Innholdsfortegnelse for December 21, 2013 i Billboard Magazine

IT’S A FEW DAYS before the Grammy Award nominations are announced, and Bruno Mars is shaking of predictions with an easy laugh. Eventually, he’ll score four noms—including record and song of the year for “Locked Out of Heaven”— but for the moment about all he wants to say is, “It’s nice to get dressed up and take your lady out.” In part that’s because right now Mars is processing another achievement: Billboard’s top artist of the year for 2013. Kicked back on the arm of a gray sofa inside West Hollywood’s Quixote Studios, the singer/songwriter/producer—wearing dark blue jeans, a red and black plaid shirt and black Vans, no socks—is also the first male to claim the title since 2008 (see story, page 42). As he thanks Billboard for the honor,…

THE OUT-OF-THE-BLUE June 15 announcement of Jay Z’s Magna Carta . . . Holy Grail was a watershed moment. Not just because it heralded Jay Z’s first album in four years, but its first week of availability would be courtesy of Samsung and not any label partner. In a deal worth $30 million in media spend, music rights and endorsement fees, Jay Z’s Roc Nation and Samsung changed the way a major album could be released and distributed. There was a blip of backlash, with some Samsung users fagging privacy concerns over the requested permissions included in the app. But six months later, Todd Pendleton, Samsung’s chief marketing officer for North America, considers the deal a huge success— and one that helped the company sell phones like its Galaxy S4.…

THE YEAR 2013 was truly one for the books, as the industry not only enjoyed its most robust year of this millennium, but by some metrics its best ever. Several of the business’ biggest companies racked up record numbers and underwent significant personnel changes, and big names made big moves, whether in the court room or on the road. Here are the biggest news stories of 2013. CONCERT BUSINESS BOOMS The touring industry has quantitatively put the Great Slump of 2010 firmly IRVING AZOFF STEPS DOWN AS LIVE NATION CHAIRMAN Technically, this might qualify as one of last year’s biggest stories, since Azof actually left Live Nation Entertainment on Dec. 31, 2012, but the shock reverberated well into this year, as the world’s largest promoter, ticketing company and management firm…

DIGITAL MUSIC companies have plenty of reason to dive into Internet radio. Mobile advertising, vital to mobile-first radio services, improved greatly in 2013. In their latest quarters, mobile ad revenue accounted for 49% and 58% of Facebook’s and Pandora’s earnings, respectively. And although on-demand services like YouTube or Spotify are changing the nature of the recorded-music business, people haven’t lost interest in listening to radio. A recent Edison Research survey says 53% of online Americans ages 12 and older are Internet radio users. Pandora had its share of headline-grabbing moments in 2013, which led to clashes with the music business. The company took the unprecedented step of purchasing a broadcast radio station in South Dakota to bring more certainty in the royalties it pays to music publishers through performing rights…

rom 2011 through 2012, the label world was subject to turmoil, as majors Warner Music Group (WMG) and EMI Music were put on the block and sold through the auction process. The uncertainty that distracted both staffers and artists has become routine in the music business. In comparison, 2013 was a time of relative stability and quiet. That is if you overlook the fact that Universal Music Group (UMG) almost got sold in behind-the-scenes negotiations as well as the actions of an activist shareholder who has been pushing Sony to sell of a chunk of its movie and music operations. And those sales could still happen. Shareholders continue to push for UMG parent Vivendi to unleash value by splitting up the media and telecoms giant, which could ultimately result in…

EVER SINCE THE 2010 U.S. Census numbers revealed that Latinos were not only the biggest minority in the country, but also were increasingly young, bicultural and bilingual, marketers, brands and media companies have been scrambling to figure out how to reach them. That race has included the music industry, with label interest in crossover-friendly acts surging in the past two years. But while the number of bilingual, bicultural U.S. Hispanics is impressive, engaging them is a whole other story “I’m not 100% sold with this bilingual thing, because you’re still dealing with a large demographic of people who are very immersed in Hispanic culture,” says producer Sergio George, whose indie label Top Stop initially signed and developed Prince Royce and is now home to 18-year-old bachata chanteuse Leslie Grace, whose…

