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The hard hats came off for the first official concert at TD Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario last Friday night (Nov. 21) — and it started with a bang.
The first show at the former Copps Coliseum and FirstOntario Centre arena since its nearly $300-million transformation by American sports and live entertainment company Oak View Group was one of the most prominent music legends still playing today: Sir Paul McCartney. That’s a big flex for a venue aiming to prove itself as both a relief valve for the red-hot Toronto live music touring market and a destination in its own right, as well as Oak View Group’s new flagship venue in Canada.
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McCartney has a discography packed full of some of the most immortal songs of all time from the Beatles to Wings to his solo career, and the multigenerational crowd that packed the sold-out 18,000-capacity venue showed their appreciation by shouting and singing along with every song.
Partway through the set, the 83-year-old artist took an informal poll: “How many of you here are actually from Hamilton?” he asked, before repeating the question asking how many are not. Judging by the cheers, it sounded like 60-40 out-of-towners to Hamiltonians. It’s been nearly 10 years since McCartney last played the city, and he made it count with a marathon 36-song setlist that lasted close to three hours.
The arrival of TD Coliseum may be described as an upgrade of an existing arena, but that tag seriously underplays the significance of what is a genuinely dramatic $300 million transformation of the 18,000-capacity venue.
The ribbon cutting on Nov. 20 was attended by Ontario Premier Doug Ford (taking time out on his birthday), several of his provincial cabinet members, the mayor of Hamilton, Andrea Horwath, and high-level representatives from Oak View Group, the Denver-based international venues giant in charge of the project, and its partners, including TD Bank and Live Nation Canada.
Nick DeLuco, senior vice president and general manager of TD Coliseum, launched the event by recalling that “749 days ago, we were here, talking about a vision, a dream of what this venue was going to become, and now it’s real.”
Read more on the opening McCartney concert here and the opening of TD Coliseum here. — Richard Trapunski and Kerry Doole
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Macklam Feldman Management Celebrates 30th Anniversary
Macklam Feldman Management (MFM) is celebrating 30 years.
As the Canadian-born international talent agency embarks on its third decade, the company is welcoming new team members and a bevy of emerging talent.
Founded in Vancouver in 1995 by industry titans Stephen Macklam and Sam Feldman, the partnership initially emerged to manage Irish folk band The Chieftains. The success of the group proved their joint prowess — and Macklam Feldman Management was born.
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Since then, the management company — a subsidiary of Feldman’s A&F Music Ltd. — has overseen and guided the careers of some of the biggest artists in the world including Joni Mitchell, Norah Jones, Leonard Cohen, Bette Midler, Tracy Chapman and James Taylor alongside a roster that today includes legends Sarah McLachlan, Diana Krall, Elvis Costello, Colin James and more.
“We’ve been fortunate to work with some of the most iconic artists in the world, and this recent momentum marks the most concentrated period of investment in artist development since the company was founded,” Feldman tells Billboard Canada.
While working with icons like McLachlan and Costello, Macklam and Feldman are music industry legends in their own right. (The latter also founded The Feldman Agency, one of Canada’s biggest booking agencies, before selling the namesake company to his executive team in 2019.) Recently, however, MFM has increasingly invested in artist development.
Over the last two years, MFM has expanded its team with four new staff members — Samuel Chadwick, Sam Hughes, Connor Macklam and Wesley Attew — who are dedicated to artist development and digital marketing. They will work with artist managers Scott Oerlemans and Kyle Kubicek to strengthen MFM’s artist development and digital marketing operations for their growing roster.
Over the past year, they have welcomed a new wave of artists, including American singer-songwriter aron!, rock band Tommy Lefroy, U.K. post-punk band YAANG and country singer Dawson Gray. They join 2022 signees, emerging folk-pop trio Tiny Habits, who recently opened for McLachlan on her 30th anniversary Fumbling Towards Ecstasy tour. Each brings a fresh musical perspective and global prospects to the agency.
Read more here. — Heather Taylor-Singh
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New National Report Calls for Boost to Indigenous Music ‘Discoverability’ in Canada’s Streaming Era
As Canada updates its rules for how streaming platforms support local culture, a key opportunity is emerging to strengthen the visibility of Indigenous music at home and abroad.
