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Kenny Chesney, June Carter Cash and musician-producer-label exec Tony Brown have been given country music’s highest honor: They were named as the latest inductees to the Country Music Hall of Fame during a ceremony held Tuesday (March 25) at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
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CMA CEO Sarah Trahern, Country Music Hall of Fame CEO Kyle Young and Country Music Hall of Famer Vince Gill revealed this year’s slate of individuals who have been named as the latest inductees to the Country Music Hall of Fame. The Country Music Hall of Fame launched in 1961, and “since then it has been the ultimate recognition of country music excellence,” Trahern told the audience.
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“We honor not just talent, but impact, not just success, but legacy,” Trahern added.
The three inductees will be inducted during the annual Medallion ceremony, set for later this year.
Chesney will be inducted in the modern era artist category. During his career, he’s become known for massive concerts, 33 No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hits, his passionate No Shoes Nation fanbase, and his work ethic. Though Chesney released his debut single in 1993, it wouldn’t be until 1997 that he earned his first No. 1 with “She’s Got It All.” From there, he kept amassing songs that connected with fans, and in 2000, he earned a triple platinum Greatest Hits collection that included songs such as “How Forever Feels,” “That’s Why I’m Here,” “Don’t Happen Twice” and “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.” He appeared on George Strait’s stadium tours in 1999 and 2000, which sparked his desire to create a career and sound that was solely his. His album No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems debuted at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200, and he soon sold out the University of Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium, while hits such as “There Goes My Life” and “I Go Back” kept coming. He’s now won four entertainer of the year awards from the Country Music Association and an equal number of EOY wins from the Academy of Country Music.
He continues breaking new ground as the first country artist to set a residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas. He’ll release his first book, Heart*Life*Music, later this year.
“I always felt like country music told a lot of truth,” said East Tennessee native Chesney on stage at the Country Music Hall of Fame. “It’s also fueled by a lot of dreams. I had a really big dream that not a lot of people saw coming. My dream started on the shoulders of the dreams of George Jones. It was built on the shoulders of the dreams of Randy, Teddy, Jeff and Mark of Alabama, Conway Twitty, Doc Watson,” he said.
“I wanted to spread as much positive energy as I possibly could. I just want to say thank you. This is beautiful,” Chesney concluded.
June Carter Cash will be inducted in the veteran’s era artist category.
As the daughter of Maybelle Carter (who in 1927 formed The Carter Family along with Sara and A.P. Carter), Virginia native June Carter Cash grew up in show business, teaming with her sisters Anita and Helen, along with Maybelle, to form Mother Maybelle and The Carter Sisters. The Carter Family laid much of the foundation for commercial country music and Carter followed in their musical footsteps, learning to play autoharp by age 10 and appearing on the Carters’ radio broadcasts. She also developed a talent for comedy, developing stage characters such as Aunt Polly Carter. A multi-faceted entertainer, in the 1950s through 1970s, she appeared on Gunsmoke, The Adventures of Jim Bowie and Little House on the Prairie. She was in the 1958 film Country Music Holiday, 1986’s remake of Stagecoach and multiple episodes of hit primetime Western drama Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.
The Carter Sisters joined Johnny Cash’s roadshow in 1961, sparking what would become one of music’s most well-known love stories. As a songwriter, Carter Cash wrote with Merle Kilgore what would become Johnny Cash’s 1963 hit “Ring of Fire,” which spent seven weeks atop Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart. Carter and Cash wed in 1968. They won Grammys for their collaborations on “Jackson” and “If I Was a Carpenter.” Carter Cash was also a bedrock of support for Nashville’s greater music community, offering respite for artists at the couple’s Hendersonville, Tenn., home, including artists such as Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Larry Gatlin. She also continued recording her own projects, and her 1999 album Press On won a Grammy for best traditional folk album. Carter Cash died on May 15, 2003, at age 73. Her final album, Wildwood Flower, released posthumously that same year, earned Grammys for best traditional folk album.
Carter Cash’s children, Carlene Carter and John Carter Cash, were on hand to accept the induction news for their mother.
“I can’t tell y’all what this means to us, to our whole family,” Carlene said. “My mom was a force of nature. Everything she did, she did with grace and style and finesse and humor. I was so proud to be her daughter. Anything that Is good about me is because of that woman.”
John Carter added, “You look up here — will the circle be unbroken. Of course that song has ancient origins, but there’s one person who sang that song more than anyone else in her lifetime and that was my mother, June Carter. She was a songwriter, a musical historian, a comedian, but she carried the torch for country music history with her though her lifetime. Millions of people knew Carter Family songs because of my mother … She appreciated the music, but she brought it all together with a laugh. ‘Anchored in love’ is one of her life mottos, and ‘press on.’ But blessed to be here today. She did not know a stranger …she would be so grateful for this.”
