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For several years, the consensus has been clear: Hit singles are getting shorter. Blame for this has fallen on shrinking attention spans, an environment of endless musical abundance in which songs must impress themselves on listeners quickly or risk being discarded, and the rise of short-form video platforms, which cause users to fall in love with 15-second sound snippets, rendering a full track irrelevant.
In 2024, however, the average length of songs that cracked the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 actually rose by more than 20 seconds, to 3:40, according to Hit Songs Deconstructed. At the same time, the portion of top 10 hits that let over a minute pass before hammering home a chorus rose to its highest level in a decade, nearly 23%.
While a single year of data doesn’t reverse a trend, it’s clear that longer hits have not been banished permanently from the upper reaches of the Hot 100. Five top 10s last year exceeded five minutes, including two apiece from Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar. These are the musical equivalents of doorstops, more than twice as long as the shortest top 10, Tate McRae‘s “Greedy.” And those hits seem downright laconic next to Drake‘s “Family Matters,” released in the middle of his venomous, no-holds-barred showdown with Lamar, which ran past 7:30.
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Top songwriters and producers were cautiously optimistic about having more room to roam last year — and more freedom from the old adage, “Don’t bore us, get to the chorus.”
“The whole short-form thing has been pushed so hard,” says GENT!, who co-produced Doja Cat‘s “Agora Hills,” a hit that clocks in at 4:25. “The majority of the time, with short-form content, you need a gimmick, and I think music lovers are kind of tired of the gimmicks.”
“[An increase of] 20 seconds is significant,” adds the writer and producer Cirkut (Lady Gaga‘s “Abracadabra,” ROSÉ and Bruno Mars‘ “APT.”). “People may be tiring of the quick little TikTok thing.”
On a spectrum between succinct and long-winded, Cirkut leans toward the former. “I do like to get to the hook,” he says. But he acknowledges that “sometimes, a longer verse keeps you waiting, and if it’s well-written, then it makes the chorus that much more satisfying.”
TikTok can certainly reward brevity as users fall hard for sonic morsels, even a verse or a hook from an as-yet-unwritten song. But perhaps counterintuitively, when “any catchy part of a song could be what grabs people’s attention,” this may end up loosening the constraints binding commercial songwriters, according to Matt MacFarlane, senior vp of publishing at Artist Partner Group. “Song length becomes less relevant,” adds Olly Sheppard, also a senior vp at APG. “Listeners already like the part they found on TikTok,” so they’re locked in regardless of how peculiar or meandering the rest of the track turns out to be.
This theory also got a vote of support from Evan Blair, who produced and co-wrote Benson Boone’s theatrical, heaving ballad “Beautiful Things,” which peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100. (At three minutes on the dot, “Beautiful Things” was shorter than the average top 10 hit last year, but it did make listeners wait more than a minute before drenching them with a chorus.) “Now that teasing tracks [on TikTok and other social media platforms] is a thing, we often don’t introduce songs to the world chronologically,” Blair says. “If we draw people into the middle of the song, the journey to get there matters much less.”
While TikTok plays a prime role in music discovery, it is not the only factor influencing what songs become popular. Vincent “Tuff” Morgan, vp of A&R at the indie publisher peermusic, points out that many of the star artists and songwriters who released albums last year are now in the second half of their 30s. They have devoted fan bases, so they don’t live or die by viral trends: Instead, they can be confident that even if they take their time, legions of listeners will linger with them.
“If you look at the chart, a lot of these are seasoned songwriters,” Morgan says. “The commonality is that the songwriters are a little more mature than the Gen-Z, TikTok generation.” Superstars like Swift, Lamar, Bruno Mars and Beyoncé, who combined for two dozen top 10 hits between them in 2024, are all 35 and up.
Data from last year offers some support for Morgan’s theory. The average length of a top 10 hit was 3:40, and the average age of the lead artists on songs that exceeded 3:40 was around 35. That’s roughly five years more than the average age of the lead artists whose hits clocked in under 3:40.
Not only that: 12 out of 18 of the top 10s that sprinted to the finish line in less than 3 minutes came from musicians under the age of 30. On the other end of the spectrum, Swift, who is 35, had seven top 10 hits longer than 3:40, and Lamar, age 37, had six.