The Indigenous Music Office (IMO) has released a new study that sheds light on the challenges affecting Indigenous artists and music companies accessing international markets.
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Pathways to International Markets: A Strategy to Increase Export Capacity for Indigenous Music is the music organization’s first major research project. The study establishes four key strategic directions that identify the roles that funders, music industry organizations and partners play in increasing financing, professional development and discoverability for Indigenous artists and industry professionals.
In the study, the IMO highlights that export activities generate significant career development opportunities for Indigenous music artists. However, most funds available to the Canadian music industry lack a strategic focus on assisting the development and export of Indigenous music.
“A strategy to increase the export capacity of the Indigenous music sector is timely as demand for Indigenous music is growing in Canada and around the world,” the report reads.
This includes financing the growth of a domestic Indigenous-owned and led music ecosystem, strengthening export readiness of Indigenous artists, prioritizing international showcasing, touring and networking and promoting discoverability of Indigenous music on streaming and broadcasting platforms.
The study calls for promoting “discoverability of Indigenous music on streaming and broadcasting platforms” as the most specific pathway for Indigenous artists and organizations to reach larger audiences.
In addition to working closely with the CRTC on the implementation of Online Streaming Act, the IMO has assisted in the development of the commission’s new Indigenous Broadcasting Policy, in partnership with First Nations, Métis and Inuit broadcasters, along with Indigenous content creators and audiences.
The study was developed amidst the implementation of the Online Streaming Act, a once-in-a-generation update to CanCon regulations, and ongoing Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) hearings. In September, various Canadian music orgs voiced their opinions on the changes, one of which highlights the importance of artist discoverability for Indigenous musicians.
An important part of the hearings was last year’s CRTC decision to enforce major foreign-owned streaming services with Canadian revenues over $25 million to pay a now-paused 5% of revenues into Canadian content funds, like the Indigenous Music Office and FACTOR.
Read more here. — HTS
Trending on Billboard Britney Spears is back on Instagram doing what she does: dancing and sharing small glimpses into her private life. The singer who deactivated her Insta account on Nov. 2 before quietly reactivating it less than a month later, took to her feed over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend to offer up a bit […]
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Xposure Music, a Canadian catalog firm focused on mostly independent artists, said on Monday it secured $42.5 million in debt financing from billionaire hedge funder David Tepper‘s Andalusian Credit Partners and private investors.
Xposure co-founders and co-CEOs Ryan Garber and Gregory Walfish said they have signed over 100 deals with independent and some major label artists worth between $10,000 and $4 million since starting Xposure in 2021. Their firm’s total funding now tops $50 million and includes support from equity investors including Garber’s father, former Cirque du Soleil chairman and a minority owner of the Seattle Kraken Mitch Garber.
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In recent years, the billions invested by global asset managers and private equity firms to acquire the rights to music’s most popular songs has prompted smaller investors to exploit their specialized genre knowledge and industry connections to acquire music IP in a niche category.
Major funds doing this include Beyond Music, which acquires K-pop and evergreen Asian music catalogs, Cutting Edge Media, which owns media music rights used by the film, TV and wellness industries, and Duetti, which also buys master recordings and publishing rights from independent artists.
“Our goal is to continue to serve as the gateway for emerging artists to access meaningful funding and take their careers to the next level, and this investment gives us the resources to make that possible,” Garber said.
Xposure’s Walfish tells Billboard the initial idea was to create a platform for artists to submit music, pay a fee and be guaranteed that their music would be heard by a record label. While they had early success — signing up nearly 25,000 artists and 200 record label executives — Walfish said it led them to discover that what artists really needed was financing for future projects. Xposure pivoted to catalog acquisitions and other financing options in November 2023. Walfish says Xposure’s acquisition deals with artists are flexible, with Xposure buying entire catalogs of master recordings, publishing rights and writer’s share in perpetuity, or fractions of the artists’ rights to albums or individual songs. Xposure also offers term advances.
