After more than a decade headlining festivals, raking in five Grammy nods and dominating Billboard’s rock and alternative charts, Tame Impala finally achieves a long-awaited milestone — scoring its first career entry on the Billboard Hot 100.

Kevin Parker’s psych-pop project debuts on the chart this week with its new single, “Dracula.” The song enters at No. 55 on the Oct. 11-dated tally, thanks to 6.5 million official U.S. streams, 1.7 million radio audience impressions and 1,000 sold in its first week of release (Sept 26-Oct. 2), according to Luminate. It’s the third single from Tame Impala’s fifth studio album, Deadbeat, due Oct. 17.

The album’s first two singles, “End of Summer” and “Loser,” each came close to debuting on the Hot 100, both reaching the top 10 of the Bubbling Under Hot 100 ranking. Still, “End of Summer” peaked at No. 7 on Hot Dance/Pop Songs and No. 12 on Hot Alternative Songs, while “Loser” reached No. 14 on Hot Alternative Songs. “Dracula” has emerged as Deadbeat’s clear breakout, though, becoming the set’s first radio hit. The song opens at No. 23 on Rock & Alternative Airplay and No. 31 on Alternative Airplay, while also debuting at Nos. 7 and 8, respectively, on the multimetric Hot Alternative Songs and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs charts.

While “Dracula” marks Tame Impala’s first Hot 100 entry, Kevin Parker himself has appeared on the chart before as both a producer and songwriter. He previously charted five songs on the ranking in his career as a producer or co-producer: Lady Gaga’s “Perfect Illusion” (No. 15 peak in 2016), Travis Scott’s “Skeletons” (No. 47, 2018; it samples Tame Impala’s “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards”), The Weeknd’s “Repeat After Me (Interlude)” (No. 69, 2020) and Dua Lipa’s “Houdini” (No. 11, 2023), “Training Season” (No. 27, 2024) and “Illusion” (No. 43, 2024).

Parker is also credited as a songwriter on all six of those tracks and has songwriting credits on three other Hot 100-charted hits: Kanye West’s “Violent Crimes” (No. 27, 2018), Kid Cudi’s “Dive” (No. 80, 2020; it samples Tame Impala’s “Love/Paranoia”) and Don Toliver’s “Bandit” (No. 38, 2024; it samples Tame Impala’s “One More Hour”).

Even without a prior Hot 100 hit, Tame Impala has long been a force across Billboard’s charts. Three of the act’s albums have reached the Billboard 200: Lonerism (No. 34, 2012), Currents (No. 4, 2015) and The Slow Rush (No. 3, 2020). The latter two also hit No. 1 on both the Alternative Albums and Vinyl Albums charts.

To date, Tame Impala has charted 28 songs on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart, including 10 top 10s. Radio-wise, the act has scored six entries on Adult Alternative Airplay (including the No. 1s “Lost In Yesterday” and “Is It True,” both in 2020) and nine on Alternative Airplay (including the No. 1 “Neverender,” with Justice, in March). “Neverender” also became Tame Impala’s first crossover to Pop Airplay and Adult Pop Airplay earlier this year, reaching Nos. 23 and 33, respectively.

Now with “Dracula,” Tame Impala is still unlocking new milestones. And with Deadbeat on the way, it’s just getting started.

Even by Taylor Swift‘s standards, the numbers have been inconceivable. Billboard reported on Saturday that Swift’s 12th album The Life of a Showgirl had, by the end of its Friday (Oct. 3) release day, already sold 2.7 million copies — the second-biggest performance of the entire Nielsen era in just a day’s time — while the set also broke streaming records left and right, particularly with lead single and opening track “The Fate of Ophelia.” The album is well on its way to becoming yet another career-defining commercial triumph for Swift — though the response to it from critics and from hardcore Swifties has maybe been a little more mixed so far.

