Some of the most powerful people in the music business gathered Tuesday evening (Sept. 16) for the T.J. Martell Foundation’s annual New York Honors Gala, which featured heartfelt speeches, performances from Jelly Roll and Sekou, and of course, a lot of fundraising for cancer research.

Taking the stage at Cipriani 42nd Street just a few days after he performed in Vatican City — where he also met Pope Leo XIV — Jelly entertained the crowd of industry leaders, philanthropists and scientists committed to finding a cure for cancer with a passionate set that included his hits “Save Me, “Need a Favor” and “Get By.” At one point, the country star confessed that he was “more nervous than normal,” comparing the show to his recent outing in Rome.

“I was like, ‘Well, I know why. I’m in New York City. I’m at the T.J. Martell gala. It’s a big deal,’” he told the crowd candidly between songs. “It’s like, I’m obviously more nervous than normal. And I was like, let me think about other times I’ve been this nervous to perform. I said, probably the most nervous I’ve ever been — and this is a really unique comparison that only y’all will get — was when I performed very recently at the Vatican for the Pope, and the first time I got invited to do the Clive Davis Pre-Grammy party. Clive Davis and the Pope. So quite a parallel that can only happen at an event like this, I reckon.”

Davis was one of several powerful record executives in the audience honored by the organization Wednesday night. With the event marking the T.J. Martell Foundation’s 50th anniversary, the legendary Arista Records founder and others such as Irving Azoff, Berry Gordy, Monte Lipman, Avery Lipman, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Tommy Mottola and the foundation’s founder, Tony Martell, were recognized for having championed the nonprofit for decades through a “Circle of Legends” award.

“For 50 years, the music industry’s generosity has fueled lifesaving cancer research,” said CEO Lynn-Anne Huck at the event. “Honoring our Circle of Legends reminds us that together, we can turn music’s promise into tomorrow’s cures.”

Elsewhere in the programming, Sekou sang “Love Language” and “Better Man” for the attendees. At the end of the night, guests walked away having raised more than $2.2 million for the foundation’s programs supporting cancer research and treatments.

Though the gala takes place annually, 2025 was the first year the organization celebrated its longtime supporters through the “Circle of Legends” award. By introducing the honor, the T.J. Martell Foundation says it hopes to spotlight “the visionary leaders and devoted champions whose belief in its mission has powered five decades of progress in the fight against cancer.”

“Each name represents a chapter in the Foundation’s story: individuals who took the call, made the ask, funded the research, and inspired others to care as deeply as they do,” a description continues.

Other honorees — some of them recognized posthumously — included Michele Anthony, Clarence Avant, Lenny Beer, Mitchell Benson, Steve Boom, Scott Borchetta, Will Botwin, Jim Caparro, Gary Casson, Warren Christensen, Tom Corson, Shanti Das, Archie Davis, Seth England, Rakiyah Marshall England, John Esposito, Charlie Feldman, Jason Flom, Tom Freston, Joe Galante, Daniel Glass, David Glew, David Glinert, Floyd Glinert, Charles Goldstuck, Jeff Harleston, Clint Higham, Dr. James Holland, Joel A. Katz, Michael Kushner, Dennis Lavinthal, Aaron W. Levy, Carianne Marshall, Harvey Mason Jr., Judy McGrath, Mike O’Neill, Dino Paredes, Bea Perez, Michael J. Pollack, Frances W. Preston, Diarmuid Quinn, Michael Reinert, Marc Reiter, Scott Rodger, Paul B. Shore, Julie Swidler, John Sykes, Afo Verde, Marsha Vlasic, Ron Wilcox and Chaka Zulu.

The T.J. Martell Foundation was formed in 1974 by music executive Tony Martell in honor of his young son, T.J. When T.J. was diagnosed with leukemia, Martell promised to raise $1 million for cancer research — a mission that has since blossomed into more than $280 million raised for medical research grants to leading cancer institutions.

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Jump into the “Communiverse” as Disney and Pixar’s animated adventure Elio premieres on Disney+ Wednesday (Sept. 17). Elio, a space fanatic with an active imagination, finds himself on a cosmic misadventure where he must form new bonds with eccentric alien lifeforms, navigate a crisis of intergalactic proportions and discover who he is truly meant to be.

With a talented cast featuring performances from Zoe Saldaña, Brad Garrett, Jameela Jamil and Yonas Kibreab, who voices Elio, this fun, family-friendly movie is an exciting sci-fi adventure worthy of your movie-night slot.

Not signed up for Disney+? We’ve gathered all the info you need to know on subscribing to the services as well as great streaming packages with Hulu and ESPN worth bundling together. See below.

