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On Nov. 15, 2014, Sam Hunt’s breakthrough hit “Leave the Night On” lifted to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.
Hunt co-authored the song with Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne. McAnally co-produced it with Zach Crowell. It was released as the lead cut from Hunt’s debut album, Montevallo, which produced five hit singles. The LP arrived at the Top Country Albums summit, also on Nov. 15, 2014, and reigned for nine weeks.
Montevallo sophomore single “Take Your Time” dominated Hot Country Songs for 11 frames, followed by “House Party,” which ruled for six. “Break Up in a Small Town” and “Make You Miss Me” rounded out the set’s singles, both peaking at No. 2.
On Country Airplay, Hunt banked four No. 1s off his rookie album, starting with “Leave the Night On.”
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To date, Hunt boasts 10 Country Airplay No. 1s, through “Outskirts” this May. He has earned four leaders on Hot Country Songs No. 1s and two on Top Country Albums.
Hunt was born on Dec. 8, 1984, in Cedartown, Ga. He was a star quarterback during high school before playing college ball at Middle Tennessee State University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In 2014, he signed with MCA Nashville, his label home since. Before rattling off his own hits, her was an accomplished songwriter, penning tracks for Kenny Chesney, Billy Currington and Keith Urban, among others.
Hunt and his wife since 2017, Hannah Lee Fowler, have two children — daughter Lucy Louise and son Lowry Lee.
Hunt’s latest single, “Country House,” which he co-wrote, ranks at No. 50 on the latest, Nov. 23-dated Country Airplay chart (1.8 million in audience, up 2% week-over-week, according to Luminate).
With ten years in the rap game, Kash Doll is finally ready to change her name. The Detroit-based rapper stopped by Billboard‘s NYC office for an episode of Billboard Gaming, just in time for the release of her The Last Doll album arrival on Friday (Nov. 15).The Last Doll marks a deeply personal chapter in her life, showcasing her growth as a woman, a mother of two, and an artist evolving beyond the persona that first brought her into the spotlight. The arrival of her daughter Klarity has been a transformative experience, shaping not only her maturity but also her perspective on life. As she balances motherhood with her thriving career, Kash Doll reflects on her journey, using this album as a powerful expression of her personal and artistic evolution.We faced off with the rapper in several rounds of Mario Kart while discussing the inspiration behind her album, touring, her love for her children, and more.Congratulations on The Last Doll! What inspired the title?It’s just growth. It’s where I’m at in life, you know what I’m saying? So, I’m just tired of the doll. I got two kids. I don’t want to be called a doll no more. I’m just over that.
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You’re dropping “Doll,” so your new name is just Kash?
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I don’t know yet.
Do you have any ideas on your new name?
I don’t know yet. I don’t know if I just want to be Keisha, because that’s my name, or if I want to be Kash, or Big Kash, or KD, or something like that.
When your fans listen to your new album, The Last Doll how do you want them to feel? What message are you trying to express?
You know, I don’t feel like it’d be a body of work no more. It’s so much just singles all in one project, you know what I’m saying?
Mine is just a body of work, and I want them to see growth, evolution. Like, I’ve been in the game for 10 years, so I just want my fans that have been growing with me to just understand who I am and where I’m at now, you know what I’m saying?
Congrats on 10 years. So, the theme of this album is just growth?
It’s growth. It’s lit, though. The album is crazy. I’mma just be 100 percent for real — like, it’s crazy. I got all types of songs on there. It’s got songs about my kids, you know, I’m singing on there. I got different vibes on there, you know what I’m saying? It ain’t just rap; it’s different genres. I got house music on there. I got songs about mental health and loving yourself — stuff like that. So, it’s just a different me.
What’s your favorite song on the album?
My favorite song? I don’t have one. It’s hard to have a favorite song when all of it is fire. It’s hard.
You have an incredible lineup of features on this album.
Oh yeah, they are. The artists are incredible.
How did you go about choosing the artists?
Once I make the song, I can hear certain people, you know what I’m saying? And I reach out and try to get it done. With “Comfy,” I wanted to remake that from Lil Wayne and Babyface, and so I reached out to Tink, and I wanted her on that.
