Luke Combs notches his 17th top 10 on Billboard’s streaming-, airplay- and sales-powered Hot Country Songs chart, as “Going, Going, Gone” surges from No. 12 to No. 6 on the Jan. 14-dated survey.
Combs co-authored the song with Ray Fulcher and James McNair.
On Country Airplay, “Going” ranks at its No. 11 high, as it increased by 13% to 15.8 million impressions in the tracking week ending Jan. 5, according to Luminate. It also attracted 10.1 million official streams (up 31%) and sold 2,000 downloads (up 6%) in the U.S. in the tracking week.
“Going” marks Combs’ 17th Hot Country Songs top 10 and his first since “The Kind of Love We Make,” which became his fifth No. 1 when it logged its first of four frames atop the list last July. On Country Airplay, “Love” reached No. 2 in September. Prior to that, Combs achieved a record run of 14 straight career-opening No. 1 singles, dating to his debut hit “Hurricane” in 2017.
“Going” is the third single from Combs’ album Growin’ Up, which opened at No. 1 on Top Country Albums in July.
On Jan. 4, Combs took to social media to announce that he’ll release a new (as yet untitled) LP, sporting 18 songs, March 24.
Grimes Gallops to New Best
Luke Grimes, who stars on the popular Paramount TV series Yellowstone as Kayce Dutton, released his debut song, “No Horse to Ride,” Dec. 16. Grimes, who co-penned the track with Tony Lane and Jonathan Singleton, recently signed with Universal Music Group Nashville.
“Horse” was featured in the midseason finale of Yellowstone, which premiered Jan. 1, helping spark a 697% surge to 3,000 downloads sold in the week ending Jan. 5. The track re-enters Country Digital Song Sales at a new No. 7 high, after it debuted at No. 9 last month.
First thing’s first, she’s still the realest. Iggy Azalea took to social media on Tuesday (Jan. 10) to confirm that she has new music coming out later this year.
The rapper teased the new tunes in response to a fan asking her directly when new music would arrive on Twitter. Quote-tweeting the follower’s question, she wrote, “Music?… summer. Scandalous sh–?… Friday.” (She previously confirmed her grand return to music last summer in a tweet decrying followers’ penchant for being “negative AND nosey. So if I can’t have peace, neither can you. I’m coming back. Cry about it,” she wrote at the time.)
Azalea didn’t offer any more clues as to the scandal she’s currently prepping for the end of the week, but music by the summertime would be her first new release since the 2021 single “Knock Yourself Out,” featuring Sophia Scott and Renee Blair.
The star also dropped her most recent full-length that same year, The End of an Era, which included the singles “Sip It” with Tyga, “Brazil” and “Iam the Stripclub,” as well as collaborations with Sisterhood of Hip Hop star Bia (“Is That Right”), Ellise (“Day 3 in Miami (End of an Era)”) and Alice Chater (“N.Y.E.”).
Both announcements will arrive in the wake of Azalea selling her back catalog in a reported eight-figure deal to Domain Capital. The agreement included both the rapper’s masters and publishing shares on her past hits like “Fancy” (with Charli XCX), “Black Widow” (with Rita Ora), “Problem” (with Ariana Grande) and more.
While the first new Billboard Hot 100 of 2023 was still overrun by holiday songs from Mariah Carey, Brenda Lee and many more, every one of them departs the listing for the chart dated Jan. 14 — giving us our first real look at the current landscape of pop hits as we get into the new year.
With “All I Want for Christmas Is You” vacating the top spot, the void is once again filled by Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” notching its seventh week at No. 1, followed by Sam Smith & Kim Petras’ “Unholy,” SZA’s “Kill Bill,” David Guetta & Bebe Rexha’s “I’m Good (Blue)” and Drake & 21 Savage’s “Rich Flex.” Slightly lower on the chart, two songs hit the top 10 for the first time: The Weeknd’s recently revived “Die for You” (No. 8) and Beyoncé’s slow-burning “Cuff It” (No. 10).
What’s the most telling thing about the Hot 100’s current top tier? And what might still be in store for chart watchers this month based on these early returns? Billboard staffers discuss these questions and more below.
