HYBE was the week’s top performing music stock after its share price jumped 15.9% to 291,000 KRW ($209.33) following the company’s Q2 earnings on Wednesday (Aug. 6). The K-pop giant’s revenue rose 10.2% year-over-year to $516.7 million, while operating profit jumped nearly 30% to $48.3 million

Other K-pop stocks also posted big gains. YG Entertainment rose 17.4% after reporting an 11.6% revenue gain in Q2. JYP Entertainment climbed 14.5% even though the company did not report earnings this week. SM Entertainment, which reported a 19% increase in consolidated revenue in Q2, gained 8.3%. Collectively, the four K-pop companies posted an average stock price gain of 14.0%. 

A week after nearly all music stocks suffered losses, a handful of Q2 results helped the Billboard Global Music Index (BGMI) gain 9.0% to 2,980.51. Stocks improved in markets around the world after taking a drubbing a week earlier. In the U.S., the Nasdaq composite rose 3.7% and the S&P 500 improved 2.3%. In the U.K., the FTSE 100 improved 0.3%. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index rose 2.9%. China’s SSE Composite Index improved 2.1%. 

Warner Music Group (WMG) shares jumped 10.8% to $31.71, its best closing price since March 27, following the company’s earnings results on Thursday (Aug 7). Encouraged by streaming growth, market share and cost-cutting, among other developments, some analysts raised their WMG price targets following the announcement. J.P. Morgan lifted WMG to $36 from $33, citing revenue that came in ahead of estimates and “margin-accretive growth” to come from renewed licensing deals with streaming platforms. TD Cowen raised WMG to $46 from $36. Guggenheim maintained its buy rating and $37 price target. 

Live Nation shares gained 4.7% to $153.13 and reached an intraday price of $156.65 on Friday (Aug. 8), less than $1 below its 52-week high, after the company’s earnings results released Thursday showed a 16% spike in total revenue and a 19% jump in concert revenue. Many analysts lifted their price targets on Friday, including Benchmark (to $180 from $178), Wolfe Research (to $173 from $168), Guggenheim (to $182 from $170), Goldman Sachs ($168 from $162), Roth Capital (to $180 from $164) and JP Morgan (to $180 from $165). 

The biggest streaming companies also posted strong gains. Spotify, the BGMI’s most valuable component, jumped 12.4% to $706.22 after dropping 9.4% a week earlier. Currently valued at approximately $145 billion, Spotify is well below its 52-week high of $785.00 set on June 27. Netease Cloud Music rose 9.0% to 266.80 HKD ($33.99), bringing its year-to-date gain to 133.6%. Tencent Music Entertainment rose 7.7% to $22.13, raising its 2025 gain to 95.0%. 

Cumulus Media, which reported earnings on Thursday, saw its shares fall 6% on Friday but finished the week up about 14%. Investors reacted to the 9.2% decline in revenue in the second quarter and CEO Mary Berner’s description of a “challenging” advertising landscape. Adjusted EBITDA fell 11.3% to $22.4 million from $25.2 million in the prior-year period. 

iHeartMedia was the week’s biggest loser, falling 11.6% to $1.60. The company will report second-quarter results on Monday (Aug. 11). 

Two months after reports alleging Michael Tait sexually assaulted several people over the course of decades rattled the Contemporary Christian Music community, some of the singer’s accusers are speaking out again — and one of them says he believes there could be more than 1,000 other people who share their experiences.

In a vulnerable interview with People published Friday (Aug. 8), Shawn Davis — who alleges that Tait drugged and raped him in 2003 — said that he is involved in building a legal case against the disgraced CCM star, whom Davis believes has more than 1,000 total victims, according to the publication. He also said that the Brentwood Police Department in Tennessee is currently carrying out an active investigation into Tait.

“We’re trying to head this and do everything we can in our power to take him down,” Davis told People. “Ultimately, in the end, the goal is to see him go to prison. We need every single victim possible to come forward. They deserve to know that they’re not the only ones, and they deserve to tell their story.”

Billboard has reached out to the Brentwood Police Department for comment. A rep for Tait could not immediately be reached.

Davis was one of a handful of men who detailed allegations of sexual assault against Tait in a June report from The Guardian, which followed on the heels of a similar investigation into the singer by The Roys Report. Despite Tait building his career on releasing music that encouraged abstinence and sobriety, both reports were filled with accusations that he had groomed, drugged and molested multiple people while partaking in drug and alcohol use for many years.

Soon after they were published, Tait responded to the allegations in a lengthy statement posted to Instagram. “Recent reports of my reckless and destructive behavior, including drug and alcohol abuse and sexual activity are sadly, largely true,” he wrote at the time. “For some two decades, I used and abused cocaine, consumed far too much alcohol and, at times, touched men in an unwanted sensual way. I am ashamed of my life choices and actions, and make no excuses for them. I will simply call it what God calls it — sin.”

