Jackson Wang caught up with Billboard’s Tetris Kelly on the red carpet at Jingle Ball 2025.
Sylvester Stallone, KISS, George Strait and Gloria Gaynor are among the luminaries being celebrated Sunday (Dec. 7) at the annual Kennedy Center Honors, with Donald Trump hosting the show, the first time a president will command the stage instead of sitting in an Opera House box.
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Since returning to office in January, Trump has made Washington, D.C.’s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which is named after a Democratic predecessor, a touchstone in a broader attack against what he has lambasted as “woke” anti-American culture.
Trump said in August that he had agreed to host the show. The Republican president said Saturday at a State Department dinner for the honorees that he was doing so “at the request of a certain television network.” He predicted that the broadcast, scheduled to air Dec. 23 on CBS and Paramount+, would have its best ratings ever.
“It’s going to be something that I believe, and I’m going to make a prediction: This will be the highest-rated show that they’ve ever done and they’ve gotten some pretty good ratings, but there’s nothing like what’s going to happen” on Sunday night, Trump said.
Trump is assuming a role that has been held in the past by journalist Walter Cronkite and comedian and Trump nemesis Stephen Colbert, among others. Before Trump, presidents watched the show alongside the honorees. Trump skipped the honors altogether during his first term.
Since 1978, the honors have recognized stars for their influence on American culture and the arts. Members of this year’s class are pop-culture standouts, including Stallone for his Rocky and Rambo movies, Gaynor for her feminist anthem “I Will Survive” and KISS for its flashy, cartoonish makeup and onstage displays of smoke and fire. Country music superstar George Strait and Tony Award-winning actor Michael Crawford are also being honored.
The ceremony is expected to be emotional for the members of KISS. The band’s original lead guitarist, Ace Frehley, died in October after he was injured during a fall. The band’s co-founder Gene Simmons, speaking on the red carpet when he and the other honorees arrived for the ceremony, said the president had assured him there would be an empty chair among the members of KISS in memory of Frehley.
Crawford called it “a beautiful honor” and said, “It’s humbling, especially at the end of a career.”
Mike Farris, an award-winning gospel singer who is performing for Gaynor, said she is a dear friend. “She truly did survive,” Farris said on the red carpet. “What an iconic song.”
Previous honorees have come from a broad range of art forms, whether dance (Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham), theater (Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber), movies (Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks) or music (Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell).
Trump has taken over the Kennedy Center
Trump upended decades of bipartisan support for the center by ousting its leadership and stacking the board of trustees with Republican supporters, who then elected him chair. He has criticized the center’s programming and the building’s appearance — and has said, perhaps jokingly, that he would rename it as the “Trump Kennedy Center.” He secured more than $250 million from Congress for renovations of the building.
Presidents of each political party have at times found themselves face to face with artists of opposing political views. Republican Ronald Reagan was there for honoree Arthur Miller, a playwright who championed liberal causes. Democrat Bill Clinton, who had signed an assault weapons ban into law, marked the honors for Charlton Heston, an actor and gun rights advocate.
During Trump’s first term, multiple honorees were openly critical of the president. In 2017, Trump’s first year in office, honors recipient and film producer Norman Lear threatened to boycott his own ceremony if Trump attended. Trump stayed away during that entire term.
Trump has said he was deeply involved in choosing the 2025 honorees and turned down some recommendations because they were “too woke.” While Stallone is one of Trump’s Hollywood ”special ambassadors” and has likened Trump to George Washington, the political views of Sunday’s other guests are less clear.
Honorees’ views about Trump
Strait and Gaynor have said little about their politics, although Federal Election Commission records show that Gaynor has given money to Republican organizations in recent years.
KISS co-founder Gene Simmons spoke favorably of Trump when Trump ran for president in 2016. But in 2022, Simmons told Spin magazine that Trump was “out for himself” and criticized Trump for encouraging conspiracy theories and public expressions of racism.
Fellow KISS member Paul Stanley denounced Trump’s effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Democrat Joe Biden, and said Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 were “terrorists.” But after Trump won in 2024, Stanley urged unity.
“If your candidate lost, it’s time to learn from it, accept it and try to understand why,” Stanley wrote on X. “If your candidate won, it’s time to understand that those who don’t share your views also believe they are right and love this country as much as you do.”
Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Dec. 13), up from No. 3 a week ago, collecting its eighth nonconsecutive week atop the list. The set earned 99,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the tracking week ending Dec. 4 (up 12%), according to Luminate, aided by Black Friday promotions at retail and newly available signed CDs sold through the artist’s webstore.
