Ben Sisario

His brother and manager, Dick, said that Johnston had probably died overnight. He did not specify the cause.

Johnston had been released from a hospital Tuesday after being treated for kidney issues. “He was still productive, writing songs and drawing, and was just annoyed by his health more than anything,” his brother said. “It was just one thing after another.”

In a career that was filled with stops and starts, Johnston became something of a man-child celebrity of the artistic underground, earning the admiration of rock stars like Kurt Cobain and Tom Waits as well as comparisons to William Blake. His cartoon drawings — rendered in Magic Marker and frequently inspired by characters like Casper the Friendly Ghost — were included in the Whitney Biennial exhibition in 2006 at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Yet Johnston was dogged by mental health problems that stunted his career and periodically hospitalized him. In recent years he had largely been confined to his family’s home; in 2017, he went on a farewell tour backed by members of the bands Fugazi, Wilco and Built to Spill.

As news of his death spread, Johnston was mourned online by creators across mediums and generations, among them Beck, director Judd Apatow and John Darnielle of the literary-minded indie band the Mountain Goats. Producer Jack Antonoff praised the way Johnston “shared fearlessly.”

Johnston was born on Jan. 22, 1961, in Sacramento, California, the youngest of five children in what he described as a Christian fundamentalist household. At a young age, he moved with his family to West Virginia, but by the early 1980s he had relocated to the underground rock center of Austin, Texas, where he handed out homemade cassettes to friends and customers while working at a McDonald’s. According to Johnston’s website, those tapes were recorded on a $59 Sanyo boombox.

He quickly gained the notice of fellow musicians and the music press with songs, like “Speeding Motorcycle” and “Don’t Play Cards With Satan,” that had a poignant clarity yet showed glimpses of a fractured mind. He became almost as well known for the strange, cartoonish art that decorated the tapes. One, “Hi, How Are You,” featured a froglike alien, and the image became his signature.

With a boyish voice and a gift for pure melody — his biggest inspiration was the Beatles — Johnston sang candidly and sometimes disturbingly about his demons. “Despair came knocking at my door, and I let her in for a while,” he sang on “Despair Came Knocking,” from “Hi, How Are You.” “She sat on the couch and began smoking. She said nothing.”

Climbing the rungs of the indie-rock world, Johnston was featured on MTV in 1985, and three years later came to New York, where he mixed with the bands Sonic Youth and Galaxie 500 — but ended up in Bellevue Hospital after he assaulted Sonic Youth’s drummer, Steve Shelley. (Upon his release, Johnston went straight to CBGB to perform.)

At the same time, Johnston’s songs were becoming indie-rock standards. “Speeding Motorcycle,” capturing the thrill and fear of passion — “Speeding motorcycle, don’t you drive recklessly/Speeding motorcycle of my heart” — was covered by Yo La Tengo, the Pastels, Mary Lou Lord and others.

In 1991, Johnston made a joint album with Jad Fair of the band Half Japanese, who had cultivated a similar reputation as an eccentric. But by comparison, the rock guide Trouser Press noted, Fair “seems about as offbeat as an insurance salesman,” as Johnston muttered “Poor you, no one understands you” in a warped, ghostlike voice.

In the music industry’s alternative-rock gold rush of the 1990s, Johnston was briefly signed to Atlantic Records. But his sole major-label album, “Fun,” released in 1994, was a flop, and the label soon dropped him.

As Johnston’s mental problems mounted — he said he suffered from manic depression — he largely withdrew from performing and remained at his family home.

In addition to his brother, he is survived by three sisters, Margy Johnston, Sally Reid and Cindy Brewer.

In the 2000s, even as Daniel Johnston seemed to disappear from public life, his reputation as a singular artist was growing. On a 2004 compilation album, “The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered,” his songs were performed by Waits, TV on the Radio and Death Cab for Cutie. The next year, Jeff Feuerzeig’s film “The Devil and Daniel Johnston” won the documentary directing award at the Sundance Film Festival.

But when Johnston was chosen for the 2006 edition of the prestigious Whitney Biennial, he was completely unaware of his selection. When asked whether he would travel to New York to see his work in the show, he told The New York Times: “I’m not in any condition to go overseas. It would wipe me out.”

In recent years, Johnston made sporadic attempts to make another album, which he wanted to call “If.” But it was never completed; according to an account in New York magazine, the producer on the project, Brian Beattie, clashed with Dick Johnston and others who were involved in Daniel Johnston’s management.

Still, Johnston remained dedicated to his art, planning his 2017 tour despite failing health.

“I can’t stop writing,” he said in an interview with The Times. “If I did stop, there could be nothing. Maybe everything would stop. So I won’t stop. I’ve got to keep it going.”

This article originally appeared in

Daniel Johnston Dies; Gifted and Enigmatic Songwriter Was 58

Daniel Johnston, a singer-songwriter and visual artist whose childlike, haunted songs brought him acclaim as one of America’s most gifted outsider voices, was found dead Wednesday morning at his home in Waller, Texas, outside Houston. He was 58.

“Death Race” (Grade A/Interscope) had the equivalent of 165,000 album sales in the United States last week, including 176 million streams and 43,000 copies sold as a full album, according to Nielsen. Last year, Juice WRLD reached the Top 5 twice: first with “Goodbye &amp; Good Riddance,” which went to No. 4, and then with “Wrld on Drugs,” a mixtape released with rapper Future, which peaked at No. 2.

