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Will Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga take No. 1 from Kendrick Lamar and SZA? Tetris Kelly:This is the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 for the week dated March 15. Back in the top 10 is “Nokia.” At nine is Teddy Swims. Chappell Roan holds on to eight, as does Billie Eilish to No. 7. “APT.” to […]
The top nine tracks on the Hot 100 remain in place from a week earlier. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” ranks at No. 2, following five nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 beginning in January. It notches a fifth week atop Radio Songs (64.7 million, up 2%).
Below “Luther,” Lamar logs two other songs in the Hot 100’s top five: “Not Like Us,” at No. 3, and “TV Off,” featuring Lefty Gunplay, at No. 4, after reaching No. 2.
Notably, Lamar lands his fifth week with at least three songs in the Hot 100’s top five simultaneously, after he first scored such a triple in December. He ties for the third-most such frames – here’s a recap of all acts who have achieved the feat for at least one week.
Most Weeks With 3 or More Songs in Hot 100’s Top 5:
8 weeks, The Beatles, in 1964
6, Drake, 2018-23
5, Justin Bieber, 2015-16
5, Kendrick Lamar, 2024-25
3, Taylor Swift, 2022-24
2, 50 Cent, 2005
2, Sabrina Carpenter, 2024
1, 21 Savage, 2022
1, Ariana Grande, 2019
(Swift – twice – Lamar, Drake and The Beatles are the only acts ever to monopolize the entire top five on the Hot 100 in a single week. Swift scored the most songs from No. 1 on down – 14 – on the May 4, 2024, chart, thanks to the arrival of her album The Tortured Poets Department.)
Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” ranks at No. 5 on the Hot 100, following its record-tying 19 weeks at No. 1 beginning last July. It commands the multimetric Hot Country Songs chart for a 37th week.
ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” places at No. 6 on the Hot 100, after hitting No. 3.
Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” is No. 7 on the Hot 100, after reaching No. 2. It tops the multimetric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and Hot Alternative Songs charts for a 31st week each. On the latter, it extends the longest reign for a song by a woman; on the former, it solely claims the mark, one-upping Zach Bryan’s “I Remember Everything,” featuring Kacey Musgraves, which led for 30 weeks in 2023-24.
Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control,” which led the Hot 100 for a week in March 2024 – and became the year’s top song – ranks at No. 9. It notches an 81st week on the survey overall, the fourth-longest stay in the chart’s history, below only Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” (91 weeks, in 2021-22); The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” (90 weeks, 2019-22); and Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive” (87 weeks, 2012-14).
Rounding out the Hot 100’s top 10, Drake’s “Nokia” returns to the region, rising a spot to No. 10, where it debuted two weeks earlier.
Rihanna celebrated International Women’s Day on Saturday (March 8) by sharing a rare glimpse at the two sons she shares with longtime love A$AP Rocky. The candid pics of RZA, 2 and Riot Rose, 19 months, were taken in the hospital after the singer gave birth to the children, a moment she said was the high-point of her life.
“By far the most powerful thing I’ve ever done as a woman… my little miracles! #InternationalWomensDay,” she wrote in the caption to the post, with the first pic depicting RZA Athelston Mayers laying on his mother’s chest for some crucial skin-to-skin time, with RihRih’s face only partially in the frame, her neck adorned with a pair of gold and pearl necklaces.
In the second snap, Rihanna stares at the camera while rocking pink shades and a black bra as Riot Rose Mayers snuggles up to her in the hospital bed. “And yes I gave birth in pearls and sunglasses,” Rihanna wrote. “Don’t ask, a lot was happening.”
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She got support from fellow pop star and mom Katy Perry, wrote commented, “The BEST.”
The singer and rapper have kept their sons out of the public eye for the most part to date, though last month Rihanna opened up to Harper’s Bazaar about being a mom and her boys’ personalities. “Riot, he’s just hilarious,” she said of her second-born. “When he wakes up, he starts to squeal, scream. Not in a crying way. He just wants to sing. And I’m like, ‘Okay, here we go!’ He’s my alarm in the morning! He’s not taking no for an answer from anyone.”
