Month: July 2023

It’s been 25 years since the world was introduced to Rufus Wainwright with his debut self-titled album, which featured songs like “April Fools,” “In My Arms” and many more. To celebrate, the singer-songwriter sat down with Billboard‘s Tetris Kelly to reflect on his career.

“I feel awful,” he jokes about how it feels to celebrate 25 years since his debut. “No, I’m very proud and excited to be alive and still making music and happy. That first record I made has proven to have lasted, and I worked very hard on it. It took me three years to make that first record. It cost a lot of money.”

As for the 25th anniversary re-issue that came out early this year, Wainwright said that the album was remastered and has some bonus material as well. “What’s interesting about the record is that it was made in the mid to late 90s, and it really was part of the last breath of the grand record company-artist relationship, where they’d sort of write all the checks and then let you do whatever you wanted to do. They really didn’t expect you to be popular until your third or fourth album,” he recalls.

“I wasn’t trying to be a trailblazer or anything,” he continues. “AIDS was still very much — it’s still part of our world today — but at that time, it was killing a lot of people, a lot of gay men, and I just didn’t want to end up in the situation if I did get AIDS at that point, that I would be dying and also have to come out of the closet. I just wanted to avert that tragedy. Thankfully it didn’t happen.”

If his debut album was released in 2023, Wainwright believes “it would be considered very unique and very unusual and very romantic, especially, because we live in such a tough world.”

Watch Billboard‘s full interview with Rufus Wainwright above.

Peso Pluma continues to make indelible marks across Billboard’s charts. The 24-year-old singer celebrates his first No. 1 on any album ranking as Génesis rises to No. 1 (from No. 35) on the Top Latin Albums chart (dated July 8) after its first full tracking week. It also advances 10-1 on Regional Mexican Albums.

Génesis’ coronation arrives a week after the album debuted on both lists (dated July 1) with only one day of activity. The original version of the album, comprising 14 tracks, was released on an off-cycle Thursday (June 22), the final day of the June 16-22 tracking week. The new Génesis, containing three bonus tracks, dropped June 30. Both versions of the album have been combined for tracking and charting purposes, while the original version has been removed from platforms.

According to Luminate, Génesis earned 73,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. during its first official tracking week ending June 29. It becomes the biggest week by units earned for a regional Mexican album ever, dating back to when the all-genre Billboard 200 chart began ranking by units in December 2014. The previous largest week by total units arrived just less than two months ago, when Eslabon Armado’s Desvelado launched with 44,000 units (May 13-dated list).

An equivalent album unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album (track equivalent album units, TEA), or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album (streaming equivalent album units, SEA).

Largest Streaming Week for a Regional Mexican Album: As is standard among new artists, streaming powers nearly all of Génesis’ first-week totals. Out of its 73,000 units, 72,000 stem from SEA units. That figure equals to 101.18 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs. Traditional album sales contribute just under 1,000 of the remaining balance, with a slice of negligible units deriving from TEA.

With 101.8 million streams, Génesis boasts the largest streaming week ever for a regional Mexican album. Previously, Eslabon Armado’s Desvelado drew the largest, with 63.51 million official U.S. streams (May 13).

Génesis becomes only the fifth Latin album to garner at least 100 million on-demand streams for its songs in a single week, following multiple weeks by Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti, two for Bunny’s YHLQMDLG, one for Bunny’s El Último Tour del Mundo, and one for Karol G’s Mañana Será Bonito.

Further, Génesis becomes the fourth regional Mexican effort to lead Top Latin Albums this decade, after Alejandro Fernández’s Hecho en México (one week, Feb. 29, 2020) and two Eslabon Armado albums, Vibras de Noche (one week, Aug. 2020) and Desvelado (one week, May13).

Elsewhere, Génesis launches at No. 3 on the all-genre Billboard 200, his first entry and top 10 there. The set concurrently outpaces the two other regional Mexican albums which have seized a spot in the top 10, both by Eslabon Armado: Nostalgia (No. 9 debut and peak, May 2022) and Desvelado (No. 6 debut and peak, May 13).

The new July 8, 2023-dated charts will be posted in full on Billboard’s website on July 5, one day later than usual due to the Independence Day holiday in the U.S. on Tuesday, July 4. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Cardi B was all smiles as she left Thom Browne’s debut couture fashion show in Paris on Monday (July 3), and even stopped to entertain fans outside.

In a video shared by TMZ, the “I Like It” rapper is seen leaving the Palais Garnier opera house, telling a photographer that the show was “great,” before a nearby street performer asked her if she wanted to sing with him. While Cardi originally admitted that she was “scared,” she briefly stepped up onto the microphone to perform a few lines from Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” before signing autographs and hopping in the car.

Cardi has been enjoying her time at Paris Fashion Week, taking to Instagram earlier in the day to share her stunning feathered, custom Schiaparelli couture look designed by Daniel Roseberry, the current creative director of the French haute couture house.

The rapper is a longtime fashion favorite, as she fronted her first campaign for a luxury fashion house in 2020 when she became the face of Balenciaga’s winter 2020 season. That same year, Cardi became the first female rapper to be awarded by the FN Achievement Awards when she won the Style Influencer of the Year award — an honor presented to her by Christian Louboutin.

Drake is getting tour ready which, of course, means getting his nails in top shape.

The rapper got in on the recent Barbiecore trend while showing off his new pink manicure on Monday (July 3), which he paired with a blinged out, rainbow-colored watch on his Instagram Stories.

Drizzy was scheduled to kick off his highly anticipated It’s All a Blur Tour with 21 Savage on June 16 in New Orleans, but the rappers postponed their first 10 tour dates to the fall. Now, the North American stretch is set to kick off Wednesday (July 5) at Chicago’s United Center.

The tour is the “Jimmy Cooks” artist’s first since his 2018 trek, Aubrey & the Three Amigos. According to the press release, as the title suggests, the It’s All a Blur Tour is “a celebration of the last decade.”

Since Drake’s last tour, he’s released several new albums, including Her Loss with tourmate 21 Savage, which dropped in November. The set debuted and peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, earning him his 12th topper on the all-genre tally. Honestly, Nevermind arrived just months earlier in June 2022 (No. 1 peak), and Certified Lover Boy in September 2021 (No. 1 for five weeks).

See his new pink manicure below.