Month: August 2022

The BMI Foundation’s annual Nashville Songwriting Scholarship is set to be revised and renamed after Dolly Parton.

The Dolly Parton Songwriters Award will be an annual, nationwide competition that is open to aspiring songwriters. The inaugural award will be presented in 2023, while applications will be accepted beginning in October. The program will offer up to $20,000 for two of the best original song entries in the genres of Americana, blues, bluegrass, contemporary Christian, country folk and roots. BMI initially launched the award in 2015 under the name Nashville Songwriting Scholarship, to celebrate the company’s 75th anniversary.

The foundation also establishes the Dolly Parton Music Fund, which will underwrite the annual awards given to new songwriters, as well as programs to supplement music education in public schools (the awards will be eligible to be used as a career grant for study, purchasing instruments, recording costs or other professional expenses). Endowments funding this program include a leading gift from Sony Music Publishing’s Rusty Gaston, as well as a contribution from country artist Luke Combs from his recent BMI Parking Lot Party, which celebrated nine of his Billboard No. 1 hits.

“I know how personal and important songwriting is to those that have the talent, and to all the others that enjoy those that have it,” Parton said in a statement. “I’m proud to be part of a program that will help support songwriting in any way possible. Thanks to Sony Music Publishing, Luke Combs, and all the others that feel the same way and want to help support it. I have been with BMI since I published my first song as a child, so of course I’m very proud and honored to have a BMI Songwriters Award made in my honor.”

“The Dolly Parton Music Fund will support the work of the BMI Foundation for years to come and make a meaningful difference in the lives of our nation’s emerging songwriters,” BMI Foundation board member and BMI vp, creative Clay Bradley added in a statement. “We are excited to be working with Dolly Parton on this program, not only honoring her legacy as a songwriter, but her unwavering commitment to fostering new talent, music education, and music appreciation.”

Beyoncé ascends to No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart for the first time in a lead role since 2015 with “Break My Soul,” which leads the list dated Aug. 6. The single advances from No. 2 after a 10% gain in audience to 22.3 million in the week ending July 31, according to Luminate. Its raw audience gain – of 2 million – also secures the song the weekly Greatest Gainer honor.

“Soul” is the lead single from Beyoncé’s Renaissance album, which was released Friday (July 29). The set is expected to arrive with one of the biggest weeks of 2022, and is the frontrunner for next week’s No. 1 rank on the Billboard 200.

With her new champ, Beyoncé achieves her first R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay No. 1 since her featured turn on Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” completed a three-week rule in 2020. The superstar collects her ninth solo career No. 1 (aside from her work in Destiny’s Child), breaking her from a tie with Alicia Keys to become the woman with the most No. 1s on the list outright.

Here’s a rundown of Queen Bey’s chart-topping collection on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay:

• “Crazy in Love,” featuring Jay-Z, four weeks at No. 1, beginning July 19, 2003
• “Baby Boy,” featuring Sean Paul, five, Sept. 27, 2003
• “Irreplaceable,” nine, Dec. 2, 2006
• “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” 12, Nov. 29, 2008
• “Love on Top,” seven, March 10, 2012
• “Drunk in Love,” featuring Jay-Z, eight, Feb. 1, 2014
• “7/11,” five, Feb. 14, 2015
• “Savage,” Megan Thee Stallion featuring Beyoncé, three, May 30, 2020
• “Break My Soul,” one (to date), Aug. 6, 2022

And, as she climbs the leaderboard, here are the current standings for artists with the most No. 1s on the chart since it launched in 1993:

• 28, Drake
• 15, Usher
• 12, Lil Wayne
• 9, Beyoncé
• 9, Chris Brown
• 8, Alicia Keys
• 8, Jay-Z
• 8, R. Kelly

Beyond its R&B/hip-hop coronation, “Soul” is connecting at several other radio formats. The track next looks to conquer the Adult R&B Airplay list, where it moves 4-3 following a 12% boost in plays in the week ending July 31. Rhythmic Airplay also presents another top-five showing, with “Soul” rising 6-5 after a 14% increase in plays. On the pop side, the tune lifts 13-12 on Pop Airplay (up 9% in plays) and steps 19-18 on Adult Pop Airplay (up 18%).

Resonance across multiple radio formats fuels the song’s No. 4 repeat standing on the all-genre Radio Songs chart. Despite no movement in position, “Soul” improves 10% in audience to 56.5 million in the week ending July 29.

Manuel Turizo snags his second No. 1 on Billboard’s Tropical Airplay chart — and first as a lead artist — as “La Bachata” ascends from No. 4 to lead the Aug. 6-dated ranking.

