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Shaboozey has a lot of reasons to dance on Friday (Nov. 8), with the 29-year-old breakout country star nabbing five nominations for the 2025 Grammys.
In addition to best new artist and best melodic rap performance for his “Spaghettii” duet with Beyoncé, Shaboozey’s smash hit single “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” was recognized for best country solo performance, best country song and, last but not least, song of the year. When his name was announced in the latter category Friday, the initially nervous-looking singer — as captured by his guitarist Stephen Musselman and reposted by Shaboozey on Instagram Stories — let out a huge cheer and jumped up from his seat, bursting with joy.
“Let’s go!!!!” he cheered while doing a happy dance as his friends applauded.
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Shaboozey also tweeted Friday, “GRAMMY NOMINATED BOOZEY!!!!!!!! I LOVE Y’ALL, THANK YOU @RecordingAcad !!!!” In another post on X, he simply wrote, “We did it!!!!”
The Virginia native’s nods are well-earned. After his star skyrocketed following Bey’s Cowboy Carter — for which he lent his talents to two tracks — Shaboozey quickly leveraged the opportunity into lasting success with “A Bar Song,” which has spent 16 weeks (so far) at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Earlier this week, the track tied for the second-longest reign in the chart’s history, bested only by Lil Nas X’s 19-week rule with “Old Town Road.”
“That’s the homie,” Shaboozey said of Lil Nas in his October Billboard cover story. “We haven’t had deep conversations, but I can tell what’s happening to me now is probably very similar to what he experienced.”
Shaboozey is just one of many artists who received good news Friday, with Beyoncé leading the way with 11 nominations, followed by Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar and Post Malone with seven nods apiece and Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and Taylor Swift with six each. Shaboozey shares the best new artist category with Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Benson Boone, Doechii, Khruangbin, Raye and Teddy Swims.
The 2025 Grammys will take place Sunday, Feb. 2. See Shaboozey’s tweets below.
Muni Long now has a chance to bring home a second Grammy for best R&B performance. The singer-songwriter received a second nod in that category during the Recording Academy’s unveiling Friday (Nov. 8) of its nominee slate for the 67th Grammy Awards — this time for the live rendition of her hit song “Made for Me (Live on BET).”
Long also leads this year’s slate of R&B Grammy nominees, scoring three additional nods: best traditional R&B performance (“Make Me Forget”), best R&B song (“Ruined Me”) and best R&B album (Revenge). She received her first Grammy win at the 65th awards ceremony for her vocal work on her hit “Hrs and Hrs.”
After Long, these R&B stars are tied at two nominations apiece in the R&B categories: Chris Brown, Coco Jones, SZA, Lucky Daye, Kehlani and Lalah Hathaway. Also receiving nods were Jhené Aiko and Childish Gambino.
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It’s a strong Grammy showing for Brown this time around. In addition to nods for best R&B performance (“Residuals”) and best R&B album ( 11:11 [Deluxe]), he also picked up a third nomination in the best African music performance category for “Sensational,” also featuring Davido and Lojay. Tems, one of the other four artists vying against Brown in that category (with “Love Me Jeje”), is also up for best R&B song (“Burning”).
Continuing a comeback heightened by this year’s Super Bowl halftime performance and tour, Usher garnered a best R&B album nomination for his first solo project since 2016, Coming Home. Also of note is Marsha Ambrosius’ nod for best traditional R&B performance for the song “Wet,” giving the singer-songwriter her 10th Grammy nomination. The track is featured on Casablanco, executive produced by Dr. Dre and Ambrosius’ first new studio album since 2018.
SZA continues to reign with hit “Saturn,” which received nods for best R&B song and best R&B performance. Also gaining key recognition this year: Kehlani for best R&B song (“After Hours”) and best progressive R&B album (Crash); Lucky Daye for best traditional R&B performance (“That’s You”) and best R&B album (Algorithm) plus Coco Jones for best R&B song and best R&B performance (both for “Here We Go (Uh Oh).” Jones won her first Grammy for best R&B performance for “ICU” this past February. Kehlani is also the featured guest on Jordan Adetunji’s breakout hit “Kehlani,” which is nominated in the best melodic rap category.
