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Beyoncé is set to celebrate Christmas onstage, as she’ll be the NFL Halftime Show headliner for the Dec. 25 game between the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans — but not for 20 minutes. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The superstar’s publicist, Yvette Noel-Schure, seemingly responded to a […]
For this year’s update of our ongoing Greatest Pop Star by Year project, Billboard will be counting down our editorial staff picks for the 10 Greatest Pop Stars of 2024 all next week. Before that, we revealed our Honorable Mentions for 2024 on Tuesday and our Comeback of the Year earlier today. Now, we present a salute to the artist to the artist who crashed the mainstream for the first time in the biggest way this year: country singer-songwriter Shaboozey, who seized the spotlight from one of the most crowded pop classes in modern pop history and etched his name into the Billboard record books.
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Can’t say he didn’t call it. Shaboozey’s 2024 album Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going essentially predicted in its title that after a near-decade of struggling to properly break through in the music industry, the hybrid country singer-songwriter was headed for different heights this year. And sure enough, by the end of the calendar, he had one of the biggest Billboard Hot 100 hits of all time, nominations and/or appearances at pretty much every award show you could think of, and the whole world knowing (and sometimes making uncomfortable jokes about) his name. “We in the club now,” he summarized his year to Billboard for his cover story in October – and like his album title, it was true on multiple levels.
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Of course by the time of Where I’ve Been’s May release, Shaboozey already had major reason to suspect that 2024 would not be like other years of his career. First, he’d made two appearances on one of the year’s biggest releases, by the Billboard staff’s recently named Greatest Pop Star of the 21st Century. Beyoncé’s country- and Americana-exploring Cowboy Carter had a loaded guest list, including contemporary hitmakers like Post Malone and Miley Cyrus and genre legends like Dolly Parton and Linda Martell, but the only artist to show up on two (non-interlude) songs on the set was Shaboozey. He was initially invited just to write on the set, before the Queen asked him to also provide vocals on its “Spaghettii” and “Sweet * Honey * Buckiin,” which became the first two Hot 100 hits of his career that April, reaching No. 31 and No. 61, respectively.
He would reach much greater heights on the chart with his next release. “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” arrived on April 12, just two weeks after his Beyoncé bow, with his team intentionally pushing up the release of the new song to capitalize on the momentum of Cowboy Carter – which, in addition to its spotlighting of Shaboozey, also helped create a conversation around Black artists in country music, and even offered a streaming bump to some of those newer artists featured on it. In fact, Shaboozey’s team says that it was an early-2024 pre-release performance of “A Bar Song” in California – which was so well received that he ran it back a second time later in the show – that had convinced Ricky Lawson, an A&R on Team Bey who was in attendance, that the ascendant singer-songwriter should be invited to the project in the first place.
The timing was certainly right for “A Bar Song,” a drink-your-cares-away hoot-along with irresistibly celebratory lyrics, but also just enough melancholy in its capo’d acoustic guitar hook and wailing strings – and profound exhaustion (“Why the hell do I work so hard?”) in its verses – to give the song real emotional heft. The single’s not-so-secret weapon came from an inspired lift of the count-off lyrics and shoutable refrain to rapper J-Kwon’s 2004 crossover smash “Tipsy” – hence the parenthetical – which anchored the song in pop and hip-hop history without overplaying its hand or feeling cheap. The final result landed somewhere in between Zach Bryan and the Black Eyed Peas, and was an immediate success, debuting at No. 36 on the Billboard Hot 100, Shaboozey’s first unaccompanied entry as a lead artist.
The next month, the full Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going followed. Released on independent label EMPIRE, the tight 12-track set presented Shaboozey as a core country artist who was also very well-versed in rock, pop, folk and hip-hop. He sounded as comfortable on the LP doing emotional vocal runs up and down the octave alongside top 40 hitmaker Noah Cyrus on the Kacey Musgraves-like “My Fault” as he did getting faded alongside rising trap star BigXthaPlug on the booming “Drink Don’t Need No Mix,” and the entire set felt as purposeful as its title. Where I’ve Been scored an eye-opening No. 5 debut on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and received uniformly strong reviews from critics, ultimately finishing in the top 20 on the Billboard staff’s list of the year’s best albums.
