Awards
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John Fogerty will be presented with the National Association of Music Merchants’ (NAMM) prestigious Music for Life Award at the 2023 NAMM Show, the organization revealed on Monday (March 20).
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The Grammy-winning composer and musician will receive the entertainment technology industry’s highest honor on April 13 in Anaheim, California, in recognition to his lifelong contributions to music and his commitment to inspiring music makers worldwide. With the award, Fogerty will join a list of iconic past recipients including Quincy Jones, Garth Brooks, Melissa Etheridge, Jason Mraz, Graham Nash, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Yoko Ono, Henry Mancini, Bob Weir and Nancy Wilson. Most recently, Kenny Loggins was presented with the award in 2022.
“John Fogerty is a living example of inspiration and character, as a singer, guitarist, songwriter, and artistic visionary,” said NAMM President and CEO Joe Lamond in a press statement. “When I was 10, my dad brought home the Creedence Clearwater Revival album Green River and said, ‘Play like this.’ That moment started my own musical journey, and I imagine many walking The NAMM Show floor can say the same thing. Honoring him with the Music for Life Award will be a personal highlight for me and a huge privilege for all NAMM members.”
The exciting news comes following an already great year for Fogerty, who gained worldwide control of his Creedence Clearwater Revival publishing rights in January after a half-century struggle. The treasure trove includes such rock classics as “Proud Mary,” “Down on the Corner,” Fortunate Son,” “Bad Moon Rising” “Up Around the Bend” and “Green River.”
Fogerty and his band will also be hitting the road this year for The Celebration Tour, where he’ll be joined by his sons Shane and Tyler, as well as their band, Hearty Har.
Registration is open for the 2023 NAMM Show. Sign up here.
The ongoing success of Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time, which is in its second week at No. 1 on both The Billboard 200 and Top Country Albums, increases the possibility that the album could wind up with a Grammy nomination for album of the year.
It would be the first country album to be nominated in that category since Kacey Musgraves’ Golden Hour, which won the 2018 award.
A recent Billboard report looked at the scarcity of nominations in recent years for country in the Big Four categories (album, record and song of the year, plus best new artist).
Eddy Arnold’s My World (1965) was the first country album to be nominated for album of the year. Glen Campbell’s By the Time I Get to Phoenix (1968) was the first country album to win in that category.
The Chicks have had three album of the year nominations, more than any other country act. Taylor Swift (in her country period) had two. Linda Ronstadt also had two, counting the Trio album, on which she collaborated with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. Harris and Alison Krauss also had two, counting the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, on which they both were featured.
We define a country album as any album that made Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. That rather low threshold for what constitutes a country album brought in Lionel Richie’s Can’t Slow Down. The album peaked at No. 55 on Top Country Albums in 1984, but a subsequent Richie album spent four weeks at No. 1 on that chart.
Here are all the country albums that have received Grammy nominations for album of the year. They are shown in reverse chronological order.
Kacey Musgraves, Golden Hour (2018)
Image Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/GI
Top Country Albums peak: No. 1 (two weeks)
Billboard 200 peak: No. 4
Notes: This was the sixth country album to win album of the year. It also won best country album, while “Butterflies” took country solo performance and “Space Cowboy” won best country song. The other singles from the album were “High Horse,” “Slow Burn” and “Rainbow.”
Sturgill Simpson, A Sailor’s Guide to Earth (2016)
Top Country Albums peak: No. 1 (one week)
Billboard 200 peak: No. 3
Notes: Though this didn’t win album of the year, it won best country album. The album spawned three singles: “Brace for Impact (Live a Little),” “In Bloom” and “Keep It Between the Lines.”
Chris Stapleton, Traveller (2015)
Top Country Albums peak: No. 1 (29 weeks)
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 (two weeks)
Notes: Though this didn’t win album of the year, it won best country album. Stapleton won a second award for the title track, which was voted best country solo performance. Other singles from the album were “Nobody to Blame” and “Parachute.”
Taylor Swift, Red (2013)
Top Country Albums peak: No. 1(16 weeks)
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1(seven weeks)
Notes: This album didn’t win a single Grammy — though nine years later, a short film for an expanded version of “All Too Well,” one of the prized songs from Red, won best music video. The album’s lead single, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” was nominated for record of the year the year before the album was eligible. The album spawned six additional singles: “Begin Again,” “I Knew You Were Trouble,” “22,” the title track, “Everything Has Changed” and “The Last Time.”
Lady A, Need You Now (2010)
Image Credit: Kevin Winter/GI
Top Country Albums peak: No. 1 (31 weeks)
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 (four weeks)
Notes: Though this didn’t win album of the year, it won best country album. And the poignant title track won four Grammys — record and song of the year, best country song and best country performance by a duo or group with vocals. The album spawned three additional singles: “American Honey,” “Our Kind of Love” and “Hello World.”
Taylor Swift, Fearless (2009)
Top Country Albums peak: No. 1 (35 weeks)
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 (11 weeks)
Notes: This was the fifth country album to win album of the year. It also won best country album, while “White Horse” won best country song and best female country vocal performance. “You Belong With Me” received Grammy nods for record and song of the year. The album spawned three additional singles: “Love Story,” “Fifteen” and the title track.
