Drake allegedly looked to have the Wu-Tang Clan bless the official “Wu-Tang Forever” remix, but the legendary Staten Island crew never ended up hopping on the 2013 Nothing Was the Same standout.

Method Man joined 7PM in Brooklyn on the Monday (Dec. 8) episode, during which he discussed rumors of Drake looking to recruit the Wu on “Wu-Tang Forever,” which samples the iconic group’s “It’s Yourz,” but Meth said he didn’t see a connection from Drake’s track to the Clan’s second album.

“I like Drake, I think he’s a dope artist. He puts out some great music, obviously, he wouldn’t be as big as he is,” he said. “But when he sent the record, some brothers was trying to write to it and s—t, and I’m sitting there like, ‘I don’t like it.’”

Method Man continued: “I was like, ‘What does this have to do with Wu-Tang Forever?’ I’m not questioning his artistic ability or anything. I’m just saying, for my taste, I was more or less like, ‘I’m not getting on that.’”

OVO Sound’s Mr. Morgan pushed back against Method Man’s claims, and he alleged in a since-deleted Instagram comment viewed by Billboard that all present members of the Wu-Tang Clan penned a verse to hop on the “Wu-Tang Forever” remix outside of GZA. Billboard has reached out to Mr. Morgan for clarification.

“Wu-Tang Forever” peaked at No. 52 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 13 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. A video was never released, but A$AP Rocky allegedly appeared in an unreleased visual shot in Harlem.

An early 2016 episode of OVO Sound Radio also saw A$AP Lou and J. Scott share an unreleased version of “Wu-Tang Forever” featuring a verse from Rocky.

Watch Method Man on 7PM in Brooklyn below:

Morgan Wallen let Taylor Swift have a turn — her first — at No. 1 on Billboard’s year-end Top Streaming Songs Artists chart in 2024, but in 2025, the king took back his crown.

Wallen, who first reigned on the list for the first time in 2023 following a steady incline (No. 4 in 2022, No. 11 in 2021) and dipped to No. 2 in 2024, returns to No. 1 in 2025 on the heels of the release of his fourth album, I’m the Problem, in May.

Explore All of Billboard’s 2025 Year-End Charts

The LP topped the Billboard 200 for 12 weeks (and Top Country Albums for even longer; in fact, it hasn’t been toppled from No. 1 yet as of early December 2025) and spurred a trio of No. 1s on the weekly Streaming Songs chart in “Love Somebody,” “I’m the Problem” and “What I Want.” The latter, which features Tate McRae, reigned for six weeks, Wallen’s second-longest ruler after the 19-frame domination of “Last Night” in 2023.

But while “Last Night” was also 2023’s year-end Streaming Songs No. 1, Wallen doesn’t claim the top spot for 2025. In fact, none of the songs from I’m the Problem even reach the top 10.

A look back at the Streaming Songs chart for 2025 would be remiss without a mention of the elephant in the room: songs just stick around longer these days. Streaming hits of yore were capital-S successes, sure, but only the ubiquitous, inescapable, cultural-moment behemoths were the types to hang around on the Streaming Songs chart for even half a year, let alone a year.

But on the final ranking of the 2025 chart year (this year’s parameters were Oct. 26, 2024-Oct. 18, 2025), eight songs had Streaming Songs histories that stretched past 52 weeks. One — Zach Bryan’s 2022 American Heartbreak hit “Something in the Orange” — broke the record for the most time spent on Streaming Songs in its history, now at 153 weeks and counting. A second, Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control,” has since Bryan in the 100-week club, now sitting at 104.

One of those eight songs, the Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars duet “Die With a Smile,” is the year-end Streaming Songs No. 1 for 2025.

“Die With a Smile” was strong out of the gate. It debuted at No. 3 on the Aug. 31, 2024, chart and only fell out of the weekly top five when the Christmas season’s usual fare blanketed the tally. And what was ready for its day in the sun once holiday decorations were put back into storage? “Die With a Smile,” which spent its first of three weeks at No. 1 on the Jan. 11 list.

Though its reign was short lived, the song remained in the top 10 through May and only recently departed the tally, racking up formidable numbers well past its 1^st birthday. It may surprise some folks that despite both Gaga and Mars coming into their own as superstars around the dawn of the streaming era, “Die With a Smile” is their first year-end Streaming Songs No. 1; in fact, it’s Gaga’s first top 10, while Mars had risen as high as No. 2 as a featured act (Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk,” 2015) and No. 5 as a lead (“That’s What I Like,” 2017).

