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With ‘Sober,’ Psiryn Has the First Girl Group No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart in Decades

R&B girl group Psiryn earns its first No. 1 on a Billboard chart as its single “Sober” rules the Adult R&B Airplay chart. The track ascends from No. 2 after an 8% jump that made it the most played song on U.S. panel-contributing adult R&B radio stations for the tracking week of Jan. 31-Feb. 6, according to Luminate.

In taking the summit, Psiryn — comprised of Anaya Chayenne, Jada Denise and Victoria McQueen — becomes the first all-female duo or group to crown the Adult R&B Airplay chart in nearly 23 years. The last? The duo Floetry, whose “Say Yes” ruled for seven weeks in May-June 2003. Among acts with at least three members, Psiryn is only the second girl group to reign on the 31-year-old Adult R&B Airplay chart. The trio joins Brownstone, which scored a pair of one-week leaders — “If You Love Me” and “Grapevyne” — in 1995.

As “Sober” advances, it knocks Coco Jones’ “Here We Go (Uh Oh)” from the top spot. The former champ ruled for seven nonconsecutive weeks beginning last December, including the last two frames.

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“It feels surreal and is an absolute honor,” Psiryn tells Billboard of its new No. 1. “We are the first girl group in 20 years to achieve this, and it feels truly out of this world – we still can’t believe this is happening!”

The journey to summit began nearly six months ago, when “Sober” debuted at No. 23 in September. A steady climb followed, but the single ran the risk of falling short of the apex — with five straight weeks at No. 5 around the holidays — before a final push put it to the finish line. The week-in, week-out support, the group notes, likely aligns with a wider mood. “The relatability of this record speaks volumes. So many people connect with ‘Sober’ and the feeling of needing a break from the real world,” the trio adds. “People just gravitate toward it, just like we did when we first heard it!”

“Sober” was released through independent label Kandi Koated Entertainment, a multimedia agency owned by Kandi Burruss. The entrepreneur rose to fame as a member of R&B group Xscape, which logged 10 hits on the Adult R&B Airplay chart in the 1990s, including “Just Kickin It” (No. 4), “Understanding” (No. 3) and “Who Can I Run To” (No. 2), all of which reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. As a songwriter, Burruss co-penned hits include No. 1 Hot 100 hits from TLC (“No Scrubs”) and Destiny’s Child (“Bills Bills Bills.”)

Elsewhere, “Sober” repeats at its No. 18 high on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, which ranks songs by combined audience totals from monitored adult R&B and mainstream R&B/hip-hop radio stations. There, the single climbed to 6.2 million audience impressions in the week, up 13% from 5.5 million in the previous tracking window.

Drake Makes Subtle ‘Knife Talk’ Lyric Change Following Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Performance

Drake appears to have heard about Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show, and made his subtle response by flipping some lyrics to his “Knife Talk” track while performing in Melbourne on Monday night (Feb. 10).

Beef is live, spoiler alert — I never died,” he raps on the reworked version following Lamar’s headlining performance at the Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 9).

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The original lyrics find Drizzy rapping, “Beef is live, spoiler alert — this n—a dies” over menacing Metro Boomin production.

Kendrick took shots at Drake throughout his Super Bowl Halftime Show in New Orleans, as he included Drake diss records “Euphoria” and “Not Like Us” as part of his set.

Lamar also recruited tennis legend Serena Williams — who is rumored to have briefly dated Drake — for a cameo as she crip walked on stage, and he even made a reference to Drake’s lawsuit against Universal Music Group surrounding the success of “Not Like Us” before performing it.

Drake continues his Anita Max Wynn Tour with a pair of shows in Melbourne this week before heading to Sydney, Brisbane and New Zealand.

The OVO rapper will have his chance to respond to Kendrick in the booth when Drake and PartyNextDoor’s $ome $exy $ongs 4 U collab album arrives on Friday (Feb. 14).