“More options for artists are better because they are not forced to take a crazy record deal, and in our underwriting and due diligence, we see some crazy deals,” Walfish says. “Music has become a great asset class recognized by a lot of people, but … this is peoples’ life work that they’re entrusting you with. We want to build relationships with the artists we work with.”
With this new financing, Xposure aims to selectively expand their portfolio holdings and catalogs in new genres like Latin and K-Pop, to further develop their in-house valuation tools, and explore more strategic partnerships, like the one they have with indie distributor Too Lost. That partnership, announced in October, will help accelerate distribution of the catalogs Xposure has rights to and help it acquire new ones, the company has said.
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Charli XCX, RAYE and Florence and the Machine are among the six headliners for Reading & Leeds Festival 2026.
The dual site English festival – held concurrently in Reading’s Richfield Avenue and Leeds’ Bramham Park – will also be headlined by Fontaines D.C., Dave and dance duo Chase & Status. The event will take place across the Bank Holiday weekend on Aug. 27-30.
SOMBR, Skepta and Geese are also among the names to join the lineup’s first announcement, with Kasabian set to be Leeds’ festival’s first ever Thursday headliner with a slot on the main stage. In recent years, two headline acts per day have taken to the stage across the Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Also appearing on the bill will be Role Model, JADE, Josh Baker, Kneecap, Kettama, Chris Stussy (Reading only), Geese, Skye Newman, Adéla and Keo. More names will be announced in due course.
A PayPal presale for the event is live now (Dec. 1) with a second presale taking place tomorrow (Dec. 2) before a general sale on Wednesday (Dec. 3).
Florence and The Machine and Dave have both headlined the festival previously, the former in 2012 and the latter in 2022. All other headliners have appeared a number of times throughout the festival in recent years.
Its the first show announced for Fontaines D.C. following the conclusion of their Romance tour in August 2025 and is billed as their only U.K. festival appearance in 2026. Charli XCX will also return to the stage for her sole U.K. festival performance and will follow the release of her upcoming Wuthering Heights soundtrack LP in February 2026.
Speaking to Billboard U.K. earlier this summer, festival boss Melvin Benn reflected on why he was keen to give upcoming stars the opportunity to headline over legacy acts. 2025’s event was headlined by Chappell Roan, Travis Scott, Bring Me The Horizon, and Hozier.
“I think it’s a pointer to all festivals to not be afraid and to be bold with their bookings,” Benn says of Roan’s headline slot in 2025. “To say that you were there when Chappell criticised Donald Trump from the Reading Festival stage, for example, or when Hozier stood up and said, ‘Free Palestine’… only a certain number of people can be there at that moment and actually experience it.”
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Kylie Minogue is finally sharing the Christmas song she has been holding onto for a decade. The pop icon has released her new single “XMAS,” a track she says dates back to the summer of 2015 and was originally inspired by the Village People’s “YMCA.”
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The song arrives as part of the 10th anniversary edition of Minogue’s holiday album, Kylie Christmas, which returns on Dec. 5 as Kylie Christmas (Fully Wrapped) with four brand-new tracks.
Speaking to The Sun, Minogue explained that the idea first came to her while she was in Berlin shortly after releasing her first holiday album, Kylie Christmas, that same year.
“The song comes from 2015. I was at Soho House in Berlin, it was summer on the terrace and we’d just done the first Christmas album,” she said. “We’d had a couple of glasses of wine … and it came to us like ‘YMCA’ but ‘XMAS.’ I’ve been sitting on the chorus for 10 years.”
The single arrives with a video that sees Minogue recreating the iconic flying lift from Dirty Dancing. Despite decades of stage experience, she admitted the move was a leap of faith.
“I was a bit scared as I’ve never done it before. It was a fantasy moment. I was told not to overthink it,” she said. “We did a couple of practices before we did the main one. The thing is, you just need to trust the other person. The first one I got up, but I overshot it. The second was fine. The third one was good. The bruises were worth it the next day.”
Minogue also addressed the idea of “XMAS” becoming a holiday chart-topper — something she’s not expecting but would happily welcome. “I’m not counting on it,” she said. “It would be crazy but that’s definitely parked to one side for me. I am just happy that ten years have passed since my last Christmas album and we are all here still going.”
