Innholdsfortegnelse for May 5, 2018 i Billboard Magazine

Many dance artists can’t be bothered with making an album. But Avicii — always more comfortable in the studio than the spotlight — remixed his entire debut just for kicks. Even while playing main stages at massive festivals, the Swedish DJ-producer sometimes seemed to be deeper in the music than the moment: eyes closed, mouthing lyrics without a microphone, his fingers flailing in chord progressions over phantom instruments. The death of Avicii (real name: Tim Bergling) at age 28 in Muscat, Oman, on April 20 left a worldwide fan base struggling to come to terms with the loss of one of dance music’s brightest stars and bravest trailblazers. Contemporaries were quick to canonize the Stockholm native. Skrillex hailed Avicii as “truly a genius and an innovator, yet sensitive and…

LAS VEGAS, APRIL 26 BUOYED BY A SLEW OF PREMIERES AND CROSS-GENRE collaborations, the 2018 Billboard Latin Music Awards, which aired live on Telemundo on April 26, dominated Spanish-language TV’s primetime, delivering 2.2 million total viewers, according to Nielsen. With a simulcast on Telemundo sister network Universo, the show (produced by Tony Mojena) reached a cumulative audience of 4.6 million total viewers. Key performances included artist of the year winner Ozuna singing “La Modelo” with a pregnant Cardi B; Jennifer Lopez debuting her new single, “El Anillo” (The Ring); J Balvin and Nicky Jam’s live premiere of their hit “X”; and Daddy Yankee’s remix of “Dura” featuring Becky G and Bad Bunny. Maná, which received the band’s lifetime achievement award from Carlos Santana, also performed. As for the accolades,…

The R&B-pop sensation, 20, will hit Governors Ball and Lollapalooza What was the first festival you ever went to as a fan? It was in El Paso, Texas: Sun City, an EDM festival. It changed my life. I was 17. I went to see my superheroes for the first time. I was like, “I want to be a superhero [too], so I’m going to make music.” And here I am. Who have you seen give a standout festival performance? [Lead singer] Dan Reynolds did things that I could never see myself having the confidence to do, and that inspired me because I’m like, “Wow, I don’t have to rush myself to be there right now, but when I’m ready to be it’s going to be amazing.” What is the…

“I DIDN’T GET INTO THIS BUSINESS TO BE A TELEVISION SHOW HOST.” SHORTLY BEFORE CHRISTINA AGUILERA descends the staircase of her Mediterranean-style mansion to meet me in the ground-floor recording studio where I have been waiting, her assistant tiptoes in to prepare the room. She carefully sets an iced tea on a black, butterfly-shaped coffee table, next to a dish of Ricola cough drops and a small collection of baby-pink crystals. Then she dims the lights. It’s a brilliant afternoon outside in Beverly Hills, but in here it’s as dark as a womb. By the flickering light of a Diptyque candle, I observe a framed copy of Aguilera’s topless 2003 Maxim cover casually propped up next to the vocal booth. “I like to keep it pretty moody and vibe-y,”…

WITH STADIUM TOURS BY COLDPLAY, GUNS N’ ROSES, U2 AND Metallica crisscrossing Canada over the past year, and headliners including Bruno Mars, Roger Waters and Lady Gaga packing hockey arenas, international stars have recently dominated the nation’s concert business. But homeland favorites — Arcade Fire, The Arkells, best new artist Grammy winner Alessia Cara and a tribute in Montreal to the late Canadian bard Leonard Cohen — contributed to $277.9 million (U.S.) in Canadian concert grosses for the 12 months ending March 3. Canadian artists — including The Weeknd, Broken Social Scene, Tegan & Sara and Death From Above — also helped turn the Osheaga Music & Arts Festival, held Aug. 4-6, 2017, in Montreal, into the nation’s highest-grossing concert event. The festival, presented by the independent promotion company…

