Met Opera Concert to Mark Anniversary of Ukraine Invasion

The Metropolitan Opera in New York will mark the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with a concert to remember victims of the war.

Met music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin will conduct Mozart’s Requiem and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Soprano Golda Schultz, mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo, tenor Dmytro Popov, and Ukrainian bass-baritone Vladyslav Buialskyi will be the soloists at the Feb. 24 performance.

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“Mozart’s Requiem is to remember the innocent victims of the war, and Beethoven’s Fifth is in anticipation of the victory to come,” Met general manager Peter Gelb said in a statement Friday (Jan. 20).

The concert will be broadcast on radio and will be presented in association with the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. All tickets cost $50 and go on sale Feb. 1, and the Met is encouraging ticket buyers to make donations to Ukraine relief efforts.

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A Complete Guide to Every 2023 Grammy Party & Event (Updating)

The 2023 Grammy Awards are just around the corner, which means all the best parties and events will be taking over Los Angeles leading up to Music’s Biggest Night at the Crypto.com Arena.

Beyoncé leads the way in the 2023 Grammy nominations, securing nine nods and tying the record for the most-nominated artist of all time (with husband Jay-Z). Just trailing Beyoncé in 2023 nominations is Kendrick Lamar, who also has three Big Four nods (album of the year for Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers and record and song of the year for “The Heart Part 5”) and eight nominations total.

Adele and Brandi Carlile each add seven nominations to their already-storied Grammy legacies, while six artists tie with six nods apiece: Mary J. Blige, Harry Styles, DJ Khaled, Future, The-Dream and mastering engineer Randy Merrill.

See below for where celebs will be spending Grammy Week. (Updating through Grammy night with new events. Events are invitation-only.)

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Taylor Swift’s ‘Midnights’ Has Most Weeks at No. 1 on Top Album Sales Chart Since ‘Frozen’

Taylor Swift’s Midnights continues its hot streak atop Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart, as the set spends its 12th consecutive, and total, week at No. 1 on the list dated Jan. 21. The album sold 25,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 12 (down 58%) according to Luminate.

Midnights now has the most weeks at No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart since the Frozen soundtrack ruled for 13 nonconsecutive weeks in 2014. Midnights has the most weeks in a row at No. 1 since the Titanic soundtrack logged all 16 of its No. 1 weeks consecutively in 1998.

Midnights’ total U.S. album sales now stand at 1.140 million.

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 Twitter and Instagram.

BTS’ Love Yourself: Her re-enters Top Album Sales at No. 2 following the set’s Jan. 6 release on vinyl. The effort, initially released in 2017, bounds back onto the chart with 20,000 sold (up 2,130%), with most of that sum from vinyl sales (18,000). It’s the first time BTS has released an album on vinyl in the U.S., though the group has issued singles on vinyl.

Love Yourself: Her also debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Vinyl Albums chart, the first time a K-pop title has led list. It also halts Swift’s stranglehold of the top spot with Midnights, pushing the album down to No. 2 after 11 straight weeks at No. 1.

Back on Top Album Sales, ATEEZ’s Spin Off: From the Witness falls one spot to No. 3 (14,000; down 66%) while French Montana’s Coke Boys 6: Gangsta Grillz, hosted by DJ Drama, debuts at No. 4 (11,000).

Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours dips 4-5 (just over 7,000; down 17%), RM’s Indigo descends 3-6 (7,000; down 22%) and Michael Jackson’s Thriller falls 6-7 (nearly 7,000; down 16%). Stray Kids’ former No. 1 MAXIDENT re-enters the chart at No. 8 with nearly 6,000 sold (up 378%) after a new Target-exclusive CD edition of the album was released on Jan. 6.

Rounding out the top 10 are two former No. 1s: Harry Styles’ Harry’s House (5-9 with nearly 6,000; down 32%) and Tyler, the Creator’s Igor (7-10 with 5,000; down 23%).

In the week ending Jan. 12, there were 1.837 million albums sold in the U.S. (down 13.5% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.512 million (down 14.7%) and digital albums comprised 325,000 (down 7.5%).

There were 589,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Jan. 12 (down 13.6% week-over-week) and 915,000 vinyl albums sold (down 15.4%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 1.27 (up 3.4% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 1.996 million (up 33.2%).

Overall year-to-date album sales total 3.961 million (up 11.8% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 3.285 million (up 19.8%) and digital album sales total 676,000 (down 15.4%).

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Sam Smith Gushes Over Aubrey Plaza’s Performance in ‘Emily the Criminal’ for New ‘SNL’ Promo

Saturday Night Live has a jam-packed lineup this weekend, with Aubrey Plaza making her hosting debut and Sam Smith taking the stage as musical guest.

To gear up for the big night, the superstar duo joined SNL favorite Kenan Thompson for a new promo clip. “We love you in The White Lotus,” Thompson tells Plaza, before Smith chimes in, “Emily the Criminal is brilliant.”

However, Thompson then mixes up Plaza for Jenna Ortega when he says, “You were great in Wednesday.”

When the actress reveals that she wasn’t in the popular Netflix series, Thompson asks her to “at least” do the viral Wednesday-inspired dance trend. “No,” Plaza simply replies, with her characteristic deadpan tone.

Smith posted the video to Instagram, along with the caption, “Saturday [yellow heart emoji].” They will be serving as musical guest on the iconic sketch comedy show for the third time, just a week before their highly anticipated new album Gloria drops on January 27. The LP comes on the heels of the singer’s Hot 100 chart topping collaboration with Kim Petras, “Unholy.”

Saturday Night Live airs every Saturday live on NBC at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT. For those without cable, the broadcast will also stream on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans on demand access to previous SNL episodes as well.

Watch the promo below.

