Music

08 Dec 2022

Manuel Turizo’s ‘La Bachata’ Returns to No. 1 on Billboard Argentina Hot 100 Chart

Manuel Turizo rebounds to No. 1 on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 chart (dated Dec. 3) after ranking at No. 2 for one week. The song adds a 12th week atop the tally, tying with Maluma and The Weeknd’s “Hawai” and Pedro Capo and Farruko’s “Calma (Alicia remix)” for the fourth-most among all titles since the chart launched in 2018.

Rosalía’s “Despechá” returns to its No. 2 high for a 23rd week. Meanwhile, as “La Bachata” tops this week’s ranking, it sends Bizarrap and Duki’s “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 50” to No. 4 after one week in command. Bizarrap also rises to No. 3 through another of his music sessions: “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 52,” with Quevedo. Plus, La Joaqui, Gusty DJ Salsatkbron’s “Dos Besitos” holds steady at No. 5.

Elsewhere, Quevedo’s “Punto G” scores the Greatest Gainer honors of the week as it climbs 47 rankings, 78-31. Plus, the Hot Shot debut goes to Karol G & Ovy On The Drums’s “Cairo” at No. 57

Further, four other titles debut this week, starting with Paulo Londra and Lit Killah’s “Necio” at No. 59, Nathy Peluso’s “Estás Buenísimo” opens at No. 73, Nicki Nicole’s “Frio” bows at No. 80, while La Joaqui and Omar Varela’s “Mañosa” arrives at No. 92.

08 Dec 2022

An Army of M3GANs Just Took Over the Red Carpet to Dance to Taylor Swift’s ‘It’s Nice to Have a Friend’

It’s nice to have a friend. Or eight? At the premiere of M3GAN on Wednesday (Dec. 7), an army of life-size M3GANs invaded the red carpet to perform a creepy dance number set to “It’s Nice to Have a Friend” by Taylor Swift.

The Hollywood Reporter‘s Chris Gardner tweeted a video from the event at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in L.A., showing the eight dancers twirling, twisting and body rolling to the Lover deep cut much like the eponymous doll in the horror film.

“Light pink sky, up on the roof/ Sun sinks down, no curfew/ Twenty questions, we tell the truth/ You’ve been stressed out lately, yeah me too/ Something gave you the nerve/ To touch my hand/ It’s nice to have a friend,” Swift can be heard singing on the record as the M3GAN — or “Model 3 Generative Android” — lookalikes all move in chilling unison.

The track off the singer’s 2019 album was first used in the initial trailer for the Blumhouse sci-fi thriller starring Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Brian Jordan Alvarez, Amie McDonald and the voice of Jenna Davis. The movie hits theaters nationwide on Jan. 6.

At the premiere, the movie’s producer, Jason Blum, also dressed as the terrifying red-headed doll, writing, “Get ready, world. I’m back” alongside a selfie posted to his Twitter account.

Meanwhile, Tay gave Swifties a behind-the-scenes look at her Grammy-nominated All Too Well short film this week, showing the superstar bringing her creative vision to life as a first-time director and working with actors Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien.

Watch the M3GANs’ red carpet dance, and get a look at Blum in his own M3GAN costume below.

08 Dec 2022

Jelly Roll on His Triumphant Journey from Drug Dealer to Arena Headliner: ‘You Couldn’t Write a Cinderella Story Cooler Than This’

What a difference a year makes. In 2021, Jelly Roll played a sold-out show to just over 2,300 fans at Nashville’s revered Ryman Auditorium. This Friday (Dec. 9), the Stoney Creek Records/BMG artist is headlining the nearly 19,000-capacity Bridgestone Arena.

The moment will prove a triumphant homecoming for an artist (real name: Jason DeFord) who has gone from selling mixtapes out of his car in his hometown of Nashville suburb Antioch, and releasing over a dozen independent albums, to becoming a genre-fluid hitmaker with a No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart (“Dead Man Walking”) and a Top 10 (and rising) on the Country Airplay chart (“Son of a Sinner”). While the venue’s seats will be filled with fans, backstage will be just as packed with friends and family that have supported the 37-year-old singer-songwriter for years.

“It’s so bad,” he tells Billboard with a laugh, acknowledging it’s a great problem to have. “I went to Bridgestone today with the relations manager that deals with backstage stuff, hospitality, just to look at all the dressing rooms and everywhere we can possibly put people… just to f–king figure it out how we’re gonna do this. But it’s incredible. You couldn’t write a Cinderella story cooler than this, saying that I’ll have a headlining show at Bridgestone while I have a top 10 at country radio. I look at it like it’s my introduction party to Nashville, even though I was born here.”

