Stevie Wonder has received countless awards for both his music and his work in advancing social justice, but the one he is set to get from the Legal Defense Fund on May 10 is especially meaningful. Wonder will receive the inaugural Icon Award at the 34th National Equal Justice Awards Dinner on Tuesday, May 10, at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City.

Wonder will be honored for “his steadfast work throughout his illustrious career, spanning over half a century, which embodies LDF’s values and demonstrates his commitment to confronting the barriers that face Black Americans and other marginalized communities,” according to a statement.

In addition, Nikole Hannah-Jones, journalist, professor, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The 1619 Project, will be recognized with the Spirit of Justice Award. Sherrilyn Ifill, LDF’s outgoing president and director-counsel, will be awarded the Thurgood Marshall Lifetime Achievement Award.

With a theme of “Truth Is Power,” the evening will feature video messages from former first lady Michelle Obama and civil rights activist and former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. In addition, the Dance Theater of Harlem will present two performances.

LDF’s signature event is an opportunity to recognize and honor leaders in law, the arts, business, and philanthropy who have demonstrated a commitment to the promotion of racial justice and equality. The evening will also serve as an opportunity to celebrate the civil rights work that has been accomplished by LDF over the past year.

“Since the organization’s founding in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund has been an ardent defender of civil rights, advocating for the social, political, educational, and economic advancement of Black Americans,” Janai S. Nelson, LDF’s president and director-counsel, said in a statement.

“Our honorees have unapologetically used truth as power,” Nelson added. “They have refused to back down when others tried to silence them. And they have held their convictions fiercely and been unyielding to false narratives. Most importantly, they have used truth to shape outlooks, inform mindsets, and touch souls.”

Founded in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the nation’s first civil and human rights law organization. LDF was founded under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall, who in 1967 became the first Black associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

LDF has been separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights.

Follow LDF on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

The Judds and Ray Charles joined the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday (May 1) in a ceremony filled with tears, music and laughter, just a day after Naomi Judd died unexpectedly.

The loss of Naomi Judd altered the normally celebratory ceremony, but the music played on, as the genre’s singers and musicians mourned Naomi Judd while also celebrating the four inductees: The Judds, Ray Charles, Eddie Bayers and Pete Drake. Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Vince Gill and many more performed their hit songs.

Naomi and Wynonna Judd were among the most popular duos of the 1980s, scoring 14 No. 1 hits during their nearly three-decade career. On the eve of her induction, the family said in a statement to The Associated Press that Naomi Judd died at the age of 76 due to “the disease of mental illness.”

Daughters Wynonna and Ashley Judd accepted the induction amid tears, holding onto each other and reciting a Bible verse together.

“I’m sorry that she couldn’t hang on until today,” Ashley Judd said of her mother to the crowd while crying. Wynonna Judd talked about the family gathering as they said goodbye to her, and she and Ashley Judd recited Psalm 23.

“Though my heart is broken I will continue to sing,” Wynonna Judd said.

Fans gathered outside the museum, drawn to a white floral bouquet outside the entrance and a small framed photo of Naomi Judd below. A single rose was laid on the ground.

Charles’ induction showcased his genre-defying country releases, which showed the genre’s commercial appeal. The Georgia-born singer and piano player grew up listening to the Grand Ole Opry and in 1962 released “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music,” which became one of the best selling country releases of his era.

The piano player, blinded and orphaned at a young age, is best known for R&B, gospel and soul, but his decision to record country music changed the way the world thought about the genre, expanding audiences in the Civil Rights era.

Charles’ version of “I Can’t Stop Loving You” spent five weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart and remains one of his most popular songs. He died in 2004.

Brooks sang “Seven Spanish Angels,” one of Charles’ hits with Willie Nelson, while Bettye LaVette performed “I Can’t Stop Loving You.”

Country Music Hall of Famer Ronnie Milsap said he met Charles when he was a young singer and that others tried to imitate Charles, but no one could measure up.

“There was one of him and only one,” said Milsap. “He sang country music like it should be sung.”

The Hall of Fame also inducted two recordings musicians who were elemental to so many country songs and singers: Eddie Bayers and Pete Drake.

Bayers, a drummer in Nashville for decades who worked on 300 platinum records, is a member of the Grand Ole Opry band. He regularly played on records for The Judds, Ricky Skaggs, George Strait, Alan Jackson and Kenny Chesney. He is the first drummer to join the institution.

Drake, who died in 1988, was a pedal steel guitar player and a member of Nashville’s A-team of skilled session musicians, and played on hits like “Stand By Your Man” by Tammy Wynette and “He Stopped Loving Her Today” by George Jones. He is the first pedal steel guitar player to become part of the Hall of Fame.

Avril Lavigne, who’s currently on the road in support of her Love Sux album, has called off a string of concerts in Canada due to a positive COVID-19 case on her tour.

“To my fans and friends in Laval, QC, Moncton, NB and Halifax, NS, we are sincerely sorry to let you know that we are postponing these shows due to a positive COVID case within the tour and subsequent exposures,” she wrote on Twitter on Sunday (May 1), just hours before she was scheduled to play a show in Laval.

“Tonight’s show at Place Bell will be rescheduled for May 7th and new dates for both Moncton and Halifax will be announced shortly,” Lavigne said.

