Michael Jackson has emerged victorious in a three-way battle to earn his first U.K. No. 1 album in 17 years.

MJ was competing against Northern Ireland rap trio Kneecap and Spice Girl Melanie C, but pulled away in the final days to achieve the feat on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart dated May 8.

The release of new biopic Michael has seen streams for the King of Pop spike amid a record-breaking opening in theaters. The career-spanning The Essential Michael Jackson collection is No. 1 for the first time since his death in 2009; the compilation ruled for seven weeks following the news of his passing.

Two more MJ albums see surges as 1982’s Thriller lifts two places to No. 6, while Bad is up five to No. 8, the first time it has appeared in the top 10 in 14 years.

Kneecap earn a career-best with its second studio LP Fenian at No. 2. The trio — composed of Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí — previously hit No. 42 with its 2024 album, Fine Art. The group also tops the Official Vinyl Albums Chart this week by shifting the most copies on wax over the past seven days.

Spice Girls member Melanie C celebrates her highest charting solo album with ninth studio LP Sweat coming in at No. 3, besting her previous peak of No. 4 with Northern Star (1999). It’s now the highest position of any solo album by a Spice Girls member; Geri Halliwell and Emma Bunton’s retrospective debuts Schizophonic and A Girl Like Me both hit No. 4.

Last week’s chart-topper, Noah Kahan’s The Great Divide, moves down three spots to No. 4, while Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving closes at No. 5.

Kacey Musgraves’ Middle of Nowhere is at No. 7 to give the Texan star her fourth top 10 entry in the U.K., while Tori Amos lands her highest charting album in 12 years with In Times of Dragons (No. 13). 

Asake bags a fourth top 40 with M$ney (No. 27), The Black Keys’ new cover album Peaches! lands at No. 33 and Zara Larsson’s Midnight Sun returns to the top 40 following the Girls Trip remix edition (No. 26).

K-Pop supergroup BTS and its Mexican ARMY became one once again on Thursday (May 7) during the highly anticipated return of the South Korean giants to the Latin American country after a nine-year hiatus. For the first of three nights at the GNP Seguros Stadium in Mexico City, the septet dazzled its local fandom with Spanish dialogue, cowboy hats and T-shirts that read “Ciudad de México.”

“I learned a little Spanish. I want to tell you in Spanish how happy I am right now,” V said in Spanish to the 50,000 fans who packed the venue, according to figures from promoter Ocesa. “First of all, I miss ARMY Mexico so much. I love ARMY Mexico so much. So, I hope you love me a lot, too. You are the reason for my life; you are my everything.”

The stadium roared in unison to celebrate their idols. In addition to V, RM, Jungkook and Jimin also spoke messages in the local language. The lattermost used a mobile phone to read some phrases he had prepared for his fans: “You listen to our songs a lot, right?” Jimin asked the crowd. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I didn’t know you’d be this amazing here. You really know how to have fun. You’re the best. I love you more than anyone.”

Prior, Jungkook had taken the microphone to welcome the fandom. “It’s the first night here. Let’s make it worth it,” he said.

And hours before the first show in Mexico, j-hope shared a video on his social media, wearing a cowboy hat and playing “Tu Sancho” by Fuerza Regida in the background. As a result, Mexican fans showered him with affection, shouting, “Hobi, brother, you’re already Mexican!”

The ARIRANG World Tour party in Mexico City kicked off with “Hooligan” and continued with fans singing along at the top of their lungs to “Aliens,” “they don’t know ’bout us,” “Like Animals,” “SWIM” and “Merry Go Round.” The audience in the massive stadium was illuminated by thousands of Light Sticks — the iconic glowing devices fans bring to BTS shows — that synchronized to the rhythm of the music.

In the monumental 360-degree stage set up in the middle of the stadium, the aesthetics of the South Korean flag were recreated during one segment of the show. It was a tribute from BTS to their homeland, of which they are proud ambassadors and whose culture is now admired by millions through their music.

Later in the setlist, songs like “FYA,” “Fire,” “Body to Body” and “IDOL” made an appearance, with which Bangtan — as the group is also known — began a victory lap around the stadium, carrying flags and accompanied by dancers, while their thousands of fans captured photos of their idols on their phones.

The surprise songs of their first night in Mexico were “Boy In Luv” and “So What,” taking the audience on a nostalgic journey that drew applause, laughter and tears from the fandom.

