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Taeyeon Earns 15th Top 10 on World Digital Song Sales With ‘Happy’
The powerhouse vocalist has earned more than 30 top 10 hits as a soloist and in a group. We hope this week’s chart news can make Taeyeon a bit more “Happy.” The K-pop superstar returns to Billboard‘s World Digital Song Sales chart with “Happy” entering at No. 9 this week. The nostalgic R&B-pop track sold 1,000 downloads in the week ending May 8, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. The No. 9 debut for “Happy” marks Taeyeon’s 15th top 10 entry on World Digital Song Sales to date. Since making her first solo appearance in 2014 with the song “Breath,” sung alongside fellow K-pop singer Jonghyun, Taeyeon has been a consistent chart force. The star earned her highest-charting single in early 2016 with “Rain” ...
Doja Cat’s ‘Say So’ Producer Yeti Beats Signs Warner Chappell Admin Deal
Warner Chappell has signed an exclusive administration agreement with Yeti Beats, co-producer of Doja Cat‘s current Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Say So” feat. Nicki Minaj. Announced Friday (May 15), the deal covers all catalog and future works by Yeti Beats, who also served writer, producer, executive producer and A&R roles on Doja Cat’s first two albums — Amala and Hot Pink — and produced such hits as “Candy” and “Juicy” feat. Tyga. He also served as an executive producer on Doja Cat’s 2014 EP Purrr! “I’ve known Yeti for a while, and it’s been incredible to see what he’s accomplished with Doja Cat and her team,” said Warner Chappell Music senior director of A&R, Wallace Joseph, in a statement. “Yeti’s in a great positi...
Made In Casa: How One Brainstorm Session Became a Seven-Hour Livestream
Nearly 60 artists in 15 countries participated in the Sony Latin festival. It started as a conference call in the middle of the pandemic. Everyone was on lockdown, but everyone had been doing livestreams and podcasts and performances from home. What could Sony Music Latin Iberia do that was unique and involve different artists? “We felt a full-on festival was something that hadn’t been done,” says Ruben Leyva, senior vice president of artist services and premium content for Sony Music U.S. Latin. By “festival,” Leyva of course meant some sort of livestream of musical performances, as well as featuring artists doing everyday things like cooking and working out. The label then sent asks to artists throughout Sony’s Latin territories, asking for a performan...
Arkansas’ Socially-Distanced Concert Now Trying to Reschedule, Adhere to State Law
The venue says Alcohol Beverage Control removed its license on Thursday morning, effectively shutting down the business. At a press conference on Thursday (May 14), TempleLive announced it was rescheduling its socially-distanced Travis McCready concert scheduled for Friday night in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The show was set to be one of the first shows hosted after mass gatherings were banned throughout the county due to the spread of the novel coronavirus. The venue is now hoping to hold the concert Monday, in order to adhere to state law. Despite what TempleLive described as an open line of communication with the Governor’s office over the past few weeks, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson told reporters on Tuesday that he did not approve of the event, which was scheduled for three...
Liner ‘Notes’: The 1975’s Matty Healy Talks Releasing an Opus Under Quarantine
The 1975 frontman talks about the band’s sprawling fourth LP ‘Notes on a Conditional Form,’ as well as his own quarantine living, and his band’s new status as critics’ darlings entering their second decade as The 1975. When you’re a four-piece rock band in the year 2020, it’s a hard thing to keep scaling up. But that’s what The 1975 and frontman Matty Healy have done over the course of seven years and three albums — soon to be four, with the release next Friday (May 22) of their much-anticipated new album, Notes on a Conditional Form. While the band’s 2013 self-titled debut brought them fame (and infamy) in their home country of the U.K., and earned them a pop cult following in the U.S., 2016 sophomore set I Like It When...
Pia Mia on Signing With Electric Feel/Republic & Releasing a ‘Smash’: Exclusive
At 17, pop artist Pia Mia (born Pia Perez) was a fresh Los Angeles transplant from Guam — and landed her first recording contract with Interscope in 2013. “I was an Island girl, basically out here alone navigating Hollywood, trying to figure out the music industry and how am I going to make my dreams a reality,” she recalls. “It was just a lot to deal with.” Through the label, she released one EP, 2013’s The Gift, but it was her R&B-influenced pop single “Do It Again,” that arrived two years later and featured Chris Brown and Tyga, which helped her reach a much larger audience and score her Hot 100 debut (the track peaked at No. 71). In spite of her momentum, though, she faced a series of delays for her following project and as a result, decided to pursue her career as an independent a...
