The Michael Jackson film Michael grossed $217.3 million worldwide in its opening weekend, according to boxofficemojo.com.  That already places it at No. 3 on Billboard’s list of music biopics with the highest worldwide grosses, behind Bohemian Rhapsody ($910.8 million) and Elvis ($288.7 million).

Michael grossed $97 million over the weekend in the U.S. and Canada alone. That’s the highest opening-weekend domestic gross ever for a music biopic, eclipsing the mark set by Straight Outta Compton in 2015 ($60 million).

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Jackson has been making history for decades, both during his lifetime and since he died in 2009. He landed three No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and two top five albums on the Billboard 200 (all with the Jackson 5) before he turned 12. By the time he turned 13, the J5 had notched another No. 1 Hot 100 hit (“I’ll Be There”) and another top five album.

Jackson won 13 Grammys, received two Primetime Emmy nods and has two inductions into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He performed live on the Oscars when he was just 14 and, at 29, gave one of the most riveting performances in Grammy Awards history.

Jackson led a turbulent life, with lows as deep as these historic highs. The Michael biopic, which ends in 1988, when he was the biggest pop star on the planet, doesn’t take any of those lows or lingering controversies into account. The movie celebrates his commercial triumphs. So does this list.

Here are 20 previous times Jackson proved he’s the King of Pop.


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With a marathon time like this, no one will ever bring Cynthia Erivo down. The star ran the London Marathon on Sunday (April 26), and this time she set a new personal best. The Wicked star completed the race with a time of 3:21:40, beating her 2022 London Marathon time of  3:35:36 and New York City Marathon time of 3:57:07 by a sizable margin.

In a picture perfect moment, Erivo crossed the finish line to Wicked‘s “Defying Gravity.” (The track peaked at No. 44 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 2024.)

Erivo partnered with sports gear brand Brooks Running for the marathon, wearing the brand for the race and appearing in one of its recent campaigns. After the race, Brooks Running congratulated the star on her new personal best via a joint Instagram post.

“A good run is simply the run that happened,” the brand wrote. “Today, it happened to be a new personal best.”

Erivo commented, thanking the Brooks Running team for “being there every step of the way.”

Since February, Erivo has been performing in a new one-woman stage adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula on London’s West End, in which she plays all 23 roles. In a March interview with Runner’s World, Erivo shared that she made time for her marathon training in her busy schedule by prioritizing her running over everything else.

“Everything starts with the run,” Erivo explained. “The schedule doesn’t happen if the run’s not included.”

Just one day after running the London Marathon, Erivo will return to the Dracula stage on Monday (April 27). Dracula will run through May 30.

Watch Erivo cross the London Marathon’s finish line below:


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Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drop Dead” begins its chart life at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It arrives as her fourth leader, with all having launched in the top spot.

The singer-songwriter first reigned with “Drivers License” for eight weeks in January-March 2021. She followed with “Good 4 U” for a week in May 2021 and “Vampire” for two weeks in July-September 2023.

Already the first artist to debut the lead singles from her first two studio albums at No. 1 on the Hot 100, Rodrigo extends her mark, with “Drop Dead” ushering in her third LP, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, due June 12. “Drivers License” revved anticipation for her first set, Sour (with “Good 4 U” also from the album), and “Vampire” introduced Guts.

Further helping build buzz for “Drop Dead,” Rodrigo released multiple versions of the song and videos for it and performed it live April 18 at Coachella.

Read on for deeper details of this week’s Hot 100 top 10.

The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data, the lattermost metric reflecting purchases of physical singles and digital tracks from full-service digital music retailers; digital singles sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites are excluded from chart calculations. All charts dated May 2, 2026, will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, April 28. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram. Plus, for all chart rules and explanations, click here.

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.


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Chris Brown has seen some of the criticism of his upcoming joint summer stadium tour with his friend Usher and he’s responded with pointed words for those haters. In a post on his Instagram Story on Sunday (April 26), Brown 36, minced no words in pushing back against what he painted as the online backlash to the outing.

