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Chubby Checker, whose “The Twist” was a global smash in 1960, has been eligible for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame since the first class was inducted in 1986, but he was never even nominated until this year. Despite having been ignored for decades, he made it in his first time on the ballot.
So did first-time nominees Bad Company, Joe Cocker and Outkast, as well as Cyndi Lauper and The White Stripes, who had each been nominated once before, and Soundgarden, which had been nominated twice before. These seven acts were all inducted in the performer category.
The inductees were announced by Ryan Seacrest on ABC’s American Idol on Sunday night (April 27).
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There are six other inductees this year in other categories. Salt-N-Pepa and Warren Zevon are set to receive the musical influence award; Philly Soul producer Thom Bell, English studio pianist/organist Nicky Hopkins and studio bass guitarist Carole Kaye (who was part of the fabled Wrecking Crew of top L.A. studio musicians) will receive the musical excellence award; and producer and label executive Lenny Waronker will receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award.
Sadly, several of these people didn’t live to see their inductions. Hopkins died in 1994 at age 50; Zevon in 2003 at 56; Chris Cornell of Soundgarden in 2017 at 52; and Bell in 2022 at 79.
Checker had to wait even longer for induction than Cher, who was finally inducted last year, 59 years after Sonny & Cher’s breakthrough smash “I Got You Babe.”
With Outkast and Salt-N-Pepa both being inducted this year, this is the sixth consecutive year that one or more rap acts has been in the induction class.
With Lauper, Salt-N-Pepa, Meg White of The White Stripes and Carol Kaye being inducted this year, this is the fourth consecutive year that four or more female acts were in the induction class.
Bell won the first Grammy Award ever presented for producer of the year, non-classical, in 1975. By coincidence, Waronker was among the other nominees in the category that year. Waronker was also nominated for record of the year that year for producing Maria Muldaur’s classy and sexy “Midnight at the Oasis.” Waronker’s many other hits as a producer include Gordon Lightfoot’s Hot 100-topping “Sundown,” Rickie Lee Jones’ “Chuck E.’s in Love” and Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.,” which Dawes performed as the opening song on this year’s Grammy telecast.
Carol Kaye, 90, is this year’s oldest inductee. Checker and Waronker are both 83, but will both be 84 by the time of the Nov. 8 induction ceremony.
All of the artists who were induced in the performer category have landed top five albums on the Billboard 200. Three of them reached No. 1: Bad Company (Bad Company, 1974), Outkast (Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, 2003) and Soundgarden (Superunknown, 1994). Three more reached No. 2: Chubby Checker (Your Twist Party, 1962), Joe Cocker (Mad Dogs and Englishmen, 1970) and The White Stripes (Icky Thump, 2007). Lauper climbed as high as No. 4 twice, with She’s So Unusual in 1984 and True Colors in 1986.
Both of the artists who are receiving musical influence awards made the top 10. Salt-N-Pepa reached No. 4 with Very Necessary in 1994. Zevon hit No. 8 with Excitable Boy in 1978.
Lauper won the Grammy for best new artist in 1985. She’s the sixth artist who was a past winner of that award to go on to a Rock Hall induction.
Outkast won the Grammy for album of the year in 2004 for Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. André 3000 was nominated again in that category at this year’s ceremony for New Blue Sun.
Two of the inducted acts are duos – Outkast (André 3000 and Big Boi) and The White Stripes (Jack White and Meg White).
The other seven nominees in the performer category were denied admission to the Rock Hall – this year, anyway. Oasis and Mariah Carey were both passed over for the second year in a row. Both were surprising snubs – Oasis is reuniting for a global tour in 2025; Carey’s profile, never low, has been boosted in recent years by her status as the uncontested Queen of Christmas. Of the other passed-over artists, Joy Division/New Order were previously on the ballot in 2023; this was the first time on the ballot for The Black Crowes, Billy Idol, Maná and Phish.
The voters showed no love for brother acts this year. Oasis includes Liam and Noel Gallagher; The Black Crowes includes Chris and Rich Robinson.
Maná was vying to become the first rock en español act to make the Rock Hall. Joy Division/New Order was vying to join the short list of two related acts being inducted in tandem, following Parliament/Funkadelic in 1997 and The Small Faces/Faces in 2012.
Phish, which won this year’s fan vote, has never landed a Hot 100 hit, but the band is a powerhouse live attraction, as evidenced when it played the Sphere in Las Vegas in April 2024.
