State Champ Radio Music
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02/11/2025
The power ballads and rave-ups to best have you swooning this Valentine’s Day.
02/11/2025
Dave Chappelle will become the first comedian to receive the President’s Award during the 2025 NAACP Image Awards, which is set to air live from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, Calif., on Saturday, Feb. 22, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on BET and CBS. This year, the broadcast will be extended 30 minutes to 2.5 hours.
The President’s Award is presented in recognition of special achievement and distinguished public service. Previous recipients include a wide range of public figures, including six recording stars – Ella Fitzgerald (1967), Ms. Lauryn Hill (1999), John Legend (2016), Jay-Z (2019), Rihanna (2020) and Usher (2024).
“The President’s Award honors an unwavering dedication to community, and throughout his distinguished career, Dave Chappelle has consistently been recognized as a powerful voice of social consciousness,” Derrick Johnson, NAACP president and CEO, said in a statement. “Through his unique ability to transform complex political issues into thought-provoking humor, Dave has solidified his place as one of the most impactful voices of our time. His work sparks conversations that compel people to examine their own beliefs, proving that in an age where open dialogue is increasingly rare, comedy can be both a powerful truth-teller and a driver of progress.”
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Chappelle, 51, was the 2019 recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. On Feb. 2, he won his sixth Grammy Award for best comedy album, which is just one shy of Bill Cosby’s record seven wins in the category. Chappelle has also received five Primetime Emmy Awards – three for his Netflix comedy specials Equanimity (2018) and Sticks & Stones (2020), and two for hosting Saturday Night Live (2017 and 2021).
By visiting the NAACP Image Awards’ website, the public can vote to determine the winners of the 56th annual event in select categories. NAACP will recognize winners in non-televised categories virtually on Tuesday, Feb. 18, and Wednesday, Feb. 19, on its YouTube channel and at the 56th NAACP Image Awards Creative Honors Friday, Feb. 21.
BET Media Group, NAACP, JSSK (Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole, a media and entertainment law firm) and the WME entertainment agency have partnered with L.A. County to launch the Altadena Community Preservation Fund to support the recovery of historically Black neighborhoods impacted by the Eaton Fire. This effort, a collaboration with local community organizations such as Community Aid Dena, Altadena Heritage and WalkGood L.A., is aimed at protecting homeowners from displacement and preserving the community’s cultural heritage.
Chris Brown scores a historic milestone on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, becoming the second artist to reach 100 cumulative weeks at No. 1 on the radio ranking, across 11 No. 1 songs in his career. The R&B hitmaker achieves the feat on the list dated Feb. 15 as current single “Residuals” jumps 2-1 for its first week in the top slot. The singer joins Drake, who has a record 176 weeks at No. 1 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, in the triple-digit club among all artists since the chart launched in 1992.
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A CBE/RCA Records release, “Residuals” crowns R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, which ranks songs by combined audience totals from adult R&B and mainstream R&B/hip-hop radio stations, with 15.8 million audience impressions in the tracking week of Jan. 31-Feb. 6, according to Luminate, up 3% from the previous week’s 15.3 million.
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The single advances to the summit in its 27th week on the list, the seventh-longest wait in the chart’s history. After 11 nonconsecutive weeks in the runner-up spot, “Residuals” likely crosses the finish line with added buzz from its official music video release on Jan. 23 and its nomination for best R&B performance at the Grammy Awards. While the track lost its nod at the Feb. 2 ceremony, Brown won best R&B album for 11:11, his second career trophy.
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Brown’s 100 weeks at No. 1 are spread across 11 No. 1s. Notably, more than half of his career total derives from just two songs: “No Guidance” featuring Drake, and a collaboration with Young Thug, “Go Crazy.” The former logged 27 weeks on top in 2019-2020, while the latter dominated for 29 frames in 2020-21. At the time, both tracks set records for the longest run by any song in the chart’s history; SZA’s “Snooze,” at 37 weeks in charge, now holds the title.
