For Don Toliver, this past week has been the culmination of a long road of consistent, hard work. The Houston rapper, signed to Travis Scott’s Cactus Jack Records in partnership with Atlantic, has been steadily releasing albums over the past six years, with each project debuting in the top 10 of the Billboard 200.

But this week, he finally climbed the summit. The MC’s fifth album, OCTANE, became his first album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200, debuting this week with 162,000 equivalent album units, good for the best week of his career. And doing it in a crowded January, amid huge moments including the Grammys, the Super Bowl and major releases from the likes of Zach Bryan, A$AP Rocky and more, has made it all the more impressive that OCTANE cut through and succeeded. And that helps make his A&R and manager at Cactus Jack, and founder of three times LOUDER, Sickamore, Billboard’s Executive of the Week.

Here, Sickamore — who has held high-level A&R roles at Def Jam, Epic, Atlantic and Interscope through the years — talks about what went into helping OCTANE reach the summit, the rollout strategy for the project, and why hip-hop is here to stay. “Hip-hop is a culture, not a genre,” he says. “It comes from a real place. It’s the voice of the unheard.”

This week, Don Toliver’s OCTANE became his first-ever No. 1 album on the Billboard 200. What key decision did you make to help make that happen?

The biggest decision was when to drop. We felt confident in OCTANE as a body of work, but needed to be strategic on our release date. January was a minefield: Taylor Swift, A$AP Rocky, J. Cole, Super Bowl LX, Zach Bryan. Ultimately, we went with a contrarian idea: what if music’s biggest weekend, The Grammys, was also the least busy?

This is Don’s fifth top 10 album on the Billboard 200, but at 162,000 equivalent album units, it’s also his best week ever. How did you go about putting this album together differently than previous releases?

It starts with Don’s work ethic. Five solo albums plus two JACKBOYS compilation projects in a little over six years. We worked nonstop on OCTANE throughout 2025, creating the music and world-building simultaneously. We learned something with every album, but the biggest differentiator on OCTANE was having all our videos, content and physicals ready before announcing. We weren’t leaving anything on the table this time around.

What was the rollout strategy for OCTANE, and how did you guys pull it off successfully?

Cactus Jack prides itself on rollouts. Don, [Cactus Jack CEO] David Stromberg, Travis [Scott] and myself wanted to come out, throw a flurry of punches and not give anyone time to think. We dictated the flow: trailer, videos, livestream, tour announcement. The new Atlantic regime supported us fully every step of the way. Along with UTA, we felt unstoppable. 

What was your physical and merch strategy with the album’s release?

Cactus Jack rewrote the merch playbook years ago. It’s always the same: build a world for fans to believe and get lost in. Sales come with buy-in.

“Body” also became his first No. 1 on the Hot Rap Songs chart, and with 17 songs on the list this week, he’s just the sixth artist to have that many in a single week, alongside Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Lil Baby, Playboi Carti and Travis Scott. Why do you think this album has resonated so much with fans and at DSPs?

I feel this album resonated with fans because it’s really, really good. Everyone can relate to a car ride, and this album is a late-night, going 120 mph. Don took real chances with the songwriting, and the production — led by 206DEREK — is experimental and pushed sonic boundaries. Not to mention the clever sample usages. I believe people appreciate OCTANE’s ambition.

You’ve been in hip-hop for over 20 years. How has it changed, and how do you keep up?

My role in hip-hop as an OG and a leader is to keep pushing forward, not to keep up. Keep new voices to the forefront. I don’t take the seat I’m in for granted. There’s been a lot of talk about the demise of hip-hop, but we will never die. You see the influence in Afrobeats, reggaeton, and music worldwide. The kids are saying 2026 is the new 2016, and they are right. Don, Cole, Rocky, Baby Keem, Jack Harlow, Drake, Ye — who’s losing steam? Sorry Gene Simmons, but we aren’t stopping.

The biggest story in the live music business this week was the controversy surrounding Casey Wasserman, the founder and CEO of Wasserman Group, the agency whose music division books Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Kendrick Lamar, Skrillex and hundreds of other artists of all sizes and genres.

On Jan. 30, the U.S. Department of Justice released an additional 3 million pages of documents from the files in the case of financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and Wasserman was among the many notable public figures who appeared in them. Wasserman flew on Epstein’s private jet in 2002, and the documents also include risqué emails from 2003 between Wasserman, who was then married, and Epstein’s now-incarcerated associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.