The release caps what has been one of the busiest stretches of Minogue’s career. Over the past two years, she has released two albums, including 2023’s Tension, and completed a 66-date world tour behind the record. After nonstop work, she says she’s ready for a pause — sort of.
“It feels like I haven’t stopped. It’s been a gigantic year but I imagine I will be making music just for the love of it and maybe banking some things,” she said. “I could happily be in the studio most of my time. I love it. I find it just gets richer and more satisfying.”
Still, Minogue admitted that trying to record a holiday album during breaks on her Tension tour “was maybe not so wise,” but the creative impulse keeps her going. “I don’t know about releasing. I think I should just do the background work… maybe.”
Minogue’s “XMAS” is out now.
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Olivia Dean has secured partial refunds for fans after publicly criticizing Ticketmaster and AXS over inflated resale prices for her upcoming North American tour.
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The rising British singer-songwriter called out the platforms last week after fans discovered third-party listings priced at more than 14 times the original cost — in some cases surpassing $1,000.
In an open letter, Dean described the unchecked resale market as “disgusting,” “vile” and fundamentally “exploitative,” urging companies to “do better” to protect fans.
On Wednesday, Ticketmaster responded with a rare concession: a commitment to cap future resale rates for Dean’s tour and to begin refunding fans who paid above face value on its platform.
“We support artists’ ability to set the terms of how their tickets are sold and resold. @OliviaDeano, we will cap resale prices on our site at face value and hope other resale sites will follow,” Ticketmaster initially replied.
Michael Rapino, CEO of Live Nation Entertainment, later addressed the singer’s concerns, saying: “We share Olivia’s desire to keep live music accessible and ensure fans have the best access to affordable tickets. While we can’t require other marketplaces to honour artists’ resale preferences, we echo Olivia’s call to ‘do better’ and have taken steps to lead by example.”
Dean welcomed the move but made clear that her concerns extend beyond her own tour. Calling the secondary ticketing ecosystem “an exploitative and unregulated space,” she urged the wider music industry to adopt mandatory face-value resale caps for artists who request it.
“Tours steal from artists and they steal from fans,” she said. “They create inequality and hysteria. I am lucky to have had an education about the complexities and corruption of ticketing from @dicefm and will always choose to partner with them where we can. But know that you have power with other partners.
“Capping resale at face value is your right and we have a duty to encourage a fair resale market. We are often made to feel we don’t have a choice but there is always space to ask why and it is always your right to say no!”
Dean, who performed on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage last year and has become one of 2025’s biggest breakout stars, emphasised that live shows remain a deeply personal space for her.
“We are very serious about everything we do but live is a sacred space we have crafted over 10 years,” she wrote. “We lose money on nearly every show but feel passionately it is a worthy investment to create a moment for people to connect and lose themselves for an hour. We always do our best to make those spaces safe and accessible to everybody.
“Touts steal from artists and they steal from fans. They create inequality and hysteria. Capping resale at face value is your right and we have a duty to encourage a fair resale market,” she continued. “We are often made to feel we don’t have a choice but there is always space to ask why and it is always your right to say no!
“It’s not every day that you feel heard and understood,” she concluded, “so today is good day.”
Her comments arrive amid growing international scrutiny over ticketing practices. In the U.K., legislators recently confirmed plans to make it illegal to resell tickets for more than their original price following advocacy from major artists including Coldplay and Dua Lipa, who argued the change would “help democratise public access to the arts.”
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JoJo Siwa says she was hospitalized with sudden “excruciating” stomach pain just hours before her scheduled performance at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., on Friday (Nov. 28), revealing in a TikTok video that she suffered a ruptured ovarian cyst that caused internal bleeding.
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In the post, Siwa explained that she had been dealing with persistent discomfort for several days, which intensified any time she danced, walked or moved. “Every time that I’ve been dancing for the last couple of days or even just walking, my stomach would just really, really hurt,” she said. At first, she assumed the pain was related to menstrual cramps, adding that she tried to ease it with a warm bath. “That set it off 100 times worse,” she said.
