Postie will deliver his biggest-ever headline shows in Australia and New Zealand when his BIG ASS World Tour swings down under this October.

Produced by Live Nation, Post Malone’s four-date stadium jaunt gets underway Oct. 9 at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium, then stops at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium (Oct. 12), Sydney’s ENGIE Stadium (Oct. 15), and wraps up at Auckland’s Go Media Stadium on Oct. 21. Don Toliver will be joining Post Malone as “special guest” on those dates.

The U.S. singer and rapper’s fans in the regions won’t miss out. Malone’s lap of Australia will include spots on the Strummingbird Festival bill in Ballarat (Oct. 10), Newcastle (Oct. 17) and Queensland’s Sunshine Coast (Oct. 18).

The “Rockstar” artist is familiar with the biggest venues in these parts. He opened for Red Hot Chili Peppers’ on the rockers’ six-date Australasian stadium run in early 2023, and later that year headlined headline Spilt Milk festival, which visited Canberra, Ballarat and Perth. On that festival run, he enamored himself even further with locals when he performed a “shoey” by drinking beer out of fans’ boots while on stage.

Post Malone gets it done on the Australia charts, too. His seven albums have all impacted the ARIA top 10, including No. 1s for Beerbongs & Bentleys in 2018, Hollywood’s Bleeding in 2019. His most recent collection, the 2024 country album from F-1 Trillion, flew to No. 2.

Spreading over two years, and two legs, the Big Ass world tour marks a continuation of Malone’s recent pivot toward country and roots-influenced sounds, a direction that has broadened his audience in recent years.

As previously reported, Postie pushed back the opening of his U.S. run earlier this year with Jelly Roll, as he got down to work on completing his forthcoming album, reportedly titled The Eternal Buzz. A release date hasn’t been announced.

Tickets for Postie’s Australasian shows will be available starting with an artist presale beginning Tuesday, May 26. The general onsale then starts on Thursday, May 28. 

Visit postmalone.com, livenation.com.au/register and livenation.co.nz/register for more. See here for further information on Strummingbird Festival dates.

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The “Big Ass World Tour” Australia & New Zealand 2026 Dates:
Oct. 9 – Marvel Stadium, Melbourne, AUS
Oct. 10 – Strummingbird Festival, Ballarat, AUS
Oct. 12 – Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, AUS
Oct. 15 – ENGIE Stadium, Sydney, AUS
Oct. 17 – Strummingbird Festival, Newcastle, AUS
Oct. 18 – Strummingbird Festival, Sunshine Coast, AUS
Oct. 21 – Go Media Stadium, Auckland, NZ

SYDNEY, Australia — There’s a changing of the guard at TEG, as Brad Banducci announces his departure a year to the month since he was unveiled as the new chief executive of the Australia-based live entertainment, ticketing and tech giant.

At the same time, Cameron Hoy, chief operating officer and head of global ticketing, rises into the vacant, top position.

“When I joined the Group just over a year ago, I came in to do a specific role – to set the Group up for the next horizon of growth,” Banducci comments in a statement. “I felt the time was right to transition leadership of the group.”

Hoy is appointed as group CEO, with effect from June 1. “Cam has been part of the live entertainment and ticketing industry for more than 20 years,” Banducci adds, “through growth, change and every version of this industry and it feels appropriate to pass on the baton to someone who has made such a major contribution to building the Group we have today and who is committed to the next chapter of delivering as the partner of choice for venues across the live events spectrum.”

South Africa-born Banducci joined TEG with upwards of 30 years’ leadership experience in the retail and consumer spaces, most recently as CEO of Woolworths Group, the market leading Australia supermarket chain, serving in the top role from 2015 to 2024. Earlier, he was managing director of Woolworths Liquor (Endeavour Group), CEO of Cellarmasters Group, and CFO of Tyro Payments, and spent 15 years with The Boston Consulting Group, specializing in retail and corporate development.

Banducci’s appointment to TEG signaled a switch-up at the helm with long-standing CEO Geoff Jones transitioning into the chairmanship.

Hoy has been climbing the ladder at TEG since he joined the company in January 2019. In 2023, he was elevated from managing director at Ticketek to his most recent group-wide role as COO and head of global touring at TEG.

“TEG exists to partner with the world’s best venues, promoters and rightsholders to connect fans to the moments that matter most and I am honored to lead such an entrepreneurial business and team,” Hoy said on his promotion to group CEO.

TEG Group is owned by Silver Lake, the U.S.-based private equity company which specializes in technology investing, through a deal struck in 2019 worth more than A$1.3 billion.

Based in Sydney, TEG’s empire collects the ticketing powerhouse Ticketek, TEG Dainty, TEG Van Egmond, plus TEG Live, TEG Sport, TEG Experiences, Ovation and other businesses.