The funniest and weirdest s–t ever to me is the fact that people have the option to come to my tour and the option not to,” Brown wrote. “I know everyone who is a fan of me and USHER will definitely be in the building and it will be PACKED just like last year,” he added in seeming reference to his 2025 Breezy Bowl XX world tour, Brown’s highest-grossing tour to date with nearly $300 million in ticket sales.

Brown continued, “But I’m scrolling through insta and tik tok and I come across rage bait pages and or these fake woke stand up for nothing pages bashing people for wanted to come have a good time. The dudes hating, I can understand that (thinking we gone steal ya girl and s–t). BUT THE KARENS, and the self hating hoes be making me LAUGH. I CANT WAIT TO RUB THIS S–T IN YALL FACE.” The post ended with three laughing crying emoji.

While Brown did not cite any specific complaints or comments, he appeared to be alluding to those who’ve pushed back on the news about the singer who has a long rap sheet of assault cases in his history, including a guilty plea for felony assault tied to his attack on then-girlfriend Rihanna in August 2009 on the eve of that year’s Grammy Awards; he was sentenced to five years’ probation and six months of community service in that case.

In the comments about the first tease of the tour on Brown’s official TikTok, some of the comments appeared to allude to Brown’s history, including one that read “people, did ya’ll forgot?” and a similar one reading “don’t think we forgot,” as well as quite a few complaining about the price of tickets for the joint outing.

Since the Rihanna assault, Brown has had several more run-ins with the police over violent incidents, including an arrest in May 2025 in the U.K. on a charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm tied to a 2023 London nightclub assault in which the singer is accused of smashing a promoter over the head with a bottle and kicking him.

In addition, a 2024 lawsuit filed in Texas charged that Brown and several accomplices “brutally and severely beat” four men backstage at Dickies Arena in an unprovoked backstage attack. Police also responded in June 2021 to a report of a domestic argument at Brown’s San Fernando Valley home address in which a woman said Brown smacked the back of her head so hard her weave came off; police declined to file charges due to insufficient evidence in that case.

Brown is teasing a new album, Brown, due out on May 8 and Usher has recently hopped on the remix of Breezy and Bryson Tiller’s “It Depends.” The R&B tour (named for the singer’s last names, Raymond and Brown) is slated to kick off on June 26 at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver.


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Taylor Swift has applied for new trademarks on the sound of her voice — a legal tactic that appears aimed at protecting her likeness from AI deepfakes.

In a pair of filings on Friday (April 24), the superstar asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to issue her federal trademark registrations of her voice saying “Hey, it’s Taylor” and “Hey, it’s Taylor Swift.” The filings, obtained by Billboard, came with audio clips of the phrases she wants to protect.

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Trademarks on sounds are unusual; such IP is far more often applied to names and logos. But they do exist — the NBC chimes are a famous example — and stars like Mathew McConaughey have recently applied for them out of growing fears about AI deepfakes and voice cloning.

Swift also applied for a third trademark, covering an image of herself performing on stage. All three proposed registrations, if granted, would cover use of the trademarks on a wide range of “entertainment services.” The filings were first reported by Josh Gerben, an attorney unaffiliated with the matter.

Taken together, Swift’s applications appear aimed at protecting her name and likeness against misappropriation — something the superstar has repeatedly experienced, including once from President Donald Trump. The growth of AI technology has made it far easier to mimic voices and create fake videos, flooding the internet with such misleading content and leaving stars with little recourse.

Legally speaking, an individual’s identity has historically been protected by publicity rights, a term for state law rights that allow you to sue if your name or likeness is commercially exploited without consent. Federal trademark law does cover famous names — Taylor has many such marks, and has enforced them recently — but is less directly designed to shield a person’s likeness.

Last year, McConaughey took a novel approach and sought to “trademark himself,” as reported by the Wall Street Journal. He sought protection over several video clips of himself, as well as audio of him saying his famous “Alright, alright, alright” from the film Dazed and Confused. But it remains to be seen whether such an approach, which Taylor’s applications seem to mirror, would hold up in court.

