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It’s official: Taylor Swift owned the year 2024, we were just living in it.
Swift creates history by being named as the IFPI’s Biggest-Selling Global Recording Artist of the Year for the fifth time, and for the third consecutive year.
With her latest crown, which recognizes the top artist across physical sales, downloads and streaming, Swift is the outright No. 1 recording artist on the planet.
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Announced today, Feb. 18, Swift finished at the top of the podium, ahead of Canadian rapper Drake and K-pop sensation SEVENTEEN, respectively.
This year’s victory follows Swift’s wins in 2014, 2019, 2022 and 2023. No one comes close to her record. Now in its 12th year, just two other acts have led the IFPI’s Global Recording Artist Chart on multiple occasions – Drake (in 2016 and 2018) and BTS (2020, 2021).
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The artist award and chart is the first and only ranking to accurately capture the popularity of artists across streaming channels, doing so alongside digital and physical album and singles sales on a global basis, across the calendar year.
Also, the IFPI reports, TayTay does a Swift Sweep on the Federation’s various year-end tallies.
With her all-conquering release The Tortured Poets Department, the pop superstar leads the IFPI’s Global Album Chart, Global Vinyl Album Chart, Global Streaming Album Chart and Global Album Sales Chart.
“We are immensely proud to award the IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year Award to Taylor Swift for the fifth time, as she continues to redefine the limits of global success,” comments Victoria Oakley, CEO, IFPI.
“This has been a huge year for Taylor, and it has been incredible to see the extent to which fans all over the world are connecting with her superb catalog of music.”
With her record smashing The Eras Tour filling stadiums around the globe in 2024, economists and analysts coined the expression “The Taylor Swift Effect,” which explains the broader cultural and economic impact when her shows come to town.
A product of that phenomenon can be seen in the IFPI’s charts as fans, hyped up by her live performances, boosted her entire catalog on streaming platforms.
Swift was also a juggernaut on wax in 2024. According to the IFPI, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (from 2023), Midnights (2022), folklore (2020), evermore (2020) and Lover (2019) all appeared in the top 20 of the trade body’s 2024 Global Vinyl Album Chart.
In other takeaways from the IFPI’s Global Charts, Zach Bryan and Sabrina Carpenter crack the top 10 of the Global Recording Artist Chart, whilst Noah Kahan, Benson Boone, Chappell Roan and Teddy Swims locked onto the Global Streaming Album Chart for the first time.
On the Global Album Sales Chart, K-Pop once again led the way. Meanwhile, Chinese artist Zhou Shen and Japan’s Snow Man impact the top 20 of the albums tally, which is based on unit sales across physical and download formats.
Top 20 IFPI Global Recording Artist Chart 2024:
PositionPrior YearArtist11Taylor Swift24Drake32SEVENTEEN4Re-entry (2022)Billie Eilish53Stray Kids616Zach Bryan75The Weeknd814Eminem9Re-entry (2022)Kendrick Lamar10NEWSabrina Carpenter11Re-entry (2021)Ariana Grande1219Post Malone136Morgan Wallen14NEWENHYPEN1517Travis Scott1618Kanye West1710Lana Del Rey18Re-entry (2016)Beyoncé19NEWLinkin Park209Bad Bunny
Charli XCX loves to keep her fans on their toes and in a new Instagram post over the weekend the singer hinted that she might have another hard pivot just around the corner. After headlining the second weekend of Australia’s Laneway Festival — where she shared the bill with Remi Wolf, Beabadoobee and Clairo, among others — the Grammy-winning “Von Dutch” singer said she’s considering swerving into yet another new musical lane.
“I really had fun doing it and it got me thinking, what if we made a record with guitars or strings… or both? Lou Reed era maybe, I dunno just saying,” Charli said in a video re-posted by a fan in which she said the Clairo track “Sofia” is one of her favorite songs. “I heard it before it came out, like, a few years ago, and I always loved it,” she said of the tune the pair collaborated on at Laneway on Friday (Feb. 14) in Melbourne.
