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Trending on Billboard Halsey might be welcoming fans back to the badlands, but that doesn’t mean people are allowed to have bad manners at their shows. At the Nov. 3 show in Boston, a man in the audience interrupted the singer as she was speaking by telling her to “stop talking and play,” something Halsey […]
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Max Chambers charged into the Knockout Round on The Voice on Monday night (Nov. 3) and proceeded to blow the coaches away with his high-energy, preternaturally soulful cover of Stevie Wonder’s 1972 classic “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing.” The 14-year-old Shreveport, Louisiana student came in to do battle with fellow Team Bublé member Max Cooper III, who also held his own with a cover of Djo’s “End of Beginning.”
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But Chambers’ poised, powerful performance had Snoop Dogg jumping out of his seat, howling and singing along, as the teen swung and smiled his way through the soul-funk jam with such ease, confidence and swagger that he earned the show’s first-ever Mic Drop award.
The new wrinkle introduced for season 28 of the show — there are no more steals or saves left in the knockout rounds — allows each coach to select one of their acts for the honor bestowed on a performance that is simply undeniable. Even better, after the Droppers are chosen, fans at home get to vote on which one of them will represent the show at the Jan. 1 Rose Parade; voting for the Mic Drop winner will take place on the Nov. 24th episode.
“Max, for my money, is a frontrunner to win The Voice this year,” said coach Bublé. “He could be the youngest winner in Voice history. I really think that Max Chambers could be the reason I am a three-peat winner.” After hitting his Mic Drop button, Bublé added, “I was so excited. I felt like I was doing millions of people a favor. I do hope you’ll vote for him because I do feel he deserves to be there.”
Snoop’s praise climbed even higher. “Precious lord, take my hand, lead me on and let me stand! I got to take my glasses off!…A star is born, man,” the Doggfather enthused.
So far, Team Reba’s Aubrey Nicole, Team Niall’s Ava Nat and Team Snoop’s Ralph Edwards have all won their Knockout rounds so far and are moving on to the playoffs. The Voice airs on Monday night at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and streams the next day on Peacock.
Watch Chambers’ performance below.
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After People announced Wicked star Jonathan Bailey as its 2025 Sexiest Man Alive, the world seemed to have one overwhelming reaction: “We couldn’t be happier, thank goodness.”
That reaction spilled over to Bailey’s Wicked castmates, who appeared in a video on the film’s social media accounts celebrating their Fiyero nabbing the coveted title. In the clip, stars Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jeff Goldblum, Bowen Yang, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode and director Jon M. Chu all appeared wearing sweatshirts emblazoned with steamy photos from their fellow actor’s cover shoot for the magazine.
Each castmate offered their congratulations to Bailey, while occasionally throwing in a few jokes. “He’s the sexiest man not only on this planet, but in the solar system, in the universe, in any multiverse,” Goldblum said in the clip while showing off his sweatshirt emblazoned with Bailey’s face.
Yang jumped in, appreciating his photo of Bailey in a black jumpsuit hoisting himself up on a set of gymnastic rings. “Looks best in a singlet while doing gymnastics,” he quipped. Bode simply added, “Clearly, look at those abs.”
But the cast also sent sweet messages to Bailey, with Grande praising the actor’s interior as equally sexy, calling him “the kindest and the most brilliant and beautiful inside as well.” Erivo concurred, adding that “now the world knows what I’ve known all along.”
Erivo also celebrated with a comment on the actor and People‘s joint announcement post on Instagram. “YEEEEESSSSSSS!!!!! Now the world knows what I’ve known all along 😏,” she gushed. “I LOVE YOU! CONGRATULATIONS!!!”
Bailey’s selection was not only celebrated, but also historic. On the magazine’s 40th anniversary of its Sexiest Man Alive issue, Bailey becomes the first openly gay man to receive the title. In his cover story, Bailey spoke about his work on The Shameless Fund, a charity he founded to help fund non-profits fighting back against anti-LGBTQ+ laws around the world. “There’s so many people that want to do brilliant stuff who feel like they can’t, and I know the LGBT sector is under immense threat at the moment,” he said. “So it’s been amazing to meet people who have the expertise and see potential that I could have only dreamed of.”
