Morgan Wallen finishes atop Billboard’s year-end Top Artists chart for the first time following the monster success of his 2025 album I’m the Problem and its associated hit songs. The continued chart performance of his earlier smash albums One Thing at a Time and Dangerous: The Double Album also helped fuel the victory.

Explore All of Billboard’s 2025 Year-End Charts

I’m the Problem, which ranks at No. 2 on the year-end Billboard 200 Albums recap, debuted at No. 1 on the weekly Billboard 200 dated May 31 and spent 12 weeks leading the list during the annual eligibility period (see methodology below).

Wallen’s Top Artists trophy was also earned in part by his success on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 songs chart during the chart year, placing more titles on the list (41) than any other act. Of those, nine reached the top 10, including “What I Want” (featuring Tate McRae), which spent a week at No. 1 upon its debut in May.

Wallen is the first act who primarily records country music to crown the Top Artists list since 2009, when Taylor Swift took home her first win in the annual recap. That year, she was also No. 1 on the year-end Billboard 200 Albums chart with her second full-length, Fearless. (She would pivot to a mostly pop career in 2014 with her 1989 album.) Wallen is only the second male country act to be the year-end top artist after Garth Brooks, who scored back-to-back year-end wins in 1992 and 1993. (The year-end Top Artists recap began in 1981.)

Swift also looms large on the 2025 year-end rankings, as her recently released The Life of a Showgirl is No. 1 on the year-end Billboard 200 Albums chart. It’s the fifth time she has ruled that roundup, and she remains the only act to have the year-end No. 1 Billboard 200 album more than three times.

The Life of a Showgirl’s year-end feat is especially remarkable considering it had only one week of activity on the Billboard 200 during the eligibility period. It debuted at No. 1 on the list dated Oct. 18 — the final week of the chart year — with a modern-era weekly record of 4 million equivalent album units earned in its first week, according to Luminate.

Swift led the 2024 year-end Billboard 200 Albums chart with The Tortured Poets Department, and in turn, she becomes the first act to have the year-end No. 1 Billboard 200 album in consecutive years with two different titles since Elton John in 1974 (Goodbye Yellow Brick Road) and 1975 (Greatest Hits). In between John and Swift, two artists went back-to-back but with the same albums: Michael Jackson with Thriller in 1983 and 1984 and Adele with 21 in 2011 and 2012.

Wallen and Swift are the year’s top male artist and top female artist, respectively, while the top duo/group is the animated KPop Demon Hunters girl group HUNTR/X, voiced by real-life singers EJAE, Audrey Nuna and REI AMI. The trio from the smash Netflix film scored four hits on the weekly Hot 100 in 2025, including the No. 1 “Golden.” Alex Warren is 2025’s top new artist following his massive success with “Ordinary,” which spent 10 weeks atop the Hot 100, while his album You’ll Be Alright, Kid reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200.

The year-end No. 1 on the Hot 100 Songs chart is “Die With a Smile” by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars. The track led the Hot 100 for five weeks.

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. The Top Artists and Top New Artists categories rank the best-performing acts, and new acts, of the year based on activity on the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100, as well as Billboard Boxscore (touring), for the 2025 tracking period.

Morgan Wallen enjoyed another banner year in 2025 and on the year-end country charts. Far and away the format’s leading artist (he’s No. 1 on the year-end Top Country Artists chart for the fifth year in a row) the East Tennessee-born superstar posted four No. 1s each on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts during the 2025 chart year (Oct. 26, 2024, through Oct. 18, 2025) – more No. 1s than any other act on either chart. Further, on the weekly Top Country Albums chart, out of the 52 weeks during the chart year, Wallen was No. 1 for 48 of those – 21 weeks with his 2025 release I’m the Problem, and 27 weeks with his 2023 set One Thing at a Time.

Explore All of Billboard’s 2025 Year-End Charts

 “I’m the Problem” and “Love Somebody” topped both Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay during the eligibility period. “Just In Case” and “Lies Lies Lies” topped Country Airplay, while “I Got Better” and “What I Want” (featuring Tate McRae) led Hot Country Songs. The latter also clocked 20 weeks at No. 1 on Hot Country Songs, the second-most weeks at No. 1 during the 2025 chart year.

Wallen has six of the top 10 on the year-end Hot Country Songs chart, including the Nos. 2-5 titles (Shaboozey’s enduring “A Bar Song [Tipsy]” is tops).

Wallen’s albums told the same story of momentum. His 2025 set I’m the Problem is No. 1 on the year-end Top Country Albums recap, while his earlier sets One Thing at a Time and Dangerous: The Double Album come in at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively.

