Categoría: Billboard

Kelly Clarkson returned to Instagram on Thursday (Sept. 4) for the first time since the death of her ex-husband Brandon Blackstock last month. In a sentimental post tied to the 23rd anniversary of her life-changing American Idol win on Sept. 4, 2022 that capped the iconic music competition’s first season, Clarkson gave thanks for the moment that changed everything. “To everyone that took time 23 years ago to call in and vote for me, thank you 🙏 Winning American Idol changed my life and I will be forever grateful for all of you that have supported me for so many years,” Clarkson wrote alongside a photo of her being embraced by her cast mates in the midst of a confetti tsunami. “It is a gift to find your purpose and passion, and to be able to make a living doing it is the cherry on top. Thank you, always.” After coming out on top over Idol runner-up Justin Guarini, Clarkson signed to RCA Records and released her debut album, Thankful, in 2003, which featured the hit “Miss Independent,” which hit No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of that year. Clarkson has kept a low public profile since Blackstock’s death on Aug. 7 at age 48 from cancer. Following Blackstock’s passing, Clarkson postponed her Studio Sessions residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and pulled out of her planned appearance at Miranda Lambert and Parker McCollum’s Band Together Texas flood relief benefit. While she has kept her a low profile on socials, Clarkson has been out there thanks to the launch last month of her Songs & Stories with Kelly Clarkson series on NBC, which has found her sitting down with the Jonas Brothers, Gloria Estefan and Teddy Swims so far to discuss the stories behind some of their biggest songs; Lizzo will be the guest on Tuesday’s (Sept. 9) episode. Clarkson will also be back in daytime on Sept. 29 when she returns for the seventh season of The Kelly Clarkson Show.    Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox Sign Up Source link

As we’ve learned from watching the New Heights podcast, Travis Kelce‘s got jokes. Which is why it was no surprise when the Kansas City Chiefs’ three-time Super Bowl champ had a pithy quip when asked by reporters on Thursday (Sept. 4) to describe the biggest change in his life since recently getting engaged to longtime love Taylor Swift. “I got one more ring for it, two if we’re counting the first Super Bowl, ” Kelce said at a news conference in São Paulo, Brazil in advance of the Chiefs’ season kick-off game against the Los Angeles Chargers, according to the Associated Press. “I would say ever since I’ve been dating Taylor, life has been fun.” And though he did not bite on a question about whether Swift was going to be in the house at Corinthians Arena for Friday night’s (Sept. 5) game, Kelce said, “I love it when the lights are bright” in response to the query about being one of the most famous football players on earth. During the presser, Kelce’s QB, Patrick Mahomes, politely corrected a reporter when they asked Kelce if “there’s a difficulty to focus on everything on the field” since he started “dating Taylor Swift.” Mahomes interrupted before Kelce could answer to remind the reporter that the couple are “engaged.” Kelce was more than happy to admit that, “Ever since I’ve been dating Taylor, life has been fun. It’s been exciting. Obviously, there’s a lot more eyes [on me] and I accept that, but I’m living life and living on a high, I guess.” “It’s a dream, dude,” Mahomes said. And while his youthful energy is palpable, Kelce, at 35, may be nearing the end of his football career, maybe. When a reporter wondered if this season might be Kelce’s “last dance,” the tight end gleefully said, “It’s the last one on the contract right now, but I’ll tell you what, I’m feeling young and I’m feeling ready to rock, baby!” The Chiefs-Chargers game will kick off at 8 p.m. ET and stream on YouTube. Source link