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Raising Sand (2008)
Top Country Albums peak: No. 2
Billboard 200 peak: No. 2
Notes: This was the fourth country album to win album of the year. It also won best contemporary folk/Americana album, while four tracks from the album won Grammys. “Please Read the Letter” took record of the year, “Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)” and “Rich Woman” won back-to-back awards for best pop collaboration with vocals and “Killing the Blues” won best country collaboration with vocals.
Vince Gill, These Days (2007)
Top Country Albums peak: No. 4
Billboard 200 peak: No. 17
Notes: Though this four-disk box set didn’t win album of the year, it won best country album. Three singles were released from the collection: “The Reason Why” (featuring Alison Krauss), “What You Give Away” (featuring Sheryl Crow) and “How Lonely Looks.”
The Chicks, Taking the Long Way (2006)
Image Credit: M. Caulfield/WireImage
Top Country Albums peak: No. 1 (nine weeks)
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 (three weeks)
Notes: This was the third country album to win album of the year. It also won best country album. The lead single, “Not Ready to Make Nice,” won record and song of the year and best country performance by a duo or group with vocal. Grammy voters rallied behind the group which had suffered a backlash amid controversy over Natalie Maines’ harsh comments about President George W. Bush. The other singles from the album were “Everybody Knows,” “Voice Inside My Head,” “Easy Silence” and “The Long Way Around.”
The Chicks, Home (2002)
Top Country Albums peak: No. 1 (19 weeks)
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 (four weeks)
Notes: Though this didn’t win album of the year, it won best country album. In addition, the group won best country performance by a duo or group with vocal for “Long Time Gone” and best country instrumental performance for “Lil’ Jack Slade.” The other singles from the album were “Travelin’ Soldier,” “Godspeed (Sweet Dreams),” “Top of the World.” and a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide.”
Various Artists, O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack (2001)
Top Country Albums peak: No. 1 (35 weeks)
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 (one week)
Notes: This was the second country album to win album of the year. In addition, it won best compilation soundtrack album for a motion picture, television or other visual media. Two tracks from the album won Grammys. Ralph Stanley’s “O Death” was voted best male country vocal performance. The Soggy Bottom Boys’ “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow” won best country collaboration with vocals. The trio consisted of Dan Tyminski, Harley Allen and Pat Enright.
The Chicks, Fly (1999)
Top Country Albums peak: No. 1 (36 weeks)
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 (four weeks)
Notes: Though this didn’t win album of the year, it won best country album. The group also won best country performance by a duo or group with vocal for “Ready to Run.” The other singles from the album were “Cowboy Take Me Away,” “Goodbye Earl,” “Cold Day in July,” “Without You,” “If I Fall You’re Going Down with Me,” “Heartbreak Town” and “Some Days You Gotta Dance.”
Shania Twain, Come on Over (1998)
Image Credit: Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via GI
Top Country Albums peak: No. 1 (50 weeks)
Billboard 200 peak: No. 2
Notes: Twain won four Grammys for this album across two years. In the first year, “You’re Still the One” won best female country vocal performance and best country song; in the second, “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” won best female country vocal performance and “Come on Over” won best country song. “You’re Still the One” also received Grammy nods for record and song of the year. “You’ve Got a Way” was nominated for song of the year the following year. The other singles from the album were “Love Gets Me Every Time,” “Don’t Be Stupid (You Know I Love You),” “From This Moment On,” “When,” “Honey, I’m Home,” “That Don’t Impress Me Much,” “Rock This Country!” and “I’m Holdin’ On to Love (To Save My Life).”
Dolly Parton/Linda Ronstadt/Emmylou Harris, Trio (1987)
Top Country Albums peak: No. 1 (five weeks)
Billboard 200 peak: No. 6
Notes: Though this didn’t win album of the year, it won best country performance by a duo or group with vocal. The album spawned four singles: “Telling Me Lies,” “Those Memories of You,” “Wildflowers” and a remake of The Teddy Bears’ “To Know Him Is to Love Him,” a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958.
Lionel Richie, Can’t Slow Down (1984)
Top Country Albums peak: No. 55
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 (three weeks)
Notes: You probably wouldn’t have expected to see this album on this list. But Can’t Slow Down cracked Top Country Albums — largely on the strength of the country-tinged ballad “Stuck on You,” which rose to No. 24 on Hot Country Songs. Richie’s music has always blended strains of country, R&B and pop. His 2012 album Tuskegee, on which he was joined by an array of top country stars, logged four weeks at No. 1 on Top Country Albums. Can’t Slow Down belongs on this list, in the interest of completeness and general interest, but we’re not going to call it the second country album to win album of the year (though it did indeed win that award), because it wasn’t primarily a country album. Two songs from the album, “All Night Long (All Night)” and “Hello,” were nominated for song of the year and best pop vocal performance, male in successive years. “All Night Long” was also nominated for record of the year in the first year.
Kenny Rogers, The Gambler (1979)
Top Country Albums peak: No. 1 (23 weeks)
Billboard 200 peak: No. 12
Notes: The title track received a Grammy nod for record of the year. and won for best country vocal performance, male. The album spawned a second smash, the poignant “She Believes in Me,” which received Grammy nods for song of the year and best pop vocal performance, male.