“I got an album coming out on Feb. 14 with my brother PartyNextDoor. It’s called $ome $exy $ongs 4 U, but it’s some turned-up songs for you on there, too, and there’s some personal feelings on there for you,” Drake told the crowd during a recent show. “Hopefully, whoever you’re with on Valentine’s Day, hopefully y’all can share that experience together.”

Drake shared another moody snippet from the collab tape for a song titled “Crying in Chanel” to social media along with the snowy cover art.

Find Drake’s concert clip along with the snippet and cover art below.

Sabrina Carpenter Reveals How Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Inspired Her Short n’ Sweet Trek

Before embarking on her arena tour in support of Short n’ Sweet, Sabrina Carpenter got to learn firsthand from the mastermind herself: Taylor Swift

And in a new Vogue cover story published Tuesday (Feb. 11), the “Espresso” singer revealed exactly how the 14-time Grammy winner’s billion-dollar Eras Tour — on which Carpenter served as opener for 25 shows — inspired her own trek. “Her stadiums make my shows look like clubs,” the Girl Meets World alum added. 

“Watching her keep their attention as if she’s playing in their living room, it was like — and I told her this — ‘Your tour enabled me to do mine,’” she added. 

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Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet Tour kicked off in September, with its North American leg ending in November. The vocalist will resume the trek in March with a monthlong run of European dates. 

Her stint on the global Eras trek came to an end just about a month before she released breakout single “Espresso” ahead of Coachella 2024. The track would propel her into superstar status and lay the groundwork for August’s Short n’ Sweet to become her first ever Billboard 200-topping album — but according to Carpenter, she originally wasn’t supposed to release the tune when she did. 

In fact, she says her label, Island Records, had wanted future Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Please Please Please” to be the first song she dropped from Short n’ Sweet — but Carpenter felt strongly that “Espresso” should go first, and that she should debut it live during her now viral Coachella set. “There’s something about this song that, if I’d never heard it before, and I heard it live for the first time, I would understand it,” she told Vogue.  

“I was definitely being swayed in another direction, but I knew deep down that it was this song,” she added. “I was afraid of disappointing people for, like, five minutes. And then I was like: ‘No.’” 

Things eventually came full circle in October, when Carpenter returned to the Eras Tour for a surprise performance of “Espresso” alongside Swift. About three months later, the track won the singer-actress her first Grammy, taking home best pop solo performance moments before Carpenter won best pop vocal album for Short n’ Sweet

See Carpenter on the cover of Vogue below.

Usher Joins Keke Palmer for a ‘Slow Jam’ Duet as They Reminisce About ‘Moesha’: Watch

Usher and Keke Palmer continue to have great chemistry.

The Atlanta legend recently sat down with Palmer on her Wondery podcast Baby, This Is Keke Palmer, where the two discussed Usher’s guest-star appearance in four episodes of Brandy‘s ’90s television show Moesha, before the two broke out into an impromptu duet of Usher and Monica‘s “Slow Jam.”

During the convo, Usher brought up Moesha actress Countess Vaughn and how they used to have fun singing on set. “Whenever I would go on there — because I had a little guest role — we would always be on set singing and riffing with each other.”

He also credited the show for offering his generation an opportunity to make a name for themselves in Hollywood. “L.A. in itself was kind of becoming something major for all of us,” he said after being asked about his experience on set. “And Moesha was an opportunity for us to be a part of the culture in L.A. but also to have something that was relevant for us on TV. … They came up with some really, really cool roles for me.”

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Palmer then chimed in, “You know what else this makes me think about,” before she began to sing Monica’s part in “Slow Jam,” until Usher joined in on the magic happening in front of him. The Babyface-produced duet is from his 1997 album My Way, which catapulted the then-18-year-old singer to superstardom.

Back in August, Palmer starred in Usher’s “Boyfriend” music video, poking fun at Darius Jackson, Palmer’s ex and the father of her son, after he took issue with what his then-girlfriend wore to an Usher concert in Las Vegas earlier in the summer.

