One of the longest-tenured members of the Beach Boys is hanging it up after more than six decades on the road to focus on songwriting and recording. According to Rolling Stone, Bruce Johnston, 83, is retiring from touring with the “Surfin’ USA” band after 61 years on the road, where he performed the band’s surf pop classics in upwards of 6,000 concerts.

“It’s time for Part Three of my lengthy musical career!” Johnston told the magazine of his decision, which will leave founding member singer Mike Love as the lone original-era member still touring with the band; fellow co-founder singer/rhythm guitarist Al Jardine stopped touring with the Love-led version of the Beach Boys in 2012.

“I can write songs forever and wait until you hear what’s coming!!! As my major talent beyond singing is songwriting, now is the time to get serious again,” Johnston continued. “In addition, I’m currently working on developing a speaking-engagement chapter of my career — inspired in part by Cary Grant, who long ago made a similar move after his movie career. With a ton of help designing what I speak about from [honorary Beach Boys member actor] John Stamos, I’ll be doing appearances and events of my own. I might even sing ‘Disney Girls’ & ‘I Write The Songs!!,’ he wrote, the latter in reference to, respectively, one of the handful of songs he wrote for the band, as well as the 1976 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 Barry Manilow hit he penned.

Johnston added that he’s still excited to join the band for special performances, specifically the upcoming July 2-4 gigs at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles as part of the events celebrating the United States’ 250th anniversary. “This isn’t goodbye, it’s see you soon. I am forever grateful to be a part of the Beach Boys musical legacy,” he said.

At press time a spokesperson for the Beach Boys had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment.

With the exception of a 2012 world tour in support of the That’s Why God Made the Radio album, Johnston has been the only other old-school member of the group to tour with Love for the past 28 years. He originally joined in band in 1965, four years after its founding, to help fill in for musical mastermind Brian Wilson when he stepped aside to focus on studio recordings. After splitting in 1972 to pursue solo work and songwriting, Johnston returned in 1978 and had been a reliable touring and recording member ever since.

In a separate statement to RS, Love called Johnston “one of the greatest songwriters, vocalist, and keyboardist of our time. We’ve had the honor of his performance and participation for many many years with the Beach Boys. Change is always promised in life, today we find ourselves in a chapter of change, but not an end.”

He praised Johnston for shifting his focus to his biggest strength: songwriting and recording, and said he looks forward to collaborating with him in the studio in the “very near future. I am very supportive of Bruce and I have every confidence that he will produce great music,” he added. “I am delighted that Bruce will join the band on special occasions and when his schedule permits including The Hollywood Bowl performances celebrating the 250th Birthday of our great nation. I love & respect Bruce Johnston.”

Chris Cron, the lead singer for the Beach Boys tribute act Pet Sounds Live, will replace Johnston in the touring version of the group. Estranged member Jardine continues to tour with the Pet Sounds Band — featuring former members of Wilson’s solo band — performing Wilson and the Beach Boys’ music, lately focusing on the 1977 The Beach Boys Love You album; they will hit the road again on April 11 with a gig at the Scottish Rite Auditorium in Collingswood, N.J.

Listen to some of Johnston’s compositions for the Beach Boys below.

Is February becoming the most important month on the pop stardom calendar? Between the Grammys, the Super Bowl, the heightened pitch of awards season and a number of big names looking to make good early impressions — and this year, even the Winter Olympics having an impact — it seems that the stars were out and in full effect this second month of 2026, effectively shaking off the doldrums of late 2025. (Though as crowded a month as it was, one pop star still clearly lorded over all of it, to a near-unprecedented degree.)

This week on the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, we look back at the jam-packed February that was in pop stardom. Host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard staffers Eric Frankenberg and Meghan Mahar to share and debate our respective February top five lists, while also naming some honorable mentions, some disappointments, and some artists who we’re looking forward to in the next few months of the new year. (If you want to listen back to our January 2026 recap or any of our monthly recaps from 2025, you can check them all out here.)

While recapping the shortest-but-busiest month of the calendar year, we ask all the most pressing questions about February 2026 in pop stardom: How do we compare Bad Bunny’s February this year to Kendrick Lamar’s February last year? Is Ella Langley already a near-lock for the Greatest Pop Stars of 2026? Will Megan Moroney jumpstar the country-disco revival? Did Bruno Mars used to be a lot funnier? Is the “Stateside” remix really that much superior to the original? Do we feel a little bit underserved by the BLACKPINK and/or Baby Keem comebacks? And perhaps most importantly: Why are two out of three of us finding ourselves sobbing to the Hilary Duff album?

Check it out above, along with a YouTube playlist of some of the greatest moments in February 2026 pop stardom — all of which are discussed on the pod — and subscribe to the Greatest Pop Stars podcast on Apple Music or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts) for weekly discussions every Thursday about all things related to pop stardom!

And as we say in every one of these GPS podcast posts — if you have the time and money to spare, please consider donating to any of these causes in the fight for trans rights:

Transgender Law Center

Trans Lifeline

Destination Tomorrow

Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe

Also, please consider giving your local congresspeople a call in support of trans rights, with contact information you can find on 5Calls.org.

Seemingly as soon as the Times Square Ball dropped, ushering in the new year, social media was flooded with throwback selfies, memes and playlists as part of a trend proclaiming that 2026 is the new 2016.

