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Robbie Williams’s XXV (via Columbia) completes its irrepressible charge to the U.K. albums chart summit, a feat that places the singer in the record books.
With his latest leader, Williams now boasts 14 No. 1s, a record for a solo artist. Indeed, just one act has bagged more No. 1s in the U.K. — The Beatles, with 15.
At the halfway point in the cycle, XXV, which celebrates Williams’ 25 years as a solo artist, had accumulated more chart sales that the rest of the top 10 combined. It turned out to be an unassailable lead, and nudges Robbie ahead of Elvis Presley (with 13 No. 1s) into second place all time.
As a member of Take That, Williams collected a further five No. 1 albums, including the hits collection Odyssey from 2018, which gathers pre-and post-Robbie era songs.
According to the OCC, the overall record holder is Paul McCartney, with 23 No. 1s across his album releases with The Beatles, Wings and as a solo artist.
Coming in at No. 2 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart this week is Ozzy Osbourne, with Patient Number 9 (Columbia), his 13th solo studio effort. That’s a career solo best for Ozzy, eclipsing the No. 3 for his 2020 release. The Birmingham, England native now has five solo top 10 records, and a further ten as a member of Black Sabbath.
A reissue of Manic Street Preachers‘ 2001 LP Know Your Enemy (Sony Music CG), collecting remixes and reconstructed tracks, proves popular with fans. The set returns to the U.K. chart at No. 4. Know Your Enemy peaked at No. 2 following its release 21 years ago.
Further down the list, Reading, England rockers The Amazons start at No. 5 with How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me (Fiction), for their third consecutive top 10 appearance.
And finally, Nigerian breakout artist Asake’s enters the top 40 on debut with Mr. Money With The Vibe, new at No. 22, while Brit Award winning Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall cracks the chart with Nut, her seventh studio album. It’s new at No. 25.
Kim Kardashian is loving Don’t Worry Darling, and she took to her Instagram Stories this week to share a review of the highly anticipated film before it hits theaters on Friday (Sept. 23).
“I watched Don’t Worry Darling this weekend. I REALLY liked it!” the SKIMS founder wrote alongside a photo watching the film in what appears to be her at-home theater. “It’s really good!”
Kardashian went on to note that Harry Styles was “so good” in the movie, and that she’s now “obsessed” with Florence Pugh. “She’s beyond an amazing actress and she’s so pretty too,” the reality TV star wrote.
The upcoming mystery thriller follows couple Alice (Pugh) and Jack (Styles), living a new, idyllic life of optimism, romance and picture-perfect scenery provided by Jack’s experimental company town housing, Victory Project — run by CEO Frank (Chris Pine). However, 1950s housewife Pugh soon realizes that the town has sinister secrets and terrifying chaos ensues.
“I think the story as a whole attracted me to the role of Jack,” the “Late Night Talking” singer told Variety via email while on his Love On Tour. “It felt like an opportunity to play someone who is incredibly complex, caught between love and obsession. There were always two sides of the character to play with. It’s fun to play someone that you feel like you’re trying to work out the whole time.”
Olivia Wilde does triple-duty on the psychological thriller: directing, producing and starring. The high-wattage cast also includes Gemma Chan, KiKi Layne, Sydney Chandler and Nick Kroll. The movie is Wilde’s sophomore directing effort following Booksmart.
You can buy advance tickets to see Don’t Worry Darling for $11.49 each, thanks to AMC’s special promo deal available on Fever.com.
The Voice season 22 officially kicked off on Monday (Sept. 19), and new coach Camila Cabello has her first team member.
Nashville, Tennessee-based touring artist Morgan Myles took the stage during the premiere episode of auditions, blowing the judges away with her rendition of Leonard Cohen‘s “Hallelujah.” All four coaches — Cabello, Blake Shelton, John Legend and Gwen Stefani — turned their chairs around for a chance to get Myles on their team. The “Havana” singer, however, was swift and blocked Stefani, who was the first to turn her chair around, from snagging Myles to Team Gwen.
“You see this?” Stefani asked Myles, pointing to the word “Blocked” written in front of her chair. “I turned around, she looked straight into my soul and she was like, ‘There’s Gwen Stefani. I want to be on her team.’”
“She didn’t say that,” Cabello quipped, before Stefani pointed an accusatory finger at her fellow coach. “It was you!” she told Cabello.
“You have such a gorgeous tone,” the “Bam Bam” star told Myles. “I want to hear records from you. You kind of, like, in a Rihanna-esque way […] singing with your hands, I was like, ‘Yes! That is what I’m looking for. She is singing with her soul and making people feel.’ To me, that’s the highest hope of an artist.”
Cabello concluded, “I feel like you know who you are as an artist, and if you picked me as your coach, I would just be excited to help you on that journey.”
Ultimately, Cabello’s convincing worked and Myles is officially Team Camila. See the full audition below.