In other Keke news, her movie One of Them Days alongside SZA is hitting video on demand Tuesday (Feb. 11) and on Blu-ray and DVD on April 1. The film has made $39.4 million at the box office on a $14 million budget.

Watch Usher on Keke Palmer’s podcast below:

Patti Smith Announces Fall 2025 U.S./European Tour Celebrating ‘Horses’ 50th Anniversary

Patti Smith is hitting the road this fall to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her iconic debut album, Horses. The singer will be joined by longtime side men guitarist Lenny Kaye and drummer Jay Dee Daugherty, who both played on the seminal 1975 LP that is considered a punk classic and is often cited by R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe as the album that made him want to make music.

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The Patti Smith Group will be joined by longtime keyboardist/bassist Tony Shanahan and the singer’s son and guitarist, Jackson Smith, on the tour slated to kick off on Oct. 6 at the 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland. The outing is then booked to hit Madrid, London, Burssels, Oslo and Paris before moving over to the U.S. for theater gigs in Seattle, Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Boston and Washington, D.C. before winding down on Nov. 29 at the Met in Philadelphia.

“Please join us to help celebrate the final ride of our irreverent thoroughbred,” read a statement announcing the run that will mark the first time in 20 years that Smith, 78, has performed the whole album; she celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2005 a that year’s Meltdown Festival in London, which she curated.

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Smith’s debut album was released on Arista Records on Nov. 10, 1975 and combined the singer’s urgent, vivid poetry with spiky, minimal arrangements that incorporated reggae rhythms with spoken word and propulsive rock energy. The album produced by the Velvet Underground’s John Cale failed to spawn a chart hit, but it is considered one of the founding text of punk rock and has been enshrined in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry as a historically significant work.

Before she hits the road, Smith will be feted at a March 26 all-star concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall, “People Have the Power: Celebrating the Music of Patti Smith,” which will feature appearances by Stipe, former Sonic Youth guitarist Kim Gordon, the National singer Matt Berninger, the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Karen O, Sharon Van Etten, the Kills’ Alison Mosshart, the Kronos Quartet, Ben Harper, Courtney Barnett, Angel Olsen and others.

Last month, Smith assured fans that she was okay after collapsing on stage in São Paulo, Brazil on Jan. 29. “This is letting everyone know that I am fine,” the singer wrote on Instagram along with a selfie in which she was smiling and waving at the camera. “A grossly exaggerated account is being spread by the press and social media. I had some post migraine dizziness. Had a small incident, left the stage, and returned 10 minutes later and talked to the people, told them I was fine and sang them Wing and Because the night.”

The health scare came a month after Smith was ordered by a doctor to rest following a brief stay in an Italian hospital to deal with what was described as a sudden, unnamed illness, resulting in the cancellation of a pair of European shows.

Tickets for the Horses tour will go on sale on Friday (Feb. 14) at 10 a.m. local time, with a pre-sale slated to kick-off on Wednesday (Feb. 12) at 10 a.m. local time; click here for details and check out the full list of dates below.

Oct. 6 – Dublin, Ireland @ 3Arena
Oct. 8 – Madrid, Spain @ Teatro Real
Oct. 10 – Bergamo, Italy @ ChorusLife Arena
Oct. 12 – London, U.K. @ London Palladium
Oct. 13 – London, U.K. @ London Palladium
Oct. 15 – Brussels, Belgium @ Cirque Royale
Oct. 16 – Brussels, Belgium @ Cirque Royale
Oct. 18 – Oslo, Norway @ Sentrum Scene
Oct. 20 – Paris, France @ L’Olympia
Oct. 21 – Paris, France @ L’Olympia
Nov. 10 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
Nov. 12 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theatre
Nov. 13 – San Francisco, CA @ The Masonic
Nov. 15 – Los Angeles, CA @ Walt Disney Concert Hall
Nov. 17 – Chicago, IL @ The Chicago Theatre
Nov. 21 – New York, N.Y. @ The Beacon Theatre
Nov. 22 – New York, N.Y. @ The Beacon Theatre
Nov. 24 – Boston, MA @ The Orpheum Theatre
Nov. 28 – Washington D.C., The Anthem
Nov. 29 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Met

SiriusXM Celebrates Black History Month With the ‘Billboard Top 500 R&B Countdown’

Celebrating six decades of soul – from favorites by Stevie Wonder to The Weeknd and the Supremes to SZA – SiriusXM brought back the Billboard Top 500 R&B Countdown on Tuesday (Feb. 11).

