Pop
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Sabrina Carpenter, fresh off the North American leg of her first-ever arena tour, is now accustomed to playing 20,000-seat concert halls. But at NPR’s offices in Washington, D.C., the short and sweet pop star finally found a venue that’s just her size. On a Monday in early December, Billboard was on hand to watch Carpenter […]
Ben Stiller would drive all night for SZA. In fact, in the new visual for the singer’s track “Drive,” which dropped on Friday morning (Dec. 20), the Nutcrackers star looks entranced as he lip-synchs along to the song while barreling down a dark road in his SUV.
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In the Bradley J. Calder-directed clip, Stiller enthusiastically sings the moody ballad’s lyrics about hitting the road to clear your head while trying to not get too in your head about everything that’s going on. “I been up ’til up midnight, drivin’ to nowhere/ Bumpin’ a slow song, can’t get my head clear/ I been up ’til sunrise, headed to nowhere/ Hopin’ that someone’s missin’ me somewhere,” SZA sings over gently plucked acoustic guitar.
After worrying that she’s balled so hard she’s hit her peak, SZA brags about all the exes who still want to hit her up and how she has no time to waste on haters. And while he’s hitting those lines, Stiller closes his eyes and begins to drift to sleep before waking up with a renewed energy that inspires him to lean out of the window and rip doughnuts in the middle of the street. Eagle-eyed viewers noticed that the midnight ghost ride is similar to a lip-synching cameo Stiller had in Jack Johnson’s “Taylor” video in 2003 — only this time around, the actor’s hands are wrapped around a steering wheel instead of a guitar.
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Things then get super weird as Stiller drives off and SZA pops up in the woods dressed as a sexy alien insect as the second half of the song turns into a slow-grind R&B jam and the singer crawls her way across the marsh. The costume is similar to one in the teased artwork for SZA’s long-awaited deluxe edition of her blockbuster SOS album, Lana, which is due out on Friday, as well as her Hot Ones look from September.
SZA first revealed the Lana title during a show in New York in September 2023, during which she told the audience that the deluxe version of SOS would be like “a whole ‘nother album … It’s seven to 10 songs, and it’ll be out this fall.” Then in a November British Vogue interview, she described Lana and the SOS deluxe as two entirely different albums.
But then earlier this month, SZA confirmed that Lana is the title of the SOS deluxe album, and teased the tracklist. SOS debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums charts following its 2022 release, shattering the record for the biggest streaming week for an R&B album by a woman at the time with 404.6 million official on-demand streams for the album’s songs, according to Luminate.
SZA will embark on the Grand National stadium tour with Kendrick Lamar beginning in April.
Watch the “Drive” video above.
12/20/2024
Modern holiday chestnuts by veterans of the long-running TV talent competition.
12/20/2024
Charli XCX has invited Troye Sivan to Sweat with her some more. The Brat star opened the door for a one-time re-boot of her 2024 sold-out Sweat tour with Sivan on Thursday (Dec. 19) when she invited the “Rush” singer to join her on stage again next year. “ok so i know it’s already been […]
Katy Perry left an early gift under Katy Cats’ trees on Friday morning (Dec. 2) when she dropped a surprise deluxe edition of her 143 album, re-dubbed 1432. Even better, if features the previously unreleased tune “OK,” a Dr. Luke-produced mid-tempo pop bubbler on which Perry promises to stick with you, no matter what. Explore […]
Ringo Starr joined his Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney on the final night of the latter’s global ‘Got Back’ tour at London’s The O2 arena yesterday evening (Dec. 19).
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The drummer got behind his kit during the show’s encore to perform “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)” and “Helter Skelter.” Watch footage of the moment below.
After honoring his late bandmate John Lennon during “I’ve Got A Feeling,” McCartney said to a giddy crowd, “We’ve got another surprise for you. Bring to the stage the mighty, the one and only Mr Ringo Starr.” The pair hugged on stage before McCartney quipped, “Should we rock? Get on your kit la” to Ringo before the two-song appearance.
