Music News

Raygun Is the Top-Ranked Breaker in the World? Sport’s Governing Body Explains

Australian breaker Rachael Gunn, or “b-girl Raygun,” holds the top spot in her sport’s latest world rankings despite Olympic performances that led to online ridicule.

On Tuesday, the sport’s governing body issued a statement to “provide clarity” on why Raygun tops the rankings.

Raygun, a 37-year-old university lecturer from Sydney, failed to score any points at the Paris Olympics in routines that included a “kangaroo” dance.

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The World DanceSport Federation said the ranking methodology is based on each athlete’s top four performances within the past 12 months — but excludes Olympic events including the Paris Games and Olympic qualifier series events in Shanghai and Budapest.

Additionally, no ranking events were held between December 2023 and the Olympics — to allow athletes to focus on qualification.

The federation clarified that the unusual circumstances of this year’s competition schedule resulted in many athletes being ranked based on a single event. In Raygun’s case, her first-place finish at the Oceania continental championships in October 2023 earned her 1,000 points.

Many within the breaking community have criticized the rankings for not giving a clear picture of breaking as a sport and as a culture.

“Speaking of the WDSF, they actually don’t have any real merit with the breakers or the breaking community,” said Zack Slusser, vice president of Breaking for Gold USA. “And they also haven’t been able to organize events by their measure that would contribute to creating an accurate world ranking.”

According to Slusser, breakers only performed in events organized by the WDSF — the Lausanne-based governing body for competitive dance sports — to get enough points to qualify for the Paris Olympics.

Breakers “had no incentive, no desire to even continue participating with the WDSF after that,” Slusser said. “Because they’re not cultural events. They are not enjoyable.”

Future Announces ‘Mixtape Pluto’ Project Release Date & Reveals Cover Art

You thought there was a drought? Future is making sure his fans never get parched in 2024. The Atlanta rapper is gearing up to drop off his third project of the year.

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Future announced on Wednesday (Sept. 11) that his Mixtape Pluto project is slated to hit streaming services later this month on Sept. 20. “F*** the publicity I got this out the mud MIXTAPE PLUTO 9-20-24,” he wrote in his caption for the announcement post to social media. Future also revealed the cover art for the new project, which features the famed Dungeon family house drenched in pink fluorescent lighting.

Per Apple Music, Mixtape Pluto boasts 17 tracks in total with features not yet revealed. Pre-save links for the project are currently live.

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Freebandz’s website added merch and vinyl bundles for fans wanting to pre-order the project. CDs and vinyl records are available solo with an alternate cover switching out the pink for lime-green Brat-infused lighting in the Dungeon. The $40 bundles come with shirts in two options — purple/white or black/green.

Later the Mixtape Pluto post, Future teased a track from the project titled “Too Fast.” He appears to have shot the visual for the cut already with Kid Art at the helm directing the flick. “Bought the Patek I was moving too fast/ New G-Wagon I was moving too fast/ Got the condo I was moving too fast,” he raps.

While most of the project’s collaborators are still unknown, Travis Scott has repeatedly teased his involvement in Mixtape Pluto. Last week, he previewed a snippet from a collaboration that appears to be titled “South of France.”

On the production side, 808 Mafia’s Southside signaled he played a role in the project with Wheezy. “It’s almost that time presave link in bio can’t wait for yall to here this masterpiece me and brothers put together @wheezy @future and if you a drop one in the comments for the cover #MTP 9/20 we go up,” he wrote.

Future’s third project of 2024 follows his pair of collab albums with Metro Boomin We Don’t Trust You and We Still Don’t Trust You, both of which topped the Billboard 200 earlier this year. The duo wrapped up their We Trust You Tour north of the border in Vancouver on Sept. 9.

Find Future’s announcement post below.

Megyn Kelly Calls Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce ‘Elitist Snobs’ After Kamala Harris Endorsement: ‘F You’

Pop superstar Taylor Swift made it abundantly clear to her followers who she will be voting for in November, and conservative pundit Megyn Kelly is refusing to “Shake It Off.”

In the newest episode of her YouTube series The Megyn Kelly Show, the former Fox News host harshly criticized Swift for supporting Vice President Kamala Harris’ bid for the presidency this November. Reading out Swift’s full statement posted to her Instagram, Kelly immediately impugned the singer’s character and spread misinformation surrounding some of Harris and Gov. Tim Walz’s proposed policies.

