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01 Nov 2022

The Legal Beat: Kanye’s Lawyers Cut Ties – Plus Slacker, Coachella and More

This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings, and all the fun stuff in between. This week: Major law firms cut ties with Kanye West over his antisemitic comments, Slacker fights with SoundExchange over a huge royalties judgment, Coachella sues a nearby business called “Coachillin,” and much more.

THE BIG STORY: Kanye West Is Running Out of Lawyers

After a string of antisemitic statements earlier this month, Kanye West has lost nearly every aspect of his once-formidable business empire. His representatives at CAA have dropped him, and his signature fashion partnerships with Adidas, The Gap and Balenciaga have all been terminated.

You can now add his lawyers to that list.

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, the prestigious Wall Street firm that represented Kanye in his dealings with Gap, confirmed to multiple outlets last week that the firm is not currently representing him and “have made the decision not to work with him in the future.”

Greenberg Traurig, a top music firm that’s repping him in both a copyright lawsuit and an employment case, said it was taking steps to withdraw from those cases as fast as ethically possible: “This firm was founded by individuals who faced discrimination and many of us lost ancestors because of that kind of hate and prejudice,” the firm wrote in a statement, referring to Jewish founders Larry Hoffman, Mel Greenberg and Robert Traurig.

Robert Cohen of Cohen Clair Lans Greifer Thorpe & Rottenstreich, the rapper’s sixth divorce attorney in his split with Kim Kardashian who he only just hired in September, has also dropped him, according to a report from Reuters. And Brown Rudnick partner Camille Vasquez, who rose to prominence representing Johnny Depp in his defamation case against Amber Heard, quit just days after being hired by the embattled rapper, as first reported by the New York Post.

It seems even prospective lawyers are distancing themselves. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan partner Alex Spiro, a Billboard Top Music Lawyer who reps Jay-Z and Elon Musk, told Reuters that Ye “asked me to be his attorney but the representation never formalized.” Spiro made it clear: “I do not represent Mr. West.”

A lack of options for legal representation isn’t a great situation for West, because he has no shortage of legal problems.

Even if he avoids any court battles over his various corporate breakups — and that’s far from certain, given the messy web of intellectual property he splits with Adidas and other former partners — he’s still got plenty of litigation ahead, including looming December deadlines in the divorce case; multiple copyright lawsuits over claims of illegal sampling; a case claiming he stiffed a production company that worked on his Sunday Service; a lawsuit claiming he refused to return clothes to a high-end fashion rental service; a case claiming he owes $4.5 million to a celebrity accountant he abruptly fired; and threats of lawsuits from the family of George Floyd over his incendiary statements about Floyd’s killing.

Other top stories this week…

SLACKER’S ROYALTY WOES – Slacker warned a judge that a recent ruling, requiring the streamer to hand over nearly $10 million in unpaid royalties to SoundExchange, would cause “economic damage” for the company that would be “unsustainable.” But SoundExchange quickly fired back that it had spent years “indulging” such excuses and that labels and artists had waited “long enough” to get paid by the streamer: “The court should deny defendants’ latest attempt to shirk their obligations with the promise that next time will be different.”

COACHELLA v. ‘COACHILLIN’ – AEG’s Goldenvoice, the owner of Coachella, filed a trademark infringement lawsuit over a planned “Coachillin” business park located just a few miles north of the festival grounds at the Empire Polo Club. The suit said the 160-acre development plan, aimed at cannabis businesses, isn’t a problem — but needs to pick a new name: “The public has come to associate the phrase ‘Coachillin’ to refer to the Coachella Festival and plaintiffs, not merely to refer to the Coachella Valley — and certainly not Coachillin Holdings.” The case is the latest in a string of trademark cases from Goldenvoice, which sued Ticketmaster last year over a New Year’s Eve concert called “Coachella Day One 22″ and sued a West African company last month over an event called “Afrochella.”

