Every Song That Topped the UK Chart for 8 or More Weeks, But Didn’t Make the Top 10 on the Hot 100

Music fans in the United States and the United Kingdom often agree on big hits. Six songs have logged 10 or more weeks at No. 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100, the flagship chart for success in the U.S., and the Official Singles Chart in the U.K. Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” from The Bodyguard (1992-93) became the first song to reach double digits in weeks at No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic. Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” (2025) marked the most recent.

In between those two megahits, four other singles achieved the feat: Drake‘s “One Dance,” featuring WizKid & Kyla (2016), Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” (2017), Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee‘s “Despacito,” featuring Justin Bieber (2017) and Harry Styles’ “As It Was” (2022).

But music fans in our two countries don’t always agree. “Rein Me In” by Sam Fender and Olivia Dean is currently in its eighth week at No. 1 on the Official Singles Chart in the U.K., but it hasn’t broken through in nearly the same way on the Hot 100. This week, it drops from its No. 64 high point to No. 73. Part of the problem is that two other Dean hits simply refuse to yield: “Man I Need” (which holds at its No. 2 peak) and “So Easy (to Fall in Love)” (which keeps at its No. 6 high). Both are catchier and closer to the core sound in pop music right now. And while Fender is an established star in the U.K., with four top 10 hits, this is his first Hot 100 hit.

“Rein Me In” could be one of those records that takes its sweet time but finally kicks in. But if it does fall short of the top 10 on the Hot 100, which seems likely, it will be the ninth song since 1958 (when the Hot 100 originated) to log eight or more weeks at No. 1 on the Official Singles Chart in the U.K. but fall short of the top 10 on the Hot 100.

Here’s a complete list of those songs, in chronological order:

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‘America Laughs with Matt Friend’ on Sling TV: Here’s How to Watch the Late-Night Comedy Special Online

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During the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, comedian Matt Friend hosts America Laughs with Matt Friend, a new late-night comedy special that combines comedy with politics. You can watch the political satire online with Sling TV.

Watch ‘America Laughs with Matt Friend,’ at a Glance:

  • Date & Time: Friday, Apr. 24, at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT
  • Network: CNN
  • Stream: Sling Orange
watch NY Knicks vs. LA Lakers with Sling TV

“Comedy and politics have always had a unique connection, and I’m excited to bring that bipartisan energy to Washington with CNN for this special,” says Matt Friend in a statement. “We are in an increasingly divided country and world. For my show with CNN, I aim to poke fun at everyone and allow room for all to laugh in a Johnny Carson spirit.”

When Does ‘America Laughs with Matt Friend’ Start?

America Laughs with Matt Friend broadcasts on Friday, Apr. 24, with a start time of 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT.

Where to Watch ‘America Laughs with Matt Friend’ Online

The America Laughs with Matt Friend airs on CNN, and it also streams on Sling Orange. Keep reading for more details on how cord-cutters can watch the political satire online with Sling TV.

How to Watch ‘America Laughs with Matt Friend’ With Sling TV

A subscription to Sling Orange, which comes with CNN, gets you access to live TV from top-rated cable channels.

You can watch networks, including ESPN, Disney Channel, Freeform, MotorTrend, A&E, AMC, BBC America, BET, Comedy Central, Food Network, Fuse, HGTV, History Channel, IFC, Lifetime, Nick Jr., QVC, TBS, TNT, Travel Channel, Vice and many others.

Meanwhile, starting at $4.99 for the One-Day Pass, you can access Sling Orange for 24 hours. The Three-Day Pass starts at $9.99 to access Sling Orange for 72 hours. In addition, the Seven-Day Pass, which goes for $14.99, gets you access for an entire week of Sling Orange.

Starting at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT, America Laughs with Matt Friend airs on CNN, while it’s available to livestream on Sling TV on Friday, Apr. 24.

watch ‘America Laughs with Matt Friend’ with Sling TV

Please note: Prices and channel availability depends on your local TV market. You can learn more about Sling TV here.


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Baltimore Orioles to Honor Hometown Rockers Turnstile With ‘Turnstile Night’

It’s not exactly a holiday, but Turnstile will get the next best thing on July 10 when their hometown baseball team, the Baltimore Orioles, host a special night in the “Blackout” band’s honor. The “Turnstile Night” during the game against the Kansas City Royals will feature the option of a special ticket package that includes a limited-edition Orioles jersey with the team name on the front and the band’s name across the back over the number 26.

