Future‘s “Wait For U,” featuring Drake and Tems, soars in at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. The track debuts as Future’s second Hot 100 leader – and his first in a lead role. It’s Drake’s landmark 10th No. 1 and Tems’ first.

“Wait For U” is from Future’s new LP I Never Liked You, which launches at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 al-bums chart. The track joins three others from the set that debut in the Hot 100’s top 10: “Puffin on Zootiez,” at No. 4, and “712PM,” at No. 8, and “I’m Dat N***a,” at No. 10.

The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (of-ficial audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data. All charts (dated May 14, 2022) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (May 10). For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

“Wait For U” was released on Future’s album I Never Liked You on April 29, via Freebandz/Epic Records, while its official video premiered May 5. The track arrives as the 1,137th No. 1 in the Hot 100’s 63-year history, and the 61st to enter on top.

Streams, airplay, & sales: “Wait For U” bows with 40.2 million streams, 7.9 million radio airplay audi-

ence impressions and 6,400 downloads sold in the April 29-May 5 tracking week, according to Luminate.

The track opens at No. 1 on Streaming Songs, where it’s Future’s second leader, following his, and Young Thug’s, featured turn on Drake’s “Way 2 Sexy,” which reigned for a week upon its debut (Sept. 18, 2021). “Wait For U” is Drake’s record-extending 12th Streaming Songs No. 1 and Tems’ first. On Digital Song Sales, the cut debuts at No. 7.

Future’s 2nd Hot 100 No. 1: Future claims his first Hot 100 No. 1 as a lead artist and second overall, fol-lowing, again, his and Young Thug’s featured roles on Drake’s “Way 2 Sexy,” which opened atop the Sept. 18, 2021, chart.

Drake’s 10th Hot 100 No. 1: Drake collects his milestone 10th Hot 100 No. 1, and first since “Way 2 Sexy.” He first led as featured on Rihanna’s “What’s My Name?,” for a week in November 2010, and first ruled as a lead artist with “One Dance,” featuring Wiz-kid and Kyla, for 10 frames beginning in March 2016.

Drake becomes the 10th act in the Hot 100’s history with at least 10 No. 1s (an elite club that last inducted Rihanna, thanks to her 10th leader, of 14 to-date,

Future, Drake & Tems’ ‘Wait For U’ Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100

B Y G A R Y T R U S T

(continued)

YOUR DAILY ENTERTAINMENT NEWS UPDATE

BulletinM AY 9 , 2 0 2 2 Page 1 of 32

• Future Earns Eighth No. 1 Album on

Billboard 200 With ‘I Never Liked You’

• Why You’re Seeing Fewer ‘Featuring’ Credits and More

Co-Billings on the Hot 100

• Rostrum Records Selling Catalog, Including Early Mac Miller and

Wiz Khalifa Albums

• The Ledger: How Much Will

Music Subscriptions Grow in 2022?

• Travis Scott, Ed Sheeran & More

to Perform at 2022 Billboard Music Awards

• Congress Presses Spotify for More

Transparency Around Discovery Mode

INSIDE

https://www.billyjoel.com

Page 3 of 32

“S&M,” featuring Britney Spears, on the chart dated April 30, 2011). Among solo males, Drake joins only Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder for the achievement.

Most Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s 20, The Beatles 19, Mariah Carey 14, Rihanna 13, Michael Jackson 12, Madonna 12, The Supremes 11, Whitney Houston 10, Drake 10, Janet Jackson 10, Stevie Wonder

“Wait For U” is additionally Drake’s 55th Hot 100 top 10, 146th top 40 hit and 261st overall entry on the chart, record-extending sums in all three categories.

Meanwhile, Drake solely claims the record for the most No. 1 debuts on the Hot 100, as “Wait for U” is his sixth. He one-ups BTS and Ariana Grande, each with five.

Tems’ 1st Hot 100 No. 1: Tems tallies her first Hot 100 leader and second top 10, after Wizkid’s “Essence,” on which she and Justin Bieber are featured, hit No. 9 in October. Tems (like Wizkid, from Lagos, Nigeria) has also hit the Hot 100 as featured on Drake’s “Fountains” (No. 26 peak, Septem-ber).

Future debuts atop Billboard 200 & Hot 100: Future’s I Never Liked You blasts in atop the Billboard 200, with 222,000

equivalent album units earned, becoming his eighth leader, concurrent with the Hot 100-topping entrance of “Wait for U.” He makes the seventh such double debut; Tay-lor Swift first achieved the feat in August 2020 and, with three such starts, is the only artist to earn the honor multiple times.

Simultaneous Artist Debuts Atop the Billboard 200 & Hot 100 Future: I Never Liked You & “Wait for U,” feat. Drake & Tems, May 14, 2022 Taylor Swift: Red (Taylor’s Version) & “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version),” Nov. 27, 2021 Drake: Certified Lover Boy & “Way 2 Sexy,” feat. Future & Young Thug, Sept. 18, 2021 Justin Bieber: Justice & “Peaches,” feat. Dan-iel Caesar & Giveon, April 3, 2021 Taylor Swift: Evermore & “Willow,” Dec. 26, 2020 BTS: BE & “Life Goes On,” Dec. 5, 2020 Taylor Swift: Folkore & “Cardigan,” Aug. 8, 2020

Three more Future top 10s: Below “Wait for U,” Future debuts three other tracks from I Never Liked You in the Hot 100’s top 10: “Puffin on Zootiez,” at No. 4, “712PM,” at No. 8, and “I’m Dat N***a,” at No. 10. They start at Nos. 2, 5 and 6 on Streaming Songs with 26.3 million, 22.1 million and 20 million streams, respectively.

Future logs the sixth week in which an act has posted four or more concurrent top 10 Hot 100 debuts, and the first since Drake bounded in with a record nine top 10 chart

entrances (Sept. 18, 2021). Before that, J. Cole (May 29, 2021), Juice WRLD (July 25, 2020), Lil Wayne (Oct. 13, 2018) and Drake (July 14, 2018) each debuted four songs in the top 10 simultaneously.

Future ups his career total to nine Hot 100 top 10s, as well as 149 entries on the chart overall, as all 16 tracks from the standard edition of I Never Liked You enter the list. He moves up to the fifth-most Hot 100 appearances in the chart’s archives, after Drake (262), Glee Cast (207), Lil Wayne (180) and Taylor Swift (166). Ye, with 138, now places sixth.

(Also among the Hot 100 debuts from I Never Liked You, “I’m on One,” featuring Drake, begins at No. 11 and “Keep It Burnin,” featuring Ye, starts at No. 15.)

Winning ‘Wait’s: After a bit of a wait, Future, Drake and Tems bring the third song with “wait” in its title to No. 1 on the Hot 100. “Wait for U” follows “Right Here Waiting,” by Richard Marx (for three weeks in August 1989), and “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me),” by Aretha Franklin and George Michael (two weeks, April 1987).

(Honorable mention, not to be missed: John Waite led with “Missing You” for a week in 1984.)

No. 1 R&B/hip-hop, rap: “Wait for U” also premieres atop the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts, which use the same multi-metric methodology as the Hot 100. Future earns his second No. 1

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on each ranking, after “Way 2 Sexy”; Drake notches his record-extending 24th leader on each list; and Tems scores her first No. 1 on each chart.

Harry Styles’ “As It Was” dips to No. 2 on the Hot 100, after three weeks at No. 1, with 60 million in airplay audience (up 14%), 25.7 million streams (down 9%) and 16,300 sold (up 78%, good for top Sales Gainer honors). The track hits No. 1 on Digital Song Sales – becoming Styles’ third leader, after “Sign of the Times” and “Watermelon Sugar” (for a week each in April 2017 and August 2020, respectively) – aided by the May 4 release of a download option with alternate artwork.

Jack Harlow’s “First Class” falls 2-3 on the Hot 100, three weeks after it launched at No. 1. It wins the Hot 100’s top Airplay Gainer award, as it flies 23-10 in just its second week on Radio Songs (37 million, up 41%), as it completes the quickest climb to the chart’s top 10 this year.

Notably, 20 weeks into 2022, sparked by Future’s four arrivals joining Styles and Har-low’s hits, the Hot 100 hosts six songs in the top 10 that were released in 2022, marking the first week that more than half the top 10 consists of songs released this year.

Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” drops 3-5 on the Hot 100, after five weeks at No. 1, as it leads the multi-metric Hot Rock & Alter-native Songs and Hot Alternative Songs charts for a 33rd week each, and Latto’s “Big Energy” descends 4-6 on the Hot 100, after

hitting No. 3.Imagine Dragons and JID’s “Enemy”

backtracks to No. 7 from its No. 5 Hot 100 high as it leads Radio Songs for a second week (65.9 million, down 1%).

Elsewhere in the Hot 100’s top 10, The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber’s “Stay” slips 6-9, after seven weeks at No. 1.

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

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

Future Earns Eighth No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 With ‘I Never Liked You’BY KEITH CAULFIELD

Future earns his eighth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart as I Never Liked You debuts atop the list with the year’s largest week

for any album. It earned 222,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week end-ing May 5, according to Luminate. That also marks Future’s largest week for a solo album, by units earned. His only album to post a bigger week was his collaborative set with Drake, What a Time to Be Alive, which bowed at No. 1 with 375,000 units in 2015.

In total, I Never Liked You is Future’s 15th top 10 album on the Billboard 200. He previ-ously topped the chart with High Off Life (2020), Future Hndrxx Presents: The WIZRD (2019), HNDRXX (2017), Future (2017), Evol (2016), What a Time to Be Alive (2015) and DS2 (2015).

Also in the new top 10: The Weeknd’s Dawn FM surges 35-2 after the release

Page 5 of 32

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

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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

of its vinyl LP and boxed sets, Miranda Lambert’s Palomino debuts at No. 4, and NoCap’s Mr. Crawford bows at No. 8.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new May 14, 2022-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on May 10. For all chart news, fol-low @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of I Never Like You’s 222,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 214,000 (equating to 283.75 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks), album sales comprise 6,500 and TEA units comprise 1,500. (I Never Liked You’s stan-dard edition was released on April 29 with 16 tracks, and then expanded in the middle of its first week of release with six addi-tional cuts.)

I Never Liked You’s starting sum of 222,000 units is the largest week for any al-bum since Adele’s 30 logged 288,000 units in the week ending Dec. 2, 2021, and the big-gest debut for an album since 30 launched with 839,000 a week earlier. I Never Liked You has the biggest week for any R&B/hip-hop album since Drake’s Certified Lover Boy moved 236,000 in its second frame (week ending Sept. 16, 2021), and the biggest R&B/hip-hop debut since Certified launched with 613,000. In fact, in the last 12 months, only three albums have posted a week as large as I Never Liked You: Certified, Ye’s (for-merly Kanye West) Donda (it debuted with 309,000 in the week ending Sept. 2, 2021) and J. Cole’s The Off-Season (debuting with 282,000 in the week ending May 20, 2021).

I Never Liked You boasts guests including Drake, EST Gee, Gunna, Kodak Black, Tems and Ye (all on its standard and expanded editions).

The Weeknd’s Dawn FM jumps from No. 35 to No. 2 — matching its debut and peak

position — following the release of its vinyl LP, cassette and deluxe boxed sets on April 29. The album earned 57,000 equivalent album units (up 241%), of which album sales comprise 44,000 (up 2,282% — making it the top-selling album of the week), SEA units comprise 13,000 (equaling 17.72 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. 77% of Dawn FM’s sales were from its vinyl LP, which was available in multiple variants, including a Target-exclusive edition pressed on translucent silver vinyl. In total, Dawn FM sold nearly 34,000 copies on vinyl — the largest sales week for an R&B album on vinyl since Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991.

Morgan Wallen’s former No. 1 Danger-ous: The Double Album falls 2-3 with 50,000 equivalent album units (down 3%).

Miranda Lambert notches her seventh top 10 album on the Billboard 200 as Palomino debuts at No. 4 with 36,000 equivalent album units earned. The set is the highest-debuting country album of 2022 and gallops in with the year’s largest debut, by units, for a country effort. Of the album’s 36,000 units earned, album sales comprise 24,000; SEA units comprise 11,000 (equaling 14.35 mil-lion on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks) and TEA units comprise 1,000.

A trio of chart-topping albums is next on the Billboard 200, as Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour falls 4-5 (34,000 equivalent album units; down 6%), Lil Durk’s 7220 descends 3-6 (33,000; down 15%) and the Encanto soundtrack dips 5-7 (32,000; down 7%).

NoCap nets his first top 10 effort with his debut studio release Mr. Crawford, as the album debuts at No. 8 with 29,000 equiva-lent album units earned. Effectively all of that sum was driven by SEA units (equaling 40.07 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks). The rapper (real name: Kobe Vidal Crawford) has charted three previous efforts on the chart, going as high as No. 31 with Steel Human in 2020. Before the release of Mr. Crawford, NoCap had accumulated 1.48 billion on-demand official streams with his catalog of songs in the U.S., according to Luminate. The Steel Human album accounted for 332 million of those streams.

Closing out the new top 10 on the Bill-board 200 are Drake’s Certified Lover Boy (7-9 with 29,000 equivalent album units; down 4%) and Doja Cat’s Planet Her (6-10 with nearly 29,000; down 5%).

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

Why You’re Seeing Fewer ‘Featuring’ Credits and More Co-Billings on the Hot 100BY ELIAS LEIGHT

In January, “Pushin P,” an eerie, low-slung track from Gunna, swept into the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at No. 7. The song was

credited to Gunna & Future featuring Young Thug, and through the chart dated May 7th, it remains the only top 10 hit in 2022 to have an artist billing incorporating the word “featuring.”

In the last decade, typically between 20% and 30% of top 10 Hot 100 hits per year have involved a credited feature; during the first three-and-half months of 2022, that number stands at just 4%. In fact, the use of “featuring” hasn’t been this unpopular since 1995, when just three of 68 top ten singles incorporated the word.

But this does not mean that hit collabora-tions are on the decline. While “featured” has fallen out of favor, dual billings — link-ing artists with “&” or “X” — are rocketing upwards (think of top 10 hits like Imagine Dragons X JID’s “Enemy,” or the Kid LAROI

Page 7 of 32

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COUNTRYPOWER PLAYERS

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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

& Justin Bieber’s “Stay”). This style of crediting was basically nonexistent among charting hits at the start of the 2010s. By 2019, nearly 20% of top 10 Hot 100 hits were labeled this way. And so far in 2022, a full 25% of top 10 hits rely on “&” or “X.” The most notable example is “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” which set a new record for the most artists ever credited on a No. 1 hit.

Styles go in and out of fashion; slang changes. But the A&R reps, major-label mar-keters, lawyers, and publishers who spoke to Billboard for this story were adamant that this shift in labeling is being driven by one company: Spotify. The streaming behemoth has caused the music industry to track “monthly listeners” — the big number that appears on artists’ homepages right under their name, which reflects the number of total unique visitors over a rolling 28-day period — with single-minded intensity, and that number can be impacted by the way that artists are credited.