COMEDY CARTEL? JUDGE SAYS NO – A federal judge rejected one of Pandora’s key arguments in its legal battle with comedians, dismissing claims that a licensing group called Word Collections was operating as an illegal comedy “cartel” that violated federal antitrust laws. The ruling came in sprawling litigation filed by a slew of comics who want Pandora to start paying the equivalent of publishing royalties for spoken-word content. Faced with those allegations, the streamer responded by arguing that Word Collections and the comedians were effectively trying to create a “monopolistic portfolio” of comedy rights, aimed at “dramatically increasing” the prices streamers must pay. But in the ruling this week, the judge didn’t buy it — saying Pandora didn’t properly allege that the comics had conspired to fix prices, nor that their grouping amounted to an illegal monopoly in the comedy world.

BAIL REVOKED FOR TORY LANEZ – A Los Angeles judge ordered Tory Lanezto be placed under house arrest ahead of a trial over accusations that he shot Megan Thee Stallion, citing an incident last month in which the singer allegedly assaulted singer August Alsina in Chicago. The singer is facing more than 22 years in prison over the alleged July 2020 altercation with Stallion, in which he allegedly shot her in the foot during an argument following a party in the Hollywood Hills. The trial is set to kick off at the end of November and the singer had been out on bail, but in September Alsina claimed that Lanez and his entourage attacked him following a Chicago concert. Prosecutors at the time said they were investigating those claims, and Judge David Herriford cited the accusations to revoke Lanez’ bail this week.

01 Nov 2022

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour On Track to Be Her Top-Selling Yet

Taylor Swift, in case you haven’t heard, is back. Her 10th studio album, Midnights, was released on Oct. 21 and moved 1.578 million album equivalents in its first week of release in the U.S. according to Luminate, the most since Adele’s 25 seven years ago. The album’s standard edition blanketed the Billboard Hot 100 in unprecedented fashion, occupying the chart’s entire top 10 positions. And now, she has officially announced the Eras Tour, playing stadiums in the U.S. throughout 2023.

Swift is no stranger to the stadium stage. Her last tour, 2018’s Reputation Stadium Tour, played 53 shows, earning $345.7 million and sold 2.9 million tickets, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore.

That was enough to make it the highest-grossing and most-attended tour of Swift’s career. She had leveled up from 2015’s The 1989 World Tour, which itself had bested The Red Tour (2013-14). From theaters to arenas to stadiums, and from smaller Midwest markets to global reach, each of Swift’s official five treks have out-grossed and out-sold the one before.

The Reputation Stadium Tour reached career-high status by staying true to its name, sticking to stadiums in all four continents that it played. Swift averaged more than 50,000 paid tickets in Asia, Australia, Europe and North America, doubling her previous high in Asia and quadrupling the nightly attendance from her previous run in Europe.

To do so, the stadium-branded tour played it smart. She played 53 shows worldwide, consolidated from the 80-plus dates on The 1989 World Tour and The Red Tour, forcing high(er) demand on an exclusive routing. In Europe, she stuck to three markets in the U.K., and in Asia only played two shows in Tokyo.

Still, Swift played 38 shows in the U.S., breaking her own record for the highest-grossing stateside tour of all time (the record has since been broken by Elton John). With an even more sparse calendar in 2023 so far, Swift will challenge herself to, once again, outdo herself.

The Eras Tour announced 27 stadium shows in the U.S. (Swift assured fans that international shows would be announced at a later date), beginning March 18 in Glendale, Arizona, and wrapping with an on Aug. 4-5 double-header in Inglewood, California. If Swift were to replicate Reputation’s $7 million nightly domestic average, the tour would earn $189.1 million and sell 1.47 million tickets.

But those figures are based on Reputation’s $128.67 average ticket price. In the time since that tour closed, platinum ticketing, dynamic pricing and inflation have changed the potential for sky-high ticket prices, especially for a stadium A-lister like Swift.

And while the initial routing for Eras is light, the time between its March kickoff and August finale is wide open. Swift is only scheduled to play one or two shows a week, leaving ample room for additional markets and, just as likely, additional shows in the cities she’s already announced. Depending on demand in the two and a half weeks between registration for Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program and the tour’s general on-sale, Swift’s schedule could bulk up.

