Month: January 2023

No problem: Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” rebounds to No. 1 this week, from No. 8, on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart for a seventh total week on top. With this latest frame at the summit, Swift ties her longest Hot 100 command, first set by “Blank Space” in 2014-15.

Plus, David Guetta and Bebe Rexha’s “I’m Good (Blue)” blasts 19-4 on the Hot 100, notching its first week in the top five, and two songs soar to their first weeks in the top 10: The Weeknd’s “Die for You” (26-8) and Beyoncé’s “Cuff It” (38-10). The Weeknd achieves his 16th top 10 and Beyoncé banks her 21st.

All songs in the Hot 100’s top 10 surge in rank as holiday hits depart the chart (which reflects the Dec. 30-Jan. 5 tracking week). A week earlier, eight seasonal songs placed in the top 10, led by Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which added its 12th total week at No. 1, the most for a holiday title in the chart’s 64-year history. This week is the third, following the 2019 and 2021 holiday seasons, in which the modern carol has left the list directly from No. 1, and it’s the only song to have made such a disappearance (with Carey having celebrated its first: “Worth it haaa another record!”)

The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data. All charts (dated Jan. 14, 2023) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Jan. 10). For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

“Anti-Hero,” released on Republic Records, tallied 83.8 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 4%), 17.2 million streams (up 2%) and 6,000 sold (down 1%) Dec. 30-Jan. 5, according to Luminate.

The single rebounds from No. 2 for a fourth week at No. 1 on the Digital Song Sales chart; rules Radio Songs for a third week; and soars 37-4 after two weeks atop Streaming Songs.

As “Anti-Hero” tops the Hot 100 for a seventh week, Swift matches her longest reign: “Blank Space” dominated for seven frames in 2014-15. Here’s a look at the weeks at No. 1 for her nine leaders:

Weeks at No. 1, Title, Date Reached No. 1:
7, “Anti-Hero,” Nov. 5, 2022
7, “Blank Space,” Nov. 29, 2014
4, “Shake It Off,” Sept. 6, 2014
3, “Look What You Made Me Do,” Sept. 16, 2017
3, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” Sept. 1, 2012
1, “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version),” Nov. 27, 2021
1, “Willow,” Dec. 26, 2020
1, “Cardigan,” Aug. 8, 2020
1, “Bad Blood,” feat. Kendrick Lamar, June 6, 2015

“Anti-Hero” debuted atop the Hot 100 as Swift made history as the first artist to monopolize the chart’s entire top 10 in a single week, with all tracks all from her album Midnights.

Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” jumps 10-2 on the Hot 100, after it topped the Oct. 29-dated chart.

SZA’s “Kill Bill” rebounds to its No. 3 Hot 100 high, from No. 11, as it leads Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot R&B Songs, which use the same methodology as the Hot 100, for a fourth week each. The track is from her album SOS, which claims a fourth week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The song gains despite the absence of its official video, although SZA teased a clip of it (“A film by Christian Breslauer”) Dec. 29.

David Guetta and Bebe Rexha’s “I’m Good (Blue)” roars 19-4 on the Hot 100, surpassing its prior No. 7 high. Guetta ties his best career rank, previously established by “Without You,” featuring Usher, in 2011 and “Turn Me On,” featuring Nicki Minaj, in 2012. Guetta has also hit the top five with “Sexy Chick,” featuring Akon (No. 5, 2010). Rexha adds her second top five entry, following “Meant to Be,” with Florida Georgia Line (No. 2, 2018). “Good” concurrently crowns the multi-metric Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for a 16th week.

Notably, “Good” bests the Hot 100 peak of the song that it interpolates for its basis: Eiffel 65’s “Blue (Da Ba Dee),” which hit No. 6 in January 2000.

Drake and 21 Savage’s “Rich Flex” reverses course, 21-5, on the Hot 100, after spending its first three weeks on the chart at its No. 2 best beginning in November. The collab controls the multi-metric Hot Rap Songs chart for an eighth week.

Metro Boomin, The Weeknd and 21 Savage’s “Creepin’ ” leaps 22-6 on the Hot 100, after it debuted at its No. 5 high in December, and Harry Styles’ “As It Was” soars 31-7, following 15 weeks at No. 1 beginning last April, the fourth-longest reign in the chart’s history.