But the celebration wasn’t limited to inside the GNP Seguros Stadium. Outside, thousands of people who couldn’t get tickets for the show gathered on nearby streets to sing and dance to the music and fireworks they could hear and see from afar. The energy remained high for over two hours, with some fans’ Light Sticks also synchronizing outside the venue.

Fulfilling its promise to include Mexico in the next BTS tour — a country the group has now visited four times — the show ended with hits like “Dynamite,” “Please” and “Into the Sun.”

The group then delivered more Spanish phrases to thank fans and close out the night. “Mexican ARMY are always the most passionate,” RM said. “Thanks to you, I was very happy today.”

BTS will perform its second and third scheduled concerts in Mexico City this Saturday and Sunday (May 9 and 10) at the GNP Seguros Stadium. As part of its world tour in support of new album, ARIRANG, the septet will visit South American countries including Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Brazil in October. According to the current schedule, the tour is set to conclude in March 2027 in Manila, Philippines.

When Alok returns to London this June, it’s not just another show.

He’s heading back to Brixton — the same area in the capital where he once worked as a barman after moving there in 2010 and struggling to find gigs — to debut Rave The World, a new concept he’s been building across both his live shows and his music. The show is set to run for one night only at the O2 Academy Brixton on June 5, and for him, it carries a lot of personal weight.

The project also marks a shift from his previous Keep Art Human era, a show rooted in ideas around technology, presence and how people engage with music. That production leaned heavily on scale, with large stage builds, choreographed dancers and a visual narrative that unfolded across the set, which he famously brought to Coachella in 2025.

With Rave The World, he’s moving in a slightly different direction. The idea is to strip things back to something more immediate, a concept that lands within seconds, whether it’s on a festival stage or placed in the middle of a street. At the core of it is what he describes as a “rave box,” a compact setup where pre-shot clips of dancers are projected in a way that makes them feel physically present.

It’s also designed to travel. Unlike his previous productions, which relied on large builds and dozens of performers, this one can move easily across spaces while still holding its own visually.

At the same time, the idea extends beyond the stage. Speaking exclusively to Billboard U.K., Alok shares that he’s closing his label Controversia and starting a new one under the same name, Rave The World, using it as a space for music that sits closer to clubs, raves and festivals, and doesn’t necessarily fit within a major label system.

Back when he first moved to London with his twin brother, things looked very different. Their psytrance project had early traction, but the move didn’t go the way they expected. “We didn’t have the requests, we didn’t have gigs,” he says. “Me and my brother, we broke up our project.” What followed was a reset, one that eventually led him to start over on his own.

Now, more than 10 years later, he’s going back to that same part of the city to make good on a mission over a decade in the making.

You lived in London back in 2010. What do you remember from that time, and how did it shape you?

I lived there with my twin brother [Bhaskar Petrillo], and we had a psytrance project called Logica. It was going quite well on platforms like Beatport and we had a lot of requests in Europe. We moved there thinking it was going to be good for the career, but what happened was actually the opposite. We didn’t have the requests, we didn’t have gigs.

That’s when I created my project, Alok. It was a moment where I kind of freed myself from a prison that I created by myself. I came from a very underground scene and I wanted to do something different.

When I came back to Brazil, I told my dad that I wanted to quit music and go to university because it was so complicated to live through art. I was seeing everyone struggling financially. But my dad told me that if he had my talent, he would be way bigger than I am and wouldn’t be wasting time. He said if you want to abandon something, quit the university. So I said “OK, this is my last try. I’m going to keep doing it, but I’m going to do what I want to do, not what you want me to do.” And that was the best decision.

Why was it important for you to go back to Brixton for this particular show, and to do it as a one-night-only?

When I was in London I started dropping my C.V. [curriculum vitae] in all the clubs, but no one answered. One day, a club told me they weren’t looking for DJs but needed a bartender. I started to study and I became a barman in a pub in Brixton, so going back there now feels like a full cycle.

It wasn’t even my idea in the beginning. The team came up with it because they wanted to do something that could close the cycle. When they brought it to me, it gave me a lot of memories and triggers.

I think I need to go through it. It’s something personal for me. Sometimes you try to avoid it, like why go [back to] Brixton again? But now I have to go back and kind of… heal myself.

What is Rave The World and how did that idea come together?