Idol was a mainstay of early MTV – as was Lauper, who did get in. In an interview with Vulture, Idol said of his guitarist Steve Stevens, “Because of our special relationship, if I get in, they will induct him as well.” This would have echoed Pat Benatar’s induction three years ago, where the Rock Hall inducted both Benatar and her husband and musical partner, Neil Giraldo. But it’s academic, as Idol didn’t make it this year.
The 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction will be live on Saturday, Nov. 8 at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles. The 2025 ceremony will once again stream live on Disney+, with a special airing on ABC at a later date and available on Hulu the next day. The 2024 ceremony aired on New Year’s Day.
Here’s the full list of 2025 inductees:
Performer Category
Bad Company
Chubby Checker
Joe Cocker
Cyndi Lauper
Outkast
Soundgarden
The White Stripes
Musical Influence Award
Salt-N-Pepa
Warren Zevon
Musical Excellence Award
Thom Bell
Nicky Hopkins
Carol Kaye
Ahmet Ertegun Award
Lenny Waronker
Benson Boone‘s new song “Mystical Magical,” which was first heard at Coachella 2025, tops this week’s new music poll. Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (April 25) on Billboard, choosing the pop star’s latest single as their favorite new music release of the past week. Several anticipated songs dropped this week, but Boone came out […]
Doechii lands her first top 10-charting album on the Billboard 200 as Alligator Bites Never Heal jumps 24-10 on the May 3-dated chart. The set shoots up the list following its wider availability on vinyl, as well as its first release on CD.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new May 3, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on April 29.
The 2025 Billboard Woman of the Year’s Grammy Award-winning Alligator Bites Never Heal climbs the Billboard 200 following a wider availability on vinyl and its first release on CD. The set earned 33,000 equivalent album units in the tracking week ending April 24 (up 43%) in the United States, according to Luminate. Of that figure, SEA units comprise 18,500 (down 3%, equaling 25.9 million on-demand official streams of the songs on the streaming edition of the set; it moves 28-27 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 14,000 (up 325% — the best sales week for both the album and the artist; it reenters at No. 1 on Top Album Sales, the set’s first week atop the list) and TEA units comprise 500 (down 12%).
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Vinyl purchases comprise just over 11,000 of the album’s sales for the week.
Alligator Bites Never Heal was released in 2024 as a 19-song album. It was reissued in March with one bonus track — the gone-viral breakout hit “Anxiety” — on “extended” digital download and streaming editions. The addition of “Anxiety” helped the album hit its previous high of No. 12 on the March 29 chart.
All physical versions of Alligator Bites Never Heal contain the original 19-song tracklist. Through April 17, the set was only available to purchase as a download and in two vinyl variants. On April 18, it garnered a wider availability on vinyl, including two new vinyl editions (both color variants) exclusively available via Target and Urban Oufitters, along with a widely available CD.
“Anxiety” reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart dated March 29 (rising 13-10), marking Doechii’s first top 10. The album yielded an earlier top 40-charting hit with “Denial Is a River” (hitting No. 21 in February).
Kehlani got on camera to give a statement regarding the cancellation of their upcoming performance at Cornell after the university’s president said the singer “has espoused antisemitic, anti-Israel sentiments.”
Cornell had booked Kehlani to headline the school’s Slope Day, an annual celebration following the last day of classes, set for May 7 this year. Earlier this week, the invite was rescinded.
Kehlani’s performance was officially canceled on Wednesday, per an email Cornell president Michael I. Kotlikoff sent to students and faculty. According to a New York Times report, Kotlikoff wrote in the email that “the selection of Kehlani as this year’s headliner has injected division and discord … In the days since Kehlani was announced, I have heard grave concerns from our community that many are angry, hurt and confused that Slope Day would feature a performer who has espoused antisemitic, anti-Israel sentiments in performances, videos and on social media.”
“I am being asked and called to clarify and make a statement yet again, for the millionth time, that I am not antisemitic nor anti-Jew,” Kehlani said on Saturday (April 26) in a video uploaded on Instagram.
“I am anti-genocide, I am anti the actions of the Israeli government, I am anti an extermination of an entire people, I am anti the bombing of innocent children, men, women — that’s what I’m anti,” they spelled out.
