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BTS’ RM Plays Multiple Roles (Including a Baby Man) in Cinematic Video For Solo Single ‘Come Back To Me’

BTSRM is a big baby in the trippy video for his single “Come Back to Me.” The cinematic clip directed, produced and written by Beef creator Lee Sung Jin that dropped on Friday morning (May 10) features a scene where the singer plays an adult-sized infant, one of several roles he takes on in the twisty, nearly seven-minute mini-movie.

“Come back to me/ Like you used to/ Now, I could see/ What a life is about/ I told you I’m fine tonight/ Staying good/ Spring always been here/ I will sleep in her eyes,” the 29-year-old K-pop star sleepily croons over acoustic guitar and whistling. Elsewhere in the visual, RM is a devoted dad and a man at odds with his girlfriend.

The single from RM’s upcoming 11-track second solo album, Right Place, Wrong Person (May 24) was first performed last August during a surprise appearance at BTS bandmate Suga’s Seoul concert on his SUGA | Agust D Tour ‘D-DAY’ The Final outing. “Through ‘Come Back To Me,’ RM explores the central theme of the new album, ‘right and wrong,’ delving into the paradoxical desire to venture into new territories while longing to remain content in the present,” reads a statement announcing the video that co-stars actress Kim Minha (Pachinko).

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RM wrote the lyrics for the song, which also features guest musicians OHHYUK from South Korean band HYUKOH — who composed and arranged the track — as well as guitar and bass from Kuo of Taiwanese band Sunset Rollercoaster and contributions from singer/songwriter JNKYRD and San yawn of Balming Tiger.

“The music video captures the uncanny yet familiar sensation of feeling like a stranger in different surroundings, echoing the theme of the upcoming album,” adds the statement of the clip that ends with a surprise twist.

RM’s first solo LP, Indigo, was released in Dec. 2022, and peaked at No. 3 on the all-genre Billboard 200 and featured guests including Anderson .Paak, Erykah Badu and others. The members of BTS are all in the midst of completing their mandatory military services in South Korea, which RM enlisted in in December alongside band mates V, Jimin and Jung Kook.

Watch the “Come Back to Me” video below.



Linda Martell Opens Up About Her ‘Cowboy Carter’ Spotlight — And Her Bittersweet Time In Nashville

Linda Martell’s granddaughter Marquia Thompson is running late to launch her 82-year-old grandmother’s Zoom interview with Billboard — but for a good reason.

In late March, Beyoncé featured Martell on two spoken-word segments on Cowboy Carter. Shortly after, the star posted a photo of herself wearing an official Martell T-shirt from the pioneering country artist’s website — and today, Thompson needed to run by the post office to mail some of the nearly 600 orders she has received since. Martell’s merchandise sales aren’t all that have been soaring. Her catalog streams also ballooned from a little under 5,000 from March 22 to 24 to 61,000 from March 29 to 31, according to Luminate — an 1,100% surge immediately following the album’s March 29 release.

The attention is long overdue. In 1969, Martell became the first Black woman to play the Grand Ole Opry. At the time, she didn’t know she was making history, though she was very aware that there were no other “Black guys or Black girls there” onstage or off, she says. She also didn’t know that she would receive two standing ovations. “I was surprised,” she says with a laugh.

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Her breakthrough single, “Color Him Father,” peaked at No. 22 in September 1969 on the Hot Country Songs chart; it remained the highest-charting track on the tally by a Black woman for more than 50 years until Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ’Em” reached No. 1 in February. And yet, until Beyoncé helped shine a light on them, Martell’s accomplishments had largely faded into obscurity.

“When I was actively pursuing country music 14 years ago, I Googled ‘Black female country singers’ and Linda Martell’s name came up,” says Mickey Guyton, who wasn’t previously aware of Martell. “She is truly the reason why I had the courage to sing country music.”

Martell released only one album, 1970’s Color Me Country, but it was a beauty. Her voice was clear and resonant with plenty of twang reflecting her South Carolina roots on the Shelby Singleton-produced set of traditional-leaning tunes. In addition to “Color Him Father,” two other tracks charted in the top 60. In its review at the time, Billboard wrote, “Linda impresses as a female Charley Pride. She has a terrific style and a true feeling for a country lyric.”

Linda Martell photographed on April 24, 2024 near Columbia, S.C.

Linda Martell with her granddaughter Marquia Thompson (left) and daughter Tikethia Thompson.

