Dire Straits Manage A Surprising Comeback With Several Big Albums
Dire Straits haven't released a new album in years, and the band is no longer together. Still, the act's music continues to resonate with a massive audience, especially in the U.K., where the group got its start. This week, the classic rock outfit returns to the Official Albums chart with two different collections – an impressive feat considering neither of the sets appeared on the tally last week, and that neither one is new. Now, both sit side-by-side on the competitive ranking.
Sultans of Swing – The Very Best of returns to the Official Albums chart at No. 99, landing in second-to-last place on the 100-spot roster. Just below that, Private Investigations – The Best Of reenters at No. 100.
This week marks a relatively rare occurrence in which two compilations from the same band appear on the list of the most-consumed full-lengths in the country, despite some serious overlap in track listings.
The two collections have followed different paths on the Official Albums tally. Sultans of Swing has peaked as high as No. 6, but has only remained on the ranking for 37 weeks. Private Investigations, on the other hand, reached a high of No. 20 – yet it has charted for a far longer span, with 143 weeks on the tally.
As both titles perform well on the main albums ranking, they also appear on the Official Albums Streaming chart, which measures the top-performing full-lengths on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Private Investigations climbs from No. 100 to No. 87, while Sultans of Swing lifts from No. 96 to a new peak of No. 85. That's a new all-time peak for the latter set on this streaming-only roster.
While Dire Straits has claimed many hit singles throughout the years the band was together, 'Sultans of Swing' continues to perform especially well to this day. The tune, which lends its name to one of the group's compilations, surges nearly 20 spaces on the Official Singles chart. This frame, it lands at No. 65. The track originally peaked at No. 8 decades ago, and it introduced the outfit to the general public. It has now spent 15 weeks on the tally, though those appearances span many years.
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Business Insider
5 hours ago
- Business Insider
Addison Rae and the art of the rebrand
The business of being Addison Rae was booming. It was March 2021, and the then-20-year-old had recently become the world's top-earning TikTok star, dancing and lip-syncing her way to nearly 80 million followers and a vast portfolio of brand deals. She'd dropped out of school at Louisiana State University to sign with an agent and move to LA, was preparing to launch her own cosmetics line, and had already secured a second season of her Spotify-exclusive podcast. That summer, she'd make her film debut in Netflix's "He's All That," a role that would lead to a multimillion-dollar deal with the streamer. There was only one thing left to do: Become a pop star. But when the single and music video for Rae's debut single " Obsessed" dropped that month, listeners were anything but. The song was panned as phoned-in influencer slop. "This is proof that nowadays it's so easy to get into the music industry by using the clout you have," one YouTube commenter wrote. Critics weren't much kinder. "'Obsessed' proves she should stick to lip syncing," Langa Chinyoka wrote for entertainment blog Popdust. While the song's reception was almost unanimously negative, the real inciting factor was Rae's audacity to release original music at all: How dare an influencer best known as a purveyor of corny TikTok dance trends envision herself as an actual artist worthy of any stage bigger than an iPhone? Back then, no one could have predicted Rae's debut album, "Addison," would arrive Friday amid a flurry of praise from pop heads and critics alike. Four years after "Obsessed" became a spectacular flop, Rae has masterfully rebranded as the music industry's newest "It" Girl. This time, her strategy is working: her face is back on major magazine covers, she's collaborating and associating with pioneering pop stars like Charli XCX and Rosalía, and is being anointed " the new pop princess" by fans on social media. Against all odds, Rae has pulled off a rare pivot, trading a massive but unenthusiastic audience of passive social media scrollers for critical acclaim and a passionate niche of die-hard fans. As Walden Green wrote for Pitchfork, "Addison Rae has achieved something arguably more impressive than success: coolness." How did she do it? Act I: Flipping the script Rae is hardly the first celebrity to switch lanes, but the transition from TikToker to bona fide celebrity is particularly difficult — just ask Charli D'Amelio or Bella Poarch, both of whom boasted more followers than Rae in 2020, but have so far failed to parlay social-media fame into traditional Hollywood prestige. Lili Colwell, the vice president of digital at Night, a talent representation platform for online creators, said her clients face greater stigma when transitioning into a new discipline, as skeptics often assume that influencers are lazy trend hoppers, not creative forces in their own right. "They don't give these people enough credit," Colwell said. "They're like, 'Oh, they have no talent.'" Growing an audience on TikTok demands a constant churn of content. Rae recently told The New York Times' Popcast she was posting "ridiculous amounts of videos" at her peak popularity, sometimes up to 12 videos per day. Meanwhile, carving a fruitful path in the music industry demands discernment and a distinct point of view. The biggest stars like Taylor Swift and Beyoncé deploy tightly controlled communications strategies to keep their brand identities compelling and consistent. Tara Goodwin, a PR expert and founder of Goodwin Consulting, said for Rae to be taken seriously beyond social media, it was essential that she rejected TikTok's ethos of oversaturation and began sharing with more intention. "On TikTok, she had random posts all the time, never any rhyme or reason," Goodwin said. "Now, it's very curated, it's very strategic." In May 2025, Rae only shared 12 videos on TikTok for the entire month, mostly to promote music videos that were painstakingly styled, shot, and edited — a far cry from the off-the-cuff, low-effort clips that defined her early days on the app. Now, if she's going to lip sync or dance, it's to her own songs. Taking a step back from algorithmic ubiquity not only gave Rae more control over her narrative but also added a crucial layer of mystique to her persona — a key element in transforming her reputation from regular Louisiana girl with a knack for nailing TikTok dances to an aspirational, slightly unknowable celebrity and artist. "She's releasing bits and pieces to intrigue the audience and make them want more," Goodwin said of Rae's current social media strategy. "She's actually now creating a story." Online and in interviews, Rae has managed to sell her rebrand as an earnest progression in her creative coming-of-age. She told The New York Times that, after her TikToker days of hustling for mass appeal and millions of followers, she can finally afford to take risks. "I have this luxury now to be able to play and explore," she said. The fact that it's taken four years for Rae to re-emerge with a different, more adventurous musical persona only makes this arc more convincing. Her evolution didn't happen overnight; instead, Rae's dogged commitment to her new vision is a selling point. "She's no longer just an influencer making music — she's a pop artist who happens to come from an influencer background." Sara Andréasson, PR expert Rae has proudly told news outlets about how she convinced Columbia Records to give her another chance after the failure of "Obsessed" by presenting an elaborate mood board that laid out her new sound and aesthetic in buzzwords ("intense," "glitter"), colors (aquamarine, hot pink), and iconic pop performances. She has been working to personify that character ever since, with every carefully selected public appearance, red carpet look, and new song revealing another layer of her new self-mythology. Sara Andréasson, cofounder of Michele Marie PR, told Business Insider that this strategy has created demand and curiosity. "She's no longer just an influencer making music — she's a pop artist who happens to come from an influencer background." Act II: Finding a backer During her TikTok reign, Rae told BI, "You are who you hang out with." Though she was speaking at the time about how close she was with her family, the statement has become a key tenet of the Rae Rebrand. Rae's music earned its first major stamp of approval from the alt-pop star Charli XCX, who, after hitting it off with Rae in a studio session, asked to contribute a verse to "2 Die 4," a ringtone-era throwback track that was included on Rae's 2023 EP "AR." Before Charli XCX had her major crossover moment in the summer of last year with the ubiquitous acid-green rollout of her album "Brat," the British singer was known as a platinum-selling songwriter for other artists and an ahead-of-the-curve pop prophet in her own right. Her interest in supporting and collaborating with Rae, whom she'd also recruit for the remix of her "Brat" single, "Von Dutch," around the same time, legitimized Rae's artistic pursuits. DJ Louie XIV, a music critic and host of the Pop Pantheon podcast, said