Florida’s governor said on Thursday that he’s deploying the Florida National Guard and State Guard to “critical ports” where there are worker strikes, and called on the Biden administration to … Click to Continue »
Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell may be two of the biggest names in music, but their mom, Maggie Baird, isn’t buying into the idea that their success is purely due to nepotism.
In a new interview with Glamour published on Oct. 3, Baird clapped back at the recent “nepo baby” label that has been attached to her kids. The term resurfaced after a clip of Maggie’s appearance on Friends began circulating online, with many pointing out her and her husband Patrick O’Connell’s connections to the entertainment industry.
However, Maggie was quick to set the record straight, explaining that while both she and Patrick have worked as actors and musicians, they were “working-class actors” who “eked out a meagre living.”
The actress shared, “I got that episode of Friends because I was about to lose my health insurance,” emphasising that neither she nor Patrick had the fame or fortune that their children now enjoy.
She added that there’s a huge difference between the life she led as an actor and the one Billie and Finneas now navigate.
“People don’t really understand there’s a whole industry of people who are creative and they’re working and they’re struggling,” she explained, “But that’s a very different life than on this side of the door where you’re suddenly playing in this different arena.”
Despite their massive success—Billie and Finneas have both won multiple Grammys, and they made history as the youngest two-time Oscar winners—Baird says their family has remained tight-knit and grounded. “The family part is the part that keeps it sane,” she said.
As for how the family deals with the overwhelming scrutiny, Maggie offered a simple reminder: “They’re all human.”
With hits like “Bad Guy,” which spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and her critically acclaimed albums When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? and Happier Than Ever, Billie has consistently dominated both the charts and award shows.
Meanwhile, Finneas is a Grammy-winning producer and songwriter in his own right. He has played a crucial role in shaping Billie’s sound while also finding success as a solo artist, having just released his new album For Cryin’ Out Loud! on Oct. 4, ahead of his upcoming tour in Australia in January 2025.
The project was preceded by the title track, “Cleats” and “Lotus Eater,” and follows the Grammy-winning producer’s 2021 debut album, Optimist.
Coldplay’s Chris Martin stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Oct. 4, where the frontman discussed the band’s 10th album, Moon Music, which dropped the same day.
In his latest Fallon appearance, the Brit also spoke about displaying Coldplay’s original flyers from one of their first shows to promote their tour nights in London, making the vinyl for their latest project out of recycled plastic bottles.
Martin also opened up about bringing out Michael J. Fox as part of their record-breaking set in front of 100,000 people at Glastonbury.
“I think there are certain things – especially for those your or my age – that are so imprinted on us and made us dream of doing this job,” Martin explained to Fallon. “One of those things for me is Michael in Back to the Future.”
“It’s so trippy to me that we get to play with him,” he said of having the actor join the band on stage at the world-famous festival, adding, “It feels like seven and being in heaven.”
“He’s so inspirational as a person – and then he’s Marty McFly,” he said about Fox’s famous film character.
“The first time I played with him was at a charity show, and I asked him if we could play the two songs from Back To The Future – and in the middle of ‘Earth Angel’ started looking at his hand like it was disappearing.”
“Maybe people watching are too young to remember – but that hand disappearing was everything,” Martin explained as Fallon gushed, “That’s so cool he did that!”
Martin also brought the laughs earlier in the evening as he reprised the viral disguise he used at a Las Vegas karaoke bar as part of their “All My Love” music video.
Coldplay’s latest album, Moon Music, features a variety of collaborations, with artists like Little Simz, Burna Boy, and TINI making appearances on tracks such as “We Pray” and “Good Feelings.” The album’s lead single, “feelslikeimfallinginlove,” has already made a mark on the Billboard charts, and with other tracks like “All My Love,” the project is shaping up to be another Coldplay hit.
Coldplay has long enjoyed an impressive run of Billboard chart success throughout their career. The band’s first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 came with their anthem “Viva La Vida” in 2008, and since then, they’ve consistently landed hits, including “Paradise” and “Clocks.”
On the Billboard 200, all of their studio albums have debuted in the top 10, with several — X&Y, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, Mylo Xyloto, Ghost Stories, and A Head Full of Dreams — reaching No. 1.
