Music

A Timeline of Kanye West & Taylor Swift’s Relationship

After the Swifties took over Twitter in a rage, the pop star finally tapped the mic to speak up. On her Instagram Story, Swift addressed the new videos but quickly turned the attention to the World Health Organization and Feeding America donation pages to aid coronavirus relief efforts.

“Instead of answering those who are asking how I feel about the video footage that leaked, proving that I was telling the truth the whole time about that call (you know, the one that was illegally recorded, that somebody edited and manipulated in order to frame me and put me, my family, and fans through hell for 4 years)… SWIPE UP to see what really matters,” she posted, linking out to Feeding America and World Health Organization.

Later that same night, Kim Kardashian West stepped in yet again, brewing the #KimKardashianIsOverParty storm. She crafted a long Twitter thread argument that tagged Swift’s account to directly call her out for choosing to “reignite an old exchange – that at this point in time feels very self-serving given the suffering millions of real victims are facing right now” regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

“To be clear, the only issue I ever had around the situation was that Taylor lied through her publicist who stated that ‘Kanye never called to ask for permission…’ They clearly spoke so I let you all see that. Nobody ever denied the word ‘b—h’ was used without her permission,” Kardashian stated on social media before addressing what she considered to be the crux of the four-year-old controversy. “At the time when they spoke the song had not been fully written yet, but as everyone can see in the video, she manipulated the truth of their actual conversation in her statement when her team said she ‘declined and cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message.’ The lie was never about the word b—h, It was always whether there was a call or not and the tone of the conversation.”

The reality TV star also denied claims that she edited her Snapchat footage from 2016 and defended her husband’s right to record his musical process as an artist.

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After Kardashian provoked Swift’s publicist Tree Paine by saying the “Reputation” artist used her to lie by saying West never called to ask for permission, Paine published an “unedited original statement” that read, “Kanye did not call for approval, but to ask Taylor to release his single ‘Famous’ on her Twitter account. She declined and cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message. Taylor was never made aware of the actual lyric, ‘I made that b—h famous.’”

Additionally, Kardashian’s younger sister Khloé Kardashian weighed in on the matter, praising her sister’s lawyer-like instincts. “I was about to go take my a– to sleep but then I just saw my sister post a couple tweets. Kimberly you betta!!!!!!!!!!!” she tweeted. “Kim is my f—ing lawyer for life!!!!!! My sister AND my lawyer.”

Perfect 10: Busta Rhymes Extends Top 10 Album Streak With ‘Blockbusta’

Busta Rhymes bounds back onto Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart as his new effort, Blockbusta, debuts at No. 10 on the list dated Dec. 9. The set, released on The Conglomerate/Epic Records, becomes the rapper’s 10th top 10 album and extends his perfect streak among his original studio albums.

Blockbusta, which dropped on Nov. 24, earned just under 23,000 equivalent album units in the tracking week of Nov. 24 – 30, according to Luminate. Traditional album sales contribute 14,000 of the first-week total, with streaming activity in second place, at a little below 8,000 units – equaling 11.1 million official on-demand audio and video streams of the album’s tracks. The remaining 1,000 units come from track-equivalent album units (One unit equals the following levels of consumption: one album sale, 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams for a song on the album.)

As Blockbusta launches, it secures Busta Rhymes’ 10th top 10 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Of his 14 charted titles, the only set to miss the top tier was, perhaps ironically, the compilation The Best of Busta Rhymes, which charted for one week at No. 97 in 2001. With the list updating this week, here’s a full review of Busta Rhymes’ top 10 projects on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums:

Album Title, Peak Position, Peak Date
The Coming, No. 1 (one week), April 13, 1996
When Disaster Strikes, No. 1 (one week), Oct. 4, 1997
E.L.E.: Extinction Level Event: The Final World Front, No. 2, Jan. 2, 1999
Anarchy, No. 1 (one week), July 8, 2000
Genesis, No. 2, Dec. 15, 2001
It Ain’t Safe No More…, No. 10, May 3, 2003
The Big Bang, No. 1 (one week), July 1, 2006
Back on My B.S., No. 2, June 6, 2009
ELE 2: The Wrath of God, No. 4, Nov. 14, 2020
Blockbusta, No. 10 (to date), Dec. 9, 2023



The new album has already spun off two singles that have charted on some Billboard radio charts. “Beach Ball,” with BIA, reached No. 29 on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart in September, while “Luxury Life,” featuring Coi Leray, did one better, peaking at No. 28 on the same radio ranking last month.

Elsewhere, Blockbusta debuts at No. 6 on the Top Rap Albums chart and at No. 42 on the all-genre Billboard 200. Part of the latter’s fortunes are due to timing, with 10 Christmas or holiday-themed albums parked above it as the chart’s annual rush of holiday titles picks up steam as the season approaches.

