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Miley Cyrus’ ‘Midnight Sky’ Makes Its Move on U.K. Singles Chart
Miley Cyrus’ “Midnight Sky” (RCA) is looking to climb high on the U.K. singles chart this week as 24kGoldn’s “Mood” (Black Butter) featuring Iann Dior gets set for a second week at No. 1. Miley’s latest single races 11-5 on the Official Chart: First Look, which measures sales and streaming activity for the first 48 hours in the chart cycle. Based on early data published by the Official Charts Company, “Mood” continues at the top of the leaderboard, ahead of Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” (Atlantic) and “Ain’t It Different” (Relentless) by Headie One, AJ Tracey and Stormzy, respectively. Last Friday, “Mood” ended the three-week reign of “WAP.” 24kGoldn could land another track in the Top 10. The rising British rapper is a guest artist on Clean Bandit’s “Tick Tock” (Atlantic),...
Apple Music’s Karlie Hustle on Getting Cancer, Finding Perspective & the New Film That Documents It All
It was December 2018, and music executive/podcast host Karlie Hustle was about to fulfill her longtime dream of directing a documentary. But on Christmas Eve, she received a diagnosis that changed the trajectory of her life. “Right as we were getting ready to book flights and get everything together for a shoot in April of 2019, I was diagnosed with [breast] cancer,” Hustle tells Billboard. At a point when many would have bowed out of the project altogether, Hustle and her producer Dan Eason instead made the decision to lean into her diagnosis. Originally intended as a feature-length documentary that would focus on Hustle, a self-described “city slicker,” “getting back in touch with nature” in the Oregon wilderness, the focus pivoted to become a story about her journey through the ri...
24kGoldn’s ‘Mood’ Ends ‘WAP’ Reign In U.K. as Pop Smoke Makes Chart History
24kGoldn is in a right mood. With “Mood” (Black Butter), the British rapper’s collaboration with Iann Dior, 24kGoldn dethrones Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion as the U.K.’s chart champion. After a six-week climb “Mood” lifts 2-1 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, after finishing the week more than 7,000 chart sales ahead of “WAP,” snapping its three-week streak at No. 1. According to the Official Charts Company, “Mood” snags 61,000 chart sales, including 7.8 million streams. “WAP” (Atlantic) dips 1-2, as Justin Bieber grabs the highest new entry with “Holy” (Def Jam) featuring Chance The Rapper. “Holy” is new at No. 10 for Bieber’s 21st Top 10 single, and the Chicago hip-hop star’s fifth. Also impacting the current frame is Sam Smith’s “Diamonds” (Capitol), which starts at No. 22, for the...
Strictly Discs in Wisconsin, in a Pandemic: ‘People Are Cautiously Optimistic and Pleasantly Surprised’
Store owner Angie Roloff says her store and other independent record shops have done better than expected during the pandemic. In October 1988, Angie Roloff and her husband Ron opened Strictly Discs in Madison, Wisconsin, after Ron left a career in the biomedical research field to pursue his love of music full time. Nearly 31 years later, the couple made the difficult decision to shutter in-store operations due to COVID-19, roughly a week before Governor Tony Evers forced a mandatory shutdown of all non-essential businesses. Now that the Wisconsin Supreme Court has overturned Evers’ stay-at-home order — ruling it “unlawful” and “unenforceable” — the Roloffs and their employees have reopened the store. As part of Billboard’s efforts to best cover th...
Metallica Rules Top Facebook Live Videos Chart With Final #MetallicaMondays Video
The rock band’s upload of its March 3, 2017, Mexico City concert leads the way for August 2020. Metallica’s final installment of Metallica Mondays on Facebook Live finds the band going out on top, as the rockers rule Billboard’s Top Facebook Live Videos chart for August 2020. The chart, the latest of which recaps August 2020 activity, is a monthly look at the widest-reaching and most-reacted-to videos posted by musicians on Facebook Live, as tracked by media analytics company Shareablee. Rankings are determined by a formula that blends reactions, comments, shares and first-seven-days views. Posted Aug. 25, Metallica’s final (at least for now) Metallica Mondays video featured the band’s March 3, 2017, concert from Mexico City. Metallica’s upload paced the field for August 2020 in first-seve...
All-Star ‘A Change Is Gonna Come 2020′ Playlist Encourages Voter Registration
A Spotify playlist titled “A Change is Gonna Come 2020” includes selections from former Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke as well as members of the Polyphonic Spree, Slowdive and the Psychedelic Furs in an effort to encourage voter registration. The 40-track playlist features songs meant to capture the current moment and spur listeners to the polls on Nov. 3 and to activism in their communities. In addition to former punk bassist and Texas Rep. O’Rourke, the list is made up of songs chosen by Polyphonic Spree leader Tim DeLaughter, Rachel Goswell (Slowdive), David Mandel (Seinfeld, Veep), Mars Williams (Psychedelic Furs), all the members of Midlake, Sarah Jaffe and many more. Inspired by Sam Cooke’s iconic 1964 soul anthem of the same name it is i...
