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10 Dec 2024

Jimmy Fallon x Jonas Brothers, Pentatonix, Cher x Kelly Clarkson & More Gift Us With Hot New Holiday Hits

‘Tis the season for new holiday hits!

On the latest Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are taking their annual sleigh ride through a half-dozen Christmas songs impacting the Billboard charts this year. For 2024, we’re taking a look at Jimmy Fallon and Jonas Brothers’ “Holiday”; Cher’s “DJ Play a Christmas Song” remix with Kelly Clarkson; Pentatonix’s “Meet Me Next Christmas”; Dan + Shay’s “Pick Out a Christmas Tree”; Michael Bublé and Carly Pearce’s “Maybe This Christmas”; and Jack Antonoff and Bleachers’ “Merry Christmas, Please Don’t Call.”

To hear a discussion about all these winter-fresh songs, tune in to the latest episode.

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Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department is back at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for a 16th week, thanks to the CD and vinyl release of The Anthology edition of the album exclusively at Target. Plus, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” jingles back to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, jumping 10-1, for its 15th nonconsecutive week up top. With the song consistently spending weeks at No. 1 each season, could Mariah end up having the song with the most weeks at No. 1 on the chart again?

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The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard’s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard’s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)

10 Dec 2024

ROSÉ’s Debut Solo Album ‘Rosie’: All 12 Songs Ranked

12/10/2024

From chart hits “APT.” and “Number One Girl,” the BLACKPINK star’s debut LP shares intimate experiences amid pitch-perfect vocal performances.

12/10/2024

Throughout BLACKPINK’s eight years together, both of the girl group’s full-length albums included eight tracks apiece for two tight pop projects with little space for its four members to inject their personalities. Fans rejoiced when BLACKPINK’s powerhouse vocalist ROSÉ revealed that her debut solo album would not only have 12 songs on the tracklist but also that its simple title of Rosie hinted towards them getting the chance to meet a more intimate and personal side of the superstar whose full name is Roseanne Park.

Across the emotional journey of its 12 tracks, Rosie introduces a singer-songwriter whose music allows her to get deeply personal with songs that can simultaneously resonate universally. The LP opens with the poignant “Number One Girl,” a stripped-back piano ballad that sets the contemplative tone. Yet, the path quickly swerves into unexpected territories with tracks like “Call It the End” and “Gameboy,” which pull playful wordplay through a mix of sonic textures and rollercoaster vocals.

Meanwhile, longtime fans will appreciate ROSÉ’s knack for injecting her signature charm into every note, whether it’s through the bittersweet storytelling of “Two Years,” the rhythmic allure of “Drinks or Coffee,” or cheekily shouting out her favorite jewelry brand on “Toxic Till the End.”

A mosaic of the messy, beautiful chaos that defines one’s twenties, Rosie allows one of the world’s biggest stars to express what sits deep in her mind and heart extensively and more openly than her typical K-pop releases would not. If ROSÉ’s debut album did not allow us to get any deeper with her than we had in the past eight years, there would be no need for a full-length record like this to exist. But thankfully, Rosie lets us into ROSÉ’s venting sessions and musical therapy appointments to let fans know where our girl is today.

Below, Billboard ranks all 12 songs from Rosie, in descending order.

“Not the Same”

If there’s one thing undeniable about Rosie, it is the absolute raw delivery across every track. So even as the light-hearted guitar-plucking production on “Not the Same” doesn’t quite fit the intensity with which ROSÉ is belting on the record — “Yeah, we had good days and light on our side/ But you f-cked up and you know that I’m right,” she rips through a raspy, roaring chorus — listeners still feel the authenticity through a record filled with powerfully intimate performances.
“3am”

Withholding anyone whose OCD may be driven mad by Track No. 2 on Rosie being “3am” and the third track being “Two Years,” this acoustic-leaning, toxic-love singalong feels like an appropriate song to follow up the LP’s opening ballad “Number One Girl.” Thirty seconds into the music, 808s and a subtle trap beat join the production to officially send the album into a higher tempo — and deeper topics: “So can we keep the story rollin’?/ Forget that sh-t my mother always told me/ ‘Cause nothing’s really perfect like that/ I need you, really that bad.”
“Drinks or Coffee”

“Drinks or Coffee” highlights the range of complexities explored across Rosie. Taken at face value, many of the lyrics could come off as hypocritical or confused 27-year-old, but instead, speak to the many movements and changes one goes through in one’s twenties. Over the snappiest beat on the record, she coos, “I’m feelin’ so good at a bad party/ We don’t have to talk, I know that you want me/ Gotta keep it nice, we cannot be naughty/ We could get drinks or we could get coffee.” Meeting a potential flame over drinks or for coffee tends to have implicit differences and expectations — but also doesn’t need to — with ROSÉ sounding like she’s having fun playing around with the different combinations of connection.
“Too Bad for Us”

While roses have naturally been a flower attached to Ms. Roseanne Park since fans met her at debut, our girl is using her signature floral to symbolize the end of a relationship. “In the desert of us, all our tears turned to dust/ Now the roses don’t grow here/ I guess that love does what it wants/ And that’s just too bad for us.” The penultimate track of Rosie showcases a more stripped-down production that allows for greater focus on the storytelling and vocals — which feel incredibly intimate in this track with her delivery reminiscent of some records by Halsey or Diana Vickers.

