2002–2004: Career beginnings At age 13, Brown was discovered by Hitmission Records, a local production team that visited the gas station where his father worked, while searching for new talent. Around the same time, he performed with one of his production managers' son, named TJ, for hip-hop artist
Puff Daddy, but the rapper refused to sign him to his record label
Bad Boy Records. Hitmission's Lamont Fleming provided voice coaching for Brown. The team helped to arrange a demo package, under the name of "C. Sizzle", and approached contacts in New York.
Tina Davis, senior
A&R executive at
Def Jam Recordings, heard the demo package that Brown's local team had sent to Def Jam, and among the artists contained in the CD she was impressed by Brown with his track "Whose Girl Is That". Davis later had Brown auditioning in her New York office, and she immediately took him to meet the former president of
Island Def Jam Music Group,
Antonio "L.A." Reid, who offered to sign him that day, but Brown refused his proposal because Reid would not talk to his mother. Brown moved to
Harlem,
New York City, to seek a record deal. The negotiations with Def Jam continued for two months, and ended when Davis lost her job due to a corporate merger. Brown asked her to be his manager, and once Davis accepted, she promoted the singer to other labels such as
Jive Records,
J-Records and
Warner Bros. Records. "I knew that Chris had real talent," says Davis. "I just knew I wanted to be part of it." Brown attended
Essex High School in Virginia until late 2004, when he moved to Harlem. Brown ultimately chose Jive due to its successful work with then-young acts such as
Britney Spears and
Justin Timberlake. Brown stated, "I picked Jive because they had the best success with younger artists in the pop market, [...] I knew I was going to capture my African American audience, but Jive had a lot of strength in the pop area as well as longevity in careers." Brown co-wrote half of the tracks. The whole album took less than eight weeks to produce. Released on November 29, 2005, the
Chris Brown album debuted at number 2 on the
Billboard 200 with first week sales of 154,000 copies. Decca Aitkenhead of
The Guardian wrote that it was "a smooth slice of commercial R&B".
Chris Brown sold over three million copies in the US and was certified three times Platinum by the RIAA; worldwide, it sold six million copies. On June 13, 2006, Brown released a DVD entitled ''
Chris Brown's Journey'', which shows footage of him traveling through England and Japan, preparing for his first visit to the
Grammy Awards, behind the scenes of his music videos and bloopers. On August 17, 2006, to further promote the album, Brown began his major co-headlining tour, The Up Close and Personal Tour. Due to the tour, production for his next album was pushed back two months.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital received $10,000 in ticket proceeds from Brown's 2006 Up Close & Personal Tour. Brown has made appearances on
UPN's
One on One and
The N's
Brandon T. Jackson Show on its pilot episode.
2007–2008: Exclusive in 2008 In January 2007, Brown landed a small role as a
band geek in the
fourth season of the American television series
The O.C.. Brown then made his film debut in
Stomp the Yard, alongside
Ne-Yo,
Meagan Good and
Columbus Short on January 12, 2007. In April 2007, Brown was the opening act for
Beyoncé, on the Australian leg of her
The Beyoncé Experience tour. On July 9, 2007, Brown was featured in an episode of
MTV's
My Super Sweet 16 (for the event, it was retitled:
Chris Brown: My Super 18) celebrating his eighteenth birthday in New York City. Shortly after ending his summer tour with Ne-Yo, Brown quickly began production for his second album,
Exclusive. The album's lead single, "
Wall to Wall" was released, but it only peaked at number 79 on the US
Billboard Hot 100 chart, and number 22 on the US
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart; his lowest charting single at the time. However, "
Kiss Kiss", featuring and produced by
T-Pain, released as the album's second single, received huge success, reaching number 1 on the US
Billboard Hot 100 chart, and becoming Brown's second number 1 single following "Run It!" in 2005. "
With You", produced by
Stargate (a producers duo known at the time for their work with R&B singer
Ne-Yo), was released as the third single from
Exclusive, and had even bigger worldwide success than "Kiss Kiss", becoming one of the
all-time best-selling singles, and reaching number 2 on the US
Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Exclusive was released in the US on November 6, 2007. According to
The Guardian the album demonstrated "his agility in fusing R&B with the era's auto-tuned strain of pop-leaning hip-hop". The album debuted at number 4 on the US
Billboard 200 chart, selling 294,000 copies in its first week, becoming a bigger commercial success than his previous outing.
