It’s a merry and bright top 10 on the Billboard 200 albums chart dated Jan. 6, 2024, as half of the region is populated by holiday titles. The top 10 last hosted five seasonal albums on the Jan. 7, 2023, ranking.

The Jan. 6, 2024, chart reflects the tracking week of Dec. 22-28, 2023.

Leading the holiday pack is Michael Bublé’s chart-topping Christmas, which climbs 4-2 with 78,000 equivalent album units earned (up 11%), according to Luminate. It’s the highest rank for the title in two years, since it spent two weeks in a row at No. 2 on the Jan. 1-8, 2022-dated charts. Christmas was released in 2011 and spent five consecutive weeks at No. 1 in 2011-12.

Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song hits a new peak, rising 8-4 with 64,000 units (up 15%). The album previously peaked at No. 5 a year ago, on the Jan. 7, 2023, chart. The set includes Cole’s classic title track, along with Billboard Holiday 100-charting favorites including “Deck the Halls,” “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “Joy to the World” and “Caroling, Caroling.”

The classic multi-artist holiday album A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector jumps 14-7 — a new peak — with 56,000 equivalent album units earned (up 17%). The album, first released in 1963, previously peaked at No. 8 a year ago (on the Jan. 7, 2023, chart). It first reached the top 10 on the Jan. 8, 2022, chart, when it stepped 11-10. The album, produced by Spector, boasts familiar favorites heard during the holiday season that were initially recorded for the project. Among them are Holiday 100-charting hits including The Ronettes’ “Sleigh Ride” and Darlene Love’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” and “Winter Wonderland.”

Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas jingles 10-8 with 56,000 equivalent album units (up 7%). The album was released in 1994 and peaked at No. 3 that December. The set houses Carey’s classic “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which has topped the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart in each of the last five holiday seasons.

Rounding out the top 10 of the new Billboard 200 is Pentatonix’s The Greatest Christmas Hits, which vaults 60-10, a new peak, with 51,000 equivalent album units earned (up 147%). The 31-song set is the vocal group’s latest release, and it includes 23 earlier-released holiday favorites, along with eight new recordings.

The Greatest Christmas Hits marks Pentatonix’s 11th top 10-charting set, and its first since its last compilation, 2019’s The Best of Pentatonix Christmas, peaked at No. 7 on the Dec. 28, 2019, chart.

Here’s a recap of Pentatonix’s 11 top 10-charting albums on the Billboard 200, six of which are holiday sets: PTXmas (No. 7, 2013), PTX: Vol. II (No. 10, 2013), PTX: Vol. III (No. 5, 2014), That’s Christmas to Me (No. 2, 2014), Pentatonix (No. 1, 2015), A Pentatonix Christmas (No. 1 for two weeks, 2017), PTX Vol. IV: Classics (No. 4), PTX Presents: Top Pop, Vol. 1 (No. 10, 2018), Christmas Is Here! (No. 7, 2018), The Best of Pentatonix Christmas (No. 7, 2019) and The Greatest Christmas Hits (No. 10, 2024).   

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, compiled by Luminate. 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. 6, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Jan. 3, one day later than normal due to the New Year’s Day holiday on Jan. 1. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Selena Gomez is looking back on some of her favorite memories of 2023.

On Friday (Dec. 29), the 31-year-old pop star and actress shared a gallery of fun photos on social media of her little sister, Gracie Elliot Teefey, along with friends including Nicola Peltz Beckham and Sofia Carson.

“Moments in time,” Gomez captioned the post on Instagram.

In one of the snapshots, the “Single Soon” singer is being sweetly embraced by 10-year-old Gracie at a Disney theme park. Another finds the siblings cuddling alongside each other while in a bed.

Elsewhere in the post, Gomez appears to be sharing a drink with Carson and sticks out her tongue while taking a selfie with Beckham. The two friends both took to the comments section to show some love to Gomez.

Cason commented with three white hearts and Beckham wrote, “I love you so much!!”

Earlier this year, the Only Murders in the Building star shared some special moments with Gracie. In addition to taking her little sis to Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour concerts in Texas and Los Angeles over the summer, Gracie made a cameo in Gomez’s “Single Soon” music video.

“Hi, I love you sissy. Never worry about boyfriends. At. All,” Gracie says on an answering machine in the beginning of the clip.

Speaking of boyfriends, the pop star recently confirmed that she and producer Benny Blanco are officially dating. In early December, she replied to fans on Instagram that Blanco “is my absolute everything in my heart” and that she is at her “happiest” in the relationship.

Although the producer didn’t appear in Gomez’s most recent Instagram post, she did spend one of the last days of 2023 cuddled up with Blanco on an artsy after-Christmas date. She recently shared a photo on her Instagram Story of the couple cozying up at what appeared to be Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy, an art exhibit in Los Angeles.

See Gomez’s latest post on Instagram here.

Paula Abdul is suing Nigel Lythgoe over claims that the former American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance producer sexually assaulted her while she was filming the competition television shows.

The singer-dancer claims in the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Friday (Dec. 29) and obtained by Billboard, that Lythgoe sexually assaulted her on two occasions. The first instance allegedly occurred during one of the early seasons of American Idol and the second took place in 2014 when she was in talks to judge So You Think You Can Dance.

