It was a music-packed first night at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, with Jason Isbell, Mickey Guyton and James Taylor all performing at Chicago’s United Center in support of presidential hopeful Kamala Harris.

Isbell and Guyton both made their DNC debuts on Monday night (Aug. 19), while Taylor was playing his fifth straight convention in support of the Democratic Party. In an interview with CNN ahead of Monday’s performance, Guyton explained the importance of supporting Harris in her bid for the presidency. “For me, this is beyond a genre of music,” the country singer reflected. “This is about humanity. This is about the culture. This is about our country and I feel honored to be able to witness history.”

Watch the trio of performances below (we will add Taylor’s performance video once it’s live):

Jason Isbell

Six-time Grammy-winning Americana singer/songwriter Jason Isbell took the stage to perform “Something More Than Free,” which is the title track from his 2015 album. The poignant song speaks to the working man’s dilemma of toiling so hard for an unclear reward. “My back is numb, my hands are freezing/ What I’m working for is something more than free.”

Mickey Guyton

Grammy-nominated country artist Mickey Guyton played her song “All American,” which she co-wrote with Victoria Banks for her 2021 album Remember Her Name. The unifying chorus was a perfect fit for the DNC: “Ain’t we all, ain’t we all all American?”

James Taylor

James Taylor is set to finish the night with his 1971 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “You’ve Got a Friend” (his lone chart-topper), marking his fifth consecutive DNC performance.

Big Loud artists Morgan Wallen, HARDY and Ernest are set to celebrate Big Loud partner/CEO Seth England, as the T.J. Martell Foundation honors England with the lifetime music industry award during its 49th annual New York Honors Gala.

The event marks the T.J. Martell Foundation’s primary fundraiser of the year and supports the organization’s mission of curing cancer through funding high-risk, high-reward research with the aim of advancing early detection, screening and treatments. The lifetime music industry award honors England’s impact on the music industry, but also his steadfast support for the T.J. Martell Foundation’s mission.

The New York Honors Gala will take place at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City on Tuesday, Sept. 17. Wallen, HARDY and Ernest will lead a writers’ round performance. The evening will also include a fundraising auction, while Archie Davis, Def Jam’s chief creative officer/executive vp (who was honored with the New York Honors Gala rising music superstar award in 2023), is set to announce an initiative that will continue to raise awareness of early screening and testing.

“We are thrilled to be honoring our distinguished music industry colleague and dear friend Seth England with this year’s Lifetime Music Industry Award to commemorate his deep commitment to the foundation,” said Steve Gawley, REPUBLIC Corps. executive vp of business & legal affairs and business development and chairman-elect of the Board of Trustees, T.J. Martell Foundation, via a statement. “We are proud to shine a spotlight on Seth’s dedicated efforts towards our cancer research as well as his pioneering work in the music world, and look forward to celebrating Seth and his achievements with an exhilarating night of music!”

England is the 2024 Billboard Country Power Players executive of the year, and the inaugural recipient of Billboard’s Country Power Players choice award, a peer-voted honor given to the country music executive that industry power players feel have made the most impact on the genre in that year.

The Big Loud Records roster of artists includes Wallen, HARDY, Ernest, Charles Wesley Godwin, Lauren Alaina, Larry Fleet, Lily Rose, Ashley Cooke, Lauren Watkins, Kashus Culpepper and more. Meanwhile Big Loud Publishing‘s clients include Cooke, Craig Wiseman, Jacob Durrett, Rocky Block and Rhys Rutherford. Big Loud Management‘s roster includes Ernest, HARDY, Cooke, Jake Worthington and more.

“As a longstanding proud member of the music industry, I am grateful to see the unwavering dedication and generosity that our music peers put forth to help propel this vital cancer research,” said John Esposito, Chairman of Board of Trustees, T.J. Martell Foundation, in a statement. “As we look ahead towards what will be the foundation’s 50th anniversary, this year’s gala is a great reminder of how far we have come as a foundation and how much further we still need to go in the fight against cancer.”

“We are incredibly thankful to the music community for uniting to support the foundation’s critical work in funding cancer research,” said Lynn-Anne Huck, CEO, T.J. Martell Foundation, in a statement. “Witnessing our donors rally around the fight against cancer and uphold the promise made between a father and his son is both beautiful and inspiring.”