Eagles, Hotel California (1977)
Top Country Albums peak: No. 10
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 (eight weeks)
Notes: Like Lionel Richie’s Can’t Slow Down, this isn’t primarily a country album — though as you can see, it made the top 10 on Top Country Albums. The title song became the first rock track to win a Grammy for record of the year. It was also nominated for song of the year. The album spawned two other hits: the sublime “New Kid in Town” (which won best arrangement for voices) and the rock anthem “Life in the Fast Lane.”
Linda Ronstadt, Heart Like a Wheel (1975)
Image Credit: Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via GI
Top Country Albums peak: No. 1 (four weeks)
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 (one week)
Notes: Ronstadt (shown here at the Grammy ceremony with her producer/manager, Peter Asher) won her first of 11 Grammys for “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love With You),” which was voted best country vocal performance, female. The album spawned three other singles: “You’re No Good,” “When Will I Be Loved” and “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore.”
John Denver, Back Home Again (1974)
Top Country Albums peak: No. 1 (13 weeks)
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 (one week)
Notes: This was Denver’s first Grammy nomination. It’s unusual that the album was up for album of the year, but Denver wasn’t recognized in any other categories. The album spawned three hits: “Annie’s Song,” the title song and “Sweet Surrender.” In addition, a live version of another song from the album, “Thank God I’m a Country Boy,” topped the Hot 100 in 1975 and landed a Grammy nod for best country vocal performance, male.
Charlie Rich, Behind Closed Doors (1973)
Top Country Albums peak: No. 1 (21 weeks)
Billboard 200 peak: No. 8
Notes: Rich won his only Grammy for the classy title song, which was voted best country vocal performance, male. The track also received nominations for record and song of the year. The album spawned two other hits, “I Take It on Home” and “The Most Beautiful Girl.” The latter was a No. 1 hit on the Hot 100.
Johnny Cash, Johnny Cash at San Quentin (1969)
Top Country Albums peak: No. 1 (20 weeks)
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 (four weeks)
Notes: This is the only live album by a country artist to receive an album of the year nomination. Cash won a Grammy for best country vocal performance, male for the novelty hit “A Boy Named Sue,” which also received a Grammy nod for record of the year.
Glen Campbell, By the Time I Get to Phoenix (1968)
Top Country Albums peak: No. 1 (four weeks)
Billboard 200 peak: No. 15
Notes: This was the first country album to win album of the year. Campbell had won two Grammys the previous year for his tender performance of the title song, which was voted best vocal performance, male and best contemporary male solo vocal performance. The exquisite ballad (written by Jimmy Webb) had received Grammy nods for record and song of the year the previous year. The album also included Campbell’s follow-up hit, “Hey Little One.”
Bobbie Gentry, Ode to Billie Joe (1967)
Image Credit: Bettmann/GI
Top Country Albums peak: No. 1 (three weeks)
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 (two weeks)
Notes: This album bumped the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band out of the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200. How’d it do that? The title track was one of the most talked-about singles of its time, as people tried to piece together exactly what happened up on Choctaw Ridge that drove Billy Joe MacAllister to jump off the Tallahatchie Bridge. Gentry (shown here with Glen Campbell and Lalo Schifrin) became the first person in Grammy history to receive nominations in each of the Big Four categories in the same year. Of the Big Four, she won only best new artist. She also won best vocal performance, female and best contemporary female solo vocal performance, both for “Ode to Billie Joe.” The album spawned two other singles: “I Saw an Angel Die” and “Mississippi Delta.”
Eddy Arnold, My World (1965)
Top Country Albums peak: No. 1 (17 weeks)
Billboard 200 peak: No. 7
Notes: Arnold received four nominations for this album and its smash single “Make the World Go Away,” which exemplified the “countrypolitan” sound. Three of those nominations were in categories that still used the terminology “country & western,” which would soon seem dated. The album also spawned the hits “What’s He Doing in My World” and “I’m Letting You Go.”
Taylor Swift has a reputation as one of the finest songwriters of her generation. Grammy voters seem to agree – she has received six song of the year nominations since 2009, which puts her in a tie with Lionel Richie and Paul McCartney for the most by any songwriter in Grammy history.
Richie wrote five of his six song of the year nominees by himself. He teamed with Michael Jackson to write his sixth, “We Are the World.”
By contrast, Swift and McCartney wrote just one of their song of the year nominees by themselves. Swift was the sole writer of “Lover.” McCartney was the sole writer of “Ebony and Ivory.”
Swift teamed with Liz Rose to write two of her nominated songs; with Max Martin and Shellback to write two others; and with Aaron Dessner to write one. McCartney and John Lennon were credited as co-writers of all five nominated songs that were recorded by The Beatles.
“Anti-Hero,” which Swift co-wrote with Jack Antonoff, seems very likely to be nominated for song of the year when the nods for the 66th annual Grammy Awards are announced later this year. That would give her a tiebreaking seventh nomination.
Unlike McCartney and Richie, Swift has yet to win in the category. McCartney won on his third nomination, for “Michelle,” a charming tune from The Beatles’ Rubber Soul that few would regard as one of his or their greatest songs. Richie won on his sixth nomination, for USA for Africa‘s “We Are the World.” That song raised millions to fight starvation in Africa and hunger here in the U.S., but it’s more admired for its purpose and intentions than its songcraft.
