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Normani knows her way around the Dancing with the Stars dance floor. The former Fifth Harmony member and solo star came in third place during her run in season 24 and she was back on the boards on Tuesday night (Nov. 25) to lend a surprise hand to Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles during last night’s season 34 finale.
Chiles made her entrance in style to the strains of Beyoncé’s “Bow Down (Homecoming Live),” seated regally on a silvery couch shaped like a pair of lips as four hunky backup dancers spun her around in the air and then brought her back to the ground, where she ripped off a series of end-over-end round-offs while rocking a black bra top and leather pants with her first name down one leg.
Joined by a group of eight backup dancers, Chiles ripped off a series of fierce body rolls, spins and an easy-as-pie standing backflip as Bey growled “bow down b–ches!” Then, halfway through the routine, Chiles sprinted to a chain link fence at the back of the floor and climbed up as the male dancers lifted the section of fence and laid it flat, revealing Normani striking a pose underneath.
With the music, and vibe, shifting to Normani’s 2019 Billboard Hot 100 No. 33 debut solo hit “Motivation,” Chiles leapt off the fence to join ‘Mani on the floor. The women touched hands and proceeded to tear it up with a freestyle routine that had them popping their hips and executing perfectly coordinated, side-by-side cartwheels.
With Normani twerking up on the fence, Chiles moved center stage with professional dancing partner Ezra Sosa for a final round of dips, sways and high leaps that helped earn the tumbler third place in this year’s competition.
Speaking to E! News afterwards, Chiles said that the double-up was Normani’s idea. “She’s the one that actually said, ‘I think I should be in your freestyle,’” Chiles said, describing how Normani pitched the idea while attending a taping as an audience member in late September. “I didn’t know she was serious until her manager called me and was like, ‘No, she’s being serious. She wants to be in it.’”
Chiles did not hesitate, detailing how she told Sosa that they were definitely going to include the pop singer in their routine. “We’re gonna make it one of the most iconic freestyles,” Chiles said she told Sosa of the dance that judge Carrie Ann Inaba dubbed the best freestyle routine she’s seen in the show’s 20-year history.
Watch Chiles and Normani dance below.
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It was 20 years ago this week (Nov. 29) that 16-year-old Chris Brown vaulted onto the scene with his self-titled debut studio album and triple platinum-certified Hot 100 No. 1 “Run It!” And in celebrating that anniversary, Brown — under the guidance of manager Anthony “Ant” Wilson of Tycoon Music — has achieved various other career milestones during what’s become an even more momentous year for the singer-songwriter.
Brown kicked off 2025 with the best R&B album Grammy for his latest album 11:11 (Deluxe) — his second win in that category after 13 years. He’s now closing out the year with two more nominations for the 2026 Grammy ceremony: best R&B song and best R&B performance for “It Depends” featuring Bryson Tiller, which peaked at No. 16 on the Hot 100. Prior to that in 2024, Brown picked up his first RIAA Diamond-certified single for “No Guidance” featuring Drake.
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Of witnessing Brown’s second Grammy win, Wilson — a 2025 R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players honoree — told Billboard in August, “Winning isn’t everything, but it feels good. And the consistent recognition of his artistry continues to solidify him as one of the biggest artists in the world.”
Between those Grammy bookends, Brown embarked on what’s since been logged by Billboard Boxscore as his highest-grossing live outing to date, the Breezy Bowl XX World Tour. Spanning 39 cities and 48 shows, his 20th anniversary and first-ever stadium run (June 8-Oct. 16) earned $300 million and drew 2 million fans across North America, Europe and the U.K. Accompanied by Tiller as a special guest through the run and Grammy-nominated artists Jhené Aiko and Summer Walker on select dates, Brown also welcomed pop-up performances along the way by Usher, 50 Cent, GloRilla, Tyga, Bow Wow, Sexyy Red and Davido during his three-hour, 56-song set.
It’s Brown’s indefatigable energy and love of performing that Wilson first focused on strategically when he became the global star’s manager 10 years ago after predecessors Tina Davis and Mike G.
“We started off doing club and spot dates,” Wilson recalls. “Then we got the Heartbreak on a Full Moon tour [2018 with H.E.R., 6lac, and Rich the Kid]. I just wanted to get him back to the touring part of the business because I felt he could touch the most fans there. That was my initial goal.”
