Pop
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Sabrina Carpenter is amped up after making her Saturday Night Live debut, and it’s not just because of all that “me espresso” she’s been drinking. Following her first-ever performance on the show Saturday (May 18), the 25-year-old singer shared her excitement the next day on Instagram. “literally working late cuz I’m a singer,” she joked, […]
It sounds like Travis Kelce is all for having Taylor Swift headline a future Kelce Jam festival — but there would definitely be some logistical details that would need to be handled first. At his second-ever Kelce Jam music festival at Azura Amphitheatre Saturday (May 18) in Kansas City, the Chiefs tight end spoke with […]
Katy Perry ended her seven-year American Idol run in style on Sunday night (May 19), singing, table jumping and pizza-tossing her way off the stage during the three-hour season 22 finale. While the episode was ostensibly meant to crown this year’s winner — which it did, spoiler alert, in singer Abi Carter — it was also a night to celebrate Perry, who announced earlier this year that she would be leaving the series after serving alongside Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan since the show jumped to ABC in 2018.
In a testament to Perry’s up-for-anything attitude, Idol ran a clip package mid-way through Sunday’s show featuring highlights from her often wild-and-wacky run. From Bryan jump-scaring his partner early on to Perry visiting Luke’s farm for a lesson on corn science, crying with contestants, modeling a series of increasingly outrageous outfits and getting ice cream smooshed on her face by her cohorts, Perry looked happy, and emotional, as the last hour ticked down.
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Just before the final votes were read, Perry, 39, took to the stage one last time to perform “What Makes a Woman” from her 2020 album Smile with finalist Jack Blocker. Initially seated while wearing what looked like a metallic bustier, Perry began to rise up as Blocker sang the second verse, revealing an expansive dress plastered with the faces of Idol contestants who’ve appeared on the show during her run. Soaring high above the stage as paper butterflies rained down all around her, Perry’s dress was the perfect lasting image of the singer’s sweet embrace of her Idol era.
“143, I love you,” Perry said as she held up heart hands. Later in the show, as Katy munched on a slice of pizza, the women of the top 12 performed a medley of Perry’s songs, including “Teenage Dream,” “Dark Horse” and”California Gurls.” The performance ended with Perry jumping to her feet and climbing up on the judge’s desk to flex her arms as Bryan pelted her with beach balls.
With the sand running out following Carter’s coronation, Perry let the tears flow freely as this year’s winner sang Billie Eilish’s Oscar-winning “What Was I Made For?” to cap her golden season 22 run, with Richie sharing a last, long hug with Katy as confetti rained down around them.
Idol has been renewed for a 23rd season, but at press time Perry’s replacement had not yet been announced.
Check out images from Perry’s final night below.
Taylor Swift‘s surprise song set went from celebratory to somber in Stockholm on Sunday (May 19). For the acoustic section of her third Eras show at Friends Arena, Swift was all smiles as she dedicated a medley to Sweden’s Max Martin — and then full of melancholy for the live debut of “How Did It […]
Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department locks in its fourth consecutive week atop the Billboard 200 (dated May 25), as the set earned 260,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending May 16 (down 8%), according to Luminate. The effort is the first album to spend its first four weeks at No. 1 since Travis Scott’s Utopia led in its first four weeks last summer (Aug. 12-Sept. 2, 2023).
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With 260,000 units earned in Poets’ fourth week, the set scores the largest fourth-week for any album since Adele’s 25 tallied 825,000 units in its fourth frame (chart dated Jan. 2, 2016).
Plus, Swift adds her 73rd career week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, extending her record among soloists (Elvis Presley has the second-most among soloists, with 67). The total encompasses her 14 leaders. (She’s tied with Jay-Z for the most No. 1s among soloists.)
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Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Gunna lands his sixth top 10-charting effort as One of Wun bows at No. 2.
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 25, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on May 21. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of The Tortured Poets Department’s fourth-week unit sum of 260,000, SEA units comprise 217,500 (down 5%, equaling 282.4 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), traditional album sales comprise 41,000 (down 19%) and TEA units comprise 1,500 (up 18%).
Gunna lands his sixth top 10-charting effort, all of which have reached the top five, as One of Wun enters at No. 2 with 91,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 90,000 (equaling 118.52 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), while album sales comprise 1,000 and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. Gunna previously visited the top 10 with A Gift & a Curse (No. 3, 2023), DS4Ever (No. 1, 2022), Wunna (No. 1, 2020), Drip or Drown 2 (No. 3, 2019) and Drip Harder (No. 4, 2018).
Gunna announced the new project on April 15, though he did not disclose the May 10 release date for the project until May 3. The album was released only as a streaming set and as a retail-available digital download. A CD and vinyl edition of the album are up for pre-order in Gunna’s official webstore, though no release date for those configurations has been announced, and his store only notes they will both ship “in 2024.”
Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time is steady at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 75,000 equivalent album units (up 7%); Future and Metro Boomin’s former No. 1 We Don’t Trust You is also a non-mover at No. 4 (53,000; down 13%); and Wallen’s earlier leader Dangerous: The Double Album climbs 7-5 (44,000; up 6%). Both Wallen albums likely post increases due to the publicity and promotion around the May 10 release of Post Malone’s “I Had Some Help,” featuring Wallen — even though the song is not on either of the Wallen albums. (The track is expected to be on Post Malone’s upcoming album.) Wallen last had two titles in the top five at the same time on the July 29, 2023-dated chart, when One Thing at a Time and Dangerous were Nos. 2 and 5, respectively.
Noah Kahan’s Stick Season rises 9-6 on the new Billboard 200 with 41,000 equivalent album units (up 2%); SZA’s chart-topping SOS climbs 10-7 (38,000; down 1%); Zach Bryan’s self-titled former No. 1 bumps 12-8 (38,000; up 5%); Benson Boone’s Fireworks & Rollerblades glides 11-9 (just over 35,000; down 4%); and Beyoncé’s chart-topping Cowboy Carter dips 8-10 (35,000; down 14%).
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.
Sabrina Carpenter brought the heat to Studio 8H. The 25-year-old pop star made her musical guest debut on Saturday Night Live, performing her Billboard Hot 100 chart top 10 song “Espresso,” along with a medley of “Feather” and “Nonsense.” The season 49 finale on May 18 was hosted by Jake Gyllenhaal, who returned in the […]
Taylor Swift induced some Tortured Poets-level hysteria when she performed “Guilty as Sin?” live for the first time at her Eras Tour stop in Stockholm, Sweden, on Saturday (May 18).
Swift, who brought her Eras spectacular to Stockholm’s Friends Arena for a trio of dates this weekend, complimented Saturday’s “absolutely wild” crowd at the start of the show’s acoustic section, during which she performs surprise songs on each tour date.
“You just fuel us the entire night,” Swift said of the crowd’s energy.
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“It makes me want to play one of my favorite songs from Tortured Poets that I’ve never played live before,” she teased. Swift gave her guitar a few strums leading up to an opening line that’s become instantly familiar to fans in the few weeks since she released her latest album: “Drowning in the Blue Nile/ He sent me ‘Downtown Lights’/ I hadn’t heard it in a while.”
The Friends Arena audience screamed. People on the internet shared the same sentiment, but through memes of Post Malone dancing to “Guilty as Sin?” and dry remarks about the tragedy of not being in the room with Swift for the track’s live debut.
“What if he’s written ‘mine’ on my upper thigh/ Only in my mind?” Swift sings on the track from The Tortured Poets Department. “One slip and falling back into the hedge maze/ Oh, what a way to die/ I keep recalling things we never did/ Messy top lip kiss/ How I long for our trysts/ Without ever touching his skin/ How can I be guilty as sin?”
“the way she sang guilty as sin as the first surprise song at her 89th show and opened with the lines ‘he sent me downtown lights’ which was released in 1989,” one fan pointed out on X, formerly Twitter, referring to the band The Blue Nile and Swift’s reference to their song “Downtown Lights.” (Saturday night marked the 89th Eras Tour date since the trek launched in March 2023).
“i’m taking the loss of Guilty As Sin really well,” another remarked, sharing evidence (via screenshots) of blocking both IKEA and ABBA’s accounts in response Sweden’s surprise song win.
“Guilty as Sin?” — which was followed by a 1989 piano medley of “Say Don’t Go,” “Welcome to New York” and “Clean” — continued to trend on X in the hours following Swift’s performance. See a clip of the full song played live below, plus fan reactions to missing out on “Guilty as Sin?” live.
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the way she sang guilty as sin as the first surprise song at her 89th show and opened with the lines “he sent me downtown lights” which was released in 1989, she’s sooooooo. https://t.co/xILM0aRvr7— maroon ᡣ𐭩 (@balladofmaroon) May 18, 2024
Billie Eilish was spotted vibing to Kendrick Lamar‘s “Not Like Us.” In a video that began circulating on social media Saturday (May 18), the 22-year-old pop star is seen dancing and singing along to K. Dot’s infectious Drake diss, which recently debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It’s unclear when and […]
Britney Spears is giving fans an update on her injured foot and sharing details about an extravagant trip to Mexico. In a social media post on Friday (May 17), the 42-year-old pop star wrote that her bruised and swollen foot has officially healed following an accident at Los Angeles’ Chateau Marmont earlier in the month. […]
05/18/2024
Celebrating a larger-than-life classic.
05/18/2024