Innholdsfortegnelse for Aug-02-14 i Billboard Magazine

The more I listen to it, the more I seem to like it,” says Enrique Iglesias of “Bailando.” “There’s something addictive about this song.” The steadily pulsating track — its title translates to “dancing” — surges 23-17 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is spending a 12th week atop Hot Latin Songs (where it’s Iglesias’ record 25th No. 1), but it’s breaking boundaries on radio, rising 30-25 on the Mainstream Top 40 chart. Notably, “Bailando,” first released in Spanish (and featuring Descemer Bueno and Gente de Zona), has crossed from Latin to top 40 radio with only a Spanglish remix (and a Sean Paul guest rap). “This is a classic case of a data-driven record,” says Charlie Walk, executive vp Republic Records. “The Spanish version started building at Latin…

Arecent rise in the number of tracks flagged and removed by Sound Cloud’s automatic piracy detection system has some wondering about the uneasy dance between the site and its key users: DJs. Widely hailed as the YouTube of audio, SoundCloud was once a playground for emerging producers to upload and share music for free, largely unpoliced. But with more than 250 million active monthly users, the platform has outgrown its underground roots and seems to be playing by the rules. To wit: Superstar DJ Kaskade (real name: Ryan Raddon) left the platform after 32 of his files were flagged as potential copyright violators and taken down. He later posted a letter on his website begging lawmakers and file-sharing websites to “free the music.” It could be a while. Sources within…

A recording artist, songwriter, label founder, producer, author, actor: David Byrne, 62, has seen the entertainment business from many sides during his four-decade career. Amid hearings on copyright and music licensing before the House Judiciary Committee, Billboard reached out to Byrne — a member of the newly formed Content Creators Coalition, a group of musicians, authors and other creators seeking better terms for online use of their works — for some thoughts on the state of artists’ rights. He responded via email from London. (Read the full interview on Billboard.biz.) What can Congress do to help artists? I think that artists in general can be given more agency regarding what happens to their work. I don’t own my own old recordings, a similar situation to many artists, so I have…

Eight months after launching 300 Entertainment, principals Lyor Cohen, Todd Moscowitz and Kevin Liles are toasting their first No. 1 album: Closer by 25-year-old Mike Stud. The college baseball pitcherturned-rapper surprised chartwatchers when he topped Billboard’s Rap Albums tally in the issue dated July 26 with 15,000 in first-week sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Equally impressive: Stud’s out-of-nowhere debut, distributed via WEA/Atlantic, came without the benefit of a costly radio campaign, because the deal closed so quickly. Instead, Closer was powered by the title track’s 300,000 YouTube views, a Pandora pre-release album stream, and a 33-city national tour. “Mike is developing a strong base the old-fashioned way,” says Cohen, “Growing it city to city, one venue at a time.”…

For Sia’s July 30 appearance on VH1 and digital cable channel Palladia’s Soundclash, the first series executive-produced by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, 43, the singer-songwriter performs “Chandelier” with her back to the audience. (She’ll later cover Beyoncé’s “Drunk in Love” with Ed Sheeran and Grouplove.) Questlove (left) says booking an artist renowned for refusing to do promotional appearances was the live-music show’s first coup. “Of all the acts, that was the hardest sell,” says The Roots drummer and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon bandleader. “When her name was brought up, I thought, ‘Well, that’s not going to happen.’ I gotta say, my first major executive decision — the thing that made me feel like this really is my show — was [to offer her] a situation where we hide her…

The only major-label head to also oversee a music publishing company, Vancouver native Cameron Strang, 47, has his roots in the indie world as founder of both New West Records and Southside Independent Music Publishing after practicing criminal law. The latter’s acquisition by Warner/Chappell in 2010 led to his taking over joint leadership of both the publishing giant and, in 2013, Warner Bros. Records. The son of an opera singer father, who was also a child prodigy pianist, Strang grew up surrounded by classical music and then The Band, Neil Young, Bob Marley and The Rolling Stones, learning the cultural power of rock’n’roll through his politically motivated parents, who hosted early Greenpeace meetings at their home. The low-key exec — who lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three…

Contemporary artist Shepard Fairey will bring his curation skills and unique brand of punk-rock pop art to Chicago July 31-Aug. 4 for the biggest street exhibit in the United States. Timed to coincide with Lollapalooza, the exhibit, Art Alliance: The Provocateurs, will feature 40 artists including Keith Haring, Swoon, Ryan McGinness and Camille Rose Garcia at event space Block 37 (108 N. State St.) and on large-scale street murals around downtown Chicago. Need more of a Fairey fix? Catch his DJ set too. How did you first get involved with Art Alliance? Lorrie [Boula, my manager] and I were in Austin and we actually had dinner with Charlie Walker from [event production company] C3. We were just talking about how great it would be if there was an art component…

What To Buy, Wear And Know Now Fans of last year’s partnership between quirky rock darling Beck and cool eyewear line Warby Parker will be pleased to know there’s more where that came from. July 29 saw the launch of a new Beck-designed version of the Carmichael, a roundish, stylized unisex frame, which is available for $95 at warbyparker.com and Warby Parker stores nationwide. The Black Cherry features black on the exterior of the frame and a pop of red on the inside and joins Root Beer (tortoiseshell) and Crystal (clear) from the original debut. Thank intellectual literary journal McSweeney’, which released Beck’s Song Reader back in 2012, for the genesis of the partnership. The Song Reader wasn’t a recording but rather a book with a collection of scores for…

