Universal Music Group (UMG) shares almost hit an all-time high on Friday, reaching 27.47 euros ($29.98) before closing at 27.22 euros ($29.21), a 1% increase for the week. That was close to the peak of 27.96 euros ($30.52) reached on Nov. 12, 2021, less than two months after the company was spun off from Vivendi, and marked a new 52-week high. The 1% gain followed a 6.9% improvement last week as investors reacted to news that the company expects to lay off staff in the first quarter. 

If French music company Believe is taken private, as has been reported, shareholders would expect a premium over the recent share price. That would explain why the company’s share price rose 13.5% to 10.18 euros ($11.11) this week — more than offsetting the 10.5% decline Believe shares experienced last week after news broke of the potential takeover. According to a Reuters report, Believe co-founder/CEO Denis Ladegaillerie and U.S. investment firm TCV have floated the idea to private equity firms. 

The S&P 500 rose 1.2% to close at a record high of 4,839.81 on Friday, surpassing the previous peak set two years ago. The Nasdaq didn’t set a record but fared even better, climbing 2.3% to 15,310.97. Stocks in other countries didn’t match the gains in U.S. markets. In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 dropped 2.1% to 7,461.93. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index fell 2.1% to 2,472.74. China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index sank 1.7% to 2,832.28.

Music stocks were slightly off last week’s record high despite Believe’s double-digit gain and the majority of music stocks finishing the week in positive territory. The 20-company Billboard Global Music Index fell 0.4% to 1,559.48 this week, down slightly from last week’s all-time high of 1,566.45. Twelve of the 20 stocks had gains this week. Other than Believe’s takeover-related jump, the best-performing music stocks had only low, single-digit gains. MSG Entertainment rose 4.1% to 33.48 and SiriusXM improved 4% to $5.42. 

The index’s most valuable companies improved slightly: In addition to UMG’s 1% gain, Spotify improved 0.8% to $204.71 and Live Nation climbed 0.6% to $91.18. Those gains were overshadowed by losses by radio giant iHeartMedia, which fell 1.7% to $2.25, and three Asian companies: HYBE, SM Entertainment and Tencent Music Entertainment.

The index’s biggest losers were K-pop companies HYBE and SM Entertainment, which fell 10.9% and 10.3%, respectively. HYBE has been on a roller coaster in January, jumping 9.6% from Dec. 28 to Jan. 11 before falling 14.1% over the next six trading days. SM Entertainment jumped 20.5% from the end of December to Jan. 11 but has only dropped 3.4% from its high point. Another big mover this week was Chinese music streamer Tencent Music Entertainment, which dropped 9.5% to $8.51. 

There was good news for all companies on Friday when the closely watched University of Michigan’s Index of Consumer Sentiment jumped 13% in January, its highest level since July 2021. Over the last two months, consumer sentiment has risen 29% and Americans’ expectations for future inflation dropped to 2.9%. Consumer sentiment is now 60% above the all-time low from June 2022 but remains 7% below the historical average. 

Music companies will soon announce earnings results for the quarter ended Dec. 31. The first companies out of the gate are SiriusXM on Feb. 1 and Spotify on Feb. 6. 

Few stories have captivated the past couple of months like that of Tyla, the young South African singer whose single, “Water,” emerged as a sultry blend of Afrobeats and R&B and exploded across the globe. The song first debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in October — her first appearance on the chart — and quickly took off from there. It almost immediately reached the top of the Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart — where it has spent 14 weeks at No. 1 — and climbed all the way to No. 7 on the Hot 100, where it has spent the past two weeks. It has also been sitting comfortably at No. 1 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay for eight weeks.

It’s a true breakout story for the artist, who also saw “Water” land a Grammy nomination in the brand-new category of best African music performance at the upcoming awards this February — not to mention a testament to the work of her management and her team at Epic Records, where she signed in 2021. The song began picking up organically, got a lift off a TikTok challenge and catapulted onto radio, picking up remixes from Travis Scott and Marshmello along the way. And the song’s success so far earns Epic Records president Ezekiel Lewis the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week. 

Here, Lewis breaks down how “Water” erupted onto the global stage, the multiple genre influences that went into its final version and how the singer can build on the song’s success leading into her debut album, which is due out in the next few months. “From the beginning of the record-making process, we made it a point to find the best chemistry between creatives from different backgrounds to reflect the worldly influences you hear in the song,” Lewis says. “That is a key factor in enabling it to appeal to audiences not only in the U.S. but across the globe.”

This week, Tyla’s “Water” spent its second week at No. 7 on the Hot 100, its 14th week at No. 1 on U.S. Afrobeats Songs and was certified platinum by the RIAA. What key decision(s) did you make to help make that happen?

