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Dua is mourning Duo. Language learning app Duolingo announced the devastating news on Tuesday (Feb. 11) that its mascot, the green bird known as the Duolingo Owl, has died. “Authorities are currently investigating his cause of death and we are cooperating fully. Tbh, he probably died waiting for you to do your lesson, but what […]
Billboard’s electronically-monitored Radio Songs chart dates back to the Dec. 8, 1990, print issue.
“Billboard this week introduces the Top 40 Radio Monitor, a new airplay-only chart that provides actual monitored airplay data on top 40/pop stations,” announced a story on page 4 that week. “The chart uses a new technology [that] tracks airplay of songs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in markets where monitors have been installed. The monitors identify each song played by an encoded audio ‘fingerprint.’ Top 40 is the second format in which this information will be made available to our readers; the [Country Airplay] chart has used the methodology since the Jan. 20 issue.
“The Top 40 Radio Monitor chart is compiled by counting the number of times each record is played on each monitored station,” the story further explained. “Each play is multiplied by the number of listeners at that exact time, using [Nielsen Audio] data.”
Starting with the Nov. 30, 1991-dated Billboard Hot 100, the Top 40 Radio Monitor took over as the multimetric Billboard Hot 100’s radio measurement component (replacing stations’ self-reported ranked lists, which had reflected airplay popularity dating to the Hot 100’s Aug. 4, 1958, start). Since renamed Radio Songs, the chart started with a panel of 109 pop stations – in 1998, it expanded to all formats and currently sports more than 1,100 reporters, as monitored by Mediabase with data provided to Billboard by Luminate. A selection of stations remain reporting three-and-a-half decades after the chart began, including WHTZ (Z100) New York and KIIS Los Angeles.
Mariah Carey ruled Radio Songs in the ‘90s with eight of her 11 career No. 1s during the decade. She logged the list’s first leader, “Love Takes Time.”
Who has the most Radio Songs No. 1s over the first quarter of the 21st century? As Billboard celebrates the top-performing artists, albums and songs of the first 25 years of the century since 2000, browse below, the acts with the most No. 1s on the Radio Songs chart in that span.
Plus, check out Top Artists of the 21st Century, Top Billboard 200 Albums of the 21st Century and Billboard’s Top Hot 100 Songs of the 21st Century charts, as well as all coverage of Billboard’s 21st Century charts here.
Billboard’s Top Artists, Top Billboard 200 Albums and Top Hot 100 Songs of the 21st Century recaps reflect performance on weekly charts dated Jan. 1, 2000, through Dec. 28, 2024. The Top Artists category ranks the best-performing acts in that span based on activity on the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100. (Titles released prior to mid-1999 are excluded, although such entries that appeared on the Billboard 200 or Hot 100 in that span contribute to the calculation of the Top Artists chart.)
13, Rihanna
After Chappell Roan was criticized by a former music industry executive for her speech at the 2025 Grammys, the singer encouraged the music industry’s power players to join her in raising money for artists’ healthcare coverage. Now, it appears that the industry listened.
On Monday (Feb. 10), Roan officially partnered with the non-profit Backline to launch the We Got You campaign, a fundraising initiative aimed at “supporting accessibility of health care for artists,” according to its donation page. In an Instagram Stories post revealing the partnership, Roan added that she had donated $25,000 to the campaign — with fellow artists Charli XCX and Noah Kahan matching her donation — and urged industry executives to do the same.
“Fans, y’all don’t have to donate a damn penny,” she said in the post. “This is one of many opportunities for the industry powers to show up for artists. There is much more work to be done.”
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According to We Got You’s donations page, multiple major music companies and executives matched Roan’s donations. Public $25,000 contributions from Live Nation, AEG Global Touring, Wasserman Foundation and Hinterland Music Festival are listed among the campaign’s supporters, as well as matching donations from Sumerian Records founder/CEO Ash Avildsen and talent manager Guy Oseary.
“Thanks Chappell Roan for inspiring change,” read a noted shared alongside AEG’s donation. Avildsen added, “Sumerian Records always strives to be on the right side of history. Then. Now. Forever.”
