Categoría: Billboard

Cardi B is never one to back down from confrontation and she’s had her fair share of spats in the rap game over the course of the last decade while rising to superstardom. The Grammy-winning rapper graced the cover of Billboard on Wednesday (Sept. 3), and part of the conversation found her dishing on why feuds between women in hip-hop continue to thrive. “No lie, these b–ches be catty. You can’t prevent a b–ch from being shady,” Cardi said. “Sometimes b–ches want to see what you’re about. They want to test you and they want to test your gangsta. She continued: “A lot of the b–ches will come in this game and feel like they can challenge you. Some b–ches like to die young. In this game, you need to really know who you’re challenging.” Cardi’s been involved in highly publicized feuds over the years, including her beef with fellow New York titan Nicki Minaj. She’s also tangled with other rappers like JT, BIA and Akbar V at various times in her decorated career. However, Cardi opened up about being a mentor to emerging artists as well. Even if there’s no relationship there, the Bronx native will hop into their DMs with words of encouragement and advice. “Sometimes you got to let b–ches learn on their own,” she added. “I have to because there were so many b–ches that I’ve sat down and given advice from the heart. Like, if I see people bullying you because of whatever the f–k, I’m going to go in your DMs and give you advice.” There are times she feels like she has to hold back: “But sometimes I got to really hold myself [back] and say, ‘No, b–ch. Don’t do it,’ because these b–ches turned their backs on me, f–ked my man, talked about me and somebody told me about it.” Next up, Cardi will deliver her long-anticipated sophomore album Am I the Drama? on Sept. 19. She picked up another legal victory on Tuesday (Sept. 2) when jurors rejected claims she assaulted a security guard during an altercation in 2018 following a week-long civil trial in Los Angeles. Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox Sign Up Source link

Travis Kelce has stayed in that lavender haze ever since proposing to Taylor Swift. On the latest episode of his and brother Jason Kelce’s New Heights podcast posted Wednesday (Sept. 3), the Kansas City Chiefs tight end gushed about what it’s been like these first few weeks after getting down on one knee and asking the 14-time Grammy winner to marry him. When pressed for his advice on how to execute the perfect proposal — aside from picking out a massive diamond ring, as Travis did for Swift — he simply said, “You’ve gotta know your gal.” “You can’t let how somebody else does it make you feel like you need to do it that way,” he continued. “I would just say, know your partner, know who you’re doing it for, and do it for the right reasons. Everything else will be beautiful.” After Jason noted that Travis will soon have to start wedding planning with his superstar bride-to-be, the Grotesquerie actor replied with a smile, “That is the next step, yeah.” The episode comes eight days after Travis and Swift announced their plans to tie the knot, sharing photos on Instagram of the athlete proposing on one knee in a garden of roses. “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,” they’d written in the caption. The internet has since been flooded with messages of excitement and congratulations for the happy couple, who made their first public appearance since sharing the big news at a Cincinnati Bearcats game in Kansas City. While there, Travis got to introduce Swift to people as his fiancée, something he said on New Heights still makes him “giddy.” “It’s been really fun telling everybody who I’m going to be spending the rest of my life with,” the three-time Super Bowl winner added on the show, noting how much he’s loved seeing people’s reactions to the announcement online. In addition to wedding planning, both Travis and Swift are coming up on some major career events. In early September, the former will begin his 13th season playing for the Chiefs, while the latter is set to drop The Life of a Showgirl — her follow-up to 17-week Billboard 200-topper The Tortured Poets Department — on Oct. 3. Watch the full new episode of New Heights below. Source link

