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

Posted on February 13, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Bad Bunny is makin’ money moves…

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on December 24, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on December 3, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on November 10, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Bad Bunny is the apple of Apple’s eye…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bad Bunny Makes Massive Impression on Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. Charts

Posted on May 18, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Bad Bunny is livin’ the stream globally…

Following the release of his latest album Un Verano Sin Ti on May 6, the entire track list of the 28-year-old Puerto Rican rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer’s project has charted on the May 21-dated Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts.

In fact, Bad Bunny cracks the top 50 of each ranking with all 23 songs featured on the album

In total, Bad Bunny simultaneously charts with 28 songs on the Global Excl. U.S. tally, and 27 on the Global 200, including seven in the top 10 of each.

Both counts are record-setting on the former chart, surpassing Taylor Swift’s 24 entries on the November 27, 2021-dated list, and blowing by Drake, Olivia Rodrigo and Ed Sheeran, each of whom has logged three songs in the top 10 at once.

The wave of new Bad Bunny material is led by the album’s opening track, “Moscow Mule,” entering at No. 2 on both lists with 97.2 million global streams in the week ending May 12, according to Luminate. (On average, the album’s 23 songs rank three positions higher on the Global 200 than the Global Excl. U.S. survey.)

Songs from Un Verano Sin Ti drew 33.9% of their streams from the U.S. and 66.1% from outside. While not dramatically different, first-week streams for Bad Bunny’s previous studio album, 2020’s El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo, split 30.2% U.S. and 69.8% beyond.

The extra 3.7% of domestic listenership on streaming services for his newest release reinforces that Bad Bunny’s star has continued to rise and spread in the primarily English-language U.S. market (including his home of Puerto Rico), while he continues to be a dominant force in Latin America and beyond.

He tops Billboard‘s Hits of the World charts in Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Spain, placing anywhere from 18 to 23 songs on each of the 25-position rankings.

Cumulatively, songs from Un Verano Sin Ti generated 1.06 billion global streams in the tracking week. That marks a 104% increase from the opening-week activity for El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo (520.4 million).

And while his new album has more songs to accumulate more streams (23 vs. 15; Ultimo also includes a 16th track performed by Trio Vegabajeno), the average streaming sum among Un Verano Sin Ti ‘s tracks was 46.1 million, compared to 34.7 million for cuts on El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo.

Bad Bunny’s global takeover adds to his domination of Billboard‘s U.S.-based Latin charts and all-genre Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200 rankings.

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Encanto” Soundtrack Notches Eighth Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200

Posted on March 7, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Americans are still enchanted by Lin-Manuel Miranda’s latest Disney project…

The Encanto film soundtrack, which contains eight original songs written by the 42-year-old Puerto Rican multi-hyphenate, remains at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart for an eighth nonconsecutive week.

The set earned 80,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending March 3 (down 11%), according to MRC Data, for the chart dated March 12.

Of Encanto’s 80,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 68,000 (down 11%, equaling 101.16 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 10,000 (down 16%) and TEA units comprise 2,000 (down 10%).

In the last five years, only three albums have spent at least eight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200: Encanto, Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album (10 weeks), and Taylor Swift’s Folklore (eight weeks).

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by MRC Data. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.

Mariah Carey Releases First-Ever Vinyl of Her #1s Collection for Record Store Day

Posted on February 17, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a Firsts first for Mariah Carey this Record Store Day…

The 52-year-old half-Venezuelan American Grammy-winning singer came out with a special vinyl release during this year’s Record Store Day for its 2022 event on Wednesday (Feb. 16).

Carey – who remains the best-selling female artist of all time, released her 1998 greatest-hits collection #1s on vinyl for the very first time.

Among the other releases for Record Store Day’s first iteration since 2019 are a 7-inch of Taylor Swift’s Folklore bonus track “The Lakes” with its orchestral version as the B-side while also being included on charity benefit album Portraits of Her, which celebrates female artists and music industry professionals while raising money for nonprofit We Are Moving the Needle.

Prince’s 1995 LP The Gold Experience also received a special pressing.

“For the past few years, our RSD Drops dates altered the focus of what we did—instead of being one part of what the Day was, the List became the entire focus,” said Record Store Day co-founder Carrie Colliton in a statement. “A way to get much-needed revenue and stock — and great music — into stores and then to customers’ collections. We specifically didn’t call those days Record Store Day, because they weren’t. They were very different, very necessarily so.”

