Usher continues to receive accolades. The R&B superstar was honored with a SoundExchange Hall of Fame Award for being among the most-stream creators in the company’s 20-year history.
Usher, who currently has 27 million monthly listeners on Spotify, was presented with the award in Las Vegas, Nevada, at his My Way: The Las Vegas Residency at the Dolby Live Theater at the Park MGM, which runs through October.
“Usher has been making incredible chart-topping music for almost 30 years, and it is an honor to acknowledge his rightful place among the greatest artists of the era,” said Michael Huppe, president and CEO of SoundExchange.
Huppe continued, “As his My Way residency showcases, Usher is without a doubt one of the preeminent performers of our time. We are honored to acknowledge his impact and longevity with the SoundExchange Hall of Fame Award that celebrates the hitmaker that he is.”
Formed in 2003, SoundExchange was created “to build a fairer, safer, simpler, and more efficient music industry through technology, data, and advocacy.”
Usher’s latest award comes nearly two months after receiving an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Berklee College.
“My goal as an artist has always been to inspire people to make a positive impact through my music, to make you feel something, and last night I felt proud…of the legacy that has been built and that we’re building together as artists,” Usher said during his commencement speech.
On a music front, Usher’s current single “GLU” recently peaked at No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart. It spent two weeks in the top position before Lizzo and SZA‘s “Special” bumped it to No. 2 this week.
“GLU” is the first single from Usher’s highly anticipated ninth album that will release on gamma. The sensual jam was co-produced by Lil Jon, Sean Garrett, and The Avila Brothers.
In an interview with Rated R&B, Garrett talked about the creative inspiration behind the song “GLU.”
“I felt like the concept had to be extremely unique. It had to be said in a way that was straddling the line a bit but comes across where everyone can enjoy it. And kind of getting back to just making a woman feel good; that’s what Usher does,” Garrett said.
Garrett continued, “He goes crazy with the vocals and it’s truly what R&B music is. We took every piece to the song and took our time to put it together properly to make sure that it felt amazing and was an elevation of what R&B has been happening for late. We wanted to make sure that this was gonna be something that everybody would love.”
There isn’t a release date set for Usher’s untitled album. It will follow 2016’s Hard II Love, which opened at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart.
Stream “GLU” by Usher below.