 Though it’s poetic, in a way. Some have argued that streaming’s slowing pace when it comes to the hits continuing to be hits for months or even years on end more resembles the general disposition of radio holding on to its own major successes for longer periods of time. Gaga and Mars may not have had triumphs on the year-end Streaming Songs chart in the past, but they have been and remain radio darlings, certainly; Mars has 10 No. 1s on the weekly Radio Songs chart, while Gaga boasts three, plus 12 top 10s. As streaming continues into an era increasingly defined by algorithmic playlisting and listening, who better to benefit than two artists whose songs have helped define Pop Airplay for the past decade-and-a-half?

Whatever the reason, there’s no denying that “Die With a Smile” was a juggernaut on streaming services in 2025. And its release year of 2024 is shared by eight of the top 10 songs on the year-end ranking. Some of those were late-in-the-year releases such as Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther” (No. 2) and Lamar’s “TV Off,” featuring Lefty Gunplay (No. 9), sure (both songs first hit the weekly chart in December 2024, meaning their run occurred during the 2025 chart year). But many more, like the Nos. 3 (Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and 5 (Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” were more in line with “Die With a Smile”: mid-2024 hits that, months and months later, were still hits.

The two exceptions? Well, one’s only such insofar as, sure, it didn’t come out in 2024 — it was released in 2023. That’s the aforementioned “Lose Control,” which comes in at No. 4, one spot below its 2024 rank. The other is the only track with an actual 2025 release date: Alex Warren’s “Ordinary,” at No. 8. It debuted at No. 48 in March and eventually rose to No. 1 for four weeks, basically the majority of May.

Wallen, meanwhile, follows at No. 11 with “I’m the Problem,” and the rest of the top 25 has its share of 2025 tunes — Wallen’s own “Just in Case” and “What I Want” at Nos. 17 and 20, KPop Demon Hunters stalwart “Golden” by HUNTR/X at No. 18, Drake’s “Nokia” at No. 22, BigXthaPlug’s “All the Way” at No. 25.

Still, the year in streaming was prominently marked by a key observation: it’s not so much that what’s old is new, it’s just that what’s new is, well, still new, at least in the eyes of many music consumers. It’s not a brand-new development — remember, the 2024 No. 1, Zach Bryan’s “I Remember Everything,” was from 2023 — but six of 2024’s top 10 was still that year. In 2025, that number flipped — and then some.

The other development to note for 2025: after years of growth, the country genre finally slowed down a little. In 2024, the top 10 of the Top Streaming Songs Artists chart featured three country acts, plus a fourth in Post Malone, whose success that year was largely assisted by his country debut, F-1 Trillion. Four country songs, including the aforementioned “I Remember Everything,” were part of the year-end Streaming Songs ranking’s top 10.

In 2025? Wallen is only joined by Shaboozey in the top 10 (not including Chappell Roan [No. 4], who, to be fair, did have one country release this year in “The Giver”), while the top 10 on the songs side also boasts just two, both of which — “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and Malone’s Wallen-featuring “I Had Some Help,” at Nos. 3 and 7, were also in the top 10 in 2024.

Not that the bottom totally dropped out for country in the chart’s upper reaches this year. The 75-position year-end Streaming Songs tally still sports 19 country titles, down six from 23 in 2024. But much of that is thanks to Wallen, whose material accounts for nine of the 19 — 10 if you count his featured turn on “I Had Some Help.”

Instead, the artists list saw a few acts expand on their 2024 fortunes. Lamar jumped from No. 5 in 2024 to No. 2, boosted by 11^th-hour 2024 album GNX plus a Super Bowl halftime show performance and a big night at the 2025 Grammy Awards that saw “Not Like Us” (No. 10 on the year-end Streaming Songs chart) win both record of the year and song of the year. Sabrina Carpenter rose one spot to No. 3, buoyed by the continued success of cuts from 2024’s Short n’ Sweet as well as August’s Man’s Best Friend. And Roan leaped 8-4 thanks to a pair of new tracks (“The Giver” and “The Subway”) plus new heights reached by “Pink Pony Club,” which peaked on the Hot 100 at No. 4 in April, five years after its initial release.

Billboard’s year-end music charts represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts from Oct. 26, 2024, through Oct. 18, 2025. Rankings for Luminate-based recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the entries appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology detail, and the October-October time period, account for some of the difference between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Luminate.

Craig Kallman has been appointed chief music officer at Warner Music Group (WMG), the company announced Tuesday (Dec. 9). He will report directly to WMG CEO Robert Kyncl.

Kallman served as co-chair/CEO of Atlantic Records for nearly 20 years before being named chief music officer at Atlantic Music Group last September amid a generational reshuffle that saw Elliot Grainge ascend to CEO. In his new role, Kallman “will provide his deep A&R expertise across WMG’s artist roster and label group globally,” according to a press release. He will also continue signing artists to Big Beat, the label he founded in 1987 that was acquired by Atlantic in 1991. Each of Big Beat’s artists will be worked by one of WMG’s U.S. labels moving forward, including its latest signing, Elkan, who produced Drake and PARTYNEXTDOOR’s “NOKIA” and will be releasing his debut EP, The Baby Bundle, on Friday (Dec. 12) via Atlantic Records.

