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Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, jumping 7-1 on the May 17-dated chart, following the set’s release on vinyl. It’s the fourth total week atop the list for the Spanish-language project, which spent three consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Jan. 25-Feb. 8-dated charts. In the tracking week ending May 8, Debí Tirar Más Fotos earned 84,500 equivalent album units (up 123%) in the United States, with more than half of the sum driven by vinyl purchases, according to Luminate.
It’s a historic week for Latin music, as Fuerza Regida — Billboard’s year-end top duo/group in both 2024 and 2023 — achieves its first top 10-charting set on the Billboard 200 with the band’s 111XPANTIA bowing at No. 2. In turn, for the first time in the 69-year history of the all-genre chart, Spanish-language albums are Nos. 1 and 2 at the same time. Further, 111XPANTIA marks the highest-charting Spanish-language album by a duo or group, and the highest-charting regional Mexican music album.
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Plus, rapper Key Glock notches his fourth top 10-charting effort on the Billboard 200 as Glockaveli premieres at No. 8.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new May 17, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on May 13. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of Debí Tirar Más Fotos’ 84,500 equivalent album units earned in the week ending May 8, album sales — essentially all vinyl — comprise a little over 48,000 (up 15,099%, it reenters Top Album Sales for its first week at No. 1), SEA units comprise just over 36,000 (down 3%, equaling 50.27 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it falls 5-6 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise under 500 units (down 8%).
The album’s 48,000 sold marks the largest single-week sales for a Latin music album in nearly six years, since Santana’s Africa Speaks sold 57,000 copies in its first week (June 22, 2019-dated chart), driven by sales generated from a concert ticket/album sale redemption offer for the act’s then-upcoming tour. Such offers are no longer chart-eligible.
Debí Tirar Más Fotos surges back to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 after its vinyl shipments to customers impacted the tracking week — to the tune of nearly 48,000 copies. That’s the largest sales week for a Latin album on vinyl in the modern era (since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991). It surpasses the previous record, held by the opening week of Kali Uchis’ Orquídeas (20,000 sold across seven variants; on the Jan. 27, 2024-dated chart).
Debí Tirar Más Fotos’ lone vinyl edition — on blue-colored double-vinyl in a gatefold package — was sold exclusively via Bad Bunny’s official webstore for $29.98. It went up for pre-order in early February and was then (per the store) “estimated to ship on/around the end of April 2025.” The vinyl is currently sold out on the artist’s webstore, and it has not been announced if the vinyl will be restocked, or sold through any other seller. (The blue-colored vinyl is the only physical format on which the set has been released. It has yet to be issued on CD or any other physical format, and has only been available to purchase as a download.)
Since Debí Tirar Más Fotos debuted on the Jan. 18-dated Billboard 200 (at No. 2), it has yet to leave the top 10 after 18 weeks, with its chart fortunes largely fueled by continued strong streaming of its songs.
At No. 2 on the Billboard 200, Fuerza Regida debuts with its highest-charting album ever, and first top 10, as 111XPANTIA arrives with 76,000 equivalent album units earned — the band’s best week ever by units.
The set also becomes the highest-charting Spanish-language album by a duo or group (surpassing the No. 4 peak of Maná’s Amar Es Combatir in 2006), and for a regional Mexican music album (higher than the No. 3 peak of Peso Pluma’s Génesis in 2023).
111XPANTIA also earns the largest week, by units, for any Spanish-language album by a duo or group, and by a regional Mexican album, since the chart began ranking by units in December 2014. The previous high, in that span of time, for a Spanish language album by a duo or group was Santana’s Africa Speaks (57,000 in its opening week, in 2019), while the previous high for a regional Mexican title was Génesis (73,000 in its debut frame in 2023).
Of the 76,000 units earned by 111XPANTIA in its opening week, album sales comprise 39,000 (the band’s best sales week ever, and the biggest sales week for a regional Mexican album in the modern era; it debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 37,000 (equaling 50.44 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it debuts at No. 5 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
With 39,000 copies sold, 111XPANTIA surpasses the previous largest sales week for a regional Mexican title, when Selena’s Amor Prohibido sold 36,000 copies on the chart dated May 6, 1995, in the wake of her death in March of that year.
