Chart Beat
Lady Gaga is seeing renewed success on Australia’s charts this week, as her latest album Mayhem rockets back into the ARIA Top 10 following her much-talked-about Coachella appearance and the ongoing rollout of her Australian stadium tour.
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Mayhem climbs from No. 14 to No. 6 on the ARIA Albums Chart, boosted by the pop icon’s high-energy set at Coachella and a surge in demand tied to her recently announced Aussie tour dates. The album originally debuted at No. 1 last month, and this latest jump marks its fourth week in the chart’s upper echelon.
Earlier this month, Gaga announced her return to Australia with The Mayhem Ball, her first tour of the country in more than a decade—and her first stadium dates Down Under. After quickly selling out her initial shows in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney, a second Melbourne and Sydney date was added on April 16 due to overwhelming demand. The five-date run kicks off Dec. 5 at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne and wraps Dec. 13 at Accor Stadium in Sydney.
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The tour promotion, paired with Gaga’s Coachella performance and social media buzz, has sparked renewed interest in the Mayhem project. The album, led by the global No. 1 single “Die With a Smile” (with Bruno Mars), has spent multiple weeks in the Top 10 worldwide, including a 15-week reign atop the Billboard Global 200.
Gaga’s resurgence on the ARIA chart comes amid a strong week for Aussie acts: hip-hop trio Bliss n Eso debut at No. 1 with The Moon (The Light Side)—their fourth chart-topper—while Australian Idol winner Marshall Hamburger lands at No. 50 with The Idol Collection, marking the first time since 2009 that an Idol champ has entered the Top 50 upon season close.
Meanwhile, on the ARIA Singles Chart, Alex Warren notches a fourth consecutive week at No. 1 with viral hit “Ordinary,” and Gaga and Mars’ “Die With a Smile” rebounds into the Top 5, climbing from No. 9 to No. 4.
With Mayhem back in the Top 10 and her Australian stadium shows selling fast, Gaga’s momentum in the region is only continuing to build, with a final tour date added to Sydney earlier this week.
On Saturday (April 19), Kendrick Lamar and SZA will kick off their co-headlining Grand National Tour at Minneapolis’ U.S. Bank Stadium, playing the first of 39 scheduled shows in North America and Europe. It’s not just the only all-stadium hip-hop world tour to launch in 2025 – it’s the first such trek this decade.
In the post-pandemic era, the definition of “stadium artist” has expanded to include younger and more diverse artists, across genre. Not only have contemporary pop and rock acts graduated beyond arenas, but artists from country (Zach Bryan, Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen), Latin (Bad Bunny, Karol G, Shakira) and K-pop (BLACKPINK, SEVENTEEN, TWICE) have staged sold-out stadium runs in several continents.
But while R&B/hip-Hop’s reign as America’s most popular genre continued into the 2020s, rappers have yet to scale their tours in the same way. Lamar’s upcoming run will mark the first all-stadium tour for a rap act since JAY-Z joined Beyoncé on 2018’s On the Run II Tour.
Notably, rap acts have historically leveled up to stadiums alongside a pop or R&B co-headliner: Lamar with SZA, JAY-Z with Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake (separately), and Eminem with Rihanna.
Rappers have played stadiums on their own (or together, as in the case of Eminem & JAY-Z’s four-show The Home & Home Tour in 2010), but only in brief runs or isolated dates. Eminem reported 16 such shows across three separate outings during the 2010s and 50 Cent played one in 2004. Drake and Kanye West co-headlined the Free Larry Hoover benefit show in 2021, but it was a free gig.
The pairing of Lamar and SZA echoes the makeup of past successful stadium runs, but it’s also uncommon for R&B acts to tackle the biggest venues. Beyoncé has mastered the art, having broken records with 2023’s Renaissance World Tour, and is weeks away from kicking off Cowboy Carter Tour. But it’s worth noting that both treks are in support of albums that detour into other genres, having won Grammys for best dance/electronic album and best country album, respectively.
Similarly, Bruno Mars continues to sprinkle stadium shows amid his theater residency in Vegas, but his two latest top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hits – “Die With A Smile,” with Lady Gaga, and “APT,” with Rosé – eschew contemporary R&B for different strains of pop.