He promises some high-profile special guests and several surprises in the set list.

“We’ve got something for everyone. If you’re a Nashville guy who remembers when I was putting out mix tapes, I have something that will blow your mind. If you’ve just heard ‘Son of a Sinner,’ it’s gonna be great,” he says.

Jelly Roll has logged 16 weeks atop Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart — where he still sits — marking the second-longest reign on the chart, behind only NLE Choppa’s 24-week streak at the pinnacle. He hopes his success, like his music, serves as inspiration to those who are struggling.

“I think what I think I represent is just a beacon of hope,” he says. “I don’t look like the guy that you would’ve assumed would’ve made it [in the music industry]. Sam Hunt’s a really dear friend of mine, and Sam is just a big striking, handsome guy. When you see him, you’re like, ‘Oh, I get it.’ When you see me, you don’t get it initially — then you meet me, and hear the story and hear the music. I just feel like I represent the guy who looks at himself in the mirror every day and goes, ‘Yeah, guys like me don’t make it.’”

Not only will the show be his largest headlining show to date, but it will aid a good cause — one that is intensely personal for the former addict and drug dealer. Proceeds from the show will benefit the local non-profit Impact Youth Outreach, which serves at-risk, disadvantaged youth in the Nashville area. He is also donating $250,000 to Impact Youth Outreach, and plans to build a recording studio and music programs at the Davidson County Juvenile Detention Center. With Impact Youth Outreach, he is also funding Hometown Heroes Scholarships for Metro Nashville Public School seniors.

Prior to launching his music career, Jelly Roll had been in and out of the juvenile detention center since age 14. (“I spent 14-24 in trouble,” he notes.) He spoke with Billboard just before returning to the center to speak with youth in the same pod he had once been housed in.

“[It’s] where I spent the worst 18 months of my life, but it was a turning point,” he says, noting it was where he began rapping and where he had his first rap battle. “I found my real love for rapping here. I loved all music as a listener, but I didn’t think I could sing, but there was something about rhythmic rapping and poetry that I understood… there was a lot of hip-hop, but we didn’t get radios or nothing. A lot of what we heard was just rapping to each other, and that got me involved in the art form, because it was our only source of entertainment. Adult jails at least get headphones.”

“I’m passionate about this,” he says of helping people overcome their issues. “It’s not even scratching the surface of the 10-year plan we have for at-risk youth and people dealing with drug addictions in this town. I came up here on Thanksgiving Day and fed a bunch of kids. I sat with them and listened to their stories. There were kids who had been here 18 months, 20 months already. How critical an amount of time that is when you’re 15.”

He’s working with Impact Youth Outreach president Robert C. Sherill, whom Jelly Roll met over two decades ago, and who followed a parallel path to Jelly Roll’s own journey. Sherill previously spent time at a federal penitentiary before becoming a successful Nashville entrepreneur, launching a commercial cleaning company Imperial Cleaning Systems.

“This town used to be tiny. The big drug dealer in North Nashville knew the big drug dealer in South Nashville. I was in my late teens before I met a successful adult that didn’t sell drugs,” Jelly Roll says. “[Sherrill and I] met when we were kind of on our s–t, and we got through our s–t around the same time — I chased the creative arts and he traced entrepreneurship, and wanted to give back to the youth. It’s a beautiful connection — and we look cool together. It’s a skinny, really fit Black dude that hardly drinks and an overweight, fat white guy that drinks a lot. We’re kind of a TV show.”

When he takes the stage Friday at Bridgestone, Jelly Roll will perform his newest release, “She,” another unflinching look at an aspect of addiction — this time from the viewpoint of someone watching as a loved one struggles.

“I think we all know a ‘She.’ And for me, just being honest, ‘She’ was my child’s mother. And ‘She’ was my mother. I just hope someone hears this, or someone’s family member sends them this song and we can help create some change. I meet fans that tell me a lot of stories — my music helped them through addiction, or to decide not to commit suicide. I want to keep making music that helps people. That makes it worth it.”