“I’m allowed to criticize Taylor Swift, and I don’t give a sh– who gets upset. This is disgusting,” she said. “If she wants to vote Harris-Walz, she can do it all she wants but to say the reason she is doing it is because of Tim Walz’s stance on LGBTQ? F you, Taylor Swift. And F all of the people who want to see these children have body parts chopped off and watch them sterilized under the age of consent and then will ride off to their multi-gazillion-dollar mansions.”

The conservative host then included Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce in her criticism (despite the fact that Kelce has yet to publicly endorse a candidate in the election), calling the couple the “epitomes of elite snobs” before claiming that the two are not in touch with politics.

“They both have gazillions of dollars,” she said, before adding in anti-vaccine sentiment to the mix. “She doesn’t care what happens to these kids, just like he [Kelce] doesn’t give a sh– what happens to all the young men who take the Pfizer booster he’s been pushing on them.”

Billboard has reached out to Swift’s representatives for comment.

Kelly had previously criticized Kelce for posting an advertisement with Pfizer, where the tight end encouraged fans to get their COVID-19 booster shots. The host claimed that COVID-19 vaccines put youth at greater risk for myocarditis — the CDC, though, says that those who contract COVID-19 are far more likely to contract myocarditis, and that “myocarditis after COVID-19 vaccination is rare.”

Kelly’s complaint about children having “body parts chopped off” is part of a larger GOP trend of advocating against gender-affirming care for transgender youth. While many pundits and politicians (including former president and Republican nominee Donald Trump) claim that this kind of care involves children routinely having their genitals operated on, experts in the field say surgical intervention is not recommended for minors.

“Genital reconstruction surgery is typically reserved for adults,” Dr. Joshua D. Safer, MD, executive director of the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery, explained to Billboard in 2022. “Prior to any gender-affirming medical or surgical intervention, all minors must have an intake with a knowledgeable mental health provider internal to our system. Once deemed ready for a medical/surgical intervention, the processes we have for adults are then brought into play.”

In her endorsement of Harris, Swift praised the vice president as a “steady-handed, gifted leader” who “fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.” She added that she was “heartened” by Gov. Walz, thanks to his decades-long support for “LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body.

See Megyn Kelly’s rant below:



Saweetie’s ‘Nani’ Nabs No. 1 Spot on Rhythmic Airplay Chart

Saweetie enjoys a return to form on radio as her single “Nani” advances to No. 1 on Billboard’s Rhythmic Airplay chart. The track, released on ICY/Warner Records, rises from the runner-up spot to lead the list dated Sept. 14 after it became the most-played song on U.S. monitored rhythmic radio stations in the tracking week of Aug. 30 – Sept. 5, according to Luminate. For its coronation, “Nani” improved 2% in plays compared to the previous tracking week.

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With “Nani,” Saweetie picks up the fourth Rhythmic Airplay champ of her career. The rapper first led in 2019 with the two-week leader “My Type” and added two more No. 1s in 2021, the Jhene Aiko-assisted “Back to the Streets” and Doja Cat-aided “Best Friend,” which each ruled for one week.

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As “Nani” takes the throne, it unseats Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” after the latter commanded the chart for the last seven consecutive weeks, of a total 10 frames atop the ranking. (After its first three weeks atop Rhythmic Airplay, “Not Like Us” was knocked aside by Tommy Richman’s “Million Dollar Baby” and recaptured the top slot three weeks later.)

Elsewhere, “Nani” extends its stay on the R&B/hip-hop radio formats. On Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, “Nani” slides 18-23 in its 12th week on the list, after having reached a No. 14 best last month. With that result, “Nani” was Saweetie’s best showing on the list since “Best Friend” reached No. 9 in April 2021.

Likewise, on the audience-based R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, “Nani” backtracks 20-26 in its 13th frame and slips to 3.2 million in audience, a 24% drop after promotion efforts at the format have stopped in the last week. Still, the No. 20 result made for Saweetie’s highest placement since a feature on Kendra Jae’s “Seesaw” reached the same rank in November 2021; before that, “Best Friend” was the rapper’s highest mark with a No. 14 peak earlier that year.

Michael Bibi Donates Funds From Comeback Show to the Hospital Where He Received Cancer Treatment

Michael Bibi‘s comeback story continues with the news that the English producer has donated money raised at his July comeback show to the London hospital where he underwent cancer treatment.

“To everyone that was part of this show thank you for making this possible,” Bibi wrote on Instagram with a photo of himself presenting a check to hospital staff. “Through dancing we have directly helped other people like myself and are helping to make a difference in saving more lives. My heart is full, thank you.”

