Home//Billboard Magazine/April 27, 2024/In This Issue
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 2024‘Sweet’ Success: Hozier Hits No. 1 On Hot 100HOZIER’S “TOO SWEET” rises to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the Irish singer-songwriter’s first leader on the chart. In his sole prior run in the top 10, he reached No. 2 with his breakthrough hit, “Take Me to Church,” in 2014-15.“Too Sweet” is from Hozier’s EP Unheard, which debuted three weeks earlier as his fourth top 10 on the Billboard 200. In September 2023, he began his first U.S. tour since the pandemic; the trek continues with international dates scheduled through November. He told Billboard ahead of the tour, “I’m excited to share the work live with a fan base that has been with me now for 10 years.”Following “Take Me to Church,” Hozier didn’t reappear on the Hot 100 until April 2023 — but has now…1 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 20241“I Like the Way You Kiss Me” ArtemasARTEMAS’ FIRST BILLBOARD Global Excl. U.S. hit, “I Like the Way You Kiss Me,” ascends to No. 1 with 65.9 million official streams (up 15%) and 3,000 sold (up 45%) outside the United States in the week ending April 18, according to Luminate. Its official video premiered April 12, boosting the darkwave song’s performance. The breakthrough hit for the English-Cypriot artist, released as a standalone single on Artemas/10K Projects, has been used in approximately 2 million clips on TikTok, where he teased the song prior to its March 19 arrival. The singer-songwriter (full name: Artemas Diamandis) has self-released two albums: I’m Sorry I’m Like This (in 2022) and Pretty (Feb. 9). The latter includes “If U Think I’m Pretty,” which lifts 121-119 on Global Excl. U.S. with 11.7 million streams…2 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 2024Shaboozey ‘Bar’-Hops To No. 1Shaboozey soars 34-1 on Emerging Artists thanks to his new single, “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” Released April 12, the track debuts at No. 6 on Hot Country Songs and No. 36 on the Billboard Hot 100 with 10.7 million streams and 10,000 sold through April 18, according to Luminate. It also launches at No. 1 on Digital Song Sales and Country Digital Song Sales as he earns his first three Billboard chart leaders. “Bar” introduces his album Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going, due May 31.The Virginia native also guests on “Spaghettii” and “Sweet * Honey * Buckiin’ ” from Beyoncé’s latest full-length, Cowboy Carter, which leads Top Country Albums for a third week. He recently told Billboard that he’s “so happy to have such a powerhouse of an…1 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 2024Maggie Rogers Makes A New MemoryRogers notches her fourth Triple A Airplay No. 1 with “Don’t Forget Me.” She previously led the list with “That’s Where I Am” (one week in 2022), “Love You for a Long Time” (one, 2020) and “Light On” (three weeks, 2019).Concurrently, Rogers’ album Don’t Forget Me, released April 12, debuts on multiple charts, paced by a No. 5 start on Top Album Sales with 10,000 copies sold in the United States through April 18. She adds her third top 10 on the chart, following Surrender (No. 6, August 2022) and Heard It in a Past Life (No. 1, one week, February 2019). The new set also opens at No. 6 on Americana/Folk Albums.Another track from Don’t Forget Me makes its chart entrance as “The Kill” debuts at No. 24 on…1 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 2024Vinyl SolutionA TIME-TESTED REVENUE MODEL in the theater and concert world is to price the front seats highest and sell them early to the act’s dedicated followers, then fill out the house with cheap seats to optimize cash flow and lower risk. In gaming, at least since the days of Minecraft, superfans have been given early access to titles prior to their publication, generating revenue, feedback and word-of-mouth.Movie studios use a similar model, charging about $11 per ticket for cinema screenings of major films roughly 45 days before they are widely available to stream (typically first as a purchase, then as a rental). Apple used this windowed approach to maximize revenue with Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon, as did Amazon Prime with Air.The record industry seems to have missed…6 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 2024From The Desk Of... Wendy OngAS A FORMER executive at music companies in Singapore, Hong Kong, New York and Los Angeles, Wendy Ong certainly has the globe-trotting credentials to help a roster of music artists including Lana Del Rey, Ellie Goulding and Noah Cyrus navigate an increasingly global business. But Ong charted the flight path she took to her current role as global co-president/chief marketing officer of the artist management and publishing company TaP Music largely on her own because, she says, mentors for an Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) music executive were virtually nonexistent then.As a result, Ong — who was raised in Malaysia and Singapore and worked at BMG, Arista, RCA, the Metropolitan Opera, EMI, Capitol, Interscope and Roc Nation — says she makes it a priority to be one herself, particularly for Asians…8 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 2024Speed Of SoundJoe LaPorta understands the fast-paced nature of rap