Bad Bunny Earns Third No. 1 on Billboard Global 200 with “Where She Goes”

Posted on May 30, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

There’s only one place Bad Bunny goes… the top of the charts.

The 29-year-old Puerto Rican Grammy-winning superstar’s “Where She Goes” has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 chart dated June 3.

“Where She Goes” launches atop the Billboard Global 200 with 71 million streams and 3,000 sold worldwide May 19-25, following its May 18 release.

The Spanish-language song arrives as his third No. 1 on the chart, after “Un x100to,” with Grupo Frontera, for two weeks earlier in May, and “Dakiti,” with Jhay Cortez (now Jhayco), for three weeks in November-December 2020.

Bad Bunny becomes the first soloist with three Global 200 No. 1s; overall, he’s second only to BTS, with six. Justin Bieber, BLACKPINK, Drake, Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift each boast two.

“Where She Goes” marks Bad Bunny’s first Global 200 entry with no accompanying artists since he released his LP Un Verano Sin Ti, which dominated the U.S.-based Billboard 200 for 13 weeks in May-October 2022.

Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma’s “Ella Baila Sola” dips to No. 2 on the Global 200 after three weeks at No. 1, having become the chart’s first leader for the regional Mexican genre.

The Billboard Global 200, which started in September 2020, ranks songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by Luminate. The Global 200 is inclusive of worldwide data.

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.

Ice Spice Teams Up with Taylor Swift for “Karma” Remix

Posted on May 26, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Ice Spice has landed an out of this world collaboration…

The 23-year-old Dominican American rapper/singer, whose real name is Isis Naija Gaston, has joined voices with Taylor Swift on the remix to “Karma” from Swift’s Midnights album.

The single was released at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, May 26.

The fresh-faced star in mainstream hip-hop, who collected her first top 10 hits after going viral last fall, co-signs Swift’s philosophy that what goes around comes back around, in her favor: “It’s okay, baby, you ain’t gotta worry, karma never gets lazy / So, I keep my head up, my bread up, I won’t let up,” she raps.

“Collaborating with Ice Spice on ‘Karma’ was one of the most natural things,” Swift said in an audio snippet, shared by Spotify’s official Twitter account. “She reached out through her team, just kind of saying, ‘Hey, Ice has been a big fan of Taylor’s since she was a little kid, would love to collaborate if that was ever something that came about.’”

As it turned out, the feelings were mutual. “I had been listening to her nonstop, like getting ready for my [Eras] tour, I was just listening to Ice Spice constantly,” revealed the “Anti-Hero” singer. “So I immediately got her number and said, ‘Hey, would you wanna do your version of ‘Karma’? Do you relate to this?’ So she jumped in headfirst.”

“Getting to know her has been so special because I am blown away by her,” Swift echoed in her Spotify segment. “In my opinion, she’s the one to watch. Watching her work ethic and how thoughtfully she approaches her career, she’s like my new favorite artist and I’m so honored that she’s on the song.”

Ice also called Swift the “sweetest person ever” following the remix announcement, and on Friday shared an adorable photo to her Instagram Stories with the singer in the studio.

The remix appears on Swift’s Midnights (The Til Dawn Edition).

Anitta Signs with Republic Records

Posted on April 22, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Anitta is joining the republic…

The 30-year-old Brazilian superstar has signed with Republic Records, according to Billboard.

The news comes just weeks after Anitta and Warner Music Group agreed to part ways. The two parties released a joint statement to social media on April 4 announcing the news.

“After eleven years of successful partnership, we’ve agreed to go our separate ways,” the post read. “Anitta would like to thank the Warner Music team for all their support. And the Warner team wishes Anitta all the best in the future.”

Anitta signed with Warner Records in the United States in 2020 after previously linking with Warner Music Brazil in 2013. She had long voiced concerns about her relationship with WMG, from the label refusing to produce a video for an underperforming song to advising young artists to pay closer attention to what they sign.

During an Instagram livestream last May, Anitta said Warner only invested in her work “after it pays off on the internet. Unfortunately, there are things I can’t get, that’s why I don’t buy millionaire cars, because when I want to do something, I pay for it.” She added that Warner “is very tied to TikTok, to what goes viral, and if they don’t get a hit right away, they say ‘later.’”

The singer followed that with a tweet thread last month in which she blasted Warner, saying she regretted signing with the label and would have “auctioned off her organs” in order to be released from her contract.