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.

Right behind Wallen on 2025’s Top Country Artists tally sits Shaboozey at No. 2. The 2024 breakout star officially cemented himself as a format mainstay with a song that began its ascent in 2024. “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” finishes as Hot Country Songs’ year-end No. 1 following its historic 45-week run at the top, 27 of those frames occurring in the 2025 chart year. His follow-up single, “Good News,” lands at No. 6 for the year. Only Shaboozey and Morgan Wallen place more than one title inside the year-end Hot Country Songs top 10.

Women also made an imprint this year, with Megan Moroney among the standouts, who reigns at No. 1 on the Top Country Artists – Female chart. The Georgian, who spent much of 2025 on the road with Kenny Chesney, charted three cuts during the eligibility period on Hot Country Songs and five on Country Airplay (the most of any woman on the latter). One of those hits, “Am I Okay?,” places at No. 19 on the year-end Hot Country Songs ranking and at No. 14 on the Country Airplay recap. Its parent album of the same name comes in at No. 16 on the year-end Top Country Albums roundup – the highest-ranking title by a woman.

Ella Langley, who finishes 2025 at No. 2 among women on the year-end Top Country Artists – Female ranking, and among new artists, is emerging as one of the year’s brightest breakthroughs. She notched a trio of top 10s on the Country Airplay chart during the chart year (including a No. 1, “You Look Like You Love Me,” featuring Riley Green). On Hot Country Songs, she logged four top 10s during the eligibility period. (She’s already off to a hot start for the 2026 chart year, as “Choosin’ Texas” became her first leader on Country Airplay, when it hit No. 1 on the Dec. 6-dated list.) Plus, her Hungover album closes out the year at No. 17 on the Top Country Albums ranking.

On the 2025 year-end charts, her solo breakout “Weren’t For The Wind” ranks at No. 14 on Hot Country Songs and No. 34 on Country Airplay.

Lainey Wilson, meanwhile, places at No. 4 on the Top Country Artists – Female roundup and lands two titles on the 2025 Hot Country Songs year-end list. “4x4xU” ranks at No. 36, while “Somewhere Over Laredo” appears at No. 51.

Meanwhile, over on the Bluegrass and Americana/Folk charts, some familiar faces continued to post big achievements.

Billy Strings and Alison Krauss close the year at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, on the Bluegrass Albums Artists ranking. Strings, still riding the impact of 2024’s 16-week Bluegrass Albums No. 1 Highway Prayers, followed it with Live at the Legion, which rose to No. 1 in August. Krauss placed three collections on the chart: A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection and Arcadia both topped the list for a combined 11 weeks, while Now That I’ve Found You: A Collection peaked at No. 2. Both artists charted on Americana/Folk Albums as well.

Billboard’s Americana/Folk Albums chart continues to be dominated by Zach Bryan, though his influence stretches well beyond the genre. The U.S. Navy veteran ranks at No. 1 on 2025’s Americana/Folk Albums Artists list and at No. 3 Top Country Artists – Male. Three of the top five Americana/Folk Albums this year belong to Bryan — American Heartbreak (No. 3), his self-titled set (No. 4) and The Great American Bar Scene (No. 5). Additionally, his songs “High Road,” “Pink Skies” and “28” land on 2025’s Hot Country Songs, reflecting his widening footprint across formats.

If 2024 suggested country music was stretching in multiple directions at once, 2025 proved it. Wallen’s unstoppable run, Shaboozey’s crossover force, the rise of Langley and Moroney, Wilson’s continued consistency and Bryan’s genre-spanning pull all point to a format thriving in its variety. The only constant this year was momentum — and plenty of artists carried it forward.

For the first time in his career, Kendrick Lamar reigns as Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Artist of the year, storming to the 2025 crown. The superstar rapper claims the throne in his 13th time on the annual recap — a run of every year since 2012, apart from 2020 — and outdoes his previous best finish, a No. 2 result in 2017.

Lamar triumphs on the 2025 Top R&B/Hip-Hop Artists list, which is based on activity from the weekly Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts dated Oct. 26, 2024, through Oct. 18, 2025, from the domination of his GNX album and its biggest hit, the SZA collaboration “Luther,” along with Billboard Boxscore (touring) data.

To supplement his year-end win, Lamar is also the Top Rap Artist, Top R&B/Hip-Hop Artist – Male, and Top Rap Artist – Male.