Charli adding that she texted Clairo before the show and asked if she wanted to team-up on a live version of the tune that was released as the third single from Clairo’s 2019 debut studio album, Immunity.
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It wouldn’t be out of the question for the singers to team-up, as Clairo was featured on “February 2017” from Charli’s 2019 album, Charli.
One of the co-producers of Charli’s career-defining 2024 Brat album, Finn Keane, recently told Grammy.com that the 32-year-old singer is itching to “do the complete opposite thing again” on her next LP. “Some of the conversations we’re having and music we’ve been playing around with the last couple of months have been completely the opposite [of Brat]. I love that spirit. It’s the iconoclastic impulse to rebuild something completely different, to show that you actually could do this other thing,” said Keane, who noted that a big turn from the club aesthetic of Brat is “very in keeping with her ethos.”
Keane doubled-down, saying that all the musical discussions they’ve had since XCX released her Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat remix album last year have been kind of “anti-Brat. I doubt that’ll stick, but that’s been a really interesting thing to observe and makes me very optimistic and excited about [what’s next],” he said.
Charli ‘s Brat world tour will ramp up again in April with a show in Mexico City at Axe Ceremonia on April 5, followed by headlining sets at the Coachella festival in mid-April and the kick off of her U.S. arena tour on April 22.
On May 8, the Academy of Country Music Awards will return to Texas for its milestone 60th anniversary show, to be held live from Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas (home of the Dallas Cowboys), streaming exclusively on Prime Video and hosted by Country Music Hall of Famer Reba McEntire. Starting today (Tuesday, Feb. 18), fans can purchase tickets to attend the milestone 60th anniversary ACM Awards.
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Starting today, pre-sale tickets are available for ACM A-List subscribers. To gain access to presale tickets before they go on sale to the general public, sign up for the ACM A-List free email newsletter to receive a pre-sale code that will grant access to purchase tickets in advance of the public on-sale.
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General on-sale tickets will become available to the public at 11 a.m. ET on Friday, Feb. 21 through SeatGeek.
“This year’s ACM Awards is a celebration sixty years in the making, and we plan to make it one of the biggest and best shows yet!” ACM CEO Damon Whiteside said in a statement. “The 60th ACM Awards will mark our third consecutive year at Ford Center in The Star District, home of the Dallas Cowboys in Frisco, Texas, and we can’t wait to bring the ACM Awards back to the loyal Country Music fan base in Texas, and to those watching all around the globe on Amazon Prime Video. With Reba at the helm as our host, we’ll be commemorating the legends of Country Music while honoring the biggest and brightest stars of today.”
“The bar has been set very high during the first two years of hosting Country Music’s Party of the Year,” added Dallas Cowboys owner, president and general manager Jerry Jones. “I think we all agree, though, that the upcoming Academy of Country Music Awards’ 60th show is going to exceed that bar. Having an amazing icon of music and entertainment in Reba back for another year as host just sets this up to be one of the best ever and the Ford Center will be home to Country Music’s biggest and brightest stars once again.”
The ACM Awards have been held at the Ford Center since 2023. Last year’s show, which McEntire also hosted, featured 18 performances from 19 artists, including Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani, Chris Stapleton and Dua Lipa, Cody Johnson, Jason Aldean, Jelly Roll, Kane Brown, Kelsea Ballerini and Noah Kahan, Lainey Wilson, Miranda Lambert, Nate Smith and Avril Lavigne, Parker McCollum, Post Malone, Reba McEntire, Thomas Rhett and Tigirlily Gold.
Last year, Wilson and Stapleton earned some of the evening’s top honors, as Wilson was named entertainer of the year and female artist of the year (and also took home the music event of the year honor for “Save Me” with Jelly Roll), while Stapleton picked up male artist of the year, album of the year (for Higher) and artist-songwriter of the year wins.
More details surrounding this year’s nominees, performances and additional ACM events will be announced in the coming months.
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Chappell Roan is teasing her single “The Giver” again. After surprising fans in November by playing the country-spiked song during her Saturday Night Live debut, over the weekend Chappell was at it again, though this time she made them work a bit to hear it.