Before the debut of Where I’ve Been, “A Bar Song” had climbed into the top five of the Hot 100, and Shaboozey was starting to bring the song to platforms across the cultural landscape: CMA Fest, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the From the Block web series. His most interesting appearance that summer came at June’s BET Awards, where he performed his new smash and even welcomed a special guest turn from J-Kwon towards the song’s end. Country performances had been exceptionally rare at Culture’s Biggest Night, but Shaboozey commanded the stage and won new fans in the likes of Quavo and French Montana, who the artist told Billboard gave him shouts following the performance. (“I love hip-hop; I’m a part of their community, too,” he said in the cover story.)
By July, in its 12th week on the chart, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” had finally reached the top spot on the Hot 100. The ear-catching song – which also ruled the Shazam charts for months, as a classic “wait, what is this?” jam to the unfamiliar – had been an instant hit on streaming and even in digital sales, but had taken a little longer to catch on radio. Once it did, though, the airwaves couldn’t get enough, as the song ultimately topped Billboard’s Country Airplay, Pop Airplay and Adult Pop Airplay listings – and even made a quick cameo on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay – while topping the all-format Radio Songs for the first time in early August, and subsequently dominating it all the way through to December.
As the song continued to rule the charts, stretching its Hot 100 reign to double-digit weeks as autumn began, it also began to collect accolades. It got nominated for single of the year at the CMA Awards, while Shaboozey himself picked up a nod for best new artist. But he lost in both categories at the November ceremonies, while his stage name – which was already a spin off the way teachers would misspell his real last name, Chibueze – found itself at the center of ba-dum-ching quips made by the hosts and award-winners all night, increasing the feeling of othering for a guy whose insider acceptance in Nashville had already seemed a little touch-and-go. By then, he at least had consolation in the form of five Grammy nominations, including best new artist and song of the year for “Bar Song.”
And in November, the Hot 100 reign of Shaboozey’s breakout hit turned from jaw-dropping to downright historic. Despite brief interruptions to its run from Kendrick Lamar and Morgan Wallen, “A Bar Song” had held proven magnetic to the top of the Hot 100, and on the chart dated Nov. 30, it ruled for a 19th non-consecutive week – tying the all-time record set a half decade earlier by another artist mixing country, pop and hip-hop in Lil Nas X, with his Billy Ray Cyrus-featuring “Old Town Road.” By then, Shaboozey also had a new single: “Good News,” a slightly more dejected-sounding spin on the end-of-the-work-week anthem form he’d perfected with “Bar Song,” which also debuted at No. 71 on the chart. In early December, he brought both singles to his first performance on Saturday Night Live, with the two songs shooting to the top two of the iTunes real-time chart shortly after – suggesting he may have another big hit on his hands in 2025.
Whether or not “Good News” immediately deads the “one-hit wonder” talk or it takes him a little longer to get out from underneath the shadow of one of the biggest hits in Billboard chart history, Shaboozey is here now, and he’s proven that he’s got the talent, the drive and the songs to stick around – and maybe even continue to grow. For his own part, he sees “A Bar Song” not as an albatross to be shed, but simply as a door-opener taking the heat off him moving forward.
“I feel like I can really get out there and start making music without pressure,” he told Billboard in November following his Grammy nominations. “A lot of people work to get a No. 1 song. Being able to knock that out at this point in my career, I can start focusing on making the music that really matters to me.” Where he is isn’t where he’s been, but where he’s going from here could be absolutely anywhere.
Listen to our Greatest Pop Stars podcast tomorrow, as we recap our 2024 Honorable Mentions, Rookie and Comeback of the Year — and check back next Monday as we get our top 10 countdown underway!
