One of the unfathomable tricks D’Angelo pulled off on his beloved trio of studio albums was somehow sounding simultaneously like a lost R&B classic from the 1960s as well as a soul sonic space signal from some distant, funky future.

If you couldn’t get enough of that silky retro-futurism on Brown Sugar (1995), Voodoo (2000) or Black Messiah (2014), The Roots’ Questlove has some good news for you. Speaking to The National News Desk outlet on the red carpet at last weekend’s 2025 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, the drummer, Oscar-winning documentarian and frequent D’Angelo collaborator teased that there’s more to come.

“You’ll see soon,” Quest said with a grin when asked if there were any unreleased tracks in the vault amid reports last year that the legendarily time-taking “Devil’s Pie” musician was slowly accumulating tracks for the long-awaited follow-up to the Grammy-winning Black Messiah. “It’s always the sound of yesterday, but for the future,” Quest added. “This record is no different.”

Though no additional information on the project was available at press time, in a 2024 chat with the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, collaborator Raphael Saadiq reported that the enigmatic singer was “in a good space” at that time. “I talk to him a couple times. He’s excited. We don’t talk much, but when we do talk it’s crazy, like, ‘Oh, you gotta hear this!’ He’s like, ‘You gotta play bass. I’ve got this track. I’m telling you, you got to get on it. It got your name all over it,’” Saadiq said.

He added that at that time D’Angelo was working on “six pieces right now and he seems super excited. He’s in control of his own destiny at this point. He has a management team, but they can’t make him do anything that he don’t wanna do. He knows it’s on him now and I think that’s a different angle that he’s coming from.”

Among the songs Saadiq said they were working on was an old track from their early days when they formed a short-lived group with A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip. “I think it’s going to be a record on D’Angelo’s new album when it comes out, a record that we all did together,” Saadiq said. “I’m playing bass, D’s playing, me and D is singing backgrounds. It’s funky as hell too. D is a bad boy. … It’s aged well. Good music ages well.”

As he was wont to do, D’Angelo went off-the-radar after releasing his last album more than a decade ago, popping up in 2018 to contribute the song “May I? Stand Unshaken” to the Red Dead Redemption 2 video game soundtrack. He also did a non-competition D’Angelo & Friends Verzuz set at the Apollo in 2021 that was pretty much a solo affair featuring collabs with Method Man & Redman, H.E.R. and The Vanguard backing band trumpet player Keyon Harrold.

D’angelo, who died on Oct. 14 following a battle with cancer, also teamed up with Jay-Z for “I Want You Forever” for the soundtrack to the movie The Book of Clarence.


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In 2012, popular music was at a point of major transition. Rock was fading from the mainstream, R&B was getting weird, rap was entering its middle age, and EDM was suddenly at the center of everything. All of these trends were reflected at that spring’s Coachella, where some of the defining artists of the decade were making their debut at the festival, traditional headliners were getting outshined by up-and-comers, and it all climaxed with hip-hop’s first real classic rock live moment — including a surprise “appearance” from one of the genre’s late legends, in what ended up being a global headline news-making moment.

On this week’s Great Moments in Pop Star History episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard Senior Music Correspondent and Director of Dance Katie Bain, who just wrote an entire book about Coachella history, the excellent Desert Dreams: The Music, Style and Allure of Coachella. We recall our own memories of the 2012 festival — where we were in our lives, who we were most excited to see, and which performances ended up defining the weekend for us — and the whole thing led up to the debut of the 2Pac hologram, a moment that entered pop culture history with near-unprecedented quickness.

Along the way, we address all the most pressing questions about 2012 Coachella: How big a deal was it to get to go for a second weekend for the first time? Did the Black Keys ever stand a chance going up against Swedish House Mafia at the end of Day One? Did The Weeknd live up to the hype with his live debut — and was he given the wrong time slot? Could we already tell that Kendrick Lamar was the Prince Who Was Promised of west coast rap? Were hip-hop and EDM really read to take over from rock as the center of the Coachella festival — and have they since been edged towards the margins in the years since? And most importantly: Was this damn 2Pac hologram really all that, or does it seem kinda silly to have been such a thing in the moment?

Check it out above, 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


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Lady Gaga‘s Grammy-nominated LP Mayhem has been lauded by critics as a return to form for the pop superstar. But according to Mother Monster, the album wouldn’t have seen the light of day if it weren’t for the very different critical response her third studio album received.