Wilson also created the annual Tycoon Music Festival. Presented this year in association with Live Nation and 313 Presents, the festival marked its sixth anniversary on April 19 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. Headlined by Brown, the lineup also starred Skilla Baby, Fabolous, Gucci Mane and Wiz Khalifa with surprise appearances from Sexyy Red, G-Herbo, Payroll Giovanni and Tee Grizzley.
Based in Las Vegas, as is Brown, Wilson recently spoke with Billboard about what’s next on the drawing board for him and his superstar client.
Chris Brown and Anthony “Ant” Wilson
Travis Colbert
What’s it like managing such a tireless artist as Brown?
We don’t sleep too much over here [laughs]. That’s because he stays up working in the studio he has in his house. He’s in that studio every day until we put out an album. And then the hard part before that is figuring out what songs are going to make the album. Chris also has a billion ideas about different things. So another hard thing is trying to get those billion ideas down to at least 10.
Talk about the rapport between the two of you, which is an important part of the artist/manager collaboration.
I met Chris when I was working with Bow Wow. that’s when Tina was involved. She’s a friend of mine as well. So I used to help out whenever she needed some assistance. Mike G was there too; we were all together then. But Chris is my brother first then it’s business, I don’t hope that he wins. He has to win because he’s my family. So that’s why there is no sleeping because I’ve got to make sure he does. I don’t know if there’s a blueprint on how to manage an artist. Every artist is different. But there is one key thing: understanding the artist and the fans of that artist.
Very few artists have made the successful transition from teen to adult star. Why has Brown been able to cross that bridge?
A lot of artists can do one thing; they can either sing or they can dance. But not a lot of artists can perform the way that he does: he’s singing, he’s dancing, he’s crying, he’s laughing, he’s flying, He’s doing everything he can to please fans. He’ll take less money just for the production to be what it is. He just wants [his performance] to stand out. Breezy XX was originally three and a half hours. I’m like, “Chris, come on. We’re going to run into overtime on every show. Like I said before, that’s the hardest thing … trying to get things down to where we’re both happy [laughs].
A new album coming before this year is out has been rumored given the 20th anniversary. Any hints about the next project?
There’s always an album. The name of it always changes. The songs always change. Even with the last album, we were in the studio putting another song together on the day before it came out. So I can’t say the name or a date for the album. I’ll leave it open because he could wake up and say let’s put it out next week. I’m ready though. I have it [the album] at the moment, but it changes every week.
Chris Brown performs in San Diego, CA, on September 18, 2025.
Acre Media
What else is next? A concert movie à la Taylor Swift and Beyoncé or a return to acting?
He loves and wants to act. There are acting classes, and he’s gearing up for that. I also think the Super Bowl would be a great place for him. I believe it will happen.
Have there been any overtures on that front?
We’ll just see.
How has it been navigating the negativity that he still encounters as you work to move his career forward?
It’s nothing that I’m not used to at this point. We just smile and keep going. I just try to show improvement with work over the words, you know? I think that’s the best way. But his kids ground him. He’s a great, involved dad. I also think Chris’ fans love him so much because they can relate. He’s a real person who’s gone through things that others have but he did it in front of the world. So I feel like that’s his legacy: going through life with everyone else.
Now that Verzuz is back, is the long-rumored Usher/Chris Brown match-up a stronger possibility?
It may. Usher and Swizz Beatz are friends of mine; Swizz recently spoke to me about it. I’m not saying no if it makes sense.
Beyond your ownership of the Tycoon Festival, what other projects are you shepherding?
I also work with 50 Cent in a company called the Green Light Gang. We have 40 TV shows [in the works] at the moment and a few movies. We’re also going to build a production company in Shreveport, Louisiana. So that’s my new baby, television.
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Summer Walker overcomes the competition on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart as her third full-length studio album, Finally Over It, starts atop the list dated Nov. 29. The album begins with 77,000 equivalent album units in the United States for the week of Nov. 14-20, according to Luminate, and is the highest total for any R&B album by a woman in 2025.
Of Finally Over It’s first-week results, streaming activity contributes 69,000 units, equal to 91.9 million official on-demand audio and video streams of the album’s songs. 8,000 units are from tradition album sales, with a negligible amount of activity from track-equivalent album units. (One unit equals the following levels of consumption: one album sale, 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 1,250 paid/subscription tier or 3,750 ad-supported tier of official on-demand audio and video streams for a song on the album.)
Finally Over It was released on Nov. 14 as a standard 14-song widely available digital download album, an 18-song download and streaming edition (which added four tracks) and an 18-song physical edition on CD and vinyl (which added four other tracks). Later in the week, two deluxe editions arrived: an Apple-exclusive version with five bonus audio tracks on Nov. 18 and a widely available download/streaming deluxe version with three other bonus audio cuts on Nov. 19.
