Year-End
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It’s ostensibly a big morning for Greg Kurstin. As we speak in the sunlit lounge of his Hollywood recording studio, the Grammy nominations are being announced — and as is often the case, the veteran producer’s name is connected with a few very big artists expected to make significant showings.
But if Kurstin is at all nervous, he doesn’t show it. Whether out of politeness or commitment to his “maybe boring” daily routine — drop his two kids at school, come back to the studio, make hits, get home in time for dinner — Kurstin, 53, neither tunes in to the broadcast nor checks his phone as the nominees are announced.
Instead, Kurstin has the same focus as always: the music that got him here. A lifelong pianist, he amalgamates his considerable abilities on a range of instruments, his love of jazz and his history as both a session musician and band member (Geggy Tah, The Bird and the Bee) into an improvisational accompanist’s approach to pop music. The artists who’ve called on him as producer — a wide range including Paul McCartney, Sia, Beck, Halsey, Foo Fighters and Maren Morris — look to Kurstin not for a distinct, signature sound, but for his ability to bring out the best within them.
The most famous of those collaborators, of course, is Adele. Since her 2015 album, 25, and its smash “Hello,” she and Kurstin have had a prolific creative relationship — one that continued in 2022 with 30. He co-wrote, produced or co-produced six of the 12 tracks on the album, which spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. One of those was lead single “Easy on Me,” which tied “Hello” for Adele’s longest No. 1 run on the Billboard Hot 100 (10 weeks) and led Radio Songs for 15 weeks — her personal best and the sixth-longest in the chart’s history.
All of that went a long way toward making Kurstin Billboard’s top Hot 100 producer of 2022. And by the end of our conversation, the nine-time Grammy winner (including two for producer of the year, non-classical) will rack up another five nominations: best pop vocal album; song, record and album of the year (all for 30); and best country album (for Morris’ Humble Quest, which he produced). But here in the studio — emitting cool dad vibes in jeans and a T-shirt — he’s immersed in the 9-to-5 that produces that award-worthy work, insulated from much of the buzz it has generated.
“Sometimes I’ll do a song with an artist,” Kurstin says, “and I’ll be like, ‘I wonder if that song did well?’ And then you go see their show and it’s like, ‘Oh, these people know the song!’ ”
It seems like you have the luxury of choice, in terms of artists you agree to work with. Besides your track record of hits, what do you think they’re looking for from you?
I’d like to think that they’re coming to me because I want to support their vision and learn where they’re going musically and try to achieve that somehow, to bring out the best song they could possibly need at this point in their career. Everyone is different. A lot of people I work with are people I’ve worked with before, over and over, and so there’s a lot of history there, too.
You’ve said that artists come to you for the support you provide during the process, rather than for a particular sound.
I don’t think I necessarily have a sound or a particular style that’s recognizable. People have said to me, “I could tell you did that song,” and I’m like, “Really?” I just bring it all back to when I was just a side musician accompanist working with a singer. I would try to support what they’re doing and not be a distraction, but to bring out the best emotion by finding the right chords and the right arrangements. I translated that to production, in a way.
Adele’s songs in particular are so intensely personal. To what extent are you helping her unpack that emotion?
I’m definitely there to navigate that emotional terrain. I have to find the right sequence of chords or the beginning of a song that ignites something in her and whatever lyric she’s wanting to write that day. So, I will search. Sometimes it takes a long time; sometimes it happens immediately; sometimes it’s at the very end of the day. Usually, I’ll just improvise, trying to imagine where she wants to go.
Are there conversations happening as you work?
We don’t really discuss it… I get on the piano and then I’ll get a sense of, “Oh, she likes this little bit I’m playing right now,” so I’ll stay there. Sometimes I do that for an hour or two while she’s formulating lyrics, and I just know I don’t want to move; I don’t want to change anything, because if she’s writing, I feel like it’s going well. So I’ll stay where I am. It’s like a meditation. Also, it’s amazing how much she remembers — just a little seed we started like, a year ago, she’ll say, “What about that little thing we did?”
Is the pressure around a new Adele album something you have to try to tune out?
Yeah. I mean, it’s so hard for me to tune it out. It definitely stresses me out, in a very positive way. There’s excitement, but there’s also just the feeling of like, “I don’t want to be responsible for something not performing.” That’s just me. I probably would take it personally, which I shouldn’t, but a lot of us artists have issues where our self-worth is wrapped up in our performance. But I try to stay grounded and healthy and just know it’s out of my control… Grammy time brings up a lot of those feelings again, because the attention on the album starts coming back.
Despite your accomplishments, you keep a low profile. What’s your day-to-day life like?
My days are pretty normal. I mean, aside from that I work with these extraordinary artists. I take the kids to school, then go to the studio. I just focus on the thing I’m working on, try to do a good job with that, then try to get home by dinnertime. That’s pretty much my life, which is kind of unusual in my line of work. A lot of producers work on the opposite time frame. When I’m going to bed, they’re starting.
For me to be healthy, I have to have a schedule, a structure. The way my mind works, it will start to race, and if I work too late, then I have trouble sleeping and that messes up my next day. Artists are happy to adapt to working that schedule. I want to do a great song for them and send them on their way so they can have a life and go out at night to do whatever they want to do. I’m totally friends with a lot of artists I work with… but I don’t want to keep someone longer than they want to be there.
You mentioned the anticipation you feel around Grammy season. What is your relationship with the awards?
It’s a crazy experience to be invited or involved, and I know I won’t be invited forever. There will be a point where people will be like, “OK, you can go now.” (Laughs.)
