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Academy of Country Music Reveals Winners for Industry and Studio Recording Awards

The Academy of Country Music has revealed this year’s slate of winners for the organization’s Industry Awards and Studio Recording Awards for the 59th annual Academy of Country Music Awards.

Steel guitar player Paul Franklin picks up his second ACM specialty instrument player of the year honor (which marks his 18th overall ACM Award, and he ties fellow steel guitarist J.D. Maness for the most ACM Studio Recording Award wins).

Dann Huff, whose illustrious list of clients includes Alabama, Brooks & Dunn, Merle Haggard, George Strait and Miranda Lambert, earns his fifth ACM producer of the year win (upping his total ACM Awards tally to 11). Meanwhile, Jimmie Lee Sloas picks up his fifth ACM bass player of the year win, and Rob McNelley wins his first ACM electric guitar player of the year accolade. Jim “Moose” Brown earns his third win for ACM piano/keys player of the year (in a tie with David Dorn, who picks up his second win in the category). Meanwhile, audio engineer Jim Cooley, and guitar player Charlie Worsham each earn their second career ACM Award for audio engineer of the year and acoustic guitar player of the year, respectively. Drummer Jerry Roe wins his first ACM Award, for drummer of the year.

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The ACM industry awards winners include two Nashville, Tennessee venues, with the Ryman Auditorium winning ACM theater of the year, while Bridgestone Arena won ACM arena of the year. This marks the Ryman’s eighth win and Bridgestone Arena’s sixth win.

Meanwhile, Uncasville, Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun Arena took home its eighth ACM award, in the casino of the year – arena category.

Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colo. won its third ACM outdoor venue of the year win (marking its fifth overall ACM accolade). Joe’s Live, in Rosemont, Ill., won its third ACM honor for club of the year, while the club’s owner, Ed Warm, picked up his first win for ACM Don Romeo talent buyer of the year (upping his total trophy count to six). The Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Tortuga Music Festival earned a third ACM Award for ACM festival of the year, while the Durant, Okla.-located Choctaw Grand Theater was named ACM casino of the year – theater.

The San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo earned its second ACM Award for ACM fair/rodeo of the year, while AEG promoter Adam Weiser earned his first ACM Award for ACM promoter of the year.

The winners were revealed via video announcements from Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Dan + Shay, Jordan Davis, Vince Gill, Cody Johnson, Parker McCollum, Justin Moore, Thomas Rhett, Tigirlily Gold and Keith Urban.

All of the winners will be celebrated during the Academy of Country Music Honors ceremony, slated for Wednesday, Aug. 21 at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.

Megan Thee Stallion The Latest Female Celebrity Victimized By A Deepfake Porn Video On X

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Megan Thee Stallion Responds To Deepfake Porn Video On X

Source: Astrida Valigorsky / Getty / Megan Thee Stallion

Megan Thee Stallion is on her record-breaking Hot Girl Summer tour alongside GloRilla, having the time of her life. Still, sadly, some hater/haters out there dropped a sexually explicit deepfake video on X that she had to address.

The Houston rapper became the latest female celebrity to be targeted with a sexually explicit deepfake video that made its rounds on Elon Musk’s messy platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

In a post on her personal X account, the rapper, born Megan Pete, wrote, “It’s really sick how all go out of the way to hurt me when you see me winning. Yall going too far, Fake ass shit. Just know today was your last day playing with me and I mean it.”

According to NBC News, Thee Stallions management, Roc Nation, declined to comment on the situation at the time.

X claims it was actively working to remove the doctored video that used deepfake technology to put the “Cobra” rapper’s face on another woman’s body. NBC News reports that it was able to view 18 separate posts featuring the deepfake video, including one that featured a side-by-side comparison with the original video.

The news website states several posts had “more than 30,000 views apiece.”

A History of Online Harassment Towards Megan Thee Stallion

The deepfake porn videos are just the latest round of online harassment Megan Thee Stallion has endured after she was shot by Tory Lanez in 2020. 

Despite his fans, whom he hilariously calls umbrellas, and Hip-Hop pundits like DJ Akademiks claiming Thee Stallion was lying about the situation, the court sided with Pete and found Lanez guilty, sentencing him to ten years in prison.

One of those pundits proudly claimed she was the reason the numbers on the video went up.

