State Champ Radio Author: djfrosty
Page: 773
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. A good speaker can make or break just about any party or gathering, and it can even set the mood when […]
HipHopWired Featured Video
CLOSE
Source: Emma McIntyre / Emma McIntyre
Madame Tussauds Orlando just dropped a new wax figure of Beyoncé, but it’s getting some serious mixed reviews.
Madame Tussauds Orlando unveils new Beyoncé wax figure. pic.twitter.com/4S7LmzRwva
— Pop Base (@PopBase) March 20, 2025
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
While some fans are all about it, saying the figure is on point, others aren’t feeling it, claiming it doesn’t really capture Queen B’s true vibe. The figure has her iconic style down, with a killer outfit and a fierce pose, but many are saying the face doesn’t quite match her real-life glow. Fans of the BeyHive are going hard in defense, though, showing love for their queen no matter what.
Meanwhile, Beyoncé’s been busy stacking up major moments. She recently graced the NFL’s Christmas Halftime show, and of course, she left the crowd hyped. The performance had everyone talking, and it was clear: the Bey Hive wanted more. Just when it seemed like the hype couldn’t get any bigger, Bey dropped the announcement of her upcoming tour. It kicks off April 28th in LA at Sofi Stadium, and you best believe fans are counting down the days. Whether people are feeling the wax figure or not, one thing’s for sure: Beyoncé is still the queen, and she’s got the whole world buzzing as she gets ready to hit the stage.
With her tour around the corner, it’s safe to say that 2025 is about to be all about Queen B. Check out some of the mixed reactions to Queen B’s wax figure below.
This is partner content. Carnival Cruise Line partnered with Billboard to create an unforgettable oasis at Billboard’s THE STAGE at SXSW. John Summit, DJ Nala and more brought on the vibes for an unforgettable final night! Keep watching to see what you missed out on! Tetris Kelly: This year, we brought the heat to Austin, […]
While much of the 30-plus track setlist of Tyler, The Creator‘s Chromakopia: The World Tour centers around the rapper’s 2024 album, one fan made it clear that they want to hear at least one song from a different Tyler album, both online and in-person. After Tyler made a stop at Orlando’s Kia Center on Saturday […]
Jermaine Dupri‘s docuseries on Atlanta’s legendary Magic City strip club is officially underway. Deadline has reported that the five-part series entitled Magic City: An American Fantasy has been picked up by Starz. Originally a three-part series, the project first premiered at SXSW in 2024 and centers around founder Michael “Mr. Magic” Barney and the dancers […]
At SXSW 2025, Billboard took over Moody Amphitheater from March 13 to 15 for The Stage, a three-night concert series spanning multiple genres. The final night, however, stood out as Billboard teamed up with Carnival Cruise Line to bring the vibrant world of Celebration Key — the brand’s exclusive Grand Bahama destination launching in 2025 — to life.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Carnival during the Billboard THE STAGE at SXSW held at Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park on March 13, 2025 in Austin, Texas.
Izzy Nuzzo
Carnival transformed the venue into a tropical paradise, featuring bold, beach-themed installations and interactive experiences. Guests arrived at the Stage in Carnival branded pedicabs before being greeted by The Paradise Zone upon entry. The Paradise Zone invited guests to lounge on beach chairs, stretch out on colorful blankets, and enjoy moments like the custom Carnival Celebration Key cornhole game. A beach-inspired wooden sign guided attendees through each interactive station, amplifying the celebration vibe.
A Celebration Key-branded bar served up custom drinks, and attendees could snag exclusive giveaways like bucket hats or glow sticks by sharing their personal definition of paradise. For many, the highlight of the evening was the surprise upgrade from General Admission to The Paradise PIT—Carnival’s VIP section—granting lucky fans a front-row concert experience.
Trending on Billboard
To add another sweet touch, the Carnival Cotton Candy Station, inspired by Carnival’s Cherry On Top candy store, offered free cotton candy to all in attendance.
