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TikTok has proven its success at renewing widespread interest around old songs countless times over the past several years. 2022 was no exception, as the short-form video platform announced Swedish Sadboy rapper Yung Lean’s 2013 track “Ginseng Strip 2002” was its most popular track of the year thanks to a trend of users singing along for about 10 seconds and then kissing at the end.
The nearly decade-old track was used in almost 11 million videos across the app in 2022, and while TikTok royalties are notoriously low to music rights holders, the upside proposition has been established that a viral hit there will drive streaming elsewhere. With “Ginseng Strip 2002,” that was most certainly true.
Since the “Ginseng Strip 2002” TikTok trend started to take off around the turn of the new year, its impact is relatively easy to compare year-over-year. And it’s considerable. As of Dec. 1, the track had been streamed more than 71 million times on-demand in 2022 in the U.S. That’s a 780% increase from the full year prior, and up over 1,070% when compared to the same 48-week period (Jan. 1-Dec. 1). To date, the track has over 206 million global streams on Spotify.
The viral success has undoubtedly been a pleasant surprise payday for Lean as well as his label, Swedish indie YEAR0001, and publisher Sony Publishing. Based off U.S. streams alone, the different rights holders have earned about $350,000 so far in 2022. Split up, that’s about $260,000 for the master recording to the label and artist, and $62,900 to the publisher and co-writers Yung Lean and Yung Gud, based on Billboard‘s estimates.
This is actually the second time “Ginseng Strip 2002” has gone viral. The casually hedonistic track that came together by accident during a microphone sound check, according to producer Yung Gud, first took off on YouTube in 2013. That quick success on YouTube caused Yung Lean some anxiety, as he told Beats 1 Radio in 2017. “I was kinda scared at one point that it was just gonna be a couple million views and some viral hit, and there wasn’t going to be anything else,” he said. “I was just trying to figure out my place and everything. I didn’t want to be a one-hit wonder.”
Yung Lean and YEAR0001 had not responded to a request for comment for this story at the time of publishing.
The Billboard charts are getting ever more festive in the march to Christmas.
On the Billboard Hot 100 songs and Billboard 200 albums charts (both dated Dec. 10), the lists are looking very merry and bright. On the Hot 100, Mariah Carey’s evergreen chart-topper “All I Want for Christmas Is You” vaults to No. 2 and Michael Bublé’s former No. 1 album Christmas jingles up the Billboard 200 into the top five. Christmas was released in 2011 and spent five weeks atop the list late that year and in early 2012 and has returned to the top 10 in every subsequent holiday season.
Speaking of Bublé, earlier this year on the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, he joined hosts Katie and Keith to discuss his then-new album Higher (a recent Grammy Award nominee for best traditional pop vocal album). Well, the latest Pop Shop Podcast (listen below) has a special unheard moment from that interview, where Bublé was asked about his Christmas album and what it means to know that the ever-popular set has become a favorite in homes around the world each year, soundtracking family gatherings.
“Well, can you imagine how lucky I feel to be invited into all of that?” Bublé tells the Pop Shop Podcast. “I mean, I knew what I was doing when I made the record. I had high hopes. I was quite ambitious. Because I really genuinely love the songs. I never had any idea that it would be like this ever, ever.”
“And it’s funny, years ago, I would complain about it [the album’s success], and I would say [exasperated] ‘Well, you know, they keep talking about the Christmas album,’” he recalled. “But it was when my son got sick, I remember sitting in the hospital, and I just remember thinking how lucky I was. I just remember thinking so clearly, you know, how wonderful this is, that this is a part of your legacy. …
“What’s interesting, too, is it’s become less about what religion you are and it’s become about just a time when us human beings might need a bit of a break. And there’s a little more empathy and kindness. And I thought, man, to be connected to something so beautiful, there are much worse things in life.”
Also on the latest Pop Shop Podcast, Katie and Keith discuss the death of singer-songwriter Christine McVie and the pop sensibility she brought to her work with Fleetwood Mac. Plus, the Pop Shop team chats about Amber Riley (spoiler alert!) winning The Masked Singer and what it could mean for her career in the future. They also talk about her Dec. 5 guest appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show, where Riley and Hudson duetted on “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” from Dreamgirls.
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.)
Apple Music users will soon be able to sing along to their favorite hits right inside the app.
On Tuesday (Dec. 6), Apple announced the launch of a built-in karaoke function on the streaming service, which will be available to all Apple Music subscribers worldwide later this month. Dubbed Apple Music Sing, the feature will be accessible on iPhone, iPad and the newest model of the Apple TV 4K, with tens of millions of songs available at launch.
Apple Music Sing is similar to a typical karaoke player, highlighting the streamer’s onscreen lyrics beat by beat. Additional functionality includes the option to adjust a song’s vocal levels; the separation of background vocals from main vocals to make the lyrics easier to follow; and a “duet view” that places lyrics from multiple vocalists on opposite sides of the screen to make multi-singer tracks easier to navigate.