As Swift launches her 52-date The Eras Tour in Glendale, Ariz. on Friday (March 17), we have prepared this list showing you each of these songwriters’ six Grammy nominations – in a handy, side-by-side format.
First nominations
Image Credit: Rick Diamond/GI
Swift: “You Belong With Me” (2009, co-written with Liz Rose)
Richie: “Three Times a Lady” (1978)
McCartney: “A Hard Day’s Night” (1964, co-written with John Lennon)
Notes: All three of these songs were smash hits. “You Belong With Me,” the third single from Fearless, reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 – Swift’s highest ranking to that point. Commodores’ recording of “Three Times a Lady,” the lead single from Natural High, logged two weeks at No. 1. The Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night,” from the soundtrack to their film of the same name, topped the Hot 100 for two weeks – and was the first rock song to receive a song of the year nod.
Second nominations
Swift: “Shake It Off” (2014, co-written with Max Martin and Shellback)
Richie: “Lady” (1980)
McCartney: “Yesterday” (1965, co-written with John Lennon)
Notes: All three of these songs were No. 1 hits on the Hot 100 for four or more weeks. (Four weeks for the Swift and Beatles hits; six weeks for Kenny Rogers’ recording of “Lady.”) Rogers’ smash was the lead single from his perfectly-timed, Billboard 200-topping Kenny Rogers’ Greatest Hits. “Shake It Off” was the lead single from 1989. Though “Yesterday” didn’t win the Grammy, many regard it as one of the greatest songs ever written.
Third nominations
Swift: “Blank Space” (2015, co-written with Max Martin and Shellback)
Richie: “Endless Love” (1981)
McCartney: “Michelle” (1966, co-written with John Lennon)
Notes: “Blank Space,” the second single from 1989, topped the Hot 100 for seven weeks, making it Swift’s longest-running No. 1 to that point. “Endless Love,” which Richie wrote for the film of the same name and which he recorded with Diana Ross, logged nine weeks at No. 1, making it Richie’s longest-running No. 1 ever. The Beatles didn’t release any singles from Rubber Soul, but a cover version by David and Jonathan reached No. 18 on the Hot 100.
Fourth nominations
Image Credit: Tony Evans/Timelapse Library Ltd./GI
Swift: “Lover” (2019)
Richie: “All Night Long (All Night)” (1983)
McCartney: “Hey Jude” (1968, co-written with John Lennon)
Notes: “Lover,” the third single from Swift’s album of the same name, reached No. 10 on the Hot 100. “All Night Long (All Night),” the lead single from Can’t Slow Down, logged four weeks at No. 1. “Hey Jude” led the chart for nine weeks, making it McCartney’s longest-running No. 1 hit – with The Beatles or post-Beatles. It was one of only two singles to top the Hot 100 for nine weeks in the 1960s, the other being Percy Faith’s shimmering instrumental “Theme from a Summer Place.” (That 1960 smash was nominated for song of the year despite being an instrumental, something that couldn’t happen today.) As noted above, “Lover” is Swift’s only song of the year nominee that she wrote by herself.
Fifth nominations
Swift: “Cardigan” (2020, co-written with Aaron Dessner)
Richie: “Hello” (1984)
McCartney: “Let It Be” (1970, co-written with John Lennon)
Notes: All three songs were No. 1 hits on the Hot 100. “Cardigan,” the lead single from Folklore, spent one week on top. “Hello,” the third single from Can’t Slow Down, spent two weeks on top. “Let It Be,” from the documentary film of the same name, spent two weeks on top.
Sixth nominations
Swift: “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (The Short Film)” (2022, co-written with Liz Rose)
Richie: “We Are the World” (1985, co-written with Michael Jackson)
McCartney: “Ebony and Ivory” (1982)
Notes: Again, all three songs were No. 1 hits on the Hot 100. The expanded version of “All Too Well,” the lead single from Red (Taylor’s Version), spent one week on top. It set a new record as the song with the longest playing time to reach No. 1. USA for Africa’s “We Are the World” topped the chart for four weeks. “Ebony and Ivory,” a glossy plea for brotherhood and understanding across racial lines, topped the Hot 100 for seven weeks. McCartney wrote the song by himself and recorded it with Stevie Wonder. While everyone admired the song’s good intensions, the song hasn’t aged especially well. A Saturday Night Live parody version by Eddie Murphy (as Wonder) and Joe Piscopo (as Frank Sinatra) skewered the song. Sample lines: Murphy as Wonder: “I am dark, and you are light.” Piscopo as Sinatra: “You are blind as a bat, and I have sight!”
The 2023 Billboard Music Awards is shifting from its regular spring slot for a new fall date.
One of the biggest music events on the U.S. calendar, the BBMAs is set for Nov. 19, with further details on the show to be announced at a later date, organizers Billboard and Dick Clark Productions announced today (March 16).
The switch-up will see the BBMAs return to the cooler months, a traditional spot for the ceremony’s early years. From its debut in 1990 through to 2006, the BBMAs took place in December. Then, every edition from 2011 onwards was held in May, with the exception of the pandemic-interrupted 2020 show, which rolled out in October.
The forthcoming event is the followup to the 2022 BBMAs, held last May 15 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, and hosted by Sean “Diddy” Combs.