With Finally Over It, Walker lands her third No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, completing its trilogy of triumph. 2019’s Over It and 2021’s Still Over It both debuted at the summit and each topped the chart for one week. In addition to the three champs, the singer also has appeared on the chart with her mixtape Last Day of Summer, which reached No. 25 in 2018 and two EPs: Life on Earth (No. 6 in 2020) and Clear 2: Soft Life (No. 7, 2023).
Elsewhere, Finally Over It gives Walker her fourth No. 1 on the Top R&B Albums chart and launches at No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard 200.
In addition to the album’s start, 16 of its tracks debut on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, led by “Robbed You,” a collaboration with Mariah the Scientist, at No. 10. With the entrance, Walker adds her fifth top 10 on the chart, joining “Playing Games” (No. 9, 2019); “No Love,” with SZA (No. 5, 2021); “Bitter,” with Cardi B (No. 9, 2021); and “Good Good,” with Usher and 21 Savage (No. 7, 2023). Mariah The Scientist, meanwhile, earns her third – all achieved this year – following “Burning Blue” (No. 3) and “Is It a Crime,” with Kali Uchis (No. 7).
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Below is a rundown of the Finally Over It placements on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, which brings Walker to 60 total career entries. Notably, the album generated two pre-release singles, “Heart of a Woman,” which peaked at No. 13 in February, and “Spend It,” a No. 30 hit in May.
No. 10, “Robbed You,” with Mariah The ScientistNo. 11, “Go Girl,” with Latto & Doja CatNo. 15, “Baby,” with Chris BrownNo. 16, “No”No. 19, “1-800 Heartbreak,” with Anderson .PaakNo. 23, “Baller,” with GloRilla, Sexyy Red & MonaleoNo. 25, “Give Me a Reason,” with Bryson TillerNo. 26, “Scars”No. 27, “Get Yo Boy,” with 21 SavageNo. 28, “Finally Over It”No. 29, “Situationship”No. 33, “How Sway,” with SAILORRNo. 34, “Don’t Make Me Do It/Tempted”No. 35, “Number One,” with Brent FaiyazNo. 37, “Stitch Me Up”No. 40, “Allegedly,” with Teddy Swims
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Brandy earned the Vocal Bible nickname for a reason. Kehlani joined the latest episode of Big Boy’s Neighborhood where she sang the praises of Brandy, claiming that “The Boy Is Mine” singer should be on every artist’s R&B Mount Rushmore.
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Even as Kehlani has enjoyed plenty of success in her own right, the Oakland native doesn’t see Brandy as a peer since she’s one of the R&B artists who inspired her and paved the way.
“I don’t think I would ever call my greats my peers,” she said. “Would never call her a peer. We’ll always call her a mother. Would always call her in my Mount Rushmore of R&B. I think every R&B singer that you ask if you’re talking about vocal GOATs, they’re gonna say Brandy. I would never, respectfully, get into an argument about Brandy Norwood. I would never be explaining Brandy Norwood to anyone.”
Kehlani joined Brandy on stage as a surprise guest at the Los Angeles show on The Boy Is Mine Tour, where she gave Brandy her flowers, hailing her as the “greatest of all-time” and then performed her top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hit “Folded.”
“I’m just glad I got to give her her flowers,” she added. “Even if they had only brought me out to give her her flowers and say what I got to say, that would’ve been just as good as being able to sing my song. I also was really grateful to be there in Monica’s presence as well, and give her her flowers privately.”
Brandy and Monica reunited for the co-headlining The Boy Is Mine Tour, which kicked off in October and has North American dates left in Detroit, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, New Orleans, Houston, Tampa Bay, Miami and Jacksonville.
As for Kehlani, she’s preparing to drop off her anticipated album next spring. “I usually come in spring,” she said. “I’m a spring baby.” The 30-year-old is riding high off the success of “Folded,” which reached No. 7 on the Hot 100 and “Out the Window” (No. 63 Hot 100 peak).
Watch the full interview below. Talk about Brandy begins just shy of 27 minutes in.
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It took four years following 2021 predecessor Sitll Over It, but R&B star Summer Walker‘s Finally Over It finally arrived two Fridays ago (Nov. 14).
