Yung Gravy rolls to his first top 10 on Billboard‘s Hot Rap Songs chart as “Betty (Get Money)” darts from No. 12 to No. 9 on the list dated Sept. 3. The track concurrently climbs 45-39 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, where Yung Gravy similarly reaches the top 40 for the first time, with his first entry on the ranking.
The song’s chart gains stem from improvements in the streaming and radio airplay sectors. The single registered 8.2 million U.S. official on-demand streams in the week ending Aug. 25, according to Luminate, a 3% boost from the previous week. Following the uptick, “Betty” re-enters the Rap Streaming Songs chart at No. 11, after reaching No. 5, and rebounds 43-37 on the overall Streaming Songs chart, two spots short of its No. 35 best.
Radio airplay is strongest in the pop and rhythmic formats, with “Betty” ascending 20-18 on the Pop Airplay chart and repeating at the same rank on the Rhythmic Airplay list. (All radio airplay, regardless of format origin, contributes to titles’ ranks on the Hot Rap Songs chart.) On the former, the two-spot climb is owed to a 14% increase in plays on reporting U.S. monitored mainstream top 40 stations in the week ending Aug. 28. On the latter, “Betty” registered a 7% improvement in weekly plays on chart panelists.
In addition to those formats, “Betty” debuts on Rap Airplay at No. 24 with a 16% swell in audience listenership for the week. Likewise, the track enters the all-genre Radio Songs list at No. 48, with a 21% surge to 12 million audience impressions in the week ending Aug. 25.
Although he has charted multiple sets on both the all-genre Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums since June 2019, 26-year-old rapper Yung Gravy, whose real name is Matthew Hauri, is earning his major breakthrough with “Betty.” The tune went viral on TikTok shortly after its July release, with many clips parodying the rapper’s white coat and retro fashion choices. Plus, the song borrows prominent elements of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up,” which, in addition to being viral hit of its own via Rickrolling videos and other Internet parodies, was itself a major success, topping the Hot 100 for two weeks in March 1988.
Gravy performed “Betty” during the pre-show for Sunday’s 2022 MTV Video Music Awards and made a viral red-carpet appearance with Addison Rae’s mom Sheri Easterling as his date. Any gains from his VMAs appearance would affect next week’s charts.
Think pink! Thanks to the success of BLACKPINK‘s latest single, music fans the world over have been covered in “Pink Venom.”
The K-pop girl group’s lead track from their upcoming sophomore album Born Pink debuted at No. 1 on both Billboard Global charts (dated Sept. 3) as well as in the top 25 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving the quartet the biggest unaccompanied chart hit of their careers. And with Blinks and new fans alike tasting that pink venom on repeat, here at Billboard, we got reminiscing about other “pink” songs throughout pop music history.
Several of our editors and staffers chose their favorite rosy-hued tracks while breaking down BLACKPINK’s latest success story — from James Bay‘s under-appreciated “Pink Lemonade” to Ariana Grande‘s unreleased fan-favorite track “Pink Champagne” — but we want to know which “pink” song from the annals of music history makes you say, “Everything’s coming up roses!”
There are plenty of options to choose, as the penchant for all things pink has crossed decades and genres, including rock (Aerosmith‘s “Pink,” Robert Plant‘s “Pink and Black”), old-school hip-hop (LL Cool J‘s tongue-twisting “Pink Cookies in a Plastic Bag Getting Crushed by Buildings,” Da Brat‘s “Pink Lemonade”) or something a little more psychedelic (The Flaming Lips‘ “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots,” anyone?).
Contemporary favorites like Janelle Monaé‘s Grammy-nominated “Pynk” and Frank Ocean‘s “Pink + White” also bump up against legendary artists like Bruce Springsteen (“Pink Cadillac”), Elton John (“Pinky”) and Prince (“Pink Cashmere”) in the battle for pink supremacy.
Vote for your favorite pink-toned track in Billboard‘s latest poll below.
tobyMac‘s new LP Life After Death launches atop Billboard‘s Top Christian Albums chart (dated Sept. 3). Released Aug. 19, the set earned 16,000 equivalent album units, with 12,000 in album sales, in the tracking week ending Aug. 25, according to Luminate.
The coronation marks tobyMac’s sixth on Top Christian Albums, among 12 top 10s, with the entirety of his leaders having started at the summit.
