Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds are coming home in early 2026.

The alternative rock legend and his formidable band will embark on a tour of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand next January and February, their first dates in these parts since 2017.

Produced by Supersonic, the 10-show trek will visit a string of outdoor cultural spots, kicking off Jan. 17 at Fremantle Park, WA. Along the way, Cave’s Wild God Tour will visit Adelaide Entertainment Centre, The Domain Sydney, Brisbane’s Victoria Park, Melbourne’s Alexandra Gardens, and head east for two shows at TSB Arena in Wellington, the New Zealand capital.

Tickets go on sale this Friday, Aug. 29 at 10am local time from nickcave.com.

“I can’t wait to get to Australia and New Zealand with The Bad Seeds and to bring you our epic Wild God show,” Cave comments in a statement. “It’s been a long time coming, and I’ve missed both Australia and New Zealand very much. It will be a wild and mighty joy.”

The alternative rockers’ setlist will include songs from their 18th and latest studio album Wild God, alongside songs spanning their four-decade career, a statement reads.

Cave has no shortage of classics in his repertoire. In the U.K., his adopted homeland, the band has landed seven top 10 albums, including Wild God, which opened and peaked at No. 5 last year. Cave was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2007.

Produced by Cave and Bad Seeds/Dirty Three collaborator Warren Ellis, and mixed by David Fridmann, Wild God hit No. 66 on the Billboard 200, one of his nine titles to impact the albums chart.

Wild God, released through Cave’s own label Bad Seed, via a new, exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with Play It Again Sam, an imprint of the independent [PIAS] label group, was nominated for a raft of awards, including two Grammy categories (best alternative music album and best alternative music performance), best alternative rock record at the Libera Awards and the 2024 Australian Music Prize.

Before heading Down Under, Cave will complete his pan-European solo jaunt with a string of shows in Germany, Luxembourg and elsewhere.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds ‘The Wild God Tour’ Australia And Aotearoa New Zealand 2026
Tickets on sale Friday, August 29 at 10am local time from nickcave.com.

Presented by Supersonic Australasia

Jan. 17 — Fremantle Park, Perth WA
(Presented By The City Of Fremantle)

Jan. 20 — Adelaide Entertainment Centre, SA

Jan. 23, 24 –The Domain Sydney, NSW

Jan. 27 — Victoria Park, Brisbane, QLD

Jan. 30, 31, Feb. 1 — Alexandra Gardens, Melbourne, VIC

Feb. 5, 6 — TSB Arena, Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand
(In association with Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts)

KARMA, the new album from Stray Kids, tops this week’s fan-voted music poll.

Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (Aug. 22) on Billboard, choosing the K-pop group’s fresh LP as their favorite new release of the past week.

KARMA topped the ranking in a week that also saw new releases streaming in from Doja Cat, Laufey and more. In a narrow victory KARMA was the crowd’s top pick, with the set bringing in more than 50% of the vote — sliding just ahead of Doja Cat’s new single.

Stray Kids’ fresh full-length LP is a collection of 11 tracks — including the single “Ceremony” feat. STAY — all produced by 3RACHA.

KARMA tells a story about destiny from the unique perspective of Stray Kids, according to a press release that announced the album. “Destiny is shaped by a tangled web of choices and consequences,” it said. “KARMA begins with this very idea — an attempt to interpret Stray Kids’ fate. Despite countless external judgments and inner conflicts, they have continued to forge their own path with unwavering resolve. Through their music, Stray Kids represent a story of growth.”

The boy band wrapped their largest world tour to date, Stray Kids World Tour <dominATE>, at the end of July after putting on 54 shows across five continents.

Among the new releases trailing behind KARMA on this week’s poll are Doja Cat’s “Jealous Type,” coming in with 47% of the vote. Laufey’s A Matter of Time, Sombr’s I Barely Know Her, Deftones’ Private Music, Offset’s KIARI, Kid Cudi’s Free and BigXThaPlug’s I Hope You’re Happy follow.

See the final results of this week’s poll below.

Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem notches its 12th nonconsecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated Aug. 30). The set earned 121,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending Aug. 21 (down 4%), according to Luminate. I’m the Problem debuted at No. 1 on the May 31-dated chart, spent it first eight weeks in the pole position, stepped away from the top for two weeks and then returned to No. 1 for four weeks running.