And why wouldn’t it? In the time since the Reputation Stadium Tour wrapped in 2018, she has topped the Billboard 200 with six albums and crowned the Hot 100 four times. She was nominated for the Grammy for album of the year three years in a row, winning in 2021 for Folklore. Between her latest record-breaking success with Midnights and the engagement surrounding the Taylor’s Version re-recordings of her older albums, Swift is setting the stage for the cumulative effect of her many eras on their titular tour.

01 Nov 2022

Five Burning Questions: Taylor Swift Makes Chart History With ‘Midnights’ Debut

Over a decade and a half into her career as a Billboard hitmaker, Taylor Swift is currently enjoying her best week ever on the charts.

Her Midnights album makes history this week, officially moving 1.578 million equivalent album units in its debut frame — the best opening bow not just for any Swift album, but for any album released in the past 20 years outside of Adele’s 25. And over on the Hot 100, Midnights becomes the first album (and Swift the first artist) to occupy all 10 spots in the Hot 100’s top 10 simultaneously, led by lead single “Anti-Hero” at No. 1.

Why is Taylor Swift posting these jaw-dropping numbers this deep into her career? And will Midnights be remembered by fans as a career high for her? Billboard writers answer these questions and more below.

1. Taylor Swift makes a historic showing on both the albums and songs fronts this week, moving 1.5 million units of her Midnights album — most of her career and most for any non-Adele artist of the last 20 years — while also becoming the first artist ever to occupy all 10 spots in the Hot 100’s top 10 simultaneously. Which, in your mind, is the more impressive achievement of the two?

Katie Atkinson: They’re both massive, but I’m going to have to go with occupying the full Hot 100 top 10. Drake’s come close, holding nine of the 10 spots, but all 10 is a special kind of domination. It’s obviously a symptom of the way we consume music and the way we track listening these days – it’s a fun game to think about what other artists might have held those top 10 spots at once if streaming were around in earlier eras – but being able to plant her flag as the first artist to ever achieve the feat is something no one can take away from her.

Hannah Dailey: The simultaneous top 10 spots. As mind-bogglingly impressive as her sales record is, there’s something about the recognition that the Hot 100 gives an artist that feels even more special. The 1.5 million units shows that Swifties are showing out for their favorite artist, but the chart proves that she pretty much has the whole world listening, too.

Jason Lipshutz: Somehow, becoming the first artist to occupy all 10 spots in the Hot 100’s top 10 — a singular feat in the chart’s 64-year history — is only the second most impressive chart achievement by Taylor Swift this week. Moving 1.5 million units of an album in a single week didn’t seem like something that could ever happen again, especially after Adele’s 30 fell short of the seven-figure mark last fall. Not only did Swift score the biggest album debut in nearly seven years, she also set a new career best with Midnights — mind-boggling stuff, considering how many enormous eras already precede her.

Joe Lynch: A cogent point could be made either way, but I’m gonna say the 1.5 milli first week. At this point in this music industry, it’s not so much “who can sell a million copies in one week?” but “can anyone sell a million copies in one week?”. I might be overstating it (obviously, Adele exists) but even coming close to the 1M mark is something 99% of pop stars simply cannot do in 2022. The fact that Taylor sailed past it – and in physical sales, too – is a massive accomplishment.

Andrew Unterberger: The Hot 100 record is more historic — and very literally unbeatable — but the album units are more impressive. I mean, we just had Drake secure nine of the top 10 a year ago; we haven’t seen anyone else even get within half a million of that first-week number this decade. Hell, not long ago some of us at Billboard wondered if we would ever see another million-unit first week, with digital sales numbers so down, ticket/merch bundles no longer contributing to sales totals, and streaming volume more spread out among different artists and genres every year. And then Midnights motors past the one million mark in only a couple days and just keeps going. It’s Adele-esque, really.

2. For Midnights to make such a resounding bow in 2022, a full 16 years into Swift’s career as a recording artist (and nearly as many as a global superstar), is pretty remarkable. What do you think the biggest reason is for Swift experiencing this current commercial renaissance?

