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Trending on Billboard CTS Eventim, Europe’s largest concert promoter and ticketing service, posted revenue and earnings gains in the third quarter despite what it called “challenging economic conditions” in its home market, Germany. Companywide adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 13.8% to 137.3 million euros ($161 million) on revenue of 854.2 […]
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From lawyer to Latin Grammy winner, Mexican singer and songwriter Paloma Morphy shares what it feels like to be the “new girl in class,” and how her law studies inspired her new single “La Mexicana.”
Paloma Morphy: I studied law and left my job as a criminal defense attorney to give music a chance, which had always been my childhood dream. This was a big step for me, and I felt like the new girl in class, stepping into a world I’d only watched from afar.
Seeing all these artists in real life, after years of seeing them on a screen, was shocking, surreal and exciting. It filled me with mixed emotions, happiness, nervousness, excitement and, of course, a bit of impostor syndrome. I often found myself asking, “What am I doing here?” But deep down, I knew it was a dream come true.
When I learned I was nominated for best new artist, I was initially scared, assuming it would be a competitive atmosphere where people might side-eye me. However, to my surprise, everyone was incredibly supportive. It was a shared, natural experience. We were all in the same boat — nervous, excited and trying to put our best face forward. Many of us were experiencing this for the first time, which created a sense of camaraderie. We didn’t know what to expect from the week, but we supported one another and enjoyed meeting each other. It was genuinely a cool experience, and, honestly, I liked them all.
Recently, I released a song with a message for Mexico titled “La Mexicana.” It came out a few days ago, though I had written it some time back.
Reflecting on my journey, I had studied law and worked as a criminal lawyer before deciding to pursue music. I gave myself two years to see where this dream would take me. While working in prosecutor’s offices, I witnessed firsthand the systemic failure of addressing gender violence, how many complaints never even reached the investigation stage. This experience compelled me to write “La Mexicana,” a song inspired by what I saw and felt during that time.
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An appeal filed by Making the Band contestant Sara Rivers aimed at reviving her $60 million sexual assault lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs has been abruptly dismissed — a move that came after her lawyers failed to file basic court forms.
Rivers sued Combs earlier this year over claims that he harassed and groped her during the filming of the 2000s MTV reality show, but a federal judge ruled this summer that she’d waited far too long to sue. After that ruling, she quickly filed an appeal aimed at overturning it.
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But last month, according to court records reviewed by Billboard, the appeals court dismissed Rivers’ case. The reason? Her attorneys failed to meet a required deadline to file basic procedural forms that are filed at the start of any appeal.
That failure means that the earlier ruling dismissing Rivers’ case is now final, and most of her case is now closed. A small element of the case has not yet been fully dismissed, but the majority of her case was dismissed permanently.
Ariel Mitchell, the attorney who represents Rivers and failed to make the required filings, did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday (Nov. 20). Reps for Combs also did not return a request for comment.
Rivers, who became a member of hip-hop group Da Band, sued Combs in February, claiming he had cornered her in a recording studio and “ran his left hand across her breasts.” She also claimed that he later blackballed her in the music industry in retaliation for rebuffing his advances.
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The case was one of dozens of civil lawsuits filed against Combs over the past two years alongside his blockbuster federal criminal case. Following a two-month trial, Combs was acquitted last month on the most serious charges of racketeering (RICO) and sex-trafficking in that case, though he was found guilty on two lesser counts of interstate prostitution. Last month, he was sentenced to four years in prison.
In August, Judge Jed Rakoff ruled that Rivers had filed her case far too late. He said allegations centered in the 2000s were clearly filed years after the statutes of limitations had expired.
“It is important to remember the many positive purposes served by statutes of limitations,” the judge wrote. “They promote justice by preventing surprises through plaintiffs’ revival of claims that have been allowed to slumber until evidence has been lost, memories have faded, and witnesses have disappeared.”
Judge Rakoff said Rivers had invoked a “hodgepodge” of arguments for why the time limits should be lifted in her case, including that she was afraid of retaliation from Combs and his business empire. But the judge said that wasn’t enough.
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“While Rivers does allege that she experienced a general fear of retaliation preventing her from speaking out against Combs, general claims of psychological stress cannot give rise to duress tolling,” the judge said, referring to the technical term for such a delay.
Rivers quickly appealed, setting the stage for a lengthy battle before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. But after making her initial case filings, Mitchell never filed another document in the case — even after being warned to do so.
In early October, the court warned her that failure to submit Form C and Form D (a basic case synopsis and disclosure regarding transcripts, respectively) would result in the case being dismissed in two weeks. Mitchell never filed those forms, and the case was duly dismissed on Oct. 17.
