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The Tony Awards, in partnership with Audience Rewards, Broadway’s loyalty program for theater fans, has announced the return of the Official Tony Awards Challenge game. Beginning at noon ET on Thursday (May 1), following the announcement of the 2025 Tony Award nominations, Broadway fans can participate in an interactive ballot-style game in which they try to predict the winners of the Tony Awards in each of the 26 categories. Fans will have a chance to win a number of prizes, including a Dream Week on Broadway that includes airfare, hotel and tickets to five Broadway shows of their choice.
This year, all entrants who complete a ballot will automatically receive 500 Audience Rewards ShowPoints, regardless of the number of correct guesses. That’s enough points to redeem for an orchestra seat to a Broadway show for as low as $36. To play, visit the Tony Awards Challenge’s website. Players must be Audience Rewards members to enter. The program is free to join.
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“Audience Rewards brings theater fans insider access to Broadway tickets and theater experiences all season long, with the Tony Awards Challenge as the exciting grand finale to a wonderful year,” Katie Dalton, executive vice president of Audience Rewards, said in a statement. “This is always a fan-favorite, and this year is even more exciting since participants will get points just for participating!”
“We’re so excited to partner with Audience Rewards once again for the Official Tony Awards Challenge, which is an amazing opportunity for Broadway fans to become part of the action,” said Jason Laks, president of The Broadway League and Heather Hitchens, president and CEO of the American Theatre Wing. “We hope that all theater lovers all over will participate in the Challenge and continue to support the wide array of incredible Broadway productions.”
By guessing all 26 categories correctly, one grand prize winner could receive a Dream Week on Broadway, including:
Roundtrip airfare for the winner and a guest to New York City
Seven days/six nights in the Tony Awards Terrace Suite at Sofitel New York
Tickets to five Broadway shows of the winner’s choice for that person and a guest
Tickets to the Museum of Broadway and a gift card for iconic Broadway eatery Sardi’s
In addition to the grand prize winner, the runner-up will receive 20,000 Audience Rewards ShowPoints redeemable for Broadway tickets, merchandise and exclusive experiences of their choice.
Hosted by Tony Award-winner Cynthia Erivo, the 78th Annual Tony Awards will return to Radio City Music Hall in New York City, broadcasting live to both coasts, Sunday, June 8 (8-11 p.m. ET/5-8 p.m. PT) on CBS, and streaming on Paramount+.
Audience Rewards is Broadway’s Official Loyalty Program, providing benefits and rewards for more than 3 million members. Free and easy to join, Audience Rewards allows ticket buyers to earn ShowPoints on every purchase, to be redeemed for free tickets, theater collectibles, unique experiences and more. Founded in 2008 by Broadway’s prominent theater owners, including Nederlander, Shubert and ATG, Audience Rewards has offered members first-access presales to more than 100 Broadway shows and 200 VIP experiences and events.
See below for rules and guidelines:
The Official Tony Awards Challenge, hosted by Audience Rewards in partnership with The Tony Awards, will begin on Thursday, May 1, at approximately 12 p.m. ET.
To play, entrants must either be pre-existing Audience Rewards members, or they can join the program for free to participate.
Players will guess/predict who they think will win in each of the 26 Tony categories. The grand prize for correctly guessing all 26 categories is the Dream Week on Broadway package.
Once players complete their ballot, they can adjust their predictions until 3 p.m. ET on Tony Sunday, June 8.
Submit your guesses online and then tune in to the Tony Awards live on Sunday, June 8 to see how many you guessed correctly!
Full terms and conditions are available at the Tony Awards Challenge site.
Kacey Musgraves is coming full circle with her new label deal, signing to the recently relaunched, Nashville-based Lost Highway Records. The eight-time Grammy winner was the final artist signed to the label in 2011. In 2012, Lost Highway was absorbed by Mercury Nashville as Musgraves was crafting her debut studio album Same Trailer, Different Park (which contained her breakthrough hit “Merry Go ‘Round”).