This is all exciting for Dan Petel, who runs This Is Noise, a management company with a roster of songwriters and producers. For years, he’s been admonishing his clients, “stop sending songs that are just two verses and a chorus!” And now he believes, “happily, we’re evolving away from 15-second clip-based music.”
“If you’re gonna have a great song,” Petel adds, “why would you want it to end so soon?”
It’s four years in a row for Taylor Swift, with the U.S. pop icon dominating Australia’s year-end charts once again, according to data published by ARIA
Swift has once more found her way to the top of the ARIA Top 100 Albums Chart, this time off the back of her massively-successful eleventh album, April’s The Tortured Poets Department. With results undeniably bolstered by her seven local shows as part of the record-setting Eras Tour, Swift is a constant presence in the year-end charts, making up 40% of the top ten.
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While The Tortured Poets Department sits at No. 1, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) appears at No. 5, with Lover at No. 7, and Midnights rounding it out at No. 10. Overall, she makes up 11% of the entire Top 100, with original or re-recorded versions of her entire discography (save for her self-titled debut) placed across the top 68 positions. Her 2014 album 1989 doubles up thanks to its original version placing at No. 68.
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It’s not a far cry from the results of last year either, where 1989 (Taylor’s Version) reigned supreme and was joined by the likes of The Weeknd, Morgan Wallen, SZA, and Harry Styles. In 2024, the top ten is rounded out by Billie Eilish‘s Hit Me Hard And Soft, Sabrina Carpenter‘s Short n’ Sweet, The Weeknd’s The Highlights, SZA’s SOS, Wallen’s One Thing At A Time, and Olivia Rodrigo‘s Guts.
The singles chart, however, belongs to U.S. singer-songwriter Benson Boone, whose “Beautiful Things” spent six weeks at No. 1 and has rarely been absent from the top ten since it first debuted. Boone’s success isn’t limited to Australia, with the track having topped numerous charts globally, and peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Shaboozey‘s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” holds the silver medal position, with Carpenter’s “Espresso” closing out the podium finishes. Noah Kahan‘s “Stick Season” and Teddy Swims‘ “Lose Control” round out the top five, with Eilish’s “Birds Of A Feather” following closely behind. Irish musician Hozier‘s “Too Sweet” prevents a clean sweep for American artists, however, with his single hitting No. 8.
Swift’s influence also extends to the Singles Chart, with 2019’s “Cruel Summer” hitting No. 9 off the back of its 2023 viral success and single release. Miley Cyrus‘ “Flowers”, which topped the chart last year, also makes a return appearance, albeit relegated to a respectable No. 39.
Of note, however, is the lack of Australian artists that make up the Albums and Singles Charts. In the latter category, just 5% are home-grown, with Vance Joy’s 2013 single “Riptide” leading the charge at No. 24. Cyril’s reimagining of Suzi Quatro’s “Stumblin’ In” can be found at No. 29, while DJ and producer Dom Dolla‘s “Saving Up” splits the field at No. 50. The Kid LAROI closes out the local representation with “Nights Like This” featuring at No. 84, and his 2021 Justin Bieber collaboration “Stay” in at No. 96.
The Albums Charts, however, boasts only three Australian names – with only one being a studio release. While South Australian veterans Cold Chisel can be found at No. 44 with their 50 Years – The Best Of compilation, so too can INXS‘ Diamond-certified The Very Best be located down at No. 81. The Kid LAROI is once again the only point of difference, with his debut album – 2023’s The First Time – hitting No. 67.
Check out ARIA’s year-end singles and albums charts.
It’s been a big year for Taylor Swift, so it only makes sense that she would celebrate her 35th birthday with an appropriately-large party.
Swift turned 35 on Friday (Dec. 13), just days after wrapping up Era Tour, which has assumed the throne of the highest-grossing tour of all time, by artists of any genre, and from any era in music history. Already, however, she’s celebrated with a number of special events, including sharing a cache of behind-the-scenes videos, and taking out an additional ten Billboard Music Awards – bringing her total to a massive 49.