Powderfinger Are Reuniting For a Fundraising Virtual Concert
BRISBANE — They’re back. Powderfinger, arguably Australia’s biggest guitar band of the century, are reuniting for a one-off fundraising virtual concert. Dubbed One Night Lonely, the gig will stream Saturday, May 23 on YouTube and will raise much needed money for Support Act, the national charity that helps artists, roadies and music workers in crisis, and Beyond Blue, an organization that provides advice and support on mental health issues. Rumors of a Powderfinger reunion are as regular as a hot Australian summer. A teaser on social media Wednesday confirmed something was up, and the official announcement dropped early Thursday. Testing… is this thing on? — Powderfinger (@powderfinger_au) May 13, 2020 It’s been a decade since the five-piece from Brisbane were an active outfit....
Erykah Badu and Jill Scott Streams Triple After ‘Verzuz’ Battle
The singer-songwriters’ combined streams rise from 2 million to 6 million after Saturday’s event. Erykah Badu and Jill Scott saw their combined streams more than tripled after the two contested in the first female battle of the popular Instagram Live #Verzuz series on Saturday night (May 9). The two singer-songwriters collectively pulled 6.7 million U.S. streams on Saturday and Sunday for their total song catalogs, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data, compared with a 2.1 million haul for the Thursday and Friday preceding the showdown. Badu and Scott’s livestream drew more than 700,000 attendees at its peak and set a new series viewership record, overtaking the nearly 525,000 who tuned in to see Babyface battle Teddy Riley on April 20. [embedded content] Badu’s best streaming track wa...
Michael Jackson Broadway Musical Pushed Back Due to COVID-19 Pandemic
A stage musical about Michael Jackson has pushed its Broadway debut until next year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Preview performances of “MJ” are now set to begin in March 2021 at the Neil Simon Theatre. The musical — previously called “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough” — was to start performances in New York City on July 6. The musical is inspired by Jackson’s life and music. Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage is writing the book, using Jackson’s vast catalog of songs. Tony Award winner Christopher Wheeldon will direct and choreograph and Ephraim Sykes will star as Jackson. Jackson sold millions of records and was a 13-time Grammy winner. In 1983 he became an international icon with the release of “Thriller,” the best-selling album with such hits as “Beat It” and “Billie Jean.”...
K-Pop Star IU Debuts on Emerging Artists Chart, Thanks to SUGA Collab ‘Eight’
The track launches at No. 1 on World Digital Song Sales. K-pop singer-songwriter IU (real name: Lee Ji-eun) debuts at No. 36 on Billboard‘s Emerging Artists chart (dated May 16), thanks to her new single “Eight,” featuring BTS member SUGA. The track debuts at No. 1 on the World Digital Song Sales chart and No. 13 on the all-genre Digital Song Sales survey with 7,000 downloads sold, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. The song marks IU’s first No. 1 on the former tally and her seventh top 10. The single also earns SUGA his first solo No. 1 on World Digital Song Sales. BTS boasts a record 19 No. 1s on the chart. [embedded content] Notably, “Eight” is the sixth song to debut at No. 1 on World Digital Songs this year, after Red Velvet’s “Psycho&...
Those Slick Quarantine Band Performances Are Harder to Pull Off Than You Think
From Dua Lipa to Blue Oyster Cult to Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, bands have been figuring out how to perform remotely during the pandemic. Blue Öyster Cult has played its rampaging-beast classic “Godzilla” 2,270 times, in theaters and casinos, at state fairs and festivals — the first time at the Maple Leaf Gardens, in Toronto, on June 21, 1977, and the last time at Robins Theatre, in Warren, Ohio, on March 8. But until late April, the pioneering hard-rock band’s five members had never done it remotely from their homes, during quarantine, mixed together into a YouTube grid of separate rectangular boxes. “We basically treated it like a gig,” says Richie Castellano, the band’s guitarist and keyboardist, who produced the “lock-down” ve...
Ticketmaster President: Reps. Pascrell & Porter Are Wrong, Company Has Processed More Than $600M in Refunds
The following letter was submitted to Billboard by Ticketmaster President Jared Smith in response to a letter posted on Billboard earlier today by U.S. Reps. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) and Katie Porter (D-CA). Last month Ticketmaster revealed its plan to offer refunds for all canceled and postponed Live Nation and AEG shows. Respectfully, Mr. Pascrell and Ms. Porter either misunderstand or elect to misrepresent the realities of our business and refund policies, as we outlined in our April 17 response letter to them. It is entirely disingenuous and flatly wrong to claim that we have “pointed the finger at others.” To reiterate, Ticketmaster is a platform that allows event organizers to sell tickets directly to consumers. The fact is, the money we need to refund fans is held by our clien...