Now, she is the first artist signed to the revitalized label.
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Lost Highway’s revival was announced earlier this month, with former Thirty Tigers executive Robert Knotts and Universal Music Group Nashville (UMGN) executive Jake Gear serving as co-heads and executive vps of the resurrected label.
“Lost Highway was always a musical stable for artists who might be considered outliers or outlaws; those who live on the fringe,” Musgraves said in a statement. “In 2011, when other record labels questioned my songwriting and my more traditional country sound, Lost Highway believed in me, signing me to my first label deal and helped me take my music around the world. That journey has now come full circle in such a special way with John Janick and Interscope and I’m deeply honored to be able to once again call Lost Highway my musical home.”
Musgraves is celebrating the label deal with Lost Highway Records by releasing her interpretation of the label’s namesake song, the Leon Payne-written “Lost Highway,” which Hank Williams covered in 1949.
John Janick, chairman/CEO, Interscope Capitol and IGA, said in a statement, “Kacey exemplifies the kind of culture- shifting, left-of-center artists that Lost Highway has always been known for. Given the close relationship she’s had with both Lost Highway and Interscope, it seemed only natural for her to be the first artist signed in this new chapter.”
Music exec Luke Lewis, who founded Lost Highway in 2000 and signed Musgraves in 2011, said in a statement: “For 20 years, my job was to run Mercury and MCA labels, which were primarily mainstream country endeavors. The last 10 years of my time there were passionately dedicated to starting and leading Lost Highway, which was the most rewarding time of my entire career. The label went on to cultivate some of the greatest singer/songwriters I have had the honor to work with, and I am extremely proud to have helped them further their amazing musical journeys. I am beyond grateful that this very special label is now in the hands of John Janick, Robert Knotts, Jake Gear and the Interscope team, and I am certain Lost Highway will have an incredible second inning.”
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Source: Alex Slitz / Getty / Beyoncé / Blue Ivy
The Cowboy Carter Tour has officially kicked off, and Beyoncé’s daughters did something no one else on this planet can do: steal the show from their mother.
Rumi made her tour debut during night one of the Cowboy Carter tour, on Monday night (April 28) in Los Angeles, joining her older sister, Blue Ivy Carter, and her mom.
Since their birth, Rumi, along with her twin brother, Sir, have been understandably heavily guarded by their two ridiculously famous parents, only making rare appearances. But like her older sibling, Rumi has been featured on a Beyoncé record, lending her voice on the track “Protector” off Yoncé’s latest project, Act II: Cowboy Carter.
It was a pleasant surprise when Rumi took the stage while her mom performed the song. Wearing a sparkly gold feather dress and matching cowboy boots, Rumi had a large grin on her face as she waved to the crowd, giving her mom several hugs that melted the global superstar’s heart.
Of course, like her mom, Rumi knows how to command a stage, striking a pose with her arms crossed over her chest as her big sister, flanked by Beyoncé’s dancers, performs a dance routine.
In another moment that definitely earned a collective “awwwwww” from those in attendance and on social media, Rumi joined her mom and 13-year-old sister for a warm embrace.
Blue Ivy Also Has The Internet Buzzing
Not to be outdone, Blue Ivy has also been receiving plenty of praise, especially since she continues to dance and her skills have improved immensely since joining her mother on tour during performances.
She even has a solo during her mom’s performance of “Déjà Vu.”
We love to see it, and so does social media, which has been buzzing since Monday when the clips of Rumi and Blue Ivy hit timelines.
You can see more reactions in the gallery below.
Eric Church is already gearing up for the release of his new album, Evangeline vs. The Machine on May 2, but this fall he will take that new project on the road when he launches his Free the Machine Tour, with 22 arena shows starting Sept. 12. Joining Church on varying dates on the tour […]
Riding a hot streak that has already established her among 2025’s buzziest names, Doechii lands a historic win on Billboard’s Rhythmic Airplay chart as the first artist to send her first three charting titles as a lead artist to No. 1 on the radio ranking.
