Jenni Rivera’s Mariposa de Barrio (Soundtrack de la Serie) debuts at No. 5 on Billboard’s Regional Mexican Albums chart (dated March 27). With the bow, the late singer’s total of top 10s on the tally climbs to 14, and her total of top five-charting sets increases to 13.

Notably, among women, Rivera now has the most top five sets on the 36-year-old chart, breaking out of a tie with fellow late legend Selena, with 12. Selena still leads in terms of top 10s among women, with 14. (Among all artists, Vicente Fernandez has both the most top 10s and top fives, with 49 and 41, respectively.)

The 15-track soundtrack becomes Rivera’s first showing since Nov. 2016 when Paloma Negra Desde Monterrey, a seven-week champ, launched atop the list. The set is the only other album by a female act on the current tally (No. 18 in its 22nd week).

Mariposa de Barrio takes its name after the eponymous biographical Netflix series based on the Rivera’s autobiography Unbreakable: My Story, My Way (2013). Mariposa, the soundtrack, starts with 2,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending March 18, according to MRC Data, with its opening sum mostly stemming from streaming activity.

Rivera concurrently becomes the first woman to debut in the tally’s top 10 since her daughter Chiquis Rivera’s Entre Botellas bowed at No. 1 on the March 31, 2018-dated chart.

Mariposa concurrently becomes Rivera’s 11th straight Regional Mexican Albums top 10, dating back to the No. 1 album Jenni (2018).

The soundtrack was preceded by six top 10 tracks on Regional Mexican Airplay. Let’s take a look:

Rank, Title, Peak Date

No. 1, “De Contrabando,” June 3, 2006

No. 10, “Besos y Copas,” Oct. 21, 2006

No. 8, “Mírame,” Aug. 25, 2007

No. 5, “Inolvidable,” June 14, 2008

No. 4, “Culpable o Inocente,” Dec. 6, 2008

No. 7, “Ya Lo Sé,” Feb. 25, 2010

Mariposa was released March 5 via Jenni Rivera Enterprises.

A touch of soul came to NBC’s The Voice as the blind auditions continued on Monday night (March 22), and two of the coaches wanted some.

Virginia-native Awari, an Air Force veteran, spread his wings with a warm and tender cover of SWV’s “Weak”.

He sure weakened Kelly Clarkson, who turned first. Then Nick Jonas.

Both had a single vacancy on their teams. “Way to kick the door down, congratulations man,” enthused Blake Shelton after the performance.

Jonas described what he just heard as “phenomenal” and put out his best sales pitch. “If you pick me,” he explained, “I’m actually making an album right now that’s got a lot of those same influences. I’d love to just make a lot of noise with you.”

Clarkson bragged about her three wins in the series, and suggested they should work together and add to that list.

In the end, he went with Jonas.

Watch below.

Rob Zombie achieves his first No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart as his new studio album, The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Conspiracy Theory, debuts atop the tally (dated March 27).

The set was released on March 12 via Nuclear Blast and launches with 26,000 copies sold in the U.S. in the week ending March 18, according to MRC Data.

Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now MRC Data. Pure album sales were the measurement solely utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. The new March 27-dated chart (where Lunar debuts to No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard’s website on March 23. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Lunar’s arrival at No. 1 continues Zombie’s hot streak on the tally, as all seven of his solo studio albums have reached the top 10. It follows Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser (No. 5 in 2016), Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor (No. 7, 2013), Hellbilly Deluxe 2 (No. 8, 2010), Educated Horses (No. 5, 2006), The Sinister Urge (No. 8, 2001) and Hellbilly Deluxe (No. 5, 1998).

Of Lunar’s starting sum of 26,000 sold, physical album sales comprise 20,000 of that figure (CDs: 13,200; vinyl LPs: 6,500 and cassettes: 300). The remaining 6,000 were digital albums.

The album’s CD sales were enhanced by the availability of a special edition of the set, packaged in a retro cardboard longbox. Lunar was also sold on multiple colored vinyl LP variants, helping the title debut at No. 1 on the Vinyl Albums chart.

Not only is Lunar the first No. 1 on Top Album Sales for Zombie, but also the first for Nuclear Blast. The label previously topped out at No. 2 with Slayer’s Repentless on the chart dated Oct. 3, 2015.

