Global
25 Best K-Pop Songs of 2021: Critics’ Picks
K-pop expanded its perimeters and scope this year while simultaneously infusing itself into today’s trends and sounds in creative ways. While many acts raised their international profiles with releases that found bigger audiences than ever, the songs that truly soared pushed the limits to represent more than just the stars singing them. While it’d be impossible to capture the brilliance of the K-pop industry in one year-end list, these songs give a snapshot of some of the best that the scene had to offer in a year that was challenging for many but offered inspiration in other ways—including from these 25 songs.
Ed Sheeran & Elton John Highlight International Holiday Hits on Global Charts
SZA scores the week’s highest debut on the Dec. 18-dated Billboard Global 200 as “I Hate U” arrives at No. 11. But Ed Sheeran and Elton John take top honors among new entries on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. survey, dashing in at No. 10 with “Merry Christmas.” The team-up, released Dec. 3, drew 29 million streams and sold 42,300 downloads worldwide in its first week (ending Dec. 9), according to MRC Data. The song’s streams break down to 69% (20.1 million) from audio platforms and 31% (8.9 million) from video services, largely thanks to its festive official video that also premiered Dec. 3. A 31% share might seem small for a song’s video streams, but it’s a rare high mark among holiday titles that mostly live on audio services, many of which predate the ’80s-era breakout of videos. Next ...
K-Music to the World: How to Enjoy Korea Through Virtual ‘K-Vibe Festa’
For the past two years, lockdowns and travel bans have resulted in it being almost impossible to visit other countries. As the world resets and the global COVID-19 pandemic recedes, tourism is tentatively returning to some regions, but if you’re not yet ready to hop on a plane to South Korea, that’s all right, because with the K-VIBE FESTA, South Korea can come to you, virtually. A multi-element experience that is built on the increasingly popular idea of a metaverse, the Korea Tourism Organization’s K-VIBE FESTA campaign is themed around the idea of “Come Play With Korea” and features a variety of different experiences for people to engage with in digital realms. The overall theme of the K-VIBE FESTA is for international fans to explore and enjoy all that South Korean pop culture and trad...
Alibaba Group To Shutter China’s Xiami Music Service
Xiami is one of the smaller digital music services in China. While user numbers are not publicly available, Xiami’s music penetration was less than 2% in 2019, with about five million Monthly Active Users in mainland China, according to local Chinese reports. The country’s biggest streaming platforms are QQ Music, Kugou Music, Kuwo Music and WeSing, all owned by tech giant Tencent Music Entertainment Group. Collectively those four services have more than 800 million users, says Tencent. Tencent’s biggest competitor is NetEase Cloud Music, operated by Chinese internet company NetEase, which claims to have more than 600 million registered users. Xiami and NetEase Cloud Music cut a deal in 2018 for the streaming services to share libraries and grow their respective repertoires — a move seen a...
UMG Beefs Up Leadership in Africa, Promoting Sipho Dlamini to CEO Role
All three executives will work closely with UMG’s French-speaking operations principally in Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Cameroon, which are overseen by Franck Kacou, directeur général, Universal Music Africa. The strengthening of its Africa leadership team is the latest move in Universal’s big bet on the continent. With an emphasis on A&R, UMG has been aggressively expanding its operations in Africa. Rather than licensing or distributing existing indie labels, Universal has invested in building lasting local infrastructure, including establishing divisions in Nigeria and South Africa, such as Def Jam Africa, which is focused around hip-hop, Afrobeats and trap. In 2018, UMG became the first major label to license its catalog to Boomplay, Africa’s largest local streaming platform. (In Sub...
Reports: New coronavirus strain from Britain identified in Nigeria
A new strain of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that grounded the global economy for all of 2020, has been identified in Nigeria. The mutant variant was first identified in the United Kingdom (UK) and has caused several countries to ban flights from the UK. It has also led the UK government to announce a slew of fresh restrictions and lockdowns. Newsmen report that this new strain has been identified in Nigeria by scientists at the Africa Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID), at the Redeemers University in Ede, Osun State. In a publication in Virological, a website for the global Genomics community, the scientists say they found the same variant “lineage B.1.1.7” in Osun State, Southwest Nigeria since August 3, 2020, when the first sample was collected...