Katie Atkinson: There are so many factors, but I think if you look at her last four releases – 2020’s Folklore and Evermore followed by the first two Taylor’s Version re-records, of Fearless and Red, in 2021 – that quartet of albums created an excitement around her that can only come from an artist with a decade-and-a-half of history with fans. She started by taking a musical and narrative left turn with her folky, more fictional pandemic albums, then reminded everyone how incomparable her back-catalog is (with some bonus and expanded tracks from those eras to boot), only to announce a brand-new album with a month-and-a-half heads-up but zero pre-release singles or videos. What would it sound like? What would it be about? What exactly is “Vigilante S–t”? Swift is a master of building buzz, and the last two years set the table for one of her buzziest albums yet.

Hannah Dailey: The most important gift Taylor brings to the table has always been her songwriting. When an artist is best-known for their vocals or performance abilities, there’s a lot less space to stay fresh or adapt to the times — there’s only so much one can do to elevate an already great voice, for example. But because Taylor’s greatest talent lies in something as infinite as language and story telling, she will always be able to find opportunities to write in ways that are new, fresh and reflective of the changing appetites of listeners. 

As long as she stays as self aware as she is in regards to her strengths, a commercial renaissance will never be out of the question for Taylor. I think she could just as likely experience unprecedented levels of success with her next album, and her next album after that, and so on.

Jason Lipshutz: Pinpointing one reason for this unprecedented run is difficult, considering the amount of fan engagement, marketing acumen, collaborator savvy and attention to detail that Swift has demonstrated. Yet at the center of it all is the music, which remains as fresh, exciting and musically adventurous as any diehard fan could hope for this far into Swift’s career. Different eras speak to different listeners, but none of them are stale, and as such, they’re going to keep being rapturously received.

Joe Lynch: This is a great question *he said, buying himself time as he puzzles this out*. I think Taylor is soaring even by her standards because of the (Taylor’s Version) train. Each release brings with it a wave of nostalgia for her past eras and particularly in the case of Red (TV), paints a fuller picture in screaming color. You couple that with her pandemic reinvention as an introspective folkie and you end with an artist who is simultaneously relevant and nostalgia-inducing. That’s a winning combo. 

Andrew Unterberger: For me, it’s the cash-in on years of build up from the FolkMore era of 2020 and the Taylor’s Versions duo of 2021 — none of which were really primed to pull in these kinds of numbers, but all of which were big successes on their own terms, and beloved by fans. Taylor has gone through periods with bigger pop hits and where she’s been more central to popular music in general, but her overall approval rating has arguably never been higher. She was due for an album like this to drop — with full advance warning this time — and just steamroll over everything.

3. “Anti-Hero” becomes Swift’s fourth single of the decade to debut at No. 1, all the same week as the debut of their respective parent albums on the Billboard 200. Each of the first three lasted just the one week on top — do you think “Anti-Hero” will also fall off, or do you anticipate a longer run there?

Katie Atkinson: I think it will have a longer run, but I’m only giving it two weeks up top — and maybe not even consecutive. With Rihanna’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever track dropping last Friday and Drake and 21 Savage’s joint album dropping this week, she has some real competition — not to mention Mariah Carey’s looming Christmas domination. But the way “Anti-Hero” has harnessed the power of TikTok and social media in general with its very meme-able chorus and the fact that airplay will no doubt keep growing for the song, it could have another week (or weeks) at No. 1.

Hannah Dailey: I can see “Anti-Hero” falling off the top spot. It has the same ambiguous quality of the singles from her past three albums in that it feels more like a part belonging to a greater body (its parent album) rather than a stand-alone body itself. It’s a good tune, but I don’t predict people will continue listening to it any more than they listen to the other 12 tracks on Midnights.

Jason Lipshutz: Buckle up, because “Anti-Hero” is about to enjoy a prolonged run atop the Hot 100, if early streaming and radio numbers (and the song’s catchiness) are any indication. Top 40 radio has been ready to embrace a new Swift pop single, listeners are gobbling up on the song on streaming services, and by the time you’ve finished reading this sentence, a new TikTok has been created with “Anti-Hero” as its soundtrack. If the over-under is 10 weeks at No. 1 for “Anti-Hero,” I’m taking the over.

Joe Lynch: I could see a couple weeks. I imagine it will build at radio – and that her second-week streaming numbers will still be massive – but I don’t see it being a long-haul Hot 100 topper.

