R&B/Hip-Hop
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Aaliyah, New Edition and Daryl Hall & John Oates will be enshrined in the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in September, along with 20 other R&B stars
Aaliyah, who died in a plane crash in 2001 at age 22, was the top vote-getter in the singers category. New Edition and Hall & Oates were the top vote-getters in the singing group category.
Aaliyah had five No. 1 hits on what is now called Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. She first led the chart with “Back & Forth” in May 1994, when she was just 15. She returned to the top spot with “If Your Girl Only Knew,” “One in a Million,” “Are You That Somebody?” and “Miss You.” The latter song topped the chart in January/February 1993, more than a year after Aaliyah’s death.
New Edition also amassed five No. 1 hits on that chart. The group first headed the chart with “Candy Girl” in May 1983, followed by “Cool It Now,” “Mr. Telephone Man,” “Can You Stand the Rain” and “Hit Me Off.”
Daryl Hall & John Oates topped the chart, then called Hot Soul Singles, in January 1982 with “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do).”
Hall & Oates aren’t the only “blue-eyed-soul” act to be inducted this year. The late Dusty Springfield, whose classic hits included “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me” and “Son of a Preacher Man,” will also be honored.
Hall & Oates were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. Two of this year’s other inductees into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame — Clyde McPhatter and Sam Moore (as half of Sam & Dave) — are also in the Rock Hall.
Other inductees in the 2023 class are Jermaine Dupri, Peabo Bryson, Thelma Houston, Gerald Alston, Dee Dee Sharp, Dee Dee Warwick, Brook Benton, The Stubbs Girls, Sweet Boogie Productions, King Arthur, Ronnie Nelson, Gwen Foxx, Linda Jones, Ruby Andrews, The Debonaires, G.C. Cameron and Priscilla Price.The induction ceremony will take place on Sunday, Sept. 24, at the Bridge Center in Detroit. Doors open at 3 p.m. Tickets are available at the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame’s website.
More than 12 years after its release and its original chart run, Miguel’s “Sure Thing” hits No. 1 on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart (dated May 27).
The song, on ByStorm/Black Ice/Jive/Legacy/RCA Records, completes the longest ascent to the Pop Airplay summit from a title’s release, having first hit Billboard’s charts in February 2011, following its November 2010 release on Miguel’s debut LP, All I Want Is You. An R&B/hip-hop radio hit in its original run, “Sure Thing” crowned the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, as well as R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, for a week in May 2011.
On the all-genre, multimetric Billboard Hot 100, “Sure Thing” reached No. 36 over a 23-week stay in March-August 2011.
In 2022, the song resurged thanks to newfound attention on TikTok, where a sped-up version has soundtracked more than 4 million clips. It debuted on Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart this January and ranked at No. 30 on the most recently published, May 20-dated chart with 10.6 million official streams in the United States May 5-11, according to Luminate.
On the May 20-dated all-format Radio Songs survey, “Sure Thing” rose 7-6, up 6% to 51.6 million in audience. On the Hot 100, it pushed 15-14, reaching a new best – as well as a new career high for Miguel, surpassing the No. 15 peak of Mariah Carey’s “#Beautiful,” on which he’s featured, in 2013.
(Helping maintain familiarity with top 40 radio listeners, Miguel tallied six Pop Airplay hits in 2012-22, rising as high as No. 12 as featured on Kygo’s “Remind Me to Forget” in 2018, his best career rank prior to the revival of “Sure Thing.”)
Meanwhile, the comeback to new heights for “Sure Thing” has been historic, as the single broke the record for the most weeks ever spent on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs: 78 (through the latest, May 20-dated survey, where it placed at No. 5, marking its first appearance in the chart’s top five since September 2011).
“We were keeping a close eye on the metrics,” says RCA head of promotion Keith Rothschild about the decision to promote the song to pop radio after TikTok sparked new interest in it. It debuted on the Pop Airplay chart dated Feb. 25, at No. 40, and hits No. 1 in its 14th week on the chart, up 7% in plays May 12-18.
While “Sure Thing” is far removed from its original release, “programmers were not hesitant at all,” Rothschild says, especially with other catalog songs recently finding new life on radio, whether from TikTok or synchs, including Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God),” Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary” and The Weeknd’s “Die for You.”
Until “Sure Thing,” “Die for You” — originally from 2016 and remixed this year with Ariana Grande, as it, too, received new radio promotion by Republic — briefly held the record for the longest wait to hit No. 1 on Pop Airplay from a track’s release, as it topped the tally for two weeks this February.
“We knew the song was a hit, as it was a No. 1 R&B/hip-hop record when it was originally out,” says Rothschild of “Sure Thing.” “It was never worked at pop, so we asked programmers to put it into callout. The numbers came back massive, and we knew it was game on.”
After the scorching success of her Billboard Hot 100 hit “Players,” Coi Leray is poised to make more noise with her upcoming sophomore album. Slated to drop June 23, Coi will serve as the follow-up to her 2022 effort Trendsetter, which included “No More Parties,” “BIG PURR” and her Nicki Minaj-assisted “Blick Blick.”
According to a press release, Coi will include 15 tracks across different genres, and will have features from David Guetta, Saucy Santana, Giggs, Lola Brooke and Skillibeng.
The success of “Players” increased the star power of Leray after garnering several big-name remixes with the likes of Busta Rhymes and Tokischa. Because of the song’s popularity on TikTok, “Players” reached the top 10 on the Hot 100, peaking at No. 9 on the April 1-dated chart.
