For his latest releases, country superstar Jason Al-dean decided to do things a little differently: With a double album’s worth of songs, he split his release into two separate albums, called Macon and Georgia, and spread them out over a five-month period. The result: his ninth and 10th top 10 albums on the Billboard 200, with the landmark 10th slotting in the top tier of the chart this week.

The release strategy was new for Aldean, and also allowed his label, BBR Music Group, to package the releases as Macon, Georgia and release them together on vinyl for his fan base. But vinyl wasn’t the only format he succeeded at: Aldean’s Georgia received al-most half of its first-week equivalent album units from streaming, a relative rarity for country music. That also helped drive the album to No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Albums chart, marking the singer’s 11th top 10. All that success helps BBR’s senior vp JoJamie Hahr earn the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.

“Jason wanted to make this project special and stand out in some way, being his 10th album release,” Hahr explains about the release strategy. “We had so

many songs — 20 new, with 10 previously-recorded live tracks — and we wanted to create a plan that gave his fans music in a way they’ve never experienced from Jason before.”

Here, Hahr breaks down the strategy that led to Al-dean’s 10th top 10, the growth in streaming in country music and how she uses her background in both pro-motion and marketing to help push BBR’s artists. “Go-ing back to the creation of music, the best marketing evolution has been done through outstanding songs,” she says. “Jason steps up his game with every project, making it easy to market to his core fan base and gain new fans with simply the quality of his artistry.”

This week, Jason Aldean earned his 10th top 10 album on the Billboard 200 with Georgia. What key decision did you make to help make that happen?

The key driving decision was made by Jason himself, when he decided to create a double album in two parts, Macon and Georgia. From that beginning, the team became involved. We were passionate about continuously releasing music throughout the project

How Jason Aldean Turned Heads With ‘Macon, Georgia’ to

Score His 10th Top 10 AlbumB Y   D A N R Y S

(continued)

YOUR DAILY ENTERTAINMENT NEWS UPDATE

BulletinM AY 6 , 2 0 2 2 Page 1 of 30

• BMG Singles Out Big Labels

and Publishers for Early Stances on Rate Increase for

Mechanical Royalties

• iHeartMedia Revenue Up 19% to $843M in First

Quarter

• Daniel Ek Buys $50M of Spotify

Stock: ‘I Believe Our Best Days Are Ahead’

• For Women Making Music,

Objectification and Social Media Abuses

Persist: Study

• Record Store Day 2022 Yields Record-

Breaking Vinyl Album Sales

• Normani Inks Hipgnosis Publishing Deal, Promises New

Music

INSIDE

https://www.billyjoel.com/

Page 3 of 30

— nearly a full year — that really engaged Jason’s fan base in a way he’s never done before. That ultimately catapulted the al-bum, and albums, to another level that really turned heads.

Throughout his career, Jason has con-tinuously delivered remarkable music that speaks directly to his fan base, but also elevates him with every new project. The decision to make the Grammy- and Bill-board Music Awards-nominated and ACM-, CMT- and iHeartRadio Music Awards-winning “If I Didn’t Love You” with Carrie Underwood the first single from Macon was another key driver that set up Macon, Geor-gia for massive success, generating endless opportunities, attracting his core and new fans, while also generating industry- and fan-voted awards which afforded us large-scale televised performances on awards shows. Jason had the vision for Carrie on the song from his first listen, and she so graciously agreed to sing on it.

Georgia is the second of a two-part album release, following last year’s Ma-con. What was behind the decision to split the two, and how did you market them separately?

In speaking with Jason, [BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville president] Jon Loba and I talked with him about the bene-fits of giving his fans more music, more often. He had never done that before, traditionally releasing 10-12 song albums every one to two

years and then touring the music that coin-cided with the releases. In this new plan, we released the first part of the album Macon, and then followed up with monthly releases from the next piece, Georgia, that culmi-nated in the full package that was released this month. Both Macon and Georgia live separately digitally, but fans can get all 30 songs on the Macon, Georgia vinyl package available exclusively at Walmart.

The key thing we consistently thought about within our strategy was how to en-gage partners and leverage support equally for each part for maximum exposure. We were so thankful to those partners for supporting each piece in different ways, including a SiriusXM release party for Ma-con that aired several times over release weekend on XM and was repackaged and streamed on Pandora several weeks later. For Georgia, Good Morning America had an amazing interview and performance piece, and iHeartCountry featured Jason in their album release party at the iHeart theater in Burbank that played across all iHeartCoun-try stations and streamed on their YouTube channel afterwards. A Walmart radio special hosted by Jason ran in every store across America on release weekends, as well as online. This was a program we recorded and provided to Walmart in-house. These are just a few examples of the substantial mar-keting support we received from partners across the board.

Georgia also saw about half of its equivalent album units coming from streaming, a rarity for a genre tradition-ally driven by sales. How has streaming grown for country releases over the past several years, and what have you guys done to help boost it?

In the last several years, country music seems to be following suit in the space of more hardline streaming habits, rather than physical buying habits. It’s a fact of the music business that has been there for quite some time now, and almost all of our efforts are to promote streaming with digital advertising, and with close partnerships with each DSP to gain maximum exposure on platforms. If you look at the success of “Just The Way” by Parmalee and Blanco Brown and the substantial streaming associated, it’s impos-sible to separate the success at radio from the success at streaming. We focused on building consumption and streaming with a digital marketing and PR campaign before it ever went to radio, setting it up with undeniable metrics to be the most-played song of 2021. Jason is one of the leading streamers in the format, but with Macon, Georgia we had the opportunity to promote physical sales with the vinyl at Walmart. It’s been such a fun way to get back to the roots of how he first began his career, when physical was much more commonplace.

This is also his 11th top 10 on the Country Albums chart, dating back to

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2005. How have you continued to evolve marketing-wise to help support his lon-gevity as an artist?

Going back to the creation of music, the best marketing evolution has been done through outstanding songs. Jason steps up his game with every project, making it easy to market to his core fan base and gain new fans with simply the quality of his artistry. He is one of the kindest artists you could ever hope to work with, gracious, humble and welcoming, so as the industry has evolved we have always had the benefit of connecting him with each new partner and he shines and the relationships flourish. His connection to his fans is genuine and authentic and we have focused on growing alongside his fans in the online social space. He uses Instagram consistently, and you’ll see him very active on the platform, posting about his life and engaging with fans. From an artist that began his career when none of these outlets existed, it’s inspiring and cool to see him adapt and connect with his fans in that way.

You’ve worked in both country radio promo and in marketing. How do the two differ and align?

At BBR Music Group/BMG there is very little difference: It comes down to how you super-serve the partner and the market to get the maximum benefit for the artist and the music they have created. The main goal in both areas is to gain as much exposure as

possible. In radio promotion, I was always taught to use my marketing skills to work songs to stations in a well-rounded way. Rather than simply calling and asking for adds and conversions, I spent a lot of time learning about our markets and what was important to the radio stations, working diligently to fit our artists and their music into that vision. Our promotion teams are always working with marketing and PR to find ways to get the most out of time in the market. For example, are there key influenc-ers based in that market that can join the backstage hang and create content around a show and post about the music? Is there a local TV station or outlet we can visit before our radio commitments? The opportunities are endless, and it all plays together for a common goal.

How did marketing change in the pan-demic? And what from that time period will remain afterward?

We are so proud of how all of our artists at BBR Music Group/BMG stepped up during the pandemic. We did daily rotating Teams check-ins with every artist to make sure they were doing okay, keep their spirits up and their creative juices flowing. We were able to collaborate with the artists and man-agement teams on how to stay connected to fans during such a challenging time.

Fans are the core of what all marketing should be based on. During the pandemic, our artists found ways to connect with fans

and partners. For example, Elvie Shane did our first-ever virtual radio tour from a studio in Nashville, where he performed five live shows a day for different radio stations and partners and was highly suc-cessful in launching his career with his first No. 1 with “My Boy.” Additionally, Lindsay Ell launched her album Heart Theory, rely-ing solely on a virtual strategy to promote the album. She did a 24-hour Instagram livestream that featured performances, fan questions and special guest appearances.

We stayed focused on aligning the art-ist’s brand with their content. Some of the greatest examples of that were Jimmie Allen and Lainey Wilson and the growth of their careers in the last two years. I think we will see a resiliency to those tactics that re-mains as touring returns and a continuation of more creative ways to reach fans now. For example, Chayce Beckham is playing a sold out show in Nashville this week, but offering live stream codes for those not able to attend.

Page 5 of 30

IN BRIEF

Sam Hunt’s second studio full-length, and first in over five years, Southside (MCA Nashville/Universal Music Group Nashville), debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart dated April 18. In its first week (ending April 9), it earned 46,000 equivalent album units, including 16,000 in album sales, ac-cording to Nielsen Music/MRC Data.

Southside marks Hunt’s second No. 1 on the chart and fourth top 10. It follows freshman LP Montevallo, which arrived at the summit in No-vember 2014 and reigned for nine weeks. To date, Montevallo has earned 3.9 million units, with 1.4 million in album sales.

Montevallo has spent 267 weeks on the list, tying Luke Bryan’s Crash My Party as the sixth-longest-running titles in the chart’s 56-year history.

On the all-genre Billboard 200, Southside ar-rives at No. 5, awarding Hunt his second top 10 after the No. 3-peaking Montevallo.

Hunt first released the EP X2C, which debuted and peaked at No. 5 on Top Country Albums in August 2014. Following Montevallo, Between the Pines: Acoustic Mixtape started at its No. 7 high in November 2015.

Montevallo produced five singles, four of which hit the pinnacle of Country Airplay: “Leave the Night On,” “Take Your Time,” “House Party” and “Make You Miss Me.” “Break Up in a Small Town” peaked at No. 2.

Hunt co-penned all 12 songs on Southside, including “Body Like a Back Road,” which was released in 2017. The smash hit ruled Country Airplay for three weeks and the airplay-, streaming- and sales-based Hot Country Songs chart for a then-record 34 frames. It now ranks second only to Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line’s “Meant to Be” (50 weeks atop the latter list in 2017-18).

“Downtown’s Dead,” which is also on the new set, reached Nos. 14 and 15 on Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay, respectively, in June 2018. “Kin-folks” led Country Airplay on Feb. 29, becoming Hunt’s seventh No. 1. It hit No. 3 on Hot Country Songs.

Latest single “Hard to Forget” jumps 17-9 on Hot Country Songs. It’s his eighth top 10, having corralled 8.2 million U.S. streams (up 96%) and 5,000 in

sales (up 21%) in the tracking week. On Country Airplay, it hops 18-15 (11.9 mil-lion audience impressions, up 16%).

TRY TO ‘CATCH’ UP WITH YOUNG Brett Young achieves his fifth consecutive and total Country Airplay No. 1 as “Catch” (Big Machine Label Group) ascends

2-1, increasing 13% to 36.6 million impressions.Young’s first of six chart entries, “Sleep With-

out You,” reached No. 2 in December 2016. He followed with the multiweek No. 1s “In Case You Didn’t Know” (two weeks, June 2017), “Like I Loved You” (three, January 2018), “Mercy” (two, August 2018) and “Here Tonight” (two, April 2019).

“Catch” completes his longest journey to No. 1, having taken 46 weeks to reach the apex. It out-paces the 30-week climb of “Here Tonight.”

On Hot Country Songs, “Catch” pushes 7-5 for a new high.

COMBS ‘DOES’ IT AGAIN Luke Combs’ “Does to Me” (River House/Columbia Nashville), featuring Eric Church, ascends 11-8 on Country Airplay, up 10% to 24.7 million in audience. The song is Combs’ eighth straight career-opening top 10, following a record run of seven consecutive out-of-the-gate, properly promoted No. 1 singles.

Church adds his 15th Country Airplay top 10.

THAT TOOK QUITE ‘A FEW’ MONTHS Travis Denning shatters the record for the most weeks it has taken to penetrate the Country Airplay top 10 as “After a Few” (Mercury Nashville) climbs 12-10 in its 57th week, up 4% to 21.4 mil-lion in radio reach.

The song surpasses two tracks that took 50 weeks each to enter the top 10: Easton Corbin’s “A Girl Like You,” which reached No. 10 in January 2018 be-fore peaking at No. 6 that February, and Aaron Watson’s “Outta Style,” which achieved its No. 10 high in December 2017.

“After” is Denning’s second Country Airplay entry. “David Ashley Parker From Powder Springs” traveled to No. 32 in September 2018.

SamHunt’s Southside Rules Top Country Albums; Brett Young ‘Catch’-es Fifth Airplay

Leader; Travis Denning Makes History

ON THE CHARTS JIM ASKER jim.asker@billboard.com

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE APRIL 13, 2020 | PAGE 4 OF 19

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ISSUE DATE 6/4 | AD CLOSE 5/24 | MATERIALS DUE 5/25

2 0 2 2

On June 4th, Billboard will publish its annual Indie Label Power Players List. This special feature in advance of Indie Week (6/13-6/16) and the 11th Annual Libera Awards will profile leading executives at top independent record labels, publishing companies and distribution companies. Positioning themselves as the driving force behind the success of independent music, these executives contribute to the independent music sector and to the world of music at large.

Take this opportunity to advertise and congratulate this year’s 2022Indie Label Power Players.

C O N T A C T SJoe Maimone201.301.5933 | joe.maimone@billboard.com

Lee Ann Photoglo615.376.7931 | laphotoglo@gmail.com

Cynthia Mellow615.352,0265 | cmellow.billboard@gmail.com

Marcia Olival 786.586.4901 | marciaolival29@gmail.com

Ryan O’Donnell +447843437176 | rodonnell@pmc.com

INDIEL A B E L

P O W E R P L AY E R S

BMG Singles Out Big Labels and Publishers for Early Stances on Rate Increase for Mechanical RoyaltiesBY ED CHRISTMAN

While many U.S. music indus-try trade groups lauded the pending 12 cents-a-song mechanical rate settlement

filed with the Copyright Royalty Board, BMG today called out the record compa-nies and music publishers for their initially proposed settlement that would have frozen rates at 9.1 cents for five more years.

“The entire songwriter community owes a huge debt of thanks to those who fought for this increase in the face of the opposition of major record companies and indifference of music publishers,” BMG said in a statement. “Without their belief and commitment, the RIAA (representing record companies) and the NMPA (representing music publish-ers) would not have been forced back to the negotiating table.”

The statement continued that music companies have a duty to stand up for artists and songwriters and claimed that BMG has put fairness at the heart of its agenda since its rebirth in 2008.

“We regret on this occasion that we did not speak out earlier and more robustly against an industry consensus that turned a blind eye to what has been a 15-year pay freeze for songwriters,” the BMG statement said.

The CRB judges rejected that settlement after an outcry from songwriting groups led by indie-songwriter George Johnson.