Founded in 1979, Ticketek’s Australian presence sells over 23 million tickets to more than 20,000 events each year, according to a statement on its official website, including concerts at ANZ Stadium, Qudos Bank Arena, Rod Laver Arena, Hisense Arena, Suncorp Stadium, and Brisbane Entertainment Centre.

An updated version of the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act was reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate on Wednesday (May 20) with a wide coalition of music industry support, including from the three major music companies, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Recording Academy and the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA).

The bill, which aims to establish federal rights around likeness for individuals portrayed in digital deepfakes, was first introduced in 2024. While it has maintained steadfast support within the music industry ever since, including a co-sign from country star Randy Travis last year, it has also increasingly gained the support of the tech giants. Last year, OpenAI, Google and IBM announced their support of the bill, and now, with this latest reintroduction, Spotify and Getty are signing on as well.

Some critics, however, have warned that such legislation is too aggressive and could hamper free speech. By granting people a broad new way to sue over the use of their likenesses on the internet — existing state laws are more limited, covering only commercial exploitation — opponents of previous versions of the NO FAKES Act have warned that it could force online platforms to self-censor and remove too much content out of fear of legal liability.

The bill’s authors say they’ve avoided those pitfalls with the latest version, which they say has “carefully calibrated exceptions” aimed at ensuring “open discourse,” including explicit carve-outs for news coverage, biopics and criticism. There is also protection from liability for libraries and similar organizations.

The other updates to the bill are to ensure that the enforcement mechanisms work for a wide variety of platforms — whether it’s a user-generated platform, like YouTube, or a more curated one, like Spotify. Now, the way disputes are processed and enforced will be tailored to what kind of platform the issue occurs on. For a site that relies on user-generated content, it offers a “safe harbor,” meaning the platform will not be held liable for a user’s deepfake upload to its site as long as it follows the rules and takes down the content when it’s alerted to it. The updated bill also now allows for challenges to incorrect takedown notices.

The goal of NO FAKES is to provide nationwide protection over one’s voice and likeness in the case of “digital replicas,” which include — but are not limited to — deepfakes created by artificial intelligence. This is an increasingly pressing issue for the music industry, as artists, including Taylor Swift — who recently applied for new trademarks on the sound of her voice, a move seemingly designed to combat deepfakes — face issues with the dissemination of images and songs that contain AI recreations of themselves.

Currently, artists’ only protection against AI deepfakes is from some states’ right of publicity laws, which vary widely in the level of protection they provide. Some states, like Tennessee, have updated their publicity rights laws to cover issues specific to the AI age, but many have not. NO FAKES’ proponents believe the bill could create a baseline level of protection for all citizens.

The NO FAKES Act was first introduced as a draft bill in 2023 and formally introduced to the Senate in the summer of 2024. Other music industry supporters include CAA, BMI, American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), Academy of Country Music, Human Artistry Campaign, Music Artists Coalition, American Federation of Musicians (AFM), ASCAP, SAG-AFTRA, SESAC, Songwriters of North America (SONA), Sound Exchange, Christian Music Trade Association, Folk Alliance International and more.

Additional reporting by Bill Donahue.

Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip. 
 
This week: Drake’s biggest Iceman hit changes hands day-to-day, Yung Miami has a breakout solo hit, Noah Kahan’s blockbuster new album has a viral bonus cut and more.

‘Janice STFU’ Takes Over as Drake’s Top Iceman Song

Drake has obviously been the story of the streaming world this week, as his triple-release of new albums — Iceman, Maid of Honour and Habibti — has been setting all sorts of first-day and first-week marks on DSPs, and generally taking over discussion, as fans debate the merits of the albums and the strategy behind them. But while fans ingest the three albums and the combined 43 tracks between them, one song has begun to separate from the pack as the streaming favorite: “Janice STFU.”

In the days since the albums’ release, the Sopranos-referencing (and even Sopranos-sampling) Iceman cut has taken over as Drake’s top song — and indeed, the top song period — on the U.S. daily streaming charts for both Spotify and Apple Music. While its release Friday (May 16) saw Iceman opener “Make Them Cry” as the sets’ most-streamed cut with 14.1 million first-day official on-demand U.S. streams, according to early data provided by Luminate, by Saturday “STFU Janice” had taken over as the most-streamed cut with just over 6.2 million, narrowly beating out the Future- and Molly Santana-featuring “Ran 2 Atlanta” at just under 6.2 million. (“Make Them Cry” had dropped to 5.1 million.)

As of Monday, “Janice” was still pacing the set with 5.4 million daily plays, while also delighting fans and superproducers and NBA MVPs and even the progeny of West Coast rap royalty. In other words, if you’re wondering about the most likely breakout hit from the 43 new Drake songs in our lives this week — or maybe even the biggest threat to take over at No. 1 on next week’s Billboard Hot 100 — you should probably start here. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

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Yung Miami Eyes New Solo Hit As ‘Spend Dat’ Takes Off on Streaming 

It’s been almost five years since Yung Miami scored her first unaccompanied Hot 100 entry with “Rap Freaks” (No. 81) — and it looks like her second is on the way. 