Kehlani continued: “In fact, the very first Live that I did in the beginning of this genocide was with a really beautiful Jewish organization called Jewish Voices for Peace, and I still continue to learn from and work alongside really impactful Jewish organizers against this genocide.”
“I want to be very clear in stating that I do believe God has plans for me and that’s not gonna stop nothing that I have going on, but I’m asked to clarify because this keeps coming up as a means to silence me, as a means to stop things that happen in my career, as a means to change the course of my life, and I just don’t believe that,” said Kehlani, who also noted they were in the studio working on new music. “So here’s the clarification that you needed. I hope this is everything you needed. Straight from my mouth, not a written statement with a white background from my notes.”
“Back to my album,” they concluded. Kehlani’s next full-length release will be the follow-up to 2024’s Crash.
Kehlani has been transparent about their support for Palestine and criticism of Israel in the Israel-Hamas war. In the singer’s 2024 “Next 2 U” video, they wore kaffiyehs, had dancers waving Palestinian flags, and featured the phrase “Long Live the Intifada.” In 2023, the musician joined a coalition of musicians to sign the Artists Against Apartheid letter, which called for a ceasefire.
Watch Kehlani’s Instagram reel from this weekend below.
It was a match made in brat heaven when Charli xcx met some 15,000 Minnesotan fans at Minneapolis’ Target Center on Saturday (April 26) night for the 17th stop on her brat tour. Her co-headlining Sweat Tour with Troye Sivan last year didn’t include a stop in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, but if you […]
A new collaboration between Maroon 5 and LISA is officially on the horizon.
On Saturday (April 25), the Adam Levine-fronted band confirmed on social media that they’re teaming up with the BLACKPINK star on a new song titled “Priceless.” While a release date has yet to be revealed, the song is already available for pre-save on Spotify and Apple Music.
“PRICELESS FT. LISA @lalalalisa_m PRE-SAVE NOW,” Maroon 5 captioned an Instagram clip featuring Levine and LISA having fun together during a photoshoot.
The band also shared a 15-second teaser on its Instagram Story of the track, showcasing Levine’s “Oooh” falsetto croon as LISA raps, “Yeah, talk is cheap boy stop it/ Got my love that’s a real big profit.”
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Levine also took to his personal Instagram account to share black-and-white photos that seem to be from an upcoming music video for “Priceless.” One shot features a clapperboard with the names of director Aerin Moreno and cinematographer Russ Fraser, while another image offers an aerial view of Levine and LISA resting against a balcony.
In the days leading up to the confirmation of “Priceless,” Maroon 5 teased the collab by posting an Instagram photo from behind of the lead singer and a mystery woman standing side by side, gazing out of a floor-to-ceiling window at a cityscape. Last week, LISA’s IG Story also featured a clip with audio, showing the K-pop star lying back while seemingly filming a music video.
The confirmation of “Priceless” comes a few weeks after Levine revealed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that Maroon 5 has a new album — the band’s first since 2021’s Jordi — arriving this summer. Without sharing any concrete details, the Voice coach also mentioned, “There’s a single coming at the end of the month-ish.”
While Maroon 5 gears up for a new album, LISA is wrapping up the rollout of her first-ever solo album, Alter Ego. Featuring collaborations with Rosalía, Megan Thee Stallion, Doja Cat, RAYE and more, the project debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 and served as the foundation for much of LISA’s victorious Coachella sets on April 11 and 18.
Lady Gaga unleashed her divine chaos in Mexico City, where on Saturday night (April 26) she held her first concert in 13 years, captivating just over 61,000 attendees (according to promoter OCESA) with the gothic dreams emanating from MAYHEM, her celebrated dark and avant-garde new album.
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The pop star brought the striking opera-style show that dazzled this year’s Coachella festival to the Estadio GNP Seguros (formerly Foro Sol), immersing her “Pequeños Monstruos” (Little Monsters) into a dark parallel universe. During the show, which marked the start of the international leg of her new stadium tour, Gaga read an emotional letter to her fans.
“To all my beautiful little monsters who are here tonight, it is an honor for me to be here, in your beautiful country, performing for you. It’s been 13 years since the last time I was here. I hope you see how hard I’ve worked on stage tonight to show you how much I admire and respect you. I sincerely thank you for choosing to spend the night with me,” Gaga read in Spanish from a balcony while a Mexican flag unfurled in front of her.
