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Megadeth has revealed the tracklist for its upcoming final album, and it’ll include a long-awaited bonus track.
The band revealed its self-titled album, due out Jan. 23, will have 10 tracks and will include an 11th bonus song called “Ride the Lightning.” The song was cowritten with Metallica’s James Hetfield, Cliff Burton, and Lars Ulrich, which Megadeth’s frontman Dave Mustaine explained was included on the album to celebrate his career.
“As I come full circle on the career of a lifetime, the decision to include ‘Ride the Lightning’, a song I cowrote with James, Lars and Cliff, was to pay my respects to where my career first started,” Mustaine said in a statement.
Megadeth announced in August the band would be saying farewell after 16 albums. Mustaine confirmed their next project would be the group’s last, sharing a video to the band’s YouTube and social media pages that included Mustaine’s alter ego, Vic Rattlehead, delivering the news.
“For over four decades, I’ve been chained in silence, but the end demands my voice,” Vic begins while seated behind a desk. “It is confirmed: The next Megadeth studio album will be the last. Forty years of metal, forged in steel, ending in fire. And when the new year rises, the global farewell tour. You’ve heard the warning. Now prepare yourself, Cyber Army. Stay loud, stay tuned, and meet me on the frontlines.”
Mustaine then thanked fans in a press release for their commitment and celebrating the band’s impact on rock. “There’s so many musicians that have come to the end of their career, whether accidental or intentional,” he said at the time. “Most of them don’t get to go out on their own terms on top, and that’s where I’m at in my life right now. I have traveled the world and have made millions upon millions of fans and the hardest part of all of this is saying goodbye to them.”
The band will additionally join Iron Maiden on its Run for Your Lives Tour next year.
Check out the tracklist below.
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On the strength of top sellers from the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack, Sabrina Carpenter and Morgan Wallen, Universal Music Group’s revenue grew 5.3% to 3.02 billion euros ($3.53 billion at the quarter’s average euro-to-dollar exchange rate) in the third quarter of 2025, the company announced Thursday (Oct. 30). In constant currency, which removes the impact of considerable foreign exchange fluctuations since the beginning of the year, UMG’s revenue rose 10.2% in the quarter.
With all three of UMG’s business units posting gains, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), a common measure of profitability, increased 6.9% (11.6% in constant currency) to 594 million euros ($694 million). Adjusted EBITDA margin — EBITDA as a percentage of revenue — improved to 22.0% from 21.6%.
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CEO Lucian Grainge emphasized the company’s long-term value creation and strategic efforts that don’t show up in the financial results. “Importantly, we continued to drive progress on our strategic plans, including our artists’ and songwriters’ creative and commercial success, our global expansion, the industry’s embrace of our responsible AI initiatives and the continued implementation of Streaming 2.0.,” he said in a statement. A day earlier, UMG announced a settlement and licensing agreement with AI music generator Udio. Just hours before earnings were released, UMG trumpeted a partnership with Stability AI to create tools for artists and producers that are powered by “responsibly” trained generative AI.
In the recorded music division, revenue rose 3.6% (8.3% in constant currency) from the prior-year period to 2.22 billion euros ($2.60 billion). Recorded music subscription revenue improved 3.6% (8.7% in constant currency) to 1.52 billion euros ($1.78 billion), in line with the company’s projections of 8% to 10% annual growth. The company said subscription growth came primarily from an increase in the number of global subscribers.
Other streaming revenue, which included ad-supported streaming, fell 4.8% (flat in constant currency) to 337 million euros ($394 million). The company attributed the decline to a shift in streaming activity to poorly monetized short-form videos from more effectively monetized video platforms.
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Physical sales jumped 18.4% (23.1% in constant currency) to 341 million euros ($399 million) due to initial shipments of Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl, which had a street date after the end of the third quarter. Licensing and other revenue improved 0.9% (4.1% in constant currency) to 328 million euros ($383 million). Digital downloads were down 7.1% (unchanged in constant currency) to 39 million euros ($46 million).
