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ROSÉ of BLACKPINK is giving her apt. some holiday spruce.
While at BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge Tuesday (Dec. 3), the 27-year-old pop star covered Wham!’s 1984 classic “Last Christmas” as well as performed a solo rendition of her smash Bruno Mars duet “APT.” For the former, she channeled her inner George Michael, melancholy while sitting on a stool, reading the heartfelt lyrics off a music stand in front of her, and dancing along during the Billboard Hot 100 No. 4 hit’s musical high points.
“A face-on lover with a fire in his heart/ A man undercover, but you tore him apart,” she sang before letting her New Zealander side shine through with a spoken-word “Well, maybe next year, mate.”
“I’ll give it to someone, I’ll give it to someone special,” ROSÉ softly crooned to finish out the track, clapping her hands.
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For “APT.,” the K-pop phenom ramped up the energy, joining her backup singers and keyboardist in doing hand movements to pay homage to the Korean drinking game that inspired the song’s title. Without Mars on hand for the second verse, ROSÉ confidently rapped her duet partner’s parts while dancing along.
“It’s whatever, it’s whatever, it’s whatever you like,” she belted. “I’m talking drink, dance, smoke, freak, party all night.”
ROSÉ’s pair of performances arrive as “APT.” spends its sixth week at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 chart. The musician’s debut solo album, rosie, is set to drop Dec. 6, featuring 12 tracks including November single “Number One Girl.”
In a recent interview with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe, the star opened up about feeling “pressure” to deliver a solid LP during her limited time away from full-band duties with BLACKPINK, which is currently on break until some time in 2025. “We got together and decided, ‘Let’s promise ourselves a good year to be inspired,’” she said of bandmates JENNIE, LISA and JISOO. “The first thing that happened was anxiety, because I was privileged to have this one year in my hands to do whatever I wanted with it, but I wanted it to be the right decision and it had to feel right … What if I don’t believe in my thing? And what if I’m in a place where I’m having to do things that I don’t feel like it’s me?”
Watch ROSÉ cover “Last Christmas” above, and check out her performance of “APT.” below.
Dead & Company are headed back to Las Vegas’ Sphere for their second run of shows at the mind-bending wrap-around venue. The group announced their 2025 Dead & Company: Dead Forever – Live at Sphere Las Vegas on Wednesday morning (Dec. 4), an 18-show residency that will celebrate the Grateful Dead offshoot band’s 10th anniversary. […]
The cast of the new Wicked film has an explosive week on Billboard’s charts, thanks to the release of the film’s soundtrack on Nov. 22.
The set soars in at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales, Soundtracks and Vinyl Albums charts (all dated Dec. 7, 2024), while also opening at No. 2 on the overall Billboard 200. It scores the highest Billboard 200 debut for a big-screen adaptation of a stage musical ever, dating to the list’s 1956 launch as a regularly published weekly chart.
Seven songs from the Wicked soundtrack concurrently debut on the Billboard Hot 100, led by “Defying Gravity,” by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, who play the film’s leads, Elphaba Thropp and Galinda Upland, respectively. Meanwhile, multiple members of the cast, including Erivo, earn their first career Hot 100 entries.
Here’s a recap of every song from the Wicked film on this week’s Hot 100.
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Rank, Title, Artist Billing
No. 44, “Defying Gravity,” Cynthia Erivo feat. Ariana Grande
No. 53, “Popular,” Ariana Grande
No. 68, “What Is This Feeling?,” Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo
No. 86, “No One Mourns the Wicked,” Ariana Grande feat. Andy Nyman, Courtney-May Briggs, Jeff Goldblum, Sharon D. Clarke & Jenna Boyd
No. 90, “Dancing Through Life,” Jonathan Bailey feat. Ariana Grande, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode & Cynthia Erivo
No. 93, “The Wizard and I,” Cynthia Erivo feat. Michelle Yeoh
No. 94, “I’m Not That Girl,” Cynthia Erivo
Erivo, Nyman, Briggs, Goldblum, Clarke, Boyd, Bailey, Slater, Bode and Yeoh all score their first Hot 100 entries. Grande, of course, is a veteran of Billboard’s charts, having now charted 90 total Hot 100 hits. She boasts eight No. 1s, including two this year: “Yes, And?” and “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)” from her latest solo album, Eternal Sunshine.