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“Mexico City holds a special place in my heart because it’s where I ended my first stadium tour, the Monster Ball,” she added. “I will never forget the excitement and passion you shared with me that night as I bid farewell to the most important show of my career. I’m proud to share this moment with you again, only this time, it’s not the end but the beginning.”
Mother Monster’s return to Mexico was also accompanied by the live debut of the song “Blade of Grass,” a track written for her fiancé, businessman Michael Polansky.
“I wrote this song for the person I love most in the world, my fiancé Michael,” she said in English. “It’s on my new album, and I’ve never performed it before, but I really wanted to perform it here tonight. I just wanted to remind everyone, just for my life, that love can make us so happy. Always follow love and it will make you happy”.
After performing the song on the piano, she moved on to “Shallow” in an intimate moment that brought her to the brink of tears.
The majestic show in Mexico, dubbed “¡Viva La MAYHEM!”, kicked off with “Bloody Mary,” her 2011 hit that experienced a resurgence on TikTok, and “Abracadabra,” the first single from MAYHEM, with Gaga donning a massive three-tiered Victorian-era-inspired red dress. The 22 songs included in the setlist, nearly identical to the one presented at Coachella, featured tracks from her new album, like “Perfect Celebrity,” alongside older hits like “Poker Face” and “Born This Way,” delivered in acts that celebrated an internal battle between the lighter and darker sides of the 14-time Grammy and Oscar winner.
The Mexican “Little Monsters” paid tribute to Gaga by taking creativity to the next level with their outfits, which captured the early years of the diva with costumes inspired by that era, as well as her iconic meat dress worn at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards; her portrayal of Harley Quinn in Joker 2; and the country style blue outfit with red bows from “Die With a Smile,” her hit collaboration with Bruno Mars.
The star closed the night by stepping off the stage to greet fans in the front rows and performing her mega-hit “Bad Romance” alongside dancers, as the sky lit up with green, white, and red fireworks — a nod to the Mexican flag — in a celebration that will undoubtedly remain etched in the memories of both the artist and her local fans.
Lady Gaga will perform a second concert at the Estadio GNP Seguros on Sunday night (April 27) before heading to Brazil, where she will give a massive free show on May 3 at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro.
SZA’s SOS scores a 13th nonconsecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated May 3), as the set rises 3-1 with 52,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the week ending April 24 (down 1%), according to Luminate. The album continues to profit from its expansive deluxe reissue on Dec. 20, 2024 (dubbed SOS Deluxe: LANA), with 15 additional tracks, in addition to a Feb. 9 reissue with four more bonus cuts.
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SOS was originally released on Dec. 9, 2022, as a 23-track album and spent 10 weeks at No. 1 in late 2022 and early 2023. It then returned to No. 1 for two more weeks, following the LANA expansion — on the Jan. 4 and 11, 2025-dated charts, and now on the latest tally. All versions of the album, old and new, are combined for tracking and charting under the title SOS.
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With SOS earning 52,000 units in the latest tracking week, that marks the smallest weekly sum for a No. 1 album in over three years, since the April 23, 2022-dated chart, when Lil Durk’s 7220 returned to No. 1, for a second week at the top, with just a little more than 47,000 units.
For the first time in a little over two months, no albums debut in the top 10 on the Billboard 200. We last had a top 10 absent of a debut on the Feb. 22-dated list, when the highest arrival was outside the top 40 (Dream Theater’s Parasomnia at No. 41).
While there are no debuts in the top 10 on the latest chart, there is a title reaching the region for the first time, as Doechii’s Alligator Bites Never Heal flies 24-10 following its wider availability on vinyl, as well as its first release on CD.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new May 3, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on April 29. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of SOS’ 52,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending April 24, SEA units comprise 49,500 (down 1%, equaling 68.29 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it rises 2-1 on the Top Streaming Albums chart, for a third nonconsecutive week on top of the year-and-a-half old ranking), traditional album sales comprise 2,500 (down 5%) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum (up 2%).
With a 13th total week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, SOS has the most weeks atop the chart for an R&B/hip-hop album by a woman, or an R&B album by a woman, since Whitney Houston’s self-titled set tallied 14 weeks at No. 1 in 1986. (Honorable mention to the Houston-led soundtrack to The Bodyguard, which logged 20 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 in 1992-93. The 12-track album has six songs by Houston and six songs by other artists.)