June Carter photographed circa 1965.
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Producer, label exec, musician and North Carolina native Tony Brown will be inducted into the non-performer category, which rotates every three years with the songwriter and recording and/or touring musician categories.
Early in his career, Brown spent time playing in bands for the Oak Ridge Boys, Elvis Presley, Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris. He played on Harris’ projects including Blue Kentucky Girl. As a label executive, Brown signed hitmakers including Alabama and Gill. As a producer, he had his first hit with Steve Wariner’s 1983 song “Midnight Fire,” produced with Norro Wilson.
In 1978, he joined RCA’s Free Flight Records; soon after it closed, he transferred to RCA’s Nashville division, signing group Alabama. In After heading back onto the road to tour with Rodney Crowell and Rosanne Cash’s The Cherry Bombs, Brown returned to RCA and to Nashville, signing Gill. Brown moved from RCA to MCA Nashville, helping it become country music’s kingpin label in the 1990s and becoming president of the label. He brought Gill to MCA and signed artists including Patty Loveless and Marty Stuart and developed working relationships with artists including Wynonna Judd, and production relationships with artists including George Strait and Reba McEntire. He also aided numerous Americana artists, signing and producing artists including The Mavericks, Joe Ely, Lyle Lovett and Allison Moorer. He left MCA to co-found Universal South Records with Tim Dubois in 2002.
Tony Brown speaks onstage during the Country Music Hall of Fame Inductee Announcement at Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on March 25, 2025 in Nashville.
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Brown has won six Grammys and is a member of the Gospel Music hall of Fame. His accolades also include Leadership Music’s inaugural Dale Franklin Leadership Award, the ACM’s icon award and the Americana Music Association’s lifetime achievement award. He’s aided record sales of more than 100 million units during his career.
Taking the stage, Brown said, “I’ve had a lot of big things happen in my life and career — this is the biggest. This is cool, I don’t care who you are. I’m totally blown away … never ever imagined that I would be. Thank you to the CMA, the Hall of Fame, Vince Gill, all the people who helped me get here … the engineers, songwriters, song pluggers. This is better than money … this is about making an impact and when it comes down to it, that’s the reason we all get into this business, to make an impact.”
Zach Bryan again captures the No. 1 on Billboard’s Top TV Songs chart, powered by Tunefind (a Songtradr company), as “Oklahoma Smokeshow” rules the February 2025 list following a synch in CBS’ Tracker.
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Rankings for the Top TV Songs chart are based on song and show data provided by Tunefind and ranked using a formula blending that data with sales and streaming information tracked by Luminate during the corresponding period of February 2025.
Bryan boasts a previous ruler on Top TV Songs via the November 2022 ranking with “Something in the Orange” from Fire Country, also a CBS property.
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This time, Bryan’s “Oklahoma Smokeshow,” a No. 72-peaking song on the Billboard Hot 100 from 2022’s American Heartbreak, pops up in the Feb. 23 episode of Tracker (the 10th episode of season two), begetting 18 million official on-demand U.S. streams and 1,000 downloads in February 2025 in the process, according to Luminate.
Bryan leads the latest Top TV Songs ranking over a slew of songs from the third season of Showtime’s Yellowjackets, whose first two episodes premiered on Feb. 16, followed by episode three on Feb. 23.
Candlebox’s “Far Behind” leads the charge, debuting at No. 2 thanks to 7.2 million streams and 1,000 downloads in February after an appearance in the second episode, while Bush’s “Glycerine” follows at No. 3 (5.9 million streams, 1,000 downloads) following its synch in the premiere.
The ’90s flavor doesn’t extend to the rest of Yellowjackets’ charting songs, though. The series also represents the 1980s with Tiffany’s cover of “I Think We’re Alone Now” (No. 8; 2.7 million streams, 1,000 downloads) and the ‘70s with Cat Stevens’ “Morning Has Broken” (No. 10; 1.3 million streams, 1,000 downloads).
Of the group, “I Think We’re Alone Now” was a two-week No. 1 on the Hot 100 in 1987, though all four reached the top 30.
See the full top 10 of the Top TV Songs chart, also featuring music from Fire Country, Cobra Kai, Suits LA, School Spirits and The White Lotus, below.
