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Rich the Kid talked “Carnival” going to No. 1 on the Hot 100, his ideal NBA starting five, wanting to live in a Missy Elliott music video, what’s coming up for him next year and more at Rolling Loud Miami.
Rich the Kid What’s up Billboard, it’s Rich the Kid and I’m at Rolling Loud.
Interviewer You’re building a starting five with athletes or rappers. NBA, who are the five people you’re picking on your team fantasy league?
Rich the Kid In the NBA?
Interviewer Yup. Starting five.
Rich the Kid Kobe, LeBron, Shaq, Jordan, myself — I’m on the team.
Interviewer I like that. OK, if you could live in any hip-hop music music video from the past, which one would you pick?
Rich the Kid One of Missy Elliott videos.
Interviewer Why?
Rich the Kid Because that sh– was crazy. That sh– was fire.
Interviewer OK, what is the craziest thing a fan has done to get your attention?
Rich the Kid Damn, sh–, wait at the airport when I got there.
Interviewer Just waiting?
Rich the Kid Yeah.
Interviewer Just standing there. Like, like, that’s crazy. How do they know when your plane got there?
Rich the Kid I don’t know.
Interviewer That’s wild.
Rich the Kid I don’t know either.
Interviewer OK, what do you think is the most exciting trend in hip-hop right now?
Rich the Kid Exciting trend, damn. That’s a hard one. Exciting trend in hip-hop. I don’t know. I don’t really follow the trends, I guess.
Interviewer You make your own trends.
Rich the Kid Yeah.
Interviewer OK, so you had a crazy year, obviously, beginning with “Carnival,” No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. What’s coming up in 2025?
Rich the Kid Yeah, new albums, more No. 1s, you know, stuff like that.
Interviewer What can we expect on your album?
Rich the Kid Fire, different production, different flows, different everything, new sh–.
Interviewer Amazing. Thank you so much. Have a good night.
This past Oct. 18-19 in Miami, III Points celebrated its 11th anniversary with a lineup that included Jamie xx, Justice, Rezz, Kaytranada, Sara Landry, DJ Koze and many other greats of the electronic genre.
“Each of the departments really locked in, and I feel like we did a really good job as a team,” III Points co-founder David Sinopoli tells Billboard of producing this year’s fest. “It was reflected right back at us with all the bands and the DJ’s in the community coming out and supporting… Everyone was locked in this year, mimicking that focus and energy to their craft.”
One of the many artists showing off their craft at III Points was Canadian producer Jacques Greene, who played a Saturday night set that got right to business, staring with Fonzo’s swaggery 2024 track “Ring Ring” then traversing 90 minutes of techno and experimental electronic music. Hear Greene’s complete set below.
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Sinopoli calls this year of III Points a “special one, because we had all the right people in their respective paths, working with absolute focus and doing an incredible job in their spots – they put on a masterclass with their work. From our sound, tech, lighting, to site operations, site flow, to the music side with [festival staff] Shailee Ben-David, Santi Vidal and Davide Danese’s office helping me put together the lineup. Everyone was really synced up, we have learned over the last few years in this footprint, how to make things flow so that the experience felt a little bit more controlled and comfortable.”
Founded in 2013, the festival puts a strong focus on Miami artists, typically booking more than 50% local acts and bringing in local food vendors and visual artists. This year, as in years past, the two-day fest happened at Miami’s Mana Wynwood event space.
Sinopoli adds that over the festival’s run at the venue, he and the team have “really mastered the site and understood how to lay it out better. Our marketing team helped us fill the space by driving ticket sales and making sure we sold the experience during our sales cycle to the new fan. Laura Kirkpatrick, Leo Piscioneri, Caterina Haddad and the whole team that worked on the marketing killed it. Alexis Sosa-Toro who basically kept it all together for me on every front throughout the year, helped keep all the chaos together with calm and clarity in her leadership.”
III Points partnered with electronic events company Insomniac Events in 2019, with Sinopoli also calling out Insomniac, along with the “OG production team at III Points” for “how well they helped us make this year’s experience so special.”