Billboard sizes up the 23 new songs on Bieber’s semi-surprise sequel set. 9/5/2025 Justin Bieber Renell Medrano Swag, swag, swag… on II. The suddenly very prolific pop superstar Justin Bieber announced over social media on Thursday (Sept. 4) that midnight would bring with it the surprise sequel to his equally unexpected Swag album from July. Midnight came and went without the suddenly highly anticipated release, but just around 3:30 a.m. ET, the set appeared on YouTube, trickling to other DSPs shortly after. Swag II was now officially with us. The 23-track set follows in the organic-sounding, warm-feeling alt-R&B mode of the first Swag, with many of the same sonic architects (Dijon, Carter Lang, Mk.gee), and even a couple overlapping feature guests in Lil B and Eddie Benjamin. New to the Swag is Afrobeats star Tems, British singer-songwriter Bakar and ’00s Louisiana rapper Hurricane Chris. But no skits this time — Druski makes nary an appearance across the set, although “I’m not the one” and “It’s not clocking to you” references are both made in the album’s lyrics. And the blockbuster sequel closes with the longest Bieber album cut to date: “Story of God,” a nearly eight-minute spoken-word retelling of the Adam and Eve story, with Justin narrating as Adam. Ultimately, the set will unquestionably be worth the wait for Beliebers, who now have a whopping 44 tracks’ worth of Swag to keep them cuddly in the cold-weather months that lie ahead. And with Bieber’s sneaky productivity of late, who knows if there might even be a third Swagstallment still waiting in the wings. Until then, though, here’s our early ranking of the 23 tracks new to Swag II. “Need It” “I could put you on the map,” Bieber promises — the kind of offer made by a man who really does need it bad, as he admits on the chorus. Horny Bieber is (almost) always welcome, but unless you’re really a fiend for cinnamon sugar, both the lyrics and production are a little lacking in the specifics that really make such a song sing. “I Think You’re Special” (feat. Tems) “Love is over everything/ This is what I believe.” Justin has been pretty consistent on this front, particularly lately, but if you want more evidence to this effect, take “I Think You’re Special” — not the most melodically or lyrically dazzling song on Swag II, but one that feels significant as a personal statement of some sort for the Bieb. “Story of God” Bieber gets lost in the Garden of Eden, retelling the foundational bible story in spoken-word from a first-person perspective over glowing synths and yearning backing vocals. It feels too personal and deeply felt to rank last on a list like this — and is undoubtedly worth at least one full listen — but your replay mileage certainly may vary on this one over the course of nearly eight minutes. “Dotted Line” The most interlude-y track on Swag II, purposefully lo-fi (though with crystal-clear backing vocals) as Bieber sings about walking a thousand miles to get to you (take that Proclaimers!), with the only percussion being the slapped body of acoustic guitar. Very pretty, though it hardly feels essential, particularly nearly 20 tracks into the sequel set. “All the Way” Bieber plays his own backing group on “All the Way,” echoing all his lyrics in a separate channel (“I can feel your eyes taking over me” (“Takin’ over me!“)) as he offers to take his love the distance. The multi-vocal tracking is by far the most interesting thing about the song, but it does make you wonder if some kind of “Hey Ya!” type music video treatment is in his future. “Open Up Your Heart” (feat. Eddie Benjamin) With power ballad synths and drums that wouldn’t feel out of place on The Weeknd’s After Hours, piano that verges on Bruce Hornsby-esque and a guest vocal from Eddie Benjamin, “Open Up Your Heart” should probably feel like the climax to Swag II. And maybe it would with a slightly stronger chorus sentiment than “Open up your heart/ Tell me what you’re really feeling.” Or maybe it would if Bieber had actually gotten Bruce Hornsby on the track. “Poppin My Shit” (feat. Hurricane Chris) Hurricane Chris on a Justin Bieber album?! Sure, why not — there’s not a ton else to the song, but Shreveport, Louisana’s finest sounds pretty good over the album’s trappiest production yet, and he closes it with a co-sign that would undoubtedly make 10-year-old Bieb’s heart squeal with glee: “Got some friends and they all love Justin Bieber.” “Witchya” “In my head, it shoulda been easy/ How come it ain’t easy to let it go?” Slow, swiveling drums and tender guitar give extra weight to Bieber’s late-night-feeling queries on “Witchya.” The song lacks the knockout chorus to really tie it all together, but his multi-tracked vocals interplaying with one another in the outro makes it a captivating listen until the end. “Better Man” A love song laced with falsetto and built around sweet lyrics like “If I know one thing that’s true/ You know exactly what to do and it’s amazing” — not spectacular, but effective. And another Spider-Man reference, because apparently that’s the thing for Canadian pop stars going R&B in 2025. “I Do” “I Do” trades the organic-sounding drums of the set’s first few tracks for skittering machine hits, paired with surprisingly Cocteau Twins-like synth atmospherics and bluesy guitar figures seemingly played form another room. Bieb proclaims on the chorus, “I mean it when I say that I do… You’ll always be the one that I choose” — a potential wedding first-dance song, if you and your spouse are really into 4AD. “Don’t Wanna” (feat. Bakar) Riding the kind of bass-led rhythm that Quincy Jones might’ve engineered for peak MJ — but kept spare, without all the horns and extra layers that Q would’ve traditionally piled on — “Don’t Wanna” is still a mean-enough groove that Bieb calls in reinforcements to help corral it in the

