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Whenever Drake supports a team with his rooting interest or backs them with his six-figure bets and that franchise ends up losing, the 6 God hears all the noise from sports fans about the “Drake Curse.”
Drake was finally asked about the mythical curse in a mock interview he posted to his Instagram on Monday (May 19) in promotion of his partnership with Stake.
“I feel like I don’t play sports, whether I picked the wrong team or not, if I could get out there and win for all your favorite teams, I would,” he said.
Ultimately, Drake feels vindicated that a “curse” doesn’t exist because the Toronto Raptors captured their first NBA championship in 2019.
Trending on Billboard
“The Drake curse is funny to me,” he revealed. “First of all, the Toronto Raptors are NBA champions. If there was a Drake curse, Kawhi [Leonard] would’ve never hit that shot, we would’ve never beat the Warriors. There is no Drake curse, but it’s funny, though.”
However, Drake did concede that he isn’t a sports gambling savant and has taken his fair share of monetary losses with bad bets over the years.
“I am a flawed sports better,” Drizzy admitted. “I will not deny that. That’s not my gift. I’ll let everybody roll with it. I’m sure if you’re a Drake curse believer, there will be plenty more content in the future to confirm your theories because my slips do not cash out. But one day I’m gonna have a parlay that’s insane.”
Drake added to the “Drake Curse” theories on Sunday night when his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs after a 6-1 thrashing at the hands of the Florida Panthers in Game 7.
Drizzy actually ended up betting $1.25 million on the Maple Leafs to take home the game 7 victory and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.
However, Drake jokingly flipped the script and blamed the “Bieber Curse” in his IG Story, as Justin Bieber, who’s a massive Leafs fan, was in attendance front and center at Scotiabank Arena with his wife, Hailey, to watch the excruciating loss in person.
“I don’t remember a time in my life when I haven’t been obsessed with the leafsssss,” Bieber wrote following the loss on his Instagram. “This year we made it farther than we have in so long and im happy about that. I can be patient cuz I know this is the team to do it.”
Watch the full interview clip with Drake below.
After reports last week of ICE raids at Kid Rock‘s Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse in Nashville, the rocker took to social media to respond to the story and double down on his support for President Trump’s deportation of undocumented immigrants. Responding to a Daily Mail US post on X about how […]
Salt-N-Pepa is taking Universal Music Group (UMG) to court to regain control of the duo’s masters, alleging in a new lawsuit that the record label is refusing to honor copyright clawback rights and has instead “punished” the legendary hip-hop act by removing some of its music from streaming.
The lawsuit, filed Monday (May 19) in New York federal court, accuses UMG of ignoring Salt-N-Pepa’s so-called “termination rights” under Section 203 of the Copyright Act. This provision allows artists who sign over their master recordings to regain control of that intellectual property 35 years after a song’s release.
UMG owns Salt-N-Pepa’s masters per two contracts that the “Push It” singers, Cheryl “Salt” James and Sandra “Pepa” Denton, signed with UMG subsidiaries Next Plateau Records and London Records in 1986 and 1992.
Trending on Billboard
Salt-N-Pepa served UMG with a notice of termination rights in 2022, claiming its albums Hot, Cool & Vicious (1986) and A Salt With A Deadly Pepa (1988) were both up for copyright termination in 2024. The duo also said Blacks’ Magic (1990) and A Blitz of Salt-N-Pepa Hits (1990) are up in 2025 and that Very Necessary (1993) — which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 — is up in 2026 alongside The Greatest Hits (1991).
But UMG allegedly rejected Salt-N-Pepa’s notice as “invalid and ineffective,” claiming termination rights do not apply because the albums were “works made for hire.” UMG then took Hot, Cool & Vicious and A Salt With A Deadly Pepa down from streaming, a move Salt-N-Pepa describes as “punishing” the group by holding their music “hostage.”
“UMG has, in fact, halted exploitation of the relevant sound recordings in the United States, thereby effectively demonetizing plaintiffs’ catalogue,” wrote Salt-N-Pepa’s attorneys from the law firm Blank Rome. “This is an effort by UMG to pressure plaintiffs into giving up on their effort to recoup their rights to their sound recordings. Plaintiffs are not willing to do so.”