AFTER DECADES BUBBLING in the underground, electronic dance music—or EDM, its loved/hated acronym—finally went corporate in 2013, with a speed usually reserved for sports cars and Silicon Valley. Informed by American youth’s intense love affair with big beats, the rapid-fre acquisitions, underwritings, partnerships and mergers have not only made overnight millionaires of formerly struggling rave promoters, they’ve changed the landscape of the industry forever, drawing clear battle lines in the lucrative festival market in particular. In this corner, charismatic businessman Robert F.X. Sillerman’s SFX Entertainment, which relaunched in June 2012 with the acquisition of Midwest event promoter Donnie Estopinal’s Disco Donnie Presents. But his biggest buys came later: DJ music site Beatport for $50 million, Australia’s biggest dance festival Stereosonic (and its parent company Totem OneLove) for more than $90…

FOR THE TOURING INDUSTRY, these are now—oficially—the best of times. “The concert business is basically on fire,” says veteran agent Dennis Arfa, president of Artists Group International (AGI). Anecdotal information from virtually every stakeholder in the live music business—including buyers, sellers, venues, vendors, ticketers and other ancillary providers—confirms the touring industry has been having a banner year since last spring. Now Billboard’s own metric, the Boxscore chart, validates these boom times from a numbers standpoint, with the most positive and promising trends of this century. The dark days for the industry that marked the close of this millennium’s first decade are not only firmly in the rear view, but now appear to be an anomaly, as 2013 Boxscore reports soared to a record level of $4.8 billion in gross ticket…

On the road this year, Bon Jovi’s Because We Can world tour has played to 2.7 million people in two dozen countries—making it the top tour and top draw at this year’s Billboard Touring Awards. And Island Def Jam, the group’s record company, views every one of those ticket buyers as a “potential album buyer,” according to president/ COO Steve Bartels. Granted, What About Now, Bon Jovi’s 12th studio album, hasn’t sold 2.6 million copies. But it has moved an estimated 1 million worldwide (according to IDJ), with 210,000 sold in the United States (according to Nielsen SoundScan). It reached the top five in more than 60 countries following its March release, including a third consecutive No. 1 on the Billboard 200. And much of that success is due to…

BY RICHARDE SMIRK For AEG Live president of international touring Rob Hallett, the members of Bon Jovi “are simply the masters of their craft.” Frontman Jon Bon Jovi “controls an audience like no artist that I have ever seen before. He has them in the palm of his hand. If he tells them to go out and invade the city, they probably would,” adds Hallett, who first worked with the act on the 2005-06 Have a Nice Day global trek and has looked after the band’s tours in the United Kingdom and Ireland ever since. “The thing about Bon Jovi is that they are remarkably consistent,” he continues. “I don’t think there is such a thing as a bad Bon Jovi show.” True to form, Bon Jovi’s eight outdoor dates…

Blue-eyed soul and hip-hop. New R&B breakthroughs. Rap icons still holding it down. Those are just a few of the key takeaways from 2013 in R&B and hiphop. Monitoring all this activity to draw a more detailed picture: a host of new R&B and rap charts. The new insights come thanks to a major methodology shift for Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart that began Oct. 20, 2012—the addition of streaming and download data plus the breakout of a separate R&B Songs tally. In keeping with the consumer-infuenced methodology adopted for the Billboard Hot 100, existing radio airplay data monitored by Nielsen BDS was aggregated with digital download sales tracked by Nielsen SoundScan and BDS streaming data. Other major changes included adding digital download sales and streaming data for the first…

