Innholdsfortegnelse for September 19, 2020 i Billboard Magazine

IN AUGUST, WHEN PRINCE Royce performed “Stand by Me” at the Democratic National Convention and Bad Bunny’s “Pero Ya No” soundtracked a Joe Biden campaign ad, it wasn’t just more evidence of Latin artists hitting the mainstream. It showed the urgency that many of them feel about politics during the run-up to an election that could be the most important in a generation — especially for a group that has often been on the receiving end of President Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric and policies. While in the past Voto Latino had to convince artists to participate in its nonpartisan voterregistration campaigns, performers and labels are now reaching out to ask how to get involved, according to the organization’s president/CEO, María Teresa Kumar. “In the Latino community, the levels of…

Cam started rolling out this album a few years ago. How do you sustain momentum in terms of marketing? She released a handful of covers, she did a Christmas song. She was featured on the Diplo record, which kicked off his whole country project. It was all of these things, these collaborations, that helped us to keep feeding her fan base — and even aid in discovery and bring new fans to the table. We want as many people to be aware that the album is coming as possible. Even during this pandemic, she did this whole series called Coffee With Cam [on Instagram] for her fans to get to know her a little bit better. How do you promote an album right now? Cam is such an amazing…

EVEN IN NORMAL TIMES, PREDICTING THE Grammys’ album of the year category can feel like trying to guess where lightning will strike. Great albums released early during the eligibility window can fade from memory, and the recently increased field of eight nominees means plenty of dark horse entries can shake things up. Yet with a pandemic that has made time a blur and a national reckoning with racism that has renewed attention toward how media and entertainment companies acknowledge Black creators, the category for the 2021 ceremony is as unpredictable as ever. “The thing I’m looking for most, which is the trickiest thing this year, is impact,” says Recording Academy member and Grammy-winning songwriter-producer Mark Batson. “It’s going to have an asterisk for me because there’s not much music…

WHEN THE WEEKND’S fourth album, After Hours, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in March, merchandise was at the heart of the biggest first sales week of 2020 to date. Over half of the total 444,000 album equivalent units — 275,000 — were album sales, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data, likely at least partly spurred on by merch and ticket bundles. The Weeknd packaged After Hours with over 80 different items — hoodies, T-shirts, masks, flasks, playing cards and ashtrays. Many were only available for just 24 hours. Within a day, however, many of the items were available for sale on secondary merch and apparel reseller StockX, an online platform that allows users to bid on streetwear and accessories to create a sort of stock market appraisal…

Soup-y Sales The deluxe reissue of The Rolling Stones’ 1973 No. 1 album, Goats Head Soup, prompts the set’s reentry at No. 19 on the Billboard 200 and its debut at No. 1 on Top Rock Albums and Catalog Albums. The LP earned 20,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Sept. 10, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data (up 7,890%). Of that sum, 18,000 are in album sales, resulting in the set’s debut at No. 3 on Top Album Sales. The reissue was available in a variety of formats, including some with previously unreleased tunes, such as the new Triple A hit “Scarlet” (featuring Jimmy Page). Since 2010, the Stones have reissued four of their Billboard 200 chart-topping studio albums as expansive deluxe editions. Goats Head Soup was preceded…

AIRPLAY & SALES DATA COMPILED BY RADIO SONGS: THE WEEK’S MOST POPULAR SONGS, RANKED BY RADIO AIRPLAY AUDIENCE IMPRESSIONS AS MEASURED BY NIELSEN MUSIC/MRC DATA. 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/MRC DATA. 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/MRC DATA. 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…

Bieber Boosts ‘Popstar’ A twist in the “Popstar” music video yields gains for DJ Khaled and Drake (above) after its release on Sept. 4. In the clip, Drake, who has been unable to cross the U.S.-Canada border amid the COVID-19 pandemic, satisfies Khaled’s incessant requests to film a video by recruiting Justin Bieber, who performs Drake’s vocals. The clip’s arrival spurs “Popstar” to 19.6 million U.S. streams in the week ending Sept. 10, up 107%. In turn, “Popstar” rises 24-10 on the Billboard Hot 100, revisiting the top 10 for the first time since its No. 3 debut (Aug. 1), and 10-6 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. On the latter, the song wins the triple crown of the weekly Airplay, Streaming and Sales Gainer awards. The airplay win comes as…

In 2016, when Alyssa Stephens was 17, she won the first season of Jermaine Dupri’s hip-hop competition show, The Rap Game. Stephens, who entered as Miss Mulatto, became in-demand for the first time. “Social media, shows, partnerships — everything went through the roof,” she says. She declined a contract with Dupri’s So So Def Recordings, and that October independently released her debut mixtape through her father’s management company, Pittstop Ent. Two-and-a-half years and a few more projects later, Miss Mulatto dropped the “Miss” and signed a distribution deal with Atlanta-based StreamCut. There, she reconnected with Brandon Farmer, a 29-year-old A&R representative and project manager at StreamCut whom she had known since she was a kid. He has managed her since last December. At the top of 2019, Mulatto released…