Rank, Song, Artist, Show (Network)
“Oklahoma Smokeshow,” Zach Bryan, Tracker (CBS)
“Far Behind,” Candlebox, Yellowjackets (Showtime)
“Glycerine,” Bush, Yellowjacket (Showtime)
“Nobody Knows,” The Lumineers (cover), Fire Country (CBS)
“Silent Lucidity,” Queensryche, Cobra Kai (Netflix)
“Daylight,” Shinedown, Suits LA (NBC)
“Let’s Dance,” David Bowie, School Spirits (Paramount+)
“I Think We’re Alone Now,” Tiffany, Yellowjackets (Showtime)
“Maria Tambien,” Khruangbin, The White Lotus (HBO)
“Morning Has Broken,” Cat Stevens, Yellowjackets (Showtime)
Metro Boomin, Machine Gun Kelly and others will help bring the party to WWE‘s WrestleMania weekend with WrestleMania After Dark, a brand-new late-night event series set to take over LIV and LIV Beach at Fontainebleau Las Vegas. In partnership with entertainment group Medium Rare, WWE announced on Tuesday (March 25) that it’d be bringing its […]
Cazzu’s “Con Otra” has topped Billboard’s latest new Latin music poll published on Friday, March 21. In support of the weekly New Music Latin roundup and playlist, curated by Billboard Latin and Billboard Español editors, music fans voted for the Argentine artist’s new track as their favorite music release of the week. Explore Explore See […]
Miley Cyrus promised to deliver Something Beautiful with her new visual album. Now, fans get to judge for themselves with the first taste of what’s to come. On Tuesday (March 25), Cyrus dropped the first trailer for her recently announced visual album. Throughout the clip, fans hear snippets of new music, with Cyrus’ updated rock-meets-pop […]
The 2022 Academy Awards served as the ultimate rollercoaster ride of emotions for Will Smith, who won best actor honors for his role in King Richard, but also delivered the infamous slap across host Chris Rock’s face on stage for jokes made about his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith.
The actor-rapper received a 10-year ban from the Oscars, and had the option to appeal. The Associated Press caught up with Smith on Monday (March 24), during which he reflected on his actions and explained how he’s planning to move forward.
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“I am looking to be the best human I can possibly be, and I’m gonna take what I get with that,” the 56-year-old said.
Smith has since resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and has been apologetic to Rock for slapping him onstage following a G.I. Jane joke about Pinkett-Smith.
“I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris,” Smith wrote in 2022. “I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be.”
Rock hasn’t been open to speaking with Smith yet, but didn’t rule out returning as host for the Oscars at some point in the future.
“You never know. This is what I would say, the most miserable people on earth are people that can’t forgive,” the comedian said earlier in March. “And not just people, you have to forgive yourself sometimes, too. So, hey, you never know.”
On the music side, Smith is returning with his first album in 20 years, Based On a True Story. The LP arrives on Friday (March 28), and he’ll be hitting the road this summer for a tour across Europe and the U.K.
“A well opened up inside of me, a well of understanding of art and pain … all kinds of things that I didn’t even know were in there,” Smith told Billboard in January of his rejuvenated hunger for music. “Then after the Oscars, that spiritual investigation continued and a whole world woke up inside that I didn’t even know was there.”
Watch Will Smith talk about his Oscar ban below.
Garbage announced the dates for their first U.S. tour in nearly a decade on Tuesday (March 25). The 31-city Happy Endings run is slated to kick off on Sept. 3 at the Hard Rock Cafe in Orlando and hit Atlanta, Nashville, Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, Boston, Brooklyn, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Chicago, Minneapolis, Dallas, Denver, Seattle, Vancouver and San Francisco before winding down on Nov. 2 at the Van Burn in Phoenix.
The fall tour will follow the upcoming release of the band’s eighth studio album, Let All That We Imagine Be the Light, which will drop on May 30. Tickets for the tour will go on sale on April 4 here. Singer Shirley Manson said in a statement last month that the follow-up to 2021’s No Gods No Masters will flip that LP’s rage into a more optimistic outlook.
“Our last album was extremely forthright. Born out of frustration and outrage – it had a kind of scorched earth, pissed off quality to it,” Manson said. “With this new record however, I felt a compulsion to reach for a different kind of energy. A more constructive one. I had this vision of us coming up out of the underground with searchlights as we moved towards the future.”
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She added, “Searching for life, searching for love, searching for all the good things in the world that seem so thin on the ground right now. That was the over-riding idea during the making of this record for me – that when things feel dark, it’s best to try to seek out that which is light, that which feels loving and good.”
The band that also features original members producer/drummer Butch Vig and guitarist/keyboardists Duke Erikson and Steve Marker recently wrapped a South American tour and have a pair of dates in Mexico in early April. They were forced to cancel the rest of their 2024 dates in August after Manson required “surgery and rehabilitation” for an undisclosed injury she suffered on tour in Europe earlier in the year.
Check out the tour promo poster and full list of Happy Endings Tour dates below.