In the category of unexpected nominations are such names as longtime indie favorite Avery*Sunshine (So Glad to Know You) and buzzing artist Durand Bernarr (En Route), both for best progressive R&B album. Among the unexpected snubs: Bryson Tiller, 4batz, PartyNextDoor and Tyla, though THR reported that the singer’s self-titled debut album had been moved from best R&B album to the best pop vocal album category.
The 67th Grammy Awards are set to air Feb. 2 on CBS.
This week in dance music: Illenium shared the genuinely tear-jerking backstory of his 2021 track “Brave Soul,” and while half the nation experienced another reason to cry, Moby offered some sage advice after election day. Meanwhile, a new Avicii documentary is coming to Netflix on New Year’s Eve, Charli XCX and Troye Sivan made a cool $28 million on their recent Sweat Tour, Shygirl took us backstage on that run with her Sweat Tour photo diary, Dubfire told us why all is well in the state of techno and the 2025 Grammy nominations were announced, with Justice, Zedd, Charli, Kaytranada, Four Tet and a gaggle of other scene stars getting nominated in the best dance/electronic categories.
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And through all of it, the beat goes on. These are the best new dance tracks of the week.
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Major Lazer & M.I.A., “Where’s The Daddy?”
“Where’s the Daddy” is an old/new venture, with the track dating back to the earliest days of Major Lazer, when the internet was looser, the algorithms but a glimmer in the eyes of the world wide web and Diplo and M.I.A. were working together on her second album, Kala, while also dating. These most O.G. members and affiliates of Major Lazer, the first iteration of which of course also included British producer Switch, reunite 15 years later with the official release of “Where’s the Daddy.” The track is classic early day Major Lazer — a woozy, stoney, dancehall-influenced production that sounds like both Major Lazer, Kala and everything else the artists were releasing around this time. M.I.A. is here with her signature singsong vocals, with lyrics that seem to find her searching for her baby daddy, with the song laced with a sample of a crying baby.
To make the point crystal clear, M.I.A. appears pregnant in the music video — in which she, Diplo and Switch drive up and down the Pacific Coast Highway in L.A. in a Tesla Cybertruck, uniting old sounds and old pals with a nod to an impending dystopic future in which pregnancy is a government mandate and transportation is provided by Emperor Elon. The song is out in conjunction with the 15-year anniversary of Major Lazer’s culture-shaking 2009 debut, Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do, a deluxe re-release of which is coming out next week (on Diplo’s Mad Decent, natch) with a collection of additional unreleased tracks and remixes.
“Major Lazer’s origin story is a jumbled-up mess,” Diplo says in a statement. “It reads more like a villain story. I knew about Switch from being the weirdest and hardest DJ in London, and he was interested in my local scene in Philly — Spank Rock, Amanda Blank, Santigold, Plastic Little. M.I.A. got mixed up in the project when me and Dave were summoned by XL Recordings to make beats for her. I failed miserably, but I made a mixtape, Piracy Funds Terrorism, and Dave had a few bangers around town. We made too many beats for her, so we decided to go record them in Jamaica because the artists there are extremely talented, and the productions were cutting edge. We made this Major Lazer album down there and started a little movement that ended up with a few billion streams. It’s cool to put out ‘Where’s the Daddy?’ now because M.I.A. was the third daddy of Major Lazer.”
Deadmau5, “Re_Jaded”
Like Major Lazer, Deadmau5 is digging into the archives this week, re-releasing his 2007 track “Jaded” on an EP that also includes a new edit by Volaris, a new ambient remix by Deadmau5 along with his own new Re-Jaded” edit. This latter production sands off all the harder edges of the already beautifully smooth progressive house original and forms it into a 12-minute opus that’s quintessential classic ‘mau5. The project is out on Mau5trap.
Qrion, “Keep on Moving Up”
Texas-born producer Qrion releases the fourth single from her forthcoming album, We Are Always Under the Same Sky. “Keep on Moving Up” stacks up layers of synth into a bright but weighty house track, which balances the same ebullience and depth in its themes. Qrion sings about keeping on “moving up, moving up while I”m young,” with the track written about getting sober following a period of addiction after her father passed away. She says the song is about “hitting rock bottom and challenging myself to conquer small goals, gradually working my way up to larger ones. The lyric ‘Don’t Know Where I’m Going’ reflects the uncertainty of my first year of sobriety after rehab, capturing the struggle and growth of finding my path forward.” We wish her well on this path, which includes the release of We Are Always Under the Same Sky via Anjunadeep on January 17.
