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27 Oct 2023

Best Buy Early Access Black Friday Sale: Score $450 Off the HP Omen Laptop

All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

Black Friday isn’t just happening in November this year — Best Buy is bringing customers major savings on everything from TVs, laptops, home appliances, Bluetooth earbuds and more right now. Discounts are available exclusively for My Best Buy members, providing you with the opportunity to stock up on upgraded tech before anyone else. It’s only going on until Sunday (Oct. 29) though, which means these savings are going to expire fast.

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Deals include $450 off the HP Omen gaming laptop — and if you’re a Best Buy Plus and Total member, you’ll receive an additional $50 off during October when you spend $500+, which will bring your total savings on the laptop to $500 off.

How do you become a My Best Buy member? There are three memberships you can choose from: My Best Buy, My Best Buy Plus and My Best Buy Total. A My Best Buy membership is free and gives you access to the deals as well as free standard shipping.

For more perks, you can get a Plus membership, which is $49.99/month and comes with everything included in the basic subscription as well as free 2-day shipping, member prices on thousands of items, access to exclusive sales, events and products and a 60-day return window on eligible items. Total members cost $179.99/month and come with everything included in the Plus membership in addition to protection plans (including AppleCare+), 24/7 tech support, VIP member support and 20% off repairs.

Keep reading to shop the early Black Friday laptop deal.

black laptop with homescreen

Best Buy

HP Omen Gaming Laptop (16-Inches)

$1,399.99

$1,849.99

24% off

HP’s Omen gaming laptop features a 16-inch wide screen built with 16 GB of memory that has gained a 4.7 star rating on Best Buy. It aims to bring desktop power in a compact design that’ll allow you to play the latest game without worry of storage quickly being taken up or slow load times. Each model comes with Windows 11 already installed onto the device as well as the ability to charge from 0% to 50% battery in as little as 30 minutes.

Reviewers are loving how fast and sleek the design is with one shopper even stating how it’s “an absolute powerhouse that has left me in awe since the moment I laid my hands on it. With its cutting-edge hardware and sleek design, this laptop has truly taken my gaming experience to the next level.”

For more product recommendations, check out our roundups of the best Apple AirPod deals, commuter gadgets and digital antennas.

27 Oct 2023

Watch Blink-182 Perform a Mini-Concert in a Denny’s Restaurant to Celebrate New Tour

Whether it’s SoFi Stadium or a random Denny’s in Long Beach, a show is a show. Blink-182 recently staged a concert at one such 24-hour breakfast restaurant, rocking out as if they were playing on a festival stage.

“What the f–k is up, Denny’s?” shouted bassist Mark Hoppus in a clip shared by fans on Twitter, with Travis Barker slamming on the drums behind him.

Inches away from a crowd of fans head-banging along to the music, Tom DeLonge — who only recently re-joined Blink’s lineup — sang “Anthem Part 3″ from the Denny’s floor. The band reportedly only played the one song, but it was enough to remind fans of a meme dating back to 2013, when the band Live Without performed at an abandoned Denny’s and similarly shouted, “What the f–k is up, Denny’s?”

“Coming to stadiums, arenas, and @dennysdiner locations near you in 2024,” wrote the band, which recently announced a North American tour slated for next year, on Instagram.

The Denny’s footage comes just as Blink added two extra songs to new album One More Time on Friday (Oct. 27), which dropped last week and marked the band’s first LP with DeLonge as part of the lineup in over a decade. The new titles, both produced by Barker, are titled “Cut Me Off” and “See You.”

In addition to venues in the United States and Canada, Blink is slated to play shows in Australia, New Zealand, Peru and Mexico next year. After the trio’s dates in North America conclude with a performance in Toronto, they’ll head off to Belfast, Dublin and Glasgow.

See a clip from Blink-182’s Denny’s performance below:

27 Oct 2023

NO SUPRISE: A Year After Elon Musk Bought Twitter, Monthly Users Have Dipped To 15% & Ad Revenue Dropped 54%

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X Lost Users & Ad Revenue A Year After Elon Musk Bought It

Source: NurPhoto / Getty / X / Twitter / Elon Musk

This news should surprise NO ONE. X (formerly known as Twitter) is a hot a** mess; users have bounced, and it is not bringing in any ad revenue.

