Latest news with #BarclaysCenter
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How New York's UBS Arena Is Helping to Raise the Commercial Ceiling for Caribbean-Headlined Shows
While stadium shows dominate this year's live music headlines, there's another interesting trend occurring at the arena level that's signaling a new frontier for the live music industry – and it's steeped in the sweet riddims of the Caribbean. Vybz Kartel's victorious comeback has dominated most of the conversation around Caribbean music this year, but Worl' Boss' two-night stint at Brooklyn's Barclays Center came nearly a year after a string of historic headlining shows that have made Elmont's UBS Arena New York's hottest new venue for Caribbean acts. Elmont (a neighborhood that sits on the edge of Queens and Long Island) and Brooklyn are two New York City areas densely populated by Caribbean-Americans, which echoes the incredible impact of Caribbean immigrants across the city. You'll find Dominicans in Manhattan's Washington Heights; Jamaicans, Lucians and Trinis galore in Brooklyn's Flatbush neighborhood; and at least one flag from every country in the West Indies along Eastern Parkway in BK. More from Billboard The Return of Vybz Kartel: After 13 Years in Prison, Dancehall's King Reclaims His Throne — And Reveals How He Made Hits Behind Bars Tory Lanez Is Being Transferred to a New Prison After Being Stabbed, His Dad Says Aaron Paul Opens Up About Tracking Down Tour Managers to Get Bands to Perform in His Living Room Last spring (April 14, 2024) — about eight months before he made history with NPR's very first Tiny Desk soca set – Machel Montano headlined UBS Arena for a 40-year career anniversary concert hosted by Caribbean Concerts & Sonjay Maharaj Events. Coming two years after the King of Soca teamed up with Jermaine Magras, president and CEO of Jay Upscale Marketing and Promotions, for Barclays Center's first-ever soca headlining concert, Machel's sold-out UBS show grossed over $885,000 from 8,350 tickets sold, according to Billboard Boxscore. That show kicked off a head-turning run of Caribbean-headlined shows at the four-year-old arena. Just three months after Machel lit up Elmont, Grammy-winning reggae and dancehall legend Buju Banton mounted a pair of sold-out shows that served as his first U.S. concerts since his 2011 incarceration. The two shows grossed $4.5 million from nearly 30,000 tickets sold, setting the scene for a historic close to UBS Arena's 2024 run of Caribbean-headlined shows. 'Stepping into UBS Arena for the first time in my life was much more than I expected,' reflects Montano, who's previously performed at NYC's two other major arenas. 'I hadn't heard about the venue before, and I was in anticipation to see what the vibe [would] be. The production setup was wonderful, the backstage experience in the dressing rooms, the staff, everybody [and everything] was professional and on point to welcome soca music and the soca vibration.' A few days before the world rang in 2025, iconic Haitian konpa band Carimi reunited for its first live performance in eight years at UBS Arena. Comprised of founding members Richard Cavé, Mickael Guirand, and Carlo Vieux, Carimi is something like 'the Jackson 5 or the Backstreet Boys of the Haitian community,' says Magras. 'They're [their] R&B boy band.' In the nearly two-and-a-half decades since they formed in NYC back in 2001, Carimi has achieved international success through its blend of sociopolitical commentary and traditional konpa rhythms. Their 2013 Invasion LP reached No. 2 on World Albums, and their eight-album strong catalog continues to enamor konpa lovers across generations. While their Dec. 27 concert didn't launch a full comeback, the show did mark the first U.S. arena show headlined by a Haitian act – and the band completely sold out the venue. With over 15,000 tickets sold, Carimi's reunion show grossed over $2.4 million. The Carimi show is an interesting nexus point for many reasons, mostly because of the band's connection to the demographic breakdown of the Elmont neighborhood in which UBS resides. In Elmont, you'll find a large Haitian population that's even bigger than the already sizable number reported by the U.S. Census. The nature of cities like New York is that the census only tells a part of the story regarding the demographic breakdown of the city's residents. 'With the Caribbean community, a lot of people tend to look at the census — but if you're undocumented, you ain't trying to give the government your information. It's a benchmark, but it's not that accurate,' explains Magras. 