Grammy-nominated rapper Mystikal pleaded not guilty on Monday (Sept. 19) to charges accusing him of raping and choking a woman at his home in Louisiana and of possessing several drugs.
The 51-year-old performer whose given name is Michael Tyler is innocent of all charges, attorney Joel Pearce said after the arraignment in Ascension Parish court in Gonzales, about 15 miles from Baton Rouge.
The charges include first-degree rape, which carries an automatic life sentence.
Pearce said he has not been able to get copies of the two indictments, but they were read aloud in court.
Charges also include simple criminal damage to property, false imprisonment, domestic abuse battery by strangulation, simple robbery, possession of heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine and Xanax, and possession of drug paraphernalia, he said.
“My client doesn’t even do drugs, so he has absolutely no idea what they were talking about,” Pearce said in a telephone interview during his 250-mile (402-kilometer) drive from Gonzales to Shreveport.
He said bond may be discussed at a hearing Oct. 17. Prosecutors said they plan to bring up Tyler’s 2003 guilty plea to sexual battery and extortion as evidence of prior crimes, said Pearce.
Tyler and two bodyguards had videotaped themselves in sex acts with Tyler’s hairstylist. The prosecutor in that case, Sue Bernie, said in 2003 that the woman told investigators that Tyler accused her of stealing $80,000 worth of his checks and told her he would not go to police if she did something “degrading.” The woman denied stealing any money, Bernie said.
A letter in court records before Tyler’s sentencing stated that he had paid the woman $350,000.
He served six years in prison on that conviction, which came the same year that he was nominated for two Grammy awards. He also received a Grammy nomination in 2001.
Pearce said he doesn’t know what the woman who is now accusing Tyler allegedly was robbed of, but the criminal damage charge accuses him of breaking the band of her Apple watch.
Pearce represented Tyler on rape and kidnapping charges that prosecutors in northwest Louisiana dropped in December 2020. Those charges, brought in 2017, had kept Tyler jailed nearly 18 months before he was released on $3 million bond.
“People keep saying it’s his third time to be charged” with rape, Pearce said, but Tyler pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in Baton Rouge. “And in Caddo Parish, after a grand jury indicted him, they un-indicted him.”
Mystikal told The Associated Press in April 2021 that he used to be “a nasty lil’ rapper” but now is proud of lyrics he can imagine rapping to God.
Tory Lanez is being investigated by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office following allegations that the rapper assaulted singer August Alsina following a concert in Chicago over the weekend, Billboard has confirmed.
On Sunday, Alsina posted a photo of himself to Instagram in which he can be seen standing in an elevator with blood coming from his mouth. In the caption, Alsina claims Lanez physically assaulted him after he refused to shake his hand following a show on Saturday night.
“We are aware of the allegations that the defendant attacked artist August Alsina and are investigating these claims,” said the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office in a statement to Billboard. “The allegations are serious and will be thoroughly examined.”
Lanez, real name Daystar Peterson, is currently out on bail after being charged with shooting Megan Thee Stallion during an argument that occurred after a pool party in the Hollywood Hills in July 2020. The rapper is also facing a gun possession charge connected with the incident.
A video published to Twitter on Monday purporting to document the lead-up and aftermath of the alleged assault appears to show Alsina rebuffing a handshake from Lanez backstage. In the final half of the video, Lanez seems to be celebrating as a man off-camera can be heard saying Lanez “knocked him out.”
The Chicago Police Department tells Billboard they received a report of a “30-ye[a]r-old male” being “punched in the face by a 30-year-old male after exiting a building in the 2300 block of S. Lake Shore Drive” on Saturday at approximately 11:30 p.m. They would not confirm the identities of the two men, citing Chicago P.D. policy. The location cited in the report is seemingly the Arie Crown Theater, where both Lanez and Alsina were billed to perform at comedian Rip Michaels’ Fall Back in Love Comedy & Music Jam on Saturday. Detectives are currently investigating the matter.
An attorney for Lanez did not immediately return Billboard‘s request for comment, though Lanez himself denied attacking Alsina during an interview with podcaster Akademics on Sunday. “Nothing happened. I don’t even know what this kid is talking about, brother,” said the rapper in a clip posted to YouTube. After being asked again if he was involved, Lanez continued, “No, hell no! I don’t know if he’s doing [this for] promo. I don’t know what that n—- is talking about, bruh.”
This isn’t the first time Lanez has been in legal hot water since being hit with charges in the July 2020 shooting. In August 2021, the rapper’s bail was increased from $190,000 to $250,000 after he made a surprise appearance at the Rolling Loud Miami Festival on July 25 just moments after Stallion departed the stage — effectively violating a protective order that requires him to stay at least 100 yards away from the “Savage” hitmaker. This past April, a judge increased his bail again to $350,000 after some of the rapper’s social media posts were found to have breached court orders requiring him to avoid any contact with Stallion.
Lanez is currently awaiting trial in the case. If convicted, he faces more than 22 years in prison.
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