“La Bachata” sends Don Omar, Wisin and Gente de Zona’s “Soy Yo” to No. 3 after four consecutive weeks in charge. “Bachata,” released May 26 via La Industria/Sony Music Latin, collected 5.6 million in audience impressions in the U.S. in the week ending July 31, according to Luminate, up 18% gain from the week prior.

The new champ is another achievement for La Industria imprint, which claims its first No. 1 on Tropical Airplay among four titles, dating back to its first placement in 2015 with the No. 17 high “Travesuras” by Nicky Jam. Since then, the label has placed two other top 10s, also by Nicky Jam: “El Perdón” with Enrique Iglesias (No. 5, 2015) and “Hasta El Amanecer” (No. 6, 2016).

With “Bachata’s” 4-1 move, Turizo glides to the top for a second time. He previously spent time at the summit as a featured act on Piso 21’s “Déjala Que Vuelva,” which dominated for two weeks in 2018, before Tropical Airplay changed from being station-based to strictly a genre-based chart.

“La Bachata” is the third bachata track by a non-traditional tropical artist to rule Tropical Airplay in 2022, after Rosalía’s “La Fama,” featuring The Weeknd, and Prince Royce and Maria Becerra’s “Te Espero” topped the list for two weeks each during the May 14 through June 4-dated recaps. In total, four bachata songs have landed at No. 1 this year: Romeo Santos joins the group with the 10-week champ “Sus Huellas” (starting the Feb. 26-dated ranking).

Beyond Turizo’s new coronation, the Colombian claims his highest ranking on the all-genre Latin Airplay tally in more than a year: The song rallies 20-12, the same position he last held when “Amor en Coma,” with Maluma, peaked at No. 12 in July 2021.

In addition to its airplay gain, “Bachata” also improves on the all-metric Hot Latin Songs chart, entering the top 25 (32-25), with a 22% increase in streams. The song generated 1.99 U.S. streams in the U.S. in the week ending July 28.

A First for Giovanny Ayala

Elsewhere on the Latin charts, Tijuana singer-songwriter Giovanny Ayala claims his first top 10 on Regional Mexican Airplay with “Quién Se Apunta?” with Luiz R. Conriquez, as the song lifts 13-10 assisted by a 26% boost in audience impressions, to 3.9 million.

The siereño track, composed by Ayala and Luis Ignacio Mexía, gifts Conriquez his second top 10. He secured his maiden top 10 in hist first try, with “El Buho” in Sept. 2021 (No. 6 high).

Meanwhile, Ayala earns his highest ranking among a collection of five entries, dating back to his first through his featured role in Adriel Favela’s “No Te Ilusiones Tanto” in 2018 (No. 34).

Bizarrap will speak at Billboard Latin Music Week at the Iconic Singer Songwriter Q&A presented by Sony Music publishing. Register at www.billboardlatinmusicweek.com

Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC), an advocacy organization formed to address systemic racism in the music business, announced the honorees for its second annual Music in Action Awards Gala, which is set to take place on Thursday, Sept. 22 at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif.

This year’s honorees include:

• Jon “Big Jon” Platt, chairman and CEO of Sony Music Publishing, with the Clarence Avant Trailblazer Award
• Kevin Liles, chairman and CEO of 300 Elektra Entertainment, along with Amazon Music and the Recording Academy, with the BMAC Social Impact Award
• Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, attorney and author Brittany K. Barnett, and Cultural Creators’ Joi Brown, with the BMAC Change Agent Award
• Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), with the inaugural BMAC Icon Award

“Activism is a daily decision to stand up for what’s right. … It’s the willingness to speak truth to power, unapologetically,” Willie “Prophet” Stiggers, BMAC co-founder/co-chair, said in a statement. “Each of our 2022 Music in Action Award honorees embodies this spirit. BMAC is an organization formed to hold our industry accountable to its pledge to fight systemic racism and will applaud and celebrate those using their voice, platform, and resources to move past performative gestures of solidarity, but real action that will lead to sustainable change.”

Several of the honorees also released statements.

“Clarence Avant is an extremely significant person in my life, so to be bestowed with the BMAC Trailblazer Award in his name is a special honor,” said Platt. “Clarence blazed a trail that continues to inspire so many of us, and I appreciate BMAC for following his path towards equality in the music business.”

“In the 35 years I have spent in our industry, I have tried to make every decision and every movement intentional with the overarching goal of social justice and equality,” said Liles. “It is my mission to bring about change so that boardrooms reflect the music that is being released. I am honored and humbled to receive BMAC’s Social Impact Award and am excited to continue the conversation and bring about necessary change in our industry.”

