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Oasis are heading back to the U.S., Canada and Mexico next year as part of their Live ‘25 reunion tour, their first run of shows since 2009. The Monday (Sept. 30) announcement of a string of stadium dates in Toronto, Chicago, New Jersey, Los Angeles and Mexico City came with a direct warning shot to some fans: “America. You have one last chance to prove that you loved us all along.”
The Manchester band’s turbulent history and mixed response in the U.S. clearly still sticks in the Gallagher brothers’ craws. At their peak, Oasis conquered the U.K., mainland Europe and developed dedicated fan bases in Latin American and Asian markets. In their 28.6 million monthly listeners on Spotify, their fans’ top locations include Jakarta (Indonesia), São Paulo (Brazil) and Santiago (Chile) alongside London and Manchester. So why did they never truly crack the States?
Next summer’s reunion tour is as big as Noel and Liam’s egos. Nineteen stadium shows in the U.K. and Ireland sold out within hours during a protracted and controversial ticket sale process that attracted 10 million hopeful buyers. There was no questioning if those shows would sell; the demand indicated that they could have comfortably sold those shows several times over.
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But there will be eyes on this Friday’s (Oct. 4) North American ticket sale. The venues are ambitious: the MetLife Stadium across the Hudson River from New York City can host 82,000 people; the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., on the opposite coast can seat nearly 90,000 (though depending on staging for concerts, those capacities can be lower). Rumors had another date pencilled in for the Boston area’s Gillette Stadium, though this was absent from Monday’s announcement. Perhaps they want to see how it goes. Dynamic pricing will also not be used in the ticket sale process, presumably to boost the volume of sales rather than the value of each ticket.
Jitters behind the scenes would be understandable. The band’s final tour in North America, supporting their 2008 album Dig Out Your Soul, visited venues half the size of these prospective dates. They performed at New York’s 20,000-capacity Madison Square Gardens, but also at Broomfield, Colorado’s relatively modest 6,500-capacity 1stBank Center.
At the height of their fame during 1996, the band was playing to 125,000 people a night at England’s Knebworth House; in the U.S. however, Oasis’ biggest crowds would peak with support slots on U2’s mammoth PopMart tour in 1997. The group’s word-of-mouth appeal rarely translated to sustained and consistent ticket sales.
Oasis have had limited luck on the Billboard charts. None of their eight studio albums ever topped the Billboard 200, their highest entry being 1997’s Be Here Now, which clocked in at No. 2. 1995’s (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?, however, has gone 4 x Platinum according to the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). As for singles, “Wonderwall” peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, but the rest never had a sniff beyond “Don’t Look Back In Anger” at No. 55.
Things didn’t get off to a good start. On their debut run of dates in the U.S., the band played an infamous, substance-fueled gig at L.A.’s Whisky A Go Go in 1994. As later recounted in 2016’s documentary Supersonic, the band mistakenly scored crystal meth instead of cocaine which Liam said “just kept us up for f–king days” and resulted in a lackluster performance. The brothers fought on stage – Liam clattered Noel with a tambourine – and following the show Noel temporarily quit the band, disappeared from the touring group and cancelled a handful of shows.
It never really got better. In 1996, Liam failed to show up to a string of dates in the U.S., with Noel claiming that his younger brother instead was house-hunting back in London with then-girlfriend Patsy Kensit. Six years later in 2002, Liam walked off stage during a gig in Florida after losing his voice. The band headlined Coachella that year, but two decades later Liam dubbed that festival “pathetic.”
Noel has put the rocky relationship down to a mutual disconnect. “They couldn’t handle the fact that we didn’t give a f–k about anything,” he said in 2023 of the American market. “That’s the reason we’ve never really had a number one album in America – they wouldn’t go the extra mile for us because we wouldn’t go the extra mile for them.” Competing with the grunge titans of the era – Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and more – proved an uphill battle according to Liam: “They get a bright bunch like us, with deodorant on, they don’t get it.”
But things could be about to change. The reunion tour is already proving to have a cross-generational appeal for Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z alike; for the lattermost, it’ll be the first (and potentially only) time to see the band live. Oasis, for their part, have already struck deals with brands like Levi’s, Urban Outfitters and Amazon in hopes of pushing their name into new spaces. Streams for Oasis material took a healthy bump after the announcement they’d be returning.
The gauntlet has been thrown down; will the U.S. fanbase show up and show out for the much-hyped reunion? When tickets go on sale later this week, we’ll find out.
With the first quarter of the 21st century coming to a close, Billboard is spending the next few months counting down our staff picks for the 25 greatest pop stars of the last 25 years. We’ve already named our Honorable Mentions and our No. 25, No. 24, No. 23, No. 22, No. 21, No. 20, No. 19, No. 18, No. 17, No. 16, No. 15 and No. 14 stars, and now we remember the century in Nicki Minaj — a one-of-a-kind crossover rapper who paved a superstar lane entirely her own in the 2010s.
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Whether you know, love or tolerate her as Harajuku Barbie, Roman Zolanski, Chun-Li, Queen Sleeze or Martha (may she rest in peace) — few figures in 21st century popular music and culture (or hip-hop history in general) can compare to the towering impact and immense talent of Nicki Minaj.
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Though she came to passionately rep Southside Jamaica, Queens (and it’s crazy!) after moving there at the age of five, the artist born Onika Tanya Maraj was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago in 1982. The eldest daughter of four children, Minaj’s birthplace and stomping grounds immediately situate her at the origins of hip-hop, the endlessly influential artform that sprung out of 1970s New York thanks to the city’s rich combination of African-American, Afro-Caribbean and Latin American cultures. And just as so much of hip-hop has grappled (and continues to grapple) with the American dream and its dueling luster and infeasibility, so has Minaj throughout her career — both inside and outside of her music.
Ironically, these two truths align Minaj with traditional markers of hip-hop authenticity: a label that a significant chunk of the world has perceived her as at odds with for most of her career because of the communities – the girls and the gays – she has elected to cater to within hip-hop spaces. Minaj is arguably the single most fascinating MC of her generation; the combination of her razor-sharp wit, undeniable tenacity, irresistible penchant for the provocative and controversial, and, for better and for worse, her undying charisma have resulted in one of the most singular pop star careers of the 21st century.
Nicki Minaj
Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Nicki Minaj
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation
Shortly after honing her acting skills by way of the storied Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Off-Broadway stint, Minaj briefly signed with Brooklyn R&B/hip-hop collective Full Force, through which she rapped as a part of The Hoodstars, a quartet that included her future beau-turned-hypeman-turned-critic, Safaree Samuels. She left the group after five songs – including WWE Diva Victoria’s 2004 entrance song, “Don’t Mess With” — taking to MySpace to begin fine-tuning her approach to social media and the Internet as an artist and get her music to ears of key industry players. One of those players was Dirty Money Entertainment CEO Big Fendi, who signed Minaj to the Brooklyn-based label in 2007, Minaj was signed to a 180-day contract and Fendi fatefully changed her stage name from Nicki Maraj to Nicki Minaj.
On July 5, 2007, Minaj unleashed her debut mixtape, the blistering Playtime Is Over. Playtime arrived three years before Minaj fashioned herself into a life-sized Barbie doll for the Pink Friday album cover, but she was already laying the groundwork for the imagery that would come to anchor her entire career. Minaj’s debut mixtape accompanied her appearance on Dirty Money’s The Come Up street DVD series, in which her swaggering rendition of shit-popping tracks like “40 Bars” caught the attention of Lil Wayne, who later signed her to his Young Money Entertainment imprint.