The team announced that while Turnstile will not be performing at the stadium that night, they will be on hand to serve as guest “Splashers,” lending a hand to mascot “Mr. Splash” by spraying fans with a hose in certain sections when the Orioles get an extra base hit. The Turnstile event is one of many themed games on tap for the Orioles this summer, including a Diary of a Wimpy Kid Day on June 14, an anime night featuring Naruto on June 29, a Grateful Dead night on Aug. 5 — complete with a dancing bear bucket hat giveaway — and a Bravo night with The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip on Aug. 19.

It’s not the first time the band has teamed up with the Orioles. Back in August 2023, they took the mound to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at Camden Yards, with guitarist Pat McCrory doing the honors as bandmates singer Brendan Yates, bassist Franz Lyons and drummer Daniel Fang provided support.

Turnstile just wrapped up their second weekend performing at Coachella and they will be back on stage on May 8 with a set at the Welcome to Rockville festival in Daytona Beach, Fl., followed by the Kilby Block Party in Salt Lake City on May 15 and Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tenn. on June 12. The group will then travel to Japan for Fuji Rock on July 24 and continue criss-crossing North America, Europe and the U.K. playing festivals through an early Oct. date at the FORM Acrosanti 2026 Festival in Mayer, Ariz.


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Decade-In-the-Making Travis Barker Doc ‘Louder Than Fear’ Coming to Hulu This Summer

Travis Barker is ready to tell his story his way. The Blink-182 drummer will be the subject of the decade-in-the-making Hulu documentary Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear this summer, a peek behind the beloved time-keeper’s life.

Announcing the project on Wednesday (Apr. 22) at Hulu’s second-annual Get Real House event, where a slate of other upcoming reality shows were revealed, Barker said the project is an “unfiltered look at my journey after a life-changing experience and also spotlights the amazing people I have in my life who carried me through it. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to document it and be able to share it with all of you.”

Barker explained that the documentary began 10 years ago, describing the time in between as a “wild, wild ride.” According to Deadline, the doc will show Barker dealing with the aftermath of the deadly 2008 crash of a Learjet in South Carolina that killed four people and critically injured Barker and his late best friend, Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein; Goldstein was found dead a year later in his New York apartment from a drug overdose.

The site said Louder Than Fear will follow Barker as “he embarks on a raw and redemptive journey, which started after surviving a devastating plane crash that nearly took his life … beneath the spectacle of fame, the film reveals a complex man battling pain, grief and the thin line between survival and surrender.” At press time a release date had not been announced for the project.

It will feature appearances from Barker’s collaborators, friends and family. The project is being produced by Media Weaver Entertainment and directed by Justin Krook and Michael Dwyer, with additional production by Matthew Weaver and Nick Stern and executive producers Lawrence Vavra and John Janick. Barker and wife Kourtney Kardashian previously teamed with Hulu in 2023 on ‘Til Death Do Us Park Kourtney & Travis, which followed the couple’s lavish wedding in Portofino, Italy.

The drummer can be heard now on Coca-Cola’s new FIFA World Cup anthem “Jump,” a re-imagining of the 1984 Van Halen classic that also features Colombian superstar J Balvin, soulful singer Amber Mark and iconic guitarist Steve Vai (Frank Zappa, Whitesnake).


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Spotify Reveals First-Ever Most Streamed Artists, Songs and Albums List: Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny and The Weeknd Are Tops

It was 20 years ago today that Spotify began to play. And to mark the streaming service’s big anniversary, for the first time ever on Thursday (April 23) Spotify shared its list of the most streamed artists, songs, albums, podcasts and audiobooks in its history.

Some of the artists at the top of the music categories won’t surprise anyone. You would expect Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, Drake, the Weeknd and Ed Sheeran to feature prominently given their domination during the streaming era. There are, of course, plenty of veteran acts in the mix on the most-streamed of all time list as well — Rihanna, Eminem, Coldplay, Kanye West — but the real interesting mix is on the top 20 most streamed albums tally.

That’s where Benito’s smash 2022 album, Un Verano Sin Ti, with a record 22 billion total streams to date, is No. 1, followed by The Weeknd’s 2016 album Starboy, Ed Sheeran’s ≠ (Deluxe), Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour and another one by The Weeknd, After Hours. Abel is tops on the most-streamed songs tally as well, with “Blinding Lights” coming in at No. 1, followed by Sheeran’s “Shape of You,” The Neighbourhood’s “Sweater Weather,” the Weeknd and Daft Punk’s “Starboy” and Harry Styles’ “As It Was.”

Check out the full lists below.