The celebrations haven’t ended there, though, with reports that Swift’s partner, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, gifted $175,000 worth of floral arrangements and jewellery for her birthday.
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Now, her birthday week has continued with a party apparently inspired by the conclusion of Swift’s Eras tour. An Instagram post from Brittany Mahomes showed the former soccer player decked out in an outfit that pays homage to Swift’s Fearless album, while husband and Kelce’s Chiefs teamate Patrick Mahomes sporting a suit reminiscent of the “I Can Do It with a Broken Heart” costume change.
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Elsewhere, Lyndsay Bell (wife of the Chiefs’ Blake Bell) could be seen wearing an outfit apparently inspired by Swift’s Lover era, while close friend Ashley Avignone sported a snake around her neck in reference to Reputation.
Other photos from the event also show friendship bracelets on offer as well, heavily referring back to the same bracelets which have become synonymous with Swift thanks to the Era tour.
Swift’s birthday celebrations have also coincided with her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, topping the Billboard 200 for the 17th week this week (chart dated Dec. 21), bringing her career total of weeks spent at No. 1 to 86 – second only to The Beatles at 130 weeks.
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Andrew Schulz still has his sights on Kendrick Lamar. The comedian has labeled the rapper the Taylor Swift of Rap.
As reported by Rap-Up, the media personality is not letting up on the “Not Like Us” MC. During the most recent episode of the Brilliant Idiots podcast, Andrew Schulz had a very hot take on Kung-Fu Kenny. “Kendrick really is the Taylor Swift of Hip-Hop. No matter what he does, he’s still the victim,” he explained. “You know how Taylor is always the victim? She’s the biggest in music in history, yet she’s a victim to the label, she’s a victim to Scooter, she’s a victim to her boyfriends. Yet, she’s still the biggest in the world. Somehow Kendrick is the victim here.”
His commentary follows a recent creepy statement he made after Kendrick Lamar took a shot at him on “wacced out murals” about the comedian’s criticism of Black women. “Kendrick’s people and the gang affiliate, you know, everybody, his security, they will kill me, they will destroy me,” he added. “They’ll find me in the street, they’ll f**king cut me up, they’ll shoot, they’ll do whatever, I’m not a tough guy … But just Kendrick? I would make love to him and there’s nothing he could do about it. Just Kendrick Lamar? I would make love to him. And the only thing that he could do is decide if it’s consensual or not.”
You can hear Andrew Schulz’s explain his comparison of Kendrick Lamar and Taylor Swift below.
Comedian Andrew Schulz reveals Kendrick Lamar’s team contacted Charlamagne Tha God to “clarify” things and thinks Kendrick is playing the victim like Taylor Swift in their beef. pic.twitter.com/pOEf9Qyldu
— Wiztohfem Unplugged (@wiztohfem) December 16, 2024
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Taylor Swift has played her last show on her record-breaking Eras Tour, but fans can still keep up with the singer — and look back on her remarkable career to date — with a new book from Rolling Stone journalist Rob Sheffield.
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Heartbreak Is the National Anthem was released in November as a hardcover book, and you can also listen to it now on Audible. The audiobook version has landed on Audible’s music bestsellers list, just behind books about Van Halen, R.E.M. and Bob Dylan.
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Heartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music
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Billed as an “intimate look at the life and music of modern pop’s most legendary figure,” the audiobook is read by Sheffield, a well-respected music journalist who has covered Swift’s career from the very beginning. In fact, the expanded title of the book is “A Celebration of Taylor Swift‘s Musical Journey, Cultural Impact, and Reinvention of Pop Music for Swifties by a Swiftie.”
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The new book chronicles not only the singer’s rise to fame, but also her impact on the music industry and on pop culture as a whole. From her early days as a teenage country singer, to becoming one of the biggest pop stars of the 21st century, Heartbreak tracks the people, milestones and experiences that have shaped Swift’s journey.
The audiobook version is read by Sheffield himself, with a run-time of five hours and 29 minutes. You can purchase the audiobook for $21 right now on Amazon or listen to it for just 99 cents with a new Audible deal, which gets you a three-month subscription for just $3 total. Regularly $14.99/month, the new promo saves you 93% off for a limited time.
