Month: March 2023

After seven weeks, nothing and no one can cut down Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” (via Columbia) in the U.K.

“Flowers” stays put for a seventh consecutive No. 1 on the Official U.K Singles Chart, published March 3. It’s still the most streamed song in the market, according to the Official Charts Company, where it racks-up another 5.2 million streams.

With its reign heading towards two full months, “Flowers” becomes the longest-running No. 1 by a female solo artist in the U.K. since Adele’s “Easy On Me,” which logged eight non-consecutive weeks at the summit in 2021 and 2022.

The all-time leader among solo female artists is Tones And I, the former busker from Australia whose “Dance Monkey” ruled for 11 weeks in 2019.

With “Flowers” digging in for another title, PinkPantheress must make-do with another stint at No. 2 for “Boy’s a liar” (Warner Records).

Sparks fly for the Weeknd, as the Canadian R&B star’s 2016 track “Die For You” (Republic Records/XO) roars into the top 10 for the first time, thanks to the release of a new cut featuring Ariana Grande. It’s up 37-4, for Abel Tesfaye’s 14th U.K. top 10 hit.

U.S. rapper SuperStar Pride (real name: Cadarrius Pride) earns the highest new release in the U.K. this week, with his breakthrough independent release “Painting Pictures” (via SuperStar Pride). Sampling Faith Evans’ “Soon As I Get Home,” it’s new at No. 33 on the latest tally, for SuperStar Pride’s U.K. chart debut.

Finally, Brighton, England-based pop newcomer Caity Baser enjoys her first U.K. top 40 single with the viral number “Pretty Boys” (EMI/Chosen Music), soaring 91- 35, while SZA scores a fourth top 40 appearance from her hit sophomore album SOS, as “Snooze” (RCA/Top Dawg) gets the wake-up call, lifting 47-40. SOS also yielded “Kill Bill” (currently at its peak position of No. 3), “Shirt” (No. 17) and “Nobody Gets Me” (No. 27).

There are no banana peels for Gorillaz, as the virtual group swings to No. 1 on the U.K. chart with Cracker Island (via Parlophone).

Gorillaz’ eighth and latest album had led at the midweek stage, and it goes on to complete the chart race in first place.

Fronted by Blur’s Damon Albarn and Tank Girl artist Jamie Hewlett, the band now has seven top 10 appearances on the Official U.K. Albums Chart, and two leaders, including 2005’s Demon Days.

Cracker Island also reigns over the Official Vinyl Albums Chart, as the most-purchased record on wax in the U.K., the Official Charts Company reports.

Arriving at No. 3 on the latest all-genres survey, published March 3, is Good Riddance (Interscope), the debut full-length LP from Los Angeles-born singer and songwriter Gracie Abrams.

Also new to the latest tally is Adam Lambert’s fifth studio album High Drama (EastWest/Rhino). It drops in at No. 5, for the U.S. pop star’s second solo top 10 appearance and career-best chart position.

Lambert’s previous solo best is a No. 8 for The Original High from 2015, though his Live Around The World LP with Queen went to No. 1 in 2020.

Obey Robots, the duo of Laura Kidd (Penfriend, She Makes War) and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin member Gareth “Rat” Pring, nab a top 20 with One in a Thousand (My Big Sister Recordings). It’s new at No. 14

Further down the list, U.S. rapper and producer Yeat bags his first U.K. Albums Chart appearance with Aftërlyfe (No. 20 via Geffen); London rockers Shame scoop a third top 40 with Food for Worms (No. 21 via Dead Oceans); Scottish singer-songwriter Callum Beattie enjoys a career peak with Vandals (No. 22 via 3 Beat/AATW); Manchester rock act The Slow Readers Club earn a fourth top 40 with Knowledge Freedom Power (No. 29 via Velveteen); and Texas-based singer and rapper Don Toliver delivers a third top 40 with Love Sick (No. 36 via Atlantic).

The flight of another Free Bird is over.

Gary Rossington, the last surviving original member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, died on Sunday (March 5), at the age of 71, nearly four months before the band was planning to set out on its next tour.

No cause of death was given, though the guitarist had been dealing with health issues over the past couple of decades and particularly since the mid-2010s, when heart ailments occasionally sidelined Rossington, and the band.

In an official statement Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote that, “It is without deepest sympathy and sadness that we have to advise, that we lost our brother, friend, family member, songwriter and guitarist, Gary Rossington today. Gary is now with his Skynyrd brothers and family in heaven and playing it pretty, like he always does. Please keep Dale, Mary and Annie and the entire Rossington family in your prayers and respect the family’s privacy at this time.”

