Music

12 Sep 2023

Hot 100 First-Timers: Calle 24 Debuts With Chino Pacas & Fuerza Regida Collab ‘Que Onda’

Regional Mexican group Calle 24 debuts on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (dated Sept. 16) for the first time, thanks to its new collaboration with Chino Pacas and Fuerza Regida, “Que Onda.”

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The song, released Aug. 30 via Street Mob Records, debuts at No. 61 with 7.6 million official U.S. streams in the Sept. 1-7 tracking week, according to Luminate. It also starts at No. 8 on the Hot Latin Songs chart (which uses the same methodology as the Hot 100), becoming the first top 10 for all three credited artists.

Internationally, “Que Onda” debuts at No. 31 on both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts – and launches at No. 1 on the Mexico Songs chart.

“It has been an unforgettable experience, which doesn’t happen twice in life,” Calle 24 leader Diego Millán tells Billboard. “I am always delighted to work with my partners, with Jesús [Paz, a.k.a. JOP] and my friend Chinito Pacas. We are like a family and we are very excited to be doing this and to be in the top 100 of Billboard. This achievement is something that God has allowed us, and we are here to go further. Thank you very much to all the people who continue to support us and don’t forget the name Calle 24, we are coming strong. ¡Arriba México y arriba la bandera!”


https://youtube.com/watch?v=Slgvak6i1oE&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

Calle 24 launched in Ciudad Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua, Mexico. Before this week, the band had charted two songs on Billboard‘s charts, both on Hot Latin Songs in 2021: “Que Esta Pasando,” with Fuerza Regida, reached No. 36 that May and “Los Mire Con Talento,” with Fuerza Regida and Luis R. Conriquez, hit No. 24 that November.

The group has released two studio albums: Mi Nueva Familia in 2021 and Amore De La Calle this March.

Street Mob Records, which includes Calle 24 on its roster and was founded by Fuerza Regida’s frontman Jesús Ortiz Paz (a.k.a. JOP), signed a distribution deal with Cinq Music to distribute the label and expand its opportunities in branding, sponsorships, merchandising and synchronization in June. The deal will also include new talent discovery. The label also features Chuy Montana, Linea Personal and Ángel Ureta.

“Que Onda” is the seventh song on Street Mob to debut on the Hot 100. Here’s a chronological recap:

Fuerza Regida X Grupo Frontera, “Bebe Dame” (No. 25 peak; Jan. 28, 2023)
Chino Pacas, “El Gordo Trae El Mando” (No. 58; May 20, 2023)
Fuerza Regida & Peso Pluma, “Igualito A Mi Apa” (No. 80; May 6, 2023)
Fuerza Regida X Natanael Cano, “Ch Y La Pizza” (No. 68; May 6, 2023)
Fuerza Regida, “TQM” (No. 34; June 17, 2023)
Fuerza Regida, “Sabor Fresa” (No. 26; July 8, 2023)
Calle 24 x Chino Pacas x Fuerza Regida, “Que Onda” (No. 61; Sept. 16, 2023)

12 Sep 2023

Nicki Minaj, Olivia Rodrigo & More: Which VMAs Performance Are You Most Excited For? Vote!

MTV’s moonperson has touched down once again for the return of Video Music Awards. The 2023 ceremony — which takes place on Tuesday (Sept. 12) live from the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. — boasts an impressive lists of performers across genres, from Nicki Minaj to Olivia Rodrigo, TOMORROW X TOGETHER to Shakira and more. But whose performance are you most excited to see?

Minaj will be pulling double duty at the VMAs this year, acting as both a performer and an emcee. The performances comes after the “Super Freaky Girl” rapper dazzled the crowd at the 2022 ceremony for her Video Vanguard set, which saw her take the stage for a medley of her iconic hits, including “Moment 4 Life,” “Super Bass” and more. The rapper’s role as emcee also comes amid the show celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop.