After calling her mother for advice, Siwa said she was urged to phone an ambulance. At the hospital, doctors told her the cause: “One of my ovaries had a cyst on it that burst and was bleeding into my stomach,” she explained. She added that the blood in her abdomen triggered the intense pain. “Anytime that the blood in your stomach moves, that’s the bleeding in the stomach. It’s like brutal pain.”
Despite the medical emergency, Siwa still performed her Mall of America set later that day. She told fans she will undergo follow-up checks next week. “We’re going to keep it pushing,” she said, noting she has been instructed to return to the hospital immediately if she experiences vomiting or a recurrence of the severe pain.
The Minnesota stop followed the conclusion of her Infinity Heart U.K. and European tour, which wrapped earlier this month. Earlier in 2025, Siwa appeared on the U.K. edition of Celebrity Big Brother, where she was the subject of inappropriate comments and behavior from fellow contestant Mickey Rourke.
More recently, she released a cover of Kim Carnes’ “Bette Davis Eyes.” Carnes appeared to respond cryptically to the rendition in a TikTok, saying, “There is a difference between singing a song…and embodying it.”
Siwa has continued to tease new music and maintain a high profile across social media throughout the year. In her TikTok about the medical scare, she reassured fans that she expects to recover without further intervention, adding that doctors anticipate the situation will resolve on its own.
Bikergirl, a social media influencer who gained thousands of followers who kept up with her exploits online, has died in a horrific crash. According to still developing reports, Bikergirl took to the road last week but collided with another vehicle and lost control of her bike.
As reported by the Daily Mail, Bikergirl, real name Karen Sofía Quiroz Ramírez, shared with her fans that she would be without her glasses as she set off to film another clip. Although we couldn’t quite locate the post in reference, she reportedly wrote, “‘I hope I don’t crash because I’m driving without my glasses” before setting out on the road.
Ramirez was riding in the town of Floridablanca on November 26, which rests north of Bogota, and attempted to pass between two vehicles. In doing so, Ramirez lost control of the motorcycle and was hit by another oncoming vehicle. Paramedics attempted to revive her at the scene of the crash, but Ramirez would pass from her injuries.
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Transport official Jahir Andrés Castellanos Prada said: ‘The most likely hypothesis for the accident is that the motorcyclist was travelling between two vehicles.
‘But this situation will be subject to an investigation. The Prosecutor’s Office will proceed to clearly and precisely determine the cause of this fatal traffic accident.
‘[We will] carry out the corresponding investigations, conduct the respective interviews with witnesses analyze the CCTV footage and determine if there was any type of responsibility on the part of the other drivers involved.’
Ramirez was 25.
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Photo: @sofia_quiroz10/ Instagram
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As Aerosmith and YUNGBLUD’s collaborative album One More Time debuts at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 (dated Dec. 6), Aerosmith becomes the second group — and fifth act overall — with a newly-charting top 10 in each of the last six decades (1970s through 2020s).
One More Time also marks the first top 10 for YUNGBLUD (after four earlier charting titles) and the 10th top 10 for Aerosmith. The latter was last in the top 10 with its last full-length studio album, 2012’s Music From Another Dimension!, which debuted and peaked at No. 5.
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 Dec. 6, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Dec. 2. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Aerosmith notched its first top 10 on the Billboard 200 in 1976 (and only top 10 of the ‘70s) with Rocks (peaking at No. 3). The band then scored one top 10 in the ‘80s (1989’s No. 5-peaking Pump), three in the ‘90s (Get a Grip, No. 1; Big Ones, No. 6 and Nine Lives, No. 1), three in the 2000s (Just Push Play, No. 2; O, Yeah! Ultimate Aerosmith Hits, No. 2 and Honkin’ On Bobo, No. 5), one in the ‘10s (Music From Another Dimension!, No. 5) and now one in the ’20s with One More Time.
Aerosmith is the second group, following The Rolling Stones, with at least one newly-charting top 10 in every decade from the 1970s through the 2020s. Among all acts, there are just five with a new top 10 in each decade in that span: Aerosmith, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and James Taylor.