The story starts with the creation of the song. I feel like a big part of our job is to curate an environment that creates an opportunity for magic to happen. Consider the fact that the four key writers of the song had never worked together as a collective before Tyla. From the beginning of the record-making process, we made it a point to find the best chemistry between creatives from different backgrounds to reflect the worldly influences you hear in the song. That is a key factor in enabling it to appeal to audiences, not only in the U.S. but across the globe.

“Water” blends an Afrobeats/Amapiano drum pattern with more traditional R&B elements, combining a number of different styles. Why do you think it was able to break through in such a big way?

The song not only has elements of Afrobeats but also more specifically Amapiano which is integral to the music culture of South Africa. While the wider Afrobeats influence is obvious, the use of the log drum by Sammy Soso is key to tying in that specific South African element. Then moving on to the top line, the lyric and melody, R&B and pop dominate in terms of influence there. We really hit a sweet spot in terms of multiple influences coming together seamlessly. There’s something for everyone.

The song has also done very well at radio, with eight straight weeks at No. 1 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay. What was the strategy there and how has it paid off?

Once we accomplished a strong Shazam, digital and streaming story, the stage was set for radio to follow through. The audience talked back loudly and let us know it wanted to hear more and more of the record. The song’s gains at playlists across multiple genres gave us a strong sense that radio would be able to replicate that success, and that we could have a chart topper across multiple formats. Once all of the indicators pointed upward, we went for it, and thankfully we were correct in doing so.

The song was also boosted relatively early on with remixes from Travis Scott and Marshmello. How have remixes fit into your strategy, and what has been the payoff?

When thinking about remixing the song, we did not want to significantly compromise the implicit nature of the track by doing something simply to gain more audience. Authenticity is sometimes hard to articulate, but you know it once you press play and begin to listen. Travis came to the table organically, as a fan of the song, and wanted to join. We knew immediately that it would make sense creatively and would only add to the prominence of the track. Travis is a preeminent curator himself, so the vote of confidence was welcomed. His involvement gave listeners a different take on a song that they had already embraced.

Similarly, and maybe less obvious, was Marshmello, who also was a fan of the song and asked if he could do a remix. Once we heard how he re-imagined the track, we were excited to have him join us. His version has definitely given the track wings in the dance space and helped to take it further with additional streaming in that world. All of this cross-pollination has helped the track ascend the Billboard Hot 100.

So far, music from African artists has mostly broken through singles in the U.S. How do you plan to keep Tyla’s momentum going through to releasing a full album?

We will continue to build on Tyla’s momentum by keeping African culture at the center of what we do musically and creatively overall. There is a sonic consistency that listeners will hear across this first project and we expect this to go over well with the new fan base that she has developed. There is already a nearly completely sold-out tour scheduled in both Europe and the U.S. Also, her new track, “Truth Or Dare,” is showing early signs of greatness as we build daily and sits in the top five of both the U.S. and U.K. Afrobeats charts.

The song also earned a Grammy nomination in the first-ever best African music performance category. What do you see as the future of African music in the U.S. moving forward, both from a musical perspective and an industry perspective?

The sky is the limit for African music in the U.S., as I foresee continued cross-pollination to move it forward. It has proven its potential to top charts in urban, pop, and even in the dance space. It simply cannot be ignored and the Recording Academy has made an intelligent and timely decision. I could not be more excited for the future. Everyone wants a piece of the action.

Last week, Luminate put out its 2023 year-end report. While the data company, which tabulates Billboard‘s charts and provides data for the film and TV industries, usually puts out a separate Canadian report, this year’s was instead a report on the global music industry as a whole.

Billboard Canada asked Luminate if it could supply any more data on who and what was hot in Canada in 2023, and they dug in for four more exclusive lists.

When it comes to vinyl sales, Taylor Swift, unsurprisingly, takes up the top three spots and four of the top 10. 

Top 10 Vinyl Sales

Swift also takes the top spot for CD sales, but there are also two somewhat surprising Canadian albums represented: Neo-Romance from Quebecois pianist Alexandra Stréliski and A Boire Deboutte from francophone Acadian roots act Salebarbes. 

Top 10 CD Sales

Head here for the top 10 on-demand streams for two of Canada’s most popular and rising genres: country and R&B/hip-hop. – Richard Trapunski & David Farrell

CIMA Calls On Government To Keep Its Canada Music Fund Promise

CIMA, the Canadian Independent Music Association, has launched a campaign calling on the public to contact Liberal representatives about the Canada Music Fund. Following a direct appeal to the government last fall, CIMA has turned towards the public in hopes of putting pressure on the government to make good on their campaign promise to increase the fund by $50 million.

