elton john
Ask Billboard: Bruce Springsteen & Elton John Share Another Week of Chart Headlines
Submit questions about Billboard charts, as well as general music musings, to askbb@billboard.com. Please include your first and last name, as well as your city, state and country, if outside the U.S. Or, tweet @gthot20. Let’s open the latest mailbag. Hi Gary, Bruce Springsteen debuts at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 chart this week with Only the Strong Survive, scoring his 22nd top 10 album. He has notched top 10s in each of the last six decades, from the 1970s to the 2020s. How rare is that feat, and are there any other notable chart achievements of his that we can celebrate this week? Thanks, Raditya Gunardisurya Jakarta, Indonesia Hi Raditya, Springsteen is one of only three artists with newly charting top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 in each of the last six ...
Dua Lipa Shares Sweet Message for ‘My Most Magical Friend’ Elton John
On Monday, Dua Lipa was still reveling over spending her weekend performing with Elton John at his final U.S. tour date at L.A.’s Dodger Stadium. “To my most magical friend @eltonjohn thank you for keeping the dream alive!!!” she wrote on social media alongside a video of herself and the superstar performing their hit collab “Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)” for the first time at the Sunday (Nov. 22) show. “It was an honour, a privilege and a joy to share the stage with you last night on your last show at the Dodgers Stadium. Thank you for everything, forever and always. I love you!!! Still taking this all in…” Related Inside Elton John's Dodger Stadium Show: 5 Takeaways from the Last U.S. Stop on His Final Tour 11/22/2022 Sir Elton returned the love ...
5 Takeaways from Elton John’s Last U.S. Stop on His Final Tour
“I wish you health and love, prosperity. Be kind to each other, ok, and farewell.” With those words, Elton John concluded the final show of his last U.S. tour Sunday night (Nov. 20) at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium, leaving behind the thousands of fans paying homage by wearing bejeweled eyeglasses, the hundreds wrapped in multi-colored feather boas, the dozens in sequined Dodgers outfits and one JoJo Siwa in John’s famous orange-plumed devil’s suit with horns, as the singer ascended to the top of the stage in an elevator — and disappeared for good. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news To say it’s the end of an era doesn’t begin to do justice to John and what his live shows have meant over the last six decades. Starting with hi...
Elton John Is Ready to ‘Go Out on a High’ With Final U.S. Tour Dates & A Pair of 2022 Top 10 Hot 100 Hits
Surrounded by newly designed Elton John tour merch mixed with luxury goods from Fendi and Balenciaga at a special Rocket Man-themed pop-up shop at The Webster in the Beverly Center, David Furnish — husband and business partner to the beloved pop star — joked that everyone thinks his house looks just like this Los Angeles shrine to Elton. “We do have a Captain Fantastic pinball machine at our home in Windsor,” he conceded to Billboard, sitting in an alcove at The Webster with that very arcade game as “Philadelphia Freedom” played over the speakers. “But we don’t play Elton John music around the clock in our house.” For the last near-decade, Furnish has been helping Elton plan his retirement from the road, after 50-plus years of touring the world, and this pop-up shop is one of many special ...
Joel Corry Performs Among Elton John and Britney Spears Lookalikes In “Hold Me Closer” Remix Video
The new music video for Joel Corry‘s remix of Elton John and Britney Spears’ “Hold Me Closer” will have you seeing double. Corry’s remix is the first official rework of the global hit, which in itself is a rework of two of John’s iconic originals, “Tiny Dancer” and “The One.” Directed by Rebekah Creative, the video sees Corry DJing among a team of dancing Britney Spears and Elton John stunt doubles, who are dressed in some of the iconic outfits the two iconic artists have famously donned over the years. Corry’s remix plays up the duet’s already augmented danceable qualities, rooted in nu-disco. Leaning into his euphoric pop sensibilities, Corry incorporates bright, shimmering pianos under the vocals. Meanwhile, the cha...
Marcus Mumford Didn’t Want to ‘Terrorize People’ With Addressing of His Traumatic Past on Solo Debut
Marcus Mumford felt he was covering such potentially triggering terrain on his solo debut, (self-titled), out tomorrow on Capitol Records, that the Mumford & Sons frontman ran every line by a trauma specialist. “I said, ‘Look, I don’t want to terrorize people, I don’t want to activate people for the sake of it. But this feels true to me in every sense,’” he tells Billboard. Mumford confronts his demons from the very first line of the album’s very first song. “Cannibal” calls out the person who sexually abused Mumford when he was six: “I can still taste you and I hate it/ That wasn’t a choice in the mind of a child and you knew it,” he sings calmly, before the song bursts into an explosion of energy as he shifts the narrative to learning to forgive and begin ...