Fresh off the release of her sophomore album GUTS, Rodrigo will be taking the stage at the VMAs for her second appearance at the show. Rodrigo made her VMAs debut in 2021, when she performed her Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Good 4 U.”

This year’s VMAs serves as one of the most global to date, with acts from Latin America, Asia and Europe performing. TOMORROW X TOGETHER and Stray Kids are representing K-pop, while Anitta, Karol G, Peso Pluma and Shakira (this year’s Video Vanguard recipient) are carrying the torch for Latin pop. Italian rockers Måneskin will also return to the awards show this year after giving a rollicking performance of “Supermodel” in 2022.

Which performance are you most excited to see? Vote in our poll below.

12 Sep 2023

This Pop Star Offered to Mentor Olivia Rodrigo Because She Knows ‘Exactly What These Pop Girlies Are Going Through’

As she hits the promotional circuit for her latest album, Olivia Rodrigo has been spilling all of her Guts. In a new interview with Rolling Stone published Tuesday (Sept. 12), the “Drivers License” singer revealed which pop star offered to be be her mentor as she continues to navigate the music industry as one of its biggest and brightest young stars.

The singer in question? None other than Billboard chart-topping artist Katy Perry. “The first time I met her,” Perry said, “I put my hands on her shoulders and was like, ‘Listen, I’m here. Whatever you need.’ Because I know exactly what these pop girlies are going through, and when I was growing up, no one really did that for me.”

Similar to Rodrigo, Perry had a breakout debut album — One of the Boys reached No. 9 on the Billboard 200 and spawned the Billboard Hot 100 top five hits “I Kissed A Girl” (No. 1) and “Hot N Cold” (No. 3) — that demanded an equally successful follow-up. One of the Boys served as Perry’s first album under the Katy Perry moniker. According to the American Idol judge, all of these expectations exist under a very different set of circumstances compared to those surrounding the creation of the first album.

“You have your whole life to make your first record, and then maybe two years to make your second — while going through a real psychological change as well,” said Perry, who faced similar pressures around the time of 2010’s Teenage Dream, which Rodrigo names as one of her favorite sophomore albums. “Like, ‘Oh, my God, I can buy my mom a car,’ and, ‘Oh, my God, I don’t have to have the stress from my past.’ But it’s a mental jungle out there.”

In 2010, Perry released Teenage Dream, her Grammy-nominated sophomore studio album, which spawned five Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles: “Firework,” “California Gurls” (with Snoop Dogg), “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.),” “E.T.” (with Kanye West) and the title track. Two years later, Perry re-released the album as Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection, earning an additional Hot 100 chart-topper with “Part of Me.” Perry has sent three total titles to the top of the Billboard 200 and earned nine career chart-toppers on the Hot 100, including “Roar” and “Dark Horse” (with Juicy J).

Rodrigo is already off to a good start with her sophmore era. While Guts will debut on next week’s Billboard 200, the album has already yielded a pair of Hot 100 top 10 hits: “Vampire” (No. 1) and “Bad Idea Right?” (No. 10). Guts serves as the follow-up to Rodrigo’s Grammy-winning debut studio album, Sour, which spawned the Hot 100 hit singles “Drivers License” (No. 1), “Good 4 U” (No. 1), “Deja Vu” (No. 3) and “Traitor” (No. 9).

On Tuesday night (Sep. 12), Rodrigo will perform at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. This year, the “Traitor” singer boasts six nominations, including video of the year, song of the year and best pop (all for “Vampire”). In 2021, she won three Moonpeople, including best new artist and song of the year (“Drivers License”).

12 Sep 2023

Kid Cudi Categorically Denies Reported Fall-Out With Pal Timothée Chalamet: ‘I Will Always Love Him’

There is no trouble in paradise. At least according to Kid Cudi, who took to X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday (Sept. 10) to defuse rumors that he has had a falling-out with his pal, Wonka star Timothée Chalamet.

