Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2, 2024 i Billboard Magazine

WEEKS ON CHART 500 The superstar is the first act to spend 100 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100, dating to the chart’s 2014 inception. Swift reigns with the top streaming, radio audience and sales totals among all acts Feb. 16-22, including 319.4 million on-demand official U.S. streams as a lead artist, according to Luminate.…

“One More Time” by blink-182 (above) spends its 20th week at No. 1 on Alternative Airplay, matching the mark first set by Portugal. The Man’s “Feel It Still” in July-December 2017 for the longest reign in the chart’s history. Since the list launched in September 1988, the next-highest runs at the top belong to Muse’s “Madness” (19 weeks, 2012-13); All Time Low’s “Monsters,” featuring blackbear (18, 2020-21); and Foo Fighters’ “The Pretender” in 2007 (also 18, 2007). Additionally, “One More Time” holds the longest uninterrupted stay at No. 1, having led continuously since its first week in the top spot (Oct. 21, 2023). Blink-182 first appeared on Alternative Airplay with “Dammit (Growing Up)” in October 1997. “What’s My Age Again?” reached No. 2 in July 1999, becoming the group’s…

ON FEB. 15, A SNIPPET of Post Malone singing along to a forthcoming collaboration with Luke Combs surfaced on Tik-Tok. Post is signed to Mercury/Republic Records, Universal Music Group labels, and UMG’s catalog has been unavailable on TikTok since the start of February. This means that preexisting videos made with Post’s hits now play without sound, and users can’t make new clips with his recordings. The video of him lip-syncing to the track was originally posted on Instagram Reels, but it migrated to TikTok anyway — most clips do — and the audio remained unmuted, skirting the UMG ban because the song has not been officially released. “We can still use the platform to tease new music because until the master hits TikTok, nothing will happen” to it, says…

With the release of her 2021 debut album, if i could make it go quiet, alternative singer-songwriter girl in red blurred the line between contemplative songwriting and chaotic production, leaving the Norwegian artist born Marie Ulven with the challenging task of crafting an equally compelling follow-up. Yet I’m Doing It Again Baby! (out April 12 on Columbia Records) lives up to the difficult standard set for sophomore albums: Her songwriting cuts quicker to the core, while Matias Tellez’s production fuses even more influences. Girl in red, 25, describes the album as an “elevated” version of her previous output. “It feels more creative,” she says, “more fun and more playful, and a little bit more confident. I’m not playing safe, which is important ... Everything is just getting pushed further.”…

WHEN “MUNCH,” AN unbothered slice of New York drill by rapper Ice Spice, exploded on social media and into the pop culture lexicon in late summer 2022, few listeners had heard of the talent behind it. But over the next year, the Bronx MC with the trademark ginger Annie ’fro (which she sometimes also wears in a buss down) leveled up — and raised her profile — with each single she released, all powered by her quippy, unfussy lyrics and the Jersey club-inflected beats of her longtime collaborator, RIOTUSA. Her early singles, even if they missed the Billboard Hot 100, still resonated culturally, laying the groundwork for commercial wins. In February 2023, Ice earned her first solo Hot 100 entry with “In Ha Mood,” which has collected over 166…

IN DECEMBER 2021, when Michelle Jubelirer became Capitol Music Group chair/CEO — and Capitol’s first female chief executive in its 80-plus-year history — she didn’t take much time to dwell on her historic accomplishment: She had a flailing company to save. “The challenges [I inherited] were plentiful,” Jubelirer admits. CMG faced a falling market share, staff turnover, pandemic challenges and an unwieldy artist roster. “The truth is,” she says, “a lot of change happened in a short period of time.” Many believed Jubelirer, then CMG’s COO, was destined for Capitol’s top job the year prior. By that time, her résumé already included a stint at a white-shoe law firm, years in legal affairs at Sony and nearly a decade as an artist lawyer for acts like Nas, Pharrell Williams…