Still, the Grand National Tour’s double-billing is simply a no-brainer, not a hedged bet. SZA’s SOS was released in December 2022, landed nine Grammy nominations in 2023, won three of them in 2024, and added a 12th week atop the Billboard 200 to kick off 2025 following its SOS Deluxe: LANA expanded reissue. Lamar himself has had a whirlwind last 12 months, amassing four No. 1s on the Hot 100 – two inspired by his infamous beef with Drake and two from GNX. He won five Grammys in February for “Not Like Us” and headlined the Super Bowl halftime show a week later. As a cherry on top, the pair’s “Luther” will be enjoying its eighth consecutive week atop the Hot 100 when the tour kicks off this weekend.
Hip-hop has not taken up much space on stadium calendars, but Lamar and SZA are part of a rising tide of momentum for rap and R&B. An established arena headliner, Chris Brown will mount his first stadium tour this summer. Breezy Bowl XX kicks off on June 8 with a packed lineup, featuring Jhene Aiko, Bryson Tiller, and Summer Walker as special guests. And after touring arenas on 2018’s Astroworld: Wish You Were Here Tour and for the first leg of the Utopia Circus Maximus Tour, Travis Scott began to mix stadium dates in 2024. This fall, he will continue the multi-year trek with a handful-plus of grand scale shows in Asia and South Africa.
Scroll below for a recap of the rap acts who have played — or are scheduled to play — stadium shows, according to reports to Billboard Boxscore.
Kendrick Lamar
Image Credit: Cindy Ord/Getty Images
Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “KUSUSHIKI” rises 6-1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, on the chart released April 16.
The three-man band’s latest single is being featured as the opener for the anime series The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 Part 2. The song was digitally released on April 5 and debuted on the chart last week at No. 6 despite having only two days to count towards the chart week. Looking at each metric, the track rules streaming (313% week-over-week) and comes in at No. 2 for downloads (92%) and video views (275%), and No. 4 for radio airplay. Other songs by the hitmakers also only saw slight decreases in points and 17 continue to chart on the Japan Hot 100.
HANA’s “ROSE” drops a notch to No. 2 after bowing atop the chart last week. Downloads and video views for the brand-new girl group’s debut single are down to 42% and 78%, respectively, but streaming and radio have gained to 131% and 168% week-over-week. Perhaps due to the impact of its debut at No. 1 last week, the track is spreading across various platforms.
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Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “Lilac” slips to No. 3. Logging its 53rd week on the Japan Hot 100, downloads for the Oblivion Battery opener have gained to 112% and only show slight decreases in other metrics: streaming at 99%, radio at 73%, video at 94%, and karaoke at 87% compared to the week before.
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NMB48’s “Chu Strike” bows at No. 4. The group’s 31st single launches with 253,080 CDs, more than its predecessor, to rule sales this week and comes in at No. 63 for radio.
Sakanaction’s “Kaiju” follows at No. 5. Radio airplay for the track is up to 114% compared to last week and karaoke to 118%. The Orb: On the Movements of the Earth opener comes in at No. 14 for downloads, No. 5 for streaming, No. 22 for radio, No. 4 for video, and No. 18 for karaoke.
Snow Man unleashed its catalog on digital platforms during the chart week (April 7) and six tracks by the popular boy band have charted. “Brother Beat” currently leads the pack, hitting No. 48 on the Japan Hot 100 (No. 12 for downloads, No. 51 for streaming), “Tapestry” is at No. 52 (No. 8 for downloads, No. 62 for streaming, No. 93 for video), “Dangerholic” is at No. 64 (No. 23 for downloads, No. 66 for streaming), “D.D.” is at No. 77 (No. 26 for downloads, No. 79 for streaming), “EMPIRE” is at No. 87 (No. 19 for downloads, No. 88 for streaming), and “SBY” is at No. 98 (No. 21 for downloads, No. 57 for streaming).
The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, video views and karaoke data.
See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from April 7 to 13, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English X account.
Ethel Cain’s Preacher’s Daughter debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Alternative Albums chart dated April 19 nearly three years after the album, her debut, was first released.
Preacher’s Daughter earned 39,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending April 10, according to Luminate. Of that sum, 37,000 units are via album sales, begetting a No. 1 debut on the all-genre Top Album Sales list.
In fact, nearly all of its sales are vinyl copies, as Preacher’s Daughter benefits from its first-ever vinyl release, 35 months after it first premiered on May 12, 2022. That count also leads to the set debuting at No. 1 on the Vinyl Albums chart.