Most-streamed artists of all time on Spotify:

1. Taylor Swift

2. Bad Bunny

3. Drake

4. The Weeknd

5. Ariana Grande

6. Ed Sheeran

7. Justin Bieber

8. Billie Eilish

9. Eminem

10. Kanye West

11. Travis Scott

12. BTS

13. Post Malone

14. Bruno Mars

15. J Balvin

16. Rihanna

17. Coldplay

18. Kendrick Lamar

19. Future

20. Juice WRLD

Most-streamed albums of all time on Spotify:

1. Un Verano Sin Ti by Bad Bunny

2. Starboy by The Weeknd

3. ÷ (Deluxe) by Ed Sheeran

4. Sour by Olivia Rodrigo

5. After Hours by The Weeknd

6. SOS by SZA

7. Hollywood’s Bleeding by Post Malone

8. Lover by Taylor Swift

9. AM by Arctic Monkeys

10. When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? by Billie Eilish

11. Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa

12. Beerbongs & Bentleys by Post Malone

13. ? by XXXTentacion

14. Mañana Será Bonito (Bichota Season) By Karol G

15. YHLQMDLG by Bad Bunny

16. Doo-Wops & Hooligans by Bruno Mars

17. Views by Drake

18. Midnights by Taylor Swift

19. Scorpion by Drake

20. Beauty Behind the Madness by the Weeknd

Most-streamed songs of all time on Spotify:

1. “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd

2. “Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran

3. “Sweater Weather” by The Neighbourhood

4. “Starboy” by The Weeknd and Daft Punk

5. “As It Was” by Harry Styles

6. “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi

7. “Sunflower (from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) by Post Malone and Swae Lee

8. “One Dance” by Drake, Wizkid and Kyla

9. “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran

10. “Stay” by the Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber

11. “Believer” by Imagine Dragons

12. “I Wanna Be Yours” by Arctic Monkeys

13. “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals

14. “Lovely (with Khalid)” by Billie Eilish and Khalid

15. “Yellow” by Coldplay

16. “The Night We Met” by Lord Huron

17. “Closer” by the Chainsmokers and Halsey

18. “Birds of a Feather” by Billie Eilish

19. “Riptide” by Vance Joy

20. “Die With a Smile” by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars

Most-streamed podcasts of all time:

1. The Joe Rogan Experience

2. Gemischtes Hack

3. Crime Junkie

4. Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

5. Last Podcast On The Left

6. The Daily

7. Fest & Flauschig

8. Morbid

9. My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

10. Relatos de la Noche

11. Call Her Daddy

12. Não Inviabilize

13. Pardon My Take

14. Distractible

15. La Cotorrisa

16. Dateline NBC

17. Mordlust

18. Baywatch Berlin

19. Hobbylos

20. Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén

Most-streamed audiobooks in premium of all time on Spotify:

1. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

2. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

3. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

4. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

5. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

6. Lights Out by Ted Koppel

7. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

8. The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

9. The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

10. Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

11. The Woman in Me by Britney Spears

12. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

13. Icebreaker by Hannah Grace

14. It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

15. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

16. A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

17. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

18. The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden

19. Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

20. Funny Story by Emily Henry


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Olivia Dean Kicks Off ‘The Art of Loving’ World Tour in Glasgow: See Full Setlist

Olivia Dean kicked off her global The Art of Loving arena tour in Glasgow, Scotland on Wednesday night (April 22). The show at the city’s OVO Hydro is the first of an upcoming slate that will take the London-born artist to some of the biggest venues of her career.

Related

Olivia Dean

Olivia Dean’s ‘The Art of Loving’: All 12 Tracks Ranked

The U.K. leg will see her play six nights at London’s 20,000-capacity O2 Arena alongside dates in Manchester, and then heading to Ireland for shows in Dublin. The tour kick-off saw Dean debut a number of tracks from the Art of Loving live for the first time, including “I’ve Seen It” and “Baby Steps.” Dean performed her sophomore album in full during the 23-track set – see the full setlist for the show below.

Elsewhere, Dean covered a classic from Curtis Mayfield, taking on his 1970 track “Move On Up” for the first time. A number of Dean’s tracks from her debut album Messy were also in the mix, including fan favorites “Ladies Room” and “Dive.”

Deep cuts from her earliest releases, including “OK Love You Bye,” were also perfomed, as well as “It Isn’t Perfect But It Might Be,” her entry to the soundtrack of the 2025 film Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.

