Billboard

Travis Kelce was enchanted to have Taylor Swift at her first Kansas City Chiefs game in October, his teammate recalls.

On the latest episode of the Like a Farmer podcast Wednesday (May 8), long snapper James Winchester opened up about the pop star’s first Chiefs game at Arrowhead Stadium toward the beginning of her romance with Kelce — who was apparently rosy-cheeked due to her attending the Chiefs’ match against the Chicago Bears. “We’d heard rumors,” Winchester said. “We kinda heard, but [were] just like, ‘Ah, whatever.’”

It wasn’t until Winchester had a conversation on the sidelines with Chiefs equipment manager Jay White that he realized Swift was actually there in the flesh. “I just made this comment, I said, ‘Jay, I think this whole thing is just made up. I think it’s just a big rumor,’” the athlete recalled. “And Jay looked at me and he goes, ‘No dude, she’s here … she’s right there.’”

“I walked up to Trav,” Winchester continued. “I just said, ‘Hey, man, that’s cool she’s here. He’s like, ‘What do you mean? Did they put her up on the jumbotron or something?’ I’m like, ‘No, Jay just told me. That’s awesome, man, good for you.’ He’s just kind of smiling and, you know, blushing.”

The University of Oklahoma alum also revealed that he was present at the very beginning of Swift and Kelce’s love story, as he and his teammate both attended one of the “Anti-Hero” singer’s Eras Tour shows at Arrowhead in July. That’s where Kelce had originally intended on wooing his now-girlfriend by slipping her a bracelet with his phone number on it, an unsuccessful plan that the tight end lamented on his New Heights podcast shortly before he started dating Swift that summer.

Three months later, Swift made her first of many visits to Arrowhead to watch Kelce play, an event that absolutely blew up the internet at the time. Following the Chiefs’ victory against the Bears, the couple rode off into the distance together in Kelce’s convertible — and the rest was history.

“Later on that night I got to meet her, and the first thing she said was, ‘Hey, you’re the guy with the cute kids,’ because we’d had my son and daughter out on the field,” Winchester added on the podcast. “So I’m like, ‘Hey, I think I just became a T. Swift fan.’ We’re the same age, so I always heard her music. I’m a fan of her, yeah. Being around her this year and hearing everything … she’s just such a genuine person.”

Watch Winchester’s Like a Farmer interview below.

By the time Morgan Wallen began working on his 2023 album, One Thing at a Time, he was no hit-making novice: He had earned six Billboard Country Airplay No. 1s, and his previous release, Dangerous: The Double Album, had spent 10 weeks atop the Billboard 200.

Still, Wallen listened when Seth England — partner/CEO at Big Loud, where Wallen is signed in a joint deal with Mercury Records/Republic — suggested he include a particular song on the new album.

“Musically, Seth has one of the best ears in the business,” Wallen says. “On my last record, there was a song that I almost didn’t record, but he felt strongly about it and I trusted him.” That song was “Thinkin’ ’Bout Me,” which ended up ruling Billboard’s Country Airplay chart for five weeks last year, peaking at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and going triple-platinum.

For nearly two decades, England’s golden ear, entrepreneurial skill and penchant for strategic risk-taking have transformed what was once a boutique music publishing operation into a multifaceted hit machine with label and management components. Big Loud was named Billboard’s top country label of 2023, one of 24 year-end charts the label and its artists landed on.

Much of that success came courtesy of stadium-filler Wallen. One Thing at a Time led the Billboard 200 for 19 nonconsecutive weeks, tying Garth Brooks’ 1991 album, Ropin’ the Wind, for the most weeks at No. 1 on the chart for a country album. Wallen’s One Night at a Time World Tour, which spanned three continents and over 50 shows last year, won him the top country touring artist honor at the Billboard Music Awards. But Wallen isn’t Big Loud’s only standout signee: HARDY broke through in 2023, earning Country Airplay hits with “Truck Bed” and the Lainey Wilson collaboration “wait in the truck,” and this year, Ashley Cooke notched her first top 20 Country Airplay song with “Your Place.” Big Loud’s roster also includes rising country artists ERNEST, Hailey Whitters, Charles Wesley Godwin, Lily Rose, Stephen Wilson Jr. and Jake Worthington.

But more than chasing hit records, England, 37, has cultivated and supported a dynamic creative community — one with significant impact on music’s mainstream — at Big Loud.

On a shelf in his office at the label’s Nashville HQ, England has a small replica of Hitsville, U.S.A., home of the first recording studio and headquarters of Motown Records, one of his biggest inspirations. Close by sits a first pressing of The Miracles’ 1960 hit “Shop Around,” written by Smokey Robinson and Motown founder Berry Gordy.

“I’ve walked [Motown’s] buildings in Detroit because I’m so fed by the energy they had,” England says. “It wasn’t without complication, because when you’re so intertwined that way, the successes are big, but the failures sometimes hurt more because you’re all trying together.”