On Wednesday (Dec. 18), SZA unveiled the album artwork for Lana, the long-awaited deluxe edition of her blockbuster album SOS. On the cover, the superstar metamorphosed into a shimmering bug-eyed creature with a golden camouflage jacket and cargo pants in her natural outdoor habitat. SZA officially announced Monday that Lana would arrive Friday via Top […]
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Christmas and New Year’s aren’t the only reasons to celebrate this season; the NCAA College Football Playoff and NCAA Bowl Games are just around the corner too. And one of the best (and most affordable) ways to watch college football games is with a subscription to Sling TV — especially since YouTube TV just recently announced a price hike for their streaming service.
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The NCAA Bowl Games start on Wednesday, Dec. 18, with the Boca Raton Bowl: James Madison vs. Western Kentucky. The bowl game takes place at FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, Florida, with kickoff at 5:30 p.m./2:30 p.m. PT. You can watch the game on ESPN via Sling TV. Check out a complete schedule for all of the bowl games this season here.
How to Watch NCAA College Football Games on Sling TV
A subscription to Sling TV Orange + Blue — which comes with ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, TNT and Fox for the NCAA Bowl Games and the NCAA College Football Playoff — gets you access to live TV and local and cable channels, starting at $30 for the first month of service ($60 per month afterwards). That’s right: You’ll get 50% off your first month of service for all of Sling TV‘s plans, which are considerably less than YouTube TV’s $82.99 per month starting price.
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You can watch local networks such as NBC, while you can also watch many cable networks, including NFL Network, FS1, Lifetime, FX, AMC, A&E, Bravo, BET, Cartoon Network, Fuse, CNN, Food Network and many others. (CBS and The CW aren’t available on Sling TV.)
Please note: If you subscribe after Friday, Dec. 20, the monthly price goes up starting at $45.99 per month for Sling Orange. Prices and channel availability depends on your local TV market. Learn more about Sling subscription prices here.
If you’re looking for an affordable alternative to YouTube TV, DirecTV Stream, Fubo and Hulu + Live TV, then start with Sling TV.
For more product recommendations, check out our roundups of the best Xbox deals, studio headphones and Nintendo Switch accessories.
Nick Jonas and Elon Musk might be at the start of a new bromance, with the singer/songwriter playfully reacting to the billionaire using an old Jonas Brothers meme on Tuesday.
The interaction started with Musk retweeting a post from the Tesla Owners Silicon Valley account that claimed the automotive company is “up 100% since Donald Trump won” the 2024 presidential election. “My, how the tables have turned!” the X owner wrote in response, adding a GIF from a beloved old video of Nick and Kevin Jonas lifting up a brown coffee table and rotating it 180 degrees.
In the original clip, Joe Jonas then bursts into the room and announces: “Oh, how the tables have turned.”
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After seeing that Musk had used a GIF of him and his brothers, the “Jealous” singer retweeted the post with a photo of the businessman knowingly smiling and wrote, “Take us to the Year 3000.”
The exchange was enough to get some people talking, as Musk is one of the world’s most polarizing figures — in large part due to his partnership with the current president-elect. Shortly after beating out Kamala Harris in November, Trump appointed the tech titan as the co-head of a new U.S. government department of efficiency with Vivek Ramaswamy; now, some fans are interpreting Nick’s post as a subtle endorsement of Musk and, by extension, the twice-impeached ex-POTUS.
“Is this a trump post?!” one person commented, tagging Nick’s wife, actress Priyanka Chopra, and adding, “get your man.”
“tweeting at elon musk is definitely a choice,” another person replied, while a different upset fan wrote, “I DID NOT HAVE A CRUSH ON NICK JONAS FOR THIS TO HAPPEN OH MY GOD.”
Billboard has reached out to Nick’s reps for comment.
The Camp Rock alum is currently gearing up to star in The Last Five Years on Broadway, opening March 18. He also stars in Robert Schwartzman’s The Good Half, which premiered in theaters over the summer and became available for streaming on Hulu in November.