She continued: “Now, we think stores have learned and adapted and are ready to bring back elements of a ‘traditional’ Record Store Day: bands and beer and fun and people and whatever parts of the party they like, in ways that make them, and their customers, comfortable. We also feel strongly that it’s important to focus on those stores themselves, and celebrate what they do year-round, in their communities.”

Check out the exhaustive list of upcoming releases on the official Record Store Day website here.

Bad Bunny: This Year’s Most-Streamed Artist Globally on Spotify

Posted on December 4, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a second consecutive year at the top for Bad Bunny.

Spotify has revealed its annual end-of-year list of the platform’s most-streamed artists, songs, albums and podcasts, with the 27-year-old Puerto Rican Latin trap and reggaeton superstar named the most-streamed artist globally.

Bad Bunny notched more than 9.1 billion streams on the platform globally to top the list ahead of Taylor Swift, BTS, Drake and Justin Bieber.

In the United States, Drake dominated all artists on the platform, while Swift, Juice WRLD, Kanye West and Bad Bunny rounded out the top five.

The most-streamed song of the year globally was Olivia Rodrigo’s “drivers license,” which racked up more than 1.1 billion streams worldwide. Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” earned second place, followed by The Kid Laroi and Bieber’s “Stay,” Rodrigo’s “good 4 u” and Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” feat. DaBaby.

Rodrigo dominated the top two spots on the U.S. list with “drivers license” and “good 4 u,” marking the first time a woman has ever done so. Doja Cat’s “Kiss Me More” feat. SZA, Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” and “Levitating” rounded out the top five.

Rodrigo’s dominance extended to the global and U.S. albums tally, with her debut album Sour finishing in first place on both charts.

For additional details on Wrapped 2021, visit Spotify’s For the Record blog.

Bruno Mars & Anderson .Paak to Release Silk Sonic’s Debut Album in November

Posted on October 9, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Bruno Mars is preparing for a (Silk) Sonic boom…

In a surprise move, Silk Sonic — the duo comprised of the 36-year-old part-Puerto Rican Grammy-winning singer and Anderson .Paak — will release their debut studio album, An Evening with Silk Sonic, on November 12.

The highly anticipated project will include their Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Leave the Door Open” and top 20 follow-up single “Skate.”

Fans were initially expecting the album to drop early next year.

The two Grammy-winners announced their new album release date on Friday (Oct. 8), which happens to be Mars’ 36th birthday. “ALBUM DROPS NOVEMBER 12!!” Paak wrote in his Twitter announcement. “Now spam the comments with happy birthday wishes to my brother @BrunoMars.”

The new release date for An Evening With Silk Sonic now coincides with Taylor Swift‘s next release, Red (Taylor’s Version). “Got some news that I think you’re gonna like – My version of Red will be out a week earlier than scheduled (including the 4 disc vinyl) on November 12th !” she wrote on Twitter last week. “Can’t wait to celebrate the 13th with you and our new/old autumn heartbreak album.”

Swift moved her release date up from Nov. 19, when many fans believe Adele will drop her highly anticipated fourth album.

Miguel Nolla Developing Latin Trap-Themed Series “Trap Queen” for Freeform

Posted on April 14, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Miguel Nolla could be bringing a taste of Puerto Rican music to television.

Freeform has put Trap Queen, a music rich series created by the Puerto Rican Scandal and Roswell, New Mexico writer, in development with Danny Strong executive producing.

An alum of the Disney•ABC Writing Program, Nolla will serve as showrunner on the Puerto Rico-set series.

The drama focuses on a gay young man who returns to Puerto Rico after a life-changing event. With the burgeoning local music scene as both the backdrop and the soundtrack, that move forces him to face family and romantic issues he thought he had left behind and never expected.

Trap music is a tenet of Southern hip-hop that bubbled up into the mainstream in the early 2000s from the likes of T.I., Jeezy and Gucci Mane. The term trap is a derivative of the Atlanta slang for a place where drugs are purchased and sold.

Over the decades the style has been picked up in various forms by artists from Drake, Kendrick Lamar and Cardi B and all the way to Taylor Swift.

Latin trap is the Puerto Rican subgenre that incorporates some of the island’s reggaetón style and other elements.

A former assistant to Shonda Rhimes, Florida State University grad, Nolla’s other credits include an episode of the Grey’s Anatomy web series, Freeform’s Stitchers, Showtime’s Hombre and Netflix’s First Kill, among more.

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