Tory Lanez’s Big Announcement Was Actually a Big Tease
If you stayed up late to hear Tory Lanez break his silence, you’ll have been disappointed. But if you were desperate for new music from the Canadian rapper, you’re in luck. Lanez mobilized his fanbase earlier in the day with the tease of a potentially dynamite admission. “To my fans … I’m sorry for my silence …. but respectfully .. I got time today …… 9 PM PST,” he tweeted. To my fans … I’m sorry for my silence …. but respectfully .. I got time today …… 9 PM PST . — Tory Lanez (@torylanez) September 24, 2020 Of course, there’s some serious backstory to this. Megan Thee Stallion has repeatedly accused Lanez of shooting her in the leg during a confrontation in August. Earlier this month, the 28-year-old rapper and singer, whose real name ...
Max Merritt, ARIA Hall of Fame Inductee, Dies at 79
Max Merritt, the ARIA Hall of Fame inductee best known for the soulful songs “Slippin’ Away” and “Hey, Western Union Man”, died Thursday (Sept. 24) in a Los Angeles hospital following a long battle with a rare illness. He was 79. Born in Christchurch, New Zealand on April 30, 1941, Merritt made his mark when he formed The Meteors in the 1950s and reeled off a string of catchy rock ‘n’ roll numbers, including “Get a Haircut,” “Kiss Curl” and “C’mon Let’s Go.” Soon, Merritt and his band outgrew Christchurch and by 1962 they’d relocated to Auckland, and later, Australia, where he earned the moniker “king of Soul”. With the Meteors, Merritt had a No. 2 hit in Australia in 1975 with the soaring ballad “Slippin’ Away” and were sig...
Public Enemy’s Chuck D Talks Return to Def Jam, George Clinton, and Ferocious New Album
In the hour of need, Public Enemy returns to fight the power once more. And this time, they brought friends. The hip-hop heavyweights drop their latest album What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down, a call to arms loaded with collaborations. Spanning 17 tracks, When The Grid Goes Down is a statement on these strange times, and the pandemic that’s brought the world to a screeching halt. Its special guests are the messengers. “If we can’t use the music to show people that we can do things with the music, than what good is it, right?,” founding P.E. frontman Chuck D tells Billboard. Look closer and you’ll find some answers. “The question is in the title, which means beware of government tricks,” the legendary hype man explains. “And the time and chaos of emergency.” When T...
Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion’s ‘WAP’ Tops Rhythmic Songs Chart
Cardi B brings “WAP,” featuring Megan Thee Stallion, to No. 1 on Billboard’s Rhythmic Songs airplay chart as it jumps from No. 5 to lead the list dated Sept. 26. The pop-culture phenom single becomes the most-played tune at the Rhythmic radio format through a 20 percent surge in plays in the week ending Sept. 20, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. The 5-1 jump makes “WAP” one of only 10 songs to rise directly to No. 1 from No. 5 or lower since the Rhythmic Songs chart began in 1992, and the first since Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” went 5-1 in July 2019. “WAP” gives Cardi her seventh Rhythmic Songs leader. Here’s a full rundown of her collection to date: Song Title, Artist (if other than Cardi B), Weeks at No. 1, Date Reached No. 1“Bodak Yellow (Money Moves),” four, Oct. 7, 2017“No Limit,” G-Eaz...
The Doobie Brothers Tell Bill Murray to Pay Up
Often, the legal threats come hot and heavy. But that’s not what happens when Bill Murray uses, without license, the Doobie Brothers‘ “Listen to the Music” for an advertisement for his golf shirts, and the band must react. Here, the group’s attorney Peter Paterno attempts to lightly scold Murray for using the 1972 hit, written by Tom Johnston. He writes, “It seems like the only person who uses our clients’ music without permission more than you do is Donald Trump… We’d almost be OK with it if the shirts weren’t so damn ugly.” Ouch! Murray’s camp hasn’t responded yet. Here’s the rest of the letter… This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you ...
Juliette Greco, Raspy-Voiced French Singer Who Inspired The Beatles, Dead at 93
Juliette Greco, a French singer, actress, cultural icon and muse to existentialist philosophers of the country’s post-War period, has died, French media said Wednesday. She was 93. They said Greco died in her Ramatuelle house in the south of France, near Saint Tropez. The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, tweeted that “a very grand lady, an immense artist has gone.” With expressive eyes inherited from her Greek ancestors and an impossibly deep, raspy voice — acquired from years of cigarette-smoking — Greco immortalized some of France’s most recognizable songs in an enduring seven-decade career, including the classics “Soul le ciel de Paris” (Under the Parisian sky) and “Je hais les dimanches” (I hate Sundays). Greco was born in Montpellier on February 7, 1927, to an absent fath...