Check out the Wicked cast’s reaction to Bailey’s new title below:
Trending on Billboard Danish rights organization Koda has filed a lawsuit against AI music company Suno, alleging that it infringed on copyrighted works from its repertoire — including songs by Aqua, MØ and Christopher. Koda claims that Suno used these works to train its AI models without permission and has concealed the scope of what […]
Trending on Billboard Demi Lovato earns her first No. 1 album on Billboard’s Top Dance Albums chart, as It’s Not That Deep opens at No. 1 on the Nov. 8-dated list. Released Oct. 24 via DLG Recordings/Island/Republic Records, the set debuts with 31,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the week ending […]
Trending on Billboard Marc Anthony announced Tuesday (Nov. 4) his first-ever residency in Las Vegas. The 10-date “Vegas… My Way!” will take place at BleauLive Theater at the Fontainebleau, kicking off Feb. 13. “This residency marks a new chapter in my journey,” Marc Anthony said in a statement. “Las Vegas has always been about reinvention […]
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Next year’s hard rock Download Festival will feature headlining slots from Linkin Park, Guns N’ Roses and Limp Bizkit. The 23rd edition of the fest — branded DLXXIII — will take place from June 10-14, 2026 in Donington Park, Leicestershire in the U.K.
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The massive event featuring more than 90 rock, metal, punk, emo, hardcore and classic rock acts will welcome nu-metal rockers Limp Bizkit for their first-ever headlining slot on Friday — they performed a well-received Download set last year — with veterans GNR headlining on Saturday and Linkin Park doing the honors on Sunday night in their first Download appearance since reuniting with singer Emily Armstrong as their lead singer in 2024; the group headlined Download twice (2004, 2014) with their original lineup. GNR have headlined at Download twice before as well, but haven’t taken the stage there since 2018.
Among the other bands on next year’s roster are: Bad Omens, Cypress Hill, Trivium, Halestorm, Pendulum, All-American Rejects, Mastodon, Baby Metal, Ice Nine Kills, Tom Morello, Black Vein Brides, Dogstar, Drowning Pool, P.O.D. Bush, Feeder, Ash, The Pretty Reckless, Static-X, Spineshank and many more. Click here for ticketing information.
Also slated to take the stage at the 2026 event are: Bloodywood, Hollywood Undead, Kublai Khan TX, letlive., LANDMVRKS, Mammoth, Paleface Swiss, Periphery, RØRY, Set It Off, Sleep Theory, Social Distortion, Story Of The Year, Those Damn Crows, We Came As Romans, Corrosion of Conformity, Decapitated, Dinosaur Pile-Up, DRAIN and Ego Kill Talent.
Check out the full 2026 Download Festival poster below.
Billboard’s Live Music Summit will be held in Los Angeles on Nov. 3. For tickets and more information, click here.
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With just days to go before this year’s induction ceremony, one of the 2025 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees has sent his regrets. Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers posted a note on the band’s socials on Monday (Nov. 3) revealing that his ill health will prevent him from participating.
Bad Company are slated to be inducted into the Rock Hall this weekend at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles alongside Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, OutKast, Soundgarden and The White Stripes in the Performer category and Salt-N-Pepa and Warren Zevon for Musical Influence.
But, just days after the other surviving original member of the English rock supergroup – fellow former Free member drummer Simon Kirke — revealed that the two planned to reunite to play two songs on Saturday, Rodgers said he cannot participate.
“My hope was to be at the Rock & Rock Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and to perform for the fans, but at this time I have to prioritize my health,” Rodgers, 75, said in a statement without providing any additional information on his condition. “I have no problem singing, it’s the stress of everything else. Thanks for understanding. Simon along with some outstanding musicians will be stepping in for me – guaranteed to rock.”
Rodgers, Kirke, late guitarist Mick Ralphs and late bassist Boz Burrell will be inducted this weekend for their roles in the 1970s rock juggernaut whose biggest hits include “Bad Company” and “Can’t Get Enough” (1974), “Feel Like Makin’ Love” and “Shooting Star” (1975) and “Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy” (1979) among others.
The group originally split in 1982 and have reunited several times over the years in a variety of configurations to tour and record albums, last performing together in 2019. But in 2023, Kirke said the band was likely done due to a variety of health issues suffered by Rodgers over the past few years, with the singer revealing to CBS Mornings that year that he’d suffered two major strokes — one in 2016 and another in 2019 — as well as 11 minor strokes.