Nick hasn’t dropped a solo album since 2021’s Spaceman, but he and his brothers did release The Album in May 2023, debuting at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. Two and a half months after wrapping their world tour in Poland, the Jonas Brothers are now slated to perform on this year’s Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.
Billie Eilish celebrated her 23rd birthday a day early on Tuesday night (Dec. 17) when her Hit Me Hard and Soft tour made its way to the Kia Forum in Los Angeles. There were plenty of celebratory moments throughout the night, including the superstar’s older brother Finneas bringing out a cupcake onstage to lead the […]
Part of the new wave of Latin artists testing tropical waters, Rauw Alejandro is back on Billboard’s Tropical Airplay chart, as he wraps a four-year hiatus and returns with his second top 10 since 2020.
The classic salsa romantic “Tú Con Él” by the late Frankie Ruiz, covered by Rauw Alejandro, makes its top 10 entrance on the Tropical Airplay chart (dated Dec. 21) as the song flies 14-7 in its second week assisted by a robust 107% gain in audience impressions, to 2.6 million, on the Dec. 6-12 tracking week, according to Luminate.
While the late Ruiz placed 11 entries on Tropical Airplay, including seven top 10s and two No. 1s, the 1985-released “Tú Con Él” did not enter as the chart officially launched almost a decade later, in 1994. The cover by Rauw Alejandro takes the Puerto Rican to his second entrance and top 10 on the ranking, after “Fantasías,” with Farruko, sent both artists to No. 2 in 2020. (The Latin rhythmic tune arrived before Tropical Airplay changed from a station-based to a genre-based tally).
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It’s not the first time a song by Ruiz finds its way to a Billboard chart after his passing. Victor Manuelle incorporated excerpts from his 1989 hit “Deseándote” into “Otra Noche Más,” which added a new top 10 to both salsa singers’ Tropical Airplay careers in March. Further, it gave Ruiz his first entry since 2012 and first top 10 after the No. 7-peaking “Vuelvo a Nacer” in 1998. For Victor Manuelle, meanwhile, the time-traveling collaboration turned into a record-extending 65 top 10s.
Further, Charlie Cruz’s take of Ruiz’s “Tú Con Él” peaked at No. 19 on Tropical Airplay in 2018.
“Tú Con Él” also grants Rauw Alejandro a 32nd entry on the overall Latin Airplay chart, where it opens at No. 45. There, the song joins another Rauw track from his No. 1 album Cosa Nuestra: “Que Pasaría,” with Bad Bunny, surges 43-31 with 4 million audience impressions, up 28% from the week prior. Rauw’s fifth studio album debuted atop Top Latin Albums and Tropical Albums charts (Nov. 30) with the largest streaming week of 2024 for a Latin album.
In sum, “Tú Con Él” has translated into a profitable revival for Rauw Alejandro, with multiple entries across Billboard charts. Let’s look at those recaps:
Peak Position, ChartNo. 69, Billboard Hot 100No. 65, Billboard Global 200No. 98, Global Excl. U.S.No. 6, Hot Latin SongsNo. 45, Latin AirplayNo. 7, Tropical AirplayNo. 5, Latin Streaming SongsNo. 5, Latiin Digital Song Sales
Over on the multi-metric Hot Latin Songs chart, while radio airplay surges, streams for “Tú Con Él” drop by 1%, to 3.4 million, and sales rise by a 6%.
SPOILER ALERT: Spoilers for Rhythm + Flow season 2 are included in the content below.
First came American Idol and shows like The Voice, and then Netflix put its own spin on the format with its first hip-hop competition series Rhythm + Flow in 2019. Following a five-year hiatus, the streaming giant rolled out the red carpet for season 2’s return of Rhythm + Flow in November.
R+F fielded aspiring artists auditioning across the country, from Atlanta to a basement music hall in Michigan that Eminem once roamed, with a check for $250,000 on the line.
Although their fate would be held in the judges’ hands as Netflix tapped the trio of DJ Khaled, Latto and Ludacris to step into the hot seat and find the last one standing, they had some help in discovering the next star with guest judge appearances from Eminem, Big Sean, GloRilla and more throughout season 2.