In honor of Power Players week, Billboard’s Hip-Hop team celebrates the legendary hip-hop labels that molded the superstars we love. 9/3/2025 Clockwise, from top left: LL Cool J, Tupac, Kendrick Lamar, Jay-Z Mara Ocejo (@maraocejo) As Hip-Hop shaped the sound of the streets and transformed the music industry, these legendary record labels brought the genre’s vision to life and helped it dominate the world. The iconic labels listed below have nurtured groundbreaking talent, released countless timeless classics, and played a crucial role in shaping hip-hop’s evolution as both an art form and a movement. Without Death Row Records, there would be no Snoop Dogg; without Bad Boy, no Notorious B.I.G.; without Young Money, no Drake. The list goes on, but the point is clear: without the right label to steer the ship, many of the rappers we know and love might never have gained the exposure needed to reach superstardom. Before joining Aftermath, Eminem was a struggling battle rapper living in a Detroit trailer park, and Kendrick Lamar might never have risen beyond his Compton roots. The Beastie Boys wouldn’t have been the first rap group to top the Billboard 200 without Def Jam, and Wu-Tang Clan might not have redefined New York hip-hop without Loud Records. Many of the culture’s most visionary labels are just as legendary as the artists they’ve supported — their rags-to-riches stories serving as prime examples of the American Dream. As the Billboard staff evaluated which labels truly reign supreme, several factors were considered: the label’s longevity, its chart success, cultural impact, influence, and, of course, the number of classic albums they’ve produced. While major labels did influence a lot of these rosters’ ascents, most of the credit ultimately lies with the indies underneath them — so majors won’t be included in this list. Without further ado, here are the 25 most impactful hip-hop record labels of all time. Rawkus Records Image Credit: Anthony Barboza/Getty Images Ironically founded by Rupert Murdoch’s son James Murdoch and his college buddies Brian Brater and Jarret Myer, Rawkus played an important role in the mid-to-late ‘90s, as the label gave some of the era’s best underground acts a home. Company Flow’s Funcrusher Plus, Black Star’s Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, Mos Def’s Black on Both Sides, Pharoahe Monch’s Internal Affairs, and the classic compilation Soundbombing II were all released before the turn or the millennium. Then when the year 2000 came around and the world didn’t end, Rawkus dropped Big L’s posthumous album The Big Picture and Reflection Eternal’s debut Train of Thought. Eat your heart out, Kendall Roy. — ANGEL DIAZ Biggest Stars: Black Star, Pharoahe Monch, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Reflection Eternal, Company Flow Hypnotize Minds Productions You can still hear Three 6 Mafia’s horrorcore influence in rap today. The group’s DNA is unmissable in A$AP Rocky’s music, as well as Travis Scott’s — and the label was even affiliated with Jelly Roll for a brief period when he was a rapper in the group SNO, alongside BPZ and Hypnotize Mind signee Lil Whyte, which released the 2011 album Year Round. Triple 6 was also the first rap group to win an Oscar, and became the first act to perform at the ceremony when it took home best original song back in 2006. And the impact doesn’t stop there, as the label was once home to influential rappers like La Chat, Gangsta Boo, Lord Infamous and Project Pat, who have all seen a resurgence in interest in recent years thanks to the Internet. Hypnotize Minds is easily the most notable label out of Memphis since Sun and Stax Records. — A.D. Biggest Stars: Three 6 Mafia, Project Pat, Gangsta Boo, Lord Infamous, La Chat Strange Music Inc. Strange Music’s independent impact was felt almost immediately after Tech N9ne and Travis O’Guin founded it in 2000. The label served as an oasis for indie artists who didn’t fit neatly into the mainstream regiments, and in turn championed their creative ambitions to a groundbreaking extent. Strange Music Inc. quickly rose to be the biggest independent rap label in history, with artists like Tech N9ne and ¡Mayday! leading the charge. The trailblazing label focused on touring, merchandise and direct-fan engagement, creating a company that endured because of its innovative approach to bonding with its supporters. Throw in the fact that the label blended rock and rap at a time when that was still seen as uncool, Strange Music Inc. is one of the most unique labels out there. — MACKENZIE CUMMINGS-GRADY Biggest Stars: Tech N9ne Tech N9ne, ¡Mayday!, Krizz Kaliko Collective Music Group (CMG) Image Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Though Yo Gotti carved out a fruitful career as a rap artist, cementing himself as a Memphis mainstay in the late 