08 Dec 2022

RM Delivers Stunning Mini ‘Indigo’ Concert While Surrounded by Art & Nature: Watch

RM is rooting himself in nature and taking in all the delights that a museum — specifically, the Dia Beacon in New York — has to offer. On Thursday (Dec. 8), the BTS rapper shared a 12-minute concert special taped at the contemporary art installation space to perform four tracks from his debut studio album, Indigo.

The video kicked off with a performance of the album’s lead single, “Wild Flower (with youjeen).” RM appeared from the Dia Beacon’s maze-like garden space in a gray shirt, pants and chunky shoes to give an impassioned performance of the track solo. The scene then cut to the interior of the museum and featured RM in a space with wooden floors, bright large windows and and contemporary metal sculptures decorating the space.

By the time “Change Pt. 2” rolled around, the scene was vastly different. RM, nothing but a black silhouette, performed the track from a green lit room filled with columns and shelving units. The shadow play continued into “No. 2” as the camera followed RM throughout the museum, ultimately landing in a large open space before descending into a second space with faint shadows dancing on the walls.

After the mini concert went live, RM took to his instagram Story to share that “Live in New York (Dia: Beacon) was the contents that we put the biggest effort into. Enjoy, thx :).”

RM’s performance at the Dia Beacon is the latest of his Indigo performances. The BTS rapper also performed tracks from his solo effort for NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series.

Speaking about Indigo on Suchwita, Suga of BTS’ sit-down talk show, RM said, “It’s been 15 years [since we started pursuing music] and yet in a sense, this is my first album. So after 15 long years I finally have a chance to prove to myself in the form of a solo album. That’s what I felt.”

RM also added that he was happy to have the chance to make a statement about who he is as an artist now on Indigo, because “to be honest, in my Mono album, I had doubts and concerns for about half the songs in there, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case for this album.”

Watch RM’s Indigo concert at the Dia Beacon above.

08 Dec 2022

The 10 Best Country Albums of 2022: Staff Picks

In 2022, country music veterans, established artists and newcomers incorporated a range of styles, from ’80s and ’90s country, folk, R&B, classic rock and more to frame urgent, detailed storytelling and vulnerable musical vignettes.

Some projects, like Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville and Miranda Lambert’s Palomino, offer sonic sketches of quirky, fictional towns or an escape to charming map dots and larger cities across the country. Other artists, such as Lainey Wilson, Zach Bryan and Hailey Whitters, delve deep into their own stories, cementing their artistic visions in the process.

Here are Billboard‘s picks for the 10 best country albums from 2022:

08 Dec 2022

What Is Stiff-Person Syndrome? Celine Dion’s Neurological Disorder Explained

Celine Dion revealed in an emotional video posted to Instagram on Thursday (Dec. 8) that she is battling a rare neurological disorder called “Stiff-Person Syndrome.”

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“As you know, I’ve always been an open book. And I wasn’t ready to say anything before,” said Dion in the solemn, brief clip. “But I’m ready now… ’I’ve been dealing with problems with my health for a long time, and it’s been really difficult for me to face these challenges and to talk about everything that I’ve been going through.”

Due to the severe muscle spasms that Dion says “affect every aspect of my daily life,” she will not be able to re-start her tour in Europe in February as planned. All of her spring 2023 dates will move to 2024 and 8 of her summer 2023 shows have been cancelled.

Following Dion’s announcement, we’ve compiled everything you need to know about the lesser-known disorder.

What Is Stiff-Person Syndrome?

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Stiff-Person Syndrome, or SPS, is a very rare neurological disorder that has features of an autoimmune disease. “SPS is characterized by fluctuating muscle rigidity in the trunk and limbs and a heightened sensitivity to stimuli such as noise, touch, and emotional distress, which can set off muscle spasms,” per NINDS, which also notes that the disorder affects twice as many women as men and science does not yet understand what causes it. The disorder is also often misdiagnosed as Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia or anxiety.

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, SPS only affects one or two in a million people.

What Are the Symptoms of Stiff-Person Syndrome?

“Abnormal postures, often hunched over and stiffened, are characteristic of the disorder,” according to NINDS. Those with SPS can also be unable to walk or move or might be triggered into a spasm or fall due to loud noises.

Are There Treatments for Stiff-Person Syndrome?

The current treatment is a regimen of anti-convulsants and valium and intravenous treatments aimed at reducing stiffness and lowering sensitivity to touch, noise and stress. The preferred treatments can improve symptoms, but a cure is not yet known and sufferers are often subject to frequent falls because of a lack of the usual defensive reflexes.