When he was growing up in Canada in the 1950s, Paul Anka might have chosen a different career path. “When I was 12 and 13 years old, I was writing in high school,” he once told an interviewer. “My dad wanted me to become a journalist. I was a cub reporter at the Ottawa Citizen.” Anka instead found his calling as a pop star with hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including “Lonely Boy” at No. 1 in July 1959, “Put Your Head on My Shoulder” at No. 2 that October, and “Puppy Love,” his second No. 1, in April 1960. He returned to No. 1 in 1976 with “(You’re) Having My Baby,” recorded with Odia Coates. Anka also wrote hits for others, including Buddy Holly’s “It Don’t Matter…

Sting, Shaggy Rock Reggae Chart Sting and Shaggy’s team-up on the collaborative reggae/pop album 44/876 yields the first No. 1 for rock legend Sting on the Reggae Albums chart and the sixth leader for reggae superstar Shaggy. The set launches atop the list with 10,000 copies sold in the week ending April 26, according to Nielsen Music. It’s another No. 1 in Sting’s impressive array of genre chart-toppers: He has crowned such lists as Traditional Classical Albums (Dowland: Songs From the Labyrinth), Classical Crossover Albums (If on a Winter’s Night… and Symphonicities) and Holiday Albums (Winter’s Night). For Shaggy, 44/876 is his sixth No. 1 on the 24-year-old Reggae Albums list, placing him in a four-way tie for the third-most chart-toppers with Beenie Man, Christafari and UB40. Bob Marley…

Aldean’s ‘Easy’ Does It “You Make It Easy” by Jason Aldean (above) ascends 2-1 on Country Airplay, up 12 percent to 46 million audience impressions in the week ending April 29 (according to Nielsen Music) becoming his 18th No. 1. The track — written by Florida Georgia Line’s Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard along with Morgan Wallen and Jordan Schmidt — is the first single from Aldean’s new LP, Rearview Town, which leads Top Country Albums for a second week (78,000 equivalent album units) The 14-week journey to No. 1 on Country Airplay for “Easy” is Aldean’s third-fastest trip to the top. “Take a Little Ride” made a brisk 10-week ascent to No. 1 in 2012, and “Burnin’ It Down” ignited atop the tally in its 13th frame in…

‘X’ Marks The Spot “X” by Nicky Jam (above left) and J Balvin (above right) bumps Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” from No. 1 on Hot Latin Songs as the former lifts 2-1 after spending four straight weeks in the runner-up slot. “Despacito” (featuring Justin Bieber) spent 52 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1, including the last 17 weeks in a row. “X” is up in all monitored metrics: It rose 5 percent in radio audience (to 15.2 million in the week ending April 29, according to Nielsen Music), 35 percent in download sales (to 6,000 in the week ending April 26) and 2 percent in streams (12.7 million). “X” is the third No. 1 for Nicky Jam and the fifth for Balvin. Nicky Jam last hit the top…

Avicii Remembered Following his death on April 20, Avicii (above) returns to Billboard’s dance/electronic charts with several titles. True, No. 1 for six weeks in 2013 and 2014, re-enters Top Dance/Electronic Albums at No. 1, earning 17,000 equivalent album units (up 1,244 percent), according to Nielsen Music, while EP AVICI (01) returns at No. 2 (11,000; up 871 percent) and Stories reappears at No. 4 (8,000; up 1,602 percent). On Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, Avicii re-enters with three songs in the top 10: “Wake Me Up!” (No. 2), “Levels” (No. 4) and “Hey Brother” (No. 7), among 12 total titles on the chart. Of that dozen, “Silhouettes” (No. 23) hadn’t charted previously, giving Avicii a 30th entry, tying him with David Guetta for the second-most entries in the tally’s five-year…

AS TAYLOR SWIFT’S team negotiated with Ticketmaster last fall to power the Taylor Swift Tix platform for her Reputation Tour, there was a sticking point: Her camp didn’t want the ticketing giant to display tickets resold by scalpers alongside her primary tickets when she put them on sale to the public. But Ticketmaster, which reaps bigger margins from secondary sales on its platform than it does on primary sales, argued that showcasing resale seats out of the gate would increase traffic and lead to more primary ticket sales, prevailing on a deal point that ultimately allowed season ticket holders, brokers and fans with early ticket access to resell thousands of seats on the same platform where Swift would sell tickets to fans who hadn’t participated in her music-and merchandise-boosted…

