Spotify rode a post-election wave of market enthusiasm to close above $400 for the first time on Friday (Nov. 8), valuing the music-streaming giant at nearly $80.5 billion. Before finishing at $400.68, up 4.1% for the week, the company’s stock reached an all-time high of $405.88. 

The Stockholm, Sweden-based company’s stock price has increased 113% in 2024 as the company overtook Universal Music Group (UMG) as the most valuable music company. When investors began to tire of high-growth streaming companies with little to show in profitability, Spotify underwent two major rounds of layoffs in 2023, helping reduce costs without sacrificing subscriber growth or revenue. With third-quarter earnings coming on Tuesday (Nov. 12), Spotify will show whether it has maintained that momentum. At least one analyst is optimistic ahead of earnings: Deutsche Bank raised its Spotify price target on Wednesday to $440 from $430.

U.S. stock markets soared this week following the election of Donald Trump on Tuesday (Nov. 5) and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision on Thursday (Nov. 7) to lower interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point. On Friday, the Nasdaq composite closed at an all-time high of 19,286.78, up 5.7%. The S&P 500 gained 4.7% to close at a record high of 5,995.54. China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 5.5% to 3,452.30. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index improved just 0.7% to 2,561.15. In the U.K., the FTSE 100 fell 1.3% to 8,072.39.

The 20-company Billboard Global Music Index gained 2.4% to an all-time high of 2,043.02, bringing its year-to-date gain to 33.2%. The index had 13 stocks in positive territory while six lost ground and one was unchanged. 

The week’s top music stock was iHeartMedia, which jumped 16.7% to $2.44 after the company announced it will restructure much of its retiring debt and plans to save $200 million in 2025 through cost cuts and the embrace of technology. “Technology is the key to increasing our operating leverage and is a constant focus for us,” CEO Bob Pittman said during an earnings call on Thursday. “It allows us to speed up processes, streamline legacy systems and it enables our folks to create more, better and faster.” iHeartMedia shares are down 8.6% year to date but have risen 180% since May 24. 

LiveOne gained 15.6% to $0.89 per share after the music streamer announced that revenue increased 14% to $32.6 million and paid members rose 27% to 645,000 in its fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30. Reservoir Media was another top gainer, improving 9.1% to $9.00.

On the live front, Live Nation shares rose 5.1% to $123.02 following a post-election day boost. The concert promoter is currently facing a lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice but could find a better outcome from new appointments made by the Trump administration. The election wasn’t the only reason for the stock’s gains: Morgan Stanley upped its price target to $140 from $120 based on “a combination of strong underlying consumer demand and powerful artist incentives to tour,” analysts wrote in an investor note on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank also increased its Live Nation price target to $130 from $122.

K-pop stocks surged this week despite HYBE and SM Entertainment both reporting sharp drops in profit last quarter due partly to weaker recorded music revenues. HYBE shares jumped 6.4% after the company reported a 99% drop in net income. Likewise, SM Entertainment gained 7.2% the same week the company announced quarterly net profit fell 96% on a 9% revenue decline and a 36% drop in recorded music revenue. Investors may have gained optimism from SM Entertainment’s announcement it will launch a new girl group — its first since aespa debuted five years ago — in 2025 with a single and album release in the first quarter. 

JYP Entertainment, which has not yet announced quarterly earnings, shot up 12.6%, and YG Entertainment continued its hot streak, rising 6.3% and bringing its gain in the last three weeks to 17.6%. YG has received a boost from the success of “APT” by ROSÉ featuring Bruno Mars. The song is currently in its second week atop both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts. 

Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) shares rose 2.4% to $11.39 ahead of the company’s third-quarter earnings on Tuesday (Nov. 12). Bernstein initiated coverage of TME with a $14 price target. Barclays initiated coverage with an “overweight” rating and a $16 price target. 

German concert promoter CTS Eventim was the worst-performing music stock of the week, dropping 10.4% to 87.70 euros ($94.05). The company will release third-quarter results on Nov. 21. Elsewhere, Cumulus Media dropped 6.4% to $0.88, adding to the prior week’s 19% decline, while SiriusXM dropped 5.5% to $26.13. 

Even though Beyoncé made history when the 2025 Grammy nominations were announced on Friday (Nov. 8), she turned the spotlight to another “queen” — Linda Martell.