The song “Lucid Dreams,” from “Goodbye,” made Juice WRLD a star of so-called emo rap, and drew particular interest for using a piece of Sting’s 1993 track “Shape of My Heart.” (Sting later remarked that the royalties he earns from “Lucid Dreams” will “put my grandkids through college.”)

Also this week, Maren Morris’ new album “Girl” opened at No. 4. Ariana Grande’s “Thank U, Next” holds at No. 2, and Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s soundtrack to “A Star Is Born” remains in third place. Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” is No. 5. Last week’s chart-topper, Hozier’s “Wasteland, Baby!,” fell to No. 25.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/18/arts/music/juice-wrld-death-race-for-love-billboard-no-1.html" id="1975353f-262e-3657-ada9-13ea7a6ee6b2">The New York Times</a>.

Juice WRLD Hits No. 1 With 'Death Race for Love'

Juice WRLD, the Chicago rapper who shot to fame last year with a song sampling Sting, now has his first No. 1 album on the Billboard chart, with “Death Race for Love.”

Woodstock 50 will now be at the Merriweather Post Pavilion, an outdoor amphitheater in Columbia, Maryland, the producers confirmed Thursday. It will be held Aug. 16-18, almost exactly 50 years after the first Woodstock. But it was unclear what artists would be performing; when the lineup was announced early this year, it was to include Jay-Z, Miley Cyrus, Dead and Company, John Fogerty, Santana and dozens of others, although none of them have been confirmed for the latest iteration of the event.

For much of the year, Woodstock 50 has been the talk of the concert business, mostly for the wrong reasons, as its producers have faced obstacle after obstacle, some seemingly self-imposed.

The festival’s producers — including Michael Lang, one of the original partners behind the festival in 1969 — have battled with their partners and former investor, Japanese advertising conglomerate Dentsu, which withdrew its support in April and has called them incompetent. Producers lost two venues in upstate New York after failing to obtain permits; they suffered their latest setback just three days ago when the event was rejected — for a fourth time — by the town of Vernon, New York.

With just three weeks before the show was to start, much of the music industry had given up on Woodstock 50.

But Thursday it emerged that the festival’s producers had made a deal to save it.

“Woodstock 50 approached Merriweather about hosting their event here in Columbia, Maryland,” Seth Hurwitz, chairman of music promoter IMP and operator of Merriweather Post Pavilion, said in a statement. “The Woodstock folks are working on securing the artists now. If the bands come, we’ll produce the show. We’re looking forward to getting an update as soon as Woodstock 50 has one.”

Another concert, by the Smashing Pumpkins and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, has been advertised there on Aug. 17. Festival organizers had no immediate comment.

The news of Woodstock 50’s move to Maryland was first reported by Bloomberg.

Still, it is not clear who will play. Artists’ contracts with Woodstock 50 were tied to its originally planned venue, in Watkins Glen, New York, and they may have a right to refuse to play if the show is moved. Merriweather Post Pavilion’s location, close to Baltimore and Washington, may also conflict with artists’ touring schedules. The artists have been paid and would likely be able to keep those fees even if they do not perform; according to court filings, the festival paid $32 million to secure its first lineup.

On Thursday, producers were still negotiating with artists’ agents. Several of those agents either declined to comment or did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.

Merriweather Post Pavilion is owned by the Downtown Columbia Arts and Culture Commission, a nonprofit organization, and is one of the few independently run amphitheaters in the country. Hurwitz also runs the 9:30 club and the Anthem concert hall in Washington.

The original Woodstock festival, in 1969, was ejected from its planned location just a few weeks before it was to take place, but Lang made another last-minute deal — to hold it on farmland in Bethel, New York.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/arts/music/woodstock-50-maryland.html" id="45ba3113-bc69-3987-a557-2251d374ad78">The New York Times</a>.

The producers of Woodstock 50, the troubled anniversary festival, have secured a last-minute deal to put on their show — or at least a version of it — in Maryland, after months of legal and permit battles in upstate New York that had left the event in grave doubt.

Woodstock 50 Festival Is Saved, With Just Weeks to Spare

Woodstock 50 will now be at the Merriweather Post Pavilion, an outdoor amphitheater in Columbia, Maryland, the producers confirmed Thursday. It will be held Aug. 16-18, almost exactly 50 years after the first Woodstock. But it was unclear what artists would be performing; when announced early this year, the lineup was to include Jay-Z, Miley Cyrus, Dead and Company, John Fogerty, Santana and dozens of others, although none of them have been confirmed for the latest iteration of the event.

But Thursday it emerged that the festival’s producers had made a deal to save it, although details were scant. Another concert, by the Smashing Pumpkins and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, has been advertised there on Aug. 17, for example. Festival organizers and representatives of the amphitheater had no immediate comment.

Merriweather Post Pavilion is owned by the Downtown Columbia Arts and Culture Commission, a nonprofit organization, and is one of the few independently run amphitheaters in the country. It is operated by Seth Hurwitz, a concert promoter who also runs the clubs 9:30 and the Anthem in Washington.

