Beats 1 becomes Apple Music 1 as Apple refreshes its radio stations
There are also new Apple Music Hits and Apple Music Country stations.
Apple is rebranding Beats 1 to Apple Music 1.
After five years of largely keeping the focus on Beats 1, Apple is changing up its Apple Music radio offerings. On Tuesday the iPhone maker announced that starting at 9 a.m. PT (noon ET) today it will be rebranding its flagship streaming radio station to Apple Music 1, while adding two new stations to its Apple Music platform.
The first new station, Apple Music Hits, is focused on playing "a full catalog of the biggest songs fans know and love from the '80s, '90s, and 2000s" while the company hopes that its second new station, Apple Music Country, will become "the definitive place for every lane of an increasingly diverse genre."
New "exclusive shows" from artists including the Backstreet Boys, Ciara, Snoop Dogg and Meghan Trainor are teased for Apple Music Hits. Apple Music Country is teasing shows from artists such as Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line and Carrie Underwood.
Like Apple Music 1, both new stations will also have hosted programs. All three stations will be available in 165 countries on all Apple platforms and devices, including on iOS , CarPlay , Apple Watch , Apple TV , Mac and HomePod , as well as online at music.apple.com.
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The rebranding of Beats 1 marks the removal of one of the final links to the Beats Music streaming service that predated Apple Music. Apple acquired Beats in 2014 for $3 billion and transitioned Beats Music into Apple Music when it launched its streaming music service in 2015.
Apple still sells Beats headphones and speakers, though it has quickly expanded its own branded offerings with AirPods and the HomePod, with reports suggesting new speakers and headphones from Apple could arrive later this year.