In defending the earlier 9.1 cents proposal that would have meant the same per-song rate for 21 years — 2006-2027 — the NMPA said publishers didn’t want to fight a me-

chanical rate war on two fronts, considering how expensive CRB rate proceedings can be — often costing more than $10 million per rate determination, according to the trade group. Since streaming is by far the main source of mechanical royalty revenue from master recordings, the NMPA has said that it wanted to put all of its resources into getting a higher mechanical rate from the digital service providers.

However, BMG’s statement expanded beyond the rate issue to conclude with a call for the industry to abandon unfair and anachronistic deductions, such as the one for controlled composition clauses employed against artist who write their own songs on their records. The controlled composition clause, once invoked, allows labels to pay only 75% of the mechanical rate and freeze the rate at that year’s level, regardless of subsequent rises in the rate for those artists who write their own songs. The Songwriters Guild of America, the Music Creators of North America and the Society of Composers and Lyricists also cite that as a key issue, among others, that they want the industry to overturn.

In recent years, BMG has announced a series of changes that benefit its artists and songwriters in moves that overturn rates and practices that favored the initial publishers and record labels in the contracts that it now owns due to its acquisition binge.

“This episode should be a wake-up call for all those in the industry who fail to match fine words about the value of music with a concern for the people who actually create it,” the BMG statement concluded.

The NMPA and the RIAA didn’t imme-diately respond to an e-mailed request for comment, while a BMG spokesman couldn’t be immediately reached because he was ap-parently on a plane.

iHeartMedia Revenue Up 19% to $843M in First QuarterBY GLENN PEOPLES

Riding the resurgence of broadcast radio and its growing podcasting division, iHeartMedia’s revenue improved 19.4% to $843 mil-

lion from Jan. to March 31, the company announced with its first quarter earnings report Thursday (May 5). Adjusted earn-ings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 42% to $145 million.

The quarterly performance “is further evidence of the successful execution of our digital transformation and multiplatform strategy, and the power of our position as the #1 audio company in America across broadcast radio, digital radio, and podcast-ing,” said Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO, in a statement.

iHeartMedia shares fell 3.3% to $15.50 in after-hours trading following the earnings release.

iHeartMedia reports the financial results for its two divisions, the digital audio group and the multi-platform group. Revenue for the digital audio group, which includes iHeartMedia’s podcasting business, grew 36% year over year to $214 million. That gain was driven by demand for digital advertising and higher revenues from new podcasts and growth from existing podcasts. The iHeartPodcast Network had 443 million streams/downloads in March, up 72% year over year, with two-thirds of the growth coming from podcasts launched before April 2021.

The multi-platform group revenue climbed 15% year over year to $571 million, “primar-ily as a result of continued recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the company stated. Broadcast radio revenue grew $58 million, or 16.2%, to $416.5 million. Sponsorships and events, a smaller category, improved 50.1% to $33.6 million.

Page 7 of 30

IN BRIEF

ISSUE DATE 6/25 | AD CLOSE 6/15 | MATERIALS DUE 6/16

COUNTRYPOWER PLAYERS

2 0 2 2

Billboard’s ninth annual Country Power Players issue will profile the people who have driven another solid year for the country music industry in sales, streaming and publishing.This special feature will highlight the top executives, artists and change-makers who kept the music playing during chal-lenging times, as well as coverage of the changing face of country music.

Advertise in Billboard’s Country Power Playersissue to congratulate this year’s honorees while reaching key decision-makers who are driving the music business.

C O N T A C T SJoe Maimonejoe.maimone@billboard.com

Lee Ann Photoglolaphotoglo@gmail.com

Cynthia Mellowcmellow615@gmail.com

Marcia Olival marciaolival29@gmail.com

Ryan O’Donnell rodonnell@pmc.com

Although COVID-19 hurt iHeartMedia in 2020 as brands pulled back on advertising spending, the company recovered the losses. Its first quarter revenue of $843 million far exceeded the $780.6 million from the first quarter of 2020. Free cash flow fell from $52.8 million to -$74.8 million, however, primarily due to 2021 bonus and other variable compen-sation payments made in the first quarter.

iHeartMedia has net debt of $5.46 billion but “no material maintenance covenants” and “no material debt maturities prior to 2026” other than the maturity of an asset-backed loan facility in 2023, according to the earnings report.

Daniel Ek Buys $50M of Spotify Stock: ‘I Believe Our Best Days Are Ahead’BY GLENN PEOPLES

A week after Spotify’s share price hit an all-time low, Spotify CEO Dan-iel Ek announced on Twitter Thursday (May 5) that he’s pur-

chased $50 million of the company’s stock.Spotify’s share price dropped 13.3% to

$95.74 on April 28 after the company’s first-quarter earnings release showed slower-than-expected subscriber growth in the quarter and provided an underwhelming outlook for the second quarter. Through Thursday, Spotify is down 54.9% year to date and 72.7% below its all-time high, $387.44, reached on Feb. 22, 2021.

Normally, a CEO discloses purchases and sales of the company’s stock through a Form 4 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “While I’m not required to dis-close these purchases because of our foreign company status,” Ek added, “I thought it was important for shareholders to know.” Spotify is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, headquartered in Sweden and incorporated in Luxembourg.

It’s not unusual for CEOs to buy their company’s shares in a show of support. Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino purchased $1 million of the company’s shares in March 2020 after investors fled many out-of-home entertainment stocks at the onset of the CO-VID-19 pandemic. That optimism has been rewarded: Rapino paid an average of $38.98 for shares that traded at $95.13 on Thursday.

Ek is Spotify’s largest single shareholder with 16.7% of common shares, accord-ing to the company’s 2021 annual report, that were worth $3.4 billion at Thursday’s $105.59 closing price. Co-founder Martin Lorentzon, the second-largest shareholder, owns 10.9% of common shares.

For Women Making Music, Objectification and Social Media Abuses Persist: StudyBY KRISTIN ROBINSON

Media technology analysis com-pany Midia released the find-ings of its second annual Be the Change: Women in Music

2022 study on Wednesday, May 4. Created in conjunction with Tunecore and its parent company Believe, the study dissects what barriers still exist for women and nonbinary people working in the music industry with a survey of over 1,000 people.

Awareness of this issue has grown over recent years as organizations like She Is The Music and studies like this one and USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initia-tive have brought issues of underrepresen-tation and mistreatment for women and non-male gender identities to the spotlight, but the 2022 study from Midia proves there has been little improvement over the last year in a few key areas.

One area identified as stagnant? Sexual-

ization, objectification and sexual harass-ment in work environments. The study reveals that “nearly 40% of women creators agreed that women consciously decide to make music at home, rather than in a studio, to avoid potential gender-based harass-ment,” and that a staggering 61% of women have experienced sexual harassment. Respondents also reported that appearance and age are still major obstacles for women creators. Half of women surveyed have wit-nessed age discrimination and two-thirds felt the pressure to ‘look good’ frequently.

According to the study, the greatest grow-ing challenge this past year was criticism and abuse on social media platforms, which 29% of respondents said worsened for them.

Positively, the study found gains in areas like visibility and diversity of women in the music industry, with 40% finding improve-ments in visibility and 36% in diversity. 27% found improvements in the inclusion of women in technical areas, like production, engineering and other male-dominated cre-ative spaces. One creator from the U.K. who was interviewed for the study said, “Women are respected much more in some cases, even more than men when they take on technical roles and excel in them,” implying that there is acceptance for women look-ing to join these male dominated areas, but unfortunately, with little role models to look up to, gaining access to these spaces still feels formidable.

The study also zeroed in on the “con-fidence gap” between men and women working in the music, identifying that nearly two-thirds of female executives feel imposter syndrome when collaborating with men and 74% doubt their abilities and feel inadequate. This is linked to feeling espe-cially judged when presenting ideas to their male colleagues. A telling quote, one woman reveals, “If I were a guy, I would feel a lot more confident and free making [creative] decisions.”

Though the results are slightly lower on the female creator side for these issues, still, over half of women music makers also feel imposter syndrome and feelings of inadequacy. These feelings are most prominent in women who are between the third and 20th years of their careers, with

Page 9 of 30

IN BRIEF

ISSUE DATE 6/25 | AD CLOSE 6/15 | MATERIALS DUE 6/16

ASHANTI2 0 2 2

Ashanti is a Grammy Award-winning singer/song-writer, actor and author. Ashanti burst onto the music scene with her smash hit, self-titled debut album Ashanti. It landed the #1 spot on both the Billboard Top 200 and R&B album charts, selling a whopping 504,593 units in its first week and set a SoundScan record as the most albums sold by any debut female artist in the chart’s history, granting her a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records, which she still holds today. Ashanti has released six studio albums and received eight Billboard Awards, a Grammy, two American Music Awards, two Soul Train Awards, six ASCAP Awards, and many more awards and illustrious honors. Ashanti has continued to reign at the top as one of Billboard’s “Top Females of the Decade from 2000-2010” and continues to break Billboard records as having a Hot 100 entry in the 2000’s, 2010’s and 2020’s. To celebrate her contributions to music and recording, Ashanti will receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in April 2022.

Please join us in celebrating 20 years of the Princess of R&B, the Queen of Written Entertainment and “Baby” the woman that is never “Foolish” and writes the melodies that stay in our minds and hearts forever…..ASHANTI.

C O N T A C T SJoe Maimone201.301.5933 | joe.maimone@billboard.com

Lee Ann Photoglo615.376.7931 | laphotoglo@gmail.com

Cynthia Mellow615.352,0265 | cmellow615@gmail.com

Marcia Olival 786.586.4901 | marciaolival29@gmail.com

Ryan O’Donnell +447843437176 | rodonnell@pmc.com

20TH ANNIVERSARY

younger or older women reporting higher levels of self-assuredness.

It is important to note that these issues and attitudes towards gender in the work-place, while widespread, are not uniform across all genres, roles, ages, gender and sexual identities, and countries. Latin Amer-ican and Rest of World (RoW) respondents were a bit less likely to be concerned about bias, ageism and pigeonholing; Europeans were most fearful of age discrimination and reported the highest levels of self doubt; Canadian and American respondents had the highest concern about limited creative opportunities and were most likely to expe-rience harassment.

In its analysis, Midia concludes that women creators and executives “face differ-ent sides of the same industry” and may be able to extend a helping hand to each other. The research firm suggests “record labels and publishers can make a difference by ex-tending the same HR-like resources to their artists as to their employees.”

Record Store Day 2022 Yields Record-Breaking Vinyl Album SalesBY KEITH CAULFIELD

After two years of modified Record Store Day events due to the CO-VID-19 pandemic, Record Store Day 2022 was mostly back to its

pre-pandemic self – and once again helping break modern-era vinyl sales records.

This year’s edition of the independent music retailer celebration, staged on April 23, helped sell 1.316 million vinyl albums in the U.S. in the week ending April 28, according to Luminate. That 1.316 mil-lion total marks a record number of vinyl albums sold in a Record Store Day (RSD) week, excluding Black Friday-related RSD festivities, and the sixth-largest week for vinyl album sales since Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991.

RSD 2022 also drove a modern-era record of 1.012 million vinyl albums sold in the U.S. via independent record stores in that frame. That is the largest week ever for the format at the indie sector in Luminate history. It surpasses the previous Luminate-era high for weekly vinyl album sales at indies, set with 942,000 sold in the week ending June 17, 2021 (during RSD 2021’s first drop of last year).

After two years in which RSD celebra-tions were heavily altered due to COVID-19, the event was mostly back to its pre-pan-demic self for the 2022 edition. Traditional-ly, Record Store Day is held on one Saturday in the springtime, when hundreds of albums (and many singles) are released specifically for the event.

Among the unique titles that hit shelves for Record Store Day 2022: the vinyl debut of Childish Gambino’s Kauai EP (pressed on three surprise color vinyl variants ran-domly distributed globally), a new double vinyl pressing of Mariah Carey’s #1’s album and a 50th anniversary 180-gram glow-in-the-dark double vinyl edition of The Rolling Stones’ More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies). All three releases were among the top-selling RSD-exclusive titles of the week at indie record stores (see list, below). Additionally, Taylor Swift – the global ambassador for Record Store Day 2022 – released a two-track 7-inch single for “The Lakes” / “The Lakes” (Original Ver-sion). The latter track made its vinyl debut on this single.

In 2020, Record Store Day was meant to be held on April 18. However, owed to CO-VID-19 complications, the single-day event was split into three separate drops: Aug. 26, Sept. 26 and Oct. 24. And in 2021, RSD was divided into two drops, on June 12 and July 17. (Further, Record Store Day stages a Black Friday-focused event annually, with a smaller – yet still robust – number of ex-clusive titles. In 2019, the last pre-pandemic year of RSD events, the main Record Store Day event garnered about 400 releases, while RSD Black Friday brought nearly 200 titles.)

While Record Store Day is shaking off the pandemic blues, things aren’t completely back to normal. As Record Store Day’s of-

ficial website states, while “in 2022, there is one Record Store Day, April 23,” there will still be another Record Store Day drop event, on June 18. That drop date is acting as a “safety net, for titles that are part of the Record Store Day celebration, but for any number of reasons beyond controlling, [couldn’t] make it into stores on April 23.” (Among those titles that are slated for the drop on June 18 are a translucent-gold col-ored double vinyl pressing of Prince’s The Gold Experience album and a crystal-clear double vinyl edition of Pearl Jam’s Live on Two Legs album.)

Here are some facts on Record Store Day 2022’s impact, plus a look at the top-selling Record Store Day-exclusive albums and singles.

All data is according to Luminate, for the week ending April 28, 2022, in the U.S, unless otherwise indicated. Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991. References to the Lumi-nate era mean from 1991-onwards.

Industry-wide total album sales in U.S. across all formats (physical [includ-ing CD, vinyl, cassettes, etc.] and digital downloads): 2.33 million – up 34.5% com-pared to the previous week (1.733 million). It’s the largest album sales week in 2022. The last larger week was the week ending Dec. 30, 2021, when 2.653 million albums were sold. (Outside of the holiday shopping season – from the week containing Thanks-giving through the end of the year – the last larger week was the frame ending Nov. 18, 2021, when 2.708 million albums were sold.)

Industry-wide total physical al-bum sales in U.S. (CD, vinyl, cassette, etc.): 1.946 million – up 42.4% compared to the previous week (1.367 million). It’s the largest sales week for physical album sales in 2022. The last bigger week was the week ending Dec. 20, 2021, when 2.151 million physical albums were sold. (Outside of the holiday shopping season – from the week containing Thanksgiving through the end of the year – the last larger week was the frame ending Nov. 18, 2021, when 2.082 million physical albums were sold.)

Industry-wide CD album sales in U.S.: 621,000 – up 2.7% compared to the previous week (605,000).