08 Dec 2022

Jenni Rivera’s Best Songs: ‘Inolvidable,’ ‘De Contrabando’ & More

Jenni Rivera‘s untimely passing left a void in Latin music. At the time of her death in a plane crash in Mexico on December 9, 2012, Rivera, 43, was at the peak of her career and the single most successful woman in regional Mexican and on the Billboard Latin charts.

With anthems such as “Inolvidable,” “De Contrabando,” “Basta Ya” and “Resulta,” Rivera was able to create a blueprint for herself in a male-dominated genre, and was on the verge of a major crossover, with a residency in Las Vegas in the works and her very own television series. Still, the regional Mexican icon may no longer be here but her presence on and off the Billboard charts looms larger than life.

Ten years after her tragic death, Rivera’s legacy is very much alive thanks to her five children — Chiquis, Jacqie, Michael, Jenicka and Johnny who spoke at length about their mother at this year’s Billboard Latin Music Week — and her empowering anthems sang by a strong yet vulnerable woman for women from all walks of life. She’s also been an inspiration for the new generation of regional Mexican acts such as Grupo Firme, who’s frontman Eduin Caz told Billboard of her influence on him.

With more than 30 entries on the tally on the Regional Mexican Airplay, fourteen of those hit the top 10, and 25 songs on the Hot Latin Songs chart, Billboard‘s Latin editors have chosen Rivera’s 10 best songs (in no particular order). From “Ovarios” to “La Gran Señora” and “Las Malandrinas,” check out the list below.

08 Dec 2022

Amber Riley Thinks Lea Michele ‘Would Probably Say That She Doesn’t See Race’

Amber Riley stopped by Ziwe on Wednesday (Dec. 7) and spilled some tea about Lea Michele and her time on the set of Glee.

The Dancing With the Stars season 17 champ weathered Ziwe’s trademark style of awkward questioning with grace during the sit-down, but that didn’t stop the host from trying to get to the bottom of her take on working with Michele — starting with asking Riley if there was a “race war” on Glee.

“Now speaking of getting down in the muck, you said that one of your famous co-workers wasn’t racist. Did you mean that she was?” Ziwe asked, leading Riley to burst into uncomfortable laughter before dodging the question by responding “Next question? I don’t even know how to answer that. Umm … I don’t know which co-worker you’re talking about — I’ve had so many.”

Undeterred, Ziwe conveniently had a clip of Riley’s pandemic-era interview regarding the headline-making allegations that Michele bullied cast member Samantha Ware on the set of the FOX musical series. (“I am not going to say that Lea Michele is racist,” she insisted in the clip, though the Funny Girl star’s first name was bleeped out in the replay.)

“Would you say that your famous co-worker doesn’t see race and is, in fact, rude to all of her co-workers?” the host asked as a follow-up, and this time Riley gave more of a straightforward answer.

“I think that she would probably say that she doesn’t see race, but as we discussed earlier, everyone does,” she responded before laughingly denying that her 2014 single “Colorblind” was about Michele.

Billboard has reached out to Michele for comment.

Later in the interview, Riley also got real about some of the macro- and micro-aggressions she’s dealt with in Hollywood, revealing that she’s been on the receiving end of many an inappropriate comment from other actors in the hair and makeup trailer. “‘Oh your hair … so interesting! Oh wow, can I touch it?’ Like, a lot of that,” she said.

Most recently, the newly engaged star took home the trophy as the Harp on Season 8 of The Masked Singer, becoming the first and only to win both the FOX singing competition and DWTS.

Watch Riley’s interview with Ziwe above.

08 Dec 2022

Daft Punk’s ‘Homework: Remixes’ Debuts on Top Dance/Electronic Albums Chart

Daft Punk debuts on Billboard‘s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart (dated Dec. 10) with Homework: Remixes at No. 17. The limited edition two-LP Record Store Day release earned 2,000 equivalent album units, with nearly all from physical sales, Nov. 25 (its release day) through Dec. 1, according to Luminate.

The set supports the 25th anniversary of the original Homework album, which spent 18 weeks on the Billboard 200 in 1997-98 (peaking at No. 150); it predated the June 2001 inception of the Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart.

Homework: Remixes contains original remixes of Homework hits “Around the World,” by Masters at Work and Todd Terry; “Burnin’,” by DJ Sneak and Ian Pooley; and “Revolution 909,” by Roger Sanchez and Junior Sanchez, among others.