During her run at Warner, Anitta scored a global breakthrough with her trilingual album, Versions of Me, which last year hit No. 1 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart with its TikTok-driven single, “Envolver.” The song’s music video won in the category of Best Latin at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards. That same year, she also performed at Coachella and the Latin Grammy Awards.

Anitta will now join a superstar roster at Republic that includes Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, Nicki Minaj and more. Sources say Jesús López, chairman/CEO of Universal Music Latin America and Iberian Peninsula, and Paulo Lima, president of Universal Music Group Brazil, will work closely with the artist.

Anitta is managed by S10’s Brandon Silverstein globally.

Mariah Carey’s Music to Be Featured as Part of Apple Fitness+’s ‘Artist Spotlight’ Workout Series

Posted on March 6, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Ready to get fit with Mariah Carey?

Apple Fitness+ has added the music of the 52-year-old half-Venezuelan Grammy-winning singer to its newly added workouts.

In honor of Women’s History Month, Carey, Miley Cyrus and Shania Twain will be highlighted as part of the program’s Artist Spotlight series, which dedicates an entire set of workouts to a single artist and their discography.

Starting Monday, March 6, Fitness+ users can pedal to the beat of the “Flowers” singer’s music in a cycling workout, return to heart center when it’s a wrap on the Carey-inspired yoga workout and feel like a powerful woman post-strength workout featuring Twain’s tunes.

New workouts will roll out every Monday throughout the month of March.

The Lambily will need to stretch as far and wide as Mimi’s vocal range — which spans across five octaves and goes all the way up to those whistle tones we all try reaching when belting out her 1991 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 smash “Emotions” — ahead of her cycling, dance, HIIT and yoga workouts.

“You’ve got to make working out fun, do what you love, so it feels like burning energy instead of a job! I hear lots of people like listening to my music in the gym and it makes me so happy – it means it’s energetic and inspirational,” Twain said in a press statement. “That’s why I’m so excited for this Artist Spotlight series on Fitness+. So Giddy Up! And do what makes you happy!”

Other musicians who’ve had sets of Apple Fitness+ workouts dedicated to them include Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, BTS, Billie Eilish, Jennifer Lopez, Pharrell Williams, Ed Sheeran, The Weeknd, ABBA, Prince, Shakira, The Beatles, Nicki Minaj and many more.

According to the Apple Fitness+ website, anyone who purchases a new iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad or Apple TV (and hasn’t previously subscribed to Apple Fitness+) will have free access to Apple Fitness+ for three months before paying $9.99 monthly, or $79.99 annually. New subscribers who already have the aforementioned Apple products can get free access to Apple Fitness+ for one month. Apple Fitness+ can be shared with up to five family members.

Karol G Makes History as “Mañana Será Bonito” Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart

Posted on March 6, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Karol G is celebrating a historic moment…

The 32-year-old Colombian singer and songwriter’s new album Mañana Será Bonito is making an unprecedented splash on the Billboard 200 albums chart dated March 11, as the set debuts atop the tally.

It’s both the first No. 1 for the artist and the chart’s first No. 1 all-Spanish-language album by a female artist.

“I feel so very special. More than happiness I feel special,” Karol G tells Billboard, who spoke with her as the news was reported. “My last album did so well and had all those big hits, like ‘Bichota,’ so the bar was high. But I didn’t want to make music because I felt pressure. I wanted to make the music I wanted to make, and the fact that I’ve hit No. 1 with an album that is so personal is enormous.”

Previously, only two all-Spanish albums led the list, both by Bad Bunny. (Un Verano Sin Ti in 2022 and El Ultimo Tour del Mundo in 2020).

Mañana Será Bonito earned 94,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending March 2, according to Luminate. Its starting sum was largely powered by streaming activity.

Of Mañana Será Bonito’s 94,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 83,000 (equaling 118.73 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 17 tracks), album sales comprise 10,000 and TEA units comprise 1,000. The album’s sales were largely powered by its digital download album (8,500), though there was a CD available in limited quantities, selling about 1,500 copies. The digital album was also offered in two alternative cover variants on Karol G’s official webstore.

Mañana Será Bonito logs the largest week, by equivalent album units earned, for a Latin album by a woman since the chart began measuring by units in December of 2014. (Latin albums are defined as those that have hit or are eligible for Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart.) Further, as Mañana Será Bonito generated 118.73 million official on-demand streams for its songs, the set registers the biggest streaming week ever for a Latin album by a woman.

