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Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan teamed up for a holiday classic. In her new Netflix holiday special A Nonsense Christmas, which premiered on Friday (Dec. 6), the 25-year-old pop star invited special guest Roan for a festive duet of Wham!’s “Last Christmas.” Set in a scene evoking the aftermath of a lively holiday house party, […]
Barry Keoghan appears to be stepping away from Instagram following his high-profile breakup with Sabrina Carpenter.
On Saturday (Dec. 7) morning, the 32-year-old actor’s Instagram account displayed an error message reading: “Sorry, this page isn’t available.”
The night before, Keoghan had shared a series of steamy gym selfies on his Instagram Story, showing off his physique in a dark green tank top, according to TMZ. He also posted a couple of shots with blonde hair, presumably from the set of his upcoming film Crime 101. However, hours after these posts, his Instagram account was deactivated.
Despite his Instagram deactivation, Keoghan hasn’t deleted all of his social media accounts. His X (formerly Twitter) account remains active, though he hasn’t posted there since late November.
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The Irish actor’s decision to leave Instagram comes just days after news broke of his split from Carpenter, 25. A source told People on Dec. 3 that the couple, who had been together for about a year, decided to take a break due to their busy careers.
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“They are both young and career-focused, so they’ve decided to take a break,” the source explained.
The pair first sparked dating rumors in late 2023 before making their public debut at the Vanity Fair Oscars afterparty in March. Keoghan also appeared alongside Carpenter in the music video for her Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping single “Please Please Please,” featured on her album Short n’ Sweet.
Following the album’s release in late August, fans speculated that several tracks, including the sultry “Bed Chem,” were inspired by Keoghan. In the song, Carpenter sings: “I was in a sheer dress the day that we met/ We were both in a rush, we talked for a sec/ Who’s the cute boy with the white jacket and the thick accent? … Who’s the cute guy with the wide, blue eyes?”
Just last month, Keoghan was asked about his relationship with Carpenter during an appearance on The Louis Theroux Podcast. When asked directly if he was dating her, Keoghan laughed and responded, “Oh, I knew you’d do this,” before adding, “Listen, all I’m going to say is I’m incredibly blessed. Such a strong, independent lady who’s massively talented and yeah. Pretty special.”
Longtime Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain is stepping back from touring.
On Saturday (Dec. 7), the 72-year-old musician announced that he is retiring from the road, with Saturday’s concert at Allianz Parque in São Paulo, Brazil, marking his final show with the legendary rock band.
“After much consideration, it is with both sorrow and joy, I announce my decision to take a step back from the grind of the extensive touring lifestyle,” McBrain shared in a statement on Iron Maiden’s website. “I wish the band much success moving forward.”
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McBrain, who joined Iron Maiden in 1982, replacing Clive Burr, has been an integral part of the band’s sound, drumming on every album since Piece of Mind in 1983.
“What can I say? Touring with Maiden the last 42 years has been an incredible journey! To my devoted fan base, you made it all worthwhile and I love you!” McBrain added.
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While stepping away from touring, McBrain will remain closely connected to the band. He confirmed that he’ll continue to be involved in “a variety of projects” with Iron Maiden, while also focusing on personal ventures and his existing businesses.
“I look into the future with much excitement and great hope! I’ll be seeing you soon, may God bless you all, and, of course, ‘Up the Irons!’” he wrote.
McBrain’s decision comes after health issues in recent years, including a stroke in 2023 that left him partially paralyzed. After extensive rehabilitation, he returned to the stage with Iron Maiden for their current world tour.
Iron Maiden expressed their gratitude for McBrain’s remarkable contributions to the band. “Thank you for being an irrepressible force behind the drum kit for Maiden for 42 years and my friend for even longer. I speak on behalf of all the band when I say we will miss you immensely!” the band said in a statement.
Iron Maiden also referenced their long-standing bond with Brazil, where they have had a special connection since their 1985 Rock in Rio performance. “To bow out of touring in front of 90,000 fans here in São Paulo over two nights is poetic,” they continued. “Nicko is and will always be part of the Maiden family.”