Eventually they’ll show you out the back door.
Exactly. Like, “We’ve had enough of you.” While it’s happening, I’m just going for the ride. It feels very good for your work to be recognized. I don’t take it lightly when people are voting for stuff I’ve worked on. I have fun when I go, although it makes me nervous when I’m there, because I hate speaking in the microphone, but that’s also a good problem to have.
Where do you keep the nine Grammys you’ve already won?
They’re in the bedroom, kind of staring at me. If I’m in a bad mood, I can look up and be like, “Come on! Chin up.”
All that said, do you want to check and see if you’ve been nominated this year?
(Looks at phone.) OK, I got best pop vocal album, song of the year, album of the year, country album and record of the year. So there’s that!
This story will appear in the Dec. 10, 2022, issue of Billboard.
Musicals, whether onstage or onscreen, take time — lots of time — to develop. For Lin-Manuel Miranda, the story of 2022’s Encanto really began six years ago, on opening weekend for a different Disney animated musical, Moana. Miranda was a late addition to that film’s three-person musical team, and he had seen “how seriously and faithfully [Disney] took the responsibility of representing a culture we don’t see onscreen a lot” — in Moana’s case, that of the Polynesian islands — and “making sure that part of the world would be proud,” he recalls. So he told Tom MacDougall, then executive vp of music for Disney Animation and Pixar, “Listen, I know you guys have some Latin-themed things up your sleeve. If there’s going to be a Disney Latina princess, I’ve been training all my life!”
That opening weekend, MacDougall cryptically told Miranda: “You’ll be there from the beginning on the next one.” And with Encanto, he kept his word. “We don’t just go celebrity to celebrity for people to write these shows,” says MacDougall, now president of Walt Disney Music. “But there was a project being talked about that was going to happen in Latin America, and I said, ‘Hey, Lin wants to do this, we love him — what would a full Lin show look like start to finish?”
The answer: a historic hit. Miranda’s eight songs for the Encanto soundtrack all charted on the Billboard Hot 100, leading him to spend 15 weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 Songwriters chart and to ultimately be named Billboard’s top Hot 100 songwriter of 2022. Much of that was thanks to the unlikely and explosive leader of the pack: the intricate, multicharacter showstopper “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” which spent five weeks at No. 1 and, according to Billboard’s GOAT methodology, is now the biggest Disney song of all time.
Of course, don’t tell that to the “Surface Pressure” hive, whose passion for strongwoman Luisa’s reggaetón-inflected solo pushed it to a No. 8 peak, or to the teary masses who sent the poetic “Dos Oruguitas” (sung entirely in Spanish by Sebastián Yatra) to No. 2 and No. 36 peaks, respectively, on Hot Latin Songs and the Hot 100. “It’s pretty unorthodox in terms of a musical,” MacDougall says of Encanto. “That ‘Bruno’ would become one of the most popular songs of all time, that all the songs would be in the top 100 — we would have never expected it.”
But if that sounds like the foundation for a new blueprint for Disney blockbusters, think again. Miranda, 42, insists there’s no formula for Encanto-level success, paraphrasing the late Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim: “Surprise is the thing you’re chasing. If you can bottle surprise, you can have a career in this business.”
You were in the throes of writing Encanto’s music in spring 2020. What was it like essentially putting this soundtrack together in lockdown?
In retrospect, I do think some of the lockdown seeps into the songwriting. There’s a reason “Surface Pressure” and “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” which were written in April and May of 2020, respectively, resonate in a different way. At the core of “Surface Pressure” is this question of, how do I keep my family safe — and who am I if I can’t? I think that’s a variation of what every parent felt then. And then “Bruno” — I was locked up with my in-laws. There is a subtext there of, “What are we allowed to talk about in front of your mother?” (Laughs.) My brother-in-law was living with us at the time — he works in real estate, and we barely saw him, he’d just work in his corner, he’d join us for dinner, he’d go back to his corner. When I showed him the rough storyboard and the song started, he was like, “Is this about me? Am I the uncle in the walls?” (Laughs.)
The level of input from the larger creative team is pretty high in the world of animation. How did that typically play out?
Our call was every Friday night at 9 p.m. my time, which meant I could tuck in my kids and then wake myself back up and do the call. I felt comfortable bringing in half songs — like, “Here’s the first two verses of ‘Bruno.’ Is this a good direction? Should I keep going?” I don’t think there’s one song in this where I was like, “This is it, it’s done.”
Well, other members of the creative team do talk about “Bruno” as if you started playing it for them fully formed. What’s your side of that story?
I knew the vibe for it very quickly. This was a song that was my pitch: Can we please do a family gossip number? I knew it was just going to be like (Miranda plays the piano bassline.), which felt very Afro-Latino, rhythmic, spooky. The challenge was to get something simple yet [distinctive] enough that you could put a lot of different stories on top of it. It was really one long night of writing it.
You have a longtime friendship with Bobby Lopez [who, with wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez, wrote the music for Frozen, Frozen II and Coco]. Does someone like him provide a kind of creative support system when you’re working on a project like Encanto?
