Innholdsfortegnelse for December 9, 2023 i Billboard Magazine

BRENDA LEE DANCES merrily to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” The holiday classic tops the chart for the first time, 65 years after its release. The song drew 34.9 million official streams (up 69%) and 20.7 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 35%) and sold 3,000 downloads (up 39%) in the United States Nov. 24-30, according to Luminate. Originally recorded and released in 1958, the single — written by Johnny Marks and produced by Owen Bradley — debuted on the Hot 100 dated Dec. 12, 1960, after Lee had notched her first four top 10s that year, and reached an original No. 14 peak two weeks later. It went on to spend nine weeks at No. 2 between December 2019 and…

BY ALMOST EVERY METRIC, the music business in 2023 has been defined by Taylor Swift and Morgan Wallen. Collectively, they have led the Billboard 200 for 21 of the first 46 weeks of the year and the Billboard Hot 100 for 23 weeks, with Swift topping Billboard’s year-end Top Artists chart and Wallen ruling both the year-end Billboard 200 Albums and Hot 100 Songs charts with One Thing at a Timeand “Last Night,” respectively. Combined, the two recording artists have an astounding 2.46% in overall U.S. industry album consumption unit market share, according to Luminate. (Year-to-year percentages are based on data from Nov. 18, 2022, through Nov. 16, 2023.) Their domination underscores a year of explosive growth for country — of the two rerecorded albums Swift released in 2023,…

13 1989 (Taylor’s Version) became her 13th No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, tying Drake for the third-most of all time after The Beatles (19) and Jay-Z (14). 1.7 MILLION 1989 (Taylor’s Version) debuted with 1.7 million equivalent album units in its first week, according to Luminate — the biggest opening of Swift’s career, the largest one-week total of 2023 and the largest total for any album since Adele’s 25 arrived in 2015. 8 For three chart weeks in 2023 — dated July 22, Aug. 19 and Aug. 26 — Swift had eight different albums in the top 25 of the Billboard 200. Those weeks became the only times in history that an act has simultaneously charted that many titles in the top 25 since the chart combined…

Feb. 19 When Burna Boy, Tems and Rema delivered the 2023 NBA All-Star Game Halftime Show. April 14 The date Uncle Waffles became the first amapiano act to perform at Coachella. No. 1 The top spot on Pop Airplay that “Calm Down” reached in May. No. 91 Where Libianca’s breakout hit, “People,” debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in May. No.3 Where “Calm Down” peaked in June on the Hot 100. 3 The number of new categories the Recording Academy added in June, including best African music performance. 41,000 The capacity of New York’s Citi Field, where Burna Boy performed in July, becoming the first Nigerian artist to headline a U.S. stadium. 2 The number of nominations Ayra Starr scored in the new MTV Video Music Award best Afrobeats…

IDDEN BEHIND a white sheet and sunglasses, an anonymous music-maker called Ghostwriter logged on to TikTok in April to post his first video. In it, he announced his debut single, “Heart on My Sleeve” — and signaled a seismic shift in the music business. Using an artificial intelligence voice filter that disguised Ghostwriter’s own timbre behind that of Drake and The Weeknd, “Heart on My Sleeve” was the first song to show just how far AI music had come already and what novel challenges and opportunities it would present to artists. The song also proved that artists would struggle to control how their voice and likeness are used in the age of AI — even superstars like Drake and The Weeknd who have the resources to fight back. Universal…

I FORGOT TO WEAR the knee pads,” Karol G says ruefully. “I’m going to have scrapes.” She beams. For a soaking wet pop star who has just been dragged through a shallow pool, Karol looks remarkably happy. Moments before, a group of writhing, shirtless male dancers had lifted Karol, dressed in a white bikini and transparent baggy pants, high above the water as she performed a medley of songs from her unprecedented past year in music, including material from her chart-topping February album, Mañana Será Bonito; the edgier August follow-up, Mañana Será Bonito (Bichota Season); and a small teaser of her new single with Kali Uchis, “Labios Mordidos.” Her arms knifed back-and-forth through the pool in fierce synchronicity with her platoon of dancers — all water-drenched sexiness, but a…

WHENEVER ED SHEERAN has toured Australia and New Zealand, he has partnered with Frontier Touring, the live division of the dominant independent music company, Mushroom Group. And he breaks records with almost monotonous regularity. He did it with his Divide tour in 2018, which sold more than 1 million tickets in the market, according to Frontier, breaking Dire Straits’ record that had stood since the 1980s. And Sheeran did it again with his most recent trek, The Mathematics Tour, which filled stadiums across the country earlier this year, smashing the all-time ticket sales record on consecutive nights (March 2-3) at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, according to Frontier. But this year’s tour was different. Mushroom Group’s legendary founder, Michael Gudinski, was not waiting at the airport to greet Sheeran. No…