Heartbreak is the National Anthem was an instant New York Times best-seller when it was released, and reviewers have heaped praise on the book too, with an average 4.3-star rating (out of five) online. One reviewer raves about Sheffield’s writing, noting that he “offers worthy praise, cultural analysis, critical commentary, and clever connections,” along with “stories, details and humor that Swifties will appreciate.”
Another calls the book a “love letter to Swift’s artistry, with Sheffield blending personal anecdotes alongside a thoughtful analysis of her career and the impact she’s had on music and her fans.”
Per publisher Dey Street Books, Heartbreak is the National Anthem is “the first book that goes deep on the musical and cultural impact of Taylor Swift.”
“At once one of the most beloved music figures of the past two decades and one of the most criticized, Taylor Swift is known as much for her life beyond her music as she is for her hits—the most public of stars, yet also the weirdest and most mysterious,” reads the publisher notes. “Heartbreak Is the National Anthem will inform and delight a legion of fans who hang on every word from Taylor and every word Rob writes on her.”
Purchase the book on hardcover or listen to it on Audible here. You can also check out more books about Taylor Swift here.
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Get ready, Swifties! Taylor Swift‘s highly anticipated tour book hits Target shelves on Black Friday, and we’re getting more details on […]
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The mother of NFL superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes displayed her support for Donald Trump in a viral video.
On Monday night (November 4), the National Football League’s current Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs hosted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ mother, Randi Mahomes, made it plain that she’s voting for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump by wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat matching her Chiefs sweater with gold lettering against a red background. “Make America great again. Let’s do it!,” she says to the camera, adding a cheer and a little dance at the end.
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The video was shot in a private suite at Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs’ home field presumably as fans were filing into the stadium. Conservative media outlet Outkick and pundit Clay Travis shared the video with their followers in a post on X, formerly Twitter, noting the timing of it on the eve of the final day of the presidential election. The video was more striking as pop superstar Taylor Swift, who has publicly endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, was present at the game to cheer on her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
14-time Grammy Award winner Swift was a source of heavy conversation after the endorsement as Brittany Mahomes, Patrick Mahomes’ wife, has shared her support for Donald Trump in the past by liking social media posts from the former president. After receiving criticism online, she posted an Instagram Story in August blasting those commenters. saying: “I mean honestly, to be a hater as an adult you have to have some deep-rooted issues you refuse to heal from childhood. There’s no reason your brain is fully developed and you hate to see others doing well.” Trump would later express his thanks in a Truth Social post. “I want to thank beautiful Brittany Mahomes for so strongly defending me,” he wrote.
As for Patrick Mahomes, he has shied away from sharing who he supports in the presidential election, declining to publicly endorse a candidate during a press conference at the beginning of the current NFL season. He did, however, ask his fans and others to “do their own research, and then make the best decision for them and their family.”
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Get ready for the holiday season with a special gift for the Swiftie in your life. Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs best selling book is a must-have addition to any fan’s collection, offering an inside look at the stories behind her greatest hits. This Swift-themed book explores the fourteen-time Grammy winner’s music, covering every album, from Reputation to Lover and over 200 songs that tell stories inspired from her life experiences.
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With this Swiftie-approved gift, you can embrace all of Swift’s eras, from her second studio album, Fearless, to her Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping hit “Bad Blood” featuring Kendrick Lamar. Plus, you’ll have access the story behind her music and learn more about the evolution of her sound from country to pop and folk music.
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What sets this book apart from any other collectible, is that it features direct quotes from Swift herself, providing insight into her creative process and the inspiration behind her songs from “Dear John” to “Lover.” Reflecting on her seventh studio album Lover, in this book, Swift describes it as, “a love letter to love, in all of its maddening, passionate, exciting, enchanting, horrific, tragic and wonderful glory.”
You can find this Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs hardcover book exclusively at Walmart.
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Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs (Walmart Exclusive)
Let the games begin and add this Taylor Swift-themed book that takes you to a deep dive look at Swift’s musical journey, revealing personal stories and creative insights behind her iconic songs, including, “Fearless,” “Dear John,” “22,” “Bad Blood” and many more.