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In a new Rolling Stone cover story, Gaga revealed that the criticism she received for Artpop — and her subsequent turn away from pop music that resulted in the albums Cheek to Cheek and Joanne — provided a direct source of inspiration for Mayhem. “Mayhem as a piece of music, I never would’ve made it without the 10 years of experience that I had,” she said. “What would Mayhem sound like if I hadn’t become a jazz singer? What would it have sounded like if I hadn’t made Artpop?”

Reflecting on her experimental 2013 album, which became a fan-favorite in the years since its release, Gaga called the resounding critical panning of the project “very impactful” on the rest of her career. “Like, much more impactful than any other criticism for any artwork. That was the first time that I ever had major criticism about a piece of work that I’d made,” she said.

Gaga described Artpop as her “EDM opus,” and said that the album’s confrontational tone was created because she was being treated as a “business” rather than an artist at the time. “People don’t like it if I say, ‘I won’t dress the way you want me to dress. I won’t have the hair you want me to have, and I’m going to not make pop music the way that you want me to make it. ‘Cause you want everything to sound like ‘Bad Romance,’ and I’m never doing that again.’”

As for the sexist undertones of that criticism, Gaga pointed out that when male artists make new choices in their music, they are heralded as “radical thinkers discovering new territory,” while female artists are mocked. “I was sort of heralded as, like, over,” she said.

After a decade of detours, including multiple film roles in A Star Is Born, House of Gucci and Joker: Folie a Deux, Gaga said she and her co-producers on Mayhem — Andrew Watt and her fiancé Michael Polansky — knew that diving back into pop music meant she had to address that part of her career head on.

“One of the things I’m most grateful for is gaining all my artistic faculties back to make this record,” she said. “I had to dig very, very deep, and I had to change a lot of my life and recenter around what I needed as a human being.”


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Mexican music star Netón Vega wraps up a successful 2025 with the release of an ambitious project: his second studio album, Delirium. In it, he experiments with a variety of sounds and teams up with renowned songwriters and producers such as Edgar Barrera and Benny Blanco.

Coming out on Thursday night (Nov. 13) under La Josa Records — just three weeks after Vega won the Billboard Latin Music Award for artist of the year, debutDelirium features 15 tracks, including the previously released single “Qué Motor,” the focus track “Lentes” and several standout collaborations: “AQNGP” with Ryan Castro, “90 60 90” with Myke Towers, “Baby de los 2 Miles” with Jowell & Randy, and “Perro Fiel” with Benny Blanco.

In addition to Mexican music — the genre that first launched his career as a songwriter for stars like Peso Pluma and Tito Double P, and later as a singer with last year’s hit “Loco” — the album brings reggaetón, rap, and bachata, brimming with lyrics about love and heartbreak designed to resonate with anyone.

Delirium follows Mi Vida Mi Muerte, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Regional Mexican Albums chart and No. 2 on the Top Latin Albums chart dated March 8.

In an exclusive interview in Las Vegas, the city he chose to debut his new music, Netón Vega talks about his year of successes, his new album, how his collaboration with Benny Blanco came about, and more.

What’s your take on how this year has been for your career?

It’s been a year full of changes, surprises, and very fast growth since the release of my first album. Thank God, people really liked it.

You just won the Billboard Latin Music Award for artist of the year, debut. What was that experience like for you?

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting it — it was a big surprise. I had eight nominations, so I was hopeful to win something, and it happened. I was really excited and nervous, especially because I didn’t have anything prepared to say. I’m truly grateful to the people.

Was having Edgar Barrera as one of the producers of your new album Delirium meant to create global and commercial music?

I had already worked with him. In fact, we have a great friendship, so when I told him about what I wanted to do with my new album, he supported me all the way. Edgar brought his intelligence and experience; he knows what people like. I always respect people with a strong track record and learn from their knowledge. I’m still learning, so I truly value other people’s work.

It’s surprising that Benny Blanco is another one of the producers and even collaborated on a track. How did that connection come about?

I never would have imagined meeting him, let alone recording with him. It happened thanks to someone on my team who made the connection. We had two sessions, nothing planned — everything just came together in the moment. The first song we created was “Perro Infiel,” which is the collaboration, and the next day we worked on another track for him, and he produced several more for the album.

How did you manage to work together without knowing each other?

