Music News
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Julien Baker and TORRES have announced the cancellation of their spring tour dates, citing a need for Baker to focus on her health.
News of the tour’s cancellation was shared on Sunday (May 4) via social media, just hours before the pair’s scheduled performance at Stable Hall in San Antonio, TX.
“Due to recent events, Julien Baker is prioritizing her well-being and taking time to focus on her health,” the post read. “Therefore, the Julien Baker & TORRES ‘Send A Prayer My Way’ Tour has been canceled. This decision was not made lightly, and we understand the disappointment this may cause for fans. We deeply appreciate your understanding.”
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“Thank you for your continued support and compassion,” the post concluded.
First announced in early February, the pair hit the road in March with a series of shows throughout the U.S. and U.K., with their spring tour officially launching on April 23 in Richmond, VA.
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A pair of appearances at Ohio University and Tennessee’s Big Ears Festival were also cancelled, with a social media post explaining that “one of our key members sustained a concussion and will need to take the next few weeks to recover.” An additional performance at Iowa’s Mission Creek Festival was also cancelled due to an “unforeseen medical situation.”
No further specifics relating to these incidents were announced at the time, and currently, the pair’s website lists an appearance at Massachusetts’ Green River Festival on June 20 as their next scheduled performance.
Baker and TORRES released their Send a Prayer My Way album on April 18, debuting at No. 5 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated May 3), and also reached the top 10 on both the Vinyl Albums and Indie Store Album Sales rankings.
According to the pair, their collaborative project has been years in the making, with its roots tracing back to 2016 when Baker and TORRES first played a show together. That night, the idea of making a country album was casually thrown out, with the notion coming to fruition almost a full decade later.
Baker has previously found success as a member of boygenius alongside Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. The trio’s debut full-length album, the record, landed at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 in 2023, while Baker’s solo album Little Oblivions peaked at No. 39. TORRES, known for her sharp, introspective songwriting, has built a loyal following with critically acclaimed releases like Thirstier and Three Futures.
Ghost grabs the No. 1 slot on the Billboard 200 albums chart for the first time, as the Swedish hard rock band’s new studio effort Skeletá debuts atop the tally (dated May 10) with 86,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the week ending May 1, according to Luminate. Of the album’s starting sum, 89% was driven by traditional album sales — buoyed by a big vinyl sales figure.
Skeletá launches with Ghost’s best week ever by both equivalent album units and traditional album sales.
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Skeletá marks the ninth charted effort for the group on the Billboard 200. The band first visited the list in 2013 with its second album, Infestissumam, which also marked the act’s first top 40-charting set, reaching No. 28. Skeletá scores Ghost its eighth top 40 set, and fifth to reach the top 10. The band had previously gone as high as No. 2 with its last full-length studio album, 2022’s Impera.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new May 10, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on May 6. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of Skeletá’s 86,000 first-week equivalent album units, album sales comprise 77,000 (it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 9,000 (equaling 12.45 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The set’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across more than 15 vinyl variants, three CD variants and four cassette variants (all containing the same tracklist, but in collectible packaging).
With Skeletá scoring 9,000 in SEA units (12.45 million on-demand official streams of the album’s songs), the group logs its biggest streaming week ever for an album. It surpasses the opening-week of Impera (7,000 SEA; 9.11 million streams for its songs).
The new album was led by the radio-promoted single “Satanized,” which became the act’s 10th top 10-charting hit on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart in April. It’s one of a trio of hits that the album yielded on the Hot Hard Rock Songs chart prior to the album’s release. “Satanized” hit No. 3 (March 22 chart), followed by “Lachryma” (No. 3, April 26) and “Peacefield” (No. 13, May 3). (Skeletá is also the first full-length project from the band since the act garnered its first hit on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, when its viral hit “Mary on a Cross” reached No. 90 on the tally in 2022.)
With the No. 1 arrival on the Billboard 200, Skeletá lands a number of milestone achievements for Ghost. Here’s a recap:
Skeletá yields Ghost’s best week ever by both equivalent album units and traditional album sales. The act’s previous high in both metrics came in the debut week of Impera (March 26, 2022), which earned 70,000 units (of which nearly 63,000 were album sales). As noted earlier, Skeletá also garners the largest streaming week for a Ghost album.
Ghost lands the biggest week of 2025, by either equivalent album units or traditional album sales, for any rock, hard rock or alternative album.
