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Forbes
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Guns N' Roses Brings Its Blockbuster Back To Multiple Charts
Guns N' Roses' Greatest Hits reenters three U.K. albums charts and jumps on a fourth, powered both ... More by sales and streams of its many hit singles. Guns and Roses, Chicago, 19th Devember 1987. (Photo by Paul Natkin/WireImage) Guns N' Roses claims one of the most lucrative catalogs in rock music history. For a period of time in the 1990s, the group dominated the charts and sold more albums than most musicians can dream of. The tunes that propelled the fun-loving hard rock outfit to superstardom decades ago are still generating sales and a huge number of streams each week in several nations. The band's Greatest Hits compilation remains one of the most successful and longest-charting collections of all time. The Guns N' Roses collection can almost always be found on one list or another in Western countries, and this week marks a very exciting frame for the release in the United Kingdom. Guns N' Roses Returns to Multiple Charts Greatest Hits appears on four albums charts in the U.K. at the moment. Impressively, it reenters three of them and soars on the fourth, where it managed to carve out a home just last week. The effort earns its loftiest reentry point on the Official Rock & Metal Albums chart, where it becomes a top 40 bestseller again, breaking back in at No. 38. The same compilation can be found on the main list of the most consumed albums, EPs and compilations in the nation, where it settles at No. 77. The title comes in just 10 spaces beneath that spot on the Official Album Downloads tally, at No. 87. Greatest Hits Becomes a Bestseller Again While Greatest Hits is selling well again, it has also been racking up streams consistently. The compilation has no need to return to the Official Albums Streaming chart, as it was already present on that tally days ago. This time around, it rockets more than 20 spaces north to No. 72. 1,000 Weeks on the Rock Albums Chart Guns N' Roses has kept its Greatest Hits set on each of the four tallies on which it appears for hundreds of weeks, but its lifespan on the Official Rock & Metal Albums ranking is the most impressive. Not long ago, the title passed 1,000 weeks — more time than on all three of the other rankings combined. 'Welcome to the Jungle,' 'Sweet Child O' Mine' and 'Paradise City' The singles-packed compilation, which features tunes like 'Welcome to the Jungle,' 'Sweet Child O' Mine,' 'Paradise City,' and 'Patience,' among others, has spent time at No. 1 on both the Official Albums chart and the Official Rock & Metal Albums ranking. It's performance on the other rosters isn't quite as impressive, as it hasn't yet managed to enter the top 10 on the other two tallies where it is currently found. The Greatest Hits effort peaked at No. 13 on the Official Album Downloads chart and only No. 33 on the Official Albums Streaming list — a fairly low position for a compilation that somehow performs well enough to live on the charts for years.
Forbes
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
What Blues Bands Know About Leadership (That Most Executives Don't)
Buddy Guy at Buddy Guy's Legends in Chicago Illinois, January 9, 2022. (Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty ... More Images) Earlier this week, I saw the great Buddy Guy live in concert. At 88, the blues legend still prowls the stage like a man with something to prove—but there's also a real sensitivity to his swagger. Living and performing for eight decades will endow you with a lot of wisdom and humility if you're paying any attention. Between songs, Buddy told stories: As I watched and listened, something struck me: a blues band can offer surprisingly good insights and lessons for leadership—including for leadership succession. Think about how a band mirrors a business. In a good band, it's crucial for the bass and drums to 'lock in' together: the rhythm section keeps everyone grounded, moving forward and in the same direction. They're your management and control functions. The bass? Steady, dependable, on point. The drums? Driving the beat, making things happen. The rhythm guitar is your product development, telling you where it's all going; it's what you tend to hum along to. The lead guitar steps out front once in a while and enable the audience feel