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Tones And I, Jimmy Barnes, Amy Shark & More Set for COVIDSafe Concerts Program In Australia
BRISBANE — Live music is returning to Sydney, with a little help from government. As Australians kicked back for another weekend in lockdown, a statement dropped Saturday (June 13) from the New South Wales government detailing “Great Southern Nights,” a live music campaign featuring some of the biggest and brightest homegrown artists. A lineup starring Tones and I, Jimmy Barnes, Birds of Tokyo, Missy Higgins, The Jungle Giants and Paul Kelly will present 1,000 gigs for Great Southern Nights, curated by ARIA and an industry advisory committee and playing out in venues across regional New South Wales and the state capital, Sydney. Other big names booked include Thelma Plum, The Presets, Amy Shark, Tash Sultana, The Teskey Brothers and The Veronicas. There is one slight catc...
Lil Baby’s ‘My Turn’ Album Returns to No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart After Three Months
Lil Baby’s My Turn returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart after three months, as the set rises from No. 3 with 65,000 equivalent album units earned (up 5 percent) in the U.S. in the week ending June 11, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. It’s the second week at No. 1 for the album, following its debut atop the chart dated March 14. The album then spent the next 13 straight weeks lodged in the top six positions of the chart, between the charts dated March 21 and June 13. The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new June 20-dated chart (where My Turn comes back to N...
Usher & Ella Mai’s ‘Don’t Waste My Time’ Hits No. 1 on Adult R&B Songs Chart
Usher returns to No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult R&B Songs airplay chart for the first time in nearly eight years as “Don’t Waste My Time,” featuring Ella Mai, advances from the runner-up spot. The duet reaches the top in its 25th chart week through an 11% boost in plays in the week ending June 7, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. “Time” marks Usher’s fifth Adult R&B leader. He first led with 2008’s “Here I Stand,” a seven-week champ, and followed with “Papers” (three weeks, 2010), “There Goes My Baby,” (one week, 2010) and “Climax” (one week, 2012). “I genuinely am a fan of her voice, and also felt like the song was perfect for both of us,” Usher told Billboard about the collaboration last year. “I was working with Bryan Michael Cox and Jermaine Dupri in Atlanta, and…the more I list...
Coachella Announces 2021 Dates After Cancellation News
Now Coachella is being planned for April 9-11 and April 16-18, 2021, and Stagecoach is scheduled for April 23-25, 2021. Following news Wednesday Coachella and Stagecoach festivals’ October dates were canceled by county health officials, promoter Goldenvoice announced new dates on Thursday (June 11) in 2021 for the Indio, California, events. Now Coachella is being planned for April 9-11 and April 16-18, 2021, Stagecoach is scheduled for April 23-25, 2021. Coachella’s 2020 edition was previously scheduled to take place April 10-12 and April 17-19 with headliners Travis Scott, Frank Ocean and Rage Against the Machine. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was then pushed back to the weekends of Oct. 9-11 and Oct. 16-18 and Stagecoach was moved to Oct. 23-25. R...
The 20 Songs of the Summer of the 21st Century, Ranked: Critic’s Picks
Every year, one song crowns Billboard’s Song of the Summer chart… but over the past 20 years, which Song of the Summer has been the most season-defining? The Song of the Summer is a concept that still captures the public’s imagination — the idea of one ubiquitous single that is intrinsically tied to the days of beach parties, cookouts and warm nights outside. Every year, Billboard launches the Song of the Summer chart to track the most dominant songs on the Hot 100 from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and every year, different sounds, voices and ideas rule pop radio (and, now, streaming services) to vie for the crown. There’s no formula to becoming Song of the Summer — looking back at the history of the chart, there have been dance hits and slow jams, rock singles and rap anth...
The Biggest Dance Music Livestream of Quarantine Just Got Even Bigger: See The Lineup
Billing itself as “the biggest digital music festival in history,” upcoming dance music livestream festival Electric Blockaloo just got even bigger. Today (June 11), the event added artists including Bob Moses, Maya Jane Coles, Deadmau5’s techno alter-ego Testpilot, Skream, Blondish, Seth Troxler, Khruangbin, MK, DJ Soda, Ekali, Felix da Housecat, Ivy Lab, Kevin Saunderson, The Knocks, Krafty Kuts, Luciano, Carl Craig, MK, Paris Hilton, Rudimental, DJ Sneak, Sherelle, STS9, Steve Aoki and Todd Terry to its already massive lineup featuring a staggering 850 artists. Electric Blockaloo takes place June 25-28 inside the video game Minecraft, which during the festival will feature 65 digitally-rendered stages including those hosted by labels and artists like Bedouin,...