After a commenter wrote, “they think u and timmy aren’t friends anymore for some reason — it’s going viral on tiktok,” Cudi, 39, put those rumors — whose origins were not clear at press time — to rest. “What da hell,” Cudi tweeted along with two face palm emoji. “I literally just shouted him out in ‘Most Aint Dennis.’ I spoke to him a few weeks ago. Timmy is my brother til the end of time and beyond I will always ALWAYS love him. We are good. Trust me. Idk where this is comin from but please dont believe the gossip online yall.”

The “Dennis” reference is to a song from Cudi’s upcoming Insano album, on which he raps, “Doin’ movies, TV shows out with Timmy, I’mma burn a pack/ Never fallin’ off, whose the boss? That’s facts.”

Chalamet gave the origin story of their friendship in a 2018 GQ story, in which he described his early struggles in Hollywood after appearing in a small role in the 2014 Christopher Nolan space drama Interstellar. Unsure if he was going to break through, Chalamet got a chance to spend a few hours backstage with his idol at one of Cudi’s shows in Montreal.

“Cudi described his own lows and the single-minded determination that forced him to double down on his efforts to perform his way out of trouble,” the story explained. “Timothée excused himself to run home so he could write down everything he’d heard. He keeps the notes on his phone. The takeaway was: Are you, Timothée, the sort of person who can’t possibly live any other way? ‘F–k yeah.’” Later in the story, Chalamet spontaneously rapped a lengthy Cudi verse for the writer that mentioned the magazine.

That same year, Chalamet nearly lost it on Twitter after finding out that Cudi had called him his favorite actor. “UHMM OKAY STRIKE ME THE FUCK DOWN,” Chalamet tweeted, quoting Cudi’s response to a fan who asked him who is favorite artist of the moment was. The two-way love fest continued from that point, with Chalamet responding with “STAN LEVEL 368483” to Cudi tweeting about Chalamet’s earlier post about his song “My World.”

Cudi celebrated his 35th birthday in 2019 at Nobu in Malibu with Chalamet, Pete Davidson and former friend/collaborator Kanye West (who now goes by just Ye). The bromance reached epic levels in 2021 when Cudi joined former SNL stars Davidson and Chris Redd in s sketch celebrating the underrated “Weird Little Flute” sounds in rap that also featured a cameo from Chalamet dancing with the trio.

Listen to “Most Ain’t Dennis” and see Cudi’s tweet here.

12 Sep 2023

*NSYNC to Reunite Onstage at 2023 MTV Video Music Awards

It’s gonna be them. Chart-topping boy band *NSYNC is set to reunite onstage at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards on Tuesday (Sept. 12), a source confirms to Billboard.

The Grammy-nominated vocal group — which consists of Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick and Lance Bass — “will be onstage together,” the insider says.

The group has been rumored to have recorded new music for the upcoming film Trolls Band Together after posters spotted in NYC appear to tease *NSYNC’s logo. Timberlake is reprising his role as Branch in the animated movie — the third in the Trolls franchise — alongside Camila Cabello, Troye Sivan, Kid Cudi and more.

If the rumors of the new song from *NSYNC are true, it would mark the group’s first musical release together since 2002. That year, the band covered “When You Wish Upon a Star” for the Disneymania compilation album, and released the Nelly-assisted “Girlfriend” — which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 — as the final single from their 2001 Billboard 200-topping Celebrity album, their last studio LP.

Due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, *NSYNC will not mention Trolls Band Together. Members of the labor unions are currently on strike, demanding a larger share of streaming residuals, increased job security for writers, larger writers’ rooms and a limit on the use of A.I. in screenwriting and background acting, among other negotiating points.

A reunion at the VMAs on Tuesday night would also mark 10 years since their last reunion on the awards show’s stage in 2013, for Timberlake’s Video Vanguard Award medley. In 2019, Chasez, Kirkpatrick, Fatone and Bass joined Ariana Grande onstage during her headlining Coachella set to perform “Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored” and “Tearin’ Up My Heart” without Timberlake.