Dana Air offers free tickets to passengers after flight cancellation
Dana Air Sunday said it will offer passengers who were to board two of their aircraft that had snags weekend in Lagos and Abuja free tickets after rescheduling their flights. The airline however said those who don’t want their flights rescheduled will be given full refund. The airline Spokesman, Mr Kingsley Ezenwa confirmed this development. Ezenwa said ” Friday 18, and Saturday 19, December 2020, 2 of our aircraft became unserviceable in Lagos and Abuja respectively, compelling us to ground both aircraft in line with our strict safety standards and Global Best Practices “While our maintenance team have however been deployed to conduct proper checks on both aircraft, we wish to reassure our guests and crew that their safety will continue to be our priority in all circumstances and we would...
OPL245 scandal: Coalition urges World Bank group not to protect oil giants
A World Bank affiliated group may scuttle Nigeria’s bid to successfully prosecute illicit funds associated with the controversial OPL 245, a coalition of international anti-corruption groups has said. The post OPL245 scandal: Coalition urges World Bank group not to protect oil giants appeared first on TODAY. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair share of Internet revenue.
Oil prices slide in lockdown-driven rout
Oil prices dived Thursday on demand fears as more nations go into lockdown to staunch the spread of the coronavirus, while stock prices attempted a modest rebound. Both main oil contracts fell five percent for part of the day before clawing back some of their losses, extending this week’s meltdown to plumb four-month lows on virus-driven demand fears. “The new lockdowns have since yesterday caused a carnage in the oil market,” said Bjornar Tonhaugen, head of oil markets at Rystad Energy. “Oil demand will lose ground as a result of the new lockdowns… Prices now naturally decline on this grim prospect,” he added. The drop in oil prices will increase the pain on oil companies. Exxon Mobil announced Thursday it was eliminating 1,900 US jobs as part of a cost-cutting drive necessitated in part ...
Premier League terminate £490 million TV deal in China
The Premier League has terminated its TV rights deal with China, its biggest overseas contract, leaving a huge hole in clubs’ finances. The deal with Chinese broadcaster PPTV was worth around £490m and had lasted only one of its three years. The conflict is said to have been around a fee of £160m that the Premier League was owed in March but did not receive. “The Premier League confirms that it has today terminated its agreements for Premier League coverage in China with its licensee in that territory,” a spokesman said on Thursday. “The Premier League will not be commenting further on the matter at this stage.” It is not known if the conflict is based purely on money or involves the escalating political tensions between China and the UK government. Boris Johnson announced in July that Hua...
Oyo APC, Governor Makinde in war of words over N100 billion bond
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, yesterday, said it has uncovered fresh plots by Governor Seyi Makinde to add to the debt profile of the state through what it called needless borrowing of N100 billion styled bond by the governor to finance some projects. But the state government, in a swift reaction, said the APC was frustrated and has exhibited its mercantile approach to governance. The war of words came on the heels of Governor Mankinde’s approval for the issuance of N100bn Private bond for circular road, Iseyin-Ogbomoso road, Ibadan Airport expansion. However, APC, in a statement by its Publicity Secretary in the state, Dr. Abdul-Azeez Olatunde, noted that the governor on his assumption of office, was shouting on the roof top of meeting debt from his predecessor, in the...
Nnamdi Kanu: No sit-at home for Biafrans from 27th to 30th of May
YouTube The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, Tuesday advised Biafrans to dedicate three days to pray for her fallen heroes. Kanu who disclosed this in a statement sent to newsmen by the groups publicity scretary, Emma Powerful, said this years Biafra day would start with prayers and end with prayers. He said there would be no sit-at home, noting that people have stayed longer at home during the coronavirus lockdown. “IPOB wouldn’t like to bother people with another lockdown in form of sit-at home”, he said. The statement reads, “We, the global and indefatigable family of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) ably led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the prophet and liberator of our time, wish to announce to the people of Biafra, friends of Biafra, enemies of Biafra, love...