Concurrently, tobyMac (aka Toby McKeehan) banks his seventh No. 1 on Billboard‘s streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Christian Songs list, as Life After Death lead single “The Goodness,” featuring Blessing Offor, leaps from No. 5 to the summit. It’s the first No. 1 among three appearances for Nigerian-born singer-songwriter Blessing Offor.
“The Goodness” holds at its No. 4 Christian Airplay high with 7.6 million audience impressions (up 1%). It also drew 1.4 million official streams and sold 1,000 downloads in the U.S. in the Aug. 19-25 tracking week.
“The Goodness” marks tobyMac’s first Hot Christian Songs chart-topper since “I Just Need U.” hit No. 1 for a week when it arrived atop the ranking in January 2018. In between his latest leaders, he banked five top 10s, through “Promised Land” (No. 9 peak this February), his 25th of 26 top 10s. tobyMac’s first No. 1, “Made to Love,” dominated for nine frames beginning in December 2006.
Meanwhile, the 15-song Life After Death marks tobyMac’s first Top Christian Albums No. 1 since The Elements opened at the apex in October 2018. Bridging his most recent No. 1s, The St. Nemele Collab Sessions, a set of reimagined hits with guests including Cory Asbury, Matt Maher and Sarah Reeves, hit No. 15 in September 2019 and The Lost Demos reached No. 11 in May 2020.
‘Sure’-Fire Hit
Brian Courtney Wilson achieves his third Gospel Airplay leader as his latest single “Sure As” reaches the pinnacle following a 6% gain in plays.
The hit was co-authored by Wilson, a Chicago native now based in Missouri City, Texas.
“Sure As” follows “Still,” which became Wilson’s second No. 1 for a week in June 2021. He made his first trip to the penthouse in October 2018, when “A Great Work” began a three-week rule. He boasts six top 10s, starting with his debut entry, “All I Need,” which hit No. 6 in February 2010.
Yung Gravy is hitting back at those who are criticizing his decision to bring TikTok star Addison Rae‘s mother, Sheri Easterling, to the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday (Aug. 28).
The “Betty (Get Money)” rapper replied to a tweet from user @WhatsTrending, who posted a video of Gravy and Easterling sharing a kiss, writing, “We would not want to be @AddisonRae today as she’s trending alongside her mom @sherinicolee [eyes emoji] Sheri is causing quite the internet stir after attending the @vmas as @yunggravy‘s date and showing lots of PDA on the red carpet.”
“she’s newly single and living her life. leave her alone lol,” Gravy wrote in response on Monday (Aug. 29).
Gravy and Easterling’s flirtatious relationship began after news broke that the 42-year-old’s estranged husband, Monty Lopez, had been seen withyounger women.
26-year-old Gravy began flirting with Easterling on an episode of the Jeff FM podcast as well as in a number of TikTok videos, but their flirty online interactions prompted Lopez to post a strange video in which the 46-year-old challenged Gravy to a boxing match.
Following the viral VMAs moment, Lopez took to his Instagram Stories to throw some shade at the unexpected couple. “Thank you @younggravy for taking the leftovers,” he captioned a shirtless selfie on Sunday. “I would rather spend time with my daughter and 2 grandkids that Sheri Nicole made me abandon as a child in order to be with her,” he continued, though it is unclear what children he is referring to. Lopez and Easterling 21-year-old Addison and two sons 14-year-old Enzo and eight-year-old Lucas.
Concerts slowly returned from the COVID shutdown over the summer and fall of 2021 and hit the ground running earlier in 2022. But with the wrap of Kenny Chesney’s Here and Now tour, we’re officially back in business. The country superstar has launched summer tours in 18 of the century’s 23 years so far, and his presence on the arena and stadium circuit continues to represent the steadiest of hands.
The Here and Now tour, originally labeled as the Chilaxification Tour in its scheduled 2020 routing, closed after 41 shows, grossing $135 million and selling 1.3 million tickets, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. That makes it the highest-grossing tour of Chesney’s career and just barely slides into second based on ticket sales.
Much like 2018’s Trip Around the Sun Tour, 2016’s Spread the Love Tour and many other Chesney specials throughout the 21st century, his latest oscillated between domestic stadiums and arenas from April to August. He began with a bang, playing Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium to the tune of $8.6 million and 58,000 tickets, the highest-grossing show of the tour…until the very last minute.
As is tradition for Chesney, the Here and Now tour closed at Foxborough’s Gillette Stadium, the Boston-area venue that has served as the final stop on all of his tours dating back to 2011. The Aug. 26-27 double-header grossed $13 million and sold 122,000 tickets; both figures are all-time highs across Chesney’s three-decade career.