Mitchell is the same attorney that Combs is currently suing for defamation over allegations raised by Courtney Burgess, another one of her clients. In TV interviews, Burgess claimed to have videos showing Combs in sexual encounters with celebrities — a claim Mitchell later echoed. Combs says such videos don’t exist and that he was defamed by Mitchell and Burgess’ “outlandish claims.” That case is pending.
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Long before Drake’s feuds with A$AP Rocky and Kendrick Lamar reached a boiling point in 2024, both men opened for Drizzy on his Club Paradise Tour in 2012.
A$AP Ferg was around the trio of then-emerging superstars throughout the North American trek, and he reflected on how the different parties grew to now become foes more than a decade later.
Ferg, who joined the Bootleg Kev Podcast on Wednesday (Nov. 19), compared their relationship to a family dynamic, with each looking for their own avenues to greatness.
“I feel like that’s kind of natural, though, because even when you think about the family dynamic — little brother, big brother things — a lot of the times, a little brother want to grow up and prove himself and not be under the wings of the big brother,” he said. “That happens a lot, people grow into individuals.”
Ferg continued to point to how all three artists weren’t finished products at that time, and still growing and evolving as humans.
“A lot of the times, where we start is not who we really are. We’re still growing into the person we are. The K. Dot that was on tour, or the Drake that was on tour, or the Rocky that was on tour, or the Ferg that was on tour, is not that same person,” the Harlem native added. “We were still learning ourselves during that time, so when you grow, you can’t expect for the relationship to be the same.”
Obviously, Drake, Kendrick Lamar and A$AP Rocky became music titans in their own rights and dominated the 2010s in rap.
Last year, Rocky appeared to take shots at the 6 God on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Show of Hands,” and Drizzy replied by sending a shot in Rocky’s direction on his “Family Matters” diss track in the midst of his 2024 battle with K. Dot.
Watch the full interview below. Talk about the Club Paradise Tour acts being at odds takes place around the nine-minute mark.
Bad Bunny is set to headline the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show in 2026. But that leaves a few more open musical positions for others during the NFL’s biggest night — including the pre-game’s national anthem. With a memorable run of artists in the past 10 years taking this slot — think of […]
Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” from 1976, scored major gains in U.S. streams and sales amid the 50th anniversary of its namesake ship’s sinking, leading to its coronation on a Billboard chart for the first time.
In the week ending Nov. 13, the song drew 3.7 million official U.S. streams and sold 5,000 downloads, according to Luminate, marking increases of 140% and 328%, respectively, week over week. It returns to Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart dated Nov. 22 at No. 15. (Older songs are eligible for Billboard’s multimetric charts if ranking in the top half and with a meaningful reason for their resurgences.)
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The latter count pushes the song to No. 1 on Rock Digital Song Sales, marking its first placement atop any Billboard tally. It’s Lightfoot’s third leader on the list, after “If You Could Read My Mind” and “Sundown” in 2023, following Lightfoot’s death at age 84 that May 1.
Those two tracks also return to Rock Digital Song Sales, reflecting general interest in Lightfoot’s catalog beyond “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”; “Sundown” ranks at No. 6 and “If You Could Read My Mind” at No. 10, each with 1,000 sold.
In all, Lightfoot’s catalog drew 9.1 million on-demand streams Nov. 7-13, a gain of 67%. It also sold 7,000 song downloads, a vault of 285%.
“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” hits new highs of No. 2 on Country Digital Song Sales and No. 4 on the all-genre Digital Song Sales chart.
The song was released on Lightfoot’s 1976 album Summertime Dream. It hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 9 on Adult Contemporary, while the album rose to No. 12 on the Billboard 200.
The 50th anniversary of the wreck of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was Nov. 10. As chronicled by Lightfoot, the 729-foot long freighter sank in Lake Superior during a sudden storm. All 29 crewmen aboard died. After Lightfoot wrote the track, he became close to several of the victims’ family members.
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Zootown Music Festival will return to Missoula, Mont., next summer with a star-packed 2026 lineup and an expanded slate of outdoor activities that highlight the natural beauty surrounding the city. The festival will once again take at the Missoula Fairgrounds June 19 to 20.
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This year’s bill features more than 20 artists, including headliners The Lumineers and The Chicks, as well as Tedeschi Trucks Band, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Trampled By Turtles and The Head and The Heart.
Last year’s inaugural Zootown was widely embraced by locals and travelers, praised for its scenic setting in the valley where the Clark Fork, Blackfoot and Bitterroot rivers meet. That backdrop becomes even more integral in 2026 thanks to a renewed partnership with GuideTime, which will again offer half-day and full-day excursions before, after and during festival weekend.