2020 MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS NEW YORK, AUG. 30…

LEGENDARY TRUMPETER HERB ALPERT has been part of John Scheinfeld’s life for a long time. “My mom had all of the Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass albums and would play them and dance around the house,” he recalls. “I have a very strong memory of that when I was 8 or 9. It was happy music.” Now, a few decades later, the Emmy Awardwinning director behind documentaries like The U.S. vs. John Lennon and Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary is bringing that sense of joy to the screen with Herb Alpert Is…, out Oct. 2 on video-on-demand. As the doc reveals, Alpert is multilayered. The leader of the mariachi-influenced Tijuana Brass band has sold over 72 million records; as co-founder of independent label A&M Records, he worked…

Dior Dominates Iann Dior (above) rises 2-1 on Emerging Artists, ruling for the first time on the strength of his featured turn on 24kGoldn’s “Mood.” The track leads the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart for a third week and rises 8-6 on the Billboard Hot 100 with 24 million U.S. streams and 23.3 million airplay audience impressions (up 46%, good for the Hot 100’s top Airplay Gainer award), according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Plus, Nashville-based All Them Witches debut at No. 9 on Emerging Artists as the group’s Nothing As the Ideal arrives at No. 25 on Hard Rock Albums with 4,000 units. —XANDER ZELLNER CHART BEAT GO-GO’S GO BACK TO RADIO The Go-Go’s (above) make their first appearance on a Billboard airplay chart in over 19 years…

Burger Bounce A new partnership between Travis Scott (above) and McDonald’s causes him to reenter the Social 50 at No. 31. On Sept. 8, the rapper revealed the Travis Scott burger (a loaded quarter pounder) and corresponding meal (fries, barbecue sauce and a Sprite), recalling the fast food chain’s 1990s branded partnership with Michael Jordan. Scott was mentioned 80,000 times on Twitter amid the announcement and also garnered boosts in Twitter followers (96,000), YouTube subscribers (38,000) and Facebook page likes (14,000) during the Sept. 4-10 tracking week, according to Next Big Sound. Scott tallied 78,000 reactions to his tweets, a decent amount given that he tweeted only twice in the tracking week. While the Sept. 8 post revealed the partnership, a follow-up on Sept. 9 quote-tweeted a boy with…

‘Rock’ Star: HARDY Shines A Rock by HARDY (above) enters Top Country Albums at No. 4. In its first week, ending Sept. 10, it earned 18,000 equivalent album units, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Concurrently, lead single “One Beer,” featuring Lauren Alaina and Devin Dawson, jumps 15-10 on the multimetric Hot Country Songs chart. HARDY earns his first top 10 on the tally as an artist. As a writer for other acts, he has scored hits starting with Morgan Wallen’s “Up Down” (featuring Florida Georgia Line), which reached No. 5 on Hot Country Songs and led Country Airplay for a week in 2018. “One Beer” marks Alaina’s third Hot Country Songs top 10 and her first since her featured turn on Kane Brown’s “What Ifs” in 2017. Dawson adds…

WHEN CONCERTS RESUME AFTER the pandemic, independent venues will bear the brunt of the economic crunch. Nine out of 10 of them are expected to close by the end of 2020 without government assistance, according to the National Independent Venue Association, a new trade group that formed in April. But they’ve learned something that could help: There’s strength in numbers. “Such a significant amount of our members are actively engaged and know each other now,” says NIVA executive director Rev. Moose. For the past six months, NIVA — a collective of 3,000 venues around the country — has been lobbying for federal aid, most recently in the form of the Save Our Stages Act, co-sponsored by Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and introduced into the Senate…

What happened? The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated a February 2019 decision that would have resulted in a 44% pay hike for publishers and songwriters and remanded the case to the Copyright Royalty Board, the three-judge panel that sets certain rates for music — including, in this case, what interactive streaming services like Spotify pay to publishing rights holders. What did the court decide? The circuit court rejected the CRB’s “adopted rate structure and percentages,” specifically its decision to remove a royalty ceiling in conjunction with a rate increase. It also denied the National Music Publishers’ Association’s (NMPA) appeal to eliminate the lower royalty structure some services use for discounted family and student plan subscriptions. The case will almost certainly go back to…

TWO YEARS AGO, CAM was at a crossroads in her career. In the spring of 2018, she embarked on the Listening Room Tour, a series of intimate club dates that featured stripped-down arrangements and the kind of real talk that goes down between friends over a bottle of wine. But at the same time, the relationship with her Nashville label was strained, and close to ending. Instead of letting that cast a shadow over her performances, it sparked something inside of her — and having a direct line to her audience was added fuel. “I remember being so fucking spicy,” she says now. “I was like, ‘Fuck it!’ I laughed so hard, and people had such a good time. I was like, ‘This is why I’m here, not the…