Spotted on Variety, Elon Musk’s plan to make Twitter, oops, we mean X, and make it the most worthless social media platform on the planet seems to be working.

In only a year after he reluctantly took over the debt-burdened platform that was known as Twitter and made such stupid moves like the 80% reduction in staff, stupidly renaming it to X and making the blue check useless, and turned the platform into a haven for misinformation, it should come as no surprise X is not doing good.

Per Variety:

Millions of users, including several celebrities, have quit in the wake of Musk’s takeover and dramatic refashioning of Twitter. In September 2023, monthly active users for X/Twitter had dropped 15% worldwide (and 18% in the U.S.) year-over-year, according to web analytics provider SimilarWeb. Other third-party measures indicate a roughly similar decline; mobile daily active users dropped 16% on an annual basis in September 2023, to 183 million, according to Sensor Tower. Musk last month claimed that X has 550 million monthly active users, who share up to 200 million posts daily, but it’s unclear how that might compare to past measures.

Advertising On X Is Also On A Downward Spiral

Twitter, damn, we mean X, relied heavily on advertising dollars, but if you have been on there lately, the ads have been lacking, except for numerous Cheech and Chong gummy ads up and down our timelines.

The website reports, via the Wall Street Journal’s reporting, that ad spending from major ad agencies on the platform has dropped to 54%. That’s a significant dip.

Instead of blaming himself, Musk blames groups like ADL for pointing out that his platform has become a haven for hate speech under his ownership, and that is what is keeping advertisers from coming to the platform.

“Our US advertising revenue is still down 60%, primarily due to pressure on advertisers by @ADL (that’s what advertisers tell us), so they almost succeeded in killing X/Twitter!” Bootleg Tony Stark wrote on Sept. 4.

Musk even said he would sue the ADL, but whatever issues between Musk and the ADL seem to have been resolved.

“We appreciate X’s stated intent over the last few weeks to address antisemitism and hate on the platform,” the ADL wrote in a statement released on Oct.4.

X also slapped activist research group, the Center For Countering Digital Hate, with a lawsuit for claiming there is a rise in hate speech on X, which Musk says is false.

Instagram Threads is looking better and better.

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Photo: NurPhoto / Getty

27 Oct 2023

Taylor Swift, Brent Faiyaz & More: Which Is Your Favorite Music Release of the Week? Vote!

Swifties are rejoicing once again, as Taylor Swift has released another re-recorded Taylor’s Version of one of her past albums this new music Friday. This week’s offerings also includes a highly anticipated project from Brent Faiyaz and other stars.

October couldn’t be more decorated for fans of Swift, who is the lead finalist for the 2023 Billboard Music Awards. She’s attended Kansas City Chiefs games to cheer on new love interest Travis Kelce, released The Eras Tour movie, and now, the release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is the cherry on top. Previous classics such as “Blank Space,” “Welcome to New York” and “Out of the Woods” have gotten updates that refresh them. And, of course, the “From the Vault” songs don’t disappoint either. Five new tracks, one of which is speculated to be about Harry Styles, delight and further cement that the release of the re-recordings will remain major music events. (See Billboard‘s ranking of the new “From the Vault” tracks here.)

Faiyaz also returns with a new album this week. Larger Than Life — the follow-up to 2022’s Wasteland that debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 — is filled to the brim with guest spots from Missy Elliott, A$AP Rocky, Coco Jones and Babyface Ray and more, but what it provides in celebrity spots does not take away from its essence. The project soars in solo moments during which Faiyaz’s croon is amplified over woozy beats on tracks “Best Time,” “Wherever I Go” and “Forever Yours,” highlighting his distinct style with ease.

Jay Wheeler and David Guetta — with help from Ayra Starr and Lil Durk — also return this week.

Which new music release is your favorite this week? Vote in our poll below.

27 Oct 2023

Megan Thee Stallion Confirms She Has New Music on the Way With ‘Cobra’ Announcement

Megan Thee Stallion announced Friday (Oct. 27) that she is dropping a project titled “Cobra” next Friday, Nov. 3.

Along with the date and title, the rapper shared a revealing photo of herself, her body slick, with the words “Cobra – A Story by Megan Thee Stallion” in orange at the bottom of the image.