Industry-wide vinyl album sales in

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U.S.: 1.316 million – up 74.8% compared to the previous week (753,000).

That 1.316 million sum translates to a record number of vinyl albums sold in a Record Store Day week, not counting Black Friday-related RSD festivities, and the sixth-largest week for vinyl album sales since Luminate began tracking data in 1991. It’s also the biggest week outside of the holiday shopping season for vinyl album sales, in the Luminate era.

The largest week for vinyl album sales in the Luminate era occurred in the week ending Dec. 23, 2021, when 2.115 million vinyl albums were sold. The Nos. 2-5 largest weeks are: week ending Dec. 24, 2020 (1.842 million); Dec. 16, 2021 (1.458 million); Dec. 2, 2021 (1.453 million; includes RSD Black Friday) and Dec. 17, 2021 (1.445 million).

56% of all albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 28 were vinyl albums (1.316 million of 2.33 million). For context, year-to-date, vinyl albums comprise 41.7% of all album sales (12.667 million of 30.399 million).

68% of all physical albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 28 were vi-nyl albums (1.316 million of 1.946 million). Year-to-date, vinyl albums represent 53.8% of all physical album sales (12.667 million of 23.531 million).

Vinyl’s 68% share of the physical album market in the week ending April 28 rep-resents vinyl’s largest weekly slice of the physical album market since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991. It surpasses vinyl’s 62% share during Record Store Day 2021’s second drop (week ending July 22, 2021).

Independent store album sales in U.S.: 1.2 million – up 133.2% compared to the previous week (515,000). It’s the biggest album sales week at indie stores in 2022, and the largest since the week ending Dec. 23, 2021, when 1.233 million albums were sold at indies.

Independent store CD album sales in U.S.: 185,000 – up 19.9% compared to the previous week (154,000). It’s the largest sales week for CD album sales at indie stores in 2022. The last bigger week was the week ending Dec. 30, 2021, when 210,000 CD albums were sold at indies. (Outside of the

holiday shopping season, the last bigger week for CD album sales at indies was in the frame ending Nov. 2, 2021, when 217,000 CD albums were sold in the indie sector.)

Independent store vinyl album sales in U.S.: 1.012 million – up 183% compared to the previous week (358,000). That marks the largest week ever for the format at the indie sector since Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991. It surpasses the previous Luminate-era high for weekly vinyl album sales at indies, with 942,000 sold in the week ending June 17, 2021 (during Record Store Day 2021’s first drop).

51.5% of all albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 28 were sold via independent record stores (1.2 million of 2.33 million). For context, year-to-date, indie store album sales comprise 29.7% of all album sales (9.039 million of 30.399 million).

61.7% of all physical albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 28 were sold via independent record stores (1.2 million of 1.946 million). Year-to-date, 38.4% of all physical albums sold in the U.S. were sold via indie stores (9.039 million of 23.531 million).

76.9% of all vinyl albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 28 were sold via independent record stores (1.012 million of 1.316 million). Year-to-date, 51.8% of all vinyl albums were sold via indie record stores (6.564 million of 12.667 million).

43.4% of all albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 28 were vinyl albums sold via independent record stores (1.012 million of 2.33 million). Year-to-date, 21.5% of all albums sold in the U.S. have been vinyl albums via indie record stores (6.564 million of 30.399 million).

52% of all physical albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 28 were vinyl albums sold via independent record stores (1.012 million of 1.946 million). Year-to-date, 27.9% of all physical albums sold in the U.S. have been vinyl albums sold via indie record stores (6.564 million of 23.531 million).

58% of vinyl albums sold via independent record stores in the U.S. were of the rock genre (590,000 of 1.012 million). 57.2% of all vinyl albums sold industry wide in the U.S. were rock titles (752,000 of 1.316 million).

Year-to-date, the rock genre comprises 58.9% of vinyl albums sold through indie re-cord stores (3.855 million of 6.564 million). While rock holds 55% of all vinyl albums sold industry wide (6.973 million of 12.667 million). 

Top Record Store Day Exclusive Albums at Independent Record Stores in U.S. Rank, Artist, Title 1. Childish Gambino, Kauai (multicolor vinyl) 2. Stevie Nicks, Bella Donna (double vinyl) 3. Wallows, Wallows Singles Collection 2017-2020 (sky blue colored vinyl) 4. The Cure, Pornography (picture disc vinyl) 5. Joni Mitchell, Blue Highlights: Demos, Out-takes, Live (vinyl) 6. CZARFACE, Czarmageddon! (double vinyl) 7. Future, DS2 (teal colored double vinyl) 8. Kacey Musgraves, Star-Crossed (picture disc vinyl) 9. Mariah Carey, #1’s (double vinyl) 10. The Offspring, Greatest Hits (aqua blue colored vinyl) 11. Lou Reed, I’m So Free: The 1971 RCA Demos (vinyl) 12. Grateful Dead, Live at Wembley Empire Pool, London, England (4/8/72) (five vinyl LP set) 13. The Rolling Stones, More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies) (180 gram glow-in-the-dark double vinyl) 14. The Replacements, Unsuitable for Airplay – The Lost KFAI Concert (140 gram double vinyl) 15. The Doors, L.A. Woman Sessions (four vinyl LP set) 16. Kirk Hammett, Portals (ocean blue col-ored vinyl) 17. The Jackson 5, ABC (blue colored vinyl) 18. Pixies, Live From Coachella 2004 (140 gram yellow and orange marbled double vinyl) 19. Willie Nelson, Live at the Texas Opry House, 1974 (double vinyl) 20. The Ramones, The Sire Albums 1981-1989 (neon pink colored seven LP set) 21. Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Acous-tics (vinyl) 22. David Bowie, Brilliant Adventure EP (vi-nyl) 23 (TIE). Red Hot Chili Peppers, Unlimited Love (silver colored double vinyl) 23 (TIE). The Cranberries, Remember Dolo-

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res (double vinyl) 25. David Bowie, Toy E.P. (“You’ve Got It Made With All the Toys”) (10-inch vinyl)

Top Record Store Day Exclusive Singles at Independent Record Stores in U.S. Rank, Artist, Title 1. Alice In Chains, We Die Young 2. Taylor Swift, The Lakes 3. Foo Fighters, Making a Fire (Mark Ronson Re-Version) / Chasing Birds (Preservation Hall Jazz Band Re-Version) 4. U2, A Celebration (40th Anniversary) 5. Madonna, Who’s That Girl (Super Club Mix) 6. Vince Guaraldi Trio, Baseball Theme 7. Cypress Hill, The 420 Remixes 8. Blondie, Sunday Girl EP 9. Durand Jones & The Indications, Power to the People 10. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Magic Secrets

Source: Luminate, for the week ending April 28, 2022

Normani Inks Hipgnosis Publishing Deal, Promises New MusicBY KRISTIN ROBINSON

Artist and songwriter Nor-mani has signed a global publish-ing deal with Hipgnosis Songs Group, the company announced

Thursday (March 5). The deal indicates Hipgnosis, which typically categorizes itself as a “song management” company and is best known for its massive catalog of music rights, is eager to further embrace the role of music publisher and to bet on the value of partnering up-close with current hitmakers.

This is not to say Hipgnosis has previ-ously shied from investing in contemporary talent. The group has already acquired key catalogs from hitmakers like Jack An-

tonoff, Andrew Watt, Joel Little, Shaki-ra and many more and is known to be recep-tive to betting on “near catalogs” (catalogs less than five years old) more than most.

In 2020, the company acquired Big Deal Music, beginning the team’s movement into publishing. Included in the deal, Hipgno-sis brought the firm’s 4,400 copyrights, including songs recorded by Shawn Mendes, Panic! At the Disco and One Direction, and also their publishing administration company, Words & Music. From there, the company has signed a number of publishing agreements with songwriters, but few if any as marquee as Normani.

The announcement of Normani’s publish-ing deal, then, feels like a logical next step for the Merck Mercuriadis-founded com-pany. Though the deal does not include the pop singer’s back catalog — including hits like “Motivation” and “Wild Side,” featur-ing Cardi B — Hipgnosis will be working with Normani on all of her future works.

Hipgnosis also confirms to the singer’s fans that “new music and a larger body of work is on the way.” Since exiting the girl group Fifth Harmony and launching her solo career, Normani has become one of the most sought after musical stars of her gen-eration but also one of the most elusive. She has kept fans waiting for her debut album since she dropped her first solo collabora-tion “Love Lies” with Khalid (2018) and her first single “Motivation” in 2019, but accord-ing to Hipgnosis, the wait may soon be over.

“I’m proud to have partnered with the team at Hipgnosis and take my catalogue to new and exciting places. I’m excited to em-bark on this new chapter with them,” says Normani of the deal.

“At 25 years of age Normani has been hav-ing gold and platinum records for almost a decade and yet she’s barely getting started,” adds Mercuriadis. “From ‘Love Lies’ to ‘Dancing With A Stranger,’ we have admired her from afar and we are now delighted to welcome both Normani and her man-ager Brandon Silverstein to the Hipgnosis family. Together with our very own Casey Robison they are a special combination.”

Casey Robison, Hipgnosis executive vp of A&R, calls the artist “world class.” “Outside of being wildly talented, she is the consum-

mate professional and singular force in pop music we’ve long been missing,” she says.

Normani, who was previously repped by Sony Music Publishing, is signed to RCA Records and managed by Brandon Silver-stein, CEO and founder of S10 Entertain-ment. Silverstein adds, “We’re thrilled to partner with forward thinking partners like Hipgnosis and look forward to working with Merck/Casey and their team to fully support Normani’s vision and invest in the long term success of her art.”

Executive Turntable: Def Jam Names Promotion EVP; BMG Re-Ups Repertoire LeadsBY DARLENE ADEROJU

Natina Nimene was promoted to executive vp of promotion and artist relations at Def Jam Recordings, where she will

continue to lead the strategy, execution and management of Def Jam’s promotional campaigns, artists and staff. She will also continue serving as the liaison for Def Jam artists including Ye, Pusha T, Teyana Taylor, 2 Chainz, Jeezy, YG, Muni Long, Coco Jones, Fredo Bang and DaniLeigh.

BMG has re-upped its two U.S. repertoire leads, Jon Loba and Thomas Scherer. Loba is now leading BMG Nashville’s label and publishing operations, making him the only major music executive in Nashville to hold dual leadership responsibilities in both areas of the business. Scherer, who serves as president of repertoire & marketing for Los Angeles and New York, will now take the lead on U.S. rights acquisitions in addition to his pre-existing responsibilities. Chris Oglesby, senior vp of creative at BMG Nashville, where he leads publishing, now reports to Loba.

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Tony Smith retired from his role as vp of promotion at Hollywood Records/Disney Music Group after working at the company for more than 21 years. Smith played a role in launching the careers of artists including Jesse McCartney, Hilary Duff, Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato.

Wilt Wallace was named senior vp of urban promotion at Columbia Records, where he will help artists reach the top of urban airplay charts by bringing a modern approach to promotion.

Sarah van Mosel was named execu-tive vp of the iHeart Audience Network (iAN), a new service from iHeartMedia, Inc. that simplifies audio advertising with inventory sourced from the iHeartRadio da-tabase and other premium publishers across streaming and podcasting. Van Mosel will assist with iAN sales operations, publisher development and podcast slate partnerships for iHeartPodcasts. She can be reached at info@iheart.com.

Julie Muncy was hired as senior vp of promotion and strategy at Dualtone Music Group, an MNRK Music Group company. Based out of Los Angeles, she will lead all Dualtone radio promotion at alternative and Americana formats.

Keel founders Joey Papoutsis and Pe-ter Rugo launched Thirty Knots, a sister record label to Keel, and opened the Los Angeles-based recording studio The Keel Studios. Both Keel and Thirty Knots special-ize in indie-alternative, crossover electronic and pop-rock artists as well as social media influencers. Papoutsis can be reached at joey@keel.la and Rugo can be reached at Peter@keel.la.

Gary Spivack was hired as senior ex-ecutive of music at SaveLive, a platform founded in 2020 to work with independent venue owners and promoters. The 2021 Pollstar Talent Buyer of The Year nominee will liaise with the SaveLive network to help further enhance their day-to-day operations and long-range business. He can be reached at gary@savelive.com.

David Huntzinger was hired as head of digital to the growing team of managers at Night, Inc. He will continue to represent longtime top-tier clients such as Hasan Piker, Lazerbeam and Asmongold while

expanding his roster and moving into Web3.Ebba Guhnby was hired as business

development manager across the Nordic region at FUGA, a leading B2B distributor. Concurrent with that announcement, FUGA also revealed that it has signed a global dis-tribution and marketing services deal with YEAR0001, an independent Stockholm, Sweden-based label and creative studio.

Mike Donahue joined the board of direc-tors at Symphonic Distribution, where he will apply his understanding of how to leverage technology, data and processes to drive business results.

Jack Harlow Has Become a Superstar. Here’s How It Happened, in 10 StepsBY JASON LIPSHUTZ 

Who is Jack Harlow?”

Last weekend, NBA ref-eree Scott Foster went vi-ral during a Celtics-Bucks

playoff game by asking fellow ref Ed Malloy the simple question, unsure of who the artist being shown on the Jumbotron was. Foster being unfamiliar with Harlow’s oeuvre naturally became a meme, all of social media seemingly dissecting this hilarious inter-section between sports and pop culture. Yet the foundation of the joke was that, at this point, everyone should know who Jack Harlow is.

That’s because the Kentucky rapper is en-joying the type of commercial run that most artists can barely even fathom, combin-ing hits, co-signs, cross-genre success and non-music opportunities to the point where his superstardom is barely up for debate anymore. That particularly bodes well for Harlow on the eve of his new album, Come Home the Kids Miss You, out Friday (May 6). The star-studded project already contains one smash, the No. 1 hit “First Class,” and

could spin off a few more by year’s end.Harlow’s trajectory to the top has been

unexpected over the past few years, but he’s also moved with purpose and panache toward the A-list of mainstream music. He is now a superstar — here’s how that’s hap-pened, in 10 steps.

1. He had time to find his voice.Before Harlow was a household name,

he was a teen from Louisville filming low-budget music videos in cars with his pals, rapping about both skipping high school classes and his go-to burrito order at Qdoba, and generally embracing a cool-nerd per-sona. Listening to Harlow’s early projects — which date back to the mid-2010s, a full half-decade before any sort of mainstream recognition — his gifts as a technical rapper that gravitates toward a brassy punchline are clear, but needed a few projects to ges-tate and evolve.

His personality on the mic was compel-ling, if not entirely coherent; he understood melody, but the hooks weren’t clean. When Harlow did score a smash in 2020, part of its appeal was how natural his flow sounded — but that effortlessness took years to cultivate before arriving anywhere near where we know it today.

