Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday appointed a new director of the Florida State Guard after the previous director died last year. Luis Soler, a captain in the United States Navy … Click to Continue »
A beautiful thing happened Saturday night at the packed Colony Theatre in Miami Beach. Before actors took to the stage for a dramatic opening of the 20th anniversary edition of … Click to Continue »
Bizarrap forges ahead with a new music session in 2023. The latest release is a collaboration with Shakira, “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53,” which debuts at No. 8 on Billboard’s Latin Pop Airplay chart (dated Jan. 21). It’s the Argentinian producer’s first entry there. Shakira, meanwhile, extends her top 10 record among women, with 39 top 10s.
“Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53,” released Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. ET via Dale Play Records, debuts across multiple Billboard charts with one full day, and 5 hours from the day before, of activity in all metrics. The track also arrives at No. 16 on the multimetric Hot Latin Songs chart (which blends streams, sales, and airplay) from less than two days of activity. It’s Bizarrap’s highest debut on the list.
On the radio front, “Vol. 53” debuts in the top 10 on Latin Pop Airplay with 1.8 million audience impressions earned in the U.S. in the Jan. 6-12 tracking week, according to Luminate. As mentioned, Bizarrap unlocks his first top 10 with first entry, while Shakira collects a 39th top 10, the third-most overall, trailing only Enrique Iglesias and Ricky Martin, with 45 and 42 top 10s, respectively. Among women, she extends her top 10 domination with 39. Here’s the scoreboard among female acts:
39, Shakira
19, Ednita Nazario
18, Laura Pausini
16, Jennifer Lopez
16, Paulina Rubio
15, Thalia
13, Gloria Estefan
In the digital realm, “Vol. 53” logged 4.2 million on-demand U.S. streams in the same tracking week, according to Luminate, which yields a No. 17 debut on Latin Streaming Songs — the highest for Bizarrap among his two entries (his previous session with Spaniard Quevedo, “Vol. 52,” debuted at No. 25 in July 2022).
In addition to its streaming total, the song registered 2,000 digital downloads in its first two tracking days, sparking a No. 1 start on Latin Digital Song Sales. The 24-year-old producer clocks his first champ there among six entries, five of those part of his flooding music sessions (he reached a No. 5 with the explosive “Bzrp Music Session, “Vol. 49” with Residente in March 2022 with almost 2,000 downloads in its first week).
Plus, Shakira crosses off a new milestone, securing 13 No. 1s on Latin Digital Song Sales, the most overall. Thanks to its No. 1 start on the latter, she breaks out of a tie with Bad Bunny and J Balvin, both with 12 champs on their account.
Further, the sum yields a No. 16 start on the multimetric Hot Latin Songs chart, which measures airplay, streaming data and digital sales. Bizarrap notches his highest debut there among five “Music Session” entries.
Elsewhere on the Billboard charts, “Vol. 53” bows at No. 7 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs. The new achievement secures Shakira her third top 10. She claimed her first with the No. 5-peaking “Dare (La La La)” in June 2014. Bizarrap posts his second top 10, following “Vol. 52,” with Quevedo, No. 4 high in Aug. 2022.
“Vol. 53” also makes its global debut, arriving at No. 12 on the Billboard Global 200 and No. 8 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart.
“Vol. 53” will likely surge on next week’s, Jan. 28-dated charts – including a debut on the all-genre, multimetric Billboard Hot 100, following its first full week of activity.
All charts (dated Jan. 21) will refresh on Billboard.com tomorrow (Jan. 18).
The mayor of the northern French town of Amiens is appealing to pop star Madonna to loan them what they believe is a missing 200-year-old Neoclassical painting that disappeared from their museum during World War I.
But is Madonna’s version the genuine article, or a copy?
Brigitte Fouré, the mayor, says in a video that the oil painting the singer reportedly owns, called Diana and Endymion, was “probably a work that was lent to the Amiens museum by the Louvre before the first world war after which we lost trace of it,” according to a report in The Guardian.
Now Fouré wants the “Material Girl” singer to provide the artwork as a loaner to help Amiens’ bid to become the European capital of culture in 2028.