In honor of Black History Month, the countdown spotlights the top 500 R&B classics by Black artists spanning the past six decades (1965-2025), as ranked by performance on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, per Billboard‘s Greatest of All Time methodology (with consideration also given to titles’ histories on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot R&B Songs charts).

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The limited engagement Billboard Top 500 R&B Countdown will air on-demand on the SiriusXM app from today through March 3, as well as on channel 79 from Feb. 17 through March 3.

From No. 500 to No. 1, the Billboard Top 500 R&B Countdown highlights the enduring legacy of the genre, from iconic Motown, funk and disco anthems to love songs and more, highlighting the biggest hits by cornerstone artists including Aretha Franklin, Four Tops, Earth, Wind & Fire, Donna Summer, Prince, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Usher, Beyoncé, Rihanna and Bruno Mars.

The Billboard Top 500 R&B Countdown marks the latest partnership between SiriusXM and Billboard. Recent airings include the Billboard Music Awards Channel, the Billboard Top 500 Summer Hits Countdown, the Billboard Women of Pop Countdown and the Billboard #2 Countdown Channel. Additionally, SiriusXM’s Big 40 Countdown, on 80s on 8, and the Back in the Day Replay, on ‘90s on 9, are based on historical weekly Hot 100 charts, with other current and classic charts counted down on channels including 70s on 7, Prime Country and TikTok Radio.

Cardi B Slams Donald Trump’s Secret Service Detail For ‘F–kin’ Up My Shoe’ At Super Bowl

Cardi B was already not a huge fan of Donald Trump, but after the President became the first sitting commander in chief to attend a Super Bowl on Sunday (Feb. 9) the “WAP” rapper said he’s definitely on her nope list.

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“I was too f–king mad today because, you know, Donald Trump… He was at the Super Bowl today, and they was giving us a hard time,” Cardi said during an Instagram Live on Monday during which she sampled a series of snacks while talking to fans mukbang-style. “Oh my gosh. The Secret Service was not playing at that motherf–ker. The Secret Service was not playing to get in that motherf–kin’ stadium. Oh my God,” she added as she munched on chips and salsa.

The rapper then asked someone to bring over her dinged-up $3,000 black leather spiked Christian Louboutin pump, lamenting, “Look how f–ked up my shoe is. This shoe cost me three bands,” she said of the fashion piece that appeared to have some of its spikes dented or torn off. “All ‘cause of Trump. Now I like him lesser. Now I like him lesser because you ain’t have to go to no damn Super Bowl. F–king up my shoe… Now I don’t really like him!” Cardi did not explain how the shoe was damaged, or by whom in the video.

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Cardi, who supported Democrat candidate Vice President Kamala Harris in last year’s election, did have one method for Trump to get back in her good graces, though. “Bring my uncle… grant my uncle to come back because my uncle got deported,” she said without revealing when her uncle was removed from the country.

As promised during his campaign, the Trump administration has been rolling out what it has called the “largest deportation operation” in U.S. history over the past two weeks, though the President is reportedly “angry” that more people have not been detained and deported so far.

Watch Cardi talk about her Super Bowl shoe drama below.

Charlie Puth Sends Ye Urgent Message About Antisemitic Twitter Spree and Swastika Shirt: ‘I BEG You to Stop’

Charlie Puth has a very urgent message for Ye: STOP. The “Left and Right” singer took to his Instagram Story on Monday (Feb. 10) to implore the artist formerly known as Kanye West to stop selling a t-shirt commemorating the Nazi slaughter of six million Jews.