2. He pounced on a killer song.“This is one of the only beats I ever just

like, heard, and I was like, ‘I need it right now,’” Harlow said of “Whats Poppin” in a Genius breakdown of his breakout hit. JetsonMade and Pooh Beatz, fresh off the success of DaBaby’s “Suge,” unearthed an instantly memorable beat marked by the push-pull of an elegant piano loop and trunk-rattling percussion.

In turn, Harlow snatched it and turned it into a showcase for his honed persona, toss-ing out sex boasts, weed tips, pasta orders (“Eating fettuccine at Vincenzo’s!”) and a catchphrase in “Whats Poppin.” Following its January 2020 release, the song took off on YouTube and TikTok before crossing over to streaming services and radio, and the original version of “Whats Poppin” climbed to No. 8 on the Hot 100 chart, delivering the 21-year-old to the masses.

3. He then made that song even bigger.Six months after the release of “Whats

Poppin,” Harlow gave his big single an all-

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star facelift by adding DaBaby, Tory Lanez and Lil Wayne onto an official remix for which he also recorded a new verse. Not only did the guest stars fill out the song — its run time expanded from 2:19 to 3:47, and it sported a more traditional verse-chorus structure — but nary a phoned-in moment exists on the remix: DaBaby, Lanez and Wayne all bring their A-game over that piano loop, and helped legitimize Harlow by sounding so ferocious alongside him.

Arguably, the “Whats Poppin” remix hasn’t aged well — the song was released weeks before Lanez’s violent confrontation with Megan Thee Stallion, and a year before DaBaby’s controversial statements at Rolling Loud — but when the new version pushed to No. 2 on the Hot 100, Harlow became an even more visible artist in mainstream hip-hop, with a couple of A-list co-signs now in his back pocket.

4. He kept collaborating in between big singles…

A little over a year elapsed between “Whats Poppin” and his next big hit, but Harlow kept himself busy in the meantime. His major-label debut, That’s What They All Say, became his first top 10 entry on the Bill-board 200 chart upon its December 2020, and “Tyler Herro” and “Way Out” returned Harlow to the Hot 100, even though they couldn’t replicate the magic of “Whats Pop-pin.” He also continued making inroads with hip-hop’s elite class via collaborations, hop-ping on songs and remixes by Eminem, Ty Dolla $ign, Saweetie and French Montana in order to gain clout and keep popping up on streaming playlists. As he was search-ing for a follow-up hit, Harlow refused to disappear for too long, and made his voice a regular presence within the mainstream of his genre.

5. …And then one of those collabora-tions exploded.

Harlow’s appearance on Lil Nas X’s 2021 single “Industry Baby” plays out as a best-case scenario for a modern guest verse: not only did the chest-thumping pop-rap anthem become ubiquitous, give Harlow his first career Hot 100 chart-topper and eventually bring him to the Grammys stage, it also amplified his persona in a way that paved the way for his current enormity.

His “Industry Baby” verse packs tons of quotable lyrics — “I didn’t peak in high school, I’m still out here gettin’ cuter”; “OG so proud of me that he chokin’ up while he makin’ toasts”; “Say your time is comin’ soon, but just like Oklahoma, mine is comin’ sooner” — inside roughly 50 seconds, as Harlow’s strutting lines remain compact to counter-balance Nas’ sing-song flow. Meanwhile, the instantly iconic “Industry Baby” music video let Harlow play the foil to Nas’ prison break hero and display his un-flappable cool and goofball charm in equal measures. Add in the praise that a straight rapper received from the LGBTQ communi-ty for co-starring in a queer rap anthem, and “Industry Baby” checked every professional box for Harlow — one could argue that it’s the most commercially transformative verse of the decade so far.

6. He was co-signed by Kanye West.“Industry Baby” was co-produced by

none other than Kanye West, and a few months after its release, Harlow returned the favor by appearing on “Louie Bags,” from Ye’s Donda 2 album. A few days before that project’s release last February, however, West posted a screenshot of Harlow’s music video for his single “Nail Tech” on Instagram, with the caption, “This n***a can raaaaaaap bro And I’m saying n***a as a compliment Top 5 out right now.”

Having Ye — one of the most respected voices in hip-hop history, regardless of the controversy he’s courted in recent years — describe Harlow as a top 5 rapper right now gave an ascendant young artist, and specifically a white artist in a predominantly Black genre, greater credibility with regard to his technical skill. If “Industry Baby” gave Harlow a chance to shine on pop radio, Ye’s words undoubtedly helped legitimize him to hardcore rap fans.

7. He booked a significant movie.White Men Can’t Jump is beloved intel-

lectual property, the type of sports comedy that still highlights VHS collections and deserved a 30th anniversary reunion at the most recent Academy Awards. A remake has been in the works for years, and in March, its star was announced: Harlow, who will be making his acting debut off the strength of his first-ever screen audition.

Multiple variables could make this film detour a footnote in Harlow’s career — maybe his appeal doesn’t translate to the silver screen, or maybe the remake comes and goes after getting panned. Yet the an-nouncement underlines the fact that Harlow has become increasingly popular, so much so that the studio 20th Century is willing to have him top-line a major remake without a lick of acting experience. And who knows? Maybe White Men Can’t Jump 2.0 will be a huge success, unlock Harlow’s future as a double threat, and let him stop by the Oscars at its 30-year mark.

8. He rode a sample to a smash.“Nail Tech,” which Harlow released

in February, was a modest hit, peaking at No. 18 on the Hot 100 and continuing the momentum of “Industry Baby” in the up-per reaches of the start. Yet “First Class,” which Harlow teased on TikTok ahead of its release last month, garnered a much bigger reaction, debuting atop the Hot 100 chart and instantly becoming the biggest solo hit of Harlow’s career.

Credit Harlow for expertly scavenging Fergie’s 2006 chart-topper “Glamorous,” a sample of which is placed prominently in the “First Class” hook, and then letting his magnetism carry the bars around it; the result is a slick combination of nostalgia and new-school braggadocio that listeners connected with immediately, and helped Harlow level up once more.

9. He’s releasing a major album at the right time.

The release timing of Come Home the Kids Miss You, Harlow’s second major-label album, couldn’t have worked out better for him: “First Class” is already a juggernaut, “Industry Baby” is still all over radio, and interest in his next moves as a recording artist couldn’t be higher. The album arriving roughly one month after the release of “First Class” gave his latest single a few weeks to find an even wider audience following its debut while anticipation for more Harlow music could be stoked.

Even casual fans are going to want to hear Come Home the Kids Miss You — which, as Harlow revealed this week, includes guest spots from Drake, Justin Timberlake, Pharrell Williams and Lil Wayne, as well as

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a song titled “Dua Lipa.” Time will tell how Harlow’s new LP performs on the charts, but his heightened profile and that track list suggest a bigger bow than that of That’s What They All Say in late 2020.

10. He stayed confident in his approach.As a Kentucky MC with a sturdy punch-

lines, pop crossover appeal, serious buy-in from rap fans and a slightly goofy streak, Harlow does not have an analog in main-stream hip-hop — and that’s what’s made him reach the enviable platform he stands on today. The lone constant, from his days as a glasses-wearing rapping teen to the cre-ator of one of the year’s most anticipated al-bums, has been Harlow’s unshakeable belief in himself, a type of swagger that bounces off his curly locks and is packed into every lyrical reference.

People believe in Harlow as an artist because he believes in himself, and that authentic point of view has brought him to a potentially major commercial moment. Harlow undoubtedly thinks the sky’s the limit for his career, and if his journey thus far has been any indication, he very well may be correct.

The Chainsmokers Are Back — And Yes, They Know What You Think Of ThemBY KATIE BAIN

In December 2019, in another green room in another anonymous cement underbelly of another arena, The Chainsmokers realized that they

hadn’t seen the sun in two weeks. Drew Taggart and Alex Pall had just

wrapped their World War Joy tour, a two-month, 41-date sprint across the United States and Canada, during which the duo performed on a fireworks-spitting stage, while stuntmen on motorcycles zoomed around the rig. After each show, Taggart and

Pall went to sleep on their tour bus, which would park in the subterranean garage of the venue — and then would already have arrived in the next venue’s garage by the time they woke up in the morning, with the tour’s sixteen transport trucks in tow.

Outside of those 90-minute nightly sets, the grind had become — well, just that. “I definitely remember the feeling of, ‘My God, I should be so happy right now, but I’m not,’ ” says Pall.

“I was in a dark place at the end of 2019,” adds Taggart. “I was on antidepressants. We were on this massive tour, we had an album that needed to be finished, and I went through this really tough time of waking up and not wanting to do anything that day. And there was so much to get done.” 

This burden of responsibility provided a sharp contrast to the never-ending whirl-wind of enormous hits, giant shows and huge paychecks that encompassed much of the duo’s first few years. Taggart was 22 when The Chainsmokers began, pairing with Pall, then 26, right out of college, then blasting into dance-pop ubiquity — some would say infamy — with their 2014 break-out single “#Selfie,” a satirical joke song that nonetheless reached No. 16 on the Bill-board Hot 100. A string of straight-faced hits followed, including 2015’s “Roses,” 2016’s “Don’t Let Me Down” and that year’s “Closer,” an inescapable team-up with Halsey that spent 12 weeks atop the Hot 100 chart (the latter two tracks scored Grammy noms). Legitimizing The Chainsmokers in the mainstream, these songs have now ag-gregated 4 billion U.S. streams, according to Luminate, formerly MRC Data. 

They also fueled the 180-plus global shows The Chainsmokers played each year from 2014 to 2019, an era in which many fellow EDM A-listers withered due to the burnout such constant touring inflict-ed. Taggart says that production costs were so high for the World War Joy tour that the endless live run didn’t turn a profit. Sud-denly, under the fluorescent lights of those arenas, Pall and Taggart felt much more adult than when they’d started. “It was like the songs were moving faster than we were,” says the duo’s longtime manager Adam Alp-ert. “It became second nature to them that

they had to be on tour all the time.” Fifteen minutes after the last World War

Joy show ended on Dec. 6, 2019, in Van-couver, The Chainsmokers sat down with Alpert in that unremarkable green room to discuss their next move, presenting a quasi-utopian vision. “They said to me, ‘We just want to go away and make stuff and not have to worry about deadlines, or if it’s a pop song or a dance song,’ ” says Alpert. “We just want to do something with no rules, no pressure, no preconceived notions, and if it takes us a year, fine.’ ”

So, with the final show of their 2010s wrapped and the pyro machines un-plugged, The Chainsmokers decided to do something uncharacteristic: disappear. 

On one glorious Los Angeles mid-morning nearly two-and-a-half years later, the pair are posted up at a sunlit modular house in L.A.’s woodsy Nichols Canyon that functions as their studio and hangout space. Pall’s two dogs — a sweetheart red golden retriever named Moo Shu, and Lula, a smaller mutt that Pall’s girlfriend adopted from Tijuana — saunter through the living room and out to the sun-splashed patio. Everything here is tasteful and suggestive of money: the overstuffed furniture, prodigous art, the grand piano standing erect in the corner. Pall offers me something to drink, and in their stainless-steel refrigerator I find roughly two dozen different types of water — fizzy, still, flavored, pH balanced, etc. — lined up in tidy rows. Pall grabs a cold brew, then Taggart materializes in the living room wearing gym shorts and an Apple “Think Different” t-shirt that looks like it’s been through some laundry cycles.

The duo strikes a balance, able at this point to finish each other’s sentences: Tag-gart is all heart, expounding on his emotions and life experiences, while Pall keeps it a bit closer to the vest, talking in big ideas. One of those is the “no rules, no pressure, no preconceived notions” project that’s been consuming the guys’ time since they posted what was essentially a high-profile away message to their social media in February 2020, locking down just a few weeks before much of the world did the same. “We have never been more inspired and are already hard at work on TCS4,” read the post, “but

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we are going to be taking a break from social media (minus a few obligations) to give it the attention it needs.” 

This project — So Far So Good, the fourth Chainsmokers LP, due May 13 — ended up demanding even more attention than they anticipated, with the pandemic extending their hiatus and providing more time to toil over the album’s 13 songs. This was the first time they got the luxury of an unhurried creative process, which allowed them to make finely detailed tracks that expand the notion of what The Chainsmokers’ music is, moving the dial from radio-friendly, indie-leaning dance to sounds that balance sing-along indie-pop and nuanced, often deeply textured electronic productions. This sonic evolution is happening after two albums released less than a year apart — 2018’s Sick Boy and World War Joy — failed to deliver any top 40 Hot 100 hits, benchmarks that previously seemed effortless for the duo.

“They started making songs that sounded like ‘Roses’ and ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ and ‘Closer,’ ” says Alpert. “People liked them, but there was no way they could be as big as those first songs. They got to a point where they were like, ‘We don’t need to keep mak-ing the same type of music over and over.’ ”

The production process for So Far So Good began on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii a few weeks after the World War Joy tour ended. In a rented house, Tag-gart and Pall settled in with a gaggle of pals including the electronic producer Whethan, and Ian Kirkpatrick and Emily Warren, the producers who’ve penned previous tracks for The Chainsmokers and cowrote hits for Dua Lipa and Shakira. The first few days were spent relaxing and playing music for each other. “Then out of nowhere one night,” Tag-gart says, “it just started happening.” 

After the team came up with a few solid musical ideas, the guys fell into a rhythm: waking up around noon, surfing for a few hours — they had local guides take them out because as Pall tells it, “We’re not that good at surfing” — then having lunch at the house. After, they’d work on music until late at night. Given that the duo hadn’t been in one place longer than a few days for the previous six years, the two weeks were revelatory.

“I can’t tell you how life-changing it was for me personally,” says Taggart, his big eyes growing wider as he speaks with nearly re-ligious conviction about the “most euphoric period of my life.” By the end of the trip, Taggart says he’d tossed his Prozac. (He notes he hadn’t been on it long enough to make weaning himself off necessary.) 

Work continued during writing retreats in Joshua Tree, Calif., New York and London, with the guys meticulously assembling, then tearing apart, lyrics and production ele-ments upwards of a hundred times. “To me, these songs sound like they took two years to make,” says Alpert.

While The Chainsmokers catalog had been defined by high-profile collaborations with singers like Halsey and Chris Martin, at a certain point they decided Taggart would just do all the singing himself to make the project even more their own. While the album’s lead singles “High” and “iPad” were written after the rest of the music to give the album what Taggart calls “connective tissue,” the album demonstrates a new level of technical proficiency and artistic verve in terms of The Chainsmokers’ capabilities as music-makers. Songs meld electronic sounds with thoughtful indie-pop songwrit-ing in a way that presents Taggart as the lead singer of The Chainsmokers, The Band, with Pall joining on piano along with their drummer Matt McGuire for live shows.

