories on Sunday (Sept. 8), the group — made up of Katie Gavin, Josette Maskin and Naomi McPherson — called out unacceptable behavior […]
In every era of pop music, boy bands have elicited irrepressible shrieks from adoring fans. In the ’60s, it was the Beatles. In the ’70s, the Jackson 5. More recently, the likes of Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, who then passed the boy band baton to One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer.
In 1989, it was New Kids on the Block‘s turn to rule music like only boy bands can.
After Boston-based producer-songwriter Maurice Starr had formed New Edition, which reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1985 with “Cool It Now,” he followed with New Kids on the Block – brothers Jonathan and Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg and Danny Wood. While their self-titled first LP didn’t hit the Billboard 200 upon its release, follow-up Hangin’ Tough filled the late-’80s boy band void, yielding five infectious Hot 100 top 10s, including the quintet’s first No. 1 in June 1989, “I’ll Be Loving You (Forever).” The ballad followed the No. 10-peaking “Please Don’t Go Girl” and the No. 3 hit “You Got It (The Right Stuff),” which built even more buzz.
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On Sept. 9, 1989, New Kids’ rise culminated in the set and its title track taking over atop the Billboard 200 and Hot 100, respectively. The set was a slow-burner that took 55 weeks to reach the Billboard 200 summit, completing one of the longest climbs to No. 1 in the chart’s history.
By years’ end, New Kids on the Block had charted at last on the Billboard 200, reaching No. 25, and generated its own top 10, the group’s No. 8 cover of the Delfonics’ “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind).” The group even gleaned a top 10 from a third album, the holiday set Merry, Merry Christmas, when “This One’s for the Children” reached No. 7. In between, Hangin’ Tough‘s fifth single “Cover Girl” rose to No. 2.
(On their summer 1989 tour, New Kids on the Block – and former Billboard publisher Tommy Page, then in his teen-idol days [he passed in 2017] – set out as the opening acts for Tiffany. By the end of the tour, Tiffany and New Kids had swapped spots.)
The Kids’ blend of street (i.e., Wahlberg’s semi-rap on “Hangin’ Tough”) and sweet (Jordan Knight and McIntyre served as the voices of the band’s biggest ballads) helped make them a chart, touring and merchandise powerhouse, one that continued with 1990’s Step by Step. Like its predecessor, the album and its title song became respective Billboard 200 and Hot 100 No. 1s. Follow-up single “Tonight,” which playfully name-checks several of the act’s earlier hits, rose to No. 7.
Ultimately, the group earned the honor of Billboard‘s top artist of both 1989 and 1990.
As musical trends shifted from pure-pop to rap and grunge, New Kids on the Block released the No. 37-peaking Face the Music (billed as NKOTB) in 1994 before taking a hiatus. With enough time passed for nostalgia to help restore its image (along with a return to prominence for pop music), the band blew back in 2008 with the No. 2 hit album The Block (featuring a track with then-new act Lady Gaga), which yielded the quintet’s first top 40 Hot 100 hit since 1992, the No. 36-peaking “Summertime.” Its 2013 album 10 hit No. 6. In between, the act embraced its place in boy band lineage: In 2011, it released NKOTBSB, a collaborative set with Backstreet Boys, which hit No. 7. The acts’ partnership continued in the form of Nick & Knight, aka BSB’s Nick Carter and New Kid Jordan, in 2014.
Most recently, New Kids on the Block released the album Still Kids, which launched at No. 4 on the Top Album Sales chart in June. Lead single “Kids” has hit both the Adult Pop Airplay and Adult Contemporary charts, marking the group’s first appearance on the latter list in nearly 35 years.
“There’s a sense of not wanting to let each other down,” Wahlberg said when the group chatted with Billboard in New York in May. “There’s an urgency that I think you can sometimes hear in the voices, of wanting to deliver the best of a performance. I think that’s present in this record, even in the writing.”
As a longtime songwriter, artist and musical theater enthusiast, JC Chasez knows the power of a good story that strikes an emotional chord.
That’s why he was floored when his friend and Golden Globe-winning musician Jimmy Harry showed him a theatrical adaptation of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein by his late mother, playwright Barbara Field. “What I found really appealing and very inspiring about the piece is her ability to make it more direct and accessible in terms of the emotion,” the *NSYNC star tells Billboard. “It wasn’t just about a big monster and this kind of, like, growling thing that I initially had the impressions of in films and when reading Frankenstein. I guess I was just young, and just didn’t really have the time to settle in and really dig into the material. Recently, I was able to spend some time with the material and really get a good read and a good understanding of how emotional it was.”