Exclusive was certified four times Platinum by the RIAA. In November 2007, Brown starred as a video host for
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's Math-A-Thon program. He showed his support by encouraging students to use their math skills to help children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. On November 21, 2007, Brown appeared as a leading role in
This Christmas, a family drama starring
Regina King. He also contributed to
the soundtrack of the movie, that contains his
cover versions of "
Try a Little Tenderness" and "
This Christmas", the latter has been certified Platinum by the RIAA. To further support the album
Exclusive, Brown embarked on his The Exclusive Holiday Tour, visiting over thirty venues in US. The tour began in
Cincinnati, Ohio, on December 6, 2007, and concluded on February 9, 2008, in
Honolulu, Hawaii. In March 2008, Brown was featured on
Jordin Sparks' single "
No Air", which received worldwide success, peaking at number 3 on the US
Billboard Hot 100 chart. He also made a guest appearance on
David Banner' single "
Get Like Me" alongside
Yung Joc. The song peaked at number 16 on the
Billboard Hot 100, and number 2 on the US
Hot Rap Songs chart. In 2008, Brown did of a
commercial spot for
Doublemint gum, creating a jingle commissioned by an advertising company working for
Wrigley. Brown first created the short version for the commercial, then extended and expanded it into a full song, "
Forever", during another recording session. "Forever" was later released as a single anticipating Brown's re-issue of
Exclusive. The song was noted for being Brown's first record to venture into the
dance-pop genre, becoming one of his biggest singles, reaching number 2 on
Billboard Hot 100.
Billboard wrote positively of the single, stating in its 2008 review that Brown "has proved as 2008's pop/R&B prince that he has talent and charm to command the charts for as long he chooses". The re-issue, titled
Exclusive: The Forever Edition, was released on June 3, 2008, seven months after the original version, featuring four new tracks, and pushed the album's success further. In August 2008, Brown guest-starred on
Disney's The Suite Life of Zack & Cody as himself. Towards the end of 2008, Brown was named the
Artist of the Year by
Billboard magazine, with the songs "With You", "Forever" and "No Air" resulting three of the top 10 most sold singles of 2008 in the US.
2009–2010: Graffiti and mixtapes and
Elephant Man at
Reggae Sumfest in 2010 In 2008, Brown began work on his third album, announced to be called
Graffiti, promising to experiment with a different musical direction inspired by singers
Prince and Michael Jackson. He stated, "I wanted to change it up and really be different. Like my style nowadays, I don't try to be typical urban. I want to be like how Prince, Michael and
Stevie Wonder were. They can cross over to any genre of music." Following
the domestic violence scandal involving Brown and his then-girlfriend, musician/actress
Rihanna on February 8, 2009, a major part of mass media took positions against the singer. The scandal also caused Brown to lose significant endorsements, including the one with
Doublemint, with some music stations across the US briefly banning Brown's songs. The singer later participated in numerous television appearances during the year to express himself publicly about it. He spoke about it to
ABC News: "I never ever had problems with anger. No, no domestic violence with any of my past girlfriends or any altercations. I never was that kind of person. I look at it, and it's really, like really difficult. It's like, 'How could I be that person?'". In the 2017 self-documentary,
Welcome to My Life, Brown says his reputation dropped sharply after his 2009 assault on Rihanna, "I went from being on top of the world, number one songs, being kind of like America's sweetheart, to being
public enemy number one."
Graffitis lead single "
I Can Transform Ya" was released on September 29, 2009. The song peaked at number 20 on the US
Billboard Hot 100 chart. "
Crawl" was released as the album's second single on November 23, 2009. The song reached number 53 on the
Billboard Hot 100.