'When we did a heat map of ticket sales for the Carimi show, a majority of people buying tickets came from Queens, in and around UBS [in Elmont].' Now that America's Caribbean population – spearheaded by a massive post-Civil Rights Era immigration wave, and, later, a 1980s and '90s wave — has established itself across several generations, they have the numbers and buying power to assert themselves as dedicated consumers in the live music space. Before his current position as senior vice president of programming at UBS Arena, Mark Shulman spent over 25 years promoting shows across New York, including storied venues like Hammerstein Ballroom and Kings Theatre – two spots with smaller capacities that Caribbean acts often frequent. While Caribbean acts still headline those venues, alongside newly renovated music halls like the Brooklyn Paramount, their graduation from theaters to arenas signals 'a maturing of the music and fan base,' according to Shulman. 'When we speak of the maturing of the audience, Caribbean shows were always late-selling events,' he explains. 'Now, we're seeing more advanced sales, and that enables the artist to plan better. They get to add a second show and plan accordingly, because the audience is being so proactive in their buying patterns.' The original fans of acts like Carimi and Machel Montano and Buju Banton are, by and large, in more favorable economic positions than they were two decades ago. They've gotten to root themselves in their new homes, and they likely have the disposable income to buy pricier arena tickets. But their maturation only tells half of the story of how UBS, in particular, has become such a hotbed for Caribbean headliners. For Valentine's Day 2025 (Feb. 14), Grammy-nominated reggae giant Beres Hammond, Billboard Hot 100-topping reggae icon Shaggy and Grammy-winning dancehall legend Sean Paul teamed up for a joint concert that grossed over $1.6 million from 12,980 tickets sold. The following month (March 28), WAV Music Fest – featuring Spice, Dexta Daps, Chronic Law, Kranium, Skeng, Kraff and Valiant – grossed over $1.2 million from 10,360 sold. With five $1 million-grossing Caribbean-headlined shows in eight months, UBS Arena has emerged as not just a go-to spot for Caribbean acts stopping in NYC but also as a key venue in the evolution of Stateside Caribbean music consumption. And the arena's management did it by embracing the existing immigrant population in an era where rampant gentrification seeks to stifle New York's quintessential diversity. Before UBS opened its doors in 2021, most arena acts across genres chose between performing at Midtown Manhattan's Madison Square Garden and Downtown Brooklyn's Barclays Center, which has only been around for 13 years. Prior to the turn of the decade, very few, if any, Caribbean acts were playing arena shows, period. Thanks to the increasing Stateside popularity of contemporary reggae, dancehall, soca and konpa music — and the opening of UBS — Caribbean acts are now getting an opportunity that they weren't granted in the past. Of course, NYC's Caribbean population doesn't exclusively attend Caribbean-headlined shows. If they wanted to see arena acts before 2020, those folks, who primarily live in Brooklyn (outside of downtown) and Queens, would either have to trek into the city to hit The Garden or waste away hours in downtown traffic. Thanks to its location, UBS is a venue that's comparatively more easily accessible for the city's Caribbean crowd. It's also the only NYC-area arena with its own parking lot, a key draw for attendees who would rather hop in their cars than deal with the subway. 'When you get [to Barclays], you gotta look for parking,' says Magras. 'The time that it takes me to [travel within] Brooklyn is probably the same time it takes me to jump on the belt and head to UBS. I think the customer weighs all those things out.' While consumers get to cut down on travel time, promoters and artists also get to save a few dollars when mounting shows at UBS instead of Barclays or The Garden. Promoted by George Crooks' Jammins Events, Banton's dual comeback shows, which cost around a million dollars each, would have been at least $500,000 more expensive had they gone up at The Garden. 'You're paying for the location and the brand, you can't take that away from [MSG],' he said. 'But it's very expensive. UBS is a lot more reasonable, and I hope it stays that way.' As the arena continues to grow in popularity, it's certainly likely that it'll become more expensive to mount shows there, which is probably why UBS banks on their accommodating nature to keep artists at their venue. Ahead of the Carimi show, Shulman 'personally got on a Zoom with all the band members [to] hear their thoughts and hopes for the show and how [UBS] could accommodate them in any way possible.' Magras, whose Jay Upscale company promoted the Carimi show, seconds that sentiment, noting how willing the UBS team was to educate themselves on the band via the decks he pitched. '[UBS] was more accommodating than probably any other venue that I've worked with,' he tells Billboard. 