The Weeknd’s “Die for You” vaults 26-8 on the Hot 100, led by 67.3 million in airplay audience (up 3%) and 9.9 million streams (up 10%).

The song hits the Hot 100’s top 10 over six years after its original release on The Weeknd’s album Starboy, sparked by interaction on TikTok (which does not presently contribute to Billboard‘s charts). That buzz helped lead to the song’s airplay promotion and prominence, as the track holds at its No. 4 Radio Songs high.

Despite its 2016 arrival, Hit Songs Deconstructed (which analyzes the compositional traits of Hot 100 top 10s) notes that “Die for You” “fits in with the recent uptick of synth-heavy top 10s, which doubled between 2020 and 2022 to nearly one-quarter of such songs, and the continued popularity of R&B, which has held steady in half of all top 10s over the past two years.”

The Weeknd ups his career count to 16 Hot 100 top 10s, while Starboy generates its third, after the title cut topped the chart for a week in January 2017, becoming his third of six No. 1s, and “I Feel It Coming” hit No. 4 that April, with both songs featuring Daft Punk.

Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit” rebounds 30-9 on the Hot 100, following three weeks at No. 1 in October. It concurrently tops the multi-metric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, Hot Rock Songs and Hot Alternative Songs charts for a 20th week each.

Rounding out the Hot 100’s top 10, Beyoncé’s “Cuff It” soars 38-10, with 55.8 million in radio reach (up 4%), 8.3 million streams (up 22%) and 3,000 sold (up 16%).

Beyoncé achieves her 21st Hot 100 top 10 as a soloist. She scores her second from her latest album, Renaissance, after “Break My Soul” spent two weeks at No. 1 beginning in August. The set is her first to spin off multiple top 10s since I Am…Sasha Fierce yielded four in 2008-09: “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” (No. 1, four weeks), “If I Were a Boy” (No. 3), “Halo” (No. 5) and “Sweet Dreams” (No. 10).

Notably, Destiny’s Child, with Beyoncé as a member, tallied 10 Hot 100 top 10s, in 1998-2005. When “Break My Soul” hit the tier in August, the superstar joined elite company among acts with at least 20 solo top 10s and 10 in a group – and became the first woman to achieve the feat. Michael Jackson notched 30 solo top 10s and 11 in Jackson 5/The Jacksons, while Paul McCartney boasts 23 solo (including his output with Wings) and 34 in The Beatles. (In a reverse of the feat, The Supremes scored 20 top 10s, including six billed as by Diana Ross & The Supremes, and Ross went on to tally 12 as a soloist.)

Again, for all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram and all charts (dated Jan. 14), including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh on Billboard.com tomorrow (Jan. 10).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

New year, new Paramore song. Just one month out from the release of its highly anticipated album This Is Why, the band surprised fans by teasing what looks like a new track nicknamed “ccc” — though many are confident that this is an acronym for its full French language title, “C’est Comme Ça.”

Lead vocalist Hayley Williams, guitarist Taylor York and drummer Zac Farro first set fans ablaze Sunday (Jan. 8) by posting a cryptic video to the band’s Instagram Stories. The letters “ccc” are backdropped by a glitching, pixelated screen while a brisk guitar riff repeats on a loop.

On Paramore’s official website, an announcement reads: “1.12 – ccc.”

It didn’t take long for fans to deduce that “ccc” likely stands for “C’est Comme Ça,” the title of one of 10 songs listed under the This Is Why album on Apple Music.

“What else could ccc mean besides the French title… paramore have punked us before this feels too easy,” one fan tweeted.

“CCC. C’EST COMME CA. PARAMORE. AH,” tweeted another along with a clip of the upcoming tune.

All signs point to the track being released Thursday (Jan. 12), which would mark the third single released by Paramore in the lead-up to the band’s Feb. 10-slated album.

“I wasn’t expecting another song before the album release i am shaking,” wrote one excited admirer on Twitter.

“Not paramore releasing a new song this week, 2023 has been so good to me so far,” tweeted another.