music. “[When I left New York University], the industry was completely different,” says the 44-year-old mastering engineer who has worked with everyone from Imagine Dragons to Miley Cyrus to, most recently, Future and Metro Boomin. “It was still a physical medium. There were a lot more planned releases. There wasn’t this freedom of being able to release things within a day of creating it.”Future and Metro Boomin are both comfortable moving at today’s pace. The longtime collaborative duo recently released two albums less than a month apart, We Don’t Trust You and We Still Don’t Trust You. The GrandStand engineer began working with Metro Boomin nearly a decade ago, when the latter made his collaborative album Savage Mode with Atlanta MC 21…2 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 2024LIVING THEDREAMAS A STUDENT at the University of California, San Diego, Ollie Zhang oversaw the campus’ annual music festival and dozens of concerts throughout the year. Post-graduation, he co-founded the dance music brand Space Yacht in 2015. But he aspired to have a bigger, different kind of impact on the music business. “This idea of finding a place within the music industry for Asian artists to thrive always felt like a faraway concept to me,” he says. “A lot of the folks that I worked with and came up with in the music industry were Asian Americans. We all had this far-off dream that this is something that could be possible one day.”So when Zhang (now 33) met Sean Miyashiro (now 42) in 2015, he says it was “serendipity” because Miyashiro…11 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 2024PREMIOS HEAT TURNS 10Diana Montes was working in sales and sponsorships at the Latin Recording Academy in 2013 when Turner Media Group contacted her with an ambitious proposal: Could she create a Latin music awards show outside the United States to air on HTV, the Latin music channel then owned by TBS? It was a challenging idea because at the time, all major Latin music awards shows were produced stateside.“We decided to make a Latin music award for Latins, made in Latin America,” Montes says. She pitched the concept to multiple cities and countries and finally partnered with the Dominican Republic’s burgeoning tourist destination of Cap Cana.Today, 10 years after its first broadcast by the seashore, the event has grown from a homey show to a major ceremony with a massive online following…3 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 202427“Gata Only” FloyyMenor X Cris MjHow did “Gata Only” happen?FLOYYMENOR I created that song about nine months ago. More than anything, I was inspired by my girlfriend. I had a show in Antofa*gasta [Chile], far from the capital of Santiago. After, I went to the hotel, and I started to write that song. I had visions before releasing it. I’m grateful for what is happening — I’m very proud of myself. My plan is to keep creating big hits worldwide. It gives me the desire to make more music and to continue for many years in the business.Initially, “Gata Only” was your song alone. How did Cris Mj get involved?I had released the song about a month before [rereleasing it on streaming platforms]. In that month, it received about 5 million streams. Then Cris Mj’s…2 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 20241TAYLOR SWIFT WEEKS ON CHART 508Swift returns to No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 a week before her The Tortured Poets Department makes an expected huge debut atop the Billboard 200 (dated May 4). Assuming the album enters at No. 1, it will mark her 14th leader.GO TO BILLBOARD.COM FOR COMPLETE CHART DATASWIFT: BETH GARRABRANT. DEL REY: KIRBY GLADSTEIN. ROAN: RYAN CLEMENS. AIRPLAY, SALES AND STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY BILLBOARD ARTIST 100: THE WEEK’S MOST POPULAR ARTISTS ACROSS ALL GENRES, RANKED BY ALBUM AND TRACK SALES AS MEASURED BY LUMINATE, RADIO AIRPLAY AUDIENCE IMPRESSIONS AS MEASURED BY LUMINATE, STREAMING ACTIVITY DATA FROM ONLINE MUSIC SOURCES TRACKED BY LUMINATE. SEE CHARTS LEGEND ON BILLBOARD.COM FOR COMPLETE RULES AND EXPLANATIONS. © 2024 BILLBOARD MEDIA LLC AND LUMINATE INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.…1 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 2024Fuerza Regida’s Journey To No. 1Fuerza Regida celebrates its first No. 1 on Top Latin Albums as its seventh studio release, Pa Las Baby’s y Belikeada, climbs 2-1 in its 26th chart week. That is the longest climb to the peak since the Oct. 10, 2015-dated chart, when Juan Gabriel’s Mis Numero 1... 40 Aniversario rose 4-1 in its 60th week. Pa Las Baby’s y Belikeada debuted at No. 2 on the Nov. 4, 2023, chart and has yet to depart the top five.Pa Las Baby’s y Belikeada ascends to the top with 24,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the week ending April 18 (up 17%), according to Luminate, almost entirely driven by streaming activity. (It’s up 17% in streaming-equivalent album units, equaling 36.1 million on-demand official streams for the set’s…2 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 2024Broken Spell: What’s Next For Hipgnosis?THE CLOUDY FUTURE of Hipgnosis Songs Fund (HSF) became clearer on April 18, when the embattled company’s board of directors publicly supported a $1.4 billion takeover bid by Concord, followed two days later by a $1.5 billion offer by investment giant