Music publishing revenue improved 8.6% (13.6% in constant currency) to 543 million euros ($635 million). Publishing’s digital revenue grew 10.8% (16.8% in constant currency) to 327 million euros ($382 million) due to streaming growth and subscription revenue gains. Performance revenue rose 13.9% (17.3% in constant currency) to 115 million euros ($134 million). Synch revenue fell 1.6% (rose 3.3% in constant currency) to 63 million euros ($74 million). Mechanical royalties were down 7.1% (3.7% in constant currency) to 26 million euros ($30 million).
Merchandising and other revenue grew 9.3% (15.6% in constant currency) to 259 million euros ($303 million). Lower direct-to-consumer sales were more than offset by growth in touring merchandise sales.
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Jason Kelce might be gaining one of music’s biggest stars as a sister-in-law, but that doesn’t mean he’s any the wiser to the boundaries of basic musical genres. In a hilarious moment on Kylie Kelce’s Not Gonna Lie podcast posted Thursday (Oct. 30), the retired Philadelphia Eagles center left his wife absolutely perplexed when he classified a certain pop star — who’s previously collaborated with Taylor Swift — as a “hip-hop” artist.
While sitting together on a couch dressed in Frozen-themed Halloween costumes (Kylie showed up as Olaf the snowman, while Jason channeled Kristoff), the couple poked fun at their own lack of pop-culture knowledge by facing off in a round of trivia. When the football player challenged the podcaster to name one of the three artists who are set to headline Coachella next year, he provided the following hint: “I would say the two that I know are hip-hop artists.”
“You have guaranteed heard multiple [songs by] 2 and 3,” Jason continued, trying to help Kylie out. “One of them is on a new song with Taylor.”
The latter clue led Kylie to correctly guess Sabrina Carpenter, who guested on Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl title track released earlier in October. The two-time Grammy winner will split the Coachella billing with Justin Bieber and Karol G — none of whom are known for making hip-hop music — in 2026.
A puzzled Kylie then asked, “Did you count [Carpenter] in hip-hop?”
“I mean, what else would she be?” Jason replied, adding that pop and hip-hop are “the same thing these days” when the former field hockey player informed him of Carpenter’s actual genre.
Looking aghast, Kylie couldn’t help but go silent with a baffled expression for several seconds.
Though Jason is right that hip-hop is very popular, Carpenter has never once charted on any of Billboard‘s rap, R&B or hip-hop rankings. She has, however, scored multiple hits on the Billboard Hot 100 — including No. 1 singles “Please Please Please” and “Manchild” — as well as several pop, dance and country charts.
But, who knows? Perhaps Carpenter will make the pivot to hip-hop at some point, and if nothing else, Jason’s classification of her music may very well make for a hilarious conversation when their paths presumably cross at Travis Kelce’s future wedding to Swift.
Watch the full interaction on the latest episode of Not Gonna Lie above.
Trending on Billboard Drake is ready to party like it’s 1993 if the Toronto Blue Jays capture their first World Series title in 32 years on Friday night (Oct. 31). The 6 God took to Instagram on Wednesday night (Oct. 29) after the Jays throttled the Dodgers 6-1 in a decisive game five to taunt […]
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This article was created in partnership with AEG Presents.
The Billboard Live Music Summit returns to Los Angeles on November 3, honoring Usher as Touring Artist of the Year. With 8 Grammy Awards, 9 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hits, and countless sold-out arena tours, Usher has built a career few can rival. From his record-breaking Las Vegas residency to his electrifying world tours, he continues to redefine what it means to be a live performer. Another notable name in Latin music is Rauw Alejandro, who will be speaking with Hans from Live Nation and Leila Cobo on his rise in the Latin music space and his experience on touring.
Usher and Rauw Alejandro will appear in conversation during Billboard‘s Live Music Summit, held Nov. 3 in Los Angeles. For tickets and more information, click here.
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From iconic festival to global tour promotion for superstar artists, to some of the most iconic and well-known venues, AEG Presents is a world leader in the music and entertainment industry. They are a part of every step of creating a live music experience, bringing fans and artists together, which will all be covered at the Billboard Live Music Summit and Awards.
