Prince Andrew’s US judge asks UK, Australia for witness help

NEW YORK — The U.S. judge overseeing the lawsuit alleging Prince Andrew sexually assaulted a teenager decades ago asked U.K. and Australian authorities for assistance questioning potential witnesses in those … Click to Continue »
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Meat Loaf’s ‘Bat Out of Hell’ Hits a New Peak on Billboard 200 Albums Chart After Death

Following Meat Loaf’s death on Jan. 20, the rocker’s music returns to the Billboard charts, including a new peak on the Billboard 200 for his classic 1977 album Bat Out of Hell. He also re-enters at No. 3 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated Feb. 5), which ranks the most popular artists of the week in the U.S.

Here’s a look at the major Billboard charts that Meat Loaf’s music impacts, for the charts dated Feb. 5, reflecting the tracking week ending Jan. 27.

Albums

Bat Out of Hell
-Billboard 200, No. 13 (re-entry, new peak, surpassing its original No. 14 peak in 1978; 28,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. – up 3,677%, according to MRC Data)
-Top Album Sales, No. 2 (re-entry and new peak; 16,000 sold – up 7,375%.)
-Top Rock Albums, No. 1 (debut)
-Catalog Albums, No. 1 (re-entry, 23rd week at No. 1)
-Vinyl Albums, No. 20 (debut; 2,000 sold – up 4,281%)

Bat Out of Hell: Back Into Hell:
-Billboard 200, No. 91 (re-entry, spent a week at No. 1 in 1993; 10,000 equivalent album units earned – up 2,320%)
-Top Album Sales, No. 22 (re-entry; 4,000 sold – up 7,746%)
-Top Rock Albums, No. 10 (debut)
-Top Hard Rock Albums, No. 2 (debut)
-Catalog Albums, No. 27 (debut)

The Essential Meat Loaf
-Top Album Sales, No. 95 (debut; 2,000 sold – up 19,250%)

In total, Meat Loaf’s overall catalog of albums earned 47,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 27, according to MRC Data – up 3,201% compared to the previous week. Of that sum, album sales comprised 27,000 – a gain of 5,648%.

Songs:

“I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)”
-Digital Song Sales, No. 2 (debut; 20,000 sold – up 8,876%)
-Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, No. 7 (debut)
-Rock Digital Song Sales, No. 2 (debut)
-Rock Streaming Songs, No. 12 (debut)
-Hot Hard Rock Songs, No. 1 (debut)
-Hard Rock Streaming Songs, No. 1 (debut)
-Hard Rock Digital Song Sales, No. 2 (debut)
-Billboard Global 200, No. 49 (debut)
-Billboard Global 200 Excluding U.S., No. 97 (debut)

“Paradise by the Dashboard Light”
-Digital Song Sales, No. 5 (debut; 12,000 sold – up 7,722%)
-Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, No. 11 (debut)
-Rock Digital Song Sales, No. 4 (debut)
-Rock Streaming Songs, No. 16 (debut)
-Hot Hard Rock Songs, No. 1 (debut)
-Hard Rock Streaming Songs, No. 1 (debut)
-Hard Rock Digital Song Sales, No. 3 (debut)
-Billboard Global 200, No. 109 (debut)

“Bat Out of Hell”
-Digital Song Sales, No. 17 (debut; 4,000 sold – up 7,368%)
-Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, No. 23 (debut)
-Rock Digital Song Sales, No. 7 (debut)
-Hot Hard Rock Songs, No. 4 (debut)
-Hard Rock Digital Song Sales, No. 4 (debut)

“Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad”
-Digital Song Sales, No. 4 (debut; 12,000 sold – up 9,189%)
-Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, No. 16 (debut)
-Rock Digital Song Sales, No. 3 (debut)
-Billboard Global 200, No. 158 (debut)

“You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth”
-Digital Song Sales, No. 12 (debut; 5,000 sold – up 9,089%)
-Rock Digital Song Sales, No. 5 (debut)

“I’d Lie for You (And That’s the Truth)”
-Digital Song Sales, No. 49 (debut; 2,000 sold – up 10,935%)
-Rock Digital Song Sales, No. 11 (debut)

“Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through”
-Hard Rock Digital Song Sales, No. 11 (debut; 1,000 sold – up 10,930%)

In the U.S., Meat Loaf’s overall catalog of songs collected 21.1 million on-demand official audio and video streams in the week ending Jan. 27 – up 1,422% from 1.4 million the previous week.

