Morgan Wallen earns his 20th No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart as, aptly enough, “20 Cigarettes” — in its 20th week — rises two spots to the top of the list dated Feb. 28. The song drew 32.7 million audience impressions (up 12%) Feb. 13-19, according to Luminate.

Produced by Joey Moi and written by Chris LaCorte, Chase McGill, Josh Miller and Blake Pendergrass, the track is the sixth Country Airplay leader from Wallen’s 2025 LP I’m the Problem, following “I Got Better,” “Just in Case,” the title track, “Love Somebody” and “Lies Lies Lies.” He also logged six leaders from 2023’s One Thing at a Time — and becomes the first artist to achieve the feat twice.

All six Country Airplay No. 1s from I’m the Problem have reached the summit in 20 or fewer weeks, well below the 31-week average among all leaders on the list since Wallen first reigned with “Up Down,” featuring Florida Georgia Line, in June 2018. In that span, he boasts the fastest coronation —  seven weeks for Post Malone’s “I Had Some Help,” on which he’s featured, in 2024 — plus two of three next quickest: “I’m the Problem” and 2023’s “Last Night” (11 weeks each, a speed also matched by Luke Combs’ “Fast Car” that year).

Meanwhile, Wallen becomes the 13th act with 20 or more No. 1s since Country Airplay began in January 1990. Kenny Chesney leads with 33, followed by Blake Shelton (30) and Tim McGraw (29).

‘Fall’ Rises

Cody Johnson earns his sixth Country Airplay top 10 as “The Fall” climbs 11-10 (16.6 million, up 6%). He last reached the tier with Carrie Underwood on “I’m Gonna Love You,” which hit No. 3 last March. He has logged two No. 1s: 2022’s “‘Til You Can’t” (newly atop Hot Christian Songs as covered by Kid Rock) and 2024’s “The Painter.”

‘Be’-ginning

Ella Langley bows at No. 46 on Country Airplay with “Be Her,” from her sophomore album, Dandelion, due April 10. The song follows her third No. 1, and first on her own, “Choosin’ Texas,” which holds at No. 2 (32.4 million, up 4%). The latter continues its multiformat radio rise, concurrently pushing 20-16 on Adult Pop Airplay, debuting at No. 27 on Adult Contemporary and two-stepping 34-32 on Pop Airplay.

Jay-Z is celebrating the 30th anniversary of his “Dead Presidents” single with the release of the OG version on streaming services for the first time on Friday (Feb. 20).

“Dead Presidents” was released on Feb. 20, 1996, independently on Roc-A-Fella Records and served as the lead single heading into Jay’s Reasonable Doubt debut LP. To celebrate the single’s 30th birthday, the Roc Nation mogul unleashed a limited-edition vinyl, CD and cassette tape version of the Ski Beatz-produced original on his website.

“Dead Presidents” prominently samples Nas’ “The World Is Yours” along with Lonnie Liston Smith and A Tribe Called Quest on the drums.

Jay ended up pivoting and rapping new verses over the Ski beat for “Dead Presidents II,” which made the final cut for Reasonable Doubt over the original. Roc-A-Fella co-founder Kareem “Biggs” Burke took credit for pushing Hov to re-record “Dead Presidents” during an interview with Rob Markman.

“He had the verse and it was actually my idea for him to just put it over the original verse,” he said. “He would spit that verse a capella all the time, like we riding somewhere. I was like, ‘Just put it on the same beat.’”

Hov also added the umlaut back to his stage name once again, which had fans speculating about a potential re-issue of sorts for Reasonable Doubt to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Brooklyn rap legend’s debut.

Reasonable Doubt arrived on June 25, 1996, and debuted at No. 23 on the Billboard 200, where it spent 18 weeks on the chart.

Stream the OG “Dead Presidents” below.

Charli xcx’s soundtrack to the steamy romance Wuthering Heights has hit No. 1 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart dated Feb. 20.

Released Feb. 13, the film starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi is an adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel and directed by Emerald Fennell (Saltburn, Promising Young Woman).