The back end of the streamer allows for what’s called “primary” artist tagging, and when two acts are identified as the primary artist behind a single — at both the “track level” and “product level” — sources say that each performer’s monthly listener count stands to benefit when someone clicks play. This can be especially beneficial for a smaller artist who manages to secure a col-laboration with a bigger act; as long as the more popular performer’s fans check out the track, that will help drive the lesser-known performer’s monthly listener count upwards. And if two acts are both labelled “primary” on the back end, that makes it seem pretty reasonable to give them co-billing on the front end as well.

Take the case of rising star Fireboy DML. In December, he released a new version of his propulsive Afrobeats single “Peru” with Ed Sheeran, who enjoys co-billing alongside the Nigerian artist. Fireboy DML’s monthly listener count on Spotify was around 2.7 million on Dec. 23, according to the analyt-ics company Chartmetric. By Jan. 21, his monthly listener count had ballooned to 11.2 million.

In addition, when two acts are awarded primary status at the product and track level on Spotify, their collaboration qualifies to

appear in the “Popular” section at the top of each performer’s page if it’s driving listening activity. In contrast, sources say that if one of the collaborators is tagged as a “Featured Artist” in the streaming service’s back end, that performer’s monthly listener account will be unaffected by a wave of interest in the collaboration.

Not only that, the track will live in the “Appears On” section of the featured performer’s page, which is lower down and organized by popularity rather than chronological order, meaning that it does not provide great visibility for a recent release. (Everyone who spoke for this story said competing streaming services from Apple and Amazon don’t highlight “monthly listeners” in the same way, making credit-ing conventions less important on those platforms.) Though, making things more confusing, some artists attempt to have it both ways on Spotify, granting both col-laborators “primary” status but including a “feat” credit in the title of the song, which marketers believe might help with search.

The metadata is the message. “The for-matting of the artist and collaborator name can have a huge effect,” explains entertain-ment attorney Gandhar Savur, who runs Savur Law. “Choosing that formatting correctly and delivering the metadata to streaming services properly is crucial be-cause it impacts many important aspects — such as from which artist pages you will be able to find the track directly and how and when a track can be pitched for playlisting.”

Securing that primary artist designation “has really become a big deal” when putting collaborations together, adds Yaasiel “Suc-cess” Davis, vp of A&R at Atlantic Records.

The “featuring” credit initially came into vogue primarily to highlight a cameo appearance by a major act (“Don’t Know Much” by Linda Ronstadt featuring Aaron Neville) or when a producer tapped a vocal-ist for a collaboration (“I’ll Be Good to You” by Quincy Jones featuring Ray Charles & Chaka Khan). When hip-hop conquered the mainstream in the 1990s, “featuring” became increasingly common, as rappers brought in other MCs for a verse or enlisted an R&B singer to sing a sticky chorus. In 2003 and 2004, at least 40% of top 10 Hot

100 hits included a feature credit.But that was before Spotify, which grants

both acts extra visibility when they nab a “primary” descriptor. In a streaming world where everyone is constantly battling for eyes and ears, it would make sense for nearly all contemporary collaborations to be co-billings: Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow are treated as equals on “Industry Baby,” as are Nicki Minaj and Lil Baby on “Do We Have a Problem?”

A variety of factors complicate the prima-ry artist equation, however. These include the relationship between the two or more acts involved in the song, how much each artist contributed musically to the track, the extent to which the singers’ or rappers’ labels are getting along that week, and what else is in the release pipeline. In addition, only three acts can be designated as primary, so if an artist releases a posse cut, someone will end up being a featured act.

“Primary artist designation is often a point of contention in negotiations when you’re trying to get these features cleared,” explains Karl Fowlkes of the Fowlkes Firm. “If you don’t get [primary artist designa-tion], it feels disrespectful. You’re like, ‘man, that’s fucked up.’ “

Still, acts routinely get snubbed. If one performer asks a second performer to team up on a track, but the latter “has another song coming out the same day, or he re-cently released a song and he wants all the eyeballs going to that [on his Spotify page] rather than a song that he’s featured on, that might lead someone not to grant that primary artist tag,” Davis says.

In addition, both artists’ labels must sign off for a collaboration to come out, and corporate politics can make this process tricky, lawyers say. Memories in the music industry are long. And if one label believes another was too pushy during a round of negotiations, the former may be nursing a grudge the next time a feature request comes through. “Sometimes labels won’t grant the primary, and they won’t give us a reason,” says Matt Buser, an entertainment attorney. “I think it’s just label politics.”

Popular artists can also dangle primary artist tagging to extract better deal terms from lesser-known collaborators. “If you

Page 9 of 32

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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

want somebody on your next single and that artist is bigger than you, [the latter] might say, ‘Hey, we’re not gonna give you primary artist [tagging] if you don’t pay us $20,000 more,’” Fowlkes notes.

For Buser, jockeying over primary artist status has gotten to the point of “over-nego-tiation.” He recently worked on a deal where one act was only granted primary artist status for 24 hours. “We can get hit really hard by big artists,” Buser continues. “You’re charging us a couple hundred thousand dollars for a verse and video, you want half the income on the back end, and then you’re only going to allow it to appear on your art-ist’s primary Spotify page for one day? It’s like highway robbery.”

So lawyers joust, trying to maximize the potential exposure for their artist clients without giving too much away in exchange. Fowlkes works closely with the rising inde-pendent rapper Blxst, who has achieved co-billing recently on a new remix of Fireboy DML’s “Peru” — alongside 21 Savage — and Snoop Dogg’s “Go to War.” “We haven’t had too much trouble getting [Blxst] primary artist designation, because he streams well, and he’s an exciting new presence,” Fowlkes says.

And when potential collaborators are reluctant to label Blxst “primary”? “Usually,” Fowlkes adds, “there is a dollar amount that can persuade somebody.”

Rostrum Records Selling Catalog, Including Early Mac Miller and Wiz Khalifa AlbumsBY ED CHRISTMAN

Rostrum Records founder and CEO Benjy Grinberg is on the verge of striking a deal to sell his independent label’s master re-

cording catalog — including Mac Miller and Wiz Khalifa‘s early albums — for upwards of $80 million, sources tell Billboard.

If the deal is completed, sources say that the Pittsburgh-born, Los Angeles-based label will remain in operation and run by Ginsberg, and the catalog sold will be lim-ited to a certain time frame of releases. That likely means that the deal won’t include records from its current artist roster that includes such acts as Rich the Kid and Rockie Fresh.

Sources say the label, put up for auction in the fall of last year, is being shopped by the Raine Group, the investment bank and advisory firm that’s closed a number of recent big music deals, including Downtown Music Publishing’s song catalog sale to Concord.

Initially, Ginsberg was said to be looking for a deal that would allow him to continue running the label with its full catalog intact. Now that may no longer be the case, since sources say the plan is for Ginsberg to over-see the remaining catalog if, and when, the deal closes.

Rostrum and Raine Group declined to comment and neither would disclose with whom they’re nearing a deal.

While sources now say the deal is priced at upwards of $80 million, some familiar with the deal give the catalog a $65 million valuation.

Billboard estimates label revenue, after deducting production and distribution fees, at about $4 million to $5 million in 2021. Although, it’s hard to be exact without knowing which current titles the cata-log deal excludes, and because Rostrum released several of Khalifa’s albums starting with 2011’s Rolling Papers in a joint venture arrangement with Atlantic Records — of which Rostrum could not sell the masters, but only its share of the royalties.

The Ledger: How Much Will Music Subscriptions Grow in 2022?BY GLENN PEOPLES

The Ledger is a weekly newsletter about the economics of the music business sent to Billboard Pro sub-scribers. An abbreviated version of

the newsletter is published online.Earnings season is a great time to read

the tea leaves about the future of the streaming and subscription businesses. How much growth is ahead? Where will that growth come from? Is pricing headed up or down? The answers are vital for investors but are also important to labels, publishers and creators.

In the last two weeks, three companies — Spotify, Universal Music Group and Believe — provided some outlook on the streaming market during their earnings calls with analysts. Their earnings reports appeared in the wake of Netflix’s warn-ing of subscription growth slowdown and the abrupt demise of CNN’s subscription platform, CNN+, just three weeks after its launch. Comparisons to music platforms only go so far: Netflix’s streaming video on-demand (SVOD) offering is based on exclusive content whereas music services effectively have the same catalog and com-pete on features and user experience. CNN+ was poorly timed to launch just before the completion of AT&T’s merger with Discov-ery and was shuttered as post-merger CEO David Zaslav‘s first order of business. Nev-ertheless, all eyes are on streaming services.

UMG chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge signaled “continued confidence” in music subscription services during the company’s first-quarter earnings call on May 3. Sub-scriptions certainly carried good momen-tum going into 2022. “There were more subscribers added in the last year than any previous year in premium music subscrip-tion,” said Grainge. Looking forward, “we

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believe the music subscription market will continue to grow strongly in 2022, building on the growth we saw in 2021,” said Mi-chael Nash, UMG’s executive vp of digital strategy.

Nash came prepared to answer the ana-lyst’s question about Netflix and investors’ broad concerns about streaming expansion. “The analysis has shown SVOD churn is mostly related to the variable programming of those services,” he said. “SVOD platforms focus on original and exclusive content and its content most viewers are watching only once.” As a result, consumers can start and pause subscription based on what they want to watch at a given time, creating a “chase for content” that results in “up to 45% semi-annual churn,” according to some surveys, said Nash, and “surveys indicate half or more of that churn is directly related to the programming variance.” In contrast, lead-ing music subscription services have “low single-digit monthly churn.”

In France, Believe CEO Denis Ladegail-lerie said the company’s conversations with DSPs have not revealed impacts of either inflation or lower subscription rates. Noting Netflix’s guidance and news about other SVOD platforms, Ladegaillerie said “there’s no sign that’s telling us it has happened with music.” While Believe is not aware anyone has “modeled lower growth” in 2022, he admitted that “everyone knows there is uncertainty.”

The question is how fast music subscrip-tion services will grow. Spotify plans to add 14 million net new monthly active users and six million net new subscribers (both are net of churn) in the second quarter. That in-cludes 600,000 lost subscribers after Spotify fully closed in Russian on April 11. Investors still seemed disappointed and Spotify shares dropped as much as 13.3% that day.

There’s further cause for optimism, too. Long-stagnant subscription prices are headed upward — although perhaps not as quickly as some critics would like. In the first quarter, Spotify’s average revenue per user was up 6.6% year over year to 4.38 euros. The company has raised some prices of multi-person subscription plans in select countries — including the U.S. and U.K. — without a material impact on churn. UMG

wouldn’t comment on pricing. “We have to be aware that the DSP [digital service pro-vider] directly determines how they price,” Grainge responded to an analyst. “Any ques-tions with regards to pricing are going to have to be directed at them.”

UMG doesn’t appear to anticipate DSPs will make changes, however, as CFO Boyd Muir noted the guidance provided in the company’s 2021 prospectus “does not fac-tor in any price increases.” But Believe’s Ladegaillerie, pointed to Amazon’s recent decision to raise some subscription prices as a sign of things to come. “We still expect other DSPs to follow in the near future with price increases,” he said.

STOCKSThrough May 6, the % change over the

last week, and the year-to-date change.Spotify (NYSE: SPOT): $104.68, +3.0%,

-55.3% YTD Universal Music Group (AS: UMG): 20.79 euros, -6.4%, -16.1% YTD Warner Music Group (Nasdaq: WMG): $29.14, -2.1%, -32.5% YTD HYBE (KS 352820): 241,000 KRW, -4.2%, -30.9% YTD Live Nation (NYSE: LYV): $92.51, -11.8%, -22.7% YTD iHeartMedia (Nasdaq: IHRT): $14.01, -12.4%, -33.4% YTD Cumulus Media (Nasdaq: CMLS): $15.44, +12.1%, +37.2% YTD

NYSE Composite: 15,566.56, -0.3%, -9.3% YTD Nasdaq: 12,144.66, -1.5%, -22.4% YTD

Travis Scott, Ed Sheeran & More to Perform at 2022 Billboard Music AwardsBY PAUL GREIN

Travis Scott, Ed Sheeran, Becky G and the team-up of Elle King and Miranda Lambert have been added to the performance lineup

for the 2022 Billboard Music Awards.The BBMAs will broadcast live coast-to-

coast from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, May 15, at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on NBC, and will stream live on Peacock. Hosted by Sean “Diddy” Combs, the show will honor the year’s top artists on the Billboard charts in 62 categories.

This is Scott’s first awards show per-formance since a crowd crush during his performance at the Astroworld Festival in Houston in November killed 10 people. Scott’s remix of his song “Goosebumps” is nominated for top dance/electronic song. In 2019-20, Scott became the first artist in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 to have three songs enter the chart at No. 1 in less than a year — “Highest in the Room,” “The Scotts” (billed as by The Scotts, Travis Scott & Kid Cudi) and “Franchise.”

Sheeran will perform from Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he’s in the midst of his + – = ÷ x stadium tour (pronounced The Mathematics Tour). Sheeran is a nine-time finalist at this year’s BBMAs; He’s one of eight artists to amass as many or more nods this year. Sheeran is a finalist for top male artist, an award he won four years ago. His album = (Equals) entered the Billboard 200 at No. 1 in November, becoming his fourth consecutive album to lead that chart.

When King and Lambert’s “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home),” topped Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart in April, it marked the first time in nearly 30 years that a col-laboration by two women topped that chart.

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The hit has had broad appeal. It is nomi-nated here for top rock song. It won video of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards in March, where Lambert also won entertainer of the year for the first time. Lambert has a second BBMA nod this year – top country female artist.

On the heels of releasing her sophomore album Esquemas on May 13, Becky G will make her BBMAs performance debut from the Xfinity stage. Nominated in 2021 for top Latin female artist, the singer is currently enjoying her first No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs with “MAMIII,” a collab with Karol G.

As previously announced, Mary J. Blige will receive the Billboard Icon Award and will also perform on the show. Other performers include Red Hot Chili Peppers (their first BBMAs performance since 1999), Silk Sonic (their first performance since they swept four Grammys, including record and song of the year, in April), and Morgan Wallen (his first awards show performance since he was barred from attending and performing at various ceremonies in 2021 after he was caught on camera saying the N-word). Burna Boy, Florence + The Ma-chine, Latto, Maxwell, Megan Thee Stal-lion, Rauw Alejandro round out the lineup.

Mari Copeny, a 14-year-old environmen-tal justice advocate, will receive the third annual Billboard Music Award Change-maker Award. Additional information about the BBMAs, including presenters, will be announced in the coming days.

For more than 30 years, the BBMAs have celebrated music’s greatest achievements. Unique among music awards shows, final-ists are determined by performance on the Billboard charts. Billboard Music Awards finalists and winners are based on key fan interactions with music, including album and digital song sales, streaming, radio air-play, and touring, tracked by Billboard and its data partners, including Luminate. This year’s awards are based on the chart period of April 10, 2021, through March 26, 2022.

The 2022 Billboard Music Awards is produced by MRC Live & Alternative. In ad-dition to hosting the show, Combs will serve as executive producer alongside Robert Deaton.

Tickets to attend the show are open to the public. Prices per ticket start at $90 and are available for purchase here Doors open at 3:30 p.m. PT.