This bestselling book, packed with insights into Swift’s music and creative process, makes a great gift for fans and music lovers alike. With in-depth stories behind her chart-topping hits, personal quotes from Swift and a deep dive into her musical evolution, it offers a unique look at her journey from Fearless to Midnights and beyond.
Whether you’re a longtime Swiftie or a newcomer to her music, this book is a great place to learn more about the story behind your favorite songs.
For more product recommendations, check out Dolly Parton’s activity book, Taylor Swift Style: Fashion Through the Eras by Sarah Chapelle and additional Taylor Swift recommended books.
When veteran concert promoter Louis Messina weighs adding an act to Messina Touring Group’s impressive stable of superstar artists, his eyes aren’t focused on the stage. Instead, he’s intently surveying the concert audience. “I watch eyes and lips: eyes, if they’re really focusing on the artists, and lips, if they’re singing along and if they’re smiling,” he says. “When I see that happening, that’s when I know I need to be involved. It’s rare that you see artists that can do that and [aren’t] just going through the motions. You know they bring this unique connection.”
Messina knows that feeling well; he remembers first experiencing it at just 7 years old, when his father took him to see Elvis Presley in his hometown of New Orleans. “I’ve never forgotten that energy in that room,” Messina says. “It was a feeling that I’ve never had before, and I’ve carried it until today. When artists and an audience connect with each other, it’s magical.”
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Seventy years later, Messina and his enviable roster have created plenty of magic together, too. The Messina Touring Group origin story began in 2001 with acts including his longtime client George Strait — and since then, each of the artists Messina exclusively promotes has been within one or two degrees of separation from the country legend (with the sole exception of The Lumineers). Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, Blake Shelton, Eric Church and Old Dominion all once opened for Strait; then Ed Sheeran and Shawn Mendes both opened for Swift.
Simply put, Messina says, without Strait “there wouldn’t be a Messina Touring Group.” But Messina’s own story started way earlier. His promoting career got off to a dubious start in New Orleans in 1972 when he sold out a Curtis Mayfield/B.B. King show — only to have the artists get stuck in Atlanta, unable to get to the gig. “I had 8,000 people trying to break the doors down to get their money back. The New Orleans riot squad had to come out,” he recalls. He learned a valuable lesson: “After I got over my depression, I had to go back into the ring. I got knocked down, but I didn’t get knocked out.”
After a tumultuous run in New Orleans, in 1975, Messina and his mentor and fellow promoter, Allen Becker, formed PACE Concerts in Houston. They introduced several new concepts into the live-event business, including touring multi-artist festivals such as the George Strait Country Festival and OzzFest, and were the first promoters to own outdoor sheds, starting with Nashville’s Starwood Amphitheater. Messina and Becker quickly realized they could reap the rewards of, as the late Becker used to say, the revenue from “popcorn, peanuts and parking” — and, in turn, greatly mitigate the financial risk of promoting concerts.
In 1997, Robert F.X. Sillerman bought PACE for $130 million as his SFX Entertainment consolidated the promotion business. In 2001, Messina launched Messina Touring Group, and in 2003, he partnered with AEG. His noncompete clause allowed him only to promote country acts, and he started with a passel that included Strait and Chesney, both of whom he still promotes. “Nobody else was paying attention to country acts back then,” Messina says. “What I did was take a little rock’n’roll mentality and brought it to Nashville; meaning I’m not going to do the same old same old.” He also gave each act its own dedicated team that they consistently work with from tour to tour.
On the fall day that Billboard speaks with the voluble Messina, now 77 and a father of six, he is at his desk in Austin. (Messina Touring Group’s 35 employees — 70% of whom are women — are spread between its Austin and Nashville offices.) “This is the time of the year where I’m busiest because I’m prepping for next year and the year after,” he says.
Still, he’s able to take a moment to look back. Last year was his company’s most successful yet, he says, with 2024 coming in second. Swift doesn’t report her concert totals to Billboard, but Billboard estimates her 2023 shows for The Eras Tour grossed $906.1 million (the tour will end Dec. 8). In 2024, Chesney completed his highest-grossing outing yet, according to Billboard Boxscore, with $159.5 million for the Sun Goes Down Tour, which ended in August. And Strait remains big business: His June 15 concert at Texas A&M’s Kyle Field set the all-time attendance record for a ticketed concert in the United States with 110,905 ticket-buying fans. “Everything’s clicking and so, you know, we’re happy,” Messina says.