Blackstone. Regardless of the buyer, an acquisition would mark an end to the 5-year-old London Stock Exchange-listed company and give shareholders an offramp after HSF faced questions about its operational acuity and, most recently, alleged evidence of accounting missteps that overstated both revenue and its portfolio’s valuation. Concord’s offer is a 32.2% premium over HSF’s closing price on April 17, but the board said it would support Blackstone’s offer — which represents a 41.8% premium — if the asset manager makes it official.Blackstone’s bid for the publicly traded music…7 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 2024OUT OF THE BLUESMIKE WHEELER SAYS HE HAS 16 GIGS lined up in April at clubs in his hometown of Chicago — a solid run but nowhere near the number he was playing before the pandemic. “Things are 50% normal,” says the veteran singer-guitarist, who has performed with Buddy Guy, the late B.B. King and Koko Taylor. “[There are] more clubs open now, but mostly Wednesday through Sunday. We’re trying to find the most gigs I can get in the city, but as far as tours and revenue, it’s kind of limited.”Even in a blues mecca like Chicago, the genre has taken a significant hit over the past few years. Artists and club owners in musically vibrant cities cite numerous culprits — rising crime rates, the lingering pandemic-era habit of staying home, competition…6 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 2024SHINE BRIGHT LIKE A DIAMONDHAD MY OWN vision for what I wanted to hear in K-pop,” says Paul Thompson, an Italian American who 11 years ago moved to South Korea from California to teach English, but has since become better known as chart-topping K-pop producer MCMZ and founder of MCMZ Inc., an entertainment group based in Seoul. “I knew no other company was 100% going to let me do the vision I had. It was time for me to try to evolve K-pop.”Enter VVS, Thompson’s newly formed group eyeing October for its official debut, and with four albums already mapped out. Embodying his love for The Neptunes, Timbaland co-producer Danja and singer-songwriter-producer Ryan Leslie, Thompson created a streamlined sound for the new act, which is named after the diamond category of the same name.…4 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 2024READY, SET, GOUON A HULKING GRAY building on a wide boulevard once bisected by the Berlin Wall, a silver call button grants access to an expansive, shadowy, unfurnished foyer. Ascend a winding set of stairs and open the door at the top, and you’ll find the office of the CEO: South Korea-born Peggy Gou, who has swiftly become the world’s most in-demand female DJ-producer working in dance music today.Inside Gou HQ, the bright overhead lights contrast with the early-April rain outside. The sprawling room — which has a vibe that’s more “friend’s apartment” than sterile corporate sanctum — is outfitted with a wooden meeting table, full bookshelves and a plush green velvet couch from which Tasos Filippou, Gou’s touring manager, arises to serve Gou and me black coffee in little terra cotta…16 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 20242024 INTERNATIONAL POWER PLAYERSWAY BACK IN 2015 — when “Uptown Funk!” was the hottest hit of the year, Sam Smith was named best new artist at the Grammy Awards and Taylor Swift had the year’s top album with the original version of 1989 — the global music industry hit a significant milestone.Its revenue grew — for the first time in 20 years. That was the beginning of a comeback, and the industry has sustained it since.In March, when IFPI released its annual Global Music Report with worldwide results for the recorded-music business for 2023, it reported revenue had grown for a ninth consecutive year, reaching $28.6 billion worldwide.Music streaming, of course, has driven that growth, and the IFPI report contained even more good news, stating that paid subscriptions to music streaming services hit…76 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 2024Chappell Roan’s ‘Rise’Roan debuts at No. 74 on the Artist 100, largely powered by streaming gains for her 2023 debut full-length, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. Released in September, the set jumps 66-36 on the Billboard 200 (21,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending April 18; up 42%), marking a new chart high and its first week in the top 40. Meanwhile, her new single and first song to appear on any Billboard chart, “Good Luck, Babe!,” surges 77-44 on the Billboard Hot 100, driven by 9.6 million streams (up 44%).