bbfree
Five Burning Questions: Lil Nas X’s ‘Montero’ Debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart
1. No. 2 and 126,000 equivalent album units is obviously an excellent performance for a debut album by just about anyone — but if you’re Lil Nas X, are you smarting a little bit that you’re held at the runner-up spot for your big week, both by Drake’s Certified Lover Boy on the Billboard 200 and The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber’s “Stay” on the Billboard Hot 100? And which do you think has a better shot of eventually climbing to No. 1, Montero or “Industry Baby”? Rania Aniftos: I’m sure with all the build-up leading to the album release, Lil Nas X was hoping for the top spot on the charts, but he knows better than anyone that any big Hot 100 hit eventually gets dethroned. S...
Five Burning Questions: Walker Hayes’ ‘Fancy Like’ Hits Top 5 on Hot 100
1. Completing a climb to the Hot 100’s top 5 is rare for any new single these days, let alone a country one. What’s been the key to Walker Hayes being able to grow this song into one of the year’s biggest crossover hits? Katie Atkinson: Any time you can get someone to accidentally listen to your song, you’ve won. Between the song’s TikTok omnipresence and its too-good-to-be-true (for Walker and the restaurant chain) placement in Applebee’s commercials, this song is basically inescapable. And with pop culture as splintered as it is these days, there aren’t a whole lot of ways to get this many people to listen to your song without specifically seeking it out. So… Applebee’s ads are the new radio, basically. Jason Lipshutz: He stumble...
Pick Your ‘Poison’: Nessa Barrett on Owning Her Darkness & Finding a Brighter Day With Debut EP ‘Pretty Poison’
“I’ve always been pretty quiet about everything that I’ve been thrown into when it comes to drama and how people perceive me,” Barrett says. “Pretty Poison really is a moment for me to be like, ‘No, you’re wrong. This is me, and this is what I’ve been through.’” Barrett has shared glimpses of her journey before now, and each single gradually built her up in a way that eventually made her confident enough to really go there across Pretty Poison’s seven tracks. Weeks after landing in L.A. from her hometown of Galloway in southern New Jersey, determined to shed her TikTok shadow and fully pursue music, Barrett went to the studio and sat down at the piano. “Pain,” her debut single with Warner, poured out of her. “I decided to make it a basic piano ballad for a common reason that I litera...
Kanye West Claims Universal Music Group Released ‘Donda’ Without His Approval
Billboard has reached out to Def Jam for comment. The Donda track “Jail pt 2,” featuring DaBaby, was originally unavailable when the album first appeared on streaming services Sunday morning, but became available later in the afternoon. In a now-deleted Instagram post from early Sunday, West shared screenshots of text messages saying the track was being held up because of clearance issues from DaBaby. During Ye’s third large-scale listening event for Donda at Chicago’s Soldier Field on Aug. 26, it was revealed that Jay-Z’s verse on “Jail” had been replaced by a new one from DaBaby, who has been under fire for making homophobic and misogynistic comments at Rolling Loud Miami in July. Fans were pleased to learn Sunday that Jay’s verse had been ...
Kanye West & Take a Daytrip Tie Atop Rap Producers Chart, Thanks to ‘Industry Baby’
Kanye West’s Hot Rap Songs No. 1s as a Producer:Artist, Title (peak year)Ludacris feat. Shawnna, “Stand Up” (2003)Twista feat. Kanye West & Jamie Foxx, “Slow Jamz” (2004)Twista, “Overnight Celebrity” (2004)West feat. Jamie Foxx, “Gold Digger” (2005)West feat. T-Pain, “Good Life” (2007)West, “Heartless” (2009)Jay-Z, Rihanna & West, “Run This Town” (2009)Jay-Z & West, “Ni**as In Paris” (2011)Big Sean feat. E-40, “I Don’t F**k With You” (2014)Lil Nas X & Jack Harlow, “Industry Baby” (2021) Take a Daytrip earned its first chart credit in 2018 with Juice WRLD’s “Legends,” which reached No. 29 on the Hot 100 the next year. The pair ...
R&B/Hip-Hop Fresh Picks of the Week: IAMDDB, Young Nudy, Joy Crookes & More
Jenevieve, “Résumé” There’s nothing more to say after Jenevieve’s newest track, other than she is on a roll this year with knockout singles. Her fifth single of 2021 — following June’s “Midnight Charm” — the Florida-born artist sings over vibey guitar about her lasting fingerprints left on the person she’s moving on from. Jon Vinyl, “Void” “Let’s let the serotonin flow,” JON VINYL proclaims in one of the warmest, most welcoming tracks of the year. The Toronto artist’s vocals sit perfectly in the pocket of his tight-knit rhythm section, in what marks his third single of the year. Sans Soucis, “On Time For Her” Soucis’ feather-light vocals layer in a drone that loops over and over as she reminds herself of the person she most needs to support: herself. An edgy bass moves th...