The original Woodstock festival, in 1969, was ejected from its planned location just a few weeks before it was to take place, before Lang made another last-minute deal — to hold it on farmland in Bethel, New York.

Ed Sheeran is the most popular streaming artist in the world. But how much of a hit is his latest album, the guest-heavy “No. 6 Collaborations Project”?

On Spotify, 71 million people around the globe listen to at least one Sheeran song every month — making him, by that metric at least, the biggest on the platform by a fair margin. Songs from his new album were featured on more than 800 official Spotify playlists.

With such a vast audience, and Spotify’s promotional muscle behind the album, one would expect blockbuster opening-week numbers for “No. 6 Collaborations Project,” whose list of special appearances includes Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, Cardi B, Eminem, Camila Cabello, Chris Stapleton and more.

Yet while the album opened at No. 1 on Billboard’s chart, giving Sheeran his third chart-topper, its numbers were modest for a high-profile project. “No. 6 Collaborations Project,” released by Atlantic, had the equivalent of 173,000 sales in the United States, the seventh-biggest opening of the year.

According to data from Nielsen, its total number included 70,000 copies sold as a complete album and 121 million streams — a number barely higher than last week’s No. 1, J. Cole’s “Revenge of the Dreamers III,” and less than the opening for Sheeran’s last album, “÷,” two years ago. To Sheeran’s credit, he largely refrained from giving away copies of his music with sales of merchandise, a tactic that is widely used these days to gain a higher chart position.

Close watchers of Billboard’s charts, however, saw the anticlimax coming. The first single from Sheeran’s album, “I Don’t Care,” with Bieber, opened at No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, blocked by Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road.” The next one, “Cross Me,” with Chance the Rapper and PnB Rock, went to No. 34. Two others failed to crack the Top 20 as well.

“Old Town Road,” meanwhile, continues its historic run. It has now notched 16 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s singles chart, tying the record with Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day” (in 1995 and 1996) and “Despacito,” by Luis Fonsi with Daddy Yankee and Bieber (2017).

Also on this week’s album chart, Billie Eilish’s “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” holds at No. 2, J. Cole’s “Revenge of the Dreamers III” project falls to No. 3, Lil Nas X’s “7” EP is No. 4, and Chris Brown’s “Indigo” is No. 5.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/22/arts/music/ed-sheeran-collaborations-chart.html" id="630ac815-ecb0-3c66-a4c5-2741d616d46f">The New York Times</a>.

(The Charts)

Ed Sheeran Is a Streaming Giant, but 'Collaborations' Is a Modest Hit

For over a week, the fate of the festival — planned for August in Watkins Glen, New York, with Jay-Z, the Killers, Miley Cyrus, Dead &amp; Company and dozens of other acts — has been in limbo. The event’s chief investor declared it dead but its promoter pledged to continue as planned. Fans, artists and the industry at large have been scratching their heads and awaiting a definitive answer.

That answer — or part of it — may now come in a New York court, after the promoter’s company, Woodstock 50, LLC, filed a petition Wednesday requesting an injunction against its former financier, an arm of the Japanese advertising giant Dentsu.

On Thursday, Justice Barry R. Ostrager of New York state Supreme Court in Manhattan ordered Dentsu to stop all communication related to the festival, including with the news media. The judge also scheduled a hearing on Monday to consider the promoters’ request to order Dentsu to return nearly $18 million it withdrew from a festival bank account.

The war of words between the festival organizers — which include Michael Lang, a producer of the original Woodstock in 1969 — escalated this week, after Lang released a public letter Monday accusing Dentsu of trying to “destroy an American cultural icon.”

Dentsu fired back, saying that production delays gave it the right to take control of the event and cancel it. As a Dentsu spokeswoman said at the time, “we simply recovered the funds in the festival bank account, funds which we originally put in as partner.”

Representatives for Dentsu declined to comment Thursday.

Court documents filed by festival organizers include a copy of its 23-page financing contract, which states that a Dentsu subsidiary would provide up to $49 million for production expenses. It also said Dentsu had approved a budget under the assumption that Woodstock 50 would sell 150,000 tickets and draw $22 million in media and sponsorship sales.

But those targets were never met, and talent agents said warning signs about Woodstock 50 began to appear early on, like a much-delayed lineup announcement; the mysterious departure of an announced headliner, the Black Keys; a date for the start of ticket sales that came and went; and, most troublingly, the lack of essential state and local permits.

Dentsu — and many artist’s agents — was also concerned that the capacity of the event was heavily reduced, to 75,000 from 100,000, after a site inspection by Superfly, a well-known festival producer hired for the project. That reduction would have a drastic effect on the festival’s economics. In recent weeks, Lang had been quoted in news reports saying that tickets would cost $450 — more than for Coachella.

Superfly announced last week that it had also withdrawn from the festival.

The financing contract says that Dentsu has the right to “take full control of the operation and production” under certain conditions. But it also notes that “any decision to cancel the festival shall be jointly made in writing” by both parties. The festival’s lawyers — led by Marc Kasowitz, who also represents President Donald Trump — say that Dentsu’s cancellation announcement violated that part of the deal.

Through all of this, artists have been put in an awkward spot. The festival maintains that all acts have been paid in full — in sums totaling $32 million, according to their court petition. But many agents say they are unsure how seriously to take Lang’s promises to continue, particularly since the event is now less than 100 days away and no clear information about ticket sales or other essential plans has been communicated.