Abdul, 61, alleges in the suit that Lythgoe, 74, first sexually assaulted her in an elevator of a hotel where they were both staying while traveling for one of Idol‘s “initial seasons.” It does not state a specific year the alleged incident occurred.

“Lythgoe shoved Abdul against the wall, then grabbed her genitals and breasts, and began shoving his tongue down her throat,” according to court documents. “Abdul attempted to push Lythgoe away from her and let him know his behavior was not acceptable. When the doors to the elevator for her floor opened, Abdul ran out of the elevator and to her hotel room. In tears, Abdul quickly called one of her representatives to inform them of the assault, but ultimately decided not to take action for fear that Lythgoe would have her fired from American Idol.”

Abdul’s complaint claims that Lythgoe sexually assaulted Abdul again in 2014 when she was approached for a judging position on So You Think You Can Dance. The alleged incident took place during a dinner at his home where the two were supposed to discuss her professional opportunities, according to the lawsuit.

“Toward the end of the evening, however, Lythgoe forced himself on top of Abdul while she was seated on his couch and attempted to kiss her while proclaiming that the two would make an excellent ‘power couple,’” the complaint states. “Abdul pushed Lythgoe off of her, explaining that she was not interested in his advances, and immediately left Lythgoe’s home.”

The suit also alleges that Abdul witnessed Lythgoe sexually assault one of her assistants while filming So You Think You Can Dance in 2015. Lythgoe allegedly “pressed himself” against the woman and “began to grope her” without consent, court document states.

The “Straight Up” hitmaker’s suit further claims that Lythgoe taunted her on the phone about his alleged assaults and states that he “clearly knew that his assaults of Abdul were not just wrong but that he held the power to keep her silent.”

In addition to Lythgoe, the shows’ production companies American Idol Productions, Dance Nation Productions, 19 Entertainment and Fremantlemedia North America are also listed as defendants. Abdul is suing the defendants for sexual assault/battery, sexual harassment, gender violence and negligence.

In a statement obtained by The Associated Press on Saturday, Abdul’s lawyer Douglas Johnson applauded the singer and dancer for speaking out publicly.

“It was clearly a difficult decision to make, but Ms. Abdul knows that she stands both in the shoes and on the shoulders of many other similarly situated survivors, and she is determined to see that justice is done,” Johnson said.

Lythgoe said in a statement that he was “shocked and saddened” to hear of the allegations made by Abdul, who he said he considered a “dear” and “entirely platonic” friend, The AP reports.

“While Paula’s history of erratic behavior is well-known, I can’t pretend to understand exactly why she would file a lawsuit that she must know is untrue,” Lythgoe said in the statement. “But I can promise that I will fight this appalling smear with everything I have.”

From career milestones to new music releases to major announcements and those little important moments, Billboard editors highlight uplifting moments in Latin music. Here’s what happened in the Latin music world this week.

Bad Bunny Gives Back

Bad Bunny is spending the holidays in his native Puerto Rico and part of the celebration included his annual “Bonita Tradición” gift giveaway hosted by the artist and his Good Bunny Foundation. Held at the Puerto Rico Convention Center in San Juan, the free event featured traditional food and attractions, as well as 25,000 gifts that were handed out to children and teenagers. Bad Bunny was in attendance to hand out sports gear, music instruments, art sets and more gifts aimed at promoting the love of music, art and sports. Other artists who joined the cause included Miky Woodz, Young Miko and Dei V. 

Taking Over Times Square on New Year’s Eve

New York City’s Times Square is gearing up to host its annual New Year’s Eve celebration, which includes the televised ball lowering during the countdown to the new year. The tradition, which has been celebrated for 120 years now, will boast two Latin artists as part of this year’s festivities. Argentine star Maria Becerra and Mexican reggaeton artist Yng Lvcas will perform a medley of their biggest hits at the Planet Fitness Center Stage. The former is scheduled to perform at 10:04 p.m. and the latter at 11:02 p.m. ET. Both performances will air live on Univision and the Times Square New Year’s Eve webcast. 

Shakira Honored in Her Hometown

This week, Shakira was honored with a 20-foot-tall bronze statue in her hometown of Barranquilla, Colombia. Dressed in one of her famous belly-dancing outfits, with her hips swaying and her arms raised, the monument features a plaque that reads: “On Feb. 2, 1977, the town of Barranquilla and the world witnessed the birth of a heart that composes, hips that don’t lie, a voice that moves masses and a pair of bare feet that walk for the good of children and humanity.” The Colombian star was not present at the grand reveal, but her parents were. “I am very excited about this tribute to Colombian women and Barranquilleras inside and outside my land!” the singer expressed on Instagram. 

Myriam Hernández is Celebrated in Chile

This week, Chilean singer-songwriter Myriam Hernández was recognized as a “Fundamental Figure of Chilean Music” by the Society of Authors. “I am happy and grateful for the news,” the artist known for hits such as “El Hombre que yo Amo,” “Huele a Peligro” and “Te pareces tanto a él’” said in a statement. “I feel proud of this recognition that the Society of Authors of my country gives me, an entity that is so necessary and important for artists, creators, composers and performers. I am excited to be part of this distinction alongside other music greats. Additionally, being recognized by your peers is something very special and significant. I receive it with immense joy because this is a race that belongs to the public,” she said.