And we did it. So that’s how that one happened. But most of all my other features — oh, yeah, and “NWA” with Yung Bleu — you know, me and Tracy, we decided we wanted him on a hook. And then we went out there, and we got the hook, and then we did our verses and magic.
You mentioned you have your kids on this album, so I’m assuming this album is deeply personal to you. How did motherhood play a role in your album?My kids, they just motivated me to make music that I don’t mind them hearing.
Because I make music that I like to hear when I go out and stuff like that. Music I like to hear when I’m riding or when I’m on vacation, you know? Like, it’s a different type of music you want to hear when my kids are in the house, and I don’t have to put a sensor on everything, you know what I’m saying?
So, they motivated me to make a different type of music, even though I’m still her.
Have you played the album for your kids yet?
Nah. Well, Kashton knows his song.
Has it been difficult juggling motherhood and being a music artist?
It’s difficult leaving them. You know what I mean? It’s difficult. It’s hard leaving my kids.
So, do you ever find yourself rushing back home after a day of traveling?
Hell yeah. Hell yeah. I miss them, they’re my babies, man.
You’ve been getting into your acting bag. You’ve been on BMF and Diarra From Detroit. How has acting been for you?
Acting is fun. Acting is just like a little more stable when you’re acting. You know what I mean? Like, you don’t have to travel as much and lose stuff all the damn time when you’re traveling. And, you know, be away from my kids, I can kind of just be in one, at least in one state for like a month or two or three or four, you know? So, I kind of enjoy it. It’s longer hours, though, for sure.
Do you ever see yourself creating a soundtrack for a show or for a movie?
Hell yeah. But mine, I’m gonna do movies. I’m about to do that because I’m about to do my baby shit. I’m gonna do music, and I don’t want to move around and do so many shows and stuff like that, you know? I want to be able to sit down, be with my kids. And I’m not missing Kashton’s games when he starts. So everybody got until he starts school. I’m gonna have my fun, go on tour, and do all that, but when my baby starts school, it’s over.
You’re going on tour soon! What can fans expect from your set?
An experience. It’s my first tour. You know, now I get to do my own stage, setting the light. You know, I get to play all my different music. This is my first time. I’m really excited. Ten years, and this is my first tour. And I’m really mad. I shouldn’t have waited this long, but it’s going to be an experience. You’re going to see a doll at work.
Why did you wait 10 years to tour?
I didn’t. I went on tour before in 2019, but I never did my own tour, and I had finally got another tour in 2020, but then COVID happened. Yeah, canceled the whole tour, and then boom, now we’re here. So it’s cool though. I’m gonna build my touring business. I’m gonna build it. It’s cool. I like to start. It’s a grind. It’s a grind for me.
What’s your favorite place to perform?
Damn. That’s hard. ‘Cause the Bay is a time. Milwaukee is a time. Houston is a time.
You’re also known for your fashion, how has fashion influenced your music?
I don’t know. I don’t know how it will influence it, but I just be being myself. I just be myself. I don’t know how my fashion — I don’t know. Am I fashionable? I just put on clothes.
So, you don’t think you’re a fashionable individual?
People say that but I just say where. I go to the mall every other day. This is like my little alone time and I go to the mall looking bummy. I go in the mall with a hoodie on and a scarf. And I be looking crazy. And I be buying up stuff. And then I have it in my closet for when I’m ready to throw on stuff. You know? But I do like fashion. I love all this stuff. I’m just, I don’t know if I’m good at it. But no, it don’t, it don’t influence my music.I’m just me. I don’t know what the hell influence me, people trying to talk s—t. I’ll be like, okay, I got something for you. My kids.
What advice do you have for the upcoming female rappers out there?
First of all, I say, be yourself. You know, everyone else is taken. Be yourself. Um, have morals and dignity in the game. You know what I’m saying? Don’t just do anything. Don’t be so thirsty that you’ll drink poison. Because some people be wanting it so bad, you know, that they’ll sign papers. And it’s me. I’m people.
You’ll sign papers, you know what I’m saying? Without having a lawyer, not knowing what’s going on and all these things. Just know, if it’s for you, it’s going to happen regardless. Do not just be desperate for this s—t. And be yourself. That’s what I’ll say, because I wish you might have said that to me earlier, but I don’t know if I would have listened, because experience teaches you things way different from someone telling you, you know what I mean?