“@ye The message you are sending out to the world is incredibly dangerous,” wrote Puth. “Please man, I beg you to stop. You are selling a T-shirt with a Swastika on it, and MILLIONS of people are influenced by you. Please I BEG you to stop, PLEASE.”

The call seems unlikely to land with the rapper whose once praised, prodigious skills as a musician and culture mover have been overshadowed, again, by his embrace of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, Nazi symbolism and virulent antisemitic messaging.

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Puth’s plea came after Ye went on a four-day hate spree on X beginning last Friday, in which he posted dozens of all caps screeds every hour that included homophobic, ableist and antisemitic slurs. He capped things off on Sunday night with a Super Bowl commercial for his Yeezy brand that aired in a handful of markets and took fans to a site that at present is selling only one product: a white t-shirt featuring a swastika.

Ye’s promotion of Nazi symbolism drew yet another rebuke from the Anti-Defamation League, which warned that such antisemitic behavior from a person with a large social audience is both dangerous and irresponsible at a time when attacks on Jewish people have been on the rise. “As if we needed further proof of Kanye’s antisemitism, he chose to put a single item for sale on his website — a T-shirt emblazoned with a swastika,” read the group’s statement.

“The swastika is the symbol adopted by Hitler as the primary emblem of the Nazis. It galvanized his followers in the 20th century and continues to threaten and instill fear in those targeted by antisemitism and white supremacy,” the group that works to combat antisemitism and other forms of hate and bigotry continued. “If that wasn’t enough, the T-shirt is labeled on Kanye’s website as ‘HH-01,’ which is code for ‘Heil Hitler.’ Kanye was tweeting vile antisemitism nonstop since last week. There’s no excuse for this kind of behavior. Even worse, Kanye advertised his website during the Super Bowl, amplifying it beyond his already massive social media audience.”

West’s barrage of hate speech included declarations such as “I’m a Nazi” and “I love Hitler,” as well as offensive tweets targeting people with disabilities, Taylor Swift and Super Bowl halftime performer Kendrick Lamar. He also petitioned Donald Trump to free disgraced Bad Boy Records founder Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is in jail without bail awaiting trail in New York on charges of racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution charges.

The rapper’s lauding of Nazis and Hitler also drew a rebuke from former Friends star David Schwimmer, who on Saturday implored X owner Musk to ban Ye from the platform. “This is so 2022. We can’t stop a deranged bigot from spewing hate filled, ignorant bile… but we CAN stop giving him a megaphone, Mr. Musk,” the Jewish actor, 58, wrote on Instagram to the world’s richest man, who himself was accused of making a gesture that many said evoked the Nazi straight-arm salute at one of Trump’s inaugural events last month. “Kanye West has 32.7 million followers on your platform, X. That’s twice as many people than the number of Jews in existence. His sick hate speech results in REAL LIFE violence against Jews.”

Ye was booted from X (then still known as Twitter) in October 2022 for antisemitic posts, briefly reinstated in November of that year and then re-suspended that month after posting an image of a swastika intertwined with a Jewish star. Musk reinstated West’s account eight months later. West, who capped off his manic post salvo by sharing uncensored porn clips, appeared to sign off from X on Sunday night, just hours after his Super Bowl ad promoting the swastika shirt aired.

“I’m logging out of Twitter. I appreciate Elon [Musk] for allowing me to vent. It has been very cathartic to use the world as a sounding board,” Ye wrote before the account went offline. At press time it did not appear as if Musk had responded to West shutting down his account and it was still unclear if the move was West’s choice or if the account had been suspended by X; a spokesperson for West had not returned Billboard’s request for comment at press time.

West’s music and fashion empire went into free fall in late 2022 and early 2023 when he went on a series of similar hate-filled, antisemitic rants that included a threat to go “death con [sic] 3″ on Jewish people, as well as repeated praise for Hitler and the parading of the white supremacist phrase “White Lives Matter” on shirts at Paris Fashion Week.