“I want to believe Michael,” said Frank Riley, who represents artists like Robert Plant and Nathaniel Rateliff, who are both booked for Woodstock 50. “I do not want to jeopardize our clients, but as long as Michael says he is going to continue to make an effort, I’m not going anywhere.”

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/09/arts/music/woodstock-50-court.html" id="44698971-1e31-373c-a69d-423cf02b2359">The New York Times</a>.

Peace, love and litigation: The battle over Woodstock’s 50th anniversary festival has landed in court.

Is Woodstock 50 Canceled? Warring Festival Partners Go to Court

The Recording Academy said Wednesday that its new president and chief executive would be Deborah Dugan, the former chief of RED, the nonprofit group co-founded by Bono of U2 that works to combat AIDS and other diseases in Africa.

Dugan, the first woman to hold the top job at the 62-year-old academy, will take command of an organization that offers artists prestige and valuable TV time, yet has been embattled on many fronts. Last year, Neil Portnow, Dugan’s predecessor, was widely condemned for saying women in music should “step up” to advance their careers.

In response, some female executives demanded that Portnow resign, and the academy appointed a task force to examine the organization’s “various barriers and unconscious biases.”

The most recent Grammys ceremony, in February, was hosted by Alicia Keys, and female performers dominated the stage. The singer Dua Lipa alluded to Portnow’s comments when she accepted the award for best new artist, saying she was honored to be recognized among so many other women.

“I guess this year we really stepped up,” Lipa said.

The Grammys have also faced strained relationships with many artists, particularly hip-hop and R&amp;B; stars, like Drake and Frank Ocean, who have said the awards are out of touch. This year, singer Ariana Grande dropped out of a planned performance and openly feuded with Grammy producers on social media.

On a conference call with reporters, Dugan expressed her excitement about the job by invoking a line from Nietzsche: “Without music, life would be a mistake.” She added that she was committed to promoting diversity, but offered few details.

“I intend to do everything I can to make the Recording Academy, the entertainment industry and our society more inclusive and more equitable,” she said.

Dugan may also be under pressure to expand the viewership for the Grammys’ annual telecast. The audience for this year’s show, on CBS, its longtime network, was 19.9 million, slightly up from last year. But the numbers have been down from the first half of the decade, when the show routinely attracted more than 25 million viewers.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/08/business/media/grammy-awards-deborah-dugan.html" id="67f4a1aa-b10c-396d-a8de-31ff4afd72f1">The New York Times</a>.

The organization behind the Grammy Awards, which has been under scrutiny over the representation of women, has a new boss.

Grammy Awards Name First Female President

In a statement circulated by the academy, Bono praised Dugan and her work with RED.

“She’ll always be part of the RED band,” he said, “and I look forward to seeing what she’ll do in her new role, cracking the ceiling and helping the Recording Academy crack open a new future in the process.”

The Recording Academy had been widely expected to name a woman to its top role, and many were expecting an industry insider. Dugan, who is scheduled to take over in August from Portnow, the academy’s leader since 2002, has valuable experience as a media executive and nonprofit chief who deals with celebrities and major brands — both essential to the Grammys.

She started her career as a Wall Street lawyer, was a record executive at EMI and is a former president of Disney Publishing Worldwide. She is also a co-chairwoman of The Moth, a series of storytelling events and radio programs. Since 2011, she has been the chief executive of RED, which, according to the organization, has generated more than $600 million to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria through the sale of branded products from companies like Apple, Gap and Starbucks.

Dugan highlighted that experience in a promise to uphold the academy’s mission to “support, encourage and advocate” for the music world.

“What I do is try to amplify many voices in a world that often crushes them,” she said. “I am just looking at this new opportunity as a service, how to be relevant and reflective of the artist community in a time of rapid change.”

But on Monday, Woodstock 50 appeared to be all but dead. According to a statement from the festival’s primary investor, the event — planned for Aug. 16-18 in Watkins Glen, New York, with acts including Jay-Z, the Killers, and Dead &amp; Company — was off.

“It’s a dream for agencies to work with iconic brands and to be associated with meaningful movements,” the investor, an arm of the Japanese advertising giant Dentsu, said. “But despite our tremendous investment of time, effort and commitment, we don’t believe the production of the festival can be executed as an event worthy of the Woodstock brand name while also ensuring the health and safety of the artists, partners and attendees.

“As a result and after careful consideration,” the statement continued, “Dentsu Aegis Network’s Amplifi Live, a partner of Woodstock 50, has decided to cancel the festival. As difficult as it is, we believe this is the most prudent decision for all parties involved.”

The agency believed that production milestones had not been met and was concerned about delays in acquiring permits, as well as a reduction in the originally planned capacity, from 100,000 visitors a day to 75,000.

But while Dentsu’s statement ricocheted around the news media, Michael Lang, the promoter of Woodstock 50 and one of the primary forces behind the original festival in 1969, denied that the event was kaput.

“They do not have the right to unilaterally cancel the festival,” Lang said in an interview shortly after Dentsu released its statement, which Lang said caught him by surprise.

On Monday evening, Lang’s team released a statement insisting that the show would go on but giving no further details.