something special—usually something electrifying. That's your vision and mission. The lead singer may tell the story, but the lead guitar makes it unforgettable. (Led Zeppelin were a great example of this metaphor, where at their best each of the four players was perfectly collaborative and essential to the total experience.) From left, bassist John Paul Jones, drummer John Bonham, singer Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy ... More Page perform live on stage during a concert by English rock band Led Zeppelin on the third of three nights at Madison Square Garden, New York City on 29th July 1973. The concert movie 'The Song Remains the Same' was filmed over the three nights from 27th to 29th July at the venue. (Photo by David Redfern/Redferns/Getty Images) In a happy serendipity, I spent a couple of hours the morning after the show talking with the two most senior partners at a private equity firm I've been working with for the last two decades. They're working through a leadership transition, so they're at a critical juncture. As in most founder-led companies, effective private equity successions are rare. Too often, the firm simply cannot survive after the departure of its visionary founder, who usually has deep expertise in both investing and fundraising. The blues band metaphor came to mind. To play it out, leadership transitions often go sideways because organizations forget that changing the lead guitarist changes the whole sound of the band. The rhythm guitarist who steps up to take the lead will inevitably play in a different style, with their own strut. That doesn't mean they're better or worse—they're just different, and the band has to adapt. And someone new has to step in and hold the rhythm, or the music won't rock. Buddy Guy always talks about the blues tradition as something he inherited and now passes on. This, too, is a leadership lesson: great leaders honor the past, but they don't get stuck in it. They evolve the music. At one point Guy took off his guitar, laid it on top of one of the massive speakers to generate a sonic wall of feedback, and then played the chords of Cream's 'Sunshine of Your Love' by striking the guitar strings with a drumstick. The crowd roared. American Blues musician Buddy Guy performs onstage at his nightclub, Buddy Guy's Legends, Chicago, ... More Illinois, January 4, 2020. (Photo by) The best performers bring the crowd with them. And that crowd matters. A band isn't just playing to the audience—they're playing with them. They watch for reactions. They change tempo. They tell stories between songs to make the room feel small and intimate, even when it's not. In business, the best leaders do the same thing: they tune into their teams, their markets, and the cultural and emotional Zeitgeist. Of course, not all band stories are smooth. Think of the latter-day lineup of The Yardbirds: Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, two of the greatest guitarists alive, simply couldn't play together. Too much ego? Perhaps. Or maybe just incompatible styles. Technical excellence isn't enough. Bands—and leadership teams—work best when there's chemistry, not just talent. And sometimes, the frontman disappears. Literally. AC/DC lost their iconic lead singer, Bon Scott, in 1979. For most bands, that would've been the end. But they found an unexpected replacement in Brian Johnson who was, remarkably, a singer that Bon Scott had once mentioned admiring. AC/DC's next album? Back in Black ,the top-selling rock album of all time, and one that shares a great deal in style and spirit with the show Buddy put on the other night. So what can a blues band teach us about leadership? Plenty. Know your role but never forget you're part of a legacy. Honor those who came before you. Respect the groove and tune into the crowd. Your followers working with you is what creates the transcendent experience. Don't confuse style with substance … and remember that both matter. And when you're ready to take your guitar solo, play the hell out of the song, but never lose the pulse of the rhythm section behind you. Buddy Guy never has. Buddy Guy performs during day two of the Austin City Limits Music Festival at Zilker Park on ... More September 24, 2005 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by) Special thanks to John Boochever, Elizabeth Jensen Maurer, Adam Mirabella, and John Morgan for their excellent input. Rock on!