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The tune was hidden in a dial-up stunt Roan posted on her Instagram Story (check out a repost of it here), reachable by dialing the number (629) 468-8646 (aka “Hot To Go”), at which point a voice menu offered a series of options to reach a dentist, attorney, plumber or construction services.
Hitting the options took you to a trio of low-fi snippets of the song, on which she confidently notes her ability to “get the job done” and satisfy a female partner better than any man ever could. During a spoken word portion of the fiddle-flecked tune on SNL, Roan noted, “All you country boys think you know how to treat a woman right. Well, only a woman knows how to treat a woman right. She gets the job done.”
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The song, which has not yet been officially released, is Roan’s first new music since the release of the singer’s Grammy-winning 2023 debut LP, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. In a New York Times interview last fall, Roan producer Dan Nigo teased that the twangy tune would be a “fun, uptempo country song” featuring some fiddle that would show a new side of the singer.
At the time, Nigro said he and Roan were already five songs into recording her sophomore effort, which he said would also include a “couple of ballads” and a “mid-tempo rock song.” Without saying too much, Nigro said that the untitled second LP would spotlight “a new version of Chappell.”
After Roan’s best new artist acceptance speech at last month’s Grammy Awards, a number of powerful figures in the music business have stepped forward to help heed the singer’s call to support up-and-coming artist’s need for health care. Among those who’ve donated to the cause so far are labelmate Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX and Noah Kahan, with Live Nation, AEG Global Touring, Wasserman Foundation and Hinterland Music Festival also joining the We Got You campaign.
Madonna seems to be in a nostalgic mood lately. Look no further than a post on Monday (Feb. 17) in which the singer hinted that she is gearing up to re-visit one of her most underrated eras. The one-minute video cued to the title track of the title track from her 1994 album Bedtime Stories, […]
Massive Attack have been announced as the latest headliners for LIDO 2025 in London this summer. The show will be their first show in the English capital for nine years. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The British band is scheduled to play a bill-topping set at […]
Nick Cave is standing firm on his admiration for Kanye West’s music, even as the rapper continues to stir controversy with his inflammatory remarks and actions.
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The legendary Australian singer-songwriter addressed his stance in response to a fan letter on his Red Hand Files blog, following his recent revelation that he wanted West’s “I Am a God” played at his funeral.
Since Cave’s initial comments, West has reignited outrage by doubling down on anti-Semitic remarks, openly declaring himself a Nazi, and selling a swastika-branded T-shirt on his website. One fan bluntly questioned Cave: “How the hell can you listen to the song without seeing the scum of a human being that Kanye has become?”
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In response, Cave acknowledged the controversy while making it clear that he does not condone West’s actions. “Numerous letters have come in expressing, in no uncertain terms, disapproval of my fondness for Kanye West’s music,” Cave began.
“A lot of time and energy has been spent explaining the evil of Nazism, the harm of antisemitism, why it is wrong to sell t-shirts emblazoned with swastikas, and why it is unacceptable to coerce one’s girlfriend into standing naked on the red carpet at the Grammys.” he continued. “On that matter, it seems, we can all find some common ground. I agree.”
However, Cave pushed back against the idea of fully dismissing an artist’s work due to their personal failings. “The idea of an artist being divorced from their art is absurd,” he explained.
“However, the great gift of art is the potential for the artist to excavate their interior chaos and transform it into something sublime. This is what Kanye does. This is what I strive to do, and this is the enterprise undertaken by all genuine artists. The remarkable utility of art lies in its audacity to transfigure our corrupted state and create something beautiful.”
Cave went on to describe West as “an exemplar par excellence” of this concept, stating that despite his “brokenness,” the rapper’s music embodies the tension between “sin, transcendence, and genius.”
Still, he did not shy away from condemning West’s actions. “As odious and disappointing as many of Kanye’s views are, and as sickening as antisemitism is – in its sadly always-present, ever-morphing forms – I endeavour to seek beauty wherever it presents itself,” he wrote. “In doing so, I am reluctant to invalidate the best of us in an attempt to punish the worst. I don’t think we can afford that luxury.”