You learn quickly that there’s very few people you can talk to about this kind of gig. My friendship with Bobby goes beyond songwriting — we went to school together, he’s been a mentor to me my whole career. There was a moment when I was struggling with something in Mirabel’s song “Waiting on a Miracle,” and it was this really specific shop talk of like, “I think this is the right song for the right moment but it’s not doing this thing you’re so good at that I want it to do — it’s not lifting off at the end in the way I want it to.” So I sent it to Bobby and Kristen and they were like, “Give us a couple hours,” and they got on a Zoom with me and were like, “Go up a whole step not a half step, have her sing this note.” It was a very music theory mathematical thing and it made all the difference in the world. That’s the kind of thing you can only ask someone who’s been in this space before you and knows the lay of the land.
“Bruno” is now the biggest Disney song of all time. What are your personal top Disney songs of all time?
No. 1 is “Under the Sea.” I mean, it’s like Sebastian making the case for a way of life and presenting us with a world so much more beautiful than our own! I wanted to go f–king live under the sea! “Out There,” from Hunchback [of Notre Dame] — Stephen Schwartz wrote the lyrics. “Into the Unknown” from Frozen II, that song is outrageous in setup and execution. “When She Loved Me” by Randy Newman — Toy Story 2 is among my favorite movies of all time, full stop. That was really a big inspiration for “Dos Oruguitas.” And I agree with everyone on the internet about the entirety of Tarzan. You know that meme that’s like, “Phil Collins didn’t have to go that hard but he did.” (Miranda starts belting “Strangers Like Me.”) Well, he did, and we’re all the better for it. It should not go that hard! (Laughs.)
You’ve admitted that you didn’t think “Bruno” would become the big Encanto hit. Why do you think it did?
I didn’t think it was going to be a big song because group numbers never are — with the exception of “Summer [Nights]” from Grease. But I also think there’s something to the fact that music has stratified to a big extent, and TikTok is a big part of the reason this song was such a hit. Every verse and chorus of this is like a bite-sized TikTok number. I didn’t have TikTok when I wrote it, but you realize after the fact, “Oh, if Camilo’s your favorite guy, you can listen to that bit,” and each bit became its own kind of hit. It was amazing that sections of “Bruno” were becoming popular.
“Dos Oruguitas” soundtracks Encanto’s tearjerking montage. Was that always the plan?
I mean, that was the hope. Some of it is what it isn’t: It isn’t a moment of Abuela singing to Mirabel, because Abuela singing, “Your grandfather was shot” — that’s a trauma too deep to sing. I looked at the imagery in the film of the butterfly that leads them to the miracle, and I had the idea of these two caterpillars in love and the change that has to happen. You have to undergo metamorphosis and trauma to become who you are, and you have to trust that you’ll still be yourself on the other side of whatever hard things come your way. And once I had that, I wrote it pretty quickly — though the speed of my Spanish is not the speed of my English, so it took longer to find the right words.
Then there’s “Surface Pressure.” Were you aware of all the people rooting for it to surpass “Bruno” on the charts?
I love it. I mean, there’s not a lot of precedent for that tune. In my head I was trying to cross a really tough reggaetón song with like, “[The] Lovecats” by The Cure, the quietest vocals I can imagine on a pop song. I think we had the song before we cast the role, but the drawing of Luisa existed, so I knew she’d have a deeper voice, and I was like, “Please, please, please find me an alto.” And Jess Darrow has such a wonderful and distinctive voice. The character never doesn’t sound like herself, and I love that about it.
To me it’s the most recognizably Lin song in this movie. It just feels like what naturally comes out of you. Was it that organic for you to write?
I don’t know…what I sound like? Ask any composer, they don’t know what their moves are. But I guess that’s what I sound like! I think the internal rhyminess of the verses and choruses, for sure. It was an early one to try to write; I was feeling my way towards it in an organic way. The hardest one is always the “I Want” song. Mirabel’s was originally called “I’m More Than What I’m Not,” and it was very poppy. It was a bop! But it was just not right.
Is there one song that you wish found a wider audience?
I would be insane to complain about any of them. But I’ll tell you, my expectations were upended. My expectation was that “Colombia, Mi Encanto” would be the easiest song to pull out of the story — it’s just a love letter to Colombia, it namechecks towns, it’s Carlos Vives singing it — so I just thought, “Maybe at soccer stadiums they’ll play this!” [It peaked at No. 100 on the Hot 100.] To see the character-iest, most involved-in-the plot songs rise to the top was an amazing and welcome surprise.
Does Encanto’s chart success feel like a unicorn situation? Or can it serve as a model for how Disney thinks about animated musicals in the future?
Well, I think once you think you have a template, you’re dead meat. Look at the two songs that had the most success: what people embraced was what’s new. As long as Disney’s musicals can continue to push on the template of what a Disney musical can be, I think they’ll be a success. It’s when we get hip to it — “Oh, here comes the sidekick song” — that we feel like we’ve seen it before. I think the lesson is to find the musical moments we haven’t seen before, and that’s true of theater as well. I know I’m here because Howard Ashman was here, and he felt like musical theater had a lot to teach animated movies about how music and animation could coexist. Everything I’m doing builds on what he knew and practiced with Alan Menken during that golden era I was lucky enough to be a kid during. And our job is to continue to push that envelope.
There is a rumor that a demo exists of you singing all 10 “Bruno” parts. Will we ever hear it?
Uh, yes, it exists — I mean, there’s me demos of all of them. But I also know why you want it, you jerks! You want to make funny TikToks with my face on them, and I will not give you the satisfaction! So they will stay on my computer, thank you very much. You want to make your funny little memes! (Laughs.) I will not be here for your meme-ery.
This story will appear in the Dec. 10, 2022, issue of Billboard.
For the second time in his career, Greg Kurstin is the No. 1 Hot 100 Producer of the year.