For the latest news on the Billboard Music Awards (BBMAs) visit billboardmu-sicawards.com and billboard.com/bbma. For exclusive content and more, follow the BBMAs on social media (Twitter, Face-book, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, You-Tube) and join the conversation by using the official hashtag for the show, #BBMAs.

For more information about the BBMAs on Peacock, visit Peacocktv.com.

Billboard recently announced Billboard MusicCon, a first-of-its-kind event which will feature exclusive conversations, fan experiences, headline performances, and more. Visit www.billboardmusiccon.com for event details and tickets.

The Billboard Music Awards are produced by MRC Live & Alternative, a division of MRC. MRC and Penske Media are co-parent companies of Billboard.

Congress Presses Spotify for More Transparency Around Discovery ModeBY ELIAS LEIGHT

In April, three members of Congress wrote a letter to Spotify CEO Daniel Ek to express their concerns about his platform’s approach “to consumer

transparency.” Reps. Yvette D. Clarke, Judy Chu and Tony Cardenas were wor-ried that the initiative known as Discovery Mode, which allows artists to boost their music’s exposure on Spotify in exchange for a lower royalty rate, “preys on unwitting” listeners — the streamers who are tuned in to Spotify Radio or Autoplay likely aren’t aware that they are being served a new track thanks in part to a promotional program with a back-end cost, rather than solely due

to its musical merits.Spotify responded to the congressional

inquiry last month in a letter obtained by Billboard, stressing the benefits of Discovery Mode for artists — who “[see] an average of more than 40% growth in listeners” for songs they put into Discovery Mode — but skirting some questions about the program’s transparency for fans.

The streaming platform’s letter turned to potential “unwitting consumers” in the second-to-last paragraph. Emery Simon, Spotify’s vp of global government af-fairs, noted that the streaming service had written a blog post about Discovery Mode and added an “About Recommendations” card — though it takes some work to find — “disclos[ing] that commercial consider-ations… may ‘influence our recommenda-tions.’” In addition, Spotify’s letter said the platform’s user terms include similarly broad language about “commercial consid-erations” that provide cover for programs like Discovery Mode.

Reps. Clarke, Chu, and Cardenas, co-chairs of the Multicultural Media Caucus, issued a joint statement to Billboard indicat-ing that Spotify’s letter was not entirely satisfactory. “The response we received from Spotify regarding consumer disclosure points to a blog post and vague language about commercial considerations that are buried in their terms of service and sev-eral clicks deep on their application,” the representatives noted. “We will welcome a constructive dialogue with Spotify but won’t back down from our belief that they can do better to abide by the clear rules of the road for online disclosures.”

When presented with Spotify’s letter, the Future of Music Coalition, a non-profit group that advocates for a fair and transpar-ent music industry, offered its own concerns. “Once again, congressional leaders are ask-ing the right questions, and Spotify is com-ing up short on substantive answers,” said Kevin Erickson, FOM’s director, in a state-ment. “Spotify’s weak disclosure require-ments — text within the app and buried in terms of service and a blog post that barely anyone will read — are wholly inadequate for consumer protection, especially for an audio medium,” Erickson added.

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When reached for comment, a Spotify spokesperson confirmed the contents of the company’s letter, and reiterated the points made in its response to the representatives.

Though streaming is a relatively new phenomenon, the U.S. government has a history of stepping in when it feels that consumers are unaware that they are deal-ing with paid promotions. To ensure that people know which online search results are paid-for advertisements, for example, the Federal Trade Commission has “clear and conspicuous” disclosure requirements. Reps. Clarke, Chu, and Cardenas invoked this precedent in their original letter to Spotify, writing that “the Discovery Mode program seems identical to deceptive native advertising like undisclosed promotional tweets from paid social media influencers or inadequately described sponsored search results.”

In the music industry, the closest analog to this is payola at radio: Paying for airplay is legal — as long as that payment is an-nounced on the air when the paid-for song is played. The Federal Communications Commission’s website explains that, “when a broadcast licensee has received or been promised payment for airing program mate-rial, the station must disclose that fact at the time the material is aired and identify who is paying for it.”

The Discovery Mode equivalent of this disclosure requirement might be an audio announcement — “this song brought to you by label X” — that plays before each song in the program pops up in Spotify Radio or Autoplay. In April, the representatives pro-posed “that Spotify publish, on a monthly basis, the name of every track enrolled in [Discovery Mode] and the royalty discount agreed upon.”

It’s not entirely surprising that Spotify did not address this request — look at the radio industry, which finds the disclosure require-ments around pay-for-play to be onerous. In 2015, a coalition of broadcasters asked the FCC to loosen those rules: Instead of announcing that a song had been paid for on the air when it played, members of the radio industry hoped to shift specific disclosures to stations’ websites and make more general announcements on air that would obscure

which tracks were being paid for. The broadcasters provided a theoretical example of how the new on-air disclosure would sound — “Some of the music [and/or] sports programming that you hear on this station is sponsored [or paid for] by Interscope, Sony, Universal Records, or the Washington Nationals. For additional information, please visit our website.”

Organizations like the RIAA, the Record-ing Academy, and the FOM filed comments signaling their opposition to the broadcast-ers’ request on the grounds that it would lead to reduced transparency. “After outcry from musicians, diverse media reformers and pub-lic interest allies, the FCC ultimately left the [disclosure] rules intact,” Erickson says.

Why might radio broadcasters want to avoid indicating that specific songs stations play are being paid for? Presumably because listeners respond differently to music when they are aware they’re hearing it because of a promotional budget, which undercuts the reason to pay for airplay in the first place. As the FTC puts it, “knowing that something is an ad likely will affect whether consumers choose to interact with it and the weight or credibility consumers give the information it conveys.”

As the debate around Discovery Mode rolls on, artists continue to test it. Several managers who spoke to Billboard recently did not even know that congress had ex-pressed concern about the program (on two different occasions), but were interested in testing it to see if it helped their artists.

Reps. Clarke, Chu, and Cardenas indi-cated that they will continue to monitor Discovery Mode’s impacts.

“We have seen time and again that as digital platforms get bigger and more pow-erful they need to be checked by scrutiny from Congress on behavior that can harm consumers and competition,” they wrote in their statement to Billboard. “Our goal in sending this letter to Mr. Ek is to make sure, as Spotify continues to grow, that its leaders understand that they cannot be the sole arbiters of what is good for music creators, their subscribers or the general public.”

Bad Bunny Tops Spotify Records for Most-Streamed Album in 2022, Most-Streamed Artist Globally in a DayBY ASHLEY IASIMONE

Bad Bunny‘s new album Un Verano Sin Ti is already making a splash on streaming services.

In its first day of release, Friday (May 6), the Puerto Rican star broke two records, Spotify announced.

Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti became the most-streamed album in 2022 so far.

The artist also reached the milestone of becoming the most-streamed artist globally in one day, with 183 million streams. Drake previously held this record, with 176.8 mil-lion streams.

On Friday, all 23 songs on Bad Bunny’s new album ranked in the top 30 of Spotify’s Daily Top Songs Global chart, with nine of those tracks finding their way to the top 10.

Bad Bunny, who was Spotify’s most-streamed artist worldwide in both 2020 and 2021, released Un Verano Sin Ti — the follow-up to El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo, which in 2020 made history as the first Spanish-language album to hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — via Rimas Entertainment. Listen to a selection of eight essential tracks from the set, as chosen by Billboard Latin editors, here.

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Chris Blackwell Named Executive VP of A&R and Content Strategy at Republic RecordsBY BILLBOARD STAFF

Republic Records has promoted Chris Blackwell to the role of executive vp of A&R and content strategy, the company announced

today (May 9). The new role will see Black-well continuing to focus on content develop-ment across the label’s roster and focus on new artists early in their careers to maximize opportunities for their content as well.

Blackwell, based in L.A., reports to Republic co-president Wendy Goldstein. He most recently was senior vp of creative content and development at Republic, after founder/CEO Monte Lipman brought him into the company from All Def Media, where he had risen from social director to CEO by 2019.

“Chris is a 360-degree creative thinker and strategist,” Goldstein said in a state-ment. “He’s made incredible inroads for our artists to reach critical mass by venturing off the beaten path and treading new territory. He’s a proven visionary whose dynamic per-sonality will be key to our expansion.”

According to the company, Blackwell played a key role in the rise of Coi Leray over the past several years, producing her Cooking With Coi Leray series that went viral, and has also worked with Lil Wayne, Benee and Kash Doll on future projects. He’s also worked with Federal Films to produce the documentary Contact High: A Visual History of Hip Hop, and was named as part of Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players feature in 2020.

“I refer to what I do as A&R-plus,” Blackwell said in a statement. “More than ever, artists are multi-hyphenates, content

creators and brand builders. I’m honored to be their liaison when it comes to creative projects. Monte and Avery [Lipman, Repub-lic’s COO] have built the perfect space for entrepreneurs to flourish. They’ve entrusted me with an innovative role, which speaks to their willingness to break ground in order to break artists. My goal is to continue improv-ing this ecosystem for the next generation of diverse artists, executives and employees.”

Comedy ‘Cartel’? Pandora Isn’t Laughing About Copyright LawsuitBY BILL DONAHUE

Pandora has filed a scathing response to a lawsuit that claims the streamer doesn’t pay proper royalties for comedy, accusing a

group called Word Collections of trying to create an illegal “cartel” by orchestrating litigation over a problem that “no comedian” had ever raised before.

Months after a slew of comedians (includ-ing the estates of George Carlin and Robin Williams) accused Pandora of failing to pay the equivalent of publishing royalties for spoken-word content, Pandora’s attorneys lodged their first formal answer to the law-suit Thursday – and they weren’t laughing.

In a countersuit against Word Collections, Pandora accused the group of violating fed-eral antitrust laws by creating a “monopo-listic portfolio” of comedy rights, aimed at “dramatically increasing” the prices stream-ers must pay for comedy.

“Word Collections’ true business model is not that of a benign licensing agent or an ad-vocate for comedians’ intellectual property rights,” wrote Paul Fakler, who’s leading a team of Pandora attorneys from the law firm Mayer Brown. “It is that of a cartel leader.”

The new counterclaims against Word Collections is a dramatic escalation of a long-simmering dispute over how stream-ing services like Pandora and Spotify pay

for comedy.Every piece of audio is covered by two

copyrights – one for the sound recording it-self and another for the underlying “literary work” that’s been recorded. When it comes to music, streaming services pay licensing fees to the owners of each copyright. But for comedy, platforms like Pandora have typi-cally only ever paid for the recordings.

Part of the problem is that there is no society like ASCAP or BMI to collect such publishing royalties for spoken works. Over the past year, Word Collections has moved to fill that void and has begun ask-ing streaming services to pay those fees for comedy; those efforts are what prompted Spotify to pull down some comedy con-tent last fall.

In February, several comedians took the issue to court, accusing Pandora of willfully refusing to pay the legally required royalties for their content: “Pandora did what most goliaths do: it decided it would infringe now to ensure it had this very valuable intellec-tual property on its platform to remain com-petitive, and deal with the consequences later. Later is now.”

But in Thursday’s response, Pandora said it had “always satisfied its copyright obligations” by paying “millions of dollars in license fees every year” for comedy record-ings. Comedians had been “clearly satisfied with this long-standing custom and prac-tice,” Pandora said, since no comic had ever raised the issue — and had in fact regularly reached out to request more airtime under existing licenses.

“Comedians chose unilaterally to benefit from the royalties they were already receiv-ing for the use of the comedy recordings and the added promotional and other benefits that the services gave them, creating ad-ditional demand for their live performances and otherwise benefiting the comedians,” Pandora wrote.

That arrangement worked for years, Pandora said, until Word Collections began organizing comedians into the illegal “cartel” with the goal of forcing streaming services to pay for a blanket of rights they don’t necessarily want.

“Word Collections has coordinated and funded the filing of the [lawsuit] to impose

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this dysfunctional market on all manner of entities that perform, reproduce or distrib-ute comedy through the threat of crippling infringement penalties,” Pandora’s lawyers wrote.

In response to Pandora’s filing, Richard Busch – a well-known music attorney who is representing the comedians – told Bill-board on Friday: “We have seen it, we vehe-mently disagree with it legally and factually, and we will be responding appropriately.”

Britney Spears T-Shirts Caught in Crosshairs of Federal Investigation Into Merch CompanyBY BILL DONAHUE

A San Diego merchandise company that printed T-shirts for Britney Spears, The Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga and other music stars vio-

lated federal labor laws when it skimped on employees overtime pay, according to investi-gators from the U.S. Department of Labor.

In a statement Monday (May 9), the fed-eral agency’s Wage and Hour Division said an investigation revealed that King Graphics – a San Diego shop that produces silk-screen T-shirts and other merchandise – had failed to pay proper overtime to more than 70 of its employees.

To resolve those accusations, the DOL said King Graphics agreed to pay nearly $270,000 in backpay and damages to work-ers affected, plus another $10,000 in civil penalties.

“Celebrities, retailers and manufacturers profit from T-shirts sold for $40 or more, while the low-wage workers who produce the merchandise work overtime to meet consumer demand and become victims of wage theft,” division head Jessica Looman said. “The Wage and Hour Division will con-

tinue to hold employers accountable and use every available tool to ensure that workers are paid in compliance with the law.”

The company also helped create mer-chandise for Willie Nelson and Ariana Grande, investigators said.

In technical terms, the DOL accused King Graphics of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act, the federal statute requiring that hourly workers be paid time-and-a-half for any work beyond the standard 40-hour work week.

During the investigation, DOL investi-gators say they succeeded in getting the company to put a hold on a shipment of “hot goods” – a legal term used for products potentially created via illegal working con-ditions. That order? A truckload of Britney Spears’ T-shirts headed to Target, as well as other products headed to Hot Topic, Kohl’s, Urban Outfitters and others.

The agency said it also investigated other companies that received or distributed products created by King Graphics, includ-ing Sony Music Entertainment. The DOL said those companies had cooperated and would “perform due diligence to avoid future violations.”

“A manufacturer or retailer must ensure their supply chain is free of ‘hot goods’… or risk legal liability,” the agency said. “All par-ties, from the entertainers to the distributors and wholesalers, should ensure their profits aren’t supported by workers in sweatshops, many of whom are immigrant women sup-porting families.”

The agreement announced Monday will also resolve a separate class action filed by the employees themselves. Under the deal, King Graphics also agreed to “hire an inde-pendent third-party to monitor future FLSA compliance,” the DOL said.

A representative for King Graphics did not immediately return a request for comment.

Meet Me In St. Louis: How to Build Artists Outside of Music Industry HubsBY DAN RYS

While the music business is dominated by its tradi-tional headquarters in New York, Los Angeles and

Nashville, as well as some regional hubs in cities like Atlanta, Chicago and Miami, there remains a wide swath of talent across the country that, for years, has been fighting an uphill battle to bring attention and resourc-es to its local scenes.