The donation — about $162,815 — was raised at Bibi’s inaugural One Life show at London’s Finsbury Park on July 2, with the performance marking his first big U.K. set back after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. His shows were canceled as the London-based artist went into treatment at the city’s Royal Marsden Hospital. Last December, he announced that he was officially cancer free.

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Representatives from the Royal Marsden hospital were on hand at the Finsbury Park show with information booths that raised awareness for cancer treatment and prevention.

Bibi’s One Life concept, which includes another five shows across Europe through late September, establishes a new normal for the previously globe-trotting DJ, with Bibi now playing a very select number of shows, most of them during the day and early evening.

“I’m focusing on being healthy. Also being in a hospital bed for that amount of time, I had to have a couple of surgeries, which left me a bit immobile for a while,” Bibi told Billboard ahead of the Finsbury Park show. “I’m OK now, but there was a lot of rehabilitation from lying flat on my back for such a long period of time. So I’m in the gym now, just slowly rehabilitating myself, trying to get back to how I was, the old me. Eating well, three meals a day. Spending as much time as possible with my loved ones and my friends. Sleeping well is important to me. I’m not doing any shows that are late at night anymore. I’m just chilling for now. The doctor’s orders are literally, ‘Just chill,’ and that’s what I’m doing.”

Read Bibi’s Instagram post below:

Justin Timberlake Reaches Plea Deal to Resolve Drunk Driving Case: Report

Justin Timberlake is moving forward with a plea deal to resolve his drunk driving case, according to the Associated Press.

Three months after he was arrested on suspicion of driving a vehicle while intoxicated in the Hamptons, the news site reports that the 43-year-old superstar will plead guilty to a less serious offense than he was initially charged with this Friday (Sept. 13). Officials have already confirmed that he’s set to appear in Sag Harbor Village Court on that date to enter his plea.

Billboard has reached out to Timberlake’s rep for comment. His lawyer, Ed Burke, was unable to comment at press time.

The news comes a little over a month after the *NSYNC alum pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor drunken driving charge in an August virtual court appearance, where his driving privileges were suspended by Sag Harbor Village Justice Carl Irace. CNN also reported at the time that the judge had admonished Burke for comments the attorney made to the media about the case ahead of the arraignment.

The newly set plea deal will aim to wrap up Timberlake’s DWI case, which began June 17 after police reported witnessing him “failing to stop at a duly posted stop sign and failing to maintain his lane of travel” while operating a 2025 BMW in New York.  The arresting officer added in a court filing that “the defendant was operating said vehicle in an intoxicated condition in that his eyes were bloodshot and glassy, a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage was emanating from his breath, he was unable to divide attention, he had slowed speech, he was unsteady afoot, and he performed poorly on all standardized field sobriety tests.”

Officer Michael Arkinson also noted that the 10-time Grammy winner had told him during the arrest, “I had one martini and I followed my friends home.”

Despite the police reports, Timberlake’s lawyer has disputed that his client was drunk at all at the time of the arrest. During a hearing in July, Burke insisted that the “SexyBack” singer should have never been arrested, saying, “the police made a number of very significant errors in this case.”

Timberlake was midway through his Forget Tomorrow World Tour when he was arrested. Even so, the trek has largely gone off without a hitch, with the performer going on to perform in Chicago, New York City and more locations across the U.S. this summer before embarking on a European leg in July. The full run is currently on track to gross more than $250 million over 87 dates, according to Billboard Boxscore data.

The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony Was a French Electronic Music Fête for the Ages: Photos

The closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympics Games leaned fully into French electronic music, and with dazzling results.

The ceremony, which happened at Paris’ Stade De France on Sept. 8, assembled not only athletes, but a legendary crew of French dance producers that included the pioneering Jean Michel Jarre, Ed Banger founder Busy P, dance-pop master Martin Solveig, Kavinsky — whose 2010 classic “Nightcall” experienced a streaming surge when he also performed it at the Closing Ceremony of the 2024 Olympics Games — and other French Touch stars including Étienne de Crécy, DJ Falcon and Alan Braxe, Breakbot, Irfane, Chloé Caillet and more.

The ceremony also included the first performance from Cassius’ Boombass since the duo’s Philippe Zdar died in 2019 after an accidental fall.