In 1970, a genre-bending band from Southern California, soon to be known as War, teamed up with Eric Burdon, former singer for The Animals. Eric Burdon Declares “War” included the No. 3 Billboard Hot 100 hit “Spill the Wine,” and the May 2, 1970, Billboard declared Burdon was officially “now a full-fledged soul singer.” After one more album, Burdon collapsed onstage and then left the group, leaving War’s future uncertain. The band’s next album, as well as its first for United Artists (UA), only advanced to No. 190 on the Billboard 200. The group proved it wasn’t a Cold War when its next album, All Day Music, hit No. 16 on the album chart in 1972. That same year, The World Is a Ghetto established the outfit — which…

The late singer’s “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” originally released in 1963, returns to the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, leaping 28-10. He now holds a record span in the top 10 of 64 years and two months, stretching to his first week in the tier with “Lonely Street” in October 1959.…

THE HOLIDAY SEASON is a lousy time for new Christmas music. From one year to the next, the top of the chart sees little turnover. During the last decade, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has been the top holiday song eight times, except in 2014 and 2016, when Pentatonix took the honors with “Mary, Did You Know” and a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” respectively. Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” are reliable runners-up. Of 2022’s top 10 tracks, nine were also in the top 10 in 2021; six of them were in the top 10 in 2016. Reaching that region means outperforming some of the iconic recordings of the past 100 years, including Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas”…

IN THE FIVE years that followed the release of SZA’s groundbreaking debut album, Ctrl, the acclaimed artist teased fans with the occasional one-off or collaboration — as the wait for the official follow-up continued to grow. So when she finally did return at the end of 2022 with her much-anticipated second album, SOS, the stakes were high. And throughout 2023, her record-breaking chart wins exceeded expectations. With SOS, SZA ventured outside R&B’s boundaries by diving into gospel, grunge, pop-punk and rap; meanwhile, as her producer-engineer, Rob Bisel, previously told Billboard, “Her pen got sharper and more personal.” SOS debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and spent 10 nonconsecutive weeks there, the most of any R&B/hip-hop album by a woman since Mariah Carey’s self-titled debut spent 11 weeks…

THE SOUND THAT dominated popular Spanish-language music in 2023 wasn’t represented at all on the Billboard Hot 100 until two years ago, when Gera MX and Christian Nodal’s country-tinged “Botella Tras Botella” debuted at No. 60 and made history as the first regional Mexican song on the chart. Since then, the genre’s presence on the ranking has exploded as a new crop of stars has evolved the music’s sound and look, borrowing from hip-hop, trap and rap to build on its traditional instruments of guitar, accordion and more. As a result, these artists have nurtured a new generation of fans for a genre with foundations that date back over a century. This year, more than 35 regional Mexican tracks have entered the Hot 100, highlighted by Eslabon Armado and…

IN FEBRUARY, Fred again.., Skrillex and Four Tet turned New York’s Madison Square Garden into a sweaty rave, performing a body-rattling five-hour show that had sold out in two minutes and, in some ways, set the tone for dance music in 2023. The demand proved the trio to be a perfect replacement for Frank Ocean as Coachella’s Sunday night headliner on its second weekend. And by October, Fred again.. had sold 42,300 tickets and grossed $2.9 million across a three-night residency in New York, according to Billboard Boxscore, later playing an eight-night run in Los Angeles. “We been practising for monthssss to try n make this show a level up and to like really push ourselves to make it as musical and dynamic and LIVE as possible,” Fred again..…

IT’S A CRISPNovember night outside Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, and inside, Rod Wave has a sold-out audience of 12,000 hanging on his every word. As the 25-year-old rapper-singer nears the end of performing “Come See Me,” one of several hits off his 2023 blockbuster, Nostalgia, he pauses and walks toward a ladder that’s part of his stage design. Screams of “Don’t do it, Rod!” commence. “You have so much to live for!” yells a teenage girl near me. Undeterred by the cautionary cries, the burly locomotive of a man begins his ascent. As he climbs, a thunderous roar erupts and buries the shrieking voice next to me whose pleas go unanswered. Standing on the edge of the stage balcony 15 feet up, Rod surveys the crowd before plummeting onto a…

AUSTRALIAN PROMOTER Frontier Touring has come roaring back from the 2021 death of founder Michael Gudinski and a pandemic that hobbled the live industry. “We’ve completed around 160 tours since the restart of touring in mid-2022,” Frontier CEO Dion Brant says. “It has been a strong 18 months,” he adds, noting the company had 44 tours on sale as of early November. According to year-end Billboard Boxscore data, Frontier ranks as the No. 7 promoter worldwide for 2023. Founded by Gudinski in 1979, Frontier was established on the core value of prioritizing artists and fans. The company has continued to channel this ethos since touring restarted following the health crisis. In recent months, Ed Sheeran, Paul McCartney, Billie Eilish, Sam Smith and Luke Combs have played stadiums and arenas…