Cave’s comments come years after he previously referred to West as “our greatest artist,” praising his fearless creative approach. However, even then, he admitted that West’s troubling rhetoric made it difficult to listen to his music without hesitation.
As West’s latest actions spark further backlash—including his recent suspension from X (formerly Twitter), Shopify shutting down his Yeezy store, and his talent agency dropping him—many in the music industry continue to distance themselves from him. Ty Dolla $ign, West’s Vultures collaborator, has publicly condemned hate speech, while Charlie Puth and David Schwimmer have called for further consequences against the rapper.
Despite numerous controversies over the years, West’s music has long had a presence on the Billboard charts. His 2013 album Yeezus—which includes “I Am a God,” the song Cave wants played at his funeral—debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Singer-songwriter BD.ii walked onto The Voice stage with quiet confidence, but the moment he began singing Miguel’s “Adorn,” it was clear he was a standout contender.
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His smooth, controlled delivery and effortless stage presence captivated the audience—and the coaches, who wasted no time turning their chairs.
Michael Bublé was the first to hit his button, recognizing BD.ii’s undeniable vocal ability. Kelsea Ballerini quickly followed, with John Legend and Adam Levine completing the four-chair turn. However, Levine was in for a surprise when he realized he had been blocked by Ballerini, leaving him visibly frustrated.
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“I’m a sad, sad man, because you are world-class. You’re a badass,” Levine added as the other coaches laughed.
BD.ii, an Atlanta native whose singing career took off after an injury ended his basketball aspirations, delivered a version of “Adorn” that felt fresh yet true to its original essence. His tone, phrasing, and natural charisma made an immediate impact, prompting Bublé to make an impassioned pitch.
“He’s not the threat. I’m the threat,” Bublé joked. “We’re about to help grow the population of America with that voice.”
Ballerini emphasized her versatility as a coach, stating, “I am actively having crossover songs, for other artists and with other artists. I don’t believe in boxes.”
But it was Legend who ultimately secured BD.ii for his team, pointing out his personal connection to the song’s original artist. “I’ve written with Miguel,” Legend said. “You made it sexier, made it cooler.” With that, BD.ii made his decision. “Imma go with my boy John,” he announced, sealing the deal as Legend celebrated and Levine processed his disappointment.
Miguel’s “Adorn” became a defining track of modern R&B, spending 23 weeks atop Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and winning the Grammy for Best R&B Song. The track, featured on Kaleidoscope Dream, also peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100.
With his undeniable talent and Legend’s guidance, BD.ii is already emerging as one of the season’s most promising contestants.
Watch BDii’s performance below.
Former Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum has dismissed suggestions that Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler will ever return to the touring circuit.
Sorum’s claims arrived just weeks after Tyler made a return to the stage as part of his sixth annual Jam for Janie Grammy Awards Viewing Party. With Sorum serving as Musical Director, the event was only the second time that Tyler had performed live since a 2023 vocal injury which halted Aerosmith’s touring schedule, and the first time since the band announced their formal retirement in August of 2024.
Performing alongside Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt, Tyler sung covers of songs by Extreme and Led Zeppelin, and four Aerosmith staples, which saw the musician joined by the likes of Mick Fleetwood, Lainey Wilson, the Black Crowes’ Chris Robinson, Jessie J, and Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton. However, despite the positive response from fans, Sorum told Joe Rock of Long Island radio station WBAB (via Blabbermouth) that the strain of global touring would prevent Tyler from performing on a large scale once again.
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“Some fans were a little bit, like, ‘Well, he can sing.’ Well, let me just explain what’s happening with Steven Tyler, ’cause he’s a really good friend,” Sorum explained. “He went out and sang. And it was a really big moment for him because he hurt himself bad. Now, is he gonna tour again? No, he’s not. Because, and I explained this to people, Steven cannot put himself under the rigors of doing a full worldwide tour because there’s a lot of pressure.