That idea underscored one of the first panels of the Music Biz 2022 conference in Nashville this week, titled Act Local, Think Global: Discovering & Developing Tomor-row’s Stars Where They Live. Moderated by Made In Memphis Entertainment president Tony Alexander, the panel brought to-gether a quartet of music industry veterans who are focused squarely on helping to develop and nurture music business op-portunities for artists and aspiring industry execs in their own cities: Laura Lavi, CEO of Dreaming In Color Entertainment, who focuses on the Pacific Northwest from her base in Seattle; Kadeem Phillips, founder/CEO of Power Entertainment, who advo-cates on behalf of his clients in and around Memphis; Reid Wick, a senior membership and industry relations exec at the Recording Academy, who is based out of New Orleans; and Alonzo Lee, a producer for the Trak Starz who was a guiding force in the careers of Nelly and Chingy as they emerged out of St. Louis before going on to work in synch and publishing in the city.

Each of the panelists outlined the ways that they’re working to support and grow a music business in their own cities, focus-ing on a few key elements: education, in helping artists, managers and community

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leaders understand not only how the busi-ness works, but why it’s important in local communities; the lack of an infrastructure to support an existing ecosystem of mu-sic workers who struggle to connect and break through without the resources and networks of the big music hubs; and early revenue opportunities to help sustain musi-cians while they’re developing, given that the streaming economy rewards the top of the pyramid of artists and often is not enough to live on for a local or regional act.

“My whole thing is how do we make New Orleans a better New Orleans, not a Nash-ville,” said Wick, emphasizing the long his-tory of New Orleans’ role in American music and the culture of musicianship that perme-ates the city. But, he argued, it’s important to break the “Friday night mentality” that many musicians in the city have, which focuses on the weekly live gig at the expense of copyrights, outside revenue opportunities and the framework of thinking of them-selves as small business entrepreneurs.

Lavi highlighted the distinct challenges that permeate the Pacific Northwest — the lack of a film industry as local leaders focused on tech, as well as the revenue issue — but came back to a similar prob-lem. “Repeat after me: Musical content is art,” she said. “Remember that. Because art needs infrastructure just like any other business.” She said she’s focused on helping artists cross-pollinate into other aspects of art and business while they develop, while also looking at what she called alternative merchandising, like with a comic book she’s putting out globally with one of the acts she works with that will help pay for their dital marketing costs.

Lee looked back at his successes with Nelly and Chingy and noted the importance of regional differences in helping artists cut through the noise of the industry at large. He’s big on education, he said, and “trying to encourage the talent to embrace what they have from where they come from… It’s a matter of being original and having something original to offer to the world.” He sees echoes of that success with Jack Harlow, the rapper from Louisville, Kent. with whom he has also worked recently. “It’s like the same song, second verse,” he

said. “That’s the formula: you have to really be yourself.”

Phillips, meanwhile, has been able to build with his stable of producers — includ-ing YC, who produced Pooh Shiesty and Lil Durk’s “Back In Blood,” and RealRed, who along with YC produced Moneybagg Yo’s “Wockesha,” among other tracks — without leaving the Memphis area: “They’ve been able to infiltrate the industry from their bedrooms,” he said. He also stressed the importance of education, as well as work ethic, saying that if that can be established, then “when we get into these rooms and people want to fly us to LA, it’s like, ‘No. You come to us,’” he said. Echoing Lee, he emphasized that being from Memphis (and Moscow, Tenn., in the area outside that city) was what set them apart. “It has to reflect the sound and grit that Memphis is,” he said. “We’re trying to take that to the world.”

Each of the panelists also said that, in or-der for these regional scenes to be support-ed and to grow, there has to be an element of outside-the-box thinking — meaning finding industries like the cannabis world, as Lavi pointed out, which can help underwrite tours or marketing campaigns; the role of tech investors, like what Wick pointed out is happening in New Orleans in promoting tech-based music industry solutions; and the importance of synch placements, which can bring in difference-making money when touring or streaming aren’t paying the bills. “Synch is my pride and joy,” said Phillips, noting that in his previous role as a produc-er he began developing relationships with music supervisors and directors, offering pre-cleared songs and streamlined rights to make it easy on them and get an edge for his artists. “They’re trying to do the same thing that I’m trying to do,” he said. And ultimately, it’s about finding ways to make money and build a career that can allow you to eventually spend more time on the music. As he put it, it can bring leverage: What are you bringing to the table other than your music?

SBS Pays $12.5M for Two Florida Radio Stations in Expansion of El Zol Tropical FormatBY JESSICA ROIZ

Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) has acquired 95.3 WPYO (FM) in Orlando and 97.1 WSUN (FM) in Tampa from Cox Radio LLC, it was

announced Thursday (May 5). Billboard can confirm that the total transaction price was $12.5 million.

As a result of the acquisitions, both FM stations — which have been renamed El Nuevo Zol 95 and El Nuevo Zol 97 — will debut a Latin format on Monday (May 9), joining SBS’ popular El Nuevo Zol family. Each will boast a Spanish tropical format, including reggaeton, bachata and salsa mu-sic, and broadcast renowned radio person-alities Alex Sensation and Molusco y Los Reyes de la Punta.

WYPO, or Power 95.3, was previously known as “Orlando’s new #1 for all the hits” while WSUN, or 97X, was an alt-rock station.

“Now you will listen to me live from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Orlando, Tampa, and the rest of our SBS stations in New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and Puerto Rico,” Sensation said on Instagram.

“The radio in Florida will have the best upgrade,” Molusco noted on his social media accounts.

SBS chairman and CEO Raúl Alarcon said the addition of the two “El Zol” stations makes SBS “the largest Spanish radio owner in the state of Florida.”

“We look forward to super-serving our audiences and advertisers in the Sunshine State and across the nation with the best radio, digital audio, and live-events con-tent, including the most popular and iconic on-air talent, geared specifically for today’s influential Hispanic consumer,” Alarcon said in a statement.

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With the two new acquisitions, SBS plans to “expand its aggregate audience [to] forge closer connections with the Hispanic community and offer unique advertising op-portunities to its brand partners.”

Harry Styles’ ‘As It Was’ Tops Billboard Global Charts For Fifth Week, Future & PSY DebutBY GARY TRUST

Harry Styles‘ “As It Was” re-mains the biggest song in the world, as it adds a fifth week at No. 1 on the Billboard Global

200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts.Meanwhile, Future‘s “Wait for U,” featur-

ing Drake and Tems, blasts in at No. 2 on the Global 200, and his “Puffin on Zooties” con-currently starts at No. 7. Plus, PSY‘s “That That,” featuring SUGA, of BTS, premieres at No. 2 on Global Excl. U.S. “That That” also enters the Global 200 at No. 5 – and marks the highest-charting solo hit for a BTS member on both surveys.

Additionally, Karol G’s “Provenza” reach-es the top 10 of each chart, surging 15-6 on the Global 200 and 25-7 on Global Excl. U.S.

The two charts, which began in Septem-ber 2020, rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by Luminate. The Billboard Global 200 is in-clusive of worldwide data and the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart comprises data from territories excluding the U.S.

Chart ranks are based on a weighted formula incorporating official-only streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of audio and video music services, as well as download sales, the latter of which reflect purchases from full-service digital music retailers from around the world, with

sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites excluded from the charts’ calculations.

‘As’ No. 1, ‘Wait’ No. 2 on Global 200Harry Styles’ “As It Was” tallies a fifth

week at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200, all logged from its debut week, with 99.2 million streams (down 5%) and sold 17,200 sold (down 3%) worldwide in the April 29-May 5 tracking week.

Future’s “Wait for U,” featuring Drake and Tems, roars in at No. 2 on the Global 200 with 52.6 million streams and 7,300 sold worldwide. Future also bows in the top 10 with “Puffin on Zooties” at No. 7 (32 million streams).

The songs, from Future’s album I Never Liked You, new at No. 1 on the U.S.-based Billboard 200, mark Future’s third and fourth Global 200 top 10s since the list launched, while the former matches the No. 2 start and peak of Drake’s “Way 2 Sexy,” featuring Future and Young Thug, last Sep-tember, for Future’s best rank. Drake adds his record-extending 14th Global 200 top 10 and Tems earns her first.

Jack Harlow’s “First Class” drops to No. 3 after spending its first three weeks on the Global 200 at No. 2, and Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” slips 3-4 after six weeks on top.

PSY’s “That That,” featuring SUGA, of BTS, debuts at No. 5 on the Global 200, with 67.7 million streams and 29,600 sold globally in its first week, following its April 29 release. PSY scores his first entry on the chart and fellow South Korean SUGA adds his second, after “Girl of My Dreams,” with Juice WRLD, debuted and peaked at No. 37 in December.

“That That” marks the highest-charting solo Global 200 hit for a BTS member, and first top 10, surpassing Jung Kook’s “Stay Alive,” which entered and peaked at No. 13 on the Feb. 26 chart. (As a group, BTS boasts a record six Global 200 No. 1s.)

Elsewhere in the Global 200’s top 10, Karol G’s “Provenza” vaults 15-6. The song, released April 22 (and whose title pays tribute to a neighborhood in her native Medellín, Colombia), ascends with a 37% increase to 50.2 million global streams. Karol G achieves her third Global 200 top 10, following “Bichota” (No. 7, January 2021)

and “MAMIII,” with Becky G (No. 4, this March).

“Provenza” concurrently powers 25-7 on Global Excl. U.S. (37.3 million streams outside the U.S., up 41%), likewise becom-ing her third top 10, after “Bichota” and “MAMIII” each reached No. 5.

Styles No. 1, PSY & SUGA No. 2 on Global Excl. U.S.

Harry Styles’ “As It Was” claims a fifth week at No. 1 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart, all from its debut atop the tally, with 74.8 million streams (down 3%) and 8,700 sold (up 1%) in territories outside the U.S. in the April 29-May 5 tracking week.

PSY’s “That That,” featuring SUGA, de-buts at No. 2 on Global Excl. U.S., with 61.5 million streams and 18,800 sold outside the U.S. As on the Global 200, PSY notches his first entry on Global Excl. U.S. and SUGA posts his second (following the No. 55-peak-ing “Girl of My Dreams,” with Juice WRLD). “That That” is the highest-charting solo Global Excl. U.S. hit for a BTS member, and the second top 10, after Jung Kook’s “Stay Alive” debuted and peaked at No. 8. (As a group, BTS has posted a leading five Global Excl. U.S. No. 1s.)

Rounding out the Global Excl. U.S. top five, Jack Harlow’s “First Class” descends to No. 3 from its No. 2 high; Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” retreats 3-4, after three weeks at No. 1; and Camila Cabello’s “Bam Bam,” featuring Ed Sheeran, backtracks to No. 5 from its No. 4 best.

The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated May 14, 2022) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (May 10). For both charts, the top 100 titles are available to all readers on Billboard.com, while the complete 200-title rankings are visible on Billboard Pro, Billboard‘s sub-scription-based service. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboard-charts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes an exhaustive and thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data, removing any suspicious or unverifiable activity using established criteria before final chart calculations are made and published.

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In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious and unverifiable is disqualified prior to final calculations.

Michael R. Jackson Vies With Michael Jackson Jukebox Musical in 2022 Tony Nominations: See the Full ListBY PAUL GREIN

A Strange Loop, the Pulitzer Prize winning musical with book, music and lyrics by Michael R. Jackson led the 2022 Tony

nominations, which were announced on Monday (May 9). The show received 11 nods, followed by MJ and Paradise Square, with 10 nods each. MJ is a jukebox musical built around the music of Michael Jackson. Paradise Square is based on Hard Times, conceived by Larry Kirwan, which was originally presented a decade ago Off Off Broadway.

The nominees for best musical are Girl from the North Country, MJ, Mr. Saturday Night, Paradise Square, Six: The Musical and A Strange Loop.

Girl from the North Country, which features a score of classic Bob Dylan songs, is the second Broadway show to feature Dylan’s music, following Twyla Tharp’s The Times They Are a-Changin’.

Eligible musicals that were passed over for the top musical honor are Flying Over Sunset, Diana, Mrs. Doubtfire and Paradise Square.

Myles Frost is nominated for best per-formance by an actor in a leading role in a musical for playing Michael Jackson in MJ. He is vying to become the third performer in four years to win a Tony for playing a pop icon, following Stephanie J. Block as Star

(Cher) in The Cher Show and Adrienne War-ren as Tina Turner in Tina.

Caroline, or Change, Company and The Music Man are this year’s nominees for best revival of a musical. The first revival of Funny Girl, the musical that made Barbra Streisand a household name, was passed over for a nod in that category. In their original Broadway incarnations, The Music Man (1958) and Company (1971) both won best musical; Funny Girl (1964) and Caroline, or Change (2004) were both nominated.

This is the third time that Company has been nominated for best revival of a musical. Revivals in 1996 and 2007 were also nomi-nated. (The 2007 revival won.) Company, with music and lyrics by the late Stephen Sondheim, thus pulls even with two of the most famous shows in Broadway history. Fiddler on the Roof and Gypsy have also been nominated three times in this category (or its predecessor category, best revival).

Hugh Jackman is nominated for best ac-tor in a musical for playing Professor Harold Hill in the latest revival of The Music Man. Jackman won in the same category 18 years ago for playing Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz. Jackman is the third actor to be nomi-nated for playing the part of a smooth-talk-ing con artist in Meredith Willson’s classic. Robert Preston won for the original produc-tion in 1958. Craig Bierko was nominated for a 2000 revival. Sutton Foster is nominated for best actress (musical) for playing his love interest, Marion the Librarian. Barbara Cook won a Tony as featured actress (musi-cal) for originating the role.

Broadway legend Patti LuPone, a two-time winner for best actress (musical) for Evita and Gypsy, is nominated in the fea-tured actress category for Company.

Billy Crystal received two nominations for Mr. Saturday Night, a musical based on his 1992 film of the same name. Crystal is nominated for best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical and best book of a musical.

With Girl from the North Country and MJ ineligible for best original score, the nomi-nees in that category are Flying Over Sunset, Mr. Saturday Night, Paradise Square, Six: The Musical and A Strange Loop.

Shows that underperformed in the

nominations, landing just one nod each, are Diana, The Musical, Funny Girl, Lackawanna Blues, The Minutes, Mrs. Doubtfire and Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite.

The nominations were announced by Adrienne Warren, a Tony winner two years ago for TINA: The Tina Turner Musical, and three-time Tony nominee Joshua Henry.

The 2021-22 eligibility season began Aug. 1, 2021, and ended Wednesday, May 4, 2022. A total of 34 eligible shows opened in that time frame – 12 new plays, nine new musi-cals, nine revivals of plays, and four revivals of musicals.

Nominees were selected by an indepen-dent committee of 29 theater professionals appointed by the Tony Awards Administra-tion Committee. Winners in 26 competi-tive categories will be determined by 650 designated Tony voters within the theater community. The Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.

The 75th Annual Tony Awards, hosted by recent Oscar winner Ariana DeBose, will broadcast live coast to coast from Radio City Music Hall in New York on Sunday, June 12, from 8 to 11 p.m. ET/5 to 8:00 p.m.,PT on CBS, and streaming live and on demand on Paramount+. Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss are producing the show, with Weiss also directing.

The show will be preceded at 7-8 p.m. ET/4-5 p.m. PT with exclusive content streaming only on Paramount+.