That same blogger should be worried because Megan Thee Stallion’s legal team has previously been on record saying it would be “exploring all legal options” regarding spreading misinformation about Megan Thee Stallion.

Sabrina Carpenter Says There’s ‘No Weirdness’ With Taylor Swift Despite SKIMS Campaign Backlash

Earlier this year, Sabrina Carpenter partnered with SKIMS for a sultry campaign that many fans — including the singer’s boyfriend, Barry Keoghan — went wild for. Others, however, weren’t so happy with her choice to partner with a brand founded by Kim Kardashian, given the reality star’s famous feud with Taylor Swift.

But in a new interview with Rolling Stone published Monday (June 17), Carpenter gave assurances that the superstar — with whom she became close while opening for Swift’s Eras Tour in the spring — was totally fine with the arrangement. “As much as people want to believe you’re tuned into every little thing, I’m not because I’m constantly working,” the “Espresso” singer said.

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“In that scenario, I’ve been very, very communicative with her about that situation, and I just love her so much and support her till the end,” she continued. “So it was no weirdness for me, but I know people will just say things because that’s all they have time to do.”

Carpenter also made sure to sing Swift’s praises in the interview. “I could never compare my life, my career, my trajectory to anything close to what she’s done,” Carpenter noted.

“She always puts out music at a time where I didn’t realize I needed those songs,” she added of The Tortured Poets Department. “We’re very, very verbal with each other about our mutual love and admiration. … She played me ‘But Daddy I Love Him’ before it came out, and that’s also one of my favorites.”

Though it seems Swift gave her blessing to Carpenter’s SKIMS campaign, the “Anti-Hero” singer has been very clear about where she personally stands with Kardashian. In her December TIME Person of the Year interview, she even called out the shapewear mogul by name, noting that 2016’s “Famous” debacle with Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) “took me down psychologically to a place I’ve never been before.”

“You have a fully manufactured frame job, in an illegally recorded phone call, which Kim Kardashian edited and then put out to say to everyone that I was a liar,” she added at the time.

In April, Swift also appeared to call out Kardashian again by capitalizing the letters K, I and M in the title of her The Tortured Poets Department track “thanK you aIMee.” On the song, the 14-time Grammy winner compares her subject to a high-school bully and sings, “I can’t forgive the way you made me feel … But I can’t forget the way you made me heal.”

Fictional Bands Who Reached Billboard’s Charts: The Wonders, August Moon, 4*TOWN, Spinal Tap & More

Miley Cyrus has a legendary history on Billboard‘s charts under her own name, but she’s also charted with two of her fictional characters.

Her classic Hannah Montana character charted 20 songs on the Hot 100 in 2006-10, including the No. 10-peaking “He Could Be the One” in 2009.

Hannah Montana also charted eight albums on the Billboard 200 (some were billed to Hannah Montana, while others are billed as a soundtrack or to Cyrus herself), including three No. 1s: Hannah Montana in 2006, Hannah Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus in 2007, and Hannah Montana: The Movie in 2009.

Hannah Montana aired four seasons on Disney Channel from 2006-2011. The character also starred in the films Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert (2008), Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009), and the TV film Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana (2009). She also starred in multiple video games.

In the Hannah Montana universe, Hannah Montana is the musical alter ego of Miley Stewart, a middle schooler who has a secret identity as a pop star. Cyrus’ real dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, also played her TV father, as Robby Ray Stewart.

Over a decade later, in 2019, Cyrus charted with her Ashley O character from Black Mirror. Ashley O appears in the third and final episode from the show’s fifth season, “Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too.” The episode follows Ashley O, a pop singer, whose career is stifled by her controlling aunt and cousins. Ashley O performs her song “On A Roll,” an adaptation of Nine Inch Nails’ 1989 song “Head Like A Hole,” in the episode, which later reached Billboard‘s charts.

“On A Roll” peaked at No. 3 on Dance Club Songs and No. 39 on the Digital Song Sales chart.

After launching her solo career, Cyrus charted 40 additional songs under her own name (as of June 2024), including the No. 1s “Wrecking Ball” and “Flowers.”

St. Vincent Says She’s ‘Blown Away’ by Delayed Success of Taylor Swift’s ‘Cruel Summer’

St. Vincent still isn’t over how impressive the fan love is surrounding Taylor Swift‘s “Cruel Summer.”

Eight months after the song hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — where it reigned for four weeks, a full four years after it was originally released on 2019’s Lover — the singer-songwriter born Annie Clark opened up about its delayed success in her Billboard digital cover story published Monday (June 17).