Gavin McIntyre

But by 1974, fed up with label clashes, a legal battle with her manager and the ongoing racism she endured, Martell left Nashville.

“Linda Martell has always resonated with me personally because her story is so many of our stories, which is why I named my show after her,” says artist Rissi Palmer, who hosts Apple Music’s influential Color Me Country Radio program. “She didn’t ask for all the politics — she just wanted to sing. Period. I admire her grace under pressure, focus to stay the course and the way she advocated for herself against a manager and record producer who were interested in gimmicks and not creating a lasting career for her.”

More than a half-century later, Martell, who lives with her daughter and son-in-law outside of Columbia, S.C., looks back on those days as bittersweet. Sitting in her favorite spot — a gray reclining lounger in the living room — and wrapped in a black and red blanket, she is quick to respond and even quicker to laugh and smile, despite some of the painful memories that clearly still sting. She relies on Thompson, who serves as her de facto manager, to fill in some details.

Though she started out performing pop and R&B, Martell grew up listening to country music and had a natural affinity for its cadences. Her sharecropper father sang country songs around their Leesville, S.C., house, and the country station came in loudest on the family radio, around which they would listen to Grand Ole Opry broadcasts on Saturday nights.

Her future manager heard Martell sing a handful of country songs when she performed at an Air Force base, and she moved to Nashville, where producer Singleton signed her. Singing songs with good stories appealed to her, and Martell cut Color Me Country in one day. “That was easy,” she says. “I was singing always already, so it didn’t bother me. I had fun. It was great.”



During that period, there were moments both good and bad. But mainly, Martell recalls, she felt lonely. “Black artists didn’t sing that kind of song,” she says of country music. Though she says she didn’t have issues with any of her fellow artists, no other acts, white or Black, encouraged her, with the exception of multi-instrumentalist and Hee Haw host Roy Clark. “He’d make you feel at home,” she remembers of her appearance on the variety show. “He would sit beside me and talk. It felt very natural.”

It was worse on the often-hostile road. Her late brother, Lee, was in her band and provided company, but the heckling from some audiences was painful. “Most of the time, you really didn’t pay attention because if you do, oh, it hurt,” she says. “But we heard it. Me and my brother wouldn’t [respond]. He’d say, ‘Well, they’re ignorant.’ We came to work, and we knew what to do and what to say. That’s all.”

After her first manager sued her (over his commission) and Singleton and his label switched their focus to Jeannie C. Riley (who had a huge hit with “Harper Valley, PTA”) but tried to prevent Martell from recording elsewhere, she eventually got “tired of it” and left Nashville.

Martell revisited R&B music and lived in California, Florida and the Bronx, where she and her then-boyfriend owned a record store. In the 1990s, she returned to South Carolina, where she drove a school bus and then worked in a classroom until she retired in her 60s. She now enjoys spending time with her five children, 13 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.

As Beyoncé worked on Cowboy Carter, her team asked Thompson if Martell would be interested in appearing on it, then presented Martell with the script for her spoken interludes. Martell was already a big Beyoncé fan. “One thing my grandmother will notice is a young woman who can sing,” Thompson says. “I’m very, very glad” to be on the album, Martell says, adding that she appreciates the attention Beyoncé has brought to her music.

Linda Martell photographed on April 24, 2024 near Columbia, S.C.

Linda Martell photographed on April 24, 2024 near Columbia, S.C.

Gavin McIntyre

But Martell had already been reflecting on her story before Beyoncé came calling. In 2020, Thompson began work on Bad Case of the Country Blues: The Linda Martell Story, a documentary about her grandmother featuring interviews with Palmer, songwriter-­author Alice Randall and others. She plans to screen the nearly finished film locally this fall before a wider release. Thompson launched a GoFundMe to cover the final touches and hopefully release the doc independently in order to retain ownership.

Despite all the hardships and a career cut short through no fault of her own, Martell’s response is swift when asked whether she’s glad she made country music in the first place: She quickly nods yes. “It’s very nice,” she says. “I wouldn’t change nothing.”

This story will appear in the May 11, 2024, issue of Billboard.

Ricky Martin Talks Powerful ‘Palm Royale’ Finale & His Love For Storytelling

“You got a presence, bud.”