Cain becomes the first act to rule Top Alternative Albums in their first appearance on the tally since Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts premiered atop the Sept. 23, 2023, list. As Rodrigo’s was not her debut album, Cain is the first to do so with a first release since The Smile, with A Light for Attracting Attention, in July 2022.
Preacher’s Daughter also begins at No. 2 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums charts, and on the all-genre Billboard 200, it bows at No. 10.
In addition to its album sales, Preacher’s Daughter also earned a total of 2.8 million official U.S. streams in the week ending April 10.
The chart-related activity around Cain is her first, with the majority centered around Preacher’s Daughter, though she also debuts on the Billboard Artist 100 chart at No. 4.
Cain followed Preacher’s Daughter with the nine-song ambient/drone release Perverts earlier this year, with a new album, Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You, also expected in 2025.
Tracy Chapman’s 1988 self-titled debut album comes charging back onto Billboard’s album charts (dated April 19), following its vinyl reissue on April 4. The Billboard 200 chart-topper and Grammy Award-winning effort had been out-of-print on vinyl in the United States since at least the early 1990s.
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In the week ending April 10 in the U.S., Tracy Chapman sold 14,000 copies across all configurations, with about 13,500 on vinyl.
On the Top Album Sales chart, which launched in 1991, the set reenters at a new peak of No. 4. It also debuts on Vinyl Albums (No. 2) and Indie Store Album Sales (No. 3); and reenters Americana/Folk Albums (No. 4), Top Rock Albums (No. 10), Top Rock & Alternative Albums (No. 11, new peak), Catalog Albums (No. 12) and the Billboard 200 (No. 51). On the latter chart, the set – which spent a week atop the list in 1988 – reaches its highest position since 1989.
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Tracy Chapman yielded three Billboard Hot 100-charting songs in 1988: the Grammy-winning “Fast Car” (No. 6), “Talkin’ Bout a Revolution” (No. 75) and “Baby Can I Hold You” (No. 48).
The new vinyl reissue was prepared for release by Chapman and the album’s original producer, David Kershenbaum and sourced from an analogue master. It was released as a widely-available 180 gram black vinyl edition, along with three retailer-exclusive color variants (opaque deep red for Walmart, transparent orange for indie stores, and opaque orange for Urban Outfitters).
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album (TEA) units and streaming equivalent album (SEA) units.
Chapman’s album is one of seven debuts or reentries in the top 10 on the latest Top Album Sales chart, which is led by the debuting Preacher’s Daughter from Ethel Cain at No. 1. It’s her first No. 1 and chart entry. The 2022 album was released on vinyl for the first time on April 4, and in total, the set sold 37,000 copies for the week – nearly all from vinyl purchases.
Elton John and Brandi Carlile’s Who Believes in Angels? enters at No. 2 with 36,500 sold; ZEROBASEONE’s Blue Paradise starts at No. 3 with nearly 20,500 and Ariana Grande’s eternal sunshine rounds out the top five, falling 1-5 with 10,500 (down 83%).
Black Country, New Road’s Forever Howlong debuts at No. 6 (nearly 9,000), Djo’s The Crux starts at No. 7 (8,000), xikers’ House of Tricky: Spur bows at No. 8 (nearly 8,000), Sabrina Carpenter’s former leader Short n’ Sweet slips 6-9 (a little over 7,500; down 16%) and Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topping GNX falls 5-10 (about 7,500; down 19%).
The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week, for the upcoming Billboard 200 dated April 26, we look at the chances of rap sensation Ken Carson to depose his mentor in raging on the Billboard 200.
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Ken Carson, More Chaos (Opium/Interscope): It’s a week without a major charts-proven superstar releasing either a new album, or reissuing an old one – so that opens the door for a newer artist to sneak in and grab their first-ever No. 1 on the Billboard 200. That artist next week might end up being rapper Ken Carson, whose visceral rage rap has made him one of the rising stars of his generation since his emergence in the early 2020s.
Carson’s last album, 2023’s A Great Chaos, brought him to the top 10’s doorstep, reaching No. 11 on the Billboard 200. Follow-up More Chaos, released last Friday (Apr. 11), should get him to the region for the first time – helped by a streaming friendly 21-song tracklist, which littered the real-time Apple Music chart and Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA listing upon its release, although a major breakout hit has yet to emerge from the set. It could even contend for the top spot – which could make for some (extremely minor) drama behind the scenes at Opium Records, as labelhead and emerging hip-hop superstar Playboi Carti currently holds pole position with his Music set, in its third week at No. 1.