When Nicki conquered both the Internet and real-life hip-hop conversations with her 2007-09 mixtape run, the generation of female MCs before were effectively silent. For various reasons Lauryn Hill, Lil Kim, Da Brat, Eve, Foxy Brown, Missy Elliott, Amil, Remy Ma, Gangsta Boo and MC Lyte all hadn’t dropped solo studio albums since at least the first half of the ‘00s. Trina and Lil Mama made some chart impact, but otherwise, the latter half of the ‘00s and beginning of the ‘10s were largely bereft of female rappers operating in the genre’s mainstream as soloists in their own right. And here came Nicki Minaj pulling cards on her very first project: “How the f–k you in the game like ten years strong?/ You b–ches still can’t write ya own damn songs.”
Two more mixtapes followed – 2008’s Sucka Free (via Dirty Money/Young Money) and 2009’s Beam Me Up Scotty (via Young Money/Aphilliates) — but it was the latter that truly brought Minaj to the next level of her career. Scotty housed several of her most beloved tracks, including “Itty Bitty Piggy” and “I Get Crazy,” the latter of which marked her Billboard chart debut. The energy surrounding Minaj and Scotty was remarkably palpable; whether you were an NYC kid rapping her lyrics during lunch period or a blog-era disciple collecting her mixtapes online, all eyes were on Nicki Minaj. Through her, a new path forward for rap seemed possible for female artists – and she made it so.
In 2009, Portia Kirkland, then-VP of marketing at Mizay Entertainment (Minaj’s management company at the time) told Billboard, “We’re establishing her online first. Nicki always stays in touch with her fans through Twitter, MySpace and blogging. We didn’t position her as music but as a lifestyle.” It’s that approach to fan engagement, coupled with her undeniable talent, that have allowed Nicki and her Barbz to become one of the most passionate (if occasionally terrifying) artist-fan dynamics in music. Without that foundation, Nicki’s success across genres would be almost unimaginable, but, ultimately, that relationship is paramount to her (somewhat self-mythologized) position as a marquee pop star and general thought leader.
A few months after Scotty’s release, Minaj officially became the First Lady of Young Money, signing an impressive deal with Lil Wayne’s imprint and Universal Motown. The Pink Friday campaign would commence the following year, but not before she earned the first two of her record-breaking career 148 Billboard Hot 100 entries to date thanks to her appearances on Wayne’s “Knockout” and Mariah Carey’s “Up Out My Face.” The Pink Friday era started out a bit shaky, with the Sean Garrett-assisted “Massive Attack,” but paltry commercial returns caused that official lead single spot to go to the Annie Lennox-sampling “Your Love,” which reached No. 14 on the Hot 100.
Before Pink Friday arrived in its entirety on Nov. 22, 2010, Minaj built up her notoriety through a series of knockout guest verses – Trey Songz’s “Bottoms Up,” Usher’s “Lil Freak,” Sean Kingston’s “Letting Go” and a Grammy-nominated turn on Ludacris’ “My Chick Bad” — that established her as the go-to artist to inject a singular mixture of camp and sex appeal on virtually any song. Her verses were unabashedly animated and wholly electrifying; accent switches, a rotating cast of alter egos and slick wordplay proved to be hallmarks of a Nicki Minaj verse – and everyone wanted to prove they could rap a Nicki verse from memory. Throughout her career, Minaj’s brilliance has most consistently shined on her guest verses; something about a limited amount of space and time automatically makes her shift into a higher gear.
This pivotal feature run culminated in her culture-quaking verse on Kanye West’s “Monster,” her first truly iconic pop moment: From the second she commenced her verse, Nicki’s voice carried an undeniable gravity. Her fearless verse was packed with tongue-in-cheek ménage à trois requests and blood-curdling screams, but “$50k for a verse, no album out” was the kind of room-silencing flex that Minaj would continue to back up and build upon for years to come. The “Monster” verse cemented her as not just the next big thing, but also one of the most gifted working MCs.
Pink Friday eventually debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 375,000 copies sold in its first week, coming in behind West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which housed “Monster.” The album later reached the pole position, assisted by a stunning run of singles that included the Hot 100 hits: “Right Thru Me” (No. 26), “Moment for Life” (No. 13, with Drake), “Fly” (No. 19, with Rihanna), “Did It On ‘Em” (No. 49). Reaping a trio of Grammy nods – including best rap album and best new artist – Pink Friday unequivocally stands as a landmark album for 2010s hip-hop. Featuring a glossy blend of rap, pop, dance and R&B, Pink Friday marked a notable departure from the rap-focused trio of mixtapes it succeeded, which naturally courted a controversy that still plagues Minaj’s releases to this day. On her debut, Minaj rapped ferociously and sang earnestly – sometimes in the same song – a combination of skills that, coupled with the sparkly beats of Drew Money, Swizz Beatz, and Pop & Oak, confounded those who encountered her on a vibe closer to The Come Up DVD.
What remains so striking about Pink Friday is that it simultaneously feels like an album made distinctly for Nicki Minaj and album intentionally made for a generation of female rappers that hadn’t yet arrived. “I felt like I had something to prove to everyone who said a female rapper could not make an album unless she was talking about her p—y,” she told Vibe in 2012. “So, I went above and beyond to prove that I could not talk about sex and not talk about my genitalia and still have a successful album. And I proved that.” Interestingly, as much as Pink Friday found Minaj looking out for her future peers (“’Cause before they could begin, you told ’em it was the end/ But I am here to reverse the curse that they live in”), the album also found her twisting the knife in the chest of one of her foremothers, Lil Kim, responding to the Brooklyn rapper’s accusations that she copied her style and image on the fiery Eminem team-up “Roman’s Revenge.”
Nicki’s previous pop crossover attempts had reaped relatively middling returns, but “Super Bass” — originally placed as a Pink Friday deluxe track, before receiving an official single release in 2011 — sent her into the stratosphere. Thanks to its relentlessly sticky hook and an impromptu cover of the song by Taylor Swift during an interview with a Nashville radio station, “Bass” eventually peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 and earned a Diamond certification from the RIAA. Not only did the song help Minaj crash through Top 40’s front doors, it’s also still considered to be one of the greatest pop songs of all time, coming in at No. 13 on Billboard’s list of the 500 Best Pop Songs. From the candy-coated music video and her trademark pink wig to her cheeky choreography and suggestive bars, “Super Bass” was the ultimate culmination of Nicki Minaj as a bonafide pop star and topline rapper, a balancing act she would continue for the next ten years.
“Y’all hate fun,” is a phrase often thrown around in online spaces to laud works that people may enjoy regardless of their quality. With Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, her sophomore studio album, Minaj wasn’t using “fun” as a cop-out, she genuinely just wanted to enjoy herself after executing a seismic hip-hop moment amid her transition to pop music’s upper echelon. In 2012, she told Ryan Seacrest during a call-in interview, “I’ve never had this much fun recording music in my life. My first album I was very guarded. I felt like I was making music to please everyone else. I had to be politically correct, but this album I am just creating music, and there’s such a big difference.”
In that freedom, Minaj sourced her Pink Friday follow-up: a double album that balanced her hip-hop side with her desire to delve deeper into EDM and dance-pop. She traded her Harajuku Barbie aesthetic for neon paint and bikinis galore as she pushed hip-hop further to where the zeitgeist was at the time, nimbly flowing over blaring synth breakdowns and delivering delectable pop hooks to boot. Lead single “Starships” reached No. 5 on the Hot 100, bridging rap and Europop to set the stage for later singles such as “Pound the Alarm” (No. 15) and the deluxe edition’s “Va Va Voom” (No. 22). Minaj’s dance-pop pivot was a critical moment in her career.