A new song from *NSYNC would follow several recent releases and performances from the band members. On Monday, Sept. 10, Fatone joined forces with Bow Wow for an adorable performance of The Jackson 5’s “ABC” for the launch of Season 10 of The Masked Singer. Earlier this year, Timberlake guested on Coco Jones’ “ICU” remix and appeared alongside Timbaland and Nelly Furtado on “Keep Going Up.”

*NSYNC has earned six top 10 hits on the Hot 100, including “Bye Bye Bye” (No. 4), “This I Promise You” (No. 5) and “It’s Gonna Be Me” (No. 1, two weeks). On the Billboard 200, the boy band has notched four top 10 titles, including the No. 1 albums No Strings Attached (eight weeks) and Celebrity (one week).

12 Sep 2023

Tori Kelly Looks Back on the ‘Confusing Whirlwind’ of Her Hospitalization: ‘It Happened Out of Nowhere’

After dealing with a public set of health scares over the last few months, Tori Kelly said that she is ready to get back to work.

Speaking with Entertainment Tonight in an interview published Tuesday (Sept. 12), the 30-year-old singer-songwriter reflected on her hospitalization back in July after she collapsed in public reportedly due to blood clots in her legs and lungs. “It happened out of nowhere,” Kelly said. “I was feeling just a little tired throughout the day, and my heart rate was kind of high. I was at dinner with my husband and [I’m] so thankful he was there because I ended up collapsing.”

The Grammy-winner said she was not aware that she had blood clots — she still is unsure of how they came about — but added that she’s very grateful to be healthy again. “On one end it was scary, and then on another end, I did feel this sense of unexplainable peace that it was gonna be OK,” she said. “I just felt like God had me and it was gonna be OK, but yeah, definitely in the midst of that it was just kind of a confusing whirlwind.”

Kelly’s interview comes after the singer first updated her fans following her hospitalization with a handwritten note posted to her Instagram in late July. “As you may have heard, I’m dealing with some unexpected health challenges. It’s been a scary few days but I can feel your prayers & can’t stop thinking about you,” she wrote at the time. “I’m feeling stronger now & hopeful but unfortunately there are still some things to uncover.”

In her new interview, though, Kelly revealed that she is treating her blood clots with “medication and blood thinner,” and that she remains confident that she will be able to complete her upcoming Take Control Tour while monitoring her health status.

“I’m able to tour now. I’m back [and] healthy, and so it was definitely scary but I think it’s definitely given me a different outlook on life and just being so grateful that I made it through that and [that I] am here now,” she said. “Looking out in the audience and seeing all my amazing fans again has been keeping my spirits high.”

Kelly’s nine-date tour kicked off on Sunday (Sept. 10) in Toronto, and will continue throughout the U.S. until her final pair of shows in Los Angeles on Sept. 25 and 26.

12 Sep 2023

Bad Bunny Reveals What Really Went Through His Mind After Album of the Year Grammy Loss

Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny graces the cover of the new Vanity Fair issue, and in a wide-ranging, candid interview, gives insight into new music, how he really felt about his album of the year Grammy loss and addresses his relationship with Kendall Jenner.

The “Me Porto Bonito” singer explains that when he lost album of the year at the Grammys on Feb. 4, he had mixed feelings. Although he understood how momentous that win could’ve been, Benito felt some sort of relief. “It wasn’t because I didn’t feel I was deserving or because I thought I couldn’t win. It was because I don’t really want to hear myself,” he said in the interview published Tuesday (Sept. 12). “I know I was going to get emotional. It would have been powerful and hard, dealing with that pride.”

Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti made history as the first all Spanish-language album to score a nod in the album of the year category. (The award went to Harry Styles’ Harry’s House.) It wasn’t until after the ceremony that he began to question his loss, he explained. “I didn’t even feel like

Celebrity Photos

Celebrity Photos

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DJ Frosty

DJ Frosty

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had been stolen from me until the media started saying [it] and I saw that everybody thought I deserved the prize and everybody thought it was a robbery. … That’s when they kind of convinced me and I said, ‘Well, yes, it was a robbery then.’”

While Bad Bunny is reluctant to get into specific details about a new album, which according to the interview is slated to release sometime in the fall, he’s a bit more vocal about not having to clear anything up with anyone about his outings with model Jenner, with whom he’s been linked to romantically.

“They don’t know how you feel, they don’t know how you live, they don’t know anything, and I really don’t want them to know,” he said. “I’m not really interested in clarifying anything because I have no commitment to clarify anything to anyone. I am clear and my friend Jomar … and my mother is clear. They are the only ones to whom I have to clarify anything.”

Bad Bunny

Bad Bunny

Szilveszter Makó/Vanity Fair

Bunny has reportedly been dating Jenner since early this year. The two were spotted in April while at Coachella together, and in May, they sat courtside at a Lakers game, wearing matching snakeskin boots. They still haven’t officially confirmed their romance.

“There are people who say that artists have to put up with it,” he added. “I don’t have to accept anything and everything because I wanted to be an artist. At the end of the day, you listen to me because you want to. I don’t force you to.”

12 Sep 2023

JoJo Siwa Defends Tween Influencer Everleigh Rose After Viral ‘Like Taylor Swift’ Takes Hits: ‘Lose Your Ego and Grow Up’

JoJo Siwa knows exactly what it feels like to be a grade schooler in the crosshairs of the internet. Which is why it makes perfect sense that the 20-year-old former Dance Moms star, singer, actress and YouTube influencer is coming to the defense of 10-year-old YouTube star Everleigh Rose amid criticism of the latter’s viral hit “Like Taylor Swift.”

“Saying all of this with love,” JoJo wrote in a TikTok uploaded on Sept. 8 with the on-screen caption “to anyone who has said anything negative about this song… you need to calm down.” Siwa continued, “As the now 20 year old who once was the 10 year old growing up infront of the internet, I wanna say to anyone thats been saying negative things about this song or everleigh herself, lose your ego and grow up.”

The peppy pop song listing all the qualities Rose admires about the pop megastar was uploaded on Sept. 4, and since then has spawned its own sprawling Reddit thread. The majority of the arrows are aimed at the singer’s parents, YouTube influencers Cole and Savannah LaBrant, for what users claim is their “exploitation” of their daughter.

“It’s not her fault but the song is really bad cause of the auto tune and the lyrics. they could of done something so much better for her,” read one comment, while another wrote, “All of the blame should 100% be on Savannah and Cole Labrant. This poor child is EXHAUSTED you can tell.” Others took aim at the appropriateness of a girl Everleigh’s age referencing the grown-up lyrics and subjects of Swift’s songs.

“I cringed from begging to end, but ‘like a dear John’ ARE YOU SERIOUS? A 10 yo referencing a song where a 19 yo girl got played and taken advantage of by an older guy.. yeah, hella appropriate. Wtf is this?” read a Reddit comment about the lyrics to that track that has drawn comparisons to Rebecca Black’s divisive 2011 hit “Friday.”

“Mу hair іs blоwing through thе wind/ Taylor Swift on the radio all weekend,” Everleigh sings on the chorus of the country pop tune whose video finds Rose delivering Chik-Fil-A to her pals and posing on the hood of a pink Bronco while two other girls wave their arms from the front seat. “Ѕwеet teа, sixteen, on my trampоlіnе, yeah.” The bridge then goes on to name-check some of Swift’s biggest songs: “Every single dау all I wanna do iѕ this/ And dо іt like Taylor Swift,” Everleigh sings. “Like a love story/ Like а dеar Јohn/ Like a bad bloоd/ Аnd kind of like our song/ Like I knew you were trоuble/ You bеlong with me/ Are you ready for it?/ Are уоu 22?/ Mаdе you shake it off/ Or look at what yоu made me do/ Nevеr grow up/ Never fіnd а lover/ Sparkѕ fly, fifteеn/ Can I get a cruel summer?”

