Funeral arrangements have not been set as of Friday morning.
The upcoming Michael Jackson biopic Michael has already made history — and it hasn’t even hit cinemas yet.
The teaser trailer for the Antoine Fuqua-directed film racked up more than 116.2 million views within its first 24 hours, making it the most-viewed music biopic trailer of all time and the largest trailer launch in Lionsgate history, according to analytics firm WaveMetrix. It now sits ahead of previous record holders including Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (96.1 million) and Bob Marley: One Love (60.1 million).
Set to premiere in theaters on April 24, 2026, Michael stars Jaafar Jackson — the late King of Pop’s nephew — in the lead role. The film promises to explore Michael Jackson’s complex legacy through both iconic performances and personal moments.
“I’m humbled and honored to bring my Uncle Michael’s story to life,” Jaafar Jackson wrote on Instagram. “To all the fans all over the world, I’ll see you soon.”
Producer Graham King, who spearheaded 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody, said Jaafar was the clear choice for the role after an extensive casting process. “I met Jaafar over two years ago and was blown away by the way he organically personifies the spirit and personality of Michael,” King told Variety in 2023.
“It was something so powerful that even after conducting a worldwide search, it was clear that he is the only person to take on this role. I am beyond thrilled that he has come on board to portray his uncle and cannot wait for the world to see him on the big screen as Michael Jackson.”
The singer’s mother, Katherine Jackson, also told the publication, “Jaafar embodies my son. It’s so wonderful to see him carry on the Jackson legacy of entertainers and performers.”
The cast also includes Colman Domingo, Nia Long, Laura Harrier, Miles Teller, and child actor Juliano Krue Valdi as young Michael.
Oasis have officially wrapped their 2025 Australian tour, marking a triumphant return down under with over 320,000 fans attending across five stadium shows in Melbourne and Sydney.
The Britpop icons played three sold-out nights at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium, followed by two shows at Accor Stadium in Sydney, concluding on Saturday (Nov. 8). It’s one of the highest-attended rock tours in Australia this year — and one with lasting impact.
“Thanks for putting up with us. We know we were d–kheads sometimes,” Liam Gallagher told the Sydney crowd. “Your support has put us back on the map. Respect! You’ve got a lovely f–king country. See you again.”
The reunion tour has drawn headlines for more than just nostalgia. In Melbourne, seismic sensors at the Seismology Research Centre reportedly picked up tremors during the band’s performances — a rare but real phenomenon caused by thousands of fans stomping and singing in unison.
One of the city’s most iconic live music venues, Cherry Bar, credited the band with sparking a major nightlife revival. “The darkest hour is before the dawn, Melbourne and Cherry Bar needed a hero and who knew that it would come in the shape of a couple of ‘no f#cks given’ Mancunian larrikins?!” wrote owner James Young on social media, calling it the bar’s “biggest weekend and biggest week on record.”
While the first show had some minor issues, including a fan launching flares into the crowd, the tour’s reception has been overwhelmingly positive.
Billboard said of the rockers’ first Melbourne gig, “Kicking off with ‘Hello,’ into which Liam inserted the lyrics ‘it’s good to be back,’ then ‘Acquiesce,’ and ‘Morning Glory,’ provided an opening combination that hit hard and fast. ‘G’day,’ Liam told the 58,000 gathered fans, Tina Arena and Jelly Roll among them. ‘Did you miss us? Because we missed you.’”
“This tour is off to a blinder, a result for anyone in the place who wanted, waited for this band, and used the opportunity to go let it all out, and sing at the top of their lungs.”
Oasis now heads to South America for shows in Argentina, Chile and Brazil, before continuing their global tour into 2026.
Australia’s iconic Bluesfest has announced the first round of artists set to perform at its 2026 edition, unveiling a cross-generational lineup led by Split Enz, Earth, Wind & Fire, and The Pogues.
Returning to Byron Bay’s Bluesfest site — the Byron Events Farm — from April 2 to 5 next year, the long-running festival will host a full reunion set from Split Enz. The legendary New Zealand group, featuring brothers Neil and Tim Finn of Crowded House fame, also announced a separate national tour this week. It will mark the band’s first full-scale Australian tour in nearly two decades.
Joining them are funk and soul trailblazers Earth, Wind & Fire, who last played the event in 2012, and Irish punk-folk icons The Pogues, returning for the first time in 14 years to mark 40 years since the release of their seminal album Rum, Sodomy & the Lash — a tribute to the late Shane MacGowan.
Other international acts on the 2026 bill include Sublime, The Black Crowes, Counting Crows, blues veteran Buddy Guy (on his farewell tour), and Marcus King Band. Local talent includes Xavier Rudd, The Living End, South Summit, Mental As Anything, Skegss, The Dreggs, Pierce Brothers, and Mark Seymour.
The announcement follows a high-water mark for the festival earlier this year. In April, Bluesfest officially confirmed its return for 2026 following one of its strongest post-pandemic editions. Held across the Easter long weekend, Bluesfest 2025 drew more than 109,000 attendees over five days — the festival’s highest attendance since 2019, and the third-biggest turnout in its 35-year history.
“We’re the top-selling festival in the country, and we’ve worked hard to get here,” festival director Peter Noble said in a statement at the time. “We’ve had the highest attendance of any Australian festival since pre-COVID at 109,000 attendances – the third-biggest event we’ve done in the history of the festival… Festivals are back.”