If you didn’t get a chance to catch Charli xcx and Troye Sivan‘s SWEAT tour in person, you can still “feel the rush” and soak up the Brat Summer vibes at home. The superstar duo’s tour is making its way to virtual reality, Billboard can exclusively reveal, thanks to iHeartMedia and Meta and produced alongside OBB Media.
Charli xcx & Troye Sivan Present SWEAT in VR will be available exclusively on Meta Quest devices starting Dec. 27 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The show was filmed during one of Charli and Troye’s performances at the KIA Forum in Los Angeles in October.
“The LA shows were incredible because of the energy in the crowd — it was especially good on night 2,” Sivan tells Billboard exclusively. “Having friends and family in the audience made it more special, too. It felt like a celebration with everyone I love and admire right there in the room.”
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He continues: “The SWEAT tour was one of the best experiences of my life, and I wanted to immortalize it in a way that felt as immersive and special as it was for me. iHeart, Meta and OBB have been able to make this come to life in VR and it’s the perfect medium to capture the intimacy, the energy, and the joy of those nights so that people at home could truly feel like they were there, or relive it.”
“Performing with Troye every night on the SWEAT tour was truly iconic and I’m so excited for fans to now be able to experience it at home,” Charli xcx added in a release announcing the news.
The 22-date nationwide tour wrapped in October and featured both artists taking turns performing high-energy hits, including Charli’s Brat hits like “360,” “Von Dutch” and “Girl, So Confusing,” as well as Troye’s fan-favorite jams including “My My My,” “Rush” and “One of Your Girls.” The concert, which is available for free in Meta Horizon Worlds Music Valley, will give fans a front-row seat to all the fun with 180-degree views of the show.
“She brings such an insane energy to the stage, and those performances felt like pure magic,” Sivan shares of his onstage partner. “I can’t wait for fans to relive or experience those moments for the first time.”
Charli xcx & Troye Sivan Present SWEAT in VR is executive produced by iHeartMedia’s John Sykes, president of entertainment enterprises, and Bart Peters, senior vice president of production and development; as well as Michael D. Ratner, Scott Ratner, Anthony Anchelowitz, Simone Spira and Kfir Goldberg for OBB Pictures, the Film & TV division of OBB Media; with Glenn Stickley, co-executive producing for OBB Media.
“Charli xcx, Troye Sivan and their teams have built something electric and singular with this show,” Ratner said of the SWEAT tour. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to partner with Meta and iHeartMedia to share this experience with fans around the world.”
Sykes agreed, saying in a statement: “Partnering with Charli xcx and Troye Sivan and with Meta gives us a unique opportunity to offer our millions of listeners the chance to experience two of the most talented artists in music performing on the most exciting new visual platform today.”
Sarah Malkin, director of Metaverse Entertainment at Meta, added, “The SWEAT Tour is the latest in a long lineup of incredible performances that we’ve brought to Music Valley. “Connecting fans to their favorite artists in a totally unique way through virtual reality extends the joy and excitement of concerts to even more people – and we couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with iHeart, Charli xcx and Troye Sivan to do that with this show.”
After the show, fans can catch free concerts from more artists in Music Valley, or experience the thousands of apps available in the Meta Horizon Store. Meta Quest 3S retails for $299, and features 128GB of storage, but you can upgrade to the 256GB device for $399.99. Meta Quest 3S is available at major retailers such as Amazon, Target, Walmart, Best Buy and Meta.com.
The 2024 Billboard Music Awards are right on the horizon, with several of music’s biggest names set to perform some of the year’s most essential hits at the ceremony taking place Thursday (Dec. 12). The latest act to be added to the lineup is Linkin Park, with the band’s recently announced performance at the BBMAs […]
For this year’s update of our ongoing Greatest Pop Star by Year project, Billboard will be counting down our editorial staff picks for the top 10 pop stars of 2024 all next week. Before that, we revealed our Honorable Mentions for 2024 on Tuesday — and now, we present a salute to the artist with the most impressive comeback this year: Irish singer-songwriter Hozier, who took his slowly built cult stardom back overground with one of the year’s defining pop hits and his biggest year of touring and live appearances yet.