Bobbi Storm’s Michael McDonald-Sampling ‘We Can’t Forget Him’ Tops Hot Gospel Songs Chart

Bobbi Storm debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Gospel Songs chart (dated Dec. 9) with “We Can’t Forget Him.”

It’s the Detroit native’s first entry on Hot Gospel Songs and the chart’s first No. 1 arrival in over a year since DJ Khaled’s “Use This Gospel (Remix)” featuring Kanye West and Eminem in September 2022. A woman without any collaborators had not made such an entrance since Queen Naija with “War Cry” in December 2018.

“We Can’t Forget Him” drew 6.3 million in radio airplay audience and 108,000 official U.S. streams Nov. 24-30, according to Luminate. On Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, it holds at its No. 14 high (up 1% in plays); on Rhythmic Airplay, it ranks at No. 28 (up 6%).



Notably, the song samples Michael McDonald’s No. 4-peaking 1982 Billboard Hot 100 classic “I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near).” Alonza Wilmore Allen, Stefanee Bobbi Morrison and Kasey Rashel Sims co-wrote “We Can’t Forget Him,” with the writers of McDonald’s hit – McDonald, Warren Griffin, Nathaniel Hale, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stroller – also credited.

A bit of drama surrounded Storm recently, as she posted a since-deleted video on Instagram Nov. 10 of herself performing “We Can’t Forget Him” on a Delta Air Lines plane. She was told to sit down, with a flight attendant warning her, “If you’re not able to follow my instructions, you will not be able to take this flight.” Storm took her seat and noted that she’s “up for two Grammys,” and sang her hit at a soft volume.

Storm is a featured vocalist on a pair of tracks on Maverick City Music’s The Maverick Way, which is nominated for best gospel album at the 2024 Grammy Awards, although she is not nominated for any awards individually. The set debuted at No. 1 on Top Gospel Albums in November and has dominated for three weeks.

Storm’s first solo album, Holy Mixes, is due early next year.

Diddy Denies Sexual Assault Claims: ‘I Did Not Do Any of the Awful Things Being Alleged’

Following four lawsuits filed against Sean “Diddy” Combs alleging sexual assault, the rapper and Bad Boy Records founder is speaking out in a statement posted to Instagram on Wednesday (Dec. 6).

“ENOUGH IS ENOUGH,” he wrote. “For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy. Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”

Diddy’s ex-girlfriend Cassie was the first to accuse him of sexual assault, filing a lawsuit in November in which attorneys for Cassie (born Casandra Ventura) claimed she “endured over a decade of his violent behavior and disturbed demands,” including repeated physical attacks and forcing her to “engage in sex acts with male sex workers” while he masturbated. According to the complaint, after she attempted to separate from him in 2018 after an on-and-off public relationship for 11 years, Combs allegedly “forced her into her home and raped her while she repeatedly said ‘no’ and tried to push him away.” The case was soon settled, but Combs was then sued by two other women who claimed they were sexually abused by the hip-hop mogul. 

On Dec. 6, a fourth woman sued Diddy, claiming she was “sex trafficked” and “gang raped” by Combs, former Bad Boy Records president Harve Pierre and another man in 2003 when she was 17 years old. Pierre could not immediately be reached for comment.

See Diddy’s statement below.

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and need support and/or resources, reach out to RAINN and the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800-656-HOPE) for free, confidential help 24/7.

Demi Lovato & Clean Bandit’s ‘Solo’ Joins YouTube’s Billion Views Club

Demi Lovato and Clean Bandit‘s five-year-old duet “Solo” is the newest member of YouTube‘s Billion Views Club.

The electronic dance track’s music video has been watched more than one billion times on the video platform since it was uploaded in May 2018. The wide-lens project finds Lovato, whose vocals are featured on the song, singing to the camera in between shots of Clean Bandit’s Jack and Luke Patterson cooking up a mysterious drug in a basement lab underneath a laundromat.

At the end, a patron played by Clean Bandit’s Grace Chatto tests out the drug on her boyfriend — who promptly turns into a rainbow-colored dog.

“Since you been gone/ I’ve been dancing on my own,” Lovato sings. “There’s boys up in my zone/ But they can’t turn me on.”

“Solo” bowed at No. 58 on the Billboard Hot 100 about a month after it first debuted on the chart in July 2018. It was also that year’s most searched song on Shazam, with Nicky Jam and J Balvin’s “X” and Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa’s “One Kiss” following close behind in second and third place.

The song soared to No. 48 on the Streaming Songs chart in August 2018, showing 14 percent streaming gains that month. Shortly prior to the spike, Lovato was hospitalized due to a near-fatal overdose.

The “Cool for the Summer” singer is currently gearing up to release A Very Demi Holiday Special on Roku. The Dec. 8 program will feature live performances from Lovato as well as guest appearances from Paris Hilton, Tiffany Haddish and Trixie Mattell.