While Erivo and Goldblum appear on the Hot 100 for the first time, both have previously appeared on other Billboard charts. Erivo’s debut solo studio set, Ch. 1 Vs. 1, reached No. 44 on Billboard’s Top Current Album Sales chart and No. 77 on the overall Top Album Sales chart in October 2021. Plus, her song “Stand Up,” from the 2019 Harriet Tubman biopic Harriet, hit No. 31 on Digital Song Sales. Erivo played Tubman in the film, a portrayal that earned her a nomination for best actress at the 92nd Academy Awards in 2019. “Stand Up” also earned her a best original song nomination.
Erivo previously played the lead in the Broadway revival of the musical The Color Purple. She won several accolades for her performance as Celie, including the Tony for best leading actress in a musical at the 70th ceremony in 2016; a Grammy for best musical theater album (for The Color Purple soundtrack); and a Daytime Emmy for outstanding musical performance in a daytime program in 2017.
Goldblum, who plays the Wonderful Wizard of Oz in Wicked, reached Billboard’s charts for the first time in 2018 with his debut studio album, The Capitol Studios Sessions. The set, with the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Jazz Albums and Traditional Jazz Albums charts. It includes collaborations with comedian-actress Sarah Silverman, jazz trumpeter Till Brönner and singers Imelda May and Haley Reinhart. He returned to the charts in 2019 with his follow-up album, I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This, which reached No. 2 on both Jazz Albums and Traditional Jazz Albums.
Nyman, Briggs, Clarke, Boyd, Bailey, Slater, Bode and Yeoh are all brand new to Billboard’s charts. In Wicked, Nyman portrays Governor Thropp (Elphaba and Nessarose’s father), Biggs plays Mrs. Thropp (their mother), Clarke voices Dulcibear, Boyd voices Wolf Doctor, Bailey plays Fiyero Tigelaar, Slater plays Boq Woodsman, Bode plays Nessarose Thropp and Yeoh plays Madame Morrible.
Wicked has even generated a radio chart hit, as Grande’s “Popular” debuts at No. 40 on Pop Airplay, thanks to plays on stations including KMVQ San Francisco, WBLI Long Island, N.Y., and SiriusXM’s Hits 1.
As we look toward 2025, ’tis the season to look back at your 2024 music listening habits with Spotify Wrapped, the annual breakdown of how you’ve been individually listening to music throughout the year.
While Spotify Wrapped is available for anyone with an account, sometimes, it can be hard to find. Don’t worry, though, Billboard‘s got your back. As usual, the 2024 Spotify Wrapped will be Spotify mobile app, which you can download at Spotify.com/Wrapped. Make sure you have the latest version, which you’ll need to access Wrapped. Just like last year, the platform is making Wrapped available via desktop and mobile, also at Spotify.com/Wrapped.
Once you’ve logged in, your personalized look back at 2024 should appear at the top of your home screen. After watching and learning about your listening habits throughout the year, you’ll be able to share your Wrapped results to social media to show off to your friends.
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This year’s edition rolled out on Wednesday morning (Dec. 4) and, no surprise, Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter were among the artists who dominated on the streaming service in 2024. Swift closed out her huge year as 2024’s most-streamed artist, generating over 26.6 billion streams globally — marking two straight years of her topping the tally — with The Weeknd coming in second among artists, followed by Bad Bunny, Drake and Billie Eilish.
To celebrate Swift’s two-fer, Spotify rolled out a special Wrapped badge on her profile as well as custom animations corresponding to her music, including sparkles to match Fearless (Taylor’s Version), seagulls for 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and more. Swift also had Spotify’s top-streamed album of the year with her 15-week Billboard 200-topper The Tortured Poets Department.
Second place on the albums list was Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft, followed by Carpenter’s, Short n’ Sweet, Karol G’s MAÑANA SERÁ BONITO and Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine. All five of the app’s top albums spent time at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. In addition, Carpenter’s “Espresso” snagged the most listens globally in 2024, racking up more than 1.6 billion streams. Just behind was Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things,” Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather,” FloyyMenor and Cris Mj’s “Gata Only” and Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control.”
If you weren’t able to make it out to the Brooklyn Public Library last year to check out the 40,000 square-foot “The Book of HOV” exhibit honoring the legacy of Jay-Z, high-end publisher Assouline has the perfect stocking stuffer for you. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news […]
It’s the end of the year, so that means it’s time to see what lists Taylor Swift is topping as we all reflect on 2024. And, no surprise, the singer who has dominated the charts, the box office, touring and our bookshelves over the past 12 months is at the pole position on yet another year-end tally.
According to the Associated Press, Yale University’s list of 2024’s most notable quotations is, of course, ruled by Swift’s quip endorsing failed Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris. As you might recall, kitty lover Swift threw her fedora in the ring for Harris in an Instagram post in September that she signed “Taylor Swift Childless Cat Lady.”
