Australian rock icons Silverchair are set to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their seminal debut album, Frogstomp, with a special event in Sydney next week. However, frontman Daniel Johns will not be taking part.

The event is scheduled for March 26 at the Metro Social in Sydney, a venue that holds significance for Silverchair, as it hosted some of the band’s early performances before their rapid rise to fame.

The night will feature drummer Ben Gillies, former Silverchair manager John Watson, and label executive John O’Donnell, all sharing insights into the band’s meteoric success. Additionally, celebrated music photographer Tony Mott will be in attendance, and Sydney-based indie rockers The Buoys are set to perform tracks from Frogstomp in tribute.

Released in March 1995, Frogstomp catapulted Silverchair to international stardom. The album debuted at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart and made history by reaching the top 10 of the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 9 and marking the first time an Australian band had done so since INXS.

The record, which features hits like “Tomorrow” and “Pure Massacre,” earned five ARIA Awards and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide.

The upcoming anniversary celebration follows the release of Love & Pain, a memoir co-authored by Gillies and bassist Chris Joannou in 2023. The book offers an in-depth look at the band’s origins in Newcastle and their rise to becoming one of Australia’s most successful rock acts. However, the absence of Johns from the event is consistent with his continued reluctance to revisit Silverchair’s past.

Johns has been vocal about distancing himself from his former band. He previously opposed the airing of a two-part Australian Story documentary on ABC iView, which coincided with the release of Love & Pain, citing unauthorized use of Silverchair’s music. In an Instagram post, Johns addressed his stance:

“I was and remain incredibly supportive of them telling their story,” he wrote. “I was asked at the end of filming to be interviewed about their contribution to the band and although I wished them all the best, I respectfully declined for one reason. I haven’t been involved in the book nor am I aware of the contents. I’ve asked on many occasions to read the book but haven’t been sent a copy, consequently, I was uncomfortable being interviewed to help promote it.”

Despite Johns’ absence, the Frogstomp anniversary event is expected to be a significant occasion for longtime Silverchair fans, offering a retrospective look at one of the most defining records in Australian rock history.

In 2024, Billie Eilish explained that her Hit Me Hard and Soft album was set to be her most eco-friendly release to date. 

While a number of vinyl variants were still released out into the world, each were produced by using recycled materials, including a 100% recycled black vinyl edition, and seven colored vinyl versions being made from ECO-MIX or BioVinyl.

Though Eilish would also criticize the “wasteful” practice of “some of the biggest artists in the world making f–king 40 different vinyl packages” for fans to purchase, the other side of the vinyl equation comes about when the topic of disposing of music is raised.

Sales of physical media remain strong in the streaming age, and though consumption as a whole has largely shifted to the digital format, the question of how to ethically get rid of music is one that is as pertinent as ever. 

That’s why U.K. music manufacturer Key Production Group has now launched the full roll-out of its plans to ensure vinyl and CDs are disposed of in an environmentally-responsible way.

The U.K. company initially launched their Key Production Recycling efforts in early 2020, only for progress to be stunted by the then-burgeoning global pandemic. Fast forward to 2025, and it’s been kick-started once again, launched just in time for Global Recycling Day on March 18.

Partially inspired by the ongoing vinyl boom and the question of what to do with unplayable media once it goes beyond its usefulness, retail stores such as Rough Trade have also joined in with the scheme in an effort to find a sustainable option for disposing of unsold or unplayable stock.

According to Key Production, those with unwanted vinyl or CDs – regardless of size, packaging, or condition – are able to send their items directly to the organization who will then recycle them depending on the materials.

While vinyl records and CDs are made of different plastic compounds – polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for the former and optical grade polycarbonate for the latter – their materials are then reused as opposed to spending hundreds of years in landfills. For vinyl materials, this can see albums being repurposed once again as PVC, to be used in the composition of future vinyl records, or to be utilized in building and road construction. For CDs, polycarbonate can be reused for the likes of automotive parts or electronic devices.

“We believe vinyl and CDs should be cherished and if looked after well will last a lifetime,” Key Production notes on their website. “However, should you find that you have damaged items that you would like to recycle then that can be facilitated, distributors will usually have a responsible recycling scheme of their own so if you work with one do check with them. Alternatively we can take records and CDs for recycling where we can guarantee that every element of a product is being recycled responsibly.”

“Sustainability is a vital part of our identity here at Key Production Group and the idea to develop Key Production Recycling was born from our commitment to understanding and managing the lifecycle of physical music products, prompting us to ask: what happens when they can no longer be used,” explained Key Production’s Strategy and Sustainability Director, John Service.

“We are so excited to be working with labels and record stores across the country and allow the public to utilise something that is so beneficial in extending a product’s lifespan.”

“Being able to provide a solution that’s not only sustainable but that will also have a positive impact on the life cycle of a product is really important to us at Rough Trade,” added Rough Trade Managing Director, Lawrence Montgomery. “Key Production Recycling is and will continue to be beneficial for us at Rough Trade and our facilities and we’re lucky to be able to use this great system!”

Full details of Key Production Group’s Recycling scheme are available on their website.

JENNIE’s debut studio album, Ruby, debuts at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated March 22). The set sold 26,500 copies in the U.S. in the week ending March 13, according to Luminate.

JENNIE is the second member of the quartet BLACKPINK to capture a solo top 10-charting effort on Top Album Sales, following LISA’s Alter Ego (No. 1, March 15 chart) and ROSÉ’s rosie (No. 2, Dec. 21, 2024). BLACKPINK itself has logged three top 10s, including two No. 1s: The Album (in 2020) and BORN PINK (2022).