Also in the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200, Conan Gray scores his highest-charting album yet as Wishbone bows at No. 3, Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft jumps back into the top 10 after a new one-year anniversary vinyl variant was released, and Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department returns to the top 10 following the buzz surrounding the announcement of her upcoming The Life of a Showgirl album.

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 Aug. 30, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Aug. 26. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Of I’m the Problem’s 121,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Aug. 21, SEA units comprise 116,000 (down 4%, equaling 154.02 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs — it leads Top Streaming Albums for a 13th nonconsecutive week), album sales comprise 4,000 (up 1%; it moves 21-17 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise 1,000 (up 1%).

Cumulatively, Wallen’s three No. 1 albums (I’m the Problem, One Thing at a Time and Dangerous: The Double Album) have spent a total of 41 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. That puts him in second place for the most weeks at No. 1 this century, surpassing Adele’s 40 weeks on top. Only Taylor Swift, with 86 weeks at No. 1 since 2000, has more. Before I’m the Problem’s 12 weeks at No. 1, One Thing at a Time ruled for 19 nonconsecutive weeks in 2023-34 and Dangerous: The Double Album was tops for 10 straight weeks in 2021.

The KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack holds at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 108,000 equivalent album units earned (up 3%). The album debuted at No. 8 nine weeks ago and has never left the top 10. The last soundtrack to spend its first nine weeks in the top 10 was Fifty Shades of Grey in 2015, which spent its first 14 weeks in the top 10.

Further, KPop Demon Hunters has spent five nonconsecutive weeks at No. 2 — its peak to date. The last soundtrack to spend at least five weeks at No. 2, without reaching No. 1, was Forrest Gump in 1994, which notched five straight frames in the runner-up spot (behind another soundtrack, The Lion King). KPop Demon Hunters is likely to sport further gains on next week’s charts, with the Netflix film getting a wide release in movie theaters for a sing-a-long event this weekend.

Conan Gray scores his highest-charting album ever on the Billboard 200 as Wishbone bows at No. 3. It launches with 71,000 equivalent album units earned — his best week by units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 53,000 (his best sales week yet — it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 18,000 (equaling 23.71 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it debuts at No. 27 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The set’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across seven CD variants (including signed editions) and seven vinyl editions (some signed) and a standard digital download edition.

Gray previously hit the top 10 of the Billboard 200 twice, with Superache (No. 9 in 2022) and Kid Krow (No. 5 in 2020).

Wishbone was preceded by its single “Vodka Cranberry,” which peaked at No. 38 on the Pop Airplay chart.

Gunna’s The Last Wun falls one spot to No. 4 on its second week on the Billboard 200 (48,000 equivalent album units, down 40%), while Alex Warren’s You’ll Be Alright, Kid is steady at its No. 5 high for a second week (nearly 40,000 units, down 6%).

Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft rallies 24-6 after the release of a one-year anniversary vinyl edition of the album. The set, counting all versions of the album, including the new vinyl variant, earned 38,000 equivalent album units in the tracking week (up 64%). Of that sum, vinyl sales accounted for nearly 18,000. The anniversary edition of the vinyl was pressed on bio-vinyl dark blue and orange splatter with its cover printed on silver mirror foil board and contains a poster.

Hit Me Hard and Soft, which peaked at No. 2 in its debut week (chart dated June 1, 2024), was last in the top 10 on the June 7, 2025-dated list (at No. 9) and last ranked as high on the Feb. 22, 2025, chart (when it was also at No. 6).

Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time rises a spot to No. 7 on the latest Billboard 200 (nearly 38,000 equivalent album units, down 1%), SZA’s former leader SOS is up two spots to No. 8 (35,000, down 1%) and Justin Bieber’s SWAG falls 7-9 (nearly 33,000, down 15%).

Closing out the top 10 is Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 The Tortured Poets Department, which jumps 18-10 with 30,500 equivalent album units earned (up 18%). Swift’s most recent studio album, which led the chart for 17 nonconsecutive weeks beginning in May 2024, returns to the top 10 for the first time since the Feb. 15-dated list (No. 9).

Poets’ vault back into the top 10 comes after Swift’s Aug. 12 announcement of her forthcoming new studio album, The Life of a Showgirl (due Oct. 3). On Aug. 13, Swift provided further details about the album, including its tracklist and producers, and appeared on her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s podcast, New Heights, to chat about the project. YouTube announced that the pod peaked at 1.3 million concurrent livestream viewers — more than any other podcast has garnered since the platform launched a “dedicated podcast experience in 2023,” per the company.

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.