1. With the holiday music cobwebs being swept away from the Hot 100, we’re back to the top of the chart being ruled by late last year’s hits. Is there anything about the top five as it currently stands that you find particularly interesting or surprising?
Katie Atkinson: The staying power of David Guetta and Bebe Rexha’s “I’m Good (Blue)” continues to surprise me – as I’m sure it does David and Bebe themselves. We’ve been talking about the unlikely global success of this song since September, and it just keeps getting unlikelier as it debuts in the top five this week (No. 4). This is only Rexha’s second top five hit on the Hot 100 (following her unstoppable country team-up with Florida Georgia Line “Meant to Be”) and Guetta’s fourth, with his most recent (“Turn Me On” with Nicki Minaj) peaking more than a decade ago now, in February 2012. It’s an eccentric ‘90s interpolation recorded by the duo years ago and then unearthed by eager fans on TikTok – and it’s not going anywhere.
Stephen Daw: David Guetta & Bebe Rexha’s “I’m Good (Blue)” launching from 19-4 isn’t necessarily shocking, but I certainly did not have that song breaking into the top five on my 2023 bingo card, let alone reaching that spot just two weeks into the year. Between the song’s aggressive marketing on TikTok and at radio and the typically slow start to the year, though, it makes sense why a slow-burning hit like this would be such a big draw for the post-holiday charts. But I was certainly surprised, considering that I had assumed that the song’s cultural capital was already on the decline.
Lyndsey Havens: The two things that surprise me are that “Anti-Hero” returned to the chart’s summit and the fact that David Guetta and Bebe Rexha’s “I’m Good (Blue)” has crept into the top five. Given the sustained success of SOS on the Billboard 200 albums chart, I would have guessed that SZA would also be able to score the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100 after the holiday fallout … but perhaps in good time. And by in good time, I mean by the time the anticipated music video for “Kill Bill” arrives.
Jason Lipshutz: I wrote about SZA’s “Kill Bill” in this space last week, but its return to its No. 3 peak this week underlines just how huge of a solo hit it’s becoming for an artist who’s not generally known for her solo hits. Although it’s sitting behind Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” and Sam Smith & Kim Petras’ “Unholy” — two singles with an enormous presence on top 40 radio — on this week’s chart, “Kill Bill” is likely going to receive more radio play soon, and if its streaming presence remains rock-solid, SZA’s highest-charting solo song to date could climb even higher in the coming weeks.
Andrew Unterberger: I think “Unholy” holding at No. 2 — higher than “Kill Bill,” which already feels like the first major pop hit of 2023 — is a little surprising, given that the cultural peak of that song seems a few months in the rearview already. That’ll probably even out in the weeks to come, but the song holding this strong shows how “Unholy” wasn’t just a TikTok moment, it’s legitimately one of the biggest pop hits of the decade so far.
2. At No. 8, a song hits the top 10 for the first time that makes all the other leftovers feel farm-to-table fresh by comparison: The Weeknd’s “Die for You,” a revived track off his 2016 album Starboy. Why do you think the song has proven to have such legs this late in its lifespan?
Katie Atkinson: I think pop radio fans had an insatiable appetite for The Weeknd that the release of his Dawn FM album a year ago this week didn’t quite feed. So as “Die for You” gained traction via TikTok concurrent to his new album’s release, The Weeknd benefited from music’s everything-old-is-new-again moment. Most casual pop radio listeners likely have no idea it’s a “deep cut” from 2016 and are just appreciating his latest hit.
Stephen Daw: TikTok works in mysterious ways, especially when it comes to deep cut, fan-favorite tracks from a pop megastar. “Die for You” has a universal appeal to its production and vocal, which is what helped it achieve cult-like fave status from The Weeknd’s fervid fans — so once fans begin posting about revisiting their favorite Weeknd songs on TikTok, a groovy earworm like “Die for You” is bound to catch fire.
Lyndsey Havens: Honestly, I forgot “Die for You” was years old — and I’m guessing I’m not the only one. While much of the Starboy era felt like a bit more of a mainstream grab compared to The Weeknd’s prior work, years later, “Die For You” sounds right at home with the artist he is today. Plus, with the rumors of his last two albums being part of a trilogy, perhaps fans just got impatient while waiting for the finale. If the song’s sudden rise is more strategic than that, though, as most things are today … I’m curious to know if “Die for You” is a teaser of what to expect from what’s still to come.
