Innholdsfortegnelse for May 19, 2018 i Billboard Magazine

Released on May 5 to coincide with Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover) performing on and hosting Saturday Night Live, “This Is America” became Gambino’s first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, debuting atop the chart after less than a week of tracking. With provocative lyrics and a video that depicts a host of racially charged issues facing the country — protests, police brutality and gun violence — “America” also includes a slew of other MCs contributing vocal ad-libs: Young Thug, Quavo, 21 Savage, Slim Jxmmi of Rae Sremmurd and BlocBoy JB, whose contributions to the video include Gambino doing his “Shoot” dance, popularized in his “Look Alive” clip featuring Drake, which hit No. 5 on the Hot 100. BlocBoy weighs in on one of the year’s most jolting…

BTS, LOVE YOURSELF: TEAR (MAY 19) The K-pop superstars’ “MIC Drop” hit No. 4 on Billboard’s Digital Song Sales chart last December, priming BTS for continued global success in 2018. The act begins a world tour in August, including six North American dates. KANYE WEST, TBA (JUNE 1) West had a Song of the Summer contender with his 2009 feature on Keri Hilson’s “Knock You Down,” and in 2011 after guesting on Katy Perry’s remixed “E.T.” Though reactions to “Lift Yourself” and “Ye vs. the People” were lukewarm, Yeezy is one for surprises. CHRISTINA AGUILERA, LIBERATION (JUNE 15) The pop icon last had a Song of the Summer winner in 1999, with her self-titled debut’s single “Genie in a Bottle.” The hip-hop-influenced new track “Accelerate” teases an unexpected direction…

M.I.A., Arular (2005) “When I was growing up, M.I.A. was the coolest person. She took from sound system culture and all the influences I was into growing up, like drum and bass, jungle and raga — you know, more electronic, house-y stuff as well. She got it right.” Solange, A Seat at the Table (2016) “Before I started this record, I listened to the Solange album quite a lot. Before I heard it, I saw the artwork online and I was surprised by the way all the track listings went together — I felt like I was on a journey when I was listening to that.” SZA, Ctrl (2017) “Favorite album from last year. I just love her and how unapologetic and direct she is, and…

Before Post Malone’s second album, beerbongs & bentleys, even arrived, it was already eligible for gold certification based on the success of its singles — the result of a tried-and-true song-by-song rollout strategy patiently honed by the 22-year-old artist. Since dropping his debut single in September 2015, he has consistently scaled the charts and set records with one carefully timed smash after another: Of his nine singles, seven have gone platinum, and most of those are multiplatinum. At the 2018 BBMAs, he’s nominated for 13 awards in 12 categories, including top male artist.…

For the first time, streaming has become the largest revenue source for the music industry, with 176 million users of paid streaming services worldwide. Also for the first time, digital income — including streaming and downloads — accounted for over half of all revenue, at 54 percent. Total worldwide trade revenue earned by the music industry rose 8.1 percent to $17.3 billion in 2017, according to an annual appraisal published by IFPI, the international trade association of the recording industry. The Global Music Report found that streaming revenue, which had risen by 41.1 percent over 2016, once again drove the overall increase. The growth of streaming more than offset the 5.4 percent and 20.5 percent drops in, respectively, revenue from physical sales and music downloads between 2016 and 2017.…

Gambino Gains After a busy week for Donald Glover and his musical alter ego Childish Gambino, the latter sees three albums re-enter the Billboard 200. Glover hosted NBC’s Saturday Night Live on May 5 and, during the show, performed buzzy new single “This Is America” and released its much-discussed video. (“America” also bows at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100; see page 3.) Further, Gambino’s total album sales rose a whopping 419 percent in the United States in the week ending May 10, according to Nielsen Music. Collectively, his album catalog sold 11,000 copies, up from just over 2,000 in the previous week. (None of those albums include “This Is America,” though it is presumed to be featured on his forthcoming new album.) His most recent release, “Awaken,…

FGL Ties Own Record With ‘Be’ “Meant to Be” by Bebe Rexha (above center) and Florida Georgia Line (above) leads Hot Country Songs for a 24th week. The track ties FGL’s “Cruise,” the debut hit for the twosome (Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley) that ruled for 24 weeks in 2012 and 2013, for the longest reign by a duo or group in the chart’s 59-year history and the second-longest overall. Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Back Road” holds the record with 34 weeks at No. 1 in 2017. “Crazy how [“Meant”] has taken on a life of its own and that it’s making chart history,” Kelley tells Billboard. “It has been magic to see fans from all over the globe react to such a special song.” Kane Brown notches…

