State Champ Radio Awards
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Trending on Billboard Bad Company joined an exclusive club on Saturday (Nov. 8), becoming just the 10th artist whose debut album had topped the Billboard 200 to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The band’s eponymous debut album reached No. 1 in the issue dated Sept. 28, 1974, dethroning Stevie Wonder’s […]
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Salt-N-Pepa‘s Spinderella is now the first female DJ ever inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
The historic moment happened Saturday (Nov. 8) during the the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater, where Salt-N-Pepa were inducted into the Hall of Fame.
After a speech from Missy Elliott, the trio performed a medley of their classic hits including 1987’s “Push It” and 1993’s “Whatta Man,” for which they were joined by the song’s original collaborators En Vogue.
The trio then made its own acceptance speeches, with Salt-N-Pepa DJ Spinderella, whose real name is Deidra Muriel Roper, noting that the honor makes her the first female DJ ever inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
“When I started, it was a rare thing to see a woman behind turntables,” Spinderella said. “It was literally the boys club, so I had to carve my own lane. I had to show up. It was dedication; it was my craft, and I never missed a beat, in 40 years y’all… I carry every female DJ who ever dared to dream. Every woman who touched a turntable and said, ‘I can do that too.’ This is ours. Respect the DJ.”
DJs already in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame include DJ Kool Herc, who was inducted in 2003 and Grandmaster Flash, who was inducted in 2007.
The trio’s Saturday night acceptance speech also saw Salt-N-Pepa’s Cheryl “Salt” James referencing the group’s lawsuit, filed in May, against Universal Music Group to regain control of their masters, alleging that the record company has not honored Salt-N-Pepa’s copyright clawback rights and has punished them by taking their music off streaming.
“We’re in a fight for our masters that rightfully belong to us…,” James said. “After 40 years, our streaming music has been taking down from all streaming platforms because the industry doesn’t want to play fair,” then, amid cheers, added that “Salt-N- Pepa has never been afraid of a fight.”
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The Los Angeles Dodgers weren’t the only winners in town this week. Returning to City of Angels for the first time since 2022, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ushered in a new class of inductees during its 40th annual induction ceremony Saturday night (Nov. 8).
“Welcome to the second-best thing to happen to Los Angeles in the past week,” said John Sykes, chairman of the R&R Hall of Fame, welcoming the audience at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is officially middle aged and to celebrate the 40th induction ceremony, a 10-minute sizzle reel spanning the four decades played prior to the official start of the proceedings, which, thanks to a more streamlined process when honoring the musical excellence and non-performer categories, came in at a relatively brisk four-and-a-half hours.
Beamed live on Disney +, the Rock Hall honored Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, Outkast, Soundgarden and The White Stripes in the performer category, Salt-N-Pepa and Warren Zevon for musical influence; Thom Bell, Nicky Hopkins and Carol Kaye for musical excellence, and longtime Warner Records executive Lenny Waronker with the Ahmet Ertegun Award (named after the Atlantic Records co-founder). A primetime trimmed- down special will air on ABC on Jan. 1, 2026.
Many of the 2025 honorees were not in attendance: Of course, Zevon, Cocker, Hopkins and Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell were inducted posthumously, and legendary Wrecking Crew bassist Kaye declined in advance to attend. Though the White Stripes’ Jack White referenced her and even dedicated part of his speech to her, his former bandmate, Meg White, did not attend. At 84, Checker was still doing what he does best and passed up his induction to keep a regularly scheduled paying gig, though he delivered his acceptance speech from the show before going into a shortened version of his biggest hit, “The Twist.” After initially hoping to attend and even reunite with his band Bad Company, lead singer Paul Rodgers pulled out for health reasons.
But there was still a dazzling amount of star power in the room from the honorees who were present and the nearly 40 artists who helped induct them.
Below are nine highlights from the evening.
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There are few moments more immediately significant than an artist learning they’ve earned a Grammy nomination. For KATSEYE‘s Megan, that revelation arrived not during the live reveal or from celebratory screams, but in the glow of KATSEYE’s group chat.