Saturday’s performance marks the final show of Iron Maiden’s The Future Past world tour, which began in September. The band will return to the road in 2025 for their Run for Your Lives World Tour, set to launch in May.
From career milestones to new music releases to major announcements and those little important moments, Billboard editors highlight uplifting moments in Latin music. Here’s what happened in the Latin music world this week.
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Camila Cabello Becomes Substitute Teacher
From pop star to substitute teacher, Camila Cabello can do it all. In the Dec. 4-episode of Celebrity Substitute, the singer-songwriter visits a New York City public school to teach elementary students about the art of performance. Cabello’s lesson plan includes: Getting the students comfortable, inspiring confidence and, lastly, filming a music video for her song “I Luv It.”
Watch the adorable episode below:
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Eladio Carrión Holds Annual SauceGiving Event
Over Thanksgiving weekend, Eladio Carrión held his 4th annual SauceGiving event in Puerto Rico, which had over 4,000 attendees. The day kicked off with “baseball clinics,” where around 300 children learned directly from Major League players who shared techniques and inspired the next generation of baseball talent.
This year, the Celebrity Softball Game, where music stars and Major League talent team up for a showdown at Estadio Néstor Morales, included on its lineup artists like Eladio Carrión, Arcángel, Daddy Yankee, Latin Mafia, Yandel and Young Miko, to name a few.
Celebrity Softball Game at Eladio Carrión’s SauceGiving event in Puerto Rico.
Rafael R. Molina
Meanwhile, the SauceMarket showcased a variety of vendors, fair games, a pet adoption area and a merch booth for fans. In total, five dogs and two cats were adopted.
Ricky Martin Performs at World AIDS Day Event
Puerto Rican superstar Ricky Martin sang some of his biggest hits — in English and Spanish — during his headlining set on Monday at the AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s annual World AIDS Day concert, which was held at the Watsco Center in Miami. World AIDS Day is commemorated each year on Dec. 1 as “an opportunity for communities to unite in the fight against HIV, show support for people living with HIV, and remember those we’ve lost,” according to a press release.
Watch a short recap of the event here.
Shakira Shares Special Moment With Milan & Sasha
“These little kisses always make me sing better,” Shakira captioned a video that captures a sweet moment with her two sons, Milan and Sasha, during rehearsals for her upcoming world tour. In the video, the Colombian superstar shows off her ethereal vocals singing “Última,” from her latest album Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, while her kids accompany her and offer her kisses. Shakira’s Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour is set to kick off next year in Latin America.
Watch the video with her kids here.
The Philly Specials’ charity album A Philly Special Christmas Party makes a festive debut across Billboard’s charts, opening at No. 1 on Independent Albums; in the top 10 on Top Album Sales (No. 2), Top Holiday Albums (No. 2), Vinyl Albums (No. 2); and at No. 16 on the all-genre Billboard 200 (all charts dated Dec. 7).
It’s the third and final release in the charity series, presented by The Philly Specials (former Philadelphia Eagles football player Jason Kelce and his teammates Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata).
Party arrives with the biggest sales week for any holiday album in four years, and the largest sales week for a holiday album on vinyl in the modern era (since Luminate began electronically tracking sales in 1991). A Philly Special Christmas Party sold 32,000 copies in its first week (ending Nov. 28), with 22,000 of that sum on vinyl. The album was commercially released on CD, vinyl and digital download on Nov. 22.
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The last holiday set with a bigger sales week overall was when Carrie Underwood’s My Gift sold 33,000 nearly three months into its release, on the Dec. 19, 2020-dated charts. Previously, the biggest sales week in the modern era for a holiday set on vinyl was when Vince Guaraldi Trio’s A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack pushed through 20,000 copies in late 2022 (Dec. 31, 2022 chart date).