Siwa, who lip synchs along to Everleigh’s song in her TikTok, added, “First, this song is adorable (and insanely catchy). And second… Bullying isnt cool, it’s not funny, and it’s not trendy, ever… especially when it’s directed at a 10 year old and her first song by people much older than her. Some even adults. If you’ve posted something knocking this, you should be embarrassed.”

According to E! News, Siwa has previously appeared in LaBrant Family videos and posed with Everleigh on the red carpet at the Industry Dance Awards last year. “I also without a doubt can say that Everleigh is one of the kindest and hardest working kids I’ve had to joy of getting to be around and she absolutely deserves all the love an success she has,” Siwa wrote.

Watch the “Like Taylor Swift” video and Siwa’s TikTok below.

@itsjojosiwa

Saying all of this with love… As the now 20 year old who once was the 10 year old growing up infront of the internet, I wanna say to anyone thats been saying negative things about this song or everleigh herself, lose your ego and grow up… First, this song is adorable (and insanely catchy). And second… Bullying isnt cool, it’s not funny, and it’s not trendy, ever… especially when it’s directed at a 10 year old and her first song by people much older than her. Some even adults. If you’ve posted something knocking this, you should be embarrassed. I also without a doubt can say that Everleigh is one of the kindest and hardest working kids i’ve ever had to joy of getting to be around and she absolutely deserves all the love an success she has.??

♬ like taylor swift – liv (taylors version)

12 Sep 2023

Maren Morris Is Dropping New Tracks: ‘These Two Songs Deserved a Moment of Their Own’

Maren Morris is hard at work on a new album, but she’s not making fans wait for the album release to hear new music. The Grammy winner will release a duo of songs, under the collective project title The Bridge, on Friday (Sept. 15), she announced on Tuesday (Sept. 12).

The project contains the songs “The Tree” and “Get the Hell Out of Here.” Morris said in an Instagram post that the dual song release “honors where I’ve been and [sic] but also feels like a forward step into the sun.”

Morris added, “As I’ve been working on my record nonstop this year, I realized these two songs deserved a moment of their own – a story in their own right, written a day apart from each other – a tender duo and bridge to my next album. I welcome, celebrate and grieve the changes that have happened these last few years and these two songs say it better than I ever could in a caption or interview….hope you enjoy these. ‘Wherever I’m going, I hope I’m not the only one.’”

Based on the song title, it seems that “Get the Hell Out of Here” may be tied to an image Morris posted on Sept. 7, a visual that appeared may be positioned as a response to Jason Aldean’s recent controversial song “Try That in a Small Town.”

She captioned that post, “I’m done filling a cup with a hole in the bottom,” which was shared alongside a silent clip of a bucolic town with a billboard that reads, “Welcome to Our Perfect Small Town: From Sunrise to Sundown.”  (Her rep did not respond to Billboard‘s request for comment at the time.)

Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” garnered both support and criticism due to lyrics that advise people to refrain from burning the American flag, disrespecting police and committing robberies in small towns. (Sample lyric: “Cuss out a cop, spit in his face/ Stomp on the flag and light it up/ Yeah, ya think you’re tough?/ Well, try that in a small town/ See how far ya make it down the road.”) “Try That in a Small Town” was written by Kelley Lovelace, Neil Thrasher, Tully Kennedy and Kurt Michael Allison. The song’s video was pulled from CMT, a move that sparked both support and backlash.

Following CMT’s decision, Aldean posted a message to his Instagram Stories regarding the contrasting reactions that the song and video have faced. The controversy helped propel consumption of the song and its video. The visual for “Try That in a Small Town” now has over 35 million views, while the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in late July; it is currently in the top 10 on the Country Airplay chart.