Graffiti was then released on December 8, 2009. Brown, with this album, started to take full control of his art, managing the artistic direction, and writing every song of the album (with the exception of the song "I'll Go", written and produced by Brian Kennedy and
James Fauntleroy). He said that his decision to entirely direct and write his albums and songs came from the fact that he wanted to give his "own perspective of the music [he] wanted to make" and by his wanting to "verbalize whatever [he] was going through". Critics noted that with the album's sound Brown aimed to expand his music beyond the genres of his previous works. According to Mikael Wood of
Los Angeles Times, the album is made of an "upbeat" part, that "can be considered the sonic sequel to 'Forever'", mixed with
power ballads, observed to express his remorse and feelings following the Rihanna incident. The album, compared to its two predecessors, was a commercial and critical failure, debuting at number 7 on the US
Billboard 200 chart, selling 102,000 copies in its first week, and receiving generally negative reviews from critics. The performance and his emotional turmoil resonated with several celebrities present at the ceremony, including
Trey Songz,
Diddy and
Taraji P. Henson. Michael's brother,
Jermaine Jackson, expressed similar sentiments stating, "it was very emotional for me, because it was an acceptance from his fans from what has happened to him and also paying tribute to my brother". Later during the award ceremony, Brown stated, "I let y'all down before, but I won't do it again...I promise", while accepting the award for the AOL Fandemonium prize. and also served as executive producer of the film. During 2010, Brown released three free mixtapes:
In My Zone (Rhythm & Streets),
Fan of a Fan (collaborative mixtape with rapper
Tyga), and
In My Zone 2, which featured a new writing style for the singer, and a different musical style, mixing R&B with hip-hop. For the mixtapes he worked with new producers, most notably
Kevin McCall. The mixtapes received a great response from the artist's core audience, consolidating it. The single "
Deuces", extracted from the
Fan of a Fan mixtape, obtained critical and commercial success, peaking at number 1 on the
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The song was later remixed by some of the biggest names in the hip-hop scene of that time, including
Drake,
Kanye West,
André 3000,
Rick Ross,
Fabolous, and
T.I. He later released the solo track "
No BS" as his second single from
Fan of a Fan, and decided to include the two singles from the mixtape as anticipation singles for his next album.
2011–2012: F.A.M.E. and Fortune , Australia, in 2012 In September 2010, Brown announced his album, F.A.M.E., a backronym for "Forgiving All My Enemies", would be released in October. The album's first single, "
Yeah 3x", a
dance-pop song, different from the
urban content of the previous mixtapes. The single received big international success, entering the top-ten in eleven countries, including Australia, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. It was succeeded by the
hip-hop single "
Look at Me Now", featuring rappers
Lil Wayne and
Busta Rhymes, that reached number one on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, where it remained for eight consecutive weeks. It also reached number one on the US
Hot Rap Songs chart. The single became the best-selling rap song of 2011, as well as one of
all-time best-selling singles in the US.
Stereogum while critiquing Brown's public image during a review, praised his musical ability and the track, stating that "It brings me no joy to report that 'Look At Me Now' is a 10". Brown's fourth album
F.A.M.E. was first released on March 18, 2011. Defined by critics as a "musical kaleidoscope" for its versatile sound, the album debuted at number 1 on the US
Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 270,000 copies, giving Brown his first number-one album in the US. Steve Jones of
USA Today said that the album showed "a more mature, confident and adventurous Brown who has emerged in the wake of all the drama, and he has delivered the strongest album of his career". The album's third single, "
Beautiful People", featuring
Benny Benassi, peaked at number one on the US
Hot Dance Club Songs chart, and became the first number-one single on the chart for both Brown and Benassi. "
She Ain't You" was released as the album's fourth US single, while "
Next 2 You", featuring Canadian recording artist
Justin Bieber, served as the album's fourth international single. To further promote the album, Brown embarked on his
F.A.M.E. Tour in Australia and North America. Brown received six nominations at the
2011 BET Awards and ultimately won five awards, including Best Male R&B Artist, Viewers Choice Award, The Fandemonium Award, Best Collaboration and Video of the Year for "Look at Me Now". He also won three awards at the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards, including the People's Champ Award, Reese's Perfect Combo Award and Best Hip Hop Video for "Look at Me Now". At the 2011
Soul Train Music Awards,
F.A.M.E. won Album of the Year. The album has also earned Brown three Grammy Award nominations at the
54th Grammy Awards for
Best R&B Album, as well as
Best Rap Performance and
Best Rap Song for "Look at Me Now". On February 12, 2012, Brown won his first Grammy Award, for Best R&B Album. During the ceremony, Brown performed several songs marking his first appearance at the awards show since his conviction of felony assault. On October 7, 2011,
RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding
Jive Records along with
Arista Records and
J Records. With the shutdown, Brown (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) will release future material on the
RCA Records brand. Brown's fifth album
Fortune was anticipated with the release of "
Strip", "
Sweet Love", "
Till I Die", and the Top 10 singles "
Turn Up the Music" and "
Don't Wake Me Up".