Lunar also bows at No. 1 on Independent Albums and Tastemaker Albums. The latter list ranks the top-selling albums of the week at independent and small chain record stores, and Lunar sold 6,300 copies through those retailers. On the Billboard 200 chart, Lunar starts at No. 9 – the seventh top 10 for Zombie.

At No. 2 on Top Album Sales, Nick Jonas’ Spaceman debuts with 16,000 sold. It’s his fourth solo top 10 on the tally. Selena Gomez’s first Spanish-language project, Revelación, bows at No. 3 with 14,000 sold. It’s her seventh top 10.

Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 Folklore jumps 13-4 with 10,000 sold (up 130%). Meanwhile, her more recent album, Evermore (another former No. 1), also bounces back into the top 10. It rises 25-9 with a little over 6,000 sold (up 88%). Both albums are basking in the glow of Swift’s performance and win on the Grammy Awards (March 14). Folklore took home album of the year, while Swift performed a three-song medley of Folklore’s “Cardigan” and “August,” and her Evermore single “Willow.”

Rock band Lake Street Dive debuts at No. 5 on Top Album Sales with their latest release, Obviously, selling 10,000 copies. It’s the second top 10 for the act, who previously reached the region with 2018’s Free Yourself Up (No. 4). The rest of the top 10 is comprised of albums all seeing sales gains thanks to exposure on the Grammy Awards.

Billie Eilish’s previous leader When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? is pushed down 4-6 on Top Album Sales, despite a gain, due to the number of debuts ahead of it. When We All Fall Asleep sold 8,000 copies – up 37%. Eilish performed the non-album track “Everything I Wanted” on the Grammys, which also won the record of the year award.

Harry Styles’ former No. 1 Fine Line moves 8-7 with 7,000 sold (up 27%), following Styles’ Grammy performance of the album’s “Watermelon Sugar.” The tune took home the award for best pop solo performance.

Black Pumas log their best sales week yet, as the band’s self-titled album vaults 39-10 (matching its previous chart high) with nearly 7,000 sold (up 156%). On the Grammys, the act performed the album’s “Colors,” which was also nominated for record of the year and best American roots performance.

Rounding out the new top 10 is BTS’ former No. 1 Be, falling 6-10 with 6,000 sold (up 3%). The group performed the Grammy-nominated “Dynamite” on the Grammys.

Warner Music Group and Tencent Music Entertainment Group say they will expand a multi-year licensing agreement and form a joint record label.

Under terms of the deal announced Monday (March 22), Tencent will continue to make WMG’s repertoire available across all of its online platforms in mainland China, including QQ Music, Kugou Music and Kuwo Music, as well as its live-streaming platforms and WeSing, an online karaoke platform.

Tencent will also make Warner Music’s repertoire available in mainland China via TME’s online music platforms on certain connected devices, such as in-car audio systems. The companies did not say how long the renewed licensing agreement will last.

The companies also agreed to launch a new joint venture record label, leveraging Warner Music’s global resources and experience in supporting artists’ careers, and Tencent’s sway in mainland China’s music and entertainment market. The two companies plan to work together “to discover unique talent and content” and “showcase ‘new generation’ artists to the global music market,” said TC Pan, TME Group vp content cooperation, in a statement. Artists signed to the unnamed label will have the benefit of Tencent Music’s 622 million monthly users.

The joint label follows news last month that Universal Music Group imprint Geffen Records would form a joint label with HYBE — formerly Big Hit Entertainment, the Korean label behind BTS — to be based in Los Angeles. Although the partnerships are in different countries, the joint labels put Warner and Universal into Asian markets where they don’t have the same presence as they do in the Americas and Europe.

Tencent and Warner Music have yet to work out details around the new joint label, including its timing and the music genres it will focus on, a Warner Music spokesperson tells Billboard. “We have agreed to the JV, but it’s early days,” she says.

The new Warner-Tencent Music partnership continues a relationship that extends more than a decade, according to a press release. In one of their first deals together, in 2014, Warner entered an agreement with Tencent Holdings Ltd. — a social media and gaming company now worth $781 billion — to become the first major label to license its music to an internet provider on mainland China. Tencent Holdings spun off Tencent Music in December 2018.

Warner is the last of the three majors to form a joint venture with Tencent Music. UMG announced its plan to form a record label with the streaming company in 2020, while Sony Music created a new music brand, EDM-focused Liquid State, in 2018.

