After five years away from the pop scene, Lady Gaga is back at long last with her long-awaited seventh studio album, Mayhem, out now via Interscope Records.

Diving headfirst back into a pop-focused sound, Gaga brings in a new suite of production collaborators — including Andrew Watt, Cirkut and her fiancé Michael Polansky — to reconfigure her signature sound into a modern context. The result is a wide-ranging, often chaotic blur of genres, where Gaga oscillates between disco (the groovy “Zombieboy”), industrial (“Killah,” featuring French producer Gesaffelstein), rock (the raucous early stand-out “Perfect Celebrity”) and pure dace-pop (“Garden of Eden”).

In an interview with Billboard on Thursday (March 6), Gaga broke down her inspirations for the album, saying that she wanted to bring “chaos” to the pop scene. “There have been times in my career where I had an idea in terms of how to conceptually approach a record. But I would say that this album, from start to finish, was like pieces coming together,” she said. “I did not want to turn it into anything artificial, I really wanted to allow myself to just follow the music. By doing that, it started to slowly remind me of my earlier work.”

The album comes on the heels of a massively successful 2025 for Gaga. “Die With a Smile,” her world-dominating collaboration with Bruno Mars, topped the Billboard Hot 100 for five of this year’s 10 weeks, making the single her second-longest-reigning No. 1 hit after 2011’s “Born This Way.” Gaga ended up winning a Grammy for best pop duo/group performance alongside Mars.

Check out Lady Gaga’s Mayhem below:

Lady Gaga’s new album might bring with it an eagerly-anticipated return to Australia.

The singer appeared on Australian radio network The Fox’s Fifi, Fev & Nick program to discuss the release of her nascent Mayhem record, while also providing a hint as to whether she might be announcing her first Australian tour dates in over a decade.

“I can’t formally announce anything, but I can tell you that I’m going to be announcing… some things,” she responded with a laugh, before reflecting on her time in the country. “I miss my fans there so much, I really do. I have such fond memories of being in Australia, it’s a beautiful place and I really do want to come back soon.”

Currently, it’s been close to 11 years since Gaga first performed on Australian shores, last visiting in August 2014 as part of her artRAVE: The ARTPOP Ball tour. While that tour was in support of her fourth album Artpop, the singer skipped over the country while touring for her next two – 2016’s Joanne, and 2020’s Chromatica.

Previously, Gaga had been a frequent presence within the country, appearing almost annually thanks to her album tour cycles, and even returning in between official visits for promotional appearances. In July 2011, Gaga’s visit to the New South Wales capital of Sydney saw her declared an honorary citizen of the city by Lord Mayor Clover Moore for her support of the LGBTQI+ community.

Gaga’s new album, Mayhem, arrives as her seventh, with every one of her previous solo studio albums charting atop the Billboard 200 (save for 2008’s The Fame, which peaked at No. 2). Speaking to Fifi, Fev & Nick, Gaga again touched on her previous claims that the album had been inspired by the likes of Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails.

“This album has so many different genres on it; from ‘90s grunge, industrial music, to funk music, ‘80s synth pop… it’s all my favorite things in a blender,” she explained. “It’s why I called it Mayhem – because it’s chaos.”

Speaking to Billboard ahead of Mayhem’s release, Gaga asserted her decision to make such a genre-shifting, kaleidoscopic body of work, noting she paid no mind to any of the expectations that may have been placed upon her for the record.

“I do think that I felt a lot of pressure, over the years, to prove myself as a musician,” she explained. “And that sometimes stopped me from having fun. So, I tried to have a lot of fun making this record.”

System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan has shared more insights into his fondness for U.S. President Donald Trump, despite the notably progressive views espoused by his band.

Dolmayan, who joined System of a Down in 1997, shared his recent opinions in a recent discussion with Australian YouTuber Lilian Tahmasian. Throughout the lengthy conversation, the drummer turned his attention to the ever-present topic of politics, addressing his support for the President and confirming that he voted for Trump during his 2024 campaign.

“I’m glad he won, because it brings a little sanity back,” Dolmayan explained. “Irrespective of what you hear out there, it’s much more sane with him than it was without him.”