Salt-N-Pepa’s lawyers say that contrary to what UMG is claiming, nothing in the duo’s original contracts with Next Plateau Records and London Records defined its music as “works made for hire.” UMG therefore “makes no legitimate argument against the effectiveness of the notices of termination,” alleges the lawsuit.
“UMG appears to take the position that it can unilaterally decide when and/or if a recording artist is entitled to termination,” wrote the Blank Rome team. “This is not the law, and UMG does not have this power.”
Salt-N-Pepa is asking the court to declare the duo’s termination rights valid and award it control of the masters. The duo is also seeking monetary damages for UMG’s alleged wrongdoing in an amount “believed to well exceed $1 million.”
The lawsuit comes just months before Salt-N-Pepa is due to become the second-ever female hip-hop act to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this November. The group’s legal reps say in a statement, “This fight is about more than contracts — it’s about legacy, justice and the future of artist ownership.”
“In a stunning act of retaliation, UMG has pulled their songs from all major platforms in the U.S., punishing them for asserting those rights and silencing decades of culture-shifting work,” the reps add. “Like many artists, they’re challenging a system that profits from their work while denying them control.”
Representatives from UMG did not immediately return a request for comment.
This is not the first time UMG has been pulled into court over termination rights. The label and Sony Music Entertainment both inked class action settlements last year over years of closely-watched litigation, in which recording artists sought to win back control of their masters en masse.
Individual artists have also brought one-off lawsuits over termination rights, such as a case that 2 Live Crew won at trial against a small record label last year. The provision also played a significant role in Cher’s royalty battle with Sonny Bono’s widow, in which a judge ruled that termination rights didn’t trump the couple’s divorce settlement.
LONDON — Dua Lipa has been named as the U.K.’s most-played artist across radio, TV and public places in 2024, surpassing Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift and more. This is the second time she has achieved the feat, having first done so in 2020.
On Tuesday (May 20) collection society PPL (Phonographic Performance Limited) shared its annual report into the U.K.’s most played music over the past year, with its data reporting the music played on radio, TV and in public places across the UK, including shops, bars, restaurants, gyms, offices and more.
Lipa, who released her third album Radical Optimism in 2024, also features in the most-played songs list, with “Houdini” named as the sixth-most played song in the U.K. last year. Speaking to Billboard U.K. as part of the Global No. 1s issue, Lipa said that 2024 was “the best year of my life,” and that she’s “so proud” of the LP and “where it’s brought me.” The album hit No. 1 in the U.K., and No. 3 on the Billboard 200.
Trending on Billboard
In June 2024, Lipa kicked off her Radical Optimism era with a huge headline slot at Glastonbury Festival in England, which was also broadcast live on the BBC and streamed online globally. Her ongoing tour will head to London’s Wembley Stadium in June, before continuing into North America this fall.
Data released by PPL says that Lipa’s music is played on average 400 times a day, with her 2018 hit “One Kiss” averaging 55 plays per day across UK radio and TV. Ed Sheeran was 2023’s most-played artist, and has claimed the prize seven of the past 10 years.
Seven of the top 10 artists in the PPL’s list were British, with Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, David Guetta, Coldplay, Calvin Harris, Ariana Grande, Elton John, Becky Hill, and Harry Styles all placing behind Lipa in the top spot, respectively.
Elsewhere, Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season” was named as the U.K.’s most-played song in 2024, with a number of international superstars dominating the top 10. Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control,” Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things,” Dasha’s “Austin (Boots Stop Workin’)” and Myles Smith’s “Stargazing” round out the top five.
Alongside Dasha’s triumph, country songs perform well overall perform, with Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (No. 7), Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” (No. 11) and Post Malone’s team-up with Morgan Wallen “I Had Some Help” (No. 12) all appearing in the data.
Peter Leathem OBE, PPL CEO, said: “Congratulations once again to Dua Lipa for leading PPL’s Most Played Artist Chart, and to Noah Kahan for securing the most played track of the year. British artists continue to perform well, making up 70% of the Top 10 – proving they have staying power across the nation’s broadcasters, businesses and public spaces. It is also fantastic to see fresh UK talent such as Myles Smith make a big splash in the top five most played tracks, showing there is plenty of promise in UK music going forward.”
