After catching up on this week’s edition of Executive Turntable — Billboard’s roundup of the latest music industry moves — be sure to explore the 2025 Pride List, spotlighting 27 influential executives making a difference.

Live Nation Entertainment announced that former Liberty CEO Greg Maffei retired from its board of directors, effective following the company’s annual meeting of stockholders on June 12. During the meeting, 11 director nominees were elected to serve one-year terms, according to a filing with the SEC. Notably, directors elected include Maverick Carter, Jimmy Iovine, Rich Paul and LN CEO Michael Rapino. Missing from the list: Kennedy Center director and Trump ally Richard Grenell, who was very recently announced as joining the board. (Live Nation has not responded to requests for comment.) Voting showed strong support for most nominees, though board chair Randall Mays of Mays Family Enterprises and Chad Hollingsworth of Liberty Media received more opposition. Shareholders also approved an advisory resolution supporting the company’s executive compensation (159.8 million votes in favor and 56.7 million against) and ratified Ernst & Young LLP as the independent auditor for fiscal year 2025.

Believe named Romain Becker as chief product of operations and marketing services officer, unifying core functions to enhance its global support for independent artists and labels. Previously president of label and artist solutions, Becker brings over 15 years of experience in music and tech, including roles at Believe and YouTube’s music partnerships team at Google. Based in Paris, Becker has led distribution and marketing across 50-plus territories and will now oversee product, operations, and marketing services to strengthen Believe’s global capabilities. “Romain is the perfect candidate to connect product, operations and marketing services at Believe,” glowed Believe founder and CEO Denis Ladegaillrie. “With his extensive experience and strategic vision, I am confident that he will drive innovation across our services and help further elevate Believe’s position as a leader in artist and label development globally.”

Kyle Loftus is the new president of Independent Artist Group (IAG), the agency formed from the 2023 merger of APA and AGI. Announced by CEO Jim Osborne, Loftus also joins the firm’s board of directors. Starting as an intern 16 years ago, he rose through the ranks to partner and eventually to executive vp and head of content development. In his new role, Loftus will continue leading key departments including Motion Picture and TV literature, alternative TV, media rights and publishing, while expanding his leadership agency-wide. He represents major clients like 50 Cent and Mary J. Blige, as well as several showrunners for hits like Ted Lasso and Gran Torino, and has helped develop production companies for stars such as Gary Oldman and Taraji P. Henson. “This company believed in me from day one, and I have so many amazing colleagues, mentors, clients and friends to thank — most importantly, my partner and friend Jim Osborne, who has been an unwavering champion,” Loftus said. “We have a fantastic team at IAG, and I am proud to step into this role, lend my support and expertise across the agency and continue amplifying the IAG story by championing the growth of our exceptionally talented clients.”

The Core Entertainment hired Kate Bowling as director of creative, where she will lead visual branding and creative direction across The Core Entertainment, overseeing photo shoots, music videos, digital content and long-term creative strategy. The Core Entertainment’s clients include Bailey Zimmerman, Nate Smith, Josh Ross, Hannah McFarland and Nickelback. Bowling joins The Core Entertainment from Warner Music Nashville, where she served as a multimedia designer. –Jessica Nicholson

Prescription Songs promoted Nick Guilmette to senior director of A&R. Based in Los Angeles, Guilmette has signed diverse talents, including songwriter Charli (Tinashe, LE SSERAFIM), producer Cooper Holzman (Mon Rovîa) and Korean-American songwriter EJAE during his three years at Prescription. He also works with artists like Ryan Ogren, Chloe Angelides, and lil aaron. Formerly general manager at Ozone Entertainment, Guilmette began his music career supporting Brockhampton in high school. Head of A&R Rhea Pasricha praised his leadership, saying, “Nick embodies exactly what we strive to accomplish here at Prescription Songs with his creative energy, boundary-pushing ideas, and genuine passion he has while working across the roster.”

444 Sounds appointed Libby Kallins as its new marketing director. Based in New York City, Kallins brings experience from her previous roles at Armada Music and Arista Records/Sony Music, where she focused on marketing, partnerships, and artist development. At Armada, she led U.S. marketing strategies and artist development for acts such as Armin van Buuren, Lilly Palmer and D.O.D, and helped organize the Armada Label Residency with Peloton. She also played a key role in catalog marketing for influential dance labels like King Street Sounds and KMS Records. In addition to her professional work, Kallins actively supports industry advocacy initiatives, including She Is The Music and Support Women DJs.