This year’s RRHOF induction ceremony will stream live coast-to-coast on Disney+ Saturday (Nov. 8), at 8 p.m. ET, and will be available to stream following the ceremony. ABC will also air a primetime special with performance highlights and standout moments on Jan. 1, at 8 p.m. ET, available the next day on Hulu.
This year’s event will feature an impressive list of performers and presenters, including: Beck, Brandi Carlile, David Letterman, Doja Cat, Elton John, Flea, Iggy Pop, J.I.D, Killer Mike, Maxwell, Missy Elliott, Olivia Rodrigo, Questlove, RAYE, Sleepy Brown, Taylor Momsen, Teddy Swims and Twenty One Pilots.
Trending on Billboard Spotify said on Tuesday its third quarter revenue and profit margin improved thanks to double-digit growth in subscribers and monthly active users. The leading music and podcast streaming platform said its pool of paying subscribers rose by 12% to 218 million, and its monthly average users rose 11% to 713 million from […]
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Wicked: For Good star Jonathan Bailey is People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive for 2025. The news was revealed on Monday night (Nov. 3) on The Tonight Show, where Prince Fiyero called the title the “honor of a lifetime,” jokingly thanking host Jimmy Fallon for turning it down so that he could take the crown.
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“I’m sort of thrilled that People magazine have invited someone in — bestowed this honor on someone who can really cherish the value of a sexy man,” he joked as Fallon asked him to do the traditional cover signing.
The actor admitted he was still “giggling” about taking over from last year’s winner, Jack Ryan star John Krasinski. “At the beginning of the year I was doing Shakespeare’s Richard II — for those of you who don’t know, it’s not a comedy,” Bailey said, noting that he was very much “in the zone” doing the intense drama when he got word that he would be the cover star for the 40th anniversary honor. “So you go slightly mad, and the only thing madder than doing Richard II is being invited into this.”
Bailey got the assignment as evidenced by the two People covers he graces, snuggling with his adorable cockapoo puppy, Benson, shirtless, naturally, on one. On the other, he stares straight into the lens while being buffeted by chilly surf off a beach south of London in a dramatic shoot, both with the tagline: “Wicked-ly handsome & oh-so-charming. We know, we nailed it.”
The 37-year-old actor born in Oxfordshire, England, began his career as a seven-year-old child actor in the Royal Shakespeare Company and received the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award for best actor in a supporting role in a musical in 2019 for his performance in a gender-swapped revival of Company. He rose to prominence a decade ago for his role in the crime drama Broadchurch, then became a heartthrob for his role as Lord Anthony Bridgerton in the romance series Bridgerton before being cast as Prince Fiyero in the first part of the Wicked movie musical series in 2024. In addition to that role in the original and this month’s anticipated sequel, Bailey also co-starred in this summer’s hit movie Jurassic World: Rebirth.
Asked by People when he first realized that his star was rising, Bailey said it was in 2020 when Bridgerton rocketed him to fame. “I had the radio set for my alarm, and one morning it went off with, ‘Here’s the news at 7. But just before we go, can we talk about Jonathan Bailey?’ ” the actor said. “I was like, ‘Where is my journal? Is this real?’ It was wild.”
Bailey, who is openly gay, founded the Shameless Fund, which offers support to LGBTQ+ organizations and said he knows it’s important to be a beacon during difficult times.
“I know the LGBT sector is under immense threat at the moment,” said the actor known colloquially as “the internet’s boyfriend.” “So it’s been amazing to meet people who have the expertise and see potential that I could have only dreamed of.”
When Fallon suggested that fans are constantly trying to cast Bailey in sought-after roles such as James Bond or Batman, the actor humbly demurred, saying he would do it only if Fallon was his Moneypenny or Robin sidekick.
As with all previous Sexiest Men, Bailey struggled to keep the news a secret — and actually tried, and failed, to leak the news to some friends during a round of drinks where they teased him to keep doing his “affirmations” — but now that it’s out Fallon wondered if he thinks people will treat him differently now. “I f–king hope so!” Bailey said. All joking aside, he called the title a “huge honor… Obviously I’m incredibly flattered. And it’s completely absurd.”
Wicked: For Good hits theaters on Nov. 21 with returning stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariaan Grande, as well as Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Ethan Slater and Bowen Yang.
Watch Bailey on The Tonight Show below.
