genre pop
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Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” felt inescapable in 2024, but none of Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet domination made it onto NBA star Jaylen Brown’s latest playlist. The Boston Celtics wing participated in a pop culture quiz game during a timeout in the team’s face-off against the New York Knicks on Sunday (Feb. 23), and Brown struggled to […]
Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” repeats at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 chart. A week earlier, the song rebounded to the top, from No. 15, fueled by his performance of it during the Super Bowl LIX halftime show on Feb. 9.
Meanwhile, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” adds a 10th week atop the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart.
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The Billboard Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts, which began in September 2020, rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by Luminate. The Global 200 is inclusive of worldwide data and the Global Excl. U.S. chart comprises data from territories excluding the United States.
Chart ranks are based on a weighted formula incorporating official-only streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of audio and video music services, as well as download sales, the latter of which reflect purchases from full-service digital music retailers from around the world, with sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites excluded from the charts’ calculations.
“Not Like Us” drew 111.7 million streams (down 1%) and sold 21,000 (down 46%) worldwide Feb. 14-20. The Drake diss track — which on Feb. 2 won the Grammy Awards for record and song of the year, among its five victories – logs a fourth week atop the Global 200.
Lamar also ranks in the Global 200’s top 10 with “Luther,” with SZA (up 4-3 for a new high); 2018’s “All the Stars,” also with SZA (10-6 for a new best); and “TV Off,” featuring Lefty Gunplay (8-7, after hitting No. 5). All four songs were part of his Super Bowl halftime performance.
“Die With a Smile” holds at No. 2 after nine weeks at No. 1 on the Global 200 starting last September; ROSÉ and Mars’ “APT.” slips 3-4 following 12 weeks on top beginning in October; and Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” lifts 6-5 after three weeks at No. 1 last August.
“Die With a Smile” claims a 10th week atop Global Excl. U.S., with 103.3 million streams (down 4%) and 4,000 sold (down 17%) outside the U.S. Feb. 14-20. The song is the fifth to run up double-digit weeks at No. 1 since the chart began.
“APT.” holds at No. 2 after a record 15 weeks at No. 1 on Global Excl. U.S. beginning in November.
Lamar charts three songs in the Global Excl. U.S. top 10: “Not Like Us” is steady at its No. 3 best; “Luther” bounds 7-4, surpassing its prior No. 6 peak; and “All the Stars” shoots 17-8, becoming Lamar’s fifth top 10 and SZA’s fourth.
Plus, “Birds of a Feather” remains at No. 5, after three weeks on top last August.
The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated March 1, 2025) will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, Feb. 25. For both charts, the top 100 titles are available to all readers on Billboard.com, while the complete 200-title rankings are visible on Billboard Pro, Billboard’s subscription-based service. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X and Instagram.
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle it out for No. 1 on the Hot 100. Tetris Kelly:The Drake versus Kendrick feud is back with some debuts and a new No. 1 on the chart. This is the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 for the week dated March 1. Starting at 10 is Drake with “Nokia.” “A […]
As Little Monsters everywhere gear up for the release of Lady Gaga’s hotly anticipated new album Mayhem, Mother Monster herself is giving them a glimpse of what they can expect from the new LP.
In a new interview for InStyle, Gaga spoke with Spotify’s head of global editorial Sulinna Ong ahead of her Little Monster Press Conference for the streamer. During their conversation, the “Abracadabra” singer shared a sneak preview of two songs — “The Beast” and “Perfect Celebrity,” respectively — that are featured on her new album.
Speaking about “The Beast,” Gaga revealed that the lyrics of the song see her “singing to a werewolf” that represents her. “The lyrics are: ‘You can’t hide who you are, 11:59, your heart’s racin’, you’re growling, and we both know why,’” Gaga revealed. “And somehow that gothic dream is not just about me in a relationship with this person that’s about to turn, but what if I was to just sing it to myself and the beast is Gaga?”
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When talking about “Perfect Celebrity,” Gaga mentioned that the concept of “duality” present in both her videos for “Disease” and “Abracadabra” continue in the new track’s lyrics. “The lyric is: ‘I’ve become a notorious being, find my clone, she’s asleep on the ceiling,” she said. “It’s this idea that we all, in a way, have our real selves and then our clone version that we project to the world. So there’s a lot in Mayhem about multiple yous or multiple mes and what it’s like to have those things be at odds with each other all the time.”
As for the inspiration behind her new project, the singer pointed directly to ballroom culture as a driving force that found its way into the album’s music and lyrics. “I grew up in New York City and I also was a student of Paris Is Burning when I was really, really young. And I was always inspired by the tremendous amount of grace, freedom, expression and joy of ballroom culture,” she said. I was lucky enough to be around some dancers that were a part of that life.”