The third and presumed installment in Walker’s highly acclaimed Over It album series debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart this week, with 77,000 first-week units. The numbers mark the best debut for an album by a woman R&B artist in 2025 — defining such albums as those that are eligible for, or have charted on, Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart — but are down from Still, which entered at No. 1 with 166,000 units in 2021.
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How do those numbers compare to our expectations? And does the album itself live up to the first two parts of the trilogy? Billboard staffers answer these questions and more below.
1. Summer Walker’s Finally Over It debuts at No. 2 this week with 77,000 equivalent album units. Are those numbers higher, lower, or about what you expected for it?Mackenzie Cummings-Grady: This is personally right in line with what I expected, and if No. 1 wasn’t T-Swift and it wasn’t the week before Thanksgiving, this number easily could have been higher. Considering it’s been four years since Summer’s last project, and the only hit single to hype up this album was “Heart of a Woman,” which is over a year old at this point, 77,000 just gets more impressive the more you realize it highlights how devoted Summer’s fanbase is at this point.
Kyle Denis: These numbers are certainly lower than I expected. Both Over It and Still Over It opened with over 130,000 album units, so to go from that to barely surpassing 75,000 — with nearly 20 songs, multiple deluxe editions and an overall buzzier collection of guest artists — is pretty disappointing.
Gail Mitchell: Given the debut numbers for Walker’s first two albums, Over It (134,000) and Still Over It (166,000), this new number is lower than I expected. However, four years have elapsed since her last album, with Finally Over It landing in a very different economic climate. Consumers deal with higher prices for food, healthcare and other essentials. Meaning that for some, purchases of concert/festival tickets, music and other discretionary items are lower priorities right now.
Michael Saponara: I’d say that number is slightly higher than I anticipated. Even though 77,000 is less than half of what Still Over It did in 2021, we’re just in a much different climate when it comes to album sales. Couple that with an extended rollout that didn’t include a hit single leading into the project released this year, and the sum makes sense.
Andrew Unterberger: It’s a little lower. The rollout was messy and the singles were poorly timed, but I thought the continued interest in Walker and affection for the Over It series was enough to transcend the promotional miscues — especially because I think the album itself is quite strong. But a lot of artists are pulling up a little short of expectations on streaming right now, and I suppose Walker is no exception.
2. Finally Over It arrives over a year after she initially announced the album, and almost exactly four years after she released its predecessor, Still Over It. Based on the early returns, would you say the protracted rollout helped its debut performance, hurt it, or had no major impact on it?Mackenzie Cummings-Grady: I think the tour with Chris Brown definitely helped keep Summer as a part of the conversation, even though the rollout didn’t really kick into high gear until maybe a month or two ago. I think if it had been any other R&B singer, this rollout would have seriously hurt the project. If anything, these impressive first-week numbers show that Summer Walker has a real, devoted fanbase who show up for their girl even if the momentum culturally isn’t all the way there. For Summer fans, this may sound obvious, but for someone who doesn’t religiously follow her, I found it impressive and surprising how deep that support really went.
Kyle Denis: Over the past year, the Finally Over It rollout has felt very start-stop, which caused confusion and exasperation among some fans. We seemed to be headed somewhere after “Heart of a Woman” arrived in October 2024… and then it was practically radio silent until “Spend It” came around six months later. While “Spend It” came and went quickly, Summer opened select dates on Chris Brown’s Breezy Bowl XX Tour, but her sets didn’t contain any tangible messaging regarding when fans could expect her new album. In fact, the latest stage of the Finally Over It rollout began at the top of October, just a month and a half before the album hit DSPs and after a year of confusing false starts. I’m sure the clunky campaign caused some listeners to tune out or put the album on the backburner, thus hurting its debut performance.
Gail Mitchell: I don’t think the protracted rollout had a major impact on its debut. Walker still made an impressive bow at No. 2 against Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl juggernaut. So Walker still hasn’t lost her status as an R&B/pop crossover torch-bearer. Plus she’s back in the Grammy derby again with two nods (best R&B performance, best R&B song) for the album’s platinum-certified lead single, the aching “Heart of a Woman.” That’s not too shabby given the four-year break between albums.
Michael Saponara: I think the protracted rollout hurt the album a bit when it came to commercial performance. Summer had plenty of solid tracks and star-studded collaborations in the holster to raise hype and awareness surrounding the final installment of the trilogy to build her world out even further heading into Finally Over It. While “Heart of a Woman” is a Grammy-nominated single, it was still released over a year before the project ultimately arrived.