Homework: Remixes is Daft Punk’s 11th charted title on Top Dance/Electronic Albums. The act’s six No. 1s are tied with The Chainsmokers’ total for the second-most of all acts – and the most among duos or groups. Only Lady Gaga and Louie DeVito have more (seven each).

Daft Punk also improves on the latest list with Random Access Memories (9-7, up 15%) and Discovery (23-16, up 3%). Random, the act’s longest-running title with 369 chart weeks and counting, reaped 21 weeks at No. 1 in 2013-14. Discovery, released just prior to the chart’s start in 2001, hit No. 4 that year and made it to No. 1 at last, following the announcement of the act’s dissolution, in 2021.

‘All’ in Top 10

Shifting to the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, Alok, Sigala and Ellie Goulding lift into the top 10 with “All by Myself” (15-10). Alok’s third top 10, Sigala’s sixth and Goulding’s 10th, the song is scoring core-dance airplay on Music Choice’s Dance/EDM channel, iHeartRadio’s Evolution and Channel Q, among others. (The Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart measures radio airplay on a select group of full-time dance stations, along with plays during mix shows on around 70 top 40-formatted reporters.)

On the multi-metric Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, “Myself,” which samples Depeche Mode’s 1990 smash “Enjoy the Silence,” motors to a new peak (33-26). The track earned earning 629,000 U.S. streams, up 38%, in the wake of the Nov. 25 release of its club mix.

More ‘Good’ News

Speaking of Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, David Guetta and Bebe Rexha reign for an 11th week with “I’m Good (Blue).” The total ties Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul” for the second-most weeks at No. 1 in 2022; Elton John and Dua Lipa’s “Cold Heart (Pnau Remix)” spent 22 of its total 36 frames at No. 1 this year, after first reigning in October 2021.

“Good,” which earns top Airplay Gainer honors with 62.9 million all-format radio airplay audience impressions (up 8%), also matches Guetta and Rexha’s longest commands on the chart, as his “Hey Mama,” featuring Rexha, Nicki Minaj and Afrojack, dominated for 11 weeks in 2015.

“Good” leads the Dance/Electronic Streaming Songs and Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales charts for a 12th week each, with 10.1 million streams and sold 5,000 downloads sold in the tracking week.

08 Dec 2022

Billboard’s Greatest Pop Stars of 2022: Introduction & Honorable Mentions (Staff List)

In 2020, Billboard‘s staff revealed its picks for the greatest pop star of every year dating back to 1981 (the first year of MTV, essentially the birth of the modern pop era), with essays making the case for each as the biggest, brightest and most important star in their solar system that calendar year. After adding BTS as the greatest pop star for 2020, we decided to expand the project a little bit. Last year, we counted down our picks for the 10 greatest pop stars of the year, with full essays for everyone from No. 10 (Bad Bunny) to No. 1 (Taylor Swift), as well as bonus write-ups for our picks for Rookie (Olivia Rodrigo) and Comeback (WILLOW) of the year, and even 10 close-but-not-quite honorable mentions.

This year, we’re doing it all over again. Over the next week and a half, we’ll be revealing our top 10 with one or two new year-in-review essays daily, until we name our No. 1 next Friday (Dec. 16). And just like last year, we’ll also make our picks for Rookie of the Year and Comeback of the Year, which we’ll unveil tomorrow (Dec. 9) before launching into the proper countdown.

But first, a reminder that unlike with our Year-End Charts, we don’t use hard numbers or chart positions to determine these Greatest Pop Stars. They’re important to our determinations, of course — but so are more intangible factors like cultural importance, industry influence and overall omnipresence. (And of course, playing the whole season helps: If you took some months off to start or end of the year, or had a long break in the middle, that’s not helping your MVP argument.)

If you’re joining us for the first time and still don’t quite get what we mean, you’ll understand better once we start counting down. Before that, though: the honorable mentions. These 10 artists still all had huge years, but for whatever reason couldn’t quite get over the hump — because they didn’t cross over quite far enough, because their impact was too contained to the chart metrics, or simply because they didn’t hang around for enough of the year. Here they are, presented in alphabetical order:

21 SAVAGE

21 Savage

21 Savage

Prince Williams/Wireimage

Their Year in Pop: Talk about a late-season surge. 21 Savage had an OK first half of 2022, with fun guest appearances on Latto’s “Wheelie” and Pharrell Williams’ “Cash in Cash Out,” and even a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 thanks to his well-received appearance on Drake’s Honestly, Nevermind closer “Jimmy Cooks.” But none of us would’ve considered 21 Savage a Greatest Pop Star contender until November, when he teamed up with Drake for the blockbuster Her Loss album, briefly feuded with Nas (and then quickly reconciled via a collab single), and then stole the show in early December on Metro Boomin’s star-studded Heroes & Villains, with a gleeful verse playing Diddy to The Weeknd’s Mario Winans on breakout cut “Creepin’.”