Gaga continued, adding that she felt it is a “privilege” to be a member of the dance community, and to be embraced by those who have built such lasting institutions. “There are these spaces in the world where there’s an ability for the community to express and experience joy, even when life is not treating them that way,” she explained. “And I am still so inspired by it and to this day, it felt like a relevant thing to bring up in the [“Abracadabra”] video because it’s about resilience. I can’t think of a place where I’ve seen more resilience than in a ballroom.”
The news comes just one week after Gaga unveiled the tracklist for Mayhem (due out March 7 via Interscope), including singles “Disease,” “Abracadabra” and “Die With a Smile,” as well as the two new tracks she teased. Spotify’s Little Monster Press Conference — during which Gaga’s fans will have the opportunity to ask Mother Monster their own questions — is set to take place Thursday, March 6, at 6 p.m. ET, simulcast across Spotify’s social media accounts.
The Backstreet Boys are extending their upcoming residency at Las Vegas’ Sphere. On Monday morning (Feb. 24) the boys-to-man band announced the addition of shows on August 15, 16 and 17, bringing the total amount of announced residency gigs so far to 18.
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The band — AJ McLean, Nick Carter, Brian Littrell, Kevin Richardson and Howie Dorough — are the first pop group booked to perform at the Sphere, with McLean telling Billboard last week that they are planning “one incredible experience” for the “Into The Millennium” run that Carter promised would giver fans “sensory overload.”
The Live Nation-produced run will find the group performing their entire career-peak 1999 Millennium album in full along with greatest hits and their new single, “Hey,” at the shows that will kick off on July 11. The gigs will continue throughout the rest of the month, with gigs on July 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 24, 26 and 27, followed by shows on August 1, 2, 3, 8, 9 and 10.
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Tickets for the new dates will go on sale first through the BSB Fan Club pre-sale beginning Tuesday (Feb. 25) at 9 a.m. PT. Fans who previously signed up for the Artist Pre-Sale can access tickets for the three added dates beginning on Wednesday (Feb. 26) at 9 a.m. PT, followed by a general on-sale kicking off on Friday (Feb. 28) at 9 a.m. PT; click here for details.
BSB will make history as the first pop band to touch down in the futuristic arena that to date has hosted U2, Phish, Dead & Company, the Eagles, EDM act Anyma and, later this spring, Kenny Chesney. “Die hard fans are going to get a great experience, a great nostalgic moment,” McLean told Billboard. “Even just playing the whole Millennium album, there’s some deep cuts in there that we were just discussing the other day,” Dorough added. “[We were] reminiscing about some of the songs like ‘The Perfect Fan’ and ‘No One Else Comes Close to You’ [and ‘Spanish’] Eyes,’ which are songs that the fans probably haven’t heard since the Millennium tour.”
The 25th anniversary celebration of the album that topped the Billboard 200 for 10 weeks and has sold more than 24 million copies to date will coincide with the July 11 release of Millennium 2.0, a two-CD collection featuring a remastered version of the original, along with six demos from the sessions for the album, b-sides from international releases, six live tracks and the previously unheard track “Hey.”
Roberta Flack, the beloved, Grammy-winning 1970s R&B singer best known for such hits as “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly” died on Monday (Feb. 24) at 88. At press time a statement from Flack’s spokesperson revealed that she died peacefully, with no official cause of death available.
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“We are heartbroken that the glorious Roberta Flack passed away this morning, February 24, 2025,” read the statement. “She died peacefully surrounded by her family. Roberta broke boundaries and records. She was also a proud educator.”
A classically trained pianist from an early age, Flack received a music scholarship at 15 to attend Howard University and was soon discovered singing at Washington, D.C. nightclub Mr. Henry’s by jazz great Les McCann, which led to her signing with Atlantic Records. She scored her first break in 1971 when Clint Eastwood used her version of the moon-y ballad “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” in his directorial debut, Play Misty For Me.
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A master of the “quiet storm” style, Flack’s effortless, soothing vocals soon became a staple of R&B and pop radio, leading to a two-decade run of chart hits.
Flack was born Roberta Cleopatra Flack in Black Mountain, N.C. on Feb. 10, 1937 and raised in Arlington, Va. where her mother, Irene, played organ at the Lomax African Methodist Episcopal Church. She learned to play piano on a funky junkyard instrument her father — a jazz pianist himself — found and restored for her, on which she practiced Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, as well as Mozart’s Requiem.