The last R&B/hip-hop album with at least 13 weeks atop the Billboard 200 was Drake’s Views, which notched 13 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 in 2016 (May 21-Oct. 8). The last R&B album with at least 13 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 was The Bodyguard, with its 20-week reign. (R&B/hip-hop and R&B albums are defined as those that have hit or are eligible for Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Top R&B Albums charts, respectively.)
SZA launched her co-headlining Grand National Tour on April 19 in Minneapolis at U.S. Bank Stadium with Kendrick Lamar, who sees his chart-topping GNX hold steady at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with nearly 51,000 equivalent album units earned (down 7%).
The titles at Nos. 3-9 are all former No. 1s. Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time climbs 6-3 (48,000 equivalent album units earned, up 4%); Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet is steady at No. 4 (47,000; down 9%); PARTYNEXTDOOR and Drake’s $ome $exy $ongs 4 U is a non-mover at No. 5 (46,000; down 11%); Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos falls 6-8 (39,000; down 7%); Playboi Carti’s MUSIC is stationary at No. 7 (38,000; down 15%); Lady Gaga’s MAYHEM is up 10-8 (37,000; down 6%); and Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album jumps 14-9 (34,500; up 6%).
Doechii earns her first top 10-charting effort on the Billboard 200 albums chart as the 2025 Billboard Woman of the Year’s Grammy Award-winning Alligator Bites Never Heal flies 24-10 following a wider availability on vinyl and its first release on CD. The set earned 33,000 equivalent album units in the tracking week (up 43%). Of that figure, SEA units comprise 18,500 (down 3%, equaling 25.9 million on-demand official streams of the songs on the streaming edition of the set, it moves 28-27 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 14,000 (up 325% — the best sales week for both the album and the artist; it reenters at No. 1 on Top Album Sales, the set’s first week atop the list) and TEA units comprise 500 (down 12%).
Alligator Bites Never Heal was released in 2024 as a 19-song album. It was reissued in March with one bonus track — the gone-viral breakout hit “Anxiety” — on “extended” digital download and streaming editions. All physical versions contain the original 19-song tracklist. Until April 18, the set was only available to purchase as a download and in two vinyl variants. On April 19, it garnered a wider availability on vinyl, including two new vinyl editions (both color variants) exclusively available via Target and Urban Oufitters, along with a widely available CD.
“Anxiety” reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart dated March 29 (rising 13-10), marking Doechii’s first top 10. The album yielded an earlier top 40-charting hit with “Denial Is a River” (hitting No. 21 in February).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Justin Timberlake was joined by the Kelce brothers at his 2025 8AM Golf Invitational.
On Sunday (April 27), the 44-year-old pop superstar shared a festive behind-the-scenes video on Instagram from the Wynn Golf Club in Las Vegas, featuring himself with Travis and Jason Kelce, retired swimmer Michael Phelps, former NBA star Blake Griffin, and other celebrity athletes.
Set to James Brown, Fred Wesley and The J.B.’s’ “People Get Up and Drive Your Funky Soul,” the New Heights podcast co-hosts take center stage in the clip, with Travis showcasing a few dance moves on the golf course alongside Timberlake.
The golf outing marked one of the first public appearances for the Kelce brothers since the Kansas City Chiefs tight end’s Super Bowl loss in February. The NFL star’s girlfriend, Taylor Swift, was not featured in any of the video, and it was unclear at press time whether the pop icon was in Vegas for the 8AM Golf Invitational.
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Timberlake and the Kelce brothers also appeared to enjoy a boys’ night out in Sin City. On Saturday, Travis and Jason were spotted playing cards with the “SexyBack” singer.
Jason, who sported a large straw hat and a colorful patterned vest during the trip, welcomed his fourth child — a daughter named Finnley “Finn” Anne — with his wife, Kylie, in early April. The couple also shares young daughters Wyatt Elizabeth, Elliotte Ray and Bennett Llewellyn.
Meanwhile, the *NSYNC star is currently on his Forget Tomorrow World Tour, supporting his sixth solo album, Everything I Thought It Was, which features the moody R&B single “Selfish.” The album, Timberlake’s follow-up to his 2018 Man of the Woods release, dropped in March 2024.
Following a pair of live appearances in May, Timberlake heads to Europe for a series of dates, starting in Milan, Italy on June 2 and concluding in late July.
04/27/2025
Day two of the California country fest was dominated by rising stars enjoying victory lap moments, but also included plenty of big looks for veteran hitmakers.
04/27/2025