The organization has set up a letter campaign that allows supporters to contact the government with a plea to increase the Canada Music Fund, which supports the operations of granting bodies FACTOR and Musicaction. According to CIMA, FACTOR invested $21 million in the Canadian music industry in 2022 alone and has supported 6,500 artists in the last five years.

FACTOR receives part of its funding from private radio broadcasters, but those contributions have been decreasing, with CIMA estimating they could be as low as $2 million in 2024. The Canada Music Fund is currently $25 million annually, and CIMA says that a $50 million increase is needed just to maintain current programming, while many music associations are calling for a $60 million increase. The Liberal government promised a $50 million increase in 2021 to help the Canada Music Fund keep up with demand and the rising costs of releasing and touring music.

CIMA president Andrew Cash spoke to the House Finance Committee on Nov. 14 about the increase and said that if the government fails to follow through, “companies will close, those that don’t will shed staff and release fewer artists, and this will result in fewer shows across the country, harming an already precarious live music sector, affecting local economies, and reducing revenues to government.” 

FACTOR provides major financial support for artists looking to export their music internationally, with showcasing and touring grants that help artists travel to key industry events abroad, as well as support for marketing and sound recording.

“If the government does not make good even on their $50 million promise to our sector, FACTOR’s budget could be cut in half over the next couple of years,” states CIMA’s new public campaign. – Rosie Long Decter

Amazon Music Canada Announces Breakthrough Artists to Watch 2024

Amazon Music Canada has announced the six Canadian rising stars included in its Breakthrough Artists to Watch 2024. Throughout the year, these six musicians will include support from Amazon Music Canada, including year-long promotion, exclusive music, playlist placement, editorial and tailored developmental support for each artist’s career ambitions.

This year’s selections include inaugural Billboard Canada Punjabi Wave cover star Jonita Gandhi, francophone rapper Fredz, small-town Ontario country singer Owen Riegling, former breakout star of Canadian singing competition The Launch Jamie Fine, Ottawa singer-songwriter Anaïs Cardot and Victoria, British Columbia-based funk/R&B artist Diamond Cafe (who also just signed a major label deal with Warner Music Canada).

“The focus of Artist to Watch is to help artists who are bubbling up in Canada find ways to grow their audiences and connect with new fans across the country and globally,” John Murphy, head of music, Canada, at Amazon Music, tells Billboard Canada. “We’re looking forward to working closely with this year’s group of diverse, promising artists and helping even more fans discover them and their music.”

One of the goals of the program is to spread regional artists internationally, adds Murphy. Amazon Music launched its first Canadian edition of the initiative last year, and Murphy says it more than doubled the total fans of each artist throughout 2023. Madeline Merlo launched an original track on the streaming service called “You’ll Think of Me,” and more than 50% of its streams have come from outside of Canada.

All six of the artists selected have big plans for 2024, including new music, concerts and some other dreams. To let them speak for themselves, Billboard Canada asked each musician about their year ahead.

Read all of those interviews here. – Richard Trapunski

Weverse seems to fly under most of the music industry’s radar despite its strategic importance to its owner, HYBE, the K-pop juggernaut that has successfully leveraged BTS’s success to build an increasingly global, technologically advanced music company.

The social media company’s 10 million monthly active users — 90% of which come from outside South Korea — are few by some standards. TikTok, Instagram and Facebook boast more than 1 billion apiece. But it’s the home turf for artists with some of the most loyal fanbases on the planet. And HYBE is leveraging those acts’ popularity to build a must-visit destination for fans of K-pop and, eventually, other genres, too.

When J-Hope, a member of BTS, performed a solo show at Lollapalooza in 2022, it was livestreamed on Weverse. When Jung Kook, another BTS member, hosted an at-home livestream in February 2023, Weverse drew 16 million real-time views. When HYBE group ENHYPEN performed a showcase for its Dark Blood EP last May, it brought 2.4 million real-time views to the platform.

Artists use Weverse to host live chats with fans to promote new albums and its e-commerce platform to sell merchandise. Last year, Weverse Shop sold over 18 million pieces of merchandise, including such items as branded light sticks from K-pop group Seventeen — a handheld device used at the band’s concerts that carries a $64 price tag in the United States.

All of this feels like it’s just the beginning. As K-pop surges in popularity globally, Weverse’s traffic is on the rise. Last year, its average user spent 250 minutes on the platform and visited 10.2 days per month, up from 171 minutes and 9.2 days in 2022. Traffic was up 47% in Africa and 25% in the Middle East. It now has 117 artist communities, including 13 SM Entertainment artists — including Super Junior, Riize and NCT Wish — who joined in September. And as Weverse president Joon Choi explained in an interview with Billboard, the company’s next target is the United States.