With this Rollout Report Card episode, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard staffers Danielle Pascual and Meghan Mahar as we look at everything surrounding The Life of a Showgirl — from the New Heights podcast where the new era was officially launched, to the artwork for the album (which at least one of us may have already purchased seven alternate vinyl editions of), to the Official Release Party film debuted last weekend in conjunction with the new set. We attempt to grade all aspects of the rollout, and whether or not the most-anticipated pop album of the year met either our own expectations, or the ones that Taylor (and now-fiancé Travis Kelce) explicitly established for it.

As we hand out our letter grades for all the most important factors in Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl rollout — from the live performances and music videos to the new songs and overall “albuminess” — we answer all the most pressing questions: How well do we actually remember the fate of the original Ophelia? What’s the best way to replicate the Official Release Party from the privacy of your own home? Is there actually any interpolating of George Michael’s “Father Figure” in Taylor Swift’s “Father Figure”? Do we want to see a full Taylor Swift-Charli XCX back-and-forth on record? And perhaps most importantly: How did the biggest pop star of our lifetimes possibly get way bigger yet again?

Check it out above — along with a YouTube playlist of some of the most important moments from this unforgettable album campaign, all of which are discussed in the podcast — 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.

After seemingly everyone reacted to the news that global superstar Bad Bunny will headline the Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2026, President Donald Trump is now sharing his thoughts on the Latin icon taking to the stage.

In an on-air phone interview with NewsMax host Greg Kelly — who referred to the singer as “the Bad Bunny Rabbit of whatever his name is” — the twice-impeached president claimed that he didn’t know who the “DtMF” singer was. “I never heard of him. I don’t know who he is. I don’t know why they’re doing it. It’s, like, crazy,” Trump said, before shifting the conversation to Roc Nation and Jay-Z, who are responsible for helping choose the halftime show performer every year. “And then they blame it on some promoter that they hired to pick up entertainment. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous.”

Billboard has reached out to Bad Bunny’s rep for comment.

It’s worth noting that while the president may not know who Bad Bunny is, the world at large most certainly does. The Puerto Rican star has amassed nearly 80 million monthly Spotify listeners over the course of his career, making him currently the 12th most streamed artist on the platform. From 2020 to 2022, he was the ranked the most streamed artist on Spotify at the end of each year, dethroned only by Taylor Swift in 2023 and 2024.

Meanwhile, Bad Bunny’s historic, 31-date No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí residency at Puerto Rico’s Coliseo broke sales records for the venue; the livestream of his final show in the residency became the single most watched livestream in the history of Amazon Music.

Since he was announced as the performer for next year’s halftime show, Bad Bunny has been subject to criticism and attacks from right-wing commentators and members of Trump’s administration. The president’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski called the pick “shameful” and claimed that Benito “seems to hate America so much,” despite the fact that Puerto Rico — the singer’s homeland — is a U.S. territory.

Lewandowski also claimed that United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents would be present at the Super Bowl. Kristi Noem, the current secretary of homeland security, later confirmed that ICE agents would be “all over” the Super Bowl.

After a number of other right-wing commentators complained about Bad Bunny being openly critical of the president and the fact that he would be singing primarily in Spanish, the singer responded to the ongoing criticism during his monologue as host of the season 51 premiere of Saturday Night Live. “I’m doing the Super Bowl Halftime Show and I’m very happy. I think everyone is happy about it — even Fox News,” he joked in his monologue. He then proceeded to share a message in Spanish about the importance of representing his community at the Super Bowl — when he finished, he switched back to English and added, “If you didn’t understand know what I just said, you have four months to learn!”

Donald Trump confirmed on Monday (Oct. 6) that Sean “Diddy” Combs asked him for a presidential pardon. Taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office yesterday, Trump said the disgraced hip-hop mogul’s team had reached out to ask about the pardon, but the president seemed on the fence about granting one.

Combs was sentenced to four years in prison on Friday after being found guilty of two felony counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. After a reporter asked about the request, Trump said, “A lot of people have asked me for pardons. I call him Puff Daddy,” in reference to one of several nicknames the Bad Boy Records boss has gone by over the past three decades. “He has asked me for a pardon.”