Forbes
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Mariah Carey Scores A New Bestselling Album As Her Comeback Single Drops
Mariah Carey's The Emancipation of Mimi debuts on the U.K.'s albums downloads chart thanks to its ... More twentieth anniversary reissue. Mariah Carey on 2/3/92 in Chicago,Il. in Various Locations, (Photo by Paul Natkin/WireImage) Mariah Carey has been working long enough that almost every year, there's something to celebrate from her past. While she continues to work on new music — including the recent release of her highly-anticipated single 'Type Dangerous,' which kicks off a new era — she's also been refocusing in recent years on celebrating her most popular works, the releases that helped make her the global superstar she remains today. As the next chapter of her career begins, she's also simultaneously revisiting one of her biggest. The Emancipation of Mimi debuts on one ranking in the United Kingdom this week. The set opens at No. 68 on the Official Album Downloads chart, reaching that tally for the very first time. As it arrives, It marks the Grammy winner's sixteenth career placement on the list of the most downloaded albums in the country. Carey has been steadily collecting new entries on the Official Album Downloads chart, but not with entirely new releases. 2025 is now the fourth year in a row that the singer has debuted a title on this ranking, despite not having released a new full-length in more than half a decade. Instead, anniversary editions of her past works have pushed older projects onto the tally — many of which never had the chance to land there when they were new, since the chart itself didn't exist at the time. This trend began in 2022, when Butterfly launched at No. 45 following its twenty-fifth anniversary celebration. The next year, Music Box appeared in the same position for one week, marking its thirtieth birthday. In June 2024, Rainbow earned a one-week star at No. 79 as it turned 25. The Emancipation of Mimi was originally released in April 2005, meaning it recently turned 20. Several versions of the album were reissued, including vinyl and box sets that featured remixes and other bonus content, which became must-haves for superfans in a variety of formats, including downloads. The album helped Carey bounce back from one of her first periods of commercial downturn, thanks to massive singles like 'We Belong Together,' 'It's Like That,' and 'Shake It Off.' In the years since its release, The Emancipation of Mimi has come to be recognized as both an artistic triumph and a hugely influential pop project.
Forbes
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
INXS Hits A New Career Peak On Multiple Charts — A Decade After Splitting Up
INXS returns to the U.K. charts with Listen Like Thieves, which brings the band to new career peaks ... More on multiple lists — more than a decade after the group split up. INXS (Photo by Paul Natkin/WireImage) It's been a little more than a decade since INXS officially disbanded, but the Australian rockers — known for blending dance, funk, and rock into a signature style that has not been replicated since the musicians came together many years ago — left behind a catalog filled with hits and popular albums. The music the group created lives on, and this week, INXS returns to the charts in the United Kingdom – several of them at once, in fact. The band's album Listen Like Thieves appears on multiple rankings thanks to a special re-release, and the group is performing better than ever on at least one tally. Listen Like Thieves lands on four separate rosters in the U.K., some of which didn't exist when the set was originally released decades ago. Although fans in the country were already familiar with the collection, and it had charted in the past, it's new to each of the lists on which it appears. The set debuts at No. 16 on both the Official Albums Sales and Official Physical Albums charts. That's the title's highest placement in the U.K. this week, and a particularly special one on the list of top-selling collections across the nation. As it arrives, Listen Like Thieves immediately becomes INXS's highest-charting effort ever on the Official Albums Sales chart. The band had never before reached the top 40, let alone the top 20. Prior to this frame, The Very Best, which debuted in early 2020, stood as the group's loftiest showing, though it peaked down at No. 60. The same project brings INXS back to the Official Album Download chart for the first time in well over a decade. Listen Like Thieves marks the group's third placement on that list and its first since 2012. While the title ranks as the band's lowest-charting effort on that tally, the fact that the rockers can go so long without appearing and still return is noteworthy. The bestseller also lands on the Official Vinyl Albums chart for the first time and, just like on the sales tally, it brings INXS to a new high point. The collection opens at No. 21, narrowly beating out the No. 25 peak of Kick, which debuted and peaked in November 2017. Listen Like Thieves was originally released in October 1985. The set was recently re-released in celebration of its fortieth anniversary, and the updated take now includes bonus tracks and recordings from multiple concerts that took place around the time the album was first issued. When it was new, Listen Like Thieves peaked at No. 48 on the main U.K. albums chart and produced four charting singles: 'What You Need,' 'This Time,' 'Kiss the Dirt (Falling Down the Mountain),' and the title track.