The film is accompanied by a full soundtrack LP from Charli with 12 original songs, her first full collection of new material since the release of 2024’s Brat. Guest features include Velvet Underground’s John Cale and Sky Ferreira, and this makes for Charli’s third U.K. No. 1 following 2022’s Crash and Brat. Her Aidan Zamiri-directed mockumentary, The Moment, also arrived in U.K. cinemas Feb. 20.

With the BRIT Awards rapidly approaching, Olivia Dean is heading into the ceremony with a spring in her step: The Art of Loving is at No. 2 to notch a 21st consecutive week inside the top five. The London-born star will compete in four categories at the Feb. 28 ceremony, appearing in the album of the year, artist of the year, song of the year (“Man I Need,” and “Rein Me In” with Sam Fender) and pop act fields.

Dean cannot be kept entirely at bay, however. “Rein Me In,” a collaborative song with Fender, lands at the No. 1 spot on the Official Singles Chart on the Feb. 20-dated tally, and is her second chart-topper overall. The track was first released by Fender on his album People Watching in February. It was reissued with new contributions from Dean in June 2025 and has enjoyed a 35-week climb to the summit.

On the Official Albums Chart, Fleetwood Mac sees its 2018 hits compilation, 50 Years – Don’t Stop, lift to a No. 3 peak, matching a previous high. The Weeknd’s greatest hits collection, The Highlights, also rises one spot to No. 4. Following last week’s peak at No. 2, Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos finishes the week at No. 5.

Noah Kahan caps the quickest rise to No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart in a decade, topping the tally dated Feb. 28 with “The Great Divide.”

The song leads in its third week, up from No. 3 after debuting at No. 15, wrapping the fastest trip to No. 1 since Mumford & Sons’ “Believe” also needed just three frames in March-April 2015.

Kahan claims his fourth Adult Alternative Airplay No. 1, all earned consecutively, extending a streak that began with “Dial Drunk” in 2023 and continued with “Northern Attitude” and as a featured act alongside The Lumineers on James Bay’s “Up All Night,” both in 2024.

That four-in-a-row run isn’t the longest in the chart’s 30-year history (it’s not even the lengthiest active streak), but the feat is still fairly rare. Kahan becomes one of just five acts to score at least four uninterrupted No. 1s at the format; Counting Crows (2004-08) and Dave Matthews Band (2001-02) also earned four consecutively, while U2 (2001-05) and Hozier (2023-25, a streak still active) share the record with six straight. (Hozier’s streak includes a connection to Kahan, as he was featured on “Northern Attitude.”)

Kahan first appeared on Adult Alternative Airplay in 2018 with “False Confidence,” which rose to No. 8. He reached the ranking six times prior to his first ruler.

Concurrently, “The Great Divide” jumps 9-4 as the Greatest Gainer on Alternative Airplay, where it could become Kahan’s second No. 1, following “Dial Drunk.” On the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, the song remains at its No. 2 best with 4.5 million audience impressions, up 11%, in the week ending Feb. 19, according to Luminate.

In addition to its rock radio prowess, “The Great Divide” is growing at pop radio. It rises 28-25 on Adult Pop Airplay and debuts at No. 37 on Pop Airplay.

“The Great Divide” launched at No. 1 on the multimetric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart dated Feb. 14, becoming Kahan’s first leader. It was No. 2 on the most recently published list, dated Feb. 21, reflecting data totaled Feb. 6-12. In addition to its radio airplay, it drew 12.8 million official U.S. streams and sold 2,000 in that span.

The Great Divide, Kahan’s fourth studio album, will be released April 24.

All Billboard charts dated Feb. 28 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, Feb. 24.

The other day, as I was cleaning out my home office, I found a stack of ticket stubs from late 1980s and early 1990s concerts that I had attended as a teenager. This says more than I would like about my age, as well as the state of my home office. But it also says a lot about the live music business.