PPL Most Played Tracks 2024
Noah Kahan, “Stick Season”
Teddy Swims, “Lose Control”
Benson Boone, “Beautiful Things”
Dasha, “Austin (Boots Stop Workin’)”
Myles Smith, “Stargazing”
Dua Lipa, “Houdini”
Shaboozey, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”
Sabrina Carpenter, “Espresso”
Hozier, “Too Sweet”
Coldplay, “Feelslikeimfallinginlove”
Shakira brought out Rauw Alejandro, Ozuna and more during her two nights at MetLife Stadium in New York City. Keep watching to see everything you missed out, from her famous belly dancing and more. Will you be seeing Shakira on tour? Let us know in the comments! Narrator: We were lucky enough to experience two […]
Wrestlemania 41 was full of fans with strong opinions, and we went ahead and asked them who would win in the ring: Bad Bunny or Travis Scott?
Who do you think would win in the ring? Let us know in the comments!
Carl Lamarre:
Street fight: Travis Scott and Bad Bunny, one on one. Who’s taking it?
Fan 1:
Travis Scott is a bi—.
Fan 2:
I gotta go with “Goosebumps.” I gotta go with the Trav.
Carl Lamarre:
He gave Cody Rhodes a black eye, man.
Fan 2:
Yeah, he busted his eardrum. Come on.
Fan 3:
Travis Scott.
Carl Lamarre:
Why Travis?
Fan 4:
Travis is like a little ghetto, you know? Bad Bunny, he’s cool. He’s cool, you know. But like, they do it differently in Houston.
Fan 5:
Bad Bunny. Bad Bunny, all day.
Carl Lamarre:
Benito. Why?
Fan 5:
Because he’s also the GOAT. No, um, I don’t know. He just got, he got that dog in him.
Fan 6:
Yo soy Boricua, I’m from Puerto Rico. Oh, I’m not from Puerto Rico, but I’m Puerto Rican, so I have to pick him. Loyalty, you know what I mean? Bad Bunny. Yo soy Boricua pa’ que tú lo sepas.
Fan 7:
Travis Scott.
Carl Lamarre:
Why Travis?
Fan 7:
Bad Bunny don’t look like he could fight too good.
Carl Lamarre:
Bad Bunny got pretty busy in the ring not too long ago.
Fan 7:
You know, everybody lucky every once in awhile, right?
Fan 8:
Bad Bunny all day. You saw the damage he took from Damian Priest, I think it was last year.
Carl Lamrre:
At Puerto Rico.
Fan 8:
Puerto Rico, right? You saw the damage he could take. He can handle it.
Carl Lamarre:
Why Bad Bunny?
Keep watching for more!
50 Cent continues to troll Diddy as his trial heads into its second week. Over the weekend, the Queens rapper and filmmaker posted a video that was floating around social media of a group of people wearing “Free Diddy” shirts outside Manhattan federal court and couldn’t help but comment on what he was watching. “Diddy […]
Danity Kane singer Dawn Richard continued her testimony Monday at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex-trafficking trial, telling jurors that the rapper would “frequently” assault Cassie Ventura — including once at a restaurant in front of Usher and other celebrities.
The testimony from Richard, who rose to fame on Combs’ MTV reality show Making the Band, kicked off the second week of Combs’ criminal trial, in which the music mogul is accused of coercing Ventura and others into participating in drug-fueled sex shows known as “freak-offs.”
Days after she told the jury that she witnessed Combs abusing Ventura — including once trying to attack her with a skillet — Richard recounted other alleged assaults, according to CNN, The New York Times and other media reports.
In one alleged incident, she testified that Combs punched Ventura in the stomach at a Los Angeles restaurant where Usher and other celebrities were present. “She immediately bent over, he [Combs] told her to leave,” Richard testified, according to People. “No one intervened.”
A rep for Usher did not immediately return a request for comment from Billboard. The New York Post reported that Richard’s testimony left it “unclear” if Usher and other A-listers present had actually witnessed the alleged attack.
Later on Monday (May 19), Richard was grilled by defense attorney Nicole Westmoreland over apparent inconsistencies in her testimony, including the infamous skillet statements. In one such exchange, defense attorney pressed Richard about changes in her recollections about Combs’ drug use.
“You would agree with me that as time progresses your story changes,” Ms. Westmoreland asked. “Yes,” Richard replied.