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Also in the top 10, holiday music returns to the region, as albums by Michael Bublé, Bing Crosby and Vince Guaraldi Trio jingle up the list.
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 Luminate. 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 Dec. 13, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Dec. 9. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of The Life of a Showgirl’s 99,000 equivalent album units earned in the latest tracking week, SEA units comprise 53,000 (down 18%, equaling 69.38 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks — it holds at No. 2 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 46,000 (up 121%; it climbs 4-2 Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise less than 1,000 (down 76%).
Three former No. 1s are Nos. 2-4 on the latest Billboard 200, as Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem rises 4-2 (71,000 equivalent album units, down 6%), the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack steps 5-3 (66,000, down 1%) and Stray Kids’ DO IT falls 1-4 in its second week (64,000, down 78%).
The Wicked: For Good soundtrack drops 2-5 in its second frame, earning 63,000 (down 49%).
Michael Bublé’s former No. 1 Christmas returns to the top 10, climbing 12-6 with 58,000 equivalent album units earned (up 70%), largely driven by streaming activity (48,000 SEA units, equaling 64.86 million on-demand official streams of the project’s songs; it zooms 11-3 on the Top Streaming Albums chart). Christmas was released in 2011, spent five weeks at No. 1 in December 2011 and early January 2012 and has returned to the top 10 in every following holiday season. The set boasts Holiday 100-charting favorites like “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Holly Jolly Christmas,” “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.”
The Billboard 200’s latest tracking week captured the first seven days following the Thanksgiving Day holiday (Nov. 28 through Dec. 4). There are three more tracking weeks during the Christmas season, as the Christmas holiday (Dec. 25) falls on a Thursday this year.
Bing Crosby’s Ultimate Christmas rises 16-7 on the Billboard 200 with 52,000 equivalent album units earned (up 78%). Nearly all of that sum is powered by streaming activity, as SEA units comprise 48,000 (equaling 63.55 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks). The album also rockets 14-4 on the Top Streaming Albums chart.
The Ultimate Christmas best-of set was released in 2024 and peaked at No. 3 on the Jan. 4, 2025-dated chart. It marked the late Crosby’s highest-charting album in 66 years, dating to when his former No. 1 Merry Christmas ranked at No. 2 on the Jan. 5, 1959 chart. (Merry Christmas previously spent a week at No. 1 on Jan. 6, 1958-dated chart.)
Ultimate Christmas contains such classic Holiday 100-charting tunes from Crosby as “White Christmas” (featuring The Ken Darby Singers and John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra), “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” “Do You Hear What I Hear?” and “Mele Kalikimaka” (with The Andrews Sisters).
Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving falls 7-8 on the latest Billboard 200 (48,000 equivalent album units earned, down 1%).
Vince Guaraldi Trio’s soundtrack to the A Charlie Brown Christmas animated TV special is back in the top 10 for the first time in nearly three years, as it surges 18-9 with 46,000 equivalent album units earned (up 68%). It was last in the top 10 on the Jan. 7, 2023-dated chart, when it ranked at No. 10. Of the 46,000 units the album earned for the week, SEA units comprise 26,000 (up 72%, equaling 33.81 million on-demand official streams of its songs; it rises 43-13 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 20,000 (up 64% and largely owed to vinyl purchases; it jumps 10-4 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum (up 42%). The album earns its biggest sales week in three years, since it sold 23,000 copies on the Dec. 31, 2022 chart.
The A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack was released in 1965, the same year that the Emmy Award-winning special premiered on CBS, but it did not reach any Billboard ranking until 1987. That year, it debuted on the Top Holiday Albums chart, where it later peaked at No. 2 (Jan. 27, 2007). On the Billboard 200 chart, the set visited the top 10 for the first time on the Jan. 2, 2021-dated list, later peaking at No. 6 on the Jan. 1, 2022-dated chart.
The A Charlie Brown Christmas TV special aired annually on CBS during the holiday season from 1965 through 2000. ABC picked up the rights to the show from 2001 to 2019. In 2020, Apple TV acquired the rights to the special, along with other classic animated Peanuts programs. Each year, Apple TV also makes A Charlie Brown Christmas available free for a limited time; this year, the free window will take place Dec. 13-14.
Closing out the top 10 on the latest Billboard 200 is Tate McRae’s former leader, So Close To What, which falls 6-10 with 44,000 equivalent album units earned (down 31%).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Violet Grohl is officially dropping original new music.
On Friday (Dec. 5), 19-year-old daughter of Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl announced through social media the release of her debut solo track “THUM”, accompanied by the B-side “Applefish.”
