Shaboozey and Jelly Roll top Billboard’s Country Airplay chart dated March 28 as “Amen” rises a spot to No. 1. The collaboration increased by 2% to 32.9 million audience impressions March 13-19, according to Luminate.

Co-written by the pair and four others, the song becomes Shaboozey’s third Country Airplay leader, following “Good News” (for two weeks in September 2025) and “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (seven, August-September 2024). Jelly Roll earns his ninth No. 1 in as many visits, dating to his first, “Son of a Sinner,” in 2023, the longest active streak among all acts. Luke Combs logged the longest uninterrupted run of No. 1 promoted singles both from the start and overall: 14, in 2017-22.

Both Shaboozey and Jelly Roll have achieved multiple Country Airplay milestones. “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” hit No. 1 in 13 weeks, a pace matched or bettered by only 5% of No. 1s since 2015, and became the list’s longest-leading breakthrough hit. Jelly Roll’s “Liar,” his longest-ruling song (six weeks, February-March 2025), completed a 14-week climb to the top, a rate achieved by roughly 7% of leaders in that span. Dating to the chart’s launch in 1990, No. 1s have taken an average of 21 weeks to reign.

Meanwhile, beyond radio reach during the tracking week, Shaboozey appeared at RodeoHouston March 13, when he held a Spotify event backstage before singing “Amen” for a reported crowd of more than 67,000.

‘Brunette’ Turns Heads

Tucker Wetmore notches his third Country Airplay top 10 as “Brunette” bumps 12-10 (17 million, up 8%). Co-written by Chris LaCorte, Chase McGill, Josh Miller and Blake Pendergrass, the track follows last year’s “Wind Up Missin’ You” and “3,2,1” into the tier; each peaked at No. 2.

Brown’s Back

Kane Brown launches “Woman” at No. 23 on Country Airplay, 10 years and one month after he first reached the survey. The Chattanooga, Tenn., native has tallied 14 top 10s, including 12 No. 1s and recently renewed his partnership with Sony Music Nashville.

Justin Timberlake has conceded that a Hamptons police department can release some of the officer bodycam footage from his viral DWI arrest two years ago.

The singer sued earlier this month for a legal injunction that would maintain the confidentiality of Sag Harbor Village Police Department footage from the incident. But on Friday (March 20), lawyers for Timberlake and the police notified a judge that they’d settled the matter.

“Petitioner had an opportunity to review the footage respondents intend to disseminate, as redacted, related to petitioner’s June 18, 2024 traffic stop and arrest,” reads the notice of settlement. “Petitioner agrees that the footage respondents intend to release, as redacted, does not constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”

Sag Harbor police will now release the redacted bodycam footage to various news outlets that have submitted public records requests. It’s not clear yet what will be in this footage and whether or not it will confirm much-memeified, anonymous reports that Timberlake told his arresting officers, “This is going to ruin the tour.”  

In a statement shared with Billboard on Friday, the Village of Sag Harbor said, “We are pleased that this matter has now been resolved and the village will be able to comply with its statutory obligation to release the material that is subject to disclosure.”

“From the beginning of this matter, after Mr. Timberlake’s arrest, the village has attempted to comply with the mandates of the Freedom of Information Law,” the statement reads. “As would be true in any case involving records or video footage from our police department, such material is reviewed and redacted to address public and officer safety concerns as well as personal privacy considerations.”

Reps for Timberlake did not immediately return a request for comment on the settlement.

Timberlake was arrested in June 2024 on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. He ultimately pled guilty to a lesser impaired driving charge and was sentenced to 25 hours of community service. He also made a public service announcement about the dangers of drinking and driving, in which he said, “Even if you’ve had one drink, don’t get behind the wheel of a car.”

In legal papers filed on March 2, Timberlake’s lawyers said the arrest footage depicted him in an “acutely vulnerable state” and that its release would “serve no legitimate public interest.” A Long Island judge ordered police not to release the videos until a court review could be completed.

Live Nation’s antitrust trial resumed this week after a surprise partial settlement gave the jury a weeklong “spring break.” The week featured key testimony about the operation of the live music business, including from the concert industry’s number one power player: Live Nation chief executive Michael Rapino.

You’re reading Billboard’s weekly Live Nation trial recap, a weekly one-sheet of everything that happened in the monopoly case against the concert giant. Stay tuned here each Friday for all the testimony and big events you might have missed.

WHAT HAPPENED: The Department of Justice (DOJ) is no longer part of the case, having reached a settlement a week into the trial that requires Live Nation to curb certain allegedly anticompetitive practices. But this wasn’t good enough for many state AGs, and officials from New York, California and dozens more are moving forward with the goal of completely breaking up Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

The trial resumed following a weeklong hiatus on Monday (March 16), with Judge Arun Subramanian remarking, “Welcome back, members of the jury, from your spring break.” The states brought in veteran antitrust lawyer Jeffrey Kessler, who has won landmark cases against the NFL and NCAA, to lead the charge for them now that the DOJ has stepped away.