“I remain blown away by ‘Cruel Summer’ being the phenomenon that is it,” she said. “Not because it isn’t a great song. It’s indicative of the time we’re in, where a song from many albums ago, that wasn’t even a single at the time, the fans go, ‘No, this one — we pick this one.’ And then they march it up the charts.”

Clark added, “That’s completely a testament to her fan base being so powerful.”

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Shortly after “Cruel Summer” reached the summit, Swift and the track’s other co-writer, Jack Antonoff, celebrated the unexpected feat on social media. “The song that we said was the best song, but we thought, ‘Oh, you know what? This will be our secret best song.’ That’s what we thought,” the producer said in an Instagram video at the time, before the pop star chimed in. “We just wanted to say thank you so much for making ‘Cruel Summer’ a Hot 100 No. 1, and it’s not even summer anymore,” Swift said at the time. “It’s deep fall, I’m wearing a sweater.”

Now fresh off the release of her own seventh studio album All Born Screaming, St. Vincent also spoke to Billboard about her identity as a queer artist in the Pride Month issue. “Every record I’ve ever made has been so personal about what’s going on in my life at any given time,” she said. “I’m queer. I know how to code-switch. The idea of identity as performance has been very clear to me since I was a child.”

“I’m queer, I’m living in multitudes,” she added. “But this record in particular is not about persona or deconstruction.”

Read the full cover story here.

Killer Mike and London on da Track Discuss the Best Get Up Anthems of Atlanta | Billboard x Tres Generaciones Tequila

Billboard and Tres Generaciones Tequila are partnering to find out the Get Up Anthems of select cities, and for this stop, we’re in Atlanta, Georgia. In conversation with Rocsi Diaz, Atlanta natives Killer Mike and London on da Track sat with Billboard’s Damien Scott and Trevor Anderson to curate their top 10 Get Up Anthems for Atlanta. The list includes songs that inspired and energized their city, by Atlanta artists, presented by Tres Generaciones Tequila. Be sure to follow the multi-city conversations at billboard.com/get-up-anthems/.

Rocsi Diaz:
We’re not doing that.

Killer Mike:
No, you got to do that.

Rocsi Diaz:
We’re not doing that, there’s no ties.

Killer Mike:
There’s no way you cannot do that. I’ll give you a formal …

Rocsi Diaz:
There’s no ties in one to 10.

Killer Mike:
There’s definitely a tie.

Rocsi Diaz:
There’s no tie.

Killer Mike:
You can’t make that rule, and I’ll give you why.

Rocsi Diaz:
How I can’t make that rule up?! Guys, I’m just going to speak to the judges. Are you all OK with a tie at No. 1?

Hey, I’m Rocsi Diaz. Billboard and Tres Generaciones Tequila are on a journey to celebrate the impact of music, both on a personal level and as a community experience by curating panels of artists and industry tastemakers to identify the get up anthems for cities nationwide.

This stop, we’re in the A, home of the peach tree, and of course, trap music. Thank you, Nika. With me today is a titan in the music industry, celebrated for his profound influence and lyricism, Killer Mike. Alongside him, renowned producer, London on Da Track, whose signature sound has shaped the landscape of modern hip-hop. Damien Scott, Billboard‘s deputy editorial director, and Trevor Anderson, a music expert and all-around fact checker working with the mighty Billboard charts team.

Now, a few days ago we gathered to kick off the selection process for Atlanta’s Get Up Anthems. Now, beginning with Billboard‘s exclusive chart data, we narrow these 30 songs to 10.

Keep watching to learn more!

Charles Barkley To Retire From ‘Inside The NBA’ Next Season

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NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament - National Championship

Charles Barkley is one of the most vital media figures of the global basketball community as evidenced by his long stint on the popular Inside The NBA program. Amid the NBA looking to enter broadcasting deals with other networks, Charles Barkley announced that the 2024-25 NBA season will be his last as a member of the Inside The NBA panel.

Charles Barkley, 61, appeared on NBA TV after Game 4 of the NBA Finals series between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks, with the Mavs handling business. Barkley, speaking in his usual straight-talk fashion, has said previously that he was trying to find ways to keep Inside The NBA going but shocked viewers with his retirement announcement during the broadcast.