Of Skeletá’s first-week album sales, vinyl purchases comprised just over 44,000 copies. That’s not just the largest sales week on vinyl for Ghost, but the biggest week for a hard rock album on vinyl in the modern era (since Luminate began tracking data in 1991). It’s also the third-largest sales week on vinyl in the modern era for any rock album, trailing only the opening weeks of blink-182’s One More Time… (49,000; 2023) and boygenius’ The Record (45,000; 2023).
Skeletá is the first hard rock album to lead the Billboard 200 in over four years, and the only rock, hard rock or alternative album to be No. 1 in 2025. The last hard rock album at No. 1 was AC/DC’s Power Up, which premiered at No. 1 on the Nov. 28, 2020, chart and spent one week at No. 1. The last rock, or alternative, album to lead the tally was Coldplay’s Moon Music, when it debuted at No. 1 on the Oct. 19, 2024, chart (spending one week at No. 1).
Rock, alternative and hard rock albums are defined as those that are eligible for, or have charted on, Billboard’s Top Rock Albums, Top Alternative Albums and Top Hard Rock Albums charts, respectively.
Not only is Skeletá the group’s first No. 1, but it’s the first chart-topper for its label Loma Vista Recordings and the first leader for Concord Label Group in nearly a decade — since James Taylor’s Before This World (on Concord Records) debuted at No. 1 on the July 4, 2015-dated chart. Loma Vista had previously gone as high as No. 2 with Ghost’s last full-length studio album, Impera, in 2022.
Skeletá is the lone debut in the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200 chart. The titles at Nos. 2-7 are all former No. 1s. SZA’s SOS slips to No. 2 (52,000 equivalent album units earned; down 1%), Kendrick Lamar’s GNX falls 2-3 (48,000; down 5%), Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time is down 3-4 (46,000; down 4%), Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet descends 4-5 (44,000; down 8%), PARTYNEXTDOOR and Drake’s $ome $exy $ongs 4 U falls 5-6 (43,000; down 6%) and Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos is down 6-7 (38,000; down 3%).
Shaboozey’s Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going gallops 45-8 with 35,000 equivalent album units earned (up 110%) after a deluxe reissue on April 25 that added six additional songs, bringing its total song count to 18. The set debuted and peaked at No. 5 on the June 15, 2024-dated list. (He also played the Stagecoach Festival on April 26.)
Playboi Carti’s chart-topping MUSIC (7-9; 34,000 equivalent album units, down 11%) and Morgan Wallen’s former leader Dangerous: The Double Album (9-10; 33,000, down 3%) round out the Billboard 200’s top 10.
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.
Maroon 5 and LISA‘s “Priceless” tops this week’s new music poll.
In a poll published Friday (May 2) by Billboard, music fans chose the collaborative song from the Adam Levine-fronted band and BLACKPINK star as their favorite new release of the week.
“Priceless” brought in nearly 58% of the vote, beating out new releases from artists like KATSEYE (“Gnarly”), TOMORROW X TOGETHER (“Love Language”), Ed Sheeran (“Old Phone”), Key Glock (Glockaveli), and more.
Released after days of teasing from both Maroon 5 and LISA, the funk-infused pop track sets the stage for the band’s upcoming eighth studio album, while also serving as a bold punctuation mark on the BLACKPINK member’s debut solo project, Alter Ego.
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“Priceless” marks Maroon 5’s first collaboration with a K-pop artist and features a guitar-driven sound that nods to the band’s early 2000s roots, complemented by LISA’s confident rap verse. The accompanying music video, shot on 35mm film and directed by Aerin Moreno, takes visual inspiration from the movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
“It’s just a guitar-based song, which we haven’t really done in so long,” Levine said in a statement. “It happened first for us while recording the album. I think it’s the purest, and we’re so happy to have LISA on it.”
He added, “The guitar intro is literally me playing into an audio message on my iPhone with an unplugged guitar. I actually got a little emotional recording it because it felt like reconnecting with our roots — which a lot of our fans have been asking for. It’s been over 20 years, so I think it’s time for that sound to return.”
“Priceless” follows Maroon 5’s 2021 album, Jordi, which peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200. For LISA, the track builds on her expanding portfolio of international collaborations as a solo artist, following the success of her 2021 debut single “LALISA,” and her continued work with BLACKPINK.
This week’s poll runner-up was KATSEYE’s experimental pop anthem ‘Gnarly,’ which earned 23% of the vote. It marks the group’s first new release since 2024’s “Touch.”