Trademarks typically cover specific words, logos and other indicia that are linked in the minds of consumers to specific goods and services; they were not designed to give blanket protection to a person’s overall appearance or identity. For instance, it’s unclear if Swift would be able to prove that someone infringed her proposed sound trademarks if they said something in a similar-sounding voice but with different words than “Hey, it’s Taylor Swift.”

That Swift is turning to such unproven methods is a sign of the lack of true legal protections as the problem of AI deepfakes and voice cloning grows. Publicity rights come with key limitations and are different in each state. Lawmakers in Congress have proposed a federal NO FAKES Act to deal with the problem nationally, but have made little progress passing it.

If granted, the new trademarks would be added to a huge collection for Swift, who owns federal protections on her name, song and album titles, famous lyrics and dozens of other trademarks. And she’s not afraid to enforce them: Earlier this year, Swift filed a legal action aimed at blocking a bedding company called Cathay Home from getting a trademark on a logo featuring the name “Swift Home.”


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For the last few years, Post Malone has been consistently popping up in Indio, Calif. – and each time, his presence becomes greater. 

In 2023, he was a surprise weekend one guest at Coachella during Bad Bunny’s historic headlining set. In 2024, while teasing his first foray into country music, he was booked to perform at Stagecoach. In 2025, Post returned to the desert to headline Coachella himself, and on Sunday (April 26), he returned to the desert to close out the third and final night of Stagecoach. In doing so, Post Malone became the first artist to ever headline both Coachella and Stagecoach — let alone in back-to-back years.

“It makes sense that Post has headlined both events,” says Paul Tollett, president and CEO of Goldenvoice, which promotes the fests. “He’s perfectly comfortable performing to such different audiences.”

Following Post’s Stagecoach debut in 2024, during which he performed a set of country covers, Goldenvoice/AEG executive VP Stacy Vee was eager to book him again – and for an even bigger role.

“We had Post play after Willie Nelson and before Miranda Lambert at Stagecoach 2024,” she recalls. “The Stagecoach fans loved his set of covers, [but] at the time he had yet to release a solo country project. After the weekend finished, I wasted no time talking about the right time to bring him back to headline the show.”

For his headlining set on Sunday night, Post pulled out his biggest country hits from his 2024 album F-1 Trillion, including the Country Airplay chart-topper “Pour Me a Drink” and Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “I Had Some Help.” And despite having teased a second upcoming country album to Billboard last year — and even more recently revealing on social media the possible title of the two-disc set to be The Eternal Buzz — no new music made its way into his Stagecoach performance.

Still, even without different material, Tollett says Post managed to make the show feel entirely different from when he headlined Coachella one year ago. “[It was] interesting to see how he has uniquely built his live show based on the setting,” he says. Adds Vee: “I feed off of his energy. He is so genuinely happy to be in the country space when out at the show.”

As further proof, next month Post is heading out on his Big Ass Stadium Tour Part 2 – teaming again with Jelly Roll and also welcoming opener Carter Faith. “There’s nothing Post Malone can’t do, and he does it all with total sincerity, versatility and commitment,” says Vee. “Whatever he does, he does it his own way.”

That singularity is exactly why Tollett says he hopes to “see him again in the desert – it’s always a good time.”


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From relationship drama to landmark album anniversaries, the worlds of R&B and hip-hop were particularly active this weekend.

On Saturday (April 25), Megan Thee Stallion set social media timelines on fire when she announced that she and Dallas Mavericks shooting guard Klay Thompson were no longer together, citing infidelity and “horrible mood swings.” The former hip-hop/sports power couple began dating last year, with the rapper spending the holidays with the basketball star’s family. Thompson even named his boat after the three-time Grammy winner. Just hours after announcing the split, Thee Hot Girl Coach was back onstage, tearing up during her Moulin Rouge! The Musical curtain call.

Beyoncé drummed up some anticipation this weekend with a trio of Instagram posts after a relatively quiet period. On Friday (April 24), she shared a vacation picture of her clutching three lemons in one hand and a bottle of her SirDavis whisky in the other, to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of her classic Lemonade album. Two days later (April 26), she shared a carousel of four Survivor-era Destiny’s Child GIFs to celebrate the 25th anniversary of that Billboard 200-topping record. (Notably, Survivor marked the group’s third album, and first as a trio.)