Hozier — yes, the guy that sent a soulful rock ballad about a romantic relationship thriving in the face of religious discrimination to No. 2 on the Hot 100 back in 2014 — could have made 2024 a well-deserved victory lap after dropping a chart-topping album and embarking on a packed arena tour in 2023. Instead, he spent 2024 securing a commercial re-peak that he earned by spending the past decade growing his cult fanbase, even without further post-“Church” crossover success.
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At the top of the year, all was well with Hozier and his fans. Unreal Unearth was a smashing success — topping three genre charts (folk, rock and alternative), reaching No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and spawning his first Hot 100 entry in nearly a decade (“Eat Your Young,” No. 67) — but there was the pesky issue of the Grammys. He’s never been a Recording Academy darling (his sole nod was in song of the year for “Take Me to Church” back in 2015), but a complete shutout for Unreal Unearth and its singles despite formidable commercial success and critical acclaim felt particularly painful.
Nonetheless, Hozier & Co. barreled onwards. After spending most of 2023 touring the U.S. and Europe, Hozier added over 50 new shows across North America, alongside headlining slots at several music festivals, including Boston Calling, Hinterland, and Railbird. From the intimacy of his most heart-wrenching ballads (“Cherry Wine”) to the arena-rocking riffs of his most vibrant bangers (both parts of “De Selby”), Hozier’s engaging stage show reminded longtime fans why they first fell in love with him and converted legions of new fans to his kingdom.
As his tour captivated multiple continents, footage from his shows helped Hozier pick up a devoted TikTok fan base who turned him into something of a heartthrob. They were enamored by his vulnerability, long flowing hair and signature “growl”; Hozier had entered his “Forest Daddy” era, and the world was thirsty for whatever that entailed. His newer TikTok audience was also drawn to his brand of folksy alt-rock that had a resurgence over the pandemic and the years immediately following, perhaps best exemplified by the breakout success of Noah Kahan. At the end of 2023, Hozier and Kahan joined forces for a duet version of the latter’s “Northern Attitude,” earning the Irish rocker his first top 40 appearance since “Church” and setting the stage for his 2024 commercial comeback. That level of fanbase-priming all helped result in the eye-popping streaming and sales debut of “Too Sweet,” the song that cemented Hozier’s mainstream commercial resurgence.
Hozier first teased Unheard as a standalone EP comprised of songs that did not make the final Unreal Unearth tracklist. In his TikTok announcing the project, the Irish singer-songwriter used a snippet of “Too Sweet,” setting the stage for the song’s official TikTok sound to collect over 42,000 posts on the platform. “Too Sweet” debuted at No. 5 on the Hot 100 (dated April 6), marking both Hozier’s first song to debut in the top 10 and his first top 10 hit since “Take Me to Church.” Three weeks later — thanks to over 35.6 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate – the sultry pop-rock tune reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 (dated April 27), marking his first U.S. chart-topper. Though “Too Sweet” only topped the Hot 100 for one frame, it managed to do so in a week where he was competing with singles from longtime stars Beyoncé and Ariana Grande, as well as historic pop breakthroughs for Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter, and Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song.”
Hozier’s “Sweet” success wasn’t just a well-deserved celebratory moment following his robust 2023, it was also a feat that culturally positioned him as one of the sonic forefathers of Top 40’s larger alt-rock resurgence in 2024. Notes of Hozier’s brand of big-voiced, guitar-backed rock anthems with a pop edge can be found in a number of 2024 Hot 100 hits, including Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” (No. 1), Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” (No. 2), Myles Smith’s “Stargazing” (No. 20) and Michael Marcagi’s “Scared to Start” (No. 54), and, of course, Kahan’s “Stick Season” (No. 9). All of those artists made their Hot 100 debuts this decade, but Hozier has been riding this formula to hits for a decade now – it was only right he finally got a chart-topper of his own.