She also revealed that RZA is “just an empath. He’s so magical. He loves music. He loves melody. He loves books. He loves water. Bath time, swimming, pool, beach, anything. And Riot, he’s just hilarious. When he wakes up, he starts to squeal, scream. Not in a crying way. He just wants to sing. And I’m like, ‘Okay, here we go!’ He’s my alarm in the morning! He’s not taking no for an answer from anyone. I don’t know where he came from, dude.”
While the music world mourns Roy Ayers, the Godfather of Neo-Soul and a jazz-funk pioneer who died at age 84 on March 4, the hip-hop community will always remember him as one of its brightest inspirations.
“Everybody Loves the Sunshine,” the enduring hit from Roy Ayers Ubiquity’s 1976 album of the same name, became the highlight of his legacy — and everybody loved it so much they couldn’t help but borrow a bit of its brilliance. The New York Times‘ obituary for Ayers reported that “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” has been sampled nearly 200 times.
“Well, I have more sampled hits than anybody,” he said in a 2004 interview with Wax Poetics. “I might not have more samples than James Brown, but I’ve had more sampled hits. Oh, man, and there’s a few I don’t know about.”
Mary J. Blige — who sampled “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” for “My Life” from her 1994 album of the same name, which was later interpolated on “MJB Da MVP” featuring 50 Cent, on her 2005 LP The Breakthrough — opened up about the song’s indelible impact on her in her 2021 documentary My Life. “I don’t know what’s in that record, but it was something in it that just cracked open everything in me. That was the first music as a child that stuck with me because it made me forget that we lived where we lived,” Blige said in the film. “‘My life in the sunshine’ was something I wanted.” The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul also heavily sampled Ayers’ 1976 track “Searching” on her 1997 album Share My World.
Like Blige, Dr. Dre, TLC, Juvenile and Joe Budden also have songs titled “My Life,” while Scarface and Naughty by Nature have songs called “Sunshine.” Thirty years after he sampled “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” on “Book of Life” from his 1994 album Resurrection, Common dug back in the crates and dusted off the sample for the Grammy-nominated song “When the Sun Shines,” featuring Posdnuos, from his and Pete Rock‘s 2024 Grammy-nominated joint LP The Auditorium Vol. 1.
Outside of being sampled and interpolated by hip-hop heavyweights, Ayers also collaborated with Tyler, the Creator on “Find Your Wings,” also featuring Syd and Kali Uchis, from Tyler’s 2015 album Cherry Bomb; Erykah Badu on “Cleva” from her 2000 LP Mama’s Gun; The Roots on “Proceed II” from the deluxe version of the band’s 2005 album Do You Want More?!!!??!; and Talib Kweli on “In the Mood,” also featuring Ye (formerly known as Kanye West), from his 2007 album Eardrum as well as on “Something Special” from Kweli and Madlib‘s 2024 joint LP Liberation 2.
“Roy Ayers called me like ‘tyler, hey man, those changes are amazing, your chord selection is just beautiful my man’ OMG MY HEART MELTED,” Tyler tweeted in 2015. The Chromakopia rapper also sampled Ayers’ 1982 track “Ooh” on “Pothole,” featuring Jaden Smith, from his 2017 album Flower Boy. Later that same year, Ayers performed at his Camp Flog Gnaw festival. Questlove hailed him as “the cat who birthed us all in the ‘vibes only’ movement. The Soundtrack that ALL the incense you ever burned was truly made for. Thank You Roy Edward Ayers Jr for EVERYTHING you gave us. taught us. showed us. soothed us.”
Billboard rounded up 21 hip-hop and R&B songs that have sampled and interpolated Roy Ayers Ubiquity’s “Everybody Loves the Sunshine,” in order from newest to oldest.