Chesney played his first of 19 shows at Gillette on 2005’s Somewhere in the Sun Tour. Accounting for reports from his latest stop, his total take at the venue has now crossed the $100 million mark ($100.7 million) and the 1 million ticket threshold (1.1 million).
The Here and Now tour’s attendance of 1.299 million makes it Chesney’s 13th tour to cross the seven-figure benchmark, dating back to 2003’s Margaritas ‘n Senoritas Tour. Those numbers range between 1.034 million (Sun City Carnival Tour; 2009) and 1.335 million (The Big Revival tour; 2015). No other artist in Boxscore history has a double-digit tally of million-ticket tours.
Here and Now is also Chesney’s third $100-million tour, passing previous highs reached on the Trip Around the Sun Tour ($114.3 million) and 2015’s The Big Revival tour ($114.1 million). Across more than 20 years of touring, his annual gross has grown steadily, only dipping twice — once in 2009 and again with 2016’s markedly shorter run. Kenny Chesney On Tour (2000-01) earned $8.6 million across 82 shows, beginning his slow climb to this year’s $135 million haul.
The Here and Now tour was promoted by Messina Touring Group/AEG Presents. Opening acts included Dan + Shay, Old Dominion and Carly Pearce.
All told, Chesney has grossed $1.2 billion and sold 17.9 million tickets across his career, dating back to early reports in 1995.
Natti Natasha, Daddy Yankee, and Wisin & Yandel take over atop Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart as “Mayor Que Usted” rises 5-1 on the Sept. 3-dated ranking. Natti captures her 10th ruler, Yankee his 27th while Wisin & Yandel clock their 15th champ as a duo.
“Mayor Que Usted” laps all competitors in the No. 1 race boosted by a 31% in audience impressions, to 9.47 million, earned in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 28, according to Luminate. The track, released June 16 via Pina/Sony Music Latin, reaches the No. 1 slot as the Greatest Gainer of the week, in its 10th frame.
With the new champ, Daddy Yankee achieves his 27th leader, and continues as the act with the fourth-most No. 1s among all Latin acts since Latin Airplay launched in 1994.
Wisin & Yandel, meanwhile, clock their 15th win as a duo. As a solo act, however, Wisin ranks among the top 5. Here’s the leaderboard:
35, J Balvin
32, Enrique Iglesias
28, Ozuna
27, Daddy Yankee
22, Wisin
21, Maluma
19, Romeo Santos
18, Bad Bunny
18, Ricky Martin
For Natti, “Mayor” marks her 10th Latin Airplay No. 1 and third through a Daddy Yankee collaboration. The pair previously partnered up with two back-to-back champs: “No Lo Trates,” with Pitbull, and “Runaway,” with Sebastián Yatra and Jonas Brothers, both one-week rulers in 2019. “Otra Cosa,” her first collab with Daddy Yankee, narrowly missed the No. 1 slot, hitting No. 11 in 2017.
“Mayor” also climbs to the Latin Rhythm Airplay summit in its 10th week with the most increased audience honors. While Natti continues to rank second among female acts with nine No. 1s (Karol G continues at the helm with 13 champs), Daddy Yankee ties with J Balvin for the most overall, both with 34 hits.
Camdenton Police and the Camden County Sheriff’s department are warning people to lock their vehicles after a rash of car break-ins.
There have been five car break-ins in recent weeks. The police chief says a security video appears to show a young man checking cars in a parking lot before finding one unlocked.
M.I.A. has teased a pair of high-profile collaborators fans can expect on her upcoming album MATA.
“COMING SOON I PROMISE,” the British rapper wrote of the studio set on her Instagram Stories over a snippet of a yet-to-be-released track. “I HAD TO WAIT 2 YEARS FOR A DOJA CAT VERSE …. THEN A NICKI [Minaj] ONE… THEN A …. NEVER MIND IF MATA [ISN’T] OUT SEPT I WILL LEAK IT MYSELF.”
At the same time, she also blasted the teaser of the untitled new song on her feed, though it’s unclear if that particular cut is the one that will featuring Doja and/or Minaj.
While M.I.A. has yet to share an official release date for her latest studio set, it’s expected to serve as the long-awaited follow-up to her 2016 LP AIM, and will also include singles “The One” and “Popular.” In the viral music video for the latter, the singer contends with an A.I. android doppelgänger named M.A.I. who’s been programmed to become the unsettlingly perfect version of an Instagram influencer.