Mañana Será Bonito is also the first Latin album by a woman to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 since 1995, when Selena’s posthumously-released, mostly-Spanish effort Dreaming of You topped the list for one week. (The 13-song Dreaming of You album has six tracks in Spanish, five in English and two duets that blend English and Spanish.)

Only three mostly-non-English-language albums by women have reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 – the all-Spanish Mañana Será Bonito, Dreaming of You and The Singing Nun’s all-French-language self-titled album in 1963.

Karol G made her Billboard chart debut in 2016 and has been a force on Billboard’s Latin genre charts ever since, notching 17 top 10 hits on the Hot Latin Songs chart – including five No. 1s (through the most recently published chart, dated March 4). On the Top Latin Albums list, she’s previously logged a trio of top two-charting sets, including one No. 1, her previous release, KG0516, in 2021.

Mañana Será Bonito is the fourth charting album for Karol G on the all-genre Billboard 200, but first to reach the top 10. She previously visited the list with KG0516 (No. 20 in 2021), Ocean (No. 54 in 2019) and Unstoppable (No. 192 in 2017). Preceding the release of the new album, Karol had logged five top 40-charting hit songs on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, but with three of them coming in 2022: “Mamiii,” with Becky G (No. 15), “Provenza” (No. 25) and “Gatubela,” with Maldy (No. 37). Both “Mamiii” and “Provenza” became Karol’s first top 10-charting hits on the all-genre Streaming Songs chart, reaching Nos. 5 and 10, respectively. (Both “Provenza” and “Gatubela” are included on Mañana Será Bonito.)

With Karol G’s Mañana Será Bonito replacing SZA’s SOS at No. 1, it’s the first time a woman has replaced another woman atop the list in over a year. It last happened when a trio of leading ladies traded off the top spot from November 20, 2021-December 4, 2021. Summer Walker’s Still Over It debuted at No. 1 on the on November 20 chart, Taylor Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version) then opened atop the list on November 27, and Adele’s 30 bowed at No. 1 on the December 4 chart.

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.

Bad Bunny’s “Un Verano Sin Ti” Wins IFPI Global Album Award

Posted on February 28, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Bad Bunny is still makin’ history…

The 28-year-old Puerto Rican rapper and singer’s Un Verano Sin Ti has won the IFPI Global Album Award, becoming the first Latin artist to ever win the prize, according to the organization.

IFPI, the trade association that represents recorded music industry worldwide, has announced that Un Verano Sin Ti — which spent a total of 13 non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200 and became the first Spanish-language album to be nominated for album of the year at the Grammy Awards — topped the Top 20 Global Albums chart in 2022.

“We are incredibly excited to award Bad Bunny, the first Latin American artist to win an IFPI Global Award, with the Album of the Year Award,” Frances Moore, chief executive, IFPI, said in a statement. “His unique sound, encapsulated in his award-winning album Un Verano Sin Ti, has captured the world’s attention on a remarkable scale over the last 12 months.

Elsewhere on the Top 20 Global Albums, which takes into account all consumption formats, spanning physical sales, digital downloads and streaming platforms across a calendar year, Taylor Swift’s Midnights came in second place.

Last week, the IFPI announced Swift was the global recording artist of the year, winning for a third time after already having topped the tally in 2014 and 2019.

Meanwhile, Harrys Styles’ Harry’s House took the third spot on the Top 20 Global Albums chart. His hit song “As It Was” was crowned with IFPI’s Global Single Award for 2022, an honor that recognizes the top performing single across all platforms, and all markets.

“This year’s Global Albums Chart bears testament to the incredible partnerships that exist between artists and record labels,” Moore added. “These partnerships nurture and support artists while they write and record their music before going on to promote albums on a global level, achieving extraordinary amounts of success around the world.”

Rounding out the top five global albums are BTS’ Proof and the the original soundtrack for Encanto came in at No. 5. Also on the list are Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour, Beyoncé’s Renaissance and Drake’s Certified Lover Boy. The full Top 20 list can be seen below.