His two most-streamed songs in the U.S. for the week were the Bat Out of Hell single “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” (4.5 million, up 1,179%) and his only Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single, “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” (4.4 million, up 872%). (Those two songs accounted for over 40% of his U.S. streams for the week.)

Globally, including the U.S., his songs earned 57.7 million on-demand official audio and video streams for the week — up 1,106% from 4.8 million the week before. His two most-streamed songs globally for the week were “I’d Do Anything…” (11.9 million, up 656%) and “Paradise” (7.9 million, up 846%). (Like in America, those two songs comprise a sizable portion of Meat Loaf’s streams for the week: 34%.)

In terms of song sales, in the U.S., his collected songs sold 63,000 downloads in the week ending Jan. 27 (up 8,825% from less than 1,000 sold the week before). Globally, including the U.S., they sold 97,000 downloads (up 7,738% from a little more than 1,000 sold the previous week).

*Equivalent album 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 Feb. 5, 2022-dated charts will be posted in full on Billboard’s website on Feb. 1. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

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Bill Cosby Asks Supreme Court Not to Revive Sexual Assault Case

A lawyer for Bill Cosby asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday (Jan. 31) to reject a bid by prosecutors to revive his criminal sex assault case.

The 84-year-old actor and comedian has been free since June, when a Pennsylvania appeals court overturned his conviction and released him from prison after nearly three years.

The state’s highest court found that Cosby believed he had a nonprosecution agreement with a former district attorney when he gave damaging testimony in the accuser’s 2005 lawsuit. That testimony later led to his arrest in 2015.

Cosby lawyer Jennifer Bonjean says the case rests on a narrow set of facts that should not interest the Supreme Court.

“Notwithstanding the commonwealth’s warning of imminent catastrophic consequences, the Cosby holding will likely be confined to its own ‘rare, if not entirely unique’ set of circumstances, making review by this court particularly unjustified,” she wrote in the 15-page response filed Monday.

Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney Kevin Steele’s attempt to revive the case is a long shot. The U.S. Supreme Court accepts fewer than 1% of the petitions it receives. At least four justices on the nine-member court would have to agree to hear the case.

The only written evidence of a nonprosecution promise is a 2005 news release from Bruce Castor, the district attorney at the time, who said he did not have enough evidence to arrest Cosby. Steele does not believe that amounts to an immunity agreement.

Cosby became the first celebrity convicted of sexual assault in the #MeToo era when the jury at his 2018 retrial found him guilty of drugging and molesting college sports administrator Andrea Constand in 2004.

Legal scholars and victim advocates will be watching closely to see whether the Supreme Court takes an interest in the case. Two justices on the court, Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, were accused of sexual misconduct during their bitterly fought confirmation hearings.

Cosby, a groundbreaking Black actor and comedian, created the top-ranked “Cosby Show” in the 1980s. A barrage of sexual assault allegations later destroyed his image as “America’s Dad” and led to multimillion-dollar court settlements with at least eight women. But Constand’s case was the only one to lead to criminal charges.

The Associated Press generally does not name alleged victims of sexual assault unless they speak publicly, as Constand has done.

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Britney Spears & Madonna’s 9 Best Moments

Britney Spears went from mega Madonna fan to musical collaborator and longtime friend, and that love is still strong to this day.

Madonna, meanwhile, has been a Britney supporter since the beginning, paying tribute to her music, calling for an end to her 13-year conservatorship and standing up against those who pit the two pop icons against each other.

Over the years, the duo have shared a number of sweet moments, from gushing over each other in interviews to performing and releasing music together. While there are too many Britney and Madonna memories to count, we’ve compiled nine of our favorites.

See them below, in chronological order.

2001: Madonna says she wears Britney Spears t-shirts to bed

“[She] just bowls me over. I love Britney,” Madonna told the New York Post back in 2001. “I want to do nothing but support her and praise her . . . I mean, she’s 18 years old. It’s just shocking. I wish I’d had my s— together when I was 18.”

“We’re different – apples and oranges,” she added. “[But] I became obsessed with wearing Britney t-shirts. I slept in them, as well. It was like I felt it would bring me luck. And it did.”