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“I think it gives people an inside look at what really goes into becoming an artist,” Latto — who won The Rap Game in 2016 — tells Billboard. “I think social media gives this perception that you blow up overnight and some people are lucky enough to do that, but I think a lot of times all three of us can attest that this is blood, sweat and tears. It’s a lot of being put on the spot and come up with the plan.”
While the judges dished out plenty of constructive criticism and praise throughout the season, the process was also reciprocally rewarding for Ludacris, who was inspired creatively by some of the contestants’ hunger.
“It’s so good for me being in the game for so long to get that hunger and energy of when you are trying to prove to the world that you are that motherf—–r,” Luda explains. “I was loving every minute of just from that perspective of putting myself in a room full of people that had so much to prove.”
Back when he had a fear of flying, DJ Khaled grinded for years on the road before becoming the We The Best mogul he is today. He preaches that same mantra to emerging artists to not skip steps and embrace the process laying the foundation for what’s to come.
“When you win overnight, you win so big on top and now you gotta find a way to keep going,” the Miami hitmaker says. “You might be going down now. I want to remind artists: Don’t try to skip the steps. Enjoy it, enjoy every moment of it.”
Khaled continues: “We gotta make sure that we tell the young artists make that music that will play forever. You might not be able to make that record today. But your process will and then you’ll enjoy it more. I always look at that blueprint with Quincy [Jones]. It doesn’t matter how old you are… They always try to put a time cap on hip-hop… You could do this forever.”
John Legend also returns as a producer of the rap competition series. “What I love about this show is you really get to know these artists and they’re creating original music that’s based on their real life,” he relays to Billboard. “I think that’s something that no other competition show can offer.”
Season 2 champion DreTL ended up hoisting the trophy and taking home the six-figure check after edging out California native Jay Taj in the final round, which the judges described as “a close call.”
Every time Ludacris attempted to put a ceiling on DreTL’s ability, he surpassed expectations and eventually couldn’t be denied.
“He just kept surprising me in areas where I thought he would only reach a certain amount of expectations,” Luda says of giving Dre the nod. “If your trajectory is starting a certain way, but you continue to ascend, that lets me know I don’t know how far you can get past someone I’m looking at that’s already considered great. You might go into another stratosphere of greatness. I just saw him ascend the entire show.”
From the camaraderie to the competition and bars, all 10 episodes from the rap competition series are now available for streaming on Netflix. Watch our full interview with the three superstar judges below.
Chlöe Bailey and Burna Boy were seen getting cozy, which quickly turned into fan speculation of their relationship status. Keep watching to learn more! Tetris Kelly: Are Chlöe Bailey and Burna Boy more than just friends? Well, Spotify is fanning the flames on their ‘Love Language’ playlist. Chlöe and Burna have set dating rumors ablaze […]
Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip. This week: Getting in some of the last viral hits of 2024 — from alt-pop dances to country grief — and a final goodbye to one of the biggest music-boosting melodramas of the last decade.
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Lola Young’s ‘Messy’ Cleans Up Thanks to Viral ‘Dance’
Can a dance go viral if it’s barely a dance at all? That’s been the debate raging around Lola Young’s breakthrough single “Messy,” which is zooming up the Billboard Hot 100 thanks in part to a viral clip in which influencer Jake Shane and model/social media star Sofia Richie vibe out to the British singer-songwriter’s vulnerable soul-pop track.
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Posted on Nov. 28, the 14-second TikTok clip finds the pair performing some vaguely defined moves, including finger-guns and a half-shimmy, while facing the camera. The comments on the clip are lightly clowning their dance skills, but Young herself approved (“ly guys,” she wrote), and since it was posted, streams of “Messy” have skyrocketed: the song logged 3.9 million official on-demand streams U.S. during the week ending on Nov. 28, according to Luminate, and that numbers more than doubled to 9.1 million streams two weeks later.