Fortune was released on July 3, 2012. The album's musical style was noted for mixing Brown's R&B with pop and
electronic music. The album debuted atop the
Billboard 200, but received negative reviews from critics. Despite the negative reception, it was nominated for
Best Urban Contemporary Album at the
55th Grammy Awards. To further promote the album, Brown embarked on his
Carpe Diem Tour in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Trinidad.
2013–2015: X and Royalty After concluding his
Carpe Diem Tour in 2012, Brown's next album started to develop. On February 15, 2013, the singer unofficially released the song "Home" in which he reflects on the dark side of fame, and how he grounds himself by returning to the neighborhood where he grew up. On March 26, 2013, Brown announced the release of
X, in various interviews and listening sessions. In an interview with
Ebony, Brown spoke of taking his music in a different direction and changing his sound from the pop-infused and sexually explicit one of the previous album
Fortune, to a more mature, soulful and vulnerable theme for the album. On March 29, 2013, he released the critically acclaimed "
Fine China" as the lead single of
X. Following the release of two other anticipation singles of
X, "
Don't Think They Know" and "
Love More", on August 9, 2013, at 1:09 am PDT, Brown was reported to have suffered a
seizure from Record Plant Studios in Hollywood, California as a
9-1-1 call was made. When paramedics arrived, Brown allegedly refused to receive treatment and also refused to be transported to the local hospital. (Brown has reportedly suffered from seizures since his childhood.) The next day, Brown's representative reported the seizure was caused by "intense fatigue and extreme emotional stress, both due to the continued onslaught of unfounded legal matters and the nonstop negativity." On November 20, 2013, Brown was sentenced to an anger management rehabilitation center for three months, putting the December 2013 release of
X in jeopardy. To "hold [fans] over until [the
X album] drops," Brown released a mixtape, titled
X Files on November 19, 2013. Brown revealed in 2022, that at the time, when he was on the way to go to the
counseling, he received a phone call from
Prince, that told him to "don't lose focus", wanting a conversation with him about "being special". Brown described the phone call as "one of [his] most influential" moments. While incarcerated, the album's fourth single, "
Loyal", became one of Brown's most successful songs, by selling over six million copies in the US, and peaking in the top 10 of the US
Billboard Hot 100 and the
UK Singles Chart. Brown said in a 2022 interview, that following his release from jail he experienced more episodes of fans explaining to him how some of his records helped them through life-changing situations, making him realize that he was making music for an "actual purpose". Brown's sixth album,
X was released on September 16, 2014. The album received positive reviews from critics, that considered it a big improvement compared to its critically panned predecessor
Fortune. Brad Wete of
Billboard reviewing
X described Brown as "a talent whose skill for hit singles and agile performances is only matched by his knack for cannonballing into career-threatening pools of legal and PR problems", At the
2015 Grammy Awards, the album was nominated for the
Best Urban Contemporary Album, while "New Flame" was nominated for
Best R&B Performance and
Best R&B Song. Commercially, the album debuted at number 2 on the US
Billboard 200 selling 146,000 copies in its first week, becoming his sixth consecutive top ten debut in the US.
X has been certified double Platinum by the RIAA. Pushing the promotion for the album further, Brown performed and appeared at several televised music events and music festivals across the US. On February 24, 2015, Brown released his first collaborative album with Tyga, titled
Fan of a Fan: The Album. The album was a follow-up to the pairs' 2010 mixtape
Fan of a Fan, and its lead single "
Ayo" received commercial success. In early 2015, Brown also embarked on his
Between the Sheets Tour with
Trey Songz. In spring 2015, Brown was featured on DJ
Deorro's song "
Five More Hours", which received worldwide success. On June 24, Brown released "
Liquor" as the first single from his seventh album, titled
Royalty, being dedicated to his daughter. On October 16, he revealed the album cover. On October 13, 2015, Brown announced that
Royalty would be released on November 27, 2015. After it was revealed that the album has been pushed back to December 18, 2015, in exchange on November 27, 2015, he released a free 34-track mixtape called
Before the Party as a prelude to
Royalty, which features
guest appearances from
Rihanna,
Wiz Khalifa,
Pusha T,
Kelly Rowland,
Wale,
Tyga,
French Montana and
Fetty Wap. The mixtape is composed by previously unreleased tracks that Brown recorded in different studio sessions between 2012 and 2015.