Fun fact: ROSÉ wrote this track with Freddy Wexler, who helmed ROSÉ’s standout solo track “Hard to Love” from BLACKPINK’s No. 1 Billboard 200 album Born Pink. Wexler has worked with powerhouses like Celine Dion, Adam Lambert, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato and Laufey, so this reunion is more than welcome.
“Dance All Night”

Despite the song’s title or being helmed by super-producer Greg Kurstin, “Dance All Night” is surprisingly chilled out. It feels like a point of resolution for ROSÉ, who isn’t shaming or punishing herself for letting heartache have too much power over her but meditating on how to move forward, do better next time, and instead choose to live in the moment: “When the morning comes, just promise me you’ll stay forever young…/ I would dance all night/ Not care about the heartache in my life/ Oh-oh-oh and I would not obsess/ Over all the things I don’t regret/ I’d dance all night.”

Whether or not it was an intentional shoutout in the lyrics, we’ll never be mad at being reminded of BLACKPINK’s banger b-side “Forever Young,” which has become a favorite for the K-pop group’s closing songs or encores during concerts.
“Two Years”

By the third track in “Two Years,” listeners are fully immersed in Rosie and ready to welcome all the new sides the BLACKPINK star shares on the LP. ’80s-inspired synths revved us into a new soundscape as ROSÉ experiments with different vocal effects and echoes throughout this subtle, bittersweet synth-pop song. Fans of Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department album will dig this one.
“Gameboy”

Infusing some refreshing rhythmic production into the mix, “Gameboy” stands out as one of the catchiest cuts on the album (the repetitious “break” hook that closes out each chorus) and some clever lyrics to hint ROSÉ may be a bit of a gamer (“If loving you was a jump, yeah, I probably died a hundred-ten times”).

We could easily imagine this song as a single off Rosie with the perfect groundwork already laid for a feature in a remix with a potential rapper or fellow crooner defending himself as the accused “Gameboy”?
“Number One Girl”

Image Credit: Kenneth Cappello

Amid the immediate and ongoing success of her and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” collaboration, ROSÉ gave the next taste of her solo album, providing a more precise direction for the LP a month later. Dropped on Nov. 22, the stripped-down, stark-yet-grandiose piano ballad, “Number One Girl” — also co-penned with Mars — shared characteristics of the star that fans hadn’t yet experienced. While ROSÉ had previously shared the soft rock ballad “Gone” on her 2021 solo release R, “Number One Girl” offers a more charged-up and emotional vocal performance the listener can’t ignore, not unlike how Olivia Rodrigo’s ballad “Drivers License” made her both a commercial breakout and critical darling.
“Stay a Little Longer”

One of ROSÉ’s most impressive vocal performances ever. Despite lyrics that look polite on paper (“Please, won’t you stay/ Stay a little longer, babe?”), she delivers her pleas with a lovelorn desperation that few vocalists can believably pull off (As she sings, “Don’t leave me in pieces/ Already havin’ enough trouble breathing,” you can hear her exhausted resolve). Plus, the track gets extra points for incorporating classic soulful rock production that allows the focus to stay on ROSÉ’s heartbreaking delivery.

Fans seem to be connecting with “Stay a Little Longer” as well: It’s the most-listened-to Rosie b-side on her YouTube channel by more than 700,000 streams at press time.
“Call It the End”

A central point that ROSÉ seemed keen on emphasizing when introducing Rosie was how she was involved with writing every track. “Call It the End” showcases songwriting excellence with simple but evocative lyrics whose emotional impact grows with ROSÉ’s heartfelt delivery. The brilliant chorus brings together typical relationship questions around the keyword “call”: “Do I call you my ex, or do I call you my boyfriend?/ Call you a lover, do I call you a friend? Call you the one or the one that got away? Someone I’ll just have to forget?/ Do I call you every night you’re gone or never call you again?/ Do we have a future or should I call it the end?” The song’s piano production grows more lush as the song adds in a haunting chorus, and ROSÉ’s belts grow more powerful, making one of the shortest songs on the album but also one of the most impactful.
“APT.” With Bruno Mars

Image Credit: John V. Esparza

In a year of super-strong pop releases, was any song more immediate than “APT.”? In a moment of musical brilliance for ROSÉ, the starlet used a fun Korean drinking game as the basis of a new kind of pop confection that debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and made her K-pop’s first-ever female act to crack the Top 10. As “APT.” continues pulsing through Top 40 airwaves — landing at a new peak of No. 11 on the Pop Airplay chart in its seventh week — it’s a feat in and of itself to hear the Korean word for “apartment” (apateu) used as a certified radio hit song hook broadcasted to millions who are likely are not very familiar with Korean language or culture.

