Innholdsfortegnelse for October 20, 2018 i Billboard Magazine

HE LISTENED TO OTHERS “Sometimes you get those sessions where there are too many people in the room — I take the view that because I’m delivering the message, the story and the concept have to come from me. [But] on this record, I was much more open to melody changes and how something drops. [Culture Club guitarist Roy Hay] quite often would say, ‘Well, what about this?’ And surprise, surprise — you sometimes get really good results when you allow other people to have an opinion. We’re more connected now.” HE GOT IN TOUCH WITH HIMSELF “When you’re a kid and you’re made to feel like you don’t belong at a very early age, it sets up a relationship with the world that’s very unique. I would say…

Born Bows At No. 1 Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born soundtrack debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, giving Gaga her fifth chart-topper and Cooper his first. The set starts with 231,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Oct. 11, according to Nielsen Music, and of that sum, 162,000 were in album sales. Both figures represent the biggest weeks — in units and sales — for a soundtrack in more than three-and-a-half years. The last soundtrack to score a larger week was the Fifty Shades of Grey album, which debuted at No. 2 on the list dated Feb. 28, 2015, with 258,000 units earned, of which 210,000 were in album sales. A Star Is Born — the soundtrack to the film of…

New Deals NBC greenlit the Adam Levine-produced songwriting contest Songland. Apple Music became Genius’ official music player. Universal Music Group entered a direct licensing deal with Mixcloud. BMG acquired Buena Vista Social Club label World Circuit Records. Shamrock Capital acquired Stargate’s publishing catalog. Spotify invested in DistroKid to allow artists who upload to Spotify to distribute their music to other platforms as well. Executive Turntable Mike Greco was named executive vp content strategy and business planning at MTV, VH1 and Logo. Kobalt’s AWAL promoted Matt Riley to vp A&R. Rob Beckham exited his role as co-head of WME Nashville. iHeartMedia named Greg Millard executive vp event and experiential partnerships. Warner Bros. Records upped Eesean Bolden to senior vp A&R. Spotify’s Rocío Guerrero was named vp A&R and cross-cultural strategy…

ASK BILLBOARD ANYTHING In June, the emo-rap single cracked the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 after initially finding an audience on SoundCloud; since then, Juice WRLD’s breakthrough, which samples Sting’s “Shape of My Heart,” has remained in the upper echelon of the chart, peaking at No. 2. Yet unlike other recent rap hits, “Lucid Dreams” has continued to garner pop radio play; on the Mainstream Top 40 chart dated Oct. 13, the song reached a new peak at No. 8, where it currently remains. The song “provides a good balance between all the mainstream pop on our stations and helps to separate us from the older-sounding competitors in the market,” says program director Charese Fruge, whose top 40 station KROI Houston has played the track over 800…

FROM Pasadena, Calif. BILINGUAL OR BUST Growing up outside Los Angeles, the Honduran-American singer born Lorely Rodriguez listened to *NSYNC, Björk and Latin salsa. When she began writing songs at age 13, it was natural to shift between English and Spanish in her verses, a habit she continues today: “It helps to have another paint color, another medium of expression.” She settled on her stage name at a tarot card reading where she received the empress card, which is connected to femininity and nurturing. The “of” is meant to be open-ended, “because then I can be empress of whatever I want to be.” I (DON’T) HEART NEW YORK In 2012, she dropped “Colorminutes,” a series of 15 dreamy minutelong demos that she uploaded anonymously to YouTube. “That was a…

“I used to have recurring tsunami dreams. But I use Image Transformation Therapy and dynamic breath work to metabolize traumatic stressors. This has removed these dreams entirely for several years.” —Jason Peterson, GoDigital "I’m walking onstage as the lead in a play and realize I don’t know any of my lines. I always try to fake my way through it, but it’s a disaster. I’ll panic and wake up with a sick feeling in my stomach.” —Josh Van Valkenburg, Sony/ATV “The last nightmare I had was that something happened to me and my dogs ate me. (Laughs.) I can’t make that up. Every time I see my chihuahua lick her chops, I get scared now.” —Lucas Keller, Milk & Honey “I’ve been blessed with two: one…