The 49th Annual New York Honors Gala co-chair committee is comprised of music industry members including Ben Adelson, Tyler Arnold, Tom Corson, Archie Davis, John Esposito, Clint Higham, Monte Lipman, Avery Lipman, Rakiyah Marshall, Debbie Martell, Joey Moi, Brian O’Connell, Andre Stapleton, Julie Swidler, Greg Thompson, and Craig Wiseman.

Billie Eilish is officially Spotify’s most streamed monthly artist, the streaming platform announced on Monday (Aug. 19), replacing The Weeknd at the summit.

The Weeknd (real name Abel Tesfaye) showed his support for Eilish last week, when she was nearing his record. “Let’s go !” he wrote alongside a series of heart, prayer and line graph emojis on X, retweeting a post noting that, on Aug. 15, she was less than 1 million listeners away from becoming Spotify’s most streamed artist.

By passing the 100 million monthly listener ceiling in June 2024, she is the third and youngest artist to ever do so, following both Tesfaye and Taylor Swift. Eilish currently has eight of her 82 songs in Spotify’s Billions Club, which marks tracks that have surpassed one billion streams: “Lovely” with Khalid (2.8 billion plays to date), “Bad Guy” (2.5 billion), “When the Party’s Over” (1.8 billion), “Everything I Wanted” (1.6 billion), “Ocean Eyes” (1.4 billion), “Happier Than Ever” (1.3 billion), “Idontwannabeyouanymore” (1.09 billion) and “Bury a Friend” (1.01 billion).

Her third album, the 10-track Hit Me Hard and Soft, dropped back in April and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The project features hits like “Birds of a Feather,” “Chihiro” and “Lunch.” Eilish’s debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, and sophomore follow-up, Happier Than Ever, both topped the chart for three weeks.

The creator of Ibiza clubbing institutions Hï and Ushuaïa has announced the opening a new nightclub on the island in 2025.

The space, called [UNVRS], has been dubbed a “hyperclub,” by The Night League, the group behind the new concept and the other two afrorementioned clubs.

While details are still scant regarding what a “hyperclub” is, what this space will look like or what kind of music it will program, Yann Pissenem, the owner, founder and CEO of The Night League tells Billboard that with the new space, “we’re taking everything we’ve learned from creating Ushuaïa and Hï Ibiza—venues ranked among the world’s best—and pushing the boundaries even further.

“A Hyperclub is the next evolution in global nightlife,” Pissenem continues. “Imagine seeing your favorite artists in a space that offers the best elements of a club, the infrastructure of an arena, and the best hospitality in the world.[UNVRS] is about attention to granular detail, from the finishes across the venue to the unique experiences our guests will never forget. It’s a space that retains the raw energy of a rave, connecting the present and future within the walls of stunning architecture.

The announcement of the club technically began on July 31, when many in Ibiza reported seeing a mysterious object in the sky near Es Vedra, a large rock formation just off the coast of the island’s west coast.

Today (Aug. 19) that situation was revealed to be a marketing stunt, with none other than Will Smith (an original Man In Black, of course) posting a video of himself to Instagram saying he’d seen the “UFO sighting” and therefore “hit my boy Yann, and Yann is like the king of Ibiza,” with Pissenem then sending Smith a pinned location on the island, which lead Smith to the construction site of the new club. In the video, Smith meets Pissenem at the site, with Pissenem declaring “welcome to [UNVRS]” as the Men In Black them song plays.

With The Night League, Pissenem has made Ushuaïa and Hï destinations for many of the world’s biggest DJs, with this season’s Ushuaïa residents including Calvin Harris, David Guetta, Martin Garrix and Armin van Buuren and Hï hosting heavy hitters like Black Coffee, Eric Prydz, Fisher and many more. The company says that together, these clubs bring in 1.5 million attendees each season.

“Ibiza has always been the epicenter of global club culture, and we feel a responsibility to elevate it again, ensuring it remains at the forefront of the nightlife scene,” Pissenem continues to Billboard. “With [UNVRS], we’re not just preserving Ibiza’s prestige; we’re redefining what’s possible in club culture.”