2001: Britney sings “Like a Prayer” during interview

“I remember when I had the little Madonna skirts and I put the gloves on — I still do that now!” Spears said in a recently resurfaced interview from 2001. “Everybody wants to be Madonna! She doesn’t care what other people think. I think that’s very empowering for teenagers and women in general, to not try to please anyone except yourself.”

The then-20-year-old pop star then went on to briefly sing the opening verse of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” a cappella.

2002: Britney Dances to “Open Your Heart” in Crossroads

Spears continued showing her love for Madonna — this time on the big screen. In her debut film, Crossroads, her character Lucy Wagner dances around her bedroom in her underwear, singing along to “Open Your Heart.”

2003: The pop icons collaborate on “Me Against the Music”

The song, off Britney’s 2003 album In the Zone, peaked at No. 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated November 29, 2003. The collaboration remained on the chart for a total of 13 weeks.

2003: The infamous VMAs kiss

At the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, Madonna, Britney, Missy Elliott and Christina Aguilera performed a medley of hits including “Like a Virgin” and “Hollywood.”

Madonna then surprised everyone by kissing Spears onstage. After a quick camera cut to the pop princess’ ex-boyfriend, Justin Timberlake, Madonna then smooched Aguilera. But it was the Britney-Madonna kiss that made news.

2021: Madonna Lip Syncs to “…Baby One More Time”

Madonna took to Twitter to share a lip-sync video set to Spears’ 1998 breakout hit “…Baby One More Time,” captioning the video: “Love This Song……..,Love The Girl who sings it.”

2021: Madonna fights for Britney’s conservatorship to end

At the height of the #FreeBritney movement, Madonna advocated for an end of Spears’ 13-year conservatorship, which was officially terminated by a Los Angeles judge in November 2021.

Over a photo of herself wearing a Britney t-shirt, Madonna wrote: “Give this woman her life back. Slavery was abolished so long ago! Death to the greedy patriarchy that has been doing this to women for centuries. This is a violation of human rights! Britney we coming to get you out of jail!”

January 2022: Britney dances to Madonna’s “Nobody’s Perfect”

Britney kicked off the new year by sharing another one of her beloved dance videos to Instagram, spinning around in a red crop top to Madonna’s 2000 song.

In a follow-up post the next day, the pop princess revealed, “I’m sure it looks weird me dancing to @madonna so much … I see it … it’s like I’m not trying as much like I’m INDULGING  ….. well thats exactly what her music does to me !!!”

2022: Madonna says she wants to go on tour with Britney and reenact VMAs kiss

In an Instagram Live session, Madonna was asked if she would ever do a world tour again. “Hell yeah, I have to,” she replied. “Stadium, baby. Me and Britney, what about that? Yeah, I’m not sure she’d be into it, but it would be really cool. We could, like, reenact the original kiss.”

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Def Leppard Expands Partnership With Primary Wave

Def Leppard and Primary Wave have expanded their partnership to include additional stakes of the band’s publishing and master royalty income. Although the deal expansion does not include the band’s entire share of their catalog, it does encompass every song in the Def Leppard discography, ceding shares of master royalty income and publishing of their most beloved hits “Pour Some Sugar On Me,” “Rock of Ages,” “Love Bites,” “Hysteria,” and “Photograph.”

The independent publishing giant began its relationship with the rock band back in 2009 when Primary Wave started to administer and market the band’s catalog. In 2019, some publishing administration for the band was picked up by Sony Music Publishing (then, Sony/ATV) while Primary Wave continued administering other portions.

During the last decade or so in partnership, Primary Wave has landed placements for Def Leppard tunes on Cobra Kai, Hit the Floor, The Simpsons Guy, and American Horror Story 1984, the company tells Billboard.

The publisher also facilitated Def Leppard’s late entry into the streaming era. After years of dispute with their former label, Universal Music Group’s Mercury Records, the rock band finally reached a deal, regarding licensing and compensation, in 2018, and their entire catalog was brought to streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music shortly thereafter.

But during their years-long battling with UMG, the band retaliated by recording what lead singer Joe Elliott called “forgeries” of their biggest hits, beginning in 2012. According to a representative from Primary Wave, the company was “not involved,” in taking the re-recordings to digital service providers.

“When you’re at loggerheads with an ex-record label who…is not prepared to pay you a fair amount of money and we have the right to say, ‘Well, you’re not doing it,’ that’s the way it’s going to be,” Elliott told Billboard at the time. It was one of the first known instances of a band re-recording their songs to gain ownership of the master recordings — something Taylor Swift is working on today with her catalog.