Explore All of Billboard’s 2025 Year-End Charts

A Nearly Perfect 10 for ‘GNX’: GNX, a surprise release that dropped on Nov. 22, 2024, via pgLang/Interscope/Interscope Capitol, debuted at No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart dated Dec. 7. It spent seven weeks at No. 1 during the 2025 chart year and nearly remained in the top 10 for the entire period, with one exception — the penultimate week (Oct. 11, 2025). While it of course generated massive attention from A) being a Kendrick Lamar album and B) being the first Kendrick Lamar album since his pop-culture-defining feud with Drake, GNX achieved a second wind after Lamar headlined the halftime show of Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9.

Thanks to its strong longevity, GNX is the No. 2 title on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for 2025. It loses out to SZA’s SOS, which tops the annual recap for a second time, after its 2023 victory, thanks in part to its SOS Deluxe: LANA edition, which was combined with the original SOS on the charts.

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.

‘Luther’ Leads Songs Recap: While Lamar and SZA compete on the albums’ leaderboard, the pair join forces to capture the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs’ top prize with their collaboration “Luther.” The track, from GNX, sailed to its chart-topping honor with a record-shattering 31 weeks atop the weekly Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, by far the longest run in the chart’s 67-year history. To secure its record-breaking achievement, “Luther” took the crown from Lamar’s own “Not Like Us,” at 22 weeks in charge, which itself overcame SZA’s “Kill Bill,” and its 21 frames on top.

Beyond “Luther,” Lamar and SZA team up for another high finish on the year-end list with “30 for 30.” The single, from the LANA deluxe edition of SZA’s SOS, lands at No. 4. In addition to those two tracks, Lamar three more tracks in the year’s top 10: “TV Off,” featuring Lefty Gunplay (No. 2), the 2024 year-end champ “Not Like Us” (No. 5) and “Squabble Up” (No. 7).

Leon Thomas Roars in Rookie Season: Thanks to his breakthrough R&B smash hit “Mutt,” Leon Thomas is the Top New R&B/Hip-Hop Artist of 2025. The acclaimed singer-songwriter, whose prior work includes co-writing and co-producing credits on SZA’s “Snooze,” stepped into his own spotlight with his breakout track. “Mutt,” released in August 2024, was a sleeper hit, finally entering the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in late January of 2025. As gradual improvements in streaming and radio lifted its fortunes, the song reached the weekly top 10 in April, before bearing another long journey until it finally crowned the list in August. Once “Mutt” arrived, however, it refused to budge, wrapping the last nine weeks of the chart tracking year in the top spot. From that combination of endurance and success, “Mutt” secured the No. 6 rank on the year-end Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs list.

As “Mutt” became a hit, its parent album of the same name climbed to a No. 8 best on the weekly Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums in June, sparked by a deluxe Heel edition. Although its title track was the main success driver, the album found additional Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs hits in the chart year via “Not Fair” and “Yes It Is,” which both peaked at No. 43.

Big Glo, Breezy & The Weeknd Win, Too: While Lamar, SZA and Thomas are the main winners of the 2025 cycle for R&B/hip-hop, here’s a review of other key highlights across the year-end chart results.

• GloRilla ranks at No. 1 on Top Rap Artists – Female, spurred by several hit singles from her debut album, Glorious. Viral fanfare and stellar radio support for “TGIF” and the Sexyy Red collaboration “Whatchu Kno About Me,” for example, were major contributors.

• Chris Brown’s “Residuals” claims the year’s radio triumphs, leading the plays-based Adult R&B Airplay and Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay recaps, as well as the overall audience-based R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay list.

• The Weeknd bags multiple R&B triumphs, including No. 1 on Top R&B Artists – Male. His song “Timeless,” featuring Playboi Carti, tops the Hot R&B Songs survey and is No. 1 on R&B Streaming Songs recap.

Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore are the latest songwriters to be inducted posthumously into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, following Cindy Walker in May 2024, Prince in July 2024 and Bert Berns in September 2025.

Often referred to by just their first names, Hugo & Luigi, the songwriters and producers (who were cousins) had long and hit-studded careers. They were among the first producers to have their names prominently displayed on album jackets.

They cowrote (with George David Weiss) the romantic ballad “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” which Elvis Presley took to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962 and UB40 took to No. 1 on that chart for seven weeks in 1993. The three writers also cowrote the subsequent Presley film title song “Wild in the Country.”

Hugo & Luigi wrote the English lyrics to The Tokens’ “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” a No. 1 on the Hot 100 in 1961 and a No. 3 on that chart in 1972 for Robert John.

Their No. 1 Hot 100 hits as producers include Little Peggy March’s “I Will Follow Him” (1963) and Van McCoy & the Soul City Symphony’s shimmering disco classic “The Hustle” (1975).