Things just got swaggier. In the small hours of Friday morning (Sept. 3), Justin Bieber unleashed new album Swag II with just a short warning. Coming just a couple of months after the release of the pop star’s first Swag album, Swag II arrived after Bieber announced its existence via a slew of electronic billboards in different cities on Thursday (Sept. 4). As opposed to Swag‘s black-and-white visuals featuring photography of the singer and his family, Swag II‘s color scheme was established as baby pink in the billboards and in posts on Bieber’s Instagram. Disc 1 is the new release, and features 23 new cuts, led off by “Speed Demon,” “Better Man” and “Love Song.” The surprise release of Swag II aligns with the way Bieber dropped Swag, similarly giving fans hardly any heads up before heralding its arrival a few hours prior with electronic advertisements earlier this summer. The arrival of Swag II comes after Billboard first reported that Bieber was readying a second album for release after Swag — which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 — dropped in July. While the first Swag was R&B-inspired, as demonstrated by Billboard Hot 100 hits such as “Daisies” and “First Place,” Billboard learned at the time that the sequel would be more pop-focused. Before embarking on his Swag series, the Canadian star had taken a four-year break from releasing albums. His last LP before Swag was 2021’s Justice. In total, Bieber now has eight studio albums. Seven of them have reached No. 1 on the U.S. albums chart, and the musician has reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 eight times over the course of his career. Stream Swag II below. Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox Sign Up Source link

Sabrina Carpenter etches her name in chart history as the first leader on the all-new ARIA Albums Chart, as Man’s Best Friend roars to No. 1. As previously reported, ARIA, the national labels trade body and charts compiler, undertook a major overhaul to its official chart methodology, the goal of which is to increase visibility for new music and Australian releases, and to invigorate an often-stagnate albums tally. The main change sees titles two years or older moved from the main, weekly charts to a new dedicated catalogue chart, ARIA On Replay. Related Today’s the day, and the revamped albums chart, in particular, has a different look. Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend bolts to No. 1, ahead of the soundtrack to Netflix film Kpop Demon Hunters and Stray Kids’ KARMA, respectively. Under the new chart system, the ARIA Albums Chart welcomes 17 new entries and 45 re-entries to the top 100, while only 38 titles from last week appear on this frame.  The changes, ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd explained earlier this year, “will open up space in all the charts for new music and new Australian music.” She continued, “What we think we’re doing is giving more information to artists, to industry and people who are listening to new music and older music.” The latest tally, published Friday, Sept. 5, features five Australian titles, including new releases from The Wolfe Brothers (Australian Made at No. 9) and Hayley Jensen (Country Soul at No. 14). Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, “Golden” from the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack extends its reign to six consecutive weeks. “Golden” draws level with PSY’s 2012 smash Gangnam Style as the longest running No. 1 by a Korean artist, ARIA reports. Meanwhile, the first No. 1 on ARIA’s Top 5 On Replay Albums tally is Sabrina Carpenter’s 2022 collection Emails I Can’t Send, and the first leader on ARIA’s Top 5 On Replay Singles survey is Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris,” originally released in 1998. Check out the new charts at aria.com.au. Source link

Tones And I will get the place bouncing when she performs next month for an historic series of pre-season NBA games in Australia. Association franchise New Orleans Pelicans will make the long haul to Melbourne, where they’ll tackle NBL finalists Melbourne United on Friday, Oct. 3, and semi-finalists South East Melbourne Phoenix, Oct. 5th, 2025, both at Rod Laver Arena. Confirmed today, Sept. 5, the “Dance Monkey” star is the halftime entertainment for the Friday spectacle, and she’ll headline a “Fan Night” the following evening. Explore See latest videos, charts and news Tones (real name Toni Wilson) is a regular courtside guest for Melbourne United home games, and is a passionate fan of the sport. She’s the “Number 1” ticket holder for the franchise, effectively an ambassador for the team, and she performed at a half-time show and a Fan Night in October 2024. With 2019’s “Dance Monkey,” Tones crushed chart records and landed one of the most-streamed songs in history. The track led Australia’s ARIA Chart for a record 24 weeks; held top spot on the Official UK Chart for 11 weeks, a record for a solo female artist; and went top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. All told, the song hit the top spot on sales charts in more than 30 territories, and has danced past 3.3 billion streams on Spotify. Tones has two ARIA No. 1 albums to her name, a slew of ARIA Awards, and she’s said play the point guard position like a pro. The NBAxNBL games will be the first played by NBA squads in Australia, one of the Association’s most fanatical international markets. Australia is said to be the No. 2 territories outside of the United States for subscriptions to the NBA’s League Pass app. The NBA’s long-overdue crossing to Australia follows the announcement by the NFL this year of a multi-year arrangement to play regular season games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground from next year, featuring the Los Angeles Rams.  Source link