In a statement shared to their Instagram, Hinterlands Music Festival commended Roan, Kahan and Charli XCX for publicly supporting “adequate support” for artists. “Without great artists, there are no music festivals,” the organization wrote. “As an independent music festival, we are dedicated to continuing to support and advocate for the well-being of all musicians, no matter their industry success. WE GOT YOU!!”
“This surge in advocacy marks a turning point in our journey as an organization,” said Backline executive director Hilary Gleason in a statement sent to Billboard on Wednesday (Feb. 12). “We are thrilled to see artists, industry leaders, and corporations take action to invest in the health and wellness of the music industry professionals who make it all happen. The awareness alone will have a significant impact for the music community in 2025 and beyond.”
In her own statement shared shortly after the campaign was launched, Backline community manager Terra Lopez praised Roan for helping the organization raise vital funding for artists’ health. “The We Got You campaign is a powerful step in prioritizing mental health and well-being of those who make the music we all love,” she wrote. “Thank you to Chappell Roan, Charli xcx, and Noah Kahan for your advocacy and action to create a more supportive industry — together, we are showing artists they are seen, heard, and cared for.”
Roan’s $25,000 donation was first revealed in a response the artist wrote to former A&R executive Jeff Rabhan, who criticized the singer’s call for label-provided healthcare at the 2025 Grammys. “@jeffrabhan wanna match me $25K to donate to struggling dropped artists?” she wrote on her Instagram Stories last week. “I love how in the article you said ‘put your money where your mouth is.’ Genius !!! Let’s link and build together and see if you can do the same.” At press time, none of the public donations to the campaign bear Rabhan’s name.
The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week, for the upcoming Billboard Hot 100 dated Feb. 22, we look at the multiple Kendrick Lamar songs that could have a shot at capturing the No. 1 spot following the rapper’s Super Bowl halftime performance.
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Kendrick Lamar, “Not Like Us,” “Luther” (with SZA) & “TV Off” (feat. TV Gunplay) (pgLang/Interscope/ICLG): Kendrick Lamar just electrified the music-listening world with one of the most-anticipated Super Bowl halftime shows of all time — coming not just one week after a Grammy sweep on Feb. 2 that saw Lamar win all five of his nominations (including record and song of the year), but a year-long run of one W after another that saw him earn our editorial staff’s Greatest Pop Star of 2024 title. The performance was the most-watched in the show’s history, according to presenter Apple Music and the NFL, with over 133.5 million people tuning in to see K Dot take the ultimate victory lap.
And of course, the song they were most interested in seeing him play was his 2024 Billboard Hot 100-topper “Not Like Us.” The already-legendary diss track, our editorial staff’s No. 1 song of last year, had been tied up in litigation in recent months, thanks to lawsuits levied by its target, fellow rap superstar Drake, who seemed intent on making it difficult for his opponent to play the incendiary cut on the world’s biggest stage. But Lamar indeed delivered the song as his performance’s centerpiece, even offering a conspicuous (and already much-memed) smile to the camera upon his first “Say Drake…” mention.
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Though “Not Like Us” has been out for eight months already at this point, and enjoyed two separate trips to No. 1 on the Hot 100 (the second coming after the release of its similarly headline-capturing music video in July), it should have a good chance of capturing the top spot again this week. The song, which has continued to linger on the Hot 100 (already rebounding to No. 15 this week, in anticipation of Lamar’s set and following his big Grammy night), shot back to the top of the Spotify Daily Top Songs USA chart, the Apple Music real-time chart and the iTunes chart following Lamar’s performance, as its performance on Sunday night remains at the center of all pop- and hip-hop-related discussion this week.
But it’s not Lamar’s only track threatening the No. 1 spot this week. Lamar has also seen big gains this week for his GNX single “Luther,” which he and collaborator SZA also gave a centerpiece spot during his halftime set, and which currently ranks just below “Not Like Us” at No. 2 on each of the aforementioned rankings. And right underneath them is the Lefty Gunplay-featuring “TV Off,” which Lamar offered immediately following “Not Like Us” as the closing part of his performance – with producer Mustard coming out to dance and silently rap along to the anthem. “Luther” and “TV Off” are also in prime position on the Hot 100 currently, ranking at No. 3 and No. 10 on this week’s chart, respectively.