Why Not Top 10? As many big moments as he had this year, the great majority of them were featured assists or alongside bigger names, without Savage having to do much of the heaviest lifting. If we had a Best Supporting Pop Star distinction, though, it’d be Savage’s to lose — pretty much every year, really.

BLACKPINK

BLACKPINK

BLACKPINK

YG Entertainment

Their Year in Pop: The biggest girl group in the world had another triumphant year in 2022, topping the Billboard 200 albums chart for the first time in their career with their BORN PINK album, besting the Global 200 songs chart twice (with advance singles “Pink Venom” and “Shut Down”), storming the VMAs stage and continuing to break nearly every YouTube record possible.

Why Not Top 10? Their stateside resumé is still lacking That One Single — the unavoidable hit that lingers around streaming and radio forever, ensuring that even your local librarian knows who they are — but given how little they seem to need that kind of stateside crossover support to keep making pop history, it’s doubtful they’re sweating it much.

ED SHEERAN

Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran

Jamie McCarthy/GI

Their Year in Pop: Sheeran didn’t release a new album in 2022, but that didn’t stop him from having two of the top 15 songs on our Year-End Hot 100 — with 2021 holdovers “Bad Habits” (No. 13) and “Shivers” (No. 5). But Sheeran’s year was arguably more impressive for the way he spread himself around as a special guest, scoring Hot 100 hits alongside artists from the worlds of rap (Russ’ “Are You Entertained?”), reggaetón (J Balvin’s “Sigue”) and Afrobeats (Fireboy DML’s “Peru”), all while trekking the globe on yet another impossibly lucrative world tour. And lest it be lost to time, let’s not forget there was a Pokémon song in there somewhere, too.

Why Not Top 10? Though Sheeran remains unmissable on radio and one of the world’s biggest live attractions, he doesn’t quite have the same culture-wide impact he did at his mid-’10s peak — particularly during an in-between year, album-wise.

ENCANTO CAST

Encanto

Encanto

DISNEY

Their Year in Pop: If we cut these rankings off in April, you can bet you’d be seeing Mirabel, Abuela, Luisa, Pepa, Félix, Bruno, and the rest of the Family Madrigal in the top 10. For those three months, they were everywhere — including on the charts, where Stephanie Beatriz and Diane Guerrero were suddenly as unavoidable as Dua Lipa and Doja Cat. But also on TikTok, at award shows (with Megan Thee Stallion at the Oscars!), and most of all, at your little cousin’s birthday party, where you’d better believe they had memorized all six parts of “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” and were just dying to act them all out at once for you.

Why Not Top 10? While the Encanto cast helped fill the void left by the absence of most of our major pop stars early in 2022, eventually those stars returned, and we didn’t hear much from the Family Madrigal again after that.

GUNNA

Gunna

Gunna

Jamie McCarthy/GI

Their Year in Pop? If you didn’t spend the opening months of 2022 not talking about Bruno, chances are good you instead spent it pushin’ P, as Gunna’s Hot 100 top 10 smash (alongside Future and Young Thug) gave the year its first great pop catchphrase. Acclaimed parent album DS4Ever also debuted at No. 1 — even beating out Dawn FM, the much-anticipated new set from 2021’s sixth-greatest pop star — and earned Gunna a music guest spot on SNL in April.

Why Not Top 10? Unfortunately, what was looking like a true level-up year for the rapper born Sergio Kitchens was cut short in May, when he was arrested (along with Young Thug) on a controversial RICO indictment — for which he’s still in jail, as he awaits his January trial.

KAROL G

Karol G

Karol G

Pablo Escudero

Their Year in Pop: Every year, Latin pop star Karol G burrows her way a little further into the U.S. pop mainstream. Though she didn’t release an album in 2022, she did release three singles — “MAMIII” with Becky G, “Provenza” and “Gatúbela” with Maldy — all of which debuted in the Hot 100’s top 40, with “MAMIII” becoming her highest-peaking hit to date (No. 15). That song also won hot Latin song of the year, vocal event at the 2022 Billboard Latin Music Awards — one of three awards Karol picked up on the night. And you know an artist has reached a level of true stardom when they can make headline news merely by changing the color of their hair.