The zinger was a response to a comment made by Vice President-elect JD Vance several years ago, when he described Democrats as being beholden to “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”
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Number two on the list was President Biden’s Dec. 1 announcement that he’s pardoning his son Hunter — “Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter” — followed by a false claim from President-elect Donald Trump during his only debate with Harris. “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in. They’re eating the cats,” Trump said, boosting an untrue rumor spread by his campaign about Haitian immigrants in the small Ohio town that resulted in a number of bomb threats, harassment and the cancellation of school days for children in the city.
Trump was also at No. 5 on the list with his “Fight! Fight! Fight!” rallying cry after his ear was grazed by a bullet during a rally in Butler, PA. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, slipped into the No. 4 slot with his misstatement “I’ve become friends with school shooters,” after trying to refer to befriending school shooting survivors.
“Please note that the items on this list are not necessarily eloquent or admirable quotations, rather they have been picked because they are famous or important or particularly revealing of the spirit of our times,” said the annual list’s curator, Fred Shapiro, associate director at the Yale Law Library.
Right wing Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s October post falsely claiming “Yes they can control the weather,” in reference to her endorsement of a conspiracy theory claiming that the government used weather control technology to aim Hurricane Helene at Republican voters was at No. 6, followed by Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harris Butker’s May 11, commencement address at Benedictine College in Kansas in which he told women that they “may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.”
The vibrant, graffiti-washed streets of Shoreditch form the nexus of Nia Archives’ world. Teeming with a mix of giddy twentysomethings and bankers looking to dance and release pressure at kitschy nightclubs, the east London neighborhood has been pivotal to the 25-year-old’s rise since she first moved from Manchester to the capital three years ago.
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Between hosting raves at pubs, rooftop dance parties and a local multi-arts space, Archives has immersed herself in every community hub or wild Shoreditch has offered her. Last year, her close affinity with the area was immortalised in mural, when an 80-square-meter image of Archives was created to celebrate the release of her third EP, Sunrise Bang Ur Head Against Tha Wall.
Eighteen months on, when the Bradford-born artist dials in for her Billboard UK interview, her apartment stretches out behind her on our Zoom call. Every inch of visible wall space has art on it, from a framed cover of Aphex Twin’s Windowlicker LP to a ‘Pour Yourself a Junglist’ print, in homage to the iconic Guinness Toucan advertising campaign.
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Like her winsome take on jungle, it is decorated with curiosities across varying aesthetics, but the space looks invitingly lived-in. Archives, born Dehaney Nia Lishahn Hunt, released her debut album, Silence Is Loud, via Island Records in April, which peaked at No. 16 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart before earning a nomination for the prestigious Mercury Prize. The 13-track collection documents her in a state of messy uncertainty. Themes including complex familial bonds and self-esteem are layered over elements of pop, indie and drum ‘n’ bass, broadening her sound without sacrificing brevity.
Archives debuted as a soft-spoken but animated producer with her first single “Sober Feels” in 2020. She has since gone on to have a tectonic impact on U.K. jungle, introducing a new generation of music fans to the genre while also being commissioned for remixes by stars including Fred again.., Jamie xx and Jorja Smith. On Nov. 8, she played a rapturous set at London’s O2 Academy Brixton, which saw her taking on more vocal duties than ever before, skipping around the stage with excitement as she rocked the mic.
Her ascent is built on deep foundations – leaving home at 16, parental estrangement, finding her voice as a songwriter. But by taking a zealously hands-on approach to everything she does, Archives’ followers have continued to turn to her emphatic, euphoric music in troubling times. Back in east London, Archives beams as she tells Billboard UK how she is “surrounded by love”; her closest friends live on the same street, and she is enjoying some downtime after recent tours across the U.K. and Europe.
Fittingly, Silence Is Loud trades in the dizziness and angst of Archives’ earlier music for soaring serenity. Though she still sings about forgiveness and her own resilience, it’s now with the remove of a successful musician that’s conquered an uphill climb to get to where they are today.
Having toured relentlessly in the past few months, how does it feel to finally adjust back to reality?
I do love being on the road, but when I’m away, I really miss my house and my friends. I’m really happy to be back to seeing people, going out and doing things – I’ve got to live life so that I have something to talk about. I’m very happy to be in that mode at the moment. In the past year, I’ve also tried to work out what I want my personal space to look like as being on tour all the time is so disruptive. When I come home, I want to feel calm.