111XPANTIA was released on May 2 as a 12-song standard album, widely available as a digital download for purchase and via streaming services. On May 5, a deluxe edition of the set, with three bonus tracks, was issued via download services and streamers. The band’s official webstore carried the only physical format editions of the album: the 12-song version on four color vinyl variants, a standard CD, a signed CD (by the group’s lead singer, Jesús Ortíz Paz) and four deluxe boxed sets (two containing a branded T-shirt and a signed CD, two with a branded hat and a signed CD).
The new album was preceded by its hit single “Por Esos Ojos,” which reached No. 5 on Hot Latin Songs (March 1 chart), No. 3 on Hot Regional Mexican Songs (May 10), No. 5 on Latin Streaming Songs (March 1) and No. 79 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 songs chart (March 15).
111XPANTIA is the sixth charting effort on the Billboard 200 for Fuerza Regida, and the third to reach the top 40 (after PERO NO TE ENAMORES, No. 25 in 2024; and Pa las Baby’s y Belikeada, No. 14 in 2023). The group’s success has also extended to the Hot 100, where the act charted 13 song entries before the new album dropped.
Prior to the new album’s release, the group also logged eight top 10s (with one No. 1) on the Top Latin Albums chart, and 10 top 10s (with five No. 1s) on the Regional Mexican Albums chart.
Fuerza Regida’s success on the Billboard 200 and Hot 100 over the past few years has been so significant that the act finished 2024 as the top duo/group artist of the year — among all genres — for the second year in a row. In 2023, the act made history when it became the year’s top duo/group — the first time an act that primarily records in Spanish had ever achieved the feat.
(Latin and regional Mexican albums are defined as those that are eligible for, or have charted on, Billboard’s Top Latin Albums and Top Regional Mexican Albums charts, respectively.)
Nos. 2-7 on the latest Billboard 200 are all former chart-toppers. SZA’s SOS slips 2-3 (52,000 equivalent album units, though up 1%), Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time is steady at No. 4 (46,000; down less than 1%), Kendrick Lamar’s GNX dips 3-5 (45,000; down 7%), Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet falls 5-6 (41,000; down 6%) and PARTYNEXTDOOR and Drake’s $ome $exy $ongs 4 U descends 6-7 (40,000; down 7%).
Key Glock lands his fourth top 10-charting effort on the Billboard 200 at Glockaveli debuts at No. 8 with 34,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 28,000 (equaling 37.28 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it debuts at No. 12 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 6,000 (it enters at No. 9 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
Glockaveli was released on May 2 as a standard 18-song album, widely available as a digital download to purchase and via streaming services. The standard set was also available on CD (both signed and unsigned), vinyl (standard, color vinyl and signed color vinyl) and a deluxe boxed set containing a branded T-shirt and a CD. A deluxe edition of the album, with three bonus tracks, dropped mid-week — first via the artist’s webstore on May 4, and then wide the following day to general download services and streamers.
Rounding out the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200 are Morgan Wallen’s former leader Dangerous: The Double Album (rising 10-9 with 33,500 equivalent album units; up 1%) and Shaboozey’s Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going (falling 8-10 with 32,000; down 8%).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
John Legend is opening up the “descent” of his former friend Ye.
In a new interview with The Times, published on Saturday (May 10), the 46-year-old R&B singer expressed shock over the dramatic changes in Ye (formerly Kanye West) after their close personal and professional bond in the early 2000s.
“Back then Kanye was very passionate, very gifted, and he had big dreams not only for himself but also for all the people around him,” Legend said, reflecting on how West helped launch his career after collaborating on the rapper’s 2004 album, The College Dropout. “He had so much optimism, so much creativity. It does feel sad, sometimes shocking, to see where he is now.”
The EGOT winner signed with West’s G.O.O.D. Music after releasing a pair of self-produced albums early in his career. The two artists collaborated on numerous projects over the years, but their friendship began to fray after West, 47, voiced support for Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Their relationship ultimately ended in the aftermath of West’s unsuccessful 2020 presidential bid.
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“I didn’t see a hint of what we’re seeing now, his obsessions with antisemitism, anti-blackness, and it is sad to see his devolution,” Legend told The Times.
Ye has faced backlash in recent months for his hate-filled, antisemitic rants on social media. The rapper has also expressed support for Diddy, who is currently on trial for sex trafficking charges.
Legend admits he’s not qualified to “psychoanalyze” West, but offers a guess as to why the embattled rapper has changed so much in recent years.
“After his mother passed in 2007 there was definitely a difference,” the singer said. “His descent started then and seems to have accelerated recently.”