In order for me to really move anything in a direction, I need to have a purpose for it. Otherwise it just doesn’t drive me. Last year I turned 34 and for the first time I realized that there’s a new generation coming and they’re shaping the culture in a way I haven’t seen before. In my generation, we followed a lot of the rules. This one is completely different. They have the internet, social media power, and they’re changing everything.

At that moment, I felt I needed to connect with them. So we were thinking about a concept, and at first it was like ‘let’s save the world.’ But then I asked my creative director’s daughter – she’s Gen Z – what she thought, and she said she’s sick and tired of people saying that. She said “there’s no other world, this is the only one, and you guys failed with it and now you want us to save it.”

That was very interesting, because we realized we were not connected. So I just thought, “OK save the world, remove the ‘S’ and make it Rave The World.” When I Googled it, it said “do you mean save the world?” I said no, I mean rave it. And when I told her that, she said that’s amazing, she connected with it. That’s how it came into fruition.

You mentioned a ‘rave box’ as part of the show. What does that actually look like?

We needed something super simple and efficient, something you understand in a few seconds. Because with Keep Art Human, we needed a big stage, like 50 dancers and all that. It’s not easy to bring that everywhere.

So we created this rave box. We shoot real dancers and project them inside, so when you see the show, it feels like they are really there. And we can place this box anywhere in the world, even in the middle of the street, and people get it immediately. That’s how we concentrated everything into one concept.

You’ve played to massive crowds over the years, including over one million people at shows like Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro. What does that actually feel like in real time?

Honestly, when you play for over a million people, you only realize that when you see the footage after. In the moment, you can’t really understand it.

That’s why we created the pyramid, 30 meters high and 360 degrees, so I can see everyone around. That’s the only stage where I can actually see the full crowd. We’ve been doing these big shows for years, but I think now people are paying more attention.

You recently collaborated with Khalid on “Dive Into Me.” How did that come together?

We had already worked on some versions of “Dive Into Me” consisting of samples by “What’s a Girl to Do” by Fatima Yamaha, but didn’t have the rights to release it. Then Khalid came up with a version, and we pitched again.

He changed the lyrics of the verse and did a fantastic job. We spent like eight hours in the studio recording a lot of lines. Then the next day he said he still missed some things and went back to the studio again. I really loved working with him. He works very hard and has a lot of passion for what he does.

You also recently made an appearance at Sphere in Las Vegas with ILLENIUM, which has become one of the most talked-about venues globally. What was that experience like for you?

It’s one of those very unique venues in the world. The experience is really out of this world. It’s something that can change the music industry. But it wasn’t my show, I was supporting ILLENIUM. He did everything and gave me space with visuals and effects. He was super humble to do that. His performance is so outstanding, it’s like a movie.

Alongside the Rave The World concept and show, you’re also launching a new label under the same name. What does that next phase look like for you?

I’m going to release songs that match this concept. Not many releases, because I’m not worried about quantity. I just want to release what I really believe in. Some of these songs might not be accepted by a major label because they are more for clubs and festivals, but that’s the direction now.

When Zach Top made his debut on airwaves in 2021 with “Sounds Like the Radio,” the song took listeners “back [to] ’94, you know.”

Radio in that era was a different animal — more than 90% of American adults used a clock radio to start their day, and the biggest competitor for in-car listening was the factory-installed CD player.

Today’s landscape is less favorable for over-the-air radio. More than 80% of the population now uses a smart phone as the alarm, and over 25% of listeners don’t have a single AM/FM radio in their home, according to Michigan-based Jacobs Media’s 22nd annual TechSurvey 2026. Additionally, during their commutes, drivers have satellite radio, audiobooks and streaming apps among numerous non-radio options that didn’t even exist back in ‘94.

The TechSurvey, released in an April 24 webinar, suggests that even stations’ most ardent fans will soon be tuning in to the radio more on other devices than on AM/FM hardware. Listening to Zach Top — or Morgan Wallen or Ella Langley or anyone else — is a different experience on those devices than on a traditional radio, and programmers will want to adjust their stations to take advantage of consumers’ behavior as they continue to move to those platforms. How will that change broadcasters’ approach?

“That’s kind of the holy-grail question,” says Jacobs Media president and founder Fred Jacobs.