But for Billboard’s 2024 Touring Executive of the Year, an artist’s potential career arc can’t be reduced to the success of any one tour.
“Louie isn’t a tour promoter. He’s an artist promoter… He’s a champion of not just the current tour he’s involved in with you, but your whole career,” says Church, who has worked with Messina for 12 years. “Louie always said to me, ‘You think your dreams are big, but you’ll never out-dream me.’ ”
Louis Messina
Jasmine Archie
Your father was a boxing promoter. Though you’ve said he didn’t influence you because your passion was music, what did you learn from him about taking risks?
I hate to say this because my dad’s passed away. He was a good man, but what I learned from him was what not to do. He was not a good businessperson. He did take me to see Elvis and exposed me to the excitement of what live music does. That’s what I’ve learned from my dad.
PACE pioneered the concept of touring artist festivals — multi-act events that would travel the country — but such stadium festivals are virtually gone now. Did local and regional festivals kill the touring artist festival?
I just ran out of talent. And the whole ego about “I’m not going to play in front of this guy… I need 110% billing… I need this. I need that” — it just wasn’t worth it. Then we started building amphitheaters and we made more money doing an amphitheater show than we did [promoting] stadium shows.
Two years into starting Messina Touring Group, you partnered with AEG. How does that relationship work?
I operate totally independent of AEG. Hell, a lot of times I’m competing with AEG over tours. They have their model, Live Nation has their model, and I have my model. My model is about careers, not tours. I always say I’m not in the rent-a-band business. I want to know what that artist’s vision is five and 10 years from now.
Legendary booking agent Wayne Forte unintentionally provided you with a light-bulb moment that changed your approach when you started Messina Touring Group. What did he say?
I was booking amphitheaters, and I referred to artists as inventory, and Wayne goes, “I’m sorry, Louis, did you just call artists inventory?” Literally, it stopped me in my tracks. I went, “I sure did.” At that moment, it totally reset my mind and where I was going in this business. I [wouldn’t] say I’d lost the passion, but I was a promoter that was just trying to sell popcorn and peanuts and parking. And I’m going, “This is not why I got in the business.” I got into the business because I love the passion of it. I changed my whole mentality at that point.
Most of your clients came from being opening acts for artists you were already promoting. Do you advise your acts on their openers?
With Kenny and George, I’m totally involved. Taylor always picks her opening acts. I’m involved with some and with others, I follow their lead. I believe there’s no such thing as overkill. Give the people their money’s worth. I’ve got George and Chris Stapleton and Little Big Town playing stadiums together and Zac Brown Band playing with Kenny. It’s magical.
The newest star in your orbit is Megan Moroney, who recently opened for Kenny Chesney even though you hadn’t seen her perform beforehand. Will she become your next client?
I’d love to work with her. I think she’s amazing. [Chesney’s manager] Clint [Higham] and I were talking about Kenny’s support and we brought up Megan Moroney. Kenny goes, “She’s only got one hit.” I go, “This album is so deep. Kenny, I’m telling you, this is going to work.” I’d never seen her perform, I just listened to her music and her songwriting. We put her on, and oh, my gosh, I’ve never seen Kenny so excited about an artist. He called me and he goes, “Louis, you were right. I was wrong.” But it didn’t take long for Kenny to recognize because Megan is such a natural star.
The production on Swift’s The Eras Tour is unlike anything that fans have seen. Has it changed what can be done onstage?
What Taylor has done is to me the best show I’ve ever seen. She amazes me night after night. She’s one of a kind. She’s always been like that. I’ve known her since she just turned 17… I always tell people, “You think you’re working? Go sit around Taylor for 15 minutes.” I remember when she was the first of three acts with Strait. She was the first one in the production office every day after visiting radio [stations], handwriting notes to people around the country. Ed’s the same way, Eric’s the same way, in their own way. None of the artists I work for is dialing anything in. They’re working their ass off.
The Ticketmaster site crashed when the Eras tickets went on sale, upsetting fans and leading to an antitrust suit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster. In hindsight, what could you have done differently?