Tait also noted that he had been seeking treatment since stepping down from his former band, the Newsboys, in January, adding that he’s now living a “clean and sober” life. (Following the reports, the remaining Newsboys members issued a statement saying they were “horrified, heartbroken and angry” to learn of Tait’s alleged behavior.)

His accusers, however, indicated to People that they won’t be satisfied until the singer is fully brought to justice.

“Why does Michael do what he does? Because Michael thought he was invincible,” said Randall Crawford, who alleges that Tait invited him over, roofied his drink and assaulted him while he was blacked out one night in 2000. “It was so traumatic. It did something to me spiritually, mentally and physically.”

“Look at the trail of destruction that he’s left behind,” Crawford added. “I have to speak up. I have kids that are the age of some of these victims. This is for the future generation. This is for those that are scared to speak up. I want more victims to come forward. I want Michael to find true repentance and remorse and feel terrible and not deny what he’s done to me.”

Another accuser, Jason Jones, told People that he thinks Tait’s statement following the Guardian and Roys Report investigations was “hogwash.” “I saw nothing but protection for himself,” added the music manager, who claims he was “blacklisted” by his industry after claiming that Tait had drugged and assaulted him in 1999.

As the men continue to band together and speak out about their experiences, Crawford said he hopes other artists in particular will rise up to condemn the star’s behavior. One of them, Hayley Williams, already has; in June, the Paramore frontwoman said that she believes the CCM industry at large is at fault for enabling predators, adding that she hopes the genre “crumbles” after hearing about Tait’s alleged crimes.

Crawford expressed something similar. “This is a problem,” he told People. “I want justice. I don’t want this to happen to another kid. I’ve seen what it does. It destroyed my career. I didn’t deserve this, what he did to me. I’ve held this shame for many years, [but] I have nothing to be ashamed of.”

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

The Kansas City Chiefs’ disappointing loss at the 2025 Super Bowl is one that fans of the team — including Taylor Swift and MGK — will remember all too well.

Both musicians were present at the big game against the Philadelphia Eagles in February, with the pop star there to support boyfriend Travis Kelce and the former rapper on site to cheer on Kansas City before performing at the team’s afterparty later that night. But while hopes that the Chiefs could snag a “three-peat” Super Bowl win were high at the beginning of the game, they quickly faltered as the Eagles kept scoring to win 40-22 — something MGK reflected on talking to Swift about that day in an interview with ABC News on Wednesday (Aug. 6).

“I was in Travis’ suite, and at the beginning of it, Taylor was like, ‘Hell yeah, we’re gonna come watch you perform, it’s gonna be crazy tonight,’” the musician began. “Internally, I was stoked. I was like, ‘Oh what a legendary night this is gonna be.’”

“By the third quarter, dude, I was looking at that score,” he continued, laughing at the memory. “I went up to Taylor, I was like, ‘Y’all aren’t coming tonight, huh?’ She was like, ‘I don’t think so, man. I’ll see if I can get [Travis] to get out, but I don’t think [so].’”

MGK still had to perform at the losing team’s post-game party in New Orleans that night — a gig he does not recommend to other artists. “Don’t ever sign yourself up for that,” he said before joking, “Wait to sign the paper ’til third quarter or something, ’til it looks like it’s going one way or the other.”

But while the afterparty was a little bit grim, MGK will always support Kelce — a fellow Ohioan — and the rest of the Chiefs. “That’s my dawg,” the artist added of the athlete. “He’s from Cleveland. He’s from right next to where I’m from.”

Shortly after the interview, MGK went on to release his new album, Lost Americana, on Friday (Aug. 8). With none other than Bob Dylan in his corner during the rollout, his rootsy new project marks a shift away from the hip-hop and pop-punk genres he previously experimented with.

As for the Chiefs, Kelce and his teammates have been hard at work training for the upcoming season, which kicks off in early September. And after becoming a mainstay at Arrowhead Stadium throughout the past two NFL seasons after beginning her romance with the tight end in 2023, Swift is expected to appear at even more games this year now that she’s finished her global Eras Tour.

Watch MGK recall his conversation with Swift at the Super Bowl below.

On July 28, Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams released a new hair dye color through her Good Dye Young brand, allowing 2,000 fans to snap up the limited run of new product. But when they did, they were met with something unexpected: a code, which they were encouraged to share, that unlocked 17 new singles uploaded to Williams’ website, scattered at random across the page. Two days later, the songs disappeared — only for them to then be uploaded to streaming services — not as a full collected album, but as 17 individual singles, all packaged separately with their own artwork.

The collection of songs — which fans have been referring to as Ego, after the name of the hair dye color — represents Williams’ first solo work since 2021, and fans have been having fun with it, making their own playlists and mixing up the tracklists, creating their own artwork, and more, with Williams inviting those fans into the creative process alongside her. The somewhat confusing release strategy was fully intentional, driving fan, press and industry interest for Williams’ first release as an independent artist after leaving Atlantic Records — and it helps earn her co-manager Leah Hodgkiss the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.