Despite what she and Pink Friday did for hip-hop just months prior, her decision to experiment with her sound and further flaunt her versatility was met with haughty dismissal and harsh disrespect by some fans, peers and industry players. Infamously, Hot 97 radio host Peter Rosenberg lambasted “Starships” as “not real hip-hop,” at the station’s annual Summer Jam concert on the day she was scheduled to perform at MetLife Stadium, spurring Minaj to cancel her headlining appearance. Perhaps, Minaj’s experimentation proved too radical for hip-hop – the Barbie aesthetic was one thing, but what were gatekeepers supposed to do with RedOne productions that sounded closer to Calvin Harris than the ricocheting snares of Mike Will Made-It?
As hurtful as the backlash was, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded became Minaj’s first album to debut at No. 1, selling 253,000 copies in its first week. Meanwhile, Minaj collaborated with some pop music’s biggest names – Alicia Keys (“Girl on Fire”), Justin Bieber (“Beauty and a Beat”) and Madonna (“Give Me All Your Luvin’”) — which helped keep her a consistent presence across radio formats as discourse around her own music continued to swirl. That Madonna collaboration brought Minaj all the way to the 2012 Super Bowl halftime show, which aired just one week before the most controversial performance of Minaj’s career to date: At the 2012 Grammys, Minaj performed “Roman Holiday” in a set that found her Roman Zolanski alter-ego overcoming an exorcism attempt. The performance drew the ire of The Catholic League, and years later, Minaj alleged that former Grammy producer Ken Ehrlich blackballed her from ever winning an award at the show because of the performance’s sour reception and her refusal to pull out from the show following his last-minute request to do so. (After 12 career nominations, Minaj still has yet to take home a Grammy.)
Two other songs from Roman Reloaded also helped cement Minaj as an A-list pop star during this era: “Stupid Hoe” and “High School” (with Lil Wayne). The former once again found Minaj hurling jabs at Lil Kim, and its colorful music video broke the Vevo record at time with 4.8 million views in its first 24 hours of release. “High School,” which remains one of Minaj’s most beloved tracks, found her its music video to introduce Myx Moscato, a product in a Minaj co-owned line of alcoholic drinks that she would regularly reference in her verses for years to come, marking her transition from hot new star to budding mogul. In this era, Minaj also reunited with Carey as the two served on the judging panel for a particularly tense season of American Idol and returned to acting with a voice role in Ice Age: Continental Drift, the highest-grossing animated film of 2012.
Like any smart pop star, when Minaj’s back got shoved against the wall, she went back to basics. She kicked off 2014 with what was arguably her most fondly looked upon collection of remixes and guest verses: “Lookin Ass,” YG’s “My N—a,” “Danny Glover” (with Young Thug), “Chi-Raq” (with G-Herbo), “No Flex Zone” (with Rae Sremmurd),” and Young Money’s “Senile,” among others. Those new tracks ushered Minaj into her most dramatic change in fashion and aesthetic yet: For the red carpets celebrating the release of Nick Cassavetes’ rom-com The Other Woman, her live-action feature film debut, Minaj hung up the heavy makeup and zany colored wigs of her past two eras and instead opted for a strikingly natural look. Her highly lauded new looks set the stage for The Pinkprint, her remarkably personal third studio album.
Led by the somber, revelatory “Pills N Potions,” The Pinkprint marked a moment of significant maturation for Minaj. She spent the record working through family trauma (“All Things Go”) and detailing the most harrowing parts of failed relationships (“I Lied”; “The Crying Game”), while also finding time to rep her heritage (“Trini Dem Girls,” “Four Door Aventador”). The sprawling set reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200, shifting 244,000 album units in its first week, while also spawning additional top 40 hits like the Drake/Wayne link-ups “Only” (No. 12, with Chris Brown) and “Truffle Butter” (No. 14), and “The Night Is Still Young” (No. 31) — one of her few post-Roman Reloaded solo dance-pop tracks.
But the biggest hit from the album was easily “Anaconda” — which, between its iconic music video, cover art and outro, remains one of the most remembered tracks of both The Pinkprint and Minaj’s career in general. Her flip of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” forced open a Pandora’s box of discourse regarding body politics, Black feminism, and white women and victimhood as it relates to Taylor Swift centering herself in Minaj’s questioning of why her wildly successful music video was passed over for top honors at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards. Of course, Swift was instrumental in helping “Super Bass” cross over to pop audiences back in 2010, so the duo’s kerfuffle was nothing that a joint performance opening that year’s VMAs couldn’t fix. 2014 also found Minaj joining forces with Beyoncé and Ariana Grande — the two hottest non-Swift pop stars of the year – both as guests on her own album, then as co-stars on the former’s world-stopping “Flawless” remix and the latter’s “Bang Bang” (along with Jessie J).
Between dominating the summer with “Anaconda” and “Bang Bang” and closing out the year with The Pinkprint, 2014 was a winning year for Minaj. That success continued into the following year with the release of Barbershop: The Next Cut, another live-action film that helped insert Minaj into both the legacy of the beloved film series and the lineage of rappers-turned-actors like her co-stars Eve, Ice Cube and Common. Although The Pinkprint lost all four of its Grammy nods, the album did wonders for those who were still seeking a solid, authentic album from Minaj – and it even previewed where she was headed in her love life (peep those two Meek Mill collabs).
Nicki Minaj
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Nicki Minaj
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After The Pinkprint, something shifted. With three successful albums and two proper world tours under her belt, Minaj was no longer a bright-eyed new star. She was now lounging on the throne in the house she built, but there were quite a few new and veteran female rappers looking to get some skin in the game. Minaj’s worst trials would come in 2017. After kicking off the year announcing her split from Meek Mill – who she later accused of physical violence against women, including herself, in 2020 – Minaj received a little gift by the name of “Shether.”
Named in reference to “Ether,” Nas’ legendary 2001 diss track, “Shether” was a scathing seven-minute diss towards Nicki Minaj from Bronx rapper Remy Ma. The pair’s beef dates back to 2010, but “Shether” quickly transcended their specific shared history. Through “Shether,” anyone who didn’t like Minaj – or was just plain tired of her dominance – was granted both an avenue to exercise that hate and a rival artist to support in spite of her. The well-received “Shether” was the first diss track to truly put a dent in Minaj’s armor: Although she did respond through “No Frauds,” Nicki survived the lashings mostly by continuing to churn out hits.
But not even a force of nature could thwart the clearly changing tides of the industry: “Shether” dropped just three and a half months before Cardi B’s Hot 100-topping “Bodak Yellow.” With Cardi’s rise soon giving way to a new class of rising female emcees and Remy’s diss still permeating the wider culture and painting Minaj as a fraud and laughingstock, the Head Barb found herself in a wildly different position from the lane she had cultivated for the past decade. 2017 also marked the first time in seven years that Minaj didn’t win best female hip-hop artist at the BET Awards (Remy won). The foundation of Minaj’s world had shifted significantly.
She kicked off 2018 with another breakup – this time with fellow Queens icon Nas – and quickly turned her attention to rolling out Queen, her fourth studio album. Lead single “Chun-Li” (No. 10) became her first solo Hot 100 top 10 hit since “Anaconda” and previewed an album that would inject Minaj’s hip-hop foundation with notes of trap, pop, R&B and dancehall. Although she put out dual lead singles and a handful of pre-release tracks, Queen felt like the first Nicki Minaj era where everything but the music was at the center of attention. She launched Queen Radio on Apple Music to coincide with the album drop, but the stop-start nature of the release gave way to attention-grabbing rants that would quickly become a defining characteristic of the radio show – and Minaj’s general late ‘10s and early ‘20s online presence.