This year’s Live Music Summit will bring a wide range of touring executives and music industry professionals together for a day of insights and conversation. The event featured Usher along with other top artists and key touring executives sharing their perspectives throughout the day.
AEG Presents will be sponsoring the Luncheon, which will be held in between panels during the Live Music Summit. The Luncheon will allow artists, attendees, and panelists an opportunity to talk in a more relaxed setting, allowing for additional conservations and networking opportunities.
Usher will sit down with Gail Mitchell to speak about his current tour and how he went from being an aspiring artist to a household name. Usher’s legacy is unmatched – a 28-year touring career, which has taken him to arenas, residencies and the world’s largest stage: the Super Bowl.
Rauw Alejandro and Hans from Live Nation will join Billboard Español’s Leila Cobo in conversation about his rise in Latin Music and touring. Both Usher and Rauw Alejandro had two of the biggest tours in 2025. Which makes them the perfect representatives on the artists front. They will both appear on November 3 at the Billboard Live Music Summit and Awards in partnership with AEG Presents.
Rauw Alejandro
Marco Perretta
The Ticketing Panel panelists include Kristen Mitchell (Wasserman), Lauren mcKinney (Foundations Artist Management), and Dean Dewulf (AXS) and will be moderated by Dave Brooks (Billboard). Ticketing is one of the most important aspects of the touring industry, connecting fans to their favorite artists. The panel will focus on accessibility to tickets, fan first ticketing, and the steps ticketing partners are striving toward for the future.
The Agents Power panel will bring together top agents from WME, CAA, UTA, AGI, and Arrival Artists to cover all things related to artist development and representation.
Following the Ticketing, Usher Legend of Live, and Agents Panels in the morning, the AEG Sponsored Luncheon allowed leaders and attendees to come together by creating a space for networking and discussion in a relaxed, professional setting.
Live Music Summit 2025
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Billboard Live Music Summit 2025 returns on November 3 in Los Angeles. Click here for more information, the programming schedule, and to buy tickets.
Source: Christopher Polk / Getty
The rap girlies might not be seeing eye to eye lately.
GloRilla has been minding her business, courtside watching her boo Brandon Ingram play. Megan Thee Stallion has also been in lover girl mode with Klay Thompson. The pot was recently stirred by a troll online, who showed that there may be some tension between the two rappers. The tweet read, “We all know she started being bitter after she was outsold by GloRilla lmfaoooo.”
Guess who liked the tweet? Big Glo…
Raising a question mark on when the two Hot girls fall out? Last year, Meg and Glo went on tour together and were having the time of their lives. Things got even deeper when fans connected a few more dots. The Hot Girl captains former stylist, EJ King, has been working with Glo. EJ and the Houston rapper had a falling out around the same time as the Tory Lanez shooting in 2020. Since then, they haven’t been spotted with each other.
Meg’s current stylist, Kellon Deryck, hit EJ with a little sneak diss, posting a tweet saying, “You ain’t no Kellon.”
On the other hand, Megan recently dropped her highly anticipated song, “LOVER GIRL.” All the girlies who are head over heels for their partners have been using this song on social media. The Hot Girl teased this song while looping in her love for her current hubby, Klay Thompson. After the NBA season started, Thee Stallion promised to get back in the lab, saying, “Okay hotties my man gone to work now, y’all ready for me?”
For over two decades, Keith Caulfield has been an integral part of the Billboard charts team, tabulating which singles and albums are the most popular in the United States. To be more specific, Caulfield — managing director of charts and data operations — looks after the Billboard 200, the standard bearer for an album’s performance […]
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When Juan Gabriel released his debut album El Alma Joven (1971) — which included the hit “No Tengo Dinero” — and received his first paycheck, the iconic Mexican singer-songwriter bought a house for his mother and gifted himself a Super 8 camera to meticulously document his life on and off stage. Years later, that vast video archive became the foundation for a documentary narrated in his own voice.
