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“All they keep asking me is if I’m gonna be your bride” might accurately describe Taylor Swift‘s night after Tony Romo accidentally referred to the superstar as Travis Kelce’s “wife” Sunday (Dec. 10).
Romo’s slip-up came when Kelce caught an amazing pass during the second quarter of Sunday night’s Kansas City Chiefs vs. Buffalo Bills game at Arrowhead Stadium.
“As you see Kelce’s wife, Taylor Swift, in the audience…” said Romo, who was commenting on the play. With a nervous chuckle, he quickly corrected himself: “I’m sorry, girlfriend.”
On Sunday, Swift, wearing a vintage Chiefs sweatshirt, stood in a suite watching the game among friends.
The pop star, who was just named TIME‘s Person of the Year, confirmed to the public that she’s in a relationship with Kelce in her cover story interview published this week, in which she referred to herself and Kelce being a “couple.”
“We actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I’m grateful for, because we got to get to know each other. By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple,” said Swift, talking about her first appearance at a Chiefs game in September. “I think some people think that they saw our first date at that game? We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date.”
“Tony Romo” trended on X (formerly Twitter) right after he referred to Swift as Kelce’s “wife.”
“They need to play lavender haze at half time,” read a text screenshot from one fan to another. On the Midnights track, Swift sings about people asking her when she’s getting married, and only seeing her “as a one night, or a wife.”
Other Swifties shared funny GIFs, or joked about how news headline writers and Swift’s publicist would react.
See the televised moment captured below, followed by some fan reactions.
Tired of carrying around a big bag? Looking for something impractical to add to your Christmas list? SNL cast members Marcello Hernández and Ego Nwodim, host Adam Driver, and musical guest Olivia Rodrigo have got just the product for you: the Tiny Ass Bag.
Hernández and Nwodim led a sketch promoting various styles of the miniature accessory on Saturday night’s (Dec. 9) episode.
The most impressive item in the Tiny Ass Bag line might be the Tiny Ass Hiking Backpack, as modeled by Driver, or perhaps the Tiny Ass Luggage. As Kevin, aka Driver, says, “My bag is little, and my ass is fat. I’m the king of the world!”
Rodrigo co-stars as Georgina without a last name — “It’s Georgina, and das it” — who makes an appearance to show off another Tiny Ass product.
“This one is so small, it can only fit your secrets,” she says, modeling the Tiny Ass Carry On.
As musical guest, Rodrigo performed an emotional, understated “Vampire” and a theatrical “All-American Bitch” that had her shattering her glass at just the right moment, throwing herself across a table, stabbing a red cake and smearing it all over her face with a grateful smile.
Watch the “Tiny Ass Bag” sketch below. Check out her SNL performances here.
Lana is coming soon. SZA teased the upcoming deluxe version of her chart-topping 2022 album, SOS, with a cover art series posted on Instagram Sunday (Dec. 10).
Though she didn’t announce a release date, SZA revealed six different images with the caption “LANA.” The singer-songwriter, whose real name is Solána Rowe, confirmed that Lana is the title of a deluxe release in September.
“So the deluxe is like a whole ‘nother album, and it’s called Lana. It’s seven to 10 songs, and it’ll be out this fall,” SZA said at New York’s Brooklyn Navy Yard at an event on Sept. 8 (via a fan-captured video from the show).
Fans are speculating that the images feature a clue that Lana could arrive on Dec. 15. The singer is wearing a jersey with the number “15” in three of the photos.
On Sunday, SZA also looked back on SOS a year after its release.
“a day late but Happy 1 year anniversary to an album that is ACTIVELY CHANGING MY LIFE .. like rn currently changing my life,” she wrote on Instagram. “I haven’t processed this year AT ALL cause it’s still happening .. this is beyond my wildest dreams . I never imagined we’d accomplish a fraction of the accolades that came from this .. it often doesn’t feel real and it’s funny cause I swore I’d know what to do if it ever happened . turns out I I froze .. I know the perils of drinking the koolaid so I won’t dabble in that .. but I have to express the immense GRATITUDE I have for every person that made this possible . Every person that’s been apart of this journey. Thank you to GOD and to my incredible TEAM and My FAMILY . My ancestors . Thank you to every person that streamed this album ,came to a show , blasted it in traffic and connected w ANY part of me . To everyone that continues to believe in me and be patient w me as I figure it all out . your my driving force . I love you.”
SOS debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in December 2022, and the album had a non-consecutive 10-week run atop the chart. SZA is the leader in nominations for the 2024 Grammys, with nine nods — including each of the “Big Three” categories: album for SOS, and record and song of the year for her Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Kill Bill.”
See her new Lana posts below.
ATEEZ’s THE WORLD EP.FIN: WILL bows at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Dec. 16), marking the first chart-topper for the Korean pop group. The set earned 152,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 7, according to Luminate, nearly entirely from traditional album sales — 146,000. Both figures mark career-high milestones for the act. Sales of the album were bolstered by its availability across more than 30 collectible editions.
THE WORLD EP.FIN: WILL is the fourth top 10-charting effort from the act, all posted consecutively. The group previously charted as high as No. 2 with its last entry, THE WORLD EP.2: OUTLAW, in July.