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If Carson can’t get over the top this week, it might not be his last shot at doing so with More Chaos. The album is currently available for pre-order in his website in a variety of physical forms – including in standard-issue CD and vinyl, and in also multiple box sets also featuring an Ed Hardy collab T-shirt. Those physical editions are all scheduled to ship next Monday (Apr. 21) – which means their numbers would count towards the album’s second-week tally, likely giving it a considerable boost, and possibly putting it back in contention for the top spot if the release schedule once again proves light.
Bon Iver, SABLE, fABLE (Jagjaguwar): The only other album likely to make a major Billboard 200 next week comes from longtime indie favorite Bon Iver. The 2012 Grammy winner for best new artist is back this week with his fifth studio LP, SABLE, fABLE – a 13-track set, unevenly split into a folkier SABLE first side and the more R&B- and pop-influenced fABLE second side. While Bon Iver has collaborated with plenty of pop and hip-hop A-listers over the years, the only guests on his latest are more indie-oriented – Dijon and Flock of Dimes, who both appear on “Day One,” and Danielle Haim (of sister band HAIM) who features on “If Only I Could Wait.”
The album’s streaming profile should be relatively minimal, but it is expected to sell well – and is available on his website in vinyl, CD and cassette. His website also includes a variety of unusual complementary items to go with the new release, including a fABLE “Mood Mist” spray and candle, as well as SABLE, fABLE “Field Notes” notebooks and even a “Smoked Salmon Duo,” featuring “smoky, tender Atlantic salmon sourced from Kvarøy Arctic and hand-packed in Washington by a fifth-generation cannery” – though the latter product is already listed as sold out.
Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” leads the Top Gabb Music Songs chart for a third month in a row as the most-played songs on Gabb Wireless phones, but a challenger appears on the March 2025 tally in the form of Benson Boone, whose “Sorry I’m Here for Someone Else” debuts at No. 2.
Billboard has partnered with Gabb Wireless, a phone company for kids and teens, to present a monthly chart tracking on-demand streams via its Gabb Music platform. Gabb Music offers a vast catalog of songs, all of which are selected by the Gabb team to include only kid- and teen-appropriate content. Gabb Music streams are not currently factored into any other Billboard charts.
“Die With a Smile” became the first song in the now-six-month history of Top Gabb Music Songs to stay at No. 1 for more than one month when it reigned on the February 2025 survey; now, it’s the inaugural track to do so for at least three editions.
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After enjoying five weeks at No. 1 on the multimetric Billboard Hot 100 earlier this year, “Die With a Smile” spent the entirety of March 2025 in the top three of the ranking and appears at No. 3 on the latest chart, dated April 19.
Boone’s “Sorry I’m Here for Someone Else,” however, continues to establish the singer-songwriter as a formidable presence on Top Gabb Music Songs as one of three Boone songs in the top 10 of the March 2025 list. “Sorry I’m Here for Someone Else” was released on Feb. 27 and debuted at No. 44 on the Hot 100 dated March 15; it’s at No. 47 on the latest chart.
“Beautiful Things,” which led the inaugural Top Gabb Music Songs in October 2024, and “Slow It Down” rank at Nos. 3 and 9, respectively. That makes Boone the second act to occupy at least three positions in the chart’s top 10 at once, following NF, whose “Let You Down,” “Hope” and “The Search” were Nos. 5, 7 and 10, respectively, on the October 2024 tally.
The February 2025-dated chart featured just one debut among its 25 positions. Not so for March 2025; the artist behind that lone bow, Forrest Frank (via “DROP!,” at No. 19), returns again with the second-biggest start after Boone’s “Sorry I’m Here for Someone Else”: “Nothing Else,” featuring Thomas Rhett, at No. 7. Like Boone’s new entry, “Nothing Else” was also a late-February release (Feb. 28); it enjoyed a No. 4 debut on Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart dated March 15.
The third and final debut of the month belongs to Lady Gaga, whose “Abracadabra” bows at No. 17. “Abracadabra” was also released in February, albeit much earlier (Feb. 3). It reached a peak so far of No. 13 on the Hot 100 dated Feb. 22 and ranks at No. 38 on the most recent tally.
See the full top 25 below.
