Innholdsfortegnelse for November 18 - December 2, 2017 i Billboard Magazine

BIG LOUD MANAGEMENT’S decision to have Florida Georgia Line collaborate over the past year with the Backstreet Boys may have taken country fans by surprise, but the unconventional move only made Maverick more excited to join forces with the Nashville firm. “Who would have said, ‘We need to get Florida Georgia Line and the Backstreet Boys together’? There’s not three people in the goddamn free world who thought that was a good idea,” says Spalding Entertainment’s Clarence Spalding, a founding member of Maverick’s growing management consortium. “The point is, [Big Loud’s Seth England and Kevin “Chief” Zaruk] didn’t care. They knew it was a good idea. They were going to record together and then go sell out stadiums together. I can’t compliment them enough on not playing inside the box.”…

W HEN LYOR COHEN took over as the global head of music at YouTube a little over a year ago, Latin music videos were flourishing, but one artist in particular stood out. Ozuna had yet to release an album, but with just eight videos in eight months, he had amassed 2 million subscribers and 800 million views worldwide. Dealing directly with the 25-year-old Puerto Rican star, YouTube offered to promote his singles and his debut album, Odisea (Sony Music Latin), which entered at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums in August. Today, Ozuna is No. 1 on YouTube’s Global Artist chart for the second week in a row, and has amassed over 4.9 billion views in 2017. On Nov. 8, YouTube released a documentary about him, and it has…

BY THE TIME SHANIA TWAIN began work on her third album, she had already staked her claim in country music with 1995’s The Woman in Me, which had hits like “Any Man of Mine” and “You Win My Love.” But the lingering question of where to go from there weighed heavily. “I was more nervous with this [next] record,” admits Twain, now 52. Following the success of Woman, Twain still didn’t feel she had songs that were powerful enough to resonate onstage, so she held off from touring to work on its follow-up. “I felt more grounded and made a lot of discoveries in what I wanted to try out. I was pragmatic about it.” The result was Come On Over, the 1997 blockbuster that largely eclipsed the already massive…

T-Pain may be best known for Auto-Tune-heavy party starters, but his fifth studio album, Oblivion, out Nov. 17 on RCA — his first fulllength LP in six years following 2011’s Revolver — digs deeper than before. The singer details the stories behind his choice tracks from his grand return to music “STRAIGHT” “The song is basically me saying, ‘I’ma get you straight.’ When [my wife and I] go places, she doesn’t want to seem like she’s spending a lot of money, but she is, all the time, and she’s always like, ‘Well, I don’t want to get too much’ or ‘I don’t want to make you carry too many bags.’ So I always tell her, ‘Get everything you want, every version of what you want, whatever it is.’ I had…

What is the most important quality in an artist manager right now? Corcoran Trust. Trust in your client, trust in yourself, and trust in each other. If you have that, nothing can stop you and the artists you’re working with from achieving amazing things together. Azoff My father [veteran manager Irving Azoff] has always taught me to support my clients and do what’s best for the artist no matter what the circumstance is. Braun Stability. You can’t be frantic. The artist is looking for direction, and to give them the right direction, you’ve got to come from a solid ground. What’s your proudest achievement in the past year? Braun The One Love Manchester concert [after the May terrorist attack outside a Grande show in England] gave me a real sense…

Concert Marketing & Promotion • Bruno Mars’ Paint the World Gold Campaign for the 24K Magic Tour • Khalid’s Summer #F21xMusic Digital and We Are Forever campaigns for Forever 21 • Lady Gaga’s Dream Ticket promotion with Verizon for her Joanne World Tour • Taylor Swift’s Super Saturday show with AT&T and Swift-curated channel on AT&T’s DirecTV Now streaming-TV service • Foo Fighters’ Cal Jam and North American Concrete and Gold Tour with Capital One Top Arena • Madison Square Garden, New York • O2 Arena, London • T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas Top Venue Under 10,000 Seats • Auditorio Nacional, Mexico City • The Axis at Planet Hollywood, Las Vegas • Radio City Music Hall, New York Top Venue Under 5,000 Seats • The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las…

