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Sunday (May 14) marks 25 years since Frank Sinatra died at the age of 82. That’s hard to imagine, because he remains an icon and a cultural force. His compilation Nothing but the Best reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in May 2008, a decade after his death. Jay-Z gave him a shout-out in “Empire State of Mind,” his 2009 smash with Alicia Keys: “I’m the new Sinatra, and since I made it here/ I can make it anywhere, yeah, they love me everywhere.”
Sinatra had major hits spanning 40 years, from “I’ll Never Smile Again” in 1940, which he recorded with Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra, to “Theme From New York, New York” in 1980, in which he took a song Liza Minnelli had introduced three years earlier in the film of the same name and simply took it to another level. It became his final top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
Sinatra had four No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 (which originated in 1956): Come Fly With Me (1958), Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely (1958), Nice ‘N’ Easy (1960) and Strangers in the Night (1966).
He topped the Billboard Hot 100 (which originated in 1958) twice — with “Strangers in the Night” (1966) and “Somethin’ Stupid,” a duet with his daughter, Nancy Sinatra (1967).
Sinatra won nine Grammys and an Oscar. His classic 1965 TV special Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music won an Emmy for outstanding musical program, but he didn’t personally win for it and never officially won an Emmy. (I hate it when that happens!)
Here are 10 facts you should know about Sinatra.
BTS‘ “The Planet” has topped this week’s new music poll.
Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (May 12) on Billboard, choosing the group’s latest as their favorite new music release of the past week.
“The Planet” brought in more than 45% of the vote, beating out new music from the Jonas Brothers, Lil Durk and J. Cole, Shakira and more.
The song, BTS’ first new music release to feature all seven members since they’ve been focused on solo projects and military service, is featured as the theme song for the new South Korean animated series Bastions.
BTS’ “The Planet” is an uptempo track with a sunny chorus about letting your colors shine. An animated music video accompanied the release.
Trailing behind “The Planet” on the poll is the Jonas Brothers’ The Album, with 18% of the vote, Lil Durk feauturing J. Cole’s “All My Life,” with 15% of the vote, and Shakira’s “Acróstico,” with 9% of the vote.
See the final results of this week’s poll below.
Beyoncé is showing appreciation to her mom on Mother’s Day.
Queen Bey took to Instagram on Sunday (May 14) share a loving post featuring a large photo of Tina Knowles-Lawson displayed onstage at the superstar singer’s Renaissance tour stop at Brussels’ King Baudouin Stadium. The post also included a short video of Knowles-Lawson excitedly cheering on her daughter from the side of the concert stage.
“Happy Muva’s Day,” Beyoncé captioned the gallery. “I love you so much Mama and I’m so grateful for all you do for me.”
The same sweet message also appeared on the homepage of Beyoncé website on Mother’s Day.
Beyoncé’s long-awaited Renaissance World Tour launched on May 10 in Stockholm, Sweden, with a jaw-dropping, three-hour showcase featuring dozens of career-spanning hits. The trek will continue throughout Europe until July 9, with stops in London, Barcelona, Brussels and Amsterdam before heading to Toronto for two dates at Rogers Centre.
The Renaissance tour then heads to the United States, starting with Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field and making stops in Chicago, East Rutherford, N.J., Atlanta, Houston and more before concluding Sept. 27 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
The stint is in support of her 2022 album, Renaissance, which topped the Billboard 200 albums chart upon its release and won the Grammy Award for best dance/electronic album. Three of the project’s songs also won individual awards, with “Break My Soul” winning best dance/electronic recording, “Plastic Off the Sofa” taking home best traditional R&B performance and “Cuff It” winning best R&B song.
See Beyoncé’s Mother’s Day tribute on Instagram below.
Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time logs a 10th consecutive, and total, week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated May 20). The album bowed at No. 1 on the chart dated March 18 and has yet to depart the top slot. It equals the No. 1 run of Wallen’s last release, Dangerous: The Double Album, which also spent its first 10 weeks at No. 1 (Jan. 23-March 27, 2021-dated charts).
One Thing at a Time earned 141,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending May 11 (up 2%), according to Luminate.
As One Thing at a Time holds at No. 1, Wallen becomes the first male soloist to spend 10 weeks at No. 1 with back-to-back full-length albums, since the Billboard 200 began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March of 1956. Only five acts — including Wallen — have notched consecutive No. 1s that ruled for at least 10 weeks. Wallen joins Adele (25, 10 weeks, 2015-16 and 21, 24 weeks, 2011-12), Whitney Houston (Whitney, 11 weeks, 1987 and her self-titled album, 14 weeks, 1986), The Monkees (More of the Monkees, 18 weeks, 1967 and its self-titled album, 13 weeks 1966-67) and The Kingston Trio (String Along, 10 weeks, 1960 and Sold Out, 12 weeks, 1960).
Wallen is now the third solo male artist overall to have at least two albums spend 10 or more weeks at No. 1 each. He joins Elvis Presley and Henry Mancini. The former did it four times with his self-titled album (10 weeks in 1956) and the soundtracks for Loving You (10, 1957), G.I. Blues (10, 1960-61) and Blue Hawaii (20, 1961-62) and the latter did so twice, with the soundtracks The Music From Peter Gunn (10, 1959) and Breakfast at Tiffany’s (12, 1962).
Further, Wallen becomes the only act with at least two country albums to have spent 10 or more weeks at No. 1. (Country albums are those that have charted on, or are eligible for, Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart.)