The night kicked off with DJ Jordan Miller spinning tropical beats from the Celebration Key DJ booth, followed by rising producer Nala, who kept the energy alive with her remixes.
As 9:30 pm approached, fans flooded the Paradise PIT, waving Carnival-branded light sticks in anticipation of the headliner. John Summit delivered an unforgettable set, packed with chart-topping hits like “Where You Are” and “Shiver.”
For those who couldn’t make it to Austin, stay tuned to Billboard for more recaps from The Stage at SXSW, presented by Carnival.
Kesha is kicking off 2025 with a bang. The superstar’s first release of the year arrives in the form of a major collaboration with T-Pain. The “TiK ToK” singer took to Instagram on Monday (March 24) to announce that the track, “Yippee-Ki-Yay,” will be released on Thursday (March 27). The corresponding cover art features Kesha […]
It’s fair to say the three members of Imagine Dragons are over the moon about their new concert film Imagine Dragons: Live From the Hollywood Bowl (with the LA Film Orchestra), showing in theaters March 26 and 29. The fact that it comes in the wake of the band’s music actually being on the moon makes it even better.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
On March 5, Imagine Dragon’s “Children of the Sky” — which the Las Vegas-formed group co-wrote with Inon Zur and others in 2023 for the video game Starfield — was embedded in Athena, a ship the space startup Lonestar Data Holdings sent to Earth’s moon. And while music had previously arrived there on other voyages, it marked the first time a song was transmitted back to Earth — albeit a day later because the Athena craft landed on its side, and short of its target, so some adjustments had to be made.
Imagine Dragons’ guitarist Wayne Sermon is still stoked that “Children of the Sky” skied its way back to its home planet. “I was here, and I was following the mission live on YouTube,” Sermon tells Billboard via Zoom from Los Angeles, where he now resides. “I’m very much into space exploration, I’m into anything NASA’s doing. I’m very fascinated with that kind of stuff…It was one of the easiest yeses we had. Things looked a little dicey there for a minute…but (Athena) was able to still do a couple of things and one of them happened to be beaming our song.
Trending on Billboard
“We were happy just to be part of it. It’s a crazy thing. Put it up on the list of things that are just surreal, having your music beamed from the moon. It’s like alright, sure, that sounds reasonable, OK.”
Sermon says he hasn’t had a chance to flex any bragging rights over the achievement, however. “I haven’t used it once, man. Unbelievable,” he says. “It hasn’t come up in conversation, casually. Once it does I have an ace in the hole at a dinner party — ‘So, how about the moon…?’”
Sermon says the filmed Hollywood Bowl experience was also otherworldly. Filmed Oct. 27, 2024, at the last of four shows Imagine Dragons performed at the venue (and the final date of the North American leg of its Loom World Tour), the concert found the band — also including frontman Dan Reynolds and bassist Ben McKee — playing with a full orchestra conducted by Zur, whose video game scoring work the group has long admired.
“We saw these Hollywood Bowl shows coming down the pipeline while we were on tour,” Sermon recalls. “We just felt like something needed to happen there. We’d sold out four shows, which was kind of crazy to us, and it seemed to be special, so we thought, ‘Why don’t we do something with an orchestra, a one-night-only thing.’” The group recruited Zur to create orchestrations and then watched it grow from a handful of numbers to the entire 22-song concert.
“We’d keep getting emails from (Zur), ‘OK, send me another one,’ and the next day we’d have an arrangement and ‘Send me another one,’” Sermon says. “This kept happening until he’d arranged every single moment of the show. From start to finish it was a complete collaboration, which I think is pretty rare in a show like that.”
Among the concert moments that most stand out is “Radioactive,” for which Zur created a duel between violin and cello players in the orchestra. “Children of the Sky” was another highlight, according to Sermon. “That was a song conceived in the studio, and we weren’t present for when (Zur) came up with the orchestration for it,” Sermon says. “We wrote our part, he wrote his part and we got ’em together remotely. We never actually played that song together in the same room with an orchestra before. So for that song to come to life at (the Hollywood Bowl) felt like a full-circle moment. (Zur) wrote a really incredible intro to it where he could stretch out and show some of his chops. It was great to do that song and have it represented and documented forever.”