Ozzy Osbourne, Mick Jagger, Elton John, Duran Duran Remember Queen Elizabeth II
On Thursday morning, Queen Elizabeth II died at the age of 96 at Balmoral Castle, her estate in Scotland. She had ruled for 70 years, the longest tenure in history. During her reign, she knighted a number of musicians, including Mick Jagger, Elton John, Paul McCartney. In response to the queen’s death, John wrote, “along with the rest of the nation, I am deeply saddened to hear the news of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s passing. “She was an inspiring presence to be around, and lead the country through some of our greatest, and darkest, moments with grace, decency and a genuine caring warmth. Queen Elizabeth has been a huge part of my life from childhood to this day, and I will miss her dearly.” “I mourn with my country the passing of our greatest Queen,” Ozzy Osbourne wrote in a statement o...
Britney Spears Returns: Listen to Her Duet With Elton John, a Dance Version of 1972’s “Tiny Dancer”
It’s Britney, bitch… and Elton. Britney Spears and Elton John have joined forces to reimagine “Tiny Dancer,” the latter’s iconic 1972 song, into a dance anthem. “Hold Me Closer” is the first new music from Spears following the end of her controversial conservatorship, which had inspired a full-blown movement spearheaded by fans. Produced by Andrew Watt, “Hold Me Closer” is a bubbly rush of house and nu-disco. John, who has long been enamored with electronic music, pulled a play from the playbook of “Cold Heart,” last year’s dance smash with Dua Lipa which spawned a chart-topping remix by Pnau. Take a listen to the new track below. Scroll to Continue Recommended Articles John has been open about his affinity for ED...
Hear Elton John and Britney Spears Team Up on ‘Hold Me Closer’
After weeks of speculation, Elton John and Britney Spears‘ long-rumored collaboration “Hold Me Closer” has finally arrived. Produced by Andrew Watt and Cirkut, the track is built around John’s 1972 classic “Tiny Dancer” and his ’90s song “The One,” and features new vocals from John and Spears. Its cover photo sports photos of both artists as children: Spears in a pink ballet costume and John sitting at an old upright wooden piano. [embedded content][embedded content] For Spears, “Hold Me Closer” marks her return to music following a years-long battle over her conservatorship. “Okie dokie — my first song in 6 years!!!!,” a jubilant Spears wrote on Twitter. “It’s pretty damn cool that I’m singing with one of the most classic men of our time!!!! I’m kinda overwhelmed. It’s a big deal to me!!!...
These 2022 VMA Contenders Were Also Nominated at the First VMAs in 1984
Two of the artists nominated for the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards go way back with the VMAs, to the very first show in 1984. Madonna, who is nominated for best long-form music video for “MADAME X,” was nominated for best new artist in a video at the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards for “Borderline.” She didn’t win — the award went to Eurythmics for “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This”) — but she left with something even better than an award: She stole the show with her fully committed performance of “Like a Virgin,” in which she writhed around the floor of Radio City Music Hall in a wedding dress. The other 2022 VMA contender who was nominated at the first VMAs is Elton John. The pop legend is nominated this year for both song of the year and best collaboration for “Cold Heart (PNAU Remix),” hi...
Yard Act Teams With Elton John for New Version of ‘100% Endurance’
British rock quartet Yard Act has teamed with Elton John for a new version of the song “100% Endurance” from its acclaimed debut album, The Overload, which hit No. 2 in the U.K. earlier this year. Recalling the genesis of the unlikely collaboration, Yard Act frontman James Smith says, “Elton John saw our stuff, and he started telling the press he thought we were good, and then we chatted on the phone and after a few calls, I said, ‘Elton, do you want to come to the studio and play piano on a tune?’ because, fuck it, it doesn’t matter if he says no. Anyway, he said ‘yes,’ so it doesn’t matter that he didn’t say no. I don’t know what else to say. He’s brilliant. Switched on, hilarious and an amazing musician.” Enthuses John, “From the first moment I heard Yard Act, I fell in love with James’...
Elton John’s ‘Madman Across the Water’ Reissue Hits Top 10 on Top Album Sales
Elton John’s 50th-anniversary reissue of Madman Across the Water makes a splash on Billboard’s album charts (dated June 25), as the set debuts in the top 10 on both Top Album Sales and Vinyl Albums. The set also arrives on Top Rock Albums and Catalog Albums, and it charts on the Billboard 200 for the first time in nearly 50 years. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Madman Across the Water was first released in 1972 and peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 in February of that year. The set contained the hit singles “Levon” and “Tiny Dancer.” Also in the top 10 on Top Album Sales: new releases from BTS, Motionless In White and Carrie Underwood debut, while Seatbelts’ Cowboy Bebop soundtrack hits the top 10 for the first time after a vinyl re...