Radio play will also be a major factor in which of the Super Bowl-boosted Kendrick tracks plays the biggest threat to the Hot 100’s top spot next week. “Luther” is currently leading there, as it bounds from No. 14 to 11 on the Radio Songs chart this week, and has already been up another 9% in audience impressions over the first four days of this tracking week (Feb. 7-10), according to Luminate. But “TV Off” is also gaining, and “Not Like Us” is now rebounding as well, up a whopping 35% over that same four-day period.
If “Not Like Us” can sustain across streaming, sales and radio throughout the week, it might have the best chance of jumping to No. 1 next week – which would make it the extremely rare non-holiday single with three different runs at No. 1, each separated by multiple months. And regardless, we should see a whole lot of Kendrick Lamar in the top 10 next week.
Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars, “Die With a Smile” (Streamline/Interscope/Atlantic/ICLG) & Lady Gaga, “Abracadabra” (Interscope/ICLG): “Die With a Smile” is officially the song to beat this early 2025, with the superstar duet returning for a fifth frame at No. 1 this week, after briefly being interrupted by Travis Scott’s pole position-debuting “4×4.” The song has even finally captured the crown on Radio Songs, after Shaboozey’s historic 27-week run atop that chart with “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” and should also reign for a second week on that listing – though it will likely soon face serious competition from another starry Bruno Mars teamup, with ROSÉ on “APT.”
Speaking of Bruno and Gaga providing their own competition – the latter now has a breakout smash entirely of her own. Her “Abracadabra” bows at No. 29 on the Hot 100 this week with just over four days of tracking, after debuting with its music video as part of a Mastercard commercial during the Grammys. The song got off to a white-hot start on streaming, and continued growing in the days after, even briefly capturing the top spot on the Spotify Daily Top Songs USA chart — though it has since gotten buried under an avalanche of Kendrick Lamar and SZA. Regardless, the song should make a big jump in its first full week on the Hot 100 – perhaps to the top 10, if it doesn’t get boxed out by Kendrick – and is already aiming to debut on Pop Airplay, as well.
Chappell Roan, “Pink Pony Club” (Amusement/Island): Don’t forget about the Grammys’ best new artist, who has been surging on the Hot 100 following her big win and show-stopping performance of what now appears to be the signature song of Roan’s early career, “Pink Pony Club.” Despite being originally released in 2020, the song is only now really catching on both streaming and radio, as it re-enters Streaming Songs at No. 24 and hits a new high of No. 32 on Radio Songs this week. It should continue climbing on both listings next week, and may also rise on the Hot 100, after hitting a new peak of No. 18 this week.
Mandy Moore had a simple message for Amazon on Tuesday (Feb. 11): “Do better.” The singer/actress lashed out at the global giant in her Instagram Story after she said the company delivered a package to her in-laws’ house in Pasadena, which was totally destroyed by last month’s devastating wildfires.
“Do better, Amazon,” she wrote in the Story that has since timed out, alongside a photo of the charred home and an image of the package sitting amidst the destruction. “Can we not have better discretion than to leave a package at a residence that no longer exists? This is my mother and father in law’s home. Smh.”
According to TMZ, Amazon responded to Moore’s post, with a spokesperson saying, “We’ve reached out to Ms. Moore via Instagram to apologize for this and to ask for more information from her in-laws so we’re better able investigate what happened here.” The representative added, “For weeks, we’ve advised those who are delivering on our behalf in southern California to use discretion in areas that were impacted by wildfires – especially if it involves delivering to a damaged home – that clearly didn’t happen here.”
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Moore, who initially reported that her home was also partially destroyed by one of the half dozen fires that killed 29 and destroyed more than 16,00 homes and other structures, also posted an emotional chronicle of her own flight from the Santa Ana winds-fueled conflagrations. “We never got an evacuation notice. Sometimes in the quieter moments of processing the last month, I play the game of what would have happened if I didn’t have my phone next to me, playing my typical ‘piano for deep sleep’ mix as I nursed Lou before bed, so I could answer the call from my brother-in-law?” Moore wrote on Instagram on Tuesday along with an image of the damage caused by the fire.