'It was never 'no' as a final answer — they always helped find a way to make things work. [To help promote the show, they helped secure] comedians, a conference with about five media houses, the Carimi guys, lights and everything.' Crooks also echoes those feelings, saying, 'Mark understands the business because he comes from doing business with a lot of Caribbean acts.' But it's not just Shulman's experience that helped UBS so quickly become a stronghold for Caribbean headliners; it's also the care he and his team take in listening to the arena's staff, a notable chunk of whom are local Caribbean-Americans themselves. '30% of our staff come from the local community,' Shulman says. 'I would have conversations with them about soca music and reggae and konpa, and it was great to hear from them. I can [call on] my music experience, but it's so much more validating when I can speak to members of the community who live with this music. That type of knowledge and experience can't be replicated just by doing some research.' UBS' open relationship with their staff also mirrors the dynamic they've fostered with local vendors, navigating the present-day live music venue ecosystem with a distinctly Caribbean and community-centric approach. When Caribbean shows visit UBS, the arena rotates its in-house food and drink vendors with items that correlate to the nationality of the headlining act; they also invite local food trucks and businesses to set up activations in their expansive parking lot. It's a relatively minor move that only makes the arena feel more 'of the people' than its competitors. (Crooks acknowledges that the venue's efficacy in this area still can vary between shows, saying he and his team head 'some interaction with local vendors [for the Banton shows], but not as much as [they] would have liked to.') And the arena's staff also understands the importance of not overstepping its bounds when it comes to engaging with the culture. 'When you look at Caribbean people, they're natural entrepreneurs,' notes Magras. 'Once we see that there's something big going on, we all converge and find [different] ways to make money. There [were] about 10 after-parties [for the Carimi show] — we [hosted] none. Why? Because we understand the ecosystem and what it means for other people to make money as well. We could have sold flags, but we allowed the flag man to sell his. We [also] brought in Haitian food vendors and liquors and barbeque brands.' With two additional Caribbean-headlined shows this year – Aidonia (May 3) and Beenie Man (May 24) – UBS is looking to continue its hot streak in 2025 as various styles of Caribbean music ride a crossover wave that's carrying the next generation of stars. From Yung Bredda's Zess-infused soca hit 'The Greatest Bend Over' and Moliy's Billboard chart-topping Afro-dancehall smash 'Shake It to the Max' to YG Marley's reggae anthem 'Praise Jah in the Moonlight' and Joé Dwèt Filé's globe-conquering konpa banger '4 Kampé,' the 2020s are offering up a slate of stars that could be the next Caribbean headliners to grace UBS – and arenas across the country. They could even make that jump in the next 12 months, according to Shulman, as the success of Caribbean legacy acts eases promoters' qualms about taking on younger stars – like Shenseea or Dexta Daps – looking to make the leap from support acts to headliners. In just four years, UBS has become a preferred New York tour stop for Caribbean headliners – so much so that scheduling conflicts were the only barrier stopping the arena from hosting Kartel's comeback shows – by leveraging its location, nourishing their relationship with the local population, and understanding the limitless potential of Caribbean talent. As the arena has established a distinct identity, it's also helped buoy an entire region's music, which was already creeping into a new era of Stateside crossover success. But what about arena stops outside of New York? Last year, Buju Banton announced his Overcomer Tour, which was initially set to visit 14 arenas across the U.S. Ultimately, three shows were outright cancelled while a further five engagements have yet to have their rescheduled dates announced. Of the seven shows that he did perform on the tour, Banton grossed an average of $1.5 million per show from around 10,800 tickets sold. Notably, those seven shows visited North American cities with sizable Caribbean populations – NYC, Atlanta, Tampa, Toronto and Washington, D.C. — signaling that future Caribbean tours might not yet have accrued the power to headline arenas outside of specific areas. Nonetheless, a Caribbean act headlining seven North American arenas on a single tour indisputably marks a new era for West Indians in the live music space. 