IRONICALLY, THIS YEAR in pop was defined by a pair of 2022 blockbusters: Taylor Swift’s Midnights and SZA’s SOS. Although the two Billboard 200-topping albums are starkly different in sound and tone, there is a lyrical through line of unflinching self-examination and sarcastic self-deprecation that courses through each. “Anti-Hero,” the lead single from Midnights that ruled the Billboard Hot 100, became one of Swift’s biggest chart hits thanks, in part, to its cheeky refrain: “It’s me, hi/I’m the problem, it’s me.” Likewise, SZA dominated the Hot 100 with her Grammy-nominated “Kill Bill,” in which she sings, “I’m so mature, I’m so mature/I’m so mature, I got me a therapist to tell me there’s other men.” Olivia Rodrigo, a pop powerhouse who this year scored a Hot 100 No. 1…

TEGA OGHENEJOBO could see it coming — but didn’t realize just how big it would be. In March 2022, Nigerian record label Mavin Records and its subsidiary Jonzing World released Rave & Roses, the debut album by budding Nigerian star Rema, who had already achieved success in his home country and was steadily making inroads internationally. The album was well-received, but it was its second single, the bouncy earworm “Calm Down,” that was really making noise. “Its initial growth in Europe, particularly in France, where it dominated the radio charts for months, hinted at its potential,” says Oghenejobo, Mavin’s COO. “Then breaking records in regions like India and the Middle East, becoming the first No. 1 song on the MENA [Middle East and North Africa] charts showcased its global…

THERE’S NO AGREED upon birthdate of the term “rock’n’roll.” Ohio DJ Alan Freed is widely credited with popularizing it in the early 1950s to describe a new upbeat version of R&B music that was gaining traction with young audiences throughout America. Almost 70 years later, in 2017, it was R&B/hip-hop that surpassed rock as the country’s dominant music. And unlike rock, hip-hop does have an agreed upon birthdate, resulting in the current 50th-anniversary celebration. Despite chatter to the contrary, a large segment of rap sounds very similar to what it was like at 30, 25 or even 15 years old. A clear line can be drawn between Big Daddy Kane or Rakim and the deliveries of Jay-Z, Nas, Drake, Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole. The aesthetics may have changed…

IN A SEPTEMBER interview with The New York Times, Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner was asked why The Masters: Conversations With Dylan, Lennon, Jagger, Townshend, Garcia, Bono, and Springsteen, his book interviewing rock icons, didn’t include the perspectives of women or people of color. The media mogul responded bluntly: “None of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level.” Condemnation came swiftly, even from the publication that Wenner had founded. Critics pointed to his comments as yet another example of the strident gatekeeping that has held rock music back, making it harder for anyone but straight white men to succeed. Yet one of the biggest rock albums of 2023 has served as an antithesis to Wenner’s claim, as the indie-rock supergroup boygenius dominated the space this year. Formed…

AFTER MORGAN WALLEN wraps his sold-out Nov. 10 concert at Atlanta’s Truist Park with a crowd singalong to his 2019 No. 1 “Whiskey Glasses,” he enthusiastically roams the edge of the stage, crouching down, eager to get close to his ardent fans. As they thrust albums, cowboy boots and cardboard signs into his hands, the 40,000-seat stadium suddenly starts to feel more like a 200-capacity club. Wallen has come prepared. He pulls out the appropriate black or silver Sharpie from his jeans pocket and yanks off the cap with his teeth, then autographs each item and poses for selfies. Even once the stadium lights have switched on and people have started to head toward the exits, Wallen is still hanging out. Finally, he starts to jog off, but then…

ON AUG. 10, the day before the 50th anniversary of DJ Kool Herc’s 1973 Bronx block party — considered the official birth of hip-hop — TIDAL hosted its first public event at its new high-rise offices near Manhattan’s Union Square. As part of the festivities, music consultant and writer ladidai conducted a panel featuring three artists at three different points in their careers: veteran Yonkers MC Styles P from The LOX, which headlined shows in Queens and The Bronx as part of the anniversary celebration; critically acclaimed Alabama rapper Flo Milli, who the following night would make a surprise appearance at the star-studded Hip-Hop 50 Live concert at Yankee Stadium; and rising Roc Nation signee Reuben Vincent, a North Carolina rapper. The panel focused on advice for developing artists…

A DECADE AGO, the top eight acts on the 2013 Billboard Boxscore Top Tours chart each took in more than $100 million in ticket sales. Of those, Taylor Swift and Rihanna were young superstars; Pink and Beyoncé were each in their second decade as solo performers; and three — Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi and The Rolling Stones — were legacy rock acts. (The eighth was Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson show.) Those results were typical for the time, which was why concert industry executives feared for years that their business wouldn’t have a steady supply of superstars that could fill stadiums and arenas after acts like the Stones and Elton John retired. Now in 2023, the second full year of post-pandemic touring, 17 acts reached the $100 million mark…