Thanks to his work with Adele, Maren Morris and Tate McRae, he returns as the year’s top producer for the first time since 2016. Kurstin scored nine entries on the Billboard Hot 100 as a producer during the 2022 chart eligibility period, including Adele’s 10-week No. 1 “Easy On Me.”
Explore All of Billboard’s 2022 Year-End Charts
Here’s a look at all nine of Kurstin’s production credits on the Hot 100 during the 2022 tracking period, which all contribute to his placement on the year-end ranking—Kurstin is the sole credited producer on eight of the songs below, helping boost his chart points (as he does not share chart points with any other individuals):
Peak Position, Artist Billing, Title (producers in addition to Kurstin)No. 1, Adele, “Easy On Me”No. 5, Adele, “Oh My God”No. 18, Adele, “I Drink Wine”No. 23, Adele, “My Little Love”No. 44, Adele “Cry Your Heart Out”No. 44, Tate McRae, “She’s All I Wanna Be”No. 52, Maren Morris, “Circles Around This Town”No. 53, Adele with Erroll Garner, “All Night Parking (Interlude)” (Joey Pecoraro)No. 80, Tate McRae, “Chaotic”
Billboard’s year-end music recaps represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts dated Nov. 20, 2021 through Nov. 12, 2022. The rankings for Luminate-based recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the titles appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology details, and the November-November time period, account for some of the difference between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Luminate.
Kurstin’s 2016 finish as the year’s top producer was also partly powered by Adele. He ruled the year thanks to his work on Adele’s 10-week leader “Hello” and “Water Under The Bridge” (No. 26 peak), plus Ellie Goulding’s “Something In The Way You Move” (No. 43), Sia’s four-week No. 1 “Cheap Thrills” featuring Sean Paul, and Kelly Clarkson’s “Piece By Piece” (No. 8).
Kurstin has been a consistent hitmaker on Billboard’s charts since the late 2010s. His first production credit to chart on the Hot 100 was Lily Allen’s “F*ck You” and “The Fear,” which debuted at Nos. 68 and 91, respectively, on the Feb. 28, 2009 chart. Since then, he’s earned nine top 10s as a producer and four No. 1s: “Hello,” “Cheap Thrills,” “Easy On Me” and Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” in 2012.
Just below Kurstin on the year-end Hot 100 Producers ranking, Dr. Luke (real name: Lukasz Gottwald) finishes at No. 2, thanks to seven production credits on the Hot 100 during the eligibility period. Three of those tracks reached the top 10: Doja Cat’s “Need To Know” (No. 8), Latto’s “Big Energy” (No. 3) and Nicki Minaj’s “Super Freaky Girl,” which spent a week at No. 1. Doja Cat and The Weeknd’s “You Right” came close, peaking at No. 11. Dr. Luke has earned 18 No. 1 hits on the Hot 100 in his career, the third-most of all time (as of this writing) after George Martin and Max Martin, who each have 23.
Plus, Joey Moi finishes at No. 3 on the year-end producers list, largely thanks to his work with Morgan Wallen. Two hits by the country singer-songwriter and produced by Moi reached the top 10 during the chart eligibility period: “Don’t Think Jesus” (No. 7 in April) and “You Proof” (No. 5 in October).
Rounding out the top 5 Hot 100 Producers: Glass Animals’ Dave Bayley closes the year at No. 4, thanks to his production of his record-breaking hit “Heat Waves” (the year’s No. 1 Hot 100 Song), and MAG (real name: Marco Borero) finishes at No. 5, thanks to multiple production credits on the Hot 100, all of which were by Bad Bunny, including the top 10 hits “Moscow Mule” and “Me Porto Bonito,” with Chencho Corleone.
Lin-Manuel Miranda has already won a slew of impressive accolades, including a Pulitzer Prize, Grammys, Tonys and Emmys and now he can add yet another distinction to his resume: he’s No. 1 on the 2022 year-end Hot 100 Songwriters chart.
The multifaceted talent finishes the year at No. 1 thanks to his work on Disney’s Encanto soundtrack, including its five-week Billboard Hot 100 leader “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” credited to Carolina Gaitan, Mauro Castillo, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz and the Encanto Cast. Miranda is credited as the sole songwriter on the track, helping boost his chart points (as he does not split chart points with multiple writers). During its 20-week run on the chart, “Bruno” earned the distinction as the biggest Disney song of all time, based on Billboard’s Greatest Of All Time methodology.
Explore All of Billboard’s 2022 Year-End Charts
In total, Miranda earned eight songwriting credits on the Hot 100 in the 2022 chart year, all from Encanto, which all contributed to his placement on the year-end ranking. Here’s a look at where each song peaked on the Hot 100—Miranda is the only credited writer on each song:
Peak Position, Artist Billing, TitleNo. 1, Carolina Gaitan, Mauro Castillo, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz & Encanto Cast, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”No. 8, Jessica Darrow, “Surface Pressure”No 20, Stephanie Beatriz, Olga Merediz & Encanto Cast, “The Family Madrigal”No. 27, Diane Guerrero & Stephanie Beatriz, “What Else Can I Do?”No. 36, Sebastian Yatra, “Dos Oruguitas”No. 48, Stephanie Beatriz, “Waiting On A Miracle”No. 71, Stephanie Beatriz, Olga Merediz, John Leguizamo, Adassa, Maluma & Encanto Cast, “All of You”No. 100, Carlos Vives, “Colombia, Mi Encanto”
Billboard’s year-end music recaps represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts dated Nov. 20, 2021 through Nov. 12, 2022. The rankings for Luminate-based recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the titles appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology details, and the November-November time period, account for some of the difference between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Luminate.