“We are committed to ensuring that the 50th anniversary of Woodstock is marked with a festival deserving of its iconic name and place in American history and culture,” the statement said. “Although our financial partner is withdrawing, we will of course be continuing with the planning of the festival and intend to bring on new partners.”

“The bottom line is,” the statement added, “there is going to be a Woodstock 50th Anniversary Festival, as there must be, and it’s going to be a blast.”

Lang said that all acts had been paid in full, leaving open the possibility that he could rescue the festival with another backer. He is no stranger to last-minute saves. The 1969 Woodstock festival lost its original venue, in Wallkill, New York, and relocated to Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, New York, just weeks before it took place.

It was unclear what prompted the timing of Dentsu’s announcement. The company declined to make any further comment. Several major music agents and acts booked for the event said they had not received any notification of cancellation.

The list of performers also includes Miley Cyrus, the Raconteurs, the Lumineers, Chance the Rapper, Imagine Dragons, Halsey, Robert Plant and some who had played the original event, like Santana, Country Joe McDonald and John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Woodstock 50 was announced in January as an ambitious and principled celebration of the original event. Organizers envisioned a three-day camping festival, for approximately 100,000 people a day, with what Lang said would be music as well as representation by activist organizations.

“We want this to be more than just coming to a concert,” Lang said at the time. “And hopefully a lot of the bands will become part of this effort to get people to stand up and make themselves heard, to get and out vote. And if they don’t have a candidate that represents their feelings, to find one — or to run themselves.”

But from the start, Woodstock 50 drew skeptics throughout the industry, who doubted that such an event could be successful in an era now dominated by big festivals and tours promoted by giant companies like Live Nation and AEG.

Through permit applications, the organizers had also quietly reduced its intended capacity to 75,000.

The lineup was announced last month, but the on-sale date for tickets — April 22, Earth Day — came and went with no more information. According to news reports, the organizers had applied for but not yet received a mass gathering permit from the New York State Department of Health. Without that permit, no tickets could be sold.

Woodstock 50 was to have been the most prominent event among a series of anniversary celebrations throughout the Northeast, including a series of events at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, located on the site of the original Woodstock festival.

Another event, Woodstock Experience 2019, has a lineup including a number of artists who played the original festival, like Melanie, Ten Years After and Jefferson Starship, an offshoot of Jefferson Airplane. It is to take place in West Jefferson, North Carolina, Aug. 9-11, and then in Palm Bay, Florida, Aug. 16-18.

Its slogan: “Keeping the spirit of Woodstock alive.”

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/arts/music/woodstock-50th-anniversary-canceled.html" id="0554d9f5-cf0e-3f26-af89-5e01a170eec1">The New York Times</a>.

It was supposed to be the golden anniversary of the most famous rock concert in history, the event that crystallized in mud the free-love 1960s and the drawing power of a new generation of music stars.

Woodstock 50's Backer Says the Festival Is Off. Its Promoter Is Holding Out Hope.

A stronger statement by the festival’s organizers, quoted by the Poughkeepsie Journal website, said, “Woodstock 50 vehemently denies the festival’s cancellation,” and said they would seek a “legal remedy.”

Lang said that all acts had already been paid in full, leaving open the possibility that he could rescue the festival with another backer. He is no stranger to last-minute saves. The 1969 Woodstock festival lost its original venue, in Wallkill, New York, and relocated to Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, New York, just weeks before it took place.

The seven-song “Map of the Soul: Persona” (Big Hit), sung mostly in Korean, opened at No. 1 on the latest Billboard album chart, with the equivalent of 230,000 sales in the United States, including 196,000 copies sold as a full album and 37 million streams, according to Nielsen. Those 196,000 full-album sales — a robust number these days, when some chart-toppers fail to crack 500 — were helped by a canny strategy of selling four collector versions on CD, with variant packaging.

“Map of the Soul: Persona” is BTS’ third No. 1 in less than a year, after “Love Yourself: Answer” in September and “Love Yourself: Tear” in May, when BTS became the first K-pop act to land a No. 1 album in the United States. According to Billboard, the Beatles were the last group with three top sellers in such quick succession, with its three “Anthology” volumes, in 1995 and 1996.

BTS, which performed on “Saturday Night Live” two weeks ago, is the most visible of a new wave of K-pop bands — Blackpink, a girl group, just made a splash at Coachella — and has managed to cross over with clever music videos and guest appearances by Western stars like Halsey, who sings in Korean on the song “Boy With Luv.” (Another track, “Make It Right,” is partly written by Ed Sheeran.)

Also this week, Billie Eilish holds at No. 2 with “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?,” which had 103 million streams, more than any other album last week. Khalid’s “Free Spirit,” last week’s top seller, falls to No. 3, while Anderson .Paak’s “Ventura” opens at No. 4, and Nipsey Hussle’s “Victory Lap” drops two spots to No. 5.

Ariana Grande’s “Thank U, Next” is in sixth place, while Beyoncé’s surprise “Homecoming: The Live Album” — recorded at her Coachella appearances last year — opened at No. 7.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/22/arts/music/bts-map-of-the-soul-persona-billboard-chart.html" id="d07bab19-a9d2-3f37-a772-39931941e882">The New York Times</a>.