The states plan to wrap up with their witnesses early next week — a shortened timeline from the DOJ’s original estimate. Live Nation will then get its chance to put on a defense case before jurors decide whether the company is a monopolist.

WHO TESTIFIED: The states called Rapino, arguably the most highly anticipated witness of the trial, to the stand on Thursday (March 19). Live Nation’s CEO of two decades has overseen the company’s meteoric rise and spate of acquisitions, including the Ticketmaster merger in 2010 — a track record of success that’s consistently earned a spot in the top five of Billboard’s annual Power 100 list.

During his testimony, Rapino strongly defended Live Nation against monopoly claims. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the CEO said he’s “very proud” of how he’s served artists and fans, and he pushed back on allegations that the company intentionally withholds shows from venues that use rival ticketing services: “Yeah, we don’t do that,” he testified.

The CEO stuck to Live Nation’s position that wealthy sports team owners are often the ones to choose Ticketmaster as a venue’s exclusive primary ticketer on their own volition, not because the venues have some fear of retaliation, quipping at one point: “I don’t tell the billionaire what to do with his venue,” per the Associated Press. He also addressed some embarrassing Slack messages that have come into evidence, in which two Live Nation ticketing directors joked in 2022 about “taking advantage” of “stupid” consumers with high parking fees at amphitheaters.

Rapino testified that this language was “disgusting” and “not the way we operate.” He said the staffers in question are still working at Live Nation, noting that he planned to “deal with it this week” but that the company tends “to give employees a break.”

The jury first saw these messages when one of the employees in question, Ben Baker, took the witness stand on Tuesday (March 17). In one Slack exchange, Baker sent his colleague Jeff Weinhold a screenshot showing that Live Nation had grossed more than $666,000 on premier parking in 2021 and wrote, “Robbing them blind baby. That’s how we do.”

Baker, who’s now head of ticketing for Live Nation amphitheaters, testified that this language was “immature,” “unacceptable” and “indefensible,” according to Courthouse News Service. “What I was trying to convey to Jeff was my surprise that the demand was there for those products,” he explained.

The jury also heard this week from AEG Presents CEO Jay Marciano, who lamented Live Nation’s large market share and high Ticketmaster fees, per the New York Times. But Marciano acknowledged that AEG also exercises significant power in the live industry by promoting shows for superstars like Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran and putting on Coachella.

Other witnesses this week included more Live Nation executives, including president of U.S. concerts Bob Roux, former co-president of U.S. concerts Mark Campana and president of arenas Mike Evans, plus executives at other ticketing companies — namely Ed Khoury of Jump Platforms and Christian Lewis of Paciolan.

WHY IT MATTERS: Rapino’s testimony about Ticketmaster exclusivity deals struck at the heart of one of the key monopoly claims: that Live Nation wields its power on one side of the live business (artist promotion) to prop up its control in another area (ticketing). While the DOJ settlement would require the company to offer a non-exclusive ticketing option to venues, state attorneys general are insisting that Live Nation will remain too powerful in the industry as long as it still owns Ticketmaster.

The Slack messages, meanwhile, are a key piece of evidence for the states’ argument that Live Nation’s market power fuels greed at the expense of fans. Live Nation insists that these messages were an aberration that does not reflect the company’s values, and it remains to be seen which way the jury will be swayed. If nothing else, the public release of these communications has been a PR headache for the concert giant.

Despite last year’s challenges in the music business — from generative AI songs breaking onto the charts to the growing issue of streaming fraud — overall recorded music revenues accelerated globally in 2025, marking the 11th straight year of growth, according to the IFPI’s latest figures. For the first time, global music revenue topped the $30 billion mark, with gains across every top region of the world, from the U.S. and Canada to Sub-Saharan Africa.

Overall, the report showed that subscription streaming remained the biggest revenue driver in 2025, accounting for more than half of global revenue. The number of paid subscribers increased to 837 million, up from 752 million just one year prior.

While the U.S. remained the No. 1 music market worldwide, accounting for 38.7% of all revenue, its rate of growth (3.3%) paled in comparison to other top 10 markets like China, Mexico and Brazil, which saw double-digit gains. All of which shows just how truly global the music industry has become.

Below, check out six big takeaways from this year’s IFPI report.

Overall revenue growth accelerated, largely thanks to gains in Asia. 

The IFPI’s last annual report showed that global revenue growth slowed to 4.7% in 2024, roughly half the rate of the previous year — leading some to fear that recorded music revenues were in danger of plateauing. However, this year’s report may bring some measure of relief, as revenue growth accelerated to 6.4% in 2025 — a small but significant gain. 