In total, nine acts — including Wallen — have at least two albums that have spent at least 10 weeks at No. 1. Wallen is now among elite company, standing alongside only The Beatles, Presley (four such albums each); Houston, The Kingston Trio (three each); Adele, Mancini, The Monkees and Taylor Swift (two each).
Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Ed Sheeran achieves his sixth top 10-charting effort as his new studio set, pronounced Subtract, starts at No. 2, while Korean girl group LE SSERAFIM notches its first top 10 (and second chart entry) with the No. 6 bow of Unforgiven.
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 20, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on May 16. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of One Thing at a Time’s 141,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending May 11, SEA units comprise 134,000 (up 3%, equaling 179.33 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 36 songs), album sales comprise 5,000 (down 6%) and TEA units comprise 2,000 (down 5%).
Sheeran collects his sixth top 10-charting effort on the Billboard 200 as his latest studio album, – (Subtract), debuts at No. 2. The set starts with 112,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 81,000 (making it the top-selling album of the week), SEA units comprise 29,000 (equaling 38.43 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks) and TEA units comprise 2,000.
The album was preceded by its lead single “Eyes Closed,” which debuted and has so far peaked at No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated April 8. Sheeran’s last three albums (Equals, No. 6 Collaborations Project and Multiply) were each led by top 10-charting singles before the sets dropped: “Bad Habits” (No. 2), “I Don’t Care,” with Justin Bieber (No. 2) and the dual lead singles off Multiply, “Shape of You” (No. 1) and “Castle on the Hill” (No. 6).
Subtract marks Sheeran’s biggest sales week since 2017, thus larger than any week posted by Sheeran’s last two albums (Equals and No. 6 Collaborations Project). Subtract also nets 10th-largest sales week of 2023 for any album, and the fifth-largest for a non-K-pop title.
Subtract’s sales were aided by its availability in both a standard 14-track and 18-track edition (digital download, CD and vinyl). The set was also available in nine vinyl variants (including exclusives for Amazon, Barnes & Noble, independent record stores, Target, Urban Outfitters and Walmart) and multiple CD iterations in collectible packages (including a signed CD, a version with a lenticular cover, a “textured sand” cover and a “Zine” CD package).
A trio of former No. 1s is next on the Billboard 200, as Taylor Swift’s Midnights is a non-mover at No. 3 (60,000 equivalent album units; up 4%), SZA’s SOS is stationary at No. 4 (54,000; down 4%) and Wallen’s Dangerous is steady at No. 5 (49,000; up 4%).
LE SSERAFIM debuts at No. 6 with Unforgiven, marking its first top 10 and second charting effort on the Billboard 200. The Korean pop girl group’s album enters the chart with 45,000 equivalent album units earned (up 691%). Of that sum, 38,500 comprise album sales, 6,500 comprise SEA units (equaling 9.04 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 13 tracks) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
The album was released to digital retailers and streaming services on May 1, and earned 6,000 equivalent album units in the week ending May 4 (not enough to debut on the Billboard 200). The set debuts on the chart following the release of its CD edition on May 5.
Like many K-pop releases, the CD edition of Unforgiven was issued in collectible CD packages (11 total, including exclusives for Target, Walmart and the Weverse webstore), each containing a standard set of bonus items and randomized photocards. Effectively all of Unforgiven’s first-week album sales were CDs, with a negligible sum generated by digital download album sales. The set was not available in any other retail format (such as vinyl or cassette).
While LE SSERAFIM has yet to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, the album’s title track — with Nile Rodgers — debuted at No. 61 on the Billboard Global 200 and No. 39 on the Global 200 Excluding U.S. chart (both dated May 13).
Swift’s chart-topping Lover rises 10-7 on the Billboard 200 (37,000 equivalent album units earned; up 8%), Bad Bunny’s former leader Un Verano Sin Ti jumps back to the top 10, climbing 11-8 (36,000; up 8%), Luke Combs’ Gettin’ Old falls 7-9 (nearly 36,000; down 3%) and Metro Boomin’s former No. 1 Heroes & Villains dips 9-10 (34,000; down 1%).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Nicki Minaj has shared the music video for latest single “Red Ruby Da Sleeze.”
The Queen of Rap took to social media on Mother’s Day (May 14) to officially unveil the island-themed clip, which was filmed in the superstar rapper’s home island of Trinidad and Tobago.
“There’s now a full #RedRubyDaSleeze video on YOUTUBE!!!! It’ll be everywhere else next week. Happy early MOTHER’S DAY,” Minaj wrote on Instagram.
In the video, Minaj dons a strappy black swimsuit while ferociously rapping the track’s lyrics atop a deck that overlooks the ocean. Elsewhere, she lounges oceanside and struts city streets with Basketball Wives star Brooke Bailey. Other footage shows Minaj looking stunning in a “red ruby”-colored silk robe, which she later takes off to provide a better look at her bathing suit.
Minaj previously revealed that she filmed the “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” video while spending time in spending in her native Trinidad for the island’s 2023 Carnival festivities.
“Red Ruby da Sleeze,” which debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 in mid-March, saw the the rapper interpolating Lumidee’s “Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh),” which peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 in 2003. The track follows a similar formula to her 2022 Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Super Freaky Girl,” which sampled Rick James’ 1981 song “Super Freak.”
Watch Minaj’s “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” video below.
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