Watch the “Solo” music video above.

Nicki Minaj to Appear on Upcoming ‘Watch What Happens Live’ Episode

Barbz, get ready for a fun upcoming episode of Watch What Happens Live.

Host Andy Cohen took to Twitter on Wednesday (Dec. 6) to reveal that Nicki Minaj will appear as a guest on the show, asking fans to tweet in questions for the “Super Freaky Girl” rapper. However, he did not share when Minaj’s episode will air.

Minaj is just days away from finally unveiling her highly anticipated fifth studio album, Pink Friday 2 on Dec. 8. “If you on my $h!t list, you will never EVER recover. The. Fkng. End,” she wrote to fans about the project last month.

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Nicki also teased that her fifth studio collection is a certified classic that she can’t wait to share with the Barbz. “This album is just beyond anything I could have imagined,” she tweeted hours before. She also appeared to share some lyrics from an unnamed track on the collection, which read, “I just wanna watch him do his push-ups w/his sweats on/ Every time he hit it, he gon nail it like a press-on/ When I ride his d!&@ the only time he gettin flexed on/ Hit it from the bak with my pumps & my dress on.”

Pink Friday 2 is the follow-up to Minaj’s 2018 album, Queen, which peaked at No. 2 on both the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart upon its release. The upcoming album’s predecessor, 2010’s Pink Friday, topped the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for six weeks and the Billboard 200 for one week.

Taylor Swift Opens Up About Friendship With Beyoncé & Shuts Down Tour Comparisons

Taylor Swift loves being friends with Beyoncé. But being pitted against her by fans and critics? Not so much.

In her Wednesday (Dec. 6) TIME Person of the Year cover story, the 33-year-old “Anti-Hero” singer opened up about her years-long relationship with Bey. “She’s the most precious gem of a person — warm and open and funny,” Swift said of the Destiny’s Child star. “And she’s such a great disrupter of music-industry norms. She taught every artist how to flip the table and challenge archaic business practices.”

The “Karma” musician went on to address a common theme that emerged in pop culture discourse this year: the comparison of her global Eras Tour with the 42-year-old Ivy Park founder’s Renaissance World Tour. Both treks have earned critical acclaim while raking in big bucks, but debates among fans over which tour is the best or most successful have been ongoing.

According to TIME, Swift finds the comparisons upsetting. “There were so many stadium tours this summer, but the only ones that were compared were me and Beyoncé,” she told the publication. “Clearly it’s very lucrative for the media and stan culture to pit two women against each other, even when those two artists in question refuse to participate in that discussion.”

Whether or not it was intentional, Swift and Bey made a joint statement about their mutual respect for one another by attending each other’s concert film premieres. Following Renaissance‘s premiere overseas, Swift posted a photo with the “Break My Soul” singer on Instagram and wrote, “Got invited to London by The Queen…✨?✨”

Also in attendance was Blake Lively, who coincidentally foreshadowed Swift’s point about the comparisons by joking on Instagram: “When I grew up, women were always pit against one another… @beyonce and @taylorswift neither of you have to be threatened by my pop stardom. There’s space for us all.”

See Which Musica Mexicana Hits Made YouTube’s Top 10 Songs of the Year List

YouTube has unveiled its Year on YouTube lists, including trending topics and songs that defined 2023.

Remarkably — but not surprisingly — four Música Mexicana songs have entered the Top Songs (U.S.) list, further proving the genre’s dominance this year. No Latin urban or pop songs are part of the top 10.

Driven by Shorts trends, according to a press release, the top Latin songs consumed in the U.S. were “Ella Baila Sola” by Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma (No. 3); “La Bebe (Remix)” by Yng Lvcas and Peso Pluma (No. 4); “Bebe Dame” by Fuerza Regida and Grupo Frontera (No. 6); and “Que Vuelvas” by Carín Leon and Grupo Frontera (No. 8).

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Additionally, the former of the four was No. 1 on the Billboard year-end Hot Latin Songs chart. “Ella Baila Sola” — a song penned by Pedro Tovar that narrates the story of a man drawn by a woman’s beauty — made history as the first regional Mexican song to dominate the Billboard Global 200 chart, where it led for six consecutive weeks. It also reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, the first of its genre to achieve the feat in the chart’s 65-year-old history.

Peso Pluma, Grupo Frontera and Yvng Lvcas were part of the Billboard’s Top 5 New Latin Artists of 2023; while Peso, Frontera, Eslabon and Carín made the Top Latin Artists of 2023 list.

The Year on YouTube’s: Top Songs (U.S.) list also includes hits by Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez and SZA, to name a few. See the full list below.