 The TechSurvey, a study drawn from people in station databases, measures the listening habits and opinions of radio’s most committed customers across all formats. (The study does not reflect casual listeners). It demonstrates that those super-users still listen to their favorite AM/FM stations 54% of the time on a radio. But 44% of the time, they access those stations through other sources, including mobile phones, PCs or smart speakers such as Alexa. That 10% difference between AM/FM tuners and other options is far smaller than the 71% spread in 2013. Based on the trend line, it’s likely that the competing devices will surpass traditional AM/FM listening in just two to three years. How successfully broadcast executives handle that flip will determine the medium’s future and have a large impact on the artists and labels who supply the music stations with a big chunk of their content.

The features of those alternate gadgets — as well as the environment in which they’re used — shape the way listeners engage with the medium. During rush hour in the car, where most radio tune-in occurs, preset buttons allow the commuter to switch stations easily. To maximize impact, programmers attempt to keep as many drivers’ attention as possible with engaging content to build the largest possible audience during a commute that lasts, on average, less than 30 minutes.

The same customer, listening at work or home, is less likely to change the channel while using the radio as background for other activities. In that setting, programmers generally benefit by providing content that is steadier, more reliable and less obtrusive, attempting to keep the listener’s engagement as long as possible.

Balancing those competing data points — the size of the cumulative audience versus the time spent listening — is the challenge for radio decision-makers, who may need to tweak their approaches as the audience shifts its habits. They could alter the size of playlists, the frequency of an individual title’s repetition, the size of commercial breaks or the amount of disc jockey conversation as the audience moves to different devices. And those decisions come as modern in-car dashboards feature increasingly elaborate infotainment systems that further threaten to deflate listenership in the space where radio has long dominated.

“Listening in the car to a regular AM/FM radio is still the No. 1 way that people listen to their favorite radio stations,” Jacobs says. “But the more that cars become connected, and the more that cars allow you to pair your phone or they have embedded apps on their home screens, the more pressure that puts on radio broadcasters to win the war.”

Radio’s future is further complicated by the audience itself, according to this year’s TechSurvey. The average age of the current P1 listener is 58.4 years (the country format, at an average 57.1 among its most enthusiastic supporters, is only slightly younger than radio as a whole). As recently as 2023, radio’s P1s averaged 55.5 — the listener base increased by three years in that short window. That means stations are not cultivating superfans in younger demos fast enough to replace older fans as they disappear.

It represents an “epic fail,” Jacobs says, noting that broadcasters have been so devoted to the 25-54 demographic that they are neither catering to the dominant older segment of their audience nor cultivating the younger listeners who need to come on board to keep radio thriving.

“We have not spent any energy, time or money on people, really, under the age of 25,” Jacobs laments. “Teens were [formerly] an integral part of radio listening and also radio sales. Those were the people discovering the new music, and those were the people who were genuinely excited about what was going on. Most radio stations haven’t included them in the strategic mix now for decades.”

The extreme demos — consumers under 25 and over 55 — may be key to radio’s future strength, presenting a conundrum since both have different engagement profiles. A sizable chunk of the P1 listeners who are older than the medium’s 58-year average age are retired and thus commuting less, reducing their in-car listening. Since radio is a life-long habit, they’re increasingly tuning in via Alexa, Google Home or their computer, and listening for longer stretches.

The younger demos, whose media habits are shaped primarily by their use of smart phones, are prone to shorter listening occurrences, which would seem to require a different programming approach. Focusing on the older base would create the best short-term Nielsen ratings, though their age necessarily means their numbers will dwindle in the approaching decade. Engaging youth would likely not pay off in a sizable increase in those demos for a number of years, if at all.

“Radio as an industry has not adjusted to the demographic realities,” Jacobs says. “That’s why you begin to start looking at data like this and going, ‘Whoa!’ This thing is becoming a really difficult challenge with each passing year as the audience ages out.”

One surprising source of optimism might come with the development of the smart TV. Still relatively new, the device is used only 2% of the time by radio’s strongest consumers, but it’s particularly popular among Gen Z. It might be a method in which stations are able to groom the youngest part of the audience to become the future core.

Thus, to quote Zach Top, it “sounds like the radio” would benefit from catering to the aging part of its audience, which is likely to engage for longer periods of time as it increasingly stays home, while simultaneously building its younger segment, which could be listening longer if it discovers radio through its use of smart TV.

The rules around media ownership are likely to be relaxed, Jacobs notes, and he suggests that chains that typically operate five or six outlets in a particular market would benefit from having one of its stations devoted to 55+ demos and another focused on 12-24. 

“You need to think,” Jacobs says, “about both things at the same time.”