Here’s How to Watch ‘Elio’ on Disney+

Elio is exclusively streaming on Disney+ starting today, September 17. The streaming platform offers a variety of subscription options starting at just $9.99/month for the base plan, which grants you access to the entire Disney+ library, including Elio, original and exclusive content from major film franchises like Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar. Users can also ditch the ads with Disney+’s premium plan for $15.99/month.

Want to consume even more content? With a mix of bundle options that include Hulu and ESPN+ starting at $10.99/month, subscribers can even more to their streaming library. If you’re interested in live TV, you can even bundle with Hulu + Live TV. You’ll also be saving yourself extra cash by bundling as opposed to subscribing to each streaming service separately. Sign up for the bundle plan here or below. Some notable programs to instantly add to your watchlist include Taylor Swift’s record-breaking Era’s Tour concert film, Dancing With the Stars, She-Hulk, Lightyear, Turning Red, Andor and more.

Watch the trailer for Elio below.

Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip. 
 
This week: YoungBoy Never Broke Again sees buzz from his arena tour carry over to his streaming totals, while excitement over Hilary Duff’s live return and Gavin Adcock’s growing list of artist beefs also results in catalog gains.

YoungBoy Never Broke Again’s MASA Tour Lifts Back Catalog, Led By ‘Nevada’ & ‘Shot Callin’ 

This summer, YoungBoy Never Broke Again became the rapper with the most Billboard 200-charting albums in history, and his current MASA Tour is boosting streaming activity for his entire catalog. The week before the tour kicked off in Dallas, Texas (Aug. 22-28), YoungBoy’s catalog earned 128.1 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate. By the following week (Aug. 29-Sept. 4) — which only accounts for the first night of the tour (Sept. 2) — that figure jumped by nearly 13% to a little over 144.4 million official streams. After performing the next batch of shows, YoungBoy’s catalog streams leapt a further 28% to over 184.8 million official streams. 

Of his catalog, which includes 104 Hot 100 entries, “Nevada” and “Shot Callin” seem to be the buzziest tracks. A fan favorite from 2021’s Sincerely, Kentrell, “Nevada” has risen 137% in streaming activity over the past two weeks. Prior to the tour (Aug. 22-28), the track was pulling 2.1 million official weekly streams. After the first four shows (Sept. 5-11), “Nevada” logged over 5.09 million official weekly streams. 

“Nevada” may be a relatively older YoungBoy track, but “Shot Callin” proves his more recent releases are also experiencing streaming boosts. A promotional single from Masa, “Shot Callin,” has jumped 142% in streaming activity over the past two weeks. Prior to the tour (Aug. 22-28), the track was pulling 1.53 million official weekly streams. After the first four shows (Sept. 5-11), “Shot Callin” logged over 3.7 million official weekly streams. 

With three albums currently on the Billboard 200, expect YoungBoy’s catalog to continue rising in streams as his MASA Tour approaches its Nov. 12 conclusion. — KYLE DENIS 

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So Tomorrow: Excitement Over Hilary Duff’s Return to Recording Leads to Catalog Spike

Billboard reported last Tuesday (Sept. 9) that cross-platform ‘00s star Hilary Duff would be making her recording comeback. The actress and pop star, who found major ‘00s success as both the star of Disney’s The Lizzy McGuire Show and as the artist behind the blockbuster Hollywood Records release Metamorphosis (with hit singles “So Yesterday” and “Come Clean”), has continued to act on television, but hasn’t recorded an album since 2015’s RCA-released Breathe In. Breathe Out. 

There’s no timetable for a new LP release, but she has now officially signed to Atlantic Records — and will be taking part in a planned documentary series about her return to recording, directed and executive produced by Sam Wrench, helmer of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert film. According to a press release, the series will “chronicle Duff’s long-awaited musical return and personal journey, offering an unfiltered vignette into Hilary’s world.”

Excitement over Duff’s return to pop spread quickly throughout the internet, and now has resulted in streaming gains for her back catalog. After amassing just under 370,000 official on-demand U.S. streams for the three-day period before her announcement (Sept. 6-8), that number ballooned to 601,000 for the following period (Sept. 10-12) — a gain of 62%, according to Luminate. — ANDREW UNTERBERGER

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TikTok Lip-Sync & Dance Trends Boost New Kevin Gates Single 

From “Me Too” to “Thinking With My D—k,” Kevin Gates has emerged as one of TikTok’s favorite MCs. The love is still there for his new single, “I’m a Dog,” which has recently taken over most FYPs. 