Worship, rock, hip-hop and country are among the musical styles represented in the top 10 of the yearend Christian and gospel albums recaps, reflecting the diversity of sounds on today’s faith-based music landscape. Titles from worship leader Chris Tomlin, actress/singer Tamela Mann, country traditionalist Alan Jackson, rock/hip-hop veteran TobyMac and Georgia rock band Third Day all end 2013 in the top six slots of various year-end charts, showcasing the variety of sounds under the faith-based umbrella. Compilations perennially fare well with the Christian consumer, and Wow Hits 2013 (Provident/Word-Curb/Capitol CMG) tops the Christian Albums recap, followed by Tomlin’s Burning Lights (sixsteps/Sparrow/Capitol CMG), which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 when it arrived in January. Tomlin’s set got of to a strong start thanks to strategic marketing at the…

The top 25 Boxscores for the most recent chart year (Nov. 14, 2012-Nov. 12, 2013) are a microcosm of the main drivers right now in the overall touring industry: growth in international markets, festivals and artists with a strong digital presence. On the Top 25 Boxscores chart, 16 are from international markets, up from 14 last year. Conversely, only three U.S. concerts make the cut, with the other stateside dates being festivals. Festivals represent five slots on the list and four of the top five. And had more festivals reported their results to Billboard Boxscore—are you listening, Bonnaroo and Glastonbury?—festival representation would be much greater. Higher ticket prices and larger attendance make festivals a natural for boxscore domination. And one festival tops them all, with Coachella at the Empire Polo…

A combination of musical touring acts, family bookings and residency performances contributed to the success of midsize facilities during the 2013 touring season. In addition to the Top 10 Venues recaps of 15,001-plus-capacity arenas, amphitheaters and stadiums, Billboard’s annual touring charts include a tally ranking smaller-sized buildings in several categories. The Brisbane Entertainment Centre (BEC) in Australia nabs the No. 1 position on the Top 10 Venues tally for facilities with capacities between 10,001 and 15,000. Radio City Music Hall in New York holds the No. 1 spot on the Top 10 Venues list for buildings with capacities between 5,001 and 10,000. And, as seen in years past, the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas retains the No. 1 ranking on the Top 10 Venues tally for facilities with…

LEGEND Bullets indicate titles with greatest weekly gains. Album Charts Recording Industry Assn. of America (RIAA) certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 500,000 albums (Gold). RIAA certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 1 million units (Platinum). Numeral noted with Platinum symbol indicates album’s multiplatinum level. RIAA certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 10 million units (Diamond). Numeral noted with Diamond symbol indicates album’s multiplatinum level. Latin albums certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 50,000 units (Oro). Latin albums certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 100,000 units (Platino). Numeral noted with Platinum symbol indicates album’s multi-platinum level. Digital Songs Charts RIAA certification for 500,000 paid downloads (Gold). RIAA certification for 1 million paid downloads (Platinum). Numeral noted with platinum symbol indicates…

TYSON HALLER, VP of promotion and label services at Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA), could see the tides shifting at alternative radio in late August 2012. He had just taken Mackle more & Ryan Lewis’ “Thrift Shop” to WBRU Providence, R.I., when the PD heard the then unknown song and said, “Oh, yeah, someone just posted that video on my Facebook page yesterday.” That meeting quickly led to the first radio add for “Thrift Shop,” and signified what would soon become a larger change at the format. Viral hits like “Thrift Shop”—and soon Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” Lorde’s “Royals,” Avicii’s “Wake Me Up!” and several others—became multi format smashes in a matter of weeks, thanks to fan activity on YouTube, Spotify and other streaming services that helped the songs cross over…

Every five years or so, Ford Motor readies what it likes to call “white-space vehicles,” brand-new cars without a direct category or competitor. For its latest offering, the 2014 Transit Connect Wagon, Ford identified the vehicle’s key consumer as the “impassioned indie”— young individuals passionate about their hobbies and interests—and quickly turned to music to reach them. But rather than going the route of, say, the Grammy Awards or MTV’s Video Music Awards, Ford started smaller: It enlisted Pitchfork and indie label Iamsound’s in-house creative agency to help the company create “Artist Connect,” a Los Angeles-based concert series with Web content set to premiere on Pitchfork.com in January. A series of intimate shows were filmed at Mack Sennett Studios in the city’s Silverlake neighborhood, featuring the Transit Connect trucks as…