After getting her public debut playing piano as an adolescent in the Lomax church, Flack studied piano at Howard, then moved on to a music educator program after being told that the racial barriers at that time for a Black classical concert pianist were too high for her to achieve her dream. Following her father’s death in 1959, Flack returned to North Carolina and took a job teaching music at a public school, later moving back to D.C., where she taught at several middle and high schools for a decade.
Flack released her debut LP, First Take, in 1969 which included her first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” which also helped the album reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart; the song would win the Grammy for record of the year in 1972. She hit No. 1 again in 1973 with “Killing Me Softly,” from the album of the same name, with the song winning the 1974 Grammy for record of the year. It was later famously covered by the Fugees in 1996 on their second album, The Score.
Flack’s unprecedented back-to-back Grammy wins for record of the year feat wasn’t achieved again until U2 scored the same two-fer with “Beautiful Day” (2001) and “Walk On” (2002). Flack regularly recorded with fellow soul great Donny Hathaway, scoring duet hits on the Hot 100 with the singer on a covers of “You’ve Got a Friend” (1971, No. 29) and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” (1971, No. 71), as well as “Where Is the Love” (1972, No. 5), “The Closer I Get To You” (1978, No. 2) and “You Are My Heaven” (1980, No. 47), among others.
She scored a total of 18 Hot 100 hits, and landed four albums in the top three on the Billboard 200 album charts, as well as more than two dozen charting hits on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
Flack’s chart prominence began to fade by the mid-1980s, but she kept recording, releasing her most recent album in 2012 with the Beatles cover album Let It Be Roberta. Over the course of her career, Flack was nominated for 14 Grammys and won three.
Check out some of Flack’s most beloved hits below.
Tate McRae gets why she keeps getting compared to Britney Spears. The 21-year-old Canadian pop star who first came into our lives as a tween finalist on the 2016 season of So You Think You Can Dance has mastered the art of dance pop temptation in videos like the one for her slinky new single, […]
Mariah Carey has booked a massive summer 2025 gig in the U.K. at Royal Sandringham Estate in Norfolk on August 15. The show at the 20,000-capacity venue will feature support from Eternal and Nile Rodgers & Chic. The outdoor gig in Norfolk, England presented by Heritage Live Festivals is the third concert announced for the venue this summer, joining previously announced shows by the Stereophonics (Aug. 16) and Michael Bublé (Aug. 17).
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Tickets for the Carey concert will be available during a pre-sale on March 5 beginning at 9 a.m. GMT (4 a.m. ET). Fans can register for pre-sale access in advance here. A general on-sale will kick off on March 7 at 9 a.m., with information available here.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to bring one of the greatest pop artists of all time to the Royal Sandringham Estate for an exclusive UK headline show. Mariah Carey is an award-winner, a record-breaker, and an absolute global icon – this show will be historic,” Heritage Live Festivals’ Giles Cooper said in a statement. “Mariah’s live show is second to none and with such a catalogue of huge hit singles, it’s going to be an incredible occasion. It will most definitely be an ‘I was there’ event that will live in all of our memories forever.”
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Carey has also booked another U.K summer gig with a headlining slot at the Pride in the Park event at the Brighton Pride festival, which will take place on August 2-3; Carey was supposed to play the Pride fest in 2020, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The singer recently celebrated her second nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, writing on Instagram earlier this month that she was “so grateful” to get her second nod in a row after first becoming eligible in 2016. “It’s always an incredible honor to be recognized alongside so many legendary artists I admire. Thank you to the @rockhall and, of course, to my amazing fans— you are the heart of everything I do. This means so much! ❤️🎶,” Carey wrote in a post that also featured the full list of 2025’s nominees, which includes Bad Company, The Black Crowes, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Billy Idol, Joy Division/New Order, Cyndi Lauper, Maná, Oasis, Outkast, Phish, Soundgarden and The White Stripes.
After close to four decades as Australia’s own Princess of Pop, Kylie Minogue’s performing legacy has been commemorated with a star at the Melbourne Park sporting complex.
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Minogue – who launched her global Tension Tour in Perth on Feb. 15 – received the honor on Saturday (Feb. 22) ahead of a performance in her hometown of Melbourne in the Australian state of Victoria.
Coinciding with the third of three consecutive performances at the city’s 14,820-capacity Rod Laver Arena, it also coincided with Minogue’s first performance at the venue back in Feb. 1990 when it was then known as the National Tennis Centre.
Since her debut at Rod Laver Arena 35 years ago, Minogue has gone on to play 30 shows at Melbourne Park, amassing sales of more than 350,000 tickets in the process. Her three recent dates brought that total to 33 performances with an additional 36,000 ticket sales, making her one of the most successful artists to ever perform at the Melbourne destination.