When you have 15 million people trying to buy a million tickets, nothing could handle that. When we started adding shows, what [Swift’s management company] 13 and everybody decided to do was to stagger on-sales where instead of putting five shows up at once, we would put one show up at a time. Everybody’s blamed Ticketmaster, but I use this analogy: Imagine getting into a subway car in New York City. It holds 40 people, but 1,000 people are trying to get in that subway car. It just doesn’t work. They can’t get in. That’s what happened.
What’s the biggest change you’ve seen in negotiating artists’ fees over the last 10 years?
The biggest thing is [other promoters] playing with house money. These touring deals that some of my friends and competitors make, it’s ridiculous. The sales pitch [is] “What’s it going to take financially?” I don’t believe in that because if you’re tied to a check that somebody wrote to you, that means you have to play so many shows, your ticket price has to be this. You lose control of your own destiny. My trying to compete with a checkbook, that’s the hardest part I have because my sales pitch is “Let’s talk about the future. Let’s talk about your dreams.” Do what you’re supposed to do and the money will be there. If you chase the money, you’ll never get there.
Ed Sheeran has talked about trying to keep ticket prices low. Is there something other acts can learn from him?
No. This is one thing that’s wrong with artists that [want to price tickets too low]. Ed goes, “Louis, I want to go to bed at night knowing that this is the ticket price I wanted my fans to pay.” I go, “Ed, you’re beautiful for saying that, but here’s the problem: People are going to go to the secondary market and spend $700 on a ticket that you want to sell for $99… and you’re only going to get $99 of it.” I remember a long, long time ago working with George and his tickets were really reasonable and I did a printout of StubHub or whatever and said, “This is how much your tickets are being sold for right now.” And his eyes got big, and it was like a “Holy crap” moment for him. He had no idea.
Which acts are on your wish list?
I love Bruce Springsteen. I adore [Springsteen’s manager] Jon Landau and [tour manager] George Travis. They are all like family to me even though I don’t promote Bruce anymore these days because [Springsteen’s longtime agent] Barry Bell said I was too cheap, that I wouldn’t do the Bruce Springsteen deal. I don’t work at a discount price. My other fantasy [act] is Beyoncé. I adore her. Sometimes it’s cheaper to just buy a ticket than to get involved with the artists you love.
You spend a tremendous amount of time on the road. What’s your best travel tip?
My best travel tip I gave myself is I stopped drinking. This Christmas will be two years. I figured me and Jack Daniel’s had a good run together.
Any thoughts about retiring?
Seeing an artist go from an opening act to a stadium act and knowing that I had a little bit to do with it and walking into that sold-out stadium and seeing that energy… Wow! Why would I want to give that up? I’m the luckiest human being in the world.
Messina will receive Billboard’s inaugural Touring Titan honor at its Live Music Summit & Awards on Nov. 14.
This story appears in the Oct. 26, 2024, issue of Billboard.
It was a historic trip to the Grammy stage for Taylor Swift on Feb. 4, when she accepted her second and final award of the evening: album of the year, for her 2022 blockbuster set, Midnights. The win was her fourth in the category, breaking her out of a four-way tie and leaving her alone in the record books as the performing artist with the most album of the year wins in Grammy history. But by that point in the evening, Swift had already ensured that her fans were thinking more about the future — and perhaps AOTY trophy No. 5.
“I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret that I’ve been keeping from you for the last two years — which is that my brand-new album comes out April 19,” Swift had revealed two hours earlier while accepting her first award of the night (best pop vocal album). “It’s called The Tortured Poets Department.”
A year after that announcement, Swift may indeed end up making more treks to the Crypto.com Arena stage thanks to the record-breaking Poets. While Midnights bowed with a jaw-dropping 1.6 million first-week units upon its October 2022 release (according to Luminate) and topped the Billboard 200 for six weeks — setting off the historic, globe-trotting Year of Taylor that followed in 2023 — it paled in comparison with Poets, which debuted with over 2.6 million units and spent a whopping 15 weeks atop the Billboard 200. Given that Swift has secured AOTY nominations for each of her three brand-new albums released this decade (including two wins, for Midnights and 2020’s folklore, of her four career total), Poets seems a lock for one of the eight AOTY slots at the 2025 ceremony.