They produced a long string of hits by Sam Cooke, including “Twistin’ the Night Away,” “Another Saturday Night” and “A Change Is Gonna Come.”

SHOF chairman Nile Rodgers referenced the latter hit in a statement about Hugo & Luigi’s induction that was issued Tuesday (Dec. 9). “We are thrilled to be posthumously inducting Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore into the Songwriters Hall of Fame,” he said. “They were important pioneers in both writing and production, and among their many notable production credits is Sam Cooke’s seminal anthem for the Civil Rights movement, ‘A Change Is Gonna Come.’”

Early in their career, Hugo & Luigi had some success as artists. They cracked a pre-Hot 100 Billboard chart in 1955 with “Young Abe Lincoln,” and had two hits on the Hot 100 (which was introduced in 1958), including “Just Come Home,” which made the top 40. As artists, they cracked the top 20 on the Billboard 200 in 1963 with The Cascading Voices of the Hugo & Luigi Chorus.

In 1957, they bought into Roulette Records, where they produced major hits for Jimmie Rodgers (the pop-folk singer, not the country music legend of the same name), including “Honeycomb” and “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine.”

Two years later, Creatore and Peretti signed a deal with RCA Victor where they produced pop crooner and NBC television star Perry Como, and worked with such other label stalwarts as Della Reese, Cooke, Presley, The Tokens and March. One of their most notable successes for RCA, The Isley Brothers’ classic “Shout,” was only a moderate Hot 100 success at the time (No. 47 in 1959). The song has since been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and has ranked high in numerous lists of all-time greatest singles.

Creatore and Peretti left RCA Victor in 1964 to join Weiss in writing a musical about the American Civil War. Titled Maggie Flynn, it ran for two months on Broadway in 1968-69. The musical starred Shirley Jones and her then-husband Jack Cassidy (who received a Tony nomination for his performance) and featured a pre-fame Irene Cara. The cast album cracked the Billboard 200 in early 1969.

Hugo & Luigi formed Avco Records in the 1970s, where they teamed with Weiss to write seven Hot 100 hits for The Stylistics, including “Let’s Put It All Together,” a top 20 hit in 1974.

They won a Grammy in 1977 as producers of the original cast album to the hit Broadway show Bubbling Brown Sugar, which won as best cast show album.

Hugo & Luigi then launched a new label, H&L Records, which they ran until they retired at the end of the 1970s.

Both cousins were born in New York City. They shared an office in New York’s legendary Brill Building. Peretti died in May 1986 at age 69. Creatore, who was the son of famed Italian bandmaster Giuseppe Creatore, died in December 2015 at age 93.

This is the fourth posthumous induction into the SHOF in less than two years, following Cindy Walker in May 2024, Prince in July 2024 and Bert Berns in September 2025. SHOF chairman Linda Moran likes to keep the mood at the main June induction ceremony celebratory, and these separate posthumous induction events help achieve that goal.

Kehlani is looking forward to Bad Bunny’s 2026 Super Bowl Halftime Show performance in San Francisco Bay Area in February, but she’s hoping he doesn’t cater an ounce to the strictly English-speaking audience for the big game.

The “Folded” singer joined the Billboard 2025 No. 1s Livestream on Tuesday (Dec. 9), where Kehlani revealed that they’re “manifesting” a Spanish Super Bowl from Benito, as they don’t think he should perform “a single word” in English.

“He’s about to do the Super Bowl and probably not in English at all, in a time where that’s basically criminalized,” she said. “And that’s incredible. I don’t think he should say a single word in English at all.”

Host Druski — who is the cover star of the latest issue of Billboard –was caught off guard and thought that what Kehlani was hoping to see from Bad Bunny was facts regarding the Puerto Rican star’s Super Bowl performance, but the singer explained that it’s just something they’re “manifesting” at the moment.

“How we gon’ understand?” Druski asked.

Kehlani fired back: “We don’t have to!” The singer admitted she doesn’t understand all of Bad Bunny’s lyrics, but still vibes to plenty of his discography.

Kehlani also gave Benito his flowers for continuing to put on for his Puerto Rican culture and doing a residency back home to stimulate the U.S. territory’s economy.

“I think his commitment to uplifting his culture has been so serious,” she said. “Refusing to tour here, only touring in Puerto Rico to change the economy back home, was something super exemplary and I love that about him.”

Bad Bunny touches the Super Bowl LX stage at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 8.

Watch the full Billboard 2025 No. 1s Livestream below.