“I deeply regret my correspondence with Ghislaine Maxwell, which took place over two decades ago, long before her horrific crimes came to light,” Wasserman wrote in a Jan. 31 statement. “I never had a personal or business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.”

Still, Wasserman’s connection to Maxwell, and by extension Epstein, has spurred a slew of artists — including Chappell Roan, Orville Peck and Sylvan Esso — to part ways with the agency, with others calling for Wasserman to step down from his leadership role. Bethany Cosentino, the frontwoman of the band Best Coast, was the first artist to announce her departure from Wasserman, writing on Feb. 5 that “I did not consent to having my name or my career tied to someone with this kind of association to exploitation.”

Reportedly, a group of Wasserman Music agents has asked Wasserman to sell them the agency’s music business — and has threatened to leave the agency if he doesn’t. But so far, Wasserman, who is also serving as the president of the organizing committee for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, has made no indication that he will leave his namesake agency or change his role there. Neither Wasserman nor his agency have issued a statement addressing the developing situation since.

What does all this mean for Wasserman, its agents and clients, and the broader live music business? Read on for an FAQ. 

How Established is Wasserman’s Music Business?

Wasserman Group has existed since 2002, but only got into the music business in 2021, when it acquired Paradigm Talent Agency’s North American live music representation business. Before that acquisition, Paradigm had spent years building its own business through acquisitions, and by 2021, it was among music’s most influential agencies. Wasserman’s resources helped turbocharge the new Wasserman Music, and in February 2024, Casey told Billboard, “We believe in the music business. We’re not buying [Paradigm] for tomorrow; we’re buying it for the next 100 years.” But committed as Wasserman might be to his agency’s music operations, many of the division’s agents, clients and relationships long predate the existence of Wasserman Music.

How Much Does an Artist Care About Their Agency?

While agencies provide robust services and resources for their clients — and for the agents who work at them — artists are generally most committed to their specific individual agents, and will often follow them from agency to agency. So far, the statements of Wasserman clients who have spoken out have reflected this dynamic. “I have worked with my agent, Sam Hunt, for over 15 years who has done incredible work in representing me,” Cosentino wrote in her statement. “I am in the Sam Hunt business. I am not in the Wasserman business.” Several artists have referenced such longstanding relationships and praised their Wasserman agents — but ultimately, those allegiances have been trumped by the gravity of the association with Wasserman. “We love and appreciate our actual agents and we hope they can find a new scenario we can be a part of,” the electronic trio Levity wrote in a statement on Instagram announcing its departure from Wasserman. 

Can Those Agents Just Leave Wasserman?

It’s unclear. While artists have started to announce their departures, agents have so far remained in place. The explanation for this is fairly simple: As public-facing entertainers, artists face a much more immediate risk to their brands and businesses than agents do, and agents are likely holding out to see Wasserman’s next move, which could absolve them from needing to take action on their own. But there are legal and contractual considerations as well. Agents are often bound by multi-year contracts, which could complicate the process of leaving the agency. And while legislation in states like California and New York has significantly weakened noncompete clauses, jumping ship for another agency — or banding together and starting their own — still may not be feasible for some agents. If Wasserman does remain at the agency, he could release disgruntled agents from their contracts — or they could attempt to force his hand with a walkout.

What Could The Fallout Be?

Prior to the pandemic, Paradigm Music was on a roll, and Wasserman Music has continued that momentum, signing major new clients and poaching prominent agents (and often the artists with whom they work) from competing firms. The agency world always seems to be in flux — from the indie agencies that formed at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to CAA’s blockbuster acquisition of ICM Partners in 2022 — but the sheer number of agents, artists, or both who could soon be looking for a new agency home would be unprecedented, and could possibly reshape the booking market.

Take the world of dance music, where Wasserman represents such heavy hitters as Skrillex, Rüfüs Du Sol and Swedish House Mafia, among many others. Several prominent dance artists, including ODESZA and Lane 8, have already announced their departures from Wasserman, while others, such as John Summit and Subtronics, have publicly called on Wasserman to step down and threatened to leave if he doesn’t. At this year’s edition of Movement, the revered Detroit electronic festival, Wasserman has by far the most clients on the bill (18% of Movement’s bookings), followed by Liasion Artists (7%); major competitors WME and UTA rank at 6% and 3%, respectively. An agency that could land a disproportionate number of Wasserman agents or clients seeking a new home for representation could surge ahead in the dance music sector — and a similar phenomenon could play out in other genres, given Wasserman’s strength across the booking business.

