The following story is the R&B cover of Billboard’s 2021 R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players issue, dated Aug. 7, 2021. To read the hip-hop cover story on Lil Baby, click here. It’s late afternoon in Las Vegas, and the temperature outside is an ungodly “100-plus stupid,” according to a local newscast — the kind of weather that sends […]

Big Loud Records has signed two-time Canadian Country Music Awards winner Dallas Smith to a global recording deal. His first music under the new pact is expected in the fall. Additionally, Smith’s Local Hay Records imprint, formed with record producer Scott Cooke, has entered into a joint venture with Big Loud Records and will focus

The Recording Academy is set to incorporate an inclusion rider in hiring contracts for the upcoming Grammy Awards, set for Jan. 31 at Staples Center in Los Angeles. This would make the Grammys the first major awards show to publicly commit to such a clause. In collaboration with Color of Change, the Academy’s addition of an inclusion rider is intended to create a more diverse awards ceremony

Columbia Records is the latest label to boast at least half of the Billboard Hot 100’s top 10 in a single week, as five of its songs infuse the tier on the latest, Aug. 7-dated chart. BTS’ “Butter” leads the Hot 100 for a ninth week; Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow’s “Industry Baby” debuts

BLACKPINK’s Rosé has been on a hot streak lately with her series of cover songs and the newest entry in her growing portfolio is one of the best so far. Once again appearing in a bayside setting with twinkling lights in the background on the South Korean variety show Sea of Hope, the singer set

The gloves were off between New York icons The LOX and The Diplomats for their highly-anticipated Verzuz showdown Tuesday night (August 3). New York City was buzzing with infectious energy weeks before the marquee event, with supporters on both sides making their claims on who would come out on top. Flocks of fans trekked to

Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn, the artists behind the electro-pop band Sylvan Esso, have never had a bad label experience. Sanborn calls Partisan Records, the band’s first home, “the dream of an indie,” and Loma Vista Recordings, the group’s current label, “a safe place,” one that has allowed the duo to “explore a different level

Sony’s music operations galloped to an explosive 54% gain in revenue in the the company’s first fiscal quarter ended June 30, growing to nearly 199 billion yen ($1.82 billion) as compared to the pandemic-scarred fiscal first quarter of the prior year, when revenue totaled 129.2 billion yen ($1.2 billion). Sony’s music operations include Sony Music

“I look at my schooling as, in part, my early years at Billboard.” That’s how Sire Records co-founder and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame enshrinee Seymour Stein (who in January 2021 oversaw the relaunch of the Blue Horizon label in partnership with Fat Possum) recalls his industry education. That upbringing included the unveiling of

You would never guess that it’s been more than six years since Tom DeLonge exited Blink-182 if you dropped into his chat with former bandmate Mark Hoppus on Tuesday (August 3). The pair reunited for a casual hang on Hoppus’ Apple Music 1 show After School Radio, in which the longtime friends talked about bonding