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In Juan Gabriel: I Must, I Can, I Will (Juan Gabriel: Debo, Puedo y Quiero), a four-episode docuseries available on Netflix starting Thursday (Oct. 30), the artists also known as the “Divo de Juárez” is showcased like his audience has never seen before: through his own lens and from his intimate perspective. This was made possible thanks to access granted to documentary filmmaker María José Cuevas to hundreds of tapes recorded by the artist himself from the 1970s until shortly before his death in August 2016.
“What makes this project unique is being immersed in the two personas: the private and the public figure,” Cuevas tells Billboard Español in an interview in Mexico City. “Juan Gabriel was music. Alberto Aguilera Valadez (his real name) was his pause.”
Cuevas explains that she relied on hundreds of home videos, concert recordings, family scenes, and intimate moments that had been stored in a warehouse for over 40 years. But the sheer volume of material — “all filmed by him and for him,” she emphasizes — became the project’s main challenge for the filmmaker, producers Laura Woldenberg and Ivonne Gutiérrez, and their team.
“Any cassette could hold a gem. There were tapes in 8 mm format, VHS, everything,” Gutiérrez recounts. “We had thousands of photos, many audio and video files, but the story was crafted by Juan Gabriel with the recordings he left behind.”
The series title comes from a newspaper headline after his first concert at the iconic Palacio de Bellas Artes in 1990, a performance that sparked great controversy due to criticism of his desire to perform at Mexico’s most prestigious cultural venue as a popular artist. This chapter in the great singer-songwriter’s life is one of the most symbolic moments in the documentary. The phrase is also included in his song “Debo Hacerlo.”
Juan Gabriel in Juan Gabriel: I Must, I Can, I Will
Netflix
That very first concert in 1990 — one of three Juan Gabriel performed at the Palacio de Bellas Artes throughout his career — will be screened at the Zócalo in Mexico City, the country’s main public square, on Nov. 8 as part of the promotion for Juan Gabriel: I Must, I Can, I Will. Thousands of attendees are expected, much like in Sept. 2024, when a projection of his 2013 show drew 70,000 people.
For Cuevas, who also directed the 2016 documentary Bellas de Noche, about legendary Mexican vedettes, the incredible aspect of Juanga’s docuseries is the timeline of his story in video, which allows the viewer to witness the journey from beginning to end. “To understand the public persona, the idol, you first have to know Alberto,” the filmmaker explains. “That story is in his songs. Alberto is the songwriter, but Juan Gabriel is the performer.”
Juan Gabriel, known internationally for classics like “Querida” and “Amor Eterno,” died on August 28, 2016, at his home in Santa Monica, California, of natural causes, in the middle of a concert tour. He was 66.
Inducted into the Billboard Hall of Fame in 1996, he built a legacy as a multifaceted artist over more than four decades, recording songs in genres as diverse as ranchera, ballad, pop, and bolero, and producing for other artists. Among his many achievements, he sold over 150 million records, wrote more than 1,800 songs, released 34 studio albums, was nominated for six Grammy Awards, won three posthumous Latin Grammys, and saw more than 20 of his hits reach the top 10 on the Billboard charts, including seven No. 1s on Hot Latin Songs. His hit “Yo No Sé Qué Me Pasó” inaugurated the first edition of that chart in 1986, at No. 1.
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New York voters will go to the polls on Tuesday (Nov. 4) to pick a new mayor, and in at least one late-breaking survey, leading contender Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani is on top again when it comes to his knowledge of iconic New York musicians. The democratic nominee who is facing off against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, popped in to the Track Star podcast this week to test his music IQ with host Jack Coyne, and the results were an across-the-board sweep.
Well, except for one legendary Long Island-based songwriter whose music Mamdani was surprisingly unfamiliar with.
Coyne started with a layup, with Mamdani smiling as he instantly identified Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ 2009 classic “Empire State of Mind.” Coyne suggested that his music test was “more important” than running for mayor, with Mamdani joking that despite his double-digit lead at press time, he feared he was “about to lose the race” if he blew the quiz.