How Does L.A. 2028 Factor In?

Amid all this, Wasserman’s agency — which built its name by representing athletes, first and foremost — isn’t his only consideration. Since the late 1990s, the executive has been a key figure in the world of sports business, and he’s been working for more than a decade to bring the Summer Olympics to Los Angeles in 2028. Wasserman became the chair of the event’s organizing committee in 2017, and its president in 2024 — a role that has thrust him into the political spotlight, including into meetings with President Donald Trump. The Olympics may be what Wasserman currently cares about most — and, so far at least, this scandal hasn’t shaken the Los Angeles Olympic Committee board’s faith in him. “We found Mr. Wasserman’s relationship with Epstein and Maxwell did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented,” the committee wrote after a review of the documents, reaffirming its commitment to the executive. If the committee had moved on from Wasserman, it would’ve made it challenging for him to credibly maintain his post at his agency; likewise, its decision to stand by him strengthens his argument that he can remain atop Wasserman.

Will Casey Wasserman Survive This Scandal?

That’s the big question, and the one that everyone seems to be waiting on. There are several scenarios for what could come next that all seem somewhat possible, depending on Wasserman’s personal next move. One, he could stay, and try to weather the exodus of music artists and agents; so far, his sports division appears mostly intact, with soccer superstar Abby Wambach the only athlete to publicly announce she was leaving over the scandal, and a reduced music roster could still remain viable. Two, he could sell his agency, whether to his own agents or to another consortium, which would likely involve the agency being renamed to distance itself from its founder; a sister possible scenario could involve him merely spinning off the music agency and retaining the sports side, in which case the outcome would be similar. A third possibility could be him stepping away from the CEO role and into some sort of chairman position, with the agency being renamed, which would allow him to stay on in some capacity but could quell some of the PR issues and associations that are part of this equation. Which option he takes remains to be seen. 

Dave Mustaine couldn’t have asked for a better start to Megadeth‘s new self-titled album.

Megadeth, the thrash group’s 17th (and, according to Mustaine, final) title, put the band at No. 1 on charts around the world after its Jan. 23 release, including for the first time ever on the Billboard 200. The single “Tipping Point” topped the Hard Rock Digital Song Sales chart last October, while “I Don’t Care” was No. 5 in November. “Puppet Parade” debuted at No. 9 on the Hard Rock Songs survey earlier this month.

How’s that feeling to Mustaine? “It’s been like a really big chubby,” he tells Billboard — with a smirk — via Zoom from his home office in Franklin, Tenn., where his Grammy Award for “Dystopia” sits behind him. “That was terrible,” he adds quickly, going on to express a more genuine reaction for how well the set is being received.

“It is gratifying,” Mustaine says. “I hope the fans will fall in love with this album and keep it on the charts. Ever since we started getting those No. 1 tracks, this has had a really profound effect on everybody around us. They’re all feeling vindicated because of their belief and their hard work to make this happen, ‘cause this was a bona fide team to make this record.”

It’s also, of course, “bittersweet” for Mustaine and the Megadeth team, which begins touring to support the album with a 12-date Canadian tour that kicks off Feb. 15 in Victoria, B.C.

The quartet — with Swedish guitarist Teemu Mantysaari making his first appearance on a Megadeth album — was “way past the halfway point” of making the album when Mustaine’s many physical ailments began taking a greater toll than before. “I said to [son and co-manager] Justis, ‘I don’t know how much longer I can do this. My hands are killing me,’” he recalls. “I’m gonna be 65 this year. I’ve been ridden hard and put away wet — the cancer, the (spinal) fusion, the Saturday night palsy, the arthritis, the stenosis and the reverse stenosis, the bulging discs, the fractured vertebrae…that sh-t catches up to you. And there’s only so much aspirin you can eat before your kidneys start saying, ‘Me too! I’m gonna stop working, too.’

“We were all talking about it and everybody said they understood and they were supportive, and that to me was so refreshing. I remember when I got sick one of the ex-bandmates called up my wife and said I was being selfish, and I thought, ‘He said what?!’

“Nothing surprises me with some of the guys in the past,” adds Mustaine, who’s seen nearly three dozen musicians come through the band he formed during 1983 in Los Angeles after parting ways with Metallica. “That’s why it’s so refreshing with these guys I’m playing with right now. We really love to play together. If that’s what you’re about, you don’t let the fly sh-t on the dancefloor trip you up.”