The new Party album boasts collaborations with the likes of Boyz II Men, Stevie Nicks, Mt. Joy and Jason’s brother (and Kansas City Chiefs tight end) Travis Kelce and includes covers of tunes like “Maybe This Christmas,” “Last Christmas” and “Please Come Home for Christmas.”
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units.
As for the rest of the top 10 of the latest Top Album Sales chart, the Wicked film soundtrack debuts at No. 1 (85,000), Kendrick Lamar’s GNX debuts at No. 3 (32,000), ATEEZ’s Golden Hour: Part.2 falls 1-4 in its second week (24,000; down 87%), Marilyn Manson’s One Assassination Under God: Chapter 1 debuts at No. 5 (20,000), Zach Bryan’s The Great American Bar Scene re-enters the chart at No. 6 (18,000; up 14,517% after it was issued on vinyl and CD for the first time), Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet is steady at No. 7 (16,000; up 9%), ENHYPEN’s chart-topping Romance: Untold falls 4-8 (15,000; down 70%), Ice Cube’s Man Down debuts at No. 9 (nearly 15,000) and Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess rises 11-10 (13,000; up 16%).
Spotify continued its remarkable run this week by briefly surpassing a $100 billion market capitalization before falling slightly by the close of trading on Friday (Dec. 6). The company’s shares rose 4.5% to $498.63, marking the music streamer’s second-best closing price ever. The best closing price of $502.38 came on Wednesday (Dec. 4) when Spotify reached a new intraday high of $506.47, valuing the Swedish company at approximately $100.8 billion.
The $100 billion threshold arrived the same day Spotify launched its 2024 Wrapped, the personalized, data-driven product that breaks down listeners’ streaming time and ranks their most popular artists and tracks. Wrapped, first launched in 2015, has become both a major media event and an immensely successful product that listeners share incessantly on social media.
At Friday’s closing price, Spotify has gained 165.4% in 2024, making it the only music company to have a triple-digit gain. This improvement is three times higher than that of Live Nation, which has risen 46.1% this year. Cloud Music is close behind with a 44.2% gain year-to-date.
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With a valuation of more than double the next-largest music company, Spotify is a major driver of the 20-stock Billboard Global Music Index, which rose 2.8% to an all-time high of 2,280.51. That brings its year-to-date gain to 48.7%. Ten of the 20 stocks were gainers while nine lost ground and one was unchanged. Radio companies, buoyed by iHeartMedia’s 14% gain, led the way with an average gain of 5.9%. Streaming companies posted a 4.4% average gain. Live music companies were essentially flat. Multi-format companies (record labels, music publishers) fell 2.1% on average.
Most other streaming companies were gainers this week. Tencent Music Entertainment rose 10% to $11.54. Cloud Music increased 9.7% to 129.40 HKD ($16.63). LiveOne jumped 6% to $0.88. Deezer improved 2.9% to 1.37 euros ($1.45). Abu Dhabi-based Anghami fell 6.8% to $0.73.
On the live front, MSG Entertainment improved 1.6% to $36.26 this week. The company announced on Tuesday (Dec. 3) that it spent $25 million repurchasing its Class A common shares due to their price “relative to the company’s long-term growth potential.” Elsewhere, Live Nation fell 1.1% to $140.26 while Sphere Entertainment Co., which announced additional Dead & Company dates this week, fell 5.1% to $40.27.
In other noteworthy stock moves this week, HYBE dropped 3.2% to 214,000 won ($150.15) after news broke that South Korean authorities are investigating chairman Bang Si-hyuk for possible violations of the country’s Capital Markets Act. The move came after a report claimed Bang had a secret agreement with shareholders prior to HYBE’s initial public stock offering that gave him a $285 million profit when the company went public in 2020. HYBE shares fell 6.7% over the two trading days following the news report but recovered more than half its losses later in the week. Other K-pop stocks fell in unison with HYBE. JYP Entertainment dropped 5.2%, YG Entertainment lost 5.8% and SM Entertainment sank 7.5%.