Not just a combining of cultural worlds, “APT.” also blends musical styles. With an interpolation of Toni Basil’s 1982 classic jock-jam “Mickey,” which can appeal to ROSÉ’s K-pop audiences as well as general pop listeners, and Bruno Mars’ signature soul-pop crooning present across the pre-chorus and bridge, “APT.” offers something familiar but also fresh for everybody.

It’s not often that a song that touches across cultures and styles can so successfully crossover like “APT.” but when done right as ROSÉ and Mars did here, its brilliance and impact go far beyond a quick, flash hit.
“Toxic Till the End”

Image Credit: Amy Lee

In the lead-up to Rosie, the singer-songwriter used the word “toxic” frequently through interviews to describe her past relationships, living situations and the COVID pandemic to inspire different parts of the record — at one point, telling i-D magazine that even her relationship with music is toxic “because I’m obsessed with it, and sometimes it doesn’t work but I need it in my life.” While the important cultural and musical impact of “APT.” will be felt beyond its chart run, ROSÉ saving her new single “Toxic Till the End” until Rosie’s release day feels like a true expression of where this artist is today.

A whirlpool of guitars and synths set the single’s emo tone as she bluntly begins: “Call us what we are: toxic from the start,” to establish an emotional frankness that permeates throughout the cut. With a perfect power-pop production where each section swells in its intensity and instrumentation, “Toxic” delivers its knockout chorus that forces the listener to pay attention to its quick-switch lyrics: “Back then, when I was runnin’ out of your place/ I said, ‘I never wanna see your face’/ I meant: I couldn’t wait to see it again/ We were toxic ’til the end.” And it’s not just ROSÉ who’s to blame as the chorus continues: “Uh-huh, ’cause even when I said it was over/ You heard, ‘Baby can you pull me in closer?’/ You were plottin’ how to stay in my head.”

The second verse paints a more human picture of who “the ex” is (“His favorite game is chess, who would ever guess?”) alongside personal lyrics that feel uniquely ROSÉ (“I can forgive you for all of the things/ For not givin’ me back my Tiffany rings,” she snaps as a global ambassador of the jewelry brand). Despite the destructive details, “Toxic Till the End” boasts an undeniable buoyancy that gives it even more major mainstream appeal to let ROSÉ truly begin her new, more personal musical journey that steps away from her place in a group and lets her stand in her spotlight — seeping in whatever positivity, toxicity, sentiment of feeling she feels like sharing in that moment.

10 Dec 2024

Sabrina Carpenter Reveals the ‘Conceited’ Reason She Can’t Share Her 2024 Spotify Wrapped

To close out 2024, Sabrina Carpenter was on countless people’s year-end Spotify Wrapped lists — including her own.

That’s exactly why the 25-year-old pop star didn’t join many of the streaming service’s users in sharing her listening-habit summary on social media this year, she told Vogue Arabia in a new interview published Tuesday (Dec. 10). “When I first saw mine, my initial reaction was, ‘Oh, damn, I can’t post that, because I’m on my own [list],’” she told the publication. “‘It’s a bit conceited.’”

“But then I was like, I guess it’s a good thing that I’m on my list and listening to my own music, because it means I f–k with what I do,” Carpenter added.

The Girl Meets World alum definitely isn’t the only one. In 2024, her smash hit “Espresso” was streamed more than 1.6 billion times on Spotify, making it the app’s most-streamed song of any other upload. Plus, her Billboard 200-topping sixth studio LP Short n’ Sweet was the platform’s third-most popular album, bested only by Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department and Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft.

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While on the topic of Spotify Wrapped, Carpenter did reveal which other four artists made her top 5: Dolly Parton, ABBA, Kacey Musgraves and the Bee Gees.

Carpenter is currently on a break from her first-ever arena trek, with the North American leg of the Short n’ Sweet Tour closing in November. The “Please Please Please” singer will get back on the road for a run of European dates in March.

In the meantime, fans can enjoy her new holiday special A Nonsense Christmas, which premiered Dec. 6 on Netflix. Of the project, Carpenter told Vogue Arabia, “It was kind of a s–t show — but in the best possible way. A Christmas s–t show, which is way better than normal ones, because everyone’s festive and dressed up,” she said, revealing that her crew filmed the special in just two days. “You can’t really be mad when everyone is dressed like Christmas. And I’m so lucky that my friends were a part of it, that just made it all the more fun.”

10 Dec 2024

Billie Eilish Debuts Snippets of Two New Songs, Says She Still Worries She’ll ‘Never Create Again’

Despite two Oscars and nine Grammy Awards, sold-out shows around the world and the adoration of a generation, Billie Eilish still gets anxious about whether she’ll ever be able to write another song.

CBS Morning‘s Interviewer Anthony Mason caught up with Eilish on tour at the United Center in Chicago to talk about intense writer’s block she and brother/producer Finneas were paralyzed by last year, as well as whether she cares about winning any more Grammys; the singer is up for seven Grammys at next year’s show, including record of the year and song of the year for “Birds of a Feather” and album of the year for Hit Me Hard and Soft.