Ricky Martin’s ‘Fiebre’ Fires Up “Fiebre” by Ricky Martin (above) heats up the Latin Airplay chart as the song marks his 17th No. 1 appearance overall, and his first with the duo Wisin & Yandel, who collect their 11th chart-topper. Martin continues to hold the second-most No. 1s on the list, trailing only Enrique Iglesias (30). “Fiebre” jumps 4-1 thanks to a 60 percent increase in audience impressions in the week ending May 13, according to Nielsen Music, earning the week’s Greatest Gainer honors. Martin previously topped the list almost a year-and-a-half ago, when “Vente Pa’ Ca” (featuring Maluma) debuted at No. 1 (Oct. 15, 2016), ruling for two consecutive weeks. Elsewhere on Latin Airplay, after eight weeks on the chart, Maluma’s “El Prestamo” enters the top 10, rising…

Queen Latifah earns an honorary doctorate from Rutgers University after giving a commencement speech to its 2018 graduates. G-Eazy pleads guilty to drug and assault charges but avoids jail time following his arrest at a nightclub in Sweden. Justin Tranter receives his second consecutive nod as songwriter of the year at the BMI Pop Awards in Beverly Hills.…

OVER 3,000 PEOPLE FILED INTO the 5,000-capacity Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales, on April 8 to see Roy Orbison perform. That the rock legend has been dead for almost 20 years was of little importance: They were gathered to see a hologram of the star croon his hits. Ronnie James Dio and Frank Zappa will also both be “touring” soon, while some living stars have started reaching out to hologram companies, researching whether they might be able to “perform” while they’re actually in the studio, or dealing with medical issues, or just really far behind on their Netflix queue. For years, hologram tours have promised to be the next big thing, with augmented and virtual-reality technologies developing at a rapid clip. (The 2Pac hologram that appeared onstage at the…

In the four years since he made his first music video, Nuno Gomes, 30, has lensed a staggering 145 more, collectively earning 5 billion-plus views on YouTube. The Venezuelan director attended Escuela de Cine y Televisión de Venezuela in Caracas and by 22 launched his own company, Compostela Films & Art. At 24, he was shooting TV commercials for HBO and Coca-Cola, but sought more artistic freedom and began directing music videos for local acts in Venezuela. Known for crafting elaborate storylines and hyper-romantic scenarios, Gomes, now based in Miami, has become a go- to for Latin artists from Ozuna to Daddy Yankee — and helped the genre reach a wider global audience. He explains four of his standout visuals. 1 Chino Y Nacho featuring Daddy Yankee, “Andas en…

Despite releasing only a single album — 1994’s Grace, featuring his classic cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” — before his death from drowning in 1997, Jeff Buckley is remembered as a key voice of that decade. The son of an artist (Jeff was 8 when his singer-songwriter dad, Tim, known for folk experimentation, died of a heroin overdose), Buckley first captivated crowds at a coffee shop in New York’s East Village in 1993. “Great artists have that ‘it’ factor,” says Buckley’s longtime manager, Dave Lory, who ushered the singer from obscurity to global prominence. “They can walk into a room and light it up without meaning to. Jeff had this five-octave range, a James Dean look, the personality — and a lot of pain.” Lory opens up for the…

JACKIE ALWAY 52 Chairwoman, Music Publishers Association (United Kingdom); senior vp international legal and industry affairs, Universal Music Publishing Group While Alway tracks UMPG’s rising global revenue (a 9.6 percent increase in 2017, thanks to digital subscriptions and streaming), as chairwoman of the United Kingdom’s Music Publishers Association she helped lead the trade group as the country’s publishing export revenue grew 25 percent in 2016 over the previous year to $916 million (at current exchange rates). Her key challenge at the MPA: fighting to “level the playing field” with “fair terms” for creators whose work is uploaded to platforms like YouTube. JEAN-MICHEL JARRE 69 President, CISAC An electronic music trailblazer and outspoken creators advocate, Jarre says his priority is reclaiming for composers the value of music “siphoned…

Turner ‘Kind’ Of A Big Deal English singer-songwriter Frank Turner (above) debuts at No. 9 on Emerging Artists on the strength of his new solo LP, Be More Kind, which debuts at No. 5 on Americana/Folk Albums and No. 95 on the Billboard 200 with 7,000 equivalent album units, according to Nielsen Music. Concurrently, the set’s “Blackout” rises 24-23 on the Triple A airplay chart. Lauv hits a new high (7-3) on Emerging Artists powered by his breakout single, “I Like Me Better.” The song reaches the top 15 of the Mainstream Top 40 chart (18-14) in its 30th week, passing Melissa Etheridge’s “Come to My Window” (27 weeks, 1994) to complete the lengthiest trip to the tier. Meanwhile, 11-piece K-pop boy band Wanna One re-enters Emerging Artists at…