While “Messy” moves up from No. 90 to No. 64 on this week’s Hot 100, Young also comes in a few spots higher on the chart with “Like Him,” her collaboration with Tyler, The Creator on his Chromakopia album. Both tracks have greatly expanded Young’s profile as the year comes to a close, and could set up a big 2025 for the South East London native. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Sam Barber’s “Indigo” Streams Surge Thanks to Mournful TikTok Trend
After breaking through with 2022’s “Straight and Narrow,” Missouri-bred country musician Sam Barber has scored his first Billboard Hot 100 hit with his Avery Anna-assisted “Indigo” (No. 98, chart dated Dec. 21) — and the heart-wrenching duet could fly even higher.
Originally released on Oct. 31, “Indigo” collected over 1.16 million official on-demand U.S. streams during the period of Nov. 29-Dec. 5, according to Luminate. That number jumped nearly 400% to over 5.7 million streams the following week (Dec. 6-12). Over the past week, TikTok users have latched onto the following lyric from the song’s chorus: “I used to shine bright like gold, now I’m all indigo.” Generally about losing your spark, the lyrics have now come to soundtrack grieving parents and partners. On TikTok, the official “Indigo” sound has amassed nearly 95,000 posts.
With strong streaming momentum and an official music video still on the way (as well as a Shaboozey co-sign), “Indigo” could very well grow into one of 2025’s earliest hits once the holiday season passes. – KYLE DENIS
‘Yellowstone’ Finale Offers Closing Bumps for Lainey Wilson Hit and Willie Nelson Classic
It’s a wrap on the second half of Season Five of Yellowstone, with its season finale attracting over 11 million viewers – a record for the show in what is most likely its last-ever episode. No spoilers here for the Paramount Western drama, but as the show has done throughout its five and a half seasons, the finale was heavily stocked with emotional country anthems – including multiple performed within the show by recurring cast members and real-life modern country artists Ryan Bingham (Walker) and Lainey Wilson (Abby).
Wilson took the stage on the Yellowstone finale to perform her 2024 hit “Hang Tight Honey,” which reached No. 61 on the Hot 100 earlier this year, while Bingham performed his Friday-released “A Song for the Stone.” Wilson’s hit saw a major bump following its use in the finale, with the song notching 86,000 official on-demand streams and over 700 digital sales on Monday (Dec. 16), gains of 47% and 2,669% from the prior Monday, according to Lumiante. (As a just-released song, Bingham’s numbers were up a more marginal amount.)
But Yellowstone has never just been for the kids, and the finale also featured prominent usage of Willie Nelson’s 1980 ballad “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys” in its closing. Consequently, the classic was up 162% on Monday from the week before in streams, to just over 35,000. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Ceechynaa Spins Streaming Hit Out of Shock-Rap
From Central Cee to Little Simz, the MCs on the other side of pond have been putting in work throughout the year. In the last few weeks of 2024, Ceechynaa made sure that she wasn’t left out of that conversation.
The 20-year-old South London drill rapper made waves in 2023 with “Last Laugh” — which eventually got an NLE Choppa remix – but her new single has already made an even bigger impact. On Dec. 5, she dropped “Peggy” — a jaw-dropping drill track begins with her “peggin’ that man at the back of the bus” and ends with her proclaiming, “They said I’m a masculine bitch ’cause these little n—as ain’t really a man.” Our favorite American female rappers have been proudly waving the sexual liberation flag for decades now, but few go as far as Ceechynaa does on “Peggy.” During the four-day period of Dec. 6-9, “Peggy” earned over 888,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate. By the period of Dec. 13-16, that figure leapt 95% to over 1.7 million streams. In its first week of release, “Peggy” claimed over 1.92 million streams. On YouTube, the track’s official music video has earned over 1.5 million views in just a week and a half – that’s more hits than the music video for the NLE Choppa “Last Laugh” remix earned in 11 months!
Building on her already-solidified online fandom, the official “Peggy” sound plays in over 97,000 TikTok posts, the bulk of which follow children having their parents blindly react to the song’s outrageous lyrics. Already her very first UK Singles Chart entry (No. 79), “Peggy” could help Ceechynaa make her Billboard U.S. chart debut should its streams continue to rise. – KD
Additional reporting by Hannah Dailey.