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“I’m beyond excited to finally share a little bit of what i’ve been working on over the last year,” Grohl wrote on Instagram. “I made these tracks with the most badass group of musicians, so happy they’re finally yours:).”
The songs are available as a 7-inch vinyl for $8 through Bandcamp. The alt-rock-leaning “THUM” is available for streaming, while the moody “Applefish” can be purchased digitally or on vinyl.
Violet’s new music follows rumors that she has been working on her debut album since last year. According to The Hollywood Reporter, she spent time in a studio gifted by her father for her birthday, collaborating with producer Justin Raisen, who has worked with Charli XCX, Drake, John Legend and Kim Gordon.
Violet first emerged as a musician in 2018 at age 12, performing a cover of Adele’s “When We Were Young” with her father. Since then, she has performed with the Foos frontman and surviving members of Nirvana on a cover of “Heart-Shaped Box,” and provided backing vocals for artists including St. Vincent and Beck.
She has also contributed backing vocals on the Foo Fighters’ albums Medicine at Midnight and But Here We Are, and performed at tribute concerts honoring the late drummer Taylor Hawkins. In 2021, she released a cover of X’s “Nausea,” in collaboration with her father.
Most recently, she sang lead vocals on Nirvana’s In Utero hit “All Apologies” at the 2025 FireAid LA Benefit Concert, sharing the stage with her dad, Krist Novoselic, Pat Smear and Gordon.
Check out Grohl’s Instagram post below.
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere received mixed reviews from critics, and got off to a slower-than-expected start at the boxoffice, but as of Sunday (Dec. 7) it has grossed $44.6 million worldwide, according to boxofficemojo.com. That enables it to move up a rung to No. 19 on Billboard‘s list of music biopics with the highest worldwide grosses. It pulls ahead of the Notorious B.I.G. biopic Notorious.
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere isn’t a traditional cradle-to-grave biopic — for one thing, its protagonist is, thankfully, still very much with us. It’s part of a subgenre of biopics which focuses on one fateful period in an artist’s life. Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is set in the period following Springsteen’s 1980 commercial breakthrough, The River (which spawned his first true pop smash, “Hungry Heart”) where the artist felt compelled to make a low-key, acoustic album, Nebraska. All concerned understood that this project wouldn’t have the same commercial potential as The River, which had spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. (And it didn’t, peaking at No. 3.) But Springsteen has always been an artist, more than just a hitmaker, and this was the album he wanted and needed to make at that time.
Here are the highest-grossing biopics of musicians in terms of worldwide box office. We didn’t include a few high-grossing films about real-life music personalities because the subjects are not well-known music stars in their own right. These include The Sound of Music (which tells the story of Maria von Trapp and the Trapp Family Singers); Green Book (which deals with a road trip taken by pianist and composer Don Shirley); Florence Foster Jenkins (about an heiress and hopelessly untalented soprano by that name); and Music of the Heart (about violinist and music educator Roberta Guaspari). Meryl Streep starred in the latter two films.
Here are the 25 biopics of music stars with the highest worldwide grosses.
Wicked: For Good has grossed $440.1 million worldwide in its first 16 days at the boxoffice, which allows it to move up to No. 4 on Billboard’s list of the top-grossing films that are adapted from Broadway musicals. Our list is drawn from boxofficemojo.com’s running tally of the 1,000 top-grossing films of all time in terms of worldwide grosses.
Both Wicked: for Good and its predecessor, 2024’s Wicked, were adapted from the 2003 Broadway musical Wicked. The first Wicked film opened on Nov. 22, 2024. In just five weeks, it pulled ahead of Mamma Mia! to become the top-grossing film adapted from a Broadway musical. Wicked received 10 Oscar nominations on Jan. 23, 2025, including nods for both of its stars, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. It won two awards at the Oscars ceremony on March 2, 2025 — best costume design and best production design.
Both Wicked and Wicked: For Good were directed by Jon M. Chu, whose hit-studded résumé includes a previous film adaptation of a Broadway musical, the 2021 movie version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s breakout hit In the Heights.
Eight film adaptations of Broadway musicals appear on Box Office Mojo’s list of the top 1,000 films in terms of their lifetime worldwide grosses. One disclaimer about this list right at the top: The biggest blockbusters of earlier eras simply can’t match the grosses of today’s hits. (It’s not just your imagination that ticket prices are much higher than they used to be.) The Sound of Music has grossed $161.4 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo — not enough to make their list of 1,000 top-grossing films. But that 1965 adaptation of the 1959 Broadway musical is one of the biggest hits in film history. (Of course, back then a movie ticket cost less than a box of Raisinets does today.)