On that occasion, the Weeknd (17 nominations) and Doja Cat (14) entered the ceremony as the top two finalists. Olivia Rodrigo won seven awards, Ye (formerly Kanye West) bagged six, Drake and Justin Bieber both claimed five, Taylor Swift snagged four, and BTS emerged with three awards, more than any other group or duo that time.
The BBMAs celebrates the hottest names in contemporary music today, with winners determined by performance on the Billboard charts.
Awards for the 2023 BBMAs are based on music consumption reflected on Billboard’s charts dated Nov. 19, 2022 through Oct. 21, 2023, and take into account key fan interactions with music, including audio and video streaming, album and song sales, radio airplay and touring.
For more, follow @BBMAs and #BBMAs on socials and billboardmusicawards.com.
Rihanna slayed at the 2023 Oscars on Sunday with a classy performance of her soulful ballad “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. She didn’t win the Oscar for best original song – the award went to “Naatu Naatu” from RRR – but RiRi will likely have more chances to win for the song at next year’s Grammy Awards.
“Lift Me Up,” which Rihanna co-wrote with Tems, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Göransson, is a front-runner for a nomination for best song written for visual media.
“Lift Me Up” could also wind up with record and/or song of the year nominations. Rihanna has been nominated for record of the year three times, for “Umbrella” (featuring Jay-Z), “Work” (featuring Drake) and as featured artist on Eminem’s “Love the Way You Lie.”
If “Lift Me Up” is nominated for song of the year, it would mark Rihanna’s first nod in that category. Her only songwriting nods to date are for “Run This Town,” which won best rap song, and “Kiss It Better,” which was nominated for best R&B song.
“Lift Me Up” will also probably be nominated in a performance category – either best R&B performance or best traditional R&B performance. (The final decision on where to slot performances that seem to be on the border between two categories is made by a large screening committee. They base their decision on the sound of the performance, as they perceive it, not chart position or the artist’s image.)
Rihanna has been nominated in R&B performance categories twice, for “Needed Me” and “Hate That I Love You,” a 2007 collab with Ne-Yo. She has yet to be nominated for best traditional R&B performance.
“All the Stars,” from the first Black Panther, was nominated for Grammys in four categories (though it didn’t win in any of them). The smash by Kendrick Lamar featuring SZA was nominated for record and song of the year, best rap/sung performance and best song written for visual media.
The Recording Academy announced earlier this month that the eligibility year for the 66th annual Grammy Awards will end on Aug. 31, one month earlier than usual. So the eligibility “year” will consist of just 11 months.
Rihanna may or may not release her long-awaited ninth studio album by Aug. 31 – she has another “project” in the works just now – which would change the Grammy conversation around her. Rihanna’s best year at the Grammys in terms of nominations was 2016, when she amassed eight nods. (Alas, she lost them all.)
The early front-runners for record of the year nominations, in addition to “Lift Me Up,” include Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” SZA’s “Kill Bill” and Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers.”
This wouldn’t be the first time “Anti-Hero” and “Lift Me Up” have tangled. By holding at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a second week last November, Swift’s smash kept Rihanna’s ballad from debuting in the top spot and becoming her 15th No. 1 single. Instead, “Lift Me Up” debuted and peaked at No. 2. “Anti-Hero” went on to log eight total weeks at No. 1 – the record for a Swift single.
R&B and blues singer Esther Phillips is among the 2023 inductees into The Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame. Phillips had two top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 — “Release Me” (1962, when she was known as “Little Esther” Phillips) and a remake of Dinah Washington’s “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes” (1975). Phillips didn’t live to see her induction. She died in 1984 at age 48.
Josh White, who went from being a Piedmont blues artist to an important voice in the folk music world of the 1940s, was also inducted. White, who died in 1969 at age 55, received the Folk Alliance International’s 2023 lifetime achievement award for a legacy (deceased) artist on Feb. 1 in Kansas City, Mo. Leyla McCalla and Josh White Jr. performed in tribute to White at that event. McCalla performed “I Gave My Love a Cherry (The Riddle Song).” White Jr. sang “One Meatball.”
This year’s other Blues Hall of Fame honorees include four Chicago bluesmen (Carey Bell, John Primer, Snooky Pryor and Fenton Robinson) and a Mississippi juke joint king (Junior Kimbrough).
Of the seven artists being inducted this year, four (Bell, Phillips, Primer and Robinson) had been nominated for Grammy awards, but none had won (which suggests the need for these specialized awards). Phillips was a four-time nominee for best R&B vocal performance, female. She lost three times to Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin.
Of the seven artists, only Primer is still living. He is 78.
Since its inception in 1980, The Blues Foundation has inducted more than 400 industry professionals, recordings, and works of literature into the Blues Hall of Fame. Members are inducted in five categories: performers, individuals, classic of blues literature, classic of blues recording (song), and classic of blues recording (album).
David Evans, who won the award for individuals, is a two-time Grammy winner for best album notes. He won for Voices of Mississippi: Artists and Musicians Documented By William Ferris and Screamin’ and Hollerin’ the Blues – The Worlds of Charley Patton.
One of the five recordings being honored has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. That’s Son House’s 1930 recording “My Black Mama,” which was voted into the Grammy HOF in 2013.
Little Walter: The Complete Chess Masters is 2023’s classic blues recording: album. Hip-O’s five-CD, 126-track compilation was released in 2009.