Common & Pete Rock feat. Posdnuos, “When the Sun Shines Again”
Normani went public with her relationship and credited Ciara and Russell Wilson for the setup, Kai Cenat debates who the GOAT is between MJ & LeBron, and GloRilla is ready to take the stage for various sports events. What’s your favorite sports and music update from today? Let us know in the comments! Kai Cenat: […]
It’s almost Global Day of Unplugging, and in honor of it, Mustard, Lucky Daye, Lil Mosey and more shared how they take a break from their screens to reconnect.
Starting at sundown and lasting for the next 24 hours, take a moment — whether it’s a minute, an hour, or the full day — to unplug and be present.
How do you unplug? Let us know in the comments!
Rania Aniftos:You’re always plugged in, always locked in. What do you do to unplug?
Lucky Daye:I’ll travel or it’s really tough for me to unplug first of all, but I’ll break something just to put it back together.
Julia Michaels:Things I do to unplug? Oh, I love the sun. Love to be in the grass. I love a drive.
Tetris Kelly:There we go.
Julia Michaels:Love a long drive.
Lil Mosey:It’s hard to unplug. I was just saying last night. Right when you see a video on any Instagram, TikTok, you’re stuck in there for a whole hour just going.
Rania Aniftos:Going down the rabbit hole with the weirdest stuff, too.
Lil Mosey:You just gotta throw your phone out the window or something. Just call it a day.
Tetris Kelly:For the people that might be at home right now feeling like I don’t know what to do. I’m tired of scrolling through Twitter or X. What advice do you have to them?
Green Day:Take a break, stay off of social media for a while. I think one of the worst things in the world is the anxiety that we all feel collectively, and I think it has a lot to do with social media freaking us out even more, and then all of a sudden, you just realize you go and you hang out with a friend and you just make those connections that you’re supposed to make.
Three years into a 30-year sentence for sex trafficking and racketeering, R. Kelly broke his silence this week during a seven-minute phone call into the Inmate Tea With A&P podcast, in which the disgraced former R&B star claimed that he’s written more than two dozen albums since his imprisonment in 2022.
Kelly called in on a monitored prison phone line and told the show’s hosts that he was told he was supposed to sing someone “Happy Birthday,” as the two women giggled and referred to the 58-year-old singer born Robert Sylvester Kelly as the “King of R&B,” as well as by his once honorific title: “the Pied Piper of R&B.”
Saying he was feeling “great,” Kelly broke into the opening lines of his 1998 song “When a Woman’s Fed Up,” singing a cappella as one of the hosts danced in her seat, laughed and enthusiastically sang back-up vocals. Asked if he’s continued to used his talents while incarcerated, the vocalist — whose daughter, Buku Abi, now 26, claimed in a documentary last year that her father had sexually abused her as a child, claims his lawyer denied — referred to singing as “a beautiful disease that’s uncurable. That’s not gonna happen, not singing.”
In fact, Kelly, claimed that he’s written “like 25 albums” since he was sentenced to three decades in prison in 2021 following a conviction on racketeering and sex trafficking charges; in 2022, Kelly was also convicted of three counts of sexual exploitation enticement of a minor child via production of child pornography as well as three counts of coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity.
Before his sentence, Kelly was known for his prolific nature, releasing 18 studio albums from 1992 through 2016 as well as 33 chapters in his bizarre “Trapped in the Closet” musical soap opera series between 2005 and 2012.
In addition to writing songs from his cell at a federal prison in North Carolina, Kelly said he’s working on trying to get out of prison so he can get back to “what it is God gave me, my talent.” Last month, Manhattan’s 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected Kelly’s bid to appeal his New York conviction, which, given the singer’s age, could keep him locked up into his 80s if he serves the full term.
Kelly was long dogged by allegations of sexual and physical abuse of women, as well as an illegal marriage in 1994 to a then-15-year-old Aaliyah when he was 27. He was accused in 2017 of holding half a dozen women hostage, some allegedly underage, as part of what was described as a “cult,” in which he allegedly controlled every aspect of their lives, from when they ate and bathed to how they dressed and when they had sex with him.