Queen opened at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, falling behind the second week of Travis Scott’s Astroworld. Naturally, an album that bears an honorific as its title missing the top spot and earning a smaller debut than Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy (2018) was far from ideal – and Minaj spent the following weeks casting blame on everyone from her record label to Billboard, streaming services, Travis Scott, Irving Azoff and even Stormi Webster. It also didn’t help that – outside of “Chun-Li” — Queen failed to generate any real hits of its own. In fact, the biggest hit of this Nicki era is technically “FEFE,” a Murda Beatz-produced collaboration with embattled rapper 6ix9ine that peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 and was tacked onto the album’s deluxe edition. Couple that with Future dropping out of his planned co-headlining tour with Nicki – he was later replaced by Juice WRLD — and the Queen era was easily Nicki’s messiest yet. Did we mention that Fashion Week altercation with Cardi?
It would take another half-decade for Minaj’s next studio album to arrive, and in the interim she rode out the most confounding period of her career yet. 2019 brought her massive records like “Tusa” (with Karol G) and smart remixes like “Welcome to the Party” (with Pop Smoke), but her link-up with Megan Thee Stallion on that year’s “Hot Girl Summer” proved to have a quite mind-boggling snowball effect. Just like “MotorSport,” her 2017 collaboration with Cardi B and Migos, “Summer” was the latest example of a Minaj collaboration with a younger female rapper ending with the two at odds.
While Bardi and Minaj have still yet to spar on record, the events of the “Hot Girl Summer” music video shoot – Minaj alleges that Thee Stallion tried to force her to drink while she was trying to get pregnant — later gave way to 2024’s “Big Foot,” a poorly received response to Megan’s Hot 100-topping “Hiss.” In “Hiss,” Megan rapped, “These hoes don’t be mad at Megan, these hoes mad at Megan’s Law,” a bar many perceived to be a shot at Minaj, whose husband, Kenneth Petty, is a registered sex offender. Though it was a general shot that could be directed to a number of Thee Stallion’s adversaries, most minds went to Nicki because of her history of aligning herself with alleged abusers and predators – one of the darkest and most troubling throughlines of her career.
Though 2020 might have been the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, for Nicki, it mainly marked a return to commercial triumph. She earned her first two Hot 100 chart-toppers: “Say So” (with Doja Cat), the first collaboration between two female rappers to top the chart, and “Trollz” (with 6ix9ine). In 2021, she re-released Beam Me Up Scotty to streaming services, earning a No. 2 Billboard 200 peak for the decade-old mixtape in the process.
By the time 2022 rolled around, Minaj seemed to swing the pendulum back in her favor, earning her first unaccompanied Hot 100 No. 1 with the Rick James-sampling “Super Freaky Girl.” The viral track repurposed the “Anaconda” formula and gifted Minaj her biggest crossover hit in years, which then gave way to her earning the Video Vanguard and best hip-hop awards at a victory-lapping 2022 VMAs. “Super Freaky Girl” was also the center of another brouhaha between Minaj and a younger female MC: This time, she sounded off about “Super” being placed in the pop field instead of the rap field at the 2023 Grammys. On Instagram Live – which she frequently uses along with Stationhead to corral her fan army and speak her mind – Minaj argued that both her song and Latto’s “Big Energy” should compete in the pop field because they have the same producer (Dr. Luke, another Minaj collaborator with troubling sexual assault allegations – he countersued and the two later settled out of court).
“Super Freaky Girl” would go on to serve as the de facto lead single for Pink Friday 2, but not before Minaj began 2023 with a remix of Ice Spice’s “Princess Diana,” which served as the first release on Heavy On It Records, an imprint she launched through a venture with Republic Records that year, and reached No. 4 on the Hot 100. She and Ice would later reunite on the No. 7-peaking “Barbie World” (with AQUA) — the two-time Grammy-nominated track from Barbie the Album – before their relationship turned icy. On December 8, 2023, Minaj released Pink Friday 2, an official sequel to her 2010 debut that combined hip-hop with Afrobeats, Jersey club, dancehall and pop. The LP became her record-breaking third No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, earning over 228,000 album equivalent units in its first week. Over half of the album charted on the Hot 100, including the singles “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” (No. 13), “Last Time I Saw You” (No. 23), “Everybody” (No. 24, with Lil Uzi Vert) and “FTCU” (No. 15). Received warmly by critics and fans alike, Pink Friday 2 mined nostalgia to handsome returns, culminating in the highest-grossing concert tour by a female rapper of all time with the Pink Friday 2 World Tour.
For Minaj, 2024 has been marked by the continuation of her Pink Friday 2 trek and the creation of the forthcoming next installment in her Pink Friday album series. With a career that spans two decades across the hip-hop underground and pop’s apex alike, Nicki Minaj has been the ultimate victor, villain and survivor of 21st century pop music and culture – sometimes all at the same time. Her allegiance to alleged predators and abusers, embrace of problematic conspiracy theories and weaponization of her and her fans’ parasocial relationships are all truths that are unerasable from Minaj’s legacy. A provocateur in the truest sense, Minaj knows what buttons to press and she’s always ready to Hulk smash them – she’s fearless in that way. But it’s her seeming fear of being replaced and cast aside that keeps her demanding the spotlight like any great pop star; watching her grapple with that battle is a priceless front-row seat to the madhouse that is 21st century fame.
Nicki Minaj isn’t just the greatest female rapper to ever do it and one of the greatest pop stars of this century, she’s also one of the key architects of how pop music sounds, how pop fandom functions and how pop stars are perceived both online and in real life in 2024. Now that’s some single-handed annihilation, word to “Itty Bitty Piggy.”
Read more about the Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century here — and be sure to check back on Thursday when our No. 12 artist is revealed!
Eleven-time Grammy winner and Americana music luminary Brandi Carlile is among those paying tribute to the late singer-songwriter, actor and political activist Kris Kristofferson, who died Saturday, Sept. 28 at age 88.
“Just sitting in a hotel cafe and crying into my coffee today…” Carlile said in an Instagram post published on Monday (Sept. 30). “Yesterday I didn’t know how to talk about the passing of Kris Kristofferson. My feelings about it can’t be contained in these kinds of micro expressions. I do know we need them, and that engaging in the celebration of someone’s life over social media and on these tiny screens is righteous and necessary … it’s emotionally galvanizing for our community and it helps us all to process the loss of a great, great man. But I have to admit, it is hard to grieve this here. I’m missing my friends today.”
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Kristofferson previously appeared in the 2012 music video for Carlile’s song “That Wasn’t Me,” and Carlile was part of Kristofferson’s backing band in 2016. “I had the profound pleasure and honor of being in Kris’s band for a little while. The [Hanseroth] twins and I will never forget that shine we stood in when we played music next to him,” she said in her post. “Kris believed in me a long time ago when he agreed to act in my tiny little music video about addiction and forgiveness… for free by the way. He never told me why he did it and I never asked.”
She added that she would “never forget his chuckle and the twinkle in his eye when I asked him if he thought The Highwomen was a good idea…” The 2019 album The Highwomen (from Carlile, Amanda Shires, Maren Morris and Natalie Hemby) was inspired by the country supergroup The Highwaymen, which featured Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.
Carlile and Kristofferson also collaborated on the song “A Case of You,” featured on the Joni Mitchell-honoring live album Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration. In her statement, Carlile said that the rocker and his wife Lisa “literally brought me to Joni” and “changed my life in countless ways over the last fifteen years.”