Primary Wave declined to state the price of the deal. Billboard estimates that, in 2021, Def Leppard’s share of their catalog brought in about $4 million in global publishing royalties and $2.8 million for their share of overall master recording royalties. It remains unclear how much of Def Leppard’s share of publishing and master recording royalties Primary Wave received in the expanded deal.

Def Leppard is managed by CSM Management co-founder Mike Kobayashi and they release records through the band’s self-owned label, Bludgeon Riffola.

 

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Christian Hip-Hop Artist Gawvi Dropped by Reach Records After Allegations of Unsolicited Explicit Photos

Reach Records announced Monday (Jan. 31) that the label has dropped producer and Christian hip-hop artist GAWVI following allegations that he sent unsolicited explicit photos to women while he was married. He’s also been dropped from the label’s upcoming We Are Unashamed Tour.

“Due to behavior that is inconsistent with our core values, we have ended our professional relationship with GAWVI,” the label wrote in a statement. “This was a tough decision for us because of the level of complexity and because we invest in our artists not just for their talent, but also as brothers and sisters in Christ. This is something we have been processing for over a year and have wrestled with what would be the right way forward. New details that were provided made us realize today’s decision was necessary. We also want our actions to be a reflection of love, care, and concern for those who fail and those who are affected by our failures. Each of us needs God’s grace and we invite you to pray for the families and individuals whose lives are being impacted. This is not a chance to throw anybody away. We continue to hope for restoration to be the outcome.”

Over the weekend, Gawvi revealed that his marriage to wife Brianna Azucena ended in 2020. “We did everything we could to make it work for years, but after seeking the support of friends, family and counseling, I came to an extremely hard decision to move forward in a direction that I felt would be healthiest,” he wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post that was shared by The Crew. “There is no scandal to gossip about, just 2 adults that made decisions that lead to this point. And if you know me, you know I hate divorce and I’m not here to promote it.”

Following his announcement, visual artist and designer Cataphant took to Twitter to defend her friend Azucena. “Years ago I made album artwork for @gawvi,” she tweeted on Saturday. “For my next project I’m going to make a collage of all the unasked for di– pics he sent to women while he was still married.”

The next day, Cataphant further clarified the situation surrounding Gawvi’s divorce and why she chose to speak out after he shared his statement. “It wasn’t a knee-jerk thoughtless reaction,” she wrote of her original tweet. “I have known about his actions for at least a year, maybe more. WE ALL DID. He wasn’t good at covering his tracks. Who did I find out all these things from? Everyone.

“Secondly, EVERYONE confronted him,” she continued. “I want to defend all my friends because I KNOW they tried and tried. When someone refuses accountability and is a text book narcissist, there is no ‘addressing in privately.’”

She concluded her string of tweets by writing, “I did this because I’m standing up for my friend who was incorrectly represented in that lying a– statement that painted a false picture of why Gawvi LEFT his wife for someone else. Divorce is whatever, sh– happens. But Gawvi, if you’re reading this.. f— you you f—ing liar.”

At the time of publication, Gawvi had deleted all posts on his Instagram page, including the statement announcing his divorce. He has yet to publicly comment on Cataphant’s allegations.

The We Are Unashamed Tour, kicking off March 17 in Austin, Texas, will move forward with Lecrae, Andy Mineo, Trip Lee, Tedashii, 1K Phew, Wande, WHATUPRG, and Hulvey

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Criminalizing free speech? Group challenges Miami Beach law used to cuff people filming cops

After last year’s unruly spring break on South Beach, the Miami Beach city commission passed an ordinance that allowed for the arrest of people who “interrupt” and get too close … Click to Continue »
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Hargus ‘Pig’ Robbins, Country Hall of Fame Member Who Played With George Jones, Patsy Cline, Bob Dylan & More, Dies at 84

Hargus “Pig” Robbins, a Country Music Hall of Fame member and renowned session pianist who played with the likes of George Jones, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and many more, has died. He was 84.

Robbins passed away on Sunday (Jan. 30), the Country Music Hall of Fame confirmed.

In a statement from the Country Music Association, CEO Sarah Trahern wrote, “Hargus ‘Pig’ Robbins was a defining sound for so much of the historic music out of Nashville. His talent spoke for itself through his decades-spanning career and work as a session pianist with countless artists across genres. Our hearts go out to his friends and family during this difficult time.”

