Pop
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It’s almost December, so Mariah Carey and Brenda Lee are back in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and snuggled up in the top two spots of our newly returned Holiday 100 chart. But if you look beyond “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” what songs […]
Santa tell me, has it really been nine years? Ariana Grande is celebrating the anniversary of her nearly decade-old Christmas single “Santa Tell Me” by sharing a sweet throwback video featuring clips from the song’s festive video shoot in 2014. In the digital time capsule, Grande models a Christmas sweater, reindeer ears and her signature […]
Boom, clap, the sound of … wedding bells? Charli XCX is engaged to George Daniel of The 1975, a match made in indie-pop heaven. The news comes in the form of an Instagram post from the 31-year-old “Speed Drive” singer’s Instagram account, to which she shared a photo of a diamond engagement ring still in […]
More college courses dedicated to Taylor Swift have been added to the academic canon for 2024, including a class at one of the most famous universities in the world: Harvard.
Starting in the spring, both Harvard University and the University of Florida will offer studies on the 33-year-old pop star: “Taylor Swift and Her World” and “Musical Storytelling With Taylor Swift and other Iconic Female Artists,” respectively. Summaries of the courses are already available online.
At Harvard, English department instructor Stephanie Burt will guide students through examinations of fan culture, celebrity culture, adolescence, adulthood and appropriation, as well as approaches to white texts, Southern texts, transatlantic texts and queer subtexts. “We will learn how to think about illicit affairs and hoaxes, champagne problems and incomplete closure,” adds the course description on Harvard’s website, referencing track titles on Swift’s Folklore and Evermore albums.
Meanwhile, UF’s Melina Jimenez will oversee “13 gorgeous weeks of discussing Taylor Swift’s discography, with a focus on her evergreen songwriting,” according to the institution’s similarly song reference-filled course description. Students will also “draw parallels between Swift’s enchanting lyrics and works by other famous female masterminds” while dissecting themes such as “old flames, infidelity, aging and double standards.”
Harvard and University of Florida are just two of the latest schools to offer Swiftian studies, following in the footsteps of institutions such as University of Texas, Arizona State University, Stanford University and UC Berkeley. The fast-growing trend in Taylor-themed classes stems from New York University’s groundbreaking Swift course taught by Rolling Stone writer Brittany Spanos, which was launched early last year. Soon after, the “Anti-Hero” singer received an honorary doctorate from the university and spoke at its spring 2022 commencement ceremony.
The news comes on the heels of Swift closing out her final Eras Tour show of 2023, wrapping up three nights in São Paulo, Brazil, Sunday night (Nov. 26). It’s proven to be a blockbuster year for the 12-time Grammy winner, who picked up six more Recording Academy nominations earlier this month, in addition to winning 10 Billboard Music Awards. She’s also released two albums this year alone – Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) — while also reportedly reaching billionaire status thanks to her global Eras trek and corresponding concert film.
Cher has been turning back time for decades, defying the march of the calendar pages with an eternally youthful look and sound. But after more than six decades in the public eye, the ageless 77-year-old singer is having trouble wrapping her head around the fact that her iconic 1999 dance single “Believe” is turning 25 this year.
“It’s not that amazing, OK? Pisses me — it pisses the f–k out of me,” the singer laughed as she discussed the annivary with the Today show’s Harry Smith. “And you can’t put that out.” T
he dance pop hit that introduced the world to the wonders of AutoTune spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and racked up three Grammy nominations, including best pop album for the LP of the same name, record of the year for the single and the singer’s only Grammy win to date, for best dance recording.
When Smith asked her if she’s “not friends” with age, the singer confirmed she’s not a fan of Father Time. “No. My mother didn’t mind. But I do. I hate it,” she said in a shoutout to her mother, Georgia Holt, who died at 96 last December. How much does she hate aging? “I’d give anything to be 70 again,” Cher said.