A little more than two years ago, Jack Antonoff celebrated Fun’s No. 1 single, “We Are Young,” in an unusual way: by starting to write songs for a new band, Bleachers. “The Beatles did 12 songs every six months,” says Antonoff, who chafes at the idea that if you’re as successful as Fun was with its second album, Some Nights — 5.1 million sold, with “We Are Young” moving another 7 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan — you get the chance to make and tour just 12 new songs every three-and-a-half years. “Everybody should have two bands if you look at it like that. Everyone should have 10 f—ing bands. It’s not enough.” Antonoff is the very definition of a man-child — boyish looking and not one to shy…

Keith Jenkins spent 12 years playing guitar in James Brown’s final band, The Soul Generals. He was enlisted for Get On Up to give the 80 or so musicians cast as members of Brown’s legendary bands, The Famous Flames and The JBs, a taste of life working for the Godfather of Soul. “We wanted them to feel like a real band,” says Margaret Yen, Get On Up’s music supervisor. “The James Brown band, whatever incarnation it was, rehearsed and played all the time. I wanted the same kind of bonding and camaraderie, and I wanted it reflected on camera.” It worked. The musicians, who appear in 13 different configurations throughout the film, hung out after shooting and played music at bars around Natchez and Jackson, Miss. Many were college students…

It was 1979, and I was just 26 years old. I knew James Brown for about eight years, as his son Teddy and I were good friends until he was tragically killed in a car accident a few years earlier. It was actually after that horrific disaster that my relationship with James Brown grew even stronger; I became the son he lost, and he became the father I didn’t have anymore. And in 1979 he came up to me and said: “Let’s do a gospel rap record.” I had no idea what a gospel rap record was. James didn’t waste any time breaking it down. He told me he was going to sing and I would preach. We flew to Augusta, Ga., and recorded “God Has Smiled on Me.” The…

a year ago, the power-pop band is currently dominating charts across the board with “Rude,” a reggae-infused smash single that may well go down as 2014’s quintessential summer song. The story of a well-intentioned guy who gets dissed by his girlfriend’s father — “Why you gotta be so rude?” protests singer Nasri Atweh. “Don’t you know I’m human too” — “Rude” is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated Aug. 2 for a second week. It’s also No. 1 on Digital Songs and No. 2 on Radio Songs. Since its release in August 2013, “Rude” has sold 1.8 million downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and ranks as the year’s eighth-best-selling pop digital song. This wry reggae tale of rejection was written by four Canadians now based in Los Angeles:…

As the first act to sign with the revived Dot Records, a Big Machine Label Group (BMLG) imprint, Maddie Marlow and Tae Dye seem primed to be Nashville’s newest sweethearts. Think again. The blonde, bubbly 18-yearolds, who perform as Maddie & Tae, may look harmless, but the duo’s bold debut single, “Girl in a Country Song,” has become the talk of Music City — and the Hot Shot Debut on the Aug. 2 Hot Country Songs chart at No. 39. Co-written with Big Machine Music’s Aaron Scherz, the song skewers the “brocountry” trend of acts like Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan. “We were listening to all the songs on country radio right now that we love by artists we love,” says Dye. “We started writing this checklist: girls, tailgates,…

Jason Mraz says YES! to another No. 2 debut on the Billboard 200, as his new album arrives in the runner-up slot. Mraz is denied his first No. 1 by “Weird Al” Yankovic’s own first chart-topper, Mandatory Fun. 81k YES! sold 81,000 copies in its first week (ending July 20), according to Nielsen SoundScan — less than the arrival of Mraz’s last set, 2012’s Love Is a Four Letter Word (102,000) but more than the bow of the album before that, 2008’s We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. (73,000). 55% Despite Mraz’s solid history with radio (10 entries on the Adult Top 40 chart, eight on the Triple A tally), he has yet to earn an airplay hit from the new album. Still, its current single, “Love Someone,” is…

WHEN LA ROUX ARRIVED IN 2009 WITH ITS Grammy-winning self-titled debut, the U.K. duo’s music smacked of the future. Sure, the songs were rooted in ’80s synth-pop, but the steely beats and singer Elly Jackson’s unflappability suggested that mainstream music was morphing into something mechanically sleek, stylish and forward-looking. And then the group disappeared, as Jackson’s vocal problems, exhaustion and friction with bandmate Ben Langmaid stalled album No. 2. Now, Jackson, 26, is back as a solo artist still using the La Roux name, with an enjoyable but unspectacular album. The lean nine-track offering finds Jackson swiveling away from icy electronica toward Technicolor disco, with cheekily titled songs like “Sexotheque” flashing funk guitar and percussion. Jackson’s piercing wit is still present, but her vocals are warmer, her words now soaring…