The feat comes as “Anxiety” storms 6-1 to crown the list dated May 3 and was the most played song on U.S. panel-contributing rhythmic radio stations in the tracking week of April 18-24, according to Luminate, a 20% surge from the prior week. Thanks to the boon, “Anxiety” wins the week’s Greatest Gainer award, given to the song with the largest increase in play count.
Doechii, Billboard’s 2025 Woman of the Year recipient, traces her Rhythmic Airplay achievement to her first No. 1, the one-week champ “What It Is (Block Boy),” featuring Kodak Black, in June 2023. She returned to the summit in March with “Denial Is a River,” which reigned for three weeks, before “Anxiety” completed her third trek to the top spot. As noted, the trio makes Doechii the first act to send her first three entries as a lead artist to No. 1 in the 32-year history of the Rhythmic Airplay chart.
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Expanding to include lead and featured credits, Doechii is the third act in the overall club. There, she joins Ashanti, whose first two No. 1s were through featured slots on Ja Rule’s “Always on Time” and Fat Joe’s “What’s Luv?,” before her own chart-topping “Foolish,” all in 2002. The next year, Beyoncé inaugurated her solo career with three Rhythmic Airplay champs — a featured slot on Jay-Z’s “’03 Bonnie and Clyde,” and her own “Crazy in Love,” featuring Jay-Z, and “Baby Boy,” featuring Sean Paul.
Beyond the three aforementioned No. 1s, Doechii has one other Rhythmic Airplay entry in her account, a featured slot on Sleepy Hallow’s “A N X I E T Y,” which reached No. 31 in February. That track, from 2019, received a second wind thanks to TikTok-fueled virality, that in turn sparked Doechii’s own “Anxiety” single’s release.
Elsewhere, “Anxiety” leaps 10-5 on the Pop Airplay chart with a 21% rally in weekly plays and pushes 15-11 on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart (up 14%), and even debuts on the Latin Airplay chart at No. 50. From the developments at pop, rhythmic and R&B/hip-hop and Latin sectors, “Anxiety” explodes 9-3 on the all-genre Radio Songs chart to 45.9 million in all-format audience for the week, a 24% improvement from 37.1 million in the week prior, and enough to win the Greatest Gainer prize.
“Anxiety,” initially a standalone single, was added to the digital and streaming editions of Doechii’s Grammy Award-winning mixtape, Alligator Bites Never Heal, in March. The hit single’s inclusion has helped the project break barriers of its own, including its first time in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 this week.
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If you’re itching for live music, there’s no place better than Las Vegas. From iconic residencies to revolutionary acts at the Sphere, concerts in Sin City have never been more exciting. If you’re looking for even more shows, the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, Curio Collection by Hilton offers great opportunities to see your favorite artists without leaving the resort. With its acclaimed 4,500-person theater, a more intimate 24 Oxford venue and an outdoor Event Lawn, Virgin Hotel is staking its claim as the best stay for music fans in Las Vegas.
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First up, the Theater is a large 4,500-person venue that has been updated with bars, luxury suites and multiple VIP lounges for a more upscale feel. Shows can range from big country acts such as Grammy Award-winning artist Sturgil Simpson, to electrifying EDM shows from LSD DREAM and CloZee, to an Australian Pink Floyd cover band. There’s plenty of both legendary and groundbreaking artists gracing the hotel stage giving customers a deep list of shows to choose from.
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For a more intimate feeling, the 24 Oxford venue is another great option. Paying homage to Virgin Records’ humble beginnings on Oxford Street, this smaller venue spotlights artists on the rise. Dance the night away with DJ Prince and a slew of Afrobeats shows, relive your Hot Topic era with Emo Night, or slow things down with indie rock band Late Night Drive Home. If you’re looking to experience and discover more cutting-edge music, the 24 Oxford is for you.