TRACI ADAMS Executive vp of promotion STEPHANIE YU Executive vp of business and legal affairs SANDRA AFLOAREI Senior vp of commercial partnerships EPIC RECORDS From superstar Travis Scott to newcomer Tyla, the Epic Records team ended 2023 on a series of high notes. Scott landed a Grammy nomination and his third Billboard 200 No. 1 with Utopia, debuting with 496,000 equivalent album units. Then there was the global breakout success of Tyla, whose top 10 Hot 100 hit “Water” earned the South African artist her first Grammy. Also making waves: 21 Savage, who teamed with Drake for the Grammy-nominated Her Loss, and rap legend André 3000’s first solo release, New Blue Sun, which hit No. 1 on Billboard’s New Age Albums chart. DAHLIA AMBACH-CAPLIN Senior vp of A&R and…

Former CEO RAWAN AL-DABBAS Regional director for Middle East and North Africa ELENA BLOBEL Director of global litigation KRISTINA JANUŠAUSKAITĖ Director of European legal affairs MELISSA MORGIA Director of global content protection and enforcement ANGELA NDAMBUKI Regional director for Sub-Saharan Africa ADRIANA RESTREPO Regional director for Latin America and Caribbean IFPI When former IFPI CEO Frances Moore got to the international recorded-music trade association in 1994, there weren’t many women in leadership positions there. “That was the state of the world,” remembers Moore, who retired at the end of 2023. During her time as CEO, “there was never a point of saying, ‘I’m going to recruit a woman,’ ” Moore notes. “You can only put together an A-level team if you choose the best candidates.” Many of those have…

Warren Zeiders’ first entry on the Country Airplay chart, “Pretty Little Poison,” ascends to the top of the list. The single grew by 15% to 33.1 million audience impressions during the Feb. 16-22 tracking week, according to Luminate. The song, which Zeiders co-wrote, is the first debut Country Airplay hit to lead the chart since Nate Smith’s “Whiskey on You” in February 2023. “I am so honored to have my first No. 1 at country radio,” says Zeiders, 24. “I’m just a dude from Pennsylvania who started singing in his childhood bedroom. I never thought I’d have a song on country radio, much less it’d be No. 1 just a couple years into making music. I put everything I had into this song, and I’ll never be able to…

IT’S FRIDAY NIGHT IN LAS VEGAS, and Voltaire, the intimate art deco-meets-Studio 54 new performance venue within the Venetian, has transformed into an extremely lit gay club. Beneath countless sparkling disco and glass balls, the crowd of 1,000 dances to the DJ’s mix of a who’s who of dance-pop — Jessie Ware, Spice Girls, ABBA, Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s recently revived “Murder on the Dancefloor.” Intermittently, elastic-limbed burlesque artists enter to striptease, dance and execute feats of dazzling flexibility. This is Voltaire’s Belle de Nuit “preshow.” And it’s just the warmup to the main event. “It’s almost time for Kylie Minooooogue!” the evening’s MC declares. “Yeah, that’s right — Mother is coming!” The screams become truly deafening when, roughly 10 minutes later, the curtain opens to reveal the diminutive 55-year-old Australian…

WHEN VICTORIA MONÉT LOOKED IN THE MIRROR five years ago, she saw a successful songwriter whose growing list of estimable credits included co-writes on two of Ariana Grande’s biggest hits, “Thank U, Next” and “7 Rings.” What Monét, then 30, didn’t see was a successful solo artist — a goal she had been tirelessly pursuing since 2009. “It was a very difficult, uphill battle trying to get people to understand there’s a duality to me, that my relevance wasn’t only based on my proximity to somebody else,” Monét recalls. “Interview after interview, questions were snuck in about the artists I worked with. I just wanted to be a stand-alone artist with my own reputation.” Monét’s long-held dream finally became reality with the 2023 release of her RCA debut studio…