Kevin Parker is taking the Deadbeat route. The celebrated psychedelic pop artist and production wizard is lining up his fifth Tame Impala album, Deadbeat, for an Oct. 17th global release — his first through the Sony Music machine. Deadbeat is inspired by the “bush doof” culture of his native, Western Australia rave scene, and recasts his ongoing art project as “a kind of future primitive rave act in the process,” reads a statement. Explore See latest videos, charts and news The second taste from Deadbeat is “Loser,” a track that’s accompanied with a music video directed by Kristofski and starring Stranger Things‘ Joe Keery (aka Djo). It’s the followup to lengthy electronic banger “End of Summer,” which arrived, fully formed, in July of this year. “Loser” is a departure from those parties in paddock, instead taking us on a magic carpet ride to a funky ‘70s houseparty. And no, it’s not a cover of Beck’s self-deprecating classic from 1994. Parker “largely galvanized” the new album between his hometown of Fremantle and his studio, Wave House in Injidup, Western Australia in the first half of this year. Essentially a one-man band (though Parker takes a full unit on the road), Tame Impala has collected ARIA Awards, APRA Awards, a Brit Award, and earlier this year, a Grammy, by way of a collaboration with Justice. Deadbeat arrives more than half a decade after The Slow Rush, from February 2020, an album that went to No. 1 on Australia’s ARIA Chart, and earned career peaked positions on the Billboard 200 and Official U.K. Albums Chart UK, both at No. 3. Its predecessor, 2015’s Currents, topped the Australian chart and crashed the top 5 in the U.S. (at No. 4) and in the U.K. (No. 3), where Parker collected the Brit Award for best international group. The forthcoming album “sounds like the work of an artist with a leveled-up mastery, crafted with a newfound embrace of spontaneity for the renowned perfectionist,” reads a statement. “How that manifests is a distinct minimalism and crunch, with timbres and textures that add an ineffably new dimension to the sound, as well as a richer, more playful vocal range than ever.” The new collection is the first through Columbia Records, following a years-long relationship with Modular Recordings and Universal Music. Although Tame Impala is not currently on tour, Parker will enjoy the southern summer when he takes the stage as a a special guest DJ for Justice’s Australian arena tour in December 2025. Deadbeat is available for pre-order here, and exclusive vinyl color-variants can be ordered here.  Source link

Ladder safety is no laughing matter. Saturday Night Live vet Jorma Taccone, a member of The Lonely Island comedy troupe, shattered his pelvis and detached his sacrum in a fall from a 20-foot ladder at his farmhouse in Connecticut. The accident was on Aug. 31, his daughter’s 5th birthday. “It wasn’t the coolest way to start the day,” Taccone said. Taccone, 48, recounted the scary incident from his hospital bed during Tuesday’s episode of The Lonely Island & Seth Meyers podcast, which he co-hosts with fellow Lonely Island members Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer and late-night talk show host Seth Meyers. “There’s a barn, and the back half of the barn has a big white wall. And I was like, ‘Oh, this is great. We can do a big mural.’” Taccone said that he borrowed ladders to hang lights around the barn to highlight the mural when he fell 20 feet onto his butt. “I literally have enough time as I’m falling to be like, ‘I’m going to die,’” he said. While the injuries were serious, Taccone said his doctors expect him to walk again within three to six months, which was a huge relief to his Lonely Island colleagues – friends since childhood. “It’s been a really scary week, and we’re glad that you didn’t hit your head and that you’re not dead,” Schaffer said. The Lonely Island have proved highly successful at blending music and comedy. They put seven songs on the Billboard Hot 100, topped by “I Just Had Sex” (featuring Akon), which reached No. 30 in 2011. Their other Hot 100 hits featured T-Pain, Nicki Minaj, Michael Bolton, Adam Levine & Kendrick Lamar and Tegan & Sara. They released three studio albums, all of which made the top 15 on the Billboard 200: Incredibad (No. 13 in 2009), Turtleneck & Chain (No. 3 in 2011) and The Wack Album (No. 10 in 2013). In February 2025, the group performed a medley of their greatest hits on SNL50: The Homecoming Concert. They won a Primetime Emmy for co-writing “Dick in a Box,” which Justin Timberlake and Samberg performed on SNL in 2007. They subsequently received five additional Primetime Emmy nods for outstanding music & lyrics for co-writing “Motherlover,” “Shy Ronnie,” “I Just Had Sex,” “Jack Sparrow” and “3-Way (The Golden Rule).” They also received three Grammy nominations: best rap/sung collaboration for “I’m on a Boat” (featuring T-Pain), best comedy album for Turtleneck & Chain, and best song written for visual media for “Everything Is Awesome!!!,” on which they backed Tegan & Sara. They wrote the latter song for The Lego Movie. Taccone has also received four Primetime Emmy nods for writing for SNL and one as an executive producer of Pen15, which was nominated for outstanding comedy series in 2021. In 2010, Taccone co-wrote and directed MacGruber, which was his directorial debut. He directed his second feature alongside Schaffer, the musical comedy Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, which he also co-wrote and co-starred in with Schaffer and Samberg. Taccone’s latest film Over Your Dead Body, which he directed, was acquired by IFC in May, according to Deadline. Source link

