In 2011, Shakira spent 163 days in Spain between stops on her blockbuster Sale el Sol world tour. That tally ended up being crucial in the star’s long quest to void a $69 million tax penalty levied by the European nation — showing just how granular the work of international tour accounting can get.

Experts helped Billboard unpack Shakira’s Monday (May 18) legal victory following an eight-year battle with Spanish tax authorities. In this ruling, Spain’s National Court acquitted the Colombian star of tax fraud and ordered the return of 60 million euros ($69 million) that had been levied for the 2011 income tax year. She separately paid a $7.6 million fine in 2023 for Spanish taxes between the years of 2012 and 2014.

Spanish authorities alleged in the 2011 case that Shakira owed taxes to them because she was a resident of Spain while on tour that year and dating Spanish soccer player Gerard Piqué. Shakira maintained she merely visited the country frequently for a long-distance relationship, and her true country of residence was the Bahamas.

Music industry professionals say the question of where one lives can be complicated for someone whose job requires them to traverse the globe. “Touring artists live unusually mobile lives,” says Russell King, an entertainment lawyer who handles tax structuring for many touring musicians. King, who was not involved in the Shakira case, says this means musicians have some flexibility in deciding where to declare residence — but they must show they have real roots in a country to satisfy the tax authorities. 

“Countries such as Spain have really tightened their regimes and are looking to enforce this,” explains King. “That’s what happened here, but it turned out Shakira had done things properly and was able to emerge victoriously.”

In Spain, and in many other jurisdictions, a person is considered a resident for tax purposes if they spend at least 183 days of a year within the country’s borders. (The country has been particularly aggressive with celebrities in recent years, bringing tax cases against the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo over the past decade.) That means Shakira’s case came down to meticulously retracing the star’s 2011 calendar for the court to ultimately determine that she was 20 days short of that threshold.

This sort of to-the-day schedule tracking is a crucial tax consideration for international touring artists, since they don’t want to cross the 183-day limit for multiple countries and become at risk of double taxation. “I advise my clients to maintain a calendar where they document every single day where they are, just for this reason,” King says.

Timothy Jorstad, a business manager for rock acts who also had no involvement in Shakira’s case, similarly tells Billboard that keeping an eye on the calendar is a big part of his job when it comes to certain touring musicians. This is the case for his client Arnel Pineda, the lead singer of Journey, who is a resident of the Philippines but spends much of any given year in the U.S. on tour.

“We monitor that very closely,” says Jorstad of Pineda’s calendar. “We make him go to Canada for part of the tour, or Mexico or South America or Europe. We try to keep him out of here if he’s coming close to that 180-day period.”

An artist’s country of residence is just one piece of the complex accounting system that managers and attorneys must handle for international tours. There is also the issue of taxes in each country they visit on tour, where artists must pay a portion of concert revenues to the local authorities. If handled correctly, these foreign taxes can be applied as credits to get money deducted from home-country income taxes.

This work can be complicated by the fact that each country has a separate taxation system with its own quirks. In the U.S., for example, the IRS will levy a 30% tax on international acts’ concert gross revenues unless they enter into what’s known as a central withholding agreement. King says he often helps his clients sign these advance agreements to reduce withholding, since the 30% rate “is often such a harsh cash-flow hit that it can grind tours to a halt.”

As Jorstad puts it, “some countries are more difficult than others” when it comes to tax regimes. He cites as an example his client the Doobie Brothers, who were recently denied touring-specific tax deductions for some U.K. shows after the British government claimed these were actually “album promotion costs.”

“England is getting to be a pain in the ass,” says Jorstad.

The trick to navigating this mathematical puzzle, says Jorstad, is to contract with local accountants and specialty law firms at each tour stop. By working with people who are experts in a country’s specific tax requirements, artists can be sure they are in full compliance with the laws of every place they pass through while on the road.

King also says artists should rely on professionals, not “shortcuts,” to make sure their cross-border touring finances are structured correctly. Significant work should be put into mapping out all this at the outset of a tour; otherwise, an artist could come to regret it later on.

King works with many Latin musicians and says he often invokes the Spanish saying “lo barato sale caro” to get this point across. Rough translation: “What is cheap eventually becomes expensive.”

On the heels of Drake giving Kevin Durant a shout-out on Maid of Honour, Drizzy and KD star alongside one another in a hilarious commercial for the Houston Rockets forward’s new KD19 Nike sneaker, which arrives on June 17.

“OK, first thought, transcending the game,” Drake said to Durant when getting a first look at a blue and orange pair of KD sneakers that are essentially half cowboy boots. “You need a banjo for those. Those are crazy. Y’all went home, home, home on the range with it. Wow. You’re in 2038 with those.”

“Come on, bro, I can’t hoop in these,” Durant responded before breaking out an all-white pair of fluffy kicks that have seemingly been growing hair for years.

“This guy’s an abominable snowman. They’re hard. This guy’s trying to dominate the Alaskan market,” Drake quipped. “You gotta keep the ankles warm. Those are crazy.”

Durant goes on to question if Drake’s “even a real friend,” as the 37-year-old couldn’t believe the 6 God co-signed the pairs of kicks. “Are you a yes man, bro?” he snapped at Drizzy.