Andrew Unterberger: Katie’s right that the upcoming competition this song is going to face will be fierce — starting this week with Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” — but I still think all signs point to this being a long-lasting No. 1, even if it its run gets interrupted once or twice. We could see it become the new “As It Was,” where for months, whenever there isn’t an obvious challenger to its top-dog status, it’s almost No. 1 by default. I’d currently bet on a nine-week run, but that may ultimately end up looking like a pretty conservative estimate.

4. While the commercial impact of Midnights is unquestionable, the legacy of the album within her catalog — particularly among fans — still remains to be seen. It’s still extremely early to call, but after about a week and a half with the album, how do you anticipate Midnights generally being remembered a decade or two down the line?

Katie Atkinson: I think a big portion of the massive commercial impact of the album is the positive word-of-mouth around it. But if we’re talking about ranking the album amidst her peerless catalog, it gets a bit dicier. I would place it above Lover for sure, but would I rank it above reputation? (Midnights and reputation almost feel like sister albums to me in some respects, so it’s tough to say.) And I definitely can’t rank it above 1989 or Red, and I think the pandemic pair are superior for me too – so it might be right smack-dab in the middle.

Hannah Dailey: Midnights will go down in history as an epic return to form. In the years leading up to its release, Taylor spent so much time trying on different hats, from experimenting with new sounds and fiction-based songwriting on Folklore and Evermore (which, in spite of their popularity, will always feel like temporary sidesteps off her charted path) to trying her hand at rerecording her old albums, Fearless and Red. With Midnights, Taylor re-embraced the hat that fits her best: writing best-selling, autobiographical songs about love, identity, growing up and heartbreak. 

Jason Lipshutz: That’s the most interesting piece of this Midnights commercial bonanza to me — on paper, this is a minor work from Swift, shorter than most of her other opuses and arriving in the middle of her re-recording project. But Midnights is no stopgap, based on the response to her return to pop following the Folklore/Evermore era; if I were to guess, I’d say Midnights will be remembered as a more appealingly rhythmic version of her Reputation/Lover sound, highlighted by “Anti-Hero,” one of the biggest hits of Swift’s career.

Joe Lynch: It really is too early to tell, but I think it will live as a fan favorite — but certainly not any fans’ absolute favorite Taylor Swift album. One thing working in its favor, imo, is that of the many Swifties I’ve spoken to about it, everyone seems to have a different top 3 from Midnights. Unlike a hit album where everyone tends to agree that the same 3-4 tunes are the best, Midnights seems to connect with her listeners in a way that invites a little more fan ownership of the project. 

Andrew Unterberger: I think it’s going to join reputation as the two Taylor albums whose actual musical content tends to get overshadowed in discussion by their, well, reputations. But reputation is one of my personal favorites of her catalog, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Midnights ends up falling in not too far behind it.

5. Is Taylor Swift the biggest pop star in the world right now?

Katie Atkinson: There’s a case to be made for three other artists who’ve released albums this year – Harry Styles, Bad Bunny and Beyoncé – but I think this chart command, and honestly overall command of the pop culture conversation, places the crown squarely back on Taylor Swift’s head.

Hannah Dailey: Unquestionably. Whether it’s sales, relevancy, or ability to inspire discourse, debate and conspiracy theories, she’s unmatched. Her pop stardom is especially heightened when you compare her staying power to the artists who, for many years, shared the league with her. Katy Perry hasn’t had a top 10 hit since 2017, and Gaga has spent the past few years splitting her focus across jazz, film scoring, acting and beauty products. That’s not to downplay how majorly successful those women are in their own rights; Taylor is just unique in that her continuous success has always revolved around the one thing she’s been doing from the very beginning: songwriting.

Jason Lipshutz: It’s her, hi, she’s the biggest, it’s her. Place the song and album numbers, which exist in a class of their own, to the side for a second — no one is dominating the cultural conversation quite like Swift upon a new album release, which remains a singular event in popular music. Swift is at the top, and will be for the foreseeable future.

Joe Lynch: If the operative words here are “biggest” and “pop star,” I don’t see how anyone could reasonably argue with that assertion unless they just get off on being contrarian. Kinda hard to argue with her ongoing numbers lately.

Andrew Unterberger: Yes.