On April 30, the Time’s Up movement’s Women of Color unit mounted its first music-world campaign: to silence R&B star R. Kelly. Joining forces with an existing #MuteRKelly effort that has collected nearly 70,000 supporters, the organization in an open letter called for support from Kelly’s label, RCA, as well as Spotify, Apple Music, Ticketmaster and Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum Complex, which is hosting Kelly’s May 11 show, one of the stops on the singer’s Memory Lane Tour that began last November. Representatives for all five of those business partners haven’t commented. “We demand appropriate investigations and inquiries into the allegations of R. Kelly’s abuse made by women of color and their families for over two decades,” the letter stated. Kelly, 51, who was acquitted of child pornography charges in…

After her first U.S. festival set at Governors Ball in 2017, the R&B singer, 27, is billed on Bonnaroo and Outside Lands What is the best advice you’ve gotten for how to play to a festival crowd? Just stay present. Don’t let it fly by. I’ve gotten that advice not just for shows and festivals, but for life. Sometimes we just always think about the carrot that we’re chasing; we don’t think about [right now]. A lot of those clichés that we’ve been hearing since we were kids are the keys to life. You just hear it so often that it almost loses its effect, but it’s legit. Who have you seen give a standout festival performance? Frank Ocean [at the 2017 Flow Festival] in Finland — that was…

NCT Emerges At No. 1 Eighteen-piece K-pop boy band NCT (above) rises 2-1 on the Emerging Artists chart, becoming the top emerging musical act in the United States for the first time. The coronation is powered by the group’s social reach, driven mostly by Twitter reactions. NCT ranks at No. 4 on the Social 50 chart, with an 11 percent increase in overall activity. The act’s debut LP, NCT 2018 Empathy, places at No. 15 on World Albums. British singer-songwriter Bishop Briggs re-enters Emerging Artists at a new No. 4 high as her debut studio set, Church of Scars, arrives at No. 5 on Top Rock Albums and No. 29 on the Billboard 200, with 14,000 equivalent album units, according to Nielsen Music. Plus, country singer-songwriter Morgan Wallen logs…

Kanye’s Trump Tweet Spree A week of seemingly unending tweets (and corresponding media attention) vaults Kanye West (below) back onto the Social 50 chart, re-entering at No. 2. The rapper, who reactivated his Twitter account on April 14, reaches No. 2 — his highest ranking since hitting the mark in March 2016 — with 2.5 million retweets and 898,000 mentions in the week ending April 26, according to Next Big Sound. In the process, West announced new music and, later, called President Donald Trump his “brother” and said they were both “dragon energy.” Avicii re-enters the Social 50 at No. 3 following social interaction surrounding his death on April 20. He was mentioned on Twitter 523,000 times (though his account did not post any new tweets in the tracking…

A Perfect No. 1 A Perfect Circle (above) debuts at No. 1 on Top Rock Albums and Alternative Albums with Eat the Elephant, the five-piece’s first studio LP since eMOTIVe in 2004. The new set starts with 68,000 equivalent album units (63,000 in traditional album sales), according to Nielsen Music. Concurrently, the band, fronted by Tool’s Maynard James Keenan, launches four tracks onto Hot Rock Songs, led by “TalkTalk” at No. 28. Veteran stoner-metal act Sleep enters Hard Rock Albums at No. 2 and Top Rock Albums at No. 7 with The Sciences (11,000 units). Sleep’s first full-length since 1999 marks the trio’s first album to make the Billboard 200, where it starts at No. 49. Bad Wolves secure their first No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock airplay chart…