With its latest EP, “Map of the Soul: Persona,” Korean pop group BTS has matched a chart feat last reached by another foreign-born boy band: the Beatles.

BTS Lands a Third No. 1 on the Album Chart in Less Than a Year

Khalid, who was nominated for five Grammys last year, including best new artist, reached No. 1 on Billboard’s album chart for the first time with his second album, “Free Spirit” (Right Hand Music Group/RCA). It sold 85,000 copies as a full album in the United States — helped by a bundling deal that included it with the cost of concert tickets — but also performed well on streaming services, with 147 million streams last week, according to Nielsen. That added up to the equivalent of 202,000 album sales.

Eilish, the 17-year-old singer and songwriter who made a splash on last week’s chart, was bumped to No. 2 with “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?,” and Nipsey Hussle’s year-old “Victory Lap,” which re-entered the chart last week after the rapper was killed at age 33, fell one spot to No. 3.

Also this week, Ariana Grande’s “Thank U, Next” is in fourth place, Juice WRLD’s “Death Race for Love” holds at No. 5, and Sara Bareilles’ “Amidst the Chaos” opens at No. 6.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/15/arts/music/khalid-free-spirit-billboard-chart.html" id="0d750d03-efdf-3134-a7ce-e6fc031ab952">The New York Times</a>.

Khalid hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this week, bumping Billie Eilish from the top slot.

Khalid Bumps Billie Eilish Out of No. 1 on the Chart With 'Free Spirit'

Last week, “Old Town Road,” a song by Lil Nas X, divided the music industry. Sung by a young black man, with the kind of boomy trap beat familiar to hip-hop listeners, it included twangy banjos and lyrics filled with cowboy imagery. The record label behind the track, Columbia, proudly reported that it had appeared simultaneously on three of Billboard’s premier charts: Hot 100 for pop singles, Hot Country Songs and Hot R&amp;B;/Hip-Hop Songs.

Then Billboard removed the song from its country chart.

After the change was noted by Rolling Stone, Billboard announced that its chart experts had deemed the song insufficiently country. “While ‘Old Town Road’ incorporates references to country and cowboy imagery,” the trade publication said in a statement, “it does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version.”

That decision — and the song’s conspicuous absence from most major country radio playlists — was sharply criticized as unfair and even racist, prompting a debate about genre and race in Nashville, Tennessee. The exclusion of the song from the country charts struck many as particularly odd, given the increasing influence of hip-hop on mainstream country, in the work of singers like Kane Brown.

On Friday, Lil Nas X released a remix of the song with Cyrus, whose 1992 hit “Achy Breaky Heart” topped the country charts and was a prime example of a genre crossover smash. It even spawned its own pre-internet version of a viral dance.

On April 3, two days before the release of the remixed version of “Old Town Road,” Cyrus defended the country bona fides of Lil Nas X’s original version, adding to the pressure on Billboard and the Nashville establishment.

“When I got thrown off the charts,” Cyrus wrote on Twitter, “Waylon Jennings said to me ‘Take this as a compliment’ means you’re doing something great! Only Outlaws are outlawed. Welcome to the club!”

The video for the original version of the song, posted in December, has racked up more than 23 million views on YouTube.

Billboard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/05/business/media/lil-nas-x-billy-ray-cyrus-billboard.html" id="e387235b-b19e-3ae9-a41b-187acbf28517">The New York Times</a>.

The song was supposedly not country enough. And then Billy Ray Cyrus joined in.

Lil Nas X Added Billy Ray Cyrus to 'Old Town Road.' Is It Country Enough for Billboard Now?

“A Star Is Born” was up for eight Oscars on Feb. 24, including best picture, and best actor and actress for Cooper and Lady Gaga. It took home one, best original song, for “Shallow” — which Cooper and Lady Gaga performed on the show, sitting cheek to cheek at the piano.

That publicity certainly helped the soundtrack reach No. 1. But so did an Amazon promotion offering downloads of the album at $3.99, which Lady Gaga made sure her 78 million Twitter followers knew about. (A further discount, to $2.99, was moot as far as the chart was concerned; according to Billboard’s rules, only sales made at $3.49 or more count toward an album’s chart position.)

“A Star Is Born” ended last week with the equivalent of 128,000 sales in the United States — up about 150 percent from the week before — which included 76,000 copies sold as a full album and nearly 41 million streams, according to Nielsen.

That success bumped Ariana Grande’s “Thank U, Next” to No. 2 after two weeks at the top, with the equivalent of 116,000 sales, including 127 million streams but just 19,000 copies sold as a full album.

Also this week, two Atlanta rappers reached high positions with brand-new releases: Gunna opened at No. 3 with “Drip or Drown 2,” and Offset, from Migos, landed at No. 4 with his first solo album, “Father of 4.” The soundtrack to Freddie Mercury biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” — Queen, his band, opened the Oscars show, with singer Adam Lambert — is in fifth place.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/04/arts/music/oscars-star-is-born-billboard-chart.html" id="5ee78c83-9d55-36e1-a7ba-bae1039fef9f">The New York Times</a>.

Four months after it last topped the Billboard album chart, Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s soundtrack to “A Star Is Born” has returned to No. 1 for a fourth time, thanks to the Academy Awards — and some deep-discount pricing on Amazon.