The digital download hit middle age in 2013. Although retirement may be far in the future, the download is getting pushed aside as consumers opt to experience music in other ways. Digital purchases are down almost across the board this year. Track sales are down 4.4% through Nov. 24, according to Nielsen Sound-Scan. Track-equivalent albums, where 10 tracks equal one album, are down 2.1%. Total digital purchases— tracks and digital albums—are down 4%. Track sales have been falling all year. In the first half of 2013, U.S. consumers bought between 23 million and 25 million tracks per week. In October and November, weekly track sales dropped below 20 million. Only digital albums are in positive territory, but those gains are quickly eroding. Through Nov. 24, digital albums are up 0.5%,…

UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP International chairman/CEO Max Hole has a wellrehearsed line about the relatively tiny revenue that Universal receives from music sales in China. “I often say to people that we probably make more money in [English county] Sussex than we do in China,” Hole says with a smile. “But the fact is that it is definitely growing.” Music sales climbed 9% in China in 2012, totaling $92.4 million, according to IFPI’s 2013 “Recording Industry in Numbers” report, which placed China as the world’s 20th-largest music market. That’s still disproportionately low for a country with a population of more than 1.3 billion, but China’s expanding music economy—at a time when many of the world’s leading markets, such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, have stalled or retracted—…

WHEN BIG MACHINE Label Group president/CEO Scott Borchetta addressed his staff at last year’s company retreat, he informed them that the theme for the coming year was “Disruption 2013.” As the year winds to a close, Borchetta can look back proudly at a mission accomplished. “Florida Georgia Line’s ‘Cruise.’ That was pretty disruptive, and we are proud of that disruption,” he says of the duo’s breakthrough hit, which logged 24 weeks atop Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart and crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100. Big Machine also had success with the Band Perry’s second LP, Pioneer, which solidified the sibling trio’s place in the format, while newcomer Thomas Rhett scored a No. 1 with “It Goes Like This” and Tim Mc-Graw started a new chapter in his career with…

URBAN CONSUMER POWER hit the festival circuit in a major way in 2013. This summer saw the debut of the BET Experience, a big entry in an arena long claimed by the Essence Festival, which saw record breaking numbers. An expansion of the network’s highly rated BET Awards, the three-day (June 28-30) BET Experience was christened by some 75,000 attendees at L.A. Live. Presented in association with L.A. Live developer and operator AEG Live, the entertainment and lifestyle festival marked the first time that AEG had staged such an immersive, multiday event at the downtown complex. In addition to A-list concerts headlined by Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Miguel, J. Cole and more, the BET Experience offered lifestyle seminars and panels, a food fest and tapings of the network’s hit…

The drug-related deaths of two young fans at the Electric Zoo festival (Aug. 30-Sept. 1), and the subsequent cancellation of its third day by the City of New York, changed the trajectory of the EDM explosion. But not in the way many expected. Instead of reviving the familiar moral panic about dance music and drugs, the tragedy opened up a long overdue dialogue about education and event safety, which resulted in visible changes just a few weeks later. Jefrey Russ, 23, and Olivia Rotondo, 20, both died after taking Molly, commonly thought to be “pure” MDMA, or ecstasy. The drug is more often an adulterated compound of several substances, from heroin to aspirin to speed. But it’s still seeped into popular culture, and not just through the EDM scene: Miley…

It all began with a free show for those stranded by a Nor’easter at the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Conn., and ended with Bon Jovi’s Because We Can ranking as the top tour in the world. That’s the third time in six years this global megaband has ruled the year-end boxscore chart, first in 2008 (Lost Highway), then 2010 (The Circle/Greatest Hits) and now this year’s tour. Why? Because they can. This is a band that has been around for 30 years, but whose touring numbers in this millennium are beyond impressive. Because We Can will wrap Dec. 17 in Brisbane, Australia, with 102 shows in 98 markets that moved 2,654,172 tickets resulting in a total gross of $255,699,527. That’s $255 million on an average ticket price of $96.…

