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Paul McCartney will contribute a ‘silent’ track to a compilation album that is protesting the U.K. government’s recent changes to copyright law.
The LP Is This What We Want? was first released digitally in February and was co-signed by over a thousand U.K. artists. The LP runs for 47 minutes, and features the silence of an empty recording studio in order to highlight the need for human musicians in the age of artificial intelligence. The album’s track listing spells out the message: “The British government must not legalize music theft to benefit AI companies.”
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Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, Billy Ocean, Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien, and more were all credited as ‘co-writers’ of the LP. Upon release, it reached No. 38 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart.
McCartney’s contribution will appear as a bonus track to the physical edition of the LP, which will be released on Dec. 8 via record label The state51 Conspiracy. The vinyl is available for pre-order here, with all profits from sales to be donated to the musicians’ charity Help Musicians.
It’s not the first time that McCartney has protested against the U.K. government’s controversial approach to copyright law in the era of artificial intelligence. In May, McCartney was among 400 British musicians alongside Elton John, Dua Lipa, and Coldplay, to sign an open letter calling on U.K. prime minister Sir Keir Starmer to update copyright laws to protect their work from AI training models. They were backed by industry heavyweights Sir Lucian Grainge (Universal Music Group CEO), Jason Iley MBE (Sony Music UK CEO), and Dickon Stainer (Universal Music UK CEO) who also signed the letter.
The U.K. government proposed an ‘opt out’ approach for rightsholders in relation to their work being used to train artificial intelligence models. Critics say that the burden should not fall on artists to approve or deny tech companies the use their material, and that ‘opt out’ models are unenforceable.
During the summer, the U.K. government was involved in a ‘ping pong’ debacle whereby amendments to the Data (Use and Access) Bill proposed by the House of Lords were rejected five times. The amendments would have given rightsholders visibility over when their work was being used against their wishes by AI companies. The bill eventually passed and received Royal Assent in late June, and is expected to be be phased into law by mid-2026.
Ed Newton-Rex, the organizer of the album, said: “The government must commit to not handing the life’s work of the country’s musicians to AI companies for free. Doing so would be hugely damaging to our world-leading creative industries, and is totally unnecessary, only benefiting overseas tech giants. It should listen to Paul McCartney and the 1,000 other musicians who took part in this album, and resist calls to legalize music theft from the big tech lobby.”
Trending on Billboard
Deftones will return to Australia and New Zealand in 2026 for their first arena tour in nearly a decade, bringing Interpol and Ecca Vandal along for the ride.
The alt-rock band will hit the region in May for a run of five arena shows. The tour kicks off with back-to-back nights at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena on May 2–3, then heads to Brisbane Entertainment Centre on May 6 and Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on May 9–10, before wrapping at Auckland’s Spark Arena on May 13.
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It marks Deftones’ first Australia and New Zealand tour in almost 10 years, underlining how rare a full-scale run from the band has become in the region. All shows will feature Interpol as special guests, with Melbourne artist Ecca Vandal opening.
Interpol’s inclusion brings a stack of indie-rock staples — from 2000s breakthrough “Obstacle 1” and “Evil” to songs from more recent albums — while Ecca Vandal has earned a reputation at home for fusing punk, hip-hop and electronic influences into high-energy sets.
The tour comes on the heels of Private Music, Deftones’ 10th studio album, released earlier this year. The set debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and bowed at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart, according to Billboard’s Chart Beat coverage, giving the band another top-tier rock debut after Diamond Eyes, Gore and Ohms all opened in the top 10.
Private Music also extended their streak on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart, where the band has now logged multiple No. 1 entries. Across their career, Deftones have become one of heavy music’s most enduring crossover acts, with 2000’s White Pony earning a Grammy win and later albums like Diamond Eyes (No. 6), Koi No Yokan (No. 11), Gore (No. 2) and Ohms (No. 5) all landing high on the Billboard 200.
The general on-sale tickets go live Nov. 21, with various presales — including artist, promoter and venue offers — rolling out earlier that week.
Deftones 2026 Australia & New Zealand Tour DatesWith Interpol and Ecca Vandal
May 2 – Sydney, Qudos Bank Arena
May 3 – Sydney, Qudos Bank Arena
May 6 – Brisbane, Brisbane Entertainment Centre
May 9 – Melbourne, Rod Laver Arena
May 10 – Melbourne, Rod Laver Arena
May 13 – Auckland, Spark Arena
Trending on Billboard
Reneé Rapp is bringing her Bite Me era to Australia, locking in her first headline shows down under to bookend her AO Live debut at the Australian Open 2026.