Andrew Unterberger: It probably hurt it a little, especially just in that if this album had come out in 2023, when streaming numbers across the board were still a little higher, I bet it would’ve done some brisker business there. But whether it’s about the industry, the timing or the album itself, it also feels like maybe the excitement just isn’t quite there for Finally Over It like there was for its two predecessors.
3. The new album also charts seven songs on the Hot 100 in its debut frame. Which, if any of them, seems like the likely breakout hit from the project to you? Mackenzie Cummings-Grady: I’m a little surprised by how low these songs debuted on the Hot 100, considering how impactful the album as a whole was, but the order they’re in makes sense to me. Fans were really talking about Doja and Latto’s features on “Go Girl,” so I can see that song separating from the pack in a few weeks.
Kyle Denis: I’m gonna put my money behind “No” right now. It’s right in that ‘00s R&B pocket that’s spinning out career-best chart hits for Kehlani right now, and the Beyoncé flip is clean. “FMT” has the advantage of a new music video, and while I think it’s one Summer’s best attempts at a straight-up pop ballad, I think it’ll end up more of a minor hit à la SZA’s “Nobody Gets Me” (which it bears notable sonic similarities to). I’d also keep an eye on “Baller” (the verses are hit-and-miss, but the hook is sticky) and “Go Girl” (TikTok might be clowning it, but it’s clearly also connecting with people).
Gail Mitchell: “Heart of a Woman” is a strong act to follow. However, “No” is another equally potent contender with its infectious hook and clever interpolation of Beyoncé’s 2003 song “Yes.” Through Walker’s emotive vocals, you feel the angst, frustration and heartbreak she’s endured… but also the maturity, strength and self-love she possesses now that she’s on the other side of the romance conundrum. And it’s all encapsulated in a one-word declaration: No. Honorable mention: “1-800 Heartbreak.”
Michael Saponara: I’m going with “Baby.” Chris Brown has still been able to dominate radio and I could see the apologetic track picking up steam on the airwaves and remaining in the R&B zeitgeist heading into 2026. It’s also an addictive listen and fans are already familiar with the Mariah Carey “Always Be My Baby” interpolation and sample built into “Baby,” which debuted at No. 68 on the Hot 100.
Andrew Unterberger: Yes to “No.” That’s some classic, timeless R&B right there. 4. Over It and Still Over It were two of the most acclaimed and successful R&B albums of the last decade — does Finally Over It feel like a worthy closer to the trilogy to you?Mackenzie Cummings-Grady: It’s definitely not as captivating as Over It and Still Over It were when they first came out, with the former being a certified classic at this point. Both of those albums felt fresh and unique, and I think Finally Over It instead offers more of what we’ve come to expect from Summer at this point, which is both a good and bad thing. She’s in her bag, and the highlights are high, but the album is long and grows sluggish at points. Regardless, it feels like a fitting closer, and hit me the same way The Dark Knight Rises did when it first hit theaters — I was entertained and satisfied with the conclusion, even despite its bloated runtime, but to compare it to The Dark Knight’s perfection in any way felt like a travesty.
Kyle Denis: I think I need more time with Finally Over It. I appreciate the bigger swings and more polished late ’90s/early ’00s sound, but there’s a rawness and vulnerability that’s missing for me — and those are the elements that most draw me into a Summer project. At the very least, Finally feels like a natural progression from its two predecessors.
Gail Mitchell: Yes it does, especially given the title track that helps close out disc two. “It’s over/ All the mess… all the stress,” Walker sings before pledging that “With you, love doesn’t hurt / Love is for better or worse / So I do.” Her hard-won journey/catharsis as depicted in the trilogy is finally over.
Michael Saponara: Finally Over It serves as a worthy closing chapter to the trilogy, as Summer enters her healing era from repeated heartbreak. Initially, I was skeptical coming in with four years passing since Still Over It, the lack of a 2025 hit single and the abundance of collaborators joining her, but Summer stitched it all together and remained the centrifugal force of an ambitious operation. The growth is evident as she leaned into more of a traditional R&B sound than the trap or distortion of her previous hits. The gold digger motif also spiced up her world-building. Ultimately, Summer serves up a cynical handbook on navigating love in the TikTok era.