“I ain’t going nowhere other than TNT,” Barkley said. “But I have made the decision that, no matter what happens, next year is going to be my last year on television. And I just want to say thank you to my NBA family. You guys have been great to me. My heart is full with joy and gratitude.”

Barkley was referencing the ongoing negotiations between the NBA and Disney/ABC/ESPN, Amazon, NBC, and Warner Bros. Discovery for the league’s media rights. From early reports, it appears that Warner Bros. Discovery was the only group out as NBC seemingly emerged as a frontrunner although Adam Silver and the NBA have yet to share details of the potential deals. As it stands, Warner Bros. Discovery owns TNT and Inside The NBA and if a deal doesn’t materialize, the show would likely end anyway.

“I hope the NBA stays with TNT, but for me personally, I wanted you guys to hear it from me. I wanted to tell my NBATV and TNT family that I’m not going to another network, but I’m going to pass the baton to either Jamal Crawford or Vince Carter or you Steve [Smith],” Barkley added.

Charles Barkley added a no-nonsense air of authority on the show and his spirited and sometimes chippy banter with co-host Shaquille O’Neal and good-natured ribbing with Kenny “The Jet” Smith and Ernie “EJ” Johnson Jr.

Barkley has been with the network since 2000.



Photo: Getty

5 Must-Hear New Country Songs: George Strait, Luke Combs, Don Louis & More

This week’s batch of new country tunes includes George Strait offering a tender, focused aim at life’s important moments, while Luke Combs brings songs from her familial-focused album Fathers & Sons.

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Meanwhile, Carter Faith teams with Alison Krauss for a heartbreak anthem, while Don Louis offers a dance-worthy earworm, and Jenna Paulette delves into her country roots.

George Strait, “The Little Things”

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Strait’s warm, conversational, and compelling voice expertly renders an introspective musing at the myriad moments — sunsets, a gentle rain, spending time with loved ones, or “an old Merle Haggard song” — that infuse life with joy. Heightened by tender string work, this ballad is included on Strait’s upcoming album, Cowboys & Dreamers, set for Sept. 6. Strait has always had an ear for a great song, and his latest, which he wrote with Bubba Strait and Monty Criswell, proves The King never misses.

Luke Combs, “Remember Him That Way”



This two-time CMA entertainer of the year winner celebrated Father’s Day by dropping the dozen-song ode to the lifelong arc of familial bonds between dads and their sons with the album Fathers & Sons.

In one song from the album, “Remember Him That Way,” he vividly recalls all the ways he thought of his father as strong and dependable throughout his life and muses as his father grows older and more frail, “That ‘S’ on his chest is starting to fade/ But I’ll always remember him that way.” Combs wrote the song with Jonathan Singleton, Erik Dylan and Jessi Alexander.

Combs has notched 17 Billboard Country Airplay No. 1s, with a slate of songs ranging from heartbreak anthems to beer-soaked barn burners. But with his new album, he recalibrates the depths of his music, bringing fans deeper into his current perspective as a father to two young boys, while also encapsulating universal themes of the generational relationships between parents and their children.

Don Louis, “Liquor Talkin’”



Given the success of a line of massive hits songs stacking up this summer that fuse pop and hip-hop rhythms with country twang and rural, barroom-inspired lyrics, Don Louis’ latest feels like a natural candidate for the next global country-tinged smash.

“Not a doctor, I’m not a lawyer/ Feels like right now I can do anything,” sings Louis, who possesses an attention-commanding, gravelly drawl. Against a thumping, hip-hop groove tailor-made for dancing, “Liquor Talkin’” captures the confidence-heightening results stemming from a night of imbibing. Louis wrote the song with Cale Dodds and Thomas Kipp Williams, while the song is the title track to his upcoming album, out Aug. 23 via EMPIRE / Money Myers Entertainment LLC.

Jenna Paulette, “Wild Is Her Favorite Color”



Paulette sketches a musical portrait of an independent-minded woman who knows what she loves, from her favorite country song (The Chicks’ “Ready to Run”) and her favorite drink (tequila sunrise) to her favorite, passionate hue–and no, it’s not fire-engine red, but rather, as Paulette puts it, “A little deeper shade of dangerous.” Paulette’s lilting voice adds a perfect blend of spice and sugar, adding a mysterious tint to this bright, breezy production. “Wild Is Her Favorite Color” is from her upcoming album Horseback, out Sept. 6.