The band’s recent dominance isn’t just limited to the studio. Their Music of the Spheres World Tour has been nothing short of historic, grossing $945.7 million and selling 8.8 million tickets since kicking off in March 2022. That makes it the highest-grossing and best-selling tour by a rock act in nearly 40 years, according to Billboard Boxscore.
Elsewhere on The Tonight Show, Chase Stokes also dropped by for an interview, while Sabrina Carpenter gave a showstopping performance on her unstoppable hit “Espresso.” Demi Lovato also stopped by to partake in Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonightmares.”
Check out Chris Martin on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon below.
Joe Jonas is back with some fresh tunes, with his new single “What This Could Be” officially out today, Oct. 4.
Last week, Jonas teased the release on social media, sharing how excited he was about the reaction to the, adding he would be pushing the release of his forthcoming album, Music for People Who Believe in Love so he could “fine-tune” it.
“Wow, the love for ‘What This Could Be’ really makes me smile 😊 So I’m going to make it my new single and put it out October 4th 💃,” he wrote, adding that the song’s popularity gave him the inspiration to hold off on releasing his full album to fine-tune it even more.
“Hehe anyways enjoy the new song on Oct 4th – you’re all the best!”
Following the success he’s had with the Jonas Brothers and DNCE, Jonas’ latest solo single “What This Could Be” follows his July release “Work It Out.”
Joe has seen some recent success on the Billboard chart thanks to his duet with Demi Lovato, “This Is Me,” which hit No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. He’s also charted with previous tracks like “Gotta Find You” and “See No More.” Could this new single be the one to land him another hit?
Joe’s forthcoming album, Music for People Who Believe in Love, began with the song “Only Love,” a funked-up and flirtatious pop-rock jam that he originally conceived with his brothers.
During the writing process in Australia as they worked with producer Joel Little, “I noticed that the song was going toward the direction of some personal stuff that I went through,” Jonas recalls.
So I go to Kevin and Nick, ‘Hey, can I use this as a catapult to go explore what this sound could be, and also what I’m trying to figure out emotionally?’ They were very supportive — Nick said, ‘Well, damn, I really like that song. But I get what you need to do, so go for it.’ ”
Stream “What This Could Be” below.
Coldplay has officially gone into orbit with Moon Music, the group’s 10th studio album that arrived on Friday (Oct. 5).
The project is led by LP’s first single, “feelslikeimfallinginlove,” as well as follow-up tracks “All My Love” and “We Pray,” a collaboration with Little Simz, Burna Boy, Elyanna and TINI. Moon Music also features two more collaborations, Ayra Starr on “Good Feelings” and Jon Hopkins on the title track.
In line with the foursome’s long-standing eco-ethics, Coldplay has “gone to great lengths” to make the physical release of Moon Music “as sustainable as possible,” according to a statement. Each 140g LP will contain some nine recycled PET-plastic bottles recovered from post-consumer waste, and the CD version is said be the “world’s first” to be released on EcoCD, created from 90% recycled polycarbonate, also sourced from post-consumer waste.
The group is currently in the midst of their sprawling Music of the Spheres World Tour. In August, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, the run grossed $945.7 million and sold 8.8 million tickets since launching in March 2022. That makes it both the highest-grossing and best-selling trek among rock acts in the almost 40 years that Boxscore has been tracking concert data.
Stream Coldplay’s Moon Music in full below.
Rich Homie Quan died Sept. 5 at 33 years old. At the time of his death, he was reportedly working on a new album, so his family took it upon themselves to complete his vision with the release of Forever Goin In.
The late Atlanta rapper’s first posthumous LP hit streaming services on Friday (Oct. 4) and Forever Goin In is loaded with 35 tracks. The album features assists from Skilla Baby, Lil Tjay, 2 Chainz, Plies, Sukihana and more.
“Dropping at MIDNIGHT! 34 listed songs ironically that’s the age I… bonus 1 extra, because tomorrow will forever be a celebration! My GIF to my Fans,” an Instagram post from Thursday (Oct. 3) announcing the project was captioned.
Tony Yayo, Jacquees, Sukihana and more flooded Quan’s comment section along with plenty of fans showing love to the late “Type of Way” rhymer.
The adorable cover art finds Quan in what could be an elementary school picture rocking a crown. “I promise I will neva stop going in…. Forever Going In,” the artwork reads.