“New people that don’t like ‘Closer’ or ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ are going to hear these songs and say, ‘This I can get down with’ — especially in the subgenres of the dance mu-sic community,” says Alpert. And while the album won’t likely deliver The Chainsmok-ers too deeply into dance’s underground realms, Alpert hopes it can “at the very least just be appreciated by those worlds.”

Which brings us to the great Chain-smokers dilemma: a lot of people kind of loathe them. This hasn’t been easy for Taggart and Pall. The guys are perfectly aware of the hard-partying, EDM-bro image that they projected in their early days of stardom, and they shy away from magazine interviews, for fear of a quote being taken out of context. 

Their wariness is understandable. It was around the same time they became one of

the most commercially successful groups of the mid-2010s that they also became two of the most ridiculed artists in mainstream music. A 2014 performance of “#Selfie” on American Idol was famously disastrous, with the guys posing for awkward photos with host Jennifer Lopez (today, they don’t even like to say the song title aloud), while a 2016 Billboard cover story found them back-stage ripping tequila shots, proudly declar-ing that “we rage every night,” and exuding a bit of a chauvinist streak.

 “I remember reading that and thinking, ‘I can’t believe this is what people are going to think of us,’ and ‘Do we come off this way? I don’t want to be this person, you know?’ ” says Taggart. “That was the biggest thing. The guys we read about there, I was like, ‘I don’t like these guys.’ ” 

While they attempted to clean up their image in subsequent interviews, the head-lines — “Get Used To Hating The Chain-smokers,” “The Stupidity Of The Chain-smokers Continues To Astound Me” — were unrelenting. (Yes, they read a lot of those stories.) Taggart and Pall acknowledge that they do have some bro in them — but the people who really know them, they say, have always understood they weren’t ever those caricatures. 

“Sure, I would have loved that article not to turn out like that,” says Pall. “That’s the hard part, being like, ‘God, that is just not accurate of who I am, but I didn’t do myself any favors to show that person a different side.’ ”

Alpert, who calls himself their “big brother,” chooses his words carefully: “I can’t put myself in their shoes emotionally, but I think that when you’re dealing with hate, it throws you off and causes you to make mistakes, and it damages you a little bit…They certainly stumbled along the way, for lack of a better word. They played into that hate, in a way that is understandable for a person in their twenties to do.” 

Years later, as they sit for another Bill-board interview (the guys first had me over to the studio last December to play me the album and, it seemed, gauge my vibe) Tag-gart and Pall come across as thoughtful, funny and generally normal, more like dudes you’d meet at a fintech conference than on a

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bleary-eyed bar crawl. They’ve both gone to therapy, figured out how to say no to oppor-tunities that don’t work for them, dealt with anxiety and imposter syndrome, and gotten advice on how to be famous from the likes of Martin and Calvin Harris.

They’re rich and famous, to be sure, but their day-to-day doesn’t sound terribly sexy, with current schedules that include work-outs, studio time and hours of Zoom calls for their VC fund, Mantis. Using funds raised from outside investors (in 2020 they an-nounced that Mantis had raised $35 million in commitment), Mantis buys private com-pany shares during initial funding rounds, with recent investments including Apeel Sciences, which extends the shelf life of produce. (They generally stay away from consumer products to avoid diluting The Chainsmokers brand.) The guys are serious about the endeavor and count billionaire private equity CEO Jim Coulter among their mentors, adding that they’ve played wed-dings and bar mitzvahs hosted by plenty of the Fortune 500 CEOs. 

Mostly, they just seem like — at long last — grown-ups who are proud of the more grown-up art they’ve made. So Far So Good is The Chainsmokers 2.0 — tighter, contemplative and more experimental than most of their previous capital-B Bangers. Album track “Testing,” for instance, may be the only song in the dance canon that samples Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Fac-tory’s “Pure Imagination.” They hope people will give it a chance.

This reset began in January when, after a two-year break from social media (they ad-mit they lurked a bit, but generally enjoyed being disconnected), The Chainsmokers uploaded a video announcing their return: a parody clip in which two random actors replace Pall and Taggart, playing into the longstanding Internet joke that anyone can do what The Chainsmokers do. “Sorry, The Chainsmokers are back,” a title card an-nounced at the end of the video. 

“Part of the thing with The Chainsmok-ers is, we felt on some levels like we were becoming people’s dirty little secret,” says Pall. “By being like, ‘We’re in on the joke, we get the joke, we love the joke,’ it disarms people and allows people to enjoy the music

for what it is… Whatever people imagine from past experiences with us, I think it was really important to kind of reset the tone.” 

“I definitely think we won people over,” says Alpert, “and that was 100% the plan.” 

Of course, The Chainsmokers still have millions of global listeners that don’t need any convincing. The guys have been hanging out on their Discord channel playing their 10,000 subscribers their latest music and, in early April, jetted to London to play a pair of shows where production was just cryo and some lasers. “I had never felt more connected to our fans,” says Taggart. These were their first public performances since a July 2020 charity show in the Hamptons for which organizers incurred a $20,000 fine from New York state for breaking public health protocols; both Pall and Taggart are quick to call it a mistake.

Having also learned hard lessons dur-ing the relentless World War Joy tour and hundreds of shows prior, the trick now is getting The Chainsmokers back on the road in a way that doesn’t make them acutely miserable. With the album finished, there’s no pressure to produce more. Their team has also designed the So Far So Good tour to be a more modest run, with greater care put into individual shows booked at more unique venues. This time around, they want it to feel more special for everyone involved — including themselves.

“It does feel like we’re a new band start-ing over in a lot of ways,” says Pall. “I don’t mean that in any sort of negative way. It’s the best feeling ever.”

DaBaby Won’t Be Charged in Shooting at His North Carolina MansionBY BILL DONAHUE 

DaBaby will not face criminal charges over an incident last month in which he allegedly shot a man in the leg after he

entered the rapper’s North Carolina estate, local authorities said Thursday.

The April 13 shooting left the unidenti-fied man with non-life-threatening injuries. In a 911 call recording and a later Instagram post, DaBaby confirmed that he had shot the man in the leg after the man scaled a wall and trespassed on his property.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, the police department in Troutman, North Carolina said that after consulting with the county district attorney’s office, the inves-tigation had been “completed and closed,” adding, “there will be no criminal charges filed at this time.”

In a recording of a 911 call by DaBaby released by TMZ shortly after the shooting, the injured trespasser can be heard moaning in the background. The rapper repeatedly tells the dispatcher that he shot the man in the leg, saying he had “defended his proper-ty” against a “trespasser” who had “jumped over a fence” and had used his name.

The next day, DaBaby took to Instagram to commend himself for not killing the man: “Chose not to take a n***a life the other day & it felt great.👍🏾 Buddy ain’t deserve to go, I step righteously. Heal up & live my boy! Just don’t bring ya ass back💥”

The incident is the latest in a string of legal problems for DaBaby, who is facing criminal charges and a civil lawsuit over an incident in which he allegedly attacked a property manager during a music video shoot. The “Rockstar” rapper is also the subject of a civil suit over a viral incident in

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which he and others brawled with Brandon Bills — the brother of singer DaniLeigh, with whom DaBaby has a daughter — at a bowling alley. He was also arrested last year for allegedly carrying a loaded gun inside a Rodeo Drive retail store.

Separately, a report by Rolling Stone last week surfaced a new video from a 2018 inci-dent in which Kirk shot and killed a 19-year-old man at a North Carolina Walmart. The rapper claimed self-defense and did not face homicide charges over the shooting, but the Rolling Stone report suggested that the video “undercuts” that version of the story. DaBaby’s attorneys have since responded to the report, saying that prosecutors and a judge reviewed the tape at the time and concluded that the rapper had acted in self-defense.

Sharon Van Etten On Recording Her New Album ‘In a Bubble’ and Why She Chose Not To Preview It Before ReleaseBY FRANK DIGIACOMO 

I don’t know why I did this to myself,” says Sharon Van Etten, smiling into her computer monitor in a way that recalls Karen Allen in Raiders of the

Lost Ark. She is referring to the songs on her new album, We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong, out today (May 6). “There are some of the craziest melodies on this record — the highs and the lows and vocal runs that I do,” she says.

She’s not kidding. From husky whisper to swing-for-the-nosebleeds alto, Van Etten’s vocals on her sixth album dive and soar, despair and exult — and exemplify the fear-lessness that makes We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong as musically epic as it is lyri-

cally intimate. On the album’s apex, “Come Back,” organ, synthesizer, piano, acoustic guitar, bass and bottomless drums propel Van Etten’s voice to dopamine highs, while the song that follows, “Darkish,” is simply acoustic guitar and Van Etten’s vocals. There is levity, too, in the disco-pop of “Mistakes,” in which Van Etten sings about dancing “like Elaine” (that would be Seinfeld char-acter Elaine Benes) and declares: “When I make a mistake, turns out it’s great.”

A Jersey girl turned New Yorker, Van Etten, 41 — along with her partner, manager and former drummer Zeke Hutchins and their now 5-year-old son — left the East coast in the fall of 2019 for a home in Los Angeles with a yard and room enough for the recording studio that she finished build-ing last January. Yet the space came with a trade-off: wildfires — the Martian orange sky of the album cover is a nod to the dev-astation — and earthquakes. Plus, soon after the move, the pandemic arrived.

Under lockdown, Van Etten wrote and recorded a song cycle inspired by these events, but one that will not be dated by them. Only one song, “I’ll Try,” hints at the masks and #BlackLivesMatter marches that helped define 2020, while the rest of the 10-song album grapples with the sort of fears, anxieties and hopes that reside in the headspace of couples and parents: the omni-present tug-of-war between joy and anxiety that comes with raising a child; the fragile dynamic between parenting and maintain-ing a career; concerns that a once-passion-ate relationship is sliding into complacency; and for those like Van Etten, who have survived abusive relationships, the bubbling up of past traumas. The album’s title was inspired by a line from The Sandlot, one of her son’s favorite films during the height of the pandemic.

While Van Etten has a current indie hit with “Porta” — the video features Van Etten doing Pilates with her friend, instructor Stella Cook — it’s not on the album (Van Etten calls it a “B side”). In fact, Van Etten didn’t preview We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong at all. She discusses this decision – as well as life in lockdown, her upcoming tour with Angel Olsen and Julien Baker — below.

You didn’t include any of the singles you’ve put out in the last year on the new album. Why no advance releases? 

I don’t know if I’m just getting older, or I feel overwhelmed by information, overshar-ing and so much giving away. I miss the days as a teenager where I was so excited to bring the record home and listen to it front to back. Also, I started from a pretty DIY place where I learned how to do things in a slow-build approach.

Not to say that anyone else is doing it wrong. It’s more about encouraging fans that love the album to engage with it on their own terms. I don’t listen to albums all the time, so I don’t want to act like I’m bet-ter than that. I listen to Spotify. I have Apple Music. I have a Sonos system in my house. I can’t always put on a record, but when I do, it’s so good. I just think that in this culture, listening has become very passive, and I want to invite people to have that feeling of listening to an entire album again. If you want to find it randomly on a playlist, I’m sure it’ll get there at some point. But I don’t want to give away half my record before it’s out.

As an artist in this age of streaming, do you feel pressure to be more single oriented?

Absolutely not. I feel pressure to make a living as an artist. It’s a pretty hard career, especially having a child. But I’m very aware that the kind of music I make isn’t single driven. I will say that during quarantine it was kind of nice to not have the pressure of making an album. I was making things and collaborating, so the releases that came out then were for compilations or the result of a pen-pal relationship or whatever. Those things happened out of the blue, and I need-ed that without the pressure of an album.

Where was your head at when you were writing and recording We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong? 

In a bubble, like most of us. I tend to write songs that are a moment in time — they’re chapters. This is a chapter of my life from 2019 until the end of 2021. I keep making this joke that the universe called my bluff: “Oh, you want to go to Los Angeles and slow down and have a studio and a yard and this space to reflect on everything you’ve

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worked for at this point? Here’s some time to think about it.” And I did, in the context of an apocalypse and trying to have a brave face for my child and my partner, which I couldn’t always do. There was a lot of reflec-tion on decisions I’ve made in my life and where I am today— and how I can be a bet-ter person once we get out of this bubble.

My son was about the same age as yours when 9/11 happened, and I re-member these moments of terror when I thought, “How am I going to protect this kid?” I used to sleep on the floor in his room. Did you go through anything similar?

Absolutely. He still sleeps in our bed half the time. And I still have these moments of, “I left the radio on too long and he heard about starving children, about the war.” I’m not ignoring all the things, but he’s at an age where I don’t want him to know that there’s bad people. There will be an age where I’ll tell him about the real shit, but you don’t really need to know about bombs and criminals at five. We’re not re-ally regimented anyway, but when COVID hit all hell broke loose. We’d fall asleep on the couch watching Bob Ross, The Sandlot, and to try to get him to go to sleep it was [Albert Lamorisse’s] White Mane and The Red Balloon. We just got to this point where we were like, “Okay, he’s asleep in bed with us. It’s 10 o’clock. Do we try to move him, or do we just sit here quietly clutching our whiskeys, hold hands and cry?” We had those moments.

There’s a YouTube video about the making of “Porta” where you talk about “spiraling” at the beginning of 2020. Was that because the pandemic was on its way here? 

It was more of a missing home feeling. Born and raised in Jersey, lived in New York for 15 years and starting from scratch. I guess I started the sessions with my friend Stella Cook during COVID in April or May of 2020. I reached out to her and was like, “I need to be motivated because I’m finding myself drinking more than I should, and I’m smoking cigarettes again.” I was in this rut; not exercising because I’m afraid to go out-side, or the smoke was so bad we couldn’t even leave the house.

From the forest fires? Yes. I had never lived in California. I

hadn’t experienced fires, smoke, air quality — the only earthquake I’d experienced was the one in New York in 2000, and I thought that was the train. I was not feeling great, and I needed to be held accountable. I’ve known Stella since the early 2000s. I met her through her partner Brad Cook, who’s in Megafaun. She’s been a beacon to me when I’ve asked her about workouts for the road and what are good moves for my ass because I’m sitting on it all day. Finally, I was like, “Can we just do a Zoom call? Do you do those?” And sure enough, she met me once a week. We’d have a quick coffee so we would feel connected as friends, and then she would move on to a 30 to 45-min-ute session. We did that for almost a year. It was wonderful.

Are you happy to get back on the road? I’m nervous, but I love playing with my

band. I love the new material, even though it’s really hard to sing. It’ll be good for me to get back into practice. I’ve been mostly momming, which has been really nice. They don’t always coincide. I’m excited to connect with fans again, and the U.S. dates are mostly outside, so hopefully people can feel a bit more confident in going to those. I’m nervous about Europe because they’re mostly inside. I’m going to do what I feel like I’m supposed to do and be as safe as I possibly can, and hope that my band and my crew and my fans all feel as safe as possible. People are asking me, “Why are you still talking about COVID?” And I’m like, “CO-VID is still happening.”