'I think the sky's the limit [for Caribbean acts in the live music space],' stresses Shulman. 'I've seen the growth and I've seen the performances. The shows are energetic, the fans are enthusiastic, and there's an incredible vibe. It's hard to envision any limit to just how high it can go.' Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
NY Liberty vs. Chicago Sky preview: The champs hit the road for two
Off to a good start. The New York Liberty unveiled their championship banner and receied their rings as well. After that, they and the 17,344 fans in attendance at Barclays Center got down to the business of the 2025 season. They pulled away late in the fourth quarter to comfortably beat the Las Vegas Aces. The Liberty won't be back home until after the Memorial Day holiday. The opponent tonight is having their home opener. The Chicago Sky opened the season on Saturday afternoon in a national TV showdown against the Indiana Fever. The game was close early, but the Sky let go of the rope after halftime and wound up losing by 35 points. Where to follow the game For the first time this season, the game will air on MY9. Here's the commentary team for this season. Advertisement The champs have a great crew behind the mic! Any time Grady is behind a mic is a good thing. Tip after 8:00 p.m. ET and the pregame with Tina Cervasio will begin at 7:30. Injuries Nothing doing for the Liberty. Moriah Jefferson is out for the Sky. The game It's been a heavy week for the Sky. During the game on Saturday, Angel Reese got hacked by Caitlin Clark and it was upgraded to a flagrant foul. Caitlin Clark commits a foul on Angel Reese and Angel was not happy about it. Please don't overreact in the replies — CJ Fogler (@ 2025-05-17T20:41:15.579Z It was later alleged that there was an incident of some sorts, which is being investigated by the league. The team is letting this investigation take its course and are back to focusing on the game. We'll keep you posted once there's an update. Advertisement The game promises to be incredibly physical. The Sky were one of the best rebounding teams in the WNBA in 2024 and after suffering a bad loss on national TV, will be extra motivated in their home opener. At practice on Tuesday, Jonquel Jones spoke about that at practice on Tuesday: 'They're a really physical team. They use their physicality to kind of mask some of the other ways that they may not be there yet. And I think that if we go in there and we think it's just gonna be a cakewalk and it's just gonna be an easy game, then you look up and you're down 20 points and you're wondering why. ' So we just have to be ready for that level of physicality. We have to be ready and understand that like we gotta hit first. We can't just wait for them to indicate or show us like what the level of physicality will be for that game. We have to set the tone and set the standard.' That will start with Kamilla Cardoso. KC had a solid rookie season and finished 12th in the W in rebounding. She has good touch at the rim and is a load to handle on the glass. For Jones, Nyara Sabally, and the rest of the Liberty, they'll have to find ways to limit her impact and get her into foul trouble. Advertisement Guard play will be essential tonight. Natasha Cloud had the Liberty debut of a lifetime as her energy and defense took the Barclays Center crowd to another level. She'll be matched up with NY's point guard from last year, Courtney Vandersloot. Sloot had a great run in NY, but decided to return to Chicago and help the Sky in their quest to return to contention. She gives a somewhat young team championship experience and can create open looks for a team starved for scoring. Player to watch: Angel Reese Angel's at the center of the storm again, but the second year star has taken some steps forward. She had a great time at Unrivaled this winter and comes into this season with more confidence and a sureness to her game. For Reese, the questions of her finishing at the rim will continue to be there until she develops better touch down there. In the meantime, her motor and relentless will make her someone that's incredibly tough to deal with. There's been a lot of discussion about the Liberty's new 'five out' offense. Long story