Achieving three back-to-back No. 1 studio albums and topping Billboard’s year-end touring chart for the third time in six years proves that Bon Jovi is still at the top of its game after 30 years as a band and a brand. Accomplishing that in the Internet age, however, requires a considerable amount of coordination and forward thinking in both the digital and social spaces. To that end, Bon Jovi’s management works with a cast of digital players to communicate messages for the band and Jon Bon Jovi’s philanthropic initiatives. For Bon Jovi Management, the main player is Spark Art, a digital agency that creates websites, as well as build and test new technologies in the digital space. “CEO Naveen Jain and his team understand the grand vision and do whatever…

Bon Jovi has been good to Australia—and its people have been particularly good in return. The veteran rock band’s profile Down Under has proved unbreakable since Slippery When Wet climbed to the peak of the country’s albums chart in 1986. It’s now six-times platinum (420,000 units) and one of the group’s nine albums to hit the chart summit—a tally that includes the band’s most recent album, What About Now, which opened at No. 1 upon its release in March. There’s something almost effortless in the way the New Jersey rockers rack up big numbers. During its career, the act has sold 3 million albums in Australia, according to the Australian Recording Industry Assn.—a nation of 22 million residents. And when the group tours, like it has in 2013, ticket sales…

Aduo that wasn’t even signed to a major label two years ago dominates Billboard’s year-end country charts. Florida Georgia Line—the duo of Brian Kelley (from Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Tyler Hubbard (from Monroe, Ga.) not only top several year-end recaps but also bring their label home, Republic Nashville, to new heights. FGL scores the No.1 tune on the Hot Country Songs recap with “Cruise” and places two more tracks in the top 20 of the tally: “Get Your Shine On” at No. 7 and “Round Here” at No. 16. Those hits drive the group’s rise to No. 1 on the year-end Hot Country Songs Artists recap. Luke Bryan, Hunter Hayes (who, like FGL, broke through in 2012), Blake Shelton and Taylor Swift round out the top five on that year-end…

I’ts amazing how quickly a year goes by. It feels like just yesterday Billboard was honoring Adele and One Direction as top artist and top new artist, respectively, of 2012. But then again, that was when the Florida-Georgia line was just a map demarcation, a “20/20 experience” was a hopeful result of an eye exam and before the world revisited the merits of thrift shop purchases. It’s been another eventful year in music, and Billboard, as always, has been there to track the best of the best, each and every week. The Billboard charts department works throughout the year to prepare the rankings that grace the many pages of Billboard’s Year in Music issue. And this year, the number of charts swells to nearly 300, with 500-plus rankings available on…

The list of the top 25 tours according to Billboard Boxscore comprises the types of tours the industry likes to see: veteran superstars who should sell tickets, artists that broke a decade ago now showing legs and rejuvenation among breakout acts that have only become headliners in the past five years. Based on numbers reported to Boxscore from Nov. 14, 2012, through Nov. 12 of this year, the top 25 reveal a healthy live business. A wide range of genres is represented, indicative of a business that is fielding the acts that spur fans to buy tickets. “There is a huge amount of great new artists that are headlining, the older artists hang in, and I’m very bullish on our next window of time,” Creative Artists Agency (CAA) managing partner…

With more than $4.8 billion in ticket sales reported to Billboard this year from venues all around the globe, the touring industry proves once again to be a solid pillar of the music business. For many years, Billboard has been a major player in chronicling the business of live entertainment by providing continuing coverage of the industry throughout the year. Every week with boxscores—whether in the magazine or on one of the online platforms— Billboard provides a tally of a concert’s success by reporting two basic bits of information: the number of tickets sold and the money generated by the sale of those tickets. Box-ofice success varies greatly, and Billboard’s boxscore charts span the full spectrum. From the $93 earned from the 62 tickets sold at an August club date…