The five-track One More Time was preceded by its first single, “My Only Angel,” which debuted at No. 1 on Hot Hard Rock Songs in October and climbs 7-6 (a new peak) on the most recently published Mainstream Rock Airplay chart (dated Dec. 6). On the latter ranking, “My Only Angel” marked the 25th top 10 for Aerosmith and the first for YUNGBLUD. “My Only Angel” is the first top 10 for Aerosmith on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart since 2004’s “Baby, Please Don’t Go” reached No. 7, and the band’s highest-charting hit since “Jaded” spent five weeks at No. 1 in 2001.
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Stray Kids claim their eighth No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart as DO IT debuts atop the ranking dated Dec. 6. The set earned 295,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending Nov. 27, according to Luminate. Of that sum, traditional album sales comprise 286,000.
All eight of the group’s Billboard 200 chart entries have debuted at No. 1, beginning with ODDINARY in 2022. In September of this year, when KARMA opened atop the list, Stray Kids became the first act to debut at No. 1 with their first eight entries in the 69-year history of the chart. With DO IT’s debut, they extend that record. The Billboard 200 began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March 1956.
In addition, with an eighth No. 1, Stray Kids extend their record for the most No. 1s among groups this century (since 2000).
Also in the top 10 on the latest Billboard 200 chart, the Wicked: For Good soundtrack debuts at No. 2, Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl falls from No. 1 for the first time (dipping 1-3 in its eighth week), Tate McRae’s So Close to What surges 21-6 following a deluxe reissue with additional songs, the Hazbin Hotel: Season Two soundtrack jumps 70-8 after its first full week of chart activity and Aerosmith and YUNGBLUD’s collaborative set One More Time arrives at No. 9.
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 Dec. 6, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Dec. 2. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of DO IT’s 295,000 first-week equivalent album units, album sales comprise 286,000 (it debuts at No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart), SEA units comprise 9,000 (equaling 13.98 million on-demand official streams of the sets songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
DO IT nets the seventh-largest debut week for an album, by units earned, in 2025. The year’s seven biggest debut weeks are: The Life of a Showgirl (4.002 million), Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem (493,000), The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow (490,000), Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend (366,000), KARMA (313,000), Playboi Carti’s MUSIC (298,000) and DO IT (295,000).
In traditional album sales, DO IT logs the fourth-largest week of 2025 (debut or otherwise). The four biggest sales weeks in 2025 are the opening frames of: The Life of a Showgirl (3.48 million), Hurry Up Tomorrow (359,000), KARMA (296,000) and DO IT (286,000).
DO IT’s album sales were aided by its availability across seven CD variants (all containing collectible items such as photocards, posters and stickers, with some items randomized), including a signed edition.
As DO IT is mostly in the Korean language, it is the 30th mostly non-English-language album to hit No. 1, and the third of 2025 (following Bad Bunny’s Spanish-language DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS and KARMA). Four mostly non-English titles topped the list in 2024, and all were mostly Korean-language efforts. Of the 30 mostly non-English-language albums to reach No. 1, 20 are mostly Korean, six mostly (or all) Spanish, one mostly Italian, one entirely French and two mostly a blend of Spanish, Italian and French.
The Wicked: For Good film soundtrack, led by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 (the highest debut for a soundtrack in 2025) with 122,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 85,000 (it debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales, aided by seven vinyl variants and four CD variants, including one signed by Erivo and Grande), SEA units comprise 36,000 (equaling 47.27 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it debuts at No. 6 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise 1,000.
Wicked: For Good premiered in movie theaters on Nov. 21 and has earned over $270 million at the U.S. and Canada box office. It follows the first Wicked film, which was released in 2024. The first Wicked soundtrack also debuted (and peaked) at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, launching with 139,000 equivalent album units.
After seven straight weeks at No. 1, Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl falls from the top, dipping 1-3 in its eighth week on the list (86,000 equivalent album units earned, down 5%). Two former No. 1s trail Swift, as I’m the Problem descends 3-4 (75,000, down less than 1%) and the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack is stationary at No. 5 (67,000, down 2%).