That line from episode four in Palm Royale couldn’t be more fitting when describing Ricky Martin‘s character in the Apple TV+ series. While those words are actually told to the Puerto Rican star’s character, Robert Diaz, they also perfectly describe just how much Martin stands out in a cast that includes Hollywood stars Carol Burnett, Laura Dern and Kristen Wiig.

“I feel very lucky to be part of such a wonderful project,” the Grammy-winning artist tells Billboard via Zoom. Adding that what was key to nailing such a multi-layered character like Robert was silence. “What I mean by silence is the time I spent with my script and the secrets that have make him very powerful. Also, obviously, the challenges that he has as a man who needs to hide his reality back in the 60s. It’s something that gave me a lot of strength and I used every emotion, from fear, uncertainty, the fear of being rejected, I used all those dark emotions and I think that helped me create a strong, powerful character.”

Set in the 1960s in Palm Beach, Fla., Martin gives life to Robert, a bartender at the high society club Palm Royale, and Norma’s (Burnett) loyal companion/caretaker. He’s best described as stoic and a fierce protector of his friends (although they may not be the best of people) — and while he may come off as cold and indifferent towards others at the beginning, he’ll win your heart over episode after episode, as he allows vulnerability and transparency to take centerstage. Robert is also a gay man who struggles with his sexual identity and, in a powerful scene with Wiig and Dern, he says, “I just want to be a person.”

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“An acting coach told me once, ‘Actors can’t lie, you just gotta wear the shoes of the character that you’re portraying and act exactly like you would behave in any situation.’ To just be honest, transparent and hope for the best, and that’s what I’ve done with this character,” adds Martin, who will be the first openly gay Latin artist to headline LA Pride in the Park, which will return to the Los Angeles State Historic Park on June 8.



If you’ve followed the Latin superstar’s career since the beginning — which launched in the early 1980s as a member of the wildly popular boyband Menudo — you’ll know that Palm Royale is not Martin’s actoral debut. In fact, he’s been acting since he was 15 with roles in Spanish-language soap operas, on General Hospital and, in 2017, he landed a key role in Ryan Murphy’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace – American Crime Story. But doing Palm Royale hit different and ignited a fire to keep acting.

“First time I was in front of a camera, I was 15 years old — it was a very beautiful l time,” he recalls. “Obviously later on music did its thing, and I cannot deny the power of music in my life, and it’s something I’ll always be forever grateful for. But at the end of the day I’m a storyteller… I will tell you a story through music or a script — I’ll make it mine. I’ll share with you what I’m feeling. This fluidity of storytelling is fascinating and I’m addicted to it so hopefully I’ll be doing more of this because I just love what I feel.”

Spoiler alert below

Apple has yet renew the series for a second season, but the series’ ending definitely leaves plenty of room for imagination. In the season finale, Robert is shot in a crossfire. In the last minutes of episode 10, he’s lying on the ground fighting for his life.

“My cell phone is on fire,” Martin says with a smirk. “Everybody is crying, they’re asking what’s going to happen next, will there be a second season, but that’s the beauty of this show. At the end of every episode there’s a massive cliffhanger, and I think the tentacles that are left in this story, it can go in so many directions.”

All episodes of Palm Royale are streaming now on Apple TV+.

iHeartMedia Shares Tumble 36% Following Quarterly Results, Outlook

iHeartMedia shares fell 36.1% on Thursday after the company’s first-quarter earnings showed continued uncertainty in broadcast advertising mixed with improvements in its digital business. 

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iHeartMedia’s loss of 12 cents per share bested analysts’ estimate of a loss of 55 cents per share, according to MarketWatch, and its revenue ($799 million) and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ($105 million) both fell within the guidance it provided. 

CEO Bob Pittman and COO and CFO Rich Bressler reminded listeners to Thursdays’ earnings call that the first quarter is historically the slowest period of the year. They also reiterated the company’s optimism about 2024 and the expected benefits of political advertising in the second half of the year.

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“Although the marketplace continues to be dynamic, with a changing outlook on interest rates, inflation trends and global and domestic uncertainty, we remain confident that this is a recovery year highlighted by the strong momentum and our podcast business and the sequential improvement of our multi platform groups year over year adjusted EBITDA performance,” said Pittman. 