The singer’s 22nd studio album peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 album chart and is now available in a 25th anniversary deluxe edition with a bonus disc featuring three remixes of “Believe” from that era, as well as three remixes/radio edits of the singles “Strong Enough” and “All or Nothing” and four remixes of “Dov’è l’amore”; the collection compiles the mixes for the first time in 3LP and 2CD formats.
Now that Barbra Streisand, 81, has finally released her memoir, My Name Is Barbra, which was a decade in the making, Cher said she’s struggling to make progress on her book. “It’s very difficult because I’ve lived too long, and I’ve done too many things,” she said. “And so it would have to be, like, an encyclopedia, truthfully.”
Cher just released her first-ever Christmas album, Christmas, and she’ll be performing selections from it at Wednesday night’s (Nov. 29) Christmas at Rockefeller Center on NBC, which will also feature Chloe Bailey, David Foster, Katharine McPhee, Liz Gillies, Darlene Love, Seth MacFarlane, Barry Manilow and more.
Watch Cher on the Today above.
What were some of the most notable trends on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart over the first three quarters of 2023?
Hit Songs Deconstructed, which provides compositional analytics for top 10 Hot 100 hits, has released its Q3 2023 State of the Hot 100 Top 10 report.
Here are three takeaways from Hit Songs Deconstructed’s latest in-depth research.
Country Remains Tied With Pop on Top
Over the first nine months of 2023, country and pop tied as the most common primary genres in the Hot 100’s top 10, each contributing to 21% of all top 10 hits. Country and pop shared the lead in Q1 2023, at 26% each, and at midyear, each with 23%.
“Country was the big gainer, surging from just 4% of songs in 2022 to 21% YTD 2023, its highest level in over a decade, largely thanks to Morgan Wallen,” Hit Songs Deconstructed’s report notes. Wallen’s haul has been led by “Last Night,” which first topped the Hot 100 in March and reigned for 16 weeks, the longest command for a non-collaboration in the chart’s history.
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As for pop, despite its shared domination with country, its 21% share of all Hot 100 top 10s in the first three quarters of 2023 continues a decline for the genre, from 35% in all of 2022; a leading 39% in 2021; 40% in 2020; and a winning 47% in 2019.
“Pop dropped to its lowest level of prominence in over a decade,” according to Hit Songs Deconstructed. (At the same time, as Hit Songs Deconstructed noted earlier this year, while country has ascended in the Hot 100’s top 10, driven by Wallen’s hits, among others, the genre boasts notable similarities to pop songs.)
Below country and pop, two other primary genres scored double-digit shares of Hot 100 top 10s from January through September: hip-hop at 19%, and R&B/soul at 15%.
Hip-hop’s presence, like pop’s, continued to fall among Hot 100 top 10s, with its 19% take, and its third-place rank among primary genres, over Q1-Q3 2023, down noticeably from a first-place 38% finish in 2022; 34% in 2021; a leading 41% in 2020; and 34% in 2019.
R&B/soul’s share so far in 2023, conversely, nearly doubled from 8% for all of 2022.
Smaller Songwriting Teams (Sort Of)
“While songwriting teams of five-plus writers are still most common, they’ve seen a significant drop so far in 2023,” Hit Songs Deconstructed’s report indicates. Such groups accounted for a leading 38% of all Hot 100 top 10s over the year’s first three quarters, though down from 60% for all of 2019.
Songwriter groups of three (22% of all Hot 100 top 10s) and four (19%) ranked second and third, respectively, over Q1-Q3 2023.
Courtesy of Hit Songs Deconstructed
Notably, while only 8% of Hot 100 top 10s in that span were penned by a single writer, one hit No. 1, for two weeks in August-September: Oliver Anthony Music’s self-written and -performed “Rich Men North of Richmond.” (In each of those frames, Luke Combs ranked at No. 2 with “Fast Car,” his update of Tracy Chapman’s likewise self-authored 1988 classic.)