The concert industry has been riding a huge wave of growth for the past four years, and stakeholders are bullish on the health of the business. And according to the Billboard Boxscore charts, business for top acts is solid. For the midyear chart period, which includes concerts reported to Boxscore from Nov. 13, 2013 through June 10, 2014, global results are rising, even while North American numbers raise some concerns. The number of shows reported to Boxscore are up from the same period last year, 14.7 percent worldwide and 7 percent in North America. Global touring grosses are up 6.3 percent, but global attendance is down 4.2 percent. That trend of grosses outpacing attendance boils down to higher ticket prices, and it’s a telling return to a pattern last seen…

Kidz Bop Charts 40th Album Those darn Kidz are at it again. The Kidz Bop Kids, that is. The franchise scores its 40th charting album on the Billboard 200 as Kidz Bop 26 bows at No. 4, with 46,000 sold in the week ending July 20, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The latest effort in the kids-sing-the-hits series also lands the line its 19th top 10 album. The new set features kid-friendly (and kid-sung) covers of such hits as Pharrell Williams’ Happy,”Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” and One Direction’s Story of My Life.” And to the surprise of no one, Kidz Bop 26 also enters at No. 1 on the Kid Albums chart — Kidz Bop’s 28th leader on the list. The Kidz also debut four tunes on the Kid Digital Songs…

Blake’s Big Return Ending the longest gap between stands at No. 1 for a title on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, Blake Shelton’s Based on a True Story … surges 12-1 to spend a sixth cumulative week at the summit. It hadn’t ranked at No. 1 since June 22, 2013. Shelton’s 13-month, two-week span between No. 1 ranks with the same set surpasses Waylon Jennings’ sixmonth, three-week hiatus with his Greatest Hits in 1979-80. Shelton’s set also makes the biggest leap for an album returning to No. 1 in the 23-year-old Nielsen SoundScan era, topping Dixie Chicks’ Taking the Long Way, which flew 11-1 on the March 7, 2007 list. Shelton’s vault is due largely to a $5.99 sale pricing on iTunes during the tracking week ending July 20. The…

Iggy’s ‘Widow’ Moves To Top Five Iggy Azalea continues her chart domination as Black Widow,” featuring Rita Ora, hops 8-5 on Hot Rap Songs, landing the rapper her second top five effort. The song shifted 59,000 downloads in the week ending July 20 (up 42 percent), according to Nielsen SoundScan — its highest sales week to date. On Rap Airplay, Azalea scores her second top 10 due to her feature on T.I.’s No Mediocre,” as it ascends 12-8 with a 22 percent rise (to 18.4 million audience impressions), according to Nielsen BDS. The jump gives T.I. his 23rd top 10, the sixth-most No. 1s in the history of the chart. (Lil Wayne leads with 40.) Elsewhere, Drake arrives on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs with “0 to 100/The Catch Up” opening at…

Disclosure Double Dips After almost a year on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs (47 weeks), Disclosure (above) reaches the pinnacle as “Latch,” featuring Sam Smith, jumps 2-1 to dethrone Calvin Harris’ “Summer.” Disclosure’s lengthy trek to the top surpasses (and nearly doubles) the mark previously held by Avicii’s “Hey Brother” — it needed 25 weeks to reach No. 1 on the chart, which launched in January 2013. Concurrently, Disclosure just misses setting the same record on Dance/Electronic Albums, as Settle slides into No. 1 for the first time in its 59th week. That deliberate climb is second only to The Postal Service, whose Give Up did the opposite of its title and reached No. 1 after 65 weeks, on July 17, 2004. “Latch” also returns to No. 1 for a second week…

On July 18, a student was found dead of undetermined causes at Pemberton Music Festival in British Columbia. In June, two Glastonbury festivalgoers died, a 67-year-old of natural causes and another from a suspected reaction to the anesthetic ketamine. At Miami’s EDM bonanza Ultra Music Festival in March, a security guard was trampled to death and another attendee passed away in his car. Two more succumbed at Las Vegas’ Electric Daisy Carnival from drug-related causes, and reportedly six at Future Music Festival Asia. Perhaps the oddest of all, a man selfimmolated at Utah’s Burning Man equivalent, Element 11. So far, a total of 17 people have died at music festivals around the world. What gives? And is EDM, which seems to see disproportionate numbers of deaths and serious injuries at…

Opt For The Public Domain Anything more than 70 years old should be fair use and copyright-free. Obscure The Obscure “Take a small piece of an obscure song and distort the hell out of it,” says Eric Steuer, media advisor at nonprofit Creative Commons, which facilitates legal use of creative works online. “The more you transform something, the stronger your fair-use argument.” Mind The Length Smaller samples are a safer bet. Says Barnes: “Six seconds of a four-minute song will cut in your favor.” Look For A Creative Commons License Marked by a universal symbol attached to photos, videos and music files online, these licenses are a way for artists and companies to signal that they have granted copyright permissions to their creative work. —M.B…

“You know, I have slept with a lot of guys in the industry, but none of them helped me get my record deals. Which is annoying.” —LANA DEL REY The singer, replying to whether there was any truth to her song “F—ed My Way Up to the Top.” “Can you be ugly once? Can you be normal? You’re such a jerk-off!” —LEAH REMINI The actress, yelling at her best friend J.Lo for being too fashionable during a poolside afternoon in the Hamptons. “We make music together. We make music. I’m ready to play kickball!” —CHRISTINA MILIAN The singer, dodging a question about whether she’s dating Lil Wayne — who recently signed her to Young Money Entertainment — while en route to a celebrity kickball game. “Curvy and Proud” —LADY GAGA…