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“I woke up a little bit later so I woke up to the group chat going crazy — that’s literally how I found out,” she tells Billboard exclusively during a phone interview just two hours after the Recording Academy announced the 2026 nominees in full. “It’s just me here right now, but the group chat is blowing up.”
With nods in best new artist and best pop duo/group performance, Megan says KATSEYE’s two nominations feel like a confirmation of the whirlwind experience the sextet has been on from their 2023 Dream Academy competition series to climbing up the Billboard Hot 100 as “Gabriela” reaches a new peak of No. 37 this week.
“It’s all settling in and I feel like I haven’t fully come to my — I don’t know — I feel like it hasn’t settled in fully that we are nominated for two Grammy Awards,” she adds. “It’s crazy, I literally woke up to the news. I think throughout the day it’s gonna settle a little bit more, but feeling super grateful.”
Megan
Austin Hargrave
With best pop duo/group performance, “Gabriela” is recognized in a stacked category in this year of superstar team-ups. KATSEYE is up against Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande‘s Wicked duet “Defying Gravity,” Kendrick Lamar and SZA‘s latest collab “30 for 30,” ROSÉ and Bruno Mars‘ multicultural smash “APT.” as well as “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters’ HUNTR/X group of Ejae, Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami. Megan says the recognition is particularly significant for their position as a global girl group.
“With any award or nomination, it means so much to us because we work so, so hard,” she says. “So, it’s like all of the hard work, those long hours and all the dedication are really paying off. But especially for the best pop duo/group [performance], we really do rely so much on each other; we are literally sisters at the end of the day. So, being able to get nominated with my five best friends is literally a dream come true. It’s the best feeling ever. And especially with what we represent globally, it means so much to each and every one of us. We’re just like so excited and so happy about everything.”
That happiness doesn’t just extend to KATSEYE’s nods, but also to her fellow best new artist nominees, which include friends of the band like Addison Rae, sombr and Alex Warren.
“It’s insane that we’re even in the same category — it’s literally crazy,” the Honolulu native adds. “But yeah, Addison, sombr, even Leon Thomas, Alex Warren, Lola [Young], every single one of them, they’re literally all amazing and we all look up to them in our own ways. We’re so new, so to even be in the same category as these amazing artists is so, so cool. But to be able to share the nomination with some of our friends like Addison, sombr and Alex, it’s really, really cool and I’m proud of each and every one of them as well.”
As for the whole group, KATSEYE shared the following statement on their social media following the Grammy nominations reveal: “We can’t even believe this is real life!! two nominations?! thank you to the Recording Academy we are truly humbled, and congrats to all the nominees today, you inspire us! we wouldn’t be here without our EYEKONS — words can’t describe how grateful we are to you.”
The 68th Annual Grammy Awards will take place Sunday, Feb. 1, at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Before that, KATSEYE dropped a new teaser clip today as well, seemingly hinting at something special coming on Nov. 11, tagging the Valorant video game and its accompanying esports league in the caption. Watch below:
Trending on Billboard The nominations for the 68th annual Grammy Awards were announced Friday morning (Nov. 7), with the Recording Academy once again recognizing the dance/electronic genre across four categories: best dance electronic recording, best dance/electronic album, best dance pop recording and best remixed recording. These categories welcome back a list of familiar faces, specifically […]
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Thirty-five years after being half of the first (and, to date, only) act to have a Grammy Award revoked, Fab Morvan of Milli Vanilli landed a second Grammy nod on Friday (Nov. 7) – best audio book, narration, and storytelling recording for You Know It’s True: The Real Story of Milli Vanilli.
Milli Vanilli, the red-hot pop duo of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus, was crowned best new artist on Feb. 21, 1990, beating out Neneh Cherry, Indigo Girls, Soul II Soul and Tone Loc. The award was presented by legendary songwriter Kris Kristofferson and rapper Young M.C., who also won a Grammy that night for best rap performance for his hit “Bust a Move.”