WME appointed Laura Ruiz as an agent in its contemporary music department, focusing on electronic music. Based in London, she’ll oversee the agency’s electronic music business in Spain and Portugal. Ruiz brings clients including Oguz, Joyhauser, Don Woezik, Diøn and Milo Spykers. “This appointment further strengthens WME’s commitment to the global electronic music sector, building on a foundation of strategic talent development and market-specific leadership,” the company said. Previously, Ruiz was managing director at The Bliss Office, leading operations across the Americas and representing top talent. She also founded her own agency and worked at The Bullitt Agency in Barcelona, gaining experience across European and American markets.

Musicians On Call, which brings live music to hospitals, expanded its team with nine new hires across various departments. New leadership includes Hailey Gilleland as director of development and Kathryn Bennett as director of individual giving, both bringing extensive experience in fundraising and donor engagement. Katie Trent joins as development coordinator, while Danys Coronel steps in as digital content manager, overseeing MOC’s digital presence and campaigns. Christopher Anthony, with a background in television, is now PR & talent coordinator, managing artist and media relations. Emiley Roye, Abby Tannler and Ella Hunt have been appointed as program coordinators for regions including the Northeast, Denver, Phoenix and the Mid-Southeast, bringing diverse backgrounds in healthcare, entertainment and nonprofit work. Delaney McBride joins as executive assistant to president and CEO Pete Griffin, who said, “The diverse experiences and fresh perspectives they bring will be instrumental as we grow our reach, expand our fundraising, and strengthen our programs across the country.”

Worldwide Entertainment Group (WEG) named Bruce Wheeler as president of its new Live Performance Group. Wheeler, a seasoned executive in live entertainment, has held leadership roles at Central Park SummerStage, The Capitol Theatre and The Beacon Theatre. In his new position, he will oversee WEG’s festivals, tours, corporate events and other live properties while collaborating with the Talent Management and Licensed Merchandise divisions. Reporting to WEG President Dave Lory, Wheeler is tasked with driving innovation and growth in the live sector. “Bruce is the ultimate professional and his experience in running live events and maximizing every aspect of the live event experience will be an incredible addition as we build the Worldwide Entertainment Group,” said Lory.

STURDY., a Los Angeles-based creative studio, announced a major expansion of its brand and experiential division, complete with a new leadership team: Nico Poalillo as director of development, Rikke Heinecke as director of production and development, and Myron Batsa as director of experiential. STURDY. has also partnered with VICE Media’s Pulse Films to enhance its production capabilities and global reach. This collaboration debuted with a high-profile activation at the 2025 Miami Grand Prix, featuring major brands like Apple and Formula 1. STURDY. now offers expanded services across production, media and social strategy. Heinecke has led production teams at major companies like Warner Music Group and ViacomCBS, while also playing key roles in launching and scaling several innovative production startups. Batsa has held senior positions at VICE Media and Insomniac Events, where he partnered with leading brands such as Live Nation, Festival Republic, and Tao Group. Meanwhile, Poalillo’s creative career includes work with global brands like GM and Nike, and top agencies including Leo Burnett, Doner, McCann, Pulse Films and VICE.

Last Week’s Turntable: Triples Is Best at BMI

TOMORROW X TOGETHER is getting ready to blow your mind! The K-pop group announced on Friday (June 20) that it is set to embark on its fourth world tour.

The trek, titled ACT : TOMORROW, will kick off with two shows at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, on Aug. 22 and 23. The membership pre-verification sale begins at 2 p.m. July 28, and ends July 30, with member presales kicking off later that day, according to the announcement on Weverse. General onsale starts Aug. 1. Additional dates and details will be announced at a later time.

According to the press release, the name of the world tour is meant to represent “moving forward together toward a promised tomorrow.” The sentiment appears to be reflected in the tour poster, which shows members SOOBIN, YEONJUN, BEOMGYU, TAEHYUN, and HUENINGKAI together on a barren beach in the dark, with the starry sky and a beam of light illuminating the way.

The upcoming tour follows previous treks ACT : LOVE SICK, ACT : SWEET MIRAGE and ACT : PROMISE, with the last also including the quintet’s European debut.

TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s world tour announcement comes after the group performed at Weverse Con 2025 on June 1. The K-pop act also shared a video of clips from their 17-track performance and some backstage chat on Friday.

“It was a true headliner performance,” TAEHYUN says in a backstage clip. Later on, with the group gathered backstage, BEOMGYU notes of their set, “The response was so good, we had so much fun the whole time.”