Jason Lipshutz: In my mind, the “Die for You” TikTok revival-turned-mainstream adoption is a cross between Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well” comeback, as a fan-favorite song from a superstar getting a long second look, and David Guetta & Bebe Rexha’s “I’m Good (Blue)” success, as a long-delayed explosion for a years-old song that still sounds current despite its release date. “Die for You” is another mid-tempo Weeknd sing-along with a catchy-as-hell chorus, and once fans — some of whom had been championing the song for years — started watching it flicker to life on social media, they raised it up with undeniable streaming numbers, radio took notice, and now it’s a top 10 hit.
Andrew Unterberger: It seems like a “well, why not?” sort of hit to me: The song had been viral forever and top 40 programmers didn’t find anything they liked enough on Dawn FM to make an After Hours-sized hit out of, and so they decided to fill the Weeknd-sized void on their playlists with… more Weeknd. I’m surprised it’s gone this long and this strong, but the competition just isn’t that strong near the top of the charts right now, and hey, who doesn’t like “Die for You”?
3. Also new to the top 10 this week is Beyoncé’s “Cuff It,” which marks her second top 10 hit off Renaissance following the chart-topping “Break My Soul.” Is the second hit a big deal for the Queen and her latest album, or more of a pleasant New Year’s bonus?
Katie Atkinson: It’s definitely a big deal. It feels like fans have ordained this one the pop hit from the album, and I could see it marking the second No. 1 from Renaissance – especially if Queen B gifts fans with a music video. “Cuff It” has had a life of its own, starting with a dance challenge back in August and going strong into 2023 thanks to a crafty radio edit finally getting its airplay due.
Stephen Daw: It’s very much a big deal. Much like how “Break My Soul” was Beyoncé’s first solo No. 1 hit since “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” in 2008, Renaissance now becomes the first Beyoncé album since I Am … Sasha Fierce (2008) to spawn at least two of her 21 top 10 hits. The fact that Bey can re-reach the heights of her cultural dominance more than a decade after the fact is a feat that very few pop stars could manage in their careers. Though the headliner of Renaissance will forever be “Break My Soul,” “Cuff It” deserves recognition for only further solidifying Queen Bey’s regal status.
Lyndsey Havens: I think it’s a big deal for one reason: Fans are begging for more content — aka music videos. To have “Cuff It” go top 10 without it, or without any push from Queen B herself, proves that whatever she does or wants to do going forward will always work.
Jason Lipshutz: I’m not sure how much it matters for an artist like Beyoncé if her widely beloved and commercially successful new album only had one top 10 hit instead of two… but now it doesn’t! So yes, more of a pleasant New Year’s bonus for Queen Bey than important milestone, but also, “Cuff It” rules, a killer dance track with tons of interesting sonic details and one of the cooler breakdowns in pop music last year. It’s a deserving top 10 hit, and I’m glad it finally got there.
Andrew Unterberger: It’s a big deal mostly because it’s good timing for the Queen. It keeps her in the mainstream while she preps whatever transmission is to come next from the Renaissanceverse, and also keeping her top of mind with Grammy voters as she gears up for perhaps the best opportunity of her career to finally grab the coveted album of the year trophy. Also worth noting that while “Cuff It” may not match the No. 1 Hot 100 peak of “Break My Soul,” it’s already passed it in terms of endurance — the song reaches the top 10 in its 21st week, while “Soul” was off the chart altogether by its 19th week.
4. Lower in the top 40, is there any song you’re looking to maybe make a jump into the top 10 in the weeks to come?
Katie Atkinson: This feels like a cop-out because it only has to climb one spot, but I think Zach Bryan peaking at No. 11 this week with “Something in the Orange” shows that his breakthrough hit still has legs and could definitely make it to the top 10. It’s been out since April, but it also just climbed to No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart last week.
Stephen Daw: I think these coming few weeks are Meghan Trainor’s chance to get the top 10 hit she’s looking for in “Made You Look.” You cannot open TikTok at this point without hearing about the singer having her Gucci on, and as longer-lasting hits like “Bad Habit” and “As It Was” begin to lose steam again, “Made You Look” could find its moment in the spotlight if it manages to keep its trajectory up on streaming and radio.