LAWYER OF THE YEAR JEFFREY HARLESTON, 57 General counsel/executive vp business and legal affairs, Universal Music Group University of California, Berkeley, School of Law When Jeffrey Harleston joined MCA Records as associate director of business and legal affairs, fresh from serving as a prosecutor involved in the Iran-Contra investigation of the mid-1980s, he imagined a short-term stint in the music business. “I thought this would be a nice departure for a year or two. Then I’d probably end up back in [Washington] D.C.,” he says with a chuckle as he sits in his spacious corner office at Universal Music Group’s headquarters in Santa Monica. In June, Harleston, who consulted Donald Passman’s essential All You Need to Know About the Music Business as a guide to negotiating his first record…

Swift Speaks Out, Posts Gains In a week where Taylor Swift made a rare statement about politics and also opened the American Music Awards, the pop star collected a 27 percent gain in album sales in the week ending Oct. 11, according to Nielsen Music. Swift shared a lengthy post via her Instagram account on Oct. 7 about the upcoming midterm elections on Nov. 6, remarking that in the past she had been “reluctant to publicly voice” her political opinions. She endorsed a pair of candidates and urged readers to register to vote. On Oct. 9, Swift opened ABC’s live broadcast of the AMAs with a performance of “I Did Something Bad” from her reputation album. Following her fourth award win of the evening, for artist of the year,…

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…

Twenty One Pilots, 14 Songs The entirety of Trench, the new album from Twenty One Pilots (above), storms Hot Rock Songs as the set launches at No. 1 on Top Rock Albums and Alternative Albums. The duo’s second leader on each list starts with 175,000 equivalent album units earned, according to Nielsen Music. Five Trench tracks occupy the Hot Rock Songs top 10, the first time that feat has not occurred due to an artist’s passing. Previously, David Bowie and Prince each claimed at least half the top 10 following their deaths, as did Linkin Park after lead singer Chester Bennington’s death and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers after Petty’s. All 14 songs from Trench chart in the top 25; Linkin Park holds the records for the most concurrent…

‘MIA’ Makes Top 10 Debut “MIA” by Bad Bunny (above) is an instant success on Hot Latin Songs as the track debuts at No. 9 after its Oct. 11 release. The tune, which features Drake, bounds onto the tally from just one day of sales and streaming activity and four days of airplay. It starts at No. 2 on Latin Digital Songs with 7,000 downloads sold, and notched 3.1 million U.S. streams (both in the week ending Oct. 11) and 1.4 million in Latin radio audience (week ending Oct. 14). “MIA” — which is Bad Bunny’s 10th top 10 and Drake’s second — is a likely contender for the No. 1 slot on the Oct. 27-dated list. Meanwhile, CNCO controls the Latin Pop Songs tally as “Se Vuelve Loca”…

Janet Earns 20th No. 1 Janet Jackson (above right) steps 2-1 to notch her 20th leader on Dance Club Songs with “Made for Now,” with Daddy Yankee (above left). Remixed by Dirty Disco, Eric Kupper and Dirty Werk, among others, “Made” is Daddy Yankee’s first chart-topper. Jackson is the fourth artist in the tally’s 42-year history with at least 20 No. 1s, following Madonna (46), Rihanna (32) and Beyoncé (22). “Made” marks Jackson’s first leader since “Make Me” in January 2010. On Dance/Mix Show Airplay, Marshmello notches his third No. 1 and Bastille boasts its first with “Happier” (2-1). The collaboration remains atop Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales (for seven weeks running), Dance/Electronic Streaming Songs (six) and Hot Dance/Electronic Songs (four). Plus, “Happier” hits the top 10 on Dance Club…

AFTER AN INTENSE LOBBYING EFFORT THAT YIELDED the first changes to copyright law in two decades, the hard part begins. The music industry now has less than 90 days to agree upon a board of directors for a new licensing collective mandated by the Music Modernization Act. The board will comprise 10 music publishers, four songwriters who own their publishing rights and three nonvoting advisers, including one to represent the digital music services. Nomination discussions are underway, and sources expect that half of the publishing seats will be filled by executives from the three major publishers, BMG and Kobalt Music Group, while the other five will come from independent publishers. Meanwhile, the Nashville Songwriters Association International and Songwriters of North America are working to nominate candidates for the songwriter…

