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For the back-to-back Billboard Hot 100 charts this year dated Oct. 25 and Nov. 1, no rap songs appeared in the top 40 — marking the first times since the Feb. 3, 1990 chart that the genre was totally absent from that region. That two-week drought comes to an end this week, thanks to Megan Thee Stallion.
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Megan’s new love song “Lover Girl” debuts at No. 38 on the Nov. 8 Hot 100, marking the first rap song (defined by Billboard as a song deemed eligible for ranking on our Hot Rap Songs listing) to reach the chart’s top 40 since Kendrick and SZA’s “Luther” spent its 44th (and to date, final) week on the listing dated Oct. 18. Following that chart, the song fell into recurrent status in the chart, as a result of recently introduced rules updating and speeding up the Hot 100’s recurrent policy.
“Lover Girl” bows with 8.5 million official U.S. streams, 1.5 million in radio airplay audience and 5,000 sold in the week ending Oct. 30, according to Luminate.
Billboard’s reporting last week about the top 40 being rap song-less for the first time in over 35 years set off major waves of discussion within the hip-hop and pop communities about rap’s current place in the popular music ecosystem. Such public figures as rapper-podcaster Joe Budden and producer The Alchemist weighed in with their feelings about the circumstances and meaning behind the temporary absence.
“Lover Girl” marks Megan Thee Stallion’s 21st song to reach the Hot 100’s top 40. Most recently, she visited the region on the chart dated Sept. 21, 2024 with two tracks: her RM team up “Neva Play,” which debuted at No. 36, and “Wanna Be,” with GloRilla, at No. 40 after reaching No. 11. Three of Megan’s songs have topped the chart: the Beyoncé-featuring “Savage” and the Cardi B-led “WAP” in 2020, and her unaccompanied “Hiss” in 2024.
While “Lover Girl” ends the top 40’s rap songs relative dry spell for the week, it might not yet be the start of another years-long streak for rap in the region. As is typical of much-anticipated songs following their second week of release, “Lover Girl” is likely to fall on the next Hot 100 — and there are no rap songs currently behind it on the chart that are zooming in to take its place.
Indeed, the next two highest-charting rap songs on the Hot 100 both fall from their previous week’s position: YoungBoy Never Broke Again’s “Shot Callin” (43-48) and BigXthaPlug’s Ella Langley-featuring “Hell at Night” (50-52). However, below that, Gunna’s Burna Boy-featuring “wgft” does have some forward momentum, rising 59-55, as does Cardi B’s “Safe,” featuring Kehlani, up 57-56 and gaining in airplay after debuting at its No. 26 peak last month.
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Diplo got the short end of the stick in his “love triangle” with Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau — something he joked about in a hilarious recent Instagram post.
On Monday (Nov. 3), the DJ shared a selfie he once snapped at a crowded event with the former Canadian prime minister on Instagram. In the picture, Diplo makes a silly face while Trudeau stares straight into the camera.
“the one that got away,” the musician wrote in his caption, playfully referencing Perry’s 2011 hit of the same name.
The humorous post comes a few weeks after Diplo addressed his past fling with the pop star — who is now linked to Trudeau — on Nayeema Raza’s Smart Girls Dumb Questions podcast. At the time, the host had started to say that she knew “so many people” who’d dated the politician, but before she could finish, Diplo had interjected, “… who’ve dated Katy Perry? Like me?”
Indeed, the producer and Perry were briefly romantically involved circa 2014. Three years later, the singer would rank Diplo last on her list of best and worst ex-partners in the bedroom, after which he would write on X that he’d “won the bronze in sex Olympics.”
“Now, Katy Perry’s dating Justin Trudeau,” Diplo continued on Raza’s show. “Pretty fire.”
He went on to joke that he’d “dated Trudeau, too,” but ultimately determined, “That was a weird one, though. I’m just not into politicians. He is kinda hot.”
Diplo’s remarks come shortly after Perry and Trudeau made their debut with their first public outing as a couple, stepping out together in Paris. Before that, the Ottawa native had attended one of the musician’s concerts in Montreal before packing on the PDA with Perry on a boat.
See Diplo’s selfie with Trudeau below, and check out his appearance on Smart Girls Dumb Questions above.
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Usher took the stage at the 2025 Billboard Live Music Summit Monday afternoon (Nov. 3) to reflect on all of the stages he’s taken over during his 28-year touring career.
The R&B superstar and Gail Mitchell, Billboard executive director of R&B and hip-hop, walked out to his 2001 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “U Got It Bad” at the 1 Hotel in West Hollywood, Calif., which Mitchell reminded he previously said in his 2024 Billboard cover story that it was his favorite song to perform live. “I think because of the connection between me and the audience,” he said at the time. Today, he added: “I want to impress them. I would like to be as theatrical and use my imagination as much as I possibly can to lift the song higher than what it was when I delivered it as a piece of intellectual property.”