“It was 6:45 p.m. and he told me he, his wife, and our niece were evacuating, grabbing my in-laws (his parents) and getting the heck out of Dodge and we should do the same,” Moore continued. “I calmly walked downstairs and relayed this to my husband and without skipping a beat, we promptly packed up the kids (in their pjs), our dog, and scrambled to find our 3 cats as the power went out. I’ll never forget Taylor trying to figure out how to manually open our two little garage doors (they’d just finished construction around Thanksgiving and we’d just started using them—) in the harrowing 60 mph winds, as the sky glowed a dark red and ash started to fall all around us.”
Moore described racing across town dodging fallen tress on the freeway on their way to the safety of a friend’s home and getting her three kids to bed before running to Target to buy a litter box and some water. She also chronicled obsessively refreshing the Watch Duty wildfire map all night as she watched the evacuation zone narrow in on the eight-block radius around her home.
“It took until 4 a.m. for it to turn red. All the while, tossing and turning with a stomach-churning anxiety I’ve never experienced before, both boys passed out between us in bed,” Moore wrote. “[Oldest child daughter] Lou slept on the floor in a travel crib, and the dog curled up protectively by the door.”
She said that they just found out this week that their house is still standing, but that because of the proximity to the fires around their home, everything inside of it was a “near total loss. Clothes, furniture, pretty much everything will have to be disposed of… maybe even the walls too. We won’t be there for a very long time as it and the neighborhood itself get sorted out and cleaned and the rebuilding starts. I say all of this because i’m struggling. Yes we are exceedingly lucky to technically still have the structure of a home. But also… do we still have a home? I think my definition is in flux. The physical space? No. It goes without saying that our sweet brood and our pets are ALL that matters and home is where we are together… but having a sanctuary and safe space to feel settled really goes a long way too.”
The singer described “stumbling” on the home in the early days of COVID, instinctively knowing it was where they wanted to raise their kids; she found out she was pregnant with youngest son Gus two weeks after they closed on the home. Moore said they painstakingly restored and remodeled the home to make it their own and were just weeks away from finally finishing the work when the fires hit.
“I’m not saying all of this because I’m asking you to feel more sorry for us than someone else. Like I said, I am grateful. We’re so lucky!,” Moore wrote of the loss of the home and its contents, as well as the destruction of Taylor’s home studio. “By the grace of god we found a place to stay in the meantime and the kids are happy and safe. We’ve even starting collecting the books and toys that they’ve lost. It’s not a competition of who lost what or more. Real human beings across this town, regardless of their jobs or socioeconomic status, lost the life they’d come to know and count on in an instant. My whole heart is with them. Every one of them. This place, our home and the town itself, was our dream and I hope in time it will feel like that again… just a slightly different one.”
Last month, Moore’s brother-in-law, Dawes drummer Griffin Goldsmith, revealed that Moore and her family were taking shelter with her friend Hilary Duff. He also noted that he’d convinced his whole family and some close friends to move to Altadena years ago, including the siblings’ parents, who lived around the corner from him. Both Griffin and the Goldsmith’s parents lost their homes, while Taylor and husband Dawes singer Taylor Goldsmith had to flee their home and former Dawes bassist Wylie Gelber and his wife and their first crew member and old friend Jake lost their homes as well.
Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet and Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft surge back into the top 10 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Feb. 15). The albums jump 12-5 and 14-7, respectively, following the performers’ turns on the Grammy Awards’ broadcast on CBS (Feb. 2).
Carpenter performed a medley of the Short n’ Sweet hits “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” on the show, while Eilish sang her album’s “Birds of a Feather.” Carpenter also won two Grammys, including one presented during the CBS broadcast, for best pop vocal album (for Short n’ Sweet).
Short n’ Sweet sold 8,500 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 6 (up 42%), according to Luminate. Hit Me Hard and Soft sold a little more than 7,500 (up 46%).