Oscars Visibility (and a Discount) Bumps 'A Star Is Born' Back to No. 1

Last week, “Thank U, Next” (Republic) became Grande’s second No. 1 album in six months, with notably high streaming numbers for a pop album. In its second week out, its totals fell by more than 50 percent, with 169 million streams and 20,000 copies sold as a complete album, according to Nielsen. But that was enough to stay on top.

Billboard reported that it was the first time that a solo female artist has had more than one week at No. 1 on the chart since Taylor Swift’s “Reputation” notched four weeks at the end of 2017. (In October, Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper spent three weeks at the top with “A Star Is Born”; this week, that soundtrack is No. 3.)

Also this week, the “Bohemian Rhapsody” soundtrack rose one spot to No. 2; look for it to remain strong on next week’s charts, thanks to the best actor Oscar for its star, Rami Malek. Duo Florida Georgia Line opened at No. 4 with “Can’t Say I Ain’t Country,” and in fifth place is Drake’s mixtape “So Far Gone,” which first came out 10 years ago but was not commercially released until last week.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/25/arts/music/ariana-grande-thank-u-next-billboard-chart.html" id="8e14c87c-6ef6-3141-a4a6-03ec31abe630">The New York Times</a>.

Ariana Grande may have skipped the Grammy Awards two weeks ago, but that appears to have had no effect on her album sales, with her latest release, “Thank U, Next,” topping the Billboard chart for a second time.

Ariana Grande's 'Thank U, Next' Repeats at No. 1

The 61st annual show, to be hosted by Alicia Keys and broadcast live by CBS on Sunday night, should be no different.

After a bruising time last year, when the show came under fire after just one woman won a solo award on the air — and the chief executive of the Recording Academy, Neil Portnow, commented that women in music should “step up” to advance their careers — the Grammys made a series of changes in their membership and nominations process that were meant to address their underlying problems.

But in many ways the Grammys still walk a tightrope. And as the show tries to stay culturally relevant, while also balancing the demands of race and gender representation, it may be impossible to please everybody at once.

“That moment kind of shed a light on an issue that needed attention, and that is a lack of diversity in the industry,” Portnow said in an interview this week. “And if the light that was shed becomes a catalyst for change, then you can feel that it had a reason and a value.”

To viewers, one of the clearest changes will be that eight, instead of five, acts will now compete in the four major categories: album, record and song of the year, and best new artist. That change satisfied many critics by adding more women to the mix, but it also has made the contests harder to handicap.

For album of the year, Drake and Kendrick Lamar, two deities of contemporary hip-hop, are up against Post Malone, who has topped the charts with a mellow style between rapping and singing; the boisterous rap of Cardi B; the adventurous R&amp;B; of Janelle Monáe and H.E.R.; and two singer-songwriters in the country and folk spheres, Kacey Musgraves and Brandi Carlile.

If Carlile prevails, she would be the award’s first openly gay winner. But as an artist with minimal sales, would her victory make the Grammys seem out of touch with the masses? Will a rapper win, or will they cancel one another out on the ballot?

There is also a chance that the award could go to Drake or Lamar only to have the winner not show up. That has become a growing risk for the Grammys as the show has alienated more and more hip-hop and R&amp;B; stars — like Drake, Kanye West, Jay-Z and Frank Ocean — by failing to give them the most prestigious prizes.

“The fact of the matter is, we continue to have a problem in the hip-hop world,” said Ken Ehrlich, longtime producer of the show. “When they don’t take home the big prize, the regard of the academy, and what the Grammys represent, continues to be less meaningful to the hip-hop community, which is sad.”

Ehrlich said that this year he offered performance slots on the show to Drake, Lamar and Childish Gambino — whose song “This Is America” is up for four awards, including record and song of the year — but they all declined. Representatives of those three artists declined to comment on whether they would attend the show.

Last year was another flashpoint in the troubled history of the Grammys and hip-hop, as Jay-Z, the most nominated artist, with eight nods — including album, record and song of the year — went home empty-handed, and Lamar, while winning all five awards in the rap field, lost out on album of the year, to Bruno Mars. Three months later, Lamar won the Pulitzer Prize for music.

“For the Pulitzers to get it right and the Grammys to get it wrong says a lot,” said Troy Carter, an artist manager and former Spotify executive.

Portnow said he believed the Grammys had made good-faith efforts to reach out to artists, but the tensions have shown no signs of letting up.

“We would hope that all nominees attend the show and be there as their own achievements are celebrated,” Portnow said, “because that’s really what it’s about.”

But while race has been a growing problem for years, the Grammys’ most urgent issue is over gender. Last year, a report by the University of Southern California, released days before the show, found dismal numbers about the representation of women in the music industry and at the Grammys. Lorde, the only woman nominated for album of the year in 2018, was not offered a solo performance slot.

After the show, Portnow’s “step up” comment drew an immediate outcry, with some women music executives calling for his resignation. (Portnow said at the time that his words had been taken out of context, and later announced that would leave his position at the expiration of his contract in July.)

In response, the Recording Academy appointed a task force, led by Tina Tchen, a former chief of staff to Michelle Obama, to “identify the various barriers and unconscious biases faced by underrepresented communities” at the academy and in the wider industry.