You’re touring this summer with Angel Olsen and Julien Baker. Did that come to-gether as a result of your 2021 collabora-tion with the former on “Like I Used To”?

It stemmed from our song for sure. She and I had such a good time. We’ve even talk-ed about doing more music together at some point. The managers were talking because of that song, and one thing led to another with availability in the summer. They got excited, we got excited, and then we started thinking more creatively about how we make this feel like a group of friends banding together in a safe space to help fans see as many of their artists in one place.

What are other benefits of working with friends?

I feel that everyone I work with, it’s a partnership, and feel lucky in that way. I’m not under a big corporate umbrella. I work with friends that I know with terms that I’m comfortable with.

Do you own your own masters?I share everything between label, publish-

ing … My first record came out in 2009. I missed the big music boom of the ‘90s, and when I came in, it felt like an even playing field. I didn’t have these huge expectations. I started pretty DIY and on my own, so the growth I’ve had has felt very natural to me. An indie artist starting out now has to stream millions, or is it billions? And then that song defines someone’s career and they’ve never been on tour before. I don’t envy that at all. I feel like if I can sustain what I have, I’ll be all right. I don’t need a rocket. I don’t need to reinvent or clean house. I just love who I work with, and I want to keep doing it.

I read that you were a sommelier at one point. What’s your go-to wine?

I never became a sommelier, but my first job in New York was at Astor Wines & Spir-its. I worked at a wine shop in Jersey when I was living with my parents in my 20s try-ing to get back on my feet. When I moved to New York, I got a job at Astor. My palate has changed quite a bit, but lately I just love a Cab Franc. They’re solid no matter where they tend to be from — the Finger Lakes, California or France. Anything from Piedmont. If I’m not feeling like anything heavy, a Pineau d’Aunis is really lovely. It’s slightly funky, but still very delicate for be-ing a light red.

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Why Doja Cat’s ‘Vegas’ Is Unlikely to Land an Oscar Nod for Best Original SongBY PAUL GREIN 

Doja Cat’s new single “Ve-gas,” from the upcoming Baz Luhrmann film Elvis, is likely to be a smash, but unlikely to be an

Oscar nominee for best original song.“Vegas” interpolates the key phrase

“you ain’t nothin’ but a …” from “Hound Dog,” a blockbuster hit for Elvis Presley in 1956. Doja Cat repeats that line 14 times in “Vegas”‘s 3:04 running time.

The final determination on the song’s Oscar eligibility will be made by an Oscar music subcommittee. Its ruling will hinge on how much of “Hound Dog” is in the new song and if the committee members feel there is enough original material in “Vegas” for it to qualify it as an original song.

Here’s the rule taken from the Oscar eligibility guidelines: “An original song consists of words and music, both of which are original (emphasis added) and written specifically for the motion picture. There must be a clearly audible, intelligible, sub-stantive rendition (not necessarily visually presented) of both lyric and melody, used in the body of the motion picture or as the first music cue in the end credits.”

Doja Cat’s soulful exhortation on the key line “you ain’t nothin’ but a …” owes more to Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton’s original 1953 version of “Hound Dog” than to Pres-ley’s 1956 cover version.

Thornton’s recording topped two of Bill-board’s R&B charts (most played in juke-boxes and national best-sellers) for multiple weeks in 1953. Presley’s 1956 version, paired with “Don’t Be Cruel,” was one of the big-gest double-sided hits in music history.

Thornton’s recording was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2013 and the

National Recording Registry (sponsored by the Library of Congress) in 2016. Presley’s rendition was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1988, but has yet to be honored by the National Recording Registry.

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller co-wrote “Hound Dog” and dozens of other hits. They were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985 and received that organiza-tion’s top honor, the Johnny Mercer Award, in 2000. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and received a Grammy Trustees Award in 1997.

Here’s what Billboard’s Jason Lipshutz wrote about “Vegas” in his First Stream column on Friday (May 6): “Speak-ing of soundtrack contributions, Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming Elvis biopic has been bestowed with a ‘Hound Dog’ revival courtesy of one of the most ubiquitous voices in pop today. Doja Cat’s ‘Vegas’ allows the A-lister to have some frothy fun in be-tween Planet Her smashes, spinning a clas-sic track around her finger and confidently rhyming about a lowdown partner, whom she finally invites to ‘come find a treat.’”

Zach Bryan & Luke Combs Make Inroads for Country on the Billboard Global 200BY ERIC FRANKENBERG

The May 7-dated Billboard Global 200 chart includes 21 debuts from a range of artists spanning genres and continents, including Argen-

tine producers, South Korean pop singers and German rappers.

Two of the new titles are from American country acts, as Zach Bryan‘s “Something in the Orange” and Luke Combs‘ “Tomorrow Me” arrive at Nos. 107 and 150, respectively. Bryan and Combs bring the latest of just 10

country hits to appear on the Global 200 so far this year. Both songs fall short of the Bill-board Global Excl. U.S. chart, which is on trend for their genre as no country artist has yet appeared on the Excl. U.S. tally in 2022.

“Orange” and “Tomorrow” yielded 9.6 million and 7.6 million global streams, respectively, in the week ending April 28, according to Luminate. For “Orange,” 92% of those streams were from the U.S. For Combs’ “Tomorrow,” 85% were domestic. This falls perfectly in line with the debut frames of other country global hits this year, from Morgan Wallen’s “Don’t Think Jesus” (93%) to Walker Hayes’ “AA” (90%) and Maren Morris’ “Circles Around This Town” (83%).

The 10 country songs, by nine acts in lead roles, that have charted on the Global 200 this year have averaged 82% stateside streams in their debut weeks. For context, the average among all songs on this week’s global charts is 23% from the U.S., less than one-third the country genre average. Beyond Bryan and Combs’ country tracks, Latto’s “Big Energy” has the biggest American share on this week’s chart, at 62%, marking one of only two songs to draw more than half of their streams from the U.S. (Encanto‘s “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” is the other, with a 59% take.)

Put simply, country music has not ex-ported beyond its home since the global charts launched in September 2020. Only two artists with notable country ties have appeared on the Global Excl. U.S. chart at all, including Combs. He scored a week at No. 105 in November 2020 with “Forever After All,” which simultaneously soared in at No. 4 on the Global 200 and No. 2 on the U.S.-based Billboard Hot 100.

The other act to do so is an even bigger outlier: Taylor Swift has 26 Global Excl. U.S. chart hits to her name. Most of them, 24 to be exact, are from Fearless (Taylor’s Ver-sion) and Red (Taylor’s Version), newly re-recorded versions of earlier albums before her formal transition to pop music. However she identifies artistically these days, her four-quadrant, Grammy-winning success has likely opened the door for her country material around the world.

Swift’s recent success with country fare on

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Global Excl. U.S. notwithstanding, crossing from country to pop doesn’t easily translate to crossing over internationally. Looking at other country-to-pop hits, Gabby Barrett’s “I Hope” and Walker Hayes’ “Fancy Like” each climbed to No. 3 on the all-genre Hot 100, while failing to reach the top 20 of the Global 200 or appear on the Global Excl. U.S. chart. Even on the Global 200, which includes U.S. sales and streams, Hayes, Swift and Wallen are the only acts with country songs to crack the top half of the chart this year.

Tommy Castro Was a Triple Winner at 2022 Blues Music Awards: Full Winners ListBY PAUL GREIN 

Tommy Castro swept three major awards at the 43rd Blues Music Awards, which were held at the Renasant Convention Center in

downtown Memphis on Thursday (May 5). Castro, 67, took the B.B. King enter-tainer of the year award, album of the year for Tommy Castro Presents a Bluesman Came to Town and, with his band, the Painkillers, band of the year. The album reached No. 2 on Billboard‘s Blues Albums chart.

This is the third time Castro has won en-tertainer of the year, an award he previously won in 2008 and 2010.

Sue Foley and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram were both double winners on the night. Foley won traditional blues album for Pinky’s Blues and also traditional blues female artist (a.k.a., the Koko Taylor award). She previously won in the latter category in 2020.

Ingram, who won his first Grammy last month for best contemporary blues album for 662, won in that same category here and also contemporary blues male artist. This

was his third consecutive win in the latter category.

Rodd Bland and the Members Only Band won the award for best emerging artist album for Live on Beale Street: A Tribute to Bobby “Blue” Bland. The elder Bland (Rodd’s father) was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1981, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and received a life-time achievement award from the Recording Academy in 1997. He died in 2013 at age 83.

Mike Finnigan won the award for in-strumentalist – piano (a.k.a., the Pinetop Perkins Piano Player Award). That’s one of three awards named for a late blues legend. (The others are the aforemen-tioned B.B. King entertainer of the year award and the Koko Taylor award to the top traditional blues female artist).

Other key winners included Taj Ma-hal and Keb’ Mo’.

This year marked the first time the awards have been presented in person since 2019. The show was held virtually the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here’s the full list of winners for the 2022 Blues Music Awards.

B.B. King Entertainer of the Year WINNER: Tommy Castro Eric Gales Mr. Sipp (Castro Coleman) J.P. Soars Sugaray Rayford

Album of the Year Holler If You Hear Me, Altered Five Blues Band Not In My Lifetime, Wee Willie Walker & The Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra Pinky’s Blues, Sue Foley Raisin’ Cain, Chris Cain WINNER: Tommy Castro Presents a Blues-man Came to Town, Tommy Castro

Band of the Year Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra J.P. Soars and the Red Hots Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials Sugaray Rayford Band WINNER: Tommy Castro & The Painkill-ers

Song of the Year “Fragile Peace and Certain War”, written by Dave Alvin (performed by Carolyn Wonder-land)

“Holler If You Hear Me”, written by Jeff Schroedl & Mark Solveson (performed by Altered Five Blues Band) WINNER: “I’d Climb Mountains,” writ-ten & performed by Selwyn Birchwood “Real Good Lie”, written by Christine Vitale, Larry Batiste, Anthony Paule (performed by Wee Willie Walker & The Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra) “Somewhere”, written by Tommy Castro & Tom Hambridge (performed by Tommy Castro & The Painkillers)

Best Emerging Artist Album GA-20 Does Hound Dog Taylor: Try It… You Might Like It!, GA-20 Just Say The Word, Gabe Stillman WINNER: Live on Beale Street: A Tribute to Bobby “Blue” Bland, Rodd Bland and the Members Only Band Welcome To The Land, Memphissippi Sounds You Ain’t Unlucky, Veronica Lewis

Acoustic Blues Album WINNER: Dear America, Eric Bibb Land of the Sky, Catfish Keith Let’s Get Happy Together, Maria Muldaur Let Loose These Chains, Hector Anchondo The Trio Sessions, EG Kight

Blues Rock Album Alafia Moon, Damon Fowler Dance Songs For Hard Times, The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band WINNER: Resurrection, Mike Zito Tinfoil Hat, Popa Chubby Unemployed Highly Annoyed, Jeremiah Johnson

Contemporary Blues Album WINNER: 662, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram Damage Control, Curtis Salgado Holler If You Hear Me, Altered Five Blues Band Raisin’ Cain, Chris Cain Tommy Castro Presents A Bluesman Came To Town, Tommy Castro

Soul Blues Album Let’s Have A Party, Gerald McClendon WINNER: Long As I Got My Guitar, Zac Harmon Not In My Lifetime, Wee Willie Walker & The Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra You Get What You Give: Duets, Dave Keller You Gotta Have It, Tia Carroll

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Traditional Blues Album Be Ready When I Call You, Guy Davis Bob Corritore & Friends: Spider In My Stew, Bob Corritore Boogie w/ R.L. Boyce (Live), R.L. Boyce Little Black Flies, Eddie 9V WINNER: Pinky’s Blues, Sue Foley Acoustic Blues Artist Eric Bibb Kevin Burt Guy Davis Doug MacLeod WINNER: Keb’ Mo’ Blues Rock Artist WINNER: Albert Castiglia Tommy Castro Tinsley Ellis Ana Popovic Joanne Shaw Taylor

Contemporary Blues Female Artist WINNER: Vanessa Collier Thornetta Davis Ruthie Foster Danielle Nicole Carolyn Wonderland

Contemporary Blues Male Artist Selwyn Birchwood Chris Cain WINNER: Christone “Kingfish” Ingram Kenny Neal Mr. Sipp (Castro Coleman)

Soul Blues Female Artist WINNER: Annika Chambers Trudy Lynn Terrie Odabi Kat Riggins Vaneese Thomas

Soul Blues Male Artist William Bell Don Bryant John Nemeth Johnny Rawls WINNER: Curtis Salgado

Traditional Blues Female Artist (Koko Taylor Award) Rory Block WINNER: Sue Foley Rhiannon Giddens Diunna Greenleaf EG Kight

Traditional Blues Male Artist Cedric Burnside Super Chikan

WINNER: Taj Mahal Sugar Ray Norcia Jontavious Willis

Instrumentalist – Bass Willie J. Campbell Larry Fulcher Jerry Jemmott Scot Sutherland WINNER: Danielle Nicole

Instrumentalist – Drums Danny Banks June Core WINNER: Tom Hambridge Derrick D’Mar Martin Chris Peet

Instrumentalist – Guitar Christoffer “Kid” Andersen Chris Cain Laura Chavez Anson Funderburgh WINNER: Eric Gales J.P. Soars

Instrumentalist – Harmonica Billy Branch Bob Corritore WINNER: Jason Ricci Brandon Santini Kim Wilson

Instrumentalist – Horn Mindi Abair WINNER: Jimmy Carpenter Marc Franklin Regi Oliver Nancy Wright

Instrumentalist – Piano (Pinetop Per-kins Piano Player Award) Eden Brent WINNER: Mike Finnigan Dave Keyes Veronica Lewis Jim Pugh

Instrumentalist – Vocals Thornetta Davis Ruthie Foster WINNER: John Nemeth Sugaray Rayford Curtis Salgado

Bob Dylan Museum Opening in TulsaBY ASSOCIATED PRESS 

Elvis Costello, Patti Smith and Mavis Staples will be among the dignitaries expected in Tulsa, Oklahoma, this weekend for the

opening of the Bob Dylan Center, the mu-seum and archive celebrating the Nobel laureate’s work.

Dylan himself won’t be among them, un-less he surprises everyone.

The center’s subject and namesake has an open invitation to come anytime, although his absence seems perfectly in character, said Steven Jenkins, the center’s direc-tor. Oddly, Dylan was just in Tulsa three weeks ago for a date on his concert tour, sandwiched in between Oklahoma City and Little Rock. He didn’t ask for a look around.

“I don’t want to put words in his mouth,” Jenkins said. “I can only guess at his reason-ing. Maybe he would find it embarrassing.”