KD finally brought out the real KD19’s in a capri blue colorway, which Durant nicknamed the “Candy’s.” Drake immediately hyped the monochromatic sneaker and joked that he suffered a cavity after just holding the pair.

“Someone call the dentist,” Drake said before continuing to nudge Durant about other colors on the way, which annoyed the NBA star. The Nike ad comes to a close with a tagline: “Everyone needs a yes man.”

“Normalize glazing the bros @easymoneysniper 19th sneaker available on nike.com and SNKRs 6.17,” Drake captioned his post to IG regarding the commercial.

While Drake has had his issues with NBA stars such as LeBron James and DeMar DeRozan, Drizzy and Durant have been close friends for some time now. KD pulled up to Drake’s Iceman release party on Thursday night (May 14) in Toronto.

The 6 God even gave Durant a shout-out on Maid of Honour‘s “Q&A.” “Me and KD got way too much cheese like the— yeah, yeah/ I got some questions for you and I need answers for ’em,” he raps.

Drake returned to the music scene on Friday (May 15) with three brand new albums, as Iceman was joined by the aforementioned Maid of Honour and Habibti. It marked Drake’s first solo LP since For All the Dogs, which topped the Billboard 200 in 2023.

Watch the funny commercial starring Drake and Durant below.

Megan Thee Stallion is heading back to the 305. The Houston rapper announced on Wednesday (May 20) that she’s hosting another runway show at Paraiso Miami Swim Week for her Hot Girl Summer swimwear line on May 28.

Megan strutted down the runway in heels for the debut Hot Girl Summer show at Miami Swim Week last year, and she’s returning to showcase the latest pieces from her second-ever collection later this month. The collection will feature garments for men, women and pets.

The show is set to start at 10 p.m. ET and will find Megan and plenty of models showing off the 20-piece women’s collection, which includes bikinis, one-piece bathing suits and cover-ups.

Members of season six’s Love Island attended the 2025 show, which became part of an episode of Peacock’s Behind the Villa. Megan picked up some hardware at least year’s Miami Swim Week, where she was honored with the Cultural Icon award at the first-ever Swimwear Icons  Honors Night.

“I really wanted to expand my reach with this year’s collection and bring everyone into my Hot Girl Universe,” Megan said in a statement when the collection arrived in April. It’s currently available at various Walmarts as well as her own online shop. “Our brand is all about inclusivity, so it was important for me to design pieces for everyone to kick off the summer in style. It’s going to be so much fun seeing the Hotties and their pets wearing their matching looks.”

Megan Thee Stallion has been booked and busy for the first half of 2026. She hopped on Juvenile’s “B.B.B.” remix, which reached No. 67 in March on the Billboard Hot 100, in addition to debuting on Broadway as part of Moulin Rouge!, and she starred as Denise in The Fall & Rise of Reggie Dinkins.

Kenny Chesney lands his milestone 100th entry on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart as “Carry On” opens at No. 31 on the May 23 list. It totaled 1.5 million chart-eligible U.S. streams, 10.5 million in radio airplay audience and 2,000 sold May 8-14, according to Luminate.

The track marks Chesney’s first single on Hey Now Records, which launched in March, and previews his 21st album, due later this year. He has scored 55 top 10s, including 23 No. 1s. The song also starts at No. 20 on Country Airplay, where it’s likewise his 100th appearance.

The 100-title milestone lifts Chesney into elite company among acts with 100 or more hits on Hot Country Songs, which dates to October 1958. George Jones leads with 157. Dating to Chesney’s first charted title, “Whatever It Takes,” in December 1993, he boasts the third-most, after Morgan Wallen (119) and Taylor Swift (108). (The chart adopted its current multimetric methodology — a combination of streaming, airplay and sales — in October 2012.)

On Country Airplay, which began in January 1990 and solely tracks country radio airplay, Chesney’s 100th charted title ties him for the lead with George Strait. Garth Brooks (93), Tim McGraw (91) and Alan Jackson (82) round out the top five.

Chesney also stands out among Hot Country Songs’ most prolific No. 1 artists. His 23 leaders place him 11th overall, behind Strait’s 44, Conway Twitty’s 40, Merle Haggard’s 38, Ronnie Milsap’s 35, Alabama’s 33, Charley Pride’s 29, Jackson and McGraw’s 26 each, Dolly Parton’s 25 and Reba McEntire’s 24. In that legacy-heavy group, Chesney earned a first No. 1 most recently, with “She’s Got It All” in 1997.

Chesney’s power is even more apparent at country radio. His 33 Country Airplay No. 1s put him firmly in first place, ahead of Blake Shelton (30), McGraw (29), Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Jackson, Strait (26 each), Keith Urban, Thomas Rhett (21 each), Brooks & Dunn, Luke Combs, Toby Keith, Brad Paisley and Wallen (20 each).

Plus, since Chesney notched his first No. 1 on Top Country Albums, his Greatest Hits, in October 2000, his 17 leaders are the most among all artists in that span.

The milestones underscore the scope of Chesney’s career, one that has made him both a country radio standard-bearer and one of the most prolific hitmakers in the nine-decade history of Billboard’s country charts.