Over his 35 years at Atlantic, Kallman, a legendary force in A&R, helped launch such stars as Bruno Mars, Cardi B (for whom he co-produced the smash “I Like It”), Lizzo and Wiz Khalifa and signed hip-hop and R&B icons including The Notorious B.I.G., Aaliyah, Timbaland and Lil’ Kim. During his 20 years as co-chair/CEO, he led the label alongside co-chair/COO Julie Greenwald, who exited the company in January.

“I’m deeply grateful for my time at Atlantic, where I’ve had the privilege of contributing to the careers of so many remarkable artists,” said Kallman in a statement. “It’s been great seeing Elliot take the helm and open a bold new chapter in the label’s illustrious history. I am excited to take on this new role and work alongside our outstanding A&R teams around the world, while reimagining the Big Beat brand as a force across genres. As my first signing, Elkan is a statement of intent, which underscores my commitment to nurture and champion extraordinary, trailblazing talent.”

Added Kyncl, “Craig has helped shape the sound and direction of modern music, leaving a lasting imprint on artists, fans, and the industry at large. With decades of experience working at the highest level with the biggest stars, he will be an invaluable creative force and deep resource in his new post…helping drive and support A&R strategy and artist development across WMG, signing exciting new talent, and collaborating with our label leaders to bring bold, original music to the world.” 

For the first time since the inaugural year-end global charts in 2021, the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts have different reigning artists. Sabrina Carpenter is the top artist on the former list and Bad Bunny leads the latter.

Explore All of Billboard’s 2025 Year-End Charts

Both acts are powered by new releases. Bad Bunny released DeBI TiRAR MaS FOToS on January 5 and immediately impacted the charts. Five of its songs debuted in the top of each global list, with its entire track listing filling up the rest of the tallies. He sports nine titles on the year-end Global Excl. U.S. Songs chart, including “DTMF” at No. 10, and eight on the Global 200 roundup.

Carpenter’s new hits came later in the year, upon the Aug. 29 unveiling of Man’s Best Friend. “Manchild” previewed the album with its June release, which debuted at No. 2 on both global charts. “Tears” followed months later, with the same No. 2 start.

But Carpenter’s best year-end showings are her biggest hits from 2024. “Espresso” winds up in the top 10 for both lists, with “Please Please Please” and “Taste” each in the top 40.

Billie Eilish and Bruno Mars also appear in the top five for both charts, with Kendrick Lamar filling the final spot for Global 200 Artists and Lady Gaga doing the same among Global Excl. U.S. acts.

Billboard’s year-end music charts represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts from Oct. 26, 2024, through Oct. 18, 2025. Rankings for Luminate-based recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the entries appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology detail, and the October-October time period, account for some of the difference between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Luminate.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts have the same year-end No. 1 song. More, both charts have an identical top five: the same songs in the same order.

Bruno Mars dominates the songs lists, at No. 1 with “APT.,” with BLACKPINK’s ROSÉ, and at No. 2 with “Die With A Smile,” alongside Lady Gaga. These songs, both released in 2024, traded off the top spot on both weekly lists for the majority of the 2025 tracking period. On Global Excl. U.S., they ruled for 29 of the year’s first 30 weeks, interrupted for one week by Mariah Carey’s annual trip to the top with “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”

Both hits have endured, only dropping out of the top 20 in the final week of the tracking period due to Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl clogging up the top of both charts. Mars bounced back in the weeks since, potentially gearing up for another showing on the 2026 year-end recap.

Very few songs reached the top of either global chart in 2025, which were mostly run by a handful of dominant tracks. After “APT.” and “Die With A Smile,” Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” took charge, leading the Global 200 for 10 consecutive weeks and Global Excl. U.S. for eight. Ultimately, it finishes at No. 4 for both year-end lists.

“Ordinary” is sandwiched on the year-end charts by two other No. 1 songs. Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” is No. 3 and Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” is No. 5. Both of these were multi-week chart-toppers, but not in 2025.

“Beautiful Things” conquered both lists for multiple months in the Spring of 2024, ultimately becoming that year’s top global song. “Birds of a Feather” reached the summit in August of last year, right before “Die With A Smile” began Mars’ lengthy reign. Both hits lasted in the top 10 of the global charts through July, more than a year after either song was released.

Boone and Eilish are two examples of a broader trend, with other top 10 spots taken up by Carpenter’s 2024 smash “Espresso” and Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control,” which first charted in 2023.