West’s mother, Donda, died of a heart attack at age 58 in 2007 following complications from multiple cosmetic procedures. After her death, the rapper released two albums bearing her name: Donda (2021), which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and Donda 2 (2022), which was initially available exclusively on the Stem Player before being released on streaming services in late April.
Elsewhere in The Times interview, Legend reflected on West’s undeniable impact in launching his career.
“Kanye blew up after producing Jay-Z’s album The Blueprint in 2001,” he said. “Then he experienced a buzz as a solo artist and the whole time I was traveling with him, doing shows with him, getting exposure not only as his singer and keyboard player but also as an artist myself. I had been turned down by labels everywhere. Then The College Dropout sold 400,000 copies in its first week, everyone wanted to know what was happening in our camp.”
The singer added, “All those people who turned me down suddenly decided that my music sounded a lot better than it did the first time round.”
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Hip-Hop music has embraced and occasionally criticized artists who chase the familiar, as nostalgia is seen as a schtick among some purists. Fly Anakin gently leans into this concept on his latest album, (The) Forever Dream, with the Richmond, Va. native harkening back to the days before Hip-Hop notoriety and the joy of spotanenity.
Executive produced by rapper and producer Quelle Chris, an innovative artist in his own right, the Detroit mainstay’s inventive bent is felt throughout (The) Forever Dream. As the concept of the album seemingly unfolds, Fly Anakin’s usual sharp rapping ability doesn’t have that same whipcrack intensity as heard on his earlier releases on his own or alongside his Mutant Academy collective.
With this album, there’s fluidity in Anakin’s flow that he’s always possessed, but much slinkier as production from Shungu, Quelle Chris collaborator Chris Keys, The Alchemist, and Quelle himself all open varying runways for the artist born Frank Walton.
The widest of those runways is the spirit of the impromptu studio session, and that tone is set early with album opener “Good Clothes” featuring Demae. Anakin’s double-time flow pairs perfectly with Chris Keys’ dreamy backdrop, and as the track builds, so does Anakin’s comfort in the moment. As a warmup, Anakin allows himself a moment of braggadocio but never overdoes it.
Hopping ahead to “My N*gga,” Shungu’s hulking production allows Richmond’s $ilkMoney, and Anakin’s Mutant Academy colleague Big Kahuna OG to set the stage for a strong closing verse for Anakin. Quelle provides the bouncy hook for an early highlight. In the background of the track, you hear laughter, adding to the mystique of the album, and the conditions that inspired its direction.
Micall Parknsun provides the track for “Lil One,” one of (The) Forever Dream’s more inward-looking songs, and Quelle joins in on the mesmerizing hook and outro. August Fanon, a producer with several placements in the sprawling independent Hip-Hop scene, delivers the somber and soulful “Check On Me,” featuring a memorable verse from Philadelphia’s lojii.
The fun starts picking up on “NOTTOOSHABBY” with verses from Quelle Chris, $ilkMoney, and Richmond legend, Nickelus F. The beat from Child Actor sounds like something Quelle would produce himself, hence why he sounds so at home on the track. Anakin and Nickelus both take off on the track as well, even with Anakin missing a lyrical cue, but telling the engineer to keep the session going.
This is what makes (The) Forever Dream the most inviting of Anakin’s releases. There is a vision of relaxation, hazy clouds of good greenery, maybe some libations, and a bunch of friends, new and old, attempting to capture those sparkling moments on wax. Yes, this all existed before, but it is greatly expanded here.
“Lord Forgives, I Hold Grudges,” takes its title from a line from Anakin’s verse and just when it appears he’s going to let us in more into who he is, the lyrics trail off into sincere but largely general sh*t talk. This isn’t a critique, but it’s something that he routinely does across the album. Quelle’s Crown Nation partner, Denmark Vesey, who produced the track, delivers an amazing performance, and Anakin’s FlySiifu collaborator Pink Siifu lends his consistent free jazz-styled lyricism.
All through the album are moments of pure, unbridled joy. This shows up on songs like the summery “The Times” with a beat from frequent Homeboy Sandman collaborator Mono En Stereo, and “Corner Pocket” with The Alchemist on the production and a scene-stealing verse from bbymutha. Quelle’s hook is also another winner.
(The) Forever Dream isn’t a gigantic departure from Frank, Anakin’s 2022 studio album debut. However, it stands apart due to the freedom of taking chances outside the typical lanes Anakin is known for. As a complete listen, the album easily showcases Fly Anakin’s formidable ability, but highlights that he can veer off the typical paths and achieve his dreams in the process.