Combs was indicted in September, charged with running a sprawling criminal operation aimed at facilitating the freak-offs — elaborate events in which Combs and others allegedly pressured Ventura and other victims into having sex with escorts while he watched and masturbated. Prosecutors also say the star and his associates used violence, money and blackmail to keep victims silent and under his control.
Once one of the music industry’s most powerful men, Combs is accused of racketeering conspiracy (a so-called RICO charge), sex trafficking and violating a federal prostitution statute. If convicted on all of the charges, he faces a potential life prison sentence.
During opening statements last week, defense attorneys told jurors that Ventura and other women had consensually taken part in the sex parties. They admitted that Combs had committed domestic violence during his and Ventura’s “toxic” relationship and had unusual sexual preferences, but that he had never coerced her into participating in his “swinger” lifestyle.
Ventura, the prosecution’s star witness, spent four days on the stand last week detailing how Combs allegedly controlled and physically abused her during their 11-year relationship.
After Richard wrapped up on Monday, Ventura’s longtime friend Kerry Morgan took the stand, testifying about multiple incidents in which she says she saw Combs attack Ventura. In one, she said Combs entered a bathroom and that she could hear Ventura screaming.
“It was guttural, terrifying. I heard her screaming so I went to the long hallway, they were coming out of the master bedroom and he was dragging her by her hair,” Morgan said, according to NBC News.
Later in the afternoon, jurors heard from David James, a former assistant to Combs, who testified that he once told Ventura she should leave the superstar, but that she felt she was unable to do so.
“I can’t. I can’t get out,” James said Ventura told him, citing the fact that he controlled her music career, paid for her lodgings and was her source of income: “I just didn’t think that she could easily leave.”
The trial is expected to pick up again on Tuesday (May 20) with more testimony from James. The proceedings are expected to last until early July.
Jalen Brunson is staking his claim for the King of New York. Brunson has led the New York Knicks back to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years, after NYK dismantled the heavily favored Boston Celtics in six games. With the Indiana Pacers on deck, Brunson took to Instagram on Monday […]
Wiz Khalifa announced additional tour dates for later this summer, and he’s bringing a handful of friends along for the ride.
On Monday (May 19), Wiz announced the Good Vibes Only Tour: Smoker’s Edition, which will serve as the second leg of his upcoming summer tour across North America.
While the first half of the tour will include opening performances from Da Baby and Sean Paul, these new dates will feature special guests including Dom Kennedy, Earl Sweatshirt, Curren$y, Ab-Soul, Chevy Woods, Fedd the God and DJ Bonics. The second leg kicks off Tuesday, July 29, in Austin, Texas, at Germania Insurance Amphitheater. From there, the smokers crew will head to Phoenix, Los Angeles and more, before wrapping Thursday, Aug. 14 at Cascades Amphitheater in Ridgefield, Washington.
As previously reported, the initial dates of the Good Vibes Only Tour will start July 6 in Darien Center, New York. The Live Nation-produced trek is slated to hit Massachusetts, Ohio, New Jersey, Toronto, Pennsylvania, Virginia and more before concluding the first leg in Atlanta on July 27.
The tour comes after Wiz dropped off Kush + Orange Juice 2 in April. Khalifa recently sat down with Billboard and said he never gets sick of performing his anthems even after two decades in hip-hop.
Trending on Billboard
“I love playing all my songs, man. I get hyped for everything,” Wiz said. “Because there’s somebody out there and it’s their first time seeing that s–t. They might have rode around their car with it for 15 years, they might have broke their whole motherf—-ing life and their girl bought ’em a ticket and they do not want to see you perform that song lazy. They want to see some heat.”See the full list of dates of of the Smokers Edition tour below.
July 29 – Austin, TX – Germania Insurance AmphitheaterJuly 31 – Albuquerque, NM – Isleta AmphitheatreAug. 1 – Phoenix, AZ – Talking Stick Resort AmphitheatreAug. 3 – Concord, CA – Toyota Pavilion at ConcordAug. 7 – Inglewood, CA – YouTube TheaterAug. 8 – Chula Vista, CA – North Island Credit Union AmphitheatreAug. 9 – Irvine, CA – Great Park LiveAug. 12 – Auburn, WA – White River AmphitheatreAug. 14 – Ridgefield, WA – Cascades Amphitheater