The artists assembled played many of their classics, with Breakbot performing their 2010 era-defining hit “Baby I’m Yours,” while an assistant held an umbrella over a very sharply dressed Irfane as he delivered the vocals. Solveig lit up the stadium with pyro while playing his 2011 hit “Hello,” and the night reached a euphoric peak with the play of Daft Punk’s enduring “One More Time.”

“I see you my Malaysian, English and Ukrainian friends!” Busy P wrote on Instagram in a post of images from the rainy night. “If you still wonder what French Touch is, this is it! It’s us, you, them! Reuniting 24 DJs coming from various worlds, breaking boundaries is French Touch! Being emotional and dance at the same time to celebrate our brothers DJ Mehdi & Zdar is French Touch! Partying hard despite heavy rain is French Touch! Wearing cheap plastic ponchos on top of our Louis Vuitton suits is French Touch! Doing conga line while French techno queen [Anetha] is hammering le Stade de France is French Touch!

“French Touch is not only a music genre,” he concluded. “It’s a state of mind. I salute and send warm kisses to all my fellow DJs who embraced that feeling Sunday night.”

See photos from the night below.

Billboard Explains: Sabrina Carpenter’s Sweet Success on the Charts

It would be an understatement to say that 2024 has been the year of Sabrina Carpenter. The former Disney Channel (Girl Meets World) child star’s sixth studio album, Short N’ Sweet, just gave the singer her first-ever Billboard 200 No. 1 album when it debuted at the top of the tally on the chart dated Sept. 17.

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That lofty peak came after pre-release singles “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” hit, respectively, No. 3 and No. 1 on the the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, with the latter representing Carpenter’s first chart-topping single. How did the 25-year-old born in Quakerton, PA go from posting videos of herself singing songs by Adele and Christina Aguilera as a homeschooled fifth grader to dominating the charts?

The story begins 13 years ago when Carpenter landed the first in a series of small TV roles that eventually landed her a gig in the Disney Channel’s Girl Meets World playing Maya Hart, a role she reprised in the spin-off Boy Meets World. During her run on Girl, Carpenter scored her Billboard chart debut in 2014 on the Kids Digital Song Sales chart with the show’s theme song, “Take On the World,” which she sang alongside co-star Rowan Blanchard.

After signing with Disney’s Hollywood Records, Carpenter released her debut EP, Can’t Blame a Girl For Trying, which spawned the single of the same name, co-written by Meghan Trainor. The singer then made her Billboard 200 chart debut in April 2015 with her first full-length album, Eyes Wide Open, which peaked at No. 43.

Her second album, Evolution, followed in October 2016, peaking at No. 28 on the 200 album chart and spawning her first radio hit, “Thumbs,” which topped out at No. 28 on the Pop Airplay chart. Her third album, November 2018’s Singular: Act I, featured the singles “Almost Love” and “Sue Me,” and was followed by its second part, Singular: Act II, in July 2019.

After leaving Hollywood Records for Island Records in 2021, Carpenter released her first single for her new label home, “Skin,” which landed the star’s first Hot 100 charting song when it debuted at No. 48. Her 2022 follow-up LP, Emails I Can’t Send, became her highest-charting album to date, peaking at No. 23 on the 200 tally and scoring her first No. 1 on the Pop Airplay chart with a song she co-wrote, “Feather,” which also peaked at No. 21 on the Hot 100.

All of that was plenty to brag about, but 2024 is the year that Carpenter blew up in a major way. She kicked things off by booking two major gigs: first, opening for Taylor Swift on some South American dates of the pop superstar’s Eras Tour in 2023 and again in early 2024 in Australia and Singapore and then performing a memorable set at the Coachella Festival in April of this year.

But when she unleashed the bubbly “Espresso” on fans in April, the tune she co-wrote blew up and instantly became her signature hit and an inescapable meme on its way to the No. 3 slot on the Hot 100. The song catapulted the singer to a new career peak, which was quickly supplanted by her first Hot 100 No. 1, “Please Please Please,” whose accompanying steamy video co-starred real-life boyfriend actor Barry Keoghan (Saltburn). With the release of her No. 1 Short N’ Sweet album, Carpenter has cemented her spot as a fixture on the Billboard charts.

Watch Billboard Explains: Sabrina Carpenter’s Sweet Success on the charts in the video above.