Martell is nominated for best melodic rap performance alongside her and Shaboozey with “Spaghetti” from Beyoncé’s eighth studio album Cowboy Carter. Outside of “Spaghetti,” the pioneering country artist delivered another spoken-word segment on “The Linda Martell Show” from the same album. “Congratulations to my queen Linda Martell on your nomination and your contribution to Country Music,” Queen Bey wrote on Instagram while sharing an old picture of the singer.

Martell told Billboard in May that she was “very, very glad” to be featured on Cowboy Carter and added that she appreciated the attention Beyoncé had brought to her music.

Beyoncé earned 11 nominations for the 67th annual Grammys, making her the most nominated artist in the show’s history – breaking out of a tie with her husband Jay-Z. She’s up for record and song of the year and best country song with her two-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Texas Hold ‘Em,” album of the year and best country album with Cowboy Carter, best pop solo performance with “Bodyguard,” best pop duo/group performance with “Levii’s Jeans” (featuring Post Malone), best melodic rap performance with “Spaghetti” (featuring Martell and Shaboozey), best country solo performance with “16 Carriages,” best country duo/group performance with “II Most Wanted” (featuring Miley Cyrus), and best Americana performance with “Ya Ya.”

She now has a total 99 nominations, and Billboard broke down all of them here. In 2023, when she took home four trophies, she made history for becoming the most-decorated artist with 32 Grammys, beating the late classical conductor Sir Georg Solti who previously held the record with 31 Grammys.

See Beyoncé’s celebratory post below.

Country star Zach Bryan is now at the center of serious allegations from his former girlfriend, podcast host and internet personality Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia.

In a Nov. 8 episode of the BFFs Podcast LaPaglia co-hosts with Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards, she made a series of bombshell claims, including accusing Bryan of “emotional abuse” during their relationship and claiming she was offered $12 million and a New York apartment to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), which she refused.

“The last year of my life has been like the hardest year of my life dealing with the abuse from this dude,” LaPaglia said on the podcast episode. “I’m still scared right now because I’m scared of him. My brain’s rewired, and I’m scared to make him mad.”

LaPaglia described a tumultuous relationship marked by fear and control. “There was always another excuse as to why he was treating me so poorly and why I’m crying myself to sleep every night, why he’s screaming at me,” she recounted. “And then you wake up, it’s the apology, it’s the ‘I’m going to be better, I need you in my life.’”

She alleged that Bryan made his previous girlfriends sign NDAs to prevent them from discussing their experiences publicly. “He made the women before me believe that they had no other choice than to take money from you, sign their experiences away, sign what they went through away,” she claimed.

According to LaPaglia, after their breakup, she was approached by Bryan’s team with a significant financial offer in exchange for her silence.

“I was offered a lot of money, like a big lump sum of money and a few options,” she explained. “Basically, I would have gotten the money over the course of three years. I would have had to sign all of my experiences, everything that I am, away to this person. They would have been monitoring everything that I do.”

She firmly rejected the offer, stating, “I did not accept any money. I will not accept any money. I think that’s beneath me. I don’t think you can pay people off that you hurt for them to protect you. I think that in itself, offering millions of dollars to this apparent beautiful relationship to keep it a secret, speaks volumes.”

LaPaglia explained her desire to support others who may be facing similar situations. “This isn’t about drama for me,” she said. “This is for anyone else that’s been emotionally abused and for people right now being emotionally abused. It’s for people that don’t have a support system that I luckily had going through this.”

She recounted specific incidents during their relationship, including one at the Golden Globes. LaPaglia claimed Bryan “ruined” her experience because he disapproved of her dress. “That was f—– crazy. That was the first time he had really tried to control what I wore and what I posted,” she recalled. “So I went to the Golden Globes and I posted like a carousel of pictures, and he didn’t like my dress.”

“He said he didn’t want to date someone that presents themselves that way. And he unfollowed me, he unfollowed everyone, and I… when I flew home — I flew home after the Golden Globes. He ruined my night,” continued LaPaglia.

“Everything good, anything good I did for me, he made sure to ruin it for me. He ruined my birthday, he ruined my tour, he ruined the Golden Globes. Anything Brianna did for Brianna, he had to ruin it.”

LaPaglia also described an alleged incident on her birthday, where Bryan reportedly berated her friends after she had gone to bed. “I look outside and I have my aunt trying to control Zach — there’s a recording of all of this that can never be out — basically Zach stood up at the fire and he just starts screaming at my friends.”

“He stood up at the fire and just starts screaming at my friends, ‘You’re not going to be anything, you’re a [expletive] loser.’ Just the most horrible [expletive],” she explained, adding that Bryan smashed glass. “It was just crazy, completely out of nowhere, and I’m like, ‘What the [expletive]?’ But when Zach gets in that zone, there’s no containing it.”