England grew up in small-town Illinois and studied music business and marketing at Greenville University, pursuing Nashville internships during his college summers. One was at publisher Harlan Howard Songs, where he met Sara Knabe (now Big Loud head of A&R), who connected him in 2006 with Big Loud Shirt Publishing, founded by songwriter Craig Wiseman (Tim McGraw’s “Live Like You Were Dying”).

“He was like, ‘I’ll do whatever needs to be done.’ He had volunteered to intern for the summer, even though he wasn’t getting college credit for it,” Wiseman recalls, noting that England’s initiative extended to even pulling weeds outside the office. “I thought, ‘This is an industrious young guy.’ ” England aspired to become a song plugger, and Wiseman eventually granted him a three-month tryout.

“He gave me a trial by fire as a publisher,” says England, who began pitching songs, including “Hillbilly Bone,” recorded by Blake Shelton and Trace Adkins. His talent for calculated risk quickly became apparent: During that time, the then-22-year-old directly pitched the song “Ain’t Back Yet” to Kenny Chesney.

“He hung on to an email I had sent and emailed the song to Kenny himself,” Wiseman recalls. “Seth has always been a cowboy; he’s like a six-shooter and has been from day one. That’s what you got to be.” The song became a top five Hot Country Songs hit for Chesney in 2010. About a year later, Big Loud Shirt Publishing had “an implosion on the business side,” Wiseman says. “Basically, I fired all the adults in the building and realized, ‘Me and the intern that pulls weeds are going to be running this company.’ It was the best thing that ever happened.”

Over the subsequent years, England rose through the ranks, eventually becoming vp of A&R. In 2008, he helped bring another future Big Loud leader to Nashville for the first time: writer-producer Joey Moi, best known then for his work with Nickelback.

“I would go to events with him and probably shake hands with 50 to 75 people I’d never met before,” Moi says. “He was effortlessly introducing me to the entire industry. He’s a natural-born CEO. And he’s such a good pitch guy. If he wants something — he’s going to convince you.”

Moi moved to Nashville from Canada, and in short order, he, England and Wiseman partnered to launch Big Loud Management in 2011. “I’m a song person and Craig’s all creative. Seth’s that grounding force to make sure the ship is on course,” Moi says of the trio’s complementary talents. “That’s the magical thing about our partnership — we’ve all occupied our corners, and none of us is trying to be each other.”

The trio took an artist-­development approach with its first three management signings: Chris Lane, Dallas Smith and duo Florida Georgia Line (Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard), which would put Big Loud on the map. FGL’s debut single, “Cruise,” released on Republic Nashville, ruled Hot Country Songs for 24 weeks, hit No. 4 on the Hot 100 and was certified diamond by the RIAA. The duo, which is now on hiatus, has 16 Country Airplay chart-toppers under its belt.

The act also arrived at a pivotal time. In the early 2010s, England watched how streaming boosted Sweden’s music industry into a rebound — and though country music in general was slow to embrace it, he was an early believer and took steps to ensure FGL’s streaming success. “I thought, ‘This is the future,’ ” he says. Initially, his team sifted through data to create their own streaming reports; now Big Loud has a Ph.D. statistician on staff.

England’s bullishness on streaming directly influenced his release strategy for FGL’s “H.O.L.Y.” in 2016. Sensing the song “could be bigger than your standard country moves,” he brought it to Spotify’s then-global head of country programming John Marks, who in turn connected England with pop-oriented Spotify executives Doug Ford and Mike Biggane.

“I sat in a Manhattan recording studio and played [“H.O.L.Y.”] for them and they were floored,” England recalls. “I believe we got the cover and the first or second slot on [the all-genre] New Music Friday.” When “H.O.L.Y.” came out, he continues, “it was reactive right away. I could’ve gotten in big trouble when people really thought I was renegading too hard. But I didn’t want that rollout to happen without maximum potential. You win some, you lose some — but we won that one.”

In 2015, England and his team launched Big Loud Records, with Lane and Wallen their first two signees. In the process, they created an all-inclusive powerhouse of publishing, management and label services, where artist-writers like HARDY and ERNEST pen hits for a range of artists (like Wallen) while propelling their own recording careers.

“[Seth’s] expertise is connecting people and I have a passion for connecting people, so on the business side of things, I look up to him in how he runs the label and is a manager and manages relationships within work, which can be hard to do when you are really good friends with people you’re doing business with,” ERNEST says. “He has provided a perfect playground for me to develop my skill over the past decade.” HARDY is still grateful for England “taking a chance on me early as a songwriter — not a guy playing shows and showcasing my songs only — and saying, ‘I think this guy could be an artist.’ ”

Big Loud Management guides roster artists including Wallen (whom England co-manages with Kathleen Flaherty), HARDY, ERNEST, Cooke and Worthington. While that might seem like a conflict of interest, Moi says England’s experience as a manager only enhances his work as label CEO. “Some managers can come through a record company and be very combative,” Moi explains. “They’re always thinking they have to fight for their artists. Seth’s able to see that perspective right away, and it diffuses any kind of combative process that might be there.” England says multiple artists outside of Big Loud have approached him to manage them, but he has turned all of them down: “That’s not the centerpiece of my mission. My mission is Big Loud.”