Check out the album below. Find the album at your preferred DSPs here.
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The Trump administration has fired the nation’s top copyright official, Shira Perlmutter, days after abruptly terminating the head of the Library of Congress, which oversees the U.S. Copyright Office.
The office said in a statement Sunday (May 11) that Perlmutter received an email from the White House a day earlier with the notification that “your position as the Register of Copyrights and Director at the U.S. Copyright Office is terminated effective immediately.”
On Thursday (May 8), President Donald Trump fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, the first woman and the first African American to be librarian of Congress, as part of the administration’s ongoing purge of government officials perceived to oppose the president and his agenda.
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Hayden named Perlmutter to lead the Copyright Office in October 2020.
Perlmutter’s office recently released a report examining whether artificial intelligence companies can use copyrighted materials to “train” their AI systems. The report, the third part of a lengthy AI study, follows a review that began in 2023 with opinions from thousands of people including AI developers, actors and country singers.
In January, the office clarified its approach as one based on the “centrality of human creativity” in authoring a work that warrants copyright protections. The office receives about half a million copyright applications per year covering millions of creative works.
“Where that creativity is expressed through the use of AI systems, it continues to enjoy protection,” Perlmutter said in January. “Extending protection to material whose expressive elements are determined by a machine … would undermine rather than further the constitutional goals of copyright.”
The White House didn’t return a message seeking comment Sunday.
Democrats were quick to blast Perlmutter’s firing.
“Donald Trump’s termination of Register of Copyrights, Shira Perlmutter, is a brazen, unprecedented power grab with no legal basis,” said Rep. Joe Morelle of New York, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee.
Perlmutter, who holds a law degree, was previously a policy director at the Patent and Trademark Office and worked on copyright and other areas of intellectual property. She also previously also worked at the Copyright Office in the late 1990s. She did not return messages left Sunday.
Kelly Clarkson is getting candid with fans about why she hasn’t been hitting the road lately.
During her concert in Atlantic City, N.J., on Friday (May 9), the 43-year-old pop star and TV personality told the crowd that touring isn’t realistic right now due to the demanding schedule of The Kelly Clarkson Show.
“We haven’t done a show in a while, y’all, ’cause I have a talk show. It’s like a whole other job,” Clarkson said, referencing her band, according to Page Six. The Grammy winner also noted that being a single mother takes up much of her time.
Still, Clarkson expressed gratitude for the opportunity to perform two nights at Atlantic City’s Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena — her first live shows in nearly six months.
“We are bummed ’cause we love doing shows, and it’s hard to fit it in, so it’s cool when it does work out with the schedule,” the American Idol alum told the audience. “And it’s cool to get to see your faces and feed off y’all. Thank you so much for having so much energy.”
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Her 90-minute set included fan-favorite hits such as “My Life Would Suck Without You,” “Because of You,” “Breakaway,” “Miss Independent,” “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” and “Since U Been Gone.” It marked her first full-length concert since November 2024.
Clarkson hasn’t embarked on a full tour since 2019. In the years since, she has booked Las Vegas residencies — including shows at PH Live at Planet Hollywood in 2023 and 2024. Earlier this year, she announced a new Vegas residency, Kelly Clarkson: Studio Sessions, at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. The show opens July 4 and runs through July and August, with additional dates scheduled for November.
In March, Clarkson celebrated the milestone 1,000th episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show. The daytime program, which launched in 2019, was renewed by NBC Owned Television Stations for a seventh season in December 2024. Her contract is set to expire next year, Page Six reports.
The show has earned 22 Daytime Emmy Awards, including eight individual wins for Clarkson herself. Most recently, it won outstanding daytime talk series for the fourth consecutive year at the 2024 Daytime Emmys.
Now in its sixth season, The Kelly Clarkson Show averages 1.2 million viewers per day and remains one of the top syndicated talk shows in the country, airing on more than 200 stations nationwide.
Arcade Fire returned to Saturday Night Live on May 10 to perform new songs from their upcoming album. The Canadian quintet — led by frontman Win Butler and his wife, Régine Chassagne — took the stage at Studio 8H ahead of their forthcoming seventh studio album, Pink Elephant. Arcade Fire opened their set with the […]
Miley Cyrus is putting family first. On the heels of dropping her new single, the ballad “More to Lose,” the singer released a statement on Saturday (May 10) in response to rumors of a rift with parents Tish and Billy Ray.