Letting out a huge laugh, Eilish said the continued accolades from the Recording Academy are “the craziest thing in the world,” leaving her “blown away and excited and honored and humbled all at the same time.”

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That said, the process of recording he third album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, was tortuous, with Eilish, 22, saying that at some point the siblings were “pretty stuck,” a feeling she said you never get used to. “It happens and you’re like, ‘what the hell?! I’m never going to create again,’” she said. After months of dead ends, Eilish and Finneas said that things got unstuck precisely on May 25, 2023, when they stumbled on the beginnings of the song “Wildflower.”

“And then ‘The Greatest,’ and it started to become clear that we were telling the truth,” Finneas said of the period when things began to flow again. Eilish, who said she never considered herself a singer until recently, has begun taking vocal lessons, something she’d resisted because of her insecurity about not feeling like she was a “big singer,” or having a teacher tell her she wasn’t. “When you’re a girl and you’re bad at something once, then all the boys think you’re bad at that forever,” Eilish explained about her insecurities as a female athlete growing up.

Eilish also took Mason on a tour of the traveling recording studio she sets up in her green room at every venue — which also includes a piano — explaining that she jams with friends at night after shows. She then cued up a two-second snippets of a pair of new songs she’s been working on, including one that was just her voice and a jaunty piano line and another with her signature breathy vocals over a subdued beat.

“It’s not even serious, it’s just… we’ve been making music and crocheting,” she said. Eilish will play the SAP Center in San Jose, CA on Tuesday night (Dec. 10) as part of Hit Me Hard and Soft The Tour.

Watch Eilish on CBS Mornings below.

10 Dec 2024

Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Espresso’ & ‘Please Please Please’ Earn New Multi-Platinum Certifications

Sabrina Carpenter‘s blockbuster sixth studio album Short n’ Sweet is continuing to stack up accolades, with a few of its singles earning new multi-platinum certifications Monday (Dec. 9).

As announced by the Recording Industry Association of America, the 25-year-old pop star’s smash hit “Espresso” — the lead single from Short n’ Sweet — is now 5x Platinum, meaning it’s cleared 5 million sales units in the United States since its release ahead of the LP in April. The Billboard Hot 100-topping hit “Please Please Please” and follow-up track “Taste” have also earned 3x and 2x Platinum honors, respectively.

“?Congratulations to @sabrinacarpenter on her new RIAA Gold & Platinum certifications! ?✨” the RIAA wrote on Instagram, tagging Carpenter’s label, Island Records.

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The new single certifications come less than two weeks after the RIAA certified Short n’ Sweet 2x Platinum Nov. 29, three months after the Billboard 200-topping album dropped in August. Several other of its tracks also reached new RIAA heights Dec. 9, with “Bed Chem” earning a platinum badge and “Sharpest Tool,” “Coincidence,” “Good Graces” and “Juno” going Gold.

Carpenter is on a run with her year-end achievements, with “Espresso” recently coming out on top as Spotify and Apple Music’s most-streamed song of 2024. “What the hell….Thank you guys so much,” she reacted to the news on Instagram Dec. 5. “Can’t profess my gratitude enough.”

The Girl Meets World alum is currently on a break from her Short n’ Sweet Tour, which wrapped its North American leg in November. The star — whose holiday special A Nonsense Christmas dropped on Netflix Dec. 6 — will hit the road again in Europe in March.

See the RIAA’s announcement below.

10 Dec 2024

Billboard Staff’s Greatest Pop Stars of 2024: Honorable Mentions

12/10/2024

Our editorial staff’s 2024 list of the Greatest Pop Stars from the year that was gets underway with the 10 artists who just missed the cut.

12/10/2024

The Greatest Pop Stars of 2024

Billboard

In 2019, Billboard‘s staff revealed its picks for the greatest pop star of every year dating back to 1981 (the first year of MTV, essentially the birth of the modern pop era), with essays making the case for each as the biggest, brightest and most important star in their solar system that calendar year. After adding BTS as the greatest pop star for 2020, we decided to expand the project a little bit. For the last three years, we’ve counted down our picks for the 10 greatest pop stars of the year, with full essays for everyone from No. 10 (Drake last year) to No. 1 (Taylor Swift last year), as well as bonus write-ups for our picks for Rookie and Comeback of the year, and even 10 close-but-not-quite honorable mentions.

And now, it’s about time for our 2023 rankings. We’ll be counting down our top 10 over the course of next week, with our top two being revealed the following Monday (Dec. 23). But first, we’ve got our 10 honorable mentions for this year — as well as our rookie and comeback artists of the year, to be unveiled on Thursday (Dec. 12). (If you missed any of our Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century rankings that we rolled out over the last few months, be sure to catch up on those as well.)

First, though: our obligatory reminder that unlike with our Year-End Charts, these Greatest Pop Stars are not mathematically determined by stats like chart position, streams or sales numbers. Those all play a big part in our final rankings, of course — but so do things like music videos, live performances and social media presence, and more intangible factors like cultural importance, industry influence and overall omnipresence. (And we measure this over the entire 2024 calendar, so if you were only heard from at the beginning or end of the year — or only had one big song or moment — that’s gonna hurt your performance here as well.)