Mustaine says he did have all of Megadeth‘s songs written by the time the farewell decision was made, including the aptly titled “The Last Note,” at the end of which he intones, “Here’s my last will, my final testament, my sneer/I came, I ruled, now I disappear.” “Obviously there was some oppression in my mental state,” Mustaine acknowledges, “and once I started writing that stuff, it just came out. The good thing is it’s out there, and it summarizes how I feel and what it’s gonna be like that last night.”

Also raising eyebrows on Megadeth is “Ride the Lightning,” the title track from Metallica’s second album and one of two on that set that Mustaine co-wrote. It was recorded as a bonus track, and at the suggestion of management. “We went in and talked to the (Megadeth) guys,” Mustaine says. “I said to the guys when we started, ‘We have to be as good or better than the original track,’ and there’s only a few ways we could’ve made the song any better, ’cause it’s a great track. It was great when I wrote it with James (Hetfield), it was great when they rerecorded it, and it was great when we took it apart and put it together now for the new Megadeth album.” Mustaine is confident that Megadeth will start playing it live, too, “at some point.”

“I just wanted to do the right thing,” Mustaine says. “I wanted to respect James and close the circle with those guys with that track and just show my respect for my time that I had in the band.”

Mustaine says Megadeth will start out playing four songs from Megadeth during the Canadian trek, which will feature support from fellow Big Four thrasher Anthrax and Exodus. The group plays South and Central America during the spring as well as the Sonic Temple festival in Ohio on May 17, then heads to Europe. A run of North American dates begins on Aug. 8 in Sturgis, South Dakota, and runs into late September, with more on the horizon. In fact, Mustaine says, Megadeth is booked throughout 2027 and could stay out even longer.

“Most tours that we do are two to three years,” he explains. “I can’t see it coming any shorter than two years, unless my hands give up on me. The time’s coming, but right now I can still play, and I want to go out on top. If I feel like it’s starting to suffer, that’s when the end will be near and that’s when I’ll probably look into changing my life. I think this is a great way to say thank you to the fans for everything. I’m just hoping that any of the fans who have moved on will remember Megadeth and go get this album.”

As for after the tour, Mustaine says that “the future’s pretty much an enigma for me.” But he doesn’t think this will be the last we hear from him, either. “Just because I don’t play live or I can’t record anymore doesn’t mean I can’t write songs,” Mustaine says. “We have so many songs in the archives we just never worked on, so that’s a possibility, me meeting with other writers and working on songs with them.

“Honestly, if I could do that I would rather do it with my guys first, so we could keep making music in the future. I just know that I’m gonna keep putting one foot in front of the other, and for every live show we do right now I’m gonna play it like my life was on the line.”

Snow Man’s “STARS” debuts at No. 1 on this week’s Billboard Japan Hot 100, on the chart released Feb. 11. 

The song serves as TBS’ 2026 sports theme and is being played with the station’s coverage of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. After being released digitally Feb. 2, the track rules downloads while coming in at No. 29 for streaming, No. 3 for radio airplay and No. 8 for video views, becoming the nine-member boy band’s 12th song to reach No. 1 on the Japan Hot 100. Meanwhile, the group’s “CHARISMAX” climbs 12-10, returning for the first time in four weeks and marking its ninth week in the top 10.

Snow Man’s No. 1 Singles on Japan Hot 100

“CHARISMAX”

“SERIOUS”

“BREAKOUT”

“Dangerholic”

“Tapestry”

“Orange Kiss”

“Brother Beat”

“Secret Touch”

“HELLO HELLO”

“Grandeur”

“KISSIN’ MY LIPS”

“STARS”

Kenshi Yonezu’s “IRIS OUT” rises 4-2. Week over week, CD points stand at 90%, downloads at 81%, streaming at 90%, video at 90%, karaoke at 95%, and radio rises to 157%. By metric, the track leads streaming, video and karaoke, while placing at No. 37 for radio, No. 17 for physical sales and No. 6 for downloads.

Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “lulu.” falls a notch to No. 3. Downloads fall to 68% of the prior frame, streaming to 87%, radio to 24%, video to 87%, while karaoke rises to 128%.

Elsewhere on the tally, Bruno Mars’ “I Just Might” jumps 58-18. The track rules radio after gaining more than threefold week over week.

The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, video views and karaoke data.

See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Feb. 2 to 8, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English X account.