From there, Chasez and Harry took the story’s themes of love, responsibility, loss and the human condition and channeled it into a major creative project: a 16-track musical theater concept album called Playing With Fire, which adds to Fields’ theatrical adaptation that originally written as a play and not a musical. “I was a little bit apprehensive at first. It’s like, you start messing with somebody family,” Chasez says with a laugh of musically building off of Harry’s mother’s project.
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JC Chasez and Jimmy Harry
Michael W. Abbott
Chasez brushed off those nerves soon enough, as Playing With Fire is, in a lot of ways, a culmination of the superstar’s creative talents. In addition to writing the project, Chasez also lends his vocals to a number of tracks on Playing With Fire, alongside singers Cardamon Rozzi and Lily Elise. The album marks his first major musical project since his 2004 solo album, Schizophrenic. “Playing With Fire touches on almost everything that I like,” he happily admits. “I love a good sci-fi film, so you get that aspect, and I love how music can make you so emotional in a different way. Obviously, I love pop music, so I love the fact that you can sing and dance together in musical theater. It was just a great opportunity to bring all of these things that I’ve really enjoyed together into one space.”
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Furthermore, he was pleasantly surprised at how a centuries-old story touches on themes that still exist today, contributing to just how unifying the human experience is — even if Frankenstein’s monster isn’t human, per se. “Shelly was communicating these points hundreds of years ago that we’re still wrestling with today. I was just going, ‘How did you know?’ How did she write something that is so appropriate for now and then? Then, how did Barbara Fields make this so accessible to me? I felt like I had a direct line to the emotions that Shelly was trying to convey because of the way that Barbara framed it.”
He continued, “When we first started writing, we thought that this is about humanity, technology and the dangers and the morality of ‘Just because you can create something, should you?’ We’re still dealing with all of these for questions with encountering different technologies and AI and all that. We were tinkering with the idea, but we started becoming interested in the way Barbara framed it, as a conversation between the creator and his creation, which we framed as a conversation between a father and son getting to the bottom of their issues, their denials, their neglect and the consequences of those things.”
Ultimately, Playing With Fire is a story of growth and real connection, and in accordance with that, Chasez has ambitions for the project to reach as many people as possible. “This is the beginning of a journey to make something that will hopefully end up on a stage that people can sing live every night and communicate to audiences,” he says. “That’s why this technological discussion is so relevant now. I love the fact that real people will be singing these songs. I want it to connect to humanity.”
Playing With Fire is out via Center Stage Records on Oct. 25.
Two weeks after suffering a double tragedy, Mariah Carey is gearing up to return to the stage for her international fans. On Sunday (Sept. 8) the singer posted a rehearsal video on Instagram in which she warmed up her pipes for an upcoming run of overseas gigs. “Back at work. It’s been a couple of […]
Megan Thee Stallion is ready to level up. The “Mamushi” MC has released a string of hit collaborations over the past few years, but she now has her sights set on the very peak of the pop firmament with her dream for the ultimate pop-hop crossover. Speaking to People magazine, Meg, 29, said she is […]
Sabrina Carpenter continues her reign on the U.K. Singles Chart, as her infectious single “Taste” holds the No. 1 spot for a second consecutive week.
The track, which is part of her sixth album, Short n‘ Sweet, dominates as the U.K.’s most-streamed song of the week, racking up 8 million streams. Sabrina has now accumulated a total of 14 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 in 2024, placing her as one of the year’s most successful chart-topping artists.
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Making chart history, Sabrina is now the first female artist to simultaneously hold the top three spots on the U.K. Singles Chart for two consecutive weeks.
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Alongside “Taste” at No. 1, her previous chart-toppers, “Please Please Please” and “Espresso,” remain at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. The only other artist to accomplish this feat was Ed Sheeran, who held the top three positions for multiple weeks back in 2017 with hits such as “Shape of You” and “Galway Girl.”
The success of “Taste” has been further amplified by the recent release of the viral horror-themed music video, which features Wednesday actress Jenna Ortega.
Aside from Sabrina’s chart domination, there are other notable movements in this week’s U.K. Singles Chart.
Oasis’s 1995 single “Live Forever” climbs to a new peak at No. 8, marking a milestone for the band as it surpasses its original 1995 peak of No. 10.
Meanwhile, another Oasis classic, “Don’t Look Back In Anger,” returns to the Top 10 for the first time in 28 years, landing at No. 9, bolstered by the band’s recent reunion tour news.
This marks the first time the iconic Britpop group has had two singles in the Top 10 simultaneously. Other movements include Benson Boone’s “Slow It Down” rebounding to No. 19, and Gigi Perez’s viral hit “Sailor Song” jumping to No. 24.
Check out “Taste” by Sabrina Carpenter below.
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