Will Clarke, Midnight Mass
Longtime scene fixture Will Clarke releases his debut album, Midnight Mass, on Armada Music. The 13-track project is as it sells itself — music to find salvation to in the afterhours. Styles oscillate between buzzy IDM (“Breakthrough,” “Summit”), classic gospel house (“Weekend Love”) and the style of moody progressive house Clarke helped popularize in the last few years as a co-writer on the 2023 deadmau5/Kaskade hit “Escape.” Vocalists including blythe, Karen Harding, Georgia Meek all help bring femininity and soul to the tracks, with blythe’s turn on the album-closing “You Alone” delivering a classic makeout music moment.
Bedouin feat. Iveta, “Better Than This”
After rinsing the tracks all summer at their Pacha Ibiza residency, Brooklyn-based duo Bedouin releases its two-track Into the Wind EP. The project opens with “Better Than This,” a simmering YOLO goes tot he club track about getting loose tonight and dealing with the aftermath tomorrow. The pair have been working on the song for a year, and you can feel the work in the style and meticulous structure of this one. “It’s a song about embracing the present moment, because that’s all we truly have,” they say. “As we journey forward, it’s the mystery of that path that keeps us alive.”
Bhad Bhabie is responding to negative rumors about her weight with a health update. The 21-year-old “Gucci Flip Flops” rapper (real name Danielle Bregoli) took to her Instagram Stories on Thursday (Nov. 7) to explain, “I’m sorry my cancer medication made me loose [sic] weight. Im slowly gaining it back. So stop running w the […]
The 2025 Grammy nominations landed this morning (Nov. 8), and two Jamaican powerhouses have earned their first Grammy nods for their own work.
In 2017, Shenseea made waves with a remix of Vybz Kartel‘s “Loodi”; today the dancehall star joins Kartel as a 2025 Grammy nominee for best reggae album thanks to Never Gets Late Here. Released on May 24, Never Gets Late Here serves as Shenseea’s sophomore studio album and features collaborations with Masicka, Di Genius, Anitta, Coi Leray and Wizkid. The album reached No. 4 on Reggae Albums, becoming Shenseea’s second consecutive LP to reach the chart’s top five.
“I was in the office getting my ID done, and I started screaming. The people in the office were like, ‘Oh my God! Who died?’” Shenseea exclusively tells Billboard about her initial reaction to her nomination. “I finally made it amongst the greats, that’s what I first thought. It’s [been] a long road to get here for my country and my culture. Momentum and hype [are] more quickly accepted than quality sometimes, especially in this new generation. For me to even make it here after all I’ve been through from stage zero, I feel like I’m at ten. It’s just the icing on the cake to win.”
Shenseaa earned a pair of Grammy nominations (album of the year and best rap album) in 2022, thanks to her work on Ye‘s Billboard 200-topping Donda LP. She appeared alongside Roddy Ricch on “Pure Souls,” which reached No. 52 on the Billboard Hot 100. “I told myself I would not attend the Grammys until I get nominated for best reggae album for my own project,” she reveals. “Even when Donda got nominated, I did not go to the awards. [This nomination] means everything to me. I feel like my hard work continues to pay off. I’ve been dreaming about this moment ever since I found out I could sing!”
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If given the opportunity to perform at either the telecast or the premiere ceremony, Shenseea selects “Face Lift (Intro)” — which features her son — as her song of choice. Should she take home the Grammy next February, Shenseea would join fellow JA star Koffee as the only women to ever win best reggae album.
Just a few months after he regained his freedom, Portmore’s very own Vybz Kartel earned his first career Grammy nomination with Party With Me, which was released this spring (May 31) via Adidjahiem Records. For over three decades, Kartel has been a leader in the dancehall genre thanks a near-constant stream of releases and sizzling crossover joints ranging from 2009’s Spice-assisted “Romping Shop” to 2016’s “Fever.”