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“And if you’re not a singer, you wouldn’t understand what he goes through, but he’s 77 years old and he’s a perfectionist. And if he doesn’t sing correctly, it bothers him. And he’s not gonna put it on tape, like 80 percent of the people that are out there taking your money. He will not be on tape, and he won’t change the keys of the song. That’s just who he is. He’s, like, ‘I’m an artist. I’m a singer. This is my band. I’ve been doing this for 50 years. And if I can’t do it perfect, I can’t do it.’ And I respect that.
“I talked to him about it multiple times,” added Sorum. “I said, ‘So, just sing four or five songs tops.’ He says, ‘I can do that.’ And that was just one time. Maybe down the line, he’ll do it again and possibly do the same amount of songs.”
Initially, early reports of Tyler’s recent live appearance claimed that the performance would in fact be an Aerosmith reunion. If it were true, it would have been the group’s first live show since Sept. 2023.
While performing in Elmont, NY on Sept. 9 of that year, Tyler fractured his larynx, necessitating the postponement of shows on their Peace Out tour. Ultimately, these shows were canceled entirely when the band announced their retirement from touring in August 2024.
In January, Hamilton spoke to Boston’s WBUR to provide an update on Tyler’s health status, and to provide an insight into future Aerosmith activity. “Maybe Aerosmith will do something in the future, but it’s a big if and the last thing I want to be doing is to try and push Steven in that direction,” he explained. “If we do anything in the future, it would come from him.”
Tool bassist Justin Chancellor has provided an update into the band’s famously-protracted album release schedule, revealing that the Los Angeles quartet will be hitting the studio following their upcoming tour of South America.
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Speaking to Summa Inferno, Chancellor explained that after Tool – whose last album arrived in 2019 – wrap up a run of March shows in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Brazil, they plan to “dedicate the next three months after that in the studio to organizing our ideas”.
“There are a lot of stages in the process,” Chancellor continued. “We all have ideas. When they’re good, when we like them, we kind of save them or memorize them. The really difficult process is when you actually get together and make decisions about how it’s going to end up. And that becomes a little more mathematical, a little more like in the classroom — there’s a blackboard and there’s numbers and you have to make decisions. So that’s the stage we haven’t completely pulled off yet, but we’re committed to do that when we get back.”
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Noting that the band “have a really good pile of stuff” after its members shared their individual ideas with others, Chancellor noted that the next stage of the process is where things become a lot more complicated.
“You have to make those decisions, and you have to kind of wrestle with each other a bit to get to that next stage,” he explained. “And then you have to record it, which is a whole other thing as well. It’s like a pregnancy, almost. When you go to the studio, you have to make this final decision of how it’s going to sound and how you’re going to play it, and it’s going to live like that forever.”
Though Tool celebrate their 35th anniversary in 2025, their lengthy history has only brought with it a comparatively-meager five full-length records. Famously, a 13-year gap followed the release of 2006’s 10,000 Days, with fifth album Fear Inoculum giving the band their third consecutive Billboard 200 chart-topper upon its August 2019 release.
While the band were forced to contend with a long-running lawsuit that delayed the production of their most recent record, Chancellor – who joined Tool ahead of 1996’s Ænima – defended the length of time the band spends working on material.
“It’s a real delicate thing to be able to pull off,” Chancellor explained. “I don’t think it’s unreasonable that we take a long time at all. I think that’s only natural, and that’s why I’m proud of it, because it was worked on really hard.”
Tool’s Fear Inoculum record also scored the band a pair of Grammy nominations, including Best Rock Song for its title track, and Best Metal Performance for “7empest” – with the band winning the latter.
Notably, upon the release of 10-minute-and-21-second lead single “Fear Inoculum”, it became the longest song to enter the Hot 100 – dethroning David Bowie’s 2015 single “Blackstar” by 24 seconds in the process.
Tool were themselves outshone by André 3000 by almost two minutes in 2023, when his New Blue Sun album opener “I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a ‘Rap’ Album but This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time” entered the chart at No. 90.