Multiple women later came forward to claim that Kelly sexually and physically abused them, including a number who spoke for the first time in public about his alleged abuse in the bombshell Surviving R. Kelly series; Kelly and his legal team have denied the allegations.
Beloved 1990s R&B trio Tony! Toni! Toné! issued an update on the group’s 64-year-old lead singer/guitarist D’Wayne Wiggins on Thursday (March 6), announcing in an Instagram post, “We wanted to share that D’Wayne Wiggins is experiencing medical complications. He is working through it one day at a time.”
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At press time no additional information was available on what health issues Wiggins has been dealing with and a spokesperson for the group had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment. The post continued, “We know how beloved he is by so many, and we are grateful for your prayers and concern. We also request that you respect the family’s privacy during this time.”
Wiggins is the co-founder of the 1980s/90s soul funk/R&B trio that also featured his half-brother, Raphael Saadiq, on bass and vocals and cousin Timothy Christian Riley on drums/keyboards. The band was formed in their native Oakland, CA in 1986, releasing their debut single, “One Night Stand,” a year later.
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After signing with Wing Records, the group released their debut album, Who?, in 1988, which featured the hit single, “Little Walter,” a prime example of the band’s signature mixture of funk, soul, R&B and gospel that rode the wave of the mid-1980s New Jack Swing revolution spearheaded by producers Teddy Riley and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and groups including Guy, Blackstreet and Keith Sweat. The song peaked at No. 47 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, while the album hit No. 69 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
The band’s second, mostly self-produced studio album, The Revival, was released in 1990 (No. 34 on the Billboard 200) and it featured their signature feel good dance funk anthem “Feels Good,” which hit No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. They followed with 1993’s classic R&B-leaning Sons of Soul LP– which contained their highest-charting single, the Ice Cube-sampling New Jack Swinging classic “If I Had No Loot.” That song ran up to No. 7 on the Hot 100, with the album hitting their highest mark on the Billboard 200 at No. 24.
Their final studio effort was 1996’s House of Music, which hit No. 32 on the Billboard 200 chart. In total, the group landed five chart-toppers on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hops songs charts, as well as seven other songs in the top 10 on that tally.
The group went quiet for several years before reuniting in 2003 — without Saadiq — to appear on Grammy-nominated The Diary of Alicia Keys song “Diary” (No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100)) and then again in 2023 for a U.S. reunion tour to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of Sons of Soul.
In addition to his work with the group D’Wayne Wiggins was the bandleader for comedian D.L. Hughley’s short-lived Comedy Central series Weekends at the D.L. He also released a solo album, Eyes Never Lie, in 2000, which charted at No. 197 on the Billboard 200 album chart, with single “What’s Really Going On (Strange Fruit)” hitting No. 84 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart that year.
Wiggins is also credited with helping to develop and shape the early career of Destiny’s Child, who recorded several tracks produced by him before they signed with Columbia Records, as well as being one of the major promoters of Oakland’s grimy, relentless late ’90s “hyphy” hip-hop offshoot thanks to his vocal work on fellow East Bay native Too $hort’s 1992 singles “Hoochie” and 1999’s “How Does It Feel.” He also lent his elegant guitar playing to “BabyLet’sHaveABabyBeforeBushDoSomethin’Crazy” from another East Bay group, The Coup, on their 2006 Pick a Bigger Weapon album.
Lizzo leans into a classic kiss-off on the just-released second preview of her upcoming Love In Real Life album. In a snippet released on Instagram on Thursday (March 6), the singer rocks a bedazzled red bodysuit with a series of cut-outs down the front as she shimmies and shakes her way through a 20-seconds of […]
Less than a year after dropping his Jamaican Situation EP, two-time Grammy-nominated Jamaican reggae star Protoje is set to embark on a world tour — and he’s also just dropped his highly anticipated new single.