As he continued, Dolmayan – who moved from Beirut to California as a two-year-old amidst the Lebanese Civil War – agreed with Trump’s border policy, explaining that while the U.S. thrives on immigration, he believes it must be done “a certain way.”

“We need law and order,” he continued. “Just like you lock your door at night, you don’t want somebody coming to your house when you have secure borders. We need people coming to this country. We all came to this country. And we need more people coming in. And the United States should always be a bastion for people that need it. Maybe they get oppression one way or the other in their countries and they need to leave. Or maybe they just want a fresh start. Or maybe they wanna be part of something that’s unique and interesting like the United States. And they should be allowed to do that, but do it a certain way — pay taxes, whatever you need to do, and live your life.”

Dolmayan’s outspoken support for Trump has been notable in recent years. In 2023, he took to social media to reveal he had lost friends and “hundreds of thousands” of followers due to his support for the President and his “unwillingness to accept the narratives [his followers] are now questioning the validity of.” Speaking to Tahmasian, however, Dolmayan explained that the left or right side of politics “makes no difference” to him, instead claiming he’s against “who’s doing wrong at this time.”

“If the conservatives go way off on the right and become too religious or whatever the case may be, where they’re infringing on people, then I’m gonna be with the Democrats at that point, because I’m not a politician and I don’t give a shit about the political parties. I’m a realist,” he explained. “And whatever’s good for people, that’s what I’m gonna fight for. So I’ll always be the enemy. I can never win.”

System of a Down released five albums between 1998 and 2005, with 2001’s Toxicity, and Hypnotize and Mezmerize (both 2005) all hitting No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The group embarked on a four-year hiatus in 2006, later reforming in 2010 and continuing to perform live sporadically since.

In 2020, System of a Down released the singles “Protect the Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz,” though the band have shown no indication of recording a further studio album, with Dolmayan claiming that he’s felt “frustration” with the group’s lack of musical progress.

A Day to Remember’s Big Ole Album, Vol. 1 jumps 27-5 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated March 8) — and is the only title on the list charting solely from physical album sales. The set was surprise released on Feb. 18 exclusively on CD and vinyl, with its digital download and streaming versions slated for a March 21 release. (The March 8 chart reflects the sales week ending Feb. 27.)

In the tracking week ending Feb. 20, the album sold about 4,000 copies in the U.S., according to Luminate and yielded debuts on Top Album Sales (No. 27) and Indie Store Album Sales (No. 4). All sales generated in the Feb. 18-20 frame were from brick-and-mortar stores.

Then, in the week ending Feb. 27, as mail order sales kicked in, it sold nearly 10,000 copies (up 205%), largely from vinyl sales (almost 8,000). The set surges 27-5 on Top Album Sales, 4-2 on Indie Store Album Sales and bows at No. 4 on Vinyl Albums, No. 6 on Top Hard Rock Albums, No. 19 on Top Alternative Albums, No. 24 on Top Rock Albums and No. 30 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums. It also debuts at No. 155 on the all-genre Billboard 200 as the only title on the list charting from solely physical sales.

With the 27-5 jump on Top Album Sales for A Big Ole Album, Vol. 1, A Day to Remember earns its third top 10-charting effort on the list. The rock band also visited the top 10 with 2021’s You’re Welcome (peaking at No. 3) and 2016’s Bad Vibrations (No. 1).

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.

As for the rest of the top 10 on the latest Top Album Sales chart, Tate McRae’s new So Close To What leads the pack, as it debuts atop the list with 71,000 copies sold. Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topping GNX is a non-mover at No. 2 with 19,000 (down 37%) and Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet falls 1-3 with 17,000 (down 77%). Chappell Roan’s former No. 1 The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess climbs 5-4 with nearly 10,000 (down 15%).

The Weeknd’s chart-topping Hurry Up Tomorrow is stationary at No. 6 with 9,000 sold (down 16%) and Stray Kids’ former No. 1 HOP is steady at No. 7 with 8,000 (down 8%).

Rock act Killswitch Engage debuts at No. 8 with This Consequence, selling nearly 7,000 copies. It’s the eight top 10-charting set for the group.

Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft falls one spot to No. 9 with 6,000 sold (down 23%) and G-DRAGON logs his first top 10 with Übermensch bowing at No. 10 with nearly 6,000 sold.