Bjork, “It’s Oh So Quiet” “I like scaring my mom by playing it in the car. It starts out so quiet and then I blast it. It always makes my mom really frazzled.” Coldplay, “Magic” “I’ve been listening to Coldplay a lot, and ‘Magic’ is a really nice song.” Sia, “Chandelier” “I’m obsessed with Sia. I’d love to be her best friend.” Calle 13, “Latinoamerica” “It’s a song by a Puerto Rican spiritual rap band that I listen to at least once a week.”…

Jena Malone might be best known for her roles in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Stepmom and Donnie Darko, but the 29-year-old actress has another passion: the antique folk she makes with multi-instrumentalist Lem Jay Ignacio as The Shoe. Malone, like her friend Zooey Deschanel, is one of those rare Hollywood stars who can move from blockbuster to busker. She recently finished a tour supporting the duo’s debut LP, I’m Okay, and production for parts one and two of Mockingjay, the final installments of the Hunger Games franchise. After several years of performing solo as The Shoe, she connected with Ignacio at a Christmas party when the two freestyled a 10-minute “Winter Wonderland” with “mythical Portuguese” lyrics. Such improvisational live shows often incorporate letters or quotes from Malone’s devoted fans.…

Premios Juventud (Latin Youth Awards) MIAMI , JUL 17 “Every time I’m onstage I’m close to my fans and I’m the happiest person in the world,” beamed superstar Enrique Iglesias to the deafening crowd at Univision’s Premios Juventud Awards, held at Miami’s BankUnited Center. The fan-voted “youth awards” showcased the artists who were this year’s top dogs, and Iglesias’ spirits visibly soared as he accepted the Supernova Award from actress Roselyn Sanchez. The event, which averaged 4.3 million viewers through the night (according to Nielsen) , also feted bachata crooner Romeo Santos, who tied Iglesias with five honors during the telecast. Gerardo Ortiz and Pitbull also snagged top nods, with Ortiz taking the My Regional Mexican Artist category and 33-year-old Pitbull winning the Youth Idol title. During his speech, the…

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Effortless dressing gets a boost by virtue of this season’s dynamic duo trend: matching tops and bottoms. Also known as co-ords, midriff-baring crop tops and highwaisted skirts graced the spring/summer 2014 runways of Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Tam and Mulberry, in prints and monochromatic hues. Solange Knowles’ insect-print twinset designed by Azede Jean-Pierre was all the, ahem, buzz at the Spotify and Troy Carter Pre-Grammy Music + Tech Party in L.A. earlier this year. “Solange is fun and confidently unapologetic,” says Jean-Pierre. “This piece works well on her because it conveys her bold, free spirit.” Whether you go mild or wild, perhaps the best part of these looks is their versatility, since twofers can be worn as a unit or separately. —Wendy Sy…

“It’s good to be back,” says Mick Jagger, sweeping a hand across the grand view in front of him at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem. The Rolling Stones frontman, who moonlights as an increasingly busy Hollywood producer, is here to discuss Universal’s James Brown biopic Get On Up, two days before the film premieres at the same venue. It has been years since Jagger, who turns 71 on July 26, last visited the majestic Apollo. He can’t recall exactly when. “I came a lot like in the ’80s, and then it was closed for repairs a lot,” he says. It’s clear that Jagger is feeling slightly nostalgic. “Over the years, I’ve been in and out of here quite a few times.” For Jagger, Get On Up — directed by…

The soundtrack to Get On Up features 20 James Brown recordings, including unreleased live versions of “Please, Please, Please” and “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” from a 1966 show in Tampa, Fla. And it provides Universal Music Enterprises, owners of Brown’s extensive catalog, a shot at expanding his fan base. “We have the opportunity to grow the legacy and brand,” says UMe president/CEO Bruce Resnikoff. “That’s the big piece of the puzzle we haven’t seen in prior soundtracks.” Brown’s singles charted consistently from 1958 to 1977, and his music has echoed in decades after, especially within hip-hop. He may well be the most-sampled artist of all time, but contemporary hip-hop fans are often unaware of the source, a disconnect that Resnikoff hopes to rectify. “The film becomes a great…

I just stumbled out of my Ford Focus in these mules,” says Jenny Lewis, pointing to her purple-bowed footwear. Settling into an airy cafe near her Laurel Canyon home in Los Angeles, the one-time child actor who turned indie rock “It” girl evokes a glam version of Seinfeld’s Elaine: retro shades, straw boater, Pippi Longstocking braids, slinky dress. “I almost wore a tracksuit, but I wore a dress for you,” she adds, quickly correcting herself: “I wore a dress for me.” For Lewis, the clothes make the woman. On the cover of her new solo album, The Voyager, she rocks a super-’70s white pantsuit airbrushed with psychedelic rainbow motifs that might have made even The Beatles pause. “I feel strong and mighty in that rainbow suit, like a little Elton…