More than 60% of the 2026 lineup will be performing in Montana for the first time. While The Chicks have played in the state, they haven’t done so in more than two decades. Montana holds a special place in the band’s history: “Wide Open Spaces,” which peaked at No. 41 on the Billboard Hot 100, was written by songwriter Susan Gibson while she was attending the University of Montana’s forestry school.
Pre-sale tickets for one-day and two-day passes go live Friday, Nov. 21, at 10 a.m. MT via the festival’s website, and are available to fans who attended the inaugural event or who are signed up for SMS updates. General onsale begins the same day at 1 p.m. MT.
According to a study by Zenith Economics, last year’s festival generated $9.1 million in net new economic activity within Missoula County, more than $400,000 in tax revenues for state and local governments and $3.3 million in new labor income. In total, Zootown supported the equivalent of 67 full-time jobs across the region.
See the festival’s lineup below:
Zootown
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Lainey Wilson may have just won numerous awards at the 2025 CMAs, which she also hosted, but the country star isn’t hanging up her cowboy hat for the year just yet.
As announced Thursday (Nov. 20), Wilson will join an already star-studded lineup of artists performing for this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade broadcast. According to the release, she’ll sing in front of the iconic Herald Square storefront in Manhattan, past which the parade route goes every year.
The news comes after previous announcements that Cynthia Erivo; Kpop Demon Hunters singers EJAE, Audrey Nuna and REI AMI; and the Broadway casts of Buena Vista Social Club, Just in Time and Ragtime will also deliver showcases for this year’s parade. The show’s full guest list includes the Rockettes, Matteo Bocelli, Colbie Caillat, Ciara, Foreigner, Debbie Gibson, Mickey Guyton, Jewel, Lil Jon, Kool & the Gang, Taylor Momsen, Busta Rhymes, Calum Scott, Teyana Taylor and more.
Viewers can also expect to see the department-store chain’s beloved annual display of vibrant parade floats, enormous balloon renderings of classic characters and, of course, a sleigh carrying Santa Claus during the televised event.
It’s unknown what Wilson will sing during the show, but it could very well be a selection from her EP Peace, Love and Cowboys (Holiday Edition), which features her newly released cover of “Let It Snow!” with the late Bing Crosby. She also might perform something from her 2024 album, Whirlwind, which took home album of the year Wednesday (Nov. 19) at the CMAs. Wilson also won entertainer of the year and female vocalist of the year at the awards.
Hosted by Today‘s Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker, the 2025 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will air at 8:30 a.m. in all time zones on NBC and Peacock.
Robyn kick-started her one-off show at L.A.’s Fonda Theatre on Wednesday night with a supremely appropriate song choice: “Missing U.” After all, it’s been more than six years since the Swedish dance-pop icon mounted a full-length concert, so the 2018 Honey lead single’s lyrics “There’s this empty space you left behind” equally spoke to both […]
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Max B met his wife while he was behind bars about a decade ago, and she joined him for her first-ever interview on Wednesday (Nov. 19) since his release from prison. The chat was part of a Mase-assisted episode of Cam’ron’s Talk With Flee.
Max B’s wife — who has not publicly shared her name — opened up about how she met the artist born Charles Wingate and revealed that it was actually an ex of hers who put her on to the Wave God’s music.
“I had an ex-boyfriend and he would listen to his music, so shout-out to him,” she said, which drew a laugh from Mase and Cam. “Ever since that, I was listening to his music. I didn’t know he was locked up when I was listening to his music. That’s when I researched him and I found out about his case.”
She revealed that the ex said he’s “happy” for her, and Max actually invited him to their wedding, but he declined to attend. “I’ll sit that one out,” the former flame allegedly told her.
Mrs. Wingate explained that they connected when she wrote him letters after learning about his case. Max was originally sentenced to 75 years for a 2007 murder and robbery. He later pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and received a reduced sentence of 20 years. Max B ended up serving about 16 years behind bars.
“I met him probably, like, 10 years ago. I wrote him and it was just kind of like, after reading his case,” she said. “I was compelled to write him. I wanted to give him some type of faith or hope.”
Mrs. Wingate continued of their journey: “People that are on the outside have problems already that are not in jail. Imagine the problems — somebody incarcerated and you can’t really work through them like how a normal person would, you know? Like, he can’t call me when he wants to every time. Sometimes he would be in the hole or something like that, and I can’t communicate with him.”
Max B and his wife married while he was behind bars, and he gave her a renewal diamond ring at his welcome home dinner on Nov. 10, following his release on Nov. 9.
Watch the interview below. Mrs. Wingate joins the show just shy of the 37-minute mark.