Following his two Las Vegas residencies from 2021 to 2023 and his Super Bowl LVIII halftime show performance (also in Vegas) last year, Usher embarked on his most recent Past Present and Future Tour. The 83-date international jaunt became his highest-grossing and best-selling tour yet, according to Billboard Boxscore, by grossing $183.9 million and selling 1.1 million tickets over 80 shows. He has a reported career gross if $422.6 million from 3.3 million tickets over 334 shows.
But before becoming a marquee act, Usher served as an opener for Diddy‘s 1997 No Way Out Tour, Mary J. Blige‘s 1997-98 Share My World Tour and Janet Jackson‘s 1998-99 The Velvet Rope Tour. “I had another notch on my belt in terms of what I was capable of being able to handle, so that when I went to try to headline my own tours, we knew that we had the ability to hold a crowd,” he explained.
He told industry audience members a story about his time opening for Diddy: As his 1997 hit “You Make Me Wanna…” was steadily climbing the Hot 100 (where it eventually peaked at No. 2), the crowd coming to see Usher gradually grew from 10 people to a packed house. Diddy told Usher he wanted him to come out during his headlining set, but Usher recalled saying, “Nah, I’m cool. I’m gonna stay right where I’m at because I wanna earn my keep. I’m here for a reason. I want to someday be where you are.”
By the time Usher embarked on his debut headlining tour, the 8701 Evolution Tour in 2002, he remembered “the importance of paying tribute” during those shows. “I’m an artist who was inspired by the legends. If I study the legends, then hopefully one day, I will be one,” he said, adding that he performed covers of Bobby Brown, Babyface and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis because he didn’t have enough of his own hit records at the time and wanted to still captivate his audiences.
The Coming Home artist also teased “something coming. I’m in the midst of working on something that may shine a light on a very specific period of my life and around performance. Just stay tuned. There is true value in live,” he said. He later argued that there’s also true value in R&B. “I want people to continue to celebrate the music and legacy that is the foundation that I am. It comes from soul music, it comes from the South. It comes from a very wide collective of being exposed to many different artists from many different genres, but most importantly, R&B.
“In the same way that I think all other industries have managed to monetize what they are — whether it’s hip-hop, rock & roll, country — I want the same thing for R&B,” he continued. “That is the thing that I haven’t done yet. I want us to celebrate the legacy of what it is that we created, not just look at these nostalgic things that have come and gone, but be able to savor them and savor their legacy.”
Mitchell later presented Usher the Legend of Live Award following the panel. He isn’t the only superstar panelist during the Live Music Summit. Billboard cover star Rauw Alejandro and Hans Schafer, senior vp of global touring at Live Nation, will sit down with Billboard Español/Latin chief content officer Leila Cobo later this afternoon to discuss the reggaeton artist’s emergence as one of the live sector’s most sought-after stars.
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HUNTR/X remains triumphant as “Golden,” from Netflix’s record-breaking animated movie KPop Demon Hunters, leads the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts for a 14th week each. In July, the song became the first No. 1 on each survey for the act, whose music is voiced by EJAE, Audrey Nuna and REI AMI.
Plus, LE SSERAFIM and j-hope, of BTS, serve up a top 10 debut on both charts with “Spaghetti.”
The Billboard Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by Luminate. The Global 200 is inclusive of worldwide data and the Global Excl. U.S. chart comprises data from territories excluding the United States.
Chart ranks are based on a weighted formula incorporating official-only streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of audio and video music services, as well as download sales, the latter of which reflect purchases from full-service digital music retailers from around the world, with sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites excluded from the charts’ calculations.
“Golden” leads the Global 200 with 120.8 million streams (down 2% week-over-week) and 13,000 sold (down 8%) worldwide in the week ending Oct. 30.
The entire Global 200’s top five holds in place: Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia” at No. 2, after two weeks at No. 1 in October; her “Opalite” at No. 3, after hitting No. 2; Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” at No. 4, following 10 weeks on top beginning in May; and Olivia Dean’s “Man I Need” at No. 5, after reaching No. 4.
LE SSERAFIM and j-hope’s “Spaghetti” makes a piping hot start at No. 6 on the Global 200 with 48.4 million streams and 14,000 sold worldwide following its Oct. 24 release. LE SSERAFIM earns its first top 10 on the chart, while j-hope adds his second as a soloist; here’s an updated count of BTS members’ top 10 totals on the chart as soloists: Jung Kook (five); Jimin, JIN (three each); j-hope, V (two each); and Suga (one). BTS boasts 11 top 10s as a group.