In only its 12th week on the Billboard Hot 100, Magic’s first hit, “Rude,” jumped to No. 1, bumping Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” from the top slot after a seven-week reign. With the song’s No. 1 achievement on the July 26 list, the tune became the 1,037th chart-topper in history, and one of only a handful of reggae-flavored leaders. —KEITH CAULFIELD 176K Plays on U.S. radio, translating to 1 billion in cumulative audience 11M SoundCloud plays on management Latium Entertainment’s channel 1.8M Downloads sold in the United States 7 Number of radio formats on which the song has charted 53M YouTube views of official video and lyric video 42.5M Spotify streams Source: Sales according to Nielsen SoundScan, through July 20. *On the approximately 1,240 stations that report to the Billboard Hot…

Trey Songz has every reason to be smiling. It’s been a good month for the 29-year-old R&B star (real name Tremaine Neverson). He scored his second consecutive No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with his sixth album, Trigga, which also helped him top Billboard’s first Artist 100 chart, unveiled July 10. His single “Na Na” peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 on July 19 — his 19th hit on the chart during his career. Here, one of R&B’s hardest-working singer-songwriter-sex symbols reveals how he did it, from shirking the EDM trend to reconciling with August Alsina. R&B has been struggling commercially. Why is Trigga doing so well? Yeah, it’s difficult these days, but I think Trigga is actually my best album. It’s a cohesive body of work,…

SHMURDA’S ‘ HOT ’ START Brooklyn rapper and new Epic signee Bobby Shmurda gains ground with his drill track “Hot N---a.” The song rises 4-1 on the Billboard Twitter Emerging Artists chart thanks to its accompanying viral Vine “Shmoney Dance.” The 20-year-old’s moves have attracted enough buzz that even Beyoncé is using them during the On the Run Tour. PRIORY’ S ‘WEEKEND’ BEGINS Portland, Ore.’s Priory bows at No. 36 on Alternative with its new wave-influenced “Weekend” (Warner Bros.) The duo previously toiled in day jobs (and even sold their own plasma to pay rent) before committing to music full time. Helping break the song: tastemakers KROQ and KYSR Los Angeles, KITS San Francisco and SiriusXM’s Alt Nation. ANZEL ASCENDS Anzel bubbles under the Tropical Airplay chart with the tender…

THE SOPHOMORE LP FROM SEATTLE’S Shabazz Palaces reads like a futuristic, Black Powered, counterculture thesis draft written under some kind of influence. Palaceer Lazaro (aka Ishmael Butler of influential ’90s alt-rap outfi t Digable Planets and early-2000s futurefunk project Cherrywine) begins Lese Majesty by name- checking Kalashnikov rifles and audio engineer Rupert Neve on opener “Dawn in Luxor.” On follow-up track “Forerunner Foray,” he slant-rhymes Rod Lavers with the Lakers. Three songs in, he’s critiquing wealth and vanity through the lens of Moby-Dick and making up words — “blackophilic peodolistic pedestrophic” — as he goes. Lese Majesty — which Lazaro recorded and produced without Shabazz Palaces’ other half, percussionist Tendai Maraire — draws on a lot of history for a style of music that has little precedent, save the group’s…

After more than 30 years on the charts, comedian-singer “Weird Al” Yankovic earns his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, as Mandatory Fun debuts atop the list. The first comedy set to top the chart since 1963, it logs the largest sales week for a comedy album since 1994. Yankovic arrived on the Billboard 200 back on May 21, 1983 with his self-titled album, featuring “Ricky,” his spoof of Toni Basil’s No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 single “Mickey.” Mandatory Fun was released July 15 through Way Moby and RCA Records and sold 104,000 copies in the week ending July 20, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It was promoted by a well-received daily viral video campaign that launched Monday, July 14. Starting with his parody of Pharrell Williams’ “Happy,” Yankovic…

Smith’s Spotify-Fueled Debut Sam Smith (below) soars into the top 10 of Streaming Songs (15-5) as “Stay With Me” benefits from its parent album’s delayed debut on Spotify on July 12. His In the Lonely Hour was withheld from the streaming service during its first three weeks of retail availability to maximize sales of the set. Hour debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 166,000 on the chart dated July 5 and has sold 320,000 to date, according to Nielsen SoundScan. “Stay With Me” posts a 70 percent gain in U.S. streams to 5.9 million, with Spotify accounting for 37 percent of that sum. On the subscription servicebased On-Demand Songs chart (of which Spotify is generally the main driver), the title debuts at No. 3 with…

Rise Against Rises To No. 1 Rise Against scores its second No. 1 on Top Rock Albums and fourth top 10 on the Billboard 200 (No. 3), as The Black Market opens with 53,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The title also marks the Chicago hardcore punk band’s second leader on Hard Rock and Alternative Albums. It follows the group’s previous studio album, Endgame, which debuted and peaked at No. 1 on Top Rock Albums and No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 85,000 in 2011. The new album’s first single, Don’t Want to Be Here Anymore,” ranks at No. 22 on Hot Rock Songs and leaps 13-9 as the Greatest Gainer on the radio-based Mainstream Rock chart, the act’s third top 10 on the list. With a little help from…