Released on Aug. 14, the “I’m a Dog” trend kicked off with this Aug. 25 TikTok from user @jamesisntnice. Timed to the chorus of the song, that initial video has amassed over 6.8 million views to date, kicking off a lip sync trend that soon morphed into a dance trend sparked by this Aug. 28 TikTok from user @ke1seannn. On TikTok, the official “I’m A Dog” sound boasts over 209,000 clips. On Sept. 14, Gates posted a TikTok with the “I’m a Dog” sound that included a cameo from popular streamer iShowSpeed, which has garnered just under two million views. 

During the week of Aug. 22-28, “I’m a Dog” earned over 565,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate. By the following week (Aug. 9-Sept. 4), that figure exploded by 129% to over 1.29 million streams. Last week (Sept. 5-11), streams for “I’m a Dog” once again rose, this time by 86% to over 2.4 million streams. Over the past two weeks, “Dog” has jumped over 327% in streaming activity, making for a notable burgeoning hit from the Baton Rouge MC. — KD

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Zach Bryan Feud Results in Streaming Gains for Gavin Adcock

Prolific country singer-songwriter Gavin Adcock has been enjoying a breakout 2025, with his Own Worst Enemy album reaching a career-best No. 14 peak on the Billboard 200 and its single “Last One to Know” marking his first-ever entry on the Billboard Hot 100. He’s also made headlines for antagonistic on-stage comments about Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter country bonafides and about acclaimed Texas singer-songwriter Charley Corckett, which have added to his national profile. But his latest feuding partner might end up being his most profitable: Americana superstar Zach Bryan. 

Adcock seemingly made disparaging comments about Bryan back in July, after the latter had caught some internet heat for a dismissive, since-deleted TikTok comment he made in response to a fan who’d expressed disappointment in Bryan for not signing them a post-show autograph. Bad blood apparently swelled between the two artists until this past weekend, when both were playing at the Born and Raised Festival in Pryor, Oklahoma, and Bryan scaled a fence in an ostensible attempt to fight Adcock before the latter’s festival set — with video of the near-altercation going viral online shortly after. (The two were quickly separated and never came to blows.) 

The increased publicity from the back-and-forth appears to be benefitting Adcock: In the two days following the not-quite-incident (Sept. 14-15), he racked up a combined 7.8 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to early data provided by Luminate. That’s a 10% gain — representing over 680,000 streams — from his totals in the equivalent period the prior week. As he gets closer and closer to A-list status on his own, there’s no telling which star Adcock will stir the pot with next: Post Malone? Shaboozey? Taylor Swift? – AU

When Austin native Will Bridges went to see Stevie Ray Vaughan with his father at Antone’s in 1996, he was lucky enough to get his gig poster signed. The signature, however, wasn’t from Vaughan or any of his bandmates, but the permanent name on the marquee: Clifford Antone. Just over 25 years later, Bridges and a cohort of friends, including musician Gary Clark, Jr., would take over Antone’s legacy. 

The poster commemorated the 21^st anniversary of the ever-evolving club, which was founded by Antone in 1975 as a home to showcase the best of Austin blues music. It unofficially started in the backroom of the Antone’s Import clothing retailer, which also had a sandwich shop where Clifford would hold jam sessions with Vaughan, Jimmie Vaughan, Doyle Bramhall, guitarist Bill Campbell and others who had a fierce love of the blues in a town dominated by country music.

Antone opened his first official nightclub in Austin’s less-than-picturesque downtown area on the now-famous Sixth Street. With a performance from Zydeco king Clifton Chenier & His Red Hot Louisiana Band, the former furniture warehouse transformed on July 15, 1975, into a new touring destination for local and touring blues musicians. Antone ran the venue alongside his sisters, Susan and Janelle, as well as his mother, Georgette.

Within a few years, Austin’s downtown became bustling again, and the club’s landlords raised the rent. Many independent clubs know this fate too well — the business moves into a “non-desirable” part of town for the space and cheap rent, and end up bringing so much business and foot-traffic to the area that they get priced out of the neighborhood they helped build. So, Antone’s moved to North Austin above Burnet Road, where it continued to welcome blues heavyweights like Ray Charles and James Brown before a former pizza parlor on Guadalupe near the University of Texas campus opened up, and they moved into the space.

The Guadalupe location — one of six the venue would inhabit over its 50-year history — is, so far, the longest-lasting space Antone’s has inhabited, running from 1982 to 1996. Acts like the Fabulous Thunderbirds and Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble spread the gospel of Antone’s while they traveled the country. Even U2 stopped by to check out the storied venue.  

It was also this location where Bridges met Antone, who often roamed through the venue during shows. “When you saw Clifford, it was like the chef or maître d’ of a restaurant working the floor,” Bridges tells Billboard. “People loved seeing him and getting his autograph and taking pictures with him. He was a celebrity.” 

Antone had not only a love for blues music but an encyclopedic knowledge of the genre and a deep respect for its musicians.  