THESE MUSICIANS, EXECUTIVES AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES POWER PLAYERS LEFT US BEHIND, BUT THEIR IMPACT ON THE MUSIC INDUSTRY WILL LIVE ON POLLY ANTHONY (B. 1952) RECORD EXECUTIVE Former Epic Records president Polly Anthony was one of the first female executives to helm a major label. Instrumental in the successes of Macy Gray, Rage Against the Machine and the blockbuster “Titanic” soundtrack, Anthony began her career at RCA before moving on to Epic as an assistant, working her way up through senior VP of promotion and GM and head of 550 Music. After leading Epic, she became president of DreamWorks, then co-president of Gefen Records. In 2006, she became head of TV and film for Universal Music Group and then transitioned into executiveproducing film and TV projects in 2010. Anthony died Sept.…

WHEN MARY LAMBERT was a struggling beat poet/folk singer busking her way through Seattle’s cofee shops and street corners, she started a Kickstarter campaign to fund her first EP, Letters Don’t Talk. The big carrot she dangled for pledges of $1,000 was the chance to be her date to the Grammy Awards. “It was a little tongue-in-cheek,” she says. “So I threw in the disclaimer, ‘I don’t know when it’s happening—it could be in five years or 10.’” Make that three. Last Friday, Lambert was at Los Angeles’ Staples Center for the Grammy nominations concert when she heard that “Same Love,” the gay-rights anthem she co-wrote with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, was up for song of the year. “All these things went through my head, from times in my childhood…

MUSIC DOCUMENTARIES, AS a genre, do not perform well at the box office. Nor do they do particularly well on DVD, making the sizable slate of theatrical releases related to music in 2013 one of the year’s bountiful anomalies. “Searching for Sugar Man,” the 2012 film about a forgotten singer/songwriter, won the Academy Award for best documentary earlier this year, and it’s possible an audience thirst has developed for more stories about the unknown corners of pop music, especially that created in the ’60s and ’70s. Distributors placed at least 15 music-related documentaries in theaters in 2013, a strikingly high number for any year. More so than in years past, the subjects and stories were largely unknown. The most celebrated act to have its story told on film, the Eagles,…

FOR TWITTER, 2013 represented the best of times and the worst of times. Its initial public offering (IPO) in November was one of the most talked-about Wall Street events of the year. But its music app, designed to provide a separate platform for artists and new music, fell into obscurity soon after it launched in April. As the company’s first app dedicated to a single topic, Twitter #music arrived among great expectations, especially considering the high volume of tweets that naturally occur around music. If successful on its own, the app would’ve provided a potential blueprint for developing products around advertiser-friendly verticals, including news, TV and sports. Twitter #music had a solid enough debut when it arrived April 18, promising to “change the way people find music.” An invite-only prelaunch…

THE FUTURE OF the publishing industry in the digital age has ping-ponged this year between market rate negotiations, rate court rulings and consent decrees that predate digital disruption by more than a half century. And it’s now clear that back and forth will continue well into next year, as stake holders maneuver to be in the right position when the ball finally stops bouncing—if it ever does. Much of the year’s battling was set in motion in January, when the newly combined Sony/ATV-EMI music publishing powers used its market clout to negotiate a 25% royalty increase from Pandora. Universal Music Group and BMG pulled digital rights from ASCAP in hopes of following suit. Pandora argued that it had a license to all ASCAP repertoire thanks to the performing rights organization’s…

It seems impossible to imagine Kacey Mus graves’ breakout debut album, Same Trailer Different Park, without “Follow Your Arrow,” a button-pushing song about having a good time in one’s own skin. But the track barely made the album, stemming from a last-minute writing session in January. “The record was basically done, and I was getting a lot of pressure because there were already a lot of great songs in the batch,” says 25-yearold Musgraves. “But [co-writers] Brandy [Clark], Shane [McAnally] and I had these ideas and they just really encapsulated where my head was at. I knew exactly what I wanted to do sonically, and I said, ‘This isn’t a complete record without them.’” Upon the release of Same Trailer Different Park in March, “Follow Your Arrow” became a tempest…

