When a K-pop group hits the seven-year mark, it traditionally marks a decisive and sometimes challenging moment for an act to decide whether or not its members would like to renew their contracts and move forward together. Luckily for TWICE, their upcoming seventh anniversary on Oct. 20 can be a day of pure celebration for the group and their fans as all nine members of the K-pop super group renewed their contracts with longtime label JYP Entertainment in July.
“Ahead of the expiration of their exclusive contracts this fall, all members of TWICE completed renewing their contracts,” JYP Entertainment shared with the media. “TWICE, who played a crucial role in establishing JYP’s status, and JYP, which became a reliable source of support for TWICE growing to become a representative K-pop girl group, agreed based on this trust to renew the contracts with confidence in an even better future.”
TWICE followed up the good news with a new EP titled Between 1&2 that became their first album to earn 100,000 copies in its opening week and made them the first K-pop girl group to land three Top 10 albums on the Billboard 200. While this week marks Between 1&2‘s seventh consecutive week on the Billboard 200, at No. 131, the EP marks something additionally momentous for the group as the album transitions from TWICE’s first and second chapters.
After Oct. 20, 2022, TWICE will enter a new phase as a group with an undeniable established presence in the world’s biggest markets and hue potential to keep growing. Since last October, the ninesome hit a slew of firsts including entering the Hot 100 and U.K. Singles charts, holding a stadium show in the U.S., performing a record-setting three days at the famous Toyko Dome, and snagging nominations at the MTV European Music Awards.
Before TWICE officially enters Chapter 2 and starts the anniversary celebrations, members Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu all reflected on the one TWICE single that’s most important so far.
In a sea of out-of-left-field hit songs this year (Kate Bush, anyone?), David Guetta and Bebe Rexha‘s “I’m Good (Blue)” stands out as one of the most unpredictable.
Guetta and Rexha’s throwback dance-floor filler interpolates Eiffel 65’s 1999 novelty hit “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” (itself an unexpected success story), and as Rexha tells Katie & Keith on the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast (listen to the new episode below), the collab was actually made years ago and then unearthed by savvy fans.
“[David] had played it at a festival after we had cut it, and somebody took a YouTube video of it and posted it,” Rexha recalls. “Then somebody found that and made a remix and posted it to TikTok. Then this big gamer posted it from TikTok, and then it blew up from her page.
“It’s crazy, because you just never know what people want,” she adds. “Everybody was going crazy and being like, ‘We want this song! Why can’t we find it?’ And I was hitting up David [saying], ‘David, people really want this record! We should just put it out!’ At this point, it’s viral on TikTok, and people are asking for it. Let’s just give the people what they want. Let’s not judge it for what it is, and just put it out. It’s just a great, fun record.”
Now that great, fun record is on quite the ride up our charts, climbing 18-16 on this week’s Billboard Hot 100, holding at No. 2 on both the Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts, and spending a fourth week atop Hot Dance/Electronic Songs. Rexha is marveling at the song’s global success and trying to piece together the secret to its popularity.
“Never did I think in a million years that it would be so big,” she says. “I guess people want to feel that 2000s nostalgia, especially after the three years of a pandemic and being cooped in their houses. It brings back that feeling of nostalgia, and it makes you feel kind of warm. I will put my hands up on this one and say I get it, but I’m also confused and shocked, but also very grateful.”
Although Rexha just released her sophomore album Better Mistakes last year, she hinted to fans on Twitter last week that her next project might be out sooner than they think – but she wants to give her hit with Guetta a little space before putting out the “very focused” new project.
“I’m not gonna lie: ‘I’m Good’ has thrown a little bit of a wrench into the whole plan,” she tells the Pop Shop Podcast. “I’m trying to let ‘I’m Good’ have its moment. But the one thing that’s really good about my project is that it does have dance elements to it. It has rock as well as dance elements to it. It’s inspired by one of my favorite female artists of all time. ”
Let the guessing games begin!
Here are a few more hints about the album: “I really spent a lot of time studying this time period and what this artist was saying and how she said it. And then how she said it when she was with her band and by herself, and I really want to make sure that it’s a real artist project. I think it was a natural evolution. I love rock music, and I love dance music. I was like: ‘How can I evolve naturally?,’ because I’m not a child anymore. I’m a grown woman, so this felt like a really great natural growth for me.”
Next up: Rexha will hit the Jingle Ball Los Angeles stage on Dec. 2 at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif.
Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how Doja Cat gets her sixth top 10 hit on the Hot 100 with “Vegas” while Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit” holds atop the list for a third straight week. Meanwhile, Glass Animals’ former No. 1 “Heat Waves” marks another milestone in its storied chart career, becoming the song with the most week ever on the Hot 100 — collecting its 91st week on the chart. And, on the Billboard 200 albums chart, Stray Kids notch their second No. 1 album (and second of this year!), while new albums from Quavo & Takeoff, G. Herbo and Charlie Puth all debut in the top 10.
