Enigmatic English electronic extraordinaire Aphex Twin (aka Richard D. James) has released a surprise compilation album, with Music from the Merch Desk (2016–2023) collecting a number of limited edition recordings from the past decade.

Released on Tuesday (Dec. 17) without any prior warning, the 38-track compilation collects all of the music originally issued on six limited edition vinyl records sold at the titular merch desks between 2016 and 2023.

The compilation arrives seven years to the date since the first of these original records – Houston, TX 12.17.16 – was similarly released without warning at Aphex Twin’s first U.S. date in eight years as part of Houston’s Day for Night festival.

Since then, a number of other records have been issued sporadically, including at London performances in 2017, 2019, and 2023, along with dates in Manchester in 2019 and Barcelona in 2023. All of these records had been stamped with Warp Records logos, and sold out swiftly, with scalpers quick to attempt to flip these sought-after records for exorbitant prices online.

Aphex Twin’s London 03.06.17 had previously received expansion following its initial physical release, with a digital reissue the following month adding another ten tracks, and an additional bonus track arriving in April 2024 under the record’s revised title, London 03.06.17 [field day].

The nascent compilation follows on from the 30th anniversary expanded edition of Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Volume II in October. While its original 1994 release avoided the charts outside James’ native U.K., the album’s ensuing popularity and influence resulted in a myriad high chart positions upon its reissue. Alongside topping the U.K. Dance Albums once again, the record also debuted at No. 135 on the Billboard 200 and No. 3 on the Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart.

Though a handful of EPs and singles have arrived alongside the aforementioned merch desk drops over the last decade, Aphex Twin has not released a studio album since 2014’s Syro, which won the Grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Album the following year.

Just a month after Bad Bunny bagged his 77th top 10 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart, the Puerto Rican adds a new top 10 to his roster of songs, as “El Club” debuts at No. 2 on the Dec. 21-dated list. The new arrival extends his scope to 78 top 10s across a seventh calendar year, dating back to his first in 2017.

“El Club,”, along with its music video, was released Dec. 5 on Rimas Entertainment. The song launches at No. 2 as the Hot Shot Debut of the week largely to its streaming activity –9.5 million official U.S. streams in the tracking week of Dec. 6-12, according to Luminate. The sum also sparks a No. 2 entrance on Latin Streaming Songs for a record-extending 83 top 10s there.

“El Club,” Benito’s second solo single of the year, follows “Una Velita,” a song that addressed the destructive effects of hurricane María on his native Puerto Rico in 2017, which launched at No. 4 on Hot Latin Songs with 6.6 million official U.S. streams (Oct. 5-dated list). The multi-metric tally combines streaming data, digital sales and audience impressions into its formula.

Despite a negligible number of downloads in its first week, “El Club” advances 11-2 on Latin Digital Song Sales, also Benito’s 78th top 10 there.

With “El Club,” Bad Bunny stacks his 78th top 10 on Hot Latin Songs, further extending the distance from the next competitor, Enrique Iglesias, who last secured a top 10 through his Anuel AA collab, “Fútbol y Rumba” (No. 8 debut and peak in 2020).

As Bad Bunny’s top 10 collection grows, here’s a look at the artists with the most top 10s on Hot Latin Songs since its inception in 1986:

78, Bad Bunny
39, Enrique Iglesias
39, Luis Miguel
37, Daddy Yankee
37, Shakira

Further, “El Club” starts at No. 66 on the overall Billboard Hot 100, for Benito’s 97th entry there, still the most for a Latin artist. It also makes its No. 39 entrance on both the Billboard Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts, with 31 million global streams and 22 million clicks outside the U.S., respectively.

All charts (dated Dec. 21, 2024) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Dec. 17). For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Metallica have wrapped up their live activity for 2024, finishing things off with their regular Helping Hands concert in California.

The musical component of the heavy metal outfit’s All Within My Hands foundation, the Helping Hands concert series is a biannual affair which has been running since 2018.

With “aims to assist and enrich the lives of members of the communities who have supported the band for years, as well as encourage participation from fans and friends”, the previous events have been wildly successful, with the 2018 and 2020 editions raising over $1.3 million, and 2022 resulting in over $3 million in donations.

The latest Helping Hands concert took place on Friday (Dec. 13) at Inglewood, CA’s 6,000-seat YouTube Theater, with hosting duties performed by Jimmy Kimmel. The event also featured a handful of special guests, including Sammy Hagar and special guests Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani, and Kenny Aronoff, with classically-trained siblings SistaStrings also taking part.

As is tradition, the event featured a handful of deep cuts from the band’s back catalog, with this recent performance being no exception. Launching proceedings with a five-song acoustic set, both San Francisco singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Avi Vincour and pianist Henry Salvia were also on hand to aid in the performance.

The band’s acoustic set kicked off with a performance of “Low Man’s Lyric”, which hadn’t been played live since the band’s Reload tour in September 1998, before being followed by the first play-through of Diamond Head’s “Helpless” since 2018, and their first-ever rendition of Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s “Away From Home”. Welcoming SistaStrings to the stage, the acoustic portion of the event wrapped up with versions of 2023’s “If Darkness Had a Son” and the enduring “Nothing Else Matters”.

The career-spanning electric set was slightly more traditional, featuring tracks from the band’s wider catalog. Alongside last year’s “Screaming Suicide”, Metallica leant into tracks from the likes of famed ’80s records Kill ‘Em All, Master of Puppets, and 1989’s …And Justice for All. While reintroducing “The Unforgiven II” to the live set for the first time since 2015, the band also welcomed Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament to the stage for a performance of “Hit the Lights”.

Metallica’s Helping Hands concert will also be uploaded to YouTube for streaming on Thursday (Dec. 19), while full details regarding how much was raised by the event is usually shared in the new year.