One of 2013’s bright spots was the success of Universal Pictures’ “The Best Man Holiday” and its RCA soundtrack. The movie headlined a mother lode of films and TV projects primarily featuring African-American casts. And these projects—including VH1’s “Crazy Sexy Cool: The TLC Story” and early Academy Award flavorite “12 Years a Slave”—provided new and renewed exposure for R&B/hip-hop artists. In fact, the Broadcast Film Critics Assn. partnered with the House of Blues to produce “Celebration of Black Cinema,” an event set for Jan. 7 at the HOB in West Hollywood. “Never has a single year featured such a wide range of movies with such memorable performances in front of and behind the camera,” BFCA president Joey Berlin says. “It’s a perfect storm that resulted in a slew of quality…

Bruno Mars rules as Billboard’s top artist of the year for 2013. The singer/songwriter triumphs thanks to the incredibly consistent performance of his most recent album, Unorthodox Jukebox, and its singles. Mars is the first man to rule as artist of the year since 2008, when Chris Brown topped the year-end Top Artists tally. Since then, it’s been an exclusive club of solo women, with Taylor Swift taking the honor in 2009, Lady Gaga in 2010, and Adele in 2011 and 2012. Billboard’s year-end music recaps are based on chart performance during the chart year that began with last year’s Dec. 1 issue and ended with the Nov. 30, 2013, issue. The year-end Top Artists category ranks the best-performing acts of the year derived from activity on the weekly Billboard…

Jon Bon Jovi is en route from the airport to the hotel in Melbourne, Australia, having just spent his day of on an 11-hour flight from Japan. Despite its massive success, his band’s current Because We Can tour has been a “complicated” outing, with the joy of packed arenas and stadiums of set by the “speed bumps” of snowstorms, band personnel issues and moving more than 2.6 million tickets in a still sour global economy. Yet, in the home stretch of the tour that will end triumphantly Down Under, the band’s namesake is remarkably upbeat, vigorous even, showing little sign of the wear and tear brought on by the latest tour in three decades of playing shows. Clearly, Bon Jovi digs the gig, and the “CEO of the band” label…

Bon Jovi dates memorable for execs “On Oct. 22, 2009, while the new stadium was still being built, Bon Jovi treated over 5,000 fans, including the stadium’s construction team, to a surprise concert in the parking lot. That day, the band announced they would open MetLife Stadium with a series of four shows in May and July of 2010 and continue the tradition of playing history-making shows in their [New Jersey] hometown. The announcement received overwhelming support from the fans and all four sold-out shows [May 26-27, May 29, July 9] that year were amazing. Since then, Bon Jovi has returned for two more shows, making them the No. 1-selling act at MetLife Stadium. We’ve always had a great relationship with Bon Jovi and are thankful for all the years…

What does it take to mount a stadium show for Bon Jovi, from the days before the show to the hours beyond the encore? Bon Jovi touring production manager Jesse Sandler offered a detailed look from the band’s current Because We Can tour. —RW DAY 1 Steel load-in. Mark out the stage and start building towers. DAY 2 Steel load-in continues. Eight hours of building the stage, sound delay towers and spotlight towers. DAY 3 Steel load-in continues. Eight hours of building the stage, the front-of-house structure and finishing touches. DAY 4 Advance crew load-in (power, some lights, catering, rigging, inflatable sand gutter). Bon Jovi advance crew consists of riggers, power, caterers, stage manager, lighting and seven trucks. Each team leapfrogs shows, loading in the advance gear that allows the…

A year after her death, the memory of Jenni Rivera propels the artist to No. 1 on the year-end Top Latin Artists chart, a tally that takes into consideration airplay, downloads and streaming—but in Rivera’s case, it was all about album sales. The regional Mexican diva—who died Dec. 9, 2012, after her private airplane crashed in Mexico—has dominated Spanish-language media for the past year. On Billboard’s year-end charts, she tops the Regional Mexican Albums and Latin Pop Albums recaps with La Misma Gran Señora and Joyas Prestadas: Pop, respectively (both on Fonovisa). Rivera also comes in at No. 1 on the year-end Top Latin Albums chart with La Misma Gran Señora, which arrived days after her death. Prince Royce lands at No. 2 on the Top Latin Artists recap, propelled…