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The Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood also appeared onstage during the show, playing guitar on “Got Back.” McCartney introduced the song by talking about his old bass guitar that was stolen over 50 years ago, and was eventually returned after a public appeal. Holding the Höfner onstage, McCartney revealed that it was the bass’ first stage appearance since it had gone missing: “I haven’t played it in 50 years.”
The “Got Back” tour kicked off in 2022 and has seen the 82-year-old perform all over the globe, and included a headline performance at England’s Glastonbury Festival in June of that year. He then continued the run in the United States and through Latin America, eventually concluding with a run in Europe and a number of shows in the U.K. over the past few weeks.
The evening was a star-studded event with big-names such as Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, Kate Moss, Dame Judi Dench, Greta Gerwig and more all spotted in the crowd.
There was also a festive surprise with a performance of his 1979 song “Wonderful Christmastime,” accompanied by the Capital Choir who provided backing vocals on the song as snow confetti filled the venue.
Elsewhere he performed a number of Beatles classics, including “Let It Be”, “Hey Jude” and “Something”, alongside Wings and solo material cuts like “Live and Let Die” and “Band On The Run”. He looked visibly emotional at the conclusion of “Now and Then,” the ‘final’ Beatles song released in 2023 which was completed through the use of assistive AI. McCartney has no more shows lined up in the near future, but promised the crowd at the conclusion that “we’ll see you again soon”.
Time to show off your wickedly good singing chops, as Wicked dropped a buzzed-about sing-along version of its film soundtrack on Friday (Dec. 20) via Universal Pictures / Republic Records / Verve Records. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Fans can channel their inner Ariana Grande as Glinda or […]
Billie Eilish has been giving back during her Hit Me Hard and Soft tour. The superstar partnered with Support+Feed and American Express to provide support for small businesses across cities including Atlanta, Nashville, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The partnership […]
After seven years in a row as the top TV show for music synchs, Grey’s Anatomy has ben unseated as top dog, according to Tunefind.
Tunefind, a Songtradr company, has announced its top TV shows, movies, songs, artists and composers for the year, and according to Tunefind, the biggest show of the year was the U.S. version of Love Island.
The music discovery website Tunefind’s year-end rankings are based only on traffic and interaction on its website, which helps fans identify what song they heard in a TV show or film. Tunefind’s year-end charts are separate from the monthly Top TV Songs and Top Movie Songs charts, presented with Billboard. The monthly Top TV Songs chart ranks the top songs that appear in TV shows each month, using a combination of metrics from Tunefind and Luminate, while Top Movie Songs does the same for films released in the preceding three months.
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Love Island, which premiered in the U.S. in 2019 after multiple years of successful iterations abroad (beginning with the original in the United Kingdom), premiered its sixth season in June via Peacock. The 37-episode season featured a number of synchs in each edition, ranging from well-known tracks old (Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder on the Dancefloor”) and new (Chappell Roan’s “Red Wine Supernova”), as well as covers of familiar tunes.
It reigns over the return of Arcane, whose second season propels it to No. 2 on Tunefind’s year-end ranking. Netflix’s animated series from the League of Legends video game universe premiered season two in November, three years after the original. Its soundtrack, featuring a variety of original songs from Twenty One Pilots, Freya Ridings, Marcus King and more, debuted at No. 26 on the Billboard 200 dated Dec. 7 and rose to a new peak of No. 24 on the Dec. 17 tally.
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Grey’s Anatomy, the ABC series that had reigned for the past seven years since Tunefind began sharing its year-end data with Billboard, still maintains its standing as a TV synch juggernaut, ranking at No. 3 on Tunefind’s year-end report, while FX/Hulu’s The Bear and HBO’s Industry round out the top five. Speaking of HBO, its new series The Penguin tops the five-position ranking of the biggest new shows of the year in synchs.
The top TV song of the year in TV, however, is from none of those shows. The distinction belongs to Mazzy Star’s 1994 hit “Fade Into You,” No. 3 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart that September and the band’s only track to date to reach the Billboard Hot 100.
“Fade Into You”’s year-winning synch came from Netflix’s new series 3 Body Problem, which premiered in March.
Meanwhile, the top movie of the year for synchs was none other than Marvel and Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine, which premiered in July, followed by a home video release in October and streaming on Disney+ in November.