Julien Baker Emerges In Top 10 Singer-songwriter Julien Baker (above) debuts at No. 7 on the Emerging Artists chart on the strength of her sophomore LP, Turn Out the Lights, which arrives at No. 12 on Top Rock Albums and No. 78 on the Billboard 200 with 8,000 equivalent album units, according to Nielsen Music. Baker’s 2015 debut, Sprained Ankle, opened with 1,000 units. The new album concurrently bows at No. 1 on Vinyl Albums and No. 3 on Americana/Folk Albums. New to the Emerging Artists chart’s top 10, MAX rises 11-10 as his breakthrough single “Lights Down Low” (featuring Gnash) reaches a new peak on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 84. The single rises 6 percent to 20 million radio impressions and 5 percent to 6,000 downloads sold.…

New Love For Lauren Fifth Harmony’s Lauren Jauregui (below) returns to the Social 50 at No. 22, re-entering with boosts in all social media metrics in the week ending Nov. 2, according to Next Big Sound. Among them: a 169 percent boost in Instagram reactions — 4.7 million in all. Jauregui, who also snagged 173,000 Twitter mentions (up 52 percent), made news when she confirmed a relationship with Ty Dolla $ign, and the pair was spotted in multiple Instagram posts on Jauregui’s account dressed as Alice and the Mad Hatter for Halloween. Additionally, following Fifth Harmony’s performance on the Latin American Music Awards (Oct. 26), the singer sounded off about the event, thanking Pitbull “for having us” (they performed their new collaboration, “Por Favor,” at the show). The Social 50’s…

Chris Brown’s Moon Lights Up Chris Brown (above) scores a seventh No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums as Heartbreak on a Full Moon debuts with 68,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Nov. 2, according to Nielsen Music. (The 45-track set was released Oct. 31, permitting only three days of activity for the tracking week.) The album’s arrival causes three moves for its tracks on Hot R&B/ Hip-Hop Songs: “Pills and Automobiles” lifts 19-17, “Questions” climbs 38-34, and “High End” re-enters at No. 42. Another Oct. 31 release, the aptly named surprise album Without Warning by 21 Savage, Offset and Metro Boomin, starts at No. 2 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (and No. 1 on Top Rap Albums). The trio’s collaborative set opens with 53,000 equivalent album units and…

Red, West Notch No. 1s Nashville-based Christian rock band Red (above) notches its fifth Top Christian Albums leader as its sixth studio full-length, Gone, bounds in with 14,000 equivalent album units in its first week (ending Nov. 2), according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 13,000 were via traditional album sales. The set is Red’s first new LP since Of Beauty and Rage, which debuted atop the March 14, 2015-dated chart with 35,000 copies sold. The group’s prior three No. 1s are 2013’s Release the Panic, 2011’s Until We Have Faces (43,000 sold, the band’s strongest sales week to date) and 2009’s Innocence & Instinct. The group first appeared on Top Christian Albums with its 2007 No. 7-peaking freshman set, End of Silence Matthew West banks his seventh Christian Airplay…

Petty’s Final Shows A Triumph The late rock legend Tom Petty (above) makes his final Boxscore appearance with the last performances of his 40th anniversary tour with The Heartbreakers: a run of three concerts at the Hollywood Bowl in late September. Landing on the chart at No. 5, the Los Angeles amphitheater logged more than $5.3 million in ticket sales from the tour’s final three shows that drew almost 50,000 fans. The tour commemorating the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member’s fourdecade career spanned more than five months this year, with 44 headlining performances set in 36 North American cities. Combined sales from those concerts surpassed $61 million during the run that launched on April 20 in Oklahoma City. The overall attendance count reached 637,671 primarily from arenas, though…

As president/CEO of Webster Public Relations, Kirt Webster was one of Nashville’s most high-profile publicists, with a roster that included country legacy acts from Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers to Kid Rock. But Webster’s two-decade reign in Music City came to a halt in November when his former client, country singer Austin Rick, alleged on Facebook that Webster had sexually assaulted him on multiple occasions. Webster immediately denied the allegations, stating that he had had a brief, consensual relationship with Rick. But Webster’s roster quickly thinned as some of his former employees began anonymously recounting other troubling incidents to various news outlets. “I am hoping that the allegations are not true,” tweeted Parton on Nov. 2, parting ways with him nonetheless. Webster has since shuttered his firm and did not…