While Trump did not elaborate on the ask or indicate how, or if, he will grant it, in August he told a Newsmax reporter that he though Diddy was “essentially, I guess, sort of half-innocent,” seemingly referring to Combs being found guilty of the two charges while being acquitted of the more serious felony charges of sex trafficking and racketeering. “He’s still in jail or something, but he was celebrating a victory. But I guess it wasn’t as good of a victory,” Trump added.

At the time, Trump said the two were once “very friendly” and that he “got along with him great,” but noted their dynamic shifted when he entered politics more than a decade ago, describing Combs as becoming “very hostile” in the years since. Back in May, Trump told Fox News that he would “look at the facts” of the Diddy case.

“I haven’t spoken to him in years,” Trump said at the time. “He used to really like me a lot. I think when I ran for politics, that relationship busted up. … I would certainly look at the facts. If I think somebody was mistreated, whether they like me or don’t like me, it wouldn’t have any impact on me.”

In August, one of Diddy’s lawyers told CNN that it was her “understanding that we’ve reached out and had conversations in reference to a pardon,” without offering any additional details.

In the meantime, according to the Associated Press, Diddy’s lawyers have requested that he be sent to the low-security FCI Ford Dix federal prison in New Jersey to serve out his four-year term, telling judge Arun Subramanian on Monday that the facility’s drug treatment program would be helpful. Attorney Teny Geragos wrote that the residential drug treatment program at Fort Dix will allow Combs to “address drug abuse issues and to maximize family visitation and rehabilitative efforts.”

Combs’ trial revealed lurid details about his so-called “freak-off” parties, where his girlfriends consumed a variety of legal and illicit drugs while engaging in elaborate sex performances for his pleasure. Combs has been in federal jail in Brooklyn since Sept. 2024 and because he was convicted on federal charges his case is open to a potential pardon, or commutation, from Trump.

The president has pardoned a number of prominent figures who’ve supported him or spoken kindly of him — in addition more than 1,500 January 6 rioters — including reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, former chief strategist Steve Bannon and former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, among others. Trump has also issued pardons or commutations for a number of hip-hop figures including NBA YoungBoy, Death Row Records co-founder Michael “Harry-O” Harris, and Lil Wayne and Kodak Black.

Pulse Music Group has forged a new music publishing joint venture with Grammy Award-winning producer-songwriter Mark Ronson and his company Zelig Music, it was announced Tuesday (Oct. 7).

The venture’s first signing is Swedish artist Thea Gustafsson, who writes, records and produces under her stage name Becky and the Birds and earlier this year won producer of the year at the Grammis awards for her album Only Music Makes Me Cry Now.

Founded in 2018, Zelig Records is a joint venture with Sony Music and represents artists such as King Princess and Issy Wood. Ronson — a nine-time Grammy winner who’s also earned an Oscar and a Golden Globe — is best known for producing Amy Winehouse’s landmark Back to Black album, crafting his Bruno Mars-sung solo single “Uptown Funk,” and co-writing “Shallow” from A Star Is Born. In 2023, he executive produced Barbie The Album and its score, and this year co-produced SNL50: The Homecoming Concert. His recent memoir, Night People: How to Be a DJ in ’90s New York City, became a bestseller and has already gained interest from Brad Pitt’s Plan B for a film adaptation.

The partnership was announced by PMG executives, including co-CEO Josh Abraham, who praised Ronson’s talent for “cultivating culture-defining moments for songwriters, producers, and artists.” Abraham added, “He brings integrity, creativity, and a uniquely effective approach to building careers. Together, we’re creating a platform that fosters a vibrant creative community for the next generation of talent.”

“I have so much admiration for what Pulse has built,” said Ronson. “I’ve been a fan of Josh as a producer since I was a teen, and I’m incredibly excited to discover and develop amazing talent together. Becky and the Birds couldn’t be a better artist/producer to kick off this partnership.”

Becky and the Birds, who is managed by Alyssa DeBonis of Moth Management, “couldn’t be a better artist/producer to kick off this partnership,” Ronson added.

Founded in 2008, PMG has grown into a leading independent publisher representing more than 250 active clients — including Kehlani, Turnstile and Ty Dolla $ign — and in 2023 expanded into recorded music with the launch of Pulse Records.