Lastly, there’s the Event Lawn. Partly like you’re at Coachella at this outdoor 1,800-person venue that features firepits, birdcage seating, shrubbery and block walls that separate the space from the pool and restaurant area. On par with the other venues, the Event Lawn features a versatile lineup of musical acts including many early 2000s pop acts including Sugar Ray, LFO and Chris Kirkpatrick from *NSYNC. There’s also an electrifying Broadway show for Rock of Ages, performing covers of many hits that helped define the ‘80s.
At Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, Curio Collection by Hilton, there’s something for every kind of music lover, and if that weren’t enough, the hotel is just a mile from The Strip for even more “what happens in Vegas” moments. On top of that, the hotel showers guests with many amenities, including a spa, outdoor pools, 24-hour gaming and a foodie’s paradise of restaurants. If you’re planning your next desert getaway, book a room at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, Curio Collection by Hilton here.
CeCe Winans banks her fourth No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart as “Come Jesus Come” climbs three spots to No. 1 on the survey dated May 3. The song completes a record 58-week journey to No. 1. It surpasses Ricky Dillard & New G’s “Amazing,” which took 47 frames to reach the summit […]
Brandon Lake dominates Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart for a 20th week, on the list dated May 3, with “Hard Fought Hallelujah.”
The song initially hit No. 1 upon its debut in November, becoming Lake’s sixth leader. A remix was released on Feb. 7 adding Jelly Roll. On April 20, the pair performed the song on ABC’s American Idol. It surged by 52% to 9.1 million official U.S. streams April 18-24, according to Luminate. It also bounded by 204% to 9,000 downloads sold.
“Hard Fought Hallelujah” is the 10th hit to top Hot Christian Songs for 20 weeks or more, dating to the chart’s 2003 start. Lake is the only act with three of those elite leaders:
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132 weeks at No. 1, “You Say,” Lauren Daigle, beginning July 28, 2018
61, “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail),” Hillsong UNITED, Dec. 7, 2013
37, “What a Beautiful Name,” Hillsong Worship, Feb. 25, 2017
31, “Praise,” Elevation Worship feat. Brandon Lake, Chris Brown & Chandler Moore, March 16, 2024
28, “Gratitude,” Brandon Lake, Feb. 4, 2023
26, “Something in the Water,” Carrie Underwood, Oct. 18, 2014
24, “In Jesus Name (God of Possible),” Katy Nichole, March 26, 2022
23, “Word of God Speak,” MercyMe, Aug. 16, 2003
20, “Hard Fought Hallelujah,” Brandon Lake, Nov. 23, 2024
20, “Thank God I Do,” Lauren Daigle, May 20, 2023
Lake authored “Hard Fought Hallelujah” with Chris Brown of Elevation Worship, Steven Furtick, Benjamin Hastings and Rodrick Simmons, with Jelly Roll also now listed among its writers. It was produced by Micah Nichols.
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The song concurrently adds a 20th week at No. 1 on Christian Streaming Songs and a 15th frame atop Christian Digital Song Sales. On Christian Airplay, it rises 4-2 for a new best (3.6 million in audience, up 2%).
“Hard Fought Hallelujah” also becomes Lake’s first top 40 hit on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, jumping 63-40. It marked his first entry on the chart in November.
Crawford’s First No. 1
Nashville-based singer-songwriter Leanna Crawford, originally from Stanwood, Wash., earns her first No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian Airplay chart with “Still Waters (Psalm 23).” The song ascends a spot via 3.6 million impressions in the tracking week.
Crawford co-penned the single with Jonathan Gamble and Justin Richards. It’s from her same- named LP, which arrived as her first Top Christian Albums entry, at its No. 7 best, last August.
Crawford previously peaked at a No. 14 Christian Airplay high with her Seph Schlueter duet, “We Sing (Joy to the World),” this past holiday season. She has also hit the chart’s top 20 with “Mean Girls” (No. 20, April 2021).