2000s and 2010s, it’s his executive run that may ultimately define his legacy. Under his leadership, CMG (Collective Music Group) blossomed into a powerhouse during the early 2020s, as he stacked the roster with heavy hitters like MoneyBagg Yo, 42 Dugg, EST Gee and Mozzy, flexing his ability to scout stars across regions. His biggest win came in 2022, when the CMG boss snatched up Memphis phenom GloRilla fresh off her rookie explosion, powered by the runaway anthem “F.N.F.,” a breakout Hot 100 hit that made her the label’s crown jewel. – CARL LAMARRE Biggest Stars: Yo Gotti, GloRilla, Moneybagg Yo, EST Gee, Blac Youngsta Quality Control Music Co-founded by Pierre “P” Thomas and Kevin “Coach K” Lee, Quality Control Music elevated the Migos to stardom in the mid-2010s, as Atlanta became the rap capital of the world and hip-hop’s centrifugal force. While the Migos were redefining trap and racking up Billboard Hot 100 hits, QC continued to expand its roster and introduce Lil Yachty, Lil Baby and the City Girls into the rap zeitgeist. P and Coach K also signed Cardi B to a management deal in 2018. Baby became one of the torchbearers leading rap into the 2020s and Scooter Braun’s HYBE America reached

As LiAngelo Ball’s brothers, top NBA draft picks Lonzo and LaMelo, were inking NBA contracts worth upwards of eight figures, LiAngelo went undrafted and couldn’t make an NBA roster. His own hoop dreams were on life support — but his confidence never wavered. “I always told myself I would be great at something, even if the hoops don’t work,” the 26-year-old now says with conviction. “I just never knew it would be rap, and I just ran with it.” The first hit rap song of 2025 came not from Drake, Kendrick Lamar or Travis Scott, but from the 6-foot-5, tattoo-covered Ball — who now records as GELO. In January, the hooper-turned-rapper set social media ablaze with his scorching “Tweaker,” a nostalgic sonic recall to Big Tymers with an earworm of a hook that organically rose from NBA and NFL locker rooms to the Billboard charts in just two weeks. Livestreamers serve as today’s 106 & Park, and GELO accordingly had first previewed a snippet of the thumping track during an appearance with popular streaming personality N3on in late December. “When it got posted, everybody was sending it back to me like, ‘Hey, bro, you need to start making music,’ ” Ball recalls. “I had hella music, but I’d just [keep] it to myself until I did that.” The song’s catchy “I might swerve, bend that corner, whoa” hook took on a life of its own on social media, and “Tweaker” soundtracked a 2000s-themed skit from internet comedian Druski, filled with tall T-shirts and baggy jorts. Memes flooded X that riffed on its throwback aesthetic, ranging from fans inserting “Tweaker” on the ­Madden NFL 2005 soundtrack to jokingly burning a “Tweaker” CD. Soon the full single premiered on WorldStarHipHop, and it hit streaming services on Jan. 3. “Tweaker” catapulted to a top 40 Billboard Hot 100 debut (and a No. 29 peak) with 12.4 million streams in the United States in its opening week, according to Luminate. Erica Hernández Labels quickly came calling and GELO wasted no time signing with Def Jam — a deal announced Jan. 13 by ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania, who reported that it was “worth as much as $13 million, with $8 million guaranteed,” while GELO retained ownership of his masters. (Def Jam declined to comment on the contract’s specifics.) Rolling Loud California added GELO to its March festival lineup, and he gave “Tweaker” its live debut in front of 80,000 NFL fans in Detroit during the Lions’ playoff game against the Washington Commanders on Jan. 18. “Tweaker” also yielded some impressive co-signs: GELO heard from industry vets like E-40, Tyga, Boosie Badazz and Lil Wayne, the lattermost of whom appeared on the “Tweaker” remix; GELO calls the collaboration a “perfect fit” and compares having Weezy on a track to “hooping with [Michael] Jordan.” Even though GELO’s meteoric success came faster than he could “swerve bend that corner,” his life prepared him for the bright lights. With Lonzo leading the way as ESPN’s top-ranked high school player in California for the class of 2016, the Ball brothers grew up as basketball royalty in the Los Angeles suburb of Chino Hills. Looking back, GELO laughs at how he was signing autographs for classmates as long ago as elementary school, as the trio went on to pack high school gyms across the state. But it’s easy to see where he gets his confidence: His father, the boisterous