Royalty was released on December 18, 2015, and debuted at number 3 on the US
Billboard 200, selling 184,000 units (162,000 in pure album sales) in its first week. Brown directed and released eight music videos for the songs of
Royalty, serializing them to construct a linear story. According to Iyana Robertson of
Vibe, Brown on the album "sticks to the absence of a sonic script", showcasing "a pure, palpable display of an "outside of the box" approach to music". Robertson said that lyrically the album "waves goodbye to amour on its way out the door", noting it to be a "stark contrast to 2014's
X, which included professions of affection". In March 2016, he collaborated again with Italian DJ
Benny Benassi, for the song "
Paradise" from the latter's album
Danceaholic. On May 3, he announced the single "
Grass Ain't Greener", showing its cover art and announcing it as the first single from a new album titled
Heartbreak on a Full Moon. The single was released on May 5, 2016. On July 7, after the
2016 shooting of Dallas police officers, Brown released on his
SoundCloud page two
piano ballads, "My Friend" and "A Lot of Love", saying that the songs are "released for free for anybody dealing with injustice or struggle in their lives." In 2016, the singer released two hip-hop collaborative mixtapes with his OHB crew,
Before the Trap: Nights in Tarzana and
Attack the Block. Throughout 2016 and 2017, he continued sharing several snippets from songs that he was recording. He also built a recording studio inside of his home to work on the album. During this period he embarked two concert tours as well: the European leg of the
One Hell of a Nite Tour in 2016, and
The Party Tour in 2017. On December 16, 2016, he released the second official single from the album, "
Party", featuring guest vocals from American R&B singer
Usher and rapper
Gucci Mane.
RCA Records, the record label of the singer, initially wasn't agreeable of satisfying Brown's intentions to make a 40-track album, thinking that it would've damaged its commercial performance, but the singer ended up convincing them. "
Privacy" was later released as the album's third single. On June 7 he released
Welcome to My Life, a
self-documentary focused on his life and career, directed by Andrew Sandler. Numerous celebrities participated in the movie, describing Brown from a personal and professional point of view. Among them there are
Jennifer Lopez,
Mike Tyson,
Rita Ora,
Usher and
Tyga. while shortly after he released the fifth single, "
Questions". On October 25, 2017, Brown organized with
Tidal a free pop-up concert in New York City to perform the singles on the album and promote it.
Heartbreak on a Full Moon was eventually released as a
double-disc album on October 31, 2017, via digital retailers and onto CD, three days later by
RCA Records. He explained the concept for the album in August 2017 during an interview for
Complex, saying: "I thought
Heartbreak on a Full Moon was a depiction of what my soul wanted to say. It's funny because we're doing a double album. I've done so many records, but all of the records, to me, are personal favorites and I feel like it gets what I want to say across". Despite being counted for only three days of sales,
Heartbreak on a Full Moon debuted at number 3 on the US
Billboard 200, becoming Brown's ninth consecutive top 10 album on the chart. One week after its release
Heartbreak on a Full Moon was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for combined sales and
album-equivalent units of over 500,000 units in the US, and Brown became the first R&B male artist that went Gold in a week since
Usher's
Confessions in 2004. In 2019 the album has been certified double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. On December 13, 2017, he released a 12-track surprise deluxe edition of the album, titled
Cuffing Season – 12 Days of Christmas. Brown eventually embarked on his US "
Heartbreak on a Full Moon Tour" in June 2018 to further promote the album. The
opening acts for the tour were
6lack,
H.E.R.,
Rich the Kid, and
Jacquees.