TAEHYUN then teased, “If you’d like to see an encore …” before the guys all urged together, “Come see us at a TOMORROW X TOGETHER concert!”

Watch the clip below:

Forrest Frank’s “Your Way’s Better” stalled the three-month reign of Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” on the monthly Top Gabb Music Songs chart when it reached No. 1 on the April 2025 tally, and now he’s joined Gaga and Mars as the only other act with a multi-month No. 1, reigning again on the May 2025 survey.

Billboard has partnered with Gabb Wireless, a phone company for kids and teens, to present a monthly chart tracking on-demand streams via its Gabb Music platform. Gabb Music offers a vast catalog of songs, all of which are selected by the Gabb team to include only kid- and teen-appropriate content. Gabb Music streams are not currently factored into any other Billboard charts.

“Your Way’s Better” rules Top Gabb Music Songs for a second month, concurrent with the release of the song’s parent album, Child of God II, which debuted at No. 12 on the Billboard 200 dated May 24.

The song has topped the Hot Christian Songs chart for the last five weeks (dating to May 24) and has reached a best so far of No. 61 on the all-format Billboard Hot 100. It ranks at No. 68 on the latest list.

“Your Way’s Better” is one of a whopping five Frank songs on the May 2025 Top Gabb Music Songs chart, thanks to a pair of debuts joining the three songs he already boasted on the ranking. “No L’s” and “B.I.G.” debut at Nos. 14 and 19, respectively, while “Drop!” reaches a new peak of No. 13 and “Up!,” a collaboration with Connor Price, remains at its No. 25 best.

Frank’s five songs on the ranking equals the record set by Imagine Dragons on the inaugural Top Gabb Music Songs list for October 2024 — though notably, while Frank has the No. 1 song, Imagine Dragons’ best that month was No. 16, with “Bones.”

Other moves on the latest chart include a three-spot leap for Alex Warren’s “Ordinary,” which reaches a new peak of No. 3 after its No. 6 debut on the April tally. “Ordinary” has spent two weeks so far at No. 1 on the Hot 100, beginning with the June 7 survey.

The only non-Frank debut of the week belongs to Morgan Wallen, whose “What I Want,” which features Tate McRae, starts at No. 11. It was also a No. 1 on the Hot 100, debuting atop the May 31 list.

See the full top 25 below.

Top Gabb Music Songs, May 2025

DROPS: “Nothing Else,” Forrest Frank feat. Thomas Rhett; “Pink Skies,” Zach Bryan; “Thick of It,” KSI feat. Trippie Redd

Tyler Hubbard posts his fourth top 10 as a soloist on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart as “Park” cruises a spot to No. 10 on the ranking dated June 28. During the June 13-19 tracking week, the single improved by 6% to 17.8 million audience impressions, according to Luminate.

Hubbard, who hails from Snellville, Ga., co-authored “Park” with Jesse Frasure, Ashley Gorley (who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame June 12) and Canaan Smith. The song is from Hubbard’s sophomore solo LP, Strong, released in April.

“Park” follows Hubbard’s “Back Then Right Now,” which topped Country Airplay for a week in May 2024. Before that, his “Dancin’ in the Country” hit No. 2 in May 2023, after “5 Foot 9” became his first chart-topper on his own for a week in November 2022. His first entry as a solo act, “Undivided,” with Tim McGraw, reached No. 16 in May 2021.

The 38-year-old Hubbard made 16 previous trips to No. 1, among 19 top 10s, on Country Airplay as half of duo Florida Georgia Line with Brian Kelley, who is also now working solo.

Hubbard is out playing dates this summer, with his next stop June 20 in Pocatello, Idaho. The date also marks the release of Kelley’s LP Sunshine State of Mind Season Two, Chapter One.

‘Worst’ Still First

Riley Green’s third Country Airplay No. 1, “Worst Way,” reigns for a second week, up 1% to 28.6 million in reach. The song, which the singer-songwriter from Jacksonville, Ala., wrote solo, is his first to lead for multiple frames. He previously ruled for a week each as featured on Ella Langley’s “You Look Like You Love Me,” in December, and Thomas Rhett’s “Half of Me,” in November 2022.

Submit questions about Billboard charts, as well as general music musings, to askbb@billboard.com. Please include your first and last name, as well as your city, state and country, if outside the United States.

Or, reach out on Bluesky.

Let’s open the latest mailbag.