The Six Best Moments From The LOX & Dipset’s New York Heavyweight Live Verzuz Battle
The LOX came for the kill early in the bare knuckle rap fight with their features on N.O.R.E.’s “Banned From TV” and DMX’s “N—az Done Started Something,” setting the aggressive tone for the entire night of action. Dipset showed glimmers of hope with solid outings from Jim Jones and Cam’ron on songs like “Byrd Gang Money” and “Get Em Girls,” but The LOX delivered too many knockout punches for the Harlem collective to get back on their feet. The New York crowd that repped Harlem, Yonkers and the five boroughs played a massive role in the event with their boisterous reactions to the classic records played by these legendary collectives. Guests such as Fat Joe, French Montana, Fabolous, A$AP Ferg and more also added to the massive star power inside the Hulu ...
The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber’s ‘Stay’ Hits No. 1 on Global 200, Ed Sheeran’s ‘Bad Habits’ Holds Atop Global Excl. U.S. Chart
Billboard‘s two global charts (the latest of which are dated Aug. 7) began last September and rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by MRC Data. The Billboard Global 200 is inclusive of worldwide data and the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart comprises data from territories excluding the U.S. Chart rankings are based on a weighted formula incorporating official-only streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of audio and video music services, as well as download sales, the latter of which reflect purchases from full-service digital music retailers from around the world, with sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites excluded from the charts’ calculations. The Kid LAROI & Bieber Begin ...
Every Song Ranked on Billie Eilish’s ‘Happier Than Ever’: Critic’s List
Below, Billboard ranks every track on Billie Eilish’s sophomore album. 16. “Not My Responsibility” This spoken-word track finds Eilish calmly cataloguing all the ways the public picks her apart, from her body to her clothes to her brazen personality, ultimately concluding that those opinions aren’t her responsibility. It’s a strong message, albeit a little belabored. 15. “OverHeated” “Overheated” serves as the followup to “Not My Responsibility,” with Eilish writing for Spotify that she took the latter’s production and constructed a beat around it to create the former. This song touches on similar themes as its counterpart, namely Eilish wondering about the ridiculous public upset over her body. “And everybody said it was a let down I was only built like everybody e...
R&B/Hip-Hop Fresh Picks of the Week: Alina Baraz, Jordan Hollywood, Chiiild & More
Alex Banin, “Forget About It” London-born singer Alex Banin shares “Forget About It,” a groovy, reflective single featuring reverb-heavy electric guitar, a deep bassline and Banin’s thick, sleepy vocals. “I’m missing you so damn good,” the self-entitled “retired SoundCloud rapper” declares, as she sits among half a dozen bunny heads in a movie theatre. Jordan Hollywood feat. Timbaland, “The Ugly Song” From the song’s opening line (“If I skeet in a rich b–ch, that’s a come up”), Jordan Hollywood’s latest single raises eyebrows in the best way. The Quality Control signee took his turn spinning Bubba Sparxxx’s 2001 breakout record “Ugly,” fully equipped with an unbeatable co-sign ...
Come On and Slam: How Quad City DJ’s’ ‘Space Jam’ Became the Theme of Online Mashups
Slam remixes are a bit like the Rule 34 of the music world. If you can think of an IP, the internet has probably mashed it up with QCD’s ‘90s anthem. Cowboy Bebop? Slam. The Price Is Right? Slam. Space Jam?! Slam. It’s almost like the online community created an extended musical multiverse connecting Space Jam to every cultural touchstone in sight. Tracing the origins of the meme involves a labyrinthine journey through now-defunct forum posts dating back to 2005. Ian Kelly, a mashup artist known as Psynwav, happens to be qualified to further break down the broken links. “So ‘Space Jam’ first started with Randy Savage stuff,” the remixer says. The late wrestler offered the requisite flamboyance to carry the first wave of the fad. “It was mostly associated with Randy Savage because it was a ...
Eurovision Champion Maneskin Hits No. 1 on Emerging Artists Chart
“Slave” surges 25-14 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, up 14% to 4.7 million streams and 3% to 1,200 sold. The band won the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest with its song “Zitti E Buoni.” All three tracks have hit the top 10 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart, where this week “Beggin’ ” ascends to No. 2. Måneskin isn’t the only Eurovision winner in the Emerging Artists top 10. Duncan Laurence, who crowned the 2019 contest, representing the Netherlands, rebounds to his No. 3 best thanks to his winning single “Arcade.” The song rises to No. 12 on Adult Contemporary and Adult Pop Airplay and No. 18 on Pop Airplay. Elsewhere on Emerging Artists, Big Red Machine reaches the top 10 for the first time, re-entering at No. 9, as the n...