The current quarter may be an improvement over the first quarter, but iHeartMedia doesn’t expect much improvement over 2023. Thursday’s guidance for Q2 revenue as “approximately flat” compared to the prior-year quarter’s revenue of $920 million was slightly below analysts’ consensus of $935 million, according to Zacks Equity Research. April revenue is expected to be down 0.4%, Bressler said, and the multi-platform group’s gross revenue is expected to be down “mid-single digits” in the second quarter. 

iHeartMedia shares dropped to $1.38 on Thursday, bringing their year-to-date loss to 48.3%. Thursday’s closing price was 70.8% below the stock’s 52-week high of $4.73 established on July 31, 2023.

Another blemish was the first quarter’s free cash flow (FCF) was negative $88 million, although it was improvement from negative $133 million in the prior-year quarter. First-quarter FCF did not include the $101 million iHeartMedia received from the sale of BMI to New Mountain Capital in February

Total revenue of $799 million was down 1.5% from the prior-year period. The multi-platform group, which includes iHeartMedia’s broadcast radio networks and events business, suffered the biggest declines: revenue fell 6.7% to $493 million and adjusted EBITDA dropped 11% to $77 million. 

Led by growth in podcasts, digital audio group revenue rose 7.0% to $239 million and adjusted EBITDA jumped 25.9% to $68.1 million. In the audio and media services division, revenue improved 12.7% to $69.2 million and adjusted EBITDA soared 54.4% to $23.7 million. 

Blessing Offor Calls on Dolly Parton for Uplifting ‘Somebody’s Child’ Ballad & Video

Dolly Parton is delving into CCM/gospel anew, teaming with “Brighter Days” hitmaker Blessing Offor for his song “Somebody’s Child,” a soulful piano ballad that nods to finding solace and belonging in faith.

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Two-time Grammy nominee Offor, who just completed the first leg of shows opening for Lauren Daigle’s national tour, wrote the piano ballad with Joy Williams and Josh Ronen. The accompanying music video, starring Offor and Parton, begins with Offor playing and singing at a piano. He’s soon joined by Parton and a choir, heightening the emotion, while the video is interspersed with footage of various real-world situations of both joy and struggle, highlighting the need for compassion and empathy.

“We’re all ‘somebody’s child,’” Blessing said of the song in a statement. “It’s such a simple concept, but I hope it’s the beginning of us all realizing that there’s always a point of empathy, there’s always common ground if we want to find it. And there’s no better embodiment of finding common ground, finding relatability, than Dolly Parton. I’m so honored and humbled to have her on this project.”

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In January 2023, the Nigerian-born, Connecticut-raised Offor released his debut album My Tribe. He was nominated for the GMA Dove Awards’ new artist of the year in 2022 and that same year, earned a three-week Christian Airplay No. 1 hit with his TobyMac collab “The Goodness.” Offor has been featured on albums by Lee Brice and Chris Tomlin, while his song “Brighter Days” reached No. 2 on the Christian Airplay chart.

Ten-time Grammy winner Parton added in a statement, “I know it’s too easy to say it was a blessing singing with Blessing,” Dolly says, “but it was. I love the song ‘Somebody’s Child’ and I am very proud to be a part of it.”

Parton, of course, has teamed with a few other CCM/gospel artists in recent years, partnering with for King & Country on “God Only Knows,” as well as partnering with Zach Williams for “There Was Jesus” and “Lookin’ For You.”

See the video for “Somebody’s Child” below:



Beabadoobee Preps Rick Rubin-Produced ‘This Is How Tomorrow Moves’ Album, Drops Dreamy ‘Take a Bite’ Single

Beabadoobee is getting ready to release her most intimate album yet. The 23-year-old singer announced on Thursday (May 9) that her third studio LP, This Is How Tomorrow Moves, is due out on August 16. “My most personal record, made with love from bea, jacob, rick and shangrila studios,” she wrote on Instagram, shouting out the album’s producers, Rick Rubin and Jacbo Budgen, and Rubin’s legendary Malibu studio.

She also dropped the video for the dreamy first single, “Take a Bite,” in which she casually takes a stroll through the city in a high-fashion outfit as day turns to night — and all hell breaks loose — and she sighs the chorus, “I wanted to see the world in color/ Through your eyes and through your mind/ I think that I like to sit and wonder/ Through the night, I think I might/ Wanna do it all over again.”

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“It’s me feeling introspective about unhealthy way of living,” the singer said in a press release announcing the follow-up to 2022’s Beatopia. “It’s finding comfort in a familiar place – finding comfort in chaos, because that’s what I know. So, I bring it into every aspect of my life, especially with relationships. It’s just tapping into this part of my brain where I just jump straight to the most negative, most chaotic thought ever known to man and make and make that into my reality.”