Prior to 2022, Miranda had only landed seven songs on the Hot 100 as a songwriter (he’s billed as an artist on four of them). He first charted in July 2016 with “Love Make The World Go Round” with Jennifer Lopez (No. 72 peak), and then with four songs from Moana soon after: Opetaia Foa’l and Miranda’s “We Know The Way” (No. 93 peak), Alessia Cara’s “How Far I’ll Go” (No. 56), Dwayne Johnson’s “You’re Welcome” (No. 65) and Auli’I Cravalho’s “How Far I’ll Go” (No. 41). After that, he charted with “Almost Like Praying,” featuring Artists for Puerto Rico (No. 20) and “Found / Tonight” with Ben Platt (No. 49)
His work on the Moana songs helped Miranda finish as the No. 28 Hot 100 Songwriter of 2017.
Miranda is also credited as a producer on all eight of his Encanto chart hits. “Colombia, Mi Encanto” was produced by Miranda and Carlos Vives, while the other seven entries were produced by Miranda and Mike Elizondo.
Miranda’s production work enables his finish as the No. 12 Hot 100 Producer of 2022, while Elizondo finishes just behind him at No. 13.
Just below Miranda on the year-end Hot 100 Songwriters ranking, Glass Animals’ Dave Bayley finished at No. 2, thanks to his writing credit on the band’s “Heat Waves.” The song spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in March-April and spent 37 weeks in the top 10 (beginning on Nov. 13, 2021—the beginning of Billboard’s chart year). The song also made history in October when it passed The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” as the longest-charting song in the Hot 100’s 64-year history, with 91 total weeks spent on the chart.
As “Heat Waves” debuted on the Hot 100 in January 2021, Bayley finished 2021 as the No. 8 songwriter of the year.
Plus, Taylor Swift finishes at No. 3 on the Hot 100 Songwriters recap, thanks to a whopping 50 songwriting credits on the Hot 100 during the chart year, which all contributed to her year-end placement. The songs encompass many of the tracks from Red (Taylor’s Version), which she released in November 2021 and her new LP Midnights, which debuted in the next-to-last week of Billboard’s 2022 chart year, helping boost her final totals.
Of the 50 songs helping Swift’s year-end placement, 11 reached the top 10 on the weekly Hot 100 and two hit No. 1: “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” and “Anti-Hero.”
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Rounding out the top 5 of the year-end Hot 100 Songwriters ranking, Harry Styles finishes at No. 4 (thanks to 13 writing credits, including the No. 1, “As It Was”) and Doja Cat close out at No. 5 (eight writing credits).
Things, for a while, have been unprecedented. Following an 18-month quiet period for concert venues worldwide, doors slowly opened, first in the U.S. and increasingly so around the globe. This made for an excepted review of touring in 2021, but the full return of live music presents a much fuller picture this year. With the 2022 year-end Boxscore recap, precedents continue to fade as Bad Bunny finishes as the year’s top touring act (No. 1 on Top Tours) with total gross of $373.5 million from 1.8 million tickets across 65 shows.
Explore All of Billboard’s 2022 Year-End Charts
Bad Bunny is the first Latin act, and first act who doesn’t perform in English, to finish atop Billboard’s year-end Top Tours chart. Beyond the historic nature of his win for genre and language, he is the only artist to mount separate $100-million tours in the same year.
Further, while Boxscore charts often favor older acts with deeper histories on the road, like 2020 and 2021 champs Elton John and The Rolling Stones, Bad Bunny’s win this year is a testament to the growing power of contemporary stadium acts. In fact, the 28-year-old is just the third artist to simultaneously crown the year-end Top Tours and overall Top Artists charts, following Taylor Swift in 2015 and One Direction in 2014.
Bad Bunny’s year in touring breaks down into several parts. First, he played two hometown stadium shows at San Juan’s Hiram Bithorn Stadium, earning $6.5 million on Dec. 10-11, 2021. That was followed by El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo, an arena run named after his 2020 album that broke ground as the first all-Spanish-language set to top the weekly Billboard 200 chart. On that trek, he earned $116.8 million from 35 shows, enough to set a record for the highest-grossing Latin tour in Boxscore history.
Billboard’s Year-End Boxscore charts are based on figures reported to Billboard Boxscore for engagements that played between Nov. 1, 2021-Oct. 31, 2022.
That tour broke local records in Inglewood, Calif., Miami, Houston, Seattle, and more, setting the stage for an even bigger fall in 2022. After releasing Un Verano Sin Ti and spending most the summer at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Bad Bunny played three Puerto Rico shows for a $4 million gross, and then properly embarked on World’s Hottest Tour, living up to its name at each stop.
The trek leveled Bad Bunny to stadiums and took in $232.5 million in North America, plus another $13.8 million from its first four Latin American shows. After setting arena records throughout the U.S. in the spring, he set revenue records in 12 of the 15 domestic markets he played in the fall. While Daddy Yankee’s La Ultima Vuelta World Tour quickly stole Bunny’s all-time Latin tour record from earlier this year, World’s Hottest Tour re-sets the pace as the first pan-American stadium tour of its size.
All of that combines to $373.5 million during the twelve-month tracking period, amounting to a record-setting, historic No. 1 finish, eclipsing Elton John and Ed Sheeran at Nos. 2-3, each of whom was a previous year-end victor.