It’s certainly unusual for a living figure — Dylan is due to turn 81 on May 24 — to have a museum devoted to him, but such is the shadow he has cast over popular music since his emergence in the early 1960s. He’s still working, performing onstage in a show devoted primarily to his most recent mate-rial.

And he’s still pushing the envelope. “Mur-der Most Foul,” Dylan’s nearly 17-minute rumination on the Kennedy assassination and celebrity, is as quietly stunning as “Like a Rolling Stone” was nearly a half-century ago, even if he’s no longer at the center of popular culture.

The center offers an immersive film expe-rience, performance space, a studio where visitors can play producer and “mix” differ-ent elements of instrumentation in Dylan’s songs and a curated tour where people can take a musical journey through the stages of his career. The archive has more than 100,000 items, many accessed only by schol-ars through appointment.

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Museum creators said they wanted to build an experience both for casual visitors who might not know much of Dylan’s work and for the truly fanatical — the skimmers, the swimmers and the divers, said designer Alan Maskin of the firm Olson Kundig.

The museum hopes to celebrate the creative process in general, and at opening will have an exhibit of the work of photog-rapher Jerry Schatzberg, whose 1965 image of Dylan is emblazoned on the building’s three-story facade. Since Dylan’s still creat-ing, “we’re going to continue to play catch-up” with him, Jenkins said.

So for a figure who was born and raised in Minnesota, came of musical age in New York and now lives in California, how does a museum devoted to his life’s work end up in Oklahoma? He’s never seemed the nostal-gic type, but Dylan recognized early that his work could have historical interest and value, Jenkins said. Together with his team, he put aside boxes full of artifacts, includ-ing photos, rare recordings and handwritten lyrics that show how his songs went through revisions and rewrites.

With use of those lyrics, two of the early displays will focus on how the songs “Joker-man” and “Tangled Up in Blue” took shape — the latter with lyrics so elastic that Dylan was still changing verses after the song had been released. Dylan sold his archive in 2016 to the Tulsa-based George Kaiser Family Foundation, which also operates the Woody Guthrie Center — a museum that cel-ebrates one of Dylan’s musical heroes and is only steps away from the new Dylan center.

Dylan likes the Guthrie museum, and also appreciates Tulsa’s rich holdings of Native American art, Jenkins said. Much of that is on display at another new facility, the Gil-crease Museum, which is also the world’s largest holding of art of the American West.

“I think it’s going to be a true tourist draw to Tulsa for all the right reasons,” said Tulsa Mayor G. T. Bynum. “This is one of the great musicians in the history of humankind and everyone who wants to study his career and see the evolution of his talent will be drawn to it.” Bynum hopes that it also encourages others who may someday want to put their archives on display, and make Tulsa a center for the study of modern American music.

Dylan designed and built a 16-foot high metal sculpture that will be displayed at the entrance to the museum. Otherwise, he had nothing to do with the museum’s design and declined, through a spokesman, to offer a comment about the opening. “If Bob were telling us what we could or couldn’t do, it would have felt like a vanity project, in a way,” Maskin said. “It was a tremendous relief not to have to satisfy Bob Dylan.”

Still, it’s safe to assume the lines of com-munication are open if necessary: Jenkins, the center’s director, is the brother of Larry Jenkins, Dylan’s long-time media represen-tative. In addition to a dinner to celebrate the opening this weekend, Costello, Smith and Staples will all perform separate con-certs at Cain’s Ballroom. Costello was asked to program a jukebox that will be on display at the museum and, within a day, submitted his suggestions for 160 Dylan songs and cov-ers, Steven Jenkins said.

The Bob Dylan Center is open to the pub-lic on May 10. Maskin has no expectation that Dylan will ever see the designer’s work. Still, he indulges himself in a fantasy of a slow summer day, a security guard dozing in the corner, and someone slipping in wearing black jeans, sunglasses and a familiar mop of hair to wander among the displays.

“To be honest, I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he said. “I think he’s interested in the work he’s doing, and not the work he’s done.”

Selena Gomez to Host ‘SNL’ With Post Malone as Musical GuestBY RANIA ANIFTOS 

Selena Gomez is returning to the Saturday Night Live stage, this time as host.

The iconic sketch comedy series announced their lineup for the May 14 episode on Friday (May 6), revealing that Gomez will be making her hosting debut

and Post Malone will join the show for the first time ever as musical guest.

SNL will conclude its 47th season on May 21, with guests to be announced.

It’s been an exciting year for both stars, as Gomez is gearing up for the season 2 pre-miere of the hit Hulu series, Only Murders in the Building, on June 28. The “Rare” singer’s close friend Cara Delevingne will be joining the cast as Gomez’s love interest.

She also launched a new cam-paign called “Your Words Matter” about the importance of language for Mental Health Awareness Month. The initiative — which aims to “educate on the power of your words when talking about mental health,” according to a statement — is a partnership between Gomez’s makeup company Rare Beauty and Mental Health First Aid.

Meanwhile, Post Malone is going to be a dad, as it was confirmed earlier this week that the “Circles” singer is expecting his first child with his longtime girlfriend. “I’m excited for this next chapter in my life, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been, and for since I could remember I was sad,” Post told TMZ. “Time to take care of my body and my family and friends, and spread as much love as we can every day.”

Post’s forthcoming studio LP, Twelve Carat Toothache, is also coming in May. The album is led by the single “One Right Now,” which arrived last November and features an assist from Republic labelmate The Weeknd.

Dave Chappelle Attack Suspect Charged With 4 MisdemeanorsBY ABBEY WHITE, RYAN GAJEWSKI

The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office filed four misdemeanor charges on Thursday (May 5) against suspect Isaiah Lee after

the onstage attack of comedian Dave Chap-pelle during his set at the Hollywood Bowl

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on Tuesday. This follows the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office announcing earlier in the day that it declined to pursue felony charges.

City Attorney Mike Feuer said his office has filed charges of battery, possession of a weapon with intent to assault, unauthorized access to the stage area during a perfor-mance and commission of an act that delays an event or interferes with a performer.

“This alleged attack has got to have consequences,” Feuer said, in part, in video footage posted to his office’s official Twitter account after the charges were filed.

Earlier in the day, the D.A. said it referred the case to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office to consider possible misdemeanor charges. “After reviewing the evidence, prosecutors determined that while criminal conduct occurred, the evidence as presented did not constitute felony conduct,” a spokes-person for the department said in a state-ment provided to The Hollywood Reporter. “The District Attorney’s Office does not prosecute misdemeanor crimes within the city of Los Angeles.”

The attack took place around 10:40 p.m. as Chappelle was attempting to leave the Hollywood Bowl stage upon finishing a set during the Netflix Is a Joke comedy festival. That is when 23-year-old suspect Isaiah Lee rushed the stage and tackled Chappelle to the floor. The suspect was apprehended by venue security and eventually handed over to the LAPD. Lee was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and is being held on $30,000 bail.

At the time of the attack, Lee was carrying a replica handgun with a knife blade inside, authorities said. Chappelle was not injured during the incident and is fully cooperating with the ongoing investigation.

A statement provided to THR by Chap-pelle’s rep on Wednesday asserted that the comedian would refuse to allow the incident to “overshadow” his appearances during the comedy festival.

“The performances by Chappelle at the Hollywood Bowl were epic and record-breaking and he refuses to allow last night’s incident to overshadow the magic of this historic moment,” his rep, Carla Sims, said. “Dave Chappelle celebrated four nights of

comedy and music, setting record-breaking sales for a comedian at the Hollywood Bowl. This run ties Chappelle with Monty Python for the most headlined shows by any comedian at the Hollywood Bowl, reaching 70,000 fans of diverse backgrounds during the first Netflix Is A Joke: The Festival.”

In its own statement, Netflix said, “We care deeply about the safety of creators and we strongly defend the right of stand-up comedians to perform on stage without fear of violence.”

The attack took place on the last night in a string of festival appearances for the co-median. Chappelle served as the festival’s opening night headliner on April 28, deliver-ing three more sets — including Tuesday’s — before wrapping his run. During all four nights of the show, attendees were re-quired to secure their phones at the venue’s entrance to avoid any potential recording. Festivalgoers also had to go through security and metal detectors.

Netflix Is a Joke is one of the streamer’s biggest forays into live event program-ming, with the company’s first-ever comedy festival hosting more than 250 events in Los Angeles between April 28 and May 8. Taking place across various venues, including the Hollywood Bowl, Dodger Stadium, the Im-prov and the Laugh Factory, the comedy fest boasts sets from some of the biggest names in the industry, including David Letterman, John Mulaney, Amy Schumer, Bill Burr, Kevin Hart, Chris Rock, Ali Wong, Chelsea Handler, Pete Davidson and Hasan Minhaj.

This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.

Beyonce Receives First Daytime Emmy NodBY PAUL GREIN 

Beyoncé received her first Daytime Emmy nomination on Tuesday (May 5). She was nomi-nated in the outstanding origi-

nal song category for writing “Talks With

Mama Tina Theme Song” from her mother Tina Knowles-Lawson’s Facebook Watch series, Talks With Mama Tina.

Queen Bey has received eight Primetime Emmy nominations over the years, but has yet to win there. She may well win a Daytime Emmy before she wins a Prime-time Emmy. Daytime Emmys count toward EGOT tallies, though Beyoncé still needs to win an Oscar and a Tony before that dream becomes a reality.

Beyoncé isn’t the only music superstar who fared well in the nominations. Kelly Clarkson, Gloria Estefan and music host Ryan Seacrest were also nominated in individual categories.

In addition, a program hosted by an ex-Beatle is in the running. Ringo Starr Teaches Drumming & Creative Collaboration is up for outstanding instructional and how-to program.

The nominations for the 49th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards were announced by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

The Kelly Clarkson Show and The View each received nine nods, which put them in a tie for fourth place among all nominated programs. Three soap operas (sorry, daytime dramas) led the way. The Young and the Restless had 18 nods, followed by General Hospital (17) and Days of Our Lives (11).

Other talk shows that scored mul-tiple nods included The Drew Barry-more Show (six), Red Table Talk (four), Tamron Hall (four), Articulate with Jim Cotter (three), Red Table Talk: The Estefans (three), The Ellen DeGe-neres Show (two), Live With Kelly and Ryan (two), Peace of Mind with Tara-ji (two), The Real (two), Today Show with Hoda and Jenna (two) and Turning the Tables with Robin Roberts (two).

All nominees for best informative talk show feature people of color as hosts. Those shows are: GMA3: What You Need to Know, Peace of Mind with Taraji, Red Table Talk, Red Table Talk: the Estefans, Tamron Hall and Turning the Tables with Robin Roberts.

Pat Sajak is competing with himself for outstanding game show host. He is nomi-

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nated for both the syndicated Wheel of For-tune and ABC’s Celebrity Wheel of Fortune.

With two nominations this year, the ven-erable This Old House hits 100 nominations. The show will become only the third series to receive Lifetime Achievement honors ( joining 60 Minutes and Sesame Street)

Syndicated programs led the way with 48 nods. Among individual platforms, ABC and CBS tied with 31 nods each. Netflix had 27, followed by PBS with 23, NBC with 15 and Facebook Watch with 12. This year marks the First Daytime Emmy nominations for MasterClass, discovery+ and IMDb TV.

The Daytime Emmy Awards have recog-nized outstanding achievement in television programming and crafts since 1974. In 2021, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the Television Academy jointly announced plans to realign the Daytime and Primetime Emmy Awards to be organized by content genre, as opposed to program airtime. In addition, in recognition of the marked increase in content and entries for children’s programming, 2022 will mark the first annual Children’s & Family Emmy Awards, with relevant categories separating from the Daytime Emmys into their own competition and ceremony.

All awards are judged by a pool of more than 1,000 peer professionals from across the television industry.

The awards will be presented in two parts in June. The Creative Arts & Lifestyle Daytime Emmy Awards will be presented on Saturday, June 18. The Daytime Emmy Awards telecast will be presented live at 9 p.m. EDT (tape delayed on the West Coast at 9 p.m. PDT) on Friday, June 24, on CBS and streamed on Paramount+.

The 49th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards is produced by NATAS and Associated Tele-vision International (ATI). Adam Sharp and Steve Ulrich are executive producers from NATAS, while David McKenzie is executive producer from ATI.

Here’s a list of nominations in the cat-egories that are most relevant to the music community.

Outstanding Music Direction and Composition Cat People, Netflix The Kelly Clarkson Show, Syndicated

Penguin Town, Netflix Shelter Me: Soul Awakened, PBS Wildlife Nation, Syndicated

Outstanding Original Song “Grateful for It All,” The Young and the Rest-less, CBS “Next to You,” The Young and the Restless, CBS “Talks With Mama Tina Theme Song,” Talks With Mama Tina, Facebook Watch

Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host Drew Barrymore, The Drew Barrymore Show, Syndicated Kelly Clarkson, The Kelly Clarkson Show, Syndicated Hoda Kotb, Jenna Bush-Hager , Today Show with Hoda & Jenna, NBC Kelly Ripa, Ryan Seacrest, Live with Kelly and Ryan, Syndicated

Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host Gloria Estefan, Emily Estefan, Lili Este-fan, Red Table Talk: the Estefans, Facebook Watch Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, Ana Navarro, Meghan Mc-Cain, The View, ABC Tamron Hall, Tamron Hall, Syndicated Taraji P. Henson, Tracie Jade, Peace of Mind with Taraji, Facebook Watch Robin Roberts, Turning the Tables with Robin Roberts, Disney+

Outstanding Daytime Program Host Bianca Alexander, Michael Alexander, Con-scious Living, PBS Gary Bredow, Start Up, PBS Samantha Brown, Samantha Brown’s Places to Love, PBS Jeff Corwin, Wildlife Nation, Syndicated Bear Grylls, You vs. Wild: Out Cold, Netflix Kevin O’Connor, This Old House, PBS | Roku Patton Oswalt, Penguin Town, Netflix

Outstanding Game Show Host Wayne Brady, Let’s Make a Deal, CBS Steve Harvey, Family Feud, Syndicated Leah Remini, People Puzzler, Game Show Network Pat Sajak, Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, ABC Pat Sajak, Wheel of Fortune, Syndicated

Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show The Drew Barrymore Show, Syndicated Hot Ones, Complex Networks

The Kelly Clarkson Show, Syndicated Live with Kelly and Ryan, Syndicated Today Show with Hoda & Jenna, NBC

Outstanding Informative Talk Show GMA3: What You Need to Know, ABC Peace of Mind with Taraji, Facebook Watch Red Table Talk, Facebook Watch Red Table Talk: the Estefans, Facebook Watch Tamron Hall, Syndicated Turning the Tables with Robin Roberts, Dis-ney+

Outstanding Entertainment News Series Access Hollywood, Syndicated Entertainment Tonight, Syndicated Extra, Syndicated Inside Edition, Syndicated

Outstanding Instructional and How-To Program Dream Home Makeover, Netflix Home Work, Magnolia Network Issa Rae Teaches Creating Outside the Lines, MasterClass Ringo Starr Teaches Drumming & Creative Collaboration, MasterClass This Old House, PBS | Roku

Outstanding Arts and Popular Culture Program Articulate with Jim Cotter, PBS First Film, Netflix If These Walls Could Rock, AXS TV Lifetime and The Hollywood Reporter Present Women in Entertainment: The Next Genera-tion, Lifetime Music’s Greatest Mysteries, AXS TV One Symphony, Two Orchestras, PBS Power On: The Story of Xbox, YouTube.com

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Maroon 5 & Usher to Headline Benefit to Honor Rep. John LewisBY ASSOCIATED PRESS 

Maroon 5 and Usher will headline a benefit concert in Atlanta to honor the legacy of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis.