Rae Sremmurd’s decade-old smash “Black Beatles” soundtracked every other video in For You feeds. John Legend relived the triumph of La La Land on his social media. And Reese Witherspoon posted years-old selfies with Taylor Swift.

After the early 2020s oscillated between ’80s and Y2K aesthetics, it became clear that this year, the culture had zeroed in on one era in particular; now, 2016 could very well shape the way pop music moves throughout 2026 as Gen Z artists in particular can throw it back to a year they have vivid memories of. As Drake’s “One Dance,” Beyoncé’s Lemonade and Desiigner’s “Panda” dominated conversations and culture, perhaps just as crucially, 2016 was also the last vestige of life before the rise of Trumpism and the alt-right, and later, AI’s domineering shadow and algorithms that replaced monoculture with infinite silos.

When Fetty Wap earned an early release from prison a few days into 2026, his homecoming landed as a cosmic sign. The New Jersey rapper’s dominant run lasted between 2015 and 2016, and now his music is back in the zeitgeist as fans celebrate his return. According to Luminate, “679” and “Trap Queen,” Fetty Wap’s two biggest songs from that era, both vaulted over 200% in U.S. on-demand audio streams between the last week of December 2025 and the third week of January. During the same period, several notable 2016-era pop smashes rose in streaming activity; “Panda” was up 68.6%, while The Chainsmokers’ hits “Don’t Let Me Down” with Daya jumped 35.6% and “Closer” with Halsey leapt 42%.

As much as consumers are revisiting music circa 2016, artists from that era are also using this nostalgia wave to bring attention to more recent releases. Chief among them is Swedish pop sensation Zara Larsson, who has harnessed the resurgence of 2015’s “Lush Life” (which has since reentered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 36) to lift still-rising 2025 releases like “Midnight Sun” and “Stateside” with PinkPantheress. The latter track earned a notable boost after it soundtracked gold medalist Alysa Liu’s exhibition gala skate at the 2026 Winter Olympics, which earned rave reviews from both “Stateside” singers on social media.

Ten years after the “Black Beatles”-soundtracked Mannequin Challenge dominated social media, Rae Sremmurd’s Swae Lee is now gearing up for Same Difference, his first project solely under his name. “Broccoli” singer DRAM has started teasing a new single, and Mike Posner, whose “I Took a Pill in Ibiza” ruled 2016 by way of a Seeb remix, will release a rewritten version of the Hot 100 top 10 hit in March, honoring the late Avicii and ushering fans into a new era of spiritual enlightenment in his music.

Several artists are also bringing this approach to the live arena, bolstering more recent tracks with their 2016-era hits. Halsey, who spent 12 weeks atop the Hot 100 with 2016’s “Closer,” recently wrapped her Back to Badlands Tour celebrating 10 years of her debut album, Badlands, while Bronx MC A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie sold out a February Radio City Music Hall show in New York (where Fetty Wap was a surprise guest) feting the 10-year anniversary of his debut mixtape, Artist. Moreover, R&B duo dvsn, Grammy-nominated blues rock outfit KALEO and rock band The Wonder Years all announced forthcoming tours in honor of their respective 2016 releases.

In this way, established artists and newer acts are moving in lockstep. As early as summer 2025, Dream Academy alum and rising pop star Adéla, who’s set to open for Demi Lovato’s arena-headlining tour this year, was banking on 2016 nostalgia to market her “Sex on the Beat” single on TikTok. “Do we think I’d have a crown if this was 2016?” she captioned a clip of her lip-syncing to the track. Eli, a buzzy pop artist gearing up for her own North American headlining trek this spring, went a bit further, pulling from late-2000s/early-2010s Hannah Montana-­esque fashion to establish a persona for her debut album, Stage Girl, across social media. Chxrry, the ascendant first lady of R&B on The Weeknd’s XO record label, has looked to Cassie’s mid-2010s hairstyles to streamline her social media aesthetic and single covers. And in the music video for her hit single “Chanel,” a song that reached No. 43 on the Hot 100, Grammy winner Tyla donned a wig that almost directly references Cassie’s bright yellow bob from the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards.

Beyond music releases and consumption, this 2016 nostalgia wave is also already affecting the way artists move online — part of the collective yearning for a less curated internet experience. As the biggest social media sites have adopted algorithms that strip much of the internet’s levity, musicians have turned to other channels to express their humanity and connect with fans, namely Substack, with Troye Sivan, Charli xcx, Doechii and ­Lizzo becoming early artist adopters of the platform. It’s possible that 2026 could see Substack becoming the go-to destination to launch album rollouts or house exclusive content.

As 2026 continues to unfold, the true test for the year’s cultural legacy rests on whether it can rise above the shadow of 2016 nostalgia and offer something distinct — or prove that there’s truly nothing new under the midnight sun.

This story appears in the March 7, 2026, issue of Billboard.

Britney Spears has been arrested in Ventura County, Calif., Billboard has confirmed via records posted by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office. According to Variety and TMZ, the pop star was arrested for suspicion of DUI.

According to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, Spears was arrested Wednesday (March 4) at 9:28 p.m. PT and booked at 3:02 a.m. PT. She was released at 6:07 a.m. PT.

Her court date is scheduled for May 4.

Billboard has reached out to Spears’ rep, as well as Ventura County PD for more information.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.