Along with the new feature, Apple Music will additionally be launching a suite of more than 50 thematic Apple Music Sing playlists grouping songs together by genre, decade and more.
“Apple Music’s lyrics experience is consistently one of the most popular features on our service,” said Oliver Schusser, vp of Apple Music and Beats, in a statement on the launch. “We already know our users all over the world love to follow along to their favorite songs, so we wanted to evolve this offering even further to enable even more engagement around music through singing. It’s really a lot of fun, our customers are going to love it.”
MSG Sphere, the long-awaited, globe-shaped venue under construction in Las Vegas, has been promised to revolutionize the concert-going experience. Before it even opens, however, MSG Sphere is transforming the corporate structure of its creator.
On Monday, MSG Entertainment announced new plans for an upcoming spin-off that will separate MSG Sphere, the next-generation music venue being built in Las Vegas, from the rest of its live music business.
The latest version of the proposed transaction results is a pure-play music company under the corporate name MSG Entertainment that includes venues such as Madison Madison Square Garden, Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the Beacon Theatre and The Chicago Theatre. MSG Entertainment would also include the entertainment and sports booking business, the Radio City Rockettes and the Christmas Spectacular production, and long-term arena license agreements with New York Knicks and New York Rangers, which play their home games at Madison Square Garden.
The first iteration of the spin-off paired the live music business with MSG Networks, a regional sports network that carries live games of the Knicks, Rangers, New York Giants, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders and Buffalo Sabres. That would have put the company’s two most mature divisions under one roof, separate from MSG Sphere and Tao Group Hospitality, the operator of restaurant and nightlife properties. MSG Entertainment would, however, combine the financially risky Sphere project with the more stable revenues of MSG Networks, which generated $608.2 million of revenue and $131 million of operating profit in the year ended June 30, 2022. The new plan “is optimal for maximizing shareholder value, while providing both companies with enhanced strategic and financial flexibility to drive long-term growth,” the company said in a statement.
The new spin-off plan puts MSG Networks with MSG Sphere and Tao Group Hospitality. The spin-off company will take the name MSG Sphere Corp and “would have enhanced flexibility to execute its business strategy and pursue global growth opportunities,” executive chairman and CEO James L. Dolan said in a statement.
The proposed transaction would be structured as a tax-free spin-off to all MSGE shareholders. Owners of MSGE Class A and Class B shares would receive a pro-rata distribution expected to amount to about a two-thirds economic interest in MSG Entertainment, the live entertainment company. The parent company, MSG Sphere, would retain approximately a one-third interest in MSG Entertainment.
The $1.8 billion MSG Sphere at The Venetian is slated to open in 2023 with a U2 residency. The spherical venue will provide a multi-sensory experience of audio and visuals for 20,000 standing spectators or 17,500 seated guests. It includes 160,000 square feet of video viewing space and an exterior exosphere with programmable LED technology.
Madame Tussauds Dubai has a new “Mastermind” added to their gallery. The company revealed on Tuesday (Dec. 6) that its wax figure of Taylor Swift is the latest celebrity to join its star-studded lineup.
According to Time Out Dubai, the figure marks the first international addition to Madame Tussauds Dubai since it opened in October 2021. The handcrafted statue featured Swift in a Folklore-style low chignon bun, holding an acoustic guitar. The wax figure is dressed in a red sequined turtleneck top tucked into a pair of high waisted khaki pants.
The new Swift wax figure comes a little more than a month after the Grammy-winning superstar unveiled her 10th studio album, Midnights. The album logs a fifth week atop the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Dec. 10). The last Swift album with more weeks at No. 1 is Folklore, which notched eight nonconsecutive weeks atop the list in 2020. Since then, she’s claimed four more chart-topping albums: Evermore (four weeks at No. 1 in 2020-21), Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (two weeks, 2021), Red (Taylor’s Version) (one week in 2021) and Midnights (five weeks so far).
And while the wax figure comes at a celebratory time in Swift’s career, fans had mixed feelings about the new installation at Madame Tussauds, unsure if the new piece bears a proper resemblance to the “Anti-Hero” singer. See some reactions below.
Haven’t @TussaudsUSA seen what Taylor Swift looks like or are they making her wax figures after looking at that “it’s just Ashley” girl?!
https://t.co/fjUDYi1ghf
— swiftly styles (fan account) (@swiftlystyles_) December 6, 2022
Why is it so difficult to get Taylor’s wax figures to actually look like her? I mean this one’s not bad compared to others but still.
— Conny | Midnight sharp
(@connychiwa_) December 6, 2022
somebody stop please them from making wax figures
— Ananya (TV) (@ANANYAPANDEY151) December 6, 2022
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