In recent years, that mission has required England, in his capacity as both manager and label head, to offer difficult guidance for Wallen, who was caught on video using a racial slur in 2021 and more recently was arrested on three felony counts in connection to a chair-throwing incident at Eric Church’s Nashville bar.

“Morgan and I have always had a very close relationship. We’ve onboarded some new teammates in his life to give him well-rounded help. In a lot of cases, that decays relationships between manager and artist; in his case, it feels like the best year we’ve had,” England says. “But [we always ask] the same question: ‘How are you? What do you need for what is going on?’ I think if you’re a good manager, you’ll know when the right time is to ask that. We don’t condone it. We don’t enable it, we don’t encourage it. We trust that he’s making progress and is heading in the right direction.”

For now, between shows on tour, Wallen is in the studio working on his next album, which England says “is staying true to who he is, but there’s a new creative inspiration happening. There are different sides of him and music he has listened to that will fuel a few of the choices on this next album.”

England has led Big Loud’s progression into a multifaceted music organization, creating independent ventures under its publishing and label umbrellas. In 2019, Big Loud Records teamed with singer-songwriter Nicolle Galyon to launch label and publishing company Songs & Daughters with a combined roster including Whitters, Tiera Kennedy and Lauren Watkins. In 2021, Big Loud introduced imprint Big Loud Rock, which has helped push HARDY’s music to rock radio. Other partners include ERNEST’s publishing company, Cadillac Music, a joint venture with Severance Records, and Back Blocks Music, founded and run by publishing executive Rakiyah Marshall, who is married to England. (The couple have two children.)

Big Loud also recently announced a deal with Mercury Records/Republic, which expanded its distribution services for Big Loud artists beyond the initial three it had already worked with (Wallen, Rose and Dylan Gossett) to the entire Big Loud roster. And in November, Big Loud partnered with Miranda Lambert and Jon Randall to launch Big Loud Texas. The partnership with Lambert is multidimensional: Following her April move to Republic, Big Loud will handle her country radio promotion and marketing.

Over the past year, Big Loud grew even more, adding offices and label managers in Australia and the United Kingdom and bolstering its Toronto branch. But despite occasional rumors that the expanding company is on the market, England says, “The fairest and shortest answer is no.”

Big Loud 2.0, he continues, will “spread wider and collaborate faster. I’m a subscriber [to the idea of] having people around you that you want to be like. Certainly, that’s [Republic executives] Monte and Avery [Lipman] for me. I’m not saying Big Loud is trying to become Republic Records in any way, but we are in a new era — making sure we are staying best in class and, most of all, providing for the artists.”

This story will appear in the May 11, 2024, issue of Billboard.

Billboard Pro members have selected Jay Williams, partner and co-head of WME’s Nashville office, as the recipient of this year’s Billboard Country Power Players’ Choice Award. The peer-voted accolade honors the country music executive who Billboard Pro members believe made the most impact across the industry in the past year.

Williams helps guide the careers of artists ranging from stadium and arena headliners to rising acts, with a roster including Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Brothers Osborne, Chris Stapleton, Luke Combs, Lainey Wilson, Ashley McBryde, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, Marty Stuart and Zach Top. In 2023, WME expanded in music beyond mainstream country, acquiring Red 11 Music and True Grit, which brought artists such as Charles Wesley Godwin and Cody Jinks into the fold.

Williams began his agency career over two decades ago in the William Morris mailroom, ascending the ranks and transitioning to WME in the 2009 merger. Earlier this year, he was featured in Billboard’s 2024 Power 100 list and won his third talent agent of the year honor at the CMA’s Touring Awards.

“I’m incredibly grateful and humbled by this honor,” Williams says. “Our WME team in Nashville is unparalleled, and I’m proud every day to be surrounded by their knowledge, expertise, passion and teamwork. We help and learn from each other constantly. This leads to having the strongest presence on festival lineups and dozens of successful stadium, arena, amphitheater and theater tours. It has been a great year, especially with the additions with Red 11 and True Grit and seeing huge growth in areas outside of mainstream country.”

This story will appear in the May 11, 2024, issue of Billboard.

In 1998, Bryan Adams was promoted to the rank of Officer of the Order of Canada for his contributions to popular music and his philanthropic work across a number of causes. Twenty-six years later, the (Everything I Do) I Do It for You” singer’s commitment to animal rights has landed him a new target that’s quite close to home — the Canadian Armed Forces.