Check out the full results of this week’s poll below and visit Billboard’s Friday Music Guide for more must-hear releases.
Sabrina Carpenter and Quinta Brunson teamed up for a catchy musical tribute to short people during Saturday Night Live on May 3.
In her opening monologue, the Abbott Elementary creator and star joked about her height before the “Please Please Please” singer joined her for a playful performance celebrating “shorties” everywhere.
Brunson, hosting SNL for the second time, noted that she was “proof you can do anything you put your mind to even if people look down on you.” She continued, “Whether it’s because of where you come from or literally because you’re only 4’11′ — yeah, that’s right, I’m short … But I love being short, and I want other short people to know the sky’s the limit. So shorties, tonight, this one’s for us!”
Brunson then launched into a humorous song about her stature, noting that she’s a cheap date who gets “wasted off of one glass of wine,” and name-checked other famously petite celebrities including Simone Biles, Kendrick Lamar and Tom Holland.
Carpenter — who’s around five feet tall herself — soon joined Brunson on stage, exchanging jokes with the host about eating short ribs and reading short stories. The performance culminated in a group number joined by SNL cast member Marcello Hernandez (5’6″) and former NBA star Dwyane Wade (6’4″).
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“It’s how we like our movies, and how we like our margins,” they all sang together. “We’ve been the same height since kindergarten. Life is just more fun when you’re fun size.”
Elsewhere in the episode, pop star Benson Boone made his SNL debut, performing two tracks — “Sorry I’m Here for Someone Else” and “Mystical Magical” — from his upcoming sophomore album, American Heart. The new project is scheduled for release on June 20 through Night Street Records/Warner Records. Watch Boone’s SNL performances here.
Check out Brunson’s SNL monologue below. For those without cable, the broadcast streams on Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans access to previous SNL episodes.
Police in Brazil said on Sunday (May 4) that two people have been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to detonate explosives at a free Lady Gaga concert in Rio de Janeiro.
The Rio event on Saturday (May 3) was the biggest show of the pop star’s career that attracted more than 2 million fans to Copacabana Beach and had crowds screaming and dancing along.
Even as Brazilian authorities said they arrested suspects in the hours before Gaga’s show, the event went ahead without disruption — leading some to question the seriousness of the threat. Serious security concerns typically lead organizers to cancel such massive events — as happened with Taylor Swift’s concerts in Vienna last year.
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Police said said nothing about the alleged plot at the time to in an effort to “avoid panic” and “the distortion of information.”
On Sunday, a spokesperson for Gaga said the pop star and her team “learned about this alleged threat via media reports this morning. Prior to and during the show, there were no known safety concerns, nor any communication from the police or authorities to Lady Gaga regarding any potential risks.”
The statement added: “Her team worked closely with law enforcement throughout the planning and execution of the concert and all parties were confident in the safety measures in place.”
Security was tight at Saturday’s concert, with 5,200 military and police officers deployed to the beach where fans were reveling in the pop singer’s classic hits like “Born This Way,” which became something of an LGBTQ anthem after its 2011 release.
Rio de Janeiro’s state police and Brazil’s Justice Ministry presented the bare outlines of a plot that they said involved a group that promoted hate speech against the LGBTQ+ community, among others, and had planned to detonate homemade explosive devices at the event.
“The plan was treated as a ‘collective challenge’ with the aim of gaining notoriety on social media,” the police said. The group, it added, disseminated violent content to teenagers online as “a form of belonging.”
Authorities arrested two people in connection with the alleged plot — a man described as the group’s leader in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul on illegal weapons possession charges, and a teenager in Rio on child pornography charges. Police did not elaborate on their exact roles in the plot or on how the group came to target Gaga’s free concert.
“Those involved were recruiting participants, including teenagers, to carry out integrated attacks using improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails,” police said.
The Justice Ministry said that it determined the group posed a “risk to public order.” It said the group falsely presented themselves online as “Little Monsters” — Gaga’s nickname for her fans — in order to reach teenagers and lure them into “networks with violent and self-destructive content.”
The ministry said there was no impact on those attending the open-air concert.
During a series of raids on the homes of 15 suspects across several Brazilian states, authorities confiscated phones and other electronic devices. Although police said they believed homemade bombs were intended for use in the planned attack, there was no mention of the raids turning up any weapons or explosive material.
Gaga has expressed gratitude for the enormous crowd in an Instagram post that said nothing of the alleged plot.
