What qualities of Harry Styles’ new single, “Aperture,” helped it launch at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (dated Feb. 7)?

Here’s a look at the sonic highlights of the song — Styles’ third Hot 100 leader, following “As It Was” in 2022 and “Watermelon Sugar” in 2020, and the lead single from his album Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally, due March 6 — that contributed to its first-week chart triumph.

Wait for It …

The chorus of “Aperture,” centered around the mantra-like lyrical repetition of “we belong together,” doesn’t arrive until two minutes into the song — landing a whopping 1:21 later than the average of 0:39 among Hot 100 top 10s over the past decade. Prior to “Aperture” in that span, only 1% of top 10 hits introduced their first chorus after the two-minute mark, all of them from the hip-hop/rap genre.

That late arrival of the chorus is driven in part by an unusually long 45-second intro, which runs roughly 30 seconds longer than the top 10 average and ranks as the second-longest intro among non-hip-hop/rap Hot 100 top 10 hits since 2016, trailing only Ariana Grande’s “Yes, And?” at 0:48.

Stretched-Out Structure

At 5:12, “Aperture” ranks among the longest Hot 100 top 10 hits of the past decade. Between 2016 and 2025, only 3% of top 10s exceeded the five-minute mark, the vast majority being hip-hop/rap, with Drake accounting for the largest share. Outside of hip-hop/rap were three from Taylor Swift — “All Too Well” (the overall longest at just more than 10 minutes for its most prominent version), “But Daddy I Love Him” and “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” — and another Styles top 10, “Sign of the Times.”

A New Retro Style

A key component of Styles’ success has been his embrace of retro influences across much of his catalog of eight Hot 100 top 10s. Most of those draw heavily from 1970s and ‘80s aesthetics, establishing that nostalgia is a core part of his signature sound. “Aperture” continues that retro lineage but takes a step more toward recent times with its 2000s electronic and dance/club influences.

This kind of retro evolution mirrors the career arc of Bruno Mars, another artist whose chart success is rooted in nostalgia. Mars’ Hot 100 top 10 output has shifted across decades — from ’70s disco funk (“Treasure”) to ’80s electro-funk (“Uptown Funk!”) and ’90s new jack swing (“Finesse”) — before circling back to deeper ’70s influences with Silk Sonic and his newest chart-topper, “I Just Might.”

Clever Bookending

The listener is gradually drawn into “Aperture” through its hypnotic 45-second intro, which slowly builds as it introduces one instrumental layer at a time. Following mid-song developments, it winds down by effectively reversing that process, stripping the arrangement back in the outro and bringing the song full circle by ending much the way it began.

David and Yael Penn cofounded Hit Songs Deconstructed. In 2023, Hit Songs Deconstructed and fellow song analysis platform MyPart publicly launched ChartCipher, an AI-powered platform analyzing a deeper scope of hit songs, as defined by Billboard’s charts.

50 Cent is the king of beef, and he’s parlayed his trolling ways into starring in a Super Bowl commercial for DoorDash, which was released on Thursday (Feb. 5).

With the big game set for this Sunday, DoorDash launched the Big Beef, and it’s only right that 50 was part of the campaign, as no rapper has navigated feuds better than the G-Unit mogul throughout his career.

“I’ve always been about keeping it real, so when DoorDash approached me about a social campaign around beef, it felt authentic from the start,” 50 said in a statement. “They’ve got everything you need, and just like with beef, the receipts speak for themselves.”

The clip finds 50 sitting down and leaning into his petty nature by quite literally delivering the beef. He pulls various items out of his DoorDash delivery bag, a few of which are seemingly meant to troll his No. 1 enemy at the moment, Diddy.

“Don’t want to be too obvious,” he says while picking up a bag of Cheese Puffs. 50 closes by finding a package of combs at the bottom. “They sell combs, what a coincidence,” the rap legend states, followed by a laugh.

While the funny Beef 101 spot won’t pick up airtime during Super Bowl LX’s commercials, fans should keep their eyes peeled for more social media content from DoorDash and 50 throughout the weekend.

“The Big Game has become a multi-screen moment, and today the comment section is where the
conversation and the beef really happen. It’s a day fueled by emotion, competition, and trash talk,
no matter who you’re rooting for,” Gina Igwe, who serves as VP and head of consumer marketing at
DoorDash added. “DoorDash already has everything consumers need for the Big Game, and now we’re
talking a big game with the help of cultural icon and beef expert, 50 Cent. No matter how fans
show up this year, DoorDash has the beef. “

Watch DoorDash’s Big Beef ad with 50 Cent below.