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Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album (TEA) units and streaming equivalent album (SEA) units.
Another Grammy performer, The Weeknd, arrives at No. 1 with his latest album, Hurry Up Tomorrow, selling 359,000 copies in its first week (his best sales week ever). Grateful Dead, who was honored as the Recording Academy’s 2025 MusiCares Persons of the Year (on Feb. 1), debut at No. 2 with its latest from-the-vaults live album: Dave’s Picks, Volume 53: Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, OH – 10/2/76 (19,000 sold).
Chappell Roan’s chart-topping The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess also basks in the Grammy glow, as it climbs 10-3 with 12,000 sold (up 66%). Roan won the best new artist award and performed “Pink Pony Club” (from Princess) on the show.
Stray Kids’ former leader HOP jumps 8-4 with a little over 8,500 sold (up 6%), while the chart-topping Wicked film soundtrack steps 7-6 with 8,000 (down 8%).
Gracie Abrams’ former No. 1 The Secret of Us moves 9-8 (6,500), Mac Miller’s chart-topping Balloonerism falls 6-9 (6,000; down 32%) and Teddy Swims’ I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2) drops 1-10 in its second week (nearly 6,000; down 77%).
Laverne Cox has been officially announced as the host for Billboard Women in Music 2025, and we sat down with the star to get her feelings on hosting an empowering night for women, creating her new show ‘Clean Slate’ and more! Are you excited for her new show? Let us know in the comments! Rania […]
Central Cee has shared his love of Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” in a new interview.
On the west London rapper’s four-part CRG Radio show, which is available via Apple Music 1, Cench — born Oakley Neil Caesar-Su — discussed his all-time favorite artists, past and present. In addition to praising Lil Durk, Drake, Damian Marley, Amy Winehouse and dancehall artist Vybz Kartel, he spoke about playing Eilish’s music on repeat.
“You see me, I don’t know lyrics. I was saying I know ‘Juicy’ by Biggie Smalls just about off by heart and that’s the only song,” he began. “And then, after listening to it maybe a thousand times, I know Billie Eilish’s ‘Birds of a Feather.’”
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“I need to listen to something for time to hear [song] lyrics,” he continued, before describing his attraction to Eilish in the “Birds of a Feather” music video. “I think I fancied her first. I was looking at her, I was just watching the video to look at her and then I started thinking, ‘Yeah, no, this [song is] actually cold. And now I don’t know if it’s ‘mind games’; I’ve just heard it so much, but I love it. I just love the music now. It’s not even about [Eilish] anymore.”
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He added: “I’ve just been told that [‘Birds of a Feather’] was one of the biggest songs of last year, and it kind of makes me think that when something’s so popular — I know people do it with my music — that I’m not actually as unique as I think I am for liking that song. But I am in my circle!”
The latest episode of CRG Radio will also be the last. Previous installments of the series have seen the 26-year-old speak with U.K. rappers Headie One, Blade Brown and Nemzzz, while there has also been an appearance from England midfielder Cole Palmer.
On Jan. 31, meanwhile, Cench beat competition from Teddy Swims to top the Official U.K. Albums Chart with his debut LP, Can’t Rush Greatness. He will support the record with a 39-date world arena tour through the spring, kicking off in Oslo on April 1.
Cench also recently scooped a trio of nominations for the 2025 BRIT Awards; the ceremony will be held March 1. He is up for best U.K. artist, best song (“Band4Band”) and best hip-hop and grime.
Billboard Women In Music 2025 officially announces some of their honorees including Ángela Aguilar, Muni Long, aespa and more! Keep watching to get a peak of the honorees list. Who do you think should be honored? Let us know in the comments below! Click here to learn all the details: https://www.billboard.com/women-in-music-2025/ Narrator: This year, get […]
Taylor Swift made sure to show her appreciation to employees at a party after the 2025 Grammys. In a newly surfaced clip from the night of the Feb. 2 awards, the pop star — dressed in a sparkly silver party dress and combat boots — heads toward the exit of a building with her group. […]