On March 9, Protoje will hit the stage at Australia’s WOMADelaide festival before spending the rest of the month hitting stops across Europe, including Lisbon, Portugal; Berlin; and Copenhagen, Denmark. On April 4, the “Who Knows” singer will kick off the U.S. leg of the tour with an appearance at the Reggae Rise Up festival in Tempe, Ariz. Over the following month and a half, Protoje will visit fans in Southern cities across the states, including Miami, Atlanta and Asheville, N.C. By July 25, he’ll return to Europe for the final leg of the tour, playing festivals across the continent, including Sweden’s Uppsala Reggae Festival (July 25) and Austria’s One Love Reggae Festival (Aug. 9). The international trek will conclude on Nov. 29 at La Cigale in Paris.
To accompany his tour announcement, Protoje also unveiled a new single titled “Big 45.” Inspired by Jamaica’s iconic sound system culture, the St. Elizabeth-hailing artist-producer has crafted a booming, bass-driven track that playfully teases a rap-sung cadence over a sultry, groovy instrumental. “Big 45” — produced by The Indiggnation and Winta James — also arrives alongside a SAMO-helmed music video. The clip prominently features the massive sound systems traveling through the streets of JA.
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“This is just a reggae and dancehall anthem,” Protoje said in a press release. “It’s talking about sound system, it’s talking about live music … the moment we started [playing] it, everybody got excited because we knew it was one of those ‘bring everyone together’ type of songs.”
After teasing “Big 45” on socials and in his live shows, Protoje has finally released the song. The new track is a natural progression from the national pride that colored tracks such as “Where We Come From” from last year’s Jamaican Situation EP. Protoje’s last solo full-length album was 2022’s Third Time’s the Charm, which featured collaborations with Jorja Smith, Lila Iké, Samory I and Jesse Royal.
Protoje has sent five consecutive projects to the top 10 of Reggae Albums, including two chart-toppers: 2015’s Ancient Future and 2018’s A Matter of Time. In 2018, he entered the Emerging Artist chart for the very first time at No. 42.
Check out the dates for Protoje’s 2025 world tour below.
March 9 — Australia @ WOMADelaide
March 14 — New Zealand @ Womad Aotearoa
March 19 — Aarau, Switzerland @ KIFF
March 21 — Barcelona, Spain @ Razzmatazz
March 22 — Lisbon, Portugal @ Disaster Club
March 25 — Berlin, Germany @ Maaya Club
March 26 — Hamburg, Germany @ Fabrik
March 27 — Cologne, Germany @ Die Kantine
March 28 — Copenhagen, Denmark @ Grey Hall
March 29 — Legorreta, Spain @ Legoreggae
April 4 — Tempe, Ariz. @ Reggae Rise Up
April 16 — Miami, Fla. @ Miami Beach Bandshell
April 17 — St. Petersburg, Fla. @ Jannus Live
April 18 — Ormond Beach, Fla. @ Granada Theatre
April 19 — Atlanta, Ga. @ Sweetwater 420 Fest
April 20 — Asheville, N.C. @ Orange Peel
May 23 — Monterey, Calif. @ California Roots
May 30 — Durango, Colo. @ Rise and Vibes
July 12 — Marshfield, Mass. @ Levitate Music Festival
July 25 — Uppsala, Sweden @ Uppsala Reggae Festival
July 26 — Fraga, Spain @ Monegros Desert Festival
Aug. 1 — Geel, Belgium @ Reggae Geel Festival
Aug. 2 — Milton Keynes, U.K. @ Reggaeland
Aug. 9 — Wiesen, Austria @ One Love Reggae Festival
Aug. 10 — Saint-Malo, France @ No Logo BZH
Nov. 20 — Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso
Nov. 21 — Zurich, Switzerland @ Rote Fabrik
Nov. 29 — Paris, France @ La Cigale