Their win was expected: By that point, their debut album Girl You Know It’s True had topped the Billboard 200 for eight weeks and had spawned five top five singles on the Billboard Hot 100 – the title track, “Baby Don’t Forget My Number,” “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You,” “Blame It on the Rain” and “All or Nothing.” They performed “Girl You Know It’s True” on the live telecast, making them the only best new artist nominees who performed on the show that year.
There had already been rumblings that Morvan and Pilatus had not actually sung on the album; that they were merely hired because they had the right look to push the act’s upbeat pop/dance/R&B confections to the top of the charts. But it was hard to know if the rumors were true or merely the product of jealousy because of the duo’s outsized success.
On Nov. 14, 1990, their producer, Frank Farian, confessed that Morvan and Pilatus had not sung on the records and announced that he was firing them. Five days later, the Recording Academy announced that it had revoked the duo’s Grammy. Ever since, the academy has acted like Milli Vanilli never existed. If you call up Milli Vanilli in the academy’s awards look-up tool, you will get no results. Their list of best new artist winners skips from Tracy Chapman, who won in 1989, to Mariah Carey, who won in 1991. If you call up Pilatus on the look-up tool today, it shows that this new nomination is his first.
The academy may wish Milli Vanilli never existed, or that its voting members had chosen another best new artist winner that year, but they did, in fact, win. To pretend otherwise is revisionist history.
Who might have won best new artist if Milli Vanilli hadn’t taken the prize? Soul II Soul won in two categories that night – best R&B performance by a duo or group with vocal for “Back to Life” and best R&B instrumental performance for “African Dance.” Indigo Girls won in one category – best contemporary folk recording for Indigo Girls. Tone Loc was nominated for best rap performance for “Funky Cold Medina.”
Will Morvan win on Feb. 1? The competition is tough, and almost comically eclectic. The other nominees are The Dalai Lama for Meditations: The Reflections of His Holiness The Dalai Lama; U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson for Lovely One: A Memoir; comedian and five-time Grammy host Trevor Noah for Into the Uncut Grass; and Kathy Garver, an actress who played the oldest child on the 1960s sitcom Family Affair, for Elvis, Rocky & Me: The Carol Connors Story.
Morvan was part of the Grammy process last year when the documentary Milli Vanilli was entered for best music film, but it wasn’t nominated. The doc was directed by Luke Korem and produced by Korem and Bradley Jackson.
While the story of Milli Vanilli’s rise and fall is amusing in some respects — there was endless mockery of them on the popular sketch variety show In Living Color and by such talk show hosts as Arsenio Hall and David Letterman — one must not forget that one of the members of the duo, Rob Pilatus, died young (in his early 30s) and tragically. Pilatus was found dead in April 1998 from an alcohol and prescription drug overdose. The death was ruled accidental.
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She did it! After generating Grammy buzz for months with smash hit single “APT.” featuring Bruno Mars, ROSÉ has now secured nods for both song and record of the year, as well as best pop duo/group performance.
In a video posted by one of the BLACKPINK star’s friends, which ROSÉ reposted on her Instagram Story, we get to see how she reacted to the news — as well as the tense few moments that led up to it. In the clip, she and her pals watch the Friday (Nov. 7) nominations ceremony while on a group FaceTime call. As the names are listed off for record of the year recognition, ROSÉ says nervously, “Are we not going to get it?”
“Aw, maybe we’re not going to get it,” she adds, hiding behind her fists clenched with anticipation.
When ROSÉ and Mars’ names come on screen, the K-pop star and her friends absolutely lose it. Letting out loud, wordless cheers, she says in disbelief, “Oh my god!”
The reaction clip comes shortly after the full list of 2026 Grammy nominations was unveiled Friday morning, revealing Kendrick Lamar as the frontrunner with nine nods and Lady Gaga, Jack Antonoff and Cirkut as having the second-most with seven apiece. ROSÉ’s song and record of the year honors are particularly special, however, as they mean she’s made history as the first K-pop musician to ever score one, much less two, Big Four nominations as a lead artist.