Do artists bring their fans to Weverse, or do they tap into the passionate user base you have?

That happens in both ways. Existing Weverse users contributed a lot to the new community of the SM Entertainment artists. But, at the same time, we could clearly see the new user registration spike right after SM artists joined Weverse. So, we’re very happy with this kind of migration. It happened with no hassle.

What about adding artists from the United States to Weverse? Many artists under the HYBE umbrella could be potentially added to the platform to reach new fans.

That’s still in discussion. I think we can come up with more exciting news in the near future.

Weverse has an office in Los Angeles [in Santa Monica]. What are you doing to build Weverse and build the brand in the United States?

The first thing is we are aggressively hiring people who would serve the basic functions including commerce functions, as well as artist support. In terms of raising and improving market awareness, I think that’s something we will be more aggressively working on in 2024. So, as we gain the momentum from new artists and North American artists joining and creating communities on Weverse in America, we will aggressively work on raising the market awareness this year.

Fandom is a word that has become more commonplace as K-pop has grown more popular. I think it’s also a tough word to define properly. How do you define fandom?

I think there are multiple segments — or I would say cohorts — among users of our services. Starting from light listeners, and then we would have more active listeners, we would probably consider them being monthly subscribers to Spotify or Apple, they will be probably the more active listener. And then on top of that there must be a cohort that is more engaged. And those will be probably concertgoers or those people who actively purchase albums of these particular artists. From that particular cohort or user segment, we will probably call them fans. As their engagement level goes up, and they become more active in their fan activities, they will be considered the most dedicated or enthusiastic fans. When you think about any business, you think about the framework of the user acquisition funnel from the very top to the bottom. When it goes to the very bottom, the core of the users, there are users or fans who are ready to purchase whatever the artist is offering. So, from the very bottom to the top, Weverse climbs up to the light users.

What specifically does Weverse do to help serve artists’ superfans better than other social platforms or a streaming platform like Spotify?

Before Weverse, the superfan experience was scattered here and there. You buy merch here, you go to the concert, and you get together in some places. Those experiences were all scattered around. But I think Weverse was the first service to get everything together in the best, [most] convenient way. Number two would be global. To go global, we really value the importance of translation. So, we provide real-time translation in 15 languages.

How does how does Weverse make money? Is it advertising? Is it taking a percentage of sales?

When it comes to advertising, we don’t have it yet, but we are working on it. So, we’re going to launch our advertising service this year. And before that, basically we get a revenue share from album sales, merch sales or any kind of digital value provided to the fans.

I’ve noticed a lot of merchandise for sale. How do you fulfill those orders? Do you have partners in different countries to help?

When it comes to a commerce system, we built everything in-house except for the fulfillment side. Obviously, we have international fulfillment partners. We have warehouses in Korea, Japan and the U.S. — in Carson, south of L.A. So, we get orders from more than 200 countries around the world. We ship everywhere.

You sell CDs, correct, and digital downloads?

Correct.

Do fans in Korea still buy CDs and download albums and tracks in high numbers?

They do both, obviously. Physical albums still do very high volume. And on top of that, Weverse also tries to provide digital/physical experiences together. That’s the reason why we launched Weverse Album last year, which is basically an album without a CD. The album comes with the QR code, then users can download the original high-quality music source and enjoy within Weverse.

What’s more popular in Korea, CDs or vinyl?

CDs. Vinyl is not as popular as in the U.S.

You launched Weverse by Fans, which allows users to customize merchandise. Can you tell me how many artists are using that and what the early results have been?

Currently, Weverse by Fans is in the beta phase. As of now, we have eight Korean artists who are using the Weverse by Fans: TOMORROW X TOGETHER, ENHYPEN, Le Sserafim, NewJeans, BOYNEXTDOOR, XIA, Hwang Min Hyun and Baekho.

Weverse does live streaming, whether it’s live performance or chats with artists. How important is that to Weverse?

Weverse Live is highly important to us. Weverse Live offers many different layers that I would say are different types of livestreaming. With the first one, we might have some special arrangement celebrating or marking an album’s release or album showcase. So, Weverse Live can be used for that. And there can be more instant or casual livestreaming, using the Weverse Live as well. The Lollapalooza performance that BTS member J-Hope did in 2022, that was on Weverse Live as well. Weverse Live offers many different types of livestreaming starting from very large-scale concert streaming to a very casual or instant livestreaming done by individual artists.