“The genre of music that — genres, I should say — is all very much like egocentric. It’s not like I’m an artist that came through gospel or something. For me, it was like to have that journey, and also, it was a significant time to discuss like Islamophobia … talking about wars in the Middle East, and things like that,” M.I.A. teased about the sound of the album back in May in an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe.
Reunited goth rock legends Bauhaus cancelled the their scheduled 2022 North American tour dates on Wednesday (August 31). A spokesperson for the group said in a statement that the dates were pulled because singer Peter Murphy is entering a rehab facility to “attend to his health and well-being.”
At press time the spokesperson said no other information was available about Murphy’s health. Ticketholders are encouraged to contact their point of purchase for refunds.
The group that formed in Northampton, England in 1978 has reunited several times since splitting in 1983, most recently in 2019 after a 13-year break for a three-show stand at the Hollywood Palladium. Following a COVID-19 pandemic lay-off, they returned to the road in late 2021 and performed at the Cruel World festival in Pasadena, California in May of this year before playing a string of West Coast shows in May and a handful of European gigs in June and August; their most recent concert was in Portugal on August 27.
The North American tour was slated to kick off on Sept. 6 with a show in Toronto, before moving on to dates in New York, Philadelphia, Washington (DC), Boston, New Haven (CT), Detroit, St. Paul, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta and Denver before wrapping up at Radio City Music Hall in New York on New Year’s Eve.
In March, the band released their first new track in 14 years, the dreamy, “Drink the New Wine,” which they recorded during the pandemic lockdown using the “exquisite Corpse” method in which each member came up with their respective sections without seeing what the other was doing.
“Bauhaus have used this technique in the past to great effect,” they said in a statement at the time. “The title refers to the very first Cadavre exquis’ drawing rendered by André Breton, Marcel Duchamp, Jacques Prévert and Yves Tanguy which included words which when strung together made up the sentence, ‘Le cadavre exquis boiara le vin nouveau’ (‘The exquisite corpse will drink the new wine.”)”
It was the first new music from the group since their 2008 reunion album Go Away White; they split once again before mounting a tour in support of that collection.
In August 2019, Murphy, 65, suffered a heart attack that forced the cancellation of a solo residency at New York’s Le Poisson Rouge. In a statement at the time he told fans he had made a “full recovery” after experiencing shortness of breath that necessitated treatment for a myocardial infarction.
Hound Dog” is back in the building on top 40 radio. Doja Cat‘s “Vegas,” from the hitElvis movie soundtrack, reaches the top 10 of Billboard‘s Pop Airplay chart, rising from No. 12 to No. 10 on the latest list, dated Sept. 3. The song samples Big Mama Thornton’s 1952 classic “Hound Dog,” which Elvis Presley famously covered, sending his version to No. 1 on multiple Billboard charts in 1956.
Meanwhile, “Vegas,” released on House of Iona/Kemosabe/RCA Records, is one of numerous interpolations infusing radio playlists. Joining “Vegas” in the Pop Airplay top 10, Lizzo’s “About Damn Time,” at No. 4, reworks the World’s Famous Supreme Team’s “Hey! DJ,” from 1984; Jack Harlow’s “First Class” (No. 8) brings back the hook of Fergie’s 2007 hit “Glamorous,” featuring Ludacris; and Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul” (No. 9) samples Robin S.’s 1993 club anthem “Show Me Love.”
Adding to the current nostalgic boom, Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” places at No. 5 on Pop Airplay. Originally released in 1985, the song has hit new heights this summer sparked by its prominent sync in the fourth season of Netflix’s Stranger Things.
Beyond radio airplay, the songs above have all excelled in streaming and on the multi-metric Billboard Hot 100 chart, with “About Damn Time,” “First Class” and “Break My Soul” all having hit No. 1. On the Sept. 3 survey, “Vegas” hits a new No. 23 high. Also currently in the Hot 100’s top 40: DJ Khaled’s “Staying Alive” (featuring Drake and Lil Baby), which borrows from the Bee Gees’ 1978 disco-defining “Stayin’ Alive,” ranks at No. 27, two weeks after debuting at its No. 5 best, and Yung Gravy’s “Betty (Get Money),” which reimagines Rick Astley’s breakout 1988 single “Never Gonna Give You Up,” jumps 45-39.
