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Madonna has implied Tory Lanez sampled one of her classic songs without permission.
The Queen of Pop left a note for Lanez on one of his recent Instagram posts, indicating that she’d already tried to message him privately regarding his new track “Pluto’s Last Comet” sounding like “Into the Groove.”
“Read your messages for illegal usage of my song get into the groove!” Madonna wrote in a public comment from her own verified Instagram account, in an attempt to get his attention.
It remains unclear whether Lanez, who’s name has also been in December headlines due to his trial on felony assault and gun charges for allegedly shooting Megan Thee Stallion in 2020, has read Madonna’s message or responded to her since she left the comment his post.
Representatives for both artists did not immediately respond to Billboard‘s request for comment on Monday (Dec. 27).
“Into the Groove,” written and produced by Madonna and Stephen Bray, was first featured in the 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan, starring Madonna in the title role. “Pluto’s Last Comet,” written by Lanez and produced by Orlando tha Great and Chaz Jackson, was just released this month on Lanez’s ’80s-inspired Alone at Prom project.
Listen to both songs below.
Florida artist SkyDxddy has just dropped their newest track “Hold Me,” a song dedicated to members of the LGBTQ community struggling with mental illness and self doubt. The song details SkyDxddy’s own battles with depression and how it feels as close friends and family ignore early cries for help.
“‘Hold Me’ is a song I wrote at a dark time in my life. A time when I tried to speak up for myself and I was only met with judgment and gaslighting,” the gender fluid musician from a small town in Virginia tells Billboard. “I truly just wanted to be held while I cried and told I was going to be OK, and that never happened. No one should be in a relationship with someone who doesn’t love all their parts, even the broken ones.”
SkyDxddy’s music has already racked up four million streams on Spotify, gaining the support of Grammy-nominated producer and former Linkin Park manager Jeff Blu. “Hold Me” is a follow-up track to “Overwhelmed,” produced by Marky Styles.
Check out “Hold Me” below.
Rihanna is paying tribute to her late cousin, Tavon Kaiseen Alleyne, four years after his murder in Barbados.
The 33-year-old singer and Fenty founder took to social media on Sunday (Dec. 26) to honor Alleyne with a series of heartfelt photos, many of which featured her lovingly posing alongside him.
“Miss you and dat smile cuz,” Rihanna captioned the emotional post on Instagram, adding the hashtag #Tavon.
Alleyne, 21, was shot and killed on Dec. 26, 2017. At the time, local news outlet Nation News reported that he was shot around 7 p.m. while walking by a track near his home in St. Michael, Barbados, when a man shot him multiple times and fled the scene.
Rihanna shared the tragic news in a heartbreaking Instagram post at the time. “RIP cousin… can’t believe it was just last night that I held you in my arms! never thought that would be the last time I felt the warmth in your body!!! Love you always man!” she wrote alongside a series of pictures with her cousin, concluding with the hashtag #endgunviolence.
Rihanna later attended Alleyne’s funeral in her native Barbados. After the emotional “celebration” of her cousin’s life, the singer shared a dedication on her Instagram Story, along with a photo of Alleyne’s casket adorned with flowers.
“Sleep well buddy..we are at peace knowing you’re in a better place than we are. We will always have a void without you, but we will never stop loving you,” she wrote. “Hope you were happy with your going away celebration today.”
See Rihanna’s heartfelt post below.
Adele’s 30 continues its hot streak on the Billboard 200 albums chart, as the set locks in a fifth consecutive, and total, week at No. 1 on the tally (dated Jan. 1, 2022). The set earned 212,000 equivalent album units (up 16%) in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 23, according to MRC Data.
30 bowed at No. 1 on the chart dated Dec. 4 with 839,000 units earned. It then saw its second, third, fourth and fifth weeks tally 288,000, 193,000, 183,000 and 212,000 units, respectively.
30 logs the biggest fifth week for any album in over three years, since Adele’s last album, 25, was No. 1 in its fifth week, on the Jan. 9, 2016-dated chart, with 1.19 million units earned.
Plus, 30 is the first album to tally three weeks of at least 200,000 units in over three years, since Drake’s Scorpion saw its first three frames all clear the 200,000-unit mark.
30 is the fourth album released in 2021 to spend at least five weeks at No. 1 in total on the Billboard 200, following Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album (10), Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour and Drake’s Certified Lover Boy (five each).
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. 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 Jan 1, 2022-dated chart (where 30 spends a fifth week at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Dec. 29 (one day later than usual, owed to the holiday week). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of 30’s 212,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 23, album sales comprise 180,500 (up 23%), SEA units comprise 30,000 (down 14%; equaling 40.63 million on-demand streams of the set’s tracks) and TEA units comprise 1,500 units (up 6%).
Adele’s total weeks at No. 1, across all three of her No. 1 albums (21, 25 and 30), now rises to 39. She logged 24 weeks at No. 1 with 21 in 2011-12, 10 weeks with 25 in 2015-16 and now five weeks with 30 in 2021-22.
With 39 weeks total at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Adele now ties Elton John for the eighth-most weeks at No. 1 since the list began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March of 1956. Ahead of them are The Beatles (132), Elvis Presley (67), Taylor Swift (55), Garth Brooks (52), Michael Jackson (51), The Kingston Trio and Whitney Houston (both with 46).
Michael Bublé’s former No. 1 Christmas jumps 4-2 on the new Billboard 200, earning 77,000 equivalent album units (up 19%). During the tracking week, NBC TV aired an encore presentation of Bublé’s latest special, Michael Bublé’s Christmas in the City, which premiered Dec. 6.