To recap his 100 weeks at the summit, here’s a review of Brown’s 11 No. 1s on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay:
“Say Goodbye,” six weeks at No. 1, beginning Oct. 14, 2006
“Deuces,” feat. Tyga and Kevin McCall, nine, Sept. 11, 2010
“Look at Me Now,” feat. Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes, eight, April 2, 2011
“Loyal,” feat. Lil Wayne and French Montana or Too $hort or Tyga, eight, June 7, 2014
“New Flame,” feat. Usher and Rick Ross, four, Oct. 25, 2014
“Hold You Down,” DJ Khaled feat. Chris Brown, August Alsina, Future and Jeremih, five, Nov. 15, 2014
“All Eyes on You,” Meek Mill feat. Chris Brown and Nicki Minaj, one, Sept. 26, 2015
“No Guidance,” feat. Drake, 27, Aug. 24, 2019
“Go Crazy,” with Young Thug, 29, Aug. 22, 2020
“Under the Influence,” two, March 25, 2023
“Residuals,” one (to date), Feb. 15, 2025
With an 11th No. 1, Brown breaks a tie with Beyoncé for sole possession of the fourth-most leaders on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay. Drake leads the count with 29, with Usher (16) and Lil Wayne (12) in second and third place, respectively.
Elsewhere, “Residuals” pushes 15-13 on Adult R&B Airplay, sparked by a 49% surge in weekly plays. It also repeats at No. 6 on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, a chart it topped for four weeks in December-January, and essentially remains even in plays with last week’s total.
R&B girl group Psiryn earns its first No. 1 on a Billboard chart as its single “Sober” rules the Adult R&B Airplay chart. The track ascends from No. 2 after an 8% jump that made it the most played song on U.S. panel-contributing adult R&B radio stations for the tracking week of Jan. 31-Feb. 6, according to Luminate.
In taking the summit, Psiryn — comprised of Anaya Chayenne, Jada Denise and Victoria McQueen — becomes the first all-female duo or group to crown the Adult R&B Airplay chart in nearly 23 years. The last? The duo Floetry, whose “Say Yes” ruled for seven weeks in May-June 2003. Among acts with at least three members, Psiryn is only the second girl group to reign on the 31-year-old Adult R&B Airplay chart. The trio joins Brownstone, which scored a pair of one-week leaders — “If You Love Me” and “Grapevyne” — in 1995.
As “Sober” advances, it knocks Coco Jones’ “Here We Go (Uh Oh)” from the top spot. The former champ ruled for seven nonconsecutive weeks beginning last December, including the last two frames.
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“It feels surreal and is an absolute honor,” Psiryn tells Billboard of its new No. 1. “We are the first girl group in 20 years to achieve this, and it feels truly out of this world – we still can’t believe this is happening!”
The journey to summit began nearly six months ago, when “Sober” debuted at No. 23 in September. A steady climb followed, but the single ran the risk of falling short of the apex — with five straight weeks at No. 5 around the holidays — before a final push put it to the finish line. The week-in, week-out support, the group notes, likely aligns with a wider mood. “The relatability of this record speaks volumes. So many people connect with ‘Sober’ and the feeling of needing a break from the real world,” the trio adds. “People just gravitate toward it, just like we did when we first heard it!”
“Sober” was released through independent label Kandi Koated Entertainment, a multimedia agency owned by Kandi Burruss. The entrepreneur rose to fame as a member of R&B group Xscape, which logged 10 hits on the Adult R&B Airplay chart in the 1990s, including “Just Kickin It” (No. 4), “Understanding” (No. 3) and “Who Can I Run To” (No. 2), all of which reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. As a songwriter, Burruss co-penned hits include No. 1 Hot 100 hits from TLC (“No Scrubs”) and Destiny’s Child (“Bills Bills Bills.”)
Elsewhere, “Sober” repeats at its No. 18 high on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, which ranks songs by combined audience totals from monitored adult R&B and mainstream R&B/hip-hop radio stations. There, the single climbed to 6.2 million audience impressions in the week, up 13% from 5.5 million in the previous tracking window.
Drake appears to have heard about Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show, and made his subtle response by flipping some lyrics to his “Knife Talk” track while performing in Melbourne on Monday night (Feb. 10). “Beef is live, spoiler alert — I never died,” he raps on the reworked version following Lamar’s headlining performance […]
Before embarking on her arena tour in support of Short n’ Sweet, Sabrina Carpenter got to learn firsthand from the mastermind herself: Taylor Swift.
