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It shouldn’t come as a surprise, but none of the artists who performed at Ozzy Osbourne‘s all-star final Back to the Beginning gig this summer were paid to be there. They did it for the love of the game, and their love of the late metal icon.
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Wife/manager Sharon Osbourne revealed the generosity of Ozzy’s peers in this week’s episode of The Osbournes podcast, the family’s first sit-down chat since Ozzy’s death on July 22 at 76 years old, just weeks after the historic gig. “We paid the cost of bringing everybody in, everybody out, accommodation, everything,” said Sharon about the all-day July 5 gig at Villa Park in Ozzy’s hometown of Birmingham, England that featured sets from Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer, Pantera, Alice in Chains Anthrax as well solo and Black Sabbath sets featuring Ozzy. “[And] no one got paid. Nobody asked for a penny. They gave their time, their efforts, everything for free. People were just, oh God, so generous.”
Sharon also clarified reports about how much the show raised for charity based on what the family said were erroneously inflated figures provided by the show’s musical director, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, in an Instagram post in which he claimed it would donate around $190 million to charities including the Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Acorn Children’s Hospital and Cure Parkinson’s.
Son Jack said there was an “awful lot of bulls–t that went out” about how much the concert raised for charity. Veteran manager Sharon added, “If one show could have raised… I mean, it was up to, like $190 million. It’s, like, any artist, just do one big show, film it and you can retire just on one show. No, it was nowhere near, and I wish that it was, but we are living in reality, in the real world.”
Sharon revealed that the show raised around $11 million for charity given the enormous cost of flying everyone in and out, putting them up and mounting the ambitious show that will be the subject of the upcoming 100-minute concert film Back to the Beginning: Ozzy’s Final Bow, which is slated for theatrical release early next year.
Watch the Osbournes discuss the generosity of the Back to the Beginning participants below.
Source: Elsa / Getty
Cardi B and Stefon Diggs have just welcomed their baby boy to the world.
News broke last night (Nov.13) during a Monday night game featuring Diggs and his new team, the New England Patriots. The NFL star had a great performance, and his team got the dub over the New York Jets.
The NY rapper, in a lengthy post, announced she recently delivered her baby, “My life has always been a combination of different chapters and different seasons. My last chapter was the beginning of a new season. Starting over is never easy, but it’s been so worth it! I brought new music and a new album to the world! A new baby into my world, and one more reason to be the best version of me, one more reason to love me more than anything else or anyone else, so I can continue giving my babies the love and life they deserve.”
Cardi also wasted no time showing off that her waist is still snatched. This is her fourth child and her first with her boo Stefon Diggs. The Bodak Yellow rapper also makes it clear that she’s only in competition with herself, saying, “This next chapter is Me vs. Me! It’s me against all odds, me against everything meant to get in my way. I’ve started prepping for tour, getting my body right, getting my mind right. There’s nothing that’s gonna stop me from giving you guys the performance of a lifetime!”
Fans are rooting for the Bronx queen, knowing she always backs her word with results.
Independent music company EMPIRE has announced a wave of key leadership moves across its publishing, commerce and Nashville divisions as the company celebrates its 15th anniversary.
Vinny Kumar has been promoted to president of EMPIRE Publishing, where he’ll continue overseeing global deals and strategy. Under Kumar’s leadership, EMPIRE Publishing has become a leading independent publisher, representing Grammy and Latin Grammy-nominated songwriters and earning recognition across ASCAP, BMI, and NMPA awards. The division debuted in Billboard’s Hot 100 Publisher Rankings Top 10 in 2024.
“We met nearly two decades ago and he’s been part of the foundation of what this company stands for,” EMPIRE founder and CEO Ghazi said of Kumar. “He will continue to lead with integrity and creativity, and his passion for music and strategic vision have helped elevate every facet of our publishing business.”