He only speaks English and I only speak Spanish, but someone on my team translated for us. There was good energy from the start. He gives you your space — we have different ways of working, but in the end, we both stepped out of our comfort zones and created things we really liked. He’s used to working with very big artists, but he took the opportunity to work with me.

You’re already a big artist. Are you aware of that?

Yes, I know. And there are many things I don’t know, but I’m learning. Everyone, in any profession, starts from scratch and builds experiences over time — same with me.

Your album Delirium has a bit of everything. Anyone, from any age group, can enjoy one or more songs.

I mainly focused on making the album enjoyable, with positive energy, and something more people could listen to. I don’t want to stick to just one thing — you have to try and experiment. This album is a reflection of everything I’m experiencing. I wanted to break away from the usual and explore new sounds.

What’s left to do for the rest of this important year in your career?

On November 28, I’ll be at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles — it’s my last show of the year. After that, I’ll take some much-needed vacation time and go to Mexico to be with my family, because they are the driving force that keeps me going.


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Sometimes the best songs can be the ones you didn’t expect, and that was the case for Quavo when the Migos recorded “Versace” in 2013.

Huncho spoke with WWE legend Rey Mysterio for an episode of GOAT Talk at ComplexCon recently, where he revealed his doubts about releasing “Versace,” which introduced the signature triplet flow from the ATL trio and became their breakout hit.

“I would think like ‘Versace’ would be a crazy thing to drop,” he said. “Cause we were just in the studio saying ‘Versace, Versace’ like anybody else would be like, ‘Man, cut that shit off. What the f–k y’all doing?’”

Huncho admitted he was wrong: “But that was the record that changed our life, and Drake got on that song. So sometimes your worst can be your best. You just gotta shoot your shot and keep trying.”

Produced by Zaytoven, the trap anthem caught Drake’s ear, and the 6 God co-signed it, pushing “Versace” further into the mainstream. The track was the first Migos entry on the Billboard Hot 100, debuting at No. 99.

Billboard named “Versace” as one of the 100 songs that defined the decade of the 2010s. “I knew it was hard already and it was going crazy, but when Drake hopped on it, I was like, ‘Oh snap, now we really got the hottest song in the world,’” Zaytoven told Billboard in 2019. “They definitely changed the industry at that time.”

Take a trip down memory lane and listen to “Versace” again below.


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Tyler Hubbard, one of country music’s most successful hitmakers over the past 13 years, has renewed his worldwide administration agreement with Warner Chappell Music (WCM).

A prolific songwriter and performer, Hubbard has penned 19 No. 1 singles and is the only country artist to achieve four consecutive chart-topping hits both as part of a duo and as a solo act, bringing his career total to 23 No. 1 songs. His sophomore solo album, Strong (2024), delivered two major hits—“Back Then Right Now” and “Park”—both topping country radio. Hubbard also co-wrote and will feature on Nate Smith’s upcoming single “After Midnight,” set for release on Friday (Nov. 14).

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As a solo artist, Hubbard has surpassed two billion streams and earned multiple RIAA certifications. His 2023 self-titled debut album produced smash singles “5 Foot 9” and “Dancin’ In The Country,” which reached No. 1 on country radio. His latest No. 1, “Park,” topped Billboard’s Country Airplay chart in August. Beyond his own catalog, Hubbard has written hits for Jason Aldean, Little Big Town and Cole Swindell, among others. He’ll return to touring in 2026, with appearances at Valspar Live and Boots in the Park.

Before launching his solo career, Hubbard co-founded Florida Georgia Line, the record-breaking duo (with Brian Kelley) behind monster hits like “Cruise” and “Meant to Be.” Starting with their 2012 debut Here’s to the Good Times, the duo released five albums — four of which topped Billboard’s Country Albums chart — and earned 16 No. 1 singles on Country Airplay.

“I’m beyond grateful to continue this journey with Warner Chappell Music,” Hubbard said. “The team has been such a huge part of my story as a songwriter and publisher, and I couldn’t be more excited for what the future holds. Music has always been a way for me to connect with people, and I feel so blessed to keep doing what I love with people who believe in me. Let’s keep this thing rollin!”

L-R: Spencer Nohe (WCM), Tyler Hubbard, Austen Adams (WCM) at BMI's Tyler Hubbard #1 party Thursday Nov. 6, 2025, in Nashville, TN.

L-R: Spencer Nohe (WCM), Tyler Hubbard, Austen Adams (WCM) at BMI’s Tyler Hubbard #1 party Thursday Nov. 6, 2025, in Nashville, TN.

