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The year so far has served up a number of intriguing new artist stories, with the likes of Benson Boone, Chappell Roan and Tommy Richman soaring to the top region of the charts for the first time. But perhaps no artist has had a more historic rise in 2024 so far than Shaboozey, whose “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” became his first-ever No. 1 song on the Hot 100 this week — a huge achievement for the artist, his team and his label partner, EMPIRE.

The achievement comes more than a month after the release of Shaboozey’s latest album, Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going, which debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, easily the best mark of his career. But its significance goes well beyond that. After two guest spots on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album helped introduce him to a mainstream audience, Shaboozey released “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and saw it become the first song in history to reach the top 10 of the Country, Pop, Adult Pop and Rhythmic Airplay charts — a true testament to its cross-genre, or even genre-less, appeal — while making him the first Black man, and second Black artist overall after Beyoncé earlier this year, to top both the Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs charts.

It’s also a big milestone for EMPIRE, which launched its Nashville division in 2019 and started working with Shaboozey a few years ago. After releasing his Cowboys Live Forever, Outlaws Never Die album in October 2022, EMPIRE threw the weight of the company behind the singer, bringing in the full force of its marketing, A&R and global teams, as well as devising the radio strategy that helped to deliver such a historic result. And the achievement helps make EMPIRE COO Nima Etminan Billboard’s Executive of the Week.

Here, Etminan, who alongside company founder/CEO Ghazi has built EMPIRE into an indie powerhouse for more than a decade now, talks about the company-wide strategy to help boost Shaboozey’s work, as well as what the recent achievements for his music mean for the industry and for EMPIRE itself. “We’re scratching the surface of an artist with immense talent, depth and longevity,” Etminan says of Shaboozey. “He’s got stories to tell, emotions to share and hearts to touch. I believe that we will be seeing him play arenas across the globe for many years to come and I’m excited to be there for it every step of the way.”

This week, Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” reached No. 1 on the Hot 100. What key decision did you make to help make that happen?

Shaboozey’s project has been an “all hands on deck” experience at EMPIRE. A key decision was to involve every department in every territory early on — they all played a role in this record in one way, shape or form. It’s hard to pinpoint specific decisions with a song this big; it’s a culmination of efforts. 

This is Shaboozey’s first No. 1 single, after you guys have spent the past few years working with him. How have you helped him develop to get to this point, and how did you help push the song to these heights?

We saw potential in Shaboozey since our first meeting with him. He was passionate, talented and had a clear vision of what he was trying to achieve, but was still navigating his path to success in this industry. One of the key decisions was made after the release of Boozey’s first album with EMPIRE called Cowboys Live Forever, Outlaws Never Die — he and his manager Abas Pauti called me in late 2022 trying to figure out next moves and we decided to bring him closer into the core EMPIRE umbrella. His potential as a global star was starting to be apparent and we brought in marketing and A&R resources from our San Francisco headquarters to complement what our Nashville team was doing on the ground. We strategized closely with his managers Abas and Jared [Cotter] and the upward curve began with the release of “Let It Burn” in the fall of 2023. It became clear we had something very special on our hands and the building started to rally around him.

This achievement also comes five years after EMPIRE launched its Nashville division. How have you built up and grown that aspect of the business, and how do you continue to support it moving forward?

Our Nashville division got its start somewhat serendipitously in 2019 with Willie Jones. Willie was not active at the time and didn’t have any music outside of an old X Factor audition video that had went viral some years back. He was a Black country artist with an incredible voice and Ghazi and I decided to take a chance and do a deal with him. From there, we started to assemble a staff on the ground and slowly made a name for EMPIRE in Nashville — brick by brick. Ghazi firmly believed that country music was going to follow in urban music’s footsteps with just a few years’ delay — and he was right. The town was ripe for new energy and we were quickly able to sign an impressive roster of artists and developed some amazing talent on both the record and the publishing side. We’ve been pushing Nashville for five years and are planning on continuing to do so.

Shaboozey is the first Black man, and second Black artist overall after Beyoncé earlier this year, to top both the Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs charts. What is the significance of that for you guys and for him?

It’s a sign of the times — genres are merging, styles are blending and the audience’s music taste is broader than ever. Artists don’t need to be put in boxes — whether it be by race, genre or eras. Good music is good music and the listeners largely get to dictate the charts.

The song is the first in history to reach the top 10 of the Country, Pop, Adult Pop and Rhythmic Airplay charts. What was your guys’ radio strategy?

There were many, many doubters of our ability to work this record at radio. The industry loves telling independents that there’s a ceiling to what they can do on their own and this was no different. We were told it can’t be done, and as we like to do, we proved them wrong. We’ve assembled a fantastic team that we had full faith in — and they delivered.

This achievement is also a capstone for an incredible first half of the year for Shaboozey overall, with his two guest spots on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter and the No. 5 debut of his own album, Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going. How do you push things forward from here?

As cliche as it may sound, this is just the beginning for Shaboozey. The album has a lot of life left in it and some incredible songs that we will work. We’re scratching the surface of an artist with immense talent, depth and longevity. He’s got stories to tell, emotions to share and hearts to touch. I believe that we will be seeing him play arenas across the globe for many years to come and I’m excited to be there for it every step of the way.  

You’ve been with Ghazi basically since the beginning of EMPIRE, helping to build this company. What does it mean for you guys to achieve this No. 1?

My path started in hip-hop. I started off as a fan of rap music in Germany, where I grew up, launching DubCNN, a platform focused specifically on West Coast hip-hop. That is what brought me to California, building friendships with some of my favorite artists growing up, and meeting Ghazi in 2008 via Daz Dillinger. My only goal at the time was to find a way to make a decent living doing something in music. No. 1 Billboard records were not on my radar — I liked underground music and I loved to help new artists gain an audience. But I saw the potential of what were doing when I watched Kendrick Lamar go from an unknown mixtape artist when I first interviewed him in 2007, to becoming a household name after his EMPIRE-released Section.80 and ultimately the biggest rapper in the world. 

Ghazi and I share a passion for culture, authenticity and doing good business. What matters the most to us is doing things with integrity and leaving a legacy behind that we can be proud of. There’s a lot of foolishness that goes on in this industry; I’ve seen it from afar and I’ve experienced it firsthand. If we weren’t going to do it our way, we’d rather not do it at all. Shaboozey’s success is exactly that. He’s been through the major system, he’s seen behind the curtain, and partnering with someone like him, who shares similar values and ethics, and taking a record all the way to the top is extremely gratifying. However, I’d be lying if I said it was a goal I thought about or set out to achieve — I never chased awards, charts or any sort of outside validation. But I’m grateful for it when it happens.