Co-signed by Fat Joe and Jadakiss and steadily winning over social media, “Spend It” arrived on April 24, alongside its official music video. The hook-laden mid-tempo track finds the former City Girls member exploring familiar territory — scamming and contemporary romance — and its catchy hook has won over audiences due to its sing-songy cadence and Miami’s Opa-locka-rooted accent. 

Miami has also been hitting the promo circuit in anticipation of her forthcoming solo debut studio album, even sharing an EP of alternate version for fans who felt the song would sound better if sped up. Her presence and dedication to the record — combined with early skeptics eventually coming around — have resulted in notable streaming gains. According to Luminate, “Spend Dat” collected a little over 1 million official on-demand U.S. streams during the week of May 1-7. That figure leapt 107% to over 2.23 million official streams the following week (May 8-14). 

On May 9, TikTok user @/mrflawdaaa (a popular creator who’s launched viral dances for artists like Bossman Dlow), shared a “Spend Dat” dance challenge, racking up nearly 600,000 views and sparking a legitimate trend. Yung Miami hopped on the trend by May 17, with her post earning over 1.3 million views. During the weekend of May 8-10, “Spend Dat” earned over 870,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, with that figure jumping 107% to over 1.8 million official streams the following weekend, which reflects about a week of the dance trend’s burgeoning virality. 

On TikTok, the official “Spend Dat” sound plays in nearly 8,000 clips, while the sound attached to her On the Radar performance of the song can be heard in 17,000 additional posts. “Spend Dat” also plays in over 3,300 Instagram Reels. With a “Spend Dat” Goyard giveaway in process, a gas drive in her hometown of Miami on May 17 and the full album still on the way — expect “Spend Dat” to continue growing as the summer heats up. — KYLE DENIS 

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Noah Kahan’s ‘Orbiter’ Is Becoming a Breakout Bonus Track

Not far behind Drake, the reception for Noah Kahan’s The Great Divide album is undoubtedly becoming one of the streaming stories of the year. Not only did the album generate enough blockbuster-sized numbers during its debut week to chart all 17 tracks on the Hot 100 — as well as four extra bonus cuts, added to the album before the end of its first day of release — but the 21 combined Kahan songs all continued to stream well enough in the album’s second week to spend a second week on the chart, a rare level of week-over-week consistency for such a big debut.

While the decline has been slow, the great majority of the 21 songs have slipped week-to-week in streams from that debut week. But “Orbiter,” a tender ballad included as one of the four bonus cuts added to the album slightly after the fact, has actually begun to gain, and is now positioned to be one of the biggest and longest-lasting hits from this Kahan era.

The growth has come from TikTok’s embrace of the song as a trending audio, with its sentimental “I circle you” chorus soundtracking many thousands of clips — most from one half of a couple paying tribute to the other, but also including infinite varieties on that theme. Another similar audio focusing on the “even anxious pups need the moon” part of the refrain has become a predictable favorite among pet-owners, with Kahan himself indulging in such a video last week, captioning it “This trend is making my eyes dusty.”

The impact of these trends has been evident in the song’s official on-demand U.S. audio streams, which have climbed from 4.6 million for the tracking week ending Apr. 30 (just after the album’s release) to 5.3 million the week ending May 7 and 6.7 million the week ending May 14 — in total a 46% gain from release week. Meanwhile, the song has climbed from No. 79 to No. 56 on the Hot 100, leapfrogging several songs on the album that initially debuted higher than it, and threatening to jump into the chart’s top half next week as it continues to dustify eyes of listeners across the country. – AU

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PinkPantheress Celebrates One Year of ‘Fancy That’ Era with One More Streaming Hit 

From “Illegal” to “Stateside” — not to mention double Grammy nominations — PinkPantheress’ Fancy That era has been a resounding success. On May 8, she shared the official “Girl Like Me” music video to celebrate her mixtape’s first birthday — and sneakily launch her latest streaming hit. 

About a month before the music video arrived, “Girl Like Me” earned just over one million official on-demand U.S. streams during the week of April 10-16. That figure jumped 56% over the following two weeks to over 1.69 million official streams during the period of April 24-30, according to Luminate. By the week of May 8-14, which accounts for the first full week of the music video’s release, “Girl Like Me” leapt a further 69% to over 2.85 million official weekly streams. Over the past four weeks, “Girl Like Me” has exploded by over 165% in streaming activity. 

Notably, there’s also a mashup of “Girl Like Me” and Snow Strippers’ “Under Your Spell” that’s been dominating TikTok over the past 4-5 months, playing in over 125,000 clips on the platform, with most of those finding users recreating Pink’s live choreography for her song. “Girl Like Me” also currently plays in over 12,000 Instagram Reels. 

Already a No. 13 hit on Billboard‘s Dance/Pop Songs chart, “Girl Like Me” could potentially make Fancy That the soundtrack for a second consecutive summer. — K.D.