Vinny Kumar
EMPIRE Africa also launched its publishing arm under managing director Munyaradzi Chanetsa, with notable successes from writers behind Davido’s Grammy-nominated “Unavailable” and multiple Southern African hits.
Meanwhile, Matthew Maysonet has been elevated to senior vice president of commerce and streaming partnerships, leading a global team of nearly 20. Andrea Galicia moves up to senior director, while Goldie Harrison (formerly of UnitedMasters) and Daisy Moreira (a Def Jam veteran) join as directors in the division. The team will drive monetization and streaming strategies for EMPIRE’s diverse roster, including Latin and global acts.
Galicia, Harrison and Moreira
In Music City, EMPIRE Nashville added Bri Small as vice president of digital and Zak Waters as director of A&R. Small (ex-Warner Music Nashville) will lead digital engagement for Nashville artists, while songwriter and producer Waters will focus on talent discovery and creative development. Both hires underscore EMPIRE’s commitment to an artist-first, genre-fluid approach in one of the industry’s most competitive markets.
EMPIRE Nashville leader Jen Way praised Small for bringing “such a special energy and creativity to everything she does,” calling her the ideal person to guide the label’s digital strategy. She described Waters as a versatile creative with strong storytelling instincts who will “represent exactly where EMPIRE Nashville is headed—artist-first, genre-fluid, and creatively fearless.”
Bri Small (Credit: David Bradley) and Zak Waters (Credit: Zak Cassar)
Check out a full rundown of this week’s staffing news below.
Dee Hale (Sony Music Publishing)
Image Credit: Amy Allmand Photography
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Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
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This week: It’s Over and out for Summer Walker with the third and final album in her signature series, Kelsea Ballerini is taking stock of things with a new EP and Miley Cyrus rises from the ashes with a big soundtrack single.
Summer Walker, Finally Over It
It’s been a four-year wait — but Finally Over It is, well, finally here. The third and presumed final entry in R&B star Summer Walker’s Over It series, the follow-up to 2021’s Still Over It features 18 tracks spread over two discs, and follows a wedding theme — with the two discs titled “For Better” and “For Worse,” and the album art and visuals seeing Walker marrying an elderly white man, implying a hard exit from the world of dating and unsatisfying romantic relationships. The star-studded album features guests ranging from old collaborators Chris Brown, Bryson Tiller and 21 Savage to new friends Sailorr, Brent Faiyaz and Doja Cat, but Walker is arguably still best keeping it simple and solo, as on the unequivocal “No” and the wrenching “Situationship.”
Kelsea Ballerini, Mount Pleasant
Two years after her well-received Rolling Up the Welcome Mat EP — and one year after the full-length Patterns — country star Kelsea Ballerini is back playing the mini-album game with the six-track Mount Pleasant. The abbreviated release is meant “to capture a moment in time,” says Ballerini in a statement, with “six songs I’ve written throughout the summer, marking a chapter of heavy self-examination, longing and stepping further into who I am as a 32-year old woman.” The EP moves quickly but hits hard, with songs of jealousy, heartbreak and frustration written with Ballerini’s typically vivid detail and delivered with her usual bite and tenderness.
Miley Cyrus, “Dream as One”
Miley Cyrus has expressed a particular connection to the themes of the upcoming Avatar sequel Fire and Ash, after losing her Malibu home in the 2018 Woolsey Fire: “Having been personally affected by fire and being rebuilt from the ashes, this project holds profound meaning for me,” Cyrus shared on Instagram, thanking director James Cameron “for the opportunity to turn that experience into musical medicine.” She does so this week with the new ballad “Dream as One,” a stately anthem of love and endurance that refuses to ascribe the concept of “home” to any particular building or place, as Cyrus sings to her partner: “You are my home/ No matter where I go.”