These men lead the most eye-popping Top Tours chart ever. Five acts grossed more than $200 million, beating the previous high of four in 2018, and 16 acts generated more than $100 million in ticket sales, nearly doubling the previous high of nine in 2017 and 2018.
Tems tops the first-ever year-end Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs Artists ranking, representing the best-performing acts on the genre’s song charts for 2022. The singer-songwriter’s victory parade extends to the year’s Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs recap, where she shares top honors with Wizkid for “Essence” and claims three more songs in the year-end top 10.
The Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart launched for the chart dated April 2, 2022, and ranks the 50 most popular Afrobeats songs in the U.S., ranked by a weighted formula incorporating official streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of leading audio and video music services, plus download sales from top music retailers, as compiled by Luminate.
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Behind Tems, Burna Boy finishes second on the year-end artist recap, spurred by 27 charting songs during the chart year, the most of any act. Among the haul is the genre giant’s “Last Last,” which became his first No. 1 on the U.S. Afrobeats chart in July. The song’s appeal, though, crossed barriers: It also topped the U.S.-based Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart and was likely familiar to listeners thanks to its sample of “He Wasn’t Man Enough,” a 2001 hit for Toni Braxton. “Last,” meanwhile, is far from that on the year-end songs recap, where it places at No. 5.
Rounding out the top five artists, CKay comes in third, with Wizkid next in line and Asake taking fifth place.
Billboard’s year-end music recaps represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts dated Nov. 20, 2021 through Nov. 12, 2022. The rankings for Luminate-based recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the titles appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology details, and the November-November time period, account for some of the difference between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Luminate.
Crossover Hits Capture Songs Crown: As mentioned, Wizkid’s “Essence,” featuring Tems, is the first year-end Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs champ. In a testament to its endurance, the smash ruled for two weeks in July this year, despite a 2021 release and peak on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in October 2021. The global hit bowed at No. 3 on the first edition of the U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart and spent its first 34 weeks inside the top five.
Fireboy DML and Ed Sheeran’s “Peru” ranks second on the year-end songs recap. Like “Essence,” the popular remix too became a crossover smash stateside, with a No. 7 peak on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart and No. 53 high on the Hot 100.
Crossover hits fill out the remaining top spots on the inaugural songs recap, with CKay’s “Love Nwantiti (Ah Ah Ah)” – the first No. 1 hit on the weekly chart upon its April launch – at No. 3. The tune rolled to a No. 26 best on the Hot 100 and captured the No. 1 perch on both the weekly Rhythmic Airplay and Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay lists in the year.
Tems’ “Free Mind” wraps 2022 in fourth place on year-end U.S. Afrobeats Songs. The track, which originally appeared on the singer’s For Broken Ears EP in 2020, found a renewed audience and buzz in 2022 in the wake of “Essence” and she and Drake’s featured spot on Future’s “Wait for U,” a No. 1 Hot 100 hit this year. Thanks to that revival, “Mind” climbed to No. 1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart this year and No. 46 on the Hot 100.
In addition to “Essence” and “Free Mind,” Tems lands two more tracks in the year-end top 10: “Higher” at No. 7 and “Found,” featuring Brent Faiyaz, at No. 10. She, Burna Boy and Ed Sheeran are the only acts with multiple entries in the top tier. In addition to his “Last Last” smash, Burna Boy closes at No. 10 with “For My Hand,” featuring Ed Sheeran.
For a second straight year, Republic Records is No. 1 on all three of Billboard’s leading year-end label rankings: Top Labels, Billboard 200 Labels and Billboard Hot 100 Labels. The company achieved the triple for the first time in 2021.
Republic has triumphed on the year-end Top Labels tally in six of the last eight years, and as the top Hot 100 Label in nine of the last 11 years.
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During the 2022 tracking year, Republic placed 72 albums on the weekly Billboard 200 chart, including the most that reached the top 10 (23) and top 40 (40) of any label. Among those were five No. 1s: Taylor Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version) and Midnights, Drake’s Honestly, Nevermind (released via OVO Sound/Republic) and Stray Kids’ ODDINARY and MAXIDENT (JYP/Imperial/Republic).
Billboard’s year-end music Top Labels chart represents aggregated metrics for labels’ performance on the weekly Billboard 200 albums chart and the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart combined during the 2022 charts tracking year: Nov. 20, 2021 through Nov. 12, 2022-dated charts. Any activity registered before or after an album or song’s chart run isn’t considered in this ranking. The individual Billboard 200 Labels and Billboard Hot 100 Labels rankings represent the same measurement, but for each specific chart, during the same tracking period.
For a second consecutive year, and third time in the last four years, Republic lays claim to half of the year-end top 10 Billboard 200 Albums. Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album (Big Loud/Republic) is No. 3, Taylor Swift’s Midnights and Red (Taylor’s Version) are Nos. 4 and 5, Drake’s Certified Lover Boy (OVO Sound/Republic) is No. 9 and The Weeknd’s The Highlights (XO/Republic) is No. 10.
On the weekly Hot 100 during the chart year, Republic placed more chart entries (119), top 40 hits (60), top 10s (21) and No. 1s (five) than any label. The company also boasts the year-end No. 1 Hot 100 Song in Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” (Wolf Tone/Polydor/Republic). It’s the third time in the last five years where the year’s top Hot 100 Song is from Republic, following The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” (XO/Republic, 2020) and Drake’s “God’s Plan” (Young Money/Cash Money/Republic, 2018).