As previously announced, the 2022 Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre will be presented to the Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC); Broadway For All; music copyist, Emily Grishman; Fein-stein’s/54 Below and United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829, IATSE. The Isabelle Steven-son Tony Award will be presented to Robert E. Wankel. A Special Tony Award will be awarded to James C. Nicola, the Artistic Director of New York Theatre Workshop since 1988.

Here’s a complete list of 2022 Tony nomi-nations, with musical categories listed first, followed by plays:

Best Musical Girl From The North Country, Producers: Tristan Baker & Charlie Parsons for Run-

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away Entertainment, Steven Lappin, Sony Music Entertainment/Sony ATV, David Mirvish, Len Blavatnik, The Dodgers, Eric & Marsi Gardiner, Dianne Roberts, John Gore Organization, Nederlander Presentations, Inc., Tommy Mottola, Independent Present-ers Network, Rod Kaats, Diana DiMenna, Mary Beth O’Connor, Barbara H. Freitag, Patrick Catullo, Aaron Lustbader, The Old Vic, Matthew Warchus, Kate Varah, Georgia Gatti, The Public Theater, Oskar Eustis, Patrick Willingham, Mandy Hackett

MJ, Producers: Lia Vollack, John Branca, John McClain, Sony Pictures Entertain-ment, Sony Music Entertaiment, Roy Furman, Cue to Cue Productions, James L. Nederlander, Kumiko Yoshii, Naoya Kinoshita, Latitude Link, Candy Spelling, Stephen C. Byrd, John Gore Organization, Sandy Robertson, Ed Walson, Peter W. May, CJ ENM, Martin Bandier, Michael Cassel Group, Albert Nocciolino, Playful Produc-tions, Ken Schur, Willette & Manny Klaus-ner, Doug Morris, Michael David, Estate of Michael Jackson

Mr. Saturday Night, Producers: James L. Nederlander, Face Productions, Inc., Hunter Arnold, Michael Cohl, TEG Dainty, Candy Spelling, Steve Traxler, Marc David Levine, Caiola Productions, Crossroads Live, Jamie deRoy, Roy Furman, Arny Granat, Grove En-tertainment, John Gore Organization, Wolf Gutterman, Van Kaplan, Larry Magid, Peter May, Carl Moellenberg, Beth W. Newburger, Albert Nocciolino, Eva Price, Iris Smith, The Shubert Organization, Howard Tenenbaum, Barry and Fran Weissler

Paradise Square Producers: Garth H. Drabinsky, Peter Le-Donne, Jeffrey A. Sine, Matthew C. Blank, Joe Crowley, RSR Finance LLC, Hunter & Mariana Milborne, Len Blavatnik, Joseph Coffey, Sherry Wright & Craig Haffner, Bernard Abrams, James Scrivanich, Rick Chad, Arthur M. Kraus, Broadway & Beyond Theatricals, Brian Luborsky, Gilbert & Elisa Palter, The Shubert Organization, Terry Schnuck, Urban One, Inc., Robert Wolf, Richard Stursberg, Mark W. Everson, Sanjay Govil, Jeremiah J. Harris, Amabel James, Sheila C. Johnson, Dennis Mehiel, Louise H. & John G. Beard, Henry R. Muñoz, III & Kyle Ferari Muñoz,

Walter Swett, Zachary Florence, Berkeley Repertory Theatre

SIX: The Musical, Producers: Kenny Wax, Wendy & Andy Barnes, George Stiles, Kevin McCollum, Chicago Shakespeare Theater

A Strange Loop Producers: Barbara Whitman, Pasek, Paul & Stafford, Hunter Arnold, Marcia Goldberg, Alex Levy & James Achilles, Osh Ashruf, A Choir Full Productions, Don Cheadle & Bridgid Coulter Cheadle, Paul Oakley Stovall, Jimmy Wilson, Annapurna Theatre, Robyn Coles, Creative Partners Produc-tions, Robyn Gottesdiener, Kayla Greenspan, Grove Entertainment, Kuhn, Lewis & Scott, Frank Marshall, Maximum Effort Produc-tions Inc., Joey Monda, Richard Mumby, Phenomenal Media & Meena Harris, Marc Platt & Debra Martin Chase, Laurie Tisch, Yonge Street Theatricals, Dodge Hall Pro-ductions/JJ Malley, Cody Renard Richard, John Gore Organization, James L. Neder-lander, The Shubert Organization, RuPaul Charles, Alan Cumming, Ilana Glazer, Jenni-fer Hudson, Mindy Kaling, Billy Porter, Page 73 Productions, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Playwrights Horizons

Best Revival of a Musical Caroline, or Change, Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Julia C. Levy, Sydney Beers, Steve Dow, Lot’s Wife, Hunter Arnold, Caiola Productions/Willette & Manny Klausner, Chambers -D’Angora/Joseph & Alyson Graci

Company, Producers: Elliott & Harper Productions, The Shubert Organization, Catherine Schreiber, Nederlander Presen-tations, Inc., Crossroads Live, Anapurna Theatre, Hunter Arnold, No Guarantees, Jon B. Platt, Michael Watt, John Gore Orga-nization, Tim Levy, Grove – REG, Hornos – Mollenberg, Levine – Federman – Adler, Beard – Merrie – Robbins, LD Entertain-ment/Madison Wells Live, Benjamin Lowy/Roben Alive, Daryl Roth/Tom Tuft, Salmira Productions/Caiola Productions, Aged in Wood/Lee – Sachs, Berinstein – Lane/42nd.club, Boyett – Miller/Hodges – Kukieiski, Finn – DeVito/Independent Presenters Network, Armstrong – Ross/Gi-lad – Rogowsky, Boardman – Koenigsberg/Zell – Seriff, Concord Theatricals – Scott Sanders Productions/Abrams – May, deRoy

– Brunish/Jenen – Rubin, Fakston Produc-tions/Sabi – Lerner – Ketner, Maggio – Abrams/Hopkins – Tackel, Levy & Chauvi-ere, Jujamcyn Theaters

The Music Man Producers: Barry Diller, David Geffen, Kate Horton, Fictionhouse

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical Billy Crystal, Mr. Saturday Night Myles Frost, MJ Hugh Jackman, The Music Man Rob McClure, Mrs. Doubtfire Jaquel Spivey, A Strange Loop

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical Sharon D Clarke, Caroline, or Change Carmen Cusack, Flying Over Sunset Sutton Foster, The Music Man Joaquina Kalukango, Paradise Square Mare Winningham, Girl From the North Country

Best Performance by an Actor in a Fea-tured Role in a Musical Matt Doyle, Company Sidney DuPont, Paradise Square Jared Grimes, Funny Girl John-Andrew Morrison, A Strange Loop A.J. Shively, Paradise Square

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical Jeannette Bayardelle, Girl From the North Country Shoshana Bean, Mr. Saturday Night Jayne Houdyshell, The Music Man L Morgan Lee, A Strange Loop Patti LuPone, Company Jennifer Simard, Company

Best Direction of a Musical Stephen Brackett, A Strange Loop Marianne Elliott, Company Conor McPherson, Girl From the North Country Lucy Moss & Jamie Armitage, SIX: The Musical Christopher Wheeldon, MJ

Best Book of a Musical Girl From the North Country, Conor McPherson MJ, Lynn Nottage Mr. Saturday Night, Billy Crystal, Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel Paradise Square, Christina Anderson, Craig

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Lucas & Larry Kirwan A Strange Loop, Michael R. Jackson

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyr-ics) Written for the Theatre Flying Over Sunset, Music: Tom Kitt, Lyrics: Michael Korie Mr. Saturday Night, Music: Jason Robert Brown, Lyrics: Amanda Green Paradise Square, Music: Jason Howland, Lyrics: Nathan Tysen & Masi Asare SIX: The Musical, Music and Lyrics: Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss A Strange Loop, Music & Lyrics: Michael R. Jackson

Best Choreography Camille A. Brown, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf Warren Carlyle, The Music Man Carrie-Anne Ingrouille, SIX: The Musical Bill T. Jones, Paradise Square Christopher Wheeldon, MJ

Best Orchestrations David Cullen, Company Tom Curran, SIX: The Musical Simon Hale, Girl From The North Country Jason Michael Webb and David Holcenberg, MJ Charlie Rosen, A Strange Loop

Best Scenic Design of a Musical Beowulf Boritt and 59 Productions, Flying Over Sunset Bunny Christie, Company Arnulfo Maldonado, A Strange Loop Derek McLane and Peter Nigrini, MJ Allen Moyer, Paradise Square

Best Costume Design of a Musical Fly Davis, Caroline, or Change Toni-Leslie James, Paradise Square William Ivey Long, Diana, The Musical Santo Loquasto, The Music Man Gabriella Slade, SIX: The Musical Paul Tazewell, MJ

Best Lighting Design of a Musical Neil Austin, Company Tim Deiling, SIX: The Musical Donald Holder, Paradise Square Natasha Katz, MJ Bradley King, Flying Over Sunset Jen Schriever, A Strange Loop

Best Sound Design of a Musical Simon Baker, Girl From The North Country Paul Gatehouse, SIX: The Musical Ian Dickinson for Autograph, Company

Drew Levy, A Strange Loop Gareth Owen, MJ

Best Play Clyde’s Author: Lynn Nottage; Producers: Second Stage Theater, Carole Rothman, Khady Kamara

Hangmen Author: Martin McDonagh; Producers: Robert Fox, Jean Doumanian, Elizabeth I. McCann, Craig Balsam, Atlantic The-ater Company, Jon B. Platt, Len Blavatnik, Richard Fishman, John Gore Organization, Stephanie P. McClelland, David Mirvish, The Shubert Organization, Jamie deRoy/Sandy Robertson, Patrick Myles/Alexander ‘Sandy’ Marshall, M. Kilburg Reedy/Excel-sior Entertainment, Playful Productions, The Royal Court Theatre

The Lehman Trilogy, Author: Stefano Massini, Ben Power; Producers: National Theatre, Neal Street Productions, Barry Diller, David Geffen, Kash Bennett, Lisa Burger, Caro Newling, Ambassador Theatre Group, Stephanie P. McClelland, Annapurna Theatre, Delman Whitney, Craig Balsam/Heni Koenigsberg/John Yonover, Fiery Angel/Seth A. Goldstein, Starry Night Entertainment, Gavin Kalin Produc-tions, Paul & Selina Burdell/Bill Damaschke, 42nd.club/Phil & Claire Kenny, CatWenJam Productions, Amanda Dubois, Glass Half Full Productions, Dede Harris/Linda B. Rubin, Kallish Weinstein Creative, Kors Le Pere Theatricals LLC, James L. Nederland-er, No Guarantees, Mark Pigott KBE, KStJ, Playing Field, Catherine Schreiber/Adam Zell, Tulchin Bartner Productions, Richard Winkler/Alan Shorr/Dawn Smalberg, The Shubert Organization, Independent Pre-senters Network, John Gore Organization, Sue Wagner, John Johnson, Jillian Robbins

The Minutes, Author: Tracy Letts; Produc-ers: Jeffrey Richards, Rebecca Gold, Carl Moellenberg, Spencer Ross, Louise Gund, Elizabeth Armstrong, Blakeman Entertain-ment, HornosBerger, Across the River Pro-ductions, Stewart F. Lane/Bonnie Comley/Leah Lane, Jayne Baron Sherman, Kathleen K. Johnson, Emily Dobbs, Robert Flicker, Jacob Soroken Porter, The Shubert Organi-zation, Steppenwolf Theatre Company

Skeleton Crew, Author: Dominique Moris-

seau; Producers: Manhattan Theatre Club, Lynne Meadow, Barry Grove

Best Revival of a Play American Buffalo, Producers: Jeffrey Rich-ards, Steve Traxler, Stephanie P. McClel-land, GFour Productions, Spencer Ross, Gemini Theatrical, Chris and Ashlee Clarke, Suna Said Maslin, Ted & Richard Liebowitz/Cue to Cue Productions, Patty Baker/Good Productions, Brad Blume, Caiola Produc-tions, Joanna Carson, Arthur Kern, Willette Klausner, Jeremiah J. Harris and Darren P. Deverna, Van Kaplan, Patrick Myles/David Luff, Alexander Marshall, Ambassador The-atre Group, Kathleen K. Johnson, Diego Ko-lankowsky, Steve and Jacob Levy, Morwin Schmookler, Brian Moreland, Jacob Soroken Porter, The Shubert Organization

for colored girls who have considered sui-cide/when the rainbow is enuf Producers: Nelle Nugent, Ron Simons, Kenneth Teaton, Ellen Ferguson and Viv-ian Phillips, Willette and Manny Klausner, Hunter Arnold, Dale Franzen, Valencia Yearwood, One Community, Audible, Dennis Grimaldi, Terry Nardozzi and Tracey Knight Narang, Grace Nordhoff/Mickalene Thom-as, Angelina Fiordellisi/Caiola Productions, The Public Theater, Oskar Eustis, Patrick Willingham, Mandy Hackett

How I Learned to Drive, Author: Paula Vogel; Producers: Manhattan Theatre Club, Lynne Meadow, Barry Grove, Daryl Roth, Cody Lassen, Vineyard Theatre

Take Me Out, Producers: Second Stage Theater, Carole Rothman, Khady Kamara

Trouble in Mind, Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Julia C. Levy, Sydney Beers, Steve Dow

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play Simon Russell Beale, The Lehman Trilogy Adam Godley, The Lehman Trilogy Adrian Lester, The Lehman Trilogy David Morse, How I Learned to Drive Sam Rockwell, American Buffalo Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Lackawanna Blues David Threlfall, Hangmen

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play Gabby Beans, The Skin of Our Teeth LaChanze, Trouble in Mind Ruth Negga, Macbeth

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Deirdre O’Connell, Dana H. Mary-Louise Parker, How I Learned to Drive

Best Performance by an Actor in a Fea-tured Role in a Play Alfie Allen, Hangmen Chuck Cooper, Trouble in Mind Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Take Me Out Ron Cephas Jones, Clyde’s Michael Oberholtzer, Take Me Out Jesse Williams, Take Me Out

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play Uzo Aduba, Clyde’s Rachel Dratch, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive Kenita R. Miller, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf Phylicia Rashad, Skeleton Crew Julie White, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive Kara Young, Clyde’s

Best Direction of a Play Lileana Blain-Cruz, The Skin of Our Teeth Camille A. Brown, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf Sam Mendes, The Lehman Trilogy Neil Pepe, American Buffalo Les Waters, Dana H.