Avex Music Group, the U.S. arm of Japanese music giant Avex, has signed a global distribution deal with The Orchard, the companies announced Thursday (Feb. 5).

The first music expected to be released under the deal will come from We the Band — the longtime backing band for Justin Bieber — who signed with Avex in June. The group consists of Harv (bass), Tay James (DJ), Julian Michael (guitar), Devin “Stixx” Taylor (drums) and O’Neil Palmer (keys). Harv co-wrote and co-produced Bieber’s 2021 hit “Peaches,” while James has worked as the star’s A&R and DJ since 2009. The group released its debut single, “One & Only,” last summer.

Avex Music Group (formerly Avex USA) launched last May with Brandon Silverstein as CEO. That announcement coincided with Avex’s 100% acquisition of S10 Publishing, which Avex established as a joint venture with Silverstein in 2020. Avex Music Group previously signed producer Elkan (Rihanna, Drake) to a global publishing deal and partnered on Toibox by Elkan, his joint-venture publishing company. We the Band marked Avex Music Group’s first artist signing.

“As we continue to expand Avex’s presence around the world, having a distribution partner that has a powerful global footprint is critical,” said Silverstein in a statement. “Brad Navin and his team have built a best-in-class company with expertise in every area to help us grow our artists’ fanbases all around the world. We’re excited for Avex Music Group’s next chapter as we work alongside The Orchard to grow our business.”

Added Brad Navin, CEO of The Orchard, “Avex is a significant global player and we are delighted to partner with them on their future output. We’re looking forward to working with Brandon and the entire Avex Music Group team on an amazing schedule of releases for 2026. This alliance will ensure that Avex’s diverse and exciting catalog reaches a wider international audience than ever before, leveraging The Orchard’s extensive global distribution network and expertise in local market development.”

Founded in 1988, Avex generated nearly $1 billion in revenue in 2024, according to a press release.

Britney Spears is once again speaking out about her strained, painful relationship with her family. In fact, in an Instagram post on Wednesday (Feb. 3), Spears, 44, claimed that she is “lucky to be alive” given how her have treated her over the years.

And while Spears did not name names or get into specifics, the lengthy post accompanied by an image of a baby holding a woman’s hand appeared to be a form of catharsis for the pop star who has effectively retired from public life. “As people, all we really want is to feel connected to each other and never feel alone … for those of you in your family that have said to help you is to isolate you and make you feel unbelievably left out … they were wrong,” Spears wrote.

“We can forgive as people but u don’t ever forget. Yearning and longing for contact is always crucial !!! I’m incredibly lucky to even be alive with how my family treated me once in my life and now I’m scared of them. It’s weird how God works in mysterious ways,” she continued. “My friends, what do you think he is saying today ??? Because to be totally honest with you, no matter what he says, they will never take responsibility for what they did.”

Since the end of her restrictive 13-year conservatorship in 2021 — during which her estranged father, Jaime, and a lawyer were appointed by a court to control her personal and professional affairs — Spears has frequently posted about her strained relationship with her dad, mom Lynne and sister Jamie Lynn.

In fact, over the holidays, Spears posted a pic of a Christmas tree with a snarky caption wishing a “merry late Christmas to my beautiful family who have never disrespected me, harmed me, ever done anything completely unacceptable or caused unbelievable trauma, the kind you can’t fix. To my dear sweet innocent family… so so sorry I was busy this Christmas but I will definitely show up and surprise you soon.”

She also alluded to the difficult conservatorship period and how it strained her relationship with her family in her best-selling 2024 memoir, The Woman in Me, in which she wrote, “I became a robot. But not just a robot — a sort of child-robot. I had been so infantilized that I was losing pieces of what made me feel like myself. The conservatorship stripped me of my womanhood, made me into a child. I became more of an entity than a person onstage. I had always felt music in my bones and my blood; they stole that from me.”

That post appeared to be a response to a festive shot shared earlier in the week by younger sister Jamie Lynn that showed her celebrating the holiday with her husband, two daughters, as well as Lynne Spears and Britney’s son Sean Preston Federline.

While the mood was heavy in Wednesday’s post, Spears ended it on a lighter note, writing about how she made a cheesecake on Wednesday that was, if she’s being honest, “pretty damn good,” and she shared it with a neighbor over a glass of milk. She also noted that she hasn’t filmed one of her famous dancing videos in a month because she broke her toe, twice.