In a new PETA video shared exclusively with Billboard, the Grammy winner details how bears suffer harrowing, drawn-out deaths for the fur used to make decorative headpieces worn by the CAF’s Ceremonial Guards. As PETA’s graphic, investigative footage depicts, recreational hunters in Ontario bait the animals with buckets of food before shooting them with crossbows and then disemboweling and dismembering them. While hunters save the bears’ body parts as trophies, according to PETA, they also sell the skins to buyers who make ceremonial headgear.

“Shot bears don’t always die right away. Desperate and in pain, some bears flee the hunters and endure a slow, painful death from infection or blood loss,” Adams narrates in the video. “Nursing mothers are sometimes shot, leaving behind cubs who starve, unable to survive on their own.”

“The Canadian government is endorsing this cruelty by using real bear fur on its military caps, even though military-grade faux bear fur now exists,” the musician concludes in the video. (PETA U.K. and luxury faux furrier ECOPEL have developed a replacement state-of-the-art faux fur for use.) “Tell the Canadian government to end the cruelty and go fur-free.”

In a statement to Billboard, Andrée-Anne Poulin, a spokesperson for Canada’s Department of National Defence, explained that the DND and the CAF have already switched over to using synthetic fur “where possible,” citing the shift away from the fur-lined winter accessories that dominated the 19th century.

“It’s important to note that most of the bearskin hats worn by the Ceremonial Guard are more than 20 years old and are well-maintained from the thorough care they have received over the decades,” Poulin says. “DND/CAF refurbish and extend the life of the existing hats, taking every effort to only re-use bearskins that were previously acquired.”

Animal rights are not the only cause Adams is raising his flag for. In February, the Grammy winner shared “Someone’s Daughter, Someone’s Son,” an original song written for the Lorna Tucker-helmed documentary of the same name that stands as call to action against the worldwide struggle of homelessness.

Watch Bryan Adams and PETA’s new video calling for the Canadian Armed Forces to end its use of bearskin caps. (Warning: The video contains graphic content.)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday sided with a Florida music producer in a legal battle against Warner Music over a song by the rapper Flo Rida, ruling that he can seek monetary damages dating all the way back to the 2008 release of the track.

Resolving a case that music companies had called “exceptionally important,” the justices ruled by a 6-3 vote in favor of Sherman Nealy, a Miami producer who sued Warner over claims that Flo Rida’s “In the Ayer” featured an unlicensed sample from the 1984 song “Jam the Box.”

The case before the high court dealt with a major unresolved question: Are copyright damages limited to just the last three years before a case was filed? Or can owners like Nealy seek damages ranging back decades, adding potentially many more millions to the total?

In Thursday’s ruling, the justices said it was the latter, affirming a lower appeals court that had rejected the three-year cap. “There is no time limit on monetary recovery,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her brief opinion. “So a copyright owner possessing a timely claim for infringement is entitled to damages, no matter when the infringement occurred.”

Though it dealt with esoteric questions of copyright law, Nealy’s case was closely-watched by the music industry, which has seen a large increase in decades-delayed copyright lawsuits over the past decade, targeting Led Zeppelin, U2, Meatloaf and many others. Thursday’s ruling, which creates a far larger potential prize in such cases, could encourage even more accusers to try their hand at litigation.

Crucially, however, the ruling sidestepped questions that could have created an even bigger impact. In her opinion, Kagan explicitly noted that she was not deciding an even-more-important issue: Whether someone like Nealy could file a lawsuit in the first place many years after his song was first infringed.

That question, which has divided lower courts in dueling camps with two different approaches, will need to be resolved in a future case. In Thursday’s decision, Kagan simply said that, assuming that such years-delayed cases can indeed be filed, then there should be no cap on how far back an accuser can seek to recover money.

“We do not resolve today which of those two rules should govern a copyright claim’s timeliness,” the justice wrote, referring to the split over the issue. “But we reject applying a judicially invented damages limit to convert one of them into the other.”

Neither side immediately returned requests for comment on the decision.

Nealy sued Atlantic Records, Warner Chappell and Artist Publishing Group in Florida federal court in 2018, arguing he had never actually granted them a valid license for his “Jam the Box” to be sampled in Flo Rida’s “In the Ayer,” which reached No. 9 on the Hot 100 after being released in July 2008.

In 2021, the judge overseeing ruled that Nealy couldn’t win any money from earlier than 2015, citing the three-year cap on damages. He cited a 2014 Supreme Court ruling on the movie Raging Bull, which seemed to impose that limit by saying that copyright accusers can “gain retrospective relief running only three years back.”

But earlier this year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit overturned that ruling and said he could seek damages going back to the release of Flo Rida’s track. Adopting a so-called “discovery rule” approach used by certain other courts, the appeals court cited the fact that Nealy claimed he had only learned of the illegal sample in 2016.

Warner quickly appealed that decision to the Supreme Court, warning that the “discovery” approach would unfairly expand the “financial exposure” of a copyright defendant and potentially lead to frivolous lawsuits that aimed to “extract settlements.”