Read on below for our best-of-the-rest picks in alphabetical order, and apologies to all the veteran hitmakers and rising phenoms whose presence we couldn’t make room for with just 10 honorable mention spots — for more about those, listen to our Greatest Pop Stars podcast episode later this week, as we discuss some of the names it killed us the most to leave off.

Bruno Mars

Image Credit: John V. Esparza

Their Year in Pop: While our favorite Hooligan was mounting massive shows around the world in early 2024, there was little news regarding his post-Silk Sonic musical moves. Then, in August, Mars announced “Die with a Smile,” a country-inflected pop-rock ballad with Lady Gaga, which quickly became an undeniable smash, reaching No. 2 on the Hot 100 and spending eight weeks atop the Billboard Global 200. Nominated for two Grammys (including song of the year), “Die with a Smile” was a winning duet — and in October, Mars would follow it up with another one in “APT.,” a delightfully bratty, Ting Tings-evoking link-up with BLACKPINK solo star ROSÉ, which also reached the Hot 100’s top 10 (No. 8) and spent seven weeks atop the Global 200. The combined success of the two hits helped Mars recapture the solo pop powers he put on the backburner during his Silk Sonic era, expertly setting the tone for whatever he has planned in 2025.

Why Not Top 10? Few stars have two songs as massive as “Die with a Smile” and “APT.” this year… but when those are your only two musical releases for an entire calendar year, it’s hard to say you’re one of the year’s 10 greatest pop stars.
Drake

Image Credit: Universal Music

Their Year in Pop: Drake’s 2024 represented an indisputable downturn for the longtime superstar, but he still reminded the world that his pop stardom is unshakeable. Spillover success from 2023’s For All the Dogs kept Drake a consistent chart presence at the top of the year, as he continued his It’s All A Blur / Big as the What? trek, now one of the highest-grossing hip-hop tours in live events history. Then came Kendrick Lamar’s “Like That” verse; while the Compton MC scored the feud’s biggest commercial wins, the 6ix God still got some licks in, with “Family Matters” (No. 7) reaching the Hot 100’s top 10, and he generally pushed Lamar to new heights throughout. From sidestepping his label, Universal Music Group (UMG), with his unconventional 100 Gigs archive dump to eventually filing two potentially seismic legal actions against them, Drake’s most notable 2024 moves could bring massive change to the music industry as we know it. Meanwhile, all five of the 100 Gigs tracks that eventually made it to streaming landed on the Hot 100, and Drizzy ended the year as Spotify’s most-streamed English-language rapper in the U.S. and globally.

Why Not Top 10: His resilience is admirable, but that Kung Fu Kenny K.O. was undeniable.
Future

Image Credit: Matt Adam

Their Year in Pop: A lot of big names put in work in 2024, but only one of them can lay claim to three No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 this year. That would be the legendary rapper born Nayvadius Wilburn, who upped his tally of toppers on the chart to 11 this year with his own Mixtape Pluto, and his pair of Metro Boomin team-ups, We Don’t Trust You and We Still Don’t Trust You. And of course, the first of those two Metro collabs also spawned perhaps the year’s single most consequential hit, the Hot 100-besting and hip-hop civil war-starting “Like That.”

Why Not Top 10: Despite the chart dominance, Future still played more of a key supporting role than a starring one in the year’s biggest stories — after all, it isn’t his “Like That” verse that will likely still be cited by college professors in lectures generations from now.
GloRilla

Image Credit: Adam Rindy

Their Year In Pop: After GloRilla’s 2022 momentum stalled a little in 2023, everything changed for the rapper this February with the arrival of “Yeah Glo!,” a self-affirming banger that reached No. 28 on the Hot 100 and earned a pair of 2025 Grammy nods. “Yeah Glo!” served as the lead single for Glo’s Ehhthang Ehhthang mixtape, which also housed “Wanna Be” — a hit Megan Thee Stallion collab that gave way to the duo’s arena-packing Hot Girl Summer Tour and two more fiery 2024 teamups. Amid a fiery feature run, GloRilla released “TGIF,” which became her highest-peaking unaccompanied Hot 100 hit (No. 21), got a Rihanna co-sign and began the campaign for Glorious, her star-studded debut studio album, which bowed at No. 5 on the Billboard 200. The set spawned a handful of fast-rising hits, including the Sexyy Red-assisted “Whatchu Know Bout Me” (No. 17), which Taylor Swift used in a BTS TikTok of her Eras Tour. And as if show-stealing BET Awards and VMAs performances weren’t enough, Big Glo closed out the year back in the Hot 100’s top 10 on Tyler, the Creator’s “Sticky.”