Lewis Capaldi, Survive EP
It’s been a big moment for U.K. pop in the past couple months, with the global breakout of Olivia Dean, a big new RAYE. hit and the return earlier this week of Charli XCX, with two new songs from her upcoming soundtrack to Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights adaptation. Into this moment steps Lewis Capaldi, the formerly Billboard Hot 100-topping singer-songwriter and supreme balladeer — who took the better part of the last two years on a break from touring and recording, for the betterment of his mental health — with his four-track Survive EP. There’s no major swerves with the new release — “It’s…… songs,” was Capaldi’s helpful description of the EP on The Graham Norton Show — but it is rousing with its pervasive sense of perseverance, even through heartbreak on the climactic lighter-waver “Almost.”
Jessie Murph, Sex Hysteria (Deluxe)
July’s Sex Hysteria album marked something of a commercial breakthrough for Jessie Murph, making the top 10 of the Billboard 200 — helped by the success of breakout single “Blue Strips.” This week, the retro-minded 15-track set gets an eight-track bonus disc on the set’s official deluxe edition. The new tracks include the gently soulful and rueful “I Stay I Leave I Love I Lose,” the Amy Winehouse-like, hungover and heartbroken “Easy Sunday Living” and the previously released kiss-off “I’m Not There for You” — already another Hot 100 hit for Murph — and should get fans who’ve finally calmed down from the original Hysteria all good and bothered again.
Dominic Fike, “White Keys”
The always-buzzy Dominic Fike has a big weekend coming up, making his debut as one half of Geezer (alongside Kevin Abstract) at Tyler, The Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw festival. In advance of the performance, Fike today shares “White Keys,” a new-old song that was a formerly unofficially released fan favorite, produced by John Cunningham. “I had forgot about this song and the internet somehow dug it up for me,” Fike commented on the playfully shuffling, lightly forlorn mini-banger in an IG post announcing its release. Abstract showed up in that post’s comments to proclaim: “gay boy returns.”
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Like mother, like daughter. Mariah Carey is legendarily unafraid to frankly speak her mind and it seems the apple has not fallen far from the (Christmas) tree when it comes to 14-year-old daughter Monroe. In a rare comment about her dad Nick Cannon‘s 10 other children, Monroe took to Instagram Stories on Thursday (Nov. 13) to opine on her large blended family.
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“Clearing something up guys,” wrote Monroe according to People. “i only have ONE brother who is @moroccan.cannon. i do have other half siblings from my dad but they are all man many years younger than me!” Carey and Cannon are the parents of twins Monroe and Moroccan, who they welcomed in 2011, three years after their wedding.
The couple divorced in 2016 and since then Cannon has fathered 10 more children with five different women: sons Golden Sagon and Rise Messiah and daughter Powerful Queen with Brittany Bell, twins Zion Mixolydian and Zillion Heir and daughter Beautiful Zeppelin with Abby De La Rosa, son Legendary Love with Bre Tiesi, daughter Onyx Ice Cole with LaNisha Cole and two more with Alyssa Scott, daughter Halo Marie and son Zen, who died at five-months-old in 2021 from brain cancer.
Cannon recently opened up about fathering a dozen children on The Breakfast Club, where he spoke about his mental health journey and admitted to dealing with trauma after his split with Carey. When co-host Charlamagne the God asked if having 12 children was a response to that trauma, Cannon said it was.
“I’m learning that now, and it wasn’t like I was acting out,” Cannon said. “It was more of being careless, being frivolous with my process, because I could do it, because I had the money, because I had the access to whoever and however I wanted to move. Opposed to doing a mature thing and saying, ‘Hey, well, it probably makes more sense to do this.’ And then, obviously, life happens as well. So it wasn’t like, ‘Well, I’m gonna go have 12 kids.’ It was more about, like, ‘Yo, I’mma just live life and have fun and whatever happens, happens, I can handle it.’”
Now 45, Cannon said if he had thought things through a bit more and taken some time to work on himself, “things might’ve been a little different in certain scenarios.”