Before her AO Live debut in Melbourne, Rapp will headline two exclusive Australian dates on her Bite Me Tour. She’ll play Brisbane’s Riverstage on Jan. 27, 2026, then Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion on Jan. 29, marking her first standalone shows in the country, ahead of her AO Live Presents: Reneé Rapp at Melbourne Park’s John Cain Arena on Jan. 31, prior to the Australian Open women’s final.
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The set is part of the AO Live concert series, where she joins a 2026 bill that also features The Kid LAROI, Spacey Jane, The Veronicas, SOFI TUKKER and Peggy Gou.
According to Ticketmaster, Mastercard cardholders and fans with access to the artist presale can jump in from Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 9 a.m. local time, followed by a Live Nation presale on Thursday, Nov. 20, at 10 a.m. General on-sale begins Friday, Nov. 21, at 10 a.m. All shows are mobile-ticket only, with a limit of 10 tickets per customer per show.
The Australian run extends Rapp’s busy Bite Me campaign. The album, released Aug. 1, 2025, became her first top 10 entry on the Billboard 200, where it debuted in the top three, and earned her first U.K. No. 1 album on the Official Albums Chart.
The project followed her 2023 debut Snow Angel, which reached No. 44 on the Billboard 200 and scored the biggest first week for a debut album by a female artist that year, helping establish Rapp as a rising pop force beyond her theater and TV fanbase.
Rapp has been touring heavily behind Bite Me across North America in 2025, with the trek scheduled to continue through Europe in March 2026 following her rescheduled U.S. dates this November after a short illness-related postponement.
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Dom Dolla has made history as the inaugural recipient of ARIA’s new Global Impact Award presented by Spotify, recognising his breakout success on the global dance circuit and his role in flying the flag for Australian electronic music abroad.
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The Australian Recording Industry Association announced the new category on Nov. 17, ahead of the 2025 ARIA Awards, where the Melbourne-raised DJ, producer and songwriter will receive the honor.
Announced Monday (Nov. 17), the new prize will debut at the 2025 ARIA Awards in partnership with Spotify, where the Australian DJ, producer and songwriter will be formally celebrated for a breakout period that’s pushed Australian dance music to new heights. The award is designed to sit alongside the ARIA Hall of Fame and is decided at the discretion of the ARIA board, spotlighting artists whose international achievements and cultural influence extend far beyond home soil. Aria
Over the past 12 months, Dom has stacked milestones across touring, charts and streaming. He earned his first Grammy nomination for best remixed recording at the 66th annual Grammy Awards for his rework of Gorillaz’s “New Gold,” featuring Tame Impala and Bootie Brown.
His 2024 national homecoming tour sold more than 170,000 tickets across four cities, marking the largest-ever run by an Australian electronic artist.
On the festival circuit, Dom has moved from late-night club slots to top lines at major global events, including Austin City Limits, Lollapalooza Chicago, Bonnaroo, Reading & Leeds and Creamfields, alongside a 10-week residency at Hï Ibiza, which has been billed as the world’s No. 1 club. He’s also set to take another leap at home with a headline show at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium on Dec. 20 — his first Australian stadium date and another first for a local electronic artist.
Streaming metrics tell a similar story. According to ARIA, Dom has amassed more than 1.5 billion streams globally, including over 450 million Spotify streams this year alone, and regularly pulls in eight-figure monthly listeners on the platform. On Billboard’s dance charts, his recent collaboration with Kid Cudi, “Forever,” debuted in the top 10 of Hot Dance/Electronic Songs in April, underlining his growing footprint in the U.S. market.
The ARIA Global Impact Award presented by Spotify will be handed out during the 2025 ARIA Awards ceremony, which streams live from 5 p.m. AEDT on Nov. 19 via Paramount+, with additional coverage across ARIA’s official social channels.
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SNL has a country hit in the making with “I Miss My Ex’s Dad,” a musical parody starring new cast members Ben Marshall and Tommy Brennan as a convincing country duo. The pair reminisce about relationships lost in a pre-taped sketch that aired Saturday night (Nov. 15) on the late-night comedy show’s latest episode, hosted by actor Glen Powell.
“You ever miss someone much you lose sight of yourself?” Brennan asks at the bar.
“You think about them all the time and you wonder if life will ever seem normal again,” adds Marshall, sitting on the hood of a pickup truck.
“Haven’t felt the same since you’ve been gone/ Everyone else just feels so wrong/ By now I thought I’d be over you/ At the bottom of this bottle, I’ll know what to do/ I don’t know what else to say/ I just wanna hear about your day/ I can’t stop thinking ‘bout what we had,” they sing, and then comes the kicker comes in: “Oh man, I miss my ex’s dad.”