patriarch LaVar Ball who played collegiate basketball and had a practice squad stint in the NFL, has long promoted his sons’ NBA aspirations and his own Big Baller Brand of sports apparel. “My dad showed me how to be like that since [I was] real young,” GELO says. “So I think my mind is poised.” Erica Hernández Lonzo and LaMelo were drafted into the NBA in 2017 and 2020, respectively. But while GELO played collegiate hoops at UCLA and bounced from a Lithuanian league to brief tenures in training camps with the Detroit Pistons and Charlotte Hornets, he never suited up for an NBA game. Now, with a breakout hit, he wants to prove his talent goes way beyond just “Tweaker” — starting with his debut album, League of My Own, which arrived July 18. On the album, he comes out of the gate firing with the braggadocious, trunk-rattling opener “Pollaseeds,” a track targeting his opposition that interpolates Fast Life Yungstaz’ 2009 classic, “Swag Surfin’.” “I kind of wanted to reboot it a little bit and swag it out for the younger generation,” he explains. The album’s not a complete sonic rehash of “Tweaker,” either. GELO’s experimentation took a melodic turn on “Humble Abode,” a vulnerable moment where he admits he’s not completely bulletproof. “It’s stuff that people go through every day, damn near, so I feel like [they] could relate,” he says. “It’s just a matter of putting it in a swaggy way on the beat.” A deluxe edition of League of My Own is in the works and tentatively set for a September release. While the original album boasts a lone feature from GloRilla, GELO expects a few collaborations to land on the deluxe. And as the chatter around GELO’s rap career, family and relationships has gotten louder, he has remained focused. “I don’t really listen to outside noise,” he says. “I’m pretty levelheaded, and I know what I’m about as a person. “I do feel like I opened a lane for athletes in general,” he continues. “It’s probably more comfortable for them to put out music now. I’ll be telling all my homies this s–t. Bro, I could rap until I’m like 60. I feel like I have bangers for real.” This story appears in the Aug. 30, 2025, issue of Billboard. Source link

Denzel Washington co-stars alongside A$AP Rocky in Spike Lee’s latest film, Highest 2 Lowest, and Denzel raved about the Harlem native during a Tuesday (Sept. 2) appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! “You know what, I get it, Rihanna,” Washington said with a smile about the singer’s longtime love, with whom she has two children and one on the way. “He’s a very intelligent young man, he’s very nice, he’s handsome, he’s a good guy. I get it. He’s a good dude. He’s smart — a very bright man.” Kimmel then pried Denzel’s favorite rappers of all-time out of him. “Nas is one of my favorites ever,” the Academy Award-winning actor replied. “Because I talk a lot, he’s a wordsmith. I’m up on this young girl, Samara Cyn, and Smino ‘Brand New Teeth.’” Highest 2 Lowest was actually in Denzel’s hands first before Lee picked it up. Washington read the script and was enthralled with it, but realized there was no director attached to the film. With Lee an avowed fan of legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa (Highest 2 Lowest is a reinterpretation of his 1963 Japanese film High and Low) and the movie feeling like a New York story, Washington knew his old friend and frequent collaborator Lee was the perfect man for the job. “This project came to me first and I thought, ‘Hey, this is a New York story.’ And I brought it to Spike,” he said. “I read a script… I liked it and there wasn’t a director attached, I said, ‘Spike.’” The interview took plenty of turns and an animated Washington was up for the ride. Kimmel peppered him with music icons, wondering if the actor ever had the chance to strike up a friendship with them, ranging from Aretha Franklin to Stevie Wonder and James Brown. Washington flexed that he spent New Year’s Eve in the Bahamas at Lenny Kravitz’s house with Parliament-Funkadelic mastermind George Clinton. Denzel even FaceTimed Kravitz during his interview, catching the eternally jacked 61-year-old singer fresh out of the shower after a workout, which made for a hilarious moment when a fan from the audience popped into frame to say a nervous hello. Highest 2 Lowest is currently in theaters and comes to Apple TV+ on Sept. 5. Watch the full interview below.    Source link