Trending on Billboard This is partner content. Billboard and State Farm joined forces at Latin Music Week to deliver unforgettable moments for fans and artists alike. From custom merch drops to interactive activations and live performances, the collaboration brought energy, connection, and community to Miami’s biggest celebration of Latin music. Thiago: I’m Thiago, I’m a […]
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Miley Cyrus brings the big screen drama on “Dream As One,” the singer’s just-released single from director James Cameron’s anticipated sequel Avatar: Fire and Ash. The soaring, emotional ballad was co-written by Cyrus, Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt and the film’s soundtrack composer, Simon Franglen, and in a tweet announcing its release on Friday morning (Nov. 14), Cyrus wrote, “Writing this song with Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt came straight from the heart. Every lyric remembers where we’ve been, reflects where we are, and holds hope for what’s ahead for all of us. It was an honor to create something so personal for a film that connects so deeply with people around the world.”
The passion and emotion she conjured for the third chapter in the eye-popping sci-fi series comes through from the very first lines of the song that will play over the end credits of the film: “Our love will never fade away/ We’re diamonds in the dark/ I put my head against your chest/ And listen to your heart,” Cyrus croons over a pulsing piano line.
And then she leans into the heart-tugging chorus of the song she also co-produced along with Wyatt and Ronson. “Even through the pain/ Even through the ashes in the sky/ Baby when we dream, we dream as one.”
Last month Cyrus teased the song in an Instagram while revealing her very personal connection to the lyrics and themes. “Having been personally affected by fire and being rebuilt from the ashes, this project holds profound meaning for me,” said the singer, whose Malibu home was destroyed in the 2018 Woolsey Fire in Los Angeles. “Thank you, Jim, for the opportunity to turn that experience into musical medicine. The film’s themes of unity, healing, and love resonate deeply within my soul, and to be even a small star in the universe the Avatar family has created is truly a dream come true.”
Not for nothing, but given her co-writers’ awards pedigree, Cyrus could end up on some hardware lists next year. Wyatt and Ronson shared the Academy Award for best original song for their work with Lady Gaga and Anthony Rossomando on the A Star Is Born single “Shallow” in 2019; they also won the best song written for visual media Grammy Award that year. Wyatt and Ronson were also nominated for a best original song Oscar in 2024 for the Barbie tune “I’m Just Ken.”
Cyrus knows her way around a rousing soundtrack song herself, having contributed the Golden Globe-nominated “Beautiful That Way” to 2024’s The Last Showgirl.
Avatar: Fire and Ash, the sequel to 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water, will hit theaters in the U.S. on Dec. 19
Listen to “Dream as One” and see Cyrus’ tweet announcing the song below.
“Even through the flames. Even through the ashes in the sky. When we dream, we dream as one.”Writing this song with Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt came straight from the heart. Every lyric remembers where we’ve been, reflects where we are, and holds hope for what’s ahead for all… pic.twitter.com/4RhWfIDSql— Miley Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) November 14, 2025
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After a meteoric rise, and a years-long break to recalibrate and recover, Lewis Capaldi is very much back. Surviving, thriving.
Today, Nov. 14, the Scottish singer and songwriter returns with the four-track Survive EP, led by the title track, a song that addresses his ordeals with illness and life in the spotlight.
Survive is the followup to the 2023 LP Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent, which was sent to No. 1 in the U.K. for three weeks and spawned three U.K. chart-leading singles in “Pointless,” “Wish You The Best” and “Forget Me”.
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Capaldi’s debut album from 2019, Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent, propelled him to superstar status. Along the way, it collected 10 weeks at No. 1 in the U.K., where it was confirmed as the biggest selling U.K album for both 2019 and 2020, and yielded “Someone You Loved,” a No. 1 smash on both sides of the Atlantic, and around the globe.
In November 2022, Lewis was crowned by the Official Charts Company as the “king of streaming” as “Someone You Loved had overtaken Ed Sheeran’s “Shape Of You” as the U.K.’s most streamed song in history.
It hasn’t all been fun and games.