Now his longest-running Hot 100 hit behind “Church” (37 weeks), “Too Sweet” topped three Billboard airplay rankings (pop, rock and adult pop) and became his first song to top Streaming Songs and the all-genre Radio Songs chart. What’s most remarkable about “Too Sweet,” is how little in-your-face promotion the song required to connect with consumers: All Hozier really needed was a good song and a TikTok post – no dance trend or star-studded remix or virality-seeking music video necessary.
A few months after “Too Sweet” hit the Hot 100’s summit, Hozier headlined the first night of Lollapalooza 2024 (Aug. 1). During his set – in which he debuted “Nobody’s Soldier” – the routinely outspoken artist called for “peace and safety and security for everybody in the Middle East… which of course would mean seeing Palestine free from occupation and free from violence.” In an era where many of music’s biggest stars have seemingly forgotten or undervalue the edifying, unifying and liberating aspects of the artform, it was incredibly refreshing to hear Hozier wax poetic about the innate interconnectedness of global liberation movements at his shows around the world.
Unaired arrived a little over two weeks after Hozier’s headlining set (Aug. 16), with “Nobody’s Soldier” serving as the focus track. Following the uptempo blueprint of “Too Sweet,” “Soldier” missed the Hot 100 entirely, but still managed to become Hozier’s fifth consecutive No. 1 single at Adult Alternative Airplay (AAA). With “Soldier,” “Sweet” and his Kahan-assisted “Northern Attitude,” Hozier became the first soloist in history to score three new AAA No. 1s in a single year – and he’s just one song away from tying U2 for the all-time record of most consecutive AAA chart-toppers (six).
By the end of the year, Hozier combined his two new EPs into one sprawling deluxe album titled Unreal Unearth: Unending. To cap off his 2024, Hozier will perform as the musical guest for the upcoming Dec. 21 episode of Saturday Night Live – his first appearance on the show since post-“Church” in 2014.
It’s not often that an undeniable commercial resurgence occurs alongside a revival in cultural prominence, but Hozier pulled it off this year. With “Too Sweet” Hozier placed himself at the center of one 2024’s defining musical styles and returned to the awards conversation, picking up his first two MTV Video Music Awards nods in 10 years – though that Grammy remains out of reach, as he was shut out again in the 2025 nominations. Not only did he top the pop charts with new solo music, but he also re-established himself as a bona fide superstar. Whether he was flexing onstage banter or speaking truth to power, people hung on to his every word – especially the non-musical ones.
Few could have predicted that Hozier would score a No. 1 single a decade after his “Take Me to Church” breakthrough, but, then again, few expected “Church” to be as massive as it was a decade ago. If ever there was a shining contemporary example of a mainstream musician consistently serving and nurturing their fan base, and reaping handsome (if long-delayed) returns for those efforts, it’s Hozier.
Check Billboard later today for the reveal of our 2024 Rookie of the Year, and come back next week as we start the countdown of our top 10 Greatest Pop Stars of 2024!
Billie Eilish is currently touring through arenas and stadiums, but she’s also making time for smaller venues — tiny ones, you might say. On Thursday (Dec. 12), the 22-year-old superstar’s appearance on NPR’s Tiny Desk web series went live on YouTube, showing Eilish, her brother and producer Finneas and a few band members cramming into […]
In addition to hanging those stockings with care, Post Malone is going to have to make more room on his mantle for new hardware from the RIAA. The Recording Industry Association announced on Thursday (Dec. 12) that Malone’s star-packed debut country album, F-1 Trillion, has been certified Platinum (one million). Explore Explore See latest videos, […]
During a recent conversation, John Mayer and Shawn Mendes opened up about an experience not many others can relate to: having a high-profile ex write a hit song about you.
On the latest episode of the “Daughters” singer’s How’s Life With John Mayer program on SiriusXM, the two men — who, between the two of them, are believed to have inspired bangers by artists such as Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Camila Cabello and Sabrina Carpenter — got real about the “psychological toll,” as Mayer called it, of those songs opening up their personal lives to public scrutiny.
“No one’s gonna understand,” Mayer began, conceding that he and his friend are “handsomely rewarded for the stuff we have to deal with.” “You and I are both talking as people who’ve heard songs that — at least other people are saying — are references to us.”