The film, however, was not part of the initial discussion and only decided upon “probably a couple of weeks before the show,” according to Sermon. “It was just going to be this thing that happened, that you just had to be there for. In this day and age, where everything is documented and overshared, it was maybe something that just lived for a night and was gone, and maybe there’s something beautiful about that. But the more we thought about it, so many people who would like to see it couldn’t. With Inon being involved and hearing his arrangements…we felt it would be a real shame for people not to hear it. Luckily our management scrambled to find some extra cameras and we threw it together and willed it into existence so people could see it.”
Live From the Hollywood Bowl was directed by Vincent Adam Paul and will be screened in CJ 4DPLEX, ScreenX, 4DX and Ultra 4DX as well as standard formats. Theater and ticket information is available via ImagineDragonsMovie.com.
Sermon plans on catching one of the big-screen showings himself but anticipates the film will eventually go to streaming as well. “The whole point of filming it was so people can see it,” he says. “Seeing it in theaters, especially in 4DX formats, is gonna be mind-blowing for people, but eventually it will be streamed.”
Imagine Dragons will resume the Loom World Tour on April 4 in China and then begin a European run on May 27 in Italy. The trek is set to wrap up July 25-26 in London, while he, Reynolds and McKee are “just starting to write our new album now. We are exploring a lot of different options, including parting things back a lot — just trying new things and seeing what sticks. We don’t really know what we’re doing for next things until we just do it.”
Kendrick Lamar & SZA’s old-school R&B smash “Luther,” now is in its fifth week atop the Billboard Hot 100, sounds like a natural to receive Grammy nods for record and song of the year when the nominations for the 2026 awards are announced later this year. The song, a nod to R&B legend Luther Vandross, contains a sample of Vandross and Cheryl Lynn’s 1982 rendition of “If This World Were Mine,” which was originally recorded in 1967 by another legendary pair, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. Its multi-format success in 2025 shows that old-school R&B songwriting values can still be embraced in today’s hip-hop-dominated R&B culture.
But while “Luther” may find favor next year with Grammy voters, Vandross had to wait nine years from his first Grammy nominations in 1982 until he finally won. His Grammy track record stood at 0-9 until he finally scored a W with “Here and Now,” which was voted best R&B vocal performance, male in 1991.
Trending on Billboard
Vandross was nominated for best new artist at the 1982 ceremony, but lost to Scottish pop singer Sheena Easton (who got off to a faster start, with a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, “Morning Train (Nine to Five),” and another top five hit with the Oscar-nominated James Bond theme “For Your Eyes Only”). More surprisingly, Vandross was nominated for best R&B vocal performance six times before he finally won in that category. That’s striking because Vandross is regarded as one of the premier R&B male vocalists of his time, and of all time.
Vandross, who suffered a severe stroke in 2003 and died in 2005 at age 54, won four Grammys during his lifetime. He won four more in the year following his death, including song of the year for “Dance With My Father,” which he co-wrote with Richard Marx.
Vandross isn’t the only R&B veteran who had to wait a good long while to finally win a Grammy. Gaye, who both wrote and recorded the original version of “If This World Were Mine,” had to wait even longer (15 years from the time of his first nomination) to win his first Grammys in 1983. His Grammy track record stood at 0-8 before he finally won best R&B vocal performance, male for his smash “Sexual Healing” and best R&B instrumental performance for an instrumental version that appeared on the B-side of that smash. Tragically, he was killed by his father less than 14 months after his belated double-Grammy triumph.
Vandross and Gaye have nothing on Lionel Richie, whose Grammy track record was a dismal 0-18 before he finally won best pop vocal performance, male, for “Truly,” also in 1983. Richie went on to win album of the year (for Can’t Slow Down) and song of the year (for “We Are the World,” a co-write with Michael Jackson), so we tend to think of him as Grammy royalty, but he had to wait a long while to be admitted to the club.