short, it looks to maximize space and create as much room as possible for the players on the court. For Breanna Stewart, it will allow her to make the very most of her shot attempts. Advertisement I saw Stephen Trinkwald make this point over the weekend, and it beared out in the video I'm sure I'm not the first to point this out, and she obviously did a lot of ball handling and got to the FT line off the dribble a couple of times, but eight of Breanna Stewart's ten made twos came without a dribble on Saturday That's always going to be where she is at her best offensively — Stephen (@ 2025-05-19T18:18:20.440Z Finding Stewart on the move and maximizing Jones' passing skills will make the Liberty even more dangerous. Great timing and even better movement off the ball is the recipe to stop any defense. Look for the Liberty to be aggressive in getting to the paint. From the Vault Ones in the air for Frank White More reading: Swish Appeal, Chicago Sun Times, Chicago Tribune, Women's Basketball Roundup, The Strickland, The Local W, New York Daily News, New York Post, The Athletic. Fansided, Just Women's Sports, SI All Knicks, Winsidr, Her Hoop Stats, CBS Sports, and The Next Advertisement More from
Miami Herald
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Miami's Best of the Best marks the return of dancehall as big artists get U.S. visas
Dancehall artist Vybz Kartel had just made history as the first Caribbean artist to sell out New York's Barclays Center two nights in a row after stepping onto a U.S. stage for the first time in two decades, when the co-host of The Breakfast Club asked the question many had been asking for years: What happened to dancehall? 'The late '90s and early 2000s, dancehall was crazy,' DJ Envy said during the live studio interview. 'Seems like it's slowed down a lot. Why do you think that is?' A provocative and personable Kartel didn't miss a beat. 'Because I was in prison, sir,' the artist, born Adidja Palmer, responded to laughter. 'But now I'm out and we're doing stuff.' Kartel's response may have seemed a bit self-aggrandizing — but it isn't far from the truth. For years, dancehall, reggae's rowdier and more aggressive offspring and the leader of a cultural movement, was grounded in Jamaica. Its biggest stars were unable to tour internationally due to U.S. visa denials or prison sentences. Kartel himself spent 13 years behind bars in Jamaica before his murder conviction and life sentence were overturned by London's Privy Council. Buju Banton, another cultural icon, served a seven-year sentence on a drug conspiracy conviction in the United States before being freed in 2018 from a Miami federal prison. In their absence, hip-hop stars wouldn't collaborate, while others tried to mimic the sound, opening themselves up to accusations of cultural appropriation. U.S. radio airplay dwindled, and genres like Reggaeton and Afro Beats moved in to fill the gap. 'How are you going to have a genre where pretty much all of its big artists with catalogs — major stars— cannot travel?' said Orville 'Shaggy,' Burrell, the two-time Grammy Award-winning artist who has garnered multiple Billboard chart hits through his 30-year career. Dancehall's only diamond-selling artist with more than 40 million records sold, Burrell went through a list of entertainers whose disappearance from the U.S. stage throughout the past decade led to the genre losing steam internationally. 'With maybe the exception of me and Sean [Paul], the arm of the genre, to defend and represent it on a global scale, could not move,' he said in a Miami Herald interview. 'That's why you see other genres that are going to go around it and its popularity drop. There is not a plane I know that can fly on one wing. That is a major, major part.' In Miami, the effects were particularly visible. Best of the Best International Music Festival, one of the biggest showcases of Caribbean music, was forced on a two-year hiatus before finally returning this year with its 19th edition and a highly-anticipated performance this Sunday by Buju Banton at downtown's Bayfront Park. In addition to Buju Banton, the line up also features Wayne Wonder, Beres Hammond, Marcia Griffiths, and rising stars like 450 and Chronic Law, showing the genre's generational depth and evolution. For soca music fans, there is Skinny Fabulous. 'After two years of canceling, we're back,' organizer Joey Budafuco said, adding that while the line up includes nine solid acts, they are working on getting more visas. Resurgence of dancehall Both the event's return this Sunday and the presence of artists like Kartel and Buju Banton are signs of artists reclaiming lost ground, fans and musicians say, as U.S. visas are being approved again and U.S. stages are reopening to artists. 