  1. “Favorite Song,” Toosii
  2. “Flowers,” Miley Cyrus
  3. “Ella Baila Sola,” Eslabon Armado, Peso Pluma
  4. “La Bebe (Remix),” Yng Lvcas, Peso Pluma
  5. “Last Night,” Morgan Wallen
  6. “Bebe Dame,” Fuerza Regida, Grupo Frontera
  7. “Calm Down,” Rema, Selena Gomez
  8. “Que Vuelvas,” Carin León, Grupo Frontera
  9. “Snooze,” SZA
  10. “All My Life,” Lil Durk feat. J. Cole

Victoria Monet’s ‘On My Mama’ Hits No. 1 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay Chart

Three weeks after Victoria Monet claimed her first No. 1 single on a Billboard chart, the singer-songwriter adds a second chart-topper to her ledger as “On My Mama” tops the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay list. The track, which led the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay tally for two weeks in November, ascends from the runner-up spot to lead the list dated Dec. 9 as the most heard song on U.S. monitored R&B/hip-hop radio stations, according to Luminate.

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“On My Mama,” released on Lovett/RCA Records, crowns the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart after a 6% gain in audience to 20.2 million in the tracking week of Nov. 24 – 30. As it advances, the new champ trades places with fellow RCA track “Snooze” by SZA, which falls to No. 2 after stringing 21 nonconsecutive weeks in the top slot.



The R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay coronation continues a huge month for both “On My Mama” and Monet’s career. In addition to the singer-songwriter capturing her first two No. 1 placements on Billboard’s charts, she is nominated for seven Grammy Awards for the 2024 ceremony, which will occur on Feb. 4. Among the nods, “On My Mama” will contend for record of the year and best R&B song, while Monet is vying for best new artist.

The radio feats for “On My Mama” also pay dividends for rapper Chalie Boy, whose track “I Look Good,” prominently sampled in the hook of Monet’s hit tune, reached a No. 20 peak on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay in 2009. Thanks to its use, the Texas-based rapper achieves his first No. 1 as a writer on the radio ranking.

Elsewhere, “On My Mama” repeats at No. 2 on the plays-based Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, after a prior two-week run at No. 1. It inches 7-6 on Rhythmic Airplay, following a 12% jump in weekly plays at the format, and cracks the top 10 on Adult R&B Airplay (11-7), powered by a 22% surge in weekly plays. The haul wins “On My Mama” the latter chart’s Greatest Gainer award, for the biggest increase in plays for the week among the chart’s 30 positions. Airplay strength across the various formats combine to push the single 18-15 on the all-genre Radio Songs chart, where it added 7% in audience to reach 31.2 million impressions in the latest tracking week.

Taylor Swift Reacts to Being TIME’s Person of the Year, Says She Has ‘Trust Issues’ With Interviews

Taylor Swift is TIME‘s Person of the Year for 2023, gracing three unique covers of the magazine and giving a rare in-depth interview in honor of the occasion.

And in an Instagram post commemorating the title, the 33-year-old pop star hinted at the reason she’s more selective these days about which publications she speaks to, while also explaining why she made an exception for TIME. “I have tRuSt iSSueS when it comes to interviews,” she wrote Wednesday (Dec. 6) to caption a photo of one of her three covers.

“But I couldn’t be happier that I did this one with [Sam Lansky],” she continued, giving a special shoutout to the writer of her Person of the Year profile. “If you’ve ever been around him, you know he’s just the best type of person: Curious. Interested. Hilarious. Intriguing and intrigued.”

The “Anti-Hero” singer also said she was “blown away” to see that the magazine had spoken to Stevie Nicks, Greta Gerwig, Shonda Rhimes, Phoebe Bridgers and more stars, each of whom sang her praises in the piece. “I’m really reflecting on this year, and all the years that led up to it,” she added. “Can’t say thank you enough times.”

The pop superstar also shared how excited she was to receive the magazine’s honor. “The biggest, loudest, most aggressively over-excited thank you to @time for naming me Person of the Year,” she wrote in another Instagram post.

Named Person of the Year for her litany of year-end accomplishments, which are so numerous TIME wrote that “to recount them seems almost beside the point,” Swift was candid in her interview about everything from her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce to her Eras Tour preparations, Reputation (Taylor’s Version) plans and past feuds with Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta.

And of the three covers she posed for, it’s not difficult to guess which is probably Swift’s favorite: the one on which she stands with her pet cat Benjamin Button draped around her shoulders. The ragdoll kitty is the 12-time Grammy winner’s third and youngest feline, after Meredith Grey and Olivia Benson, joining the family in 2019 after meeting his famous mom on the set of “Me!”

Sharing the cover on Instagram, Swift joked — “Time Magazine: We’d like to name you Person of the Yea- Me: Can I bring my cat.”

See Swift’s Instagram posts about her TIME honor and covers below: