JENNIE’s debut studio album, Ruby, debuts at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated March 22). The set sold 26,500 copies in the U.S. in the week ending March 13, according to Luminate.

JENNIE is the second member of the quartet BLACKPINK to capture a solo top 10-charting effort on Top Album Sales, following LISA’s Alter Ego (No. 1, March 15 chart) and ROSÉ’s rosie (No. 2, Dec. 21, 2024). BLACKPINK itself has logged three top 10s, including two No. 1s: The Album (in 2020) and BORN PINK (2022).

Also in the top 10 of the latest Top Album Sales chart, Lady Gaga lands her eighth No. 1 with the chart-topping bow of MAYHEM, while the newest releases from Jason Isbell, Spiritbox, Noah Kahan and tobyMac debut in the region.

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 (TEA) units and streaming equivalent album (SEA) units.

Ruby was available in its first week as a nine-track widely available digital download album, and then an expanded 15-song physical set and a 15-track download edition. While the standard and physical albums have only one guest star (FKJ, on “JANE”), the 15-track download edition adds further special guests on a few tracks, including Doechii, Dua Lipa, Dominic Fike, Childish Gambino and Kali Uchis. Ruby’s first-week sales were aided by its availability across four CD variants (all containing collectible paper ephemera, some randomized), five deluxe CD boxed set editions (each containing a piece of branded clothing, a signed insert and a copy of the album) and two download editions (a widely available standard version with nine tracks and an expanded 15-song edition).

At No. 1 on Top Album Sales, Lady Gaga’s MAYHEM arrives, selling 136,000. The set’sfirst-week sales were bolstered by its availability across a gaggle of editions: 14 vinyl variants (some signed, and some include the bonus track “Can’t Stop the High,” while Target’s exclusive vinyl has the extra track “Kill for Love”), four CD editions (one signed, Target’s exclusive CD adds “Kill” while Gaga’s webstore carried a CD with the bonus track “Can’t Stop the High”), a cassette tape, a deluxe CD box set with a branded T-shirt and poster, and two widely available download albums (the standard 14-song album, and then a deluxe version exclusive to iTunes with the three music videos for “Disease,” “Die With a Smile” and “Abracadabra”).

Of MAYHEM’s opening-week sales, vinyl purchases comprise 74,000 – Gaga’s biggest week on vinyl ever.

Jason Isbell’s first entirely solo acoustic album, Foxes In the Snow, bows at No. 3 on Top Album Sales with nearly 18,000 copies sold. Vinyl sales comprise almost 9,500 copies of that sum – owed to its availability across five variants. It was also issued in a pair of CD editions.

Heavy metal band Spiritbox debuts at No. 4 with Tsunami Sea, selling 16,500 copies in its first week. The set was issued on CD, cassette and at least nine vinyl variants.

Noah Kahan’s Live From Fenway Park, which was previously only available to buy as a download album, made its debut on vinyl in the tracking week (across three variants), helping the set sell a total of 16,000 – and enabling its debut at No. 5 on Top Album Sales.

Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topping GNX falls 2-6 on Top Album Sales (15,000; down 7%), Sabrina Carpenter’s former leader Short n’ Sweet slips 5-7 (11,500; down 5%) and Chappell Roan’s No. 1 The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess descends 6-8 (nearly 9,000; up 6%). Doechii’s Alligator Bites Never Heal vaults 24-9 on Top Album Sales after the release of a new vinyl variant, selling a total of about 8,500 across all formats (up 188%).

Closing out Top Album Sales’ top 10 is the latest release from tobyMac, whose Heaven On My Mind enters at No. 10 with 7,000 copies sold. It was issued on two CD variants (including a signed edition) and three vinyl variants.

The Backstreet Boys have millions of fans worldwide, but member AJ McLean sometimes faces a tough crowd when it comes to his kids.

The superstar told People at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards on Monday night (March 17) that his 12-year-old daughter Elliott “hates” Backstreet Boys’ classic 1999 hit, “I Want It That Way.”

“My oldest daughter hates that song, hates it with a passion,” McLean explained. “Because she gets teased at school when she walks into school.”

He added, “When I drop her off, the boys [sing the lyrics], ‘Tell me why,’ and she’s like, ‘Stop doing that.’ And then I start doing it to embarrass her because that’s what dads do.”

However, Elliott still “secretly” likes her dad’s music, according to McLean.

Despite Elliott’s opinion, McLean and the Backstreet Boys have plenty of excitement coming up this year. The group’s Millennium 2.0 will arrive on July 11, a 25 years after the original album first topped the Billboard 200 for 10 weeks. The anniversary edition — for which the group members recreated their iconic album cover — will feature remastered versions of all the songs on the original tracklist, plus a few uncovered demos and some live recordings from their 1999-2000 Into the Millennium World Tour. 

The band is also hosting a residency at Las Vegas’ The Sphere, which kicks off the same day Millennium 2.0 drops and will continue throughout July and the first week of August. Ticket information is available on the band’s website.  

The newest addition to the Billboard Book Club comes from none other than Martha Stewart, who released her 101st book this week, Martha Stewart’s Gardening Handbook: The Essential Guide to Designing, Planting, and Growing.

To celebrate, Stewart and her head gardener Ryan McAllister went live on shopping and streaming platform TalkShopLive to discuss the book from her greenhouse headquarters and offices. Randomly selected copies of the Gardening Handbook will be signed by Stewart, when purchased via Billboard and TalkShopLive.

Throughout the conversation, Stewart gave a tour of her gardening bag and answered fan questions, including the one plant she couldn’t live without. “How about flowers? It’s a silly question because, what flowers?” she responded. “My other answer is vegetables. If you’re stuck on an island in the middle of nowhere, and they ask you if you could take one thing with you, you have to say nutritious food.”

She also shared some hilarious wisdom: “If you want to be happy for a year, take a spouse. If you want to be happy for a decade, get a dog. If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, make a garden.”

Retailing for $40, the Gardening Handbook provides an in-depth guide to teach fans to cultivate a flourishing garden, from understanding soil composition to learning about different types of plants and gardening methods.

Check out Stewart’s message to Billboard viewers and watch the full TalkShopLive livestream above, where you can purchase a randomly signed Gardening Handbook.

British rock royalty Queen, American jazz great Herbie Hancock and Canadian soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan are the 2025 recipients of the Polar Music Prize. The ceremony will be held on Tuesday, May 27, at the Grand Hôtel in Stockholm and is set to broadcast live in Sweden on TV4 at 8 p.m. CET.

The three surviving members of Queen – Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon – said in a joint statement: “We are highly and deeply honoured to be given the Polar Music Prize this year. It’s incredible, thank you so much.”

Hancock, 84, said: “The Polar Music Prize is a prestigious honour, and I am both thrilled and humbled to be a recipient. The Laureates who have come before me have left an indelible mark on humanity through their profound examples of inspiration and dedication.”

Hannigan, 53, said: “I am deeply moved and humbled to receive this year’s Polar Music Prize. Thank you so much for including me among this incredible and inspiring group of Laureates.” 

Hancock has worked closely with previous Polar Music Prize Laureates Joni Mitchell and Wayne Shorter. Hannigan has worked with previous Laureates Pierre Boulez, György Ligeti and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Formed in 1970, Queen are one of the most successful bands ever to have emerged from the U.K. Bohemian Rhapsody, the 2018 biopic about the band, is the top-grossing music biopic in film history. The film received four Oscars, including best actor for Rami Malek as lead singer Freddie Mercury (who died in 1991).

Queen was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. Queen, shockingly, never won a competitive Grammy, and received just four nominations. But the band received a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy in 2018.

In 1987, Hancock became the first Black composer to win an Oscar for best original score for Round Midnight. (Prince had previously won best original song score for Purple Rain.) Hancock has received 14 Grammy Awards, across R&B, jazz and pop categories. His highest-profile Grammy was album of the year in 2008 for River: The Joni Letters, a tribute to Mitchell. Hancock received a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy in 2016.

At the inaugural MTV Video Awards in 1984, Hancock won five awards, more than any other artist, all for the video for his instrumental hit “Rockit.” He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2013.

Having started her career as a soprano, Hannigan turned her hand to conducting at age 40 at the Châtelet in Paris. Now, she balances both pursuits. Hannigan is principal guest conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and l’Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, and associate artist with the London Symphony Orchestra. In 2026, she will take the helm of Iceland Symphony Orchestra as their chief conductor and artistic director.

Hannigan won a Grammy in 2018: best classical solo vocal album for Crazy Girl Crazy.

Previous Polar Music Prize Laureates include Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Chuck Berry, Ennio Morricone, Led Zeppelin, Patti Smith, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kronos Quartet, Elton John, Metallica, Iggy Pop, Ravi Shankar, Renée Fleming, Miriam Makeba, Sofia Gubaidulina and Angélique Kidjo.

The Polar Music Prize is presented at a ceremony in Stockholm in the presence of the Swedish royal family. Each Laureate will receive a cash award of one million Swedish Krona (approx. £74,082 GBP and $93,897 USD).

The Polar Music Prize awards committee is an independent, 11-member board who select the Laureates. It receives nominations from the public as well as from the International Music Council, a nongovernmental organization founded by UNESCO which promotes geographical and musical diversity.

The Polar Music Prize was founded in 1989 by Stig “Stikkan” Anderson, a legend in the history of Swedish popular music. Anderson was the manager, publisher and lyricist for ABBA, and played a key role in the quartet’s enormous global success. The prize was named after Anderson’s record label, Polar Music.

Irish rockers Fontaines D.C. have been forced to cancel their upcoming run of dates throughout Mexico and South America after vocalist Grian Chatten suffered a herniated disc.

Chaten announced the news via Fontaines D.C.’s Instagram Stories on Monday (March 17), revealing that the band will be cancelling their next five shows due to his own health condition.

“I am devastated to announce that, due to a herniated disc, we must cancel our show in Mexico tomorrow night and our forthcoming dates in Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Colombia,” he wrote.

“I have been really excited to play these beautiful countries for years and it really hurts to be here in Mexico City and not be able to go onstage, but I have been advised today, that I require urgent medical attention,” he added. “We are very grateful for all your support and, with all my heart, I am sorry that I can’t play for you.”

Fontaines D.C. recently wrapped up a run of tour dates throughout Australia and New Zealand just last week, and were scheduled to perform in Mexico on Tuesday (March 18). The remainder of March was set to see them perform at the Argentinian, Chilean, Colombian, and Brazilian editions of the Lollapalooza festival. Currently, the band’s upcoming U.S. tour dates – which launch in April and run through May – are unaffected, though further updates may arrive as necessary.

The Irish quintet – who formed back in 2014 – have burst into 2025 off the back of their fourth album, 2024’s Romance. Their first to chart on the Billboard 200 (reaching No. 97), it also reached the top 20 of both the Independent Albums and Top Rock & Alternative Albums charts.

In February, the band returned with their first piece of new music since Romance, releasing “It’s Amazing To Be Young” as a 7” single with another fresh track titled “Before You I Just Forget.”