And in a new Vogue cover story published Tuesday (Feb. 11), the “Espresso” singer revealed exactly how the 14-time Grammy winner’s billion-dollar Eras Tour — on which Carpenter served as opener for 25 shows — inspired her own trek. “Her stadiums make my shows look like clubs,” the Girl Meets World alum added.
“Watching her keep their attention as if she’s playing in their living room, it was like — and I told her this — ‘Your tour enabled me to do mine,’” she added.
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Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet Tour kicked off in September, with its North American leg ending in November. The vocalist will resume the trek in March with a monthlong run of European dates.
Her stint on the global Eras trek came to an end just about a month before she released breakout single “Espresso” ahead of Coachella 2024. The track would propel her into superstar status and lay the groundwork for August’s Short n’ Sweet to become her first ever Billboard 200-topping album — but according to Carpenter, she originally wasn’t supposed to release the tune when she did.
In fact, she says her label, Island Records, had wanted future Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Please Please Please” to be the first song she dropped from Short n’ Sweet — but Carpenter felt strongly that “Espresso” should go first, and that she should debut it live during her now viral Coachella set. “There’s something about this song that, if I’d never heard it before, and I heard it live for the first time, I would understand it,” she told Vogue.
“I was definitely being swayed in another direction, but I knew deep down that it was this song,” she added. “I was afraid of disappointing people for, like, five minutes. And then I was like: ‘No.’”
Things eventually came full circle in October, when Carpenter returned to the Eras Tour for a surprise performance of “Espresso” alongside Swift. About three months later, the track won the singer-actress her first Grammy, taking home best pop solo performance moments before Carpenter won best pop vocal album for Short n’ Sweet.
See Carpenter on the cover of Vogue below.
Usher and Keke Palmer continue to have great chemistry. The Atlanta legend recently sat down with Palmer on her Wondery podcast Baby, This Is Keke Palmer, where the two discussed Usher’s guest-star appearance in four episodes of Brandy‘s ’90s television show Moesha, before the two broke out into an impromptu duet of Usher and Monica‘s […]
Patti Smith is hitting the road this fall to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her iconic debut album, Horses. The singer will be joined by longtime side men guitarist Lenny Kaye and drummer Jay Dee Daugherty, who both played on the seminal 1975 LP that is considered a punk classic and is often cited by R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe as the album that made him want to make music.
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The Patti Smith Group will be joined by longtime keyboardist/bassist Tony Shanahan and the singer’s son and guitarist, Jackson Smith, on the tour slated to kick off on Oct. 6 at the 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland. The outing is then booked to hit Madrid, London, Burssels, Oslo and Paris before moving over to the U.S. for theater gigs in Seattle, Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Boston and Washington, D.C. before winding down on Nov. 29 at the Met in Philadelphia.
“Please join us to help celebrate the final ride of our irreverent thoroughbred,” read a statement announcing the run that will mark the first time in 20 years that Smith, 78, has performed the whole album; she celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2005 a that year’s Meltdown Festival in London, which she curated.
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Smith’s debut album was released on Arista Records on Nov. 10, 1975 and combined the singer’s urgent, vivid poetry with spiky, minimal arrangements that incorporated reggae rhythms with spoken word and propulsive rock energy. The album produced by the Velvet Underground’s John Cale failed to spawn a chart hit, but it is considered one of the founding text of punk rock and has been enshrined in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry as a historically significant work.
Before she hits the road, Smith will be feted at a March 26 all-star concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall, “People Have the Power: Celebrating the Music of Patti Smith,” which will feature appearances by Stipe, former Sonic Youth guitarist Kim Gordon, the National singer Matt Berninger, the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Karen O, Sharon Van Etten, the Kills’ Alison Mosshart, the Kronos Quartet, Ben Harper, Courtney Barnett, Angel Olsen and others.
Last month, Smith assured fans that she was okay after collapsing on stage in São Paulo, Brazil on Jan. 29. “This is letting everyone know that I am fine,” the singer wrote on Instagram along with a selfie in which she was smiling and waving at the camera. “A grossly exaggerated account is being spread by the press and social media. I had some post migraine dizziness. Had a small incident, left the stage, and returned 10 minutes later and talked to the people, told them I was fine and sang them Wing and Because the night.”