IFPI Top 20 Global Albums of 2022
1/ Bad Bunny, Un Verano Sin Ti
2/ Taylor Swift, Midnights
3/ Harry Styles, Harry’s House
4/ BTS, Proof
5/ Encanto Cast, Encanto (OST)
6/ Stray Kids, Maxident
7/ Seventeen, Face the Sun
8/ Blackpink, Born Pink
9/ Olivia Rodrigo, Sour
10/ Ed Sheeran, =
11/ Enhypen, Manifesto: Day 1
12/ Morgan Wallen, Dangerous: The Double Album
13/ Doja Cat, Planet Her
14/ Stray Kids, Oddinary
15/ The Weeknd, Dawn FM
16/ Tomorrow x Together, minisode 2: Thursday’s Child
17/ Beyoncé, Renaissance
18/ Seventeen, Sector 17
19/ The Kid Laroi, F*ck Love (Mix Tape)
20/ Drake, Certified Lover Boy

Bad Bunny Makes Forbes List of ‘World’s 10 Highest-Paid Entertainers’

Posted on February 13, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Bad Bunny is makin’ money moves…

Forbes has revealed its list of the World’s 10 Highest-Paid Entertainers, who, combined, made more than $1.3 billion last year, with the 28-year-old Puerto Rican superstar making the list.

Bad Bunny came in at No. 10 with $88 million, and he can attribute much of his financial success to his massive El Último Tour Del Mundo and The World’s Hottest Tour, plus endorsements from Corona, Cheetos and Adidas.

Topping the list are Genesis and Sting, who made $230 million and $210 million, respectively, thanks to selling their music.

Among the other major artists on the list was Taylor Swift, James Cameron and Brad Pitt.

See the full list of the world’s highest-paid entertainers here.

Selena Gomez’s “My Mind & Me” Makes Oscars Short List for Best Original Song

Posted on December 24, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Selena Gomez is in the running for an Academy Award nomination…

The 30-year-old Mexican American actress/singer’s last single has been shortlisted for an Oscar for best original song.

Gomez’s “My Mind & Me” from her documentary Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me, is part of a list that includes Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga.

But Gomez isn’t the only Latin talent to make the short list…

Guillermo del Toro, who co-directed Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio with Mark Gustafson, is among the co-writers of “Ciao Papa,” which has earned a lot of Oscar buzz.

A total of 81 songs were eligible in the category. Members of the music branch voted to determine the shortlist and will ultimately choose the final nominees.

Here’s a complete list of the 15 songs that were shortlisted for best original song.

Per Academy custom, they are listed alphabetically by film title:

“Time”
Drake, Giveon Evans, Jahaan Akil Sweet, Daniel Pemberton
Amsterdam, 20th Century Studios

“Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength)”
The Weeknd, Steve Angello Josefsson, Sebastian Ingrosso, Axel Hedfords, Simon Franglen
Avatar: The Way of Water, 20th Century Studios

“Lift Me Up”
Ryan Coogler, Ludwig Göransson, Rhianna, Tems
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Marvel Studios

“This Is a Life”
David Byrne, Ryan Lott, Mitski
Everything Everywhere All at Once, A24

“Ciao Papa”
Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz, Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Netflix

“Til You’re Home”
Rita Wilson
A Man Called Otto, Sony Pictures

“Naatu Naatu”
Kala Bhairava, M. M. Keeravani, Rahul Sipligunj
RRR, Variance Films

“My Mind & Me”
Amy Allen, Jonathan Bellion, Selena Gomez, Jordan K Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Michael Pollack
Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me, Apple Original Films

“Good Afternoon”
Benj Pasek, Justin Paul
Spirited, Apple Originals

“Applause”
Diane Warren
Tell It Like a Woman, Samuel Goldwyn Films

“Stand Up”
Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II, Jazmine Sullivan
Till, Orion/United Artists Releasing

“Hold My Hand”
BloodPop (Michael Tucker), Lady Gaga
Top Gun: Maverick, Paramount Pictures

“Dust & Ash”
Ralph
The Voice of Dust and Ash, Matilda Productions

“Carolina”
Taylor Swift
Where the Crawdads Sing, Sony Pictures

“New Body Rhumba”
Pat Mahoney, James Murphy, Nancy Whang
White Noise, Netflix

Nominations for the 95th Oscars will be announced on Tuesday, January 24, 2023.

The telecast, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will take place on Sunday, March 12, 2023, airing live on ABC from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.

Bad Bunny Becomes First Latin Act to Lead Billboard’s Year-End Top Tours Chart

Posted on December 3, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Bad Bunny is officially this year’s tour de force…

The 28-year-old Puerto Rican superstar has finished as the year’s top touring act (No. 1 on Top Tours) with total gross of $373.5 million from 1.8 million tickets across 65 shows.

Bad Bunny is the first Latin act, and first act who doesn’t perform in English, to finish atop Billboard’s year-end Top Tours chart. Beyond the historic nature of his win for genre and language, he is the only artist to mount separate $100-million tours in the same year.