The painting, which depicts the Roman goddess Diana falling in love with Endymion, is thought to have been painted by Jérôme-Martin Langlois, and dates to 1822. After being commissioned by Louis XVIII to hang in the Palace of Versailles, it was acquired by the French republic in 1873, and was exhibited in Amiens at the Musée des Beaux-Arts – now the Musée de Picardie – beginning in 1878.
The Langlois went missing after the Germans pounded Amiens with bombs and artillery fire for 28 days in March 1917, destroying much of the city including part of the museum. The paintings were taken to safety, but after the war the Langlois was listed as “untraceable” and later deemed to have been “destroyed by the falling of a bomb on the museum,” the Guardian reports.
The painting — or one nearly identical to it — reappeared in 1989 at a New York auction where Madonna paid $1.3 million for it, more than three times its estimated price, says French newspaper Le Figaro.
Madonna is an avid art collector known to have a collection worth an estimated $100 million, People magazine has reported. It includes Frida Kahlo’s My Birth (1932), one of only five painting she created while in Detroit; an extensive collection by Polish Art Deco painter Tamar de Lempicka; and Pablo Picasso’s Buste de Femme à la Frange (1938), which she paid almost $5 million for at Christie’s in 2000.
In 2015, a sharp-eyed curator from Amiens spotted the Langlois painting in the background of a photograph of Madonna at her home that was published in Paris Match magazine.
The painting Madonna bought is reportedly one inch (three centimeters) smaller than the artwork that disappeared from Amiens and was unsigned and undated, leading experts to wonder if it is the original — or a copy.
The museum has lodged legal action against “persons unknown” for the theft of the painting, the Guardian reports. But Fouré, the mayor, says the town doesn’t dispute that Madonna acquired the work in a “perfectly legal auction.”
The singer “bought it and she owns it,” the mayor says. “I’m not asking her to give it to us but to allow us to borrow it for just a few weeks so people here can see it.”
Fouré would welcome a visit by Madonna to Amiens, a town best known for textiles and its gothic cathedral, and as the birthplace of French President Emmanuel Macron.
“It would be amazing to have her come here but I can’t imagine it happening,” she says. “Still, now everyone is talking about Amiens!”
Billboard reached out to Madonna’s team, which had no comment.
Over her 40-plus-year career, Madonna has gone on a steady 11 tours, so what is it about her just-announced 12th trek — The Celebration Tour — that is creating so much buzz?
Well, for one, she’s promising an all-hits setlist – which for Madonna takes some narrowing down, given her 38 Billboard Hot 100 top 10s and 50 Dance Club Songs No. 1s. And while she’s played a lot of her hits in concert before, as far as we know, this is the first time she’s not touring around a new album — so she truly only has her back catalog to choose from.
On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie peppers Madonna superfan Keith with questions about the buzzy new global tour — like what lesser-known nuggets are fans dying to hear? And why now for this retrospective tour? Listen to the latest episode now:
Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how SZA’s SOS is unstoppable at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, notching a fifth straight week atop the tally, while Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” captures an eighth week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, making it the Swift song with the most weeks at No. 1. Plus, Zach Bryan’s slow-burn hit single “Something in the Orange” reaches the Hot 100’s top 10 more than eight months after its release.
The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s senior director of charts Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)
Encore presentations of the fifth Urban One Honors will air Thursday at 9 p.m. ET (8 p.m. CT) and Sunday at 6 p.m ET (5 p.m. Central) on TV One and CLEO TV.
Under the theme “Icons of the Culture,” the fifth annual Urban One Honors premiered on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. R&B star Tank hosted the show, which was taped at The Eastern in Atlanta on Dec. 2. Former Destiny’s Child member LeToya Luckett hosted a special backstage pass segment.
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LL Cool J received the Entertainment Icon honor. Other top awards went to Bobby Brown (the inaugural Phoenix Honor), Pharrell Williams (the Music Innovation Honor), David Mann and his wife, Tamela Mann (the Inspirational Impact Honor), and Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) (a Lifetime Achievement Honor).