“Rein Me In,” a collaboration with Sam Fender that is currently in its eighth week at No. 1 on the U.K. Singles Chart, was not included in the show. Fender and Dean have performed the song only a handful of times together, including at the former’s 80,000-capacity show in London last June.

The U.K. leg continues with a second show in Glasgow on Thursday (April 23). The tour will hit North America from July onwards.


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Nick Jonas Announces Intimate ‘A Night with Nick’ Shows

Nick Jonas wants you to get up close and personal.

Following the release of his solo album Sunday Best (via Republic Records), the Jonas Brother announces a special run of intimate shows across six east coast cities this June, all bearing the name A Night With Nick.

A Night With Nick will get underway June 4 at Fallsview Casino Resort in Niagara Falls, NY; visit venues in Hanover, MD; Charlotte, NC; Atlanta, GA, Danville, VA; and wraps up June 13 at Hard Rock in Atlantic City, NJ.

According to reps, Jonas will showcase songs from Sunday Best alongside fan-favorite tracks from his catalog, and more in what will be a limited series of shows.

Sunday Best opened at No. 30 on the Billboard 200 chart, and was led by the single “Gut Punch,” which Jonas debuted live last November while on tour in Las Vegas, and later performed on The Tonight Show.

It’s Jonas’ fifth solo album, and the follow-up to 2021’s Spaceman, which reached No. 12 on the Billboard 200. Since then, he released two albums with brothers Joe and Kevin: 2023’s The Album and 2025’s Greetings From Your Hometown, both of which charted in the top 10.

Later in the year, the JoBro and Power Ballad star will take a sharp turn when he co-stars with Kathryn Newton (Ready or Not 2: Here I Come) in MRC’s holiday horror film White Elephant. According to Deadline, the film directed by Eli Craig (Clown in a Cornfield) will tell the story of “Eight friends. One prize. Zero trust. Their annual festive holiday gift exchange spirals into a cutthroat game of Christmas carnage.” Jonas is among the producers through his Powered By Jonas company.

Go large with the popcorn, because Jonas is slated to co-star in a bunch of big screen projects, including the latest Jumanji sequel from Columbia Pictures, alongside Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black and Kevin Hart, and he’s also on board for the high-stakes thriller Bodyman, from director Gary Fleder (Reacher).

Pre-sales for A Night with Nick begin today, April 23, from 10:00 am ET, and the general ticket on-sale begins Friday, April 24, at 10:00 am ET.

“A Night With Nick” Dates:

June 4 — Fallsview Casino Resort, Niagara Falls, NY

June 6 — The HALL at Live!, Hanover, MD

June 7 — The Fillmore Charlotte, Charlotte, NC

June 10 — Tabernacle, Atlanta, GA

June 11 — The Pantheon at Caesars Virginia, Danville, VA

June 13 — Hard Rock, Atlantic City, NJ

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Ball Park Music, Jem Cassar-Daley Win Big at 2026 QMAs

With two trophies each, Ball Park Music and Jem Cassar-Daley were the big winners at the 2026 Queensland Music Awards, presented Wednesday night (April 22) on the Gold Coast for the very first time.

Cassar-Daley was on hand to collect the pop award for “Kiss Me Like You’re Leaving,” and doubled up with the song of the year award, the second time she has collected the honor.

On winning the night’s major prize, Cassar-Daley quipped: “To say I wasn’t expecting this is an absolute understatement.” When her name was called out, she was eating a “few little carrot sticks” with her mother, the veteran broadcaster Laurel Edwards. “Honestly, every year I feel like I’m more and more blown away by the talent that comes out of Queensland, and Brisbane. But it’s also the support from venues, metro and regional.”

By winning song of the year, Cassar-Daley, daughter of homegrown country music great Troy Cassar-Daley, is awarded with a plaque on the Walk of Fame in Brisbane’s Brunswick Street Mall. She already has one, for nabbing song of the year in 2024 with “King of Disappointment.”

Ball Park Music capped a massive 12 months with a brace for their eighth album, Like Love, which won QMAs for album of the year and highest selling album. Like Love went to No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart in April 2025, the band’s first leader after long streak of near-misses which included three titles that peaked at No. 2: Puddinghead (2014), Ball Park Music (2020), and Weirder & Weirder (2022). Later in 2025, the band opened for Oasis on the reunited Britpop legends’ stadium tour of Australia.

“We have loved being a band for almost 20 years now. To get together and to make songs together, has always been a labor of love,” frontman Sam Cromack remarked after winning album of the year. “It’s a great honor to win an award but it’s never been the driving force. We absolutely love making music together and performing music. So to have an honor like this is very special.” With his final words, a blunt reminder of the important things in life. “Go and start a f—ing band,” he remarked.

