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Billie Eilish fans should be happier than ever to learn that the 21-year-old pop star is closing in on finishing her third album. Stopping by the Tonight Show Thursday (Dec. 14) — two days ahead of her return to Saturday Night Live — Eilish teased that she and her brother/producer Finneas are putting the final […]
For this year’s update of our ongoing Greatest Pop Star by Year project, Billboard is counting down our staff picks for the top 10 pop stars of 2023 all this week. At No. 2, we remember the year in SZA — who had the best 12 months of her career and confirmed herself as one of the inner-circle stars of 2020s pop music.
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When SZA’s SOS closed out 2022 with record-breaking stats — 318,000 units earned first week, the biggest streaming week ever for an R&B album, and (eventually) ten non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart — that moment seemed like the climax of a years-long campaign for the Grammy winner’s sophomore studio album. If anything, it turned out to actually just be the warning shot for an even more dominant 2023.
Billboard’s Greatest Pop Stars of 2023:Introduction & Honorable Mentions | Rookie of the Year: Peso Pluma | Comeback of the Year: Miley Cyrus | No. 10: Drake | No. 9: Doja Cat | No. 8: Bad Bunny | No. 7: Olivia Rodrigo | No. 6: Karol G | No. 5: Morgan Wallen | No. 4: Ice Spice | No. 3: Beyoncé
The Grammy winner entered this year still basking in the glow of SOS’ chart takeover. “Kill Bill” was essentially glued to the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, while several album tracks – including “Blind,” “Love Language” and “Low” — were gaining traction on TikTok, and “Shirt” was still blowing through the competition at R&B/hip-hop radio, where it eventually peaked at No. 1. The early love for myriad selections from the 23-song set would soon give way to another year-defining hit single by the time the summer drew to a close.
Courtesy of RCA Records
Courtesy of RCA Records
But before that, by February, SZA had already gone back to dropping new music — this time assisting Lizzo with her “Special” remix. While the track was far from a major hit, it did reach No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay late in the year, making for a pleasant full circle moment, considering Lizzo helped honor SZA with her Billboard woman of the year award in March. The duo’s personal friendship and professional partnership was set to continue with co-headlining slots at Made In America, but the show – like a number of hip-hop festivals this year – was ultimately called off.
Nonetheless, SZA still dazzled on the road in 2023, visiting the U.S. and Europe on her 54-date headlining arena tour. Complete with cinematic interludes, explosive choreography and innovative props, the SOS Tour found SZA blooming into a top-shelf pop star with each new date. From February to October, she trekked across the globe, bringing out surprise guests such as Cardi B, Phoebe Bridgers, Sexyy Red, Travis Scott, Lizzo, Lil Baby and Summer Walker along the way.
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By April, a Doja Cat-blessed remix of “Kill Bill” helped vault the song to No. 1, becoming SZA’s first Hot 100 chart-topper and cementing its status as one of the year’s defining pop songs. Around that time, “Snooze” was getting ready for its moment in the sun. The song had been swirling around on TikTok for months, and its consistent streaming presence would ultimately keep it on the Hot 100 for an entire year, but the combined efforts of radio’s complete embrace and a star-studded music video (featuring the likes of Young Mazino and Benny Blanco) lifted the song to new heights. Justin Bieber – who also appeared in the music video – later guested on the acoustic “Snooze” remix, helping the track reach its ultimate Hot 100 peak of No. 2.
The summer months found SZA blessing some of her peers with hits, and, in doing so, she solidified her spot as the year’s resident hitmaker. In July, she gifted Travis Scott a standout verse on “Telekinesis,” which helped the song become an instant fan-favorite from Utopia, spending 11 weeks on the Hot 100 without an official single release. September brought on “Slime You Out,” a much-derided duet with Drake that still debuted atop the Hot 100 — thanks, in large part, to SZA’s commercial dominance. That much was proven the following month, when “Rich Baby Daddy,” a collaboration with Drizzy and Sexyy Red, emerged as the breakout hit and standout track on his For All the Dogs album. How could it not be SZA’s year when some of the biggest stars in contemporary pop music are running to her to guarantee a hit?
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To close out the year, SZA emerged from Grammy nominations morning with a whopping nine nods – the most of any artist this year, and a cool bookend to her artist of the year snub at the VMAs back in September. With nods across three different genres and recognition in album, record and song of the year, SZA’s Grammy nominations haul served as the perfect encapsulation of just how towering and ubiquitous she was a cultural figure and hitmaker this year. On Billboard’s Year-End charts, she boasts the No. 3 album of the year and the No. 3 (“Kill Bill”) and No. 9 (“Snooze”) songs of the year – the only artist with two unaccompanied solo entries in the Year-End Hot 100 top 10.
Truthfully, there’s only one pop star who can hold a candle to SZA’s dominance this year – and you probably already know exactly what their name is. The difference with SZA, however, is that she did it all without ever giving off the largely calculated, pre-scripted feeling that so often characterizes a run like that one she’s on with SOS. She moved at her own pace and reaped unbeatable dividends.