Closing her post, Carlile added that “I will never forget him and I’ll never forget a single shot of whisky with him,” before offering her condolences to the singer’s family. “What a ride, Kristoffersons! I hope you know we all love you so … and we are so grateful for the years you gave us with your once-in-a-lifetime man.”
Carlile is one of many artists honoring Kristofferson’s multitude of talents and multi-faceted career, alongside Dolly Parton, Eric Church, Reba McEntire and others.
Read Carlile’s full tribute to Kristofferson below.
When Bryce Leatherwood repeatedly outlasted the other competitors each week to win NBC’s The Voice in fall 2022, he experienced music as a raw competition.
As he moves into the next chapter of his music career, Leatherwood is still aware of the scads of artists all vying for the same brass ring, and his first radio single, “Hung Up on You,” is designed specifically to make an impression in a busy music marketplace.
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“The biggest part in today’s country is you got to stand out some way,” he says. “You got to differentiate yourself from the pack.”
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“Hung Up on You” definitely separates itself. The chorus features an edgy, anthemic melody, while the production sports a funky bass part at its open, a squealing guitar near its close and tons of growling, uneasy sounds in the middle. In the process, “Hung Up” fulfills Leatherwood’s competitive intentions.
“The whole time we were in the studio, building it out with the musicians, I was just like, ‘Be as off the wall as you can. Do what you want to do. Do the wildest stuff,’ ” he recalls. “As we got into post-production, I was just like, ‘Crank the guitars up, crank that bass up. Make it just punch.’ And it does.”
“Hung Up on You” has existed for a decade. Brandon Lay, then signed to Universal Music Nashville, had a co-write canceled, but Warner Chappell Nashville got him into a room with Neil Medley (“Made for You”) and former Dirt Drifters guitarist Jeff Middleton (“Drowns the Whiskey”) at Liz Rose Music.
“Thank God you’re here,” Medley said when Lay arrived. “We were about to write a ballad.”
Nearly every artist is looking for something uptempo, and all three writers turned their attention to that pursuit. Lay, it turned out, had part of the hook, and his comrades were able to figure out what to do with it.
“I had half of that title,” Lay says. “I was ‘hungover, hung up’ on something, and then they were like, ‘Hung up on you.’ I kind of was missing the forest for the trees, but I had a general idea of the title.”
Middleton dialed up a phat, scrappy bassline he had been playing with and topped that dark sound with some R&B-infused keyboards. They introduced the story with a vivid line, “Stumbled in with the rooster crowing,” that speaks to a long night of partying. The verse continues with more partying as two people stumble down the hallway to a rolling cadence.
“Brandon Lay’s lyrics are so wordy,” Medley says. “I think he listened to a lot more rap or whatever than I did, but I’ve always loved his phrasing. I would assume that the verses are just littered with Brandon Lay-isms. He’s so good at those lyric phrasings and the meter of everything.”
“The choruses,” Middleton adds, “are a little more settled in country songwriter kind of things.”
Those choruses emphasize the melodic part of the quotient with some longer-held notes as the hangover becomes a greater focus: “Keep the shaaaades down, keep the daaaaay out.” A little more rhythmic phrasing ensues “till the haaaaze clears,” and the stanza finally arrives at its “Hungover, hung up on you” hook.
Verse two started with another line, “Woke up with the room still spinning,” that shows some time has transpired. It continues the hungover theme while underscoring that the buzz from the evening is about the two people as much as it’s about the vices they might have employed.
Middleton guided a long bridge, slowing down the mood a bit before they pick up again at the final chorus. It mimics — perhaps unintentionally — the stop-and-start flow between the song’s two characters, whose relationship is not entirely defined. “I’ve always thought of it as kind of a random hookup,” Lay says. “But it could go either way. I guess that’s open for interpretation.”
Lay sang on the fuzzed-up demo with his voice electronically altered. He turned it in to the label and it got some attention, but not enough that it became a single. It was the heart of the bro-country era, and the funk core and long bridge of “Hung Up on You” were likely a little outside the box for the time. “It kind of fell into that Eric Church kind of lane,” Medley says. “And I guess Eric was the only one doing Eric.”
A few other acts cut it but didn’t release it, and before Lay left the label, he recorded it once more with producer Jonathan Singleton (Luke Combs, Riley Green). That version stayed in the Universal vault.Leatherwood moved to Nashville in January 2023, shortly after he won The Voice, and heard “Hung Up” within his first couple of months in town. He was sold on the spot.
“It definitely had that funky vibe to it,” he says. “I think it inspired what the final product was in a big way, but it was definitely not what the record turned out to be.”
Producer Will Bundy (Ella Langley, Graham Barham) oversaw the session at Nashville’s Sound Emporium, with Billy Justineau on Wurlitzer, Evan Hutchings handling drums, Ilya Toshinskiy strumming acoustic, Derek Wells playing seering electric guitar and Mike Johnson manning pedal steel. “That always helps just bring it back in country land,” Bundy says of the steel.
Jimmie Lee Sloas ran his bass through a fuzz pedal, approximating the tone on the demo. “Buckley [Miller], who engineered it with me, he whizzed up a big fuzz on that bass and just made it sort of nasty and made that sort of the backbone of the song, which I feel like is a high risk, high reward,” Bundy says. “It’s definitely different, but it’s cool to see people love it.”
The writers were pleasantly surprised when they learned their 10-year-old song had been cut and even more pleased to discover it was Leatherwood’s first radio single, which Mercury Nashville/Republic released via PlayMPE on Sept. 5. Imitating the demo, Leatherwood’s cut has his voice electronically altered during the verses, though it shifts to its natural tone as the haze clears in the chorus.
“I love the way Bryce sings it,” Middleton says. “It feels country, even with all that stuff going on. He’s a country singer, and that song pushes the boundary a little bit.”
Leatherwood performed “Hung Up On You” during his Grand Ole Opry debut on Sept. 14, and he hopes to keep singing it for years to come. It definitely gives him a chance to be noticed. “There’s nothing like it,” he says. “I think it’s go big or go home. If you go to country radio, you don’t want to leave any stone unturned, and I think this song leaves no stones unturned.”
The National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) is set to hold its inaugural awards gala on Saturday, Oct. 5, in downtown Nashville.
The event, slated to run from 6 to 8 p.m., will honor musicians, producers, educators and others who have made significant contributions to the music industry, and have progressed NMAAM’s mission of preserving and promoting the legacy of African American music.
This year’s honorees are producer/music executive Torrance Esmond (known as “Street Symphony”); Dr. Forrest Harris, president of American Baptist College and a member of the NMAAM’s Education Advisory Council; Americana Music Association executive director Jed Hilly; The Lovenoise Group managing partner Eric Holt; Origins Records CEO Gina Miller; award-winning professor, songwriter and author Alice Randall; and Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, musician and activist (and soon to be Broadway star) Allison Russell.
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The evening is slated to feature musical performances and heartfelt tributes to celebrate the honorees. The night will also feature a dinner, open bar and an afterparty in the NMAAM Rivers of Rhythm and Feature galleries.
NMAAM president/CEO C. Dion Brown said in a statement, “Bringing NMAAM’s first Awards Gala to Broadway is a powerful reminder of African American music’s influence on all genres. As we celebrate Black music 365 days a year, this event honors those who’ve championed our mission to preserve this rich cultural legacy.”
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The 56,000-square-feet NMAAM opened in 2021 and works to preserve and celebrate more than 50 musical genres and styles—among them blues, jazz, gospel, hip-hop and R&B—that have been created, inspired and/or influenced by African Americans. The museum has more than 1,500 artifacts, objects, memorabilia and clothing, as well as multiple galleries that highlight various narratives and perspectives on African American history and music.