Still, one of 2025’s biggest breakthroughs also places in the top 10. HUNTR/X — an animated girl group featuring the voices of EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami — is No. 9 on Global Excl. U.S. and No. 10 on the Global 200 with “Golden,” the breakout hit from Netflix’s runaway record-breaker Kpop Demon Hunters. The Grammy Award-nominated song spent 12 of the last 14 weeks of the tracking period atop both global charts, and returned to the top for the first frames of the 2026 chart year.

Joey Moi returns as the No. 1 Hot 100 Producer of the year for the second time, thanks to another blockbuster year with Morgan Wallen.

Moi finishes 2025 as the No. 1 Hot 100 Producer thanks to the chart performance of 38 production credits on the Billboard Hot 100 during the 2025 chart eligibility period (Oct. 26, 2024 – Oct. 18, 2025), all of which were by Wallen. Of those 38 songs, nine reached the top 10 and two of them hit No. 1 (“Love Somebody” and “What I Want” featuring Tate McRae).

Explore All of Billboard’s 2025 Year-End Charts

Here’s a look at all 38 of Moi’s production credits on the Hot 100 during the 2025 tracking period, which all contribute to his placement on the year-end ranking.

Peak Position, Artist Billing, Title

No. 1, Morgan Wallen, “Love Somebody”
No. 1, Morgan Wallen feat. Tate McRae, “What I Want”
No. 2, Morgan Wallen, “I’m The Problem”
No. 2, Morgan Wallen, “Just In Case”
No. 4, Morgan Wallen, “Smile”
No. 7, Morgan Wallen, “Lies Lies Lies”
No. 7, Morgan Wallen, “I Got Better”
No. 8, Morgan Wallen feat. Post Malone, “I Ain’t Coming Back”
No. 8, Morgan Wallen, “Superman”
No. 12, Morgan Wallen feat. ERNEST, “Cowgirls”
No. 17, Morgan Wallen, “I’m A Little Crazy”
No. 20, Morgan Wallen, “20 Cigarettes”
No. 21, Morgan Wallen, “Kick Myself”
No. 21, Morgan Wallen feat. Lil Wayne & Rick Ross, “Miami”
No. 22, Morgan Wallen, “Eyes Are Closed”
No. 25, Morgan Wallen, “Falling Apart”
No. 29, Morgan Wallen, “Skoal, Chevy, And Browning”
No. 31, Morgan Wallen, “TN”
No. 32, Morgan Wallen, “Where’s That Girl Go”
No. 34, Morgan Wallen, “Kiss Her In Front of You”
No. 41, Morgan Wallen, “If You Were Mine”
No. 42, Morgan Wallen, “Missing”
No. 46, Morgan Wallen, “Genesis”
No. 48, Morgan Wallen, “Don’t We”
No. 49, Morgan Wallen, “Dark Til Daylight”
No. 52, Morgan Wallen feat. Eric Church, “Number 3 and Number 7”
No. 54, Morgan Wallen, “Revelation”
No. 60, Morgan Wallen, “Jack and Jill”
No. 63, Morgan Wallen feat. HARDY, “Come Back As A Redneck”
No. 69, Morgan Wallen feat. ERNEST, “The Dealer”
No. 70, Morgan Wallen, “Leavin’s the Least I Could Do”
No. 72, Morgan Wallen, “Drinking Til It Does”
No. 73, Morgan Wallen, “Nothin’ Left”
No. 79, Morgan Wallen, “LA Night”
No. 83, Morgan Wallen, “Whiskey In Reverse”
No. 84, Morgan Wallen, “Working Man’s Song”
No. 88, Morgan Wallen, “Crazy Eyes”
No. 97, Brooks & Dunn with Morgan Wallen, “Neon Moon”

Of the 38 songs above, 36 peaked during the 2025 eligibility period, as they all appeared on Wallen’s 2025 album I’m The Problem. The album finishes as the No. 2 year-end Billboard 200 album of the year, behind only Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl.

This is the second time Moi has finished as the No. 1 producer. He first ruled the year-end ranking in 2023, largely thanks to his work on Wallen’s One Thing at a Time. He’s also finished in the top 10 in 2024 (No. 7), 2022 (No. 3), 2021 (No. 2) and 2020 (No. 6).

Charlie Handsome finishes just below Moi on the 2025 year-end Hot 100 Producers ranking, also thanks to his work with Wallen. Handsome and Moi are listed as co-producers on many tracks from I’m the Problem, including its No. 1s “Love Somebody and “What I Want.” Also contributing to Handsome’s placement is his work with BigXthaPlug (“Hell At Night”) and Marshmello and Jelly Roll (“Holy Water”).

Rounding out the top five, Julian Bunetta finishes at No. 3, Dan Nigro places at No. 4 and FINNEAS stands at No. 5.

Billboard’s year-end music recaps represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts from Oct. 26, 2024, through Oct. 18, 2025. Rankings for Luminate-based recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the titles appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology detail, and the October-October time period, account for some of the differences between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Luminate.