he's "keen to ascribe agency" to Rae, even if it could seem like her fame has been propelled by her shrewd choice of collaborators. It's not that he believes Charli is pulling the strings — it's that he trusts her eye for talent. "Maybe I'm buying the hype," he told BI, "but I think if Charli sees something in her, that means something to me." Rae's connection to Charli introduced her to a wider audience, made her more chic by association, and staved off doubts about her staying power. As Brat Summer raged on, Rae took a page out of Charli's cool-girl playbook, crashing parties and smoking cigarettes with club kids, and winning respect from celebrated songwriters like Lorde and Lana Del Rey. To top it off, she generated buzz when she joined Charli onstage for surprise performances during the singer's tour stops at Madison Square Garden and Coachella, and cheekily announced her album release date via a pair of pink underwear while performing the "Aquamarine" remix with Arca at the festival. Act III: Dressing the part Having good style is relatively easy; making your fashion serve a narrative purpose is harder. Rae is largely focused on the latter, using her outfits to signal her new priorities. Gone are the Brandy Melville sweatpants and backward baseball caps that made her look laid-back and accessible, like the average girl at Erewhon. Instead, she's worked closely with Interview magazine fashion director Dara Allen to execute a series of looks that aren't simply pretty or well-fitted, but edgy, flamboyant, and evocative. Rae savvily uses her clothing to evoke movie stars and pop icons and project herself into that lineage, landing a series of indelible fashion moments, from her pap walk in a baby tee accessorized with Britney Spears' memoir to the white satin lingerie set she wore for her VMAs red carpet debut, which Vogue described as "'Swan Lake' meets Las Vegas showgirl." Andréasson, who has experience dressing A-list celebrities for events, said Rae's style evolution stands out for its use of surrealism and storytelling. Rae in 2021. Gotham/GC Images Rae in 2024. XNY/Star Max/GC Images "She does a great job avoiding the costumey elements of nostalgia and instead reinterprets it with modern tailoring and fresh beauty choices," Andréasson said. "Nostalgia only works when it's recontextualized, and Addison seems to understand that." In a media landscape where rewearing a historic Marilyn Monroe gown or recreating a memorable look from a '90s sitcom are easy ways to score headlines, Rae has avoided the plug-and-play approach. Her style may be full of references, but crucially, she doesn't mimic other celebrities or copy exact outfits. Instead, she prefers to arouse a broader feeling of familiarity. For example, Rae cited the 2006 friendship comedy "Aquamarine" as an inspiration for her song of the same name and her mermaid-inspired look for the 2024 CFDA Awards — not in terms of the movie's content or plot, but in how watching it made her feel. "I wanted to find what aquamarine meant to me," she said. Act IV: Living up to the hype Rae's flair for refracting nostalgia through her own original lens is evident in her new music as much as in her aesthetic. Her debut album "Addison" is full of dreamy, mid-tempo pop that flirts with its influences, from Madonna's "Ray of Light" and Björk's "Post" to Spears' "Blackout" and Del Rey's "Born to Die." As the tracklist dances between decades, genres, and moods, Rae's personal touch fills the gaps. This kaleidescopic technique isn't always radio-friendly, but Rae no longer seems to be aiming for immediate chart success (none of the album's five singles have yet cracked the Billboard Hot 100's top 40, with "Diet Pepsi" peaking the highest at No. 54). And why should she? If there's anyone who knows the drawbacks of an abrupt rise to fame without a sensible plan to sustain it, it's Rae. Instead, she and her team are executing a strategy that prioritizes artistic legitimacy and real staying power, something Rae hinted at in a recent interview with Elle. "I feel like I've surpassed Addison Rae," she said. "It's just Addison now." Going mononymous is a shorthand for prestige: think Madonna, Cher, Beyoncé. Rae hasn't earned that level of name recognition yet, but if her journey thus far is any indication, her ambition, marketing savvy, and willingness to play the long game are not to be underestimated — at least, not anymore. "Back in the '50s, people were discovered in Hollywood by sitting at a lunch counter on a stool. TikTok was her stool," Andréasson said. "It's going to fade away, and all of the new things that she's doing are what she's going to be known for. That's just going to be a postscript in the Addison story."