(Country is drawing on its past, too: Cole Swindell’s “She Had Me at Heads Carolina” renews Jo Dee Messina’s 1996 hit “Heads Carolina, Tails California”; it holds at its No. 18 Hot 100 high – Swindell’s best career rank.)
Pop radio programmers are welcoming such songs’ built-in familiarity, while also ever aware of an over-reliance on any one style, given the format’s trademark balancing of textures.
“In moderation, borrowed lyrics and melodies to create a fresh piece of art add another welcome layer to our presentation,” says Alex Tear, SiriusXM vp of pop music and programming. “There will certainly be mixed emotions on how each is ultimately received. We’ll watch audience reaction and adjust as needed to keep the most popular titles rotating.”
As for “Vegas,” which SiriusXM Pop Airplay panelists Hits 1, TikTok Radio and Venus played 61, 44 and 37 times, respectively, in the Aug. 22-28 tracking week, according to Luminate, Tear says that the track helps keep “pop’s DNA creative, versatile and fun, with amazing structure and production to modernize and elevate a classic.”
“It’s safe to say Doja Cat can do no wrong,” praises R Dub!, who helms programming for Pop Airplay reporter XHTZ San Diego, which played “Vegas” 56 times in the latest tracking week.
He muses that while samples can help fast-track listeners’ bonds with songs, depending on age (of both listeners and songs), any artistic creation is new to you if you haven’t previously experienced it. (Reboot culture has, of course, also permeated TV and film, while music, long before the latest group of hits, already sported a long history of reinterpretations, including, notably, in hip-hop.)
“As for the ‘You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog’ lyric, it’s the classic what’s-old-is-new cliché. It’s why Surf Mesa’s ‘ily’ did so well,” R Dub! says, citing the No. 2 Pop Airplay hit, featuring Emilee, in 2020 that revives the “I love you, baby” hook of Frankie Valli’s 1967 favorite “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.” “These classic lyrics are brand new to much of our audience. I remember being a kid and sharing Al B. Sure!’s [1990 cover of] ‘Hotel California’ with my dad and being surprised when he sang along: How the heck did my dad know Al B. Sure!? As a 14-year-old, I had no clue about the [1977 rock staple] from the Eagles.”
R Dub! adds that the current run of interpolations “reminds me of the ’90s, when [so many] hip-hop hits sampled ’70s and ’80s music,” from Al B. Sure! to such 1997 Hot 100 No. 1s as Puff Daddy and Faith Evans’ “I’ll Be Missing You” (featuring 112), which updates The Police’s 1983 ballad “Every Breath You Take” – and which followed his “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down” (featuring Mase), which interpolates Matthew Wilder’s 1984 hit “Break My Stride,” Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You,” from 1979, and more.
“We’ll see how long the trend lasts,” R Dub! says.
Mark Anderson, Audacy vp of programming overseeing Pittsburgh’s Pop Airplay reporter WBZZ, which played “Vegas” 98 times last week, says, “Anything that gets our audience fired up about current pop music is a good thing.” He feels that it’s “for the audience to decide” if too many reworkings of older songs cause listener tune-out.
“Not too many interpolations for me,” says Erik Bradley, assistant program director-music director at WBBM-FM Chicago, also pointing out the latest such Pop Airplay hit: Elton John and Britney Spears’ “Hold Me Closer,” which debuts at No. 30 on the Sept. 3 chart. The new mash-up blends the chorus of John’s 50-year-old “Tiny Dancer” and the verses of his 30-year-old “The One.” “Familiarity,” Bradley says, “always is a bonus.”
Meanwhile, one location especially welcoming of “Vegas” is in Mississippi – Presley’s home state.
“‘Vegas’ is a great record for the sound of Y101 for a few different reasons,” explains Matt Mony WYOY Jackson, Miss., pd. The station played the song 42 times in the Aug. 22-28 tracking week. “While it naturally has pop appeal because it’s Doja Cat, the ‘Hound Dog’ sample really gives us something that stands out on the air. With the anniversary of Elvis’ death [Aug. 16] and so many people here visiting Tupelo [where Presley was born], we truly got a summertime hit that felt like it belonged to Mississippi. It all came together at the right time.
“As far as interpolations go,” says Mony, “I’m loving hearing some fun samples in our playlist. This has been a unique year for pop music so far, with Kate Bush, ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ getting new life, Elvis on the radio through Doja Cat, Elton John back with Britney … I think it’s proving pop music can come in many sounds, and it’s giving top 40 radio the opportunity to embrace variety.”
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