I would like to add the three reasons why Weverse Live is of great value and importance to Weverse. First, after we release the service, Weverse Live, the users’ duration [of visit] and also their likelihood of revisiting Weverse have all gone up. So, the retention rate has significantly improved thanks to Weverse Live. And the second reason is that users are very satisfied with the quality of livestreaming services that we offer. They often give us feedback that compared to other major livestreaming services they are highly satisfied with the quality of livestreams that we provide. And the third reason is that Weverse Live has been integrated with live commerce, Weverse Commerce. When an artist or a label decides to do so, we can also turn on Weverse Commerce. That has really helped boost sales.

What might somebody sell with Weverse Commerce? A new album release?

Yes, our albums have been the most frequently sold items using the live commerce feature. Artists and labels prefer selling albums. That was the main item that was sold on live commerce. But, as I mentioned earlier, artists want to add the Weverse by Fans feature as part of the live commerce. So that’s something that we’re working on right now.

Since HYBE owns Weverse, it also owns a lot of data about its fans. How does HYBE leverage that data for either insights or marketing?

As you know, HYBE is a multi-label system. Underneath the multi-label system, each label is actively leveraging the fandom data coming from each community. However, what you need to understand is that within Weverse, there are many artists that are not HYBE artists, right? So, each label is working like a silo — they have access and they leverage the data only within their own community. So that’s what I want to clarify first.

As you know, Weverse is a platform and the neutrality of data and our service’s neutrality has been emphasized from the very beginning. From the early days of Weverse, that was something that we always have emphasized. Maybe because we have emphasized that importance, more than 90% of artists that have joined Weverse are not HYBE artists.

Could you give me insight into the size of the company, where your employees are, where you have offices? How could you describe the size of your footprint?

When we first started Weverse, we started with 50 to 60 people. But as I mentioned earlier, we went through a very compact, rapid growth within the last three or four years. So now we have about 370 people in Korea. So, in total around the world in three headquarters in Pangyo [South Korea], here where I am in Tokyo and Santa Monica, we have a total of about 450 employees. More than half of them are engineering people. I think it’s very hard to find any music company that has this many engineering people in-house. So, I think that was the biggest challenge we’ve been going through and also it has been very successful so far.

Do you expect to grow in 2024?

Yes. I’m very sure. Because, I mean, it has been [an] investment in advance because Weverse has massive traffic and a global scale. That requires a lot of work under the hood, way more than the surface features you can see from the web or app. There are a lot of things underneath that. So, it has been a very heavy lift, and that requires a lot of technological investment and investment.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Cody Johnson rolls up his third top 10 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart as “The Painter” climbs from No. 11 to No. 8 on the ranking dated Jan. 27.

In the Jan. 12-18 tracking week, the song increased by 10% to 20.7 million audience impressions, according to Luminate.

Benjy Davis, Kat Higgins and Ryan Larkins co-wrote the song, which Trent Willmon produced. It’s the lead single from Johnson’s LP Leather, which arrived on Top Country Albums at its No. 5 peak in November, becoming his fifth top 10. On the Jan. 20-dated list, Leather placed at No. 20 (10,000 equivalent album units, up 2%).

Johnson, from Sebastopol, Texas, scores his third Country Airplay top 10 in succession. “The Painter” follows “Human,” which hit No. 8 last June, and “‘Til You Can’t,” which ruled for two frames starting in March 2022. He charted his first of 11 entries with “With You I Am,” which reached No. 40 in May 2017.

Johnson has two additional tracks on Country Airplay. His duet with Ian Munsick, “Long Live Cowgirls,” ranks at No. 56 and “Dirt Cheap” enters at No. 58 (600,000, up 42%).

Six-Alarm ‘Fire’

Nate Smith’s “World on Fire” leads Country Airplay for a sixth total and consecutive week (35.5 million, down 1%). It became his second straight career-opening No. 1, following “Whiskey on You,” which dominated for two weeks last February.

“World on Fire” marks the first title to top Country Airplay for at least six weeks since Morgan Wallen’s crossover smash “Last Night” reigned for eight weeks beginning last May. The latter went on to lead the 2023 Country Airplay Songs recap, as well as the year-end all-genre, multimetric Billboard Hot 100 Songs survey.

Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas One and All! tour grossed $29.6 million and sold 214,000 tickets according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. On a per-show basis, the tour’s 15 dates sold more tickets than any Carey tour in 25 years, dating back to the Butterfly World Tour in 1998.

Carey released Merry Christmas in 1994, featuring the iconic and evergreen smash single, “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” That would be enough to cement her status as the Queen of Christmas, but Carey has put in the work each year and assumed her throne on stage as well. For every year since 2014 (except for the 2020-21 COVID years), she has toured and/or held mini residencies honoring her holiday material.