2023 Sylvia Rhone CHAIRWOMAN/CEO, EPIC RECORDS Rhone and her Epic team continue their winning streak. Beginning with Travis Scott’s Grammy Award-nominated Utopia, Epic’s achievements include 21 Savage’s five Grammy nods, including best rap album for his and Drake’s Her Loss collaboration, and, most recently, kicking off 2024 with his fourth No. 1 on the Billboard 200, American Dream. Additionally, South African artist Tyla won a Grammy Award for best African music performance for “Water.” Next-Gen Advice “Explore outside of your comfort zone and don’t be afraid to seek new technical and analytical skills that are driving our business. Have the courage to take risks — the road to success is not always a paved one.” 2022 Golnar Khosrowshahi FOUNDER/CEO, RESERVOIR MEDIA Reservoir’s share price jumped 19.1% in 2023, giving…

TWO YEARS AFTER K-pop juggernaut HYBE acquired Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings, Allison Kaye, president of music for HYBE America and SB Projects, feels that 2023 was the first year she got “elbows deep” working with the South Korean company. Kaye is recognized on the 2024 Women in Music list along with her colleagues Jennifer McDaniels and Jules Ferree, respectively, president of management and president of brands and ventures for HYBE America and SB Projects, and Mitra Darab, president of HxG Records for HYBE America. In addition to working BTS member Jung Kook’s solo album, Golden, Kaye helped develop girl group Le Sserafim for the U.S. market. That hard work paid off immediately: Released on HYBE’s Source Music imprint, Le Sserafim’s second EP, Antifragile, reached No. 14 on the Billboard…

ALANA BALDEN Manager MORGAN DENTCH Director of touring FULL STOP MANAGEMENT The team at Full Stop Management, part of The Azoff Company, has overseen a year of powerhouse performances by its roster of superstars and rising artists. “From Harry Styles packing stadiums worldwide, to U2 launching the Sphere, to Lizzo’s sold-out worldwide tour to Tate McRae’s breakout tour, Full Stop’s artists delivered unforgettable and life-changing musical experiences,” Dentch says. Styles ranked No. 3 on the year-end Billboard Boxscore chart, with 69 performances for 3.1 million fans and grossing $338.2 million. POLLY BHOWMIK ALLI MAIN Founders A&P ARTIST MANAGEMENT In 2023, London-based A&P guided signature client Kylie Minogue to her biggest single in years with “Padam Padam.” The viral track, with over 65% of its TikTok streams from users under…

CLAUDIA ARCAY Senior vp of entertainment LOUD AND LIVE Arcay played a key role in negotiating and carrying out some of Loud And Live’s most successful 2023 tours, including Ricardo Arjona’s “monumental” 65-date outing, which included five sold-out shows at Miami’s Kaseya Center and two sold-out Madison Square Garden dates in New York, she says. Loud And Live placed at No. 14 among promoters worldwide, reporting 769,000 tickets sold over 191 shows for a gross of $78.7 million, with tours by Alejandro Sanz, Carlos Vives and Camilo. Arcay also helped guide Loud And Live’s Latin America expansion and secured, managed and produced high-grossing arena and stadium shows with the likes of Grupo Firme, Camilo and Sin Bandera in Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Colombia. FRANCESCA BODIE…

Movies stayed silent for their first few decades, but TV rocked out not long after the first coast-to-coast U.S. broadcast. Pioneers like Dick Clark and Don Cornelius introduced America to top musical talent, and shows like American Idol televise the search for it. As the show returns for its 22nd season, let’s tune in to some reruns of the revolutions that were televised. TAKING THE ’STAND “New Faces, Anyone?” asked an Aug. 12, 1957, Billboard headline. “The one performer who may emerge in a regular berth on the live TV side is [American Bandstand host] Dick Clark. He’s 6’2”, rugged, slow smile, cleft chin and low-pitched voice.” Who could say no? The Dec. 16, 1957, Billboard reported that the “teen crowd makes a habit of tuning in [to] the…