Lyndsey Havens: If by top 40 you mean top 100, then yes: I have my eye on the Lewis Capaldi slow-burner of a comeback, “Forget Me.” Having made the jump from No. 98 to No. 74 this week — and given his previous two top 10 hits, one of which went to No. 1 (who could forget “Someone You Loved”?) — I think he’s more than capable of making another big leap.
Jason Lipshutz: Now is the time for the “Just Wanna Rock” takeover: Lil Uzi Vert’s Jersey club riff jumps up to a new peak of No. 16 this week, its furious energy and frenzied yelps making its presence known in clubs and sports arenas this winter. After a relatively slow start, “Just Wanna Rock” feels primed to become one of the defining songs of the first few months of the year, and should be another top 10 entry for Uzi.
Andrew Unterberger: “Made You Look.” For better or worse, it’s all aboard the M-Train for the next couple months on radio and streaming.
5. While the Hot 100 being largely static and leftover-dominated is certainly nothing new for the month of January, the previous two years also saw the tedium cut into by fresher cultural phenoms like Olivia Rodrigo and the Encanto soundtrack. Do you think we’ll get something like that this January — and if so, might we have any clue of what it will be yet?
Katie Atkinson: I would love to see “Titanium (M3GAN’s Version)” be our next top 10 Hot 100 hit! In all seriousness, though, I don’t think a chart-smashing new artist or film soundtrack has arrived this year (yet). Maybe Rodrigo herself, who just teased that she’s working on music, could once again own January.
Stephen Daw: Look, I’m biased, but I’m rooting for Sam Smith to keep their momentum going well into January and beyond. They have a highly anticipated new album out at the end of the month, and a trop-house-infused new single with Jessie Reyez and Koffee, “Gimme,” dropping tomorrow. If they can continue their excellent work at promoting their material via TikTok, that song could sweep through the charts and make January Sam Smith’s best month yet.
Lyndsey Havens: Though it wouldn’t be as surprising as the sudden runaway success stories of Olivia and Encanto, I do think that Miss Miley may soon own the month of January — and maybe even the whole year. After kicking things off with another successful NYE show, during which she announced her upcoming single “Flowers,” and subsequently revealing her new album Endless Summer Vacation to be coming in March, Cyrus is poised to dominate early 2023.
Jason Lipshutz: It’s going to be interesting to see what Miley Cyrus, whose new single “Flowers” arrives this Friday, has in her holster this time around. Cyrus is a superstar with a track record of making hits and a ton of goodwill, who’s coming off of a great album, 2020’s Plastic Hearts, that didn’t really produce a smash. If “Flowers” delivers, though, Cyrus has a relatively clear lane to the first big new pop single of 2023.
Andrew Unterberger: I think we actually got the January phenom a couple weeks early this year, with SZA’s SOS album in mid-December. And based on the fact that the album is still No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in its fourth week — and still claiming a whopping 15 entries on the Hot 100 — it looks like the set may still carry the first month of 2023 anyway.
Ellie Goulding has hit a bump in the road regarding her album release plans. On Tuesday (Jan. 10), the English singer revealed that her album Higher Than Heaven — originally scheduled to be released next month on Feb. 3 — had been delayed to a later date.
“To my incredible fans- I’m sorry to announce that we’re delaying the release of ‘Higher Than Heaven’ to March 24,” Goulding shared on Twitter, along with a short video of her recording in the studio and clips of her filming music videos. “I know you’ve all been so patient with me but we’ve had some exciting opportunities appear behind the scenes which I cannot wait to share with you in due course.”
The “Lights” singer did predict that something like an album delay could happen. In an interview with Billboard News, published in October, Goulding provided an update regarding Higher Than Heaven‘s release but said she may hesitate closer to its release day.
“The album’s done, although I’m sure it will get to the release date of the beginning of next year and I’ll be like ‘No! There’s more songs to write!’” she explained at the time. “But I have a couple more songs coming out this year. The next one I’m really excited about. It’s one of those songs that isn’t a radio song, but something I think people will enjoy.”