Yeah. That’s interesting. I interviewed Ja Rule like two weeks ago. He said the exact same thing: “Be yourself.” Do you feel like some people in the industry now are lacking authenticity?
Yeah. Because they want to do what they think is popping right now, or, you know, what they see that everybody is gravitating to.
But at the same time, it’s like, be yourself, your time will come. Just be yourself. And that’s me. That’s why I stay in my lane, and I just do me, because my time’s going to come. If God wants me to have a time, you know what I’m saying? I’m living in my—maybe this is it. But, however, I’m being myself, and it feels good.
I’m having a good time instead of just doing whatever I think needs to be done to be her, you know, put the work in, of course, but be yourself.
K-pop boy band NCT 127 announced the North American dates for their fourth world tour on Friday (Nov. 15), NCT 127 4TH TOUR ‘NEO CITY – THE MOMENTUM.’ The six-show run of dates will kick off on Feb. 28 with a show in Duluth, GA at the Gas South Arena, before moving on to the […]
Nothing More claims two straight No. 1s on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart for the first time, ruling the Nov. 23-dated ranking with “Angel Song” featuring David Draiman.
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The song follows the band’s two-week reign with prior single “If It Doesn’t Hurt” in June and July.
Nothing More now boasts three total Mainstream Rock Airplay No. 1s, having also led with “Go to War” in 2017.
As for Draiman, frontman of Disturbed, “Angel Song” is his second solo No. 1 on the chart, following “Dead Inside” with Nita Strauss in 2022. Disturbed has scored 12 rulers, while he made another trip to the top as the singer of the short-lived band Device (with “Vilify” in 2013).
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Concurrently, “Angel Song” bullets at its No. 11 high on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 2.9 million audience impressions (up 14%), Nov. 8-14, according to Luminate. That’s the band’s second-best rank on the tally, following the No. 7 peak of “If It Doesn’t Hurt.”
On the most recently published multimetric Hot Hard Rock Songs chart (dated Nov. 16, reflecting data Nov. 1-7), “Angel Song” placed at a new No. 10 best, becoming Nothing More’s second top 10 dating to the ranking’s 2020 inception. (“If It Doesn’t Hurt” reached No. 8 in February.) In addition to its radio airplay, “Angel Song” earned 365,000 official U.S. streams, according to Luminate.
The track is the second single from Carnal, Nothing More’s seventh studio album. The set bowed at No. 9 on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart in July and has earned 48,000 equivalent album units to date.
All Billboard charts dated Nov. 23 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, Nov. 19.
Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” bounds four spots to No. 1 on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart (dated Nov. 23).
The ballad, on Streamline/Atlantic/Interscope/ICLG, reigns with Greatest Gainer honors, up 10% in plays at the format Nov. 8-14, according to Luminate. The song drew an average of 77 plays per reporter playing it in that span (translating to a play roughly every two hours).
The Pop Airplay chart ranks songs by weekly plays on over 150 mainstream top 40 radio stations monitored by Mediabase, with data provided to Billboard by Luminate.
Notably, Gaga rules Pop Airplay for the first time since the chart dated April 9, 2011, with “Born This Way.” She rewrites the mark for returning to No. 1 after the longest break: 13 years, seven months and two weeks. (In between, she logged six top 10s.) Mariah Carey previously held the distinction, with a wait of nine years, four months and three weeks between “One Sweet Day” with Boyz II Men in 1995-96, and “We Belong Together” in 2005. (Last year, Miley Cyrus ended a nine-year, two-month and two-week break between the reigns of “Wrecking Ball” in 2013 and “Flowers.”)
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Mars last led Pop Airplay with “Finesse,” with Cardi B, in 2018.