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Agreeing, Mendes shared, “It sucks to feel like … It’s a funny feeling to feel like you’re being written about, and maybe the whole picture’s not being expressed.”
As Mayer pointed out, it’s also not exactly like the two musicians can talk about these issues to a professional who relates to the pressures of celebrity life. “You talk to a therapist and go, ‘You ever seen your ex-girlfriend on a billboard before?’” the “Your Body Is a Wonderland” artist said, laughing. “‘Let me tell you, it’s a weird two weeks.’”
Even so, the Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile star said he wouldn’t let that prevent him from falling in love with another songwriter. “The suffering that is from hearing a song talking about you in a way you don’t want to be talked about is not even close to the beauty of falling in love with someone for the first time,” he told Mayer.
Neither of the artists named names, but both have been in public relationships with very famous women in music. Between 2012 and 2015, Mayer dated the “Teenage Dream” singer — whom he bumped into at a recent Carpenter concert — and before that, he had a relationship with a certain Eras Tour headliner, whose scathing 2010 ballad “Dear John” is widely believed to be about the guitarist.
Speaking of the “Espresso” singer, Mendes is the long-rumored center of a love triangle with his “Señorita” duet partner and Carpenter. Cabello’s “June Gloom” and the Girl Meets World alum’s “Sharpest Tool” and “Taste” detail a love interest who’s still not over his ex, seemingly mirroring how Mendes was spotted with Carpenter several times in 2023 right before rekindling things with Cabello.
Without getting into details, Mendes did appear to touch on the situation with Mayer. “The biggest lesson I’ve learned is no one gets out of this life without getting hurt, and no one gets out of this life without hurting someone,” the “Mercy” singer said.
Watch Mayer and Mendes talk about being the inspiration for songs below.
Mariah Carey will help the NFL kick off its first-ever Christmas Gameday on Netflix on Dec. 25. The streamer announced on Thursday (Dec. 21) that MC will star in the opening segment setting up the day’s two games with a pre-taped performance of her perennial holiday season chart-topper “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” […]
Ed Sheeran sometimes takes a bit of a break after an album/tour cycle. But After releasing two albums last year, – (Subtract) and Autumn Variations and touring the world for the past two years, the singer told Variety magazine that his next project is already in the can.
Sheeran told the magazine that the as-yet-untitled LP is already finished and that he’s shot two music videos for it, with plans to shoot two more early next year as he continues touring across India, China and the Middle East before returning to Europe next spring and summer.
The singer is planning a full-court promo push for the next LP after his = (Equal) LP’s release in the waning days of the COVID-19 pandemic and the more subdued vibe on Subtract, which he said was “obviously a completely different record that didn’t really call for big pop stuff.”
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Asked what fans can expect next time around, Sheeran had some good news. “It feels like I’m getting back into big pop for the first time in a long time,” he said. “It’s quite exciting.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Sheeran talked about his latest collaboration with Love Actually‘s Richard Curtis, which began when the director showed the singer some early storyboards for his first animated project, That Christmas. “He asked if I wanted to write the music for it, and I said, ‘Cool,’” Sheeran said. “There was one scene, and I wrote a chorus for it, but didn’t hear anything back.’”
Then, after two years, Curtis asked Sheeran to finish the song called “Under the Tree” — which Ed said was the first “sad” Christmas tune he’s ever written – for the animated movie now streaming on Netflix. “It’s the one thing I’ve wanted to write,” Sheeran said of the tune in which he put himself in the place of a man waiting in vain for his dad to come home at Christmas. “I’d never seen the need [to write] a sad Christmas song until writing this one… this is quite a lot of people’s realities at Christmas.”
When Netflix decided to edit the song into the movie Sheeran told them he wasn’t really planning to do promo this year, but said if they wanted a video he’d do it if Curtis agreed to direct his first-ever music video. “I’ve felt that having him put his stamp on me doing a Christmas song would be kind of special to me,” said Sheeran.
Check out the “Under the Tree” video below.