“Deprived of a predictable limitations period and faced with expensive, time-consuming, and difficult litigation in order to defend years-old uses of copyrighted works, defendants will often be left with no choice but to settle claims early even in the absence of wrongdoing—or potentially never enter valuable agreements in the first place,” Warner wrote.

Ahead of Thursday’s ruling, labels and publishers were watching Warner’s case closely. In a brief filed last year, the Recording Industry Association of America and National Music Publishers’ Association called the case “vitally important to the music industry.”

“Because copyrights are the music industry’s most consequential asset, music labels and music publishers regularly find themselves both enforcing and defending copy right lawsuits,” lawyers for RIAA and NMPA wrote. “Without a clear national rule setting the temporal limits of recoverable damages, amici and their members face serious uncertainty.”

Go read the entire Supreme Court ruling here.

In March, the singer Maeta hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart after a dogged 35-week climb — the second-longest in the history of the format. “Through the Night” is a ballad modeled after seductive soul classics. But Maeta is 23, far younger than the veterans who often reign supreme in the world of adult R&B — singers like Charlie Wilson, with 10 No. 1 singles in the format, and Kem (8). 

Maeta is not the only younger artist venturing into this territory, however. The last week of March, for example, just three adult R&B staples were in the top ten on the chart. They were vying for position with a younger generation represented by Victoria Monet, Muni Long, Tyla, Mahalia, and SZA.

Historically, adult R&B is “where you would go to hear the music of legacy acts,” says Mike Street, Audacy’s format VP of mainstream hip-hop and R&B. “Then you would sprinkle in some newer acts. You’re starting to have to put more of these newer, talented artists in the same space as the staples and let them slug it out.” 

And “post-pandemic, the younger R&B is now dominating,” according to Colby Tyner, svp of programming for Radio One. “It’s tougher for some of the core adult R&B artists to break through today because they’re competing with SZA and Muni Long.”

Many believe this competition has re-energized this space on the airwaves. “It feels like the younger artists are reviving the format,” says George “Geo” Cook, head of content and audience for Service Broadcasting Group, which includes Smooth R&B 105.7 in Dallas. “It got a little stagnant just focusing on the staples.” 

“We think the format should be for all R&B artists,” adds J Valentine, who manages Tank (seven No. 1s on Adult R&B Airplay). “It shouldn’t sound old.”

But as adult R&B’s priorities shift, some artists may be left out in the cold. At this point, “the chart is named wrong,” says Michael Paran, founder of P Music Group, which manages Wilson, Babyface, and Jodeci, among others. “Let’s call it what it is: It’s just R&B. The sad thing for me is the name [‘adult R&B’] was probably the only thing that was giving any kind of leverage to my acts like Charlie and Babyface. And there aren’t a lot of acts doing it at that age and actually winning.”

The adult R&B format has been around for more than three decades. Tony Gray, president of Gray Communications Inc., helped launch three of these stations: V103 in Chicago in 1988, WALR in Atlanta in 1989, and WYLD in New Orleans in 1990. At the time, a younger generation of listeners was becoming increasingly enamored with hip-hop or punchy fusions like New Jack Swing. The new format “would appeal more directly to the adult audience,” Gray says.

Billboard launched its Adult R&B Airplay chart in the fall of 1993. The ranking “is expected to benefit such artists as vocalist Phyllis Hyman and instrumentalists Grover Washington Jr. and Najee,” the magazine reported. “Record companies will now be able to build a story that can be used to gain acceptance at R&B mainstream stations, and hopefully for general market AC stations,” Terri Rossi, Billboard’s director of operations, said at the time. 

During the streaming era, the format has served as a haven for golden-voiced singers like Leela James and Ledisi. But it has not often functioned as a springboard for artists “to gain acceptance” at either mainstream R&B/hip-hop stations, which typically focus on hip-hop, or Adult Contemporary outlets, which tend to ignore R&B altogether. Adult R&B was often “reserved for people who didn’t have a shot on the mainstream side,” says Rex Rideout, a longtime producer and songwriter and management partner at Benchmark Entertainment. 

“There was a time when there were some barriers,” Valentine acknowledges.

Because of the perception that adult R&B could be receptive but also potentially confining for those with mainstream ambitions, younger singers could be wary of it. “Artists were like, ‘I don’t want to be on the adult chart, that makes me old,’” Rideout explains. 

And the major labels weren’t always enthusiastic about the format either. “What I’ve been told by many people on the label side is they don’t really like the R&B format because it didn’t generate revenue on streaming like the mainstream side,” Tyner says. Labels typically make money from artist’s streams; it’s not always easy to justify paying for radio promotion with little return. 

But as hip-hop became the dominant form of contemporary music, adult R&B’s unwavering commitment to an underserved genre started to work in its favor. “When hip-hop became so prevalent, it pushed a lot of the R&B records to the side at the mainstream format,” says Jeff Robinson, who co-manages Maeta along with Jeanine McLean. “A lot of great records were not getting airplay over there. Younger R&B artists needed a home.” And some of them — like Daniel Caesar and H.E.R. — were welcomed at adult R&B.