Latto finishes 2022 as Billboard’s top new artist, after her breakthrough year on the charts with the smash single “Big Energy.”
The 23-year-old Atlanta-born rapper is also 2022’s Top New R&B/Hip-Hop Artist and the top female rap artist, while “Big Energy” is No. 1 on the year-end R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales, Rap Digital Song Sales and Rhythmic Airplay Songs recaps.
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Latto’s “Big Energy” was a big deal in 2022, peaking at No. 3 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart in April and spending 37 weeks (all consecutive) in the top 40 of the weekly chart. The track flourished in popularity on TikTok and eventually migrated to hit status at streamers, retail and radio. It vaulted to No. 3 following the release of a new remix of the track with Mariah Carey and featuring DJ Khaled.
On the “Big Energy” remix, Carey sings a portion of her 1995 No. 1 Hot 100 hit “Fantasy” – both songs sample Tom Tom Club’s 1982 Hot 100 hit “Genius of Love.”
“Big Energy” also closes 2022 at No. 7 on the year-end Hot 100 Songs roundup. Aside from “Big Energy,” Latto notched another hit on the Hot 100 during the 2022 chart year through her featured turn on Megan Thee Stallion’s “Budget.”
Latto additionally landed a top 20-charting album on the Billboard 200 with the song’s parent set, 777, peaking at No. 15 in April.
Latto follows recent year-end top new artist honorees Olivia Rodrigo (2021), Roddy Ricch (2020), Billie Eilish (2019), Cardi B (2018), Lil Uzi Vert (2017), Bryson Tiller (2016) and Fetty Wap (2015).
Billboard’s year-end music recaps represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts dated Nov. 20, 2021 through Nov. 12, 2022. The rankings for Luminate-based recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the titles appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology details, and the November-November time period, account for some of the difference between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Luminate. The Top New Artists category ranks the best-performing new acts of the year based on activity on the Billboard 200 albums and Billboard Hot 100 songs charts, as well as Billboard Boxscore (touring), for the 2022 tracking period.
2022 was the year of Bad Bunny. The superstar rules Billboard’s year-end Top Artists chart for the first time and his blockbuster release Un Verano Sin Ti is the year-end No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Albums recap. It’s both the first time that an act that primarily records in Spanish is the year’s top artist, and a mostly non-English-language set is the biggest album of the year. (Billboard began compiling the year-end Top Artists category in 1981, and albums in 1956.)
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The 28-year-old Puerto Rican (born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio) crowns the year-end Top Artists tally thanks largely to the extraordinary success of his second No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the all-Spanish-language Un Verano Sin Ti, and its slew of hits on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. Un Verano Sin Ti debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 dated May 21 and spent 13 nonconsecutive weeks atop the chart – the most weeks at No. 1 since 2016. The set also never left the top two positions of the weekly list in its first 24 weeks – becoming the first album to spend its first six months in the top two.
Un Verano Sin Ti also marked just the second all-Spanish-language album to reach No. 1 on the weekly Billboard 200, following Bad Bunny’s own El Ultimo Tour del Mundo in 2020.
Billboard’s year-end music recaps represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts dated Nov. 20, 2021 through Nov. 12, 2022. The rankings for Luminate-based recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the titles appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology details, and the November-November time period, account for some of the difference between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Luminate. The Top Artists and Top New Artists categories ranks the best-performing overall acts, and new acts, of the year based on activity on the Billboard 200 album and Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, as well as Billboard Boxscore (touring) data, for the 2022 tracking period.
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Bad Bunny also profited from the continued success of four of his other albums – YHLQMDLG, El Ultimo Tour del Mundo, X 100PRE and the boxed set Anniversary Trilogy – all of which charted on the Billboard 200 during the 2022 tracking year. In total, Bad Bunny places four albums on the year-end Billboard 200 Albums chart – Un Verano Sin Ti (No. 1), YHLQMDLG (No. 36), El Ultimo Tour del Mundo (No. 69) and X 100PRE (No. 165).
Un Verano Sin Ti saw 22 of its 23 songs debut on the Hot 100 concurrent with the album’s release (the one album track that didn’t debut had already hit the list in 2019). On the year-end Hot 100 Songs recap, Bad Bunny places seven titles, led by “Me Porto Bonito,” with Chencho Corleone, at No. 20. Fueled by the success of the 24 songs he placed on the Hot 100 during the chart year, Bunny is No. 1 on Hot 100 Artists recap for 2022.
Bad Bunny is additionally 2022’s top male artist for the first time, while Taylor Swift is the top female (No. 2 on the overall list), Glass Animals is the top duo/group (No. 18 overall) and Latto leads the 2022 Top New Artists chart (No. 34 overall).
It’s Bad Bunny’s first time as the year’s top male, while for Swift, it’s her sixth time as the lead female (she was also tops in 2020, 2018, 2015, 2013 and 2009). She notched a pair of new No. 1s on the Billboard 200 during the chart year — Red (Taylor’s Version) and Midnights — which finish at Nos. 5 and 4, respectively, on the year-end Billboard 200 Albums chart. It’s the first time one act has two of the top five year-end biggest albums since 1975, when John Denver was Nos. 3 and 4 with John Denver’s Greatest Hits and Back Home Again.
Glass Animals also triumph as the year’s top/duo group for the first time, largely powered by the act’s smash single “Heat Waves” – the British band’s first No. 1 on the weekly Hot 100. It also broke the record for the longest-charting Hot 100 hit (91 weeks) and wraps 2022 at No. 1 on the Hot 100 Songs year-end recap.