Paramore hasn’t put out an album since 2017’s After Laughter, and the band is just now making a comeback following a five-year hiatus, making This Is Why one of the most hotly anticipated releases of 2023. And on Dec. 8, the Nashville-based trio dropped the upcoming album’s second single, “The News,” along with a corresponding horror-themed music video.

Before “The News,” they released lead single and title track “This Is Why,” also with a music video. Both singles charted on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs ranking, the former peaking at No. 34 and the latter at No. 15.

On Feb. 6, the band will celebrate its new album’s release with an exclusive concert at the Grand Ole Opry in Paramore’s hometown of Nashville. The following month, Williams, York and Farro will embark on an arena tour, making a stop in Glendale, Ariz., to open for a couple of shows on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.

As you already know, Rihanna is set to headline the Super Bowl Halftime Show on Feb. 12. And she’s likely to perform at the Academy Awards on March 12, assuming “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is nominated for best original song.

“Lift Me Up,” which Rihanna co-wrote with Ludwig Göransson, Ryan Coogler and Tems, was one of 15 songs shortlisted in that category last month. The song’s sheer quality, its success (it reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100), the film’s potency and Rihanna’s star-power all point to a nomination. “All the Stars,” from the initial Black Panther, was nominated for best original song four years ago.

Even if “Lift Me Up” is nominated, there’s no guarantee that Rihanna will perform it on the telecast. Two years ago, the Academy relegated the best original song nominees to a “pre-show,” a move that was roundly criticized.

And even if Rihanna is invited to perform the song on the telecast, there’s a chance she could decline. Kendrick Lamar and SZA did not perform “All the Stars” on the Oscar telecast four years ago, a move blamed on “logistics and timing.” But that was an outlier. When Oscar calls, even the biggest stars usually say yes. Beyoncé opened last year’s show with a memorable performance of “Be Alive” from King Richard. Such other superstars as Adele, U2, Lady Gaga, The Weeknd, Sam Smith, Justin Timberlake, Sting, Elton John, and Billie Eilish with Finneas have performed nominated songs on the Oscars in the past decade. Expect Rihanna to join that list.

Rihanna wouldn’t be the first person to perform on the Oscar telecast and at the Super Bowl Halftime Show in the same calendar year. Phil Collins played both high-profile gigs in 2000, though he wasn’t the headliner of the Super Bowl Halftime Show on Jan. 30, but part of a multi-artist package that also included Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias and Toni Braxton. Collins performed “Two Worlds” from Tarzan at the Disney-produced halftime show.

Two months later, on March 26, Collins performed “You’ll Be in My Heart,” also from Tarzan, at the 72nd Academy Awards. The song (which Collins wrote by himself) went on to win the Oscar.

Nominations round voting for the 2023 Oscars extends from Jan. 12 to 17. Nominations will be announced on Jan. 24. Final round voting extends from March 2-7.

The Latin Alternative Music Conference, or LAMC, has set dates for both its 2023 virtual and in-person events, Billboard can exclusively announce.

The LAMC, which spotlights Spanish-language alternative music —  as well as artists in rock, hip-hop, and electronic music — will return in virtual form April 26-28. Its in-person conference, which will be a five-day event, is set to take place from July 11 to 15 at the Crowne Plaza Times Square in New York City.

Both the virtual and in-person events will feature panels, workshops, showcases, and networking opportunities for attendees. According to figures provided to Billboard, more than 100,000 registrants tuned in online, and more than 5,000 people from 150-plus cities in 17 countries attended the conference and events in New York last year.

The LAMC has also confirmed the return of the Wonder Women of Latin Music recognitions, presented by Amazon Music LAT!N, celebrating women “making a difference” in the industry, according to a press release. Launched in 2020, past honorees include Jennifer D’Cunha (Apple Music), Yvonne Drazan (peermusic), Celeste Zendejas (CESAC), Fabiana Kulick (Live Nation), Martha Ledezma (Fonovisa/Universal) and Amy Roland (Sony Music Publishing), among others.

Registration for the in-person July conference begins at $99. Registration for the virtual event is free via www.latinalternative.com, where the latest updates, option to contact the LAMC team with questions, and reserve a hotel for the in-person event are available.

The full schedule for the virtual and in-person conference will be revealed in the coming weeks, along with the Wonder Women of Latin Music Class of 2023 and additional details.