Coachella, Stagecoach Music Festivals Pushed to 2021
The events were already rescheduled from April to October, as plans for a return next year still remain unclear. The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and country music festival Stagecoach will not take place this year due to county and state restrictions. Riverside County Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday (June 10), the festivals would not be held in Indio, California, this October — as had been planned when promoter Goldenvoice was forced to reschedule from their original April dates last March due to the coronavirus pandemic. Kaiser cited California Gov. Gavin Newsom‘s four-step outline for re-opening the state as the reasoning behind the decision, noting music festivals are not permitted to reopen until a...
ARMY, K-pop Fans Become an Unexpected Ally to American Protesters
As American protesters took to the streets to mourn the death of George Floyd, they found an unexpected ally: K-pop fans. Floyd died May 25 after a police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes even after he stopped moving. K-pop fans galvanized by police brutality and political disappointments swiftly mobilized, re-purposing their usual platforms and hashtags from boosting their favorite stars to backing the Black Lives Matter movement. They flooded right-wing hashtags and police apps with short video clips and memes of their K-pop stars. In a tweet Thursday to its 26 million fans, South Korean boy band BTS said it opposes racial discrimination and violence and announced a $1 million donation to Black Lives Matter. Fans quickly followed suit with the hashtag #MatchAMil...
Mark Opitz, Record Producer for AC/DC, INXS and More, Recognized In Queen’s Birthday 2020 Honours List
Record producer and audio engineer Mark Opitz has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours List, announced Monday (June 8). The Queenslander was feted for his service to the performing arts, particularly to music production, and is one of 933 Australians honored for their outstanding achievement. Opitz is among the very best in the business, having produced albums for a string of ARIA Hall of Fame-inducted artists including INXS, Cold Chisel, AC/DC and The Divinyls. During the ’90s, Optiz served with Warner Music as head of A&R and, later, joined the executive team at Michael Gudinski’s Mushroom Group, where he was responsible for overseeing Australian artists’ music projects. Opitz also had a productive stint oversees, during whic...
Atlantic Records UK Names Former Apple Music Exec Austin Daboh Executive VP
Former Apple Music executive Austin Daboh is moving over to Atlantic Records UK as executive vp, parent company Warner Music UK (WMUK) announced Tuesday (June 9). As Apple Music’s head of editorial for the UK and Ireland, Daboh oversaw the streaming platform’s playlist ecosystem, developing the Agenda brand which built out playlists with live concerts and immersive marketing initiatives. In his new role at Atlantic UK, he will be responsible for signing and developing domestic artists, and will join the WMUK leadership team. He’ll also work with Atlantic Records in the U.S. to “break the label’s black music roster in the UK,” according to a press release. Daboh will report to Atlantic co-presidents Ed Howard and Briony Turner, reporting more broadly...
Sports Team, All Time Low & Lady Gaga Lock Horns For U.K. Albums Chart Title
English indie-pop outfit Sports Team and U.S. alternative rock veterans All Time Low are in a tight battle for this week’s No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart. At the halfway point, Sports Team’s debut album Deep Down Happy (Big Desert/Island) has an advantage of just 300 chart units over All Time Low’s eighth studio album, Wake Up Sunshine (Atlantic). Deep Down Happy has the most vinyl sales over the weekend and comes in at No. 1 on the Official Chart Update, while Wake Up, initially released in April 2020, has the most CD sales to reenter the chart at No. 2. Lady Gaga is still in the hunt with Chromatica (Interscope), which last week blasted to No. 1 with the most sales of any album this year. Chromatica is the most downloaded and streamed album of the week so far and sits ...
Anuel AA’s ‘Emmanuel’ Debuts at No. 1 on Top Latin Albums & Latin Rhythm Albums Charts
“I feel just like Kobe when he won his second championship.” Anuel AA secures his second No. 1 debut on both the Top Latin Albums and the Latin Rhythm Albums charts as Emmanuel bows atop the June 16-dated surveys. His sophomore album dethrones Bad Bunny’s YHLQMDLG. “I feel blessed!” Anuel tells Billboard. “Many people ask me what I would’ve said had the album not reached No. 1. We will never know… I feel blessed, just like Kobe when he won his second championship. Grateful to all my fans, I love you with my life.” Emmanuel arrives with 39,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending June 4, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Of Emmanuel’s starting count, 3,000 were in album sales and the bulk of the remainder attributed to streams. The Top Latin Albums chart ranks the most ...