With an announcement expected soon, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell cranked up the hype machine for the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show to 11 on Wednesday morning (Sept. 3) when he appeared on the Today Show and casually dropped the biggest name in the pop universe as a possibility. Asked if it’s possible that Taylor Swift might do the honors on Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., Goodell played it coy while saying the loudest part out loud. “We would always love to have Taylor play. She is a special, special talent, and obviously she would be welcome at any time,” he said. Asked by co-host Savannah Guthrie if a Swift-time show is in the works, Goodell said, “I can’t tell you anything about it.” When Guthrie wondered if it was a “maybe,” Goodell continued the tease, adding, “It’s a maybe.” Swift’s name has bubbled up as a possible halftime performer in the run-up to what is typically an early September announcement for a number of reasons. The first, of course, is that she has become a staple at NFL games over the past two years thanks to her relationship with Super Bowl-winning Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, to whom she got engaged last month. The singer also has a new album coming out on Oct. 3, The Life of a Showgirl. Whoever it is, they will have big shoes to fill after Kendrick Lamar crushed it at this year’s halftime in February. Billboard has gotten in on the speculation, with everyone from Swift to Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey, Justin Bieber, Drake, BTS, Bay area legends Green Day and Metallica and Jay-Z making our short list. While avowed Swiftie Goodell kept it vague with Today, he added, “I’m waiting for my friend Jay-Z. It’s in his hands. I’m waiting for the smoke to come out.” Jay-Z and his company Roc Nation, have been producing the Super Bowl halftime shows since 2020. While the roster has leaned into the R&B/hip-hop vein since then, with shows by The Weeknd, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, Anderson .Paak and Kendrick Lamar, Rihanna, Usher and Lamar last year, Swift’s name has perennially been in the mix as a possible performer on the biggest stage of the year. And in her inimitable fashion, Swift has been subtly dropping Easter eggs that seem to point to a possible Santa Clara Sunday in February. In advance of the album that Swift has teased will bring back her big pop era, the singer announced the LP on the Kelce brothers’ New Heights podcast last month, noting that she learned she’d secured the rights to her master recordings just a few months before attending this year’s Super Bowl. She also noted that she used to not pay attention to the big game growing up, though her dad was a huge NFL fan. “My relationship with sports was like, I grew up in Pennsylvania, I always heard my dad yelling at the screen watching Eagles games,” she said. “I was up in my room playing guitar, learning instruments, playing piano — I was focused on different things. I would go to sporting events so that I could sing the national anthem. I know every halftime show from the Super Bowls, but I didn’t watch the sports.” Though her focus on the halftime show was seemingly random, she also did a deep dive into her latest obsession: sourdough bread. That was telling because the mascot for the San Francisco 49ers franchise — whose home stadium will host the game — is Sourdough Sam and the this season will end with the 60th Super Bowl, a number that just happens to match the percentage Swift used to describe her level of bread talk lately. Swift also kept bringing up the number 47 during the pod, thanking co-host Jason Kelce for “screaming for like 47 seconds for me” and saying she’d visited “47,000” countries on her Eras Tour (actually 21). It’s worth noting that the 47th of 149 shows on the global Eras tour was, of course, July 2023 at Levi’s Stadium. Never a coincidence, as Swifties know all too well. Watch Goodell talk potential Swift halftime performance below.    Source link