Our list does not include Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, the Cher-featuring sequel to Mamma Mia!, on the grounds that it was really just a sequel to a hit movie. (The sequel did astonishingly well, with a worldwide gross of $395.6 million.) By contrast, Wicked: For Good had the same source material as Wicked — the 2003 Broadway show.
Here are the eight top-grossing film adaptations of Broadway musicals in terms of lifetime worldwide grosses.
Sleep Token has unveiled a brand-new coloring book.
The English masked metal band partnered with U.K. independent publisher Rock N’ Roll Colouring to create a 25-page book inspired by their chart-topping 2025 album, Even in Arcadia.
“Featuring 25 extraordinary designs from Sleep Token’s enigmatic, groundbreaking and genre fluid career,” reads the book’s opening page. “This book encourages you to summon your creative powers and colour your way through deeply mesmerizing images, immersing yourself in the unique visual world of Sleep Token.”
The coloring book, priced at $17.99 and printed on high-quality paper, was sold out on the band’s U.S. merch store at press time, but it remained available for £12.99 at the U.K. merch site Eyesore Merch.
Rock N’ Roll Colouring — which has previously released coloring books for Iron Maiden, KISS, Alice Cooper, Motörhead, Judas Priest, Cannibal Corpse, Megadeth, and more — revealed on Instagram that the Sleep Token book had been two years in the making.
A limited number of copies on Eyesore Merch include an exclusive print featuring a colored version of a mandala image specially created for the book.
The project was created with input from Sleep Token and the band’s management, featuring imagery from their fourth studio album, Even in Arcadia. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in May and also topped the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart. The marked Sleep Token’s major-label debut on RCA Records.
In early 2024, Sleep Token signed with RCA Records after previously releasing music through the indie label Spinefarm. The masked band — whose members have remained anonymous throughout their career — made their debut on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 in March with “Emergence,” a track from their latest album.
Check out reveal of Sleep Token’s coloring book on Instagram below.
Dijon made his Saturday Night Live debut with a trio of songs from his latest album.
The singer-songwriter and producer served as the musical guest on the Dec. 6 episode of the iconic sketch comedy series, which was hosted by two-time Oscar nominee Melissa McCarthy.
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For his first appearance on SNL, Dijon delivered performances from his second album, Baby, released in August. The 33-year-old opened with a powerful rendition of “HIGHER!” backed by a massive ensemble that included Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, along with the musicians who have been joining him on tour. He later returned to the stage for a medley of “Baby!” and “Another Baby!”
After the episode aired, Dijon celebrated the milestone on Instagram, sharing behind-the-scenes rehearsal photos from Studio 8H.
“tour has been gorgeous and we just got to rock on live tv snl style for those out there in da wild,” he captioned the post. “Grateful true and couldn’t do it without the most divine squad ever. Grateful and buzzin and everyone who has bought a ticket is a light.”
Dijon, who is currently on tour, recently collaborated with Justin Bieber on the pop star’s new albums Swag and Swag II. He is nominated for producer of the year at the 2026 Grammy Awards for his work on Bieber’s projects.
SNL returns on Dec. 6 with actor Josh O’Connor as host and Lily Allen as musical guest. The British pop star, who last performed on the show in 2007, is promoting her latest album, West End Girl.
Watch Dijon’s SNL performances below and find all the ways to stream the full episode here.
Sean Combs’ mother, Janice Combs, is pushing back against claims made in the Netflix docuseries Sean Combs: The Reckoning, calling the series “intentionally misleading” and “offensive.”
In a statement provided exclusively to Deadline (Dec. 6), Janice said the program contains “falsehoods” about her relationship with her son and his upbringing.
“I am writing this statement to correct some of the lies presented in the Netflix Sean Combs: The Reckoning,” she said. “These inaccuracies regarding my son Sean’s upbringing and family life [are] intentionally done to mislead viewers and further harm our reputation.”
Among the claims disputed by Janice is a moment in the docuseries where former Bad Boy Records executive Kirk Burrowes alleges that Sean Combs slapped his mother after the tragic City College event in 1991 — an incident that resulted in nine deaths. Janice calls that allegation “patently false” and “outrageous.”
“That was a very sad day for all of us,” she said. “For [Burrowes] to use this tragedy and incorporate fake narratives to further his prior failed and current attempt to gain what was never his — Bad Boy Records — is wrong.”
Janice Combs also addressed the portrayal of her parenting in the series, denying accusations of abuse. “In the documentary, I am portrayed as an abusive parent. This is untrue,” she wrote. “I raised Sean with love and hard work, not abuse… Sean has always been an industrious, goal-oriented, overachiever.”
Sean Combs: The Reckoning premiered Dec. 2 on Netflix and was executive produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.