The star was unveiled to Minogue on the afternoon of Feb. 22 by Melbourne Park CEO John Harnden AM. Fittingly, it is located in the forecourt of Rod Laver Arena, adjacent to a statue of late promoter Michael Gudinski. Gudinski first signed Minogue to his Mushroom Records label in 1987, while his Frontier Touring company has promoted every one of her Australian concerts to date. In 2021, Minogue also performed at Gudinski’s state funeral at the same venue.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been 35 years since I first stepped on stage at this venue, and I’m honoured to be acknowledged in this way in my hometown of Melbourne,” Minogue said of the honor. “It seems appropriate that MG will be watching over my star each day. I’m incredibly thankful to all the fans that have attended my shows over the years.”
“Kylie has a longstanding and record-breaking association with Melbourne Park and it’s only fitting we celebrate her amazing legacy with this star, cementing her name in the history of this great destination for live events,” added Harnden.
The installation of the star also coincides with a campaign to reinstate a statue of Minogue in Melbourne following its removal in 2016. At the time, a bronze likeness of Minogue – along with similar figures of Australian entertainers John Farnham, Dame Nellie Melba, Dame Edna Everage and Graham Kennedy – were removed to make way for a $140 million AUD apartment block.
Since its removal, the statue – which had been first sculpted by Peter Corlett in 2006 – has reportedly been in storage in an undisclosed location.
“I, for one, would love to see her statue reinstated in Melbourne,” Melbourne Mayor Nicholas Reece told The Age. “First, I think she’s a brilliant performer and entertainer who has brought so much joy to so many Melburnians, and secondly because we have a real deficit of statues of great women of Melbourne.
“If we could get a statue of Kylie back up again, it will remind all the boys and girls of Melbourne that great Melburnians come in all shapes, sizes and genders.”
Minogue’s most recent album, II, became her fourth consecutive record to top the Australian ARIA charts upon its October release, and her eighth overall to achieve the feat. It reached No. 98 on the Billboard 200, hit No. 2 on the Top Dance/Electronic Albums, and followed on from 2023’s Tension which saw lead single “Padam Padam” win the Grammy for best pop dance recording.
Rolling over, sitting up … and then ice skating? Justin Bieber‘s son with wife Hailey, 6-month-old Jack Blues, could be at the rink before long if he takes after his hockey-loving, pop star dad.
Bieber was among the celebrities participating in Skate For LA Strong — a benefit hockey game held at Crypto.com Arena to raise funds for wildfire recovery efforts in Los Angeles, on Sunday (Feb. 23) — when an interviewer got in a few questions with him on camera.
First he was asked what it means to him to take part in the charity hockey game, a rare live appearance at a public event for the Canadian-born singer, who was last on tour in 2022. In the video clip Billboard captured below (also just uploaded on Billboard‘s TikTok account), Bieber can be seen answering: “It means everything.”
Bieber noted that the benefit’s participants, who were coming together to help those impacted by the widespread Los Angeles wildfires in January, were “looking to have a good time.”
“I know you’re a new dad. How soon are you looking to get your kid on skates?” Bieber, who was a member of Team Black on the ice on Sunday, was asked next. He and wife Hailey welcomed their firstborn only months ago, in August.
“As soon as possible,” Bieber said, without hesitation.
Although it’s unlikely Jack Blues is even ready to crawl yet at only six months old, and it should be some time — probably another six to nine months — before an infant of his age would reach the milestone of walking, Bieber insisted: “It’s never too early.”
Justin Bieber skates on the ice during the Skate for LA Strong event at Crypto.com Arena on Feb. 23, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
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Actor Steve Carell and musician Ross Lynch also laced up for Sunday’s occasion, officially titled “Skate For LA Strong: A Celebration to Support the Fire Recovery Efforts in Los Angeles.”
Serving as coaches were Snoop Dogg, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Danny DeVito and Cobie Smulders, while Kaskade, Jordan Davis and Lauren Spencer-Smith were on the bill as musical guests.
The event had four teams competing in a single-elimination format, with celebs joined by hockey pros like Mark Messier, Jeremy Roenick, Rob Blake, Manon Rheaume and Dany Heatley, athletes from other sports, and first responders. The game was broadcast on ESPN2 and livestreamed on ESPN+.
Proceeds from Skate For LA Strong are set to benefit the Red Cross, the LA Fire Foundation, Cal Fire Foundation, and the Eaton Canyon Fire Relief and Recovery Fund.
Watch Bieber chatting about little Jack Blues below, or view it on Billboard‘s TikTok here.