Innholdsfortegnelse for September 28, 2024 i Billboard Magazine

TRAVIS SCOTT’S 2014 mixtape, Days Before Rodeo, rides to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in its fourth week, vaulting 106-1 after its vinyl editions, sold exclusively by the artist’s web store, shipped to customers. The set — his fourth leader, all tallied consecutively — earned 156,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the tracking week ending Sept. 19 (up 1,295%), according to Luminate. Vinyl sales make up 149,000 of that sum — Scott’s largest week on the format. It’s also the biggest week on vinyl for a rap album, as well as the sixth-largest week on vinyl across all genres, since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991. Days Before Rodeo debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 dated Sept. 7 with 361,000 units earned in…

Luke Combs notches his 18th Country Airplay chart-topper with “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma.” The song, from the soundtrack Twisters: The Album, increased by 12% to 30.2 million audience impressions Sept. 13-19, according to Luminate. Combs last led the chart with his version of Tracy Chapman’s 1988 Billboard Hot 100 top 10, “Fast Car,” for five weeks starting in July 2023. The Asheville, N.C., native’s 18 leaders dating to his first, “Hurricane,” in May 2017, mark the most among all artists in that span; Thomas Rhett and Morgan Wallen follow with 14 each. Combs also boasts the most weeks at No. 1 — 52— in that stretch, ahead of Wallen’s 43. Notably, the soundtrack to 1996’s original Twister spun off its own Country Airplay No. 1: Shania Twain’s “No…

FOR THE SECOND TIME in three years, Universal Music Group (UMG) chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge tops Billboard’s annual list of the highest-compensated music executives. In the first year of a five-year employment contract, the London-born, Los Angeles-based Grainge earned $150.3 million, nearly six times the $25.6 million paid to second-place finisher James Dolan, executive chairman/CEO of both Sphere Entertainment Co. and Madison Square Garden Entertainment. (The fiscal years of the latter two companies ended June 30, 2023.) Live Nation president/CEO Michael Rapino, last year’s No. 1, was third at $23.4 million. Most other executives appeared on the prior two compensation rankings. Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl and WMG’s outgoing CEO of recorded music, Max Lousada, were fifth and sixth, respectively (for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2023). Spotify…

MARÍA BECERRA ANNOUNCED a break from social media on July 30 amid the European run of her world tour. Despite positioning herself at the forefront of Latin pop over the past year — including scoring her first two No. 1s on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 and selling out River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in record time — the 24-year-old simultaneously needed a hiatus from the scrutiny that she, and many of her peers, face online every day. “I understand that social media is necessary for our careers,” she says. “But the limit is reached when they start taking away my joy.” Why did you decide to take a social media break? The attack on women’s bodies who are part of the [music] scene is constant: If…

THE FIRST TIME GEORGE PRAJIN took Peso Pluma shopping for a music video, they didn’t see eye to eye. “I wanted him to go John Varvatos rock’n’roll, and he wanted to go to Burberry,” Prajin recalls. Considering that the video would also feature regional Mexican artist Luis R Conriquez for their 2022 collaboration, “Siempre Pendientes,” “I was like, ‘I don’t know about that,’ ” he adds. But, as Prajin proudly admits of the all-plaid ensemble (complete with bucket hat) that Peso insisted upon (and which perfectly contrasted with the gritty desert setting), “He was right — and after that I learned not to go against him.” That implicit trust now goes both ways — and Prajin, 52, has earned it. As the son of Antonino Z. Prajin — who…

WEEKS ON CHART 480 The Weeknd’s “Dancing in the Flames” ignites at No. 10 on the Billboard Global 200 with 46.6 million official streams and 18,000 sold worldwide in the first week following its Sept. 13 release, according to Luminate. It likewise debuts at No. 10 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart. —GARY TRUST NO. 3 Run Of ‘Luck’ Continues “Good Luck, Babe!” by Chappell Roan (above) surges 7-4 on the Billboard Hot 100, surpassing its prior No. 6 high to become her first top five hit on the chart. The song drew 22.3 million streams (up 10%) and sold 4,000 (up 20%) Sept. 13-19. The Missouri native performed the track on Sept. 11 at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards, where she also won for best new…

The original Broadway cast recording of Hell’s Kitchen reenters the Cast Albums chart at No. 1 for its first week atop the list following the set’s CD/vinyl release on Aug. 30. The two-time Tony Award-winning show, inspired by Alicia Keys’ New York upbringing, boasts new original songs and classic compositions by the singer-songwriter. The Cast Albums chart is typically led by such evergreens as the original Broadway cast recordings of Hamilton: An American Musical (with a record 411 weeks at No. 1) and Wicked (the second-most weeks atop the chart, with 342). So far in 2024, 10 albums have ruled the list for the first time, including the original Broadway cast recordings of The Outsiders, The Notebook and The Great Gatsby; the new Broadway cast album from Merrily We…

WHEN SLIPKNOT FIRST CONTACTED Cedar Ridge Distillery, which is located 120 miles from the band’s hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, management was not interested in an alternative-metal whiskey brand inspired by scary clowns. Until one of the owners forwarded the Slipknot email to employees. “Oh, my God, Slipknot — are you kidding me?” came the overwhelming response. “We have to do this.” The result, Slipknot No. 9 Reserve Whiskey, which debuted in 2019, represents the shattering of a “glass ceiling” in the heavy metal business, according to Cory Brennan, Slipknot’s manager. Metal-branded products were once taboo; today, they’re no-brainers. “For so long, the gatekeepers were scared of anything aggressive and scared of metal and scared of their audiences. Over the past 15 years, that’s really changed,” Brennan says. “More…

