Trump’s Freedom 250 Lineup Was Mocked—Including by the President Himself. Then I Checked Their Chart Histories.
(June 11, 2026) – Six of the nine acts who were originally slated to perform at the “Great American State Fair” sponsored by Donald Trump’s Freedom 250 coalition and commemorating the country’s 250th anniversary dropped out in protest of what they considered to be a political event. Those six were Martina McBride, Milli Vanilli’s Fab Morvan, Bret Michaels of Poison, Morris Day & the Time, Young MC, and the Commodores.
The remaining three — rappers Flo Rida, Vanilla Ice, and Freedom Williams (representing C&C Music Factory) — were left to fend for themselves after Donald Trump (out of protest of the protestors) cancelled the musical event altogether in favor of a rally featuring none other than himself (oh, and Lee “God Bless The USA” Greenwood).
The most ironic cancellation may have been Fab Morvan. After all, Morvan became famous as one half of a duo exposed for not actually singing on its records. Yet somehow he was invited to perform while the real singers who created the hits were not.
The entire lineup was immediately mocked on social media as a collection of nostalgia acts whose glory days were measured in decades (ago) rather than years. When they began backing out, even Trump shamed them as artists “nobody cares about” anymore (funny how quickly that table turned).
But an even funnier thing happens when you actually look at their résumés. Every one of the nine acts originally booked for the event scored at least one No. 1 hit somewhere in the world, and all but one reached No. 1 in the United States.
For purposes of this exercise, a No. 1 is a No. 1—whether on the Hot 100, country, R&B, dance, or an international chart.
Beginning with McBride, the country singer whose career flourished in the 1990s and early aughts, we find that she topped the U.S. country singles charts five times between 1995’s “Wild Angels” and 2001’s “Blessed.” She also had five No. 1 country albums, including her most recent — Everlasting — in 2014.
Then there’s Bret Michaels and Poison. The popular rock group whose career took off during the great hair metal band days of the late 1980s and early ‘90s scored big in 1988 when their power ballad, “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” topped the Hot 100 for three weeks.
The Commodores, who recently lost founding bassist Ronald LaPread, topped the Hot 100 twice in the late 1970s with the ballads “Three Times a Lady” and “Still.” Those were also two of the band’s seven singles to top the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts between 1975-85.
Speaking of the R&B/Hip-Hop list, Morris Day & the Time topped that chart twice. Morris Day hit No. 1 solo in 1988 with “Fishnet,” while his group The Time, including reunited former members Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, topped the chart two years later with the Prince co-write “Jerk Out.”
Rapper Vanilla Ice, whose been the most outspoken critic of the artists who backed out of the event, had one of the biggest hits of the early ‘90s with “Ice Ice Baby,” the first totally rap song to top the Hot 100. It also topped the charts in seven other countries. His first album, To the Extreme, topped the Billboard 200 for sixteen weeks.
Young MC is the lone exception to the No. 1 rule in America, though calling him unsuccessful would be ridiculous. “Bust a Move” reached No. 2 on Billboard’s rap chart, won a Grammy, spent more than 20 weeks in the Hot 100’s top 40, and became one of the defining hip-hop records of its era. It also topped the charts in Australia.
Another rapper with huge success in Australia was Flo Rida, whose three No. 1 hits there — “Low” (with T-Pain), “Right Round” (feat. Kesha), and “Whistle” — also topped the Billboard Hot 100. The Florida native’s unique blend of pop melodies and hip-hop are what kept him relevant for nearly a decade.
But the pioneers of melodic hip-hop may have been C&C Music Factory. Featuring rapper Freedom Williams and an uncredited Martha Wash, they had a huge No. 1 smash with “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” in early 1991. It topped the R&B/Hip-Hop, Hot 100 and Dance Club Play charts, as well as the charts in several other countries. Clivillés and Cole’s two follow-up singles topped the dance charts as well.
Which brings us to Milli Vanilli, the duo of Pilatus and Morvan who scored three consecutive No. 1 singles in 1989 without singing a lick. The real vocalists were Brad Howell, John Davis, Charles Shaw, and sisters Jodie and Linda Rocco. And in the strangest of twists, it was Morvan—not the real singers—who were invited to perform for Trump and Freedom 250.
Perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised that Morvan was among the first to cancel his appearance. In fact, it would’ve been interesting to see how he would’ve pulled this off. Certainly, the late Rob Pilatus would have been smiling down on him.
So here’s the singles tally:
- Martina McBride: 5 country No. 1s
- Commodores: 7 R&B No. 1s + 2 pop No. 1s
- Poison: 1 Hot 100 No. 1
- Morris Day/The Time: 2 R&B No. 1s
- Vanilla Ice: 1 Hot 100 No. 1
- Flo Rida: 3 Hot 100 No. 1s
- C&C Music Factory: 1 Hot 100 + 1 R&B + three dance No. 1s
- Milli Vanilli: 3 Hot 100 No. 1s
- Young MC: 1 Australian No. 1
So, depending on which charts you count, Freedom 250 took between two dozen and three dozen No. 1 songs off the setlist before the first note was ever played.
But Trump has one No. 1 tune to his credit — the song “Justice For All,” in which then-imprisoned January 6th protesters sang “The Star Spangled Banner” over an ominous musical tone interspersed with Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. That “song” topped the digital sales chart for one week in March 2023.
Frankly speaking, that is more recent than any of the other artists mentioned above, and topically it’s more relevant… facts that give Trump the upper hand in this absurd bit of chart history.
DJRob
DJRob (he/him) is a freelance music blogger from the East Coast who covers R&B, hip-hop, disco, pop, rock and country genres – plus lots of music news and current stuff! You can follow him on Bluesky at @djrobblog.bsky.social, X (formerly Twitter) at @djrobblog, on Facebook or on Meta’s Threads.
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