“Nothing could prepare me for the feeling I had during last night’s show—the absolute pride and joy I felt singing for the people of Brazil,” she wrote. “The sight of the crowd during my opening songs took my breath away. Your heart shines so bright, your culture is so vibrant and special, I hope you know how grateful I am to have shared this historical moment with you.”
Her free beach concert stood out at a time of surging ticket prices for live music around the world as concert-goers pay budget-busting costs to see their favorite artists.
Rio has done this before — last May, superstar Madonna performed the finale to her latest world tower for some 1.6 million fans on the sprawling sands of Copacabana Beach.
Benson Boone brought his dynamic stage presence and first-class showmanship to Saturday Night Live on May 3.
Making his debut as the musical guest on the long-running NBC sketch comedy series, the 22-year-old pop sensation performed two tracks from his forthcoming sophomore album, American Heart.
Following an introduction from SNL host Quinta Brunson, Boone nailed one of his electrifying signature backflips before briefly serenading the actress and comedian with his song “Sorry I’m Here for Someone Else,” which peaked at No. 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 earlier this year.
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Later in the episode, the 2025 best new artist Grammy nominee returned to the stage for a performance of “Mystical Magical.” Dressed in a velvety purple ensemble, Boone delivered the jangly pop-rock track amid a dreamy backdrop of glowing pink and blue lights, supported by a full band and backup singers dressed in white.
“‘Cause it feels so mystical, magical, oh baby/ ‘Cause once you know, once you know/ My love is so mystical, magical, oh baby/ ‘Cause once you know, once you know,” he sings on the song, which interpolates “Physical,” an Olivia Newton-John classic, in the chorus.
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Boone’s SNL debut arrives ahead of the release of American Heart, scheduled for release on June 20 through Night Street Records/Warner Records. Both “Sorry I’m Here for Someone Else” and “Mystical Magical” appear on the forthcoming project.
His appearance at Studio 8H follows a standout run at Coachella in April, where he wowed audiences with high-energy sets packed with backflips — and even a surprise cameo from Queen guitarist Brian May during a cover of “Bohemian Rhapsody” on weekend one.
Watch Boone’s SNL performances below. For those without cable, the broadcast streams on Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans access to previous SNL episodes.
Lady Gaga performed to a record-breaking crowd during her free concert at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Saturday (May 3).
“Tonight, we’re making history,” she told the massive audience. “Thank you for making history with me.”
The concert began around 10 p.m. local time, with the 39-year-old pop icon opening with her 2011 track “Bloody Mary.” She followed it with a hit-filled set including fan favorites like “Poker Face” and “Alejandro,” as well as music from her latest Billboard 200-topping album, Mayhem.
Concert organizers estimated that approximately 2.1 million people attended the free Copacabana Beach show, according to Associated Press. The event is now the highest-attended concert by a female artist in history, surpassing Madonna’s 2024 performance at the same venue, which drew 1.6 million.
The largest concert crowd in history is still held by Rod Stewart, who drew 3.5 million fans to a New Year’s Eve performance at Copacabana Beach in 1994, according to the Guinness World Records.
Gaga’s performance drew over 1 million Brazilians and approximately 500,000 Little Monsters who flew in for the show, generating more than $100,000 for Rio’s economy, NPR reports. The city’s tourism department has announced that free concerts will continue to be held at Copacabana Beach at least through 2028.
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The Rio concert marked Gaga’s first performance in Brazil since 2012.
“I’ve missed you so much,” the superstar told the crowd during a soundcheck the night before the show, according to Rolling Stone. “I know that this is not the first show here, I know this is just a rehearsal, it feels like it’s the real show.”
In 2017, Gaga canceled her Rock in Rio performance due to “severe physical pain,” later revealing she had been hospitalized at the time.
Ava Max‘s new album Don’t Click Play is arriving this summer. The set, featuring lead single “Lost Your Faith,” will be her third full-length album. Max unveiled the album’s release date and its cover art on Thursday (May 1). Pop fans will be able to click play on Don’t Click Play on Aug. 22. The […]
Although the ceremony for the 2025 ACM Awards is still a few days away, Ella Langley and Riley Green are early winners for their breakthrough hit “You Look Like You Love Me.” The surprise was revealed while the pair were on stage at Country Thunder in Tampa, Florida, Friday night (May 2) — with the reveal coming from none other than country icon and 18-time ACM Awards host Reba McEntire.