“It’s still a dream for me,” the New Zealand native recently told The Hollywood Reporter of winning a Grammy someday. “It’s still a fantasy — a moment that proves to myself so many things.”
Grammy-wise, this year was huge for K-pop in general. In addition to ROSÉ’s triumphs, KPop Demon Hunters earned nominations for song of the year, best song written for visual media and best pop group performance for Billboard Hot 100 topper “Golden,” as well as best compilation soundtrack for visual media.
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The Grammys have a country problem.
This is not new news, of course, but in another banner year for country music it was reinforced when the nominations for the 68th annual Grammy Awards were announced on Friday morning (Nov. 7).
Nowhere is the omission more obvious than in the best new artist category. To be sure, it was an extremely competitive race across several genres — but in a year when nascent country acts like Megan Moroney, Ella Langley and Zach Top were legitimate contenders with commercially and critically acclaimed breakthroughs, their names were nowhere to be found. No country artists made the cut.
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Looking further in the six general field categories, which, in addition to best new artist, include record, album, song, producer (non-classical) and songwriter ((non-classical) of the year only two country creators made the cut and both for songwriter of the year: Jessie Jo Dillon, who co-wrote songs for artists including Moroney, Jelly Roll, Russell Dickerson and Morgan Wallen that were released during the eligibility period and Laura Veltz, who had songs cut by BigXthaPlug, Jessie Murph, Josh Ross and Maren Morris, among others. (It must be noted that country’s biggest artist, Wallen, took himself out of contention this year and did not enter, but given his past lack of nominations other than for his duet with Post Malone, the voters would likely have continued to ignore him).
This has been an ongoing issue. For the last 10 years, including today’s nominations, only five country projects have received album of the year nominations among 74 contenders (and that’s generously including efforts by Americana-leaning artists, like Sturgill Simpson and Brandi Carlile, and artists who have temporarily dipped into the genre, like Beyoncé). There have only been two winners: Kacey Musgraves for Golden Hour in 2018 and Beyoncé for Cowboy Carter earlier this year.
In song of the year, over the last 10 years the only country nominations have gone to the writers of Tanya Tucker’s “Bring My Flowers Now” and Beyonce’s “Texas Hold ‘Em.”
For record of the year, the outlook is even similarly bleaker: the only country nominations have gone to Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus’s “Old Town Road” and Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”
Despite today’s goose egg, as country music has boomed over the last several years, country artists have fared best in the new artist category with eight artists receiving nominations over the last decade. However, there has been no country winner in 15 years since Zac Brown Band in 2010. And we know there won’t be one at the 2026 ceremony.
To state the obvious, the fans who have propelled country’s popularity aren’t voters. Grammy voting is a numbers game and until there are enough voters among country creators, it’s hard to see things changing. It’s clear among the winners and nominees that many of them, such as Beyoncé and Shaboozey, had projects with crossover appeal, which likely garnered them votes from beyond the country community.
That brings up a broader point, unlike other genres, such as rap and alternative, country often still remains its own island and doesn’t always cross over with other genres. That is changing, with artists like BigXthaPlug and Tate McRae collaborating with country artists and bringing new fans in, but there still seems to be a bigger divide: country listeners (including voters) likely listen to other genres of music, while fans of other genres don’t necessarily listen to country.
The Recording Academy is well aware of the country lag, and even added a new country category this year, Best Traditional Country Album, which was the only new music category added for the 68th annual Grammy Awards.
“The community of people that are making country music in all different subgenres came to us with a proposal and said we would like to have more variety in how our music is honored,” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. told Billboard in June when the category was announced “They said, we think we need more space for our music to be celebrated and honored.”
That’s a great move and puts the country categories in line with a number of the other genres that have both contemporary and traditional categories, but until the number of country creators who vote rises, there is very likely to be no change in the general field because the numbers just aren’t there to cross a country artist or project over the mainstream finish line.