Christmas spent five weeks at No. 1 in late 2011 and early 2012 and has returned to the top 10 in every Christmas season since.
Swift’s former No. 1 Red (Taylor’s Version) is a non-mover at No. 3 with 76,000 equivalent album units earned (up 12%).
Roddy Ricch’s new album Live Life Fast debuts at No. 4 with 62,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 57,500 (equaling 76.51 million on-demand streams of the album’s songs), album sales comprise 3,500 and TEA units comprise 1,000.
Live Life Fast is the second top five-charting Billboard 200 entry for Roddy Ricch, following his last album, Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial, which spent four weeks at No. 1 in 2019-20.
Rodrigo’s chart-topping Sour is steady at No. 5 with 61,000 equivalent album units earned (up 2%).
Vince Guaraldi Trio’s A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack hits a new high, rising 8-6, surpassing its previous high reached a week earlier. The album earned 61,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Dec. 23 (up 37%).
A Charlie Brown Christmas was released in 1965 and did not reach any Billboard ranking until 1987. That year, it debuted on the Top Holiday Albums chart, where it later peaked at No. 2 (Jan. 27, 2007). The album first reached the top 10 on the Billboard 200 dated Jan. 2, 2021, when it rose to No. 10.
Mariah Carey‘s festive Merry Christmas is steady at No. 7 with 56,000 equivalent album units earned (up 26%).
Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song returns to the top 10, climbing 11-8, with 55,000 equivalent album units earned (up 28%). The set has so far peaked at No. 6 (on the Jan. 2, 2021-dated tally).
Juice WRLD’s Fighting Demons falls 2-9 in its second week on the Billboard 200, earning 52,000 equivalent album units (down 57%).
Bo Burnham’s Inside (The Songs) makes an eye-catching return to the top 10, as the album re-enters the chart at No. 10. The set earned 50,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Dec. 23 (up 721%) following its release on CD and vinyl on Dec. 17. It was previously only available via streaming services and to purchase as a digital download album. Of its unit total for the week, album sales comprise 44,500 (up 15,220%), SEA units comprise nearly 5,500 (down 9%) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
Inside (The Songs) debuted and peaked at No. 7 on the June 26, 2021-dated chart.
Ed Sheeran and Elton John‘s “Merry Christmas” dashes to No. 1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary radio airplay chart (dated Jan. 1, reflecting play in the Dec. 20-26 tracking week, according to MRC Data).
The coronation is historic for John, as he notches his record-extending 17th AC No. 1. The carol previously became his record-padding 41st top 10 and 75th entry overall on the tally.
John extends his lead over the Carpenters, who logged 15 AC No. 1s in 1970-81. Next up: Barry Manilow (13), Celine Dion, Lionel Richie (11 each), Whitney Houston and Olivia Newton-John (10 each).
Here’s a recap of John’s 17 AC chart-toppers:
“Daniel,” two weeks at No. 1, beginning May 12, 1973
“Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” with Kiki Dee, one, Sept. 11, 1976
“Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word,” one, Dec. 18, 1976
“Mama Can’t Buy You Love,” one, Aug. 25, 1979
“Little Jeannie,” two, June 14, 1980
“Blue Eyes,” two, Sept. 11, 1982
“That’s What Friends Are For” (Dionne & Friends; Dionne Warwick, John, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder), two, Jan. 11, 1986
“I Don’t Wanna Go On With You Like That,” one, Aug. 20, 1988
“Healing Hands,” one, Oct. 21, 1989
“You Gotta Love Someone,” five, Dec. 15, 1990
“Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” with George Michael, two, Feb. 8, 1992
“The One,” six, July 25, 1992
“Simple Life,” three, March 20, 1993
“Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” eight, July 9, 1994
“Believe,” two, May 20, 1995
“Something About the Way You Look Tonight,” 10, Nov. 22, 1997
“Merry Christmas,” with Ed Sheeran, one to-date, Jan. 1, 2022
John now claims the longest span of leading the AC chart: 48 years, seven months and three weeks, from “Daniel” to “Merry Christmas.” He passes Chicago, with a stretch of 25 years, 10 months and two weeks, from “Beginnings” in 1971 to “Here in My Heart” in 1997.
John also breaks the record for the longest break between AC No. 1s: 24 years, one month and two weeks. The Eagles previously held the mark, with a wait of a week shy of 20 years between “Best of My Love” in 1975 and “Love Will Keep Us Alive” in 1995.
“Merry Christmas” is the fifth AC No. 1 for John’s fellow British co-lead Sheeran, after “Thinking Out Loud,” which reigned for 19 weeks beginning in March 2015; “Shape of You” (24 weeks, May 2017); “Perfect” (22 weeks, February 2018); and “Bad Habits” (one week to-date, this December).
Further, “Merry Christmas” is the 27th holiday No. 1 on the AC chart since 2000, around the time that most stations in the format began playing seasonal songs 24/7 between Thanksgiving and Christmas each year. It’s the second this season, as it dethrones Michael Bublé’s “Let It Snow! (10th Anniversary)” after three weeks at the summit.
Meanwhile, “Merry Christmas” already boasts a successful reworking: LadBaby’s charity single “Sausage Rolls for Everyone,” featuring Sheeran and John, is the piping hot new No. 1 on the Official UK Singles chart. It also opens at No. 1 on the U.S-based Holiday Digital Song Sales chart with 8,400 sold in the Dec. 17-23 tracking week.
All charts will update Wednesday (Dec. 29) on billboard.com.
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