Carter Faith and Alison Krauss, “Blue Bird”



Carter Faith, who recently inked a label deal with UMG Nashville, teams with one of the most luminous voices in country and bluegrass, Alison Krauss, for the new song “Blue Bird.” Faith more than holds her own with an ethereal soprano that pairs exquisitely with Krauss’ backing vocals. This dazzling meditation on the crackling ache of youthful heartbreak finds Faith asking, “Is he why you’re blue? Is he why you sing like you do?” Faith wrote the song with Tofer Brown and Lauren Hungate.

Katy Perry Confirms Kick-Off of KP6 Era With Upcoming Release of Empowering ‘Woman’s World’ Single

After months of teasing, Katy Perry officially kicked off the countdown to KP6 on Monday (June 17) with the announcement that the first single from her upcoming sixth album, “Woman’s World,” will drop on July 11. The news was heralded with a brief snippet of the empowering pop song as well as the single’s eye-popping art, shot by British photographer Jack Bridgland.

The photo features Perry dressed in a skimpy white bikini, her legs encased in what look like metallic pegasus legs and her arms tucked into her voluminous black hair. “Woman’s World” is slated to drop at 7 p.m. ET on July 11, with the official music video to debut the next day.

Perry uploaded a 15-second preview of the song on Monday morning as well, in which she poses and flips her hair while wearing the outfit from the single cover accented by a chunky necklace while singing, “Sexy, confident, so intelligent/ She is heaven-sent, so soft, so strong,” over a bubbling electro pop beat.

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At press time, no additional information was available on the title of Perry’s sixth full-length studio album, the follow-up to 2020’s Smile. Perry began ramping up excitement for her next era last month when, after finishing her seven-year run on American Idol, she changed her social media profile pic to a sleek, futuristic silver logo with her shiny initials floating inside a pair of parentheses.

In April Perry told Access Hollywood that her next album was going to be one of her happiest LPs to date. “I just have yet to make a record from a place of feeling really happy and whole and full of love,” she said at the time. “Sometimes artists are like, ‘Oh, that’s boring, you want to make music from kind of like a tougher place,’ but actually it’s very bright and joyful, like pure joy and fun and playful and celebratory and a party.”

Last August during a show on her Las Vegas residency, Perry told the crowd, “If you can’t love me at my Witness and Smile era, then you can’t love me in my KP6 era.” Technically, the upcoming album is the singer’s seventh, though she did release her debut LP, Katy Hudson, in 2001 under her birth name, which had a more Christian rock-themed vibe than her subsequent major label albums.

Check out the “Woman’s World” preview below.

Snoop Dogg Throws First Pitch & Offers Hilarious Commentary at Brewers vs. Reds Game: Watch

Snoop Dogg is essentially completing life’s side missions at this point. The Doggfather tried his hand in the announcer booth to broadcast a couple of innings of the Milwaukee Brewers vs. Cincinnati Reds game on Saturday (June 15).

Before his performance in the booth in Milwaukee, Wisc., Snoop had an eventful afternoon at American Family Field. The Death Row legend threw out the ceremonial first pitch, signed some autographs after meeting members of the team and more before heading up to the call a couple innings of Brewers baseball in the booth.

Snoop was the star of the show as he hilariously brought his shrewd wordplay and charisma to the baseball diamond. A couple calls that headlined his appearance included a stolen base. “Oh, he taking off. He gone. Let him get there. Way to go, Perk. Earn mine. You got to earn mines,” the sports enthusiast said without interruption.

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A second standout moment came when Snoop was blown away at the arm strength of Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz, who he compared to having a “rocket in his pocket” while the MLB player threw the ball to first, sending Brewers batter Brice Turang back to the dugout.

“Oh he safe, he can’t throw that. He don’t got no arm like that,” Snoop thought initially. “Who is that with that rocket. Oh lord, he got a rocket in his pocket!”

Snoop departed the announcer’s booth after the third inning. The Milwaukee Brewers ended up holding on for a 3-1 victory over the Reds to extend their lead in the NL Central division.

It’s not the first time Snoop Dogg has played the role of sports broadcaster. He joined the Los Angeles Kings booth for an NHL hockey game in December 2021, where he shined as well. The iconic rapper is also set to report on the Summer Olympics for NBC.

Watch Snoop’s throw out the first pitch and call the Brewers-Reds game below.