Why Not Top 10: GloRilla unequivocally cemented her spot as a leading MC and successfully made the case for her pop stardom, but just one Hot 100 top 10 hit (as a featured artist) means other stars had some higher pop peaks this year.
Gracie Abrams

Image Credit: Abby Waisler

Their Year in Pop: Despite her 2024 Grammy nomination for best new artist, Gracie Abrams was still more of a cult favorite than a proper pop star when the year started. That changed over the last 12 months, however, as Abrams used her opening slot on Taylor Swift’s globe-conquering Eras Tour as a springboard to pop’s A-list. Her 2024 sophomore set The Secret of Us debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 — and still ranks in the chart’s top 10 nearly half a year later — while increasingly sizeable crossover hits “Close to You,” “I Love You, I’m Sorry” and “That’s So True” made her a fixture on streaming and radio, and a just-announced arena tour for 2025 confirmed she’d graduated to headliner status.

Why Not Top 10: In truth, if we were doing this list in a couple months, she might be; that’s how impressive and how consistent her rise has been in late 2024. But she’s still had a relatively late start here, so she may have a better chance at making the top 10 once we flip the calendar.
Karol G

Image Credit: Alfred Marroquín

Their Year in Pop: After making our top 10 for the first time last year, Karol G kept her momentum going into 2024, as her Mañana Será Bonito World Tour took her to stadiums all through Central America, South America and Europe, and her album of the same name took home her first Grammy in February, for best música urbana album. Meanwhile, she kept the hits rolling, with the star-studded “+57,” the Tiësto-assisted “Contigo,” and most notably, the 21-week Latin Airplay-topping Hot 100 top 40 hit “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” — which even got Taylor Swift and Post Malone up and dancing at this year’s VMAs.

Why Not Top 10: No album in 2024 for Karol, which made this feel a little more like an in-between year for her than one she loomed over the entirety of like 2023.
Morgan Wallen

Image Credit: Cameron Baird

Their Year in Pop: Morgan Wallen didn’t even release an album in 2024, but you probably wouldn’t have known it from his dominance on the Billboard charts this year. He had four songs as a lead artist that peaked within the Hot 100’s top 40 (including the No. 1 “Love Someone”) and another two as a featured artist (including Post Malone’s Song of the Summer “I Had Some Help”), while also becoming the first artist since the Country Airplay chart’s debut in 1990 to appear on five No. 1 hits on the listing in a calendar year. Meanwhile, his 2023-launched One Night at a Time Tour kept rolling through the year, finally wrapping in October after 87 total dates, and his One Thing at a Time album continues to hang on the fringes of the Billboard 200’s top 10, nearly two years after release.

Why Not Top 10: While Wallen’s music again had massive chart impact, his overall presence in pop culture felt relatively muted — which, in a year packed to the gills with culturally omnipresent superstars (and even some conspicuously ubiquitous country hitmakers), leaves him on the outside looking in.
Olivia Rodrigo

Image Credit: Nick Walker

Their Year in Pop: Billboard‘s Touring Artist of the Year electrified the globe on her first-ever arena trek, taking in nearly $185 million (according to Billboard Boxscore) across almost 100 dates, and proving herself already one of pop’s top live performers at just 21 years old. And after one of the fan favorites from that live show setlist — the previously vinyl-only Guts bonus track “Obsessed” — was released as one of the half-dozen added cuts to her (Spilled) deluxe edition of the sophomore set, it became her latest hit single, peaking at No. 14 on the Hot 100 and helping Guts return to No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

Why Not Top 10: Outside of “Obsessed,” Rodrigo didn’t have a ton of new music making a pop impact this year, and while she was busy with the Guts World Tour, other 2024 superstars were generally a little more present in the headlines.
Tate McRae

Image Credit: Conor Cunningham

Their Year in Pop: The buzz from Tate McRae’s late-2023 breakout hit “Greedy” was still building into early 2024, as the pop smash reached a new peak of No. 3 on the Hot 100 in January. That was followed later in the year by a world tour (which saw her make her Madison Square Garden headliner debut), a Britney-referencing VMAs appearance, and a pair of new top 40 hits: “It’s OK I’m OK” and “2 Hands,” both of which also came with well-received music videos. It all helped further establish McRae as a pop star for old-school pop fans, as capable of creating memorable looks, striking choreography and generally big moments as she is major top 40 hits.

Why Not Top 10: Despite peaking this year, “Greedy” still feels like it belonged a little more to 2023, and McRae has yet to quite equal that song’s ubiquity with her subsequent releases — though with a new album scheduled for February (and another world tour starting the next month), she certainly seems like a strong bet for 2025.
Tyler, the Creator

Image Credit: Luis “Panch” Perez

Their Year in Pop: After headlining Coachella for the first time in April, Tyler, the Creator waited until both late in the calendar and late in the week to make his grand return for 2024 — but when he did, it was with ear(f)quake-sized force. Chromakopia appeared on a Monday morning in late October, already halfway through the chart tracking week, but still moved nearly 300k units in its first week — a career-best number, and best for any hip-hop album in 2024 to that point — and ultimately topped the Billboard 200 for three weeks, while drawing some of the strongest reviews for any album this year.