Tickets to NMAAM’s inaugural gala are available at the NMAAM website.
Boza and Elena Rose dropped their first collaborative effort in May — a feel-good, modern-day love song called “Orion” — which ultimately scored both artists their first top 10 on the Billboard Latin Pop Airplay chart-dated Oct. 5.
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The infectious reggaetón and afrobeat fusion, produced by Daramola, finds the Panamanian and Venezuelan artists going back-and-forth on their feelings for each other. “You have me on cloud nine/I haven’t landed yet,” chants Boza. “I also want to have you/Just give me a chance to assimilate,” Elena responds.
Named after the constellation that’s visible in the winter sky, “Orion” — which was also named one of Billboard’s Best Latin Songs of 2024 (so far) — flew 17-4 on the chart, taking the Greatest Gainer honor of the week that’s awarded weekly to the song with the most audience impressions among the chart’s 40-deep entries.
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Below, check out the entire song lyric translated into English.
Elena Rose is confirmed to speak at the 2024 Billboard Latin Music Week, returning to Miami Beach on Oct. 14-18, with other confirmed artists including J Balvin, Feid, Young Miko, Gloria Estefan, Alejandro Sanz, Maria Becerra, and Peso Pluma, among many others. For tickets and more details, visit BillboardLatinMusicWeek.com.
But tell me what’s the secret you’ve keptThat no one has foundAnd that has me in a dazeIt’s that if you ask me to wait for you, I’ll wait for you sitting downYou have me on cloud nineI haven’t landed yet
Oh, if you kiss me, I’ll deconfigureIf they hurt you, I’ll cure youI want you for myself, I swearYou have me feeling weak with that B-U-T-T Oh, if you kiss me, I’ll deconfigureIf they hurt you, I’ll cure youI want you for myself, I swearYou have me feeling weak with that B-U-T-T
I also want to have youJust give me a chance to assimilateThat I fell a lot in the pastAnd I don’t want to hurt you with my woundsI also want to have youJust give me a chance to assimilateThat I fell a lot in the pastAnd I don’t want to hurt you with my wounds
I want to take it slow, slow, slow, slow, slowBecause I don’t want to lie to you, noJust give me chance, I askMy heart is like MiamiAlways under constructionI put myself firstThat’s my only condition
And I don’t only want to Have sex with youI really like youThat’s why I want to confess to youOh, the life you came toYou kiss so well, you went over the topI want to stick you to the wallLike a work of art
Oh, if you kiss me, I’ll deconfigureIf they hurt you, I’ll cure youI want you for myself, I swearYou have me feeling weak with that B-U-T-T Oh, if you kiss me, I’ll deconfigureIf they hurt you, I’ll cure youI want you for myself, I swearI can be your safe space
I also want to have youJust give me a chance to assimilateThat I fell a lot in the pastAnd I don’t want to hurt you with my wounds
I’ll become a pirate and steal your heartAnd I’ll make love to you in Orion’s beltThere’s no way to fail such a womanI assure you that you are my philosophy, and I am Plato
Understand that I am unique, thereforeThe least expected surprises youAnd that wounds heal and pain does not last forever
Oh, if you kiss me, I’ll deconfigureIf they hurt you, I’ll cure youI want you for myself, I swearYou have me feeling weak with that B-U-T-T Oh, if you kiss me, I’ll deconfigureIf they hurt you, I’ll cure youI want you for myself, I swearYou have me feeling weak with that B-U-T-T
I also want to have youJust give me a chance to assimilateThat I fell a lot in the pastAnd I don’t want to hurt you with my woundsI also want to have youJust give me a chance to assimilateThat I fell a lot in the pastAnd I don’t want to hurt you with my wounds
The top spot of the Billboard 200 albums chart is becoming particularly familiar territory for Future in 2024. After visiting the apex earlier this year (along with producer co-star Metro Boomin) on the We Don’t Trust You and We Still Don’t Trust You sets, he takes a third trip there this week with his Mixtape Pluto set.
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The new record — billed as a return to the rapper’s mixtape days, with 17 tracks and no credited features — bows at No. 1 this week with 129,000 units in its first frame. In addition to the set being Future’s third to top the Billboard 200 this year, it’s the 11th total in his career, moving him into a four-way tie (with Bruce Springsteen, Eminem and Ye) for fifth place among all artists, behind only The Beatles (19), Jay-Z, Taylor Swift (both 14) and Drake (13).
What do these accomplishments mean for Future? And what do we make of his mixtape-era return? Billboard staffers answer these questions and more below.
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1. Future’s Mixtape Pluto debuts at No. 1 this week with 129,000 units, marking his third No. 1 album in the last six months, after the We Don’t Trust You and We Still Don’t Trust You sets with Metro Boomin. On a scale of 1-10, how impressive is that accomplishment for Future in 2024? Christopher Claxton: A 9. For Future to have three No. 1 albums in 2024 is a very impressive accomplishment, on top of the accomplishment of just releasing three albums in a single year. We live in a very competitive music landscape, with ever-evolving trends, so to continue to stay on top of an all-genre chart is remarkable.
Kyle Denis: I’d say about a 7. We’ve already seen him achieve No. 1 album debuts in back-to-back weeks, so this feels like the natural step. In 2024, this feat is particularly impressive to me because of 1) how crowded the marketplace is with major mainstream releases and 2) how dominant of a presence Future has been this year without necessarily plastering his face and name across every possible channel. Outside of “Like That,” Future’s 2024 success hasn’t been tied to a single track, which means his fans are showing up to consume each new release in its entirety – something every artist strives for.
Angel Diaz: I give it a 10 on the impressive scale. The mainstream media were trying to leave rap for dead because they secretly believe its pop culture dominance is still a fad. They were reminded that rap music is but a cog in hip-hop culture and Future is one of its most influential figures. Nobody sings the blues quite like he does.
Michael Saponara: 9. It’s amazing Future is still doing this at 40. He’s an ageless wonder in what’s typically a young person’s game. His voice spans generations and fans just won’t get sick of him no matter how many times he wants to drop. It’s not like his subject matter has changed all that much over the course of his career – making this run even all the more impressive. When it comes to the last decade of rap’s Mount Rushmore, make room for the Atlanta legend.
Andrew Unterberger: 8. It might really be a 9 or a 10 but it’s hard to be actively impressed by Future’s commercial consistency at this point because it’s been such a constant the past decade — he may not put up single-week numbers like the pop A+ listers, but he seems much less susceptible to any ebbing tides or major consumption shifts than many of them are.
2. It’s also Future’s 11th career No. 1 album, putting him in a tie for the fifth-most of any artist, behind only all-time hitmakers The Beatles, Taylor Swift, Jay-Z and Drake. What do you think the main reason is that Future has been able to amass such a tremendous total of chart-toping albums in the last decade?
Christopher Claxton: I believe the main reason Future has been able to amass such a tremendous number of chart-topping albums over the last decade is his incredible consistency and dedication to the craft. Future has been in the rap game for well over a decade, staying true to the core sound that his fans fell in love with while also showcasing versatility. He’s not afraid to mix new styles, flows, and production approaches with what he’s already doing, and it works for him every time. He consistently drops projects almost every year, allowing him to ride the hype of his previous work to promote the latest.
Kyle Denis: I think the main reason is how frequently he releases sets; his 2024 run is a bit reminiscent of his 2014-15 run, during which he put out four mixtapes and two albums. Not only is he dropping music at an incredibly fast rate, but he also rarely wavers qualitatively. Whether he’s going full trap or playing around with hip-hop’s more melodic pockets, Future consistently delivers strong projects to a fan base that has bought into his brand and sound for over two decades now.