Best Scenic Design of a Play Beowulf Boritt, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive Michael Carnahan and Nicholas Hussong, Skeleton Crew Es Devlin, The Lehman Trilogy Anna Fleischle, Hangmen Scott Pask, American Buffalo Adam Rigg, The Skin of Our Teeth

Best Costume Design of a Play Montana Levi Blanco, The Skin of Our Teeth Sarafina Bush, for colored girls who have con-sidered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf Emilio Sosa, Trouble in Mind Jane Greenwood, Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite Jennifer Moeller, Clyde’s

Best Lighting Design of a Play Joshua Carr, Hangmen Jiyoun Chang, for colored girls who have con-sidered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf Jon Clark, The Lehman Trilogy

Jane Cox, Macbeth Yi Zhao, The Skin of Our Teeth

Best Sound Design of a Play Justin Ellington, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf Mikhail Fiksel, Dana H. Palmer Hefferan, The Skin of Our Teeth Nick Powell and Dominic Bilkey, The Lehman Trilogy Mikaal Sulaiman, Macbeth

Money Man Is Using Music and Cryptocurrency To Bring His Fans TogetherBY NISHAT BAIG

While Money Man has been creating music for 10 years now, he’s been making wise investments. Growing up,

he knew he would follow one of two paths, either music or entrepreneurship, “I just knew I was gonna own a business if I didn’t make it in music,” Money Man recalls. To-day, Money Man is succeeding at both and educating his supporters on how to make similar intelligent choices.

Last month, Money Man released his newest visual EP, Whale Games. The title Whale Games highlights Money’s influence in the crypto space — while referencing the crypto term “whale,” an individual who holds a large enough amount of a cryptocur-rency to manipulate its value.

“I’m manipulating everything. I got peo-ple turning vegan because I rap about being vegan. I got people buying Bitcoin because I rap about Bitcoin. I picked this title because we’re about to start dictating life,” he tells Billboard. Money also gave NFT holders an exclusive airdrop of “Influential” ahead of its release, further cultivating his fanbase’s engagement with crypto-related activations.

Money Man’s astute knowledge in crypto was first highlighted when he bought him-

self out of his contract with Cash Money Records in 2019. Following his departure, Money Man’s career skyrocketed as he released music independently through his own label, Black Circle. In 2019, one year after becoming independent, Money Man entered the Billboard 200 album charts for the first time, charting at no. 36 with Paranoia. Four of his following six projects went on to chart, including Blockchain, his best performing album, at No. 13. Not only that, but Money Man also scored his first Billboard Hot 100 entry, hitting no. 49 with the “24” remix featuring Lil Baby.

Last November, Money Man made his-tory after receiving a $1 million advance in Bitcoin from EMPIRE. Both advocates of crypto and canny investing, Money Man and EMPIRE CEO Ghazi Shami agreed that this play would revolutionize how artists worldwide receive their earnings, and play a pivotal role in Empire’s expansion into blockchain integration.

“Money’s the driver. I’m just the GPS,” Shami tells Billboard. “He punches in the coordinates. I give him some shortcuts, try to keep him from crashing, [and] get him to his destination safely and in style. But ultimately, he’s the driver — and that’s why we have a good partnership, because I don’t infringe on his creativity. I let him do what he does best.”

Billboard caught up with Money Man via Zoom to discuss his new visual EP Whale Games, his advice for crypto users and more.

What prompted you to take music seri-ously as a career path? Was there a defining moment?

I stopped doing music and I started put-ting in work. [I] started hustling and making money. Once I got the money, that’s what made me take the music seriously — be-cause I started spending money on it. I can’t let this money go to waste. If I’m putting thousands or hundreds of thousands into my music, I don’t want to just blow the money. I actually have to put work in to make sure that money counts and accounts for making itself back times three, four.

How has your experience been working with EMPIRE?

EMPIRE is a partnership, so once you prepare everything, they pretty much take

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it to the next level. You take it from one to six to seven and they can take it from seven to 10, and that’s the icing on the cake. They do develop artists, but I was already developed when I came to Empire. I was already streaming high. They just took it and elevated it to a more massive level. Like I might have had 500,000 monthly Spotify subscribers. They took it to four million, five million per month, so it was more like a collaborative effort between us to take it to the moon.

Empire CEO Ghazi Shami executive pro-duced your last album, Blockchain. Can you talk about working collaboratively together and the partnership you two have?

Yeah, Ghazi has an ear for music. A lot of CEOs don’t have an ear for music, but Ghazi does, because he has a music background — so you can trust his opinion, because he’s deep in the culture. He knows a lot of what he’s talking about in music. What he’s really good at is plugging in features and produc-tion and placements. It’s just dope working with somebody who has a different perspec-tive because me, I’ll be like, “I don’t want nobody on here” and he’ll be like, “Nah, you gotta expand your mind and put this person on here, then we can make this collabora-tion.” It’s just dope working with somebody like that.

How has your label Black Circle grown and evolved over the years?

It started off in the streets and we just made it into a record label. Me and my little brother, and then we’ve got a lot of artists under us that we’re getting ready to come out and partner with Empire on.

Can you talk about your role on the busi-ness side of the label overseeing other art-ists? What do you look for in an artist?

I just wanna show you how to do the business and get you educated on the busi-ness that way you don’t get played. I pretty much lead by example. I like warriors who can fend for themselves. A lot of artists act like kids. I like artists who can record themselves. I record myself; I don’t really need an engineer to record me, just to mix the music. I want my artists to be the same way: be able to record themselves, be able to market themselves to a certain extent. I look for artists where you can listen to 30 of their

songs and not get tired because it’s pleasur-able to the ears. Some artists burn you out. They have to make a lot of good music that you don’t get tired of.

You just dropped your Whale Games vi-sual EP. Can you talk about the significance behind the title?

It was just a strategic title to name it, because we’ve been doing it anyway. I’ll talk about Bitcoin, then you’ll start hear-ing other rappers say, “I’m only accepting shows in Bitcoin,” or “I’m only accepting shows in ETH.” I’ll say, “I’m going plant-based this year,” then you’ll see a bunch of artists saying the same thing. So it’s really just manipulating a market. We got that type of influence to where every time I drop, it’s going to manipulate the market.

What do you plan to do with this type of influence?

It’s just good to have that type of influ-ence, because you can get with like-minded people and y’all can move the market for one common goal. I don’t sell any crypto services. I have a Telegram that’s dedi-cated to just educating people on crypto. I want to get with likeminded people to put money towards one goal and everybody make more money off it. Like how they did AMC. A bunch of people came together, and they were able to move the market and a large percentage of people made hundreds of thousands to millions just by coming together and being able to manipulate. The higher ups manipulate the market anyways. They make their millions off manipulating the market. Crypto whales manipulate the market, they send the price down and they send it up — so why can’t the regular people have that type of power to do that?

In addition to your visual EP Whale Games, you also dropped two new videos for “Petty Money” & “Trading Places” a few days prior. Can you talk about what it was like dropping seven music videos in seven days?

It was just a lot of work. Basically like, wake up, and then I might go work out, then I gotta shoot a video ,and the video take all day. Then I might try and record, then go back to sleep. My day was just staying busy and occupied. It was no downtime. By the time you finish with everything, you’re

going straight to sleep — you don’t even got time to check your Instagram like that.

What advice can you give to those who want to be more financially literate and are new to the crypto space?

Find a successful known trader like Nancy Pelosi’s husband and go to their public pro-file to copy their trades at a smaller amount of what you can afford. Take advice from somebody who’s already doing it and al-ready successful. Read everything you come across. One thing people say is ‘you gotta have seven sources of income to become a millionaire.’ That’s kind of a false statement because the Jack of all trades is a master of none.

You look at some of the biggest people, but they have one thing that they master and then everything else comes along. Like Jordan, Jordan played basketball and Nike came because of basketball. If he was working on the shoe while he was play-ing basketball, he would’ve never been the greatest basketball player. LeBron James, the same thing, Tom Brady, the same thing. That’s just athletes, but then you still got Bill Gates with his company. Steve Jobs, the same thing.

So you need to master one thing first, in my opinion. I’m not saying this is all the way fact, but you master one first and then the other sources of income come off that one thing that you master. Some people are content with average. Some people want more, but if you want more, then you gotta do more. It’s like — you could be an average basketball player or you could be a super-star, and superstars work harder than aver-age basketball players.

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Warner Music Group’s HBCU Immersion Program Slates Next Application WindowBY GAIL MITCHELL

Warner Music Group will begin accepting new appli-cations for its next HBCU Immersion Program in

January 2023. Presented in collaboration with Culture Creators to prepare students for careers in the music industry, the program concluded its inaugural run last month.

“As a proud HBCU alum, I am thrilled about the creation of WMG’s HBCU Immer-sion Program,” said Dr. Maurice Stinnett, WMG’s global head of diversity, equity and inclusion in a statement. “HBCU’s are full of talent, brilliance, and creativity — ev-erything we need in the next generation of leaders in the music industry. I’m so proud to offer this training opportunity in partner-ship with Culture Creators, which I know will further strengthen the leadership, skills and innovation of these amazing students.”

The program’s first six-week session brought together 32 students accepted from more than 150 applications. Its compre-hensive introduction to the music industry revolves around five state-of-the-art mod-ules that comprise the Culture Creators-designed curriculum: A&R, marketing, data science, business development and adminis-tration & licensing. The weekly, live virtual sessions also include interactive learning activities and guest speaker panels.

Upon successful completion of the pro-gram, students have the opportunity to ap-ply for a paid position within Warner Music Group’s Summer Emerging Talent Associate Program. This hands-on experience extends across Atlantic Records, Warner Records,

Warner Music Nashville, Rhino, Warner Chappell and WMX. Housing subsidies are also provided to support relocation to one of these internship locations: New York City, Los Angeles or Nashville.

Atlantic Records president Kevin Weaver stated, “It’s an honor to be able to support the growth of programs within our indus-try that create hands-on learning and give access to real-life opportunities. Through the program we also get to know these young adults personally, giving Warner Music Group the ability to tap into the next generation of future leaders at the ground floor. From here the potential opportunities are truly endless for all. The program is de-signed and run in close partnership between talent acquisition, DEI and business units; a special thank-you to [WMG manager, student programs] Vanessa Joseph and the teams that put this together.“

Those applying to the WMG HBCU Im-mersion Program in 2023 must be a college junior, senior or graduate student currently enrolled in an accredited HBCU. They must also commit to three hours per week during the six-week program. For more informa-tion, visit www.wmg.com/hbcuimmer-sionprogram.

“The key to creating an equitable environ-ment for students of color to learn, grow and rise in the music business relies on execu-tives’ and companies’ willingness to give them access and support,” added Joi Brown, founder of Culture Creators and head of strategic partnerships at ICM Partners. “The WMG Immersion program provides access, leadership, education and mentor-ship, not to mention opportunity, to intern across all business units. We’re proud to have been co-conspirators in the program and look forward to our next cohort of stu-dents to run through the program.”

Childish Gambino Lands First No. 1 on Top Album Sales Chart With ‘Kauai’ Vinyl DebutBY KEITH CAULFIELD

Record Store Day 2022’s finger-prints are all over Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated May 7), as six of the top 10 have sales

owed to a special release for the annual indie retailer holiday.

Leading the pack at No. 1 is Childish Gambino’s Kauai EP, which reenters atop the list with 17,000 sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 28, according to Lumi-nate. It’s his first No. 1 on the chart, and third top 10.

Kauai was originally released in 2014 as digital download at retail, and charted for five weeks that year. It was issued on vinyl for the first time for Record Store Day (April 23) and nearly all of the album’s sales in the week ending April 28 were from its vi-nyl LP. Kauai was pressed on three surprise color vinyl variants randomly distributed globally.

Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Bonnie Raitt’s new studio album Just Like That… bows at No. 2 on Top Album Sales with 14,000 copies sold. It’s her

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highest-charting effort on the tally since Longing In Their Hearts hit No. 1 in 1994. Jason Aldean’s Georgia – the second of his two-part album project, following last year’s Macon – starts at No. 3 with 13,000 sold.

Red Hot Chili Peppers’ former No. 1 Unlimited Love is a non-mover at No. 4 with 13,000 sold (up 42%). The album is in its fourth week on the list, but garnered a new silver-colored vinyl release for Record Store Day, which fueled its sales increase.

Stevie Nicks’ Bella Donna debuts at No. 5 with 12,000 sold (up 6,984%) – nearly all from vinyl sales of its new Record Store Day pressing. The classic album, which was re-leased in 1981 and hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200, was reissued exclusively for Record Store Day retailers as a double-vinyl set with outtakes, b-sides and demo recordings added as bonus material.

Kirk Hammett’s solo debut effort, Portals, starts at No. 6 with a little over 11,000 sold. The four-track instrumentals EP from the Metallica guitarist saw most of its sales come from two editions released initially through participating Record Store Day retailers: an ocean blue-colored vinyl record and a standard CD.

Wallows’ Record Store Day-exclusive Wallows Singles Collection 2017-2020 enters at No. 7 with 10,000 sold. The compilation was pressed on sky blue-colored vinyl.

Anne Wilson’s My Jesus debuts at No. 8 with just over 9,000 sold, while Jack White’s former leader Fear of the Dawn falls 3-9 with 9,000 (down 21%).

The Cure’s Pornography debuts at No. 10 (9,000; up from essentially no sales in the week previous) thanks to sales generated by its Record Store Day-exclusive picture disc vinyl pressing. Pornography was originally released in 1982, but this week marks its de-but on any U.S. Billboard chart. It also bows on The Billboard 200, Top Rock Albums, Top Alternative Albums, Catalog Albums, Vinyl Albums and Tastemaker Albums.

In the week ending April 28, there were 2.342 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 34.2% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.941 million (up 42%) and digital albums comprised 384,000 (up 4.9%).

There were 615,000 CD albums sold in the week ending April 28 (up 1.9% week-over-week) and 1.316 million vinyl albums sold (up 74.8%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 10.702 million (down 12.3% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 12.667 million (up 4%).

Overall year-to-date album sales total 30.395 million (down 8% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 23.536 million (down 4.1%) and digital album sales total 6.869 million (down 19.3%).

Mickey Gilley, Country Star Who Helped Inspire ‘Urban Cowboy,’ Dies at 86BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Country star Mickey Gilley, whose namesake Texas honky-tonk inspired the 1980 film Urban Cowboy and a nationwide wave of

Western-themed nightspots, has died. He was 86.

Gilley died Saturday (May 7) in Branson, Missouri, where he helped run the Mickey Gilley Grand Shanghai Theatre. He had been performing as recently as last month, but was in failing health over the past week.

“He passed peacefully with his family and close friends by his side,” according to a statement from Mickey Gilley Associates.

Gilley — cousin of rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis — opened Gilley’s, “the world’s largest honky tonk,” in Pasadena, Texas, in the early 1970s. By mid-decade, he was a successful club owner and had enjoyed his first commercial success with “Room Full of Roses.” He began turning out country hits regularly, including “Window Up Above,” “She’s Pulling Me Back Again” and the honky-tonk anthem “Don’t the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time.”

Overall, he had 39 Top 10 country hits and 17 No. 1 songs. He received six Academy of Country Music Awards, and also worked on occasion as an actor, with appearances on Murder She Wrote, The Fall Guy, Fantasy Island and The Dukes of Hazzard.

“If I had one wish in life, I would wish for more time,” Gilley told The Associated Press in March 2001 as he celebrated his 65th birthday. Not that he’d do anything differ-ently, the singer said.

“I am doing exactly what I want to do. I play golf, fly my airplane and perform at my theater in Branson, Missouri,” he said. “I love doing my show for the people.”

Meanwhile, the giant nightspot’s attrac-tions, including its famed mechanical bull, led to the 1980 film Urban Cowboy, star-ring John Travolta and Debra Winger and regarded by many as a countrified version of Travolta’s 1977 disco smash, Saturday Night Fever. The film inspired by Gilley’s club was based on an Esquire article by Aaron Latham about the relationship between two regulars at the club.