KICKING OFF THE NEW YEAR IN STYLE, Coldplay leads Billboard’s Top Tours chart for January. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, the Chris Martin-fronted band grossed $58.8 million and sold 417,000 tickets during the month, essentially doubling the act’s closest competitor. Despite January traditionally marking the slowest time of the year for touring, Coldplay comfortably scored the highest January gross since the monthly charts launched in early 2019 — besting Elton John’s $40.9 million from last year by 44%. It’s the third time that Coldplay has been No. 1 on Top Tours, having done so in July 2022 and March 2023. The band achieved its latest victory with eight shows in Asia, and, factoring in another two dates in early February, the latest leg of the Music of…

IN JANUARY 1999, Universal Music Group laid off hundreds of employees during a wave of consolidation with PolyGram. “The biggest staff cuts were at Geffen and A&M, two Los Angeles-based labels that have been folded into Interscope Records ... and at Island Records, which has been merged with Mercury,” Billboard reported at the time, predicting that the cuts would affect label rosters, with “baby bands ... expected to suffer the most casualties in the shakeups.” The forecast proved true: Speaking with The New York Times, one manager described the impact of the merger on his band as if “a car [got] shut off in midgear.” Roughly 25 years later, UMG is expected to cut hundreds of jobs in the coming weeks to create “efficiencies in other areas of the…

IN FEBRUARY, Billy Joel released his first song in 17 years, the emotional “Turn the Lights Back On.” But for his publicist, Claire Mercuri, there is never an off cycle with the 74-year-old legend. Mercuri, who founded Claire Mercuri Public Relations in 2010, has represented Joel for more than 25 years. They began working together when Mercuri was at Columbia Records, where she rose to vp of media and also executed campaigns for veteran stars such as Bob Dylan, Bette Midler and Ricky Martin. In addition to Joel, her clients include his ex-wife, supermodel Christie Brinkley, and their daughter, Alexa Ray, as well as actresses Lorraine Bracco and Elizabeth Hurley. A Brooklyn native, Mercuri scored her first music industry job in the 1990s as a personal assistant to KISS’…

AS THE FIVE MEMBERS of NewJeans file gracefully down the stairs at their Billboard photo shoot in Seoul, they greet me with bright smiles and genuine greetings of “Nice to meet you.” Just a few days prior, the exploding K-pop girl group won artist of the year and song of the year at both the Melon Music Awards and MAMA Awards, two of South Korea’s most prestigious music prizes — and just two of the roughly 10 awards shows they attended and performed at in the country this past December and early January. Yet despite the hectic schedule of winter awards season there, they exude warmth and enthusiasm. That infectious energy has endeared the women of NewJeans — Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein, who range in age from…

MY BIG STRUGGLE is deciding whether I care more about being the biggest artist I can be commercially or being critically sound,” Charli XCX says. “Then sometimes I land in this place of not caring about either of those things.” For most of her decade-plus career as both a songwriter for other pop stars (Gwen Stefani, Camila Cabello, Selena Gomez) and a beloved solo performer herself, Charli has managed to strike an enviable balance between the two pop poles she has just described. The 31-year-old British artist has made inescapable hits like her 2014 Iggy Azalea collaboration, “Fancy,” which spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and more sonically experimental pop — including her celebrated pairings with SOPHIE, with whom Charli pioneered hyperpop — while…

YOUNG MIKO VIVIDLY REMEMBERS the first time she realized her music could make an impact. It was in 2021, after the Puerto Rican singer-rapper released her second single, “Vendetta,” in collaboration with trans artist Villano Antillano — a hard-hitting trap song in which the two spit bars about empowerment, individuality, resilience and self-confidence, all while spotlighting the LGBTQ+ community. “That’s when I felt a before and after in my life,” Miko tells Billboard. “It’s a moment that I always return to, and I realize that it wasn’t just a song. I feel in my heart that it started a very beautiful movement or gave it more strength. I love feeling that from the beginning I’ve been doing something good with the voice that life has given me and with…