After the video, catch up on more Billboard Explains videos and learn about Peso Pluma and the Mexican music boomthe role record labels playorigins of hip-hop, how Beyoncé arrived at Renaissance, the evolution of girl groupsBBMAsNFTsSXSW, the magic of boy bandsAmerican Music Awards, the Billboard Latin Music Awards, the Hot 100 charthow R&B/hip-hop became the biggest genre in the U.S.how festivals book their lineupsBillie Eilish’s formula for success, the history of rap battlesnonbinary awareness in musicthe Billboard Music Awardsthe Free Britney movementrise of K-pop in the U.S.why Taylor Swift is re-recording her first six albumsthe boom of hit all-female collaborationshow Grammy nominees and winners are chosenwhy songwriters are selling their publishing catalogshow the Super Bowl halftime show is booked and more.

Stevie Nicks Joins ‘My Friend’ Taylor Swift in Endorsing Kamala Harris as a ‘Childless Dog Lady’

Taylor Swift and Stevie Nicks look like Harris-Walz supporters in this light, and Democrats are loving it.

Shortly after the “Anti-Hero” singer broke her silence on the 2024 presidential election with a post in support of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz’s campaign for the White House, the Fleetwood Mac frontwoman followed in her footsteps and endorsed the VP as well Wednesday (Sept. 11). “As my friend @taylorswift so eloquently stated, now is the time to research and choose the candidate that speaks to you and your beliefs,” Nicks wrote on Instagram, sharing a photo of herself with her tiny canine.

“Only 54 days left until the election,” she continued. “Make sure you are registered to vote! Your vote in this election may be one of the most important things you ever do.”

Similar to Swift, who signed her own endorsement “Childless Cat Lady” — a dig at Democrats previously made by Donald Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance — Nicks stamped her post with “Childless Dog Lady.”

The “Edge of Seventeen” singer’s message comes amid a whirlwind 24 hours for the Harris-Walz campaign, which saw Harris debate Trump for the first time on Tuesday (Sept. 10). Shortly afterward, Swift gave her highly anticipated seal of approval on Instagram, writing that she was supporting the former prosecutor because “she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.”

“I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos,” Swift added at the time. “I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.”

After going head-to-head with Trump, Harris played the 14-time Grammy winner’s “The Man” at a post-debate gathering, Walz gushed about Swift “as a fellow cat owner” in an interview and the Democratic duo began selling Eras-Tour-inspired friendship bracelets on the campaign’s website.

Swift and Nicks famously performed together on the Grammy telecast in 2010. They have seemingly grown closer over the past few years, with Swift giving the rock legend a shout-out on her The Tortured Poets Department track “Clara Bow.” Nicks, who penned a poem specially for the physical copies of Swift’s Billboard 200-topping album, has also said on more than one occasion that the younger star’s Midnights anthem “You’re on Your Own, Kid” has helped her grieve late Fleetwood Mac bandmate Christine McVie.

See Nicks’ endorsement of Harris below.

Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s ‘Lilac’ Returns to No. 1 on Japan Hot 100, RIIZE’s ‘Lucky’ Follows at No. 2

Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “Lilac” returns to No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated Sept. 11, logging its second week atop the chart.

The track debuted at No. 11 on the chart dated Apr. 17, and after rising to No. 3 the following week, it coasted along in the top five and reached No. 1 for the first time on the July 17 list. Streaming and downloads for the Oblivion Battery opener increased this week, leading to rise in overall points. Downloads are up 117% and streaming up 102% from the previous week.



RIIZE’s “Lucky” debuts at No. 2. The seven-member group’s first Japan single topped sales with 250,470 copies sold in its first week and entered the chart fueled only by this metric.

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GEMN’s “Fatal” rises to 15-3. The Oshi no Ko Season 2 opener debuted at No. 21 on the chart dated July 10 and peaked at No. 8 the following week. The release of the CD version powers the track by the duo consisting of Kento Nakajima and Tatsuya Kitani to its highest position yet. Downloads for the song are up 142%, streaming up 101%, radio airplay up 428%, and karaoke up 108% week-over-week.

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Mrs. GREEN APPLE has another song in the top five this week, with “familie” rising two notches to No. 4. The three-man pop band appeared on the music program With MUSIC on Sept. 7, which probably helped boost all metrics except radio. 

Kocchi no Kento’s “Hai Yorokonde” climbs five rungs hit No. 5 to enter the chart. The multi-talented creator recently appeared on the popular YouTube channel THE FIRST TAKE, which led to a rise in streams (109%).

LE SSERAFIM’s “CRAZY” soars 67-8. Streams for the track is up 393% this week because it was released on Aug. 30, giving it only three days to count towards its debut week.

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 Sept. 2 to 8, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.