In another instance, LaPaglia claimed Bryan had smashed her phone, saying to her co-hosts, “Oh, Look at my phone, it’s smashed from him, he’s always smashed my phone,” adding that he “will whip it at a wall.”

She also alleged that Bryan attempted to control her professional life. “He offered to double what [Barstool Sports] offered me so that I would quit,” she said. “He just didn’t want me to do it and he always made it—he twisted it in my head where he would make me be like, ‘You’re better than this, you’re better than Barstool, you’re destined for so much more.’”

LaPaglia shared that she felt isolated and lost during the relationship, which was made public in July 2023. They dated for over a year before he confirmed their split in October.

“I lost myself throughout this whole relationship,” she admitted. “I don’t even recognize myself anymore. I lost 15 pounds I didn’t have to lose in the relationship. I didn’t sleep. I was completely isolated from my family, from my friends, from work.”

Billboard has reached out to Zach Bryan’s representatives for comment but has not received a response as of publication.

It comes after co-hosts Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards released a diss track aimed at Zach Bryan. The track, which mocked Bryan and referenced the allegations, reportedly faced multiple takedown attempts.

“We knew it was a hit the second we laid it down,” Richards said on the podcast. Portnoy added, “We got crybaby Bryan and the spineless PR team running around deleting [expletive] off the internet, and guess what, it’s still getting millions of views.”

Portnoy claimed that Bryan’s team attempted to suppress the diss track through legal means. “They’re trying to squeeze Bri because of Josh and me,” he said. “We have nothing to do with it. Either pay her or shut the [expletive] up. I’m losing patience.”

The diss track was eventually removed from several platforms, allegedly due to takedown requests from Bryan’s team. “Their crisis management—why he cares so much—is, I guess, what we’ll get into now,” Portnoy commented.

LaPaglia expressed that sharing her story was important not just for herself but for others in similar situations: “That’s why I didn’t take the money. The message I want to put out there is that so many people go through this, feeling trapped or thinking they’ll never be able to leave.”

She added later, “I hope people can understand what I went through this past year and see why I lost myself and wasn’t who I was before him. But I’m back now, and I’m so happy to just be myself again. No more dictatorship here.”

Just a day before the allegations emerged, Bryan shared his latest single, “This World’s a Giant,” with a a candid Instagram post, where he revealed his plans to pause touring to pursue a master’s degree in Paris.

“After not being home for a year and a half, I drove out to my mother’s gravestone in the dead of night… and I came to realize just like in the past, that she never would call me again,” he wrote, sharing a series of images of his late mother, Annette, and his bandmates.

Bryan continued, “I told her I quit touring because I got accepted to get my masters in Paris next year… I told her about all my best friends in New York and all the nights we howled with the moon… [and] about making it on The Rolling Stone.”

He expressed gratitude to fans, adding, “Thank you guys for listening to ‘This World’s a Giant’ last night, and thank you to all the people who love me; who have truly carried the weight with me… I’m home now and I’ll hold you through the pain.”

You can watch the full episode here.

Charlie Puth is in the festive mood, and to celebrate, he dropped a new holiday song, “December 25th,” on Thursday (Nov. 7).

“December 25th is the day I always miss you the most/ ‘Cause the music and the lights, it reminds me of a night/ That you told me you had to go/ December 25th is the day that always hits me the most/ Still got no goodbye/ So I’d rather stay inside/ Spending Christmas here alone,” he sings on the melancholy, 80s-inspired track.

“I wrote and recorded December 25 completely on a whim a few weeks ago in my studio while working on my new album,” the Grammy-nominated artist shared in a press statement, “and though it sounds absolutely nothing like anything on the album, I figured why not share it for the holidays. So here you go.”  

Despite the heartbreaking song, Puth has a lot of joy in his life this holiday season — and he’s certainly not spending it alone. The 32-year-old star tied the knot with Brooke Sansone on Sept. 7 at Puth’s family home in Montecito, Calif.. The couple have been dating since June 2022, though they both grew up in New Jersey — a fact they paid tribute to by using Bruce Springsteen’s “Jersey Girl” as their first-dance song, according to Vogue. After a year and three months together, Puth flew from Los Angeles to New York City and proposed to Sansone at 11:11 p.m. on Sept. 5, 2023.

Listen to Charlie Puth’s “December 25th” below.