In the meantime, fans of Goulding’s can listen to the three singles preceding Higher Than Heaven‘s March 24 release date — “Easy Lover” featuring Big Sean, “All By Myself” and “Let It Die.”
See Goulding’s new album update below.
To my incredible fans- I’m sorry to announce that we’re delaying the release of Higher Than Heaven to March 24. I know you’ve all been so patient with me but we’ve had some exciting opportunities appear behind the scenes which I cannot wait to share with you in due course. pic.twitter.com/XRbeDoggZn
Taylor Swift continues her record run at No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated Jan. 14), as she becomes the first artist to spend 60 weeks at the summit.
Swift maintains her status as the top musical act in the U.S., thanks to the continued success of Midnights, as her latest album ranks at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 117,000 equivalent album units earned, according to Luminate, after spending five weeks at No. 1.
Swift places nine albums on the latest Billboard 200, the most among all acts: Midnights, Lover (No. 27), Folklore (No. 31), Red (Taylor’s Version) (No. 40), 1989 (No. 42), Evermore (No. 60), Reputation (No. 62), Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (No. 126) and Speak Now (No. 163).
Swift also charts four songs from Midnights on the Billboard Hot 100: “Anti-Hero” returns to No. 1 for a seventh week on top, tying “Blank Space” as her longest-leading No. 1 hit, followed on the latest list by “Lavender Haze” (No. 37), “Bejeweled” (No. 81) and “Midnight Rain” (No. 97).
Rounding out the top five of the latest Artist 100, SZA holds at No. 2 as her new album, SOS, spends a fourth week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Morgan Wallen keeps at No. 3, The Weeknd climbs 5-4 and Harry Styles drops 4-5.
Among other Artist 100 chart moves, ATEEZ re-enters at No. 6, thanks to the K-pop group’s Spin Off : From the Witness. The set debuts at No. 7 on the Billboard 200, earning the group its second top 10, and at No. 1 on World Albums, where it’s the act’s fourth leader.
The Artist 100 measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.
By the time the trio of fests arrives, it will be more than a year since the 2022 death of the band’s drummer, Taylor Hawkins. He unexpectedly passed away during a tour a stop in Bogota, Colombia, last March when the rockers were set to headline the the Estéreo Picnic Festival.
The loss has left a massive and glaring absence within the group as Dave Grohl and his bandmates have mourned the loss of their longtime friend, and it’s still unclear who will serve as the band’s drummer for their upcoming slate of headlining slots. So Billboard wants to know who you think could take a seat behind the drum kit and support the Foo Fighters for what’s sure to be an emotional return to the stage.
An obvious choice would be Grohl himself, considering he would often switch places with Hawkins during shows for the late drummer to front fan-favorite tracks such as “Sunday Rain” off 2017’s Concrete and Gold, and covers of Queen’s “Somebody to Love” and Pink Floyd’s “Have a Cigar.” However, it’s unrealistic the frontman would be able to do so for an entire set, so we’ve put together a list of friends and fellow musicians who could possibly lend a hand.
Both Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Matt Cameron of Pearl Jam were good friends with Hawkins, and could honor his legacy at one or more of the dates. Though just 12 years old, viral wunderkind Nandi Bushell has proven she has the chops to play just about anything, and already has a lovely relationship with the band. (She also played on “Everlong” during the band’s Aug. 26, 2021, concert in Los Angeles.) And Hawkins own son, Oliver, joined his dad’s bandmates to play “My Hero” at a tribute concert held at Wembley Stadium last September.
Plenty of other big-name drummers also performed during the tribute show for Hawkins — as well as at a second concert weeks later at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles — including Travis Barker, Stewart Copeland of The Police, the Pretenders’ Martin Chambers, sessions drummers Josh Freese and Omar Hakim, and many others.
Vote for the drummer you’d like to see play Bonnaroo, Boston Calling and Sonic Temple with the Foo Fighters below.
Austin Butler transformed so completely and convincingly into Elvis Presley while playing the rock n’ roll legend in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, it almost seemed effortless. In a new interview with Jimmy Kimmel, however, the 31-year-old actor revealed that it was anything but.