'You're starting to see the presence of the culture and the dancehall being in people's faces,' said Burrell, who on Wednesday announced his Island Music Conference, which will take place in Feb. 2026 in Kingston, Jamaica. 'You're having coliseum shows...a lot of these artists may be having a moment and it might be a moment, but it's a moment we're going to accept anyway; it's definitely putting a lot of light and a lot of shine on the genre and we're embracing it.' Burrell isn't alone in his excitement about dancehall's resurgence. 'I thought about this for so many years,' Miami's DJ Khaled told the Herald during Best of the Best's launch. 'You see everybody getting their visas. Thank God, for the music, for the families and for the people to come and be able to travel the world and be able to spread their beautiful message and perform their beautiful songs.' 'The music,' he said, 'is such a timeless thing that you have Best of the Best doing its 19th year.' Khaled had dropped by to show his support for the event and for Buju Banton. One of dancehall's biggest stars who had collaborated with artists such as Busta Rhymes and Fat Joe, Buju Banton's career came to a screeching halt in 2009 when he was arrested in Sarasota and convicted in 2011. His release from prison wasn't just met with a crowd of adoring fans but sold out concerts in the Caribbean. His appearance this Sunday is his first show in South Florida since he performed last August at Ameriant Bank Arena in Fort Lauderdale as part of his 'Overcome Tour.' Unlike Kartel, who has spoken about his difficulties in prison and how he recorded albums on an iPhone 5s during his incarceration, Buju Banton, born Mark Anthony Myrie, shuns such discussions. He prefers to discuss where the music is headed. 'We have created a niche market for ourselves,' not just in the region, he said, recognizing the importance of being able to get the music off the island. 'If we're unable to reach the mainland to spread the word and promulgate the culture we can't grow, the culture won't grow,' he said. 'If there is an opening we need to seize the opening and do not fall asleep because the next generation is going to ask what did you do when you got this opportunity.' Veteran artist Wayne Wonder said visa constraints are not the only challenges dancehall faces. 'Our music is so powerful, the higher powers, they are scared, they are afraid,' he said, referencing his own experience and that of other artists such as Vincentian singer Kevin Lyttle and Barbados' Rupee. American record labels treated them like one-hit artists, the singer, who lives in South Florida said, even as they were gaining fans in the Caribbean and its diaspora. 'They try to limit you,' he said. 'But as I always say, our music always finds a way.' This is why, the Jamaican dancehall artist behind the 2003 hit 'No Letting Go,' says he likes events like Best of the Best and the important role it serves. 'This is a platform where every artist is coming with their best,' said Wayne Wonder, born Von Wayne Charles. 'You have artists with longevity, artists with a catalog, artists with performance, artists with delivery so it's just Best of the Best.' For Budafuco, the return of big name artists to the scene isn't just about staging a show—it's about reclaiming cultural space. Based on ticket sales, it appears that fans are ready. The VIP tickets quickly sold out, Budafuco told the Herald, but there are still general admission tickets available. If You Go: What: Best of the Best International Music Festival When: Sunday, May 25 Time: Doors open at 2 p.m.- 10 p.m. Where: Bayfront Park, 301 Biscayne Blvd., Miami Cost: Tickets start at $95, kids under 12 get in free For Tickets: or 305-438-9488 or 955-470-7666
Forbes
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Sabrina Carpenter's Breakout Single Has Been Demoted
Sabrina Carpenter's 'Taste' passes 'Feather' to become her second-longest-charting Hot 100 hit, with ... More three of her top songs now from Short n' Sweet. NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 30: (Exclusive Coverage) Sabrina Carpenter performs onstage during the Sabrina Carpenter Short n' Sweet Tour at Barclays Center on September 30, 2024 in New York City. (Photo byfor AEG) Before releasing her album Short n' Sweet, Sabrina Carpenter had already scored a breakout hit on the Hot 100 with "Feather." Taken from her previous full-length Emails I Can't Send, the track helped her rise to a new high point on the Hot 100, and it remained on the tally for months. While that composition may have set