The four-part docuseries chronicles the rise and downfall of the music mogul, who was sentenced in October to four years in prison after being found guilty on two charges related to transportation for prostitution. Combs, 56, is currently incarcerated at Fort Dix FCI in New Jersey.
Netflix has defended the production, telling Deadline earlier this week: “This is not a hit piece or an act of retribution. Curtis Jackson is an executive producer but does not have creative control. No one was paid to participate.”
Janice Combs concluded her statement with a demand for accountability: “I am requesting that these distortions, falsehoods, and misleading statements be publicly retracted.”
President Donald Trump on Saturday (Dec. 6) presented the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees with their medals during a ceremony in the Oval Office, hailing the slate of artists he was deeply involved in choosing as “perhaps the most accomplished and renowned class” ever assembled.
This year’s recipients are actor Sylvester Stallone, singers Gloria Gaynor and George Strait, the rock band KISS and actor-singer Michael Crawford.
Trump said they are a group of “incredible people” who represent the “very best in American arts and culture” and that “I know most of them and I’ve been a fan of all of them.”
“This is a group of icons whose work and accomplishments have inspired, uplifted and unified millions and millions of Americans,” said a tuxedo-clad Trump. “This is perhaps the most accomplished and renowned class of Kennedy Center Honorees ever assembled.”
Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center
Trump ignored the Kennedy Center and its premier awards program during his first term as president. But the Republican has instituted a series of changes since returning to office in January, most notably ousting its board of trustees and replacing them with GOP supporters who voted him in as chairman of the board.
Trump also has criticized the center’s programming and its physical appearance, and has vowed to overhaul both.
The president placed around each honoree’s neck a new medal that was designed, created and donated by jeweler Tiffany & Co., according to the Kennedy Center and Trump.
It’s a gold disc etched on one side with the Kennedy Center’s image and rainbow colors. The honoree’s name appears on the reverse side with the date of the ceremony. The medallion hangs from a navy blue ribbon and replaces a large rainbow ribbon decorated with three gold plates that rested on the honoree’s shoulders and chest.
Trump honors the honorees
Strait, wearing a cowboy hat, was first to receive his medal. When the country singer started to take off the hat, Trump said, “If you want to leave it on, you can. I think we can get it through.” But Strait took it off.
The president said Crawford was a “great star of Broadway” for his lead role in the long-running Phantom of the Opera. Of Gaynor, he said, “We have the disco queen, and she was indeed, and nobody did it like Gloria Gaynor.”
Trump was effusive about his friend Stallone, calling him a “wonderful” and “spectacular” person and “one of the true, great movie stars” and “one of the great legends.”
KISS is an “incredible rock band,” he said.
Songs by honorees Gaynor and KISS played in the Rose Garden just outside the Oval Office as members of the White House press corps waited nearby for Trump to begin the ceremony.
The president said in August that he was “about 98% involved” in choosing the 2025 honorees when he personally announced them at the Kennedy Center, the first slate chosen under his leadership. The honorees traditionally had been announced by press release.
It was unclear how they were chosen. Before Trump, it fell to a bipartisan selection committee.
“These are among the greatest artists, actors and performers of their generation. The greatest that we’ve seen,” Trump said. “We can hardly imagine the country music phenomena without its king of country, or American disco without its first lady, or Broadway without its phantom — and that was a phantom, let me tell you — or rock and roll without its hottest band in the world, and that’s what they are, or Hollywood without one of its greatest visionaries.”
“Each of you has made an indelible mark on American life and together you have defined entire genres and set new standards for the performing arts,” Trump said.
Trump was also attending an annual State Department dinner for the honorees on Saturday. In years past, the honorees received their medallions there but Trump moved the ceremony to the White House.
Trump to host the Kennedy Center Honors
Meanwhile, the glitzy Kennedy Center Honors program and its series of tribute speeches and performances for each recipient is set to be taped on Sunday at the performing arts center for broadcast later in December on CBS and Paramount+. Trump is to attend the program for the first time as president, accompanied by his wife, first lady Melania Trump.
The president said in August that he had agreed to host the show, and he seemed to confirm on Saturday that he would do so, predicting that the broadcast would garner its highest ratings ever as a result. Presidents traditionally attend the program and sit with the honorees in the audience. None has ever served as host.
He said he looked forward to Sunday’s celebration.
“It’s going to be something that I believe, and I’m going to make a prediction: this will be the highest-rated show that they’ve ever done and they’ve gotten some pretty good ratings, but there’s nothing like what’s going to happen tomorrow night,” Trump said.
See a video from Saturday night uploaded by the White House below.