The health scare came a month after Smith was ordered by a doctor to rest following a brief stay in an Italian hospital to deal with what was described as a sudden, unnamed illness, resulting in the cancellation of a pair of European shows.
Tickets for the Horses tour will go on sale on Friday (Feb. 14) at 10 a.m. local time, with a pre-sale slated to kick-off on Wednesday (Feb. 12) at 10 a.m. local time; click here for details and check out the full list of dates below.
Oct. 6 – Dublin, Ireland @ 3ArenaOct. 8 – Madrid, Spain @ Teatro RealOct. 10 – Bergamo, Italy @ ChorusLife ArenaOct. 12 – London, U.K. @ London PalladiumOct. 13 – London, U.K. @ London PalladiumOct. 15 – Brussels, Belgium @ Cirque RoyaleOct. 16 – Brussels, Belgium @ Cirque RoyaleOct. 18 – Oslo, Norway @ Sentrum SceneOct. 20 – Paris, France @ L’OlympiaOct. 21 – Paris, France @ L’OlympiaNov. 10 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount TheatreNov. 12 – Oakland, CA @ Fox TheatreNov. 13 – San Francisco, CA @ The MasonicNov. 15 – Los Angeles, CA @ Walt Disney Concert HallNov. 17 – Chicago, IL @ The Chicago TheatreNov. 21 – New York, N.Y. @ The Beacon TheatreNov. 22 – New York, N.Y. @ The Beacon TheatreNov. 24 – Boston, MA @ The Orpheum TheatreNov. 28 – Washington D.C., The AnthemNov. 29 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Met
P-Lo stands under a basketball hoop on a rooftop outdoor court that overlooks downtown San Francisco, surrounded by the Bay Area Avengers — Saweetie, Larry June, Kamaiyah, G-Eazy, thuy, LaRussell and YMTK, all local MCs gathered to shoot the video for their new track “Player’s Holiday ’25.” The song is part of an upcoming project spearheaded by P-Lo and Golden State Entertainment (GSE), the record label and content division of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, which is planning to release the album in partnership with EMPIRE to celebrate the local music scene ahead of NBA All-Star Weekend in San Francisco in mid-February. The vibe on-set is breezy and free; the collection of talent, both on the song and hanging out here today, makes the afternoon feel like the modern-day, Bay version of the Great Day in Harlem celebrating the 1950s New York jazz scene.
“Just having all the creatives and artists in the Bay there for that and just being able to be present in that moment and really put that thing together to represent the Bay correctly [was special],” P-Lo says. “There’s been so much negative talk about San Francisco and Oakland [Calif.] and how dangerous it is, and all these bad things about our region and our area, and we wanted to just show the unity and our resilience to all of that.”
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All told, the album — called For the Soil — will feature over a dozen Bay Area artists, including icons like E-40 and Too $hort. It’s the latest project from GSE, which formed in 2022 with EMPIRE as its distribution partner and has released music by K-pop act BamBam and Oakland artist MAYZIN.
EMPIRE founder and CEO Ghazi and his company “have global reach but have maintained deep roots in and genuine love for the Bay,” says David Kelly, chief business officer for GSE and chief legal officer for the Warriors. “When Golden State Entertainment wanted to do something special in connection with NBA All-Star 2025 coming to the San Francisco Bay Area, it was only right that we linked up with P-Lo and release it via EMPIRE. The project is a celebration of Bay Area music and culture and a testament to the rich music scene that EMPIRE has helped create in and for the Bay.”
It’s also part of a suite of projects that EMPIRE is spearheading ahead of All-Star Week, including several parties in the area and a collaboration with NBA 2K for a limited-edition vinyl package featuring EMPIRE artists, on which “Player’s Holiday ’25” is also featured.
“Growing up a Warriors fan and going to the games all my life,” P-Lo says, “just to be able to work with a company that really is like one of the better franchises in all of sports, to be able to do something like this with them, is a dream come true.”
This story appears in the Feb. 8, 2025, issue of Billboard.
Celebrating six decades of soul – from favorites by Stevie Wonder to The Weeknd and the Supremes to SZA – SiriusXM brought back the Billboard Top 500 R&B Countdown on Tuesday (Feb. 11). In honor of Black History Month, the countdown spotlights the top 500 R&B classics by Black artists spanning the past six decades […]