“I rarely comment on rumors,” Miley noted in an update shared via Instagram Story on her official account. “But my mama and I are too tight for anything to ever come between us. She’s my best friend.”
“Like a lot of moms, she doesn’t know how to work her phone and somehow unfollowed me–simple, coincidental, and uninteresting,” she said, in reference to murmurs that Tish had reportedly unfollowed her on the social media app earlier this week.
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Her statement continued: “My dad and I have had our challenges over the years. Now, in my thirties, family is my priority above all else. I’m at peace knowing bridges have been built and time has done a lot of healing.”
“Grateful for the good health and love that flows through my family,” Miley concluded her message.
Fans had expressed concern about the alleged unfollowing in various comments on Tish’s recent Instagram posts, to which she responded that she didn’t know she’d apparently unfollowed her daughter. “have no idea how that happened but it’s fixed now!” read Tish’s reply to one of those comments on Wednesday, May 7. (At press time on Saturday, she follows Miley on Instagram.)
On Wednesday, Billy Ray had posted a video clip with Miley performing at the piano, along with the caption, “Can’t wait to see this young lady. Crazy how time flies.”
On Friday, he uploaded a snapshot of himself with his son Braison, plus Miley and her boyfriend Maxx Morando, all together in celebration of Braison’s birthday.
Miley’s new song “More to Lose” is off of the imminent album Something Beautiful, a 13-track collection due out on May 30. It’ll be the follow-up to 2023’s Endless Summer Vacation, which was led by the Grammy-winning, Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single “Flowers”; Endless Summer Vacation reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
“I tried to keep it a singular take,” she shared with fans about recording the emotional track “More to Lose.” “It’s really a song that’s more of a story, and I never want that to be interrupted or overthought or chasing perfection. I never wanted ‘More to Lose’ to be perfect, I wanted it to sound beautiful and emotional.”
During a special evening with Spotify last week, Cyrus gave more insight into Something Beautiful, revealing the album’s overarching theme as “beauty, but not what beauty represents by a standard of someone else’s idea.” In another sound-bite from the event, she said — to cheers from the audience — “On a scale of, I think, one to gay, how gay is this album? It’s not only my best album, but also my gayest.”
A 100-degree day in the desert was the scene to kick off the After Hours Til Dawn Tour in Arizona on Friday night (May 9). The Weeknd and Playboi Carti matched the heat and brought the fire to the State Farm Stadium stage, setting the tone for the 43-date North American trek. 60,000 of the […]
It’s been more than a year since Kendrick Lamar upended the rap game and significantly altered the course of popular culture with “Not Like Us,” the five-time Grammy-winning, Billboard Hot 100-topping knockout punch in his monthslong battle against Drake. If the feverish crowd at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on Friday night (May 10) was anything to go by, K.Dot’s ongoing domination isn’t likely to subside anytime soon.
Lamar and SZA, former TDE labelmates and both global superstars in their own rights, graced the NYC-area venue for their second of two shows in East Rutherford, N.J., on their blockbuster Grand National Tour. One of the most ambitious treks in hip-hop history, the Grand National Tour is a towering achievement.
From mainstream-conquering smashes (“Luther,” “Humble,” “DNA”) to headier deep cuts from his latest Billboard 200 chart-topper (“Man at the Garden,” “Reincarnated”), Lamar meticulously presented hip-hop as stadium-sized theater. He didn’t do so by relying on flashy production or set design; instead, he stripped hip-hop down to its five founding pillars, laying bare the incomparable art form that is emceeing on a hot mic.
Kicking things off with GNX opener “Wacced Out Murals,” Lamar launched the nearly three-hour extravaganza all on his lonesome. Lamar and SZA traded sets bridged by beloved duets like “Doves in the Wind,” “All the Stars” and the more recent “30 for 30 Freestyle.” Though both artists sourced the bulk of their sets from their most recent releases (GNX for Lamar and SOS Deluxe: LANA for SZA), they also held space for their respective catalogs. Lamar rapped the opening verse of “Swimming Pools” completely a cappella for his “day ones”; SZA frequently shouted out her “Ctrl babies” before performing cuts like “Garden (Say It Like Dat)” and “Broken Clocks,” and she pulled Zacari‘s weight for a sweet rendition of Lamar’s “Love.”
