International
Metallica Rock Australia’s Albums Chart With ‘S&M2’
Metallica come out swinging on Australia’s albums chart as S&M2 (Virgin/Universal) bows at No. 1, while Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” (Atlantic/Warner) enters a third straight week atop the national singles survey. More than 20 years after Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony led the ARIA Albums Chart with S&M, the unlikely partnership yields another leader. The live compilation, recorded last September at San Francisco’s Chase Center, gives Metallica their seventh No. 1 album Down Under following Metallica (August 1991), Load (June 1996), S&M (November 1999), St. Anger (June 2003), Death Magnetic (September 2008), Hardwired…To Self-Destruct (2016). New mom Katy Perry returns to the top tier of the albums chart with Smile (Capitol/EMI), new at No. 2. It’s th...
Patrick Donovan, Founding CEO of Music Victoria, Announces Departure
Patrick Donovan is stepping down as chief executive of Music Victoria, the trade association that he played a central role in launching a decade ago. “It’s been an exciting journey over the last ten years being at the helm of Music Victoria,” Donovan tells Billboard. “I remember when I went to SXSW in 2011 and I struggled to get people to meet with me because they had hardly heard of Melbourne. And now we’re recognized globally as a leading music city with best practice live music laws.” Prior to joining MV as its founding CEO, Donovan was The Age newspaper’s chief music writer, and he’s an adjunct professor of RMIT’s Bachelor of Arts (Music Business) Course. Donovan will leave the organization later this year having ticked-off a long list of accomplishments. During his tenure, MV pl...
Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s ‘WAP’ Takes Early Lead In U.K. Chart Race
Its rise to the summit took the best part of a month. Now “WAP” looks set to hang around at the top for a little while longer. Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s hit climbed to No. 1 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart last Friday (Sept. 4), and it’s atop the leader board on the Official Chart: First Look, which crunches sales and streaming data from the first 48 hours of the chart week. The chart blast also sees Nathan Dawe and KSI’s “Lighter” gain one place to No. 2, while “Mood” by 24kGoldn featuring Iann Dior lifts 4-3. Joel Corry and MNEK “Head & Heart” enjoyed a six-week streak at No. 1, but that joyride appears to have come to its end. The summer dance track slips to No. 5 on the preliminary chart. The strongest performing new track so far this week is Sigala and James Arthur’s “L...
Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s ‘WAP’ Becomes First-Ever No. 1 Female Rap Collab In U.K.
It took four weeks to get there, but Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” (Atlantic) is now the U.K.’s best-selling single. The U.S. hip-hop artists’ hit lifts 2-1 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, to become the first-ever female rap collaboration to go to the summit in that territory. After two weeks at No. 2, the track snags 65,000 charts sales, including 8.5 million streams, to take the title, the Official Charts Company reports. It’s a person best for both artists. Cardi’s previous peak on the U.K. chart was No. 5 for 2018’s “Finesse,” her collab with Bruno Mars. Megan’s previous high point was a No. 3 for “Savage” in May of this year. “WAP” is just the second female-led single to hit the top this year, following Lady Gaga’s “Rain On Me” featuring Ariana Gr...
Premier League terminate £490 million TV deal in China
The Premier League has terminated its TV rights deal with China, its biggest overseas contract, leaving a huge hole in clubs’ finances. The deal with Chinese broadcaster PPTV was worth around £490m and had lasted only one of its three years. The conflict is said to have been around a fee of £160m that the Premier League was owed in March but did not receive. “The Premier League confirms that it has today terminated its agreements for Premier League coverage in China with its licensee in that territory,” a spokesman said on Thursday. “The Premier League will not be commenting further on the matter at this stage.” It is not known if the conflict is based purely on money or involves the escalating political tensions between China and the UK government. Boris Johnson announced in July that Hua...
BTS on Gaining Respect in the U.S.: ‘We Definitely Feel That’
Loud and happy screams erupt in unison from the seven-member pop stars BTS when they hear they have notched their first No. 1 hit on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart. “DREAM,” yells band member RM. “It still doesn’t feel real,” adds SUGA, speaking in Korean through a translator. “We’re really happy.” “Dynamite,” the group’s first all-English song, debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. music charts this week, making BTS the first Korean pop act to top the chart. The upbeat song even supplanted “WAP,” the raunchy smash hit by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, to claim the No. 1 position. “Never expected it,” RM tells The Associated Press of beating “WAP” for the top spot. “Never! It’s like the song of the year.” But getting their first chart-topping track seemed inevitable for the K-pop boy band,...