Royce’s ‘Mismo’ No. 1 Shooting 6-1 on Tropical Airplay, Prince Royce’s “Soy el Mismo” grants the 25-year-old bachata singer his ninth No. 1 on the chart. The song grows by 44 percent in plays, according to Nielsen BDS, earning Greatest Gainer honors. On Hot Latin Songs, it reaches a new peak, jumping 26-17. Its digital sales soar by 195 percent, according to Nielsen SoundScan, due, in part, to Royce’s performance on Premios Juventud, a fan-voted award show broadcast July 17 on Univision. On Top Latin Albums, regional Mexican act Revolver Cannabis posts the Hot Shot Debut, arriving at No. 5 with Balas, Rosas y Plomo (1,000 sold). The group from Sinaloa, Mexico, scores its highest-charting album with the entrance, having previously peaked as high as No. 20 with Seremos Eternos…

Perry’s Prismatic Power Katy Perry places nine entries on the Boxscore chart, with ticket sales reported following the North American launch of her Prismatic World Tour. After opening with a nine-city trek in the United Kingdom during May, the tour began its four-month run through U.S. and Canadian markets with a sold-out arena performance in Raleigh, N.C., on June 22. Touring in support of her 2013 album Prism, the pop star played to sellout crowds at arenas in Nashville, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and three cities in Florida before heading to the northeastern United States following the July 4 holiday weekend. Perry played the first of five shows in the metropolitan New York and New Jersey area on July 9, drawing a crowd of 13,846 for a sold-out performance at Madison…

Weird Al equals big business. The comedian’s latest album, Mandatory Fun, which tops the Aug. 2 Billboard 200, is his 15th chart entry in a career that spans 30 years of parodies — and his first No. 1. Credit an ambitious rollout in which eight different clips were premiered across a range of online outlets including Reddit, YouTube and Nerdist, along with the simple fact that Yankovic, a viral video trailblazer before such a term existed, is well-suited for the immediacy of the Internet. Then there’s the music — a take on Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” called “Tacky,” Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” reimagined as “Word Crimes” and Lorde’s “Royals” unfurling into “Foil,” among other hilarious sendups — which has been blessed by the artists themselves. And therein lies the brilliance of…

“It’s not even my birthday/But he want to lick the icing off”Meaning: Sex Rihanna “Birthday Cake” “Lay your body down all over my plate/Once I blow the candles out, put it in my face”Meaning: Sex Trey Songz “Cake” Verse includes pound cake, upsidedown cake, clown cakes, carrot cake, icing ... Meanings: Money, shady individuals, fools, a pun on karats, diamonds Jay Z in Drake’s “Pound Cake/Paris Morton Music 2” “My cake’s paper/No weight shakes/Tell your mama this cake’s great”Meanings: Money, actual cake Lupe Fiasco “Light Blue”…

When a recent report in a British medical journal revealed that headbanging could cause brain damage, as it did for a 50-year-old Motorhead fan who, after a January concert in Germany, was discovered with bleeding on the brain, rockers took note. Vigorous headbanging, as doctors surmised was the cause of the man’s persistent headaches, caused the condition, which worsened in the months after the show. Eventually, the man had fluid in his brain drained via a hole drilled in his skull and the headaches ceased. While the story certainly made for an eye-grabbing headline, and prompted visions of everyone from Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl to Korn bassist Fieldy, Dr. Christopher Mandigo, assistant professor of neurosurgery at the Spine Center at Columbia University Medical Center (who did not treat the patient),…

Zach Braff is pretty confident the soundtrack to his new film, Wish I Was Here, which opened July 18, won’t be a platinum blockbuster like the one from his 2004 directorial debut, Garden State. “Selling 1.5 million copies in this day and age is ridiculous,” says the actor-director. “People don’t buy music like that anymore.” To keep his signature indie soundtrack style relevant, Braff, 39, assembled a lineup of covers, rarities and originals “so people would want to relive the film through the music,” he says. Wish I Was Here, in which Braff plays a 35-year-old unemployed actor struggling to find his purpose in life, isn’t a direct continuation of his first eff ort, but the two films share elements of depression and introspection. “I wasn’t shy about being a…

More than a century has passed since Jack Norworth wrote the lyrics to “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” in 15 minutes during a train trip to Manhattan. And anyone who’s been to a sporting event in the past decade knows that the music programming has moved far beyond the standard stadium organists. “Rock’n’rollers have taken over the stadium. There’s nonstop music, pinball noises, flashing lasers,” says Fred Traube, head of Watertown, Conn.-based Pro Sports Music Marketing, who works with major labels and artist managers to promote music to pro and college ballparks. And even though Michael Steinberg, BMI senior vp licensing, says the money earned from blanket licensing of the performing rights organization’s catalog to sporting venues is a small fraction of its $1 billion annual revenue, it has…

Music will dominate your days (and nights) at Grant Park, site of Lollapalooza 2014 (Aug. 1-3). But in between the festival’s performances, which will include Eminem, Outkast and Lorde, take in some of the best Chicago has to offer. The Windy City, in particular the art gallery-lined River North neighborhood just beyond the Loop, is rife with impressive food, drink and, if you haven’t quite had your fill of live music, a number of offbeat venues and new hotspots. 1. The Godfrey Hotel Chicago, 127 W. HURON ST. The hotel’s expansive (and relatively new) indoor-outdoor rooftop lounge offers a sleek fire pit, exhilarating skyline views and a bar cranking out Cognac-laced root beer floats. The 221 fashionable guest rooms flaunt artwork and wet bars. 2. SoHo House Chicago, 113-125 N.…