The Recording Academy has been on a massive drive over the last several years to diversify its ranks especially among women, younger voters and people of color, adding 2,900 new voting members this year alone. Total voting membership is now approaching 15,000, with 73% joining since the Academy introduced a new membership model in 2019. Tellingly, only 1% of this year’s new voting members identified as being most aligned with the country genre.
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The 2026 edition of MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN (MAJ), one of the country’s premier international music honors, is set for June 13 next year.
The Grand Ceremony, including the red carpet and presentation of the major categories, will be held that evening at TOYOTA ARENA TOKYO, while the Premiere Ceremony, which covers additional categories, will take place earlier that day at TOKYO DREAM PARK. The MAJ week, running from June 8 to 13, will also include artist performances alongside seminars and showcases featuring music industry professionals from Japan and abroad.
At a press conference held in Tokyo on Wednesday (Nov. 5), organizers revealed mid-year standings based on data from January through August 2025, covering the current entry pool of eligible works and artists. Nominees for Artist of the Year include some of the year’s most prominent acts: timelesz, HANA, Gen Hoshino, Mrs. GREEN APPLE, and Kenshi Yonezu, among others. For New Artist of the Year, the list includes CANDY TUNE, CENT, TENBLANK, HANA, Brandy Senki, MON7A, and ONE OR EIGHT.
The Song of the Year field features many of the year’s defining releases, such as AiNA THE END’s “On the Way,” Sakanaction’s “Kaiju,” JENNIE’s “like JENNIE,” Snow Man’s “CHARISMAX,” and multiple tracks from HANA (“Burning Flower,” “Blue Jeans,” “ROSE”), BE:FIRST’s “Muchu,” and Mrs. GREEN APPLE (“KUSUSHIKI,” “Darling,” “Heaven”), as well as Kenshi Yonezu (“BOW AND ARROW,” “Plazma”).
Meanwhile, Album of the Year contenders include acclaimed works such as Southern All Stars’ THANK YOU SO MUCH, Snow Man’s THE BEST 2020 – 2025, Fujii Kaze’s Prema, BABYMETAL’s METAL FORTH, and Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s 10.
Eligible works include songs and albums whose full official versions were first released between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2025, either on public digital services or in physical form (with some category exceptions). Winners are determined through voting by members of the music community.
The award categories have been restructured since the inaugural MAJ with 14 new categories added. To reflect the diversity of Japan’s music landscape, new Dance & Vocal categories (Group/Solo) and separate Boys Idol Culture and Girls Idol Culture Song awards (Group/Solo) have been introduced. In response to the rise of long-running hits and renewed attention on catalog music, a Back Catalog category has also been created to honor works that continue to be embraced over time. In addition, with vinyl experiencing a resurgence, an Analog Record category has been established. The Largest Live Audience (International) award and Best Music Video Director award have also been newly added.
Founded under the theme of “Connecting the world, illuminating the future of music,” MAJ was established by five major organizations in Japan’s music industry. At the inaugural event held in May, music professionals voted — with some category exceptions — to determine winners across 62 categories (including six major awards) from a pool of approximately 3,000 entries.
Mrs. GREEN APPLE took Artist of the Year, Creepy Nuts won Song of the Year with “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born,” tuki. earned New Artist of the Year, Fujii Kaze won Album of the Year with LOVE ALL SERVE ALL, YOASOBI took Top Global Hit From Japan with “Idol” and aespa won Best Song Asia with “Supernova.” The ceremony at ROHM Theatre Kyoto was streamed worldwide on YouTube.
Ceremony Date: Saturday, June 13, 2026
MAJ Week: June 8 (Monday) – June 13 (Saturday), 2026
Venue: TOYOTA ARENA TOKYO, Tokyo
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A ripped piece of paper floats in front of EJAE’s face as she giggles with her castmates Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna over a video call. “My manager gave me a list of adjectives to use,” she says over Zoom, unable to stop herself from cackling.