“Golden” commands Global Excl. U.S. with 93.3 million streams (down 2%) and 7,000 sold (down 10%) beyond the U.S.
“The Fate of Ophelia” holds at No. 2 on Global Excl. U.S. after two weeks at the summit in October.
“Spaghetti” debuts at No. 3 on Global Excl. U.S. with 42.7 million streams and 9,000 sold. LE SSERAFIM previously hit the top 10 with “Easy” (No. 6 peak) and “Perfect Night” (No. 8), both in 2024. “Spaghetti” is also j-hope’s third top 10 on the chart solo; here’s an updated rundown of BTS members’ top 10 totals on the survey as soloists: Jung Kook (seven); Jimin (five); JIN, V (four each); j-hope (three); and Suga (one). BTS has notched 11 top 10s as a group.
“Ordinary” ascends 5-4 on Global Excl. U.S., after eight weeks at No. 1 starting in May, and “Opalite” drops to No. 5 from its No. 3 high.
The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated Nov. 8, 2025) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, Nov. 4. For both charts, the top 100 titles are available to all readers on Billboard.com, while the complete 200-title rankings are visible on Billboard Pro, Billboard’s subscription-based service. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
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This week, Kaitlin Butts celebrates inking a label deal with Republic by issuing a tender revamping of a Jimmy Eat World hit. Meanwhile, Riley Green teams with Jamey Johnson for a robust new collab, and ERNEST, Sammy Arriaga and newcomer Joshua Slone also offer new tracks.
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Check out all of these and more in Billboard‘s roundup of some of the best country, bluegrass and/or Americana songs of the week below.
Kaitlin Butts, “The Middle”
Butts, who recently inked a deal with Republic Records, offers up a revamped version of Jimmy Eat World’s 2001 hit, transforming it into a soothing, hopeful, acoustic-driven track driven by guitars, fiddle and understated percussion. Butts’ version comes across as tender, wise and thoughtful, particularly on lines such as “Just do your best, do everything you can/ And don’t you worry what their bitter hearts are gonna say.” That’s a timeless message people of all ages can cling to.
Jamey Johnson and Riley Green, “Smoke”
Jamey Johnson welcomes Riley Green for this barn burner, intertwining Johnson’s weathered, gravelly vocal with Green’s burnished twang as they explore the motif of “smoke” with varying meanings throughout the heartbreak-driven track. At various points throughout “Smoke,” the titular phrase references the plumes billowing from an ex’s tires as she speeds away, or the wisps of smoke curling from the end of the lit cigarette he’s using to obscure his pain. Green and Johnson wrote the song with Erik Dylan and recorded the track at the Cash Cabin and Big Gassed Studios, with production from Kyle Lehning and Jim “Moose” Brown, which captures complementary ties between Johnson and Green’s distinct styles.
ERNEST, “Blessed”
In his latest, ERNEST weaves a tale of love and legacy, as this song looks at a piece of land being handed down generation after generation. “Granddaddy bought this slice back in 1962/ It came with a barn, a dog in the yard and a Chevrolet painted blue,” he sings, before sketching his own dreams of passing the land down to his son. Reserved guitars, bass and drums put ERNEST’s vocal at the fore, as he brims with pride about passing down wisdom he hopes his son will continue learning from. “Blessed” precedes ERNEST’s upcoming project Live From The South, out Nov. 21.
Sammy Arriaga, “Before the Next Teardrop Falls”
First-generation Cuban American Sammy Arriaga bridges cultures and languages, combining English and Spanish-language tracks on his bilingual country Latin album Heart in Texas, which released Oct. 31. The album also includes Arriaga’s heartfelt, Spanglish rendition of Latin country trailblazer Freddy Fender’s classic “Before The Next Teardrop Falls” (Fender’s original topped both the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and Hot 100 in 1975). Arriaga’s version simultaneously pays graceful homage to Fender’s original, while, like the rest of the songs on the album, Arriaga stamps every lyric and message with his unique artistry and warm, welcoming vocal tone.
Joshua Slone, “Your Place at My Place”
Slone makes a striking entrance with his 16-song, debut album Thinking Too Much, which features Slone as the sole writer on each track. The angst-fueled “Your Place at My Place” finds him musing about unfruitful attempts to move past a faded relationship. “No one’s ever taken your place at my place,” the Kentucky native concisely laments. His full project showcases his vivid, vulnerable songwriting, cementing Slone as one of country music’s most compelling new voices.
Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia” notches a fourth week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, encompassing its entire run on the chart so far. Helping the song’s continued Hot 100 command, Swift released its “Alone in My Tower Acoustic Version” for digital purchase Oct. 28, just after 4:30 p.m. ET, ahead of […]