Jersey in the Club
Among sub-genres/influences, Jersey club claimed an 8% share of Hot 100 top 10s in the first three-quarters of 2023 – following no presence between 2019 and 2022.
“Leading the way was Lil Uzi Vert’s ‘Just Wanna Rock,’ followed by Ice Spice and PinkPantheress’ ‘Boys a Liar, Pt.2,’” recaps Hit Songs Deconstructed. “Bad Bunny followed with ‘Where She Goes,’ and Ice Spice, Nicki Minaj and Aqua kept the trend going with ‘Barbie World.’”
Among other standout sub-genres/influences in the Hot 100’s top 10 in the latest research period were psychedelic/retro, via SZA’s No. 1 “Kill Bill”; Afrobeats, thanks to Rema and Selena Gomez’s “Calm Down,” which hit No. 3; and classical, as heard in JVKE’s No. 10-peaking “Golden Hour.”
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert movie has crossed the $250 million mark in worldwide ticket sales according to distributor AMC Theatres. The Hollywood Reporter said those impressive numbers mean the three-hour-plus musical extravaganza that has found Swifties singing and dancing in the aisles across the planet ranks among the top 20 biggest films of […]
The Holiday 100 dashes back to Billboard’s charts menu, ranking the top seasonal songs of all eras via the same formula used for the Billboard Hot 100, blending streaming, airplay and sales data.
Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” – which surges from No. 17 to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 – rules the Holiday 100 for a 58th week of the chart’s 63 total weeks since the list launched in 2011; it has topped the seasonal survey for 43 consecutive weeks, dating to the start of the 2015-16 holiday season.
The only other Holiday 100 No. 1s to date: Justin Bieber’s “Mistletoe” for a week in the 2011-12 holiday season; Pentatonix’s “Little Drummer Boy” (one, 2013-14) and “Mary, Did You Know?” (two, 2014-15); and Ariana Grande’s “Santa Tell Me” (one, 2014-15).
Carey’s 1994 carol reigns with 22 million streams (up 57%), 15.6 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 105%) and 3,000 sold (up 70%) in the United States Nov. 17-23, according to Luminate.
Carey performed “Christmas” on an awards show for the first time as part of the 2023 Billboard Music Awards (Nov. 19). She was also honored with the Billboard Chart Achievement Award for the song, presented to her by her 12-year-old twins, Monroe and Moroccan.
The song also boasts top honors on Billboard’s Greatest of All Time Holiday 100 Songs chart.
“When I wrote [it], I had absolutely no idea the impact the song would eventually have worldwide,” Carey marveled of “Christmas” in 2021. “I’m so full of gratitude that so many people enjoy it with me every year.”
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Rounding out the Holiday 100’s top five are more classics, released between the 1950s and ‘80s: Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” (No. 2); Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” (No. 3); Wham!’s “Last Christmas” (No. 4); and Burl Ives’ “A Holly Jolly Christmas” (No. 5).
Meanwhile, two songs newly released this holiday season debut on the Holiday 100, both Amazon Music Original exclusives: Chloe’s version of “Winter Wonderland” (No. 57, led by 3.5 million streams, up 130%) and Stephen Sanchez’s “Silver Bells” (No. 85; 2.2 million, up 92%).
The entire latest Holiday 100, and all other seasonal charts – Top Holiday Albums, Holiday Streaming Songs, Holiday Airplay, Holiday Digital Song Sales, Holiday 100 Songwriters and Holiday 100 Producers – along with all additional rankings, will update on Billboard.com Tuesday (Nov. 28).
Following the release of Sabrina Carpenter’s blood-filled “Feather” music video on Halloween, a Catholic priest who allowed a scene from the clip to be filmed inside a Brooklyn church has been relieved of his administrative duties, according to the New York Times.