Why Not Top 10: Before, after and in between the big events of his 2024, Tyler was a little absent on the pop scene — and while he’s got the biggest rap radio single of his career in the hitmaker-loaded “Sticky” (also featuring Sexyy Red, Lil Wayne and fellow 2024 GPS HM GloRilla), he still hasn’t scored that no-doubt crossover smash to make him totally unavoidable to pop fans.

10 Dec 2024

Jade Thirlwall Teases Disco-Influenced Debut Solo LP, Talks Almost Missing Little Mix ‘X-Factor’ Audition Over ‘Crappy Boyfriend’

Jade Thirlwall had auditioned for The X-Factor twice as a teen and was just not feeling it when the third time came around in 2011. Luckily, her older brother pressed her to give it one more try, which led to the 31-year-old singer being grouped with her future Little Mix bandmates, launching her into global superstardom.

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“I couldn’t be bothered because I was with a crappy boyfriend, and I was like, ‘Oh, I just want to hang out with him.’ I just didn’t know if it was realistic anymore,” Thirlwall told People magazine about last shot at the Factor when she was 15. “I was going to do an art degree for theater production and stuff. Then, my older brother was like, ‘Just go one more time. You never know what’s going to happen. You’ve got nothing to lose.’ I was like, ‘Fine.’ I went, and then I got put in Little Mix, so thank God.”

It was in that season that she was teamed up with Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Perrie Edwards and Jesy Nelson, with Little Mix going on to become one of the most successful winners in the show’s history and landing five No. 1 singles on the UK charts along with 19 top tens. The group went on hiatus in 2022 so that the members of the Brit Award-winning act could pursue solo projects, and Thirlwall told the magazine that she if fully ready to present her new vision to the world.

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The singer — who goes by Jade for her solo work — is off to a good start after landing a top 10 hit in the U.K. with her propulsive dance pop debut solo single “Angel of My Dreams” this summer, followed by kink-celebrating disco track “Fantasy” and the electro grinder “Midnight Cowboy,” co-written by RAYE. All three songs will appear on Jade’s upcoming, as-yet-untitled debut solo album, which is due out net year.

“You can really hear through the tracks that I’m trying to find who I am as an artist on my own,” she said. “I wanted to let fans in on that experience because it’s the truth.” Thirlwall said the inspiration behind her new single “Fantasy” was simple: “sex, darling.” The original idea was to write a love song, but in her own unique way, which led to the track on which she sings, “Passion, pain/ Pleasure, no shame/ If you like it weird, I like it strange/ It’s a fantasy, babe.”

“I wanted this liberating concept of feeling like you’ve found the right person that you can explore all your sexual fantasies with, a safe space for whatever you’re into. I’ve not seen much of that, actually, especially from a woman,” she said of the song that “heavily references” her 1970s disco-era sheroes Diana Ross and Donna Summer, but reflected in her own unique disco ball fashion.

Feeling more liberated and able to lean into more overtly sexy themes than in the innuendo-trafficking Little Mix, Thirlwall went all-in on the song’s promotion, releasing a line of “kinky merchandise” that she expected her team to reject. “Thankfully everyone was onboard,” she said, noting that the line of edible underwear, lubricant and sex toys was also originally going to include condoms, before she worried that it was too risky if, for some reason, they failed during use.

Thirlwall said she wanted the three songs released so far to reflect the “chaos of the record,” explaining, “You would not expect each song to come after the next. That’s definitely the vibe. I just want to show everyone a little taste of each part of me before the album comes next year.” She described the full LP as “quite experimental,” saying you can hear her trying to find her solo artistic groove on them. “I wanted to let fans in on that experience because it’s the truth. I’ve spent three years writing an array of so many different kinds of songs, and I want the unexpected twists and turns along the way,” she said. “I only get one debut solo album. Why not just do whatever I want?”

While she’s still putting the finishing touches on the album, Thirlwall said she can’t wait for her fans to hear it. “I’ve lived with it for a long time, so it kills me when fans are asking online, ‘What’s this clip? I’ve heard this might be the title of a song.’ I just want to blurt it all out and tell everyone, but I can’t,” she said. At press time a release date had not yet been announced for the album.

10 Dec 2024

Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ Certified 16X Platinum

Mariah Carey has a million reasons to be thankful this holiday season. In fact, the Queen of Christmas has 16 million reasons according to the RIAA, which recently announced that Carey’s yuletide classic single, “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” has been certified 16x Platinum.

The perennial holiday favorite — which was once again at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending Dec. 7 — has had a wild ride to its mega-platinum status. The song, which was originally released in 1994 as the lead single from the singer’s debut Christmas album, Merry Christmas, was not certified gold (500,000 copies) until December 2005.

From there, it took a decade-and-a-half for it to bump up to platinum (1 million) status in October 2019. Then the rocket ride began, with the song gaining 6x Platinum status that year, during which the track reached its highest-charting status on the Hot 100 to that point, rising to No. 3 on the chart in January 2019; by December of that year, “All I Want” hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 for the first time and to date it has spent 15 weeks atop the chart.