Angel Diaz: Good music that no one else on the planet can replicate. All they can do is either get inspired or bite.
Michael Saponara: “I told my b—h, ‘If I gotta be faithful, I might fall off,’” Future raps on “Told My.” It’s that kind of dedication to the Future persona that keeps him at the top of the game. His quality hasn’t dipped and fans know what they’re getting pretty much every time out. Future also has a keen ear when it comes to finding the right crew of talented producers matching his vision, in addition to being a malleable collaborator that’s able to mesh with any of rap’s A-listers or even crossover into the pop world.
Andrew Unterberger: Fans don’t really demand anything of Future except for More Future, and he gives it to them early and often. It’s a winning (and repeatable) formula!
3. “Teflon Don,” “Too Fast” and “Lil Demon” are the set’s highest-debuting songs on the Hot 100 this week — though each lands in the 21-25 range, and all 17 of the album’s tracks appear on the chart. Does any of them seem like an obvious breakout hit from the album? Christopher Claxton: An obvious breakout to me is “Too Fast,” which is one of my favorites from the project. It’s classic “toxic” Future — he talks about succumbing to the temptations of success and blowing his money on high-end items for a woman he really shouldn’t be spending money on, especially since he doesn’t even know if he likes her or not. The track also explores the idea of living a fast-paced lifestyle, which many can relate to in one way or another. He plays with the idea that maybe he achieved rapid success and everything he’s accomplished is “too fast,” and that success may come at a cost.
Kyle Denis: Funnily enough, only “Teflon Don,” struck me as an obvious breakout hit out of those three tracks. I wouldn’t be surprised if “Plutoski” and “Told My” pull ahead in the coming weeks.
Angel Diaz: “Too Fast” is the one. No one has made trickin’ sound so cool, yet sound so shameful. It’s probably one of his more insane songs if you really sit down and listen to what he’s saying. He’s just a guy looking for love, you know?
Michael Saponara: I don’t think there’s one specific song that will be the crown jewel rising to the top from Mixtape Pluto. If it was up to me, “Ski” would’ve been the hit record. I wish there was a collaboration with either a Travis Scott, Gunna, etc. that could’ve become the focus track to dominate the Hot 100.
Andrew Unterberger: I don’t hear a breakout hit here, no.
4. The Mixtape Pluto title seems to signal a return on this project to Future’s mixtape days, which of course played a huge part in his early-to-mid-‘10s rise to stardom. Do you see his approach on this album as being notably reminiscent of those mixtapes (or notably different than how he’s handled his recent studio albums)? Christopher Claxton: I feel like Future’s past mixtapes were less polished than his studio albums, and the argument could be made that those early tracks captured Future at his most authentic self. By calling this project a mixtape, he could be implying that this album is less commercially focused and about reclaiming his dominance in trap music. I believe Future is revisiting an era where his artistry built his loyal fanbase, reconnecting with his street-centric, women-loving style.
Kyle Denis: With no features and a tonal shift away from the R&B-leaning cuts of 2022’s I Never Liked You and 2024’s We Still Don’t Trust You, Mixtape Pluto transports Future back into a strictly rap bag, through which he doubles down on the villainy and vulnerability that make his iteration of emo-rap so enthralling. There aren’t any obvious tentpole pop crossover attempts à la “Wait For U,” but everything feels a bit more insular, which is how the best – or at least my favorite – Future tapes feel.
Angel Diaz: Yeah, the songs aren’t as glossy. Song like “Plutoski” have an endearing, unfinished quality as he sort of mumbles he way through the chorus. This tape is strictly for the streets and made to be played in a car at obscene levels.
Michael Saponara: Going solo with no features and turning to longtime collaborators like Southside and Wheezy behind the boards lend to the nostalgia of the mixtape era. Song content and flows remain similar and he pulled on rapheads’ heartstrings while paying homage to the Dungeon Family with the purple-drenched Mixtape Pluto cover art. R.I.P. Rico Wade.
Andrew Unterberger: Calling a project a mixtape seems to be more about managing commercial expectations than anything else in 2024 — with no big guests or obvious singles, this album wasn’t going to do numbers like We Don’t Trust You, and Future seemed to understand that (and his fans don’t really demand that of him anyway). He’s got enough of a base that’s excited to be getting the raw Future that he still gets his No. 1 and adds to his impressive career totals here.
5. Future is just three albums behind Jay-Z and two behind Drake for the most No. 1 albums among all rappers. What do you think his chances are of ultimately passing them and standing along among rappers in Billboard 200 history?
Christopher Claxton: It’s entirely possible for Future to surpass Jay-Z and Drake to hold the record for the most No. 1 albums among rappers. Future continues to drop at least one project a year, consistently allowing him to close the gap. He’s only three albums behind Jay-Z, all he needs to do is drop three more fantastic albums next year like he did in this one and the goal has been reached. Yes, that’s no easy task but it’s well within his reach. Jay-Z and Drake are still active in the game, but the last time Jay dropped in terms of solo releases was in 2017 — so I think the only person Future has to worry about is Drake, an artist whose work continues to perform well on the charts. With Future’s ability to remain relevant, drop music very consistently and his dedicated fanbase, he has everything he needs. If he continues to drop music at this pace, I think he’ll have the most No. 1s among rappers by 2026.
Kyle Denis: I won’t outright say 100%, but it’s pretty damn close to that number. Between Jay-Z’s lengthy breaks between albums and the recent (partially Future-induced) cooling of Drake’s commercial might, Future could very well pass them both when all is said and done. It all depends on how each of those three artists gauges their release schedules and how their cultural-commercial pull holds up over the next few years.
Angel Diaz: I wouldn’t bet the house on it, but it’s doable. I’m curious to see if Drake’s stock has really dropped as much as social media says it has. I think he has a couple more No. 1s in him, so it’ll be hard for Future to catch up. But Pluto seems to be in another one of his zones again, which means he probably has a couple more bangers to leave us with before he decides we’re not worth his time anymore.
Michael Saponara: This definitely has a better chance of happening than I would’ve thought a few years ago. With his ability to hastily deliver projects quicker than the seasons change, the record is within reach. Jay-Z doesn’t appear to have anything on the horizon and Drake will continue to add No. 1s to his resume, but I’d bet he pulls back when it comes to his output compared to recent years.
Andrew Unterberger: It seems all but sure he’ll pass Jay, but bridging that two-album gap between him and Drake could be a little tougher. That said, last year that gap was five albums and this year it’s just two. No one would ever call Drake a slacker, but that level of productivity might be a little beyond even him, especially while he’s still reeling and retooling post-Kendrick beef. If I had to bet on it, I’d say he passes Drake eventually.
As the 2024 festival season closes, the 2025 season is already showing signs of life, with Ultra Music Festival announcing the phase one lineup for its March event in Miami. The bill includes a flurry of Ultra regulars including Armin van Buuren, Carl Cox, Afrojck, Tiësto, Martin Garrix and Hardwell, along with pairings like the […]
Final nominations have been announced for this year’s Association of Independent Music (AIM) Awards. Electronic music producer Barry Can’t Swim (real name: Joshua Mainnie) leads the pack with three nominations, followed closely by Jorja Smith, Sampha, CASISDEAD and Kneecap, who are up for two awards each.
Singer-songwriter Sampha, who is in the running for best independent video and best independent track, will be among the live performers on the night, alongside Manchester rapper and fellow nominee OneDa.
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The 14th edition of the annual awards show, which recognizes the achievements of the artists, labels, entrepreneurs and companies that make up the U.K.’s indie sector, is set for Oct. 17 at London’s Roundhouse venue.