The upcoming collection from the singer who was a featured guest on a dozen shows on the spring 2023 run of Taylor Swift’s 2023 North American Eras Tour, follows on the heels of two live albums she dropped laste last year, Live in L.A. and Live in London.

Watch the “Take a Bite” video below.



Charli XCX Ropes in An All-Star Cast in Search of New ‘Hot Internet Girl’ in ‘360’ Video

Everyone knows that if you’re going to do a proper search for the next must-see viral star you need to assemble your It Girl Counsel for help. Which is exactly what Charli XCX does in the video for her new BRAT single “360.”

The clip that dropped on Friday morning (May 10) finds the singer running late for a dinner date with pals at a swanky restaurant. When she arrives she walks into a room packed with a who’s-who of influencers, apologizing immediately for disappointing them with the news that she is about to do her song and can’t join them.

“Oh f–k, um, we’re so sorry because the thing is we all really want you to do the song,” says actress Rachel Sennott (Bottoms), with Nasty Cherry singer/model Gabbriette adding, “We have to fulfill the prophecy of finding a new, hot internet girl. That’s literally why we’re at dinner.

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“Or else our kind will cease to exist,” adds Euphoria actress Chloe Cherry. “Forever.”

“Yeah, it’s terrible,” says Sennott as dramatic violin stabs amp up the drama. “And then after we figure that out you can totally do the song.” A resigned Charli agrees to join in the hunt for the new clickbait celeb, looking around the table and picking a woman at random.

That guest happens to be Uncut Gems actress, model and pants hater Julia Fox, who looks around confused as she sips red wine, her long silver nails wrapped around the glass. “Oh Charli, that’s literally Julia Fox,” Sennott informs her as Fox — her eyebrows dyed the same bleach blonde shade as her hair — sheepishly says hello.

The singer then focuses in on the tame server (Dream Scenario actress Greer Cohen) waiting on the group — which also includes Chloë Sevigny, Alex Consani, Emma Chamberlain, A. G. Cook, Hari Nef, Isamaya Ffrench, Matisse Andrews, Quenlin Blackwell, Sakura Bready and more — as they nod in agreement and Sennott praises her “total waiter vibes.”

The group then begins to give the harried woman a series of totally not helpful tips as Cohen furious writes down qualities including: je ne sais quoi, “really hot in like a scary way” and “be known, but at the same time unknowable.”

The music video them properly starts as the crew — which also includes Anna Collins, Blizzy McGuire, Tess McMillan, Salem Mitchell, Peri Rosenzweig, Richie Shazam and Niki Takesh –join Charli on a series of adventures, including riding atop a man headed for surgery as his gurney moves down a hospital hallway, a wine-and-selfies workout and a wind-blown photo shoot.

All the while, the retro synth pop track produced by Cook plays in the background and Charli cooly sings, “Yeah, 360/ When you’re in the mirror, do you like what you see?/ When you’re in the mirror, you’re just looking at me/ I’m everywhere, I’m so Julia/Ah-ah, ah/ When you’re in the party b-b-bumpin’ that beat/ 666 with a princess streak.”

“360” is the follow-up to the previously released single “Von Dutch.” Charli’s BRAT is due out on June 7 via Atlantic and she is slated to hit the road with Troye Sivan in the fall for an arena tour that will launch on Sept. 14 in Detroit at the Little Caesars Arena.

Watch the “360” video below.



Kid Cudi Shares Gnarly Post-Operation X-Rays of His Foot Surgery: ‘I’m a Cyborg Now’

Kid Cudi is an iron man now. The rapper shared some illuminating pics of his recent foot surgery on Thursday night (May 9). “Got my boot!,” Cudder wrote alongside of a series of snaps, including one in which he chills on a gurney in a doctor’s office rocking a fashionable walking boot.

“The road to recovery has begun,” he continued. “Heres some xrays after the surgery, I wanted yall to see how real this s–t was. Im a cyborg now [crying laughing, peace sign emoji].” The other two pics were x-rays of his surgically repaired foot, documenting the half a dozen or more screws in his heel.

Mr. Solo Dolo, 40, was forced to cancel his planned Insano world tour due to an injury he suffered at Coachella in April, when he hopped down off the stage and broke his calcaneus, the bone that forms at the heel.

