Home » Entertainment » Music » Billboard Explains: Why Songs Now Have Fewer ‘Featuring’ Credits

Share This Post

Music

Billboard Explains: Why Songs Now Have Fewer ‘Featuring’ Credits

Billboard Explains: Why Songs Now Have Fewer ‘Featuring’ Credits

So far in 2022, only two songs with a “feature” credit have entered the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 — the lowest number in more than two decades. Meanwhile, co-billings are skyrocketing, with 21 percent of all Hot 100 top 10s this year being co-billed. What’s behind the change, and what does this mean for the future of collaborations? The latest episode of Billboard Explains (above) dives in.

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

A feature essentially means that a song includes a guest appearance from another artist. Featured billings first became popular in the late ’90s, as hip-hop collaborations across pop and R&B grew in popularity. Featured listings for Hot 100 top 10s peaked in 2003 and remained steady in around the 20 to 30 percent range until this year, which has seen more co-billings instead.

In a co-billing, artists are credited equally in a song, often labeled with an “and,” an ampersand or an “x,” as seen, for example, in Justin Bieber and The Kid LAROI‘s 2021 Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Stay.” The driving force behind the shift is Spotify, according to entertainment attorneys Karl Fowlkes and Matt Buser.

[embedded content]

“It really is Spotify more than other streaming platforms that’s driving this change in the way that artists are referred to on songs, and making it so that more artists are co-leads or co-bills rather than features because of the way Spotify classifies these songs,” Billboard‘s deputy editor Andrew Unterberger says of the streaming platform, which tracks monthly listeners and streams for both artists on a collaboration when they are both considered primary artists on a track.

Watch the latest episode of Billboard Explains above to learn more about “feature” credits.

After the video, catch up on more Billboard Explains videos and learn about the evolution of girl groups, BBMAsNFTsSXSW, the magic of boy bandsAmerican Music Awards, the Billboard Latin Music Awards, the Hot 100 charthow R&B/hip-hop became the biggest genre in the U.S.how festivals book their lineupsBillie Eilish’s formula for success, the history of rap battlesnonbinary awareness in musicthe Billboard Music Awardsthe Free Britney movementrise of K-pop in the U.S.why Taylor Swift is re-recording her first six albumsthe boom of hit all-female collaborationshow Grammy nominees and winners are chosenwhy songwriters are selling their publishing catalogshow the Super Bowl halftime show is booked and why Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” was able to shoot to No. 1 on the Hot 100.

[flexi-common-toolbar] [flexi-form class=”flexi_form_style” title=”Submit to Flexi” name=”my_form” ajax=”true”][flexi-form-tag type=”post_title” class=”fl-input” title=”Title” value=”” required=”true”][flexi-form-tag type=”category” title=”Select category”][flexi-form-tag type=”tag” title=”Insert tag”][flexi-form-tag type=”article” class=”fl-textarea” title=”Description” ][flexi-form-tag type=”file” title=”Select file” required=”true”][flexi-form-tag type=”submit” name=”submit” value=”Submit Now”] [/flexi-form]

Share This Post

Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)
Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.