Young Franco, too, knows a little about life in the winners’ circle. Just 24 hours after he was inducted into the Valley Walk of Fame, a permanent reminder of his 2025 song of the year win for “Wake Up” featuring Master Peace, Franco made the trip 50 miles south to the QMAs where he snagged the 2026 electronic award for “Lose Control.” Franco was tapped for Spotify’s RADAR emerging artist program in 2024, as he opened for Dom Dolla on the EDM superstar’s record-breaking tour of Australia.

Other winners at the 2026 QMAs included Hollow Coves (export artist of the year), FISHER (highest Selling single for “Stay”) and 4ZZZ, the Brisbane community radio station that was presented with the lifetime achievement award in recognition of 50 years on air, supporting homegrown acts, and for the station’s epic fights for good causes.

4ZZZ isn’t a station. It’s an institution in the domestic music community. “This award is a testament to every artist we’ve ever played before anyone else would, every volunteer who showed up on a Sunday morning and every listener who tuned in because they wanted something real,” commented 4ZZZ presenter, Quentin Ellison of Friday Neon. “Queensland music has always been world class, and we’ve just been lucky enough to have a front row seat.”

Guests and presenters at the Miami Marketta included ex-Powderfinger and the Church guitarist Ian Haug; former Powderfinger bandmate, now venue operator and night-life economy commissioner John “JC” Collins; Hutchies chairman Scott Hutchinson; and Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate.

“We’re serious about our creative enterprise and understand the importance of supporting events such as the QMAs,” commented Tate. “We’re not just talking about it, we’re investing in our cultural capital with new venues such as the Gold Coast Music Hall under construction and the Gold Coast Arena in the pipeline.”

Launched in 2006 and presented by QMusic, the awards are the state’s peak recognition of musical excellence with support by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland. Each category is judged by a panel of over 100 industry professionals.

Performers included Screamfeeder, DZ Deathrays, Dami Im, Sunny Luwe, Tori Darke and others, while broadcasters Ash McGregor and Matt Okine were presenters.

The full list of QMAs category and scholarship winners can be seen at qmusic.com.au/qma and below.

Full list of the 2026 Queensland Music Award Winners

Category Award Winners
Blues/Roots — Lontano, “Way Too Long”
Children’s Music — Joff Bush, I Don’t Have a Chimney (ft. Emma Dean)
Contemporary Classical — Abigail Lui & Camerata, Memory in the Distant Hills (presented by Griffith University)
Country — Tori Darke, “Remember Me Like That”
Electronic — Young Franco, “Lose Control” (presented by Comiskey Group)
Folk — The Dreggs, “We Don’t Talk”
Heavy — Upsetter, “Best Years of My Life” (presented by The Lanes Fortitude Valley Festival)
Hip Hop — Say True God?, “COUNT US IN” (presented by Eumundi Brewery)
Jazz — Dami Im, Bubble
Music for Screen — Georgia D’Arcy, Creek
Music Video of the Year — Loki Liddle & Joshua Tate, “Breaking Into Heaven (from the album Selve) (presented by PixelFrame)
Pop presented by ARUGA — Jem Cassar-Daley, Kiss Me Like You’re Leaving
Rock presented by Miami Marketta — DZ Deathrays, Skyline
Soul/Funk/RnB — BADASSMUTHA, BUB
World Award presented by 612 ABC Brisbane — Tenzin Choegyal, Snow Flower

People’s Choice Awards presented by Oztix and The Music
Festival of the Year — Maleny Music Festival
Metro Venue of the Year — The Tivoli
Regional Venue of the Year — Miami Marketta

Major Awards
Album of the Year — Ball Park Music (presented by Gold Coast Music Awards)
Highest Selling Album — Ball Park Music (presented by QMusic)
Highest Selling Single — Fisher, “Stay” (presented by QMusic)
Export Artist – Hollow Coves (presented by Sounds Australia)
Song of the Year — Jem Cassar-Daley, “Kiss Me Like You’re Leaving” (presented by City of Gold Coast through Invest Gold Coast)
Lifetime Achievement presented by Hutchies – 4ZZZ

Industry Excellence
Accessible & Inclusive Venue – Den Devine
Breakthrough Artist presented by SAE University College – Odd Mob
Indigenous Artist of the Year – JUNGAJI
Producer of the Year, presented by APRA AMCOS – Mallrat
Regional Artist of the Year – Djawarray

Scholarships, Fellowship and Award – supported by the Queensland Government through
Arts Queensland
(The awards were presented at the Queensland Parliamentary Friends of Music event in March)
Billy Thorpe Scholarship – Frank and Louis
Carol Lloyd Awards – Paulina
Dennis Mop Conlon Scholarship – Dubbzone
Grant McLennan Fellowship – Banff

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Duran Duran and Nile Rodgers Bring Back the Good Times With ‘Free to Love’: Stream It Now

Halloween is in the rearview, the mirrorball is back. Duran Duran’s new era is all disco, baby.