Gaga now boasts eight career Pop Airplay No. 1s and Mars, 10 – tying him with Justin Bieber for the most among solo males. Here’s a look at the acts with the most leaders since the chart began in October 1992:
13, Taylor Swift11, Maroon 511, Katy Perry11, Rihanna10, Justin Bieber10, Ariana Grande10, Bruno Mars9, P!nk8, Doja Cat8, Lady Gaga8, Justin Timberlake7, Beyoncé
Plus, Gaga becomes only the third act to have topped Pop Airplay in the 2000s, ‘10s and ‘20s, joining Maroon 5 and Taylor Swift. Gaga scored a career-launching-record six No. 1s on her first six tries in 2009-10, beginning with “Just Dance” featuring Colby O’Donis.
As previously reported, “Die With a Smile” crowned the Billboard Global 200 chart for eight weeks in September-October, the most for any song this year. It drew 119.6 million streams worldwide Nov. 1-7 and has tallied over 100 million streams globally in each of the last 10 weeks (through the Nov. 16-dated chart), the longest such streak since the survey began in September 2020.
Meanwhile, Gaga’s new solo single “Disease” holds at its No. 18 high on the Nov. 23-dated Pop Airplay chart (up 12% in plays).
All charts dated Nov. 23 will update Tuesday, Nov. 19, on Billboard.com.
When the Eras Tour first started nearly two years ago, Taylor Swift‘s The Tortured Poets Department didn’t even exist. Now, the trek has just a handful of shows left, and the bestselling album is up for multiple Grammys.
At her Canada-leg kickoff concert in Toronto Thursday (Nov. 14) — the singer’s first performance since Grammy nods were announced the week prior — Swift took a moment during the night’s surprise song section to reflect on her 11th studio album’s success. “You guys did something over the course of the last few months,” she began, moments before diving into an acoustic-guitar mashup of “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys” and Reputation‘s “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.”
“What you did with embracing Tortured Poets Department the album, it’s truly blown my mind,” she continued, as captured in fan videos. “Because it’s truly emotional to me. This album — I wrote it during the Eras Tour. I wrote that album, made that album, all trying to keep it a secret from you guys, and then announced the album. And we basically were working really hard to secretly put together a new chapter of the Eras Tour of The Tortured Poets Department, and we wanted to surprise you guys with it.”
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Swift then thanked her fans for being “so wonderful about digging into this album and understanding where I was coming from with it.” “Everything that happens is a direct reflection of the passion you show, and you guys got this album nominated for six Grammys,” she added. “So thank you.”
The “Anti-Hero” singer’s first of six shows in Toronto came six days after the Recording Academy unveiled its 2025 honorees, revealing that The Tortured Poets Department — which spent 15 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — is in the running for album of the year. It makes Swift the woman with the most AOTY nominations ever, and follows her record-breaking fourth win in the category last year with Midnights, which made her the artist with the most AOTY wins in Grammy history.
This year, Swift is also up for record and song of the year for “Fortnight,” her Billboard Hot 100-topping duet with Post Malone, which also snagged her a Grammy nod for best music video. Plus, Tortured Poets is being considered for best pop vocal album, while the superstar’s Gracie Abrams collaboration, “Us,” is recognized in the best pop duo/group performance category.
Swift now has just a total of eight Eras Tour shows left before the culture-shifting trek concludes Dec. 8 in Vancouver, B.C. When it first started in March 2023, the three-hour-plus program was a very different show. Instead of the now-nightly Tortured Poets section that’s been in play since the album dropped in April, the performer used to sing extended selections from her first 10 albums. To make room for new tracks such as “Fortnight,” “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” and “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?,” Swift cut several of her older songs and combined her Folklore and Evermore sections into one.
It’s best to let Darren Criss describe the simply complex story of Maybe Happy Ending, the new musical he co-stars in with Broadway newcomer Helen J. Shen. “There’s what the story is and then there’s what the show is about,” the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning singer/actor/songwriter tells Billboard in an interview you can watch above.
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“Those aren’t necessarily the same things,” he notes about the musical love story from Will Aronson and Hue Park, in which the former Glee star and Shen appear as obsolete Helperbot robots who meet cute and fall in love. “Thematically, it’s about two elderly people in hospice who decide to break out of the situation to go connect with their family,” says Criss about what sounds like a potentially dark theme.
And while that “grim, depressing construct for a show” doesn’t sound like the stuff of uplifting Broadway magic, Criss promises that the musical’s creators have somehow morphed that idea about the chilly march of time and hard lessons about love and life into a “really charming, kind little world” filled with Helper robots who are living embodiments of our iPhones and other digital assistants.