01 Nov 2022

Haim Gear Up for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour With Adorable Group Photo: ‘Who’s Ready?’

Taylor Swift is heading out on her first tour in five years, and bringing an all-star lineup of supporting acts with her for her career-spanning The Eras Tour.

Paramore, Beabadoobee, Phoebe Bridgers, Girl in Red, MUNA, GAYLE, Gracie Abrams, OWENN and Haim will all be switching off in joining Swift’s supporting act lineup for the tour’s first leg. To celebrate hitting the road with their close pal, Haim took to Instagram to share a group photo of the sibling trio alongside Swift — all matching in leather outfits.

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“WHO’S READY FOR ROUND 2? THE ERAS TOUR,” they captioned the photo. The squad has previously teamed up for “Gasoline” off Haim’s 2020 album, Women in Music Pt. III. The sisters are featured on Swift’s Evermore, on the murder-mystery country track “No Body, No Crime,” and recently appeared in the pop superstar’s music video for “Bejeweled.”

The Eras Tour will be a celebration of all 10 of the studio albums Swift has released since 2006 — at least, that’s what the trek’s title suggests. The singer also shared a poster advertising the tour’s 27-date U.S. leg on Instagram featuring a collage of photos of herself through the years, from the time of her self-titled debut to Midnights, which dropped less than two weeks prior to the tour news.

The tour presented by Capitol One and produced by Taylor Swift Touring and promoted by the Messina Touring Group will begin on March 18 with a show at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., Swift announced during an appearance on Good Morning America. International dates will be announced soon.

“I wanted to tell you something that I’ve been so excited about for a really long time. I’ve been planning for ages and I finally get to tell you: I’m going back on tour,” Swift said on GMA. “The tour is called the Eras tour and it’s a journey through all of the musical eras of my career.”

01 Nov 2022

Yuridia Scores Her First Top 10 on Regional Mexican Albums Chart With ‘Pa’ Luego Es Tarde’

After nearly a five-year break, Yuridia returns to a Billboard albums chart as her latest full-length, Pa’ Luego Es Tarde, debuts at No. 7 on the Regional Mexican Albums chart (dated Nov. 5). It’s her first entry and first visit to the upper region there.

“The truth is I did not expect to receive this news,” Yuridia tells Billboard. “I am very excited to be able to enter the top 10 on a Billboard chart, and obviously I am going to celebrate the news by toasting with a big cold ‘caguama’ (loggerhead), hahaha.”

Pa’ Luego Es Tarde was released Oct. 20 via Sony Music Latin. The Eden Muñoz-produced effort is the first taste of the Hermosillo-born artist within the regional Mexican genre. The 14-track set starts with 2,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 27, according to Luminate. Most of the album’s opening sum derives from streaming equivalent album units. That equates to 3.8 million on-demand official U.S. streams generated for the songs on the album.

“Eden and I clicked from the get-go,” Yuridia adds. “We drank beer, played and sung songs through the night; tunes that are not on the album but that are part of the soundtrack of our lives and that is how we became the best of friends. It’s something I will never forget.”

Pa’ Luego, Yuridia’s seventh studio album, marks her comeback to a Billboard albums chart; Primera Fila debuted and peaked at No. 12 on Latin Pop Albums in 2017. Pa’ Luego was preceded by six other sets, all of which have secured an entry on Top Latin Albums and Latin Pop Albums. On the latter, the six albums reached top 10, dating back to La Voz de Un Ángel, a No. 8 high in 2006.

Elsewhere, Pa’ Luego debuts on Top Latin Albums at No. 39, becoming Yuridia’s return since 6 debuted and peaked at No. 7 in 2015.

Two Pa’ Luego album cuts preceded the set on Regional Mexican Airplay: “Y Tú, ¿Qué Ganas?” peaked at No. 32in July, while ¿Y Qué Tal Si Funciona?,” with Banda MS, peaked at No. 11 on the Oct. 29-dated ranking.

About the songs Yuridia adds: “I really like all of them, but right now I am very excited to be able to sing live on tour for the first time a song I composed with Eden Muñoz called ‘Brujería’ because we are going to dance a lot to it.”

