Billboard wrapped its return to SXSW 2026 reaching more than 20,000 attendees with three sold-out nights of live music, artist conversations, and fan experiences across Billboard Presents THE STAGE at SXSW and Billboard House at Mohawk, bringing together artists, industry leaders, and fans from around the world for one of the festival’s most dynamic music hubs.

Across March 13–15, Billboard’s signature concert series Billboard Presents THE STAGE at SXSW was a three-night celebration of genre-spanning music, featuring headlining performances from Don Toliver, Junior H, and Mau P alongside a diverse lineup of emerging and breakout artists. Meanwhile, Billboard House at Mohawk served as a central gathering point throughout the weekend, hosting conversations, showcases, and special events spotlighting the artists, executives, and creators shaping music and culture today.

Night one of the concert series, presented by Intuit TurboTax, kicked off with performances from Chase B, sosocamo, Yakiyn and house DJ Cee Watts, before hip-hop and R&B star Don Toliver took the stage for a sold-out crowd. During his set, Toliver celebrated the sixth anniversary of his platinum-certified debut album Heaven or Hell, performing fan favorites including “After Party” and his Billboard Hot 100 hit “Body.”

The following evening, DJ HELIOS and Música Mexicana breakout artist Oscar Ortiz opened the stage to another sold-out crowd, ahead of a powerful headline performance from Junior H, who delivered a high-energy set including hits “LAS NOCHES,” “sad boy,” “Y Lloro,” and “El Azul.” During the show, the artist surprised fans by signing a Mexican flag handed to him from the crowd before closing the night with “CULPABLE.” A portion of ticket proceeds from nights 1 and 2 benefited Waterloo Greenway Conservancy. The Waterloo Conservancy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and enhancing the natural and cultural resources of Waterloo Park. 

Presented by Carnival Cruise Line, Billboard closed out the series on Sunday with performances from Apex Martin and house DJ Austin Ashtin, followed by a headlining set from internationally acclaimed Dutch DJ and producer Mau P. Despite a weather-related venue move to The Concourse Project, which quickly reached capacity, Mau P delivered an electrifying performance, including his remix of “Mercy” by Kanye West featuring Big Sean, Pusha T, and 2 Chainz.

Carnival Cruise Line invited guests to find their fun again during all three unforgettable nights of music and celebration, bringing Carnival’s unmistakable brand of fun to the heart of Austin. Guests were welcomed to a one-of-a-kind experience that brought the Carnival cruise vacation to life with a pool deck-inspired bar serving up tropical cocktails, a taste of onboard favorites, including soft serve ice cream and towel animals, an airbrush tattoo station,  and custom photo opportunities.

Beyond the concert series, Billboard House at Mohawk offered fans a packed slate of programming across the three days, including artist conversations, industry panels, and cross-genre showcases spotlighting rising talent.

Highlights included conversations with The All-American Rejects, Mark Cuban, Jonás Cuarón, and Edgar Barrera, along with Billboard’s Superstar Q&A series featuring Don Toliver, Junior H, and Mau P. The programming also featured a special discussion on mental health and creativity with Corinne Bailey Rae and Ravyn Lenae, presented by BetterHelp, the world’s largest online therapy platform, as well as the debut of Billboard and BetterHelp’s new mental health storytelling initiative, a video series called “Like Minded.”

Additional moments throughout the weekend included the U.S. debut of Los Guitarrazos, the Mexico City-born traveling event spotlighting regional Mexican music.

Billboard House also hosted more than a dozen artist showcases throughout the weekend featuring Alicia Creti, Amie Blu, Babyfxce E, BrunOG, Dizzy Fae, EddyJae, feel trip., The Gringos, Hermanos Espinoza, INK, Kairo Keyz, Karina Galicia, Lena Dardelet, Momo Boyd, Mosmo, Oscar Ortiz, Panic Shack, Sassy 009, Sofish, THEBROSFRESH, TTSSFU and more.

On Friday night, Billboard House at Mohawk transformed into the CHEETOS FLAMIN’ HOT Pickle Pop-Off, an afterparty featuring DJ duo Loud Luxury. Guests experienced the unexpected pairing of CHEETOS FLAMIN’ HOT and dill pickle through product sampling, custom cocktails, fan-favorite arcade games, karaoke battles, and a high-energy dancefloor soundtracked by Loud Luxury’s signature mashups.

The weekend concluded with “The Offline Sessions,” an afterparty hosted in partnership with Global Day of Unplugging, encouraging fans and artists to connect through music and conversation without digital distractions.

Billboard will continue to report live from SXSW throughout the week as the festival takes over Austin from March 12–18, 2026. Viewers can follow the latest news and moments from the event by visiting Billboard.com and following @billboard across social media.

Billboard parent company Penske Media acquired a majority stake in SXSW in 2023.

Harry Styles achieves a massive week on Billboard’s charts (dated March 21) thanks to the debut of his album Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally.

Released March 6 via Erskine/Columbia Records, the set launches at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 430,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in its opening week, according to Luminate — the biggest week for an album this year. Styles scores his fourth No. 1, after Harry Styles (2017), Fine Line (2019) and Harry’s House (2022).

The album sends Styles vaulting 40 spots back to No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100. He leads for a sixth week and for the first time since 2022. The chart measures acts’ activity across key metrics of music consumption: album sales, track sales, radio airplay and streaming. Using a methodology comprising those metrics, the chart provides a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.

All 12 songs from the album also reach the Billboard Hot 100, led by “American Girls” at No. 4 and lead single “Aperture” at No. 9 — the latter debuted at No. 1 six weeks ago.