DAVE CHAPPELLE “The water in Flint is actually poisonous. I mean, Hollywood people are like, ‘So what? At least they have water.’” AMY SCHUMER “Every comedian needs a Leather Special, where they wear all leather — and regret it later. This is my fucking moment.” JERRY SEINFELD “We grew up like wild dogs in the ’60s. No safety. No seat belts. Anything came to a stop, we just flew through the air.”…

Chesney Charts Eighth No. 1 Country king Kenny Chesney collects his eighth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, as his new live effort, Live in No Shoes Nation, starts atop the list with 219,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Nov. 2, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 217,000 were in traditional album sales. Chesney maintains the second-most No. 1s among all country acts, trailing only Garth Brooks, who has nine. All eight of Chesney’s No. 1s have debuted in the penthouse, making him the country act with the most debuts at No. 1. (Seven of Brooks’ nine leaders started at No. 1.) Chesney’s new album was powered almost entirely by traditional album sales, whose sum was generated largely by a concert ticket/ album sale redemption…

Rhett Rules; Shelton Scores Six Thomas Rhett (above) notches his ninth Country Airplay No. 1 as “Unforgettable” ascends 2-1 in its 15th week, increasing 4 percent to 46 million audience impressions. The song follows “Craving You” (featuring Maren Morris), which topped the list dated July 22, as the second leader from his album Life Changes. Concurrently on Country Airplay, Blake Shelton earns his 29th top 10 as “I’ll Name the Dogs” rises 11-10 (26.7 million). “Dogs” is the first single from Shelton’s 11th album, Texoma Shore, which arrived Nov. 3. Meanwhile, five of the new LP’s tracks were featured in world premieres on participating iHeartMedia radio stations each day from Oct. 30-Nov. 3. They all debut on Country Airplay: “At the House” (No. 33, with 5.4 million in audience), “I…

This week, Kenny Chesney’s new concert album, Live in No Shoes Nation, became the first live album to top the Billboard 200 in seven years and the biggest-selling live album since Paul McCartney’s Back in the U.S.: Live 2002. The reason: The country star bundled it into the price of tickets for his upcoming tour, a decade-old tactic that artists are now using with increasing success as the concert business booms and labels become savvier about getting fans to redeem their offers for CDs and digital albums. The album’s cost, which is baked into the ticket price, isn’t visible to fans. In October, P!nk’s new album, Beautiful Trauma, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, with twothirds of her 384,000 albums sold tied to ticket sales, while about 80,000…

SINCE ZACH KATZ ASCENDED to president of repertoire and marketing at BMG U.S. in July 2016, the company has scored a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with blink-182, made its largest label acquisition with the $103 million purchase of BBR Music Group, partnered with Facebook, signed Pitbull to a publishing deal and made a deal with Netflix to manage the streaming outlet’s music rights outside the United States. As Katz, 46, sits in his 16th-floor office in a high-rise in the mid-Wilshire section of Los Angeles, it’s clear he’s just getting started. In 2016, BMG generated roughly $500 million worldwide, with 75 percent coming from its publishing division and 25 percent from recorded music. Katz vows to make that a 50-50 split within three years. “We’re buying catalogs…

KAROL G KEPT THINGS G-RATED for the majority of her adult life. A few days before the release of the 26-yearold’s debut album, she finally felt like she could reveal her true self to the world. In late October, the Colombian musician took to her Instagram, where she has 3.5 million followers, to post a picture of herself topless in a bathtub wearing only a tiny black bikini bottom. “The hardest part of any process is learning to love yourself more than anyone. From that love comes confidence and success,” read her caption on the pic, which racked up more than 350,000 likes “My phone exploded,” says the Latin star, lying on a white rug at a recording studio in North Miami. “Everyone” — including her family, management and label…