Alex Warren has ruled the past several months with his exalted celebration of love, “Ordinary.” In addition to 10 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, it spent all 14 weeks atop Billboard‘s seasonal Songs of the Summer chart. But his latest single takes a much more somber tone. “Eternity,” which is No. 83 in its sixth week on the Hot 100, heartbreakingly addresses Warren losing both his parents before he turned 21 years old and the acute, unabating sense of loss. Both songs are featured on Warren’s first full-length Atlantic album, You’ll Be Alright, Kid, which reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200. Adam Yaron, 26, produced and engineered the set and co-wrote the majority of the tracks — including both “Ordinary” and “Eternity” — which radiate emotion. “We always approach songwriting from a point of truth and vulnerability,” he says. “[With] ‘Eternity,’ there is something raw and almost uncomfortable about how heavy the lyric is.” Below, Yaron reflects on his working relationship with Warren, his memories of creating the album’s biggest hits and more. How did you and Alex meet? We met at a session. I came in as a writer, and we just really connected and just continued working from there. You co-wrote “Eternity” with Alex, Cal Shapiro and Mags Duval, which is about Alex losing his father at 9 years old and his mother at 20. How did it come about? I met [Alex] a few months after he lost his mom, so I’ve been really close to his journey with loss. We had so many conversations about his dad and his mom. I think this was the last song to be written for the album. It came up that we hadn’t really tackled grief yet. It became apparent that it’s such a big part of his story, and we had to go there. The song breaks my heart. Putting it together musically was its own challenge, but it just started spilling out once we understood what we were going to talk about. This was the last song you wrote for the album. Do you think you could have written that song earlier in the process? I never thought about that. I suppose not. We had known each other at that point for — at least as a group — almost two years. I think we built up so much trust and had so many conversations about Alex and who he is and understanding his relationship to grief. “Ordinary” had been out already when we wrote this song, and a lot of things were starting to go really well. I think not having his parents there to witness all of this incredible success and recognition was really weighing on him. I know he really believes that they are watching him in some capacity. From there stemmed some of the lyrics: “I walked this world alone” kind of comes from that. What was it like producing his vocal for the song? Alex is one of those artists that gets on the mic and then it’s like, “Oh, wow. This is brought to life in a whole new way.” I think because “Eternity” in particular is so personal and vulnerable, it doesn’t take much to get that performance from him. I don’t think he sung this particular song that many times. It feels like he’s just telling the truth. I hope that comes across because in the room it was very palpable. We were in his house and set up this mic and a curtain to dampen the sound a little bit in his closet. It was very in the moment — looking back, that’s part of the magic of it. The recording process was very natural. A version of this story appears in the Aug. 30, 2025, issue of Billboard. Source link

As it turns out, the opening night of the Eras Tour wasn’t the first time Taylor Swift performed for three hours straight. According to her former neighbor, pro wrestler Jeff Jarrett, the pop star once played an equally long private concert for his family to cheer them up during a tough time. According to People, the WWE star recently told TMZ Sports that — back when he lived next to the Swift family in Hendersonville, Tenn. — the 14-time Grammy winner once came over to hang out with his kids shortly before his wife died of breast cancer in 2007. “It was Christmas of 2006,” he recalled. “My first wife [Jill Gregory] was really ill with breast cancer.” “She passed away about five months after this, so she was really ill,” he continued, according to the publication. “Obviously, like every little girl in America, my daughters were big Taylor fans, and her songs had just kind of broke, but she was a hometown girl.” When she initially showed up for a visit, Jarrett says that his children urged Swift to run back home and grab her guitar because they “wanted her to sing and play.” “By the end of the afternoon, Taylor played about three hours,” he added, noting that by the time she was finished, about 45 people had gathered in his home just to watch her perform. The showcase wound up being good practice for Swift’s global Eras Tour more than 15 years later, on which the singer played for more than three hours on a nightly basis. The grueling trek would end up inspiring the concept for her next album, The Life of a Showgirl, which drops Oct. 3. Swift first announced the project through an appearance on then-boyfriend Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast. A couple of weeks later, the couple revealed their engagement — about which Jarrett told TMZ Sports that he was happy for his family friend and couldn’t wait to see her welcome kids of her own someday. But before all of that, Swift was just the girl next door who babysat Jarrett’s daughters, one of whom starred in the hitmaker’s “Mine” music video in 2010. In an interview last year, the wrestler recalled, “Taylor was like a big sister and came over and took the girls, baking cookies and just kinda hung out at the house.” “I can’t say enough good things about Taylor,” he added at the time. “Just a sweetheart. I still call her ‘our girl’ and now she’s hanging out in the NFL circles.”    Source link

Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” reigns as Billboard’s No. 1 global song of the summer for 2025. The race reflects performance on the weekly Billboard Global 200 from charts dated June 7 through Sept. 6, spotlighting the biggest songs worldwide from Memorial Day through Labor Day. The Global 200 ranks songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by Luminate. Titles that appeared on the 2024 global summer recap or peaked on the Global 200 during or before summer 2024 were ineligible to appear on this year’s summer retrospective. (Notably, countries in the Southern Hemisphere were not in summer the past three months. Listeners in those territories might at least feel carefree, warm-weather vibes browsing the biggest worldwide hits over that span.) “Ordinary” spent the first six weeks of the summer tracking period atop the Global 200, with seven of its next eight weeks at No. 2. “Alex makes really universal music,” Atlantic Records vp of A&R Michael Parker told Billboard in April of the Carlsbad, Calif.-born singer-songwriter. “Alex’s songs are personal and powerful, and all true stories ripped right out of his life that most can relate to. It’s also a huge testament to our U.S. and international teams working closely together to achieve global success.” Despite not reaching No. 1 on the Global 200 until the chart dated July 19, “Golden” by HUNTR/X, the singing trio of EJAE, Audrey Nuna and REI AMI, wraps at No. 2 for the summer — with two more songs, both by Saja Boys, from Netflix’s smash animated film KPop Demon Hunters in the top 10, at Nos. 8 and 9, respectively. Here is a rundown of the 10 biggest global songs of the summer for 2025: No. 1, “Ordinary,” Alex Warren No. 2, “Golden,” HUNTR/X: EJAE, Audrey Nuna & REI AMI No. 3, “Die With a Smile,” Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars No. 4, “APT.,” ROSÉ & Bruno Mars No. 5, “Back to Friends,” sombr No. 6, “Manchild,” Sabrina Carpenter No. 7, “Love Me Not,” Ravyn Lenae No. 8, “Soda Pop,” Saja Boys: Andrew Choi, Neckwav, Danny Chung, Kevin Woo & samUIL Lee No. 9, “Your Idol,” Saja Boys: Andrew Choi, Neckwav, Danny Chung, Kevin Woo & samUIL Lee No. 10, “La Plena (W Sound 05),” W Sound, Beéle & Ovy on the Drums Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” wrapped as the No. 1 global song summer of the summer for 2024, after Jung Kook’s “Seven,” featuring Latto, ruled for summer 2023. As previously reported, “Ordinary” is the No. 1 title on Billboard’s Songs of the Summer chart for the 2025 summer season, based on performance on the weekly, U.S.-based Billboard Hot 100 between Memorial Day and Labor Day. It’s free Billboard charts month! Through Sept. 30, subscribers to Billboard’s Chart Beat newsletter, emailed each Friday, can unlock access to Billboard’s weekly and historical charts, artist chart histories and all Chart Beat stories simply by visiting the newly redesigned Billboard.com through any story link in the newsletter. Not a Chart Beat subscriber? Sign up for free here.    Source link

Naomi Sharon traded Obsidian‘s signature dark aesthetic for a latex snow white wardrobe on tour, signifying her transition into a “lighter version” of herself. The First Lady of OVO’s refreshing outlook on life was evident on her The Only Love We Know EP in May, which saw Sharon coming to terms with having to end certain relationships that weren’t serving her so that she could properly move forward. Explore See latest videos, charts and news The Dutch singer-songwriter hit the road in support of the EP with a seven-city North American trek this summer, which wrapped up in August, and now it’s back to work on her anticipated sophomore album and plenty of horseback riding. The album is set to be executive produced by Majid Jordan’s Jordan Ullman, and Sharon reveals the LP’s near completion and could be released later this