In Canada: bbno$ Found Sanctuary Online. Now, He Wants to Pay It Forward to Others

Who is bbno$?

If you ask the music industry, he’s one of the most successful anomalies on the global charts.

He’s the always-viral rapper, singer and songwriter who’s earned more than a billion Spotify streams, back-to-back Juno Fan Choice Awards and prime upcoming slots at Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and NXNE next week (check back at Billboard Canada for more details).

He’s the artist who has record labels scratching their heads by reaching the fans they wish they could, right where they live: on the internet. He’s also someone who describes his live show as “the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen in my life” and means it as high self-praise.

But for the 30-year-old Vancouver native, the tougher question is: who is Alex Gumuchian?

“It’s a fine line,” he says, speaking over Tibetan momos at Loga’s Corner in Toronto. “I use bbno$ as an avenue to be the most extravagant self I want Alex to be on a regular basis, but I can’t.”

His music has helped him find his voice and his confidence. Now, he’s focused on figuring out the man behind it.

bbno$ (pronounced “baby no money” not bibinos) is currently on the Internet Explorer Tour, his biggest-ever global tour on the heels of his self-titled 2025 album that hit No. 33 on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart and spawned the hit “check,” which took over the airwaves and landed at No. 50 on the 2025 Year-End Billboard Canada Radio Songs Chart. 

A bbno$ show is a high-energy and unpredictable event, filled with memes, costumes, props and laser dicks. It’s also extremely supportive, a space for fans to be their weirdest selves and bond over brain rot. It’s like a non-toxic version of the internet come to life.

For Gumuchian, that’s important. Online is where he found community as a homeschooled child in B.C.

“It was kind of like my main friend,” he remembers. “I played World of Warcraft for years, and I met so many people that way. I fell in love with how much community there is [online]. The most important thing for me is distilling that for people who enjoy positivity and want to have fun, because there’s so much of the opposite in the world.”

In this new Billboard Canada cover story, he opens up about the man behind the music. From sexuality to strategy, he’s creating a sanctuary for himself — and his fans — to express themselves freely.

Read the full story here. — Richard Trapunski

Billboard Canada Announces Matthew Burnett and Jordan Evans as Music Managers of the Year for 2026

Matthew Burnett and Jordan Evans are Billboard Canada‘s 2026 Managers to Watch.

The powerhouse duo behind Daniel Caesar have been working closely with the R&B singer from the very start, helping guide one of the biggest Canadian careers and breakthroughs of the last decade. From the early days before Freudian in the mid-2010s up to the recent unconventional rollout of Son of Spergy which included spontaneous pop-up shows in parks across Canada, both managers have drawn from their backgrounds as creatives to help Caesar thrive as an artist.

The pair will receive the honour in person during the Billboard Canada Managers to Watch x MMF Honour Roll celebration at SOUNDSTAGE on June 11 at NXNE, which honours the unsung architects of the music career who contribute to generation-defining success among artists and create community for their fellow industry peers. 

Music Managers Forum Canada (MMF Canada) has also revealed the recipients of its 2026 Honour Roll, which celebrates outstanding career achievements among Canadian music managers and self-managed artists. Partnering with Billboard Canada for a second consecutive year, MMF Canada will honour Helen Britton and Shauna de Cartier as its Honour Roll recipients.

The award denotes outstanding achievement among Canadian managers. Both women are powerhouses at Six Shooter Records, a pioneering female-led independent record label which celebrated its milestone 25th anniversary last year. The roster includes luminaries like Cadence Weapon, July Talk, Tanya Tagaq and more.

Matt Maw will receive this year’s Trailblazer Award from MMF Canada, which celebrates a manager carving new paths in the industry. Maw is recognized for his outstanding work in the recognition of Indigenous music in Canada. Maw capped off a groundbreaking year with the launch of his new artist development company SUPERCONNECTED, whose roster is home to Indigenous artists like Sebastian Gaskin, Boogey The Beat, Wolf Saga and Miesha & the Spanks.

The full Billboard Canada Managers to Watch list will be out next week.

Read more and find out how to get tickets here.

Diljit Dosanjh Meets the Students of His Toronto Metropolitan Course Backstage at Rogers Centre

Nearly 50,000 fans packed Toronto’s Rogers Centre on Sunday night (May 31) as Diljit Dosanjh returned to the stadium for another massive stop on his ongoing Aura World Tour, further cementing his place as one of the biggest global touring artists in Punjabi music.

The sold-out concert marked Dosanjh’s second time headlining Rogers Centre and quickly became one of the most talked-about live music moments of the weekend.

The concert was attended by the students of the Toronto Metropolitan University course dedicated to the singer in partnership with Billboard Canada. The students met with the Punjabi icon backstage before he took the stage. Dosanjh later performed an extended version of “Ranjha,” the song first premiered inside their classroom.

With videos flooding social media showing stadium-wide singalongs, Punjabi flags across the venue and fans filling every section of the open-roofed venue.

The Toronto stop marked another major milestone in Dosanjh’s rapid global rise over the last few years through appearances at Coachella, the Met Gala and multiple international arena and stadium tours. But beyond the scale of the Rogers Centre performance itself, fans also closely followed the singer’s time around Toronto throughout the weekend.

Ahead of the concert, Dosanjh shared clips on Instagram of himself biking through downtown Toronto, casually riding through the city before stepping onto one of Canada’s biggest stages hours later.

Videos shared on Team Diljit’s social pages also showed the singer admiring the CN Tower and reacting to the landmark in Punjabi, while another Instagram Story gave fans a glimpse of him enjoying tiramisu during downtime between tour commitments.

Read more here. — Peony Hirwani