The following year welcomed the global Netflix release of Lewis Capaldi: How I’m Feeling Now, a Grammy Award-nominated documentary, and saw Capaldi step away from the spotlight to focus on his physical and mental health. He made a roaring return with a surprise set at Glastonbury Festival 2025, followed by the release of “Survive.”
With his comeback, he “wanted to have a song come out that wasn’t… a lot of my music is woe is me, and a bit boo-hoo, and sad,” he told ABC News’ Stephanie Ramos in July. “I wanted something that was less pathetic. Let’s put it that way. I wanted to have something that was more triumphant than previous offerings. This one is about getting through stuff, surviving.”
Expect to hear the new song, and those modern-day classics, when he makes the long haul for arena shows in New Zealand later this month, and early December, his first visit to Australasia since Falls Festival in 2019/20, and his Auckland Town Hall performance in 2019. Australia dates will follow, all of which are sold out.
Stream Survive below.
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Time flies at a frightening pace. Need a reminder? 5 Seconds of Summer’s self-titled debut is more than a decade old.
Those four, fresh-faced Sydney lads dropped 5 Seconds of Summer back in 2014, the first in a streak of three No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200. After Sounds Good Feels Good (2015), and Youngblood (2018) went to the penthouse, 5SOS etched their name in the record books, as the first Australian act with three No. 1 albums on the all-genres weekly chart and the only band (not vocal group) to have their first three studio albums debut at the top.
5 Seconds of Summer is still hot. High school mates Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford, Calum Hood and Ashton Irwin return today (Nov. 14) with the release of Everyone’s A Star! (via Republic Records), 5SOS’ sixth studio album.
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Recorded in Los Angeles and Nashville, the new record, with its bright, uptempo vibe, was built “from a really genuine place,” reads a statement from the band. “We weren’t chasing a sound or a trend, we were chasing what felt exciting to us. Every track feels alive in a way that reminds us of why we started making music in the first place. Everyone’s A Star! is the most ‘us’ we’ve ever sounded, and we’re so proud to share it with everyone who’s been part of this journey.”
An extensive list of producers and collaborators joined in for the ride, including Jason Evigan (Maroon 5, Benson Boone, Papa Roach, Rüfüs Du Sol), Julian Bunetta and John Ryan (Sabrina Carpenter, Teddy Swims), and director Frank Borin, who helmed the music video for “Telephone Busy,” which also arrives today.
Speaking with Billboard, Hemmings said the new collection was like a “180 [degree] flip” from their “introspective… ethereal” self-titled 2022 studio album. Every time they’d soak up something “crazy or different” in the studio, they went for it. “It feels like our best work and it feels like every album before has been leading up to it.”
The Aussies will kick off their Everyone’s A Star! Tour in March 2026, initially with dates in the U.K. and Ireland, then weeks-long run across the European continent. U.S. concerts will follow in May, and include two shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden, June 13 and 14.
Career album sales, according to Republic, top 18 million, with over 10 billion streams, and more than six million tickets shifted worldwide. 5SOS has landed 15 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, with a best of No. 7 for 2018’s “Youngblood.” All told, six 5SOS titles have cracked the top 10 on the Billboard 200, including those three leaders.
Stream Everyone’s A Star! Below.