Entering the Blues Hall of Fame as a classic of blues literature is The Original Blues: The Emergence of the Blues in African American Vaudeville 1899-1926. The book, by Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff, chronicles the minstrel and ragtime traditions in vaudeville theatre that was major public venue for blues in its early years.
The Blues Hall of Fame induction ceremony, held in conjunction with the Blues Music Awards, will take place on Wednesday, May 10, at the Halloran Centre in Memphis. A cocktail reception honoring the BHOF inductees and Blues Music Awards nominees will begin at 5:30 p.m., with the inductions commencing at 6:30 p.m. Tickets, including the ceremony and reception, are $75 each and available with Blues Music Awards tickets.
The Blues Hall of Fame Museum in Memphis will showcase several items representing the 2023 class of inductees. These artifacts will be on display for public viewing beginning the first week of May and will remain on view for the next 12 months.
Here’s a full list of The Blues Foundation’s 2023 Blues Hall of Fame inductees.
Performers
Carey Bell
Junior Kimbrough
Esther Phillips
John Primer
Snooky Pryor
Fenton Robinson
Josh White
Individuals – Business, Production, Media, Academic
David Evans
Classic of Blues Literature
The Original Blues: The Emergence of the Blues in African American Vaudeville 1899-1926 by Lynn Abbott & Doug Seroff (University Press of Mississippi, 2017)
Classic of Blues Recording – Album
Little Walter: The Complete Chess Masters (1950-1967) (Hip-O Select, 2009)
Classics of Blues Recording – Single or Album Track
“Black Nights” — Lowell Fulson (Kent, 1965)
“I’m Tore Down” — Freddy King (Federal, 1961)
“Mojo Hand” — Lightnin’ Hopkins (Fire, 1960)
“My Black Mama” — Son House (Paramount, 1930)
“The Red Rooster (Little Red Rooster)” — Howlin’ Wolf (Chess, 1961)
Drew Barrymore is set to host the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards live from Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif., on Sunday, May 7, at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The evening will honor achievements in both movies and television, across scripted and unscripted.
Barrymore’s eponymous daytime talk show debuted Sept. 14, 2020. In January, the show was renewed for a fourth season.
Barrymore has won three Golden Popcorns, as the award at this show is known. She and Adam Sandler won best kiss for The Wedding Singer (1998) and best on-screen team for 50 First Dates (2004). She, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu won that same award, best on-screen team, for Charlie’s Angels (2001).
Barrymore was nominated for best talk/topical show at the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards: UNSCRIPTED. The Drew Barrymore Show was one of two daytime talk shows to be nominated in the category (along with The Kelly Clarkson Show). Both afternoon talk shows lost to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
In 2020, Barrymore and Sandler were also honored as dynamic duo at the MTV Awards: Greatest of All Time.
This is the 31st edition of this show and the sixth to jointly honor movies and TV. Two years ago, MTV broke the show in two and presented awards for film and scripted television on one night and awards for reality television the following night. Last year, the two shows, though still distinct, aired on the same night. This year, the two shows will be rejoined.
Vanessa Hudgens and Tayshia Adams were hosts of last year’s show, with Hudgens hosting the first half for film and scripted television series, and Adams hosting the second half for awards in reality television.
Executive producers for the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards are MTV’s Bruce Gillmer, Wendy Plaut and Vanessa Whitewolf, along with Den of Thieves’ Jesse Ignjatovic and Barb Bialkowski. Jackie Barba and Alicia Portugal are executives in charge of production and Lisa Lauricella serves as the music talent executive.
Further news, including nominations and presenters, will be announced in the coming weeks.
Last year, special awards went to Jennifer Lopez (Generation Award), Jack Black (Comedic Genius Award) and Bethenny Frankel (MTV Reality Royalty Award).
Questlove won best music podcast of the year at the fifth annual iHeartPodcast Awards on Tuesday (March 14). The virtual event, hosted by actor and comedian Brian Baumgartner, was video-streamed on iHeartRadio’s YouTube Channel and Facebook Page and broadcast on iHeartMedia radio stations nationwide and on the iHeartRadio app.
Charlamagne Tha God presented the award to Questlove, host of Questlove Supreme. This adds to Questlove’s growing trophy collection which includes an Oscar for directing Summer of Soul and six Grammys.
Sportscaster Bob Costas opened the 2023 iHeartPodcast Awards.
Jason Alexander and Peter Tilden presented the fan-voted podcast of the year award to Las Culturistas. Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang thanked Marc Maron and Snookie for paving the way in podcasting.
Zach Braff and Donald Faison presented Nicole Byer, host of Why Won’t You Date Me, with best comedy podcast of the year. Alex Borstein later presented Byer with her second award of the night for best overall host.
Comedian Iliza Shlesinger awarded the new best overall ensemble award to Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett of SmartLess.
The show also featured appearances by Mayim Bialik, Colin Cowherd, Malcolm Gladwell, Draymond Green, Bethany Joy Lenz, Enrique Santos, Angela Yee and more.
Executive producers for the 2023 iHeartPodcast Awards are John Sykes, Tom Poleman, Conal Byrne and Bart Peters for iHeartMedia, and Deviants Media Studio founder Ivan Dudynsky and show runner Jayson Belt.