For her debut young adult novel, Shine (out Sept. 29 on Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers), former Girls’ Generation member Jessica Jung offers a glimpse into the competitive K-pop world — and in this scene, the idol worship that comes along with it “You’re…Jason…Lee,” I stammer as I struggle to my feet. Even before shooting to stardom with DB, Jason was famous for his YouTube K-pop covers. After one of his videos went viral, Mr. Noh himself flew to Toronto and convinced Jason to move to Seoul, where he quickly became Korea’s most beloved pop star. Being half-white, half-Korean actually works for him here, with everyone from preteens to stalker fans to ahjummas [married women] praising him for his big, double-lidded eyes and olive complexion, as if…

WHEN MARIA Schneider sits down to write music, it is seldom with a specific idea in her head. Lately, though, the celebrated orchestral jazz composer and bandleader — a fivetime Grammy winner and a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master — has had a lot on her mind. “Early on, I became very aware that big data companies were using musicians as carrots so that they could gather data from users,” says Schneider, 59. “And this has been a huge frustration for me. It has really destroyed the music industry for those that make the music, and now I feel that for our society at large it’s a catastrophic loss.” That frustration fueled the ideas she explored with her 20-piece orchestra on her latest release, the double-album Data…

ARDI B’S “WAP,” FEATURING Megan Thee Stallion, and Maluma’s “Hawái” top the inaugural Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts, respectively. The two charts — the Billboard Global 200 includes worldwide data, and the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. comprises all territories except the United States — rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from over 200 territories. (They are both viewable on billboard.com) Chart rankings are based on a weighted formula incorporating official-only streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of audio and video music services, as well as download sales from full-service digital music retailers from around the world. “WAP” rules the initial Billboard Global 200 with 100.9 million global streams and 23,000 global downloads sold in the week ending Sept. 10, according to…

Detroit Rocks Big Sean scores his third No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 as Detroit 2 debuts atop the list. The set, which arrived Sept. 4 on G.O.O.D./Def Jam, launches with 103,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States during the week ending Sept. 10, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. He previously notched No. 1s with his last two solo releases, 2017’s I Decided and 2015’s Dark Sky Paradise. Of the 103,000 units that Detroit 2 earned in the tracking week, streaming-equivalent album units comprise 71,000 (equating to 93.55 million ondemand streams of the set’s songs), 30,000 are in album sales (aided by merchandise/album bundles) and 2,000 are track-equivalent album units. Detroit 2 is also Def Jam’s second No. 1 of 2020 following Justin Bieber’s Changes (released…

All Time Low’s New High Two veteran rock acts each earn their first No. 1s on Billboard airplay charts. “Monsters” by All Time Low (above), featuring Blackbear, takes over atop Alternative Airplay as the band leads in its first appearance after charting on Mainstream Top 40 and Adult Top 40 in the 2010s, reaching a No. 13 best on the latter list with “Good Times” in 2017. “Monsters” also marks Blackbear’s first airplay No. 1 after hitting No. 2 on Mainstream Top 40 with “Hot Girl Bummer” in March. “Monsters” concurrently crowns the allrock-format Rock Airplay chart, with 6.4 million audience impressions, up 15%, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. My Morning Jacket likewise lands a first airplay chart leader as “Feel You” rises 3-1 on Triple A. The band…

Ozuna Lands Fourth No. 1 Enoc by Ozuna (above) arrives at No. 1 on Top Latin Albums with 21,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Sept. 10, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. His fourth chart-topper leads thanks to its streaming supremacy, as the set’s 22 tracks logged 29 million ondemand streams in its first week. Replete with a range of collaborators, the set also bows at No. 20 on the Billboard 200, marking his third top 40-charting album. Concurrently, seven of Enoc’s tracks dot the Hot Latin Songs chart, including five debuts. Among those new entries is the No. 10 arrival for “Del Mar,” with Doja Cat and Sia. The song is Ozuna’s 24th top 10 and the first for Doja Cat and Sia. —PAMELA BUSTIOS SALES,…

Stryper’s First No. 1 Veteran Christian rock band Stryper (above), which posted its first of 15 appearances on Top Christian Albums in 1989, nabs its first No. 1 as Even the Devil Believes debuts at the summit with 10,000 equivalent album units earned in its first week, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. “After 36 years of recording and releasing music, we’re so humbled to have our first album top the chart,” says founding member and lead vocalist Michael Sweet. “We’ve worked very hard over the years, but I don’t know if we’ve ever worked harder than we did for Even the Devil Believes. We’ve seen good times and bad times. We’ve persevered through it all, and to finally have a No. 1 makes it all worthwhile. We’re so grateful…

‘OK,’ Go: Marshmello And Demi Debut Marshmello (above) and Demi Lovato enter Hot Dance/Electronic Songs at No. 11 with “OK Not To Be OK.” Released Sept. 10, the final day of the streaming and sales tracking week, the song earned 467,000 U.S. streams and sold 2,000 downloads that day, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. The collaboration also collected 4.9 million in radio airplay audience through Sept. 13. The track is likely to surge on the charts dated Sept. 26 following its first full week of tracking and become Marshmello’s 10th Hot Dance/Electronic Songs top 10 and Lovato’s third. Elsewhere on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, Jackson Wang registers his first appearance, and Galantis earns its 25th, with the No. 12 arrival of “Pretty Please” (1.6 million streams, 1,000 sold). —GORDON MURRAY…