Tate McRae’s chart-topping So Close to What surges 21-6 with 64,000 equivalent album units earned (up 202%) following its deluxe reissue on Nov. 21 with five additional tracks added to the set’s digital download and streaming editions. Among the new cuts: “Tit for Tat,” which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 (dated Oct. 11).
Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving is a non-mover in the top 10 on the latest Billboard 200, holding at No. 7 (49,000 equivalent album units earned, down 2%).
The Hazbin Hotel: Season Two soundtrack flies 70-8 on the Billboard 200 after its first full week of chart activity, marking the first top 10 from the popular Prime Video animated series. The set zooms up the list with nearly 46,000 equivalent album units earned (up 250% from its debut at No. 70 with 13,000 units from only two days of activity). The soundtrack was released on Wednesday, Nov. 19; most albums are released on Friday. The tracking week for the Billboard 200 runs Friday through Thursday each week.
In the tracking week ending Nov. 27, the Hazbin Hotel: Season Two album tallied 32,000 SEA units (equaling 46.58 million on-demand official streams for its tracks; it debuts at No. 8 on Top Streaming Albums), 13,500 in traditional album sales (it jumps 32-8 on Top Album Sales) and 500 TEA units.
The Season Two soundtrack surpasses the No. 13 debut and peak of the Hazbin Hotel: Season One soundtrack in February 2024.
With Wicked: For Good, KPop Demon Hunters and Hazbin Hotel: Season Two at Nos. 2, 5 and 8, respectively, there are three soundtracks in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 for the first time in more than six years. It last happened on the April 6, 2019-dated chart, when Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born, Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody and Mötley Crüe’s The Dirt were at Nos. 6, 9 and 10.
Aerosmith and YUNGBLUD team up for a No. 9 debut with their collaborative project One More Time. It’s the 10th top 10 for Aerosmith and first for YUNGBLUD. The set earned 39,000 equivalent album units. Album sales comprise 37,000 (it debuts at No. 3 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 2,000 (equaling 2.32 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The album’s first-week sales were aided by its availability across six vinyl variants (including one signed by YUNGBLUD), four CD iterations (two signed by YUNGBLUD and one where Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler spray painted across the CD booklets en masse and then those were collated into their packaging) and a cassette tape.
While YUNGBLUD visits the top 10 for the first time (after four earlier charting titles), Aerosmith clocks its first top 10 since 2012’s Music From Another Dimension! debuted and peaked at No. 5 that year. Further, Aerosmith is the second group, and fifth act overall, to have earned new top 10s in the 1970s, ‘80s, ‘90s, 2000s, ‘10s and ‘20s. Aerosmith notched its first top 10 in 1976 (and only top 10 of the ‘70s) with Rocks (peaking at No. 3). The band then scored one top 10 in the ‘80s (1989’s No. 5-peaking Pump), three in the ‘90s (Get a Grip, No. 1; Big Ones, No. 6 and Nine Lives, No. 1), three in the 2000s (Just Push Play, No. 2; O, Yeah! Ultimate Aerosmith Hits, No. 2 and Honkin’ On Bobo, No. 5), one in the ‘10s (Music From Another Dimension!, No. 5) and now one in the ’20s with One More Time.
Aerosmith is the second group, following The Rolling Stones, with at least one newly-charting top 10 in every decade from the 1970s through the 2020s. Among all acts, there are just five with a new top 10 in each decade in that span: Aerosmith, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and James Taylor.
The five-track One More Time was preceded by its first single, “My Only Angel,” which debuted at No. 1 on Hot Hard Rock Songs in October and climbs 7-6 (a new peak) on the most recently published Mainstream Rock Airplay chart (dated Dec. 6). On the latter ranking, “My Only Angel” marked the 25th top 10 for Aerosmith and the first for YUNGBLUD. “My Only Angel” is the first top 10 on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart for Aerosmith since 2004’s “Baby, Please Don’t Go” reached No. 7, and the band’s highest-charting hit since “Jaded” spent five weeks at No. 1 in 2001.
Closing out the top 10 on the latest Billboard 200 is Summer Walker’s Finally Over It, which falls 2-10 in its second week (37,000 equivalent album units earned, down 52%).
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