Dua Lipa’s ‘Levitating,’ Ariana Grande Top iHeartRadio’s Most-Played Lists of 2021

Dua Lipa is bringing her pop star style to Puma. The «Physical» singer's first capsule collection for Puma is now available to shop.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOlivia Rodrigo and Morgan Wallen topped the RIAA’s 2021 gold and platinum awards, the organization announced on Wednesday, with both artists’ latest albums attaining double-platinum status and Rodrigo’s blockbuster “Drivers License” single being certified four-times platinum.A total of 16 albums and 98 singles released this year achieved gold or platinum status; highlights appear below.RIAA Chairman and CEO Mitch Glazier said: “With another year of Gold & Platinum

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorGoldenvoice, the AEG-owned company that founded and promotes the Coachella Valley Music and Artist Festival, filed a complaint Tuesday in a California U.S. District Court claiming that a new festival called Coachella Day One 22 and promoted by its chief rival, Live Nation, infringes on the original festival’s trademark.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorA 56-year-old acetate recording of a previously unreleased and relatively unknown song featuring David Bowie is expected to draw thousands of pounds at an auction in England on Thursday.The song, titled “I Want Your Love” and recorded in 1965 by a teenaged Bowie and his early group the Lower Third, was written by John Dee and Jack Tarr and produced by top ‘60s producer Shel Talmy — who also produced a string of classics for the Kinks and the Who, including “You

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Weeknd’s “Save Your Tears” was the most-played video, both globally and in the U.S., on the major video network Vevo, the company announced Monday as part of its annual year-end look back on music video viewership.“Save Your Tears” topped the list with 615 million views globally, and 102.9M views in the U.S.

Dua Lipa, 26, may not be the only superstar in her family for long. The Grammy-winning singer has a sister, Rina Lipa, 20, who is slowly but surely forming her own path to major fame and success.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIt should go without saying that hosting “Saturday Night Live” is one of the most daunting roles in television. Being a trained actor isn’t enough because you also have to be funny and comfortable in a high-pressure live setting; being a reality-TV or internet celebrity is even less effective training for the same reasons.

Rina Lipa was loving her older sister Dua’s style way before she was famous.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLive Nation Entertainment, the world’s largest live-entertainment company, has closed its long-in-the works acquisition of a 51% controlling interest in OCESA Entretenimiento, a leading promoter in Latin America. The aggregate purchase price was MXN $8,835 million (around U.S.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorDrake has withdrawn his two Grammy nominations, a rep for the Recording Academy has confirmed to Variety.Sources tell Variety that the decision was made by Drake and his management, although his motivation was unclear at the time of this article’s publication.He was nominated for Best Rap Album for his “Certified Lover Boy” album and Best Rap Performance for his song “Way 2 Sexy” (featuring Future and Young Thug).

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBroadly speaking, record-label bosses tend to have similar backgrounds, rising through A&R, promotion or management ranks, usually hitting a massive success that lands them the big job. And while Max Lousada, Warner Music Group’s head of recorded music, has followed some of that model, his background is unusual by any stretch, and is reflected not just in WMG’s approach to music but in the roster itself.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWendy Goldstein, the newly minted co-president of Republic Records and A&R executive for the Weeknd, Ariana Grande, the Jonas Brothers and now John Legend, received some strong, backhanded inspiration when she was starting out as a 19-year-old assistant in Epic Records’ A&R department.“I was constantly told, ‘Women can’t be A&R people — what’s wrong with you?’” she says now.

Chris Willman Music WriterInterpolations — which incorporate elements of familiar songs into new ones — are a phenomenon that’s here to stay in many genres. Like using gonzo remakes of classic tracks in trailers, it’s a way of catching the ear of older listeners, and as long as the mashup still works for younger music fans who don’t immediately know the reference, they can give a song a significant leg up.But the varieties of interpolations are vast.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn this week’s installment of Strictly Business, Variety’s weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment, TaP Music’s Ed Millet and Wendy Ong go deep about the rewards and challenges of managing such prominent and pioneering artists as Lana Del Rey, Dua Lipa, Ellie Goulding, Caroline Polacheck, Noah Cyrus and many more.The conversation starts with Millet discussing founding the company in 2010 with his

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSpotify has unveiled its annual 2021 Wrapped campaign — where users can see the music they listened to the most all year — and with that comes the top artists, albums, songs, playlists and podcasts on the world’s largest streaming service, with more than 381 million total users.The full charts are below, but first, some stats:Globally speaking, with more than 9.1 billion streams this year, Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny is Spotify’s most-streamed artist of 2021,

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorApple Music has unveiled its biggest songs of the year with its annual Top 100 charts, which not only include the most-streamed songs — topped by BTS’ smash “Dynamite” but it has also shared its “Top 100 2021: Fitness” chart—spotlighting the most-played workout music across Apple Music and Fitness+— its top 100 most-Shazamed songs and its top 100 most-read Lyrics.Following “Dynamite” in the top 5 are Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” (which had the most-read

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorInterscope Geffen A&M has announced the promotion of Matt Morris to the position of senior vice president of A&R at the label. He will continue to sign and develop artists for the label as well as oversee the company’s A&R Research department.According to the announcement, Morris is credited with signing 2021’s breakout star Olivia Rodrigo to Geffen Records, along with his A&R colleagues Sam Riback and Emerson Redd.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBritain’s Wet Leg, one of the most buzzed-about indie groups to emerge in years via their singles “Chaise Longue” and “Wet Dream,” have dropped two new songs and unveiled the release date for their forthcoming debut album and a big pile of tour dates in the U.S.