The two other major labels also have financial ties to the Chinese company. Warner and Sony Music purchased 68.1 million shares of Tencent Music for $200 million in October 2018. In return, Tencent Music purchased 10% of Warner’s shares on the day Warner started trading on the New York Stock Exchange on June 2, 2020. In December 2020, Tencent Music’s parent company, Tencent Holdings., acquired a 10% stake in Universal for €3 billion (about $3.7 billion).

“Our collaboration with TME has already delivered tremendous results for local and international artists, and now we’re opening up even more opportunities together,” said Simon Robson, president, international, recorded music for WMG, says in a statement. “Alongside our increased investment in artist & repertoire and marketing in Greater China, this renewed and expanded partnership means we can help make our artists impossible to ignore in one of the world’s fastest-expanding music markets.”

In a global recorded music market worth $20.2 billion, China’s was the world’s seven-largest market with revenues of $590.9 million in 2019, an annual 16% increase, according to the latest global figures released by the IFPI.  

Additional reporting by Alexei Barrionuevo

Bella Thorne and Benjamin Mascolo are engaged to be married. The couple announced their happy news on social media over the weekend.

On March 21, Thorne posted a series of Instagram stories that ended in a closeup photo of her engagement ring, while Mascalo shared a mini gallery of pictures with the caption “She said YES.”

Who is Benjamin Mascolo? Although many people know — he does have 1.7 million Instagram followers, after all — those who aren’t already familiar with the Italian singer might be wondering, so Billboard compiled some fast facts about him.

His Roots Are in Italy

Mascolo is from Modena, Italy. In an interview with Icon, he explained that he tries to spend half the year in Italy and half the year in Los Angeles.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Mascolo and Thorne were unfortunately separated due to quarantine, with Mascolo staying safe with his family in Italy. The couple connected on Instagram Live with each other (among fans) and adorably expressed how much they missed each other.

He’s a Musician and an Actor

Mascolo is one-half of the pop duo Benji & Fede (with Federico Rossi), and also now performs as a solo artist under the name B3N. In February, he released an EP titled California.

Speaking of Benji & Fede, Mascolo said they aimed to “make our own path in our own way because I believe the sort of artist we are is different than most Italian people that came here before us” in an interview at the Billboard Latin Music Conference in 2016.

In 2020, the Italian pop star embarked on his next adventure: acting. Mascolo shot his first movie, Time Is Up, “side by side with my partner in crime,” he wrote on Instagram. The pair were on location in Rome shooting the film in the fall.

He Met Bella at Coachella

The two lovebirds first found each other in California, at the annual Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival.

“I immediately knew she was different from all the other women I met in my life,” Mascolo said, according to an English translation of an Icon interview that was published in Italian.

In April 2020, he took to Instagram to recall that first meeting in 2019, writing, “About one year ago, out of the blue you landed like a UFO alien in my very normal Italian popstar life and f****d up all the plans I had for a outrageous Coachella weekend and summer in Ibiza and Mykonos. Safe to say this was no doubt the best thing that ever happened in my life, I’m forever grateful to you my beautiful little girl, god bless the moment I put aside my shyness to randomly text you and say ‘let’s hang out.’”

He credits Thorne for helping him gain confidence in his career and in his life.

“The nicest thing Bella did for me was making me believe in myself … a lot of things I thought I could never do, I’m learning now because she got me started. In music, in life. She gave me the gift of believing in myself,” he said in an interview with Vanity Fair Italia.

His Favorite Artist Ever Is Ed Sheeran

Mascolo lucked out when he was given the opportunity to sit down and interview his favorite musician, Ed Sheeran.

“Italian people love you,” the Sheeran enthusiast gushed before asking questions about his songwriting and career. “It’s such an honor for me to represent them.”

Mascolo had Sheeran autograph his arm, saying that he intended to get a tattoo of his signature, and ended the meeting with a big hug.

He’s Got a Lot of Tattoos (And Bella Approves)

Speaking of ink, Mascolo is fairly heavily tattooed.

Thorne has some favorites.

“They’re all pretty hot,” she said in a clip of the two behind-the-scenes at a magazine photo shoot. “I love your tats. I love that when we first met, one of the things I noticed, he has ‘patience’ and ‘balance’ on his hands, which is two things that I talk about needing so much more in my life all the time. So it’s kind of like the universe gave me something that I really needed to look at.”