The club owner “was larger than life,” says Antone’s creative and musical director Zach Ernst. “He was such a personality when it came to believing in the music and knowing everything about the music. I compare him a lot to [Atlantic Records co-founder] Ahmet Ertegun or [producer] Jerry Wexler or [Stax Records co-founder] Al Bell.” 

Antone was known for doing anything to keep his club afloat. It’s a well-known fact that he did two bids in prison for charges stemming from marijuana: once when he was in college and again in the late 1990s, when he was accused of drug trafficking and ultimately pleaded guilty to a money laundering count and a distribution count related to marijuana. In 1999, he was sentenced to four years in federal prison.  

“It was pretty commonplace in Austin in the ’70s. The classic restaurant owners and business owners talk about how everybody sold a little grass in their parking lot and stuff to help pay the rent,” says Bridges. “He maybe took it up a notch, but he used that to help fund this passion of his, which was preserving the blues as a genre.” 

As one of the few independent venues lasting 50 years, Antone and his business continue to hold a lot of sway in Austin and the blues community. Ernst was lucky enough to be mentored by Antone after signing up for the venue owner’s course at The University of Texas at Austin, titled “The History of Blues According to Clifford Antone.”

By 1997, Antone’s found its way back to downtown Austin at Fifth and Lavaca as the area was once again bourgeoning. But the blues had lost many of its greats, and the venue began to welcome a wider array of musicians, including Willie Nelson. Less than a decade later, in 2006, Antone passed away, and his sister, Susan, and others kept the business going. After weathering the economic crash of the late aughts, Antone’s once again moved in 2013, this time to its Riverside location. Later that year the venue went into hibernation, and it was announced that Antone’s was for sale.

“We were waiting to see if one of our heroes was going to jump in,” says Bridges, who was looking to the older generation of live music folks to take over the business. Bridges had previously opened Lamberts restaurant in Austin that included an upstairs bar for live music booked by Ernst. “We still considered ourselves the younger generation and didn’t know if it was our jurisdiction to be lunging at the family heirlooms like that.” 

But the elders weren’t biting. Several other venue owners cautioned Bridges about purchasing the legacy business, and eventually, deals began to form with non-local entities. After a while, those deals fell through and Bridges and his investment group (which refer to themselves as The Kid’s Table) threw their hat into the ring, securing the business and once again moving the venue to a new location in downtown Austin.  

“It was one of those, ‘If you let something go and it comes back to you, it’s meant to be’ kind of things,” says Bridges.

On New Year’s Eve 2015, the latest edition of Antone’s opened on Fifth Street in a two-story former glass depot. The new ownership group remodeled the building and created a 400-capacity concert hall, reclaiming wood from rafters to create the stunning curved bar topped off with decorative tin plates left over from previous tenants. Above the venue is a bar and event space that’s open on show nights, where fans can grab a drink and still hear the performance. 

Out front, a large marquee sits under the name “Antone’s” in neon cursive, and two entrances lead into the venue. The entrance on the left features a vintage shoeshine stand (an homage to previous Antone’s locations) and leads straight to the main concert hall. The entrance on the right takes you through a record shop called Big Henry’s, named after an employee at Antone’s Imports who used to give a young Antone blues 45s to listen to.

This year, the new owners are working overtime to continue honoring Antone’s 50^th anniversary, including with several new music releases: the Antone’s 50th Allstars — 50 Years of The Blues box set that features four LPs of rare live and studio recordings from the Antone’s archives; a brand-new double LP, The Last Real Texas Blues Album; and an exclusive new Los Lobos 45rpm single. Musicians featured on the box set include Albert Collins, Gary Clark Jr., Otis Rush, Jimmie Vaughan, Doyle Bramhall II, Ruthie Foster,  Kim Wilson & the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Barbara Lynn, Lou Ann Barton and Sunnyland Slim.

There’s also a series of 50^th anniversary merch items, and Antone’s 50th All Stars — a group composed of a rotating cast of artists featured on the 50th anniversary box set — have played pop-up shows in New York and Nashville, and will take over the iconic Troubadour nightclub in Los Angeles on Monday (Sept. 22) before closing out the gigs on Oct. 1 at Antone’s. Earlier this year, the venue also opened a satellite location at the Austin airport that offers food, drinks and live music. 

“It takes a small village to fill Clifford’s shoes,” says Bridges. “Every week, someone will come into the club or a lot of times the record shop, and tell their story, their testimony, their Clifford story (as we often refer to them). I call certain people, ‘Oh, that’s a Clifford person,’ because internally we know what that means. It means they met Clifford and due to his magnetism and charisma and energy, [meeting Clifford] changed the trajectory of their life to some little degree.”