In quick succession, Ye was dropped by the Gap, Adidas, Balenciaga and his agents at CAA and has his social media accounts suspended or revoked in a fallout so complete that the once — and according to him, again — billionaire said in February of last year that he nearly went bankrupt.

BLACKPINK’s LISA Says First Day of ‘White Lotus’ Shooting Was Rough: ‘I Was Like, ‘I Can’t Remember My Lines’

BLACKPINK‘s LISA can’t wait for everyone to see her acting debut in the hit HBO series The White Lotus when the third season of the show debuts on Sunday (Feb. 16). The K-pop superstar spoke to Variety about her acting debut and she said that although she had a great time with her cast mates during the shoot in Thailand, it wasn’t a total cakewalk.

“I don’t know what to feel right now. I’m just so excited. I can’t wait for all of you guys to watch this show,” Lisa said at Monday’s (Feb. 10) season 3 premiere at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. “It is my first acting [experience] so I don’t know what to expect on set, but everybody just being so supportive helped me a lot. So thank you, everyone.”

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The upcoming season chronicling another group of pampered vacationers over the course of a tumultuous week will focus on a wealthy businessman and his family, three longtime friends who haven’t hung out in a while and a rough-edged man and his girlfriend will feature newbie Lisa (credited with her full name, Lalisa Manobal) sharing the screen with a number of A-listers, including: Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, Walton Goggins, Michelle Monoghan, Parker Posey and returning star Natasha Rothwell.

While Lisa was excited to join bandmates Jennie (The Idol) and Jisoo (The Producers) with her TV acting debut, things did not get off to a great start in her first scene. When director/show creator Mike White yelled “action,” Lisa said she instantly froze up. “I’m so nervous. I was sweating,” she said of her role as resort employee Mook. “I was like, ‘I can’t remember my lines.’ I’m blanked.”

The singer made good use of her time on set to product test her solo songs though, playing them for her cast mates, including her solo hit “Rockstar” before it was officially released. “We’re just sharing what we do. All of them are so supportive,” Lisa said. She recently dropped the new single “Born Again” featuring Doja Cat and RAYE, the four song from her upcoming debut solo album, Alter Ego, which is due out on Feb. 28.

Last week, BLACKPINK teased a 2025 world tour, with dates and venues not yet announced.

As for whether she’ll dip back into acting after her first experience, LISA said she doesn’t have another acting gig set up right now. But when asked what kind of movie she’d like to act in, Lisa thought playing a “badass” in an action movie might work. “Oh yeah,” she said. ” I think so.”

Season 3 of The White Lotus will debut on HBO and stream on Max beginning Sunday (Feb. 16) at 9 p.m. ET, with new episodes dropping weekly.

Tems to Headline Billboard Presents The Stage at SXSW London

Billboard is making its way across the pond for an expansion of our THE STAGE at SXSW concert series, this time at SXSW London. The show will feature a performance by two-time Grammy-winning superstar Tems.

The event will take place June 5 at the iconic Troxy in Shoreditch, London.

“We’re excited to bring one of Billboard’s most important concerts to the first ever SXSW London with world class artist, Tems,” said Mike Van, president of Billboard, in a press statement. “Tems continues to break boundaries and inspire audiences worldwide, capturing both the spirit of discovery at SXSW and Billboard’s access to the most exceptional talent around the globe. This event will be a celebration of music, culture, and creativity, and we can’t wait to bring fans closer to the artists they love in London’s vibrant setting.”

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Billboard Presents THE STAGE at SXSW London comes just three months after THE STAGE returns to the original South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, this spring for three star-studded concerts from Koe Wetzel, Grupo Frontera and John Summit from March 13 to 15. The shows will take over Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park in Austin, with tickets available to purchase here.

Billboard will provide live coverage throughout SXSW London, which takes place June 2 to 7. Be sure to follow along on billboard.com and on social media (@billboard) for the latest news and announcements.

Billboard’s parent company PMC is the largest shareholder of SXSW and its brands are official media partners of SXSW.