year. “I feel like it’s more up-tempo,” she tells Billboard of her Obsidian follow-up. “It hits a little harder, like it’s more in your face. It’s a little bit more digestible for a broader audience in a positive way. It’s still credible. I’m really happy about it.” Earlier this year, fans felt as if Sharon would’ve been a perfect fit for Drake and PartyNextDoor’s $ome $exy $ongs 4 U, but the ethereal singer says she never linked up with the 6 God and PND for any of the OVO joint project’s sessions. “I would’ve loved to — but I also see this as an opportunity to grow as an artist myself, instead of it being tied to someone else’s success, because that’s pretty easy,” she explains. “It’s like a wild card, but like, I do not want to use it as a wild card. I see it as a beautiful opportunity to create music with someone whom I’ve truly aspired to and love.” Check out the rest of our interview with Naomi Sharon during her trip to NYC, as she talks her upcoming album, loving horseback riding and why she’s not buying foreign R&B singers having a tough time breaking through in the U.S. What’s been the difference between headlining your own tour versus opening for Tems? I think with opening for Tems, it was more so to engage with a newer audience, which was really interesting. And I was really grateful for that opportunity. And I think that right now, which it’s very exciting, is that I’ve gained some new fans. I’ve gained new listeners. How are you growing as a performer? I just came out of a very important meeting with my label, and we were talking about the newer music. And I have a background in dance and theater, so for me to stand still on stage is kind of unnatural, although it comes naturally with the set that I have, which is also beautiful. But I feel like with the new music that I’ve been making, it’s much more lively and has more opportunity for choreos. Personally, how do you feel you’ve grown this last year? I think to start as an individual in life, I’ve been growing because life just happens and I need to adapt, and I’ve learned a lot about myself in the past few months. And with that, that goes hand in hand with being in the studio as well. [It] pours into your art because whenever you’re changing automatically, everything surrounding you will change as well. You will attract different things. Last time we spoke, you wanted to start riding horses and now I feel like that’s your thing. Yeah, four times a week. I am an equestrian. So I came back from tour, and I found out that there was a stable next to my home, and it’s a really good one. I went there, and I fell in love, not only with the horses, because I fell in love with a horse before, but just like the whole world of being with an animal, and in this particular case, a horse that has a lot of high sensitivity. They know everything about everyone. It’s fascinating how they can feel you. They can sense your heart and they’re communicating with their body language. You’re just reaching out, but a horse tells you when you’re allowed to [ride] and I love that.  Was that something you always wanted to do, or a passion you found later in life? I was a kid, and I was doing track and field, and I asked my mom and dad if I could do horseback riding as well, but it was a very expensive. So I think my parents were right at the time. They were like, “One sport is enough.” I was competing at a high level in track and field, so it was enough. Horseback riding is something that I always wanted to do. And grooming horses makes me feel very peaceful. It’s like the most interesting thing ever. They’re warm. Like, if you’re standing next to a horse, their warmth gives off on you. You can feel them. What was the genesis for The Only Love We Know EP? There was a moment where we were creating music for an album initially, and then we’re like, “You know what? It’s really important to put music out.” So, just maybe as a stepping stone to the album, we need to release an EP. I had a few songs already for the second album, but like, we’re just like, we can put it [on the EP], and maybe we could put it on the album as well. The second album is much more something that is very powerful. Like, Obsidian was not that. It wasn’t powerful, but it was different, yeah, more timid, in a way. The second album is more out there. How was working with Jordan Ullman, who executive-produced the project? He’s the executive producer on the album as well. Working with him is very easy. We allow ourselves to go through stuff within a creative process, because it’s fun