Because many of us imbue our inanimate digital devices with human-like qualities, sometimes holding on to them well past their best-by use date, Criss says the musical asks what happens when those objects become more like us?
Shen makes her Broadway debut in the play alongside theater/TV/movie veteran Criss, 37, after turning heads last year in the ensemble of the Off Broadway musical Teeth. She says one of the most exciting parts of performing in the show is the chance to take the lead in a completely new piece of theater not based on any existing intellectual property or a reboot/revival, but something that theatergoers have never seen before.
“It’s super overwhelming. The idea of it has been something that I’ve dreamed about my whole life,” says Shen, 24 of originating a character on Broadway. “And to have it come to fruition with this particular story, with this particular group of people I just feel… abundance. I feel so lucky and grateful.”
Both say they feel really blessed to be part of the show, with Criss noting that he has typically starred in “iconic” roles in his previous Broadway runs, including as Harry Potter in A Very Potter Musical, J. Pierrpont Finch in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors and Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, among others. “These are things people know and love,” he says of those classics.
“[Which] were great, with or without me. I now go in there trying to do my own thing and make it my own and there’s the excitement of the challenge, but also the pressure of living up to a certain thing and wanting to do your own thing,” he adds about trying to find something of yourself in a well-known role people may have seen many other times with other performers. “Whereas this, it’s an open canvas, not only for us, but for the audience. They don’t have any preconceived notions. That’s the best thing about this.”
Because it is a new experience, audiences don’t know what to expect, which both actors say makes attendees really listen and sit up in their seats to take in all the nuance of the show that also heralds the Broadway debuts for creators Aronson and Park; it began its life on stage in Seoul, South Korea in 2016 and was later produced in Japan and China as well.
Maybe Happy Ending, directed by Michael Arden (Parade), is open now at the Belasco Theatre on Broadway.
Gracie Abrams has landed a second week at No. 1 on the U.K. Singles Chart with “That’s So True,” the breakout song from the deluxe edition of her sophomore album, The Secret of Us. Last week “That’s So True” gave Abrams her maiden chart-topper in the U.K., and follows The Secret of Us debuting at […]
Musical theater stars Michael Ball and Alfie Boe have landed their fourth No.1 album as a duo on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart.
The British pair – who have both performed extensively in West End show Les Misérables among others over the years – released their fourth studio album Together At Home via Tag8 Music. It follows their previous releases Together (2016), Together Again (2017) and festive collection Together at Christmas (2020), all of which landed at the summit of the chart. Ball also has two No. 1 records to his name as a soloist.
Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet finishes at No. 2 following the news that the LP was nominated in three categories at the 2025 Grammys: album of the year, best pop vocal album and best engineered album (non-classical). Carpenter nabbed seven nods in total, including best new artist.
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The Cure’s Songs of a Lost World holds steady at No. 3, having previously been at the top spot last week, which gave them their first chart-topping album in 32 years. The band also saw success on multiple Billboard charts over the last week, including topping the Total Album Sales chart and landing at No. 4 on the Billboard 200.
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There’s also an entry in the top 10 for Lancaster rockers Massive Wagons, as their seventh studio LP, Earth to Grace, finishes at No. 4. It’s their first to land in the top five and their third to place inside the top 10.
As new documentary film Elton John: Never Too Late lands on Disney+, the Rocket Man’s enduring Diamonds greatest hits collection returns to the top 10 this week, rising four spots to No. 8.
Elsewhere, rising U.K. rappers Fimiguerrero, Len and Lancey Foux score their first collaborative top 40 album with Conglomerate at No. 23.
Scottish icons Primal Scream, led by vocalist Bobby Gillespie, return to the top 40 with their 12th studio album, Come Ahead. It’s their first new material in eight years, and their 13th top 40 record across a 37 year career.
Country Music Hall of Famers Brooks & Dunn just released their new collaborative Reboot II album (which follows their 2019 Reboot album), again teaming with many of today’s chart-toppers to record new versions of the duo’s enduring classic ’90s country hits. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In […]