Earlier this summer (July 31), Kartel regained his freedom after the Court of Appeal unanimously ruled that he and his co-accused — Shawn Campbell, Kahira Jones and Andre St. John — will not face a new trial for the 2011 murder of Clive “Lizard” Williams. Kartel was originally sentenced to 35 years in prison after a historic 64-day trial back in 2014, but he and his co-accused have always denied their involvement in Williams’ death.
The 2025 Grammy nominees for best reggae album are Play With Me (Vybz Kartel), Never Gets Late Here (Shenseea), Take It Easy (Collie Buddz), Bob Marley: One Love – Music Inspired By The Film (Various Artists) and Evolution (The Wailers).
The Grammys return to Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena on Sunday, Feb. 2.
AFSHEEN, a recording artist, songwriter, producer and DJ based in LA, has just released a new album called SMALL WORLD. One of the lead singles from the album was “No Muse,” which he wrote and sang together with HARU NEMURI, a Japanese singer/songwriter who has been well-received overseas and has recently concluded her successful North America tour.
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The song is a distinctive fusion of drum and bass with HARU NEMURI’s richly imaginative singing. It is dedicated to the Woman, Life, Freedom movement of AFSHEEN’s home country, Iran (readers will recall that Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023).
In September 2022, a young woman named Mahsa Amini was taken away by police for not wearing a hijab. She was later found dead. This re-sparked the movement, and AFSHEEN sought to depict this tremendous struggle for the people whose freedoms are being taken from them.
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In an interview with Billboard Japan, the two artists spoke about the creation of “No Muse” and discussed making connections through music and “making the world smaller.” (This interview was recorded in late September 2023.)
How did you two meet and come to work on “No Muse” together?
AFSHEEN: I met HARU through Justin, who is interpreting this interview. When he came to my studio the first time, he played me some of HARU’s videos. That was the first time that I saw her, and I just fell in love with her music.
Her music is so unique, and there was something about it that I’d never felt before. So I really wanted to work with her in some way. Then, a while later, I put out the song “God Is a Woman,” inspired by the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. Her team thought that maybe she could do a new version of that song. We talked with each other over Zoom, a lot like this interview, and we decided to make a whole new song from scratch. This is how it was connected to birth of the idea of creating “No Muse”.
HARU, what was your impression when you first encountered AFSHEEN’s work?
HARU NEMURI: A lot of AFSHEEN’s music was in genres that I’ve never worked with before, so at first I couldn’t really imagine what kind of music we could make together. But once we decided to make a new song from scratch, AFSHEEN sent over a demo, and it felt like an abstract landscape. Given the feel of the music, I came around to think that I’d be able to write something for it. What AFSHEEN sent over came from a totally different direction than what I’d been imagining, so I found it really interesting.
AFSHEEN and I have very different personalities and energy levels, but I felt this sense of unity in the world evoked by the track. It was like I realized that two people who are so different had this common ground. I’d been under the impression that there wasn’t anything AFSHEEN-like within me, but actually there was a lot. And, on the other side of that, I didn’t think that there was anything of me in AFSHEEN, but there was. My impressions changed because of the project.
AFSHEEN: That’s so beautiful. That’s what I’m trying to do with SMALL WORLD. It’s about taking a step outside of your comfort zone and having the courage to explore what you don’t know. A lot of people are scared to try something new. I feel a lot of respect for HARU and her artistic sensibilities, and it’s beautiful that she trusted me and tried to create something unique. The core of music comes from the heart, and that’s where real connections are made. Heart to heart and soul to soul. What’s important isn’t what it sounds like, but how it makes you feel.
In AFSHEEN’s part, there’s this one phrase that really stands out, “No muse but the music,” which is even used in the name of the song. I feel like that connects to the theme at the heart of the song. Could you talk a bit about the title, “No Muse,” and about this line?
AFSHEEN: When HARU heard the song I sent her, she just said “No muse.” It started there. When you’re writing songs, there are some things you just can’t explain. You just feel them. When she said that, I was like, “Let’s start with that.” Then she sent back her demo, which had the phrase “No muse,” and I felt like I had to make that the chorus.