Glen Powell and Kenan Thompson play the beloved dads who’ve inspired the country duet.
“Your socks, your Crocs/ You’re the ideal male with your ponytail,” vocalists Marshall and Brennan lament on the chorus, which has the guys admitting, “I don’t miss his daughter at all, which I know is bad/ I just miss my ex’s dad.”
“Your grill, your Buick/ You’re the ideal man with your cardigans,” they sing later on. “Don’t remember his daughter’s name, which I know is bad/ I just miss my ex’s dad.”
As it turns out, the feeling is mutual. “I wish her new boyfriend was dead,” the dads (Powell and Thompson) sing.
Watch SNL‘s “I Miss My Ex’s Dad” music sketch below. Making her Saturday Night Live debut, Olivia Dean appeared as the actual musical guest on this weekend’s episode, performing “Man I Need” and “Let Alone the One You Love.”
Trending on Billboard “Dream as One,” the new single from Miley Cyrus featured on the Avatar: Fire and Ash soundtrack, tops this week’s fan-voted music poll. Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (Nov. 14) on Billboard, choosing Cyrus’ latest track as their favorite new release. “Dream as One” launched during a week that also delivered […]
Rory Farrell, who hosts the New Rory & Mal podcast with Jamil “Mal” Clay, has found himself in the center of a weekend-long storm of controversy after old tweets resurfaced. Although Rory Farrell attempted to address the tweets in question, which some felt was not advisable, he apologized for his actions in a recent X Spaces event; however, fans aren’t letting up.
Rory Farrell has hosted New Rory & Mal for just over four years with Jamil “Mal” Clay after their highly publicized split with The Joe Budden Podcast. Farrell, 35, has enjoyed proximity to Black culture through his work in the music industry before becoming a broadcaster, and is also a notable producer and songwriter, which grants him wide access to artists.
However, Farrell, like many other young people, used X, formerly Twitter, to get off some of their most controversial takes and such. Even just a decade ago, the social media platform had seen its fair share of high-profile controversies and the inner thoughts of celebrities or media figures most aren’t privy to.
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The performers for the 2025 Thanksgiving Day NFL halftime shows have been announced. Post Malone, Jack White and Lil Jon are set to take the stage during the three games on Thursday (Nov. 27).
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Malone will perform at the Dallas Cowboys-Kansas City Chiefs game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. White will headline the Detroit Lions-Green Bay Packers matchup at Ford Field in Detroit, while Lil Jon will appear at the Baltimore Ravens-Cincinnati Bengals game at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
Posty shared the news in a joint Instagram post on Sunday (Nov. 16), featuring a video of himself in Cowboys gear driving a horned semi truck into Dallas.
“Our big secret’s out! The one and only @postmalone will ring in The Salvation Army’s famous #RedKettleKickoff at the Dallas Cowboys halftime show this Thanksgiving on CBS. Let’s make this a Texas-sized kickoff!” the caption read.
Malone added in the comments, “how bout them cowboys?!!”
In a separate statement, the “I Had Some Help” singer added, “I’m from Texas. I grew up a Cowboys fan and have been watching this halftime show for years. It’s a real honor to be part of the Red Kettle Kickoff with The Salvation Army and the Dallas Cowboys and help bring hope to so many people.”
Detroit native Jack White also announced his performance through Instagram on Sunday, sharing a post showing a blue vinyl album being printed, with the record’s circular label highlighting his halftime show appearance. “Hot off the press,” the caption read.
White’s announcement follows news that fellow Detroit artist Eminem, along with his longtime manager Paul Rosenberg, signed a multi-year partnership with the Lions to executive-produce the team’s Thanksgiving halftime show. Slim Shady and Rosenberg will consult on all aspects of the halftime show’s production and presentation, including talent selection, from 2025 through 2027.
Earlier in the week, it was confirmed that Lil Jon will perform during the Bengals-Ravens Thanksgiving night game. The rapper will also appear at the 99th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City earlier that day.
Check out Post Malone and Jack White’s Thanksgiving halftime show announcements below on Instagram.
Trending on Billboard
Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl spends a sixth consecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (dated Nov. 22). The set earned 110,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending Nov. 13 (down 8%), according to Luminate.