Finally, Queen Bey shared more recent snaps, donning a dramatic, purple Saint Laurent gown, once again referencing Lemonade by editing one picture to resemble her “Hold Up” single cover. With Mrs. Carter marking her first appearance at the MET Gala in ten years next week, everyone is on high alert regarding Act III, the imminent conclusion to the genre-spanning trilogy she launched with 2022’s Renaissance and 2024’s Cowboy Carter.

Kehlani, Billboard Women in Music’s Impact Award honoree, topped off a wonderful weekend for R&B with the release of her highly anticipated self-titled album. Featuring collaborations with the likes of Brandy, Usher, and Cardi B — as well as writing and production from Babyface and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis — Kehlani is a meticulously crafted love letter to R&B that sets a new bar for the genre’s contemporary iteration.

With Fresh Picks, Billboard aims to highlight some of the best and most interesting new sounds across R&B and hip-hop — from new Girlfriend-Jaymin duet to Durand Bernarr’s funky new single. Be sure to check out this week’s Fresh Picks in our Spotify playlist below.


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Alicia Keys has been working in the music industry for more than two decades, but according to her, it’s still as much of a boy’s club as it was when she first started out.

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In a recent interview with The Times, the 17-time Grammy winner opened up about the inequality she’s witnessed as a woman who writes, sings and produces. “The music world becomes a good old boy network, and all the incredible women working as engineers and producers are not given an open door,” she told the publication. “Women make up 2 per cent of the entire business. I’m a producer and here we are, doing a bunch of work, killing it, so it’s shocking that the number is so small.”

Merriam-Webster defines “old boy network” as an “informal system in which wealthy men with the same social and educational background” help one another advance professionally. “No one tells you these things,” Keys continued in the interview. “You deal with all these executives and lawyers who love to take their percentages and overcharge you, but they never say, ‘How can we ensure you’re here to stay?’”

“Rather than just being pissed off about that,” she added, “it was time to create opportunities.”

The four-time Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping musician is referring to She Is the Music, a nonprofit she cofounded that facilitates songwriting sessions, mentorships and educational opportunities for women in music. In February, the organization hosted its second annual Women Sharing the Spotlight event, where Keys honored Megan Moroney and her all-women team.

“Tonight’s event is about being able to say, ‘Wait, I do have this position, and I can open the door,’” Keys said at the ceremony. “It’s one thing when you’re banging on a door to be let in; it’s another thing when someone opens the door and says, ‘Come in and join me.’”

The multi-hyphenate last dropped an album in 2021, with Keys reaching No. 41 on the Billboard 200 — a chart she’s topped five times. She told The Times that she’s currently working on a new LP.

“The music is very close to being cooked, and I’m excited,” she said. “There is a craft, an ability to write songs that mean something to people, which has given me longevity and you’ll hear that in the new album.”


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Rap-A-Lot Records is kicking off a yearlong campaign Monday (April 27) to celebrate its 40th anniversary. To get the party started, the independent label is announcing vinyl pre-orders for two classic albums: Scarface’s The Diary and the Geto Boys’ We Can’t Be Stopped, available June 19 and July 10, respectively.

James Prince founded the Houston-based, pioneering Rap-A-Lot in 1986. Asked if he envisioned the label attaining such a milestone, Prince tells Billboard, “I wasn’t even thinking 40 years from now when I started, so I had no idea we would be in the position that we’re in right now. From day one, my mission was to try and break the poverty curse where my family was concerned. That was my driving force. I’m real happy and satisfied that we were able to go above and beyond the mission.”

The aforementioned vinyl reissues comprise the first phase of Rap-A-Lot’s 40th salute. Throughout the year, the label’s campaign will spotlight additional vinyl titles and anniversary-related releases, special projects, media initiatives and various cultural moments.