For me, personally, “No muse” isn’t true, because, first and foremost, music is my muse. Also I have someone who is my muse, in a way. But I had to run the music through the filter of the women of Iran, who feel like they have no muse. So I sang “No muse” myself. But the music keeps me going. Most of the time, I don’t like to describe these things because I want the audience to take it in and make it their own. But I do love that line. I’d even like to make merchandise like a shirt that says “No muse but the music” on it. I think that would be wonderful.
So HARU came up with “no muse?” HARU, what did you mean with that line?
HARU NEMURI: I think that there are times in people’s lives when they’re suddenly saved by art. The landscape I imagined, with its android goddess, captures that moment. In that moment of salvation, it feels like a religious experience, like there is a goddess present. But the reality is that you’re not being saved by some sort of mystical force, but by the art before you. You were saved by the fact that someone existed and created that art.
I don’t have any problem with people calling someone their muse, or using muse in their personal relationships, but I want to free people from this sense of being saved by something mystic. When I wrote the lyrics, I tried to depict what it would be like to be standing there, alone, in this kind of landscape. The lyrics have a storytelling feel, with room for interpretation. That’s unusual for me, and I hope people also enjoy that part of the song.
We’ve talked about the song’s theme and message, as expressed through its lyrics, but now, using that as a launching point, I was hoping you could speak a little about something deeply tied to the song, Iran’s Woman, Life, Freedom movement.
HARU NEMURI: In Iran, a woman in her early 20s was arrested and questioned by the police for not adequately covering her hair with a hijab, and she died under suspicious circumstances. The Woman, Life, Freedom movement itself had existed in Iran before that, but this news sparked major protests. That’s when I found out about it, seeing it on the news.
I despise systems of controlling people, like nations or societal systems. I truly do. People should have religious freedom, and to worship whoever they want, but when religions or systems become political powers, what we’re talking about stops being simple belief. People die. It needs to stop.
AFSHEEN: I 100% agree. I 1,000% agree. It was one year ago, at this time of the year, when all of this was happening(*). I had gone to five different countries, working on SMALL WORLD, and then I started hearing about this woman who got killed for showing her hair. Then it started snowballing into a revolution, with more kids being killed. It was heartbreaking. When I was coming back to L.A., I knew that I had to do something musical about that. The world is a beautiful place, but it’s also a cruel place. There is so much unfairness. I knew that energy was going to do something, though I had no idea what.
I didn’t know that a year later I’d be here, talking with HARU. That’s what SMALL WORLD is about. It’s how we make the world smaller. HARU, you’re a Japanese artist, so you didn’t have to do or say anything about this, but you did. That means a world to me, and, I’m sure, to a lot of young women that will see this. I pray for true freedom for everybody. We should all have the freedom to do what we feel, as long as it doesn’t harm anyone. I think that’s what my work has to say about the Woman, Life, Freedom movement.
*As mentioned previously, this interview was conducted in September 2023, roughly one year after the death of Mahsa Amini.
AFSHEEN, in making SMALL WORLD, you collaborated with artists around the world. HARU NEMURI, you’ve also become internationally active, collaborating and touring with overseas artists. How do you two feel about venturing out from the countries you’re familiar with and working overseas?
HARU NEMURI: I think that, for any given country, there’s only a certain percentage of people who really need my music. Going to a lot of different places increases my likelihood of encountering that small percentage of people in any given country. I also don’t like staying in the same place for a long time. I want to travel to alot of different places.
But I feel like the situation in Japan is an unusual one. In any country, most musicians aren’t going to be in the superstar camp or in the “We just started out and we only have five fans” camp. But in Japan, the musicians in this middle area, the largest area, never leave Japan. There are a lot of musicians who have no particular reason to tour outside Japan, but who also have no particular reason not to tour outside Japan. I always wonder why they don’t go, especially when I look at overseas artists.
What about you, AFSHEEN?
AFSHEEN: I think it’s important for every artist to be able to open up and collaborate with other artists. It’s important to be able to go to other markets or cities or countries where you wouldn’t normally have an audience or fans. It will expose your music to more people, and make the world smaller. That’s the true message of SMALL WORLD, and the essence of who I am as a person. I love to see people from different backgrounds and countries and genres coming together. What makes music so exciting is the way it brings us together. I feel that it’s important to step out of what you know and expand your world.