The ticket stubs sparked memories. There was the first concert I ever saw, Rush, in spring 1986, on the Power Windows Tour, at the Brendan Byrne Arena. (Imagine a time when venues were named for public figures rather than dubious crypto companies!) From two years later, the first Grateful Dead show I saw, at the same venue, where a friend of mine rapturously told me how amazing it was to see live music under the stars, even though we were indoors. Then, from a month and a half later, my first of many Bruce Springsteen shows, at Madison Square Garden. And from a month and a half after that, my first Bob Dylan concert, at the very beginning of his Never Ending Tour.

Then came the sticker shock: Rush had cost $15.50; the Dead, who I would go on to see about a dozen times between then and 1993, $17.50; Springsteen, then at the peak of his popularity, $22.50. My ticket for the Rolling Stones‘ 1989 Steel Wheels Tour cost $30 — a lot of money for the college kid I was at the time! — and the high prices prompted Rolling Stone magazine to ask in a subhead, “How Much money does the Rolling Stones need?” Oh, my sweet summer child….

The difference is not quite as stark as it seems. Those Rush and Springsteen tickets would now cost about $45, once you consider inflation — the Stones ticket $77. Still, though. The cheapest tickets I could see for Rush’s 2026 tour cost $175 — and prices went up from there. Ticket prices for the upcoming Springsteen tour haven’t been announced, but they will range in price from $75 to $400, according to reports. The other big difference is that, in 1988, as a high school senior, I had a chance of scoring good seats by waiting in line. These days, concerts are priced like airline flights, based on some calculation of demand, with an array of prices for a variety of kinds of status. And this assumes that you can see your favorite artist without paying to travel to Las Vegas, Munich or New York.

These changes in the concert business have been great for promoters and performers. But, as I started thinking when I spoke about the concert business on the Vox podcast “Today, Explained,” they are turning concerts from a regular form of entertainment for young people into an occasional indulgence for superfans or the wealthy. People have become obsessed with the fairness of this, which is a bit silly: Fans wouldn’t pay these prices if they didn’t feel they were worth it, and there are plenty of things not everyone can afford, including, sadly, good health care. But it’s worth asking how the rise in concert prices — both generally and especially at the high end, where some shows involve travel of some kind — will affect the live business, as well as the music business as a whole.

My old ticket stubs show what’s been lost. Concerts were special enough that I saved some of the tickets but affordable enough that I could afford to attend them with the money I made at various teenage jobs. (Including a stint as a clerk at Coconuts.) In 1989, as a college student, I was able to see Elvis Costello, Dylan, at least two Grateful Dead shows, Tom Petty, the Who, the Rolling Stones, Billy Joel and at least a half dozen shows from which I didn’t save tickets. I paid for all of this myself, although I was able to do so partly because my parents covered other expenses. That wouldn’t be possible today. Traveling to one big festival or show might cost more than all of those shows together.

This is just another example of how the biggest stars dominate the market for live entertainment, and if fans would rather spend money on one big show than a dozen smaller ones, that’s up to them. It’s also making concertgoing a rare treat rather than a regular thing, like live theatre. Behavior always evolves, of course — people used to see movies in theaters all the time, and now it’s usually an occasional thing. But eventually, I think this will make touring harder for acts that aren’t at the peak of their careers, as well as for some venues, although you certainly don’t see it in the numbers now.

The biggest risk is that people just get out of the habit of going to concerts, much as they got out of the habit of seeing films in theaters a few generations ago. The money spent might continue to grow, but a higher share would go to a relatively small number of superstars. Presumably, they will deserve it. But it could be harder for emerging acts to build a dedicated audience or make money on the road. Even superstars could have trouble thriving once they’re past their commercial peak.

Here’s where I’d like to offer some kind of solution to this, but I just don’t have one. It would be naïve to expect the biggest stars to charge less for the vague benefit of the overall business. (That said, I do think it’s worth encouraging artists to keep some tickets inexpensive, so fans can at least get into the arena.) But the idea that teenagers go to concerts with money from summer jobs is a relatively recent one, and it may not last. And that could change the entire music business.