“I/we sincerely apologize and want you to know that this was not a decision we made lightly,” she wrote in her update. “We remain focused on everyone’s safety and can’t wait to see you all very soon.”

Lavigne just shared the stage with Olivia Rodrigo in Toronto on Friday (April 29), performing a duet of the Canadian star’s 2002 breakout hit “Complicated.”

Lavinge’s tour is scheduled to continue across Canada and the U.S. through the spring and summer.

In February, the singer announced that she was pushing a U.K. and Europe trek to next year (April-May 2023) due to concerns over COVID-19: “Due to the on-going issues surrounding the pandemic, there are a series of travel and venue restrictions from country to country that have made the tour not possible to happen,” she wrote to fans at the time.

See Lavigne’s latest announcement below, and visit her official website for a full list of upcoming tour dates.

pic.twitter.com/88obaWnt1y

— Avril Lavigne (@AvrilLavigne) May 1, 2022

Pusha T scores his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart as It’s Almost Dry debuts atop the list dated May 7. It earned 55,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending April 28, according to Luminate. Streaming activity comprised 83% of the hip-hop album’s first-week unit total.

It’s Almost Dry is Pusha T’s fourth studio album and his third top 10 on the Billboard 200, following Daytona (No. 3 in 2018) and My Name Is My Name (No. 4 in 2013).

Also in the top 10, Jason Aldean lands his 10th top 10 effort, as Georgia bows at No. 8.

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 May 7, 2022-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on May 3. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of It’s Almost Dry’s 55,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 45,500 (equating to 59.11 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 12 tracks), album sales comprise 9,000 and TEA units comprise 500.

Pusha T announced the album in early April, but didn’t unveil a release date until April 18, just a few days before it dropped on April 22. The album features guest turns from Clipse, Jay-Z, Kid Cudi, Labrinth, Lil Uzi Vert, Malice, Nigo, Don Toliver, Pharrell Williams and Ye (previously known as Kanye West). The latter two also were the main producers on the set, with Ye producing six tracks and Williams helming seven. (They share producer credit on the song “Rock n Roll,” featuring Ye and Kid Cudi.)

It’s Almost Dry has a relatively short tracklist for a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 — at least in recent times. With only 12 tracks on its standard streaming and digital edition, it’s the second-shortest No. 1 album of 2022 by track count. Only Stray Kids’ seven-track Oddinary effort has had a shorter tracklist among No. 1 albums this year. (Oddinary’s No. 1 debut on the April 2 chart was overwhelmingly powered by CD album sales, whereas It’s Almost Dry was streaming-powered, as most No. 1 rap titles tend to be.) Before Stray Kids and Pusha T, the last No. 1 with 12 or fewer tracks was Adele’s 30, which has 12 songs on its standard edition; that album spent six consecutive weeks at No. 1 (Dec. 4, 2021-Jan. 8, 2022 charts). 30 was also available upon its release in a 15-track deluxe edition on a Target-exclusive CD.

The last rap album to go to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 12 tracks or less was J. Cole’s 12-track The Off-Season, which debuted at No. 1 on the May 29, 2021, chart with 282,000 equivalent album units. Of that sum, SEA units comprised 243,000 (equaling 325.05 million on-demand official streams of the album’s tracks), album sales comprised 37,000 and TEA units comprised 2,000.

Meanwhile, It’s Almost Dry’s starting sum of 55,000 units is the lowest for a No. 1-debuting album since NF’s Perception bowed at No. 1 on the Oct. 28, 2017, chart with about 100 fewer units. It’s Almost Dry has the second-lowest unit sum for any album at No. 1 in the last two years; the only smaller week at No. 1 in that span came when Lil Durk’s 7220 returned to No. 1 for a second nonconsecutive week, two weeks ago, on the April 23, 2022, chart, with 47,000 units.

A quartet of former No. 1s is next on the Billboard 200, as Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album is a non-mover at No. 2 (51,000 equivalent album units; up 1%), Lil Durk’s 7220 is steady at No. 3 (39,000 units; down 9%), Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour rises 5-4 (36,000 units; up less than 1%) and the Encanto soundtrack falls 4-5 (35,000 units; down 12%). Doja Cat’s Planet Her ascends 7-6 (just over 30,000 units; up 2%) and Drake’s chart-topping Certified Lover Boy dips 6-7 (nearly 30,000 units; up 1%).

Jason Aldean collects his 10th top 10 album on the Billboard 200 as Georgia debuts at No. 8. The set starts with 26,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 13,000; SEA units comprise 12,000 (equating to 15.4 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 15 tracks) and TEA units comprise 1,000. Georgia is the second of Aldean’s two-part album project, which began with Macon, released last year. The latter also debuted (and peaked) at No. 8 on the Nov. 27, 2021-dated chart. Every charting album Aldean has released since 2007’s Relentless has debuted in the top 10 on the Billboard 200.

Gunna’s former leader DS4Ever is a non-mover at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 (23,000 equivalent album units earned; down 3%) and Lil Baby’s chart-topping My Turn is stationary at No. 10 (22,000 units; up 6%).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes an exhaustive and thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data, removing any suspicious or unverifiable activity using established criteria before final chart calculations are made and published. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious and unverifiable is disqualified prior to the final calculation.