Morris’ upcoming full-length album will follow her 2022 project Humble Quest and her 2019 album GIRL, which won a CMA Award for album of the year. GIRL‘s key song, “The Bones,” won Morris single and song of the year honors in 2020, while Morris also picked up her first CMA female vocalist of the year win.

See her new music announcement below:

12 Sep 2023

Kelsea Ballerini’s 10 Biggest Hits on the Hot Country Songs Chart

As Kelsea Ballerini celebrates her 30th birthday today (Sept. 12) and gears up to perform at tonight’s Video Music Awards, she also celebrates nearly a decade of notching hit singles on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, showcasing her bravura as a singer, entertainer, songwriter and hitmaker.

From her debut album, 2015’s The First Time, Ballerini cemented herself as an adept songwriter, one capable of absorbing pop-fueled optimism and fusing it with heart-on-her-sleeve lyrics. The album garnered Ballerini a trio of Country Airplay No. 1 hits: “Love Me Like You Mean It,” “Dibs” and “Peter Pan.” She also earned a best new artist Grammy nomination, while her sophomore album, Unapologetically, earned a best country album nod.

That album title proved prescient, as she’s forged a career based on proving that vulnerability can be an audience-uniting super-strength. She offered a glimpse at the myriad emotions behind the concerts, fashion-forward styles, bright smile and effervescent personality, on songs such as “homecoming queen?”.

In 2021, Ballerini earned her first two CMA Awards, for musical event of the year and music video of the year, both for capturing the wanderlust of ambition that battles with the draw toward the comforts of home, as she honored her Knoxville, Tennessee hometown through her collaborative work with fellow Knoxville native Kenny Chesney, “half of my hometown,” a song Ballerini wrote with Jimmy Robbins, Nicolle Galyon, Ross Copperman and Shane McAnally.

That same year, she let fans further into her instincts as a writer, and her personal journey, when she released Feel Your Way Through: A Book of Poetry, a collection of poems that contemplated her musical ambitions, struggles with body image, and her own experience in 2008 of watching a classmate die from a shooting when she was in high school. In 2022, she also offered up the project Subject to Change, which contained her current top 20 Country Airplay hit “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too).” Another song from the album, “Heartfirst,” earned Ballerini a Grammy nomination for best country solo performance.

Through song and performance, she also stood for her convictions, as evidenced by a pair of 2023 CMT Music Awards appearances: She opened the show by addressing the mass shooting at Nashville’s Covenant School earlier this year, which left six dead, and called for change. Later in the evening, she performed “If You Go Down,” and welcomed several drag queens — including Manila Luzon, Kennedy Davenport, Jan Sport and Olivia Lux — to perform with her, using music to address a recent Tennessee anti-drag bill.

This year, Ballerini released what is arguably her creative magnum opus to date, the EP Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, which distills the complex range of emotions and experiences she navigated through a dissolving marriage, weathering a divorce as a public-facing person, and ultimately, finding personal freedom and reconnecting with her true self. The vulnerability and elegant writing funneled into Rolling Up the Welcome Mat was recently recompensed when the project earned an album of the year nomination for the upcoming Country Music Association Awards; Ballerini picked up her sixth female vocalist of the year nomination as well. She also shared her story with fans through discussions and screenings of her Rolling Up the Welcome Mat short film.

On Nov. 2, it is this mature, bold Ballerini, fully in control of her artistic capabilities, who will bring her music and journey back to her Tennessee roots, when she headlines her first headlining arena show in the city where it all began (and the city she has often referenced in her songs) — her hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee — when she performs at the Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center.

Here we look back at Ballerini’s top Country Songs hits.

Kelsea Ballerini’s Biggest Billboard Hits chart is based on actual performance on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, through Sept. 9, 2023. Songs are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at lower ranks earning less. Due to changes in chart methodology over the years, eras are weighted to account for different chart turnover rates over various periods.