The British new wave legends return with “Free to Love,” an ode to the era of party music that exploded from the late ‘70s, when tight rhythm sections collided with funk and glitter on the dancefloor.  

If it evokes Chic’s “Good Times,” there’s a reason for that. “Free to Love” is a collaboration with Nile Rodgers, the latest in a working relationship that stretches back to 1984’s “The Reflex,” the first of Duran Duran’s two songs to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (“A View to a Kill” also topped the singles chart in 1985).

On it, frontman Simon Le Bon sings: “Be free to win or lose / do what you want to do / be free to see it through / out there I’m free to love.”

“Free to Love” is accompanied by an official music video, that dropped in the small hours of Thursday. The live performance video is frame like a throwback episode of Top of the Pops, the seminal British weekly music chart show, on which Duran Duran were regulars in the 1980s. It all plays out with tongues planted firmly in cheeks, though the sight of founding bass player John Taylor with blonde spiky hair would’ve blown Duranie minds back in the day.

With “Free to Love,” Duran Duran appear to have moved on from their Halloween era, which dawned with their 16th and latest album, Danse Macabre, which opened and peaked at No. 4 on the Official U.K. Chart in 2023.

The Rock Hall-inducted British band is locked in for a run of 2026 shows, including a residency next month at Bleaulive at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas, arena and festival spots in North America and across Continental Europe, and a headline date July 5 at BTS Hyde Park.

Rodgers, too, has a busy itinerary in the months ahead with concerts booked for the U.K. and Europe, North America and elsewhere.

Duran Duran was arguably the biggest band in the world in the first half of the ‘80s, and have survived, and at times, thrived, when so many of their contemporaries were shafted by the changing sands of music. Along the way, the band has collected every conceivable award, including the Brit Awards’ Lifetime Achievement, two Ivor Novellos, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, two Grammy Awards, and, in 2022, long-overdue induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In 2024, Le Bon was been named a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by King Charles, a salute to his services to music and charity.

Watch the “Free to Love” music video below.

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Boards of Canada Set New Album ‘Inferno’

No, it’s not a drill: Boards of Canada is all set to release an album of new material.

The electronic music act will crush a decade-plus drought next month with the release of Inferno, an 18-track double album that will spread across 70 minutes.

Presumably, Inferno will house the meditative track “Tape 05,” which BoC and Warp Records dished up last week, an easter egg in an unexpected cryptic social media drip feed.  

For BoC’s long-suffering fans, Inferno is a bolt from the blue. The duo’s last album, 2013’s Tomorrow’s Harvest, proved to be their biggest commercial success, based on international chart placings.

Then, deafening quiet. Thirteen years of it.

Only the most hopelessly optimistic BoC fans would’ve anticipated a new era. And yet here we are, with confirmation coming by way of separate social posts, one combining dramatic, but minimal, BoC music, with hexagonal imagery and video cut from a simpler time. It’s sunburnt nostalgia, bottled.

Boards of Canada is comprised of Scottish brothers Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin, a universe-building pair that is both enigmatic, secretive and adored by connoisseurs of minimal electronic music.

The siblings rarely give interviews, they’ve performed only a small handful of live shows, mostly in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and their official music videos can be counted on one hand.

BoC’s impact shouldn’t be measured in hits, or streams. Though their fourth and most recent album release, Tomorrow’s Harvest, did set new career chart marks for the act. That collection peaked at No. 7 in the United Kingdom, for their first top 10 entry, and at No. 13 on the Billboard 200, their first appearance on the all-genres U.S. albums chart.

A comeback of sorts emerged in 2019 with “XYZ,” a previously-unreleased tune from their Peel Session of July 1998, which appeared on a new Warp Records 30th anniversary package, WXAXRXP Sessions.

Inferno is due out May 29 in digital, CD and 2xLP formats. Check out the latest BoC social posts below. Pre-order and pre-save at boardsofcanada.com.

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