Yuridia’s Pa’ Luego Es Tarde U.S. Tour kicks off this Friday, Nov. 4 in Laredo, Texas. The 24-date (thus far) tour will conclude at Rancho Mirage in California on Feb. 25.

01 Nov 2022

From Lizzo to Harry Styles, Whose 2022 Halloween Costume Was Your Favorite?

The arrival of November means that Halloween has come and gone, but we’re not quite down reveling in spooky season just yet. Now that the holiday is officially over, Billboard wants to know which celebrity’s costume you declare the year’s best.

With an entire weekend to get ghoulish, many famous faces churned out multiple Halloween costumes between Friday and Monday, wringing as much Halloween spirit as they could out of the autumn air. A perfect example? Lizzo, who became rapper Blueface’s girlfriend Chrisean Rock on Friday (Oct. 28), painted herself in head-to-toe yellow as a frightfully accurate Marge Simpson on Saturday (Oct. 29) and a foul-mouthed NSFW Miss Piggy on Sunday (Oct. 30).

Then there was Ariana Grande and her bestie Liz Gillies, who admitted they filmed their hilarious video as Jennifer Coolidge and Jane Lynch’s characters from 2000’s Best in Show back in May.

Harry Styles continued the tradition of his fan favorite Harryween live show at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles as Danny Zuko from Grease, even treating the audience to a cover of “Hopelessly Devoted to You.”

As far as couple’s costumes went, Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox threw it back to the ’90s as Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson, while Frankie Jonas and his girlfriend went for a hilariously meta take as his older brother Joe Jonas and Taylor Swift.

However, Heidi Klum may have taken the cake by hosting the return of her famous A-list Halloween bash after two years away as a creepy crawly worm.

Check out our roundup of 2022 celebrity Halloween costumes, then vote for your favorite below.

01 Nov 2022

Here Are the Artists Opening for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour: Paramore, Phoebe Bridgers & More

Time to start saving up, Swifties. The news that Taylor Swift is going on her first tour in five years is exciting enough, but once you see the star-studded list of guest artists she’s bringing along for the ride, you’ll really want to purchase a ticket.

The pop star announced Tuesday (Nov. 1) that she would be embarking on The Eras Tour, a celebration of all 10 of the studio albums she’s released since 2006 — at least, that’s what the trek’s title suggests. Swift also shared a poster advertising the tour’s 27-date U.S. leg on Instagram featuring a collage of photos of herself through the years, from the time of her self-titled debut to Midnights, which dropped less than two weeks prior to the tour news.

The Cats star hasn’t hit the road since 2018, when she launched her best-selling Reputation Tour. She had planned on performing again after the release of her 2019 record Lover in a concert series called Lover Fest, but canceled the shows due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

For those who are keeping count, this means that Tay has six albums-worth of new material that she’s never played live — if you include the previously unreleased vault tracks on 2021’s Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version). Studio albums Folklore, Evermore and, of course, Midnights, have all also been released in the time between Lover and the Eras Tour.

Though additional international dates won’t be announced until a later time, Swift did also reveal exactly who’s joining her during her highly anticipated return to touring. A total of nine artists make up the supporting act lineup for the tour’s first leg — with two acts slated per night to open for Tay night — and some of them are very familiar faces for the Swiftie community.

Keep reading to see who’s joining Taylor Swift on her 2023 Eras Tour below:

01 Nov 2022

Here Are All the Hot 100 & Billboard 200 Chart Records That Taylor Swift Has Broken

Taylor Swift has long been a powerhouse on Billboard’s charts, from her 2006 debut single “Tim McGraw” through her latest, 10th studio album, Midnights.

On the latest Nov. 5-dated charts, Swift smashes several records, including becoming the first artist to blanket the entire top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 in a single week. She also ups her count to 40 top 10s – passing Madonna for the most among women in the chart’s 64-year history. Leading the way, Midnights lead single “Anti-Hero” debuts at No. 1.

On the Billboard 200, Midnights‘ No. 1 entrance ties Swift with Barbra Streisand for the most leaders among women, 11 each, in the tally’s 66-year history.

As Swift makes more history, here’s a look at the numerous Hot 100 and Billboard 200 chart records that the superstar has claimed throughout her career.