She teased “Cobra,” which she has yet to identify as a single or album, earlier this week in a short Instagram clip that had the camera zeroing in on Meg’s lips as they were floating in a black void. “Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past, over and over again,” she said over an ominous track. Then the camera pulls back to reveal her face — complete with vertical snake eyeballs — and the clip ended with a shot of a pair of dripping fangs. 

“Cobra” seems to also mark her first release as an independent artist, since she revealed in an Instagram Live earlier this month that she wasn’t signed to a label anymore. “This part of my album is very much so funded by Megan Thee Stallion because we’re trying to get off … Y’all know what’s the tea. But I have no label right now,” she explained. “We’re doing everything funded straight out of Megan Thee Stallion’s pockets. So, the budget is coming from me. Motherf—ing Hot Girl Productions! The next s— y’all about to see is all straight from Megan Thee Stallion’s brain and Megan Thee Stallion’s wallet. We are in my pockets, hotties, so let’s do our big one.”

She recently settled a years-long legal battle with her former record label, 1501 Certified Entertainment. The label’s attorneys announced last week that both sides had “mutually reached a confidential settlement to resolve their legal differences” and that Megan and 1501 will “amicably part ways.”

The rapper’s been gradually releasing new music after announcing that she would be taking a break to focus on “healing” in April. “Fans can expect new music when I’m in a better place,” she said in an interview with InStyle. Since then, she released “Bongos” with Cardi B (a follow-up collaboration to their Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 smash “WAP”) and “Out Alpha the Alpha” from the Dicks: The Musical soundtrack. “Bongos” debuted at No. 5 on Billboard‘s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and reached No. 1 on R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales.

See Megan Thee Stallion’s announcement for “Cobra” below:

27 Oct 2023

Taylor Swift Reflects on Rumors of Her Sexuality & Defends Her Squad in ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ Prologue

Taylor Swift is addressing speculation around her sexuality and her “squad” of female friends. In the prologue for Swift’s re-recorded 1989 (Taylor’s Version), which dropped Friday (Oct. 27), the musician recalled becoming the “target of slut shaming” in the years leading up to the original album’s 2014 release.

“The jokes about my amount of boyfriends,” she wrote. “The trivialization of my songwriting as if it were a predatory act of a boy crazy psychopath. I had to make it stop because it was starting to really hurt.”

“I assumed I could fix this if I simply changed my behavior,” Swift added. “I swore off dating and decided to focus only on myself, my music, my growth, and my female friendships.”

One of the most memorable of those female friendships was Karlie Kloss, although rumors have swirled in recent years that Swift and the former Victoria’s Secret supermodel had a falling out. But even though it’s been many moons since the two were photographed together, an often intrusive subsect of the Swiftie fandom has speculated on Swift’s sexuality for years and has maintained that Swift and Kloss are in a secret romantic relationship that dates back to 2014.

Swift calls out those and others who speculated about her love life in her next sentence: “If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn’t sensationalize or sexualize that — right? I would learn later on that people could and people would.”

Further on in the prologue, Swift also thanked her fans for recognizing that her famous “Squad” of famous female friends — which included Kloss, as well as pretty much everyone in the “Bad Blood” music video — was never intended to be mean-spirited, in spite of criticism at the time that said otherwise. “You, who knew that maybe a girl who surrounds herself with female friends in adulthood is making up for a lack of them in childhood (not starting a tyrannical hot girl cult),” she wrote.

The pop superstar is this year’s leading Billboard Music Awards finalist. You can watch the BBMAs on Nov. 19 on Billboard and the BBMA’s social media channels, as well as here.

Read the full 1989 (Taylor’s Version) prologue below:

27 Oct 2023

Queer Jams of the Week: New Music From Ashnikko, Serpentwithfeet & More

Happy Halloweekend! Help prep for your spooky festivities this Halloween season with some new tracks from your favorite queer artists. Billboard Pride is proud to present the latest edition of Queer Jams of the Week, our roundup of some of the best new music releases from LGBTQ artists.