For four years, Carey played a stint at New York’s Beacon Theatre, building from 16,200 tickets in 2014, to 20,700 in 2015, and to 23,400 in 2016. She cut down to just three shows at the Beacon in 2017, before rebuilding at Madison Square Garden in 2019, 2022 and 2023. Her two shows there in December sold a combined 28,700 tickets and grossed $4.5 million, both of which are bigger than ever.

Not only has Carey increased her efficiency in New York, she’s built out across the country and into Europe. What began as a NYC-only event in 2014, expanded to Europe in 2017 and 2018, plus more North American cities in 2019. After last year’s post-pandemic return focused on just New York and Toronto, the 2023 tour boasts Carey’s biggest holiday routing yet, never playing to fewer than 12,500 fans across the U.S. and Canada. Holiday classics or not, it’s her first such major arena tour since 2006.

Considering "All I Want for Christmas Is You" re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 based on the tracking week of Nov. 10-16, and stayed at No. 2 through the first week of 2024, it's possible she could expand beyond the Nov. 17-Dec. 17 window of this year's run.

The Merry Christmas One and All! tour averaged $2 million and 14,200 tickets per show. Those revenue figures are Carey’s biggest ever, dating back more than 30 years since she crashed the Billboard charts.

But while a bustling concert economy and decades of inflation can explain some of her recent success, Carey’s reach – the sheer number of tickets she sold – is also sky high. That 14,200 average is the best per-show attendance for any of her tours since 1998, when she was supporting the previous year’s Butterfly.

Leading up to that 1998 tour, Carey amassed four No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 and 12 No. 1 songs on the Hot 100. Since then, there have been another two No. 1 albums and seven No. 1 songs, including 14 weeks on top, spread across the last five holiday seasons, for “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” In 2019, one month before that track reached the summit, Carey ranked No. 4 on Billboard’s Greatest of All Time Artists chart, leading among women and Black artists.

Still, Carey has never toured with the same intensity as many of the acts that surrounded her on that list, such as Elton John, Madonna or Taylor Swift. Her first three concert tours, in the midst of her ‘90s chart-topping spree, each lasted for no more than 11 shows, almost one eighth of Swift’s calendar for 2024.

It’s encouraging that Carey has arguably been busier than ever on the road in the last decade, including her annual holiday series, two Las Vegas residencies and three international tours. Far removed from releasing her last chart-topper, her 2023 upswing in concert attendance, not to mention the all-time-high grosses, tells a positive story about Carey’s legacy as the Queen of Christmas, using her unique niche (and 19 No. 1 hits – a record among soloists – expanding their presence in the holiday show setlist) to fill arenas.

Bring Me the Horizon notches its record-breaking fifth No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Hard Rock Songs chart, as “Kool-Aid” bows atop the Jan. 20-dated survey. The song debuts with 2.4 million official U.S. streams and 2,000 downloads sold Jan. 5-11, according to Luminate.

The track is the Oli Sykes-fronted rockers’ first release since the departure of longtime keyboardist Jordan Fish, who was also one of the band’s principal songwriters and producers.

With five No. 1s, Bring Me the Horizon breaks out of a tie with Falling in Reverse for the most in the brief history of Hot Hard Rock Songs, which began in June 2020. It’s the band’s first topper as a lead act since its trio of leaders in 2020: “Parasite Eve,” “Obey” (with Yungblud) and “Teardrops.” In 2023, the group led as featured on Lil Uzi Vert’s “Werewolf.”

Concurrently, “Kool-Aid” opens at Nos. 14, 20 and 25 on Hot Alternative Songs, Hot Rock Songs and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, respectively.

The song’s paid download count earned the band a No. 1 debut on Hard Rock Digital Song Sales, Bring Me the Horizon’s eighth leader and first since “LosT” last May. Only Five Finger Death Punch (16) and Linkin Park (nine) have more No. 1s in the history of the chart, which began in 2011.

Additionally, “Kool-Aid” ranks at No. 17 on Hard Rock Streaming Songs.

The song is bubbling under Mainstream Rock Airplay. Its predecessor, “DArkSide,” reached No. 31 earlier in January. (“DArkSide” debuted and peaked at No. 2 on Hot Hard Rock Songs in October 2023 and currently ranks at No. 11.)

“Kool-Aid” is the latest single from Post Human: Next Gen, the second in Bring Me the Horizon’s Post Human series, following 2020’s Post Human: Survival Horror. The set does not yet have a release date but is expected in 2024.

This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.

This week: An ugly new legal battle erupts within the Prince estate; Madison Square Garden CEO James Dolan is sued for sexual assault; a judge issues a ruling on the ongoing battle between members of Mötley Crüe; and much more.