A special video from Reba, in which she congratulated the two artists as winners of this year’s award for visual media of the year (for their “You Look Like You Love Me” music video), played during Green’s set at the festival on Friday. Langley receives honors for both artist and director in the category.
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“Sorry to interrupt, but I have some big news,” Reba teased in the clip that announced their win. “Congratulations to Ella and Riley! Can’t wait to celebrate with you both in Frisco!”
Langley learned of her first Academy of Country Music award just a week ago, during her set at Rock the Country in Knoxville, Tennessee.
News of that first win — for new female artist of the year — arrived courtesy of friend and co-writer Miranda Lambert via video message. (Lambert, who called Langley “my soul sister in country music and a partner in crime,” was named winner in the same category 18 years ago.)
Langley’s the most-nominated artist at the 60th ACM Awards.
With two awards to her name already, several remain up for grabs for the singer-songwriter at this year’s ceremony: female artist of the year, plus single of the year, song of the year and music event of the year (all for her “You Look Like You Love Me” duet with Green). For song of the year, the two are nominated as both artists and songwriters.
The twangy, flirty barroom duet, released in 2024, made it to No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, No. 7 on Hot Country Songs and No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The 2025 ACM Awards will stream live globally on Prime Video and the Amazon Music channel on Twitch on Thursday, May 8 at 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT / 5 p.m. PT from the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. Expect to tune in for two-and-a-half hours to catch the full show.
The Academy of Country Music Awards is the longest-running country music awards show, with its inaugural year being 1966.
The ACM Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Eldridge Industries and Billboard parent company Penske Media.
Pop superstar Kylie Minogue capped her first arena tour of the United States and Canada on Friday night (May 2) as her Tension Tour touched down in Los Angeles at Crypto.com Arena.
“Good evening, Los Angeles! We are here!” the ever-gracious performer exclaimed to the packed house early in the evening. “Thank you so much each and every one of you for coming out tonight, and welcome to the Tension Tour.”
While the two-hour show took fans on a journey through four decades of Minogue’s hits, it also highlighted eight songs from her two most recent studio albums, Tension II (released in 2024) and Tension (2023). Among those choice cuts were Tension’s Grammy Award-winning “Padam Padam,” which was also a top 10-charting hit on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart in 2023, and the show-opening “Lights, Camera, Action” from Tension II.
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The Tension Tour is just the third traveling show Minogue has brought to the U.S. and Canada, having previously visited the country with Aphrodite Live in 2011 and the KYLIE trek 2009, with both staged before more intimate crowds as compared to the arena-sized audiences of the Tension Tour. Separate from her three tours, Minogue also mounted her first Las Vegas residency in 2023-24, with 20 dates at the 1,000-seat capacity Voltaire at The Venetian Las Vegas.
The Tension Tour kicked off on Feb. 15 in Perth, in Minogue’s home country of Australia, moved to Asia for a trio of dates (March 10-15) and then reached North America on March 29 in Canada. For the U.S. and Canada run, the Tension Tour played 16 shows between March 29-May 2, including a pair of nights at New York’s Madison Square Garden (April 4-5). The trek now moves to Europe on May 16, then to South America on Aug. 7, and then back to North America for its three final dates in Mexico (Aug. 22-26). By the close of the Tension Tour, Minogue will have played nearly 70 shows in more than 25 countries on five continents.
At one point during the Los Angeles show on Friday, Minogue paused and reflected, “Here we are in 2025 and I get to be on a world tour with these beautiful humans, beautiful intelligent humans — the ones you can see on the stage and off stage. And I get very emotional thinking about this, this… that I’ve… it’s been a lifetime and sometimes it just amazes me. So very, very grateful. Thank you so much for being here.”
That “lifetime” of a musical career was on display through the show, with Minogue offering up a bevy of hits like her first single, the 1987 cover of “The Loco-Motion,” along with “Better the Devil You Know” (1990), “Spinning Around” (2000, and joined onstage by the show’s opening act Rita Ora), “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” (2001), “All the Lovers” (2010) and many more.
Before the final song of the night (“Love at First Sight”), a joyful Minogue shared a message with the crowd: “You’ve been beyond tonight. You’ve been here, present, ready, going — thank you so much for being here, for your beautiful energy, for being here for me in all different times of my career. For being there for each other! I just want to give a real shout-out to our entire crew because this has been an incredible run. We’ve loved it, so thank you.” After a moment of applause from the crowd, she then humorously added, “I’ve got some old friends here tonight. Look at me now!”