TOP ARTISTS Pos. ARTIST Imprint/Label 1 BRUNO MARS Atlantic 2 TAYLOR SWIFT Big Machine 3 JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE RCA 4 RIHANNA SRP/Def Jam/IDJMG 5 MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS Macklemore 6 P!NK RCA 7 IMAGINE DRAGONS KIDinaKORNER/Interscope 8 ONE DIRECTION SYCO/Columbia 9 MILEY CYRUS RCA 10 MAROON 5 A&M/Octone/Interscope 11 DRAKE Young Money/Cash Money/Republic 12 JUSTIN BIEBER SchoolBoy/Raymond Braun/Island/IDJMG 13 LUKE BRYAN Capitol Nashville 14 KATY PERRY Capitol 15 FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE Republic Nashville 16 BLAKE SHELTON Warner Bros. Nashville/WMN 17 EMINEM Web/Shady/Aftermath/Interscope 18 JAY Z Roc-A-Fella/Roc Nation 19 ROBIN THICKE Star Trak/Interscope 20 THE LUMINEERS Dualtone 21 LIL WAYNE Young Money/Cash Money/Republic 22 MUMFORD & SONS Gentleman Of The Road/Glassnote 23 BAAUER Jefree’s/Mad Decent 24 LORDE Lava/Republic 25 LADY GAGA Streamline/Interscope 26 PHILLIP PHILLIPS 19/Interscope 27 SELENA GOMEZ Hollywood 28 JASON…

The highest-grossing arenas around the world experienced another successful season with sellout concerts by such international touring superstars as P!nk, One Direction, Bon Jovi, the Rolling Stones, Beyoncé, Muse, Lady Gaga, Michael Bublé, Justin Bieber and Rihanna. Billboard’s year-end touring recaps are compiled from Boxscore data reported between the Nov. 14, 2012, issue and the one dated Nov. 12, 2013. For the fifth consecutive year, London’s O2 Arena is the No. 1 top-grossing arena in the world on the Top 10 Venues chart for buildings with a capacity of 15,001 or more. In November, the facility also won the top arena honor at the 10th annual Billboard Touring Awards. “A combination of the quality of our excellent event content, world-class facilities and brilliant teamwork contributed to a fantastic 12 months…

OVER THE COUNTER KEITH CAULFIELD Garth’s Ninth No. 1; Britney’s Top 10 Debut Garth Brooks’ boxed set tops the Billboard 200, while ‘Britney Jean’ starts at No. 4 Garth Brooks earns his ninth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, as his new boxed set Blame It All on My Roots: Five Decades of Influences jumps 3-1 in its second week. The sizable set (which contains six CDs and two DVDs) is exclusively sold through Walmart, and moves another 146,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. A week ago, it bowed at No. 3 with 164,000 from less than four days of sales (it was released on Thanksgiving). The set carries a list price of $29.98, but is sale-priced for $24.96. Among all acts, Brooks is tied with the Rolling Stones…

Source: Nielsen SoundScan Trend Report: A Decade Of Albums Of The Year 1 CARRIE UNDERWOOD Some HeartsIt’s the only album among the last 10 year-end champs that didn’t hit No. 1 on the weekly Billboard 200. Underwood’s debut album opened at No. 2 on the list (behind Madonna’s Confessions on a Dance Floor), in the first week of the 2006 chart year (Dec. 3, 2005). Its sturdy chart performance (20 weeks in the top 10 that year) helped place it at No. 1 for 2006. 2 2009 TAYLOR SWIFT FearlessThe album debuted on the Billboard 200 dated Nov. 29, 2008—the final chart week of the 2008 year. So, its first week doesn’t count toward its 2009 victory at No. 1. Swift didn’t ultimately need that opening frame, as the set…