Top Gabb Music Songs
“Die With a Smile,” Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars (=)
“Sorry I’m Here for Someone Else,” Benson Boone (debut)
“Beautiful Things,” Benson Boone (=)
“APT.,” ROSE & Bruno Mars (-2)
“God’s Plan,” Drake (+2)
“Deja Vu,” Olivia Rodrigo (+6)
“Nothing Else,” Forrest Frank feat. Thomas Rhett (debut)
“Golden Hour,” JVKE (+3)
“Slow It Down,” Benson Boone (-1)
“Butterfly Effect,” Travis Scott (+3)
“Face 2 Face,” Juice WRLD (-6)
“Stargazing,” Myles Smith (-2)
“Thick of It,” KSI feat. Trippie Redd (-9)
“Please Please Please,” Sabrina Carpenter (-5)
“Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma,” Luke Combs (-1)
“Love Somebody,” Morgan Wallen (=)
“Abracadabra,” Lady Gaga (debut)
“Heat Waves,” Glass Animals (-1)
“Too Sweet,” Hozier (-4)
“Run It,” Jelly Roll (-14)
“Let You Down,” NF (-3)
“Bones,” Imagine Dragons (-1)
“Stressed Out,” Twenty One Pilots (-3)
“Saturn,” SZA (-1)
“Hope,” NF (=)
DROPS FROM FEBRUARY 2025: “DROP!,” Forrest Frank; “Enemy,” Imagine Dragons; “Wildflower,” Billie Eilish
Sleep Token earns its first No. 1 debut on Billboard’s Hot Hard Rock Songs chart, bowing atop the April 19-dated survey with “Caramel.” Released April 4, the track drew 11.2 million official U.S. streams, 30,000 in radio airplay audience and sold 3,000 downloads in the week ending April 10, according to Luminate. Sleep Token tallies […]
Muni Long extends her hitmaking run on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart (dated April 19) as “Superpowers” climbs one spot to reach No. 1 on the radio ranking. The single ascends after its 1% gain in weekly plays made it the most-played song on U.S. panel-contributing adult R&B radio stations in the tracking week of April 4-10, according to Luminate.
As “Superpowers” asserts its supremacy, it replaces Chris Brown’s “Residuals” after a two-week stint. The former champ slides to No. 2 with an 8% decline in plays for the week.
Thanks to “Superpowers,” Muni Long achieves her third No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay, after “Make Me Forget,” a one-week leader in August 2024, and “Ruined Me,” which logged two weeks on top last November.
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Further, with all three singles from her Revenge album, the set is the first to produce a trio of champs since Tank’s R&B Money launched three leaders in 2021-2022 from its standard edition – “Can’t Let It Show,” “I Deserve,” and “Slow,” featuring J. Valentine – and another from its 2024 deluxe reissue, “See Through Love,” featuring Chris Brown.
Among albums by women, Revenge becomes just the third set with three No. 1s in the 31-year history of the Adult R&B Airplay chart. It joins Toni Braxton’s self-titled debut, which spawned four leaders, “Another Sad Love Song,” “Breathe Again,” “Seven Whole Days” and “You Mean the World to Me” in 1993-94, and Alicia Keys’ The Diary of Alicia Keys, which sent “You Don’t Know My Name,” “If I Ain’t Got You” and “Diary,” feat. Tony! Toni! Tone! to the summit in 2004.
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Elsewhere, “Superpowers” slips 14-13, dropping one rung from its peak, on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, which ranks songs by combined audience totals from adult R&B and mainstream R&B/hip-hop stations. There, the track registered 7 million in audience for the week, down 3% from the prior week’s total.
Beyond its radio results, “Superpowers” debuts at No. 25 on Hot R&B Songs, a multi-metric chart that combines radio airplay with streaming and sales data for its rankings. The arrival gives Muni Long her 12th entry on the list, a count that includes three top 10s: the three-week No. 1 “Hrs and Hrs” in 2022, and a pair of 2024 hits, “Made for Me” (No. 2) and “Ruined Me” (No. 10).
Billboard’s Dance Moves roundup serves as a guide to the biggest movers and shakers across Billboard’s many dance charts — new No. 1s, new top 10s, first-timers and more.
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This week on charts dated April 19, Skrillex, 2hollis, PinkPantheress and others achieve new feats. Check out key movers below.
Skrillex
The influential DJ-producer dropped his fourth studio album, F*CK U SKRILLEX YOU THINK UR ANDY WARHOL BUT UR NOT!!