Rich Homie Quan’s death was ruled to be an accidental drug overdose, according to a report from the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office released earlier this week.
The report found Quan’s system contained a toxic mix of drugs at the time of his death, which included fentanyl, alprazolam, codeine, promethazine and THC.
RHQ was laid to rest at a celebration of life ceremony in Georgia on Sept. 17, which saw speeches from family members and friends. Quan’s family issued his first posthumous single with the tearful “Song Cry,” which also had a poignant visual released on Sept. 30.
Stream the project below.
Finneas is back with his sophomore album, For Cryin’ Out Loud, which arrived on Friday (Oct. 4).
The project was preceded by the title track, “Cleats” and “Lotus Eater,” and follows the Grammy-winning producer’s 2021 debut album, Optimist.
“This album, I was like, I want to sit across the table from people and talk right to them and not be preachy at all,” the 27-year-old star told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe of For Cryin’ Out Loud!. “So, anything like ‘Little Window,’ for example, you compare that to a song on the first album like ‘The Kids Are All Dying,’ which is about the same thing basically, but it’s a wide gesture. ‘Little Window’ is really about my relationship with humanity through social media. So, trying to get to a place where I can be more forthcoming about how it is for me specifically and worry less about how it is for everybody or trying to be sort of universally intelligent, which I’m not.”
Beyond his own works, Finneas has produced all three of sister Billie Eilish’s albums, from her breakthrough 2019 debut, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? — which featured such beloved tracks as “You Should See Me In a Crown,” “When the Party’s Over” and “Bad Guy” — as well 2021’s Happier Than Ever and this year’s Hit Me Hard and Soft.
Stream Finneas’ For Cryin’ Out Loud! in full below.
Katy Perry lands her sixth top 10-charting set on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Oct. 5), as her latest studio album, 143, debuts at No. 2 with 38,000 copies sold in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 26 – her best sales week since 2017.
She previously visited the top 10 with her five earlier major label full-length studio releases: Smile (No. 3 in 2020), Witness (No. 1, 2017), Prism (No. 1, 2013), Teenage Dream (No. 1, 2010) and One of the Boys (No. 9, 2008).
Also in the top 10 of the latest Top Album Sales chart, Chappell Roan lands her biggest sales week yet – and first week at No. 1 – as The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess jumps 6-1. Meanwhile, the latest releases from P1Harmony, Lil Tecca, Keith Urban, Future, Grateful Dead and Seether arrive 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 units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Perry’s first-week sales were aided by 143’s availability across eight vinyl variants (including a signed edition), four CD variants (including a signed edition), a cassette tape and multiple digital download variants (including two exclusive to her webstore, each with bonus tracks).
As for Roan at No. 1, her album garnered a 328% week-over-week sales increase, selling 56,000 copies. The growth is owed to the release of four new vinyl variants and a cassette tape in celebration of the album’s first anniversary on Sept. 22. Of the album’s sales, vinyl comprises 50,000 – easily Roan’s best week on vinyl and the sixth-largest week for any vinyl album in 2024.
P1Harmony collects its best sales week yet, as Sad Song starts at No. 3 with 28,000 copies sold. It’s also the third top 10-charting set for the pop ensemble. The first-week sales were helped by the album’s availability across 24 collectible CD variants, a vinyl edition and a cassette. All variants contain branded paper ephemera like photocards and postcards.
Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet rises one spot to No. 4 with 15,000 sold (up 1%).
Lil Tecca nabs his best sales week ever, and first top 10, as his new album Plan A arrives at No. 5 with 13,000 sold. Previously, the rapper had never sold more than 4,500 copies of an album in a week. The new set’s sales were encouraged by two CD variants (including a signed edition) and multiple digital download variants (including three exclusive to the artist’s webstore, two of which included bonus tracks).
Keith Urban clocks his ninth top 10 on Top Album Sales as High bows at No. 6 with 12,000 sold. Its first week was helped by four vinyl variants, three CD variants – with some retail-exclusives containing branded paper ephemera.
Future’s Mixtape Pluto enters at No. 7 with 10,000 sold – his best sales week since 2020. Nearly 7,500 of that sum was driven by vinyl sales – aided by three vinyl variants. The set was also available on CD and as a digital download. The album was issued as an 11-song standard album (on vinyl, CD and download) and as an expanded 17-song set (on download).