Working with the task force, the academy has tried to make its voting pool more diverse, inviting 900 new people, from a variety of backgrounds, to be members; of those, 22 percent accepted in time to vote this year, according to Laura Segura Mueller, the academy’s vice president of membership and industry relations. Last week the task force challenged the music industry to hire more producers and engineers, two jobs that are overwhelmingly male.

Even with these steps, this year’s nominations show just how much work is left to achieve real gender parity. On the eight songs up for record of the year, a total of 48 producers and engineers were credited, and only two were female.

One of them is Lady Gaga, as a producer of “Shallow,” her song with Bradley Cooper from “A Star Is Born,” which is a strong contender for both record and song of the year. Lady Gaga is scheduled to perform, but that night Cooper will be at the BAFTAs, the British film awards. (Taylor Swift, who is up for just one award, pop vocal album, is also in London, filming an adaptation of “Cats,” and is not expected to attend the show.)

And this week USC released an updated version of its report, showing that the numbers for women working in music have not improved. Looking at Billboard’s year-end Hot 100 list for the last seven years — a total of 633 songs, after removing duplicates — the report found that of 1,455 artists credited on those songs, only 17.1 percent were women. In another finding, only three of those 633 songs were credited solely to female songwriters.

“This report really solidifies what we saw last year,” said Stacy L. Smith, founder of USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, and the leader of the study, “and confirms that females are still facing an inclusion crisis in prominent positions in the music space.”

Portnow said he viewed last year’s criticism as an opportunity to address important issues, and for the academy to take a leadership role in the industry. Not everyone will be happy, he said, but that’s OK.

“The underlying factors of what makes people happy or unhappy changes from year to year,” he said. “It might be something musical, or it might be something sociological, which is what we’re seeing more of in today’s climate. But that’s appropriate, because that’s the time in history we are living in.”

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/arts/music/grammy-awards-diversity.html" id="28df3bb9-83d2-324d-a6fc-3766790d699d">The New York Times</a>.

The Grammy Awards are supposed to be music’s biggest party. But in recent years the show has also become a piñata for critics, activists and even major artists over a host of issues like race and gender — and, oh yes, music.

Can the Grammys Please Anyone?

Acquitted on charges of child pornography, accused of misconduct with underage girls, Kelly long remained embraced by the music industry. He toured widely, appearing at Grammy parties and making records with stars like Lady Gaga and Jay-Z.

But Friday, Kelly — once one of the biggest and most influential stars in pop music — was dropped by his record company, RCA, in the music industry’s highest-profile casualty of the #MeToo era.

RCA’s agreement to part ways with Robert Kelly, confirmed by a person briefed on the move who declined to be identified because the deal was confidential, came after weeks of protests. A recent television documentary, “Surviving R. Kelly,” drew wide attention for its visceral testimonials by women who said that as underage girls they had been lured into sexual relationships with Kelly, and abused by him mentally and physically.

Yet as pressure had mounted on RCA — including from other artists on its roster — the company remained silent. The news of Kelly’s departure was first reported by Billboard, and RCA, a unit of Sony Music Entertainment, made no formal announcement; by Friday afternoon, Kelly had simply been scrubbed from the label’s website.

Activists who had been calling for Kelly’s dismissal cheered the decision, while still criticizing RCA for its slow pace, and they pushed the entertainment industry to punish Kelly further.

“After years of profiting from R. Kelly, despite their knowledge of his sexual abuse of black girls, Sony’s RCA is finally acting,” Arisha Hatch of the group Color of Change said in a statement.

Time’s Up called on streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music to remove his music. “All allies in the fight against sexual violence,” the group wrote on Twitter, “must take a stand on this toxic issue.”

Accusations of misconduct by Kelly, 52, date to the mid-1990s, when it was revealed that, at 27, he secretly married his 15-year-old protégée, Aaliyah; their marriage certificate falsely listed her age as 18. The union was quickly annulled. Aaliyah died in a plane crash in 2001.

Lurid reports of misconduct followed, many of them in The Chicago Sun-Times, including accounts from women who said that Kelly had sex with them when they were as young as 15.

In 2002, Kelly was charged with multiple counts of child pornography over a videotape that prosecutors alleged showed him having sex with a 14-year-old girl. But he was acquitted of all charges in 2008, after the young woman said to be on the tape would not testify.

Kelly has denied abusing or mistreating any women. Don Russell, who identified himself as the “top adviser” to Kelly, said Friday that other labels were interested in signing Kelly, though he declined to identify them.

Kelly, he said, is eager to move on. “Once this thing pivots with the negative press, the defamation of character and the false allegations,” Russell said, “we will look at repositioning this to allow him to get some of the content he has out there.”

Even as accusations mounted against Kelly, he continued to have a high-profile career, writing and producing hits and earning an uneasy respect from many music critics who saw him as an innovator and a rare talent. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Kelly has sold at least 32 million albums in the United States alone.

But the public opinion began to turn against him again in 2017, after an investigation published by BuzzFeed News said that he had been holding women against their will in an abusive “cult.”

In that report, former members of Kelly’s inner circle said that he was holding at least six women in a form of captivity, “dictating what they eat, how they dress, when they bathe, when they sleep and how they engage in sexual encounters that he records.”

Online outrage over that reporting led to a social media campaign, #MuteRKelly.

Ben Sisario

Articles written by the author

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