Initially released in 1994, Diary marked Scarface’s third album. It debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and scored the same slot on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums before being certified Platinum. Its new vinyl version will include the previously unreleased track “Ease Up Now.” Also certified Platinum following its 1991 release, the Geto Boys’ third album, We Can’t Be Stopped, claimed No. 24 on the Billboard 200 and No. 5 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. The vinyl reissues can be preordered via Rap-A-Lot.

Reflecting further on Rap-A-Lot’s 40 years-and-counting legacy, Prince shares additional insights with Billboard:

You’ve said Def Jam inspired Rap-A-Lot’s launch. Why did Def Jam propel you to press the go button?

I would say unity — how united they were as a label. Def Jam was really impactful, inspiring me to go back to Houston and create that same type of movement for the South.

What key win in that journey made you think I’m on the right track? What challenge made you question moving forward?

One key win, and the most inspiring, was the success of the Geto Boys’ “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” and actually getting radio stations around the world to embrace it. I’d say just the loss and grind of money and time had me questioning whether to keep moving forward: the trial-and-error mistakes, spending money in the wrong place and just learning as you go along. It was seven years before seeing a profit and a constant return on the investment.

What artist did you want to sign, but you missed the opportunity?

Vanilla Ice was an artist I should have had, and also Too $hort. I was really feeling Too $hort back in the day.

What is your take on today’s hip-hop scene?

I think the present culture is getting what they like. Just like back in the day, a lot of people weren’t feeling our music or movement. I remember all the criticism: That rap isn’t gonna last; the music is garbage. But I think the youngsters are on their own frequency, and I’m happy for them.

What’s next for Rap-A-Lot?

Right now, we’re focusing on our catalog and these vinyl releases coming out this year for the 40-year anniversary. I’m also excited for this new deal we did with Virgin Music. We’re going to be embracing new opportunities as they present themselves. The priority for us is to always maximize the growth and potential that we’ve built over the past 40 years.

Describe Rap-A-Lot’s legacy in one word, and why that word?

Battle-tested. We’ve withstood the storms of life in every aspect. And the fact that we’re still here, still standing strong is a testament in itself. We’ve made an impact; influenced the culture. And now, I truly understand where it all came from … we planted that seed. I’m proud of us for embracing that mindset, for carrying the movement forward because it wasn’t easy. So yeah, Rap-A-Lot is definitely battle-tested. And we’re still here.


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Lexie Brown is distancing herself from the online gossip mill amid rumors linking her to Klay Thompson, whom Megan Thee Stallion recently alleged cheated on her.

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In a Sunday (April 26) post on Instagram Stories, the WNBA star wrote, “I’ve seen what’s being said online, and I want to be clear, none of it is true.”

“I have no involvement in this situation,” she continued. “This week marks the start of an important and exciting new season for me, and my focus is fully on that.”

At press time, it’s unclear where the speculation tying Thompson to Brown came from. One person on X alleged that the Seattle Storm guard had shared screenshots of incriminating messages between herself and the NBA player on her private Story, but Billboard was unable to verify. Billboard has reached out to Thompson for comment.

Brown’s statement comes one day after Meg put Thompson — whom she dated for a little under a year — on blast, writing on Instagram Stories, “Cheating, had me around your whole family playing house… got ‘cold feet.’”

The hip-hop star also accused the Dallas Mavericks athlete of “HORRIBLE mood swings and treatment towards me during [his] basketball season,” adding, “Now you don’t know if you can be ‘monogamous’????”

In a statement shared with Billboard shortly afterward, Meg confirmed that she’d “made the decision to end” things with Thompson. “Trust, fidelity and respect are non-negotiable for me in a relationship, and when those values are compromised, there’s no real path forward,” she continued.

The breakup was shocking to fans, as the hitmaker had seemed blissfully in love with Thompson in the months leading up to the split. After first getting together in summer 2025, the now exes often shared sweet videos together, such as Meg filming their (now-deleted) couple’s workout routine at one point. While making their red carpet debut together in July at the musician’s Pete & Thomas Foundation Gala, she told Page Six, “I have never dated somebody so kind. This is my first relationship where I’ve ever been with somebody who’s genuinely a nice person, and he makes me genuinely happy.”


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