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The song hit 8X Platinum the next December and crossed the Diamond mark (10 million) by December 2021. From there, it was off the the races for the song that has been a reliable holiday No. 1 ever since, hitting 12X Platinum in December 2022, 14X Platinum in December 2023 and 16X on Friday.

Carey will need to make room for a few other new plaques as well, as her 2005 Emancipation of Mimi single “Shake It Off” reached 2X Platinum status on December 6 and her 2009 Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel lead single “Obsessed” hit 4X Platinum last week as well, 15 years after it first reached Platinum status.

Carey is in the midst of her Christmas Time tour, which is slated to hit PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on Wednesday (Dec. 11); the annual holiday outing is slated to wind down on Dec. 17 with a show at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.

10 Dec 2024

‘Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest 2025′ Adds Alanis Morissette, Reneé Rapp, Blake Shelton, Kesha

The lineup for Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2025 has added a galaxy of stars to this year’s lineup. The West Coast portion of the show will include Alanis Morissette with special guest Reneé Rapp, as well as Dasha, DJ Cassidy’s “Pass the Mic Live!” with Ja Rule, Fat Joe, Slick Rick & Doug E. Fresh, as well as performances from Ernest, HARDY, Kesha, Laufey, Natasha Bedingfield and T-Pain.

As if that wasn’t enough, the show will also feature a performance by Blake Shelton from Las Vegas, TLC taking the stage in New York’s Times Square and Luis Fonsi from his native Puerto Rico just before midnight in the Atlantic time zone, an hour before the ball drops in Times Square.

Morissette, celebrating the 30th anniversary of her iconic Jagged Little Pill album, will perform multiple times during the night, including a duet with Rapp on “You Oughta Know.” The new additions join previously announced performers Carrie Underwood, Megan Moroney, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Lenny Kravitz, Teddy Swims, Tinashe, Cody Johnson and Thomas Rhett. The countdown will air on ABC on Dec. 31 beginning at 8 p.m. ET.

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The most-watched NYE countdown show will once again be hosted by Seacrest — in his 20th go-round — along with co-host Rita Ora in Times Square, where Underwood will take the stage for a medley of her greatest hits live just before midnight. Co-host Dayanara Torres will anchor the feed from Puerto Rico on the 54th annual broadcast.

Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest 2025 will stream the next day on Hulu. Dick Clark Productions is owned by Penske Media Corporation; PMC is also the parent company of Billboard.

10 Dec 2024

James Taylor Sets Dates For 2025 North American Summer Tour

James Taylor is hitting the road next summer with his all-star band for an extensive 2025 North American tour. The 23-date outing will feature support from vocal harmony trio Tiny Habits, with a presale for the show slated to open today (Dec. 10) at 10 a.m. local time; a JamesTaylor.com account is required in order to participate in the presale.

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The tour is slated to kick off on May 5 with a show at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, AZ, followed by amphitheater gigs in San Diego, Santa Barbara, Milwaukee, Cincinnati and Toronto before winding down at the BankNH Pavilion in Gilford, N.H. on July 1. The outing will feature a few double-downs, including a pair of nights at the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park in San Diego, a pair at the Santa Barbara Bowl in Santa Barbara, CA, two at the Chateau St. Michelle Winery in Seattle, WA and a double-night run at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO.

A Live Nation presale for select dates will kick off on Wednesday (Dec. 11) at 10 a.m. local time here (use code JOY). The general onsale will begin on Friday (Dec. 13) at 10 a.m. local time through Ticketmaster. According to Taylor’s announcement, more dates will be announced soon.

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The 76-year-old James is headed back on the road after a busy 2024, which found him hitting amphitheaters across the U.S. and playing a benefit Concert for Carolina in October to raise funds for North Carolinians impacted by Hurricane Helene, as well as performing at the DNC and at a Kamala Harris/Tim Walz rally in October.

See James Taylor’s 2025 U.S. summer tour dates below:

May 5 — Phoenix, AZ @ Footprint Center
May 7 — Palm Desert, CA @ Acrisure Arena
May 8 — Highland, CA @ Yaamava Theater
May 10 — San Diego, CA @ Rady Shell
May 11 — San Diego, CA @ Rady Shell
May 13 — Santa Barbara, CA @ Santa Barbara Bowl
May 14 — Santa Barbara, CA @ Santa Barbara Bowl
May 16 — Stanford, CA @ Frost Amphitheater
May 17 — Lincoln, CA @ The Venue at Thunder Valley
May 19 — Bend, OR @ Hayden Homes Amphitheatre
May 21 — Nampa, ID @ Ford Amphitheater
May 23 — Ridgefield, WA @ RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheatre
May 25 — Seattle, WA @ Chateau St. Michelle Winery
May 26 — Seattle, WA @ Chateau St. Michelle Winery
June 13 — Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks
June 14 — Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks
June 17 — St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Center
June 19 — Highland Park, IL @ Ravinia
June 21 — Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest
June 23 — Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Amphitheater
June 24 — Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center
June 27 — Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage
June 29 — Canandaigua, NY @ CMAC
July 1 — Gilford, NH @ BankNH Pavilion

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