Lamar’s “Squabble Up” is also a strong candidate for Grammy nods in marquee categories. If either “Luther” or “Squabble Up” wins record or song of the year, coming on the heels of his wins in both categories on Feb. 2 with “Not Like Us,” Lamar would make Grammy history. He would become the fourth artist to win back-to-back Grammys for record of the year (following Roberta Flack, U2 and Billie Eilish), and only the second songwriter to win back-to-back Grammys for song of the year (following Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II, who won for co-writing H.E.R.’s “I Can’t Breathe” in 2021 and Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open” the following year).
The nominations for the 68th annual Grammy Awards are expected in November. The ceremony is expected in February 2026.
ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” rebounds for a record-extending 18th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart. The collaboration first inhabited the penthouse in November 2024.
Meanwhile, Lady Gaga and Mars’ “Die With a Smile” scores a 13th week atop the Billboard Global 200 chart, dating to its first frame at No. 1 last September.
Plus, Playboi Carti debuts two songs in the Global 200’s top 10 and one in the Global Excl. U.S. top 10 and Chappell Roan’s “The Giver” arrives in the Global 200’s top tier.
Trending on Billboard
The Billboard Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts, which began in September 2020, rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by Luminate. The Global 200 is inclusive of worldwide data and the Global Excl. U.S. chart comprises data from territories excluding the United States.
Chart ranks are based on a weighted formula incorporating official-only streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of audio and video music services, as well as download sales, the latter of which reflect purchases from full-service digital music retailers from around the world, with sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites excluded from the charts’ calculations.
“APT.” rises from No. 2 on Global Excl. U.S. with 76.7 million streams (down 3% week-over-week) and 6,000 sold (down 12%) outside the U.S. March 14-20.
“Die With a Smile” drops to No. 2 after 11 weeks atop Global Excl. U.S. beginning last September; Doechii’s “Anxiety” jumps 7-3 for a new high; JENNIE’s “like JENNIE” backtracks to No. 4 from its No. 3 best; and Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” falls 4-5, after three weeks on top in August.
Playboi Carti’s “Evil J0rdan” debuts at No. 6 on Global Excl. U.S., led by 36.8 million streams outside the U.S. The rapper adds his fourth top 10 on the chart.
“Die With a Smile” continues atop the Global 200 with 102.1 million streams (down 12%) and 8,000 (down 19%) worldwide. At 13 weeks, the song ties for the third-longest No. 1 run since the chart began, matching Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers.” The only hits to lead longer: Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” (19 weeks) and Harry Styles’ “As It Was” (15).
Notably, “Die With a Smile” has drawn more than 100 million streams worldwide each week since the Global 200 chart dated Sept. 14, upping its record total on the latest list to 29 such weeks.
“APT.” holds at No. 2 on the Global 200, following 12 weeks at No. 1 starting in November, and Doechii’s “Anxiety” ascends 6-3 for a new best.
Playboi Carti’s “Evil J0rdan” and “Rather Lie,” featuring The Weeknd, debut at Nos. 4 and 6 on the Global 200 with 67.1 million and 54.1 million U.S. streams worldwide, respectively. Playboi Carti pushes his career count to six top 10s on the chart and The Weeknd to 15.
Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther” descends to No. 5 from its No. 3 Global 200 high.
Plus, Chappell Roan’s country track “The Giver” moseys onto the Global 200 at No. 10 with 40 million streams and 8,000 sold worldwide March 14-20, following its March 13 release. The singer-songwriter earns her second top 10, after “Good Luck, Babe!” hit No. 5 in September.
The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated March 29, 2025) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, March 25. For both charts, the top 100 titles are available to all readers on Billboard.com, while the complete 200-title rankings are visible on Billboard Pro, Billboard’s subscription-based service. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