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum CEO Kyle Young said, “Like all successful session musicians, Pig Robbins was quick to adapt to any studio situation. He worked quickly, with perfection less a goal than a norm. And while he could shift styles on a dime to suit the singer and the song, his playing was always distinctive. Pig’s left hand on the piano joined with Bob Moore’s bass to create an unstoppable rhythmic force, while the fingers on his right hand flew like birds across the keys. The greatest musicians in Nashville turned to Pig for guidance and inspiration.”

Born in Spring City, Tennessee, Robbins said in a 2007 Nashville Cats interview that he “was about three years old when I stuck a knife in one eye.” The other eye had what was called “sympathetic infection,” he said, and he lost his sight completely.

He attended the Tennessee School for the Blind, where he started taking piano lessons at age seven, learning by ear. “I figured in two or three weeks I’d be playing what I was hearing on the radio,” he joked, saying that at the time he was listening to “country music, of course.”

He got his nickname while at school. He loved playing in the old fire escapes, and said that “when I’d come out, I’d be real dirty from all that soot and everything.” The school supervisor would tell him, “‘You’re as dirty as a little pig,’” he noted, “and the kids picked [it] up and started to call me ‘Pig.’”

He said the nickname never bothered him, and it stuck.

At school, he was taught classical music, but he practiced the music of his choice without his teachers. Some of his early influences included Owen Bradley, Poppa John Gordy and Ray Charles.

Robbins’ breakout performance as a session player came in 1959, on George Jones’ “White Lightning.” In the Nashville studio, he went on to work on innumerable sessions with country stars. Notable credits would include Patsy Cline’s “I Fall to Pieces,” Loretta Lynn’s “You’re Looking at Country” and “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” Dolly Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors,” Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler” and Tammy Wynette’s “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” — just to name a handful of highlights.

Robbins was also the pianist on Bob Dylan’s classic Blonde on Blonde, during the album’s Nashville sessions in 1966.

Beyond his countless contributions over decades as a session player, Robbins also recorded a number of his own solo studio albums in the ’60s and ’70s.

The musician took a brief break from his career around the year 2000, due to illness.

“I was diagnosed with cancer in December of ’99,” he recalled in the Nashville Cats interview, “and then I started taking chemo and it numbed my fingers — so I had to quit about April, I think it is, that year. After about a year, I got to feeling a little better and found out I was going to live, so I thought I’d start trying to play again. The more I played, the more the feeling would come back. It was kind of like therapy.”

He soon got back to playing on a number of albums, with one of his most recent credits being Connie Smith‘s 2021 release, The Cry of the Heart.

Of Robbins, longtime collaborator Smith once said, “I love the depth and timbre of his playing. The way he plays just lifts me up, and I feel more when Pig’s playing.”

Robbins was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2012. Among the various awards he’s won, Robbins was named the CMA’s instrumentalist of the year in both 1976 and 2000, and he took home a Grammy for best country instrumental performance in 1978.

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‘Encanto’ Spends Third Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart

The Encanto soundtrack collects a third nonconsecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Feb. 5). The set earned a new weekly-best 115,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 27 — up 11%, according to MRC Data.

In the last 10 years, only four soundtracks have spent at least three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200: Encanto (three), Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born (four in 2018-19), Black Panther: The Album (three, 2018) and Frozen (13, 2014).

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 MRC Data. 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 Feb. 5, 2022-dated chart (where Encanto holds at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Feb. 1. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of Encanto’s 115,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 93,000 (up 11%, equaling 138.51 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 19,000 (up 10%) and TEA units comprise 3,000 (up 17%).

YoungBoy Never Broke Again’s Colors debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, marking the rapper’s eighth top 10 album, all earned in less than four years. (His first top 10 came in May of 2018 with Until Death Call My Name.)

The new album begins with 79,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 77,000 (equaling 118.56 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise a little under 2,000 and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

Gunna’s former No. 1 DS4Ever falls 2-3 in its third week with 69,000 equivalent album units earned (down 28%), and The Weeknd’s Dawn FM dips 3-4 with 43,000 units (down 30%).

Morgan Wallen’s former No. 1 Dangerous: The Double Album is a non-mover at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, collecting 41,000 equivalent album units (down less than 1%).