It also helps that adult R&B stations are now enjoying excellent ratings relative to their mainstream counterparts. Radio listening is down overall, but for those who believe the airwaves still have influence, Nielsen’s top 10 stations — ranked according to the percentage of radio listeners tuned into a particular station in a given market — included four different adult R&B outlets in February. By way of comparison, there was just a single mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop station in the top 50. 

In this environment, it’s becoming common to see more interplay between the two formats. “There’s a lot of sharing going on in both directions, “ says Chris Malone, program director of KJLH, the Los Angeles R&B station owned by Stevie Wonder. 

And importantly for adult R&B, some artists are finding that they can use it as a launching pad to reach a wider audience on the airwaves. Lionel Ridenour, president of Anchor Promotions, used this strategy last year when promoting October London, whose “Back to Your Place” was a pitch-perfect homage to 1970s Marvin Gaye. (Maeta is now testing mainstream stations as well.) 

In other words, now that more young artists are fighting for airplay at adult R&B stations, the format has regained some of the power that Rossi hoped it would have when it launched. Adult R&B “is now a place to incubate records; it’s become more of an active participant in terms of breaking these acts,” Ridenour says. “When the mainstream side is so hip-hop heavy, it takes a while to get an R&B record going. Adult R&B airplay gives you an opportunity to get audience and seed the market for mainstream.” 

One effect of the sharing between formats is that adult R&B becomes less distinct — increasingly, it’s no longer the case that the format mainly offers a space for artists that aren’t played elsewhere. It’s a no-brainer to play Muni Long’s “Made for Me” on these stations; it has the gloss and bounce of vintage hits from Brian McKnight and Mariah Carey, and a sterling vocal from Long, steely but tender. At the same time, “Made for Me” is also on mainstream radio, on prominent streaming service playlists, and all over TikTok. 

Paran welcomes the newcomers — they prove that “the adult R&B vibe is resonating with a broad audience” — but he knows that radio playlist space is limited. “The last couple years have been the hardest ever when it comes to radio promotion,” he says. And veteran R&B singers aren’t welcomed at other formats; while artists soaring on the Hot 100 can waltz over to adult R&B if they choose to, that’s often a one-way street. 

“I can see why it could be a concern to some of the older artists as the charts are being dominated now by younger-leaning folks,” Robinson says. But he remains hopeful that there’s “room for everyone.”

Lay Bankz’s “Tell Ur Girlfriend” is No. 1 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart for a third week, followed by Tommy Richman’s “Million Dollar Baby,” which vaults to No. 2 on the May 11-dated tally.

The TikTok Billboard Top 50 is a weekly ranking of the most popular songs on TikTok in the United States based on creations, video views and user engagement. The latest chart reflects activity April 29-May 5. Activity on TikTok is not included in Billboard charts except for the TikTok Billboard Top 50.

“Tell Ur Girlfriend” tops the chart for the third week in a row amid its continued dance trend. It concurrently accumulates 10.9 million official U.S. streams toward the Billboard charts April 26-May 2, according to Luminate, good enough for a return to its peak so far of No. 58 on the multimetric Billboard Hot 100; the vast majority of its Hot 100 points come from streaming.

It’s followed by a new challenger for No. 1 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 in “Million Dollar Baby,” which debuts at No. 2. That’s the same spot as its Hot 100 premiere, thanks to 38 million streams.

The story of “Million Dollar Baby” begins on TikTok; Richman debuted the sound on April 13, and the original clip has since racked up more than 9 million views. A subsequent clip on April 23 cleared that number by accumulating over 13 million so far, with the official full-song release coming on April 26.

A dance trend featuring the song has followed, alongside lip-synch clips, plus a photo trend where users post pictures of them meeting celebrities.

Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” jumps to No. 3 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 after debuting at No. 9 on the May 4 ranking. The tune is buoyed by a dance trend as well as multiple lip-synching videos, some highlighting the “Someone pour me up a double shot of whiskey” verse for comedic effect to imply that they need a stiff drink.

“A Bar Song” reigns on the Hot Country Songs chart for a second week and also leaps 27-3 on the Hot 100, garnering a 67% increase in streams to 35 million.

After Shaboozey, two more songs hit the TikTok Billboard Top 50’s top five for the first time: Laila!’s “Like That!” at No. 4, and Phoebe Bridgers’ slowed-down version of “Scott Street,” which rounds out the top five. “Like That!” has been a steady gainer since April, debuting at No. 19 on the April 20-dated survey; most uploads incorporate its “Do you want me?/ Do you wanna love me like that?” chorus, sometimes accompanied by a caption in which the user is trying to distract their significant other from something by dancing and lip-synching the lyrics. “Scott Street,” meanwhile, remains tied to its aforementioned assortment of clips soundtracking reunions, emotional moments and more.