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At the time he wrote to fans in a note, “Guys, so, I have a broken calcaneus. I’m headed to surgery now and there’s gonna be a long recovery time. We have to cancel the tour so I can focus on getting back out there in top shape to rage with you all. There’s just no way I can bounce back in time to give 100%. The injury is much more serious than I thought. Anyone who bought tickets will get a full refund, you’ll get an email soon.”

The 43-date outing that was slated to feature support from Pusha T, Earthgang, Jaden Smith, Chelsea Pastel and Siena Bella was booked to launch on June 28 with a show at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas. At the time, Cudi said that he would re-schedule the dates “as soon as possible,” though at press time no refreshed routing had been announced yet.

Check out the pics below.

Gunna’s ‘One of Wun’ Album: All 20 Tracks Ranked

The YSL rapper connects with Normani, Roddy Ricch and more.

Gunna season has returned. The king of pushin P is back with the arrival of his One of Wun album on Friday (May 10).

With the weight of his first post-prison release off his shoulders thanks to 2023’s A Gift & a Curse, the YSL rapper can exhale and seems to be getting back to having fun and living the Gunna lavish lifestyle.

On this project, Gunna is still showing off his designer threads and tapping into new sonics like afrobeats, but he’s also opening up about life experiences such as getting wired a six-figure sum of cash to play a private show, which ended up inspiring “Whatsapp (Wassam).”

One of Wun boasts 20 tracks in total including previously released singles like “Whatsapp (Wassam)” and “Prada Dem” featuring Offset.

While his last LP was left free of features, Gunna invites Normani, Leon Bridges and Roddy Ricch into the fold to complete the album.

Gunna is already on the road in support of the project. The 30-year-old kicked off The Bittersweet Tour on May 4 at Columbus’ Schottenstein Center. He’ll be making stops in Chicago, Houston, Miami and more cities across the country before wrapping up at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena for a hometown reunion.

The “Fukumean” rapper’s last album A Gift & a Curse arrived in June 2023 and topped Billboard‘s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart with a peak of No. 3 on the Billboard 200.

Sift through the album and into our rankings of all 20 tracks from One of Wun below.

Taylor Swift Holds Off Dua Lipa In Australia’s Albums Chart Race

Taylor Swift makes it three straight, as The Tortured Poets Department (via Universal) holds on for another week at No. 1 in Australia, while Sabrina Carpenter nabs her first leader on the singles survey with “Espresso” (Island/Universal).

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Tortured Poets reigns over the ARIA Chart, published Friday, May 10, and is her 13th chart-topper, more than any other female artist in Australia’s chart history.

The hottest debut this week belongs to Dua Lipa, whose third studio album Radical Optimism (Warner U.K./Warner) starts at No. 2. That’s the British artist’s third consecutive top 10 album in the land Down Under after Dua Lipa peaked at No. 8 in 2017 and Future Nostalgia logged three non-consecutive weeks atop the tally in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

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Radical Optimism has a strong Aussie connection. Tame Impala mastermind Kevin Parker co-wrote and produced seven tracks on the collection, including the three hit singles “Houdini,” “Training Season” and “Illusion.”

SZA’s SOS (RCA/Sony) completes the ARIA Chart podium, down 2-3.

The top ranked homegrown release this week belongs to superstar singer Sia Furler whose Reasonable Woman (Atlantic/Warner) debuts at No. 14. Hailing from Adelaide, Sia has previously led the national chart on two occasions, with 1000 Forms Of Fear from 2014 and This Is Acting from 2016.

Over on the singles frame, Sabrina Carpenter’s Australian chart story perks up as “Espresso” lifts 2-1, for the U.S. singer and actor’s first leader in these parts. “Espresso” is also the current No. 1 in the U.K.

Rising U.S. singer and rapper Tommy Richman has a hit on his hands in Australia, as “Million Dollar Baby” (CONC) cashes from its viral turn on TikTok, up 33-2 on the ARIA Singles Chart.

Shaboozey’s country-leaning number “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (EMP) completes the top three on the ARIA Singles Chart, unmoved at No. 3.

Finally, Kendrick Lamar has the top debuts as his Drake diss tracks, “Euphoria” (at No. 8 via Universal) and “Not Like Us” (at No. 9), both debut in the top 10.

Those controversial songs lift Lamar’s tally of Australian top 10 hits to 12, including his contribution to Taylor Swift’s 2015 chart-leader “Bad Blood.”