Andrew Unterberger: I like this album a bunch. The lifts and samples are (mostly) inspired, the writing and performance is still strong, the feeling is still consistent with the first two albums. There’s a lot that’s familiar from the rest of the series, but enough new looks — the alluring two-parter “Don’t Make Me Do It”/”Tempted,” the burning Teddy Swims duet “Allegedly” — that it feels fresh, too. The only thing it doesn’t quite have is the urgency or edge of the first two, stuff like “I’ll Kill You” or “4th Baby Mama” that almost unnerved with its intensity. But let’s be honest, third installments of trilogies rarely feel as vital as the first two. 5. Now that Walker has dropped Finally, who’s the proven R&B artist with a long-awaited new project that you’re most eagerly anticipating?Mackenzie Cummings-Grady: We could go down the list considering how unbelievably high R&B is riding right now. This past year had some of the best R&B music I’ve heard in years, especially from newcomers. For now, I’m just gonna play it safe and go with Chris Brown. I don’t think the anticipation for a CB record has been this high since F.A.M.E., so I’m hoping he delivers.
Kyle Denis: Kehlani’s upcoming album isn’t necessarily long-awaited, but I think it’ll blow the roof off 2026 once it’s here. If we’re being strict about “long-awaited,” then I’ll go with Victoria Monét and Jazmine Sullivan. And of course, whenever Beyoncé returns with an R&B album, we’ll all be tuned in.
Gail Mitchell: Rumors about a new Sade album have been floating around for several years, with the latest buzz pegging 2026 for her anticipated return. Like Halley’s Comet, the mercurial singer-songwriter is known for her long hiatuses between albums — it’s now 15 years since her last project, 2010’s Soldier of Love. But there’s no doubt that the fascination and mystery about what she and her band are cooking up will be worth the wait.
Michael Saponara: Frank Ocean, ducks.
Andrew Unterberger: Come back Brent Faiyaz! “Have To” was tight.
Chris Brown’s Breezy Bowl XX wrapped over a month ago, but is still generating new chart highlights. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, its seven shows in October grossed $46.8 million and sold 286,000 tickets, scoring yet another month at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Tours chart.
When Brown was No. 1 last month, he matched a Boxscore feat only previously achieved by Bad Bunny and Beyonce by linking two consecutive months with a reported gross of $90 million or more. Now, he joins them in another elite club, as the only acts to ever string together three consecutive months at No. 1 on Top Tours.
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In fact, Brown immediately follows Beyonce’s three-peat from May-July, capping a six-month stretch of only those two superstars atop the list. The streak ends here, as he had no concerts on the books for November.
Brown’s October routing mostly stuck to the American Southeast, selling out stadiums in Atlanta; Birmingham, Ala.; New Orleans; and Raleigh, N.C.. But his stop in Washington, D.C. was the biggest, playing to 121,000 fans over three nights (Oct. 5, 8-9), combining for $20.7 million.
Those shows at Nationals Park give Brown his first month at No. 1 on Top Boxscores. He’s the first artist in venue history to report an engagement with a gross of more than $10 million (let alone $20 million), attendance of more than 100,000, or a string of three shows.
Since launching in June, Breezy Bowl XX grossed $295.5 million and sold just under two million tickets (1.983 million) over its 49 shows in Europe and North America. It’s the highest-grossing and best-selling tour of Brown’s career, more than three times over.
Guns N’ Roses follows at No. 2 on Top Tours, with $35.2 million and 346,000 tickets from 11 shows in October. It’s the second highest gross of the month, but the hard rock legends sold more tickets than anyone else.
GNR stakes their claim with the Latin American leg of the Because What You Want & What You Get Are Two Completely Different Things Tour. The biggest one-night stop was the Oct. 25 performance at Sao Paulo’s Allianz Parque ($5.2 million; 47,600 tickets), but Buenos Aires in Argentina was the band’s ultimate winner, with $7.8 million and 73,300 tickets over two nights (Oct. 17-18) at Estadio Tomas Adolfo Duco.
The tour began on May 1 in South Korea, playing throughout Asia and Europe over the summer. Those 27 shows grossed $95.6 million and sold 823,000 tickets. The October and November shows push the tour’s total revenue well over the $100 million mark, with one show in Mexico City left to be reported.
Yesterday (Nov. 24), Guns N’ Roses announced its 2026 world tour with headline dates in Brazil, Europe, and North America. It will continue a consistent pattern of touring for the band since reuniting in 2016. Since then, it has grossed more than $980 million, surely surging beyond $1 billion with next year’s tour.
Brown and GNR’s totals are significantly down from top honors in September, marking the end of stadium season in North America and Europe. Still, the top 30 is strong, with a total gross of $568.7 million and attendance of 4.5 million. Those figures are up 7% and 6%, respectively, from October of last year.