Then, in closing, was there anything in this collaboration that inspired you and that you think will influence your future activities?
HARU NEMURI: In “No Muse,” I put storytelling and the depiction of the song’s landscape first and foremost, which is very unusual for me. I think that’s because usually I just don’t have the talent for that. That’s why I haven’t made any attempts to do it out in public. However, now, having tried it, I realized that I wasn’t able to do it because I didn’t have a clear visual picture myself. I discovered that I could write lyrics as long as I had my own clear picture. I’d like to refine my own sensibilities so that I can get a clear picture in mind before I start.
AFSHEEN: That’s beautiful. I think that’s the key point of collaborations. If we can walk away as better writers and better artists, I think the collaboration was a success. I would never have thought of doing a vocal duet, but the fact that HARU enjoyed “God Is A Woman” gave me power and encouraged me to sing the chorus. Thank you for liking my voice. If it weren’t for you, I might never have done what I did.
—This interview by imdkm first appeared on Billboard Japan
Japanese retailer PARCO Co. Ltd. is celebrating the 55th anniversary of the PARCO shopping complex with a special ad featuring musician Haruomi Hosono, the late visual artist Keiichi Tanaami — who died in August at age 88 — and his first disciple Naohiro Ukawa.
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Carrying on his mentor’s legacy, Ukawa directed the HAPPY HOLIDAYS Campaign that also marks Hosono’s 55 years in music, with an epic historical mandala blending rare photos from his childhood through to his works with Happy End, YMO, and up to the present day with the iconic motifs and characters by the internationally acclaimed artist and graphic designer Keiichi Tanaami.
“I feel greatly honored to have been asked to participate in this memorable 55th anniversary of PARCO as creative director,” Ukawa says. “This project is a cultural mandala that visually fuses artwork by my mentor Keiichi Tanaami, who passed away suddenly shortly after his 88th birthday, with the historical transition of Haruomi Hosono, who also miraculously celebrated his 55th anniversary in the same year as PARCO. The history of PARCO, which has continued to lead the pop avant-garde culture of Japan since its period of rapid economic growth, resonates with the 55 years of time flowing through this mandala, and a cultural mantra emerges… This visual world has a three-dimensional structure with a complex interweaving of such multiverses.”
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Ukawa also serves as creative director for the commercial that celebrates Hosono’s 55-year music history using generative AI technology to bring photos and Tanaami’s signature motifs to life, accompanied by Hosono’s original music and narration to ring in a special holiday season.
“By some amazing coincidence, my music career began in the same year that PARCO was founded, 55 years ago,” says Hosono. “I prayed for ‘Happy Holidays’ while composing this music.”
Ukawa adds, “Sealed within this mandala is a present-century continuation of creativity, in which the disciple completes a work by allowing the departed mentor and his style to possess him, making full use of both extremes — the physical body and cutting-edge technology — such as hand-drawn artwork x CG and hand-drawn animation x generative AI. This incredibly deep and psychedelic visual world has reached a clear ceremonial realm and is a microcosm of post-war Japan’s alternative culture, where fine art and pop culture are chaotically mixed together!!!!!!! Happy 55th anniversary to PARCO and Haruomi Hosono!!!!!! And a massive RIP to my mentor, Keiichi Tanaami…”
Related events will accompany this project, including a screening of a documentary film about Hosono and a talk show entitled Hosono Cinema House featuring the legendary musician and Ikuko Harada to be held at White Cine Quinto on the 8th floor of Shibuya PARCO in Tokyo Nov. 7. A special program on Tanaami aired on Dommune hosted by Ukawa on Oct. 28 and another one on Hosono is set for Nov. 9.
Various other related events are planned for the holiday season, with further details to be announced Dec. 2.
INI’s “WMDA (Where My Drums At)” shoots to No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated Nov. 6.