2018–2019: Indigo On January 31, 2018, shortly after President
Donald Trump's
2020 State of the Union Address, Brown released for free the track "State of the Union", a ballad where he expresses a message about social harmony. In February 2018, Brown and rapper
Joyner Lucas announced an upcoming collaboration project, titled
Angels & Demons, with the release of the single "
Stranger Things". However, the project ended up never being released. On March 15, 2018, Brown was featured on
Lil Dicky's hit single "
Freaky Friday". The song became one of the most successful
comedy songs in contemporary pop music, topping the charts in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, also entering the top 10 in the US. Following the end of the "Heartbreak on a Full Moon" tour, Brown started to work on his ninth album,
Indigo. On January 4, 2019, Brown released "
Undecided" as its lead single. "Undecided" saw Brown reunite with producer
Scott Storch, who previously worked with Brown in 2005 on his breakout hit "
Run It!". The single marked Brown's first release after signing an extension and a new
license agreement with
RCA Records, that gave him the owning of his master recordings, making him one of the youngest artists to do so at the age of 29. On April 11, he released the second single off the album, "
Back to Love". Andy Kellman of
AllMusic described the song as a "career highlight", although it failed to chart in the US. The third single, "
Wobble Up", was released a week later, featuring
Nicki Minaj and
G-Eazy, and a summer tour with Nicki Minaj was announced, but ended up never happening. On April 25, he appeared on a track with
Marshmello and
Tyga called "
Light It Up". On May 2, Brown revealed the list of artists featured on
Indigo, including Nicki Minaj,
Tory Lanez,
Tyga,
Justin Bieber,
Juicy J,
Juvenile,
H.E.R,
Tank,
Lil Jon,
Lil Wayne,
Joyner Lucas,
Gunna and
Drake. The announcement of the Drake collaboration sparked headlines, due to their public feud that lasted for several years. On May 31, he appeared on the commercially successful single "
Easy", where he duetted with singer
DaniLeigh. On June 8, Brown released "
No Guidance" featuring Drake as a single. It debuted at number 9 on the US
Billboard Hot 100, making it Brown's 15th top-ten song, and later peaked at number 5. The single won
Best Collaboration Performance,
Best Dance Performance and
Song of the Year at the
2019 Soul Train Music Awards and received a nomination for
Best R&B Song at the
62nd Grammy Awards. in 2019
Indigo was eventually released on June 28, 2019, marking Brown's second double album. Musically, the album explored his
R&B roots, and other genres such as
Afrobeats, pop,
dancehall and
bounce music. In the US,
Indigo debuted at number 1 on the US
Billboard 200 with 108,000
album-equivalent units, which included 28,000 pure album sales in its first week, making it his third number-one album in the country.
Indigo was further promoted with the release of the single "
Heat", which topped the
Billboard Rhythmic Airplay chart, and earned Brown his 13th number one on the chart, and second during 2019. On October 4, 2019, Brown eventually released a deluxe version of
Indigo entitled
Indigo Extended, which included 10 additional songs, making the extended version a total of 42 songs. On June 10, 2019, Brown announced an official headlining concert tour "Indigoat Tour" in which he performed the album throughout the US. The tour began on August 20 and ended on October 19. Jay Cridlin of
Tampa Bay Times attended the
Tampa concert, and reviewing it he said it was "a guilty pleasure", wondering if enjoying his stage presence should be wrong, considering the controversies surrounding his public figure, expressing "At what point do we -- can we, should we -- forget about the blowups and restraining orders, and just marvel at the way Brown splits into a backflip and kick-spins a 360 during 'Drunk Texting'?". The "Indigoat Tour" grossed over $30,100,000 in its 37 shows, selling out most of the venues. At the end of the year, Brown was ranked third on
Billboard's "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Decade" for the 2010s, behind
Rihanna and
Drake in second and first, respectively. On April 29, 2020, Brown announced the release of a collaborative mixtape with
Young Thug,
Slime & B. It was released on May 5, and features the hit single "
Go Crazy", which peaked at number 3 on the
Billboard Hot 100, becoming Brown's first song to spend one full year on the chart. In April 2021, "Go Crazy" broke the record for the longest running No. 1 song on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, a record previously held by Brown's 2019 hit single "
No Guidance". On May 1, 2020, Brown was featured on
Drake's
Dark Lane Demo Tapes mixtape, on the track "Not You Too". The song earned Brown his 100th career entry on the US
Billboard Hot 100, debuting at number 25. On July 9, 2020, Brown announced that his tenth album would be titled
Breezy, a reference to his stage nickname. On August 2, 2021, he announced that
Breezy would be accompanied by a short film of the same name, however this never materialised. On January 14, 2022, he released the single "
Iffy", which peaked at #1 of the Rhythmic Radio Chart on April 3. On March 27, 2022, Brown co-headined a
F1 post-race concert for the
2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. On April 1, Brown released the album's second single "
WE (Warm Embrace)". The song was listed on the "Top 5 R&B songs of 2022" list by
Vibe magazine, that stated "'We' will go down in history as one of Chris Brown's most timeless songs". On April 26, Brown announced his US summer tour "One of Them Ones" with rapper
Lil Baby. The tour included 27 stops in North America and kicked off on July 15. On June 17, 2022, a week ahead of the album release, Brown released the audio for an Afrobeats collaboration with Nigerian singer
Wizkid titled "
Call Me Every Day".