Credit Larry McCormack for BMI

Austen Adams, president of WCM Nashville, added: “Tyler’s signature voice, bright spirit, and heartfelt songwriting have left a lasting mark on country music. Spanning from his acclaimed early smashes to his latest inspired hits, he continues to prove himself as an artist of undeniable talent and staying power.”

Check out the rest of this week’s publishing news below, including the opening of UMPG’s new Miami hub, plus deals involving Brendan Walter, Adam Beyer, Ethan Burdick and more.

The first quarter of the 21st century featured 327 No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hits seemingly covering every topic imaginable.

Chart-toppers in that span ranged from “We Belong Together” to “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” From “Bootylicious” to “Way 2 Sexy,” “Angel” to “Vampire.”

“Butterfly” and “Fireflies” both winged their way to No. 1. So did such explosive hits such as as “Firework” and (directly after) “Grenade.” For every “Party Rock Anthem,” there was “A Bar Song” to sing along to (probably loudly if while tipsy).

Meanwhile, no matter where music fans were, or any loyalties, we bopped to “Empire State of Mind” and “California Gurls” and everything in between.

The creators of those hits encompass nearly 1,000 credited songwriters (along with more than 300 producers). Some double as superstar recording artists, while others have made their mark on pop culture as behind-the-scenes musical masterminds.

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After revealing the top artists, albums, songs and producers of the first 25 years of the 21st century on the Hot 100 and more since January, Billboard is now celebrating The Top Songwriters of the 21st Century on the Hot 100 — the top 25 writers with the most No. 1 hits on the chart in the century’s first 25 years. Every writer on the ranking led the Hot 100 at least six times in that span (Jan. 1, 2000-Dec. 28, 2024), with the top eight talents each boasting double-digit No. 1 totals.

(Songwriters are ranked by most Hot 100 No. 1s, with ties broken by most top 10s followed by most overall chart entries in the tracking period.)

Billboard is unveiling the full songwriters list all this week: Monday, Nov. 10: Nos. 25-21; Tuesday, Nov. 11: Nos. 20-16; Wednesday, Nov. 12: Nos. 15-11; Thursday, Nov. 13: Nos. 10-6; and Friday, Nov. 14: Nos. 5-1. Check back each day to see which prominent songwriters made the cut — and who crowns the tally.


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Plus, browse all of Billboard’s 21st Century Charts coverage.

Got a fussy little one? A relaxing new album of Ariana Grande hits transformed into soothing lullabies will make sure there’s no tears left to cry.

As Billboard can exclusively announce on Thursday (Nov. 13), Rockabye Baby! is gearing up to drop an LP of soft, sleepy-time versions of some of the pop star’s biggest hits, from “One Last Time” to “Dangerous Woman” and “Positions.” And ahead of the full-length’s release on Nov. 21, the company has shared a snippet of its take on eight-week Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “7 Rings,” complete with an adorable animation.

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The full track list features a total of 13 songs spanning Grande’s seven studio albums, as well as her evergreen Christmas smash “Santa Tell Me” and signature Wicked number “Popular.” The project’s album cover shows the Rockabye Baby! bear wearing a fuzzy bunny mask inspired by Grande’s Dangerous Woman era.

Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Ariana Grande

Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Ariana Grande

Courtesy

The two-time Grammy winner is the latest musician to have her work transformed into a Rockabye Baby! album. Some of the company’s past compilations include tributes to The Beatles, Bad Bunny, Queen, Taylor Swift, Snoop Dogg, Coldplay, Beyoncé, Journey, BTS and Marvin Gaye.

Though the genre is primarily geared toward little ones as they wind down for bedtime, Rockabye Baby! promises in a statement that its Grande compilation is perfect for “former theatre kids, pop diva parents, Boca Raton grandparents, future dangerous women and everyone in between.”

The tribute comes at an exciting time in Grande’s career, as the R.E.M. Beauty founder is currently gearing up for the worldwide premiere of Wicked: For Good, in which she stars as Glinda opposite Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba. Grande also recently wrapped filming on another screen project: Focker-in-Law.

Next year, the vocalist will embark on her first tour in six years, supporting 2024 Billboard 200 No. 1 album Eternal Sunshine — one song from which, the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love),” will appear on the Grande-inspired Rockabye Baby! LP.

Check out the Rockabye Baby! version of “7 Rings” below.

Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Ariana Grande track list:

7 rings
thank u, next
One Last Time
Into You
Popular
Love Me Harder
Santa Tell Me
no tears left to cry
God is a woman
break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored
Dangerous Woman
Positions
we can’t be friends (wait for your love)


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    Speakers were widely attuned to Taylor Swift when her third studio LP, Speak Now, debuted at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart and Top Country Albums dated Nov. 13, 2010.

    The set followed 2008’s Fearless as the second of six Swift albums that have started atop both lists.

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    Speak Now’s release was heavily publicized, as Swift made performances at New York’s Kennedy Airport, on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars and on Los Angeles’ Hollywood Boulevard as she shot an NBC special, Taylor Swift – Speak Now.

    Five Speak Now singles reached the top five on the Hot Country Songs chart: “Mine” (No. 2 peak, November 2010), “Back to December” (No. 3, March 2011), “Mean” (No. 2, June 2011) and two No. 1s, which led for one week each: “Sparks Fly” (November 2011) and “Ours” (March 2012), the latter from a Target-exclusive CD version of the album.

    On the Billboard Hot 100, four Speak Now songs hit the top 10, including the title track, with “Mine” charting the highest (No. 3).

    Amplifying Speak Now’s legacy, Dan + Shay’s new cover of “Back to December” debuted at No. 4 on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart dated Nov. 1.

    Speak Now logged 13 weeks at No. 1 on Top Country Albums. Meanwhile, the re-recording, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), led for two weeks in 2023.

    In addition to Swift’s six albums that have topped both the country and all-genre album lists, her self-titled debut dominated Top Country Albums for 24 weeks beginning in August 2007 and her EP Beautiful Eyes went No. 1 on the chart for a week in August 2008.

    Nine more of Swift’s titles have led the Billboard 200 but not Top Country Albums, including The Life of a Showgirl, currently ruling (on the Nov. 15-dated survey) for a fifth week. Her 15 Billboard 200 No. 1s are the most among soloists and second overall only to the Beatles’ 19.


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    Taylor Swift is giving fans a peek behind the curtain of her upcoming Eras Tour docuseries, which itself is a peek behind the curtain of the biggest tour of all time.

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    On Thursday (Nov. 13) — exactly one month before the pop star’s 36th birthday — Swift unveiled the full trailer for The End of an Era, a six-part look at how she executed her global Eras Tour coming to Disney+ next month. In the two-and-a-half minute clip, we see the mechanics of how she pulled off everything from her surprise entrance on stage (by rolling up in a faux custodial cart) to how she traveled underneath her unbelievably long catwalk (on a speedy moving platform that launched her back and forth between numbers).

    “I’m very aware of mysterious forces at play that I will never have any control of,” Swift says at the beginning. “This show created a bonding experience for, like, 70,000 people all at once. There’s something very special about that.”

    The trailer also shows many of the countless people who also played a big role in the two-year trek, which ran throughout 2023 and 2024 and generated a record-shattering $2,077,618,725 in grosses. One of them, of course, is Swift’s now-fiancé professional football player Travis Kelce, who we see on the road with the 14-time Grammy winner both in person and in spirit. In a couple of scenes, Swift cheers him on while watching Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs’ games on TV, and in another, her mom, Andrea, says of her future son-in-law, “He brings a lot of happiness.”

    In a different scene, Travis crouches beneath the stage and greets Swift with a booming “Tay Tay!” before the pair ride off together on the moving platform. Sharing the trailer on her Instagram, the singer wrote, “Honestly can’t think of a better way to celebrate my (almost) birthday than to relive the Eras Tour with you! This time we’re going backstage.”

    The full trailer comes exactly one month after Swift first shared a shorter teaser for the Eras doc, and about one month ahead of the project’s Dec. 12 premiere on Disney+. It is expected to give Swifties the most in-depth look at the trek yet, though the historic run was also documented in an Eras Tour concert film in 2023.

    Also in the new trailer, Swift rehearses how she’s going to surprise her crowds with various surprise guests, including Sabrina Carpenter — with whom she maps out how she plans to call her on the phone from on stage — and Ed Sheeran, who practices guitar next to his longtime friend and collaborator on a couch. The pair were just a few of the several guests Swift shared the stage with at different points in the tour, along with Jack Antonoff, Aaron Dessner and Gracie Abrams.

    With a glint in her eye, Swift says at one point in the trailer, “I love having a good secret.”

    Watch the full Eras Tour docuseries trailer above.


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