Also in the top 10 of the latest Top Album Sales chart, Lady Gaga lands her eighth No. 1 with the chart-topping bow of MAYHEM, while the newest releases from Jason Isbell, Spiritbox, Noah Kahan and tobyMac debut in the region.

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 Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement 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 (TEA) units and streaming equivalent album (SEA) units.

Ruby was available in its first week as a nine-track widely available digital download album, and then an expanded 15-song physical set and a 15-track download edition. While the standard and physical albums have only one guest star (FKJ, on “JANE”), the 15-track download edition adds further special guests on a few tracks, including Doechii, Dua Lipa, Dominic Fike, Childish Gambino and Kali Uchis. Ruby’s first-week sales were aided by its availability across four CD variants (all containing collectible paper ephemera, some randomized), five deluxe CD boxed set editions (each containing a piece of branded clothing, a signed insert and a copy of the album) and two download editions (a widely available standard version with nine tracks and an expanded 15-song edition).

At No. 1 on Top Album Sales, Lady Gaga’s MAYHEM arrives, selling 136,000. The set’sfirst-week sales were bolstered by its availability across a gaggle of editions: 14 vinyl variants (some signed, and some include the bonus track “Can’t Stop the High,” while Target’s exclusive vinyl has the extra track “Kill for Love”), four CD editions (one signed, Target’s exclusive CD adds “Kill” while Gaga’s webstore carried a CD with the bonus track “Can’t Stop the High”), a cassette tape, a deluxe CD box set with a branded T-shirt and poster, and two widely available download albums (the standard 14-song album, and then a deluxe version exclusive to iTunes with the three music videos for “Disease,” “Die With a Smile” and “Abracadabra”).

Of MAYHEM’s opening-week sales, vinyl purchases comprise 74,000 – Gaga’s biggest week on vinyl ever.

Jason Isbell’s first entirely solo acoustic album, Foxes In the Snow, bows at No. 3 on Top Album Sales with nearly 18,000 copies sold. Vinyl sales comprise almost 9,500 copies of that sum – owed to its availability across five variants. It was also issued in a pair of CD editions.

Heavy metal band Spiritbox debuts at No. 4 with Tsunami Sea, selling 16,500 copies in its first week. The set was issued on CD, cassette and at least nine vinyl variants.

Noah Kahan’s Live From Fenway Park, which was previously only available to buy as a download album, made its debut on vinyl in the tracking week (across three variants), helping the set sell a total of 16,000 – and enabling its debut at No. 5 on Top Album Sales.

Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topping GNX falls 2-6 on Top Album Sales (15,000; down 7%), Sabrina Carpenter’s former leader Short n’ Sweet slips 5-7 (11,500; down 5%) and Chappell Roan’s No. 1 The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess descends 6-8 (nearly 9,000; up 6%). Doechii’s Alligator Bites Never Heal vaults 24-9 on Top Album Sales after the release of a new vinyl variant, selling a total of about 8,500 across all formats (up 188%).

Closing out Top Album Sales’ top 10 is the latest release from tobyMac, whose Heaven On My Mind enters at No. 10 with 7,000 copies sold. It was issued on two CD variants (including a signed edition) and three vinyl variants.

The Backstreet Boys have millions of fans worldwide, but member AJ McLean sometimes faces a tough crowd when it comes to his kids.

The superstar told People at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards on Monday night (March 17) that his 12-year-old daughter Elliott “hates” Backstreet Boys’ classic 1999 hit, “I Want It That Way.”

“My oldest daughter hates that song, hates it with a passion,” McLean explained. “Because she gets teased at school when she walks into school.”

He added, “When I drop her off, the boys [sing the lyrics], ‘Tell me why,’ and she’s like, ‘Stop doing that.’ And then I start doing it to embarrass her because that’s what dads do.”

However, Elliott still “secretly” likes her dad’s music, according to McLean.

Despite Elliott’s opinion, McLean and the Backstreet Boys have plenty of excitement coming up this year. The group’s Millennium 2.0 will arrive on July 11, a 25 years after the original album first topped the Billboard 200 for 10 weeks. The anniversary edition — for which the group members recreated their iconic album cover — will feature remastered versions of all the songs on the original tracklist, plus a few uncovered demos and some live recordings from their 1999-2000 Into the Millennium World Tour. 

The band is also hosting a residency at Las Vegas’ The Sphere, which kicks off the same day Millennium 2.0 drops and will continue throughout July and the first week of August. Ticket information is available on the band’s website.  

The newest addition to the Billboard Book Club comes from none other than Martha Stewart, who released her 101st book this week, Martha Stewart’s Gardening Handbook: The Essential Guide to Designing, Planting, and Growing.

To celebrate, Stewart and her head gardener Ryan McAllister went live on shopping and streaming platform TalkShopLive to discuss the book from her greenhouse headquarters and offices. Randomly selected copies of the Gardening Handbook will be signed by Stewart, when purchased via Billboard and TalkShopLive.

Throughout the conversation, Stewart gave a tour of her gardening bag and answered fan questions, including the one plant she couldn’t live without. “How about flowers? It’s a silly question because, what flowers?” she responded. “My other answer is vegetables. If you’re stuck on an island in the middle of nowhere, and they ask you if you could take one thing with you, you have to say nutritious food.”

She also shared some hilarious wisdom: “If you want to be happy for a year, take a spouse. If you want to be happy for a decade, get a dog. If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, make a garden.”

Retailing for $40, the Gardening Handbook provides an in-depth guide to teach fans to cultivate a flourishing garden, from understanding soil composition to learning about different types of plants and gardening methods.

Check out Stewart’s message to Billboard viewers and watch the full TalkShopLive livestream above, where you can purchase a randomly signed Gardening Handbook.