“The best thing about this industry is there’s room for everybody. That’s why it’s no competition,” she told Billboard at the top of the year. “B—h, I could be here, and you could be here right with me. At the end of the day, even if we at the top of the mountain, I’m a be Coi and you gonna be you, and we could trade places or I could become someone else. I’m gonna determine my greatness, my destiny and my future. What’s for you is for you, while we’re at the top together. Steel sharpens steel.”
Since the release of “Players,” Leray has dropped a slew of follow-up singles, including “My Body” and “Bops.” She also previously worked with David Guetta on his “Baby Don’t Hurt Me” single with Anne-Marie, while recently teasing her forthcoming Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse collaboration with Metro Boomin’ titled “Self Love.”
Along with announcing the album, Leray also teased “one of her favorite songs” — “Make My Day,” which samples the 1989 classic “Pump up the Jam” by Technotronic.
Coi drops June 23. Check out the cover art and “Make My Day” teaser below.
Travis Scott’s Utopia album may be inching closer to a release date. On Thursday (May 18), photos surfaced of Scott walking alongside his bodyguard, who was spotted holding a briefcase with Utopia written on it. To increase security measures, the guard had the briefcase handcuffed to his wrist. Billboard has reached out to the rapper’s rep for comment. Rumors […]
NBA superstar Ja Morant continues to be under fire after being caught waving a gun on social media for the second time in three months. The debacle has again entered hip-hop circles, as Lil Wayne recently spoke on Ja’s turbulence in a new interview with Showtime’s All The Smoke podcast. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and […]
Summer might technically begin on June 21, but Kaytranada and Aminé made it arrive earlier with the release of their joint album KAYTRAMINÉ Friday (May 19). The Canadian DJ/producer and Ethiopian-American rapper gave fans a first taste of KAYTRAMINÉ last month with the Pharrell-assisted “4EVA” single. The 11-track project also features collaborations with Freddie Gibbs (“LETSTALKABOUTIT”), Big Sean (“MASTER P”), Amaarae (“SOSSAUP”) and Snoop Dogg (“EYE”). The new KAYTRAMINÉ […]
Summer Walker dropped her highly anticipated Clear 2: Soft Life EP on Friday (May 19) via LVRN and Interscope Records. Earlier this week, she partnered with Spotify’s RapCaviar to tease her new project in a sitcom-style promo video starring herself, Sukihana and Sexyy Redd, where the three women are just living their best lives and […]
Tems’ “Free Mind” captures a 17th week at No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, a new record for the most weeks atop the list for any song by a lead female artist. The achievement continues the sleeper hit’s success story, which saw the 2020 EP deep cut work its way to becoming a fan-pushed streaming hit in 2022 and, now, a record-setting radio smash.
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The historic week for “Free Mind” is on the chart dated May 20, where it wins a 17th frame on top after a 1% bump to 19.2 million audience impressions made it, yet again, the most-heard song from a combined slate of U.S. monitored adult R&B and mainstream R&B/hip-hop radio stations in the week ending May 11, according to Luminate.
Now with 17 weeks, “Free Mind” surpasses Ella Mai’s “Boo’d Up” for sole possession of the record for the longest-leading No. 1 by a lead female artist. The former champ reigned for 16 weeks in 2018. As “Free Mind” shakes up the leaderboard, here’s a look at the songs by women in lead or co-lead roles with the most weeks at No. 1 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay since the chart launched in 1992:
17, “Free Mind,” Tems, 2022-23
16, “Boo’d Up,” Ella Mai, 2018
15, “Be Without You,” Mary J. Blige, 2006
14, “We Belong Together,” Mariah Carey, 2005
13, “You’re Makin’ Me High,” Toni Braxton, 1996
13, “Trip,” Ella Mai, 2018-19
12, “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” Beyoncé, 2008-09
12, “Un-thinkable (I’m Ready),” Alicia Keys, 2010
11, “Work,” Rihanna featuring Drake, 2016
11, “Please Me,” Cardi B & Bruno Mars, 2
Expanding to women in both lead and featured roles, Tems still holds the record for the song with the most weeks at No. 1. She featured on Wizkid’s 27-week champ “Essence” in 2021-22. The breakthrough Afrobeats hit is tied as the second-longest-leading No. 1 in R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay history with Chris Brown’s “No Guidance,” featuring Drake. Both songs trail only another Brown track, “Go Crazy,” with Young Thug, which posted 29 weeks at the summit in 2020-21.
Though “Free Mind” was released in 2020 on the EP For Broken Ears, the song generated its earliest significant attention only after Tems’ breakthroughs on a trio of other high-profile songs. In addition to “Essence,” she featured on Drake’s Certified Lover Boy cut “Fountains,” and, with Drake, on Future’s No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit “Wait for U.” Thanks to the triple play of hits, her own material experienced renewed interest and streaming gains, with “Free Mind” as the leading beneficiary, which sparked an official radio promotion push soon after. The track climbed to No. 1 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay in November 2022, and later crossed over onto the Adult R&B Airplay chart, crowning that for nine weeks beginning in February 2023. The one-two punch put Tems in rare, and enviable, company. Such dual coronations on both radio charts occurred only twice in 2022, with Silk Sonic’s “Smokin’ out the Window” and Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul.”
Lady Gaga is looking like a queen while dancing like a princess. In a new TikTok, Mother Monster got down to Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice‘s collaboration “Princess Diana” — which Gaga says she loves, by the way — and showed off some of her favorite Haus Labs lip products. Twirling in a circle and […]
The Weeknd took to social media to show his appreciation for a meme poking fun at his famous stage name, with some help from Lady Gaga. “The assistant in the record store when I ask if they have any Abel Tesfaye albums in stock,” a Twitter user cleverly wrote, using a clip of Mother Monster […]