AI music on the Billboard charts
11-07-25 | 12:18 AM
#1
Thread Starter
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
AI music on the Billboard charts
I suppose this was only a matter of time.
I thought about posting this in the AI thread in Other Talk, but it’s pretty clear that when an AI generated song – using lyrics written by a human – makes the Billboard charts, the game has irreversibly changed and we’ll inevitably be seeing a lot more of this along with plenty of ‘industry’ backlash to go with it, so maybe there’s a place for a thread on it here, considering the ramifications of shit like this.
The “singer” is Xania Monet. Her human lyricist is Telisha “Nikki” Jones (CBS interview). Jones has apparently been making tunes with “Monet” since the summer and has built a huge following on social media.
And now this song made it to #30 on the Billboard Adult R&B Airplay charts a few days ago. It earlier reached #22 on the Overall Digital Song sales chart, and even reached the Top 10 in Billboard’s R&B Digital Song Sales chart:
Personally, I think it’s just more AI slop, maybe a bit better than a lot of it so far (and there’s mountains of it already, to be sure), but slop all the same. A lot of YT comments seem to feel the same way, but there are probably as many defenders, and surely bots padding both sides of the argument. Apparently it resonated enough, though, to put the industry even more on edge than it already is over this technology.
And yet, according to this Forbes article, it netted over $50,000 in revenue as of late September, and a company called Hallwood Media signed “her” to a supposed $3 million contract after a bidding war.
Times are a-changin’ and it could get ugly as more ‘regular Joes and Janes’ start landing their “creations” on the charts, with lucrative deals being thrown at them.
I thought about posting this in the AI thread in Other Talk, but it’s pretty clear that when an AI generated song – using lyrics written by a human – makes the Billboard charts, the game has irreversibly changed and we’ll inevitably be seeing a lot more of this along with plenty of ‘industry’ backlash to go with it, so maybe there’s a place for a thread on it here, considering the ramifications of shit like this.
The “singer” is Xania Monet. Her human lyricist is Telisha “Nikki” Jones (CBS interview). Jones has apparently been making tunes with “Monet” since the summer and has built a huge following on social media.
And now this song made it to #30 on the Billboard Adult R&B Airplay charts a few days ago. It earlier reached #22 on the Overall Digital Song sales chart, and even reached the Top 10 in Billboard’s R&B Digital Song Sales chart:
Personally, I think it’s just more AI slop, maybe a bit better than a lot of it so far (and there’s mountains of it already, to be sure), but slop all the same. A lot of YT comments seem to feel the same way, but there are probably as many defenders, and surely bots padding both sides of the argument. Apparently it resonated enough, though, to put the industry even more on edge than it already is over this technology.
And yet, according to this Forbes article, it netted over $50,000 in revenue as of late September, and a company called Hallwood Media signed “her” to a supposed $3 million contract after a bidding war.
Times are a-changin’ and it could get ugly as more ‘regular Joes and Janes’ start landing their “creations” on the charts, with lucrative deals being thrown at them.
11-07-25 | 11:49 AM
#2
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: AI music on the Billboard charts
i can't tell the difference between this and other current pop/R&B crap that is popular now.
Old man rant over.
Old man rant over.
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11-07-25 | 04:41 PM
#3
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Re: AI music on the Billboard charts
If such music is just functioning as "background noise", it wouldn't make much of a difference.
In contrast, the hardcore fans (or critics) of a particular musical niche will likely be able to figure out whether it is real or just an AI simulacra.
Last edited by morriscroy; 11-07-25 at 08:18 PM.
11-09-25 | 02:05 PM
#4
DVD Talk Godfather
Re: AI music on the Billboard charts
YouTube really needs to give us an option to not have AI shit in our feed/algorithm. Between AI music and AI movie trailers, I want to block all that shit. "Don't recommend" doesn't quite cut it.
That's likely not gonna happen for rea$ons but at least AI content should be labeled in the title and description, or maybe an icon in the title kinda like a blue check type thing.
That's likely not gonna happen for rea$ons but at least AI content should be labeled in the title and description, or maybe an icon in the title kinda like a blue check type thing.