After reclaiming the top spot in Billboard’s rankings of the top 10 publishers in the fourth quarter of 2017, Sony/ATV Music Publishing stays at No. 1 in Q1 2018 after turning in its best market share since Q3 2016, with 26.24 percent of the top 100 radio songs. Sony had a stake in 58 of the top 100 tracks, up from 49 in the prior quarter. Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” was the top song for Sony/ATV and No. 1 overall. That is, well, perfect for the Brit, helping make him the No. 1 songwriter for the second quarter in a row with four songs in the top 100. Sheeran also co-wrote “Shape of You” (No. 31); Taylor Swift’s “End Game,” featuring himself and Future (No. 51); and Liam Payne’s “Strip…

THE 2018 BILLBOARD LATIN MUSIC Conference, part of Latin Music Week, was full of revealing moments as star after star made their way to The Venetian in Las Vegas for three days of panels, showcases and concerts. Maluma shared that he wants to collaborate with Justin Timberlake, Ozuna explained how he got Cardi B the rapper to become Cardi B the singer on “La Modelo,” and Pitbull teased he will be releasing music “off the grid” ahead of going on a motivational tour with Tony Robbins in 2019. The star quotient balanced the more serious business of the Latin music industry, which is celebrating a second year of revenue growth and a degree of global attention not seen since the 1999 “Latin explosion.” Pandora CEO Roger Lynch underscored the…

FESTIVALS 2018 As summer-festival organizers began announcing their 2018 lineups earlier this year, it appeared that female headliners would remain scarce. But as the season starts, it’s clear that when female stars are booked (as headliners or otherwise), they often steal the show. Beyoncé slayed expectations with her history-making appearances at Coachella — aka “Beychella” — and her Saturday performance on the first weekend became YouTube’s most-streamed festival set ever with 458,000 live global views. And she wasn’t the only big story at the show: A pregnant Cardi B made headlines twerking onstage without missing a beat; SZA followed a shaky first weekend with a triumphant set on the second; and HAIM opened up for Beyoncé with a visually stunning performance featuring direction from Paul Thomas Anderson. Male headliners…

Who have you seen give a standout festival performance? I got to see The Rolling Stones for the first time ever [at British Summer Time] in [London’s Hyde Park]. I’d signed a record deal four months before, so I took away so much from it. I’d just moved to London as well, so it was on my doorstep. What is the most memorable performance you’ve given at a festival? Playing the Glastonbury festival [in England in 2015] on the Pyramid stage in front of 70,000 people, which is insane. My debut album [Chaos and the Calm] had just come out. That was one of my first big experiences. It’s one of those things you tell your grandkids [about]. What is the best advice you’ve gotten for how to play…

“IDEAS ARE LIKE RABBITS,” SAYS NEKO Case. “They breed like crazy.” In her nearly 20-year career as one of music’s most wry, distinctive singer-songwriters, she has learned to trust her instincts — the most important of which is not to rush the process. This in part explains the long gap between her last solo LP, 2013’s Grammy-nominated The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You, and her newest, Hell-On, a polished set of elliptical observations and pristine hooks out June 1. “I spend a lot of time going down rabbit holes,” continues Case, 47. “It’s not an efficient way to do things, but I find it serves the songs better.” Even so, she’s in the middle of a remarkably prolific…

Dilyn and John Radakovitz of Sacramento, Calif., will soon share a notable bill with Ed Sheeran. The couple and business partners (who run Dimple Records, a seven-store music retail chain), along with the “Shape of You” singer, are among the featured honorees and speakers at the Music Business Association Conference in Nashville May 14-17. On May 15, five prominent women in the music business will participate in the conference session “Music’s Leading Ladies Speak Out.” Taking part will be MAC Presents president Marcie Allen, Nielsen Music senior vp entertainment/GM of music Erin Crawford, Republic Records executive vp A&R Wendy Goldstein, Billboard senior correspondent Gail Mitchell and Wide-Eyed Entertainment owner/manager Beka Tischker. On May 16, the Radakovitzes will receive the Indie Spirit Award for their family-run recordstore chain during an…