Then there’s Johnny Cash’s “The Chicken In Black,” the second-highest debut after “Million Dollar Baby,” premiering at No. 6. Released in 1984, the song spent 11 weeks on the Hot Country Songs chart that year, peaking at No. 45 amid a general downturn in chart success for the country legend.

“The Chicken In Black” has new life four decades later due to a TikTok trend generally using creators’ pets, with users holding their (usually) small pets or even children like guns while mouthing the “Stick ‘em up, everybody, I’m robbin’ this place” lyric.

It’s turned into chart-eligible streams for Cash, with 1.3 million April 26-May 2, a 266% leap.

See the full TikTok Billboard Top 50 here. You can also tune in each Friday to SiriusXM’s TikTok Radio (channel 4) to hear the premiere of the chart’s top 10 countdown at 3 p.m. ET, with reruns heard throughout the week.

Just call her Professor Swift. Gracie Abrams made her late-night interview debut Wednesday (May 8) and opened up on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon about how touring with Taylor Swift on The Eras Tour felt like going to pop-star college, which culminated in some field experience when the “Anti-Hero” singer invited her to perform a duet during one of the shows — an event during which Abrams says she “blacked out.” 

“It’s a real masterclass to watch her do what she does,” the California native — who has previously performed on late-night programs — told Fallon on his show, where she later performed her new single “Risk.” “I felt like I was at college for this job. I watched every single one of her shows that I was lucky enough to open. I watched from every place possible in each stadium, just trying to pick up on how she’s able to do what she does.” 

“What she does so unbelievably well in these kinds of rooms is, sometimes you feel like you’re on Mars and sometimes you feel like the only two people in the stadium are you and her because she’s just so connected to her audience,” Abrams continued. “It’s really magical and to have been in their orbit for a summer was a crazy dream.” 

The musician went on to recall the surreal experience of singing her breakthrough 2020 hit “I Miss You, I’m Sorry” with Swift during the surprise song section of one of her Cincinnati shows in July. Abrams’ supporting set had been canceled earlier in the night due to rain delays, leading the 14-time Grammy winner to graciously give her opener a second shot at performing a couple hours later.  

“Even Taylor can’t control the sky, apparently,” Abrams joked to Fallon. “My set was canceled for safety reasons. Then Taylor texted me being like, ‘Hey, come out with me and do ‘I Miss You, I’m Sorry?” We ran it one time in her room and then did it there. I blacked out.” 

Abrams and Fallon also revealed during the interview that they’d been seated next to each other at the 2024 Met Gala two nights prior. “We danced the whole time,” the “21” singer told viewers. “You can’t be sitting when it’s Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.”  

Grande headlined a short fairytale-inspired concert at this year’s event, and at one point was joined by her Wicked costar for a duet of Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey’s “When You Believe.” “It’s pretty remarkable being in the same room as voices like theirs,” Abrams added. “They’re just unbelievable, as we all know.” 

Watch Abrams on The Tonight Show below. 

Naomi Osaka might lead a pacifist lifestyle, but that hasn’t stopped her from indulging in the spicy Drake and Kendrick Lamar feud as a fan of the genre.

The tennis star shared her thoughts on the beef sweeping the rap world following her match on Wednesday (May 8) at the Italian Open, and although the 26-year-old identifies as a “neutral party” in the bout, she seems to be riding with Kendrick.

“Kendrick dropped some heat. That last song,” she began while revealing “Not Like Us” provided the soundtrack to her pre-match playlist. “That last song is amazing. And I played it walking onto the court. Currently, I think Kendrick’s doing another song.”

With Drake getting the final word in for now with “The Heart Part 6,” Osaka wants to see Kendrick respond with another diss track.

“Yeah, sorry,” she said when asked if he should drop again. “Technically, Kendrick dropped that song and then Drake dropped ‘The Heart Part 6,’ so technically Kendrick could drop another two if he wanted to.”

Osaka is thrilled with the influx of new K. Dot tunes since he typically doesn’t flood the market. “And me being a Kendrick fan, I haven’t gotten this many Kendrick songs in a very long time so if he wants to keep dropping,” she concluded.

The bouncy Mustard-produced “Not Like Us” has Osaka on the verge of another victory in the round of 64. She’s built a healthy lead in set two against Marta Kostyuk before play was suspended due to weather on Thursday (May 9).

Outside of being a hip-hop fan, Osaka has ties to the rap world through dating Cordae. The DMV-bred rapper and four-time Grand Slam champion welcomed a baby girl — the couple’s first child — last summer.

As far as the Drake-Kendrick feud, it’s been permeating all walks of life. Past the tennis world, President Joe Bidens’s team even made a video clowning Donald Trump earlier this week, using lyrics from the Compton rapper’s “Euphoria” diss track.

Watch Naomi Osaka’s comments on the rap feud below.