Grimes’ Gala Gain Grimes (below) charts her first week on the Social 50. She debuts at No. 43 with gains in social activity across the board, including 141,000 Wikipedia views and 11,000 Twitter reactions in the week ending May 10, according to Next Big Sound. Why? She was revealed as dating Tesla co-founder/CEO Elon Musk after the pair appeared at the 2018 Met Gala in New York on May 7. She tweeted once about the new relationship, responding to a meme dedicated to it on May 9. Meanwhile, NCT and Wanna One make major leaps on the Social 50, jumping 26-2 and 23-3, respectively. The former vaults with a 512 percent boost in Twitter reactions (716,000), in large part helped by a new music video for the act’s subgroup…

Shinedown Commands ‘Attention’ Shinedown (above) debuts at No. 1 on the Top Rock Albums, Alternative Albums and Hard Rock Albums charts with Attention Attention, which starts with 61,000 equivalent album units, according to Nielsen Music. The band’s first set solely produced by its bassist, Eric Bass, yields three entries on Hot Rock Songs, including lead single “Devil” (16-11). As Leon Bridges’ sophomore full-length, Good Thing, debuts at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, lead single “Bad Bad News” rises 3-1 on the Triple A airplay chart. Bridges banks his second No. 1 on the tally, following “Smooth Sailin’” (two weeks, 2016). “Bad” also breaks into the top 40 of the all-rock-format Rock Airplay chart (43-37; 1.8 million impressions, up 16 percent). Farther down Triple A, U2’s “Love Is Bigger…

Brewster, Thompson Bow Singer-songwriter and worship leader Lincoln Brewster (above) debuts at a career-best-tying No. 2 on Top Christian Albums with God of the Impossible (7,000 equivalent album units, 6,000 in traditional album sales, according to Nielsen Music). Brewster, who is also an accomplished guitarist (he previously recorded and toured with Steve Perry), earns his fifth Top Christian Albums top 10 and matches two sets that also started and peaked at No. 2: Oxygen: A Worship Album (5,000 sold; Sept. 6, 2014) and Today Is the Day (a personal-best 9,000; Oct. 11, 2008). He has earned his five top 10s consecutively, rounded out by Joy to the World: A Christmas Collection (No. 6, 2012) and Real Life (No. 3, 2010). On Top Gospel Albums, My Worship, the first solo…

U2 Charts With New Arena Trek U2 (above) is off and running with its new Experience + Innocence World Tour that follows last December’s release of Songs of Experience. The tour that launched May 2 in Tulsa, Okla., is the sequel to the 2015 Innocence + Experience trek that grossed $152 million and ranked third that year on Billboard’s Top 25 Tours list. The current jaunt’s first three dates land on the chart, led by the top grosser at No. 4, a two-night engagement at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. The event was attended by a total of 28,579 fans and logged $3.7 million in sales from sellouts May 7 and 8. The opening-night concert at Tulsa’s BOK Center follows at No. 9 with $2.2 million in sales,…

KYLE WON’T STOP CLOWNING himself. In a back room of the labyrinthine Atlantic Records offices in midtown New York, the 24-year-old rapper — flanked by a coterie of friends playing pingpong and one emptying the innards of a Backwoods cigar onto a table — shows off his “snaggletooth” and demonstrates his “white soccer mom” voice. “When you roast yourself, it makes everybody else comfortable,” he says. Affability defines Kyle’s music as much as his persona. The artist (aka SuperDuperKyle, born Kyle Thomas Harvey) is sometimes lumped in with “bubble-gum trap” — think Lil Yachty, whom he featured on his breakthrough surprise hit, “iSpy,” which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2017. “iSpy” placed him in a new group of MCs as a class-clown type: In…

The summer of 1993 was dominated by UB40’s popreggae cover of the 1961 Elvis Presley single “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” the band’s second hit after its version of Neil Diamond’s “Red Red Wine” topped the charts. Frontman Ali Campbell (currently touring with UB40 Featuring Ali Campbell, Astro and Mickey Virtue, one of two splinter groups formed after the original band broke up in 2008) reflects on the track 25 years later. “It doesn’t seem like 25 years ago. We were originally asked to do ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ for a film called Honeymoon in Vegas. I knew [the song] but it wasn’t a favorite. We were quite surprised that it worked in a reggae style. We did two demos because the first time, I did the drumbeat,…

No.3 on Billboard’s Triple A chart JADE BIRD The South Wales singer has forged an unlikely path to Americana Raised to rave Growing up, Jade Bird’s family moved often because her father was in the British military, and she remembers her EDM-loving parents blasting Aphex Twin and The Chemical Brothers on car rides. “The music was so loud, it [would vibrate] the whole driveway,” she says. But after settling in South Wales in her teens, she picked up a guitar, discovered The Civil Wars and Johnny Cash, and the “fighting spirit” of Americana became her unlikely muse. Searching for the words Bird, 20, jokes that all songs fit four themes: “I hate you, I love you, go away [or] come back.” So she keeps her work fresh by reading…

