Trendy Artists of the Week: STRAY KIDS, Playboi Carti, Massimo Pericolo, Calogero, Ariana Grande

STRAY KIDS Make the Top 5 Best Selling Albums of 2023 in the US

2023 was Taylor Swift’s year in the United States, that is not even a newsworthy story at this point. That is why, when we peruse through the music data tracking firm Luminate’s numbers about last year’s album sales by artist, let’s skip the #1 (which, evidently, is Swift) and look at the runner-up finishers.

There is a bit of a surprise there. The South Korean K-pop band STRAY KIDS’ two albums released last year, “5-STAR” and “ROCK-STAR”, sold 526,000 and 229,000 copies in the US, respectively. That is a combined 755,000 copies, which is the second most for a single act behind Swift (who placed 5 in the top 10 best selling albums, by the way).

Bang Chan and the boys are far from being underground, even in America. However, they are still a very new act, having released their debut EP in January 2018, and they are from a foreign country. Their success in the US should be commended. And another “by the way”: the only other three artists who managed to get into the Top 10 US best selling albums besides Taylor Swift and the STRAY KIDS are: Travis Scott, Olivia Rodrigo, and another South Korean boyband, TXT.

Playboi Carti Arrest Footage Surfaces Online

American rapper and singer Playboi Carti got into a little trouble with law back in September 2022. He was arrested for reckless driving in Atlanta, Georgia after going 133 miles per hour in a 55-zone. We have seen worse offenders in the hip hop world (to say the least…), so this has largely gone under the radar - until a couple of days ago, when footage of the arrest surfaced online. Up-and-coming rapper Benji Blue Bills chimed in to poke a little fun at Carti, who wasn’t acting the most “gangsta” during his arrest, writing: “Ain’t no gansta movin like that”.

Massimo Pericolo’s “Moneylove” Hits #1 in Italy

The Italians love their hip hop, that is proven time and time again. This time, it was rapper Massimo Pericolo out of Gallarate, Italy who was one of the main beneficiaries of this old adage, whose new song “Moneylove” just reached the top of the local FIMI charts.

French Rock Star Calogero Talks to L'Humanité About His 9th Studio Album

Singer Calogero has been on the French music scene since the 1980’s. And he’s still going strong, he just released his 9th solo album in September 2023, with the very stereotypical French title “A.M.O.U.R”. Even more recently, the artist sat down with the local daily paper L'Humanité to reflect on his long and fruitful career.

“I went to Paris as a teenager to see Depeche Mode at Bercy, then U2 in Montpellier in front of 70,000 people. And today I fill the same rooms as my idols. It’s an incredible opportunity and a gift from heaven. It's also a lot of work,” he told the paper.

Ariana Grande Drops New Single “Yes, And?”

Ariana Grande was the first A-list artist to come out with a new single in the new year. The dance pop track “Yes, And?” is off of her new record “Eternal Sunshine”, coming out later this year. You can take a listen below.