With a prolific body of work that has graced the albums of music icons like The Weeknd and Beyoncé, Belly’s artistic journey stands as a testament to his ability to craft lines that cut through the hearts of hip-hop fans over nearly three decades.

In this time, he has produced three studio albums, including The Revolution (2007), Immigrant (2018), and See You Next Wednesday (2021), in addition to 12 mixtapes, his most recent being the acclaimed Mumble Rap 2 (2023) via Roc Nation. But it doesn’t end there. Over the years, he’s also been featured on tracks by Jay-Z, Nas, DJ Khaled, Young Thug, the late Nipsey Hussle and more, all serving as a testament to Belly’s unwavering versatility. Since 2016, Belly has had three tracks land on the Billboard Hot 100, including “Might Not” (2016) and “Better Believe” (2021), both featuring The Weeknd, and “Double Up” with Nipsey Hussle and DOM KENNEDY. In 2019, he co-wrote The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” alongside Max Martin, Oscar Holter and DaHeala, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks.

In this two-part interview with Billboard Arabia, hosted by Yassin Alsalman (aka Narcy, a rapper and a professor of hip-hop at Concordia University), the two musicians walk down memory lane, unpacking Belly’s legendary career, his favorite rap bars and his philosophies on life.

The conversation between Belly and Yassin, who both grew up in the Arab diaspora in Canada, finds a point of departure within the immigrant experience in North America, a plight woven by a tapestry of stories reflecting challenges and triumphs to build a compelling narrative of struggle, resilience and choice. All of which we hear in Belly’s prolific body of work, which kicked off with his first mixtape, Death Before Dishonor: Vol. 1, and the subsequent release of eight additional projects in six years, including his debut studio album, The Revolution (2007).

Belly walks Billboard Arabia through his entrance into hip-hop, teaching himself English through rap and how making music became a therapeutic tool to deal with complex emotions. “When situations happen, I’m not the type of a person that opens up very easily to people,” says Belly, “I think I open up to the pen and the paper.”

As a rapper with ten albums and EPs under his belt, and a steady stream of singles, Yassin transmits an intimate knowledge of both hip-hop and Belly’s work. Quickly finding a flow, part one of the conversation travels through Belly’s artistic history, but also what it means to find a sense of belonging in hip-hop.

Belly’s music isn’t just a collection of songs; it’s a sonic voyage that moves through continents, proving the power of the pen can find a home in the hearts of hip hop fans and artists alike. In Part Two of the deep dive with Belly, we learn about his artistic process, and the many ways he “changes his approach” to songwriting, be it in his own work, or when writing for others. “I’ve been blessed to work with a lot of legends,” says Belly. “I’m so enamored by what they do, sometimes I get imposter syndrome… It’s a balance of humility and remembering who f–k you are.”

Belly talks about joining Jay-Z’s legendary label Roc Nation, and the impact he had on his work, particularly his album, Midnight Zone. “Looking up to someone like HOV my whole life, studying his bars… how he layered it with three different meanings,” he says. “He made me explore words and rap way further than I would have if he wasn’t around.”

Collaborating with everyone from Beyoncé to The Weeknd and other “giants,” Belly often reminds himself in moments of doubt that he’s always been “there for a reason.” Despite a hip-hop career spanning almost three decades, Belly feels a pull towards exploring new artistic avenues. “It’s time for me to channel this creativity elsewhere and explore different paths,” he reflects. He’s currently working on what might become his final albums, starting with Mumble Rap 2 and the upcoming release 96 Miles From Bethlehem.

“Making this album wasn’t so much the decision I struggled with making,” says Belly in a follow up interview with Billboard Arabia. “I’ve always known that I was gonna make an album for Palestine and I’ve even had this title for a decade now. The decision was based on everything happening in Palestine now and the need for an unapologetic album that can voice the frustrations most of us feel and the love we share for our homeland. As far as impact goes, I just pray it finds its way to whoever needs it most.”

The album is executively produced by Belly, DannyBoyStyles and DaHeala while featuring other Palestinian pop and hip-hop artists including Saint Levant, MC Abdul and ELYANNA. In December, Belly posted, “I’ve got a lot to say…” in relation to the forthcoming album, which emerged in the wake of the war on Gaza.

Belly goes on to mention that “Hip-hop, has always been deep rooted in resistance. It’s rhythmic poetry, and historically, poets and artists in general have changed the course of history more than once.” For Belly, this aspect of impacting change isn’t only limited to albums with strong messaging. He aims to continue engaging Light Sonic Division, the studio he founded, as a “support system for young Palestinian artists with a story to tell.”

The conversation took place in Belly’s L.A. studio, hosted by Yassin Alsalman, better known by his stage name Narcy. He’s released ten albums and EPs, while collaborating with artists like Yasiin Bey, in addition to having his track “Hamdulillah” featured in Mo Amer’s hit Netflix show Mo.