During a 2016 interview with Billboard, promoting his Take It on Faith album with wife Dale Krantz-Rossington — who’s also a Skynyrd back-up singer — Rossington said that despite his health battles he’d made a decision to go on playing and die with his proverbial boots on.

“It’s just in my blood, y’know?,” he explained. “I’m just an old guitar player, and we’ve spent our whole loves and the 10,000 hours of working to understand how to play and do it. So I think once you’ve got something going for yourself you should keep it up and keep your craft going. When you retire, what’s next? I like to fish, but how much of that can you do, right? So I want to keep doing what I do now.”

Rossington was the last man standing in a band that formed during 1964 in Jacksonville, Fla., starting with bassist Larry Junstrom and drummer Bob Burns in a trio called Me, You, and Him. Signer Ronnie Van Zant, who played on a rival baseball team, jammed with the team after one of their games, playing the Rolling Stones’ “Time Is on My Side,” and the rest was history.

Skynyrd settled on its name around 1970, taking it from Leonard Skinner, the strict physical education teacher at Robert E. Lee High School; Skinner was particularly hard on boys who had long hair, which led Rossington to drop out of school.

After working the local and regional scene Skynyrd was discovered by Al Kooper, founder of Blood, Sweat & Tears, who signed the band to his Sounds of the South label. “We were a little bit of everything, really,” Rossington said of the burgeoning band’s approach. “We loved all the British invasion stuff and, of course, the Allman Brothers and Stax and that stuff. There were just a lot of things we stirred together.”

The band’s debut album, (Pronounced Len-‘nerd ‘Skin-‘nerd) was released on Aug. 13, 1973 and featured the lengthy anthem “Free Bird,” which would become Skynyrd’s signature song. The group continued to build a following through hard touring and tracks such as “Sweet Home Alabama” — its answer to Neil Young’s “Southern Man.” Rossington co-wrote that track as well as other Skynyrd favorites such as “I Ain’t the One,” “Things Goin’ On,” “Don’t Ask Me No Questions,” “Gimme Back My Bullets” and “What’s Your Name.”

The first phase of Skynyrd ended on Oct. 20, 1977, when a Convair CV-240 carrying the band from Greenville, S.C. to Baton Rouge, La., crashed near Gillsburg, Miss., killing three band members (Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and his older sister, backup singer Cassie Gaines), assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick and both pilots. Rossington and other suffered severe injuries and put the group on hold immediately after.

“We couldn’t imagine going on after something like that,” he said. “We were a brotherhood, and when you lose your brothers you can’t just go on.” He and guitarist Allen Rossington formed the Rossington Collins Band, which lasted nearly four years and two albums before breaking up in 1982. Skynyrd, meanwhile reformed in 1987, ostensibly to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the plane crash; the band has continued ever since, recording nine more studio albums and going through a number of number of lineup changes.

Rossington — who is part of a guitarist core that included Collins (who passed away during 1977), Ed King (who died in 2018), Hughie Thomasson (who died in 2007), Rickey Medlocke and others — was the only Skynyrd member to appear on all of its albums.

Rossington said that despite the healthy issues, he was motivated to continue in order to pay tribute to his fallen bandmates — including longtime bassist Leon Wilkeson and keyboardist Billy Powell. “These guys created so much great music that people still love today,” Rossington noted. “I’m the last one here, so to be able to tell their story and make sure they’re remembered, I’m blessed to be able to do that. It’s, like, my responsibility.” He had, however, missed some shows and only played portions of others in recent years.

In 2016 Krantz-Rossington noted that she and her husband had agreed that continuing to play music was the best thing for him. “He said to me, ‘I would much rather go out kickin’ than sitting here in my chair, and that was the last time we talked about it,” she said. “After that we just decided to ask for God’s mercy and do it til we drop.”

Tributes to Rossington began hitting social media immediately after the band’s announcement. Longtime friend Charlie Daniels wrote, “the last of the Free birds has flown home. RIP Gary Rossington, God Bless the Lynyrd @Skynyrd band. Prayers to Dale and the rest of his family.”

Skynyrd is, in fact, planning to join forces with ZZ Top for The Sharp Dressed Simple Man Tour starting July 21 in West Palm Beach, Fla. it’s expected to go on, even though Johnny Van Zant — younger brother of Ronnie Van Zant and Skynyrd’s frontman since 1977 — has said that, “I don’t think you can have Lynyrd Skynyrd without Gary Rossington.”

In addition to Krantz-Rossington, the guitarist is survived by their two daughters and several grandchildren. No funeral or memorial information has been announced.

Miley Cyrus‘ upcoming Disney+ original special will feature performances of songs from her new album, plus will see her revisiting her 2009 classic “The Climb” more than a decade after its release.