Glass Animals‘ “Heat Waves” reigns as the No. 1 hit on Billboard‘s 2022 year-end Hot 100 Songs chart, following its sizzling, record-breaking run on the weekly ranking, which blends streaming, radio airplay and sales data.
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Meanwhile, Bad Bunny tops Billboard‘s 2022 year-end Hot 100 Artists recap. He charted all 22 newly released tracks on his album Un Verano Sin Ti on the Hot 100 in the album’s explosive first chart week in May, including four in the top 10.
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“Heat Waves” tops Billboard‘s 2022 year-end Hot 100 Songs chart after it completed the longest climb to the weekly Hot 100’s summit in the chart’s history: 59 weeks.
The first Hot 100 leader (and entry) for British quartet Glass Animals – Dave Bayley, Edmund Irwin-Singer, Drew MacFarlane and Joe Seaward – debuted on the Jan. 16, 2021-dated chart and spent five weeks at No. 1 this March-April. Released in June 2020, the track subsequently topped weekly alternative, pop and adult radio airplay tallies, and, helping spark its multi-format crossover, connected prominently on TikTok.
Billboard’s year-end music recaps represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts dated Nov. 20, 2021 through Nov. 12, 2022. The rankings for Luminate-based recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the titles appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology details, and the November-November time period, account for some of the difference between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Luminate.
“The song is about nostalgia and the past, and remembering and missing people,” Bayley mused upon the single’s Hot 100 coronation. “I think through the last couple years, and still now, people have been missing their loved ones, and not everyone’s been able to just go visit their parents, or their best friend. It’s been quite difficult … that’s my hunch as to why people have gravitated towards this song.
“I almost feel like it gives us a little bit of breathing room,” Bayley added of the song’s success. “I think there’s often a lot of pressure to keep putting things out. But because this has kept going, it’s given us the confidence to just keep doing what we were doing.”
“Heat Waves,” released on Wolf Tone/Polydor/Republic Records, went on to spend a record 91 weeks on the Hot 100 overall.
“When I wrote this song, I was writing about missing someone I loved very dearly,” Bayley further shared when “Heat Waves” rewrote the Hot 100’s new longevity mark. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think that it would lead to so much love and connection across the globe.”
“Heat Waves” is the first year-end Hot 100 No. 1 by a group (of more than two members) since The Black Eyed Peas’ “Boom Boom Pow” in 2009. Plus, until this year, no British group had led the year-end list since The Police with “Every Breath You Take” in 1983. (Among duos, U.S.-based Macklemore & Ryan Lewis topped the 2013 tally with “Thrift Shop,” featuring Wanz; among non-solo British acts, in between Glass Animals and The Police, Wham! wrapped at No. 1 for 1985 with “Careless Whisper.”)
“Heat Waves” is also the No. 1 title on the 2022 year-end Streaming Songs chart.
Harry Styles’ “As It Was” places at No. 2 on the 2022 year-end Hot 100 Songs chart, after it ruled the weekly Hot 100 for 15 weeks, the fourth-longest command in the chart’s history. The single also tops the year-end Billboard Global 200, Billboard Global Excl. U.S. and Pop Airplay Songs charts.
The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber’s “Stay” ranks at No. 3 on the 2022 year-end Hot 100 Songs chart and leads the year-end Radio Songs and Adult Pop Airplay Song tallies; Adele’s “Easy on Me” finishes at No. 4 on the year-end Hot 100 Songs survey and is the No. 1 title of the year on Adult Contemporary Songs; and Ed Sheeran’s “Shivers” places at No. 5 on the year-end Hot 100 Songs ranking.
Rounding out the top 10 of the year-end Hot 100 Songs chart: Jack Harlow’s “First Class” (No. 6); Latto’s “Big Energy” (No. 7); Bieber’s “Ghost” (No. 8); Kodak Black’s “Super Gremlin” (No. 9); and Elton John and Dua Lipa’s “Cold Heart (Pnau Remix)” (No. 10), also the top title on the year-end Digital Song Sales chart.
While Lipa landed the No. 1 spot on the 2021 year-end Hot 100 Songs chart with “Levitating,” John scores his highest yearly placement since “Candle in the Wind 1997″/”Something About the Way You Look Tonight” was No. 8 in 1998 (after finishing at No. 1 in 1997).
Bad Bunny crowns Billboard‘s 2022 year-end Hot 100 Artists chart. He sent all 22 newly-released tracks on his album Un Verano Sin Ti, released on Rimas Entertainment, onto the Hot 100 in the album’s first chart week in May, including four in the top 10. Among those four, “Me Porto Bonito,” with Chencho Corleone, finishes highest on the year-end Hot 100 Songs recap, at No. 20.
Bad Bunny also rules the year’s overall Top Artists chart, while Un Verano Sin Ti is 2022’s No. 1 title on the Billboard 200 Albums year-end retrospective.
Doja Cat places second on Billboard‘s 2022 year-end Hot 100 Artists chart, having notched three new top 10s on the weekly Hot 100 during the year, followed in the top 10 by Styles (No. 3); Sheeran (No. 4); Morgan Wallen (No. 5); Taylor Swift (No. 6); Bieber (No. 7); Drake (No. 8); Future (No. 9); and Lil Baby (No. 10).
Meanwhile, Republic Records tops Billboard‘s 2022 year-end Hot 100 Labels chart. The label defends its 2021 title, after it also led during the last decade in 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014.