“Mariah Carey’s latest hit is a great achievement, considering she is a legacy artist on the Billboard Hot 100. Out of her 50 career entries, 19 are No. 1s and, by the end of the year, she may hold the record for the longest-running No. 1, ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You.’

“On a side note, Mariah has Hot 100 No. 1s in eras dominated by physical releases (1990s), digital distribution (2000s) and streaming (‘10s, ‘20s).”

Filoteo Uy
(on Billboard’s Facebook)

Lambs are smiling this week, as Carey claims her 50th Hot 100 hit, “Type Dangerous.”

The feat had Carey fans, and chart fans, noting the impressive percentage of her career entries that have gone to No. 1 or the top 10 on the Hot 100. With 50 making for easy math (phew), her 19 No. 1s translate to a 38% success rate in ruling the chart, while her 28 top 10s make for 56% of her charted titles hitting the top 10.

How do those numbers compare to others over the Hot 100’s nearly 67-year history?

Twenty-five acts have notched eight or more Hot 100 No. 1s. Among them, here’s a ranking of the artists with the highest rate of chart entries having hit No. 1, through the survey dated June 21.

Artist, Percentage of Hot 100 Entries Hitting No. 1:

George Michael reigns with the best percentage of Hot 100 hits reaching No. 1, at 42%. In baseball terms, that’s a Ted Williams-esque .420 batting average. Carey follows at a likewise Cooperstown-worthy .380.

Notably, Michael’s total covers only his solo Hot 100 hits, including Wham!’s “Careless Whisper,” on which he’s also listed as a solo featured artist. If rolling up the duo’s history — three No. 1s among nine entries — into his as a soloist, Michael would still rank first with a 39% rate of topping the Hot 100, just above Carey’s 38%.

Clearly, the relatively recent evolution of music consumption works against this stat, as Drake (4%), Taylor Swift (5%) and The Weeknd (6%) round out the ranking above. Unlike in prior eras, so-called album bombs have swelled certain acts’ totals of charted hits — and in a week that Swift holds the top 14 titles, only one can be No. 1. If anything, their placements on the list above make for a badge of honor, with Drake boasting a record 358 career entries and Swift, a runner-up 264.

How about artists’ rates of hitting the Hot 100’s top 10?

Again, in looking at the 25 artists with eight or more Hot 100 No. 1s, here’s a rundown of the acts with the highest frequencies to date of chart entries having hit the top 10.

Artist, Percentage of Hot 100 Entries Hitting the Top 10:

George Michael again takes top honors, with a lofty 79% of the late singer-songwriter’s Hot 100 hits having reached the top 10. (His only four that didn’t: “Waiting for That Day,” No. 27 peak, 1991; the song’s B-side that became popular amid the Gulf War, “Mother’s Pride,” No. 46, 1991; “Somebody to Love,” with Queen, No. 30, 1993; and “Killer”/“Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” No. 69, 1993.)

As with his percentage of No. 1s, Michael would still rank first on the list above if factoring in Wham!, whose nine Hot 100 hits have resulted in seven top 10s — an almost identical high rate, 78%, to his 79% solo. It took some time for the totals to nearly align: Following its 1984 release, Wham!’s “Last Christmas” jingled to the top 10 at last in 2021, reaching a No. 3 best this past holiday season. (Michael is also two-for-two on songs named “Freedom.”)

Carey has the eighth-best rate of Hot 100 charted titles making the top 10, and the fourth-best among women, after Janet Jackson, Madonna and Whitney Houston, with all four driven largely by their sterling track records (of tracks, or records) in the ‘80s and/or ‘90s.

Two coincidences stand out above. Paul McCartney has hit the Hot 100’s top 10 with 48.9% of his solo entries on the chart, just a touch above the Beatles’ 48.6% showing. Meanwhile, it takes three decimal points for Swift (22.348%) to place just above Drake (22.346%) when it comes to their titles reaching the top 10.

One other act comes to mind regarding this research. Of the 307 artists with at least five Hot 100 top 10s, only one has perfect attendance in terms of all its entries on the chart having reached the top 10. In fact, all five hit the top five, and three ascended to No. 1 — “Baby Don’t Forget My Number,” “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You” and “Blame It on the Rain” all led, “Girl You Know It’s True” hit No. 2 and final charted single “All or Nothing” peaked at No. 4.

Milli Vanilli, thus, owns a unique slice of Hot 100 history, even if it’s somewhat owed to the abrupt end of its chart run. Perhaps the mark adds further shine to the pair, which in recent years has been looked upon much more kindly than when it was always a lock for the chart’s upper reaches.