Breezy was released on June 24, by
RCA Records and CBE and debuted at number 4 on the
Billboard 200. On July 8, an expanded version of the album with nine new songs was released. At the
65th Grammy Awards, the deluxe edition of
Breezy was nominated for
Best R&B Album, but lost to
Robert Glasper's
Black Radio III. Following Glasper's winning, Brown attacked him and
The Recording Academy on social media, later apologizing to the American musician, congratulating him, stating he was not the intended target. in
London during his
Under the Influence Tour in 2023 On September 4, 2022, Brown won international artiste of the year at the 15th annual
Headies awards. The category is designed for non-African artists or groups with achievements and impact on Afrobeats. In summer 2022, his song "
Under the Influence", contained in the extended edition of his 2019 album
Indigo, went viral on
TikTok, giving the song great commercial success globally. With "Under the Influence", Brown became the first R&B singer to chart over fifty Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. On October 14, Brown appeared as a special guest at
Usher's Las Vegas Residency to perform songs. Usher told Brown: "You're a legend. We love you and we gon' continue to keep lifting you up". On November 16, 2022, Brown released Christmas themed songs, "
No Time Like Christmas" and "It's Giving Christmas". On November 18, Brown announced that the
American Music Awards had canceled his tribute performance to
Michael Jackson for the 40th anniversary of
Thriller. Brown shared rehearsal footage of the tribute and stated it was cancelled for unknown reasons. The cancellation prompted backlash against the AMAs from fans and industry peers.
Jermaine Dupri stated the decision signals something grave for
Black music, "If the American Music Awards canceled the Chris Brown performance, then that means they canceled the 40th anniversary of
Thriller. Which means they canceled the Michael Jackson tribute. Black Music, we in trouble."
John Branca, the co-executor of the
Michael Jackson Estate stated that the AMAs should be ashamed and the cancellation was an attack on Black Music. Following the success of "Under the Influence", the title gave its name to the European tour that Brown embarked upon in 2023, the "
Under the Influence Tour", which sold out for all 24 arena dates scheduled, with 7 additional dates being added, also sold out. The tour included six nights at
London's O2 Arena, three at
Accor Arena in Paris, three at
Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam and more. Prior to the start of the tour, the opening act Skillibeng withdrew and was replaced by South African singer
Tyla. The tour marked Brown's first in Europe since the 2016 European leg of his
One Hell of a Nite Tour. The tour marked Brown's first concerts in the UK following the revoking of his ban from entering the country, implemented in 2010. In January 2023, Brown surpassed
Elvis Presley for the most RIAA Gold-certified singles among male vocalists, after passing Presley for the most
Billboard Hot 100 entries among male vocalists. Brown earned his 18th No. 1 on the
Billboards Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart with Under the Influence, making him the artist with third most No. 1s on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart behind
Drake and
Lil Wayne. In April, Brown co-headlined
Rolling Loud Thailand in its inaugural year, alongside
Travis Scott and
Cardi B. On August 27, Brown headlined a concert from
Jamaica National Stadium, titled
Chris Brown and Friends Live In Jamaica, as apart from his 'Under the Influence Tour'.