Sept. 3 — Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock CaféSept. 5 — Pompano Beach, FL @ Pompano Beach AmphitheatreSept. 6 — St Petersburg, FL @ Jannus LiveSept. 8 — Atlanta, GA @ The EasternSept. 10 — Nashville, TN @ The PinnacleSept. 12 — Cleveland, OH @ Agora TheatreSept. 13 — Detroit, MI @ Masonic Cathedral TheatreSept. 16 — Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music HallSept. 17 — Washington, DC @ The AnthemSept. 18 — Boston, MA @ RoadrunnerSept. 20 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn ParamountSept. 23 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AESept. 24 — Toronto, ON @ HistorySept. 29 — Chicago, IL @ The Salt ShedSept. 30 — Newport, KY @ MegaCorp PavilionOct. 1 — Columbus, OH @ KEMBA Live!Oct. 3 — Madison, WI @ The SylveeOct. 4 — Minneapolis, MN @ First AvenueOct. 6 — Kansas City, MO @ Midland TheatreOct. 7 — Dallas, TX @ The Bomb FactoryOct. 12 — Denver, CO @ The Mission BallroomOct. 15 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount TheatreOct. 18 — Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory SpokaneOct. 20 — Vancouver, BC @ OrpheumOct. 21 — Portland, OR @ McMenamins Crystal BallroomOct. 23 — Saratoga, CA @ The Mountain WineryOct. 24 — San Francisco, CA @ The WarfieldOct. 26 — Reno, NV @ Silver Legacy Resort CasinoOct. 29 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Rockwell at The ComplexOct. 31 — Las Vegas, NV @ The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas – The ChelseaNov. 2 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
Fuerza Regida is on a mission to reconnect with its ancestral heritage — and they’re doing it the best way they know how, via Mexican music. The group’s upcoming album, 111XPANTIA, which Billboard Español is announcing exclusively on Tuesday (March 25), will be an exploration of the band’s roots, according to frontman Jesús “JOP” Ortiz Paz. The album is set for release on May 2.
The title — pronounced “ixpantia” — comes from the Náhuatl language, a dialect of the Aztecs, symbolizing “manifest,” JOP explains to Billboard Español. “Before I even knew what the word ‘manifest’ meant, I always believed in it,” he adds. “I’d tell myself, ‘I’m going to do this in the future.’ Even as a little kid, I was sure I was going to be something in life. Maybe not an artist, but something. It’s the law of attraction, a testament.”
With 111XPANTIA, Fuerza Regida is on a quest to continue applying this philosophy and turn “every song” into future “bangers.” The San Bernardino, Calif., hitmakers have consistently achieved with their 13 hits on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 and 63 on Hot Latin Songs to date. The group’s most recent single, “Por Esos Ojos,” released in February, peaked at No. 5 on the Hot Latin Songs chart.
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The artist adds that while they created around 40 songs in the process of making this album, they narrowed down to 12, assuring that every song is a “focus track.”
111XPANTIA will be released via Rancho Humilde/Street Mob Records/Sony Music Latin. It also will be available in physical format, both CD and vinyl.
“This album represents my whole life,” JOP says. “Since I was a 5-year-old kid, I’d see Corvettes in the hood — there were no Lambos — and tell my mom, ‘I’m going to buy that car,’ or I’d look at a big house and say, ‘Mama, I’m going to buy you that house when I get older,’” adding that the meaning of this upcoming release is “to prove something beyond doubt through the power of the mind.”
And those dreams have undeniably materialized. For the June 2023 Billboard Español cover story, the group pulled up in three luxury cars, including a graphite off-roader Lamborghini Urus and a white Chevrolet Corvette. Most recently, Fuerza Regida acquired a new building to house its record label, Street Mob Records — which won the Billboard Latin Music Award 2024 for publisher of the year — in San Bernardino County.
The cover artwork, co-designed by KidSuper’s Colm Dillane, features an eye, a symbol deeply tied to the album’s themes. “The eye means the same thing — ixpantia, 111, manifest — to make your dreams come true,” he explains.
“This is the first album that has so much story to it, so much connection to it. Everything means something. Nothing está allí de oquis,” JOP says, emphasizing that everything is intentional. “Once you get into it, 111XPANTIA, you’re going to start tripping, what it means to be on the next level,” he adds, stating that “everything’s back to the roots” stylistically. “This is the most important album of my career. This is the one that brings all of that together.”
See the cover for 111XPANTIA below:
Fuerza Regida
Courtesy Photo
Love is a fickle thing, which is something Benny Blanco found out the hard way when he first met his now-fiancée, Selena Gomez. During his appearance with Gomez on the Jay Shetty Podcast on Monday (March 24), Blanco revealed that he was convinced that the “Lose You to Love Me” singer did not like him […]
Between her starring role in The White Lotus and her new solo album earning a top 10 debut on the Billboard 200, one could argue that LISA from BLACKPINK is currently enjoying the “Best of Both Worlds.” In an interview with The Guardian published March 24, the K-pop star revealed that’s not the only thing […]