Every night that fans pour into stadiums to watch Jay Z and Beyoncé’s On the Run Tour, they’re treated to hit singles from R&B’s reigning queen and potent raps from hip-hop’s king. It’s a Super Bowl halftime-level show stretched out to 120 minutes: pyrotechnics, mind-blowing digital displays and glossy movie clips starring the pair as a bank-robbing, badass couple. Naturally the decadence continues through to their styling, with Mr. and Mrs. Carter dressed like street-chic royalty. “The whole Bonnie and Clyde mobster love story was the overall approach,” says Beyoncé’s stylist Ty Hunter, who has worked with the star since her Destiny’s Child days. For a modern, hyperstylized take on the bank robbers-on-the-lam theme, a collection of elite fashion houses were called upon, including Versace, Tom Ford, Givenchy, Alexander Wang,…

Pioneering Atlanta rap duo Outkast’s reunion tour has generated a surprise fashion trend in Andre “3000” Benjamin’s custom-made, meme-laden one-pieces (sadly, not for sale). Who needs a tour diary when you’ve got these gems documenting each gig? “art or fart?” Governors Ball, Randall’s Island, New York “big girls are beautiful to me.” Hangout Festival, Gulf Shores, Ala. “i’ve never had f@cebook, twitt@r, or inst@gram.” BottleRock Napa Valley Festival, Napa, Calif.…

When Get On Up director Tate Taylor began searching for his leading man, he auditioned both musicians and actors. “Hundreds of them,” recalls Get On Up producer Brian Grazer. “But it just came down to Chad. He played the older James Brown, the non-flashy parts, in a very human way. Some of the other possibilities we looked at could do the biggerthan-life part, the flashier side of James Brown, but they couldn’t do the quieter, human side of him. Chad had that range.” Remarkably, the 32-yearold South Carolinian had no formal music or dance training, much like he had only Little League baseball experience before tackling Dodgers legend Jackie Robinson in Brian Helgeland’s 2013 sports drama 42. So before reading for Taylor, he began trawling for footage of the late…

Walk the Line (2005) Nominated for five Oscars; winner of one best actress for Reese Witherspoon) “It was quite a good movie … It’s not like [Chadwick Boseman is playing] a country singer that stands there playing the guitar. I think that’s a bit easier than playing James Brown. You know what I mean?” Ray (2004) Nominated for six Oscars; winner of two (including best actor for Jamie Foxx) “It’s somewhat similar but Get On Up has different ways of telling the story. It comes at it from a different angle. I think Ray is more of a linear story, and there’s nothing wrong with that.” Amadeus (1984) Nominated for 11 Oscars; winner of eight (including best picture) “I saw it the other day on TV. It really held up…

Being popular in Hollywood, as is apparently the case with Jenny Lewis, has its benefits. If you didn’t notice, the recently released video for her song “Just One of the Guys,” which Lewis directed, features three of the most in-demand actresses right now: Kristen Stewart, Brie Larson and Oscar winner Anne Hathaway. Along with Lewis’ pal Tennessee Thomas, the drummer for Los Angeles alt-rock band The Like (and a sometime actress herself), the women play the singer’s backup band, lipsyncing her lyrics and goofing off while dressed up as dudes in Adidas tracksuits, facial hair and wigs — and, in Hathaway’s case, a rattail. “The song and the comedic performances are brilliant — the day of the shoot, I laughed more than I have in God knows how long,” says…

“I’m trying not to do anything stereotypical,” No I.D., the renowned producer-turned-Def Jam executive, tells a photographer at a shoot at the Skylark, a chic rooftop bar in New York. He puts his hand under his chin, like Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker. “Oh, man,” says rapper Common, seated next to him on a plush couch. “That’s one of my poses.” It’s not the first time the pair has taken cues from each other. Twenty years ago, No I.D. produced the bulk of Common’s 1994 LP, Resurrection, the album that vaunted the rapper into hip-hop’s pantheon. On July 22, their newest collaboration, Common’s Nobody’s Smiling, hit stores via No I.D.’s Def Jam-distributed ARTium Records. “I named my second album Resurrection because it was like we were coming to life,” says Common,…

Babymetal are unlikely ascendants to the black-metal throne, to say the least. They’re a girl group, Japanese and each barely 5 feet tall. (The pigtails add an extra inch.) Oh, and they smile. And dance. But they’re racking up millions of YouTube views, selling out shows and opening for Lady Gaga. They name-drop the band Anthrax, as in, “We were talking with Anthrax backstage in London, after we performed for 10,000 people, and …” Their novel brand of music — which they call “kawaii” (meaning cute) metal — combines the fire and fury of Slayer with the vocals, choreographed dance moves and apple-cheeked innocence of tween J-pop. “We have a song called ‘Headbanger,’ ” says lead singer Su-Metal, through a translator over Skype, before checking herself: “Well, it’s a baby…