20232026: 11:11 In June 2023, Brown released "
Summer Too Hot", the lead single of his eleventh album. The song was nominated at the
66th Annual Grammy Awards for
Best R&B Performance. Brown announced that his next album would be titled
11:11, revealing the album's concept being connected to
the homonym numerological belief. Moreover, he shared that the album will contain 11 songs, a much shorter tracklist than his previous albums
Heartbreak on a Full Moon,
Indigo, and
Breezy. On October 20, 2023, Brown released the
Afrobeats song "
Sensational" featuring Nigerian artists
Lojay and
Davido, as
11:11's second single. The single also helped Lojay and Davido earn their first Billboard Hot 100 entry. On September 8, 2023, Brown alongside
Mariah the Scientist appeared as featured artists on Tee Grizzley single
IDGAF. IDGAF eventually peaked at #1 on Urban radio and helped Mariah the Scientist earn her first Billboard Hot 100 entry. On October 21, 2023, Brown clarified that the album would actually contain 22 songs as opposed to the 11 he had stated previously. On November 6, 2023, Brown confirmed that there would be 7 featured artists on the album, including
Lojay,
Davido,
Future,
Fridayy,
Byron Messia and 2 other artists who were listed as hidden features prior to its release. On November 7, 2023, Brown released the single "
Nightmares" featuring Byron Messia. On November 9, he announced that
11:11 would be released on November 10, a day earlier than what previously announced. A few hours before the release of
11:11, its last track was changed from the previously announced "Double Negative", which features
Justin Bieber, to a track called "Views". Brown explained the last minute change on his Instagram account on the album's release day with the following statement: "Double negative unfortunately did not make the deadline in time with the lawyers, so we couldn't put it on the album. Justin my little brother for life, so we will make that moment happen soon. Sorry to the fans that really wanted it to be on the album".
11:11 was released on November 10, 2023. The album marks Brown's third
double album, with its two sides containing 11 tracks each. The album's musical style mixes
R&B,
pop music,
Afrobeats and
dancehall. Reviewing
11:11, Kayla Sandiford of
Renowned for Sound stated that on the record "Brown does well to demonstrate his dynamic vocal quality".
11:11 marks the lowest debut for a Chris Brown's solo album on the US
Billboard 200, surpassing
Graffiti (2009) which debuted at number 7 on the chart. Towards the end of 2023, Brown headlined different concerts in the
Middle East. The singer addressed the
ongoing war in Gaza at the end of a
Dubai, UAE concert, saying there's 'a lot of evil and a lot of genocide going on in the world right now', urging his audience, particularly the younger generation, to embrace love and positivity and expressed his appreciation for the support of his fans using words in Arabic. 'InshaAllah, mashaAllah, I love you,' he said. In December 2023,
Vevo reported that Brown was the 6th most watched artist in the US and 10th most watched artist globally for the 2023 calendar year, amassing 413.7 million views in the US and 1.4 billion views globally. In January 2024, with
Tee Grizzley's single "
IDGAF" featuring Chris Brown and
Mariah the Scientist, he became the first artist in the 21st century to have charted on the
Billboard Hot 100 for twenty consecutive years . On April 11, 2024, the singer released
11:11 (Deluxe), the expanded edition of his eleventh album, containing 13 additional tracks and features from
Lil Wayne,
Bryson Tiller, Davido,
Joyner Lucas,
Tee Grizzley and
Mario. Among the tracks contained, the song "Freak" features a verse where the singer directly
disses American rapper
Quavo. The rapper responded the following day with "Tender", a diss track aimed at Brown, leading the latter to release "
Weakest Link" the following week. From May 17 to June 5, Brown released four consecutive music videos in the span of four weeks for the following songs off the
11:11 (Deluxe): "Go Girlfriend", "Press Me", "Feel Something" and "Hmmm" featuring Davido. On December 14 and 15, Brown sold out two consecutive stadium shows at
FNB Stadium in
Johannesburg, South Africa. He recorded over 90K attendees each night and sold out the first of the two shows in less than two hours. On January 23, 2025, Brown released a music video for his Grammy-nominated song "
Residuals" from the
11:11 (Deluxe). On February 2, 2025, Brown's
11:11 (Deluxe) won the Grammy for "
Best R&B Album" at the
2025 Grammy Awards. On March 27, 2025, Brown announced a stadium world tour titled "Breezy Bowl XX" with special guests
Summer Walker and
Bryson Tiller, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his self-titled album.
Jhene Aiko was later added as another special guest for select North American tour dates.
2026present: Brown On April 10, 2026, Brown and
Usher announced they would be co-headlining a North American stadium world tour titled "The Raymond & Brown Tour". On April 29, 2026, Brown announced that his 12th studio album titled
Brown will be released on May 8th. ==Artistry==