the stage for her takeover in the United States, it has now been demoted in her discography. "Taste" was pushed as the third official single from Short n' Sweet last August. Coming up on a year later, the track is still present inside the top 40 on the Hot 100, as it dips slightly from No. 38 to No. 40. As "Taste" holds on, it reaches 38 weeks on the list — a special number for Carpenter. The track now ties with "Please Please Please" as her second-longest-running Hot 100 hit. As the Short n' Sweet focus track remains on the roster, it breaks its tie with "Feather," which spent 37 frames on the Hot 100. Carpenter's sturdiest win on the Hot 100 remains "Espresso" by a wide margin. That track is still going strong and stands out as the Grammy winner's highest-charting success at the moment. It slips slightly to No. 21 in its fifty-seventh frame on the chart, which ranks the most consumed songs in the U.S. As "Taste" earns another stay on the Hot 100 and breaks its match with "Feather," that means that Carpenter's three longest-running Hot 100 hits now all come from Short n' Sweet. "Espresso," "Please Please Please," and "Taste" have each spent time inside the top three on the chart and were selected as singles. The fourth focus cut from the standard edition, "Bed Chem," is no longer present on the Hot 100. It ranks as her fifth-longest-charting success, with 32 weeks on the tally, coming in just behind "Feather" by about a month. There's a good chance that "Taste" will remain on the Hot 100 when Billboard refreshes its charts in a few days. If it can hold on, it will pass "Please Please Please" and become Carpenter's second-longest-running tune on the list. It does seem unlikely that it will be able to match "Espresso,' though — especially considering the fact that the singer's biggest win is still outperforming all of her other cuts.
Forbes
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Billie Eilish Reaches A Chart Milestone For The First Time
Billie Eilish's "Birds of a Feather" celebrates 52 weeks on the Hot 100, becoming her ... More longest-charting hit and first to reach a full year on the tally. NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 15: Billie Eilish performs onstage during "Hit Me Hard And Soft" Album Release Listening Party at Barclays Center on May 15, 2024 in New York City. (Photo byfor ABA) Billie Eilish introduced herself to the masses half a decade ago with "Bad Guy," a unique pop smash unlike anything the world had heard before. That track helped launch her into the stratosphere, which was saying a lot, as she was already one of the hottest new names in the music industry by that point. For years, it stood as her longest-charting single on the Hot 100, but that's no longer the case. "Birds of a Feather" recently overtook it, and this frame marks a special milestone for that cut — one the Grammy and Oscar winner had never achieved before. "Birds of a Feather" reaches 52 weeks on the Hot 100 this frame. As it makes it to that landmark figure, it becomes Eilish's first song to spend an entire year on the highly competitive ranking, which tracks the most consumed tunes throughout the U.S. Amazingly, "Birds of a Feather" isn't just barely managing to find space on the tally, even after that length of time. This time around, it dips just one spot to No. 12, sitting just below the top 10. It was only about a month ago that "Birds of a Feather" passed "Bad Guy" as Eilish's longest-charting success on the Hot 100. "Bad Guy" debuted on the tally in April 2019 and remained there for 49 weeks — just under a full year. Billboard has a rule in place stating that once a song reaches 52 weeks on the Hot 100, it must stay above the No. 25 slot. If it dips below that position, it goes recurrent and is removed from the ranking. While a track can return, it's only under special, and rare, circumstances. Since "Birds of a Feather" is still present at No. 12, there's a good chance it will be able to hold one for a while longer. "Birds of a Feather" also hits the one-year mark on another eight different Billboard charts this week. In addition to the Hot 100, it reaches the major milestone on the Streaming Songs list, the Billboard Global 200, the Billboard Global Excl. U.S., as well as several genre-specific rankings focused on streaming activity, sales, and general consumption. Eilish may be about to collect yet another 52-week winner on the Hot 100. "Wildflower," the current focus from her most recent album Hit Me Hard and Soft, is up to 48 weeks on the chart. It appears at No. 44, but could reasonably hold on for several more frames and join "Birds of a Feather" in just a short span of time.