He aced the next one as well, singing along to the chorus of the Strokes’ 2001 classic “Someday,” and casually dropping that his pal, band singer Julian Casablancas, is a “great guy,” who, despite working in a “pretty dirty” profession is a “straightforward, sincere, nice” person.
And you know track three was no worry, since it was his own song with HAB, “#1 Spice,” released under his nom de rap “Young Cardamom,” in 2016. If having a candidate who has dropped bars didn’t already make you feel old, the 34-year-old aspiring city leader said he recorded his first verses for an AP Lit class in high school before a friend from his native Uganda hit him up to record the track that he later heard a different politician using to hype his own campaign.
Within seconds, Mamdani blew a kiss to indicate that he knew Coyne was rocking Yonkers MC Jadakiss’ 2001 single “We Gonna Make It,” with the candidate revealing that his dream walk-on music is Ja Rule and Jada’s 2004 anthem “New York.”
He ran the board on the next three, correctly bagging the Beastie Boys’ party starter anthem “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”, grooving to the “incredible” Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” and bobbing his head to Queens’ own Mobb Deep and their 1995 single, “Survival of the Fittest.”
“M-O-B-B-D-E-E-P,” Mamdani chanted.
And then things went off the rails.
As the legendary piano intro to Long Island legend Billy Joel’s 1976 homage to his home, “New York State of Mind,” played over his headphones Mamdani had to get real. “You know, as a politician it’s important to be honest,” he said as Coyne tried to help out by noting that the musician plays piano and is, as we said, from Long Island.
Nothing.
“That’s not on your go-to playlist?,” Coyne asked. “Got to be honest, no,” Mamdani said, hoping that his fellow New Yorker’s won’t ding him for not knowing the track from the artist who holds the record for the most shows by an act at Manhattan’s Madison Square Garden at 150.
Mamdani proved his music bona fides last week as well, when he popped up for a surprise cameo on Friday (Oct. 24) at PinkPantheress’ Brooklyn show at the Kings Theater. When the camera cut to him in the audience, he flashed the get out the vote message, “Our Time Has Come Vote Nov 4,” which was scrawled across his hands.
Watch Mamdani on the Track Star show here.
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Karol G made her debut on The Jennifer Hudson Show on Thursday (Oct. 30), where she talked about her latest career milestones including performing with Andrea Bocelli at the Vatican, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and soon becoming the first Latina to headline Coachella.
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“When [Bocelli] invited me, I said no, because I was super nervous,” Karol admitted to Hudson. “It’s the Vatican, we’re going to sing in La Plaza San Pedro, I’m going to perform for a lot of people and with Andrea Bocelli. I don’t know if I’m ready, and I was doing a lot of stuff at the same time, so maybe it wasn’t the moment to do this? So, I said no. My mom got crazy, [and said], ‘How is this possible? Karol, this is an opportunity that you have every 25 years, because the jubilee is every 25 years.’ So I was like, ‘OMG that’s true, so maybe the opportunity came to me because I’m ready. I’m actually ready.’”
Karol ultimately joined the iconic Italian tenor for a performance of “Vivo Por Ella” at the Grace for the World concert that took place in Vatican City in September.
Weeks later, the Colombian superstar was strutting the runway at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in October.
“I grew up watching the show and living the fantasy,” she said. “ I never thought I would be able to be there, with my shape, my curves, the music that I do in Spanish, but actually, I was there. The first thing I thought about when creating the show was the wings and then the performance. I was like, ‘Can I have the wings?’ because if I’m going to be, like, a Victoria Secret Angel, I need my wings. It was amazing … the moment of the show was the runway. I loved the runway. I was having so much fun.”
Next Spring, the “Provenza” singer will headline the 2026 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. She told Hudson: “I have a mantra in my life: You don’t lose the opportunity because you’re not ready. You get ready and you take that opportunity.”
Watch the interview clips below:
Billboard’s Live Music Summit will be held in Los Angeles on Nov. 3. For tickets and more information, visit the event’s website.