Elsewhere, stocks were mostly up globally. In the United States, the Nasdaq composite rose 3.3% and the S&P 500 gained 1%. In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 improved 0.3%. China’s Shanghai Composite Index grew 2.4%. Dragged down by political turmoil, South Korea’s KOSPI composite dropped 1.1%.
As we build toward the 2024 Billboard Music Awards on Dec. 12 and Billboard’s Year-End Charts reveal on Dec. 13, check out our editorial list of staff picks for the best K-pop songs of the year.
As more and more K-pop artists break the genre and cultural barriers that can divide listeners, the Korean music industry grew its visibility and expanded its experimental nature this past year, resulting in greater opportunities for the scene at large while gifting global audiences some undeniably special singles.
In line with trends since the start of the decade, girl groups continued to dominate the singles space as (G)I-DLE, fromis_9, aespa, NewJeans and ILLIT delivered inescapable hits, alongside beloved troupes like Red Velvet, ITZY, Dreamcatcher and Kep1er, who delivered some of the best songs of their career.
K-divas BIBI, Lee Young Ji and K-pop’s standout rookie boy band TWS delivered singles that became mainstays on the charts and across social media. Elsewhere, Lim Young Woong, PENTAGON’s Hui, ATEEZ, Loossemble and ARTMS all stepped up to new moments of musical greatness with creative curveballs that defied expectations but delighted all kinds of audiences.
From the nostalgic reunion of BIGBANG’s leader G-Dragon enlisting his bandmates Taeyang and Daesung for “Home Sweet Home” to the rookie girl group that made Billboard Hot 100 history this year, not to mention a track that samples Afrika Bambaataa and the Afrobeat-infused flair of KISS OF LIFE’s “Sticky,” this year’s best K-pop songs boast some of the most eclectic, exciting tunes in recent history.
While the Korean music industry continues to expand its global reach, with many of its artists releasing English singles or tracks explicitly aimed at the Western pop market, this list focuses on the songs released with Korean lyrics or with core K-pop audiences in mind (as much as we loved bops from the likes of Jimin, AleXa, BABYMONSTER, the BLACKPINK members and many, many more).
With some of the best boy bands, greatest girl groups, specially selected soloists, plus one dynamic duo, dive into the complete list to experience the finest K-pop songs of 2024. And check out our list of the 25 Best K-Pop Albums of 2024, too.
Kep1er, “Shooting Star”
BTS’ V is in the holiday spirit as he dropped his rendition of “White Christmas” with Bing Crosby. Keep watching to hear a snippet of his version and to see what other BTS members have done for the holiday season! Tetris Kelly: One of our favorite crooners is bringing the Christmas spirit. We’re discussing V’s […]
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Many in the A long for the days that the trio known as The Migos ran the rap scene with their hits and catchy cuts and while we will never experience that threesome again (R.I.P Takeoff), Quavo recruits two other Georgians for his latest offering.
Linking up with Luke Bryan and Teddy Swims for the visuals to “Georgia Ways,” Quavo and company take to the woods to get some fishing done, build a bond fire and ride from ATV’s through the mud like some country boys looking to have a good ol’ time. Leave it to Quavo to be iced out in the woods for no reason. Maybe the diamonds attract the fish or something.
The father/son duo known as Big Hit and Hit-Boy meanwhile continue to keep the family business alive and in their clip to “Bigger Than Life” the Hit men shine together while showing how they live their lives on different planes. You gotta love this.
Check out the rest of today’s drops including work from K Camp, OT The Real, and more.
QUAVO, LUKE BRYAN & TEDDY SWIMS – “GEORGIA WAYS”
BIG HIT & HIT-BOY – “BIGGER THAN LIFE”
K CAMP – “CONSEQUENCES”
OT THE REAL – “NAKED”
TERMANOLOGY & TEK FT. FLASH IS HIP HOP – “BOOM BAP OR DIE”
RODDY RICCH FT. TERRACE MARTIN – “LONELY ROAD”
BURGA – “BODIES/I NEED SOMEBODY”
SIZZLA – “SHINE THE LIGHT”
Idols, rookies and global stars all made our list.