AFTER REVEALING IN APRIL that president/CEO David Massey would exit when his contract expired in June, Island Records named Island U.K. chief Darcus Beese as president of its U.S. counterpart. Beese’s first order of business: promoting Island’s longtime marketing maven Eric Wong to COO. Moving up after three-plus years as Island’s executive vp/GM, the New York-based Wong, 42, is a nearly two-decade veteran of the venerable label whose rich legacy includes Bob Marley, Grace Jones, U2 and Bon Jovi. In the past year alone, Wong’s marketing savvy has secured branding wins for Bon Jovi (Lyft, Google), newcomers Jack & Jack (Samsung) and Fall Out Boy (supplying music for Gameloft’s Asphalt 8 racing game). The newly minted COO also has played a pivotal role in crafting success stories for Demi…

GRETA VAN FLEET HAS ALREADY MASTERED classic rock posturing. In early October, singer Josh Kiszka, 22, emerged onstage at the Foo Fighters-curated Cal Jam in San Bernardino, Calif., dressed in flamboyant tie-dye, beads and feathers, waving an arm in the air and letting out a signature wail. His twin, guitarist Jake, leaned back, his hippie-like long hair blowing in the breeze, to share the mic on soulful ballad “You’re the One” off their debut album, Anthem of the Peaceful Army, out Oct. 19. It’s an increasingly rare sight at festivals these days. Over the past year, the Michigan-bred band has consistently been one of the only rock groups excelling in a hip-hop economy, dotting lineups from Coachella to Austin City Limits and delivering a big, warm sound that echoes…

Diane Warren The hitmaker teamed with Lady Gaga for The Hunting Ground’s Oscar-nominated “Til It Happens to You” in 2015. For Star, she wrote the upbeat “Why Did You Do That?,” which the fictional Ally (Gaga) performs on Saturday Night Live. Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter The duo — known for cowriting smashes like Justin Bieber’s “Sorry,” Selena Gomez’s “Bad Liar” and Michaels’ solo breakout, “Issues” — contributed to Ally’s showstopping “Heal Me.” For the track, the two added a dose of soul. Lukas Nelson The 29-year-old son of Willie Nelson co-wrote many of the movie’s down-home tunes, including “Too Far Gone,” sung by Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper). Nelson and his own band, Promise of the Real, appear as Maine’s onscreen musicians. Lori McKenna McKenna,…

No. 17 on Billboard’s Adult Top 40 chart DEAN LEWIS The Australian singer-songwriter eyes a U.S. crossover with an aching ballad By Lyndsey Havens Photographed by Flora Hanitijo BORN TO WRITE Lewis’ dad turned his four sons on to The Beatles and Oasis. “I spent five years watching every Noel Gallagher video that was on YouTube,” says Lewis, 30, who started playing guitar at age 10. He connected more with Gallagher’s melodies than his songwriting (Lewis himself prefers to focus on lyrics), and it wasn’t until he read Bruce Springsteen’s 2016 Born to Run autobiography that his approach to songwriting, which he started toying with at 18, clicked. SNAP BACK TO REALITY After a semester studying commerce, Lewis deferred and worked with his dad, a cameraman, as a sound…

ASHLEY CALHOUN, 27 Vice president, Pulse Music Group Calhoun’s instincts were validated in 2018 when the first artist she signed to the publishing, management and music services company, rapper Starrah, was named Songwriter of the Year at the ASCAP Pop Awards. “I don’t [just] sign people,” she says of her 20 or so active clients. “I have to feel like they can come over and have dinner and meet my family.” TAYLOR EICKENHORST, 25 Budweiser music and experiential manager, Anheuser-Busch InBev It meant a lot to the proud Texan and country music lover to bring the first country showcase to South by Southwest in 2018. Eickenhorst also created Bud’s Emerging Artist Program, and has forged partnerships with Thomas Rhett (since 2015) and, in the past year, Kane Brown, Lindsay…