The lead track off the eleven-member group’s seventh single “The View” dropped on Oct. 30 and launched with 796,758 copies, which is the second highest first-week sales for the boy band following its previous single, “The Frame.” “WMDA” tops sales and comes in at No. 2 for radio No. 3 for downloads, and No. 67 for video views.
Creepy Nuts’ “Otonoke” holds at No. 2. The Dandadan opener leads downloads, streaming and video this week although points for each metric are down.
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Rosé & Bruno Mars’ “APT.” rises two notches to No. 3. Downloads for the track are up 125% and streaming up 135% week-over-week. “APT.” has ruled Billboard’s Global 200 and Global 200 Exc. US charts for two consecutive weeks. The catchy pop number is spreading throughout the world through TikTok and other channels.
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THE RAMPAGE from EXILE TRIBE’s “Endless Happy-Ending” bows at No. 4. The track featured as the opener for the anime series FAIRY TAIL 100 Years Quest sold 71,223 copies to come in at No. 3 for sales, No. 4 for radio airplay, and No. 92 for streaming.
aespa’s “Whiplash” rises 13-7. Streams for the title track off the girl group’s mini-album have increased 142% compared to the previous week, and radio is also up 199%.
AKASAKI’s “Bunny Girl” rises a notch to No. 8, steadily climbing the ranks for four straight weeks. Streaming for the track is up 108%, downloads up 161%, and videos up 119%, with the growth rate for downloads being particularly large compared to the week before.
The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, video views and karaoke data.
See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Oct. 28 to Nov. 3, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English X account.
Countless fans are upset with Nicole Scherzinger following a comment she made on Russell Brand’s recent Instagram post, which appeared to celebrate Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election.
Though the Republican president-elect wasn’t mentioned by name in the comedian’s post, Brand did share a photo of himself smiling with a red “Make Jesus First Again” baseball cap — which appears to be inspired by Trump’s famous “Make America Great Again” hats — and wrote “God Bless America” in his caption Tuesday (Nov. 5), the same day the former reality star secured his second term in the White House. In a since-deleted comment, the ex-Pussycat Dolls frontwoman wrote, “Where do I get this hat?”
Billboard has reached out to Scherzinger’s reps for comment.
It isn’t clear whether Scherzinger simply wanted to praise the hat’s religious message or if her comment was intended as an endorsement of Trump, but Brand has been famously outspoken in his support for the polarizing twice-impeached POTUS. In recent years, the Hop star has shifted from acting to a career in conservative political commentary, and immediately after his post with the hat, Brand — who is English, not American — celebrated Trump’s victory on Instagram by writing, “DONALD TRUMP HAS WON THE ELECTION.”
At a time when many of Scherzinger’s peers have been sharing their disappointment over Trump’s win against Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, many fans have taken the former X-Factor judge’s comment on Brand’s post to heart. “Nicole Scherzinger being a trumpie was NOT on my bingo card,” one person tweeted Thursday (Nov. 8).
“If Nicole Scherzinger had really posted this, it had to be the most unbelievably stupid career moment I have ever seen,” another person wrote on X. “It took her 20 years for people to take her seriously & she just ended her career high momentum.”
Other fans, however, expressed wanting to give the “Where You Are” singer the benefit of the doubt. “I don’t think this is Nicole Scherzinger coming out as a Trump supporter—I think she is just an annoying christian,” one person tweeted, while another user wrote, “Nicole scherzinger might be a trumpie but she may also just be Christian and stupid.”
The controversy comes amid a career highpoint for Scherzinger, whose performance in Broadway’s ongoing Sunset Blvd. has earned her both critical praise and an Olivier award. The artist has also been generating Tony buzz, and the show’s soundtrack recently debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Cast Albums chart.
In a recent interview with Billboard, legendary composer and Sunset Blvd. maestro Andrew Lloyd Webber praised Scherzinger’s talents as “one of a kind.” “I don’t think there’s any singer I know who can interpret and act through music in the way that she can,” he added. “I mean, I’ve known some very, very great ones, but she’s absolutely extraordinary.”
The nominations for the 2025 Grammy Awards were announced on Friday (Nov. 8), and while major pop stars including Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift made appearances in the Big Four categories, there were other A-listers with major releases this year that were notably absent. Ariana Grande was one of those artists who […]