“I thank John Travolta every night before bed for keeping my career alive,” Gilley told The AP in 2002. “It’s impossible to tell you how grateful I am for my involvement with Urban Cowboy. That film had a huge impact on my career, and still does.”

The soundtrack included such hits as Johnny Lee’s “Lookin’ for Love,” Boz Scaggs’ “Look What You’ve Done for Me” and Gilley’s “Stand by Me.” The movie turned the Pasadena club into an overnight tourist draw and popularized pearl snap shirts, longneck beers, the steel guitar and mechanical bulls across the country.

But the club shut down in 1989 after Gilley and his business partner Sherwood Cryer feuded over how to run the place. A fire destroyed it soon after.

An upscale version of the old Gilley’s nightclub opened in Dallas in 2003. In re-cent years, Gilley moved to Branson.

He was married three times, most re-cently to Cindy Loeb Gilley. He had four children, three with his first wife, Geraldine Garrett, and one with his second, Vivian McDonald.

A Natchez, Mississippi, native, Gilley grew up poor, learning boogie-woogie piano

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in Ferriday, Louisiana, alongside Lewis and fellow cousin Jimmy Swaggart, the future evangelist. Like Lewis, he would sneak into the windows of Louisiana clubs to listen to rhythm and blues. He moved to Houston to work construction but played the local club scene at night and recorded and toured for years before catching on in the ’70s.

Gilley had suffered health problems in recent years. He underwent brain surgery in August 2008 after specialists diagnosed hydrocephalus, a condition characterized by an increase in fluid in the cranium. Gilley had been suffering from short-term memory loss, and credited the surgery with halting the onset of dementia.

He underwent more surgery in 2009 after he fell off a step, forcing him to cancel scheduled performances in Branson. In 2018, he sustained a fractured ankle and fractured right shoulder in an automobile accident.

Travis Scott Returns to the Stage in Miami Following Astroworld TragedyBY MITCHELL PETERS

Travis Scott has given his first per-formance at a public venue since the 2021 Astroworld festival that left 10 people dead.

The 31-year-old rapper took the stage at Miami nightclub E11even at around 3:30 a.m. on Sunday morning (May 8) for a 45-minute set that included hits like “High-est in the Room,” “Pick Up the Phone,” “Goosebumps” and “Sicko Mode.”

During the high-energy appearance, Scott reportedly clutched a bottle of Don Julio 1942 while throwing a wad of bills into the sold-out audience and encouraging patrons to take shots.

“Everybody owes me a shot,” the rapper

told the crowd, according to Page Six. “We need every stripper to report to the f—ing stage right now. We need every bottle re-ported to this motherf—in floor.”

Later in the show, Scott was joined by Quavo for a performance of “Dubai S—.” The event was part of the club’s Miami Grand Prix weekend celebration. Other music celebrities in attendance included Future, Tyga, Zedd, will.i.am and Busta Rhymes, TMZ reports.

Following Astroworld, Scott has played private events and after-parties during the Oscars and Coachella. But Sunday’s show marked his first time performing for a public audience.

In late April, Spanish concert promoter Primavera Sound announced that Scott would perform at three of its upcoming festivals: Primavera Sound Sao Paolo (Nov. 6), Primavera Sound Buenos Aires (Nov. 12), and Primavera Sound Santiago de Chile (Nov. 13).

The upcoming festival performances mark Scott’s return to the stage after cancel-ing his appearances at Day N Vegas and Coachella following the Astroworld tragedy, which is still under investigation by Hous-ton Police and the FBI.

Dennis Waterman, ‘The Sweeney’ Actor and ‘I Could Be So Good For You’ Singer, Dies at 74BY TRILBY BERESFORD

Dennis Waterman, a stage and screen actor best known for The Sweeney and Minder, has died. He was 74.

The actor’s manager Derek Webster told The Hollywood Reporter that Waterman’s wife Pam called with news of his death on Sunday, noting that Waterman died at a hos-

pital in Spain. A cause was not given.The actor was born in 1948 in Clapham,

London, and educated at the Corona Theatre School. He began his screen career as a child in 1960 in the drama Night Train for Inverness. In 1962 at the age of 14, Waterman took the role of William Brown in the BBC TV series William, which was based on the Just William books by Richmal Crompton.

He followed this up with recurring roles in CBS comedy Fair Exchange and family series The Barnstormers, and films such as Peter Collinson’s Up the Junction and Piers Haggard’s Wedding Night.

In 1974, Waterman began playing the character of Deputy Sergeant George Carter in Ian Kennedy Martin’s action crime series The Sweeney. He later took the role of former boxer and bodyguard Terry McCann in Leon Griffiths’ Minder, and, also sung its theme song “I Could Be So Good For You,” which reached No. 3 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart in 1980.

Three years later, he teamed up with the late George Cole for “What Are We Gonna Get ‘Er Indoors,” a novelty song based on their characters in Minder. The single peaked at No. 21 in the U.K.

Subsequent screen credits include BBC1 comedy series On the Up and Stay Lucky and The Knock for ITV. More recently, Water-man starred as Gerry Standing in Nigel Mc-Crery and Roy Mitchell’s police procedural New Tricks.

Waterman released three albums during his career, including Downwind of Angels in 1976 and So Good For You in 1980.

Waterman’s last credit was in Mark Lam-prell’s Australian dramedy Never Too Late, about a group of seniors who plan to break out of their retirement home. The movie also starred Jacki Weaver, Shane Jacobsen and James Cromwell.

The actor is survived by his wife Pam and children Hannah, who is an actress; and Julia Waterman.

This article originally appeared in THR.com.

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Harry Styles Extends U.K. Chart Streak With ‘As It Was’BY LARS BRANDLE

Harry Styles is still the king of the U.K. singles chart with “As It Was” (Columbia).

The former One Direction singer chalks up a fifth consecutive week atop of the Official U.K. Chart, edging clos-er to the seven-week run of Encanto’s “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” which remains the longest reign for 2022.

Styles’ hit, the first single lifting from this forthcoming third studio album, Harry’s House, accumulates 7 million streams dur-ing the latest chart cycle, the OCC reports.

It’s shaping as a huge year for Styles. Harry’s House is due out May 20, he co-stars in the Olivia Wilde-helmed feature film Don’t Worry, Darling, and he’s kicks off his Love On Tour dates later this month. That trek has expanded to include a “One Night Only” date at London’s Brixton Academy, on May 24.

The top new release on the latest chart belongs to Future, whose “Wait for U” (Epic/Freebandz) Drake and Tems blasts to No. 8, for the Atlanta rapper’s second U.K. Top 10 single.

Lizzo has a fifth U.K. Top 40 thank to the fuel-injected chart performance for “About Damn Time” (Atlantic). The disco-chan-neling tune catches fire on the tally, lifting 67-15.

Finally, Benson Boone, the 20-year-old American Idol alum, cracks the U.K. chart for the first time with “In the Stars” (War-ner Records), new at No. 21, while Diplo and Miguel impact the Top 40 at the first attempt with their collaboration, “Don’t Forget My Love” (Parlophone). It’s new at No. 39.

Lil Nas X Wins Outstanding Music Artist at 2022 GLAAD Media Awards (Full Winners List)BY PAUL GREIN

Lil Nas X won outstanding music artist at the second half of the 2022 GLAAD Media Awards, which were held at the Hilton Midtown

in New York on Friday, May 6. The first half of the awards were held at the Beverly Hil-ton in Los Angeles on Saturday, April 2.

This is the second time in three years that Lil Nas X has won as outstanding music artist. He also took the award in 2020. Sam Smith won last year. Lil Nas X is the eighth repeat winner for outstanding music artist in the show’s history. Melissa Etheridge, Rufus Wainwright, k.d. lang and Scissor Sis-ters have each won the award three times. Indigo Girls, Lady Gaga and Tegan and Sara have also each won it twice.

The “Elliot Page” episode of The Oprah Conversation won outstanding variety or talk show episode. In the episode, Winfrey talked with the former Ellen Page, the Oscar-nomi-nated star of the 2007 film Juno, who publicly came out as transgender in December 2020. In a high-profile moment for a transgender star, Page joined her Juno co-stars Jenni-fer Garner and J.K. Simmons to present an award on this year’s Oscars in March.

Company and Thoughts of a Colored Man tied as outstanding Broadway production. Company, starring Katrina Lenk in a gender-switched revival of Stephen Sondheim’s prized 1970 musical, is seen as this year’s front-runner to win a Tony Award for best revival of a musical. Thoughts of a Colored Man is expected to receive a nomination for best play. (The Tony nominations will be announced on Monday May 9).

Transgender recording artist and actress

Peppermint co-hosted the GLAAD Media Awards with celebrity Peloton instructor Cody Rigbsy.

Dove Cameron performed her hit single “Boyfriend,” which climbs to No. 31 on this week’s Billboard Hot 100. Michael R. Jack-son performed excerpts from his Pulitzer-Prize winning Broadway musical A Strange Loop, which is seen as the front-runner to win this year’s Tony Award for best musical.

Judith Light received GLAAD’s excel-lence in media award from recent Oscar winner and upcoming Tony Awards host Ariana DeBose. Wilson Cruz received the Vito Russo Award.

During the ceremony, GLAAD an-nounced award recipients for several categories live onstage. They included Pose (outstanding drama series); the Today show segment “HIV/AIDS: 40 Years Later” (out-standing TV journalism segment); Power Rangers (outstanding kids & family pro-gramming); and Sesame Street (outstanding children’s programming).

“This year’s GLAAD Media Awards come at a time where LGBTQ visibility and story-telling can be the frontline response to a dan-gerous rise in anti-LGBTQ legislation around the country,” Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, said in a statement. “Our nominees and award recipients…showcase the beautiful diversity of LGBTQ people.”

Ellis, Rich Ferraro, and Anthony Allen Ramos were executive producers of the GLAAD Media Awards. Crystal Butler, Melissa Harris, John McCourt, Johanna Osburn, Matthew Zaccagni were producers. Juana Guichardo and Jose Useche were as-sociate producers and Wendy Shanker was head writer.

Nominees for the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards were published, released, or broadcast in calendar year 2021. For a full list of nominees, click here. For more infor-mation, visit www.glaad.org.

Here’s a full list of all award recipients from the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York and Los Angeles:

Outstanding Music Artist: Lil Nas X, Montero (Columbia Records)

Outstanding Breakthrough Music Artist: Lily Rose, Stronger Than I Am (Big Loud Records/Back Blocks Music/Republic

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Records)Outstanding Broadway Production

(tie): Company and Thoughts of a Colored Man

Outstanding Film – Wide Release: Eter-nals (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

Outstanding Film – Limited Release: Parallel Mothers (Sony Pictures Classics)

Outstanding Drama Series: Pose (FX)Outstanding Comedy Series: Saved by

the Bell (Peacock)Outstanding Reality Program (tie):

RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1) and We’re Here (HBO)

Outstanding New TV Series: Hacks (HBO Max)

Outstanding Documentary: Changing the Game (Hulu)

Outstanding TV Movie: Single All the Way (Netflix)

Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series: It’s A Sin (HBO MAX)

Outstanding Children’s Programming: “Family Day” Sesame Street (HBO Max)

Outstanding Kids & Family Program-ming: Power Rangers: Dino Fury (Nickel-odeon/Netflix)

Outstanding Video Game: Life is Strange: True Colors (Deck Nine Games/Square Enix)

Outstanding Comic Book: Crush & Lobo (DC Comics)

Outstanding Original Graphic Novel/Anthology: Cheer Up! Love and Pompoms (Oni Press)

Outstanding Magazine Overall Cover-age: The Advocate

Outstanding Variety or Talk Show Epi-sode: “Elliot Page” The Oprah Conversation (Apple TV+)

Outstanding TV Journalism Segment: “HIV/AIDS: 40 Years Later” Today (NBC)

Outstanding TV Journalism – Long-Form: “Pride of The White House” (MS-NBC)

Outstanding Print Article: “Lawmakers Can’t Cite Local Examples of Trans Girls in Sports” by David Crary & Lindsay Whitehu-rst (The Associated Press)

Outstanding Online Journalism Ar-ticle: “‘No Time for Intolerance:’ Dr. Rachel Levine Has A Job To Do” by Dawn Ennis (Forbes.com)

Outstanding Online Journalism – Video or Multimedia: “Transnational” [series] by Eva Reign, Alyza Enriquez, Freddy McConnell, Vivek Kemp, Courtney Brooks, Sarah Burke, Hendrik Hinzel, Alyza Enriquez, Dan Ming, Trey Strange, and Daisy Wardell (VICE News)

Outstanding Blog: Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents

Outstanding Spanish-Language Script-ed Television Series: Maricón Perdido (HBO Max)

Outstanding Spanish-Language TV Journalism: “Orgullo LGBTQ: 52 Años de Lucha y Evolución” (Telemundo 47)

Outstanding Spanish-Language Online Journalism Article (tie): “Claudia: La En-fermera Trans que Lucha Contra el Covid en Ciudad Juárez” por Louisa Reynolds (Nexos.com) and “Somos Invisibles”: La Discrimi-nación y los Riesgos se Multiplican para los Indígenas LGBTQ+” por Albinson Linares (Telemundo.com)

Outstanding Spanish-Language Online Journalism – Video or Multimedia: “Expulsados México: Cómo la Comunidad Transgénero se Unió para Ayudar a los Migrantes” por Patricia Clarembaux, Anna Clare Spelman, y Celemente Sánchez (Uni-vision Noticias)

Special Recognition: All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson [filmed reading + performance]

Special Recognition: “Alok Vaid-Menon” 4D with Demi Lovato (Cadence13/OBB Sound/SB Projects)

Special Recognition: CODED: The Hid-den Love of J.C. Leyendecker (Paramount+)

Special Recognition: Jeopardy! cham-pion Amy Schneider

Special Recognition: The Laverne Cox Show (Shondaland Audio/iHeartMedia)

Special Recognition: Life Out Loud with LZ Granderson (ABC News)

Special Recognition: Outsports’ Cov-erage of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics

Special Recognition (Spanish-Lan-guage): “Celebrando el Mes del Orgullo” (Telemundo)

Taylor Swift Eyes Top New Debut on U.K. Chart With ‘This Love (Taylor’s Version)’BY LARS BRANDLE

The U.K. chart is set to remain Harry’s house for another week, at the very least, though Lizzo and Taylor Swift are mounting a

challenge.Lizzo’s disco-leaning “About Damn Time”

is flying on the First Look chart, which ranks singles based on sales and stream-ing activity in the first 48 hour of the chart week. The U.S. singer’s latest track is set to climb 11-4, for a new peak.

Following the release of his new studio LP Come Home The Kids Miss You, Jack Harlow could land two new entries on the weekly chart, with “Churchill Downs” featuring Drake (at No. 17) and “Dua Lipa” (No. 24) based on early activity.