Appearing Monday night (Jan. 9) on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Butler opened up about the stresses that came with the two-year process of getting Elvis’ every move, note and mannerism exactly right for the film. “I would usually wake up every day around 3 or 4 in the morning with this terror,” he confessed.
“It was just such a daunting thing,” he added. “I really was just guided by my terror.”
The Carrie Diaries alum — whose performance is up for best actor at Tuesday night’s (Jan. 10) Golden Globes — also shed some light on the prep work he did to master the role of The King. The process was unexpectedly prolonged when filming for Elvis halted for much of 2020 after co-star Tom Hanks tested positive for COVID-19.
Worried about losing all the progress he’d made so far with the character, Butler said he doubled down on his studies and covered his apartment walls with photographs of Elvis through the years. He made compilations of the “Hound Dog” singer’s voice and paid special attention to Elvis’ laugh.
“I’d walk down the beach for hours with a headphone in, laughing as Elvis,” he shared, recalling the looks he would get from confused surfers. “So it looked like [I was] this man, just absolutely out of his mind.”
In a separate roundtable interview for The Hollywood Reporter, Butler remembered the day he first met Elvis’ daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, after filming had wrapped. “She hugged me with tears in her eyes, and she just said, ‘Thank you,’” he said. “She took me upstairs and we went into Elvis’ bedroom and just sat on his bed and just talked for hours.”
“When you realize that he’s this guy that has been either thought of as this icon, godlike figure, or people just see him as this Halloween costume …,” he continued. “Then it dawns on you that he’s a father, and he’s a son and he’s a husband. That responsibility is so huge.”
Watch Austin Butler talk about portraying Elvis and meeting Lisa Marie below:
The 2023 Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival will feature headlining sets from the Foo Fighters, Tool, Godsmack, Avenged Sevenfold, Queens of the Stone Age, KISS, Rob Zombie and the Deftones. The event at Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio will take place on Memorial Day weekend (May 25-28) after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Also slated to perform at the hard rock extravaganza are: Falling In Reverse, Chevelle, Puscifer, Beartooth, I Prevail, Jawbreaker, Sublime with Rome, Bullet For My Valentine, The Pretty Reckless, Pennywise, Trivium, Black Veil Brides and more.
The event marks the third festival date featuring the Foo Fighters to be announced this week, marking the band’s first major performances since the tragic death last March of drummer Taylor Hawkins while on tour in Colombia; at press time the group had not yet announced who will take over for Hawkins.
“We’ve always enjoyed playing Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus and are excited to be a part of this year’s Sonic Temple,” said A7X singer M. Shadows in a statement. “It’ll be a blast to share the stage with Tool, Foo Fighters and others, we can’t wait to see and play for all of our amazing fans again.” Danny Wimmer of Sonic Temple producer Danny Wimmer Presents added, “It’s great to be coming back to Columbus. Foo Fighters, Tool, Avenged Sevenfold, KISS plus 75 more, it’s our biggest lineup ever! There is so much history at Historic Crew Stadium, it truly is the heartbeat of rock for many of us… the excitement surrounding the return of Sonic Temple is unparalleled!”
Among the other acts slated to perform are: Suicidal Tendencies, Anti-Flag, Black Stone Cherry, Born of Osiris, Rival Sons, Senses Fail, From Ashes to New, Awolnation, Nothing More, Grandson, White Reaper, The Bronx and many more.
An exclusive presale for festival email subscribers will begin on Wednesday (Jan. 11) at 10 a.m. ET; fans who sign up for the Sonic Temple email list before 10 p.m. ET on Tuesday (Jan. 10) will receive a dedicated code with first access to buy festival passes; sign up here. The general public on-sale will begin at noon ET on Friday (Jan. 13).
Congress Jason Smith, who represents Missouri’s 8th Congressional district, has been appointed chair of a very powerful committee this week.
Smith will hold the gavel over the House Ways and Means committee, which is the oldest named committee in the history of Congress. It’s primary role is to oversee taxation. Congress is well known to hold the ‘power of the purse’ and the Ways and Means Committee is one of the primary ways that Congress wields that power. The committee also makes decisions on Medicare and Medicaid, among other healthcare issues.
With the amount of power that this committee holds, the chairmanship was one of the most closely watched races in the House, with Smith winning a three way bid.