Two rap acts follow in the top five, with Travis Scott and YoungBoy Never Broke Again at Nos. 3-4, respectively. It’s relatively rare for a rapper to be in the top five, but the one-two punch of Scott and YoungBoy lengthens a strong 2025 for the genre, marking the third month where two such artists (with significant history on the Top Rap Albums and Hot Rap Songs charts) have paired up simultaneously. Tyler, The Creator did it in February with Drake, and again in March with j-hope.
They took wildly different paths to the top five this month. YoungBoy played 18 arena shows in the U.S., stacking up to $32.8 million in the second month of his first headline tour. Scott played five stadiums in Asia and South Africa, pushing his sprawling Circus Maximus Tour to $265 million since launching in 2023.
Lady Gaga rounds out the top five with $31.9 million and 185,000 tickets sold while in Europe on The Mayhem Ball. It’s her fourth month in the top 10 this year, stretching back to May when she hit Singapore’s Indoor Stadium for four nights. Through her Paris shows (Nov. 17-18, 20, 22), Gaga has grossed more than $225 million and sold 1.1 million tickets in 2025.
Last month, Tate McRae and Benson Boone made their top 10 debuts on the monthly Top Tours listing. This month, McRae ranks even higher (at No. 6) as her $111 million Miss Possessive Tour came to a close. She passes the proverbial baton, as another young woman in pop hits the top 10 for the first time: Laufey is No. 10 with $19.2 million and 180,000 tickets sold.
Trending on Billboard Mario may like to get up close and personal with fans at his shows, but one woman crossed the line at his recent stop in Detroit, inappropriately feeling up the singer’s crotch as he was performing on stage. In a video captured by someone else at the concert posted Monday (Nov. 24), […]
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Muni Long is setting the record straight regarding her new Instagram videos featuring a Mariah Carey impersonator, which some Lambs have interpreted as shade directed at the Songbird Supreme.
Shortly after posting two clips promoting her new single “Delulu” — in which an actress dressed as Carey crashes Long’s rehearsal and gives notes, mimicking the icon’s distinctive voice and mannerisms — the Florida native clarified on her Instagram Story on Monday (Nov. 24) that she meant no offense.
“Y’all don’t be delulu,” she wrote. “I would never disrespect Queen Mariah!!!!!!”
Long’s post on Stories comes as many fans have been flooding her comment section to accuse her of shading Carey. “Career too young for this level of disrespect,” one person wrote. “Humble yourself everything doesn’t need a rebuttal.”
“Shading Mariah in MARIAH’S SEASON good luck girl,” added another fan.
But according to Long, she has nothing but love for the Queen of Christmas, adding on her Story, “Forever a Lamb.”
Billboard has reached out to Carey’s reps for comment.
Also in one of the impersonator videos Long posted, the faux Carey sings a version of “Delulu,” after which Long winks at the camera and says, “I just … don’t like when other people sing my songs.” In the second clip, the impersonator pushes Long off a ledge.
“AND YOU KNOW WHAT!? She could push me off of every ledge in sight,” the caption reads. “THANK YOU!!! I LOVE HA!!!”
The first of the videos is definitely a reference to Carey’s previous comment about Long, with whom she collaborated on “Made for Me” last year. At the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards, Long performed a cover of “We Belong Together” as part of a tribute to the legendary vocalist, who later told GQ this past September, “I didn’t even hear the cover. I didn’t know it happened.”
“I’m very honored and flattered that she did it,” Carey added at the time. “I love Muni Long, she’s a great person, umm, but I just don’t like people doing my songs.”
That’s seemingly why some Lambs assumed Long was coming for Carey with her new videos — but in the first video’s caption, she also made her fandom of the superstar clear. “THE DIVA!?!!!!” Long wrote. “Maybe…I can come around to people singing my songs if this who singing it!”
Check out Long’s videos featuring “Mariah” below.
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Ciara has obviously adjusted well to her newest home sweet home.
In an epic new video, which Billboard is premiering exclusively below, Ciara takes to the streets of New York City for a 40-dancer Times Square flash mob celebrating her latest single “Nice n’ Sweet.” In addition to the CiCi deluxe track, which features Afropop artists MOLIY and Oxlade, the dancers also get down to “BRB” and the TikTok-viral “Low” in the “NYC Takeover” video, filmed on Nov. 17 during the early morning commute.
“I just knew being in the streets of New York dancing to ‘Low’ and ‘Nice n’ Sweet,’ which are very New York-ish, there’s an Afro-Caribbean influence in it — we know New York breeds that kind of energy throughout the streets,” Ciara told Billboard‘s Delisa Shannon. “So it just felt like the perfect place to have this moment and another ‘this place feels like home’ moment for me, which I loved.”