The ceremony included performances by Keke Wyatt and Marvin Sapp; a celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip hop with DJ Spinderella, Monie Love and Doug E. Fresh; and a finale performance from T.I. (Clifford Harris) and his son Domani Harris.
Roland Martin, Pusha T, Rev. Run, Lamman Rucker, Keisha Lance Bottoms (former Atlanta mayor and currently director of the office of public engagement in the White House) and Michelle Rice (TV One/CLEO TV president) also appeared on the broadcast.
The show was executive produced by Eric Tomosunas and James Seppelfrick of Swirl Films. Daniel Moore served as musical director; Marilyn Gill as executive producer.
Kashon Powell is vice president of programming for Radio One and Susan Henry is the network’s executive producer in charge of production.
Leslie Jones took over The Daily Show as guest host on Tuesday night (Jan. 17), and she took some time to share her characteristically hilarious thoughts on the new Martin Luther King Jr. statue in Boston.
The statue, which was inspired by a photo of the legendary civil rights leader hugging his wife after he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, features the couple’s arms embracing without their heads — which sparked criticism as some believe that it accidentally ended up looking quite erotic.
Jones wasted no time getting right to the point. “Has anyone in here ever been eaten out?” she asked the audience, who promptly broke out into cheers and laughter. “I’m serious! Has anyone in here ever participated in the munchy, munch, munch, munch? Because they are celebrating you in Boston right now.”
The comedian then turned to the camera with a message for the white viewers at home. “White people, you don’t need to be saying sh– about this statue. Do you understand? Black hands only. You need to sit your a– in the back of the bus for this one. You need to honor this statue. This is our civil rights icon going down on his wife.”
After more roaring cheers, Jones continued, “OK, black people. What the f— are we going to do? We got to talk about this, because you know it’s messed up when black people and the Proud Boys hate the same statue.”
To conclude, Jones compared the statue to other famous ones, such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, noting that people probably didn’t love them at first. “Maybe it’s a matter of time,” she joked about the newly unveiled MLK statue. “In time, we will see the statue for what it truly is. Martin Luther King going down on his wife. I can’t unsee it!”
Jones will guest-host three episodes of The Daily Show this week, followed by fellow comedians Wanda Sykes, D.L. Hughley, Chelsea Handler and Sarah Silverman with weekly stints through Feb. 16. Following the exit of host Trevor Noah, the show will keep up this guest-hosting rotation until the fall.
Watch the full clip below.
One man is dead after another added a gun to a one-on-one fight outside of a Northeast Miami-Dade supermarket Sunday afternoon, according to Miami-Dade police. READ MORE: Four shot, one … Click to Continue »
Miami-Dade Police reported on Monday the results of a strict crackdown on “Wheels Up, Guns Down” riders this Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. The “Wheels Up, Guns Down” tradition involves … Click to Continue »
An aunt and an ally. Amy Grant shut down trolls criticizing her decision to host her LGBTQ+ niece’s wedding on Monday (Jan. 16).
“I never chase any of those rabbits down the rabbit hole,” the Christian pop singer said to People of outcry from homophobic critics on social media. “I love my family, I love those brides. They’re wonderful, our family is better, and you should be able to be who you are with your family, and be loved by them.”
Grant also revealed that her niece’s nuptials took place at the very same place she and Vince Gill were married back in 2000. “I own a farm that I bought back in the ’90s and they were just looking for a beautiful place to get married,” she said. “So, she and Sam got married on the same hillside where Vince and I got married.”
“Honestly, from a faith perspective, I do always say, ‘Jesus, you just narrowed it down to two things: love God and love each other,’” Grant added in a Washington Post interview back in November to explain her perspective on balancing her well-documented faith with her support of the LGBTQ+ community. “I mean, hey — that’s pretty simple.”
This weekend, Grant — who received Kennedy Center Honors in 2022 — opened the long-awaited Los Angeles concert honoring A&M Records co-founder Jerry Moss, performing her now-classic 1991 ballad “I Will Remember You” before Peter Frampton, Rita Coolidge, David Foster, Herb Alpert, Dionne Warwick and Sting each took the stage.