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THE BIG STORY: Civil War in The Prince Estate

After Prince died without a will in 2016, it took more than six years of legal wrangling to settle his estate, as heirs, advisors, a court-appointed bank and Primary Wave all battled before a Minnesota probate judge over how exactly the star’s assets should be divided.

When the dust finally settled in 2022 — with tax issues resolved and the $156 million estate split evenly into two LLCs — it seemed that the case was closed. Primary Wave (which bought out three of the heirs) would control one-half of the estate, while the remaining heirs and a pair of advisors would control the other half. Each side vowed to bring Prince’s music to a new generation of music fans.

But less than two years later, the Prince estate is suddenly back in court — this time, over allegations of an attempted coup within one of the ownership groups, including an attempt by one heir to unilaterally sell more shares to Primary Wave. For more, go read our full story here.

Other top stories this week…

JAMES DOLAN UNDER FIRE – The Madison Square Garden executive was hit with a sexual assault lawsuit claiming he pressured a masseuse into unwanted sex while his band was touring with the Eagles — and that he later facilitated an incident in which she was also assaulted by Harvey Weinstein. The lawsuit also named Irving Azoff’s The Azoff Company, claiming it had “benefited from facilitating Dolan’s behavior.”

CRÜE’S COURT CLASH – Mötley Crüe co-founder Mick Mars won a court order against his former bandmates, requiring them to repay some of his legal bills after a judge said they refused to turn over key financial records and other information. The decision was a win for Mars, but the real battle — a private arbitration case over whether the band acted illegally when they tried to kick him out of the band — remains ahead.

DIDDY BOOZE SETTLEMENT – Sean “Diddy” Combs and alcohol giant Diageo reached a settlement to resolve a year-long lawsuit over their soured partnership for DeLeón tequila. The deal, which will end a bitter legal battle that saw Combs accuse the liquor company of racism, came just months after he was hit with multiple sexual assault lawsuits.

G HERBO SENTENCED – A federal judge sentenced the Chicago rapper to three years of probation after he pleaded guilty to participating in a scam involving stolen credit card information — a fraud that prosecutors say netted the Chicago rapper almost $140,000 in private jet flights, vacation lodgings and luxury car rentals.

ALLEGED TUPAC KILLER GETS BAIL – A judge set bail at $750,000 for Duane “Keffe D” Davis, the former Los Angeles-area gang leader charged with orchestrating the killing of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur in 1996. The judge ruled that Davis, who is allegedly in poor health after battling cancer, can serve house arrest with electronic monitoring ahead of his trial in June.

AI LEGISLATION IN WASHINGTON – A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a bill called No Artificial Intelligence Fake Replicas And Unauthorized Duplications Act, or No AI FRAUD Act, legislation that would aim to regulate the use of artificial intelligence for cloning voices and other forms of likeness. The same day, lawmakers in Tennessee unveiled similar legislation called the Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act, or ELVIS Act, which would beef up existing state-level protections for such likeness rights.

In 2023, Taylor Swift loomed so large in the world of vinyl albums, that one of every 15 vinyl albums sold in the U.S. was by the superstar.

Comparatively, in 2022, she accounted for one of every 25 vinyl albums sold.

Swift was the year’s top-selling act on vinyl for a third straight year, with 3.484 million copies sold across her catalog of albums, according to data tracking firm Luminate. The industry’s total vinyl album sales for 2023, across all artists in the U.S., finished at 49.61 million – up 14.2% from 43.46 million in 2022. 2023 marked the 18th consecutive year vinyl album sales grew in the U.S., and the largest year for vinyl album sales since Luminate began tracking data in 1991.  

In 2023, Swift’s vinyl sales accounted for 7% of the industry’s total vinyl album sales.

Read more about the year-end numbers in the U.S. 2023 Luminate Year-End Music Report.

Swift’s vinyl sales were so big in 2023 that she sold more than the next seven-biggest-selling acts on vinyl last year. Lana Del Rey was the year’s No. 2-seller on vinyl, with 646,000 copies sold, followed by Tyler, the Creator (552,000), Travis Scott (474,000), Olivia Rodrigo (408,000), Kendrick Lamar (382,000), Metallica (378,000) and The Beatles (373,000). (To round out the top 10-selling acts on vinyl last year, Fleetwood Mac was No. 9, with 357,000, and Mac Miller was No. 10 with 354,000.)

The top-selling vinyl album of 2023 was Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) with 1.014 million sold. That marks the largest yearly sales total for a vinyl album, and the first vinyl set to sell a million in a calendar year, since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991. The set also scored the largest sales week for a vinyl set since 1991 when it debuted with 693,000 copies sold in its first week.

Swift has five of the top 10-selling vinyl albums of 2023, and the entire top three. (See list, below.)