Dangerous: The Double Album has now accumulated 54 nonconsecutive weeks in the top 10 on the Billboard 200 — the second-most of any country album ever, surpassing the 53 weeks registered by Shania Twain’s Come On Over (in 1997-2000). Among country efforts, only Taylor Swift’s Fearless has more, with 58 (in 2008-10).

Among all genres, Dangerous now has the most weeks in the top 10 for an album released by a male artist since 2000, surpassing the 53 weeks Ed Sheeran’s ÷ (Divide) logged in the top 10 in 2017-18. Among all albums released since 2000, Dangerous has the fourth-most weeks in the top 10, trailing only Adele’s 21 (84 weeks), Swift’s 1989 (59) and Swift’s Fearless (58).

Dangerous continues to profit from streaming activity of its super-sized tracklist, as the effort was released in January of 2021 with 30 songs. Recent No. 1s, including Adele’s 30 and Gunna’s DS4Ever, had 12 and 18 songs, respectively, on their initially released streaming editions. (The latter’s track count was 19, including two versions of the same song, “Too Easy.”) The chart’s current No. 1, Encanto, has 44 tracks on its streaming album — however, most of those are score and instrumental tracks. The vast majority of the album’s weekly units are from the nine songs with vocals on the album, including the Billboard Hot 100 top 10s “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” and “Surface Pressure.”

Adele’s 30 falls 4-6 on the new Billboard 200 with 39,000 equivalent album units earned (down 10%), and Drake’s fellow former leader Certified Lover Boy climbs 8-7 with 35,000 units (up 2%). The Weeknd’s compilation The Highlights slips 7-8 with 34,000 units (down 1%).

Walker Hayes collects his first top 10 album on the Billboard 200, as Country Stuff: The Album, debuts at No. 9 with 33,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 16,000, SEA units comprise 14,000 (equaling 19.66 million on-demand official streams of songs on the album) and TEA units comprise 2,000.

The set, released via Monument Records, was led by the smash single “Fancy Like,” which has spent 24 weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart and climbed to No. 3 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100.

Country Stuff is also the first top 10 album on the Billboard 200 for Monument since 2003, when The Chicks’ Home closed out a 26-week run in the top 10, including four nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1. (The Monument label was founded in 1958 and continued until 1987. It was revived from 1997 through 2010. Monument relaunched in 2017 with Hayes as one if its first signings.)

Doja Cat’s Planet Her closes out the new top 10 on the Billboard 200, holding at No. 10 with 32,000 equivalent album units earned (down 2%).

MRC Data, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes an exhaustive and thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. MRC Data reviews and authenticates data, removing any suspicious or unverifiable activity using established criteria before final chart calculations are made and published. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious and unverifiable is disqualified prior to the final calculation.

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Cheslie Kryst, ‘Extra’ Correspondent and Former Miss USA, Dies at 30

Cheslie Kryst, an Extra correspondent and former Miss USA, has died. She was 30.

Her family confirmed the news to The Hollywood Reporter on Sunday. A cause of death was not provided by them, but the New York Police Department confirmed to THR that it was a death by suicide.

Kryst’s body was found at 7:05 a.m. Sunday, on the sidewalk outside the Orion Condominium building, where she was a resident, in Manhattan.

“In devastation and great sorrow, we share the passing of our beloved Cheslie,” the statement read. “Her great light was one that inspired others around the world with her beauty and strength. She cared, she loved, she laughed and she shined. Cheslie embodied love and served others, whether through her work as an attorney fighting for social justice, as Miss USA and as a host on EXTRA. But most importantly, as a daughter, sister, friend, mentor and colleague – we know her impact will live on.”

The family asked for privacy at this time as they reflect on their loss. Kryst won the Miss USA beauty pageant in 2019 as a participant from North Carolina.

In a statement of its own, and obtained by THR, Extra wrote: “Our hearts are broken. Cheslie was not just a vital part of our show, she was a beloved part of our Extra family and touched the entire staff.  Our deepest condolences to all her family and friends.”

Kryst had several other TV appearances over the last several years, among them being featured as a panelist on Black Girl Beauty and as a guest on The Kelly Clarkson Show and Live With Kelly and Ryan.

Kryst also appeared as Miss USA in Ava DuVernay and Colin Kaepernick’s Colin in Black and White.

This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.

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