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From Ashnikko’s annual Halloween single to Serpentwithfeet’s excellent new track, check out just a few of our favorite releases from this week below:

Ashnikko, “Halloweenie V: The Moss King”



For the last five years, Ashnikko has blessed our eardrums with a ghoulish new single around Halloween — and 2023 is certainly no exception. Replete with raging guitars and eerie synths, “Halloweenie V: The Moss King” conjures up a new creature from Ashnikko’s vivid imagination. With her typical industrial breakdowns and flaming hot lyrics, the alt-pop star makes The Moss King your newest nightmare, and ensures you’ll keep the haunting going by replaying her song over and over again.

Serpentwithfeet feat. Ty Dolla $ign & Yanga YaYa, “Damn Gloves”



Don’t threaten Serpentwithfeet with a good time — let him show you just how good a time you can have. With his latest single “Damn Gloves,” the rising electro-R&B star gives in to his deepest, dance-fueled desires, letting his lover know all the various ways he could pleasure them. His crisp, clean vocals drift over a pounding dance beat, while hip-hop superstar Ty Dolla $ign joins him for a sexed-up verse of his own, and rising South African soul artist Yanga YaYa joins for a short-but-sweet bridge. It’s a steamy, thrilling new track that demands your attention.

Baby Queen, “I Can’t Get My S–t Together”



We’ve all been in that headspace where it feels like everything you’re doing is just absolutely incorrect — so Baby Queen wrote you a whole song about it. On “I Can’t Get My S–t” together, the up-and-coming alt-pop star gives voice to chaotic thoughts that insist she’s screwing things up. While that might sound dire, don’t worry — Baby Queen’s tongue rests firmly in her cheek as she crafts this effervescent pop tune, ensuring whimsy and delight alongside the song’s impending mental breakdown.

Blondshell, “If It Makes You Happy” (Sheryl Crow cover)

What happens when you combine an exciting new alternative band with the classic songwriting of Sheryl Crow? You get magic, as Blondshell prove with their incredible cover of the rock icon’s “If It Makes You Happy” for Amazon Music. Keeping the spirit of Crow’s original intact, while adding their own distinct layer of grungy angst, Blondshell encapsulate the song’s raw power with this fiery, boastful rendition of an all-time great song.

Brandy Clark, “My Favorite Christmas”



If you’re already looking forward to the winter holiday season, then Brandy Clark has you covered this Halloweekend. On “My Favorite Christmas,” the country icon embodies the holiday spirit with a moody, wistful new song. Listing out all of the things that she expects from the holiday season, Clark comes to the gorgeously-sung conclusion on the song’s effortless chorus, as she declares that “My favorite Christmas was you.”

Check out all of our picks below in Billboard’s Queer Jams of the Week playlist:

27 Oct 2023

Here Are All the Easter Eggs From Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’ Vault Tracks: Harry Styles, Past Songs & More

When she first announced 1989 (Taylor’s Version) back in August, Taylor Swift wrote on social media that the project was her “most FAVORITE re-record” she’s ever done because “the 5 From The Vault tracks are so insane.”

“I can’t believe they were ever left behind,” she added at the time. “But not for long!”

Flash forward to Oct. 27, and it’s clear that the 33-year-old pop star wasn’t kidding. The five “From the Vault” tracks have got to be some of the most detailed, vulnerable and visceral previously unreleased songs that Swift has retroactively put out, arguably beating out Vault songs from July’s Speak Now re-release and 2021’s Fearless and Red. (Well, maybe aside from “All Too Well (10 Minute Version).”)

As Swifties have been quick to notice, the singer-songwriter’s newly uncovered tracks — originally written circa 2013-2014 — appear to be riddled with references to Swift’s life, relationships and past work. Namely, the vault songs feel especially reminiscent of the wavy-haired, Gucci suit-wearing elephant in the room: Harry Styles, who dated Swift in 2012 and is the rumored muse behind many of the songs on the original 1989 (cough cough, “Style”).

As prominent as the themes of romantic love and loss are on 1989, its most important lasting effect is perhaps the artistic renaissance it meant for Swift, who made a sharp pivot from country to pop and claimed a newfound independence with the album in 2014. “I was born in 1989, reinvented for the first time in 2014, and a part of me was reclaimed in 2023 with the re-release of this album I love so dearly,” she wrote on Instagram following the release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version). “This moment is a reflection of the woods we’ve wandered through and all this love between us still glowing in the darkest dark.”