…1 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 2024Milestones For Hunt, ChesneySam Hunt (above) scores his 10th Country Airplay No. 1 with “Outskirts.” The song increased by 15% to 33.2 million impressions April 12-18, according to Luminate. The track, which he co-wrote and co-produced, is his first leader since April 2022, when “23” became his fourth straight No. 1, after “Breaking Up Was Easy in the 90’s” (May 2021), “Hard To Forget” (July 2020) and “Kinfolks” (February 2020).Meanwhile, Kenny Chesney collects his 61st Country Airplay top 10 as “Take Her Home” lifts 11-9 (19.3 million, up 7%). He matches George Strait for the most top 10s since the chart’s launch in January 1990. (Tim McGraw is third with 60.) Chesney last reached the tier as a featured artist on Kelsea Ballerini’s “Half of My Hometown,” which in March 2022 became his…1 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 2024HIPGNOSIS PROGNOSISJULY 6, 2018Hipgnosis Songs Fund starts trading on the London Stock Exchange’s specialist fund segment with 202.2 million ordinary shares.NOV. 2, 2018HSF pays its first dividend of 0.5 pence ($.06) per share. Its Oct. 25 dividend announcement indicates it was targeting a 3.5 pence ($4.56) dividend for the first 12 months.NOV. 23, 2023HSF discloses that it, along with Merck Mercuriadis and investment manager Hipgnosis Songs Management, are being sued by Hipgnosis Music Limited. The lawsuit alleges Mercuriadis diverted business opportunities to HSF and HSM.MARCH 28, 2024The HSF board releases Shot Tower Capital’s due diligence report, which finds that the investment manager “materially overstated” revenue and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and its underwriting analysis for catalog acquisitions failed to meet music industry standards.JULY 11, 2018HSF acquires its first…1 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 2024ROBLOX AND FORTNITE: THE NEW TIKTOKS?IN NOVEMBER, the gaming platform Roblox announced that it had passed a threshold of more than 70 million average daily active users. While it still remains largely known to teens and their parents, industry supporters consider massive gaming hubs like it and Fortnite as the new frontier of social media — another space where musicians will need to establish a presence if they hope to remain commercially relevant.“Just the way every artist has an Instagram account and a TikTok, eventually everyone’s going to have a Roblox presence,” predicts Nic Hill, co-founder of Sawhorse Productions, which has worked on Roblox projects for Olivia Rodrigo and Elton John. Spotify, iHeartMedia and Warner Music Group (WMG) have all launched Roblox experiences, and Sony Music has an in-house team developing music-focused games or experiences…5 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 2024Spurring On Cowboy CarterEVEN BEFORE THE release of Beyoncé’s chart-topping album Cowboy Carter, Ryan Beatty was already having a banner 2024. His name is in the liner notes to Bleachers’ self-titled fourth album as a co-writer, and he’ll open for Noah Kahan this summer and Maggie Rogers in the fall — all in support of his own acclaimed 2023 third album, Calico, which earned praise from Elton John. But his contributions to Cowboy Carter have been quietly in the works throughout his wins, extending across the past four years. Beatty, a California native and teen pop prodigy turned tender singer-songwriter, is credited with co-writing four songs on the blockbuster, including standouts “Bodyguard” and “II Hands II Heaven.” A closely guarded secret he has kept since 2020 (Beatty, 28, says he “worked on this…3 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 2024ACROSSTHE AOKIVERSESTEVE AOKI is obsessed with numbers. It’s why the Grammy Award-nominated producer and mega-DJ has a seven-page rider specifying the exact weight and dimensions of the sheet cakes he hurls into the delirious crowds of fans who flock to his shows holding signs that say, “CAKE ME!” It’s why, despite an “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” tattoo on the back of his neck, he knows per one epigenetic measure that he has slowed his aging process down to 0.8 out of 1 thanks to a rigorous biohacking regimen that includes tracking how much REM sleep he’s getting on his WHOOP watch. And it’s why, when asked why he wants to live so long in the first place, he equates life to winning the lottery and quotes the statistical probability of…17 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 2024IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, ‘EVEN THE TREES SING AND DANCE’WHEN SINGER Manuel Turizo released his single “La Bachata” in May 2022, it was a risky move. The Colombian singer was venturing into Dominican territory not only by singing bachata — a very regional Dominican music genre — but by cheekily titling his foray “La Bachata” (The Bachata).The risk paid off. By August, Turizo’s pop- and tropical-laced take on bachata landed at No. 1 on Billboard’s Tropical Airplay chart, where it ruled for 14 weeks, and it rose to No. 1 on the Latin Airplay chart in October. The track also reached No. 6 on the Billboard Global 200 (becoming the first bachata song to enter the top 10 since the chart’s inception in 2020) and No. 3 on the Global Excl. U.S. chart. It peaked at No. 67 on…10 min
Billboard Magazine|April 27, 2024MICHAEL MARCAGIIn late 2023, folk-pop singer-songwriter Michael Marcagi wanted to release a song before the end of the year; his manager, Alex Brahl, was more focused on increasing his artist’s TikTok exposure and proposed a regular quota of posts. “Five times a week, that was our ultimate deal,” Brahl recalls. Within weeks, both got their wish: Marcagi released his solo debut single, the simmering, acoustic guitar-led “The Other Side,” and had developed a following on TikTok. By January, that fandom helped power his breakout hit and next single, the jangly and more uptempo “Scared To Start.”The song became his first Billboard Hot 100 entry in February, since reaching a No. 54 high. It has cracked several rock and alternative charts, including Triple A Airplay — Marcagi’s first appearance on the list…3 min