Bigsound 2020 Switches to All-Virtual Event
Bigsound 2020 is flicking the switch to an all-digital program. Earlier, the Australian industry conference and showcase event was pushed back by almost two months with a condensed COVIDsafe format, spread over two days and nights from Oct. 21. “We feel like we’re looking after an event that’s owned by the industry,” Angela Samut, CEO of QMusic, told Billboard in mid-July. “It’s an export event,” noted Samut, whose organization produces the annual event in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, now entering its 19th year. “That’s our point of difference.” This being the year of the pandemic, expect the unexpected. With coronavirus hotspots blowing up on Australia’s east coast, domestic border closures and the city of Melbourne entering a second lockdown, Bigsound organizers on Thursday (Sept. ...
Blackpink & Selena Gomez’s ‘Ice Cream’ vs. BTS’ ‘IONIQ: I’m On It’: Which Video Is Your Favorite? Vote!
The biggest K-pop stars rid this week’s hump day of its usual pressure when BTS and Blackpink dropped two brand new videos Wednesday (Sept. 2). BTS kicked things into high gear, thanks to the boy band’s partnership with South Korean car manufacturer Hyundai, with their “IONIQ: I’m On It” music video. The boys head out in their own lanes and even defy gravity in the sleek scenic visual that feels like anything but a car commercial shoot, according to them. “We had a lot of fun filming this video,” BTS said in a statement. “It’s been a while since a music video style ad has come out like this. It didn’t feel like a commercial shoot. It felt like an actual music video shoot.” Likewise, Blackpink and Selena Gomez‘s latest vis...
BET Amplified Goes Global With Sampa the Great
BET Amplified, ViacomCBS-owned BET’s stamp of approval highlighting “the next big thing in music,” is going global. BET and BET International on Tuesday announced Zambia-born, Botswana-raised rapper Sampa The Great as the first-ever BET Amplified global artist. The network brand said it was kicking off a month-long “effort to build awareness around Sampa to [its] core audiences globally and will highlight her work in a multitude of ways, including linear and digital programming across BET Jams, BET Her, BET Soul and BET International channels,” including in Africa, the U.K., France and South Korea. “This marks the first BET Amplified artist for BET International [which] will continue to spotlight international artists each month with BET Amplified Intern...
Metallica Eye Fourth No. 1 In U.K. With ‘S&M2’
The race is on for a U.K. albums chart title, with five new releases jostling for position. Just 3,000 combined sales separate the all-new top five, according to the Official Charts Company, with Bay Area metal veterans Metallica the best chance for the crown. Metallica’s live album S&M2 (Vertigo) leads the midweek chart and could go on to give the band their fourth U.K. No. 1 and first since 2008’s Death Magnetic. Some 2,000 chart sales behind in second place on the Official Chart Update is jazz artist Gregory Porter’s All Rise (Blue Note), the most downloaded album over the Bank Holiday weekend. London hip-hop artist Nines (real name Courtney Freckleton) arrives at No. 3 on the midweek chart with Crabs In A Bucket (Warner Records), the most streamed album in the firs...
BMG Posts Solid First Half of 2020, With Revenue Jumping 4.8% and Streaming Up 26%
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the company says it just had its best first half since launching in 2008. The pandemic-causing economic downturn didn’t slow down BMG as the music company posted a 4.8% increase in revenue to €282 million euros ($310.8 million) at the mid-year point ended June 30, up from €269 million ($303.9 million) in the year-earlier period. The music operation of German conglomerate Bertelsmann also managed to hold its own in terms of profit, posting €49 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, the same amount it had in the first half of 2019. But with profit levels holding steady while revenue grew, that resulted in EBITDA margin falling to 17.3% from 18.1% in the prior half year results. The results represent the company’s “...
Powderfinger Prep Album of Unreleased Material for 20th Anniversary of ‘Odyssey Number Five’
First, the virtual gig. Now Powderfinger will open the vault to celebrate a year of special anniversaries. The cherished Australian rockers are compiling an album of 10 unreleased recordings, set for release later this year. It’s led by the single “Day By Day,” due to drop Sept. 18, the first new material from the band since 2009’s Golden Rule. The five-piece rediscovered the tracks as they scoured the archives ahead of the 20th anniversary release of Odyssey Number Five, their ARIA Award-winning, chart topping fourth studio album. “We trawled through our hard drives and went, ‘This is actually a pretty good bunch of songs here,'” Powderfinger guitarist Darren Middleton said Monday (Aug. 31) in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “‘...