The pop superstar is this year’s leading Billboard Music Awards finalist. You can watch the BBMAs on Nov. 19 on Billboard and the BBMA’s social media channels, as well as here.

Keep reading to see all of the hidden Easter eggs Billboard could find in Swift’s 1989 vault tracks, mostly co-written and produced by Jack Antonoff, below:

27 Oct 2023

Jay Wheeler, Greeicy & More: Which Is Your Favorite New Latin Music Release? Vote!

This week, our New Music Latin roundup — a compilation of the best new Latin songs, albums and videos recommended by Billboard Latin and Billboard Español editors — is powered by new music from Chayanne, Jay Wheeler, Laura Pausini and more. 

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Notably are a handful of studio albums released this week, starting off with Chayanne’s first set in nine years called Bailemos Otra Vez (Let’s Dance Again). If the title is any indication, the diverse nine-track journey finds the Puerto Rican singer-songwriter reinventing his sound with many rhythmic melodies while keeping his pop ballad essence intact. He navigates from bachata in “Bailando Bachata” to ranchera in “Necesito un Segundo” to cumbia in “Como Tú y Yo,” which samples his 1998 hit “Dejaría Todo. The first of the three hit No. 1 in Billboard’s Tropical Airplay chart in August—his first No. 1 since 2008. 

Known as “La Voz Romantica” (The Romantic Voice), particularly because of his romantic reggaeton and R&B tunes and love lyrics, Jay Wheeler now shows a more provocative side in TRAPPii, his first-ever all-trap album. In the album — which features an encouraging message from Arcángel in the introductory track and includes the previously-released banger “Pacto” — “the Puerto Rican star manages to maneuver the juxtaposition of raunch, vulnerability and desire in a dozen tracks,” notes Billboard Español’s Isabela Raygoza. 

Other releases this week include Greeicy’s energetic dance track “Espejo,” celebrating self love; Elena Rose’s ode to her native Venezuela, featuring Danny Ocean and Jerry Di; and Lenny Tavarez’s first attempt at making salsa music in “El Yate,” to name a few.

In our most recent New Music Latin fan-related poll, Anitta’s “Mil Veces” won with more than 49 percent of the votes. She was followed by Gloria Trevi’s “Inocente” with over 28 percent of the votes. What’s your favorite new Latin music release of the week? Vote below!

27 Oct 2023

Metallica Earns Third Mainstream Rock Airplay No. 1 From ’72 Seasons’

For the first time, Metallica has notched three No. 1 songs on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart from a single album.

“Too Far Gone?” ascends to the top of the Nov. 4-dated ranking, marking the third leader on the list from 72 Seasons, Metallica’s 11th studio album, released in April. “Lux Æterna” led for 11 weeks beginning last December and the title track spent two weeks on top in July.

“Too Far Gone?” is Metallica’s 13th Mainstream Rock Airplay No. 1 overall, slotting the band into a three-way tie with Foo Fighters and Van Halen for the fourth-most rulers in the chart’s 42-year history. Shinedown leads all acts with 18 No. 1s.

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Most No. 1s, Mainstream Rock Airplay
18, Shinedown
17, Three Days Grace
14, Five Finger Death Punch
13, Foo Fighters
13, Metallica
13, Van Halen
12, Disturbed
12, Godsmack
10, Tom Petty (solo and with the Heartbreakers)
10, Volbeat

Prior to 72 Seasons, Metallica had scored two Mainstream Rock Airplay No. 1s apiece from three albums: 1996’s Load (“Until It Sleeps” and “Hero of the Day”), 2008’s Death Magnetic (“The Day That Never Comes” and “Cyanide”) and 2016’s Hardwired… to Self-Destruct (“Hardwired” and “Atlas, Rise!”)

Concurrently, “Too Far Gone?” places at No. 7 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay survey, after reaching at No. 6, with 3.1 million audience impressions Oct. 20-26, according to Luminate.

On the most recently published multi-metric Hot Hard Rock Songs chart (Oct. 28), “Too Far Gone?” ranked at No. 12. In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 201,000 official U.S. streams Oct. 13-19.

72 Seasons bowed at No. 1 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart dated April 29 and has earned 324,000 equivalent album units to date.

All Nov. 4-dated Billboard charts will update on Billboard.com on Tuesday, Oct. 31.