Lady Gaga received a heartfelt pep talk from her fiancé, Michael Polansky, ahead of her Mayhem Ball tour stop in New York City.

The 39-year-old pop superstar returned to her hometown on Friday (Aug. 22) for a two-hour show at Madison Square Garden, marking her first performance in the Big Apple since headlining MetLife Stadium during The Chromatica Ball in 2022.

During the concert, Gaga paused to share the words of encouragement she received from Polansky, 41, and a close friend before taking the stage.

“I think about walking on the concrete, going all around the city and just — I remember fighting really hard, fighting really hard for my dreams and what I believed in and for myself,” she told the crowd, according to People. “I was with my friend China before the show… and I said to her, ‘I think I might just fight my way through this whole show, ‘cause when I’m in New York, I fight. I gotta earn it, and I gotta go for it.”

Gaga said her friend responded with something that shifted her mindset. “Sometimes you don’t have to fight, you just have to show up,” she said.

The singer and actress added that Polansky echoed a similar sentiment. “Right before I came onstage, my fiancé, Michael, said, ‘When you go out there, let them fill you up,’” Gaga recalled, visibly emotional.

From there, Gaga introduced her next song “Hair,” which peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2011. It marked the first time she had performed the Born This Way track on the Mayhem Ball tour, which launched in mid-July.

She described her second album as “very special” and credited New York as its creative foundation. “I’m sure all my albums could not be made without New York, but I am sure that this album would not have been made without New York,” she said. “This is for all of you and for all your dreams, for maybe sometimes no more fighting, just showing up.”

As noted in Billboard‘s recap, Gaga’s homecoming concert marked the start of a six-night run at Madison Square Garden as part of her globe-spanning Mayhem Ball tour. Check out the best moments from Friday’s show here.

Mastodon is honoring the memory of their late bandmate and co-founder Brent Hinds.

On Friday (Aug. 22), the heavy metal band paid tribute to the guitarist during a performance at the Alaska State Fair, part of the ConocoPhillips Alaska Concert Series at the Borealis Theatre in Palmer, Alaska.

At the end of the set, drummer and vocalist Brann Dailor stepped to the front of the stage to deliver a heartfelt message about Hinds, who died earlier in the week following a motorcycle accident in Atlanta. He was 51.

“We lost somebody very special to us yesterday,” Dailor told the crowd. Brent Hinds, 25 years with us as our guitar player, one of the most creative, beautiful people that we’ve ever come across in this world, tragically left us. Very, very unfortunate. We loved him so, so, so very much.”

“We had the ups and downs of a 25-year relationship. You know what I mean? It’s not always perfect, it’s not always amazing, but we were brothers to the end. And we really loved each other and we made a lot, a lot of very beautiful music together. And I think that that’s gonna stand the test of time, evidenced by you people here tonight.”

Dailor aslo reflected on the band’s decades-long journey with Hinds. “So we will continue to play Brent’s beautiful, beautiful music that he helped us make, that we formed this band together and traveled the world together, slept in a van together, laid our heads down on beds of f—king kitty litter, got way too drunk to remember anything the next day about a thousand, million times over and over again with the love that we shared and the beauty, all the audiences that we played, for all the stages we stepped on,” he said.

He concluded, “I don’t know. We’re just at a loss for words. We’re absolutely devastated and crushed to lose him and to be able to never have him back again. But you guys made it okay for us to come on stage and do this tonight. So that was for f—king Brent, okay? Thank you guys so much. We will see you real soon.”

Hinds co-founded Mastodon in 2000 in Atlanta alongside bassist Troy Sanders, guitarist Bill Kelliher and drummer Dailor. Over a 25-year career, the band released nine albums that charted on the Billboard 200, including The Hunter (2011), Once More ’Round the Sun (2014), and Emperor of Sand (2017) — the latter two peaking at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart. In 2018, Mastodon won a Grammy for best metal performance for “Sultan’s Curse.”

In March, the band announced that Hinds would be stepping away from the lineup.

Following his passing on Wednesday (Aug. 21), Mastodon shared a statement on Instagram.

“We are in a state of unfathomable sadness and grief… Last night, Brent Hinds passed away as a result of a tragic accident,” they wrote. “We are heartbroken, shocked, and still trying to process the loss of this creative force with whom we’ve shared so many triumphs, milestones, and the creation of music that has touched the hearts of so many. Our hearts are with Brent’s family, friends, and fans. At this time, we kindly ask that you respect everyone’s privacy during this difficult time.”