In fact, the film takes up the entire top 10 of Tunefind’s biggest movie synchs, led by *NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye,” which reached No. 4 on the Hot 100 in 2000 and returned to the ranking in August 2024 at No. 45 following the movie’s theatrical release.
Billie Eilish snags the distinction of the year’s top artist, while Ramin Djawadi takes the top composer honors. Eilish’s year included synchs in Heartstopper, True Detective, Love Island and more, and Djawadi contributed scores to 3 Body Problem, Fallout and the second season of House of the Dragon.
See each of the year-end rankings below.
Top Songs (TV)
“Fade Into You,” Mazzy Star (3 Body Problem)
“Only You,” The Platters (Fallout)
“Heartbeats,” Jose Gonzalez (Brilliant Minds)
“New Noise,” Refused (The Bear)
“Hope We Can Again,” Nine Inch Nails (The Bear)
“Together,” Nine Inch Nails (The Bear)
“White Rabbit,” Jefferson Airplane (Reacher)
“You and I,” Leon (Nobody Wants This/English Teacher)
“Everything In Its Right Place, Radiohead (Everything In Its Right Place)
“See Her Out (That’s Just Life),” Francis and the Lights (Nobody Wants This)
Top Songs (Film)
“Bye Bye Bye,” *NSYNC (Deadpool & Wolverine)
“The Lady in Red,” Chris De Burgh (Deadpool & Wolverine)
“Only You,” The Platters (Deadpool & Wolverine)
“Like a Prayer,” Madonna (Deadpool & Wolverine)
“SLASH,” Stray Kids (Deadpool & Wolverine)
“I’m With You,” Avril Lavigne (Deadpool & Wolverine)
“Angel of the Morning,” Merrilee Rush & the Turnarounds (Deadpool & Wolverine)
“Iris,” Goo Goo Dolls (Deadpool & Wolverine)
“The Power of Love,” Huey Lewis and the News (Deadpool & Wolverine)
“The Greatest Show,” Hugh Jackman with Keala Settle, Zac Efron, Zendaya & The Greatest Showman Ensemble (Deadpool & Wolverine)
Top TV Shows
Love Island (U.S.) (Supervisor: Jordan Young)
Arcane (Jen Malone & Nicole Weisberg)
Grey’s Anatomy (Justin Kamps)
The Bear (Josh Senior & Christopher Storer)
Industry (Ollie White)
All American (Madonna Wade-Reed)
The Rookie (Liza Richardson & Marc Mondello)
True Detective (Susan Jacobs)
Tell Me Lies (Kristen Higurea & Maggie Phillips)
Heartstopper (Mat Biffa)
Top TV Shows, New
The Penguin (Supervisors: Jen Malone & Whitney Pilzer)
Nobody Wants This (Este Haim, Zachary Dawes & Kristen Higurea)
Tracker (Robin Urdang)
The Day of the Jackal (Catherine Grieves)
English Teacher (Jen Ross)
Top Movies
Deadpool & Wolverine (Supervisor: Dave Jordan)
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (Rupert Hollier)
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (James Balmont)
Twisters (Rachel Levy)
It Ends With Us (Season Kent)
Road House (Randall Poster)
The Fall Guy (Rachel Levy)
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (Sarah Maniquis-Garrisi)
Challengers (Robin Urdang)
Venom: The Last Dance (Spring Aspers)
Top Artists
Billie Eilish
Taylor Swift
Radiohead
The Rolling Stones
Nina Simone
Massive Attack
Beck
Mazzy Star
The Cure
Goo Goo Dolls
Top Composers
Ramin Djawadi
Rob Simonsen
Max Richter
Hans Zimmer
Jeff Russo
Dave Porter
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
Kris Bowers
Christopher Lennertz
Tyler Bates
K-pop tracks continues to dominate playlists and charts worldwide with 2024 being no exception. This year, top artists delivered an incredible array of songs that define the genre’s innovative spirit, emotional depth and increasing international appeal. As the year winds down, Billboard wants to know which track resonated with you the most. 2024 saw major […]