Hodgkiss, who manages Williams as well as Paramore alongside co-manager Mark Mercado and also works with Rico Nasty and The Linda Lindas, was heavily involved in the marketing rollout, as well as the creation of her indie venture — aptly titled Post Atlantic — which is being distributed by Secretly. Here, she discusses the creative behind the rollout, the intentional decision not to label or package the singles as an album, and why fans were so central to the campaign from the start. “You have to know who you’re marketing to,” Hodgkiss says. “If you’re just doing things that have never been done before, but you don’t know why you’re doing them, or who you’re doing them for, none of it’s going to connect.”

This week, Hayley Williams released a collection of 17 songs, first through an access code on her website, then on streaming services, each of them individually labeled instead of packaged as an album. What was the idea behind going that route? 

It’s a tough question to answer, as there were so many ideas. But what we kept coming back to is that we wanted to make music tangible again. Right now, it all feels so passive, for better or for worse. There are so many incredibly curated playlists on Spotify, Apple, what have you, that it’s so easy to open your chosen DSP and click shuffle and not even pay attention to what you’re listening to. 

We started with trying to answer that question: How do we make music an experience again? How do we force people to interact with the music beyond clicking a green play button on Spotify? Hayley, myself and [Fly South co-founder/owner and Williams co-manager] Mark Mercado spent so many days going back and forth trying to answer that question. What’s the right level of “annoying”?

I think, for a casual fan of Hayley, we went far beyond that with this rollout. But we knew from the beginning that this rollout was not for the casual fan. It was really important for Hayley to feel reconnected to her core fan base here. So, this rollout is meant for them.

Is there a specific reason these are being referred to as all individual singles, rather than a collected album?

The short answer is that Hayley started writing these songs towards the beginning of the year and they just poured out of her. There were some days she’d send us two songs in a single afternoon. And so I think this collection wrote itself, before any of us knew she was writing an “album.” And instead of sitting with these finished songs for months and months, and curating the tracklist, the vinyl, selecting the singles, etc., Hayley said, “What if I just put them all out as singles all on the same day?”  

What went into all the facets of the execution of this rollout?

So much. Hayley and her best friend/right hand Brian O’Connor co-founded Good Dye Young [GDY] nearly a decade ago. We knew GDY was looking to launch a limited run of Hayley’s new hair color in early Q3 of 2025, and we knew Hayley was writing this incredible batch of songs. We had the early idea to make the launch of the two synonymous. We thought it would be such a cool fan experience to rush to buy a signed carton of Hayley’s new hair dye, as they were extremely limited, but then wait…what’s this code for? 

It was, intentionally, a poorly kept secret, as we encouraged fans on the access page to share the code with their friends. We wanted to engage more than just the 2,000 hair dye purchasers with this. Jordan Short with LUUM Studio, our creative director, was key in making sure this not only looked as perfect as it did, but worked flawlessly, too. 

Another crucial component to this rollout was all of the brilliant work of our publicist, Meg Helsel at Grandstand. I am not sure you realize how difficult releasing 17 singles all on the same day that are not an album, and there is no tracklist order, but maybe there will be, is to talk about in a press release. Hayley always had a very clear vision for what this rollout would look like in the press. She wanted to do nothing that you would expect her to. So, her music dropped online, and she made a sandwich with Aimee France. And I think that created way more conversation than a more traditional interview would have. The strategy has not only been incredibly intentional but very authentic to Hayley. 

This is her first collection of solo material since 2021, and first since leaving Atlantic Records. What does this new period as an independent artist represent for her?

This era has been extremely heavy-handed on choice. It may come across cliché, but it’s truly been a reclamation of self for Hayley. She has control over who’s on her team, what’s behind her release strategy, her musical choices, how it’s being released, all of the when, where, what and why for the first time in 20-plus years. It’s not only been refreshing, but inspiring to witness. She’s having fun again. 

What have you made of the fan response to the release?

It’s unbelievable. I’ll shout out one fan here, as I literally just sent this out to a group chat of ours. It sums up how we’re all feeling. 

I think Hayley’s decision to involve and empower fans to create something alongside her was the best, and smartest, thing we’ve done, as it really is an ongoing active experience. We see it in all of the artwork and banter online and the tracklists we listen through. And it’s just the beginning — so much more is still yet to come.

What have you learned from working on this project that you can apply to other areas of your work and career?

Two things come to mind. Mark has managed Hayley and Paramore since 2004. He made the decision to bring me onto the management team with the last Paramore cycle, This Is Why. He’s not only been a mentor to me, but a real partner through all of this. And one thing he’s constantly reminding me is, there’s a whole lot of benefit to keeping your team small, but you need a team. You cannot do it all yourself. And lastly, no one knows their music and their community better than the artist themselves.