A good chunk of that growth seems to have come from Asia, where recorded music revenue increased nearly tenfold — from 1.3% in 2024 to 10.9% last year. This was driven in large part by massive revenue gains in China and a rebound in the world’s second-largest music market, Japan, where growth essentially flattened in 2024 (-0.2%) before increasing to 8.9% last year. (Japan, a market that is still heavily reliant on physical sales, still has a long way to go in terms of digital growth, though it faces some cultural and institutional obstacles to achieving that.) In fact, Asia was one of only two regions — alongside the U.S./Canada — where growth gained momentum in 2025.  

China overtook Germany as the world’s fourth-largest music market.

China and Germany swapped spots on this year’s list of the top 10 music markets, demonstrating the power of the still-emerging Chinese market, where revenue grew 20.1% in 2025 — more than double the previous year. With a population of approximately 1.4 billion people, China is a massive, and relatively young, market, where a wealth of potential paying subscribers remains untapped.

Those paid subscribers are growing — not to mention the number of paid subscribers who are willing to pay more than the standard price, elevating the market’s average revenue per user (ARPU) and helping super-charge streaming revenue gains. As seen in this week’s earnings release from Tencent Music — the largest music streaming service provider in China, which operates Kugou Music, QQ Music and Kuwo Music — the number of users on its super-premium “Super VIP” tier grew 12% over midyear 2025 and now make up roughly 15.7% of the service’s 127.4 million total paying subscribers.

Latin America continued to surge. 

Though percent of revenue growth in Latin America was down year-over-year — falling from 22.5% in 2024 to 17.1% in 2025 — it nonetheless grew for a 16th straight year, with streaming accounting for more than 88% of all recorded music revenue in the region. Bright spots include Mexico, which increased revenue by 13.3% and remained the No. 10 recorded music market globally, and Brazil, which overtook Canada to become the eighth-largest recorded music market.

In Mexico, exports of Música Mexicana have led to consistent growth, as labels continue investing in the region and increased streaming adoption allows music to circulate more easily across borders than ever before. As Tomas Rodriquez, president of Warner Music Mexico/Música Mexicana, said in this year’s report, “Música Mexicana didn’t suddenly appear — it’s always been big. What changed is how easily it can now travel.” Recent forays into Mexico by the major labels and companies including HYBE, which launched a regional Mexican label in September, indicate more growth is on the horizon.

In Brazil, years of investment by the major U.S. labels also helped lead to revenue increases — from Sony Music acquiring the top Brazilian label Som Livre for more than $250 million in 2021 to Warner Music bolstering its presence there in 2024. In its Q3 results last October, Universal Music Group also reported double-digit subscription growth in the Brazilian market.

Physical revenue grew more quickly than digital.

For only the second time on record, physical revenue growth outpaced digital growth (8% vs. 7.7%). That was partially driven by the aforementioned rebound in Japan — the largest market for physical music worldwide, whose downturn in 2024 helped lead to a 3.1% decline in physical revenue globally. Last year’s spike in physical revenue can largely be attributed to the continued popularity of vinyl, which saw a 13.7% revenue gain last year. Notably, that increase can at least partially be attributed to the format’s growing price tag and the trend of artists capturing more revenue from superfans by releasing multiple vinyl variants, a relatively new phenomenon that didn’t exist when vinyl was king in the ’70s and ’80s.

Artists’ share of industry revenues increased. 

Though artists’ share of industry revenues saw only a slight uptick year-over-year — from 34.8% in 2024 to 35.5% in 2025 — that share has grown significantly over the last decade; in 2016, artists’ share of recorded music revenue sat at 31%. This indicates more generous revenue splits for artists, who now have more choice in where and how to release and finance their music — and therefore more leverage when it comes to negotiating deals — than ever before. 

“Deepfake” songs have become an increasingly pervasive problem.

During the global launch event for the IFPI report, Dennis Kooker, president of global digital business & U.S. sales at Sony Music, claimed the company has requested the removal of more than 135,000 AI-generated “deepfake” songs from streaming services impersonating Sony artists including Beyonce, Harry Styles and Queen (per the BBC). “In the worst cases, [the deepfakes] potentially damage a release campaign or tarnish the reputation of an artist,” Kooker reportedly said.

“The problem with deepfakes are they are a demand-driven event,” Kooker continued. “They are taking advantage of the fact an artist is out there promoting their music. That is when deepfakes are at their worst — building off and benefiting from the demand the artist has created [and] ultimately detracting from what the artist is trying to accomplish.”

Sony’s claims underscore the fact that, more than a decade into the streaming revolution that shored up the industry’s bottom line, bad actors are now harnessing an even more powerful technology and threatening to erode industry revenues once more.