I’m really enjoying life at the moment. I’ve been boozing and reconnecting with friends that I may have lost contact with. When you’re busy playing shows, you don’t always get to speak to everyone all the time so I’ve been trying to be more present in my loved ones’ lives.
What is the emotional exchange between you and the audience like now that you’re not chained to the decks so much in your live shows?
Because I have played so many festivals this year, during these headline shows, it’s been nice to play to rooms of people who really know my music. I do enjoy a festival crowd because I see it as a challenge to win over new listeners but I love seeing people really vibe with the tunes. The audience reactions have been quite mad; I’ll be DJing, then I’ll move away to start singing and feel really connected to people.
We have elevated the set visually too, and I’m really happy with how it has all turned out. I have spotted a lot of moshpits during my shows, which I never expected – it’s quite overstimulating doing what I do! Also, I’ve got really bad eyesight which means I can’t see that far into the crowd but I know that all the vibe controllers are down the front anyway. I love it.
Silence Is Loud introduced your music to more people than ever before. Do you feel like you’ve crossed a threshold, in that regard?
I don’t know. I really love my album, but I will say making an album in 2024 is so anti-climatic. You know, I’m proud of what I’ve done, but I recently saw Goldie say that when he made [1994’s] Inner City Life, people didn’t get it at the time and it only became what it was years later. I feel like that might ring true with my album as well, to be honest.
How do you think the reaction to the album differed to what you had anticipated?
I’m already doing quite a niche thing, which is jungle music. And then I have my own specific take on it, which is bringing in all these different sounds to the genre while I’m singing about my life as well. It’s quite fresh. I think people don’t always understand something new straight away, so I think it’s a bit of a grower. That happens quite a lot with dance music, where songs often become hits years after they are released.
Why do you feel so attracted to telling the story of your life in your music?
I had never really spoken about my life before, and I thought my debut album would be a good way to have a “planting my flag in the sand” moment. Like, my name is Nia Archives and I am making an archive of my life stories. If I have done anything in my life, I have made this album and it’s told the world about who I am, what my story is, and what I am interested in. Album one had to be really real to me: it had to represent who I am and where I come from, and I felt like I only had one chance to do that.
Honestly, I just wrote a lot of songs and tried to sing them as best I could. I don’t think I’m like the best vocalist in the world, but I don’t think I’m the worst. I’m not a f–king powerhouse, Adele-style singer, but I’ve got a lot of charm in what I do.
Did being so vulnerable in your songwriting present any new challenges during the album creation process?
There’s one song [“F.A.M.I.L.Y”] that I didn’t want to put on my album, but my label and manager really wanted that to be the lead single. And I was like, “I don’t want to do that, because that’s such an embarrassing song.” But I’m glad to put it on there because you know what, people that come up to me at shows and tell me they really relate to the song.
Your album has been attributed with bringing jungle sounds and aesthetics to a new audience, serving as a gateway for a lot of people. In what ways has your own relationship with the genre evolved?
My relationship with jungle has honestly grown so much. Hanging out with Goldie has been amazing, he’s become a proper presence in my life. I’ve needed it. He understands what I’m going through and what I’m doing with my music. Also, it has been nice just reconnecting with loads of people from the jungle scene. I’ve got really good relationships with everybody.
In the background, for 2025, I’m looking to put on and work with some new-gen junglists, people that are younger than me. I’m going to Bristol, I’m hanging out with people in Manchester – I want to help new artists coming through. I’m just quite excited, really, and I’m definitely feeling stronger in my love for jungle once again.
What do you see as the big changes in dance music as of late?
Dance music is definitely one of the biggest genres in the world right now. I’ve traveled all over the world and seen people of all ages and from all walks of life enjoying themselves to different DJs’ sets. That post-COVID party boom continues, I think: Charli XCX is huge and rave sounds are everywhere. I’m super happy to be part of it and to also see my friends doing so well.
On the flipside, you can tell who went out [clubbing] before the pandemic and who only started after, right? That’s not being disrespectful, but for the younger ones, the core years of their lives were taken away and they’re still figuring out how to experience live music. I’m not really into berating them or making them feel bad – I just want to encourage them to dance and to not worry about their phones.
How have you dealt with the way your life has changed this past year?
So much has happened these past few months that it still feels like a blur! Like, I still can’t believe that I was able to take my album to Japan and play it out there. It was so cool to see such an enthusiastic reaction to jungle music on the other side of the world – it makes me so excited to see the genre go global. There’s so much left on the bucket list, too. I feel like I’ve only just started and I have so many dreams that I hope to achieve with my second album.
