Chart analysts beware: The AI artists are coming.
Billboard recently published an article detailing the rise of AI-generated performers within the publication’s weekly music charts. Four genAI artists recently debuted on various Billboard rankings.
That vanguard is led by Xania Monet, a manufactured R&B singer created by designer Telisha “Nikki” Jones. The Mississippi native created Monet to turn her poetry into song, and the AI vocalist has since become the first known AI artist to get enough radio airplay to reach a Billboard radio chart, according to the publication. Monet reached #30 on the Adult R&B Airplay chart for the week of November 11.
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Monet’s sudden success led to a fierce bidding war among recording industry execs who were eager to sign the AI act to their respective labels. Neil Jacobson’s Hallwood Media earned that privilege after paying a reported $3 million.
Despite receiving scorn from many working musicians and actors, AI artists are becoming more common within the world of mainstream entertainment. The team behind the agency Xicoia made a splash when it announced its plan to represent “hyperreal digital stars,” including the actor Tilly Norwood.
That move drew backlash in Hollywood, where — like in the music biz — many creative professionals see AI-generated characters as harmful creations that stand to usurp flesh-and-blood entertainers. On the other hand, some musicians prefer to see generative AI as a tool that can enhance musical composition and performance, just like a traditional instrument.
Here’s one thing that feels pretty certain: So long as AI artists are allowed to continue promoting themselves, they are virtual locks to carve out space on the Billboard charts. For more than a decade, those rankings have been weighted to incorporate traffic on platforms like YouTube, a policy that has turned viral ditties like the “Harlem Shake” and “Baby Shark” into chart-toppers. As AI-generated content claims territory among YouTube’s most-watched channels, it will surge in Billboard‘s accounting as well.
Billboard continually monkeys with its formula for incorporating YouTube views. Even with some updates, we can expect social video to continue influencing the music industry’s most notable rankings, which means that AI artists will continue to show up, too. If you want my personal feelings about that trend, here they are: If T-Pain can autotune his way to #1 with “Buy U A Drank,” then there’s room on the charts for Xania Monet.