John Fogerty’s new Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years (John’s Version) collection, a set of re-recorded hits from his years as frontman of Creedence Clearwater Revival, makes a top 10 debut on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart. The set launches at No. 9 with nearly 8,000 copies sold in the United States in the week ending Aug. 28, according to Luminate. The project also bows on the Americana/Folk Albums chart (No. 13) and Independent Albums (No. 35). Creedence Clearwater Revival earned 16 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart from 1968-76, including nine top 10s (six of which peaked at No. 2). Among Creedence’s Hot 100 hits that Fogerty re-recorded for the new album: “Proud Mary,” “Bad Moon Rising,” “Down on the Corner” and “Up Around the Bend” — all of which were top five-charting singles. Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album (TEA) units and streaming equivalent album (SEA) units. Stray Kids collect its seventh No. 1 on Top Album Sales, as KARMA bows atop the list with the second-largest sales week of 2025: 296,000 copies sold. Only the debut frame of The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow posted a bigger sales week, when it started with 359,000. KARMA and Legacy are two of eight debuts or reentrys in the top 10 this week, joined by Laufey’s A Matter of Time (No. 2 debut), Deftones’ private music (No. 3 debut), Tyler, The Creator’s Cherry Bomb (No. 4 reentry), Three Days Grace’s Alienation (No. 6 debut), The Who’s Live at the Oval, 1971 (No. 7 debut) and The Warning’s Live From Auditorio Nacional, CDMX (No. 8 debut). The only holdovers in the top 10 are the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack (which climbs 9-5) and TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s chart-topping The Star Chapter :  TOGETHER (falling 5-10). It’s free Billboard charts month! Through Sept. 30, subscribers to Billboard’s Chart Beat newsletter, emailed each Friday, can unlock access to Billboard’s weekly and historical charts, artist chart histories and all Chart Beat stories simply by visiting the newly redesigned Billboard.com through any story link in the newsletter. Not a Chart Beat subscriber? Sign up for free here. Source link

As Kenny Chesney prepares to officially be inducted as a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame later this year, his friends and peers Old Dominion have words of praise for their fellow country star. “He definitely is deserving of that, for sure,” Old Dominion’s Matthew Ramsey recently told Billboard. “The guy has successfully reinvented himself and successfully chosen songs and written songs that have touched the fabric of people’s lives in this country and this world.” The musical ties between Chesney and Old Dominion stretch back to the beginnings of Old Dominion’s musical journey. The group’s Ramsey and Brad Tursi are writers on Chesney’s 2015 hit “Save It for a Rainy Day.” Old Dominion also opened shows for Chesney early on, while the group and Chesney have collaborated on the song “Beer With My Friends.” Since releasing his debut album in 1994, Chesney has earned 33 No. 1s on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart, earned four CMA entertainer of the year trophies and four ACM entertainer of the year trophies, and headlined massive stadium tours. Chesney continues adding to his creative endeavors this year. His upcoming book, Heart Life Music, written with author/journalist Holly Gleason, is due Nov. 4. Earlier this year, Chesney became the first country artist to play the Las Vegas Sphere. Ramsey added of Chesney, “I think you see how seriously he still takes it, his career and what message he wants to put out there. It’s inspiring and it definitely sets a certain standard to how you care for your career. He’s also one of those artists that it’s not just the music — you have people like Jimmy Buffett, these artists that create a complete environment. When you show up to that show, you’re transported to a different place. You don’t sell out football stadiums unless you do that, and he’s done that to a degree that not many artists have done.” Chesney will be inducted as a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame alongside music executive/producer/musician Tony Brown and late country music singer-songwriter June Carter Cash. Old Dominion recently released their sixth studio album Barbara and just announced their own upcoming stint in Vegas, when they perform at PH Live at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino Dec. 5-6 for the show Barbara. Hits. Vegas. Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox Sign Up Source link