Stray Kids’ former No. 1 ATE rises one rung to No. 8 with nearly 8,000 sold (down 13%).
Rounding out the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart are debuts from the Grateful Dead’s expansive archival live boxed sets, Friend of the Devils: April 1978, which starts at No. 9 (7,500) and Seether’s The Surface Seems So Far at No. 10 (just over 7,000).
The Dead package – sold exclusively via the band’s official webstore – captures eight concerts staged in April 1978 and is available either as a digital download or 19-CD boxed set, with pricing ranging from $159.98 to $199.98.
For Seether, the new Surface marks the band’s ninth studio album and seventh top 10-charting effort on Top Album Sales.
After Garth Brooks was accused of rape and other sexual misconduct in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Thursday (Oct. 3), the country star has responded and insists he is “not the man they have painted me to be.”
The allegations come from an unnamed woman who claims Brooks sexually assaulted her while she worked for him as a hairstylist and makeup artist starting in 2017 after working for his wife, fellow country star Trisha Yearwood, since 1999. In the lawsuit, the Jane Roe accuser says Brooks raped her during a May 2019 stay in an L.A. hotel room and also exposed her to “other appalling sexual conduct” during that same year.
Thursday’s lawsuit also brought to light an earlier suit filed last month in Mississippi federal court by an anonymous “celebrity” plaintiff in an effort to keep an accuser from going public with sexual abuse allegations and referring to them as “ongoing attempted extortion.”
In a statement sent late Thursday to Billboard, Brooks denies the sexual assault allegations — saying the threats and accusations “felt like having a loaded gun waved in my face” — and confirms that he was behind last month’s mystery Mississippi filing, which he says was done anonymously “for the sake of families on both sides.”
“For the last two months, I have been hassled to no end with threats, lies, and tragic tales of what my future would be if I did not write a check for many millions of dollars,” Brooks began his statement. “It has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face. Hush money, no matter how much or how little, is still hush money. In my mind, that means I am admitting to behavior I am incapable of—ugly acts no human should ever do to another. We filed suit against this person nearly a month ago to speak out against extortion and defamation of character. We filed it anonymously for the sake of families on both sides.
“I want to play music tonight,” Brooks concluded, referencing his scheduled concert Thursday evening at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace as part of his ongoing Las Vegas residency. “I want to continue our good deeds going forward. It breaks my heart these wonderful things are in question now. I trust the system, I do not fear the truth, and I am not the man they have painted me to be.”
When Saturday Night Live debuted in 1975, Kenan Thompson wasn’t even born yet — but Coldplay and Nate Bargatze think the longtime castmember has always been on the show.
“So Kenan, you have been on the show 50 whole years,” Bargatze says to Thompson in new promos for this weekend’s episode. “That’s amazing. How does it feel? … You had to be, what, 10 when it started?”
“You think I’m 60 years old?” Thompson says in disbelief.
“You look amazing for your age!” Bargatze adds, with Coldplay’s Chris Martin chiming in “You really do,” as his bandmates nod along.
“Aw, thanks, Coldplay,” Thompson says.
Sure, Thompson is the longest-tenured castmember in the show’s history — joining in 2003 and now in his 21st season on the sketch comedy show — but he’s just 46 years old, so he missed a few of the early years. (Fun fact: Thompson was the first regular castmember to be born after the show’s 1975 premiere.)
Elsewhere in the promos, Thompson pokes fun at his long tenure. “This is what I love about SNL,” Thompson says. “People from all over the world coming together to put on a show.”
“I’m from America!” Bargatze says, while Martin adds, “We’re from not America!” Then Thompson admits: “I’m from just behind the door, right over there. Born and raised. All my life, right here.”
Coldplay are returning to the show for an eighth time as musical guest, promoting their brand-new album Moon Music, out Friday. Comedian Bargatze is returning as host for a second time after making his SNL debut last year.
SNL season 50 premiered last weekend, with Jean Smart hosting and Jelly Roll as musical guest.
Watch Bargatze and Coldplay’s Saturday Night Live promos below, and catch the new episode on Saturday (Oct. 5) at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT on NBC, before it streams on Peacock.