ON 2002’S KILL THE MOONLIGHT, THE second of five great albums Spoon released between 2001 and 2010, frontman Britt Daniel sings about a guy named Jonathon Fisk who used to beat him up in middle school. He sounds like a real creep, but as Daniel revealed in a recent interview, the two are now friends, and Fisk has become a Spoon superfan. That’s pretty much how it goes with these Austin indie rockers: If you don’t love them at first, just wait. You will. And it’s no wonder: As Gloria Estefan once sang, “The rhythm is gonna get you.” Spoon’s clipped rock’n’soul grooves have set it apart from just about every other indie outfit on the planet. On They Want My Soul, Spoon’s eighth album (and first in four years),…

Superstar French DJ-producer David Guetta was at the forefront of merging EDM with pop on The Black Eyed Peas’ 2009 smash “I Gotta Feeling.” But five years later, his new single feels like it’s following rather than leading. All footstomp kicks, harsh strings and twangy guitar, with an overall spaghetti western vibe, “Lovers on the Sun” (Big Beat/Atlantic/Parlophone) seems like Guetta’s attempt at concocting his own “Wake Me Up”-style mashup — even its breakdown sounds eerily reminiscent of Avicii’s cut. He’s aided by a stellar vocal from Sam Martin: “Close your eyes and hold your breath/Because it feels right,” Martin sings over Lone Ranger whistles. “Lovers on the Sun” radiates good vibes, but compared with recent EDM crossovers that sounded bold and risky, Guetta’s feels late to the party. —Dan…

Bleachers Are Risers Sam Smith leads the Billboard Artist 100 for a second week, aided by streaming gains after his hit “Stay With Me” became available on Spotify on July 12; it bounds 15-5 on the Streaming Songs chart and pushes 5-3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Meanwhile, “Weird Al” Yankovic lands the Artist 100’s top debut at No. 3. The parody master starts with 89 percent of his chart points owed to the bow of Mandatory Fun at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 104,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Like Yankovic, Bleachers parlays its notable Billboard 200 debut into an Artist 100 arrival. As the act’s Strange Desire begins on the Billboard 200 at No. 11 (21,000 sold), it enters the Artist 100 at No. 51,…

Schoolboy Rules Two Lists Schoolboy Q (above) gives a lesson in leading Billboard’s airplay charts, as he takes over two tallies. He’s featured on 21-year-old R&B singer Tinashe’s maiden entry, 2 On,” which conquers Rhythmic (2-1) in its 16th week. The DJ Mustardproduced track reigns with a 4 percent gain in plays at the format, according to Nielsen BDS. It jumps 17-12 on the all-format Radio Songs chart, up by 10 percent to 54 million audience impressions. The activity spurs a new peak for 2 On” on the Billboard Hot 100, where it pushes 27-25. While “2 On” likewise grants Schoolboy Q his first Rhythmic No. 1, the rapper also earns his first leader on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop, where “Studio” (featuring BJ the Chicago Kid) hops 4-1. The track gains by…

Ambrosius Benefits From ‘Friends’ Marsha Ambrosius claims the Hot Shot Debut at No. 2 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums with her sophomore set, Friends & Lovers, moving 17,000 units, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The English singer-songwriter also steps 15-14 on Adult R&B with album cut “Run,” scaling to 550 spins at the format (a 6 percent rise), according to Nielsen BDS. Ambrosius last landed on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums in 2011 with her debut set, Late Nights & Early Mornings, which entered at No. 1 with 96,000. On Hot R&B Songs, Jeremih’s “Don’t Tell ’Em” (featuring YG) hops 12-8 to lock in his first top 10 since the October 2012 inception of the chart. The track collects Greatest Gainer honors on the Rhythmic chart, where it climbs 15-10, rising 23 percent (to…

Hillsong Sets Dominate Hillsong titles occupy the top two slots on Christian Albums, marking the third time an act has doubled up at Nos. 1 and 2 in more than 25 years (and the second time since the chart adopted Nielsen SoundScan data in 1995). With the Greatest Gainer nod (4,000 copies sold, up 121 percent, according to SoundScan), Zion flies 8-1 for a third cumulative week at the summit. The set replaces No Other Name, which drops to No. 2 (down 32 percent in sales) and finishes the tracking week with nominally fewer units sold than Zion. An act hadn’t charted at Nos. 1 and 2 in the same week since Gaither Vocal Band’s Reunion Volume One and Reunion Volume Two did so, respectively, on the Feb. 14, 2009…

WITH HIS SKINTIGHT LEATHER PANTS, come-hither looks and sex appeal, The Doors frontman, Jim Morrison, was the quintessential rock god of the late 1960s. And on July 29, 1967, acolytes of the Los Angeles band propelled The Doors’ first hit on Elektra Records, “Light My Fire,” to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. More hits would follow — as would erratic behavior. Most notoriously, Morrison was convicted of public profanity and indecent exposure stemming from a March 1, 1969 concert in Miami. Little more than two years later, he was found dead in a bathtub on July 3, 1971 in Paris. The 27-year-old died of heart failure, according to officials, despite rumors of a heroin overdose. (No autopsy was performed.) With Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek sharing vocal duties,…