TOP 10-SELLING VINYL ALBUMS OF 2023 IN U.S.
1. Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (1.014 million)
2. Taylor Swift, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (510,000)
3. Taylor Swift, Midnights (492,000)
4. Travis Scott, Utopia (373,000)
5. Taylor Swift, Folklore (308,000)
6. Olivia Rodrigo, Guts (267,000)
7. Taylor Swift, Lover (256,000)
8. Lana Del Rey, Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (215,000)
9. Fleetwood Mac, Rumours (206,000)
10. Lana Del Rey, Born To Die (192,000)
Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022, through Dec. 28, 2023.

Vinyl album sales comprised 47.1% of all album sales in the U.S. in 2023 (49.61 million of 105.32 million). Vinyl LPs accounted for 57% of all physical album sold last year (49.61 million of 87 million). Both sums are Luminate-era records for vinyl’s share of the album sales market in the U.S.

For the third consecutive year, and the third year since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991, vinyl albums outsold CD albums in the U.S. Vinyl once again is the leading configuration for album purchases for the third year in a row. (Vinyl was the top-selling album configuration in 2023, followed by CDs and then digital download albums.)

Vinyl was the dominant configuration for album purchases in the U.S. up until the early 1980s. After that, cassettes took hold until the early ‘90s, when the CD configuration blossomed and remained king until 2021, when vinyl retook the top slot.

Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991 when the company was known as SoundScan. Luminate’s sales, streaming and airplay data is used to compile Billboard’s weekly charts. Luminate’s 2023 tracking year ran from Dec. 30, 2022, through Dec. 28, 2023. Luminate is an independently operated company and a subsidiary of PME TopCo, a joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and Eldridge. Billboard is an independently operated company owned by PME Holdings, a subsidiary of PME TopCo.

Universal Music Group (UMG) shares rose 3% on Friday — the same day news broke that the company will lay off hundreds of staffers — and finished the week up 6.9% to 26.95 euros ($29.54). The prospect of cost savings made UMG the top-performing music stock of the week, beating French music streaming company Deezer’s 6.5% gain and 6% improvements by both Chinese music streamer Tencent Music Entertainment and live entertainment company MSG Entertainment. 

UMG first let investors know it was planning layoffs in its October earnings call. On Friday, a report by Bloomberg said UMG is planning layoffs as early as this quarter, primarily in its recorded music division. A company spokesperson declined to comment on the scope and timetable of the layoffs but told Billboard UMG is “creating efficiencies” in certain areas of the business “so we can remain nimble and responsive to the dynamic market, while realizing the benefits of our scale.” UMG’s stock gained 14.7% in 2023.

Despite no stocks finishing the week with double-digit gains, the 20-company Billboard Global Music Index rose 3.6% to a record 1,566.45 as 12 companies posted gains and eight companies’ share prices declined. Streaming companies led the way with an average gain of 3.9%. Live music companies averaged a 0.7% improvement. Record labels and publishers dropped an average of 1.5%. Radio companies lost an average of 4%.

Music stocks topped the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite, which gained 3.1% to 14,972.76 and easily bested the S&P 500’s 1.8% increase to 4,783.83. In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 fell 0.8% to 7,624.93. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index dropped 2.1% to 2,525.05. 

The index got a big lift from Spotify’s 4.9% gain to $203.03 this week. Spotify has surged 12.4% since it announced layoffs on December 4 and pledged to operate more efficiently. On Thursday, Spotify closed above $200 for the first time since Feb. 1, 2022. At Friday’s closing price, the stock is up 120.5% in the last 52 weeks. 

Live Nation finished the week up 1.6% to $90.66 after Roth analyst Eric Handler upgraded the stock to “buy” and increased the price target from $92 to $114. The $114 price target implies a nearly 26% upside from Friday’s closing price. 

Shares of French music company Believe fell 10.5% to 8.97 euros ($9.83) on Friday’s news that the company’s investors were pursuing taking the company private. According to a Reuters report, Believe’s largest shareholders, which includes founder Denis Ladegaillerie and U.S. investment firm TCV, have been working with advisors to gauge the interest of private equity firms. In the first nine months of 2023, Believe, the owner of digital distributor TuneCore and record labels such as PlayTwo and Jo&Co, had revenue of 630.4 million euros ($691 million), up 14.8% year over year. 

While other companies in recorded music and publishing posted gains this week, K-pop stocks were down across the board. HYBE’s 2% decline to 247,000 won ($188.05) was the best of the four South Korean music companies. JYP Entertainment fell 8.3% to 96,600 won ($73.54). Two others each dropped 5.9%: SM Entertainment closed at 88,200 won ($67.15) and YG Entertainment finished the week at 43,100 won ($32.81).