With everyone sharing their favorite songs and albums of 2023 (Billboard included), Sir Elton John decided to offer a glimpse at the music he found himself going back to this year. John unveiled his 15 favorite songs from 2023 during his Rocket Hour radio program on Friday (Dec. 15). “I’m looking back and choosing some […]
Cher vehemently doesn’t want to be a member of any club that doesn’t want her. The “Believe” legend said so in no uncertain terms on Friday’s (Dec. 15) Kelly Clarkson Show, when the host asked how a legend who has scored No. 1 hits over seven decades is somehow not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
With a sly smile, Cher corrected Clarkson’s claim that she’s the only act to ever have that kind of chart dominance across the decades, noting that she’s not, technically, alone. “Two of us have,” Cher said, with Clarkson replying, “Are you gonna say a band? Don’t say a band.”
“It’s a band,” Cher noted of her fellow chart champs the Rolling Stones, as Clarkson clarified that that doesn’t count. “It took four of them to be one of me,” the 77-year-old icon added with a twinkle in her eye, prompting Kelly to jump out of her seat and clap. “And I’m not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!” Cher added.
After the studio audience let out a collective groan, Cher told them it was okay. “You know what, I wouldn’t be in it now if they gave me a million dollars. I’m not kidding you,” she said, laughing that she almost dropped an f-bomb in her answer.
“I’m never going to change my mind. They can just you-know-what themselves,” Cher said to applause, while casually noting that she “changed music forever” with her 1998 dance pop hit “Believe,” one of the best-selling singles of all time and the track that is widely credited with introducing the world to AutoTune.
Cher’s first holiday hit, “DJ Play a Christmas Song,” hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart last month (and topped the Adult Contemporary Chart this month), making her the first female artist to have a top hit for seven straight decades; that milestone put her in rarified air with the Stones, who have had at least one new No. 1 hit on the Billboard charts in every decades between the 1960s and 2020s.
A spokesperson for the RRHOF had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment at press time.
Cher’s first No. 1 hit was 1965’s “I Got You Babe” with late partner Sonny Bono and she has been eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame since 1991.
While Cher has not been nominated to date, it’s worth noting that last year country icon Dolly Parton was nominated fro the RRHOF and initially turned down the offer. She later accepted and was inducted in Nov. 2022 alongside Eminem, Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Lionel Richie, Carly Simon, Judas Priest and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis; she followed up by releasing her all-star, chart-topping first rock album, Rockstar, album last month.
Watch Cher on the Kelly Clarkson Show below.
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Barbie star Simu Liu is not ready to stop feeling the Kenergy. The actor who played a rival Ken to Ryan Gosling’s abtastic Ken in Greta Gerwig’s Oscar-nominated box office blockbuster busted out a solo version of the theme song from the movie’s signature dance number, “I’m Just Ken,” at an intimate show at Los Angeles’ Hotel Café on Wednesday (Dec, 13).
According to a video of the gig he posted on X, Liu instructed the crowd, “If there’s one thing that I want each and every one of you to take away from this show tonight in your hearts it’s that you’re enough,” he said the to 100 or so fans in the house as a keyboardist played some piano mood music behind him. “I want you to do this with me now. I want you to close your eyes, and I want you to put your hand on your heart, and I want you to repeat after me, okay?: I. Am. Kenough.”
They, of course, did as he instructed and Liu then busted into the first verse of the track written by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt in a strong, soulful voice over a jazzy arrangement. He later admitted, however, that like the real world in the movie, something was a little off.
“The most Ken thing about this is that I forgot part of the words to ‘I’m Just Ken.’ What a great night!!!!,” Liu wrote on X after he fumbled the chorus line “Where I see love she sees a friend,” smiling and mumbling a nonsense phrase where the lyric should have been. He made up for it by taking off his leather jacket and showing off his guns in a tank top to whoops from the audience.
The consummate professional laughed off the flub, asking, “Are you ready to feel the Kenergy with me tonight? Let’s do this! You are Kenough, you are Kenough!” He also busted out the choreo from the movie’s insane dance dream sequence and belted out the lyrics while literally flexing all over the place and letting out a primal scream mid-song.
“I’m Just Ken” debuted at No. 87 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August, giving Ryan Gosling his first entry on the 100 tally.
This isn’t Liu’s first singing rodeo. The actor released his debut four-track EP, Anxious-Avoidant, in Novmeber, which includes a song co-written by the Jonas Brothers’ Joe Jonas, “Break My Heart.”
Check out Liu’s performance below.
Jung Kook and Usher set the dance floor on fire in the new video for their remix of the BTS star’s “Standing Next to You.” In this case, a moodily lit abandoned warehouse flooded with daylight stands in for a club, but either way, the dynamic duo fill the space with slick move after slick […]
So you agree? You think Reneé Rapp and Megan Thee Stallion are really pretty? On Friday (Dec. 15), the pop singer and rap icon joined forces to release “Not My Fault,” their hotly anticipated new collaboration off the soundtrack of the forthcoming Mean Girls remake. Sampling an audio clip from the original 2004 film — […]
Pennsylvania is in its Taylor Swift era — legally! On the multi-Grammy winner’s birthday (Dec. 13), a resolution from the state’s House of Representatives voted 103-100 to name 2023 as the Taylor Swift era in the singer’s home state, according to Associated Press. The resolution noted Swift as a person who “transcended the role of […]
Taylor Swift celebrated her 34th birthday in New York City on Wednesday night (Dec. 13) with all her famous friends, and the superstar took to Instagram to commemorate the event. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “Can’t believe this year… actually… happened? Thank you for all your […]
Justin Timberlake took the stage for a surprise concert at the opening festivities for Fontainebleau in Las Vegas on Wednesday night (Dec. 13), where he performed for the second time since Britney Spears’ tell-all memoir hit shelves in October. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In a […]