JBALVIN AND I have a date at Tiffany’s. Admittedly, even I don’t realize this until I reach the storied display windows on Fifth Avenue, where I’m led to a private elevator manned by a uniformed attendant who silently takes me up, up, up. The doors open to a stunning private room with unfettered views of the Manhattan skyline and Central Park — where I also find José Álvaro Osorio Balvin himself. He looks every bit the lord of the manor, in a casually elegant short-sleeved white T-shirt tucked into sleek black Prada cargo pants. His beard is trimmed and his hair is pulled back in neat cornrows, exposing the matching diamond studs in his earlobes. On his wrist is a Patek Philippe watch. It’s a rare oasis of calm…

JESÚS “JOP” ORTIZ PAZ CEO STREET MOB RECORDS As the lead singer of regional Mexican group Fuerza Regida, Jesús Ortiz Paz, aka JOP, lands on Billboard’s Latin Power Players list for his role as CEO of Street Mob Records. His label’s achievements this year include signing Chino Pacas (Billboard’s Latin Artist on the Rise for October 2023), as well as closing an exclusive alliance in September with Warner Music Latina for development of its roster. “The whole company is like, it. From employees to writers, everyone in the company — that’s our biggest accomplishment,” JOP says. “We are all under 30 ... [and] we really did it this year.” On the Billboard charts, he has had entries both as an artist and an executive beyond the regional Mexican rankings.…

Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” takes flight to No. 1 on Mainstream Top 40. She earns her third leader on the airplay list after “Therefore I Am” and “bad guy” reigned for two weeks each in April 2021 and August 2019, respectively. The song is Eilish’s second Mainstream Top 40 top 10 from her latest album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, after “Lunch” reached No. 10 in August. The set, released May 17, has earned 1.5 million equivalent album units in the United States through Sept. 19, according to Luminate. “Birds of a Feather” also perched atop the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts for three weeks each in August. Plus, it wrapped at No. 9 on the 2024 Songs of the Summer ranking. Eilish’s…

Yolanda Adams (above) banks her 17th top 10 on Top Gospel Albums as Sunny Days bursts in at No. 9 with 1,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States Sept. 13-19, according to Luminate. The set is the Houston native’s first entry since May 2011, when Becoming debuted at its No. 3 best. Before that, What a Wonderful Time reached No. 2 in December 2007 and The Best of Me became her fifth No. 1 that May. Adams ties Fred Hammond and CeCe Winans for the most Top Gospel Albums top 10s since she logged her first week in the region with the No. 8-peaking Just As I Am in November 1988. Shirley Caesar and Kirk Franklin follow with 16 each in that span. Adams is currently on…

THIS SUMMER, singer-songwriter Yeison Jimenez achieved his lifelong dream of selling out the coveted Movistar Arena in Bogotá, Colombia — not once, but three times, with more than 40,000 collective fans attending the shows. The feat was not only historic for Jimenez, but for any música popular (regional Colombian) artist. “No one in the genre has been able to [sell out] a solo arena throughout Colombia,” he says. Música popular — which fuses ranchera and the string music known as carrilera in Colombia — was born more than five decades ago in the country’s coffee region, which has four departments: Caldas (where Jimenez was born), Quindío, Risaralda and Tolima. Initially known as música de carrilera or música de cantina, its inspiration derived from regional Mexican music and first gained…

YOUNG MIKO IS SITTING, legs criss-crossed, atop her purple bed, surrounded by bookshelves, a boombox and a big Tamagotchi. A microphone clutched to her chest, she’s visibly emotional, almost teary-eyed. But she’s not alone in what appears to be her bedroom. On this September evening, she’s onstage at Miami’s Hard Rock Live, and a crowd of 7,000 is chanting the 26-year-old urbano star’s name — even though she hasn’t yet said a word. The bed, the centerpiece of her set, is a reference to the cover art for her latest album, this year’s att. And the satisfaction on her face is a reaction to an anything but private moment. She’s gazing in awe at the crowd of mainly Gen Z girls whose effortlessly chic looks mirror her own Y2K…

NOAH ASSAD CEO JORGE BRACERO COO JONATHAN MIRANDA President JUNIOR CARABAÑO Vice president RIMAS ENTERTAINMENT RAYMOND ACOSTA GM HABIBI MANAGEMENT GROUP When Assad launched Rimas Entertainment in 2014, he told Billboard he aspired to make it a major label. Ten years later, the operation that started as a music hub primarily for digital marketing and distribution has become that, and more. Rimas Entertainment is now a powerhouse with label Rimas Music, whose signings include Bad Bunny, Eladio Carrión and Mora; management division Habibi, with clients including Karol G, Arcángel and Sebastián Yatra; distributor Sonar, through The Orchard; athletic agency Rimas Sports, with a roster of more than 70 clients; booking agency Rimas Nation; Rimas Publishing; and the Rimas Foundation, a philanthropic division that supports young athletes and musicians, as…