Photo: The Paradox Band
Atlanta-based music group The Paradox—an alternative rock band—recently made history as the first all-black ensemble to reach number one on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart.
Dated the week of January 24th, 2026, the group’s song “Get The Message” climbed the chart, after 29 weeks, to become the first No. 1 hit for the band—beating out well-established alternative acts including the Foo Fighters and Tame Impala. A feat that subsequently etched The Paradox into the annals of music and Black History.
Photo: The Paradox Band
Formed in 2024, the group consists of frontman Eric Dangerfield (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Donald Bryant (bass), Christopher “Xelan” Bernard (lead guitar and backing vocals), and Percy “PC3” Crews (drums). Described by Apple Music as “a high-energy alt-pop arrival,” the band’s debut EP NSFW—a six-song project—was released on September 19, 2025, and contains the chart-topper “Get The Message,” along with other buzzy tunes including “No Strings Attached” and “Bender” (featuring Travis Barker).
An Instagram video of the band shows them celebrating the recent win on a group FaceTime phone call, with Dangerfield sharing a link to the “absolutely insane” good news, exclaiming, “Bro, we’re Number 1 on Billboard, dawg.” As his bandmates chimed in saying, “Big Number 1!” Dangerfield reiterates with, “Big Number 1, Bro!”
With a flurry of enormous social media support coming from industry veterans, including Kid Cudi and SZA, The Paradox has found itself at the center of widespread media attention. Alternatively, due to the band’s rampant success, there’ve also been accusations that they’re industry plants with manufactured success. Countering the “plant” claims, Dangerfield took to Reddit last year with a personal statement describing the full backstory and intricacies of the band’s formation: “I had the idea for a black pop punk band and got my friends to do it with me. We all love the genre and thought it’d be fun to play. We never expected to blow up this much this fast. But we just got lucky.”
Dangerfield added, “I grew up with my grandparents, so Motown is most of my musical influence. I’ve been making music since I was about 12 years old.”
Further accelerating the band’s popularity, Reckless Press has reported that The Paradox is currently the most played band on US alternative radio, and their song “Do Me Like That” has surpassed 10 million streams on Spotify.
More information on The Paradox can be found on the band’s website.