5 Seconds of Summer’s 2026 North America Tour
May 29 – Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, CT
May 31 – Giant Center, Hershey, PA
June 2 – TD Coliseum, Hamilton, ON
June 3 – Bell Centre, Montreal, QC
June 5 – TD Garden, Boston, MA
June 7 – CFG Bank Arena, Baltimore, MD
June 9 – Rocket Arena, Cleveland, OH
June 11 – PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, PA
June 13 – Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
June 14 – Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
June 16 – State Farm Arena, Atlanta, GA
June 17 – Kia Center, Orlando, FL
June 19 – Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN
June 21 – Moody Center, Austin, TX
June 23 – Dickies Arena, Fort Worth, TX
June 26 – Desert Diamond Arena, Glendale, AZ
June 27 – Honda Center, Anaheim, CA
June 30 – Moda Center, Portland, OR
July 2 – Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, WA
July 4 – Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC
July 7 – Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
July 9 – Viejas Arena, San Diego, CA
July 11 – Kia Forum, Los Angeles, CA
July 22 – Mystic Lake Amphitheater, Shakopee, MN
July 24 – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, St. Louis, MO
July 25 – Ruoff Music Center, Noblesville, IN
July 27 – Riverbend Music Center, Cincinnati, OH
July 29 – Acrisure Amphitheater, Grand Rapids, MI
Aug. 5 – Budweiser Stage, Toronto, ON
Aug. 6 – Pine Knob Music Theatre, Clarkston, MI
Aug. 8 – Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Camden, NJ
Aug. 9 – Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront, Richmond, VA
Aug. 12 – Hard Rock Live, Hollywood, FL
Aug. 14 – Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek, Raleigh, NC
Aug. 15 – PNC Music Pavilion, Charlotte, NC
Aug. 18 – Walmart AMP, Rogers, AR
Aug. 20 – Kansas City, MO
Aug. 22 – Junkyard, Denver, CO
Aug. 26 – Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre, Salt Lake City, UT
Aug. 28 – Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA
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Taylor Swift hits the ARIA Charts for six, as the U.S. pop star extends her reign with The Life Of A Showgirl (via Republic/Universal) and its lead single, “The Fate Of Ophelia.”
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As Swift’s latest album completes its sixth week atop the national albums tally, published Friday, Nov. 14, Paul Kelly bags the top new release with Seventy (EMI), his 28th studio album. Seventy opens at No. 2 on the ARIA Chart.
The 70-year-old Kelly is one of Australia’s most-cherished singer-songwriters, boasting a collection of 16 ARIA Awards, induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame (in 1997), and four No. 1 albums with Life Is Fine (No. 1 for one week in 2017), Nature (one week in 2018), Songs From The South: 1985-2019 (one week in 2019), and Paul Kelly’s Christmas Train (one week in 2022).
Homegrown pop-punk band Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers makes a glorious top ten debut, with GLORY (Community Music), their second studio album. Hailing from Canberra, the four-piece snagged the Michael Gudinski Breakthrough Artist award at the 2024 ARIA Awards, after opening the ceremony with a performance, and cracked the ARIA top 10 with 2023’s I Love You (peaking at No. 6).
Spanish superstar Rosalia makes her first top 50 in Australia with Lux (Columbia/Sony), new at No. 15. Lux is already a hit, everywhere. Following its release, the collection accumulated 42.1 million streams in its first 24 hours, the biggest global tally by a female, Spanish-speaking artist.
Meanwhile, veteran Australian country artist James Blundell nabs a top 40 entry with Patience Wins (AMB/MGM), his 12th studio album. It’s new at No. 25.
Western Australia singer-songwriter Stella Donnelly grabs her third top 40 appearance with Love and Fortune (DOT/RMT), new at No. 31. Donnelly previously made a mark with 2019’s Beware Of The Dogs (No. 15) and 2022’s Flood (No. 29).
Close behind is beloved punk rock act Cosmic Psychos with I Really Like Beer (RKT), pouring in a No. 32, while fellow Melburnians Icecream Hands crack the top 40 with the independently-released Giant Fox Pineapple Tree, new at No. 38, It’s the eighth album from the Aussie power pop band, and their first ARIA top 50 appearance.
Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, Taylor Swift ties a personal best as “The Fate Of Ophelia” enters its sixth week at No. 1. That effort draws level with 2022’s “Anti-Hero” as TayTay’s longest-running leader.
U.K. act Haven has the top debut with the viral number “I Run,” new at No. 8. It’s the only new release in the top 50. And finally, Tame Impala has, once again, the only appearance by an Australian artist on the chart, as “Dracula” (Columbia/Sony) improves 37-34, a new high.