Taylor Swift could nab the week’s highest new entry with her latest catalog rere-cording, “This Love (Taylor’s Version),” currently at No. 12. “This Love” originally appeared on Swift’s 2014 album 1989. To date, the superstar singer and songwriter has released rerecorded versions of Fearless and Red, though it’s unclear which of her four remaining remaining albums are next in line.

At the top of the chart blast is Harry Styles’ “As It Was,” which is on track to lock down a sixth consecutive crown. “As It Was” is the first song lifted from Styles’ third stu-dio LP, Harry’s House, due to open its doors May 20.

The Official U.K. Singles Chart is pre-sented late Friday.

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T-Pain Announces Tidal Partnership & New Dial-In Tips Hotline That Gives Aspiring Artists ‘Everything You Want to Know’BY DARLENE ADEROJU

T-Pain is back with an all-new song, plus an exciting partnership with Tidal aimed at helping the next generation of artists.

In his upbeat party jam “That’s Just Tips,” which dropped April 29 via his Nappy Boy Entertainment label and Empire, the Tallahassee native details a “crazy weekend” he spent in Florida. The Nappy Boy Radio With T-Pain host premiered the single with a performance on The Late Late Show with James Corden on Tuesday (May 3).

As part of his newly announced partner-ship with Tidal, T-Pain will launch a tips hotline, through which fans and rising art-ists can call 833-4-TIPSONTIDAL to receive industry advice directly from the two-time Grammy-winner beginning May 12.

Chatting with Billboard about his new partnership, T-Pain says that what sparked his interest in teaming with the streaming service was that “Tidal cares more about the artists on their platform. It’s a well-thought-out operation and the people that run it are accommodating. They know their job is artist-driven and we’re the backbone of each other in the industry.”

For his tips hotline, T-Pain says his per-sonal experience on “both sides of the spec-trum” — from becoming an international, Billboard chart-topping success to endur-ing public career missteps — will benefit upcoming stars.

“We’re creating a hotline and we’re going to make sure that everybody has transparen-cy and knows everything you want to know

and need as an aspiring artist,” the “Buy U a Drank” star explains. “Those things will be super accessible.”

He continues: “I really want this to be something that people can learn from and not feel like they’re getting talked to, but like they’re getting the information they need. They’re getting their questions answered, and they’re not getting statements thrown at them out of nowhere.”

Ahead of the hotline’s May 12 launch, T-Pain reveals the one tip he wishes he knew before launching his career: “Not everybody is your friend. All these people that call themselves your brother, sister and all that. Once they use you up, that’s it.”

But he adds, “The trick to that is to remain who you are. Don’t let those people turn you into one of those people. Don’t approach every situation as if the people are going to do that. Just be ready for it and don’t be surprised if it does happen… At the bottom line of things, don’t let bad people turn you into a bad person.”

The global hitmaker and CEO of Nappy Boy Entertainment shares one more tip which he learned through the years: “Watch everything. People are gonna have jobs they say they’ll do well, and that you won’t have to worry about it. They’ll say, ‘All we want you to do is make music.’ You don’t have to worry about that…’ Yes, you f—ing do!”

He jokes, “Everybody that has ever said that to me is now not a part of my opera-tion — because I absolutely needed to worry about ‘that.’”

Following the release of his new single “That’s Just Tips,” T-Pain — who has been forging ahead without a manager — says more new music is on the way, along with the expansion of Nappy Boy Enterprises: “We’re doing Nappy Boy Drifting, Nappy Boy Gaming, Nappy Boy Films and Nappy Boy Radio Podcasts. We’re bringing all of my businesses together, and I’m starting these firms that are a conglomerate of Nappy Boy Enterprises.”

Watch the official video for T-Pain’s “That’s Just Tips” below:

Blossoms Blast to No. 1 In U.K. With ‘Ribbon Around the Bomb’BY LARS BRANDLE

Blossoms make it three in a row as Ribbon Around the Bomb (via EMI) explodes at No. 1 in the U.K.

With Ribbon, the English indie outfit — Tom Ogden, Charlie Salt, Josh Dewhurst, Joe Donovan and Myles Kellock — have the best-selling album on physical formats in the U.K. his week, accounting for 90% of its chart sales, the OCC reports.

Blossoms also ruled the weekly survey with their eponymously-titled set from 2016 and Foolish Loving Spaces from 2020.

Coming in new at No. 2 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart is Future’s I Never Liked You (Epic/Freebandz). It’s the Atlanta rapper’s highest chart performance to date, and his third U.K. Top 10 after 2015’s Drake collaboration What a Time to Be Alive (No. 6) and 2020’s High Off Life (No. 5).

Another veteran act enjoys a strong start this week is Rammstein, whose eighth ef-fort Zeit (Spinefarm) completes an all-new Top 3. It’s the German industrial legends’ second Top 10 appearance, equaling the No. 3 for 2019’s Rammstein.

Rounding out the Top 5 is Thunder, whose fourteenth studio LP Dopamine (BMG) becomes the British rock vets’ twelfth U.K. Top 40 appearance, while indie rockers Bloc Party return to the top tier with their first release in six years, Alpha Games (BMG). It’s new at No. 7.

Following its release on vinyl, The Weeknd’s leader Dawn FM (Republic Records/XO) blasts 42-33. Dawn FM is the biggest album of the year in the U.K., the OCC reports, logging 17 weeks on the survey since its release late January, including one stint at the summit.

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Camila Cabello to Headline 2022 UEFA Champions League Opening Ceremony in ParisBY GIL KAUFMAN

Camila Cabello is slated to head-line the Opening Ceremony of the 2022 EUFA Champions League final. The singer announced the

news with a colorful video in which she sings her 2017 smash “Havana” in a color-ful, blossoming AI universe. In it, she struts across a stage before spinning around as her blue dress transforms into a flowing pink gown, and she transitions into her recent single “Bam Bam” as a virtual version of the champion’s cup floats high above her.

“I’m excited to announce that I’ll be per-forming at the UEFA @championsleague Final Opening Ceremony presented by @pepsiglobal #PepsiShow. I’ve got lots of surprises in store for you,” Cabello wrote in a message to fans. The showdown between Liverpool and Real Madrid will take place at Stade de France on May 28.

Marshmello headlined last year’s opening ceremony with a mind-bending six-minute virtual performance that was two years in the making.

On May 5, Cabello was honored at Vari-ety’s Power of Women event for her work with the Movement Voter Fund to launch the Healing Justice Project, and used her time on the floor to discuss the Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion that experts suspect could lead to an overturning of the seminal 1973 Roe v. Wade case that has guar-anteed women the right to an abortion.

“It’s atrocious,” the 25-year-old singer said during her speech in which she also encouraged people to get involved by voting on the local level and donating to relevant causes. “Obviously it’s going to affect poor women the most, because women that have resources — even like me — will be able to

handle things if if they’re needed. The idea of having one moment transform the course of a woman’s life is tragic. And it’s tragic [that] the people affected are not having a say.”

Watch the preview below.

Dolly Parton Partners With Taco Bell for ‘Mexican Pizza: The Musical’BY GLENN ROWLEY

Mexican pizza enthusiasts, prepare to live más. Not only is Taco Bell officially bringing the long-lost item back to its

menu, the fast food chain is writing an en-tire musical about it with none other than Dolly Parton!

Taco Bell shared the news on its official Instagram feed on Monday (May 9), posting a photo of the mock playbill with the caption, “The ultimate encore. #MexicanPizzaTh-eMusical premiering live on TikTok 5/26.”

At the very same time, the country legend confirmed her involvement by showing off the top-secret script for the TikTok musical in her own post. “I’m making #MexicanPiz-zaTheMusical with @TacoBell #tacobell-partner,” she wrote, while the spicy libretto promises, “Based on the true story of the internet losing its mind” on its front cover.

The Mexican pizza’s grand return first made headlines during Weekend 1 of Coachella, when Doja Cat made the sur-prise announcement during her set while previewing a snippet of an unreleased song possibly titled “F—-d Up.” “I brought back the Mexican Pizza, by the way!” she shouted as the massive crowd of festival-goers broke out into cheers.

Mexican Pizza: The Musical isn’t the only project Parton has in the works these days, either. She’s also set to star in and produce a big screen adaptation of Run, Rose, Run, the 2022 novel she co-wrote with James

Patterson.Last week, the icon opened up exclu-

sively to Billboard about her forthcoming induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2022 despite initially turning down the nomination. “I never meant to cause trouble or stir up any controversy,” she said. “It was just always my belief — and I think millions of other people out there too — always thought the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was just set up for the greatest people in the rock ‘n’ roll business, and I just didn’t feel like I really measured up to that and I don’t want to take anything away from the people that have worked so hard.”

Mexican Pizza: The Musical premieres on TikTok on May 26. Check out Taco Bell and Parton’s announcements delicious an-nouncements below.

Jazz Fest: Willie Nelson Cancels Set Due to COVID-19 Case in Band, Zac Brown Band Steps InBY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Zac Brown Band will replace country legend Willie Nelson on the closing day of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

Nelson canceled his Sunday (May 8) performance and postponed other shows after a positive case of the coronavirus in his band. The 89-year-old musician was slated to close the Gentilly Stage — the same stage where his son, Lukas Nelson, is performing earlier in the day with his band the Promise of the Real.

The Zac Brown Band is a country band from Atlanta that’s best known for hits like “Chicken Fried,” “Highway 20 Ride,” “Knee Deep” and “Goodbye in Her Eyes.”

Melissa Etheridge also canceled her scheduled performance after members

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of her crew tested positive for COVID-19. Mavis Staples has been tapped to replace Etheridge in the Blues Tent on Saturday.

“Oh my heart hurts not to be there. Mavis will be amazing, I know. I am hoping I can be asked back again. Dave and crew are healing. Thank you for all the well wishes. COVID heartbreak,” tweeted Etheridge after news that Staples would appear on Saturday was announced.

The seven-day festival draws tens of thousands to the city’s Fair Grounds Race Course, where as many as 80 musical acts perform daily on more than a dozen stages, complemented by arts and crafts exhibits and an array of booths featuring foods from Louisiana and beyond. While it attracts na-tional and international talent such as Nel-son and Etheridge, the festival is also known for showcasing the wide gamut of musical talent and genres found in Louisiana such as zydeco, gospel, blues and of course, jazz.

Camila Cabello Launches ‘Protect Our Kids’ Fund to Fight Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ BillBY GIL KAUFMAN

Camila Cabello spent Mother’s Day (May 8) hosting a benefit concert to support the emergency “Protect Our Kids” fund. The

singer has teamed with Lambda Legal and Equality Florida to help protect LGBTQ+ students and their families from Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” bill, which bars public school teachers in Ca-bello’s home state from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergar-ten through 3rd grade.

“I am sooo honored to have spent Moth-er’s Day supporting @lambdalegal and @equalityfl in launching the Protect Our Kids Fund which supports litigation against the hateful Don’t Say Gay or Trans law in FL,”

Cabello wrote alongside a series of pictures from the event. “What’s happening in my home state is unacceptable and is harming LGBTQ+ youth and families. Some of the most special people in my life are in this community and it breaks my heart to see their identities try to be erased. We have to demand equal rights and respect for all.”

Among the other acts who supported the fund at Sunday’s launch were transgender singer Shea Diamond, RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Valentina and Kim Petras.

Cabello noted that the effort has already raised more than $500,000 to protect the LGBTQ community. The fund will provide resources for students, teachers and families impacted by the bill and set up a special hotline for anyone who has been “harmed under the law so experts can provide critical support.” Florida’s controversial “Parental Rights Bill” was recently signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who said during the signing that teaching kindergarten-aged children that they “can be whatever they want to be” was “inappropriate” for children.

Critics of the bill, including the Trevor Project, have said that it erases “LGBTQ identity, history and culture — as well as LGBTQ students themselves.”

See Cabello’s post below.

Paulo Londra & Bizarrap Debut at No. 1 on Billboard Argentina Hot 100 Chart With ‘Paulo Londra: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 23’BY BILLBOARD STAFF

Paulo Londra replaces himself at No. 1 on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 chart as his first col-laboration with Bizarrap, “Paulo

Londra: BZRP Music Sessions, Vol. 23,” debuts at the summit on the April 30-dated ranking. The session sends Londra’s “Plan A” to No. 2 after its five-week reign.

Londra is the second act this year to secure the Nos. 1 and 2 rankings. The last to achieve the feat was Argentinean rapper Lit Killah when “Entre Nosotros,” with Tiago PZK, Nicki Nicole and Maria Becerra, and “La Trampa Es Ley” held the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, respectively (chart dated Feb. 26). The former holds strong in the chart’s top 10 at No. 8.

Shakira scores her fourth entry in over a year as “Te Felicito,” with Rauw Alejandro, arrives at No. 41. Rauw Alejandro now ties with Ozuna, both with 32 career entries on the chart, trailing J Balvin’s 48 total entries, Bad Bunny with 37 and Anuel AA with 33.

Elsewhere on the list, Karol G’s “Proven-za” bows at No. 56, while Argentinians Santiago Celli (aka Celli) and La China capture their first entry as “El Juego Del Amor,” their first collaboration, opens at No. 67. Meanwhile, Shawn Mendes earns his first entry of the year as “When You’re Gone” starts at No. 80. Argentinean duet Q’ Lokura nabs its first entry with “200 Copas” at No. 87. The list’s three other debuts include CNCO’s “La Equivocada” at No. 89,

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The Weeknd’s “Out of Time” at No. 93 and Callejero Fino’s “Fua Mi Amor,” featuring Four Plack, at No. 95.

Jon Batiste Tests Positive for COVID-19, Postpones ‘American Symphony’ Premiere at Carnegie HallBY TRILBY BERESFORD

Jon Batiste has tested positive for COVID-19 and will be missing his musical appearances on The Late Show as well as postponing the premiere of

American Symphony at Carnegie Hall.The Grammy winner, 35, posted news of

his diagnosis via Instagram on Friday. “Hey family, I woke up yesterday and tested posi-tive for COVID-19,” Batiste’s message began. “To keep my family, my friends and our loyal fans safe, I will be absent from @colbert-lateshow and will also unfortunately have to postpone the premiere of AMERICAN SYMPHONY at Carnegie Hall which – as many of you know – I have been working on for years.”

Batiste’s diagnosis comes days after he attended the Met Gala alongside numerous other high-profile Hollywood names.

The musician added that he has “poured my heart and soul” into the American Sym-phony production and is “so disappointed” that he can’t see it through at the moment — “but it WILL happen one day,” he said.

“Thank you to my incredible team and all the musicians who have been on this jour-ney with me,” Batiste wrote. “I look forward to the day I can share the stage with you all again and share this work with the world. Stay safe out there.”

Elsewhere, Today co-anchor Savannah Guthrie shared on Instagram that she has tested positive for the virus for the sec-ond time and will be isolating during the Mother’s Day weekend. Guthrie wrote that she is only experiencing mild symptoms such as a “slight cold.”

Additional television personalities to test positive for COVID-19 in recent months include Stephen Colbert, who had to miss an episode of The Late Show; and Jimmy Kimmel, who recruited comedian Mike Birbiglia as a fill-in host for Jimmy Kimmel Live! Seth Meyers and James Corden are also among the late-night hosts to receive positive tests.

This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.

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