Alongside her NFL quarterback husband Russell Wilson and their four children, Ciara relocated to NYC ahead of the current football season, when Russ got picked up by the New York Giants.
“Everyone knows I’m from Atlanta, but at the same time, New York is showing our family tremendous love,” Ciara tells Billboard. “And as an artist, I feel like New York has put their arms around me too. And so this is another place that I call home. There’s just something so magical about being in the streets of New York. So I’ve never done a flash mob before. There was years ago where my team had put together a flash mob to celebrate me, but I never had done it where I just pop out in the middle of the streets and start dancing.”
The video begins with a small group of dancers taking turns in the center of a high-energy dance circle, set to “BRB” from the August album CiCi, before Ciara joins the chat in a Yankees ball cap, black sunglasses and blond braids past her waist for “Low,” featuring Diamond Platnumz.
The CiCi deluxe standout has been having a moment on TikTok, thanks to the “Low” Dance Challenge, and Ciara is grateful for the way the platform is spreading her music worldwide.
“The digital footprint has allowed for even more global expansion, you know?” Ciara tells Billboard. “And you get to see the influence of technology, where everyone and their mama can join in on the dance. And guess what? Everyone gets to see people shine in their own living rooms, right? I think there’s some kind of sense of ownership that people have, or a sense of empowerment when their videos go viral. And if we didn’t have these digital platforms, that opportunity wouldn’t exist. So I’ve learned to appreciate those moments and the power of those moments.”
Finally, the Nov. 14-released “Nice n’ Sweet” has its big moment, with Ciara joining the squad for some group choreography set to the Caribbean-influenced single. The star took the opportunity to take pics with all the dancers before hopping in her car and saying of the dance moment: “That was nice and sweet!”
Watch the video below, exclusively on Billboard.
–Reporting by Delisa Shannon
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Berklee College of Music is announcing the recipient of the inaugural Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole Scholarship: Paris Pineyro. The $75,000 scholarship — a joint presentation from the Natalie Cole Foundation and Nat King Cole Generation of Hope — was established to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Natalie Cole’s birth this year as well as celebrate the trailblazing and enduring legacies of pianist/singer Cole and his singer-songwriter daughter.
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In a joint statement given to Billboard, twin sisters Casey Cole and Timolin Cole-Augustus, said, “Our father and sister were known for their vocal abilities and emotional delivery, even with dad often insisting he was a pianist first and foremost. Their dedication to their vocal craft is one of the reasons we’re so happy that Paris is the inaugural recipient of the Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole Scholarship. Paris is a talented singer and an exemplary student, and we’re honored to connect our family’s legacy to a voice of the future through this scholarship with Berklee College of Music.”
Pineyro, a sophomore at Berklee who goes by the artist name Paris Dior, is studying music business/management and performance. In the Berklee press announcement, Pineyro commented, “It’s more than recognition — it reflects every late night, every struggle and every moment I pushed through my doubts. It reminds me that even when the path feels impossible, perseverance can lead to something truly ‘unforgettable,’ to quote the iconic Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole. I wish to express my sincere appreciation for being selected as the first recipient of this scholarship. It was an unexpected honor that fills me with deep gratitude. I am so grateful to the Natalie Cole Foundation and Nat King Cole Generation Hope for believing in my potential and investing in my journey.”
A jazz and pop vocalist as well as a pianist, Nat King Cole is known for standards such as “Mona Lisa,” “Nature Boy” and holiday classic “The Christmas Song.” Daughter Natalie won nine Grammys during her career — including best new artist. Her repertoire includes “This Will Be,” “I’ve Got Love on My Mind” and “Unforgettable,” a 1991 duet with her late father that reprised his own 1951 hit. Natalie was also awarded an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music in 1995.
“It is an absolute privilege to be part of the first ever Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole Scholarship, honoring the legacy of two of the most inspirational artists of all time,” said Phil Lima, assistant chair of the Voice department at Berklee, in a statement provided to Billboard. “It is fitting for Paris to become the inaugural recipient of this award as she has already inspired so many of her instructors and peers in our community through her impressive abilities and instincts as a creator, and her generous and affirming nature as a collaborator and supporter. The scholarship opens more doors for Paris to advance her education and her career. We are excited for many more young Berklee musicians to have the same opportunity in the years to come.”
Find more information about Berklee scholarships here.