Nominees also include D-Block Europe, Kim Gordon, Actress, rapper Skrapz, Mount Kimbie, Anohni and the Johnsons and jazz nine-piece Nubiyan Twist, who are all in the running for the best independent album prize alongside Smith and Barry Can’t Swim.
AIM announced the nominees in seven categories on Aug. 13, but have now announced the nominees in all 14 competitive categories, as well as the recipient of the diversity champion award. Afrobeats artist, producer and songwriter Silvastone, who has collaborated with the likes of Popcaan, Sneakbo, Bugzy Malone and Lady Leshurr, has been named AIM’s 2024 diversity champion in recognition of his commitment to his local community in Croydon and work as a youth ambassador.
R&B singer Jorja Smith, a 2019 Grammy nominee for best new artist, is also listed in the best independent track category for her hit “Little Things,” which reached No. 11 on the Official U.K. Singles chart.
2023 Mercury Prize winners Ezra Collective, Fontaines D.C., KNEECAP, Hudson Mohawke and Nikki Nair, Sampha, NikNak, Matthew Halsall, Amy Gadiaga and CASISDEAD — who was crowned best hip-hop/grime/rap act at the BRIT Awards on March 2 – round out the best track shortlist.
Other categories announced on Tuesday (Oct. 1) by AIM, which represents more than 1,000 U.K. independent artists and music companies, include best independent label. Heavenly Recordings, Ninja Tune, Partisan Records, Seattle’s Sub Pop Records and British indie Transgressive Records are the nominees in that category.
New for 2024 is the award for the U.K.’s best independent record store. Drift in Totnes, Manchester-based Piccadilly Records, Rough Trade Bristol and London’s Honest Jon’s and Stranger Than Paradise Records are all in the running for the inaugural prize.
The top five list for the public-voted best live performer title numbers Belfast rap trio Kneecap, Laura Misch, Pendulum, Raye and Frank Turner. All other nominees and winners are decided by the AIM board and a panel of expert judges.
The five contenders for the independent breakthrough award number London rapper CASISDEAD, Barry Can’t Swim, Bar Italia, Saint Harison and Wunderhorse, who all receive free access to studio time at London’s Metropolis Studios as part of their nomination.
AIM’s One to Watch category, which has previously been collected by Nia Archives and Arlo Parks, shines a light on spoken word artist Antony Szmierek, drum and bass MC OneDa, DJ Kitty Amor and artist/producers Lynks and Miso Extra.
Sponsors and media partners for October’s awards ceremony, which will be hosted by BBC Radio 1 DJ Jack Saunders, include Spotify, Vevo, Meta, Notion, Amazon Music and the BBC.
Here’s the full list of nominees for the 2024 AIM Independent Music Awards:
Diversity Champion
Silvastone
Best Independent Label
Heavenly Recordings
Ninja Tune
Partisan Records
Sub Pop Records
Transgressive Records
Best Creative Campaign
Chrysalis Records (BODEGA, ‘Our Brand Could Be Yr Life’)
Dead Oceans (Slowdive, ‘everything is alive’)
Identity Music (Lofi Girl, ‘Snowman’)
Warp Records (Aphex Twin, ‘Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / In a Room7 F760’)
Young (Sampha, ‘LAHAI’)
Best Live Performer
Frank Turner (Xtra Mile Recordings)
KNEECAP (Heavenly Recordings)
Laura Misch (One Little Independent)
Pendulum (Mushroom Music)
RAYE (Human Re Sources)
Best Boutique Label
AD 93
Houndstooth
LAB Records
New Soil
Sonic Cathedral
PPL Award for Most Played Independent Artist
Barry Can’t Swim (Ninja Tune)
Coach Party (Chess Club Records)
Far From Saints (Ignition Records)
Popeth (Recordiau Côsh Records)
Tom A. Smith (TYM Records)
Best Independent Record Store
Drift
Honest Jon’s
Piccadilly
Rough Trade Bristol
Stranger Than Paradise Records
Music Entrepreneur of the Year
Andrew Batey (Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Beatdapp)
Atlanta Cobb (Founder & Director, Music Industry Mentor)
Colin Batsa (President and Chairman, EGA Distro)
Meg Carnie (Studio Manager / Co-Founder / Artist Manager – South Lanes Studios)
Tom Allen (President, Downtown Royalties and Financial Services, Downtown Music)
Best Independent Album
Actress – LXXXVIII (Ninja Tune)
ANOHNI and the Johnsons – My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross (Rough Trade Records)
Barry Can’t Swim – When Will We Land? (Ninja Tune)
D-Block Europe – Rolling Stone (EGA Distro)
Jorja Smith – falling or flying (FAMM)
Kim Gordon – The Collective (Matador Records)
Mount Kimbie – The Sunset Violent (Warp Records)
Nabihah Iqbal – Dreamer (Ninja Tune)
Nubiyan Twist – Find Your Flame (Strut Records)
Skrapz – Reflection (EGA Distro)
Best Independent Remix
“The Egyptian Lover Remix” – Sudan Archives – Freakalizer (Stones Throw Records)
“Joy Anonymous Remix” – Ezra Collective, Sampa the Great – JOY (Life Goes On) (Partisan Records)
“L BEATS Mashup” – Jorja Smith – Little Things x Gypsy Woman (FAMM)
“Olof Dreijer Remix” – Björk – Oral (feat. Rosalia) (One Little Independent)
“P-rallel Remix” – Aluna, Jayda G – Mine O’ Mine (Mad Decent Under Exclusive Licence to Because Music)
One To Watch
Antony Szmierek (LAB Records)
Kitty Amor (Defected Records)
Lynks (Heavenly Recordings)
Miso Extra (Transgressive Records)
OneDa (Heavenly Recordings)
Best Independent Track
Amy Gadiaga – “All Black Everything” (Jazz re:freshed)
CASISDEAD – “Venom” (XL Recordings)
Ezra Collective – “Ajala” (Partisan Records)
Fontaines DC – “Starburster” (XL Recordings)
Hudson Mohawke & Nikki Nair – “Set the Roof” (Warp Records)
Jorja Smith – “Little Things” (FAMM)
KNEECAP, Grian Chatten – “Better Way To Live” (Heavenly Recordings)
Matthew Halsall – “An Ever Changing View” (Gondwana Records)
NikNak – “1200RPM” (Accidental Records)
Sampha – “Spirit 2.0” (Young)
Best Independent EP/Mixtape
George Riley – Un/limited Love (Ninja Tune)
Headie One & K-Trap – Strength to Strength (One Records and Thousand8)
HONESTY – BOX (Partisan Records)
JGrrey – If Not Now? (PACE, a subsidiary of Marathon Music Group)
Potter Payper – Thanks for Hating (EGA Distro)
UK Independent Breakthrough
Bar Italia (Matador Records)
Barry Can’t Swim (Ninja Tune)
CASISDEAD (XL Recordings)
Saint Harison (Tell Your Friends)
Wunderhorse (Communion Records)
Best Independent Video
Gia Ford – “Poolside” (Chrysalis Records)
Khruangbin – “A Love International” (Dead Oceans)
Master Peace – “I Might Be Fake” feat. Georgia (PMR Records)
Mitski – “My Love Mine All Mine” (Dead Oceans)
Sampha – “Only” (Young)
Brat summer is now officially brat autumn! Charli XCX has been teasing her upcoming remix version of her recent album Brat, and she’s confirmed a series of new collaborators via billboards popping up around the United States. So far, Bon Iver and Tinashe billboards have been spotted by fans, indicating that the two artists will […]