“We are absolutely humbled to receive the Social Impact Award from the Black Music Action Coalition,” said Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, and co-presidents Valeisha Butterfield Jones and Panos A. Panay. “We – as an organization and new leadership team – are committed to the long-term, systemic work that needs to be done to drive real and measurable change in our industry and across the globe. … The power of music and our role in driving equity in and for Black music at the Recording Academy is a responsibility that we take seriously. We look forward to continuing this necessary work with BMAC and our industry partners.”

“Amazon Music is honored to be a part of BMAC’s annual Music in Action Awards Gala and to receive their Social Impact Award,” said Tim Hinshaw, head of hip-hop and R&B for Amazon Music. “Black musicians, songwriters, and executives are the heart of this industry, and we are honored to be working with BMAC to ensure the next generation of Black talent have the support necessary to flourish.”

The Quincy Jones Humanitarian Award recipient will be announced later this month. Additional award recipients,  participants and event details will be announced in the coming weeks.

Honorees at the inaugural Music in Action Awards Gala in 2021 included The Weeknd, H.E.R., Ethiopia Habtemariam, Tuma Basa, attorney Ben Crump, Dina LaPolt, Aurora James, YouTube Music and Shawn Gee.

The Black Music Action Coalition board includes Stiggers, Caron Veazey, Ashaunna Ayars, Naima Cochrane, Jamil Davis, Shawn Holiday, Damien Smith, and Courtney Stewart. The BMAC advisory board includes Avant,  Jones and Irving Azoff.

In addition to honoring the award recipients, this year’s event will celebrate the organization’s accomplishments and highlight upcoming initiatives. In 2021, the organization launched the inaugural Music Industry Action Report Card, which is a measure of accountability and a call to action to the music industry for Black executives, artists, vendors, and stakeholders to have a voice, visibility, participation and ownership on par with the revenue generated from Black music and culture.

Additionally, BMAC partnered with #BreatheWithMe, NOWTHIS, Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, Summer Walker, Khalid, Ty Dolla $ign, T.I. and others to create “17 Ways Black People Can Be Killed in America,” a call to action for the Biden administration to launch the U.S. Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Commission. In May, BMAC partnered with Wasserman Music and the commercial music program at Tennessee State University for a three-week music accelerator program. The group also launched its COVID Relief Fund for Black creatives and industry professionals whose income was impacted by the pandemic. Most recently, BMAC worked alongside U.S. Representatives Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) to establish the Restoring Artistic Protection Act (RAP Act) which would protect recording artists from the use of their lyrics against them in criminal and civil proceedings.

The 2022 Gala will also commemorate this year’s Music Industry Action Report Card, which is set for release later this month, and spotlight the 2023 launch of the Transformational Support program which will guarantee basic income for 40 Black Nashville-based artists, creators and aspiring managers.

For more information regarding Black Music Action Coalition and the Music In Action Awards Gala, visit bmacoalition.org.

Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit” ascends to No. 1 on Billboard’s Rock Streaming Songs, Alternative Streaming Songs and R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs charts dated Aug. 6.

In the July 22-28 tracking period, “Habit” earned 18.5 million official U.S. streams, a 7% gain, according to Luminate.

“Habit” reigns in its fourth week on Rock Streaming Songs and Alternative Streaming Songs, and its third on R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs. It debuted at No. 10 on the Rock Streaming Songs list dated July 16 and rose to No. 4 the following week, followed by No. 2 before its coronation. Its trajectory on Alternative Streaming Songs went from Nos. 5 to 3 to 2 before hitting No. 1. On R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs, meanwhile, the song debuted at No. 6 and then rose to No. 2 ahead of its lift to No. 1.

It’s Lacy’s first No. 1 on all three rankings. He first appeared on Rock Streaming Songs and Alternative Streaming Songs with “Dark Red,” which peaked at Nos. 4 and 7, respectively, in 2021.

Speaking of “Red,” it concurrently lifts 21-18 on Rock Streaming Songs and 16-13 on Alternative Streaming Songs with 4.4 million streams, up 3%.

“Habit” is the first song to rule all three lists. Rock Streaming Songs and R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs began in 2013, while Alternative Streaming Songs was introduced in 2020.

“Habit” jumps 4-2 on the all-format Streaming Songs ranking, a new peak. The song also reigns on R&B Streaming Songs for a second straight week.

“Habit” nearly becomes Lacy’s first top 10 on the multi-metric Billboard Hot 100, shooting 14-11. In addition to its streaming numbers, the song accumulated 2.8 million radio audience impressions (up 617%) and 600 downloads (up 21%). It makes its first radio chart appearance by starting at No. 32 on Pop Airplay.

“Habit” is the lead single from Gemini Rights, Lacy’s second studio album. After debuting at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 dated July 30 (34,000 equivalent album units), it falls to No. 13 in its second week (25,000 units).