Further, while Boxscore charts often favor older acts with deeper histories on the road, like 2020 and 2021 champs Elton John and The Rolling Stones, Bad Bunny’s win this year is a testament to the growing power of contemporary stadium acts.

In fact, he is just the third artist to simultaneously crown the year-end Top Tours and overall Top Artists charts, following Taylor Swift in 2015 and One Direction in 2014.

Bad Bunny’s year in touring breaks down into several parts. First, he played two hometown stadium shows at San Juan’s Hiram Bithorn Stadium, earning $6.5 million on December 10-11, 2021.

That was followed by El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo, an arena run named after his 2020 album that broke ground as the first all-Spanish-language set to top the weekly Billboard 200 chart.

On that trek, he earned $116.8 million from 35 shows, enough to set a record for the highest-grossing Latin tour in Boxscore history.

That tour broke local records in Inglewood, Calif., Miami, Houston, Seattle, and more, setting the stage for an even bigger fall in 2022.

After releasing Un Verano Sin Ti and spending most the summer at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Bad Bunny played three Puerto Rico shows for a $4 million gross, and then properly embarked on World’s Hottest Tour, living up to its name at each stop.

The trek leveled Bad Bunny to stadiums and took in $232.5 million in North America, plus another $13.8 million from its first four Latin American shows. After setting arena records throughout the U.S. in the spring, he set revenue records in 12 of the 15 domestic markets he played in the fall.

While Daddy Yankee’s La Ultima Vuelta World Tour quickly stole Bunny’s all-time Latin tour record from earlier this year, World’s Hottest Tour re-sets the pace as the first pan-American stadium tour of its size.

All of that combines to $373.5 million during the twelve-month tracking period, amounting to a record-setting, historic No. 1 finish, eclipsing Elton John and Ed Sheeran at Nos. 2-3, each of whom was a previous year-end victor.

These men lead the most eye-popping Top Tours chart ever. Five acts grossed more than $200 million, beating the previous high of four in 2018, and 16 acts generated more than $100 million in ticket sales, nearly doubling the previous high of nine in 2017 and 2018.

Billboard’s Year-End Boxscore charts are based on figures reported to Billboard Boxscore for engagements that played between November 1, 2021-October 31, 2022.

Bad Bunny Becomes First Latino Artist Named Apple Music’s Artist of the Year

Posted on November 10, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Bad Bunny is the apple of Apple’s eye…

Apple Music has named the 28-year-old Puerto Rican superstar its 2022 Artist of the Year.

It’s the first time since the Apple Music Awards launched in 2019 that a Latin artist has been recognized as AOTY, and the first time only one artist is named for the award.

Bad Bunny — whose Un Verano Sin Ti Album is also Apple Music’s most streamed album this year and the biggest Latin album of all time — is acknowledged for his excellence and influence on global culture in 2022. He now joins previous AOTY honorees including Billie Eilish, Lil Baby, Megan Thee Stallion, Taylor Swift and The Weeknd.

“We’re thrilled to celebrate the achievements of Bad Bunny, whose influence on every corner of culture could not be ignored in 2022,” said Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats, in a statement. “Watching Bad Bunny ascend from an Apple Music Up Next artist in 2018 to our Artist of the Year this year has been nothing short of extraordinary. We congratulate him on his record-breaking year and for continuing to bring Latin music to a massive global audience.”

In addition to becoming Apple Music’s biggest Latin artist of all time by streams worldwide, Bad Bunny’s “Moscow Mule” holds the record for the biggest Latin song of all time by first-day streams worldwide.

He broke the record for most simultaneous entries by a single Latin artist with 22 songs on the Daily Top 100; reached No. 1 on the Daily Top 100 in 34 countries worldwide, more than any other Latin artist; and holds the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 Latin albums by first-day streams, just to name a few milestones.

“When I started, I didn’t have a global fan base,” he told Apple Music in an exclusive film. “I’m grateful for everything I’ve accomplished and everything I’ve experienced. The Latin music movement has grown so much. I would never take full credit or say, ‘It’s because of me.’ No, it’s every one of us. A whole generation. Our energy and presence are always felt.”

In celebration, the “Me Porto Bonito” singer curated a “La Fórmula” playlist with tracks from Myke Towers and Rauw Alejandro, among others, and fans can tune in to Apple Music 1, where it’s Bad Bunny Day with exclusive programming, specials, and more.

Hispanically Yours

Celebrating the Latino Influence

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