SZA performs on the opening night of the Grand National Tour with Kendrick Lamar on April 19, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Cassidy Meyers
Across a stage reminiscent of the video game controller setup of Lamar’s landmark Super Bowl LIX halftime show, the Grand National Tour’s set design is largely minimalistic, save for a stair platform placed at the center of the stage. Despite a few levitating mini-platforms and a flying fairy moment for SZA, the true centerpiece of the Grand National stage was the literal GNX that helped the set transition between each set. When Kendrick first hit the stage, the black GNX stood as it does on the album cover, but by the time SZA hit her set, the vehicle transformed into a grassy, fauna-laden ride that nodded to the insect aesthetic of the LANA era. At the show’s close (“Gloria”), Lamar opened the passenger door for SZA like a consummate gentleman and joined her in the car as they wished the packed stadium safe travels home.
Both a wildly impressive victory lap and the progeny of over a decade of grueling work from both Lamar and SZA, the Grand National Tour saw two of the most defining artists of the 2010s operating at the height of their powers while ensuring hip-hop always remains at the center.
Here are the 10 best moments from their Grand National Tour stop at MetLife Stadium.
Prince Easter Eggs
President Trump fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden on Thursday (May 8) as the White House continues to purge the federal government of those it sees as opposed to the president and his agenda.
Hayden was notified of her dismissal in a curt email from the Presidential Personnel Office.
“Carla,” the email began. “On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as the Librarian of Congress is terminated effective immediately. Thank you for your service.”
Hayden had been appointed to the post by President Obama in 2016 and had been confirmed by the Senate. She was the first woman and the first African American to serve in that post. Her 10-year term was set to expire next year.
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Hayden’s firing angered congressional Democrats. “Enough is enough,” said Senate Democratic Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York, who called Hayden “a “trailblazer, a scholar, and a public servant of the highest order.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) also blasted the firing. “Donald Trump’s unjust decision to fire Dr. Hayden in an email sent by a random political hack is a disgrace and the latest in his ongoing effort to ban books, whitewash American history and turn back the clock,” Jeffries said.
Robert Newlen, the principal deputy librarian, said he would serve as acting librarian of Congress “until further instruction. I promise to keep everyone informed,” he wrote to colleagues.
In February, Trump fired Deborah F. Rutter as president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, following his announcement that he was elected as Kennedy Center chair. Rutter had served in that position since 2014.
The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, home to more than 10 million collection items. The library says its holdings constitute “the creative record of the United States.” It acquires, preserves and provides access to the world’s largest collection of films, television programs, radio broadcasts and sound recordings. It also has collections of rare books, prints and photographs, as well valuable artifacts, such as a flute owned by President James Madison, which Lizzo played in a widely-publicized (and, in some quarters, controversial) 2022 performance arranged by Hayden. The library is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.
The Librarian of Congress oversees two high-profile awards — the National Recording Registry and the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The National Recording Registry, which dates to 2001, vies with the Recording Academy’s Grammy Hall of Fame as the most prestigious institutional award for classic recordings. Established in 2007, the Gershwin Prize honors living musical artists for exceptional contributions in the field of popular song.
The Library calls the Gershwin Prize “the nation’s highest award for influence, impact and achievement in popular music.” The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Recording Academy might argue with that, but it has definitely become one of the most prestigious awards — and relatively quickly.
The most recent class of National Registry inductees was announced on April 9. The Library has not yet announced the 2025 recipient of the Gershwin Prize. Elton John and Bernie Taupin were announced as the 2024 recipients on Jan. 30, 2024.
Gershwin Prize honorees during Hayden’s tenure were Smokey Robinson (2016), Tony Bennett (2017), Gloria & Emilio Estefan (2019), Garth Brooks (2020), Lionel Richie (2022), Joni Mitchell (2023) and John & Taupin. Criteria for selection include artistic merit; influence in promoting music as a vehicle of cultural understanding; impact and achievement in entertaining and informing audiences; and inspiring new generations of musicians.
According to the Library of Congress site: “The [Gershwin Prize] honoree is selected by the Librarian of Congress in consultation with a board of scholars, producers, performers, songwriters and music specialists.”
The Librarian of Congress also takes the lead role in selecting the 25 titles each year that are inducted into the National Recording Registry. According to the site: “Under the terms of the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, the Librarian of Congress, with advice from the National Recording Preservation Board, selects 25 titles each year that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and are at least 10 years old.”
In announcing what turn out to be the final batch of National Recording Registry inductions under her tenure, Hayden said: “These are the sounds of America — our wide-ranging history and culture. The National Recording Registry is our evolving nation’s playlist.”