Nuna immediately smirks. “Read them for us,” she shouts. The catalog includes gems like “incredible,” “humble,” “privileged,” and “accomplished,” but all three women immediately lock onto the inclusion of “breathtaking” on this list. “‘Breathtaking’ is good,” Ami laughs.
They’re all accurate words to describe exactly how the three members of the semi-fictional girl group HUNTR/X feel on Friday (Nov. 7), considering that EJAE, Ami and Nuna have just earned four Grammy nominations for their work together on the breakout hit Netflix film KPop Demon Hunters.
Alongside two standard nominations related to music for film — “Golden” earned a nod for best song written for visual media while the movie’s soundtrack notched a nomination for best compilation soundtrack for visual media — HUNTR/X also received two major category nominations, for best pop duo/group performance, and for song of the year, both for “Golden.”
So yes, “breathtaking” feels like a good word to describe the trio’s feelings. “The breaths have been snatched from our bodies,” Nuna says. “Our hearts are being pulled in so many different directions. But above all, I think we’re just very, very, very grateful to be a part of what feels like a very cultural and historic moment, and something that as kids we would have we craved so bad to see. Being a part of it is just really surreal.”
The nominations are just the latest piece of what has been a cultural takeover for KPop Demon Hunters. Not only has the film become Netflix’s most-watched movie in the platform’s history, but the music from the soundtrack — written primarily by EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick and a host of other well-established K-pop songwriters — has dominated the charts. “Golden” spent a whopping eight weeks at the summit of the Hot 100 and remains steady at No. 2 this week. The entirety of the soundtrack, meanwhile, earned two weeks at the top of the Billboard 200, and remains at No. 2 today.
For EJAE, who spent the last decade writing hit songs for K-pop acts like aespa, Twice and others, earning a Grammy nod specifically for her songwriting in the song of the year category is a fulfillment of a lifelong dream.
“It means so much, because I [was asked] in an interview once, ‘What’s a goal that you have?’ And mine was to get an award as a songwriter,” she says. “I don’t see many Asian women or Korean women in this industry, it’s hard to find, songwriter-wise. And so I hope that this can inspire others to keep going, because it felt impossible.”
The group’s nominations don’t only make history as a film-music crossover — they also make history for K-pop as a genre. With their four nominations, HUNTR/X becomes the first K-pop girl group to earn Grammy nominations, and one of two acts (alongside ROSÉ of Blackpink) to earn nominations in the same year, another first for the genre. Previously, only BTS had scored major nominations at the annual ceremony.
That lack of representation in the past is part of why many in the industry have begun asking whether or not K-pop should be represented with its own categories at the annual ceremony. For their part, all three members of HUNTR/X agree that K-pop does deserve to have space created for it at the Grammys. “It’s been proven that this is a genre that can really stand its own in the U.S. space, so it would make sense for this genre to be represented alongside so many other genres that are important to culture,” Nuna says.
With a soundtrack that has dominated music spaces around the globe for the past four months, KPop Demon Hunters has repeatedly defied expectations — which is in no small part why Ami feels particularly proud to be representing her community at the biggest music awards in the world. “As Korean women, from a very young age, we are taught to be quiet, to not be seen,” she says. “That really causes some weird cognitive dissonance early on, as Korean women who we are pursuing the art self expression where we have to be seen. We have to be loud and bold.”
But the singer makes it abundantly clear that while she, EJAE and Nuna remain incredibly grateful for their success, all three of them worked incredibly hard to earn these four nominations. “[KPop Demon Hunters] took nine years to create, there were endless demos, we have a legendary songwriter who has gone through the work of the industry, we have Audrey Nuna out on her own being an independent artist, we have the struggle that comes with being a solo Asian artist in America,” she says, her voice slowly rising. “We’ve had every door shut. We’ve been told, ‘You’re not good enough. You need to do more. You’re too Korean. You’re not American enough.’ So we deserve this. We worked very hard for this, and we are honored to have earned it.”