IN JUST A FEW YEARS, Tems went from working a digital marketing job to becoming a globally known hit-maker who rubs shoulders with stars like Beyoncé, Rihanna and Drake — all without losing her cool or confidence. “When I make music, I don’t really think about where it’s going to end up,” she explains nonchalantly. “I just leave it all in the studio.” To a certain extent, she doesn’t even have time to think about where her songs will end up — since once she releases them, they tend to immediately spread everywhere. Ever since she was featured on Wizkid’s 2020 smash, “Essence,” which reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 a year later (with the help of a Justin Bieber remix) and earned a Grammy nod for…

CARLETTA HIGGINSON Chief digital officer/executive vp MASHA OSHEROVA Chief people officer/executive vp JANELLE CURTIS Chief enterprise transformation officer ADDIE ADENIRAN Senior vp of people team JESSICA GOLDENBERG Senior vp of digital strategy and business development BERNADETTE ROTOLO Senior vp of global tech enablement WARNER MUSIC GROUP Last year was one of transformation for WMG. Under the leadership of new chairman/CEO Robert Kyncl, the company formed a joint venture with 10K Projects, raised its market share in publishing, renegotiated a new deal with TikTok and created novel artificial intelligence (AI) partnerships with YouTube, Endel and Edith Piaf’s estate. Osherova says the new CEO appointment was also an opportunity to expand the executive leadership team altogether. “We now have a wider variety of perspectives from leaders in recorded music, publishing and…

ALISA COLEMAN COO ABKCO MUSIC & RECORDS Board chair THE MECHANICAL LICENSING COLLECTIVE While ABKCO controls publishing and recording catalogs of legends such as Sam Cooke, The Rolling Stones and Bobby Womack, the company is firmly focused on the future, particularly concerning the rights of artists, songwriters, publishers and labels. Advocacy efforts include “ongoing legal endeavors, exemplified by the current Anthropic case addressing unauthorized use of song lyrics in the AI domain,” Coleman says. And, she notes, the label keeps updating its gold mine of classics, highlighting “spatial audio releases [and] revitalized recordings, propelling them back onto the Billboard charts.” ELIZABETH COLLINS Co-president THE AZOFF COMPANY Collins is co-president of The Azoff Company with Susan Genco (see story, page 88) and credits the vision of CEO Irving Azoff for…

MARY ALLEN KAZIA DAVY JANET KIM NATALIE KOE Music agents UTA UTA’s 100-point score on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index — a stringent survey that evaluates corporate policies, practices and benefits as they relate to LGBTQ+ equality in the workplace — was a highlight of the company’s achievements this past year. Kim says this perfect score reflects “the work being done by our management and colleagues to make UTA a welcoming environment for LGBTQ+ employees and clients ... I’m proud to be a part of a company who prioritizes these types of initiatives.” LUCY DICKINS Global head of contemporary music and touring CAROLINE YIM Partner/co-head of hip-hop/R&B SARA WILLIAMS Tour marketer ASHLEY GONZALEZ Agent WME Williams cites “numerous successes across the WME Music team this past…

CYNTHIA L. KATZ HEIDY VAQUERANO Partners FOX ROTHSCHILD Longtime entertainment deal-makers Vaquerano and Katz advised their client HarbourView Equity Partners on a slew of high-profile acquisitions of recording and publishing catalogs, including works from Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie, country star Kane Brown, hip-hop artist blackbear and rapper Wiz Khalifa. Vaquerano also helped negotiate the deal for Tom DeLonge’s return to blink-182 after a decade away from the iconic pop-punk band. All told, Katz and Vaquerano say that they and their partners at Fox Rothschild collectively handled nearly $1 billion in music transactions this past year alone, helping to shape the market. ANGELA “ANGIE” N. MARTINEZ Attorney at law ANGELA N. MARTINEZ P.A. While still representing Latin music stars such as Feid and Ozuna, Martinez has played a pivotal role…