No. 22 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock High school musical Kiszka brothers Sam (bass), Jake (guitar) and his twin Josh (vocals) grew up on the sounds of Bob Dylan and The Who. It wasn’t until high school that they began writing tunes of their own and staging garage jam sessions with drummer Danny Wagner after class. “We started looking at each other, going, ‘This is something pretty substantial,’” says Jake, 21. Their debut EP was actually inspired by a campfire The band’s hometown of Frankenmuth, Mich., is known for picturesque creeks, farm fields and the nearby skiing destination Yankee Springs, where they took winter vacations as kids. It inspired their double EP From the Fires, out Nov. 10. “We would go under the creek, have [campfires], catch crawfish,” says Sam, 18.…

Two years ago, singer-actress Jill Scott thought the water in her Tennessee home tasted funny, so she bought a water-quality test kit. “I’m in a rural environment, not in the inner city, and my water was horrific,” recalls Scott, who has since had her pipes filtered. “It scared me.” So when Scott read the script for Flint — a Lifetime film on the Flint, Mich., water crisis, executive-produced by Queen Latifah, that premiered Oct. 28 — she had no hesitations. “Clean water is a right,” says Scott, 45. “It’s hard to believe this is happening in the U.S.” “It’s hard to believe this is happening in the U.S.” —Jill Scott How did you prepare for the role of Nayyirah Shariff, the real-life activist who exposed the crisis? If you’re alive…

The Piano Guys Ring In Season The Piano Guys’ new album, the holiday effort Christmas Together, rings in at No. 27 on the Billboard 200, No. 8 on Top Album Sales and No. 1 on New Age Albums with 18,000 copies sold in the week ending Nov. 2, according to Nielsen Music. That’s the largest sales week for a new-age title in a year — since The Piano Guys’ last release, Uncharted, debuted with 19,000 sold on the chart dated Nov. 19, 2016 On New Age Albums, Christmas Together marks the quartet’s seventh leader (its entirety of charting efforts), tying George Winston for the fifth-most No. 1s. The album also launches at No. 1 on Top Holiday Albums (surpassing the No. 2 peak of The Piano Guys’ first Christmas set,…

Dragons ‘Thunder’ To No. 1 Imagine Dragons (above) snag their third No. 1 on Hot Rock Songs with “Thunder,” which rises 2-1. The song follows 29-week leader “Believer” as the band’s second chart-topper from its album Evolve and 2013’s “Radioactive” (23 weeks). Concurrently, “Thunder” bullets at its No. 5 high on the Billboard Hot 100 as the chart’s greatest gainer in airplay; on the all-format Radio Songs chart, it blasts 7-2, up 18 percent to 96 million in audience, according to Nielsen Music. The song spends a third week at No. 1 on the Alternative airplay chart, lifts 6-3 on Adult Top 40 and 6-5 on Mainstream Top 40, and crowns Digital Song Sales for a third week with 54,000 sold. The Police’s 1983 classic (and eight-week Hot 100 No.…

Karol G Debuts At No. 2 Colombian pop/urban artist Karol G (above) opens at No. 2 on the Top Latin Albums chart with her first studio album, Unstoppable, via Universal Music Latino. The set debuts with 4,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Nov. 2, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 3,000 were in traditional album sales. Unstoppable is the highest-charting debut set by a woman in more than two years — since Chiquis Rivera (daughter of the late Jenni Rivera) opened at No. 1 on the list dated June 20, 2015. Unstoppable sees its current single, “Ahora Me Llama,” with Bad Bunny, climb 14-11 on Hot Latin Songs (4.1 million streams, up 17 percent; 1.9 million Latin radio audience, up 7 percent; and 1,000 downloads sold,…

‘Wolves’ Wins Selena Gomez and Marshmello (above) march 7-1 on Hot Dance/ Electronic Songs with “Wolves” following its first full tracking week (after it debuted a week ago with a day’s worth of streaming and sales data). Gomez earns her second No. 1 and first as a lead act, after “I Want You to Know,” by Zedd featuring Gomez, spent six weeks at No. 1 in March and April 2015. “Wolves” is Marshmello’s first leader. The song reigns with 13 million U.S. streams, 8 million in all-format radio audience and 28,000 downloads sold, according to Nielsen Music. It holds at No. 1 on Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales and soars 13-2 on Dance/Electronic Streaming Songs, behind Marshmello’s “Silence” (featuring Khalid) in its 10th week at the top. Continuing with Hot Dance/Electronic…