Amy Adams has always liked and appreciated Taylor Swift‘s music. But then the Nightbitch star went to see the Eras Tour, she proudly became “a Swiftie at 50,” the star told Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday’s (Dec. 3) Tonight Show. “I’m a Swiftie at 50, so I’m like a shifty 50 Swiftie… and I’m like ‘isn’t that nifty?’ And now my daughter’s going, ‘Ooh, I hate this for you.’”
Adams said the Eras experience was so profound that she went from “normal” to “‘I’ll take all the friendship bracelets!’”
When Fallon asked if Adams had ever met the singer, the Golden Globe winner said they did cross paths years ago at an awards show afterparty, where they sang karaoke together. In fact, they did a duet on 4 Non Blondes’ signature 1993 hit “What’s Up,” during Adams committed the ultimate karaoke faux pas.
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“And I may have… uh… sang it a little loud,” Adams admitted. “And I’m sure everybody was like, ‘Amy, shut up! Like, we want to hear Taylor sing.’ I was just in it.”
“The one that goes ‘hey, yeah, yeah, yeah’? You went for it? That one?” Fallon asked.
“I did,” Adams said. “When someone does that at karaoke I let them go,” Fallon said.
“But I should have sat down and just let Taylor sing,” Adams realized. “I had a blast. Now, in reflection, if I were to do it now I’d be so different I would like to think… I did the right thing. I sang really loud over Taylor Swift… and probably not great, either.”
Fallon also mentioned that there’s a long-running internet campaign suggesting that the six-time Oscar nominee would be the perfect choice to play Swift’s publicist, Tree Paine, in a biopic. “Uh, that would be amazing,” said Adams, whose red hair is a shade darker than Paine’s signature flame mane. Fallon then help up a tweet that said “Amy Adams will win an Oscar for Tree Paine’s biopic.”
“That would be so fun,” said Adams, mother to a 14-year-old daughter who (see above) she noted is now not embarrassed by her mom, but more embarrassed for her mom. “If it got me closer to Taylor then that would be fun,” Adams said.
Adams’ Nightbitch opens in theaters on Friday (Dec. 6).
Watch Amy Adams describe shouting over Taylor Swift during karaoke below.
This year’s Spotify Wrapped rolled out Wednesday morning (Dec. 4), revealing that Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter and more dominated the streaming service in 2024.
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The “Fortnight” singer closes out a banner year as 2024’s most-streamed artist, generating more than 26.6 billion streams globally. In second place among artists was The Weeknd, followed in order by Bad Bunny, Drake and Billie Eilish.
To celebrate Swift’s achievement — which makes her Spotify’s most-streamed artist for two years in a row — the platform has implemented a special Wrapped badge on her profile as well as introduced custom animations corresponding with her music, including sparkles to match Fearless (Taylor’s Version), seagulls for 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and more.
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The 14-time Grammy winner also had Spotify’s top-streamed album of the year with 15-week Billboard 200-topper The Tortured Poets Department, which was also Apple Music’s biggest album of 2024. On Spotify, the second-place album was Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft, followed respectively by the “Please Please Please” singer’s Short n’ Sweet, Karol G’s MAÑANA SERÁ BONITO and Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine. All five of the app’s top albums spent time at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — and all five of them, it’s worth celebrating, were turned in by female artists.
As for most-streamed songs, Carpenter’s “Espresso” garnered the most listens globally in 2024, racking up more than 1.6 billion streams. Behind it came Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things,” Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather,” FloyyMenor and Cris Mj’s “Gata Only” and Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control.”
Plus, Spotify shared its most-streamed podcast this year — The Joe Rogan Experience — and most-listened audio book, which was Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses.
Like in years past, Spotify Wrapped is also now allowing individual users to view their own top-listened artists and songs via shareable data cards. In 2024, they can access “Musical Evolution” features as well, showing how their distinct moods and tastes changed over that past 11 months with Spotify-generated descriptors and a personalized playlist.
Also new is a “Longest Listening Streak” feature that accompanies users’ favorite artists of the year. A returning favorite is the “Top Listeners” feature, revealing which percentage of listeners fans were in for their favorite artists — and the most loyal ones will receive special videos from stars such as Peso Pluma, ROSÉ, Billie Eilish, Usher, Sabrina Carpenter, Karol G and more.
Zayn Malik canceled a solo gig in Newcastle, England just minutes before showtime on Tuesday night (Dec. 3). In the past few weeks the former One Direction member has embarked on a solo tour throughout the U.K., his first headline run of shows since leaving the pop group in 2015. Metro reported that an announcement […]
