THE DEATH OF PRINT JOURNALISM, PART 42,319

Republic’s diminutive diva Ariana Grande, now locked in tight battles for #1 on both the SPS and album sales charts, went wide to all services with her new album (eschewing the windowing strategy employed by many star releases these days). Ariana probably wishes she’d closed a window on us before appearing on the cover of this misbegotten mag.

Our Contents page VIP, Republic chief Monte Lipman, is preparing for the aforementioned chart bow by this week’s cover diva, Ariana Grande, as the label’s support for the pop siren reaches a whole new plateau. Lipman, who’s coming off a huge success with Drake and a big payoff for his patient development of James Bay, is feeling ethos-tastic with these developments, though this HITS Contents shout-out may make him summon Chopper Charlie for evac.