Here’s the full list of 2023 iHeartPodcast Awards winners:
Social Impact Icon Award: Dr. Laurie Santos and Dr. Joy Harden Bradford
Audible Audio Pioneer Icon Award: Kara Swisher
Innovator Icon Award: Ashley Flowers
Podcast of the Year Award: Las Culturistas
Best Overall Ensemble: SmartLess
Best Overall Host: Nicole Byer
Best Music Podcast: Questlove Supreme
Best TV & Film Podcast: Films to be Buried With
Best Pop Culture Podcast: Decoder Ring
Best Business & Finance Podcast: Planet Money
Best Comedy Podcast: Why Won’t You Date Me
Best Crime Podcast: Believe Her
Best Food Podcast: The Sporkful
Best Wellness & Fitness Podcast: Maintenance Phase
Best History Podcast: You’re Wrong About
Best Kids & Family Podcast: Wow in the World
Best News Podcast: The Daily
Best Fiction Podcast: Welcome to Night Vale
Best Sports Podcast: The Draymond Green Show
Best Science Podcast: Radiolab
Best Technology Podcast: Pivot
Best Ad Read Podcast: Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Best Political Podcast: NPR Politics Podcast
Best Spanish Language Podcast: Ciudad Mágica
Best Advice & Inspirational Podcast: Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People
Best Beauty & Fashion Podcast: Natch Beaut
Best Travel Podcast: Atlas Obscura
Best Green Podcast: TED Climate
Best Spirituality & Religion Podcast: On Being
Best Branded Podcast: Smart Talks with IBM
Best Emerging Podcast: Sounds Like a Cult
Best International Podcast: El Viaje (Mexico)
More information can be found at iHeartPodcastAwards.com.
By winning five Juno Awards this year, The Weeknd has upped his career total of Juno wins to 22. Only one artist in Juno history has won more awards: That’s the great Anne Murray, who has picked up 25 over the years.
Watching The Weeknd close in on Murray’s long-held record echoes the way Beyoncé closed in on – and this year surpassed – classical conductor Sir Georg Solti’s record as the all-time Grammy Award winner. Even if Murray’s record is eventually toppled, the fact she has held it so long speaks volumes. (The artists who are next up on the Juno leaderboard are also global superstars: Bryan Adams is in third place with 21 Junos, while Celine Dion is in fourth place with 20.)
Murray’s collection of Junos includes back-to-back awards for both album of the year and single of the year for 1980-81. She took the album awards with New Kind of Feeling and Anne Murray’s Greatest Hits, and the single prizes with “I Just Fall in Love Again” and “Could I Have This Dance.”
Murray was one of the top pop/country crossover artists of the 1970s and ’80s. She topped the Billboard Hot 100 once (with “You Needed Me” in 1978) and the Hot Country Songs 10 times. She won a Grammy for best female pop vocal performance with “You Needed Me” and for best female country vocal performance three times, with “Love Song,” “Could I Have This Dance” and “A Little Good News.”
Murray was best known for ballads, such as the exquisitely sad “Broken Hearted Me,” but she also had some midtempo hits, including covers of The Beatles’ sassy “You Won’t See Me” and The Monkees’ endearing “Daydream Believer.”
Murray also had a wonderfully dry sense of humor in concert. When a fan would yell out a request, she would counter with a dry “Not yet. First, I want to work you up to feverish pitch.”
Here are nine things to know about Anne Murray.
She made the top 10 on the Hot 100 with her first charted hit.
“Snowbird” made No. 8 in September 1970. It brought her two Grammy nominations – best contemporary vocal performance, female and best new artist. She lost both awards (to Dionne Warwick and the Carpenters, respectively), but she went on to win four Grammys. And she landed a performance slot on that first live Grammy telecast in March 1971, where she sang James Taylor’s song of the year nominee, “Fire and Rain.”
She had three Hot 100 hits with covers of Beatles songs.
She reached the chart with versions of the Fab Four’s “You Won’t See Me,” “Day Tripper” and “I’m Happy Just to Dance With You.” The acts were Capitol Records labelmates, though The Beatles broke up in 1970, just as Murray’s career took off.
Kenny Loggins wrote two of her biggest hits.
Loggins wrote “Danny’s Song,” which Murray took to No. 7 on the Hot 100 in April 1973. He co-wrote “Love Song,” which was a No. 12 hit for Murray in March 1974. Murray later had a country hit with Kenny’s cousin, Dave Loggins. Their collab, “Nobody Loves Me Like You Do,” topped Hot Country Songs in December 1984.
She is one of just four women to win Grammys in both pop and country solo vocal performance categories.
She followed Olivia Newton-John and Linda Ronstadt in accomplishing the feat, and preceded k.d. lang.
She prevailed over a strong field of nominees to win a Grammy for “You Needed Me.”
The other nominees for best pop vocal performance, female were Olivia Newton-John for “Hopelessly Devoted to You,” Donna Summer for “MacArthur Park,” Carly Simon for “You Belong to Me” and Barbra Streisand for her solo recording of “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” (which was released before her duet version with Neil Diamond). So was Murray’s Grammy win a huge upset? Not at all: “You Needed Me” was the only single by a woman to receive a record of the year nomination that year. Murray competed with Billy Joel (who won), Bee Gees, Gerry Rafferty and Chuck Mangione.