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Whether Swift will win, however, is another question entirely — in part because of a remarkably strong and high-profile slate of likely competitors, including one particularly legendary perennial AOTY bridesmaid. But perhaps the most interesting question of all: After four AOTY wins, already unmatched in Grammy history, how much more does Swift really have to gain by adding another such statue to her collection?
While Swift has already triumphed among some strong fields this decade, it’s likely that the category’s 2025 slate of nominees — with its expected mix of huge critical and commercial successes from veteran A-listers and emergent superstars — will be the most formidable she has faced yet. Alex Tear, vp of music programming at SiriusXM and Pandora, mentions Billie Eilish (Hit Me Hard and Soft), Chappell Roan (The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess) and Sabrina Carpenter (Short n’ Sweet) as strong contenders for the marquee award, calling Carpenter “a force” in particular. “It’s really going to be a highly competitive year,” he says.
Still, the narrative surrounding the AOTY race will likely boil down to two names: Swift and Beyoncé, whose Billboard 200-topping country and Americana pivot, Cowboy Carter, will almost certainly also vie for the prize. Cowboy did only a fraction of Poets’ flabbergasting first-week numbers — though at press time, it still had the year’s second-highest debut total, at 375,000 units — but it received widespread acclaim, as well as immense media attention for its genre explorations and for the music history Beyoncé illuminated on it.
And of course, Carter’s candidacy comes with extra intrigue, given that Beyoncé — one of the most celebrated album artists of her era — has still never won album of the year, despite her four career nods for it (and record 32 total Grammy wins).
One longtime Recording Academy member who considers both Swift’s and Beyoncé’s new albums worthy contenders calls the latter “the prohibitive favorite” due to her careerlong shutout in the category. “I think that there’s a feeling in the industry, which was certainly encouraged via last year’s Grammys” — when her husband, Jay-Z, called attention to her AOTY shutout in a televised speech — “that [Beyoncé] has been overlooked for too long,” the member says.
Swift may well have less at stake in this year’s AOTY race than her storied competitor. In fact, because Swift is at the overall height of her career success and exposure (and therefore at risk of generating a backlash), it’s worth considering whether she stands to lose more than she does to gain by netting a fifth trophy, especially over a competitor with such a strong case — and such a strong sentimental pull for so many.
And public perception about a potential Swift victory could be colored by her own philosophy about the Grammys and awards shows in general. “She looks at record-making as a competitive sport in a way that other artists don’t,” the academy member says. “Other artists are competitive and would like to win Grammys, but she really, like, thinks about that stuff going in [to recording her albums].”
Swift has admitted as much over the years. In 2015, she explained in a Grammy Pro interview that when her Red lost AOTY in 2014 (to Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories), it set in motion her plan to make a more cohesive pop album with 1989, which won the award two years later: “You have a few options when you don’t win an award — you can decide, ‘Oh, they’re wrong…’ [or] you can say, ‘Maybe they’re right,’ ” she said. Similarly, her 2020 documentary, Miss Americana, captured her reaction when her 1989 follow-up, 2017’s Reputation, failed to garner even a nomination in the category: “I just need to make a better record.” (Two albums later, she would win the category again in 2021 for the stylistic left turn folklore.)
Competitiveness, of course, doesn’t equate to outright making Grammy bait, Tear points out — noting that it seems to have inspired Swift to grow artistically, while at the same time, “we’ve grown into her evolving as a person and the choices that she wants to make as an artist… The projects of late are not chasing where the puck is going — it’s already there.”
And though the Recording Academy member gives Beyoncé the edge in this particular race, it simply makes sense to them that the biggest pop star on the planet should be one of the favorites every time she’s in the mix.
“Look, [Swift] is the most popular recording artist on earth, and therefore she’s likely to win more often than not,” the member says, citing the famous Muhammad Ali quote, “It’s not bragging if you can back it up.” And Swift “can do it, God bless her. She should keep doing it. Maybe she’ll win album of the year several more times.”
This story appears in the Oct. 5, 2024, issue of Billboard.