UPI
a day ago
- UPI
'Eternal Queen of Asian Pop' sings last encore from beyond the grave
To the delight of millions of fans of the late Teresa Teng, the track titled 'Love Songs Are Best in the Foggy Night' will appear on an album to be released June 25. Photo by Van3ssa_/ Pixabay Several years ago, an employee at Universal Music came across a cassette tape in a Tokyo warehouse while sorting through archival materials. On it was a recording by the late Taiwanese pop star Teresa Teng that had never been released. The pop ballad, likely recorded in the mid-1980s while Teng was living and performing in Japan, was a collaboration between composer Takashi Miki and lyricist Toyohisa Araki. Now, to the delight of her millions of fans, the track titled "Love Songs Are Best in the Foggy Night" will appear on an album to be released June 25. Teng died 30 years ago. Most Americans know little about her life and her body of work. Yet, the ballads of Teng, who could sing in Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese and Indonesian, continue to echo through karaoke rooms, on Spotify playlists, at tribute concerts and at family gatherings across Asia and beyond. I study how pop music has served as a tool of soft power, and I've spent the past several years researching Teng's music and its legacy. I've found that Teng's influence endures not just because of her voice, but also because her music transcends Asia's political fault lines. From local star to Asian icon Born in 1953 in Yunlin, Taiwan, Teresa Teng grew up in one of the many villages that were built to house soldiers and their families who had fled mainland China in 1949 after the communists claimed victory in the Chinese civil war. Her early exposure to traditional Chinese music and opera laid the foundation for her singing career. By age 6, she was taking voice lessons. She soon began winning local singing competitions. "It wasn't adults who wanted me to sing," Teng wrote in her memoir. "I wanted to sing. As long as I could sing, I was happy." At 14, Teng dropped out of high school to focus entirely on music, signing with the local label Yeu Jow Records. Soon thereafter, she released her first album, Fengyang Flower Drum. In the 1970s, she toured and recorded across Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and Southeast Asia, becoming one of Asia's first truly transnational pop stars. Teng's career flourished in the late 1970s and 1980s. She released some of her most iconic tracks, such as her covers of Chinese singer Zhou Xuan's 1937 hit, "When Will You Return?" and Taiwanese singer Chen Fen-lan's "The Moon Represents My Heart," and toured widely across Asia, sparking what came to be known as "Teresa Teng Fever." In the early 1990s, Teng was forced to stop performing for health reasons. She died suddenly of an asthma attack on May 8, 1995, while on vacation in Chiang Mai, Thailand, at age 42. China catches Teng Fever Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Teng's story is that Teng Fever peaked in China. Teng was ethnically Chinese, with ancestral roots in China's Shandong province. But the political divide between China and Taiwan following the Chinese civil war had led to decades of hostility, with each side refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the other. During the late 1970s and 1980s, however, China began to relax its political control under Deng Xiaoping's Reform and Opening Up policy. This sweeping initiative shifted China toward a market-oriented economy, encouraged foreign trade and investment, and cautiously reintroduced global cultural influences after decades of isolation. Pop music from other parts of the world began trickling in, including Teng's tender ballads. Her songs could be heard in coastal provinces such as Guangdong and Shanghai, inland cities such as Beijing and Tianjin, and even remote regions such as Tibet. Shanghai's propaganda department wrote an internal memo in 1980 noting that her music had spread to the city's public parks, restaurants, nursing homes and wedding halls. Teng's immense popularity in China was no accident. It reflected a time in the country's history when its people were particularly eager for emotionally resonant art after decades of cultural propaganda and censorship. For a society that had been awash in rote, revolutionary songs like "The East is Red" and "Union is Strength," Teng's music offered something entirely different. It was personal, tender and deeply human. Her gentle, approachable style -- often described as "angelic" or like that of "a girl next door" -- provided solace and a sense of intimacy that had long been absent from public life. Teng's music was also admired for her ability to bridge eras. Her 