The Grammy Award-winning pop band and singer will perform during the Beloved Benefit at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium on July 7, concert officials announced Thurs-day. The event was rescheduled from its initial date in February due to COVID-19 concerns.

NBC Sports host and correspondent Ma-ria Taylor will serve as the event’s emcee.

Along with Usher and Maroon 5’s per-formances, the benefit concert will feature a program filled with inspiring community stories. The money raised will be distributed to several nonprofit beneficiaries that priori-tize economic and community development.

The Beloved Benefit was inspired by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of a be-loved community where people work together to solve social issues ranging from racism and poverty to hunger and homelessness.

LA Philharmonic to Increase Security After Dave Chappelle Onstage AttackBY THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 

The Los Angeles Philharmon-ic Association plans to increase security following comedian Dave Chappelle being attacked onstage

at one of the venues they operate, the Hol-lywood Bowl.

“The safety of our artists, visitors and staff is the LA Phil’s top priority,” the organiza-tion said in a statement Thursday. “We are reviewing our existing procedures both internally and with the assistance of outside experts so we can continue to provide a safe and secure environment at the Hollywood Bowl. We have implemented additional security measures, including an increased number of security personnel on-site to assist with bag checks and other security procedures. We continue to cooperate with authorities in their ongoing investigation.”

Chappelle, on Tuesday, was assaulted while performing a stand-up set for the Netflix Is a Joke Fest when a man rushed the stage and tackled him to the ground. Chappelle had finished his act and was exit-ing the stage when the audience member jumped onto the stage, tackled the comedian and pointed a replica handgun at Chappelle. Security separated the audience member from Chappelle and took him into custody, per the LAPD. It wasn’t immediately clear if he tried to use the weapon, but police con-firmed Chappelle was not physically injured in the incident.

The suspect, later identified to be Isaiah Lee, 23, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and is being held on $30,000 bail. The Los Angeles City Attor-ney’s Office filed four misdemeanor charges against Lee on Thursday after the D.A. declined to pursue felony charges.

Chappelle, who is fully cooperating with police amid the active investigation, said via his rep on Wednesday that he “refused” to let the incident overshadow his Hollywood Bowl sets.

“Dave Chappelle celebrated four nights of comedy and music, setting record-breaking sales for a comedian at the Hollywood Bowl,” said his rep, Carla Sims, in part. “This run ties Chappelle with Monty Python for the most headlined shows by any comedian at the Hollywood Bowl, reaching 70,000 fans of diverse backgrounds during the first Netflix Is A Joke: The Festival, and he refuses to allow last night’s incident to over-shadow the magic of this historic moment.”

Attendees captured the moment on social

media, with footage showing the man being dragged away by security and Chappelle regaining his composure shortly after the attack by saying, “It was a trans man.” (The line is a reference to his ongoing contro-versy surrounding his material being called transphobic.)

Chappelle was performing as part of Net-flix’s 11-day stand-up comedy festival, which features 130 comics across 25 Los Angeles venues and such names as Seth Rogen, Chelsea Handler, Aziz Ansari, Bill Burr and Conan O’Brien.

The Chappelle incident follows two recent Hollywood breaches of onstage security involving high-profile talent. At the 2022 Oscars in March, Will Smith famously slapped presenter Chris Rock and was not escorted out of the venue after the assault (Rock decided not to press charges), result-ing in weeks of finger-pointing and concern over protecting comics from audience mem-bers. And at CinemaCon, Olivia Wilde was unexpectedly served custody papers from ex Jason Sudeikis while presenting her upcom-ing movie Don’t Worry Darling.

The movie theater owners confab said it plans to take a closer look at security pro-tocols following the Wilde incident, saying that “never in the history of the event” had an incident, specifically a star being ran-domly approached onstage, ever occurred.

Tuesday night’s event was Chappelle’s fourth night at the Hollywood Bowl, where he’s been performing with various comedi-ans and musicians. He also was the opening-night headliner on April 28. At that show, guests had to go through security and metal detectors on the way inside.

“We care deeply about the safety of creators and we strongly defend the right of stand-up comedians to perform on stage without fear of violence,” said Netflix on Wednesday.

This article originally appeared in THR.com.

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Angela Aguilar Leads Regional Mexican Airplay Chart With ‘Ahí Donde Me Ven’BY PAMELA BUSTIOS

Angela Aguilar notches her sec-ond No. 1 on Billboard’s Regional Mexican Airplay chart, as her latest single “Ahí Donde Me Ven”

ascends to the top of the list dated May 7.The slow-tempo tune climbs from No. 2

to lead with 7.1 million in audience impres-sions, a 27% gain, earned in the U.S. in the week ending May 1, according to Lumi-nate. It dethrones Banda Los Sebastianes’ “Modo Incógnito” from its one-week reign and takes home the Greatest Gainer trophy of the week, also pushing on the all-Latin genre Latin Airplay survey with an 8-6 jump.

“Ahí” was composed by Mexican songwriter Gussy Lau and is the second single from the album Mexicana Enamo-rada, which has not entered the charts. The set’s lead single, however, “Dime Cómo Quieres,” with Christian Nodal, took over atop Regional Mexican Airplay for five consecutive weeks starting on the Jan. 30, 2021-dated ranking.

Notably, Aguilar is just the seventh female act who has scored at least one No. 1 on Re-gional Mexican Airplay among the 100 total artists who have secured a champ since the chart launched in 1994. Before Aguilar’s two No. 1s, the last time a woman led the survey was on the Jan. 26-Feb. 9, 2019, charts, when Natalia Lafourcade was the featured artist on Los Angeles Azules’ “Nunca Es Sufici-ente.” Before Lafourcade, the last woman to achieve the feat was Graciela Beltran, with “Es Cosa De El,” for one week on May 5, 2007 (Lafourcade doesn’t typically record regional Mexican music, thus her No. 1 is atypical).

No. 1s, Artist

3, Selena 2, Angela Aguilar 1, Alicia Villarreal 1, Graciela Beltrán 1, Jenni Rivera 1, Natalia Lafourcade 1, Pilar Montenegro

Over on the all-metric Hot Latin Songs, “Ahí” dips 31-33 despite an 8% gain in sales.

Florence + The Machine Return to No. 1 on Adult Alternative Airplay With ‘My Love’BY KEVIN RUTHERFORD

Florence + The Machine top Bill-board‘s Adult Alternative Air-play chart for the first time since 2018, as “My Love” ascends to the

top of the ranking dated May 7.The song is the Florence Welch-led

project’s sixth Adult Alternative Airplay No. 1, a run that began with its debut entry, and three-week ruler, “Dog Days Are Over” in 2011. The act has also reigned with “Shake It Out” in 2012; “What Kind of Man” and “Ship to Wreck” in 2015; and “Hunger” in 2018.

Between “Hunger” and “Love,” Florence + the Machine reached Adult Alternative Air-play three times, paced by the No. 5-peaking “Moderation” in May 2019.

Florence + The Machine boast the second-most No. 1s by a woman or woman-fronted act in the history of Adult Al-ternative Airplay, which began in 1996. Only Sheryl Crow, with seven leaders, has more. Among all acts, Coldplay and U2 lead with 13 No. 1s apiece.

Concurrently, “Love” lifts 14-13 on Al-ternative Airplay. On the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Air-play chart, “My Love” becomes Florence + the Machine’s sixth the top 10, rising 13-10

with 2.9 million audience impressions, up 11%, according to Luminate; the act had last hit the top 10 with “Hunger” (No. 8, 2018).

“My Love” also ranks at No. 31 on the multi-metric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart, after hitting a No. 26 high upon its debut in March. In addition to its radio audience, the song earned 955,000 official U.S. streams in the April 22-28 tracking week.

The song introduces Dance Fever, Flor-ence + The Machine’s fifth studio album, due May 13. It’s the follow-up to High as Hope, which debuted at its No. 2 best on the Billboard 200 in July 2018, marking the act’s third top 10.

Future Scores First No. 1 In Australia With ‘I Never Liked You’BY LARS BRANDLE 

Future is on top in the land Down Under as I Never Liked You (Sony), his ninth studio album, debuts at No. 1 on the ARIA Chart.

I Never Liked You is the Atlanta rapper’s first leader in Australia, and his second Top 10 entry after What a Time to Be Alive peaked at No. 4 in September 2015. Its predecessor, 2020’s High Off Life, reached No. 15.

Another veteran act enjoying a best-ever chart position this week is Rammstein, whose Zeit (Universal) bows at No. 3. It’s the fourth Top 10 entry for the German indus-trial outfit, eclipsing the No. 5 best for their eponymously-titled album from 2019.

With Mother’s Day just around the corner, families are turning to Adele for the perfect gift. Adele’s most recent al-bum 30 (Columbia/Sony) flies 34-5 on the chart dated May 9, 2022, while 25 soars 47-25 (XL/Inertia) and 21 (XL/Inertia) reenters at No. 35.

There’s a strong gain for The Week-nd’s Dawn FM (Republic/Universal), which

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sprints 36-8 following its release on vinyl for the first time. Dawn FM led the all-titles tally for three non-consecutives weeks in January and February of this year. It’s the best-selling album on wax during the latest chart cycle.

Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, Harry Styles locks up a third non-consecutive week at No. 1 with “As It Was” (Columbia/Sony), while Lizzo has the week’s top debut with “About Damn Time” (Atlantic/War-ner), new at No. 12.

Also making a strong first impression on the chart is Future’s I Never Liked You sin-gle “Wait For U,” which bows at No. 15, while Justin Bieber’s “Honest” (Def Jam/Universal) featuring Don Toliver starts at No. 28.

Marc Anthony Cancels Panama Concert After InjuryBY RANIA ANIFTOS 

Marc Anthony postponed his Pa’lla Voy tour’s Panama show this week, after he suffered an injury backstage right before

he was supposed to perform, Billboard can confirm.

“Marc Anthony had to postpone his con-cert in Panama last night due to an accident on some stairs when he was preparing to appear on stage,” Anthony’s team said in a statement to Billboard. “The mishap caused complications in his back, which prevented him from performing live.He was trans-ferred to Miami to be treated by his special-ists. We thank all the medical personnel in Panama who immediately gathered to offer their care and all the fans who were present for the long-awaited concert.”

The statement added that a new concert date will be announced at a later date.

A day prior, Anthony shared a sweet video on his Instagram page alongside girlfriend Nadia Ferreira, dancing along to Juan Luis

Guerra’s music in the car, as he was getting hyped for his Panama show.

Anthony unveiled his long-awaited album, Pa’lla Voy, in March via Sony Music Latin. The album’s second single, “Mala,” notched the singer his 14th No. 1 on Bill-board’s Latin Airplay chart as “Mala” surged 9-1 on the March 12-dated ranking. The single also led Tropical Airplay with a 3-1 jump.

The star was also nominated for four Latin AMAs this year, including favorite artist in the tropical category and tour of the year. “Pa’lla Voy” was up for favorite song tropical, and his “De Vuelta Pa’ La Vuelta” with Daddy Yankee was nominated for col-laboration of the year.

Naniwa Danshi Bows at No. 1, BE:FIRST at No. 3 on Japan Hot 100BY BILLBOARD JAPAN 

J-pop boy band Naniwa Danshi’s “The Answer” blasts in at No.1 on the Bill-board Japan Hot 100, dated May 4, topping sales with 534,004 CDs sold in

its first week.The lead track off the new Johnny’s

group’s second single is the theme of the new NTV drama series The Files of Young Kindaichi, starring member Shunsuke Michieda. The song came in at No. 1 for sales and look-ups, No. 3 for video views, No. 15 for radio airplay, and No. 38 for Twitter mentions, leading this week’s Japan Hot 100 fueled mainly by the physical metrics of the chart’s methodology.

The seven-member band’s debut single “UBU-LOVE” launched with 632,655 CDs sold, also ruling sales and look-ups and com-ing in at No. 2 for video, No. 8 for radio, and No. 20 for Twitter. “UBU-LOVE” stayed at No. 1 for two consecutive weeks, so how the group’s second single performs next week is something to keep an eye on.

At No. 1 for video this week is BE:FIRST’s

“Betrayal Game,” the theme of another NTV drama series currently airing this season called Tantei ga hayasugiru. The track by the audition-born septet’s new track debuts at No. 3 on the Japan Hot 100 after topping video and downloads, while also faring well in streaming (No. 4), Twitter (No. 6), and radio (No. 10).

BE:FIRST’s previous track called “Bye-Good-Bye” (at No. 37 on this week’s chart) debuted at No. 1 after dominating video, downloads, streaming, Twitter, and radio. The boys are set to drop their second CD single containing these two tracks on May 18, and it looks like they’ll stay in the up-per ranks of the charts for the foreseeable future.

The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, Twitter mentions, YouTube and GYAO! video views, Gracenote look-ups and karaoke data.

The full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Apr. 25 to May 1, is available here.

2022 Met Gala Brings In a Record $17.4 MillionBY ASSOCIATED PRESS 

All that “gilded glamour” brought in some real gold. This year’s Met Gala earned a record $17.4 million, museum officials

said Tuesday.The annual gala is a fundraiser for the

self-funding Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The money pays for operating the institute and put-ting on annual blockbuster exhibits like the current “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” which was launched at the gala Monday night and opens to the public May 7. That exhibit is part of a broader two-part exhibit exploring the roots of American fashion.

The gala is traditionally held the first Monday in May, but because of the pandem-

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ic, the 2021 version was held last September. The two galas together brought in $33.7 million, the institute said.

The theme of Monday’s gala was “gilded glamour.”

Monday’s gala brought together about 400 guests — some of the biggest names from fashion, entertainment, sports and beyond. Dozens of A-list musicians were among the guests, including Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Megan Thee Stallion, Katy Perry, Cardi B, Nicki Minaj and Bad Bunny.

Revisit all the looks in our Met Gala 2022 gallery, and then vote for your favorite musician Met Gala ensemble here.

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