Isakov Debuts In Top 10 Johannesburg-born singer-songwriter Gregory Alan Isakov (above) debuts at No. 6 on Emerging Artists as Evening Machines launches as his first No. 1 on Americana/Folk Albums and first top 10 on Top Rock Albums (No. 7) with 13,000 equivalent album units, according to Nielsen Music. LANY bows at No. 11 on Emerging Artists as the trio’s sophomore LP, Malibu Nights, starts at No. 3 on Alternative Albums and No. 36 on the Billboard 200 (15,000 units). Plus, lovelytheband returns to No. 1 on Emerging Artists for a second total week on top. The group’s breakthrough single, “Broken,” becomes its first top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 (see page 3), while follow-up “These Are My Friends” reaches the top 20 of the Alternative chart…

Lana Leaps Amid Banks Feud Lana Del Rey (below) re-enters the Social 50 chart at No. 12, her bestever ranking on the list. The singer returns to the tally thanks to a significant number of Twitter reactions — 252,000 in the week ending Oct. 11, according to Next Big Sound — due to her social media feud with Azealia Banks. “Banks,” Del Rey tweeted Oct. 9, “U coulda been the greatest female rapper alive but u blew it. Dont [sic] take it out on the only person who had ur back.” She added: “I won’t not fuck you the fuck up. Period.” The pair’s spat comes after Banks criticized Del Rey for the latter’s opinion of Kanye West’s declarations about the 13th Amendment. Del Rey had taken West to…

Church, FGL Lead Desperate Man, the sixth studio LP from Eric Church (above), bows as his third No. 1 on Top Country Albums, earning 116,000 equivalent album units, according to Nielsen Music. Church previously led with 2014’s The Outsiders and 2011’s Chief. He logged his first appearance with Sinners Like Me, which started and peaked at No. 7 in 2006. Florida Georgia Line earns its 14th Country Airplay No. 1, as “Simple” rises 3-1, up 4 percent to 37.9 million in audience. The twosome ties Rascal Flatts for the second-most No. 1s among duos and groups in the chart’s 28-year history, after Brooks & Dunn’s 20. Concurrently, FGL’s “Meant to Be,” with Bebe Rexha, rules the airplay, streaming and sales-based Hot Country Songs chart for a record-extending 46th week.…

Lil Baby, Gunna Make Splash Lil Baby (above, left) and Gunna (above, right) debut at No. 2 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums with their collaborative effort Drip Harder, which earned 130,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Oct. 11, according to Nielsen Music. The set is Gunna’s first top 10, while Lil Baby collects a second, following the No. 2-peaking Harder Than Ever in June. Drip traces its strong start to streaming as 121,000 units of its debut sum are derived from clicks, making it the most streamed album of any genre for the week. The set’s lead single, “Drip Too Hard,” likewise benefits: It flies 13-1 on Streaming Songs (see page 114), courtesy of 41.3 million U.S. streams. The collaboration rockets 18-3 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, the highest…

King’s New Crown The duo of brothers Joel and Luke Smallbone, aka for KING & COUNTRY (above), earns its first Top Christian Albums leader as Burn the Ships sails in at No. 1. The set starts with a career-best 62,000 equivalent album units, according to Nielsen Music. On the all-genre Billboard 200, the album arrives at No. 7, marking the act’s first top 10. “We spent a year-and-a-half working on this album,” Luke tells Billboard. “A lot of these songs are particularly personal. To hear the stories already of people saying these songs relate to them and what they’re going through in their life makes the time spent on this album all worthwhile. We get to write songs for a living, and we are grateful to do it.” With…

LEGEND Bullets indicate titles with greatest weekly gains. Album Charts Recording Industry Assn. of America (RIAA) certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 500,000 albums (Gold). RIAA certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 1 million units (Platinum). Numeral noted with Platinum symbol indicates album’s multiplatinum level. RIAA certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 10 million units (Diamond). Numeral noted with Diamond symbol indicates album’s multiplatinum level. Latin albums certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 30,000 units (Oro). Latin albums certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 60,000 units (Platino). Numeral noted with Platino symbol indicates album’s multiplatinum level. Digital Songs Charts RIAA certification for 500,000 paid downloads and ondemand streams where 100 streams equal 1 download (Gold). RIAA certification for 1…