“It’s been 14 years since The Climb was released,” Cyrus wrote on Twitter Sunday (March 5).

“In celebration watch my backyard sessions performance of this special song streaming only on @DisneyPlus March 10th at 1pm ET/10am #EndlessSummerVacation,” she teased.

Her post included a short look at the show, Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions), for which she’s serving as executive producer and will perform “The Climb,” several tracks from her Endless Summer Vacation album and a collaboration with Rufus Wainwright.

“The Climb,” which appeared on the soundtrack for the 2009 film Hannah Montana: The Movie, peaked at No. 4 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 songs chart.

See the preview of Cyrus’ Disney+ special below. A few seconds of her “The Climb” performance can be seen at the end of the clip.

Rihanna unveiled more personal photos of her son with A$AP Rocky — and made a joke about her upcoming Oscars performance of “Lift Me Up” while she was at it.

“my son when he found out his sibling is going to the Oscars and not him,” she joked in the caption of pictures posted on Instagram and Twitter on Sunday (March 5).

The superstar, who revealed she’s pregnant with her second child during this year’s Super Bowl halftime show, is set to sing her Oscar-nominated ballad from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever at the Academy Awards on Sunday, March 12. Thus, Baby No. 2 will have sort of attended both the Super Bowl and the Oscars as a “special guest” before his birth.

“Lift Me Up,” co-written by Rihanna, is competing for best original song Sunday night.

RiRi first shared a photo of her firstborn, whose name has not yet been shared publicly, in February. He arrived in May 2022.

With just a week to go until awards night, see snapshots of Rihanna’s sweet child below.

Karol G’s historic No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200 albums chart with Mañana Será Bonito feels “enormous,” the Colombian star says.

Not only is the album in the top spot of the all-genre albums chart, but it’s Karol G’s first album to reach No. 1 on the chart and the first all-Spanish-language album by a female artist to land at No. 1.

“I feel so very special. More than happiness I feel special,” Karol G tells Billboard, who spoke with her as the news was reported.

“My last album did so well and had all those big hits, like ‘Bichota,’ so the bar was high. But I didn’t want to make music because I felt pressure. I wanted to make the music I wanted to make, and the fact that I’ve hit No. 1 with an album that is so personal is enormous,” she says.

Mañana Será Bonito is also the first Latin album by a woman to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 since 1995. That year, Selena’s posthumously-released, partially-Spanish-language album Dreaming of You topped the chart for one week.

Karol G — who considers Selena one of her idols — reacted with excitement, noting, “I’m sharing something with Selena! That’s amazing. Imagine my year: I met Rihanna, I recorded with Shakira and now I have a No. 1 on the chart like Selena did.”

Karol G and Shakira joined forces for the first time with new single and Mañana album track “TQG,” which dropped on Feb. 24.

“And how cool is it that on International Women’s Month I get to No. 1 and the artist before me at No. 1 was SZA,” Karol G added. “And that ‘TQG’ is No. 1 [on Spotify] and all these songs by women are in the top slots. We’re living such a strong moment. Now, we’re going for more.”

— Reporting by Leila Cobo.

Karol G’s Mañana Será Bonito makes an unprecedented splash on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated March 11), as the set debuts atop the tally. It’s both the first No. 1 for the artist and the chart’s first No. 1 all-Spanish-language album by a female artist.

Previously, only two all-Spanish albums led the list, both by Bad Bunny (Un Verano Sin Ti in 2022 and El Ultimo Tour del Mundo in 2020).

(Mañana is effectively an all-Spanish-language effort, save for a handful of English lyrics by guest artist Sean Paul on one track.)

Mañana earned 94,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending March 2, according to Luminate. Its starting sum was largely powered by streaming activity.

Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Gorillaz collect their sixth top 10-charting set with the No. 3 debut of Cracker Island, Yeat achieves his third top 10 with the No. 4 bow of AfterLyfe and Don Toliver nabs his third top 10, as well, with the No. 8 arrival of Love Sick. Plus, The Weeknd’s former No. 1 Starboy returns to the top 10 for the first time since 2017 (climbing 14-9), following the release of a new remix for the set’s resurgent “Die for You.”

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new March 11, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on March 7. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of Mañana’s 94,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 83,000 (equaling 118.73 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 17 tracks), album sales comprise 10,000 and TEA units comprise 1,000. The album’s sales were largely powered by its digital download album (8,500), though there was a CD available in limited quantities, selling about 1,500 copies. The digital album was also offered in two alternative cover variants on Karol G’s official webstore.