Bruno Mars and Drake are born with one parent each of Jewish descent, October 1985 and October 1986, respectively. • Kendrick Lamar appears on Drake’s “Buried Alive” interlude from Take Care, November 2011. • Drake appears on Lamar’s “Poetic Justice” from good kid, m.A.A.d city, October 2012. • Ed Sheeran duets with Taylor Swift on her “Everything Has Changed” from Red, October 2012, then opens on her Red Tour, March 2013-June 2014. • Sheeran joins Mars onstage in St. Louis to perform his “The A Team,” August 2013. • Lamar lists Drake as one of the rappers he’s “trying to murder” in his guest verse on Big Sean’s “Control” remix, August 2013. • Swift lip-syncs Lamar’s “Backseat Freestyle” in an Instagram post, while Lamar sings Swift’s “Shake It Off”…

With BMG marking its 10th anniversary this year, CEO Hartwig Masuch will give a keynote address at the 2018 MIDEM music conference, which takes place in Cannes June 5-8. Launched in 2008 as BMG Rights Management, the company in recent years has expanded its recorded-music business to match its status as the world’s fourth-largest publisher. Masuch is expected to speak about the challenges facing the music industry, the philosophy that guides BMG and what’s required to build a global music company in the streaming age. MIDEM, in its 52nd year, is expected to draw over 4,000 participants from some 85 countries, based on its 2017 attendance.…

Post Malone Steady At No. 1 Post Malone’s beerbongs & bentleys lands a second straight week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The set earned 193,000 equivalent album units in the week ending May 10 (down 58 percent from its debut frame), according to Nielsen Music. Beerbongs is just the third title to rack up multiple weeks at No. 1 in 2018, and the first by an artist, following Black Panther: The Album (with three weeks at No. 1) and The Greatest Showman (two weeks). Beerbongs is also the first album by an artist to notch back-to-back weeks at No. 1 since Taylor Swift’s reputation spent its first three weeks atop the tally (Dec. 2-16, 2017). (Reputation clocked one more week at No. 1 on Jan. 6.) Beerbongs’…

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 © 2018, Prometheus Global Media, LLC…

Travis Scott, Ella Mai Hit Top 10 The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart adds three new top 10s, led by Childish Gambino’s “This Is America,” which opens at No. 1 and concurrently debuts atop the Billboard Hot 100 (see page 3). “Watch” by Travis Scott (above), featuring Lil Uzi Vert and Kanye West, starts at No. 9, becoming Scott and Lil Uzi Vert’s third top 10 each on the chart and West’s 24th. Streams power the high debut, with the collaboration opening at No. 7 on R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs thanks to 23.9 million U.S. streams in the week ending May 10, according to Nielsen Music. The third new top 10 belongs to newcomer Ella Mai, whose “Boo’d Up” rockets 24-10. The track holds at No. 4 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, rising…

Glitch Mob Goes No. 1 The Glitch Mob (above) garners its second No. 1, and first in four years, on Top Dance/Electronic Albums with See Without Eyes, which opens with 7,000 equivalent album units, according to Nielsen Music. With 6,000 in traditional album sales, the collection also starts at No. 1 on Dance/Electronic Album Sales. Eyes is the act’s fifth set to hit Top Dance/Electronic Albums, a run that began in 2010 with Drink the Sea, which reached No. 15, and its first chart-topper since its prior original full-length, Love Death Immortality, in March 2014. Shifting to Dance Club Songs, DJ Snake snares his first No. 1 with “Magenta Riddim” (2-1). Fueled by its original version and Lumberjack remixes, the song is Snake’s fifth chart entry; he debuted with…

DAVID BOWIE WAS THREE YEARS removed from one of his most critically lauded albums, Scary Monsters, when, in 1983, he released the most commercial LP of his boundaries-breaking career. Bowie left RCA for EMI (and a reported $17.5 million payday) and enlisted Chic producer-guitarist Nile Rodgers to add some pop polish to his next album. Rodgers had already established himself as a ’70s hitmaker, crafting songs for Diana Ross, Sister Sledge and his own group, but his career was in free fall. “I had six flops in a row, after having no flops,” Rodgers told Billboard in 2016. “[Then] the ‘disco sucks’ [backlash] happened … And this guy David Bowie, who is a rock god, says … ‘I believe in him.’” “Let’s Dance,” the Bowie-penned, Rodgers-produced title track to…