Here’s a recap of Styles’ songs on the latest Hot 100 (all of which are debuts except where noted):

Rank, Title

With 11 debuts, Styles has now charted 34 total songs on the Hot 100 as a solo artist in his career — surpassing the 29 that he charted as a member of One Direction in 2012-15. After the group split in 2016, he earned his first solo Hot 100 entry on April 29, 2017, when “Sign of the Times” debuted and peaked at No. 4. Of his 34 entries, 28 have reached the top 40, nine peaked in the top 10 and three hit No. 1: “Watermelon Sugar” (2020), “As It Was” (2022) and “Aperture.”

Two songs from the new album also place on the Hot Dance/Pop Songs chart: “Aperture,” at No. 2 after four weeks at No. 1, and “Are You Listening Yet?,” a debut at No. 3.

Ken Doroshow will retire from his post as the top lawyer at the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) at the end of March.

Doroshow departs the RIAA after seven years as chief legal officer. During his tenure, he oversaw litigation, content protection, regulatory affairs and technology matters for the organization. He’ll be replaced on an acting basis by Jacob Tracer, the RIAA’s senior vp of litigation and legal affairs.

“Ken’s career advocating for the rights of creators has left an indelible mark on the laws protecting music,” said RIAA chairman and CEO Mitch Glazier in a statement. “RIAA is so fortunate to have benefitted from Ken’s unique talent, resilience and good humor. While we will miss him greatly, we celebrate all his accomplishments as he enters his well-deserved retirement and congratulate him on his many contributions to the music industry.”

After receiving his J.D. from Cornell Law School in 1989, Doroshow spent more than a decade of his early career at the Department of Justice, including as a prosecutor in the Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section. He later served for three years as general counsel of the Entertainment Software Association, a video game industry trade group, before becoming a partner at the firm Jenner & Block in 2012.

Doroshow focused on intellectual property and First Amendment matters for media and entertainment clients during his time in private practice. In 2019, he brought this expertise to the RIAA, where he led numerous high-profile copyright cases for the record industry.

Doroshow’s docket at the RIAA included piracy lawsuits against stream-ripping services and landmark litigation accusing AI music generators Suno and Udio of training their models on unlicensed music. He was repeatedly featured on Billboard’s Top Music Lawyers list.

It takes a lot of heart to let people in like this, but Ann Wilson is ready to take the leap.

On Tuesday (March 17), the Heart frontwoman announced that she’ll embark on a 10-stop North American tour to screen her forthcoming documentary In My Voice. After each screening, Wilson will participate in a live Q&A alongside director Barbara Hall (Madam Secretary, Army Wives).

Wilson is a singer/songwriter and frontwoman of the legendary rock band Heart. Coming up in the male-dominated rock scene in the ’70s, Wilson faced more than her fair share of misogyny in the music industry. Yet, she never let it stop her. Instead, she took her anger and penned “Barracuda,” a top 20 Billboard Hot 100 hit that would go on to become one of Heart’s signature songs, in 1977. Since then, Heart continued to grow as one of the biggest rock acts of the ’70s and ’80s, even earning a place on Billboard‘s list of 50 best rock bands.

Now, five decades after the formation of Heart, Wilson is sharing her story. As the title suggests, In My Voice is Wilson’s tale told in her own words. The documentary explores Wilson’s life from growing up a military child to becoming a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee. Fans will get to see highlights pulled from Wilson’s archive of home movies, journals, photographs and never-before-seen footage. Wilson’s family members, bandmates and fellow artists will make cameos and share commentary on Wilson’s incredible life.

“The most important lesson I’ve learned along the long and winding road is to thine own self, be true,” Wilson says in the teaser trailer for In My Own Voice.

The film tour will kick off in Seattle on May 11 before snaking its way across the U.S., Vancouver and Toronto before concluding in Boston.

Watch the teaser for In My Voice below.

Universal Music Group’s merch and lifestyle company Bravado has promoted Matt Young to CEO, the company announced Tuesday (March 17). Young, who was previously president of Bravado, will continue reporting to UMG COO Boyd Muir.

Along with Young’s ascension, Bravado announced several other new hires and promotions. They include Eric Mackay, who has joined the company as general manager; Dan Goldberg, who joins as senior vp of strategy & new ventures; and Amy Zaglauer, who was promoted to senior vp of artist strategy. Young’s senior management team also includes Rachel Redfearn, who will continue in her role as senior vp of A&R.

Mackay, a 25-year industry veteran, joins Bravado from Warner Chappell Music, where he served as executive vp of global digital strategy. Goldberg previously built and led Fanatics’ music and entertainment division and served as senior vp of Warner Music Artist Services (now WMX). Zaglauer has been with the company since 2021 after previously serving in artist services and brand management roles at Warner Music Group, Atlantic Records and Fueled By Ramen.

Mackay is based in Los Angeles; Young, Zaglauer and Goldberg are based in New York; and Redfearn is based in London.

“Creating products for superfans is integral to how artists express their creative vision and forge lasting connections beyond the music itself,” said Muir in a statement. “Matt leads an expert, nimble team that moves quickly with the market, while staying closely aligned with each artist’s needs, ambitions, and identity. These appointments underscore our continued commitment to expanding opportunities for artists to engage and grow with their biggest fans.”

Young added, “The work we do brings fans deeper into an artist’s world in ways that are meaningful, lasting, and real. I’m excited to work alongside Amy, Eric, Dan, Rachel, and the wider team as we continue creating innovative products and experiences that turn connection into community. In the equation of Artists + Fans, we are the plus sign.”