Jelly Roll (whose real name is Jason DeFord) made Billboard chart history as he sits at No. 1 on Billboard’s all-genre Emerging Artists chart (dated February 11) for a record-breaking 25th week.
The 38-year-old singer/songwriter broke a record previously held by NLE Choppa, who had a 24-week reign on the chart in 2019-2020. With this chart achievement, Jelly Roll has set a new record for the most time spent at No. 1 in the seven-year history of the Billboard Emerging Artists chart.
Coi Leray, NewJeans, Nate Smith and d4vd complete the top five of Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart.
According to Billboard, “The Emerging Artists chart ranks the most popular developing artists of the week, using the same formula as the all-encompassing Billboard Artist 100, which measures artist activity across multiple Billboard charts, including the Hot 100, Billboard 200 and the Social 50.
While the Hot 100 lists the overall most popular artists each week, the Emerging Artists chart focusing on those who have yet to notch a Top 25 entry on the Hot 100 or Billboard 200, plus artists who have achieved two or more Top 10s on any Billboard “Hot” song chart or “Top” album rankings.
After hearing the exciting news, Jelly Roll took to his Instagram stories to comment on the chart feat.
“This is crazy y’all!” Jelly Roll wrote.
Jelly Roll’s wife, Bunnie XO, also shared her excitement of his latest chart achievement.
“Manifesting more record breaking to come baby 
SO PROUD OF YOU!” she wrote on Facebook.
As he makes history on the Emerging Artist chart, the genre-bending artist’s latest release, “NEED A FAVOR,” continues to make its way up the Billboard charts. The tune currently ranks at No. 33 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart, while it also peaked at No. 42 on the Hot Country Songs chart and has risen to No. 43 on the Country Airplay chart.
In 2022, Jelly Roll earned his first-ever No. 1 hit at both Rock and Country radio with his songs “Dead Man Walking” and “Son Of A Sinner,” respectively.
Since reaching the top of the charts with those songs, the Nashville native has released several songs including “She,” “NEED A FAVOR” and has also appeared on a duet with Brantley Gilbert, titled “Son Of The Dirty South.”
He Is Currently Working On A New Full Length Country Album
Jelly Roll is currently working on a brand-new album, which will feature his latest single “NEED A FAVOR” and “She.” The forthcoming new project will serve as Jelly Roll’s first full length Country project.
During a recent interview with Music Mayhem, Jelly Roll opened up about his debut Country album, which he said is expected to arrive in “April or May [of 2023].”
“I’m really proud of it. I’m going to have some features on it. It’s a country record for sure,” he told us. “It’ll be my debut country album. I’m kind of really excited about taking my first real big leap into the genre. I think ‘Son of a Sinner’ was just kind of showing people what I could do, but we also got some real kind of rock records on there, some real kind of rocky records on there. And we’ll have a couple of songs where I’m spitting a little bit too. So it’s still true to Jelly Roll for sure.”
The hitmaker’s new project will serve as the follow-up to his 2021 album, Ballads Of The Broken, which includes the chart-topping hits “Son Of a Sinner” and “Dead Man Walking” as well as fan-favorite tunes such as “Sober,” “Empty House,” and more.
Jelly Roll Recently Teased A New Album With Brantley Gilbert
Additionally, Jelly Roll is currently working on a new full length project with Brantley Gilbert, which Gilbert says “will blow your mind.”
“We went and lived in the studio for about a week,” Brantley revealed to Country Now. We’ve really got enough for an album, so I think right now we’re just trying to figure out whether or not it’s gonna be an EP or an album, but there’s definitely something coming.”
“This album that we put together, this EP that we put together, literally covers every base. I mean, we both went into our little bag of tricks across the board. So there’s a little bit of everything on it,” he continued, offering a sneak peek into what fans can expect from the project. “When you hear this project, it will blow your mind. I could play you one song and then play you another one, and you can say, in a million years, do not ever put that on the same album.”
Jelly Roll has yet to share any plans for a headlining tour. However, he is scheduled to perform at several upcoming festivals this year, including Tailgate N’ Tallboys Bloomington, Tailgate N’ Tallboys Clinton, TidalWave Music Festival, and more.