She had one of the biggest hits from the Urban Cowboy soundtrack.
“Could I Have This Dance” topped the Hot Country Songs chart in November 1980 and reached No. 33 on the Hot 100. It was the third No. 1 country hit to emerge from the soundtrack, following Mickey Gilley’s remake of “Stand by Me” and Johnny Lee’s “Lookin’ for Love.” The soundtrack topped Top Country Albums for eight weeks. The soundtrack and the John Travolta/Debra Winger film didn’t exactly do for country music what Travolta’s Saturday Night Fever and the Bee Gees-dominated soundtrack had done for disco in 1977-78, but it got partway there. If Fever was a home-run as a cultural phenomenon, this was at least a base hit.
In 1984, she won both album of the year and single of the year at the CMA Awards.
She won both awards with “A Little Good News” and the album of the same name. It was her second single of the year nod, following “You Needed Me.”
She had a 1981 album with a title that was similar to that of a 2019 blockbuster.
The title of Murray’s 1981 album posed the philosophical question, Where Do You Go When You Dream. Nearly four decades later, the title of Billie Eilish’s debut album posed a similar question, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? Sometimes great artists – even from different generations and genres – think alike.
A Grammy Salute to The Beach Boys has an air-date – Sunday, April 9. The show was taped at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood on Feb. 8, three days after the live broadcast of the 65th Annual Grammy Awards.
Like past Grammy Salutes specials, the show features a broad range of artists performing the honoree’s songs. The salute to The Beach Boys includes a mix of artists who seem to be on Grammy producers’ speed-dials (Brandi Carlile, John Legend, Norah Jones, Pentatonix, Take 6), and a few less automatic choices (Fall Out Boy, My Morning Jacket, Weezer).
In addition, the special will feature appearances by music legends Sir Elton John and Bruce Springsteen; actors Drew Carey, Tom Hanks and John Stamos; Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr.; and former chair of the Recording Academy’s board of trustees, super-producer Jimmy Jam. Beach Boys members Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, Mike Love, David Marks and Brian Wilson will appear as featured guests as well.
John did the honors when The Beach Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. He was the subject of his own special in 2018, Elton John: I’m Still Standing — A Grammy Salute.
A Grammy Salute to The Beach Boys is produced by Tenth Planet Productions. Joel Gallen, Rick Krim and Irving Azoff serve as executive producers and Rick Austin as co-executive producer. Gallen also directed the special.
AEG Ehrlich Ventures, headed by Ken Ehrlich, the former executive producer of the Grammy Awards telecast, oversaw past Grammy Salutes specials.
The special airs during a year-long celebration of The Beach Boys 60th anniversary. (As is often the case with anniversary commemorations, it’s a little late. The Beach Boys were formed in Hawthorne, Calif., in 1961. The group first cracked the Billboard Hot 100 with “Surfin” in February 1962. But 61st or 62nd anniversary doesn’t have the same ring to it.)
A Grammy Salute to The Beach Boys will air less than four months after the airing of the previous Grammy Salutes special. Homeward Bound: A Grammy Salute to the Songs of Paul Simon, aired on Dec. 21.
The Beach Boys special will air on Sunday April 9 from 8 – 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS, and will be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+. In a first for these Grammy Salutes specials, a one-hour version of the tribute will air on MTV at a future date to be announced.
Here’s something they probably won’t tell you on the special: The Beach Boys never won a Grammy in competition, despite four nominations. Even their masterwork “Good Vibrations” went 0-3 at the Grammys. (During The Beach Boys’ 1960s heyday, Grammy voters were still trying to decide what they thought of contemporary pop/rock.)
Grammy voters have since decided they like it – and The Beach Boys in particular – very much. The group received a lifetime achievement from the Recording Academy in 2001. Wilson was named MusiCares person of the year in 2005. Five Beach Boys recordings have been voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which functions as a second chance for the Grammys to reward worthy records they may have missed the first time around.
Since The Beach Boys’ heyday, Brian Wilson has received six more Grammy nominations, winning twice – best rock instrumental performance for “Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow” (2004) and best historical album for The Smile Sessions (Deluxe Box Set) (2012).
In additon, Wilson was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2000 and received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2007.
Check out a complete list of the performances set for A Grammy Salute to The Beach Boys below:
“Darlin’” – Andy Grammer
“Sloop John B” – Beck
“Good Vibrations” – Beck, Jim James
“In My Room” – Brandi Carlile
“God Only Knows” – Brandi Carlile & John Legend
“Wouldn’t It Be Nice” – Charlie Puth
“Do You Wanna Dance” – Fall Out Boy
“Do It Again” – Foster The People
“Barbara Ann” – Hanson
“The Warmth of the Sun” – Norah Jones
“Surfer Girl” – Lady A
“Sail on Sailor” – John Legend
“Help Me Rhonda” – Little Big Town
“Surfin’ USA / Fun Fun Fun” – Luke Spiller & Taylor Momsen
“Don’t Worry Baby” – Michael McDonald & Take 6
“I Know There’s an Answer” – Mumford & Sons
“I Get Around” – My Morning Jacket
“Heroes and Villains” – Pentatonix
“Caroline No” – LeAnn Rimes
“You Still Believe in Me” – St. Vincent
“California Girls” – Weezer