Skaters who have dreamed of nosebone kickflipping the curb in front of the El Rey Theater or landing a 360 Varial McTwist under the venue’s iconic marquee can now live out that dream on Tony Hawk‘s Pro Skater 3 + 4. Both games are set to drop on July 11, according to game maker Activision Publishing, Inc. […]
Global Citizen announced additional details on Wednesday (April 30) about the first Latin American edition of its signature event, Global Citizen Festival: Amazonia. Revealed during the Global Citizen NOW summit in New York, the world’s leading international organization advocating for an end to extreme poverty said the inaugural Amazonia show will take place on Nov. 1 at Estádio Olímpico do Pará (aka Mangueirão) in Belém, Brazil.
The show will feature sets from Brazilian superstar headliners Anitta and Seu Jorge, as well as Belém-bred singer Gaby Amarantos, as well as speakers including indigenous leaders Chief Raoni Metuktire and a special guest performance from Coldplay‘s Chris Martin.
Organizers said in a press release the event will focus on “amplifying the voices of indigenous peoples and local communities in the Amazon rainforest” and aim to raise $1 billion to protect, restore and rewild the Amazon rainforest.
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Free tickets to Global Citizen Festival: Amazonia can be earned exclusively for the people of Belém and Pará State in Brazil by taking action on the Global Citizen app or its website. Tickets are also be available by sending a WhatsApp message to +55 (11) 4040-7099 demanding action to end deforestation and support communities on the frontlines of climate impact. The show will be broadcast for free across Brazil on Globo’s platforms.
In an effort to make sure tickets get into the hands of local Pará State residents, including ones without internet or smartphone access, tickets will also be available to people who participate in community volunteering activities in Belém and Pará State, including tree planting, riverbank cleanups and other environmental service projects.
According to Amazonconservation.org, the Amazon — often referred to as the “lungs of the world” — is getting closer to its “tipping point,” when it will no longer be able to generate its own rainfall and support its rainforest ecosystems. Quickly approaching the tipping point of 20%-25% of deforestation, experts say if that point is passed, it could turn the planet’s largest rainforest into a dry grassland.
“In our visits to the Amazon and conversations with Indigenous leaders and community elders, Global Citizen has heard their call, and we are honored to accept their invitation to partner with their communities,” said Michael Sheldrick, co-founder and chief policy, impact and government relations officer for Global Citizen, in a statement. “We acknowledge our responsibility to listen, learn, stand alongside, and amplify — as loudly as we can — both the voices and the urgent needs of Indigenous and local communities. That’s what the Global Citizen Festival: Amazonia campaign is all about. Not only are we laser focused on building a global coalition to raise $1 billion for the rainforest’s preservation, but we are dedicating our advocacy, energy and platforms to centering and amplifying these powerful calls to action, culminating on our festival stage on November 1st to ensure their voices cannot be ignored.”
Organizers pledge that given the event’s efforts to preserve the natural environment in the host nation, the show will be one of the most sustainable, low-impact large-scale events ever in South America. Among the mitigation efforts on tap are a mobile, rechargeable battery-powered stage using solar generation that will be made available to other events in Brazil to reduce their energy impact, as well as a dramatic reduction in waste through compostable packaging, no single-use plastics and the local donation of excess food.
“It is an immense joy to be part of Global Citizen Festival: Amazonia, which is taking place in my homeland, Belém,” added singer Amarantos. “This event is much more than music; it is a global call to protect and value the Amazon, its biodiversity and the people who live here. As an artist from the Amazon, I feel both the responsibility and the pride of bringing the voice of my region to the world, showing how urgent it is to care for our forest, our culture, and our communities. The Amazon is a source of life, resilience and hope. Participating in this collective movement is an important step toward the future we want, where development and preservation go hand in hand. I invite everyone to join in this vital struggle for climate justice and respect for Indigenous and traditional peoples.”