The Life of a Showgirl is only the second album in 2025 to spend its first six weeks at No. 1, following Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem (which spent its first eight weeks atop the list, of its total 12 at No. 1). Swift’s last album, The Tortured Poets Department, spent its first 12 weeks at No. 1 in 2024, of its total 17 weeks atop the list. Three of her albums have led for their first six chart weeks or more, starting with Folklore, which reigned for its first six weeks in 2020, of eight overall weeks at No. 1.
Also in the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200, Rosalía earns her first top 10 with the No. 4 debut of LUX, Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving hits a new peak as it rises 7-5 and YEONJUN’s debut solo album, NO LABELS PART 01, enters at No. 10.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new, Nov. 22, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (Nov. 18). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X and Instagram.
Of The Life of a Showgirl’s 110,000 equivalent album units earned in the latest tracking week, SEA units comprise 88,500 (down 10%, equaling 115.91 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks — it’s No. 1 on Top Streaming Albums for a sixth week), album sales comprise 19,000 (up 7%; it holds at No. 4 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise 2,500 (down 32%).
At Nos. 2 and 3 on the Billboard 200, Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem and the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack trade places as compared to a week ago. The former chart-toppers earned 76,000 equivalent album units (down 2%) and 75,000 units (down 11%), respectively.
Rosalía gets her first top 10 with the No. 4 debut of LUX, as it arrives with a personal-best week of 46,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 27,000 (equaling 34.49 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks — a career-high streaming week for the artist, as it debuts at No. 9 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 19,000 (her best sales week ever; it debuts at No. 4 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
Rosalía previously charted one album on the Billboard 200, 2022’s MOTOMAMI, which debuted and peaked at No. 33.
The new album was preceded by the single “Berghain” (with Björk and Yves Tumor), which climbed 21-16 on the most recently published Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart (dated Nov. 15). LUX’s first-week sales were aided by its availability across four different CD boxed sets (each including branded clothing and a copy of the CD) and two different vinyl LPs (one signed by Rosalía), along with a standard CD and digital download album. The physical editions of the album include three additional tracks as compared to the standard digital download and streaming edition.
Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving reaches a new peak on the Billboard 200 as it climbs 7-5 with 41,000 equivalent album units earned (up 11%).
Four former No. 1s follow Dean, as Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend is a non-mover at No. 6 (37,000 equivalent album units, down 5%), SZA’s SOS rises 8-7 (32,000, up 3%), Cardi B’s AM I THE DRAMA? ascends 10-8 (30,000, up 9%), and Wallen’s One Thing at a Time is stationary at No. 9 (nearly 30,000, up less than 1%).
TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s YEONJUN sees his debut project, NO LABELS PART 01, enter at No. 10 with 29,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 27,000 (it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 2,000 (equaling 3.24 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The set’s first-week sales were assisted by its availability across multiple CD iterations, each including collectible paper ephemera (some randomized), alongside a standard digital download edition.
TOMORROW X TOGETHER has charted a dozen entries on the Billboard 200, with seven reaching the top 10 and one of those, 2023’s The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION, reaching No. 1.
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.
Getty Images / Bill Clinton / Donald Trump / Jeffrey Epstein
One email in the Jeffrey Epstein files referencing “blowing Bubba” regarding Donald Trump has been the talk of the internet, but according to Epstein’s brother, it’s not what many think.
Social media has been on fire following the release of Jeffrey Epstein’s emails that mention Donald Trump and plenty of other high-profile individuals.
One email correspondence between the dead disgraced financier / convicted sex trafficker and his brother, Mark Epstein, has caught fire on social media.
Donald Trump, who still claims he didn’t have close ties to Epstein, calling the investigation a “hoax,” was mentioned a whopping 1500 times in the 20,000 documents released.
In one email from Epstein’s brother, Mark, it claims there are photos of Trump “blowing Bubba,” with many immediately thinking “Bubba” is none other than Bill Clinton, whose nickname is famously Bubba.
Speaking with Newsweek, Mark Epstein revealed that “Bubba” is not the former president, but didn’t provide the identity of “Bubba” or any other additional details.
Social Media Has Been Clowning Donald Trump About “Blowing Bubba”
Epstein debunking Trump and Clinton’s schenanigans comes after social media had a field day with the contents of the released email.
Orange Mussolini has not been able to wrap his head around the Epstein Files, which is looking like the one thing his supporters won’t turn a blind eye to.
Even House Republicans, including extreme MAGA loyalists like Marjorie Taylor Greene, are signaling they will join Democrats in voting for the full release of the files.
Greene has been leading the charge, and was also singled out by her orange lord and savior, who took back his support of Greene, promising to back someone to primary her.
Welp.
The Epstein Files are an issue that Trump will not be able to make go away.
You can see more reactions below.