Katie & Keith also take time to chat about all the Grammy controversies that bubbled up after preliminary ballots were sent to voters last week. From Nicki Minaj and Silk Sonic to The Weeknd and Drake, these were the biggest headlines from the ballots.
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.)
The Voice continued its Battle rounds on Tuesday night (Oct. 18), this time pitting contestants Eric Who and Sydney Kronmiller against each other for a performance of Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” that viewers won’t forget. In a promo released on YouTube before the episode, the two singers harmonized perfectly as they competed for judge Camila Cabello’s team.
It seems like the “Havana” singer adored the performance and and was thoroughly impressed by each contestant’s very different, but equally stunning renditions of the Gaga classic. “Sydney, I have never heard a voice like yours before,” Cabello told Kronmiller. “Your note choices were so different and weird, and the way you slide in and out of falsetto.”
She also seemed to enjoy Eric’s boisterous presence adding, “Eric, I saw you really grow as an artist and step into somebody I’m really excited to hear on the radio, see perform in shows.”
Kronmiller’s low vocal range is what really caught the judges’ attention. “The fact that you can do that and still have the higher notes in your register too–you really gave a great performance,” said John Legend of her performance.
And once again, it’s Eric’s stage presence and energy that wowed judges. While Blake Shelton shared he was shocked by Kronmiller’s register, he described Eric as the “happiest person,” telling Cabello he wouldn’t be able to deny the theatrical contestant a spot.
While the judges had a warm reaction to the two, only one can go on to compete on Cabello’s team. Viewers will have to tune into the episode, airing tonight on NBC. Watch the teaser video below.
The king of heartbreak is back. Lewis Capaldi took to Instagram on Tuesday (Oct. 18) to reveal that his sophomore album, Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent will be arriving on May 19, 2023.
In addition, the star will be embarking on a global tour, which kicks off on January 14 in Leeds, England, and will stretch across Europe until March 15 in Munich, Germany. On March 30, Capaldi will cross the pond to begin his North American tour in Nashville, Tenn., on March 30. His US dates wrap up on May 11 in Houston, Texas, before he heads off to Australia and New Zealand.
Capaldi revealed on Instagram that he is signing the first 2000 copies of his album that have been pre-ordered.
The announcement comes just a month after Capaldi welcomed his sophomore album’s era with the emotive “Forget Me” and its ironically goofy music video.
Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent is a follow-up to Capaldi’s debut album Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent, which landed the 26-year-old star his first Grammy nomination for the album’s breakthrough single, “Someone You Loved,” which was up for song of the year at the 2020 ceremony.
The album peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard 200 and spent an impressive 177 weeks total on the chart. “Someone You Loved,” meanwhile, topped the Hot 100 chart for three weeks, and spent 54 weeks total on the chart. Capaldi’s debut album’s second single, “Before You Go,” peaked at No. 9 on the Hot 100 dated September 26, 2020.
Glass Animals‘ “Heat Waves” set a new record this week as the longest-running hit in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. On the chart dated Oct. 22, the No. 1 hit officially surpassed The Weeknd‘s “Blinding Lights” by spending 91 weeks on the tally.
And now that Dave Bayley and his bandmates are the reigning record holders thanks to the remarkable, slow-burning success of their single, we want to know which longtime Hot 100 hit is your favorite.
Of the never-ending cascade of songs that have gone up and down the all-genre tally since its inception in 1958, only 10 have spent at least 68 weeks on the chart — including hits by Imagine Dragons, AWOLNATION, Dua Lipa and more.
Do you prefer “Heat Waves” over “Blinding Lights”? Which gets your blood pumping more: Dan Reynold’s ferocious delivery of “Radioactive” or AWOLNATION‘s glitchy, hard-charging “Sail”? On the pop front, does Dua’s “Levitating” send you soaring or are you still head over heels for Jason Mraz‘s 2008 single “I’m Yours” after all these years?
The oldest song of the ten is actually LeAnn Rimes‘ 1997 country juggernaut “How Do I Live,” which comes tied in seventh place at 69 weeks with The Weeknd and Ariana Grande‘s “Save Your Tears.” (That’s right, the artist otherwise known as Abel Tesfaye is the only musician to have two hits among the longest-running Hot 100 tracks.)
Was OneRepublic‘s “Counting Stars” an unstoppable force on your playlists a decade ago? Or were you busy party rocking to LMFAO‘s “Party Rock Anthem” featuring Lauren Bennett and GoonRock?
While we celebrate Glass Animals’ latest accomplishment, vote for your favorite long-running song on the Hot 100 below.