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In the video, the 24-year-old pop star facilitates the death of a series of obnoxious men, who relentlessly hit on her throughout the video. The cat-callers meet their karma by getting run over by a truck; fighting each other to death; and getting choked by the tie in an elevator shaft. At the end of the clip, Carpenter dances around a church at the men’s funerals, wearing a short black tulle dress and veil and posing with religious items at the alter, including a coffin that reads “RIP B—-.”
That last scene was filmed at Our Lady of Mount Carmel-Annunciation Parish in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Following the music video’s release, Bishop Robert J. Brennan told the Catholic News Agency he is “appalled at what was filmed at Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brooklyn,” noting that “The parish did not follow diocesan policy regarding the filming on Church property, which includes a review of the scenes and script.”
The pastor, Msgr. Jamie J. Gigantiello, was subsequently relieved of his administrative duties overseeing the church, per New York Times. In an apology posted to the church’s Facebook page, Gigantiello revealed that he approved the filming in September after not finding anything negative about Carpenter online in an “effort to further strengthen the bonds between the young creative artists who make up a large part of this community.” He also told NYT that he was presented the video shoot idea as a funeral scene, but the result in the music video was “not what was initially presented to me.”
Billboard has reached out to Carpenter’s team for comment.
“Feather” is the latest song off Carpenter’s July 2022 album Emails I Can’t Send to get the music video treatment, following “Nonsense,” “Because I Liked a Boy,” “Fast Times” and “Skinny Dipping.” Upon its release, the album debuted at No. 23 on the Billboard 200, marking the rising pop star’s highest peak on the chart to date.
Watch the music video below.
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Following a tense couple of years, Jamie Lynn is opening up about her current relationship with superstar big sis Britney Spears on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here.
On the latest episode of the Australian reality series, the Zoey 101 actress revealed that she and Brit are on good terms — even after the elder Spears sister wrote that Jamie Lynn was a “total b-tch” in her new memoir The Woman in Me. “I love her,” the Dancing With the Stars alum told her fellow contestants of the “Toxic” singer.
“Me and her throw down,” she added, referencing the famous siblings’ numerous public spats over the years. “The world’s seen that. I’ve learned to stop talking about it publicly, but you know what, families fight. Listen, we just do it better than most.”
Jamie Lynn also said that she’d spoken with Britney before coming on I’m a Celebrity, noting that the pop star was “probably checking in on me heavily.” “Me and her both have had a very complicated upbringing,” explained the Zoey 102 star. “We’ve had very complicated circumstances and we both had to deal with them in different ways.”
“Sometimes we took it out on each other when perhaps we shouldn’t have,” she continued. “I’ve been the one person in her life — and she can say this — I’ve never taken anything from her, you know? I’ve been the one person in her life who’s always said, ‘I just want to be your sister.’”
Though the hatchet seems to have been buried, the Spears sisters have had a tumultuous relationship over the past few years — particularly in relation to Britney’s conservatorship battle. After the 13-year financial hold was legally terminated in November 2021, she and Jamie Lynn started butting heads on social media over claims made by the younger Spears in interviews and in her own memoir, Things I Should Have Said, which she published in 2022.
In 2023, Britney published The Woman in Me. Noting in the book that she thought Jamie Lynn “should have taken my side” in their family’s legal debacle, the “Womanizer” artist also wrote: “As I was fighting the conservatorship and receiving a lot of press attention, [Jamie Lynn] was writing a book capitalizing on it. She rushed out salacious stories about me, many of them hurtful and outrageous.”
On I’m a Celebrity, Jamie Lynn also recalled feeling worried about what her classmates would say to her after seeing Brit’s iconic VMAs kiss with Madonna, even though she says she always came to her sister’s defense at school. “Anything my sister did I always thought was the best,” she said. “When it came to my sister… if somebody said anything about it, I was ready to go. I was like, ‘Don’t talk about my sister, she’s the best.’”
Watch Jamie Lynn open up about her relationship with Britney below:
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