Mañana logs the largest week, by equivalent album units earned, for a Latin album by a woman since the chart began measuring by units in December of 2014. (Latin albums are defined as those that have hit or are eligible for Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart.) Further, as Mañana generated 118.73 million official on-demand streams for its songs, the set registers the biggest streaming week ever for a Latin album by a woman.

Mañana is also the first Latin album by a woman to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 since 1995, when Selena’s posthumously-released, mostly-Spanish effort Dreaming of You topped the list for one week. (The 13-song Dreaming album has six tracks in Spanish, five in English and two duets that blend English and Spanish.)

Only three mostly-non-English-language albums by women have reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 – the all-Spanish Mañana, Dreaming of You and The Singing Nun’s all-French-language self-titled album in 1963.

Karol G made her Billboard chart debut in 2016 and has been a force on Billboard’s Latin genre charts ever since, notching 17 top 10 hits on the Hot Latin Songs chart – including five No. 1s (through the most recently published chart, dated March 4). On the Top Latin Albums list, she’s previously logged a trio of top two-charting sets, including one No. 1, her previous release, KG0516, in 2021.

Mañana is the fourth charting album for Karol G on the all-genre Billboard 200, but first to reach the top 10. She previously visited the list with KG0516 (No. 20 in 2021), Ocean (No. 54 in 2019) and Unstoppable (No. 192 in 2017). Preceding the release of the new album, Karol had logged five top 40-charting hit songs on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, but with three of them coming in 2022: “Mamiii,” with Becky G (No. 15), “Provenza” (No. 25) and “Gatubela,” with Maldy (No. 37). Both “Mamiii” and “Provenza” became Karol’s first top 10-charting hits on the all-genre Streaming Songs chart, reaching Nos. 5 and 10, respectively. (Both “Provenza” and “Gatubela” are included on Mañana.)

SZA’s SOS falls to No. 2 after 10 nonconsecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200, earning nearly 87,000 equivalent album units (down less than 1%).

With Karol G’s Mañana replacing SZA’s SOS at No. 1, it’s the first time a woman has replaced another woman atop the list in over a year. It last happened when a trio of leading ladies traded off the top spot from Nov. 20, 2021-Dec. 4, 2021. Summer Walker’s Still Over It debuted at No. 1 on the on Nov. 20 chart, Taylor Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version) then opened atop the list on Nov. 27, and Adele’s 30 bowed at No. 1 on the Dec. 4 chart.

Gorillaz score their sixth top 10-charting effort on the Billboard 200 as Cracker Island arrives at No. 3 with 64,500 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 48,500 (the top-selling album of the week, debuting at No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 15,500 (equaling 20.39 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks) and TEA units comprise 500. The star-studded Cracker Island features guest turns from Bad Bunny, Beck, Bootie Brown, Stevie Nicks, Tame Impala and Thundercat, among others. The album was initially released on Feb. 24 as a 10-track standard edition across physical and streaming formats, along with an 11-track digital retail and streaming edition. On Feb. 27, a 15-track digital and streaming deluxe version was released, including bonus tunes with De La Soul and Del the Funky Homosapien.

Cracker Island was preceded by a pair of top 20-charting hits on the Alternative Airplay chart – the title track, featuring Thundercat (No. 2), and “New Gold,” featuring Tame Impala and Bootie Brown (with the latter rising to a new high of No. 16 on the most recently published chart, dated March 11).

Rapper Yeat logs his third top 10 on the Billboard 200 as AfterLyfe debuts at No. 4 with nearly 55,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise the vast majority – about 54,500 (equaling 78.42 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks).

Swift’s former No. 1 Midnights falls 3-5 with just over 48,000 equivalent album units (down 10%), Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album dips 5-6 with nearly 46,000 units (up 5%) and Metro Boomin’s former leader Heroes & Villains falls 4-7 with 42,000 units (down 10%).

Don Toliver notches his third top 10 on the Billboard 200 as Love Sick starts at No. 8 with 40,500 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 39,500 (equaling 51.23 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks), album sales comprise nearly 1,000 and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The album was initially released as a 16-track standard set on Feb. 24. On Feb. 28, a deluxe edition of the album with four additional tracks (including one featuring Travis Scott) was released.

The Weeknd’s former No. 1 Starboy climbs back to the top 10 for the first time since 2017 (its release year), as the set steps 14-9 with just over 40,000 equivalent album units earned (up 73%). The album’s rise comes following the Feb. 24 release of a new Ariana Grande-assisted remix of the set’s revived hit single “Die for You.”

Bad Bunny’s chart-topping Un Verano Sin Ti rounds out the new top 10, falling 6-10 with 38,000 equivalent album units earned (down 5%).

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.