Why Not Top Ten? A big album to cash in on her crowing pop clout would certainly help her case, as would a crossover single on American top 40 radio — though as a Latin star you’ll see in our top 10 has shown, the latter’s not necessarily a pre-requisite for stateside superstardom anymore.

KENDRICK LAMAR

Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar

Renell Medrano

Their Year in Pop: For about two weeks in May, the country belonged to Kendrick, as his long-awaited comeback (following the twin triumphs of 2017’s DAMN. and 2018’s Black Panther soundtrack) was trumpeted first with the release of “The Heart Part 5,” a Marvin Gaye-interpolating one-off with an jaw-dropping, deepfaking music video that instantly took over the internet. Then five days later, he made his full return with fifth album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, drawing rave reviews and debuting atop the Billboard 200 (while simultaneously charting each of its 18 tracks on the Hot 100).

Why Not Top 10? Neither Mr. Morale nor any of its cuts stuck around the culture the way Lamar’s last two efforts and their accompanying hits did. But it’s hardly been forgotten about — Lamar earned eight nominations for the 2023 Grammys, while Mr. Morale and its lead single “N95” finished in the top 10 of our staff’s year-end albums and songs lists, respectively.

LIL BABY

Lil Baby

Lil Baby

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

Their Year in Pop: Lil Baby notched a staggering 39 titles on the Hot 100 this year — a tally that nonetheless basically registers as light work for one of the most prolific major rappers of the 2020s. Most of those of course came from his Billboard 200-topping October effort It’s Only Me, though he also scored big hits in support of DJ Khaled (“Stayin’ Alive”), SleazyWorldGo (the “Sleazy Flow” remix) and even Ed Sheeran (the “2step” remix), while also notching a pair of big debuts alongside Nicki Minaj early in the year — including the No. 2-bowing “Do We Have a Problem,” tying for the highest Hot 100 peak of his career.

Why Not Top 10? Despite the dozens of Hot 100 visits, Lil Baby didn’t have a single quite as unavoidable as his My Turn-era 2020 hits “Emotionally Scarred,” “The Bigger Picture” or “We Paid” this year, as the buzz around It’s Only Me faded much quicker than for its predecessor.

TEMS

Tems

Tems

Jeff Spicer/GI for BMI London Awards

Their Year in Pop: One of the breakout stars of 2021, thanks largely to her star-marking turn on Wizkid’s global smash “Essence,” Nigerian singer-songwriter Tems defied the odds by having an even bigger 2022 — without even releasing any new music of her own outside of a Bob Marley cover for the Wakanda Forever soundtrack. Still, she appeared on one of the year’s biggest hits when Future sampled her 2020 From Broken Ears cut “Higher” for his own Hot 100-topping “Wait for U” — even scoring her an artist credit on the track — and also earned her first major solo hit when TikTok (and eventually R&B radio) resurrected her “Free Mind,” from the same 2020 EP. You know you’ve got the juice when Queen Bey is calling you in as one of just a handful of featured guests on her new album, with the legendary Grace Jones as a co-star, no less.

Why Not Top 10? She’s still yet to even release an official full-length debut — so we’ll have to see how the Afrobeats sensation fares when all eyes are on her for actual brand-new music of her own.

THE WEEKND

The Weeknd

The Weeknd

Brian Ziff

Their Year in Pop: While The Weeknd’s March 2020 LP After Hours was such a blockbuster that he was still enjoying its victory lap well into 2021, this January’s Dawn FM did not have quite the same reach or endurance. But critics were kinder to the album than the masses (it finished in the top 10 of the Billboard staff’s year-end ranking), and we still saw plenty of Abel this year between his long-awaited After Hours til Dawn stadium tour, a series of typically eye-popping Dawn FM visuals, and the TikTok and radio resurrection of 2016 Starboy cut “Die for You,” a bigger chart hit than anything he actually released in 2022. (And his year’s not over yet: Next week, he’ll debut “Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength),” his Swedish House Mafia-co-produced theme to the much-anticipated Avatar: The Way of Water.)

Why Not Top 10? After a year where you play the Super Bowl and celebrate having the biggest Hot 100 hit of all-time, there might just be nowhere to go but down.