1983 album, Light Exquisite Feeling, fused classical Chinese poetry with contemporary Western pop melodies, showcasing her gift for blending the traditional and the modern. It cemented her reputation not just as a pop star but as a cultural innovator. It's no secret why audiences across China and Asia were so deeply drawn to her and her music. She was fluent in multiple languages; she was elegant but humble, polite and relatable, she was involved in various charities, and she spoke out in support of democratic values. A sound of home in distant lands Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, the Chinese immigrant population in the United States grew to over 1.1 million. Teng's music has also deeply embedded itself within Chinese diasporic communities across the country. In cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, Chinese immigrants played her music at family gatherings, during holidays and at community events. Walk through any Chinatown during Lunar New Year and you're bound to hear her voice wafting through the streets. For younger Chinese Americans and even non-Chinese audiences, Teng's music has become a window into Chinese culture. When I was studying in the United States, I often met Asian American students who belted out her songs at karaoke nights or during cultural festivals. Many had grown up hearing her music through their parents' playlists or local community celebrations. The release of her recently discovered song is a reminder that some voices do not fade -- they evolve, migrate and live on in the hearts of people scattered across the world. In an age when global politics drive different cultures apart, Teng's enduring appeal reminds us of something quieter yet more lasting: the power of voice to transmit emotion across time and space, the way a melody can build a bridge between continents and generations. I recently rewatched the YouTube video for Teng's iconic 1977 ballad, "The Moon Represents My Heart." As I read the comments section, one perfectly encapsulated what I had discovered about Teresa Teng in my own research: "Teng's music opened a window to a culture I never knew I needed." Xianda Huang is a doctoral student in Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California-Los Angeles. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The views and opinions in this commentary are solely those of the author.
Hypebeast
a day ago
- Hypebeast
Best New Tracks: Lil Wayne, Turnstile, Little Simz, and More
As the week in music comes to a close, Hypebeast has rounded up the best projects for the latest installment of Best New Tracks. Albums come fromLil Wayne,Little Simz,Turnstile,Addison Rae,and MARINA, withJPEGMAFIAexpanding hisVeteranLP. Singles, on the other hand, stem fromLil Yachty,Ty Dolla $ign,Pi'erre Bourne,Kevin AbstractxDominic FikeandGlorilla. Lil Wayne has shared the sixth installment of hisTha Carteralbum series:Tha Carter album arrives almost seven years after its predecessor and featuresBig Sean,2 Chainzand many others. Spotify|Apple Music The sixth studio album by English rapper Little Simz has surfaced. EntitledLotus, the initially delayed LP featuresObongjayar,Moses Sumney,Sampha, Yusef Dayes and more. Spotify|Apple Music Turnstile has shared the audiovisual albumNever Enough. Also set to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, the album is produced by the band's Brendan Yates and tracks 'SEEIN STARS,' 'BIRDS,' 'NEVER ENOUGH' and 'LOOK OUT FOR ME' all land on the tracklist. Spotify|Apple Music Addison Rae has made her formal debut as a solo musical artist with her first studio album:Addison. Spanning 12 tracks, the album features 'Headphones On,' 'Aquamarine,' 'High Fashion' and 'Diet Pepsi.' Spotify|Apple Music Marina Diamondis – now just MARINA – has presented her sixth studio album:PRINCESS OF POWER. Spotify|Apple Music Leave it to Lil Yachty to sample everyone's favoriteMaggie Rogerssong. On Boat's first solo release of 2025, he samples Rogers' 'Alaska.' Spotify|Apple Music After announcing the news earlier in the week, JPEGMAFIA has lifted the curtain on theDirector's Cut(deluxe edition) of his iconic second studio albumVeteran Spotify| Apple Music In February, Ty Dolla $ign tapped ye for 'Wheels Fall Off.' Today, the multi-hyphenate is back with his second solo single of the year 'ALL IN.' Spotify|Apple Music Pi'erre Bourne has shared new single 'Blocs' – his first solo studio release in a few years lifted from his imminent LP, dropping at the end of the month. Spotify|Apple Music The first single from Kevin Abstract's newBLUSHventure has transpired at last. The high-octane 'Geezer' offering features 'Peach' collaborator Dominic Fike. The track isn't on streaming services yet.
