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The full list of Billboard’s 2025 year-end charts are almost here, and we’re counting down the days to their unveiling on Tuesday, Dec. 9, with a special look at select rankings in the lead-up to the big reveal — starting with two of the year-end rock charts.
On Dec. 9, hundreds of year-end charts will be posted on Billboard’s website, following the conclusion of the Billboard 2025 No. 1s Livestream, hosted by Druski, which will broadcast on the Billboard News YouTube channel and BillboardTV on Samsung TV Plus starting at noon ET/9 a.m. PT, as special surprise guests stop by to celebrate the year in chart-toppers.
To kick off our year-end charts countdown, we’re dropping the top 10 of the 2025 Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Top Rock & Alternative Songs charts below – and both are led by Billie Eilish.
She leads the former with her 2024 release Hit Me Hard and Soft, and the latter with the album’s hit single “Birds of a Feather.” Hit Me Hard and Soft debuted at No. 1 on the weekly Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart dated June 1, 2024, and hasn’t left the chart. Further, it never went lower than No. 6 during the 2025 year-end chart eligibility year (Oct. 26, 2024, through Oct. 18, 2025). “Birds of a Feather” was equally as dominant, flying in at No. 4 on the June 1, 2024 Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart and has perched on the list ever since. It hit No. 1 in August 2024, and it never ranked lower than No. 4 during the chart year.
For the top 10 of both lists, scroll below. The full depth of both rankings (beyond the top 10 of each) will be posted Dec. 9 alongside the complete menu of Billboard’s 2025 year-end charts.
Take a look at the top 10s below.
Billboard’s year-end music charts represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts from Oct. 26, 2024, through Oct. 18, 2025. Rankings for Luminate-based recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the entries appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology detail, and the October-October time period, account for some of the difference between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Luminate.
2025 Year-End Top Rock & Alternative Albums: 10. Olivia Rodrigo, Guts
Source: Ethan Miller / Getty
Iggy Azalea is giving a thumbs down to the idea of hopping back in the booth.
The Australian rapper recently shared a flick on Instagram, and when a fan asked if she had signed a new record deal, she shut it down quickly: “F*ck no, but I did consider signing for weeks. I’m very sure I don’t want to come back to the music industry.”
After early success with her 2014 song Fancy, Azalea was never able to top it. The song hit No.1 on the Billboard charts and set her up to be one of the leading faces of rap coming out of Australia. Since then, The New Classic rapper has stuck to her word about staying ghost in music; her last release was The End Of An Era in 2021, and it received mixed reviews but not the same praise as her breakout track.
Iggy has also claimed that Universal Music Group owes her a hefty bag, claiming it’s “millions of dollars in back pay” in royalties. There have been no updates on whether the Fancy rapper ever collected her coins from UMG. She’s also been in the news following an awkward livestream with influencer Neon, where fans speculated she was flirting with the streamer.
On multiple occasions during the stream, she appeared to try to dance on him, adding fuel to the trolls online.
After the clips went viral, Iggy seemed to indirectly address the rumors, saying, “Y’all have dirty minds.”
Trending on Billboard Radiohead has been forced to postpone a pair of shows on their comeback tour of Europe due to illness. In a statement posted to their social channels on Monday morning (Dec. 1), the band announced that frontman Thom Yorke was suffering from an “extreme throat infection” and two upcoming shows in Copenhagen, […]
Trending on Billboard While Americans were celebrating Thanksgiving by gobbling up turkey, stuffing and more football than is absolutely necessary, Rihanna spent the holiday weekend honoring her home country of Barbados while also sneaking in a few previously unseen pregnancy bikini pics. The singer paid tribute to the Caribbean island nation where she was born […]
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WME has promoted Rob Markus to head of international for the agency’s contemporary music team, the company announced Monday (Dec. 1). In his new role, Los Angeles-based Markus will oversee all aspects of WME’s international touring and strategy for contemporary music.
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Markus, a senior partner at WME, has worked at the agency for more than 20 years. He helped build the company’s Latin music group, which boasts such stars as Danny Ocean, Gustavo Mioto, Humbe, J Balvin, Juanes, Maluma, Nathy Peluso, Paulo Londra and Pedro Sampaio. His client list also includes A Perfect Circle, Avenged Sevenfold, Depeche Mode, Kygo, Måneskin, Nine Inch Nails, Paul Anka, The Flaming Lips, The Hives, Toto and Will Smith. On the festival front, he’s been key to expanding the Lollapalooza brand into Argentina, Brazil and Chile, which are hosting Lollapalooza festivals in March.
Prior to WME, Markus ran EMI and Virgin Records in Hungary and also set up EMI Music Publishing in Eastern Europe.
“Rob understands the international touring business and its increasing complexities and importance to an artist’s career better than anyone,” said Lucy Dickins, WME’s global head of contemporary music and touring, and Kirk Sommer, global co-head of contemporary music and touring, in a joint statement. “Having lived and worked around the world, Rob possesses a deep knowledge of the nuances of the live music space in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and South America, as well as emerging tour markets like the Middle East, Africa, and India. This expansion of his role fortifies our global music presence and elevates the best-in-class services we offer our clients and partners.”
Added Markus, “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead WME’s international music team and look forward to growing and guiding our global roster with the same team approach that has served me well throughout my career.”
Trending on Billboard You already knew Jon Stewart could skewer bloviating politicians with effortless, cutting wit. But did you know he can also rock the house? The 63-year-old Daily Show legend proved it’s never too late to learn a new trick on Friday (Nov. 28) when his indie rock band, Church and State™️ made their […]
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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.”