ATEEZ’s success on the Billboard 200 (six charting titles, including four top 10s) has been achieved without charting a song on any U.S. Billboard airplay or streaming chart, the Billboard Hot 100, or the Billboard Global 200 or Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts. (The latter two rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by Luminate. The Global 200 is inclusive of worldwide data and the Global Excl. U.S. chart comprises data from territories excluding the United States.)
Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song returns to the region for a sixth consecutive holiday season, as the set rises 16-10.
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 Dec. 16, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Dec. 12. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of THE WORLD EP.FIN: WILL’s 152,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Dec. 7, album sales comprise 146,000 (with 99% of that sum driven by physical album sales and 1% via digital album downloads), SEA units comprise 5,500 (equaling 7.59 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 12 tracks) and TEA units comprise 500 units.
As is typical for major K-pop releases, THE WORLD EP.FIN: WILL was issued in multiple collectible physical configurations, 33 in total. All have the same 12-song tracklist, but have alternative packaging and contain different branded paper merchandise (some randomized, including photocards). Of the 33 editions, 26 are CDs and seven are vinyl. Among the variants are retail-exclusives sold through the likes of Barnes & Noble, Target and Walmart.
Each variant of the physical album in the U.S. was sold with a minimum of two random photocards, but could contain up to five depending on where the customer bought the album. K-pop photocards are similar to sports trading cards, in that each card typically has a photo of a member of the group. Each random photocard is from a set of eight total cards (one for each member). In total, there were a dozen sets of eight photocards, with assorted sets assigned to the retail-exclusive versions of the album.
As THE WORLD EP.FIN: WILL album is mostly in the Korean language, it is the 23rd mostly non-English language album to hit No. 1, and the seventh of 2023 (and of those seven, the fifth in mostly Korean). The other six are: Stray Kids’ ROCK-STAR, Bad Bunny’s Spanish-language Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana, NewJeans’ 2nd EP ‘Get Up,’ Stray Kids’ 5-STAR, Karol G’s Spanish Mañana Será Bonito and TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s The Name Chapter: Temptation.
THE WORLD EP.FIN: WILL is the only debut in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200. The rest of the top seven comprises former No. 1s, with Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) falling 1-2 (101,000 equivalent album units; down 28%), Drake’s For All the Dogs dipping 2-3 (76,000; down 10%), Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time stationary at No. 4 (65,000; up 3%), Michael Bublé’s Christmas jingling 9-5 (60,000; up 28%), Swift’s Midnights dropping 3-6 (55,000; down 15%) and SZA’s SOS steady at No. 7 (51,000; up 7%).
Noah Kahan’s Stick Season rises 13-8 for its highest rank since its deluxe reissue pushed it 100-3 (its peak) on the June 24-dated chart. The album earned 48,000 equivalent album units in the tracking week – up 26%. The set’s gain follows Kahan’s performances on NBC’s Saturday Night Live on Dec. 2.
Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 Folklore descends 5-9 with 46,000 equivalent album units earned (down 22%).
Rounding out the top 10 is Nat King Cole’s holiday album The Christmas Song, climbing 16-10. It visits the top 10 for a sixth consecutive holiday season (having reached a high of No. 5 in January). It earned 44,000 equivalent album units in the tracking week – up 21%. The album boasts 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.”
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.
Ariana Grande has a new manager in Brandon Creed. The superstar has signed with his newly-launched Good World Management firm, sources tell Billboard.
Grande made major headlines in August when she split with longtime manager Scooter Braun’s SB Projects. Grande had been with the company since 2013, the year she released her breakthrough debut album, Yours Truly.
“[Ariana] likes that [Brandon] understands her on a different level and between acting and music, she has a lot coming up and is excited to have found a new support system to help her execute her plans,” says a source close to the situation.
“She wants the focus to be her art and he puts her artistry and vision before anything else,” adds another source. “He is the perfect person to help her execute her visions for this next chapter of her life and career.”
Creed — a longtime manager whose previous clients have included Bruno Mars and Lizzo — announced the launch of Good World Management in July, bringing his clients Mark Ronson, Troye Sivan and Charli XCX along with him. Grande marks his third major signing since then. (Previously, in 2017, Creed merged his own The Creed Company with Irving and Jeffrey Azoff‘s firm to form Full Stop Management.)
In early August, Creed and Lydia Asrat announced they had signed Normani to a co-management deal through Good World and Asrat’s Q10. Then, in September, he signed Demi Lovato — another former Braun client.
Grande has had eight charting albums on the Billboard 200, six of them hit the top 10, with five topping the list. Her last release, Positions, debuted atop the chart in 2020 and spent two weeks at No. 1.
On the Hot 100, she’s logged 73 entries — including 20 top 10s, seven of which hit No. 1. She most recently led the tally with her remix collab on “Die for You” with The Weeknd in March 2023.
Across her catalog of songs, she’s generated 23.5 billion on-demand official streams in the U.S., according to Luminate. Her albums have earned 22.4 million equivalent album units in the U.S, of which traditional album sales equal 3.3 million.
Grande recently teased her forthcoming seventh studio album with a series of photos posted to Instagram back in the studio. Artists including Selena Gomez, Billie Eilish and SZA expressed excitement in the comments for the pop star’s anticipated return.
On Saturday (Dec. 9), Grande performed “Oh Santa!” alongside Mariah Carey in New York. Next year, she will star as Glinda alongside Cynthia Erivo in the long-awaited Wicked film.
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