J. Cole Is No. 1; Post Malone Up Next KOD by J. Cole roars in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with the year’s biggest week for an album, earning 397,000 equivalent album units in the week ending April 26, according to Nielsen Music. KOD is Cole’s fifth consecutive No. 1 full-length studio album following his first four studio sets: 4 Your Eyez Only (2016), 2014 Forest Hills Drive (2014), Born Sinner (2013) and Cole World: The Sideline Story (2011). KOD logs the year’s biggest week and largest frame since Taylor Swift’s reputation launched with 1.2 million units at No. 1 on the chart dated Dec. 2, 2017. KOD also snares the third-biggest streaming week for an album, with 215,000 streaming equivalent album units, equaling 322.7 million on-demand…

AIRPLAY DATA COMPILED BY nielsen MUSIC RADIO SONGS: The week’s most popular songs, ranked by radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Nielsen Music. Stations are electronically monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. DIGITAL SONG SALES: The week’s top-downloaded songs, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen Music. POP/RHYTHMIC/ADULT: The week’s most popular current songs at mainstream top 40, rhythmic, adult contemporary and adult top 40 formats, respectively, ranked by radio airplay detections, as measured by Nielsen Music. Songs are defined as current if they are relatively recently-released titles, or songs receiving widespread airplay and/or sales activity for the first time. Stations are electronically monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. See Charts Legend on billboard.com/biz for complete rules and explanations. All charts…

J. Cole’s Chart Takeover J. Cole (above) scores a record five simultaneous top 10 debuts on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs as “ATM” (No. 4), “Kevin’s Heart” (No. 5), “KOD” (No. 7), “Photograph” (No. 9) and “Motiv8” (No. 10) start in the top tier. The launch bests Kendrick Lamar’s previous record, with four top 10 starts on May 6, 2017. With his five debuts, Cole ties Cardi B, Drake and Lamar for the most concurrent top 10 titles in a week. Cardi and Lamar have notched the feat once, while Drake has logged eight such weeks. All five of Cole’s tracks appear on his new album, KOD, which blasts in atop the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums with the biggest week of 2018 (see page 70). BlocBoy JB’s “Look Alive”…

Stryper, Casting Crowns Add Top 10s Veteran Christian metal band Stryper (above) arrives at No. 2 on Top Christian Albums with God Damn Evil, earning 8,000 equivalent album units in its first week (ending April 26), according to Nielsen Music. Accumulating nearly all of its sum in traditional album sales, the set starts at No. 1 on Christian Album Sales. Stryper, which formed in 1983, earns its 10th Top Christian Albums top 10. The group first reached the region with The Yellow and Black Attack, which hit No. 10 in June 1985. A bit of drama has surrounded the new set because Walmart refused to carry it due to its title. “It’s confusing to see all the music on Walmart shelves with explicit labels, yet they won’t carry Evil,…

Timberlake Scores With New Tour Justin Timberlake earns 10 slots on the Boxscore chart based on ticket sales reported from the new tour in support of his February release, Man of the Woods. The world tour, booked through January 2019 — launched March 13 in Toronto with an opening slate of 27 North American dates running through June. Among the first reported engagements, the top box-office results were logged at Chicago’s United Center, at No. 3 on the chart with a two-night gross of $5.3 million. Just over 33,000 fans attended the sold-out performances on March 27 and 28, according to tour promoter Live Nation. Arenas in Las Vegas, Boston and Toronto also hosted the pop star for two-show runs with over 30,000 fans in attendance. The tour marks…

At the age of 22, Avril Lavigne scored her first and only No. 1 on Billboard’s premier songs chart IT TOOK JUST TWO MINUTES FOR AN intoxicated Avril Lavigne to crack the chorus to her first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, “Girlfriend,” in 2007. “I wrote [it] when I was drunk,” the native of Belleville, Ontario, told MTV at the time. “I was singing the melody, the lyrics were coming out: ‘I don’t like your girlfriend,’” recalled Lavigne, then 22. “It took nothing.” That nothing amounted to something — big — as the song’s infectious hook and “hey, hey, you, you” chants propelled the song to No. 1 on the May 5 Hot 100 chart, becoming Lavigne’s first and only chart-topper to date. “Girlfriend,” the first…