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Biggest Music Tours & Festivals of 2023: How to Get Tickets to Madonna, SZA, Blink-182 & More

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Your favorite artists are ready to hit the road! After two years of rescheduled, postponed or canceled tours and concerts, music fans can rejoice in knowing that live shows are back in full swing.

Madonna, SZA, Blink-182, Taylor Swift, Janet Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks are just a small portion of acts heading on tour in 2023. And the list keeps growing.

Below, find a roster of more than 25 of the year’s most-anticipated concerts, tours and music festivals. We’ll be updating this story regularly, so be sure to check back for new dates and ticket information.

For more tour guides, check out our roundups of 2023 Latin Tours in the U.S. and Las Vegas Residencies.

From A-Z: A List of Must-See Music Tours (Updating)

Anita Baker — The music legend is hitting the road for her first tour in decades joined by Babyface. The tour kicks off on Feb. 11 at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Fla.

Anita Baker Tour
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Ari Lennox  – The Age/Sex/Location tour kicks off in Las Vegas on Jan. 26. Get tickets here.

Billy Joel — Before he joins Stevie Nicks for a co-headlining tour, Billy Joel has solo shows scheduled at the Hard Rock Live in Florida, New York City’s Madison Square Garden and the Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Get tickets to Joel’s solo concerts here and here. Click here for tickets to the tour with Stevie Nicks.

Blink 182 – The band’s tour start March 11 in Tijuana, Mexico. Get tickets here.

Bruce Springsteen – Bruce Springsteen’s 2023 tour launches on Feb. 1 at the Amelia Arena in Tampa, Fla. Get tickets here.

Chris Stapleton – The country star’s tour starts on March 16 at the Houston Rodeo. Get tickets here.

Depeche Mode – The English band’s Memento Mori tour launches on May 18. Get tickets here.

Ed Sheeran – Ed Sheeran’s “Mathematics” tour makes its way to North America in May. Get tickets below.

Ed Sheeran Mathematics Tour
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Foo Fighters – The Foo Fighters will hit the road this summer. Get tickets here.

Harry Styles – In March, Harry Styles will perform a string of shows rescheduled from last year’s Love On Tour. Get tickets here and here.

Janet Jackson – The “Together Again” tour starts April 14 in Hollywood, Fla. Get tickets here.

Lizzo – The Special tour resumes overseas in February and returns to the U.S. in April. Get tickets here.

Luke Combs – The country star’s tour launches on March 25. Get tickets here.

Madonna – The highly-anticipated Celebration Tour kicks off in July. Tickets went on sale Friday and another batch of presale passes will be released via Ticketmaster on Monday (Jan. 23). Get tickets for select dates below.

Madonna Celebration Tour
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New Edition – The group’s Legacy tour, featuring Keith Sweat and Guy, begins on March 9. Get tickets here.

Paramore – The pop-punk band scheduled to perform at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville on Feb. 6 and the Bud Light Super Bowl Fest on Feb. 9. Get tickets to see Paramore live here.

Red Hot Chili Peppers – The Red Hot Chilli Peppers tour, featuring Iggy Pop, The Roots, The Strokes St. Vincent and more, starts March 29 in Vancouver. Get tickets here.

Santana – The band’s upcoming tour dates includes a performance at the House of Blues Las Vegas on Jan. 25. Get tickets to see Santana here.  

Shania Twain – The country legend launches her tour at the Tortuga Music Festival in March. Get tickets to the Queen of Me tour here.

SZA – The S.O.S. tour starts on Feb. 21 in Chicago. Get tickets here.

Taylor Swift – The Eras tour, featuring Paramore and Gayle, officially kicks off on March 17. Get tickets here.

Wizkid — The North American leg of Wizkid’s More Love, Less Ego tour launches in March. Get tickets here.

Zac Brown Band – Zac Brown & Co.’s 2023 tour dates include the Houston Rodeo on March 5. Get tickets here.

2023 Music Festivals: Where to Get Tickets

Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival — April 14-16 & April 20-23; Get tickets here.

Bonnaroo Music Festival — June. 15-18. Get tickets here.

Rolling Loud — March 3-5 (California); Jul 21-23 (Miami). Get tickets here.

SXSW — Mach 10-19 in Austin, Texas. Click here to register for tickets.

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Gigi Hadid & Baby Khai Kick Off the New Year With ‘A Little R&R’: See Their Beach Day Pics

Gigi Hadid took to social media on Friday (Jan. 20) to show off her recent beach vacation with daughter Khai.

“Celebrated the new year w a lil r&r,” the supermodel captioned the slideshow on Instagram.

Though she follows a strict policy of keeping Khai’s face off social media, the seaside snaps made clear the 2-year-old she shares with ex Zayn was there for the fun.

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In one photo, Hadid spells out “Mama [hearts] Khai” in the sand with her own head cut out of the frame. Another shows Khai balanced on her mom’s shoulders in stark grayscale, while a third features the tot carefully outside the edge of the photo, frolicking in the surf while Hadid wears a red bikini top and baggy, multi-colored board shorts over her matching bottoms.

A few months ago, Hadid offered an update on Khai’s growth and development, telling Sunday Today, “I think she’s a genius. But I think that’s what everyone says about their kid. It’s so much fun. The more that she talks, and understands, and remembers, it just gets more and more fun. And she’s a blessing.”

For his part, Zayn most recently unveiled “Angel,” a posthumous collab with Jimi Hendrix in honor of what would’ve been the late guitar legend’s 80th birthday. At the time, the former One Directioner called being asked to join the track “such an unexpected and huge honour,” adding, ” I have so much respect and admiration for Jimi, his music and fans…Happy 80th Jimi.”

See the sweet photos of Hadid and baby Khai’s holiday in the sun below.

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