The festival’s second lineup drop for its 2026 event is expected in the coming weeks. Several of the artists announced — including The Pogues, Sublime, and Buddy Guy — will also play exclusive headline shows around the country as part of the Bluesfest touring program.
Bluesfest 2026 takes place from Thursday, April 2, to Sunday, April 5. Tickets and artist information are available at bluesfest.com.au.
Tate McRae‘s So Close to What, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 upon its original release in March, is getting the deluxe treatment. A version of the album with additional tracks is coming in two weeks, McRae said in an announcement on Saturday (Nov. 8).
“SO CLOSE TO WHAT??? (deluxe) is out november 21 !!!!! we had a few more songs that i wanted to share with y’all to close out the SC2W era. i can’t wait for you to hear,” she wrote on Instagram.
McRae shared a link to pre-save or pre-order So Close to What (The Deluxe Album). The release will be available on Spotify and Apple Music, and as a physical release on both CD ($11.98) and vinyl ($39.98) via her webstore.
As of Sunday night the number of new tracks, and their titles, have not yet been revealed. Also as of Sunday, it’s a wrap for McRae’s Miss Possessive Tour, which kicked off in March and ended at the Kia Forum Inglewood, Calif., on Saturday; she shared a series of behind-the-scenes snapshots from the day.
She most recently released the stand-alone single “Tit for Tat” — which was not on the So Close to What tracklist — in September, after teasing it on tour. The track, thought to be inspired by her breakup with follow pop hitmaker The Kid LAROI, became her third top five hit on the Hot 100. Her first two top five hits were “Greedy” in 2024 and “What I Want,” her collaboration with Morgan Wallen, which went to No. 1 earlier this year.
“Bandaids,” the new single from Katy Perry, tops this week’s fan-voted music poll.
Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (Nov. 7) on Billboard, choosing Perry’s latest track as their favorite new release.
“Bandaids” made its arrival during a week that also saw new music releases from Rosalía, Hilary Duff, Kehlani and more, and brought in 44% of the vote.
The song about moving on following the end of a longterm relationship — Perry’s first since splitting with actor Orlando Bloom — has the pop star singing, “Got so used to you letting me down/ No use tryna send flowers now/ Telling myself you’ll change, you don’t/ Bandaids over a broken heart/ Tried all the medications/ Lowered my expectations/ Made every justification/ Bleeding out, bleeding out, bleeding out slow/ Bandaids over a broken heart.”
“tbh I struggled for months with the idea of putting this song out… even after all these years it can be scary to be vulnerable… but hopefully the lyrics of this song resonate with someone going through what I have been through and maybe they won’t feel so alone and will find the strength to keep going like I have,” she wrote to fans on Instagram.
Perry’s been on the road with her Lifetimes Tour since April, and is currently finishing up the European leg of the trek before making her way to China later this month.
Her last full-length studio album, 143, was released in 2024 and debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Among the new releases trailing behind “Bandaids” are Rosalía’s Lux, with 37% of the vote; Hilary Duff’s “Mature,” with 9% of the vote, and Kehlani’s “Out the Window,” with 2% of the vote.
See the final results of this week’s poll below.
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere has received mixed reviews from critics, and has gotten off to a slower-than-expected start at the boxoffice, but as of Sunday (Nov. 9) it has grossed $34.6 million worldwide, according to boxofficemojo.com. That puts it at No. 24 on Billboard‘s list of music biopics with the highest worldwide grosses.
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.
Bad Company joined an exclusive club on Saturday (Nov. 8), becoming just the 10th artist whose debut album had topped the Billboard 200 to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The band’s eponymous debut album reached No. 1 in the issue dated Sept. 28, 1974, dethroning Stevie Wonder’s Fulfillingness’ First Finale, which had led the previous two weeks.
Three of the acts on this list reached the top spot with their first solo albums, after tenures with successful groups. Paul McCartney’s first solo album reached No. 1 in 1970, following six years of unprecedented success on the Billboard 200 with The Beatles. Stevie Nicks topped the chart in 1981 (following three studio albums with Fleetwood Mac), as did George Michael in 1988 (following three studio albums with Wham!).
As you look through this list of artists who topped the Billboard 200 with their debut album and were later inducted into the Rock Hall, you may be wondering where are The Beatles? The Fab Four’s debut Capitol album, Meet the Beatles!, did indeed top the Billboard 200 (for 11 weeks), but it wasn’t their first U.S. album release. Introducing… The Beatles, on Vee Jay, was released 10 days earlier. Introducing… The Beatles peaked at No. 2 — behind Meet the Beatles!
The Ink Spots and Nat King Cole, who were separately inducted into the Rock Hall as early influences in 1989 and 2000, respectively, deserve special mention. The King Cole Trio, a jazz trio that Cole led, was No. 1 on the very first Billboard album chart, a top 10 listing called Best-Selling Popular Record Albums, in March 1945. The Ink Spots topped that chart in September 1946. Both acts scored with eponymous debut collections. But both came years before the March 1956 inception of the Billboard 200, the first regular, weekly album chart in Billboard.
Here’s a full list of every artist in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame whose debut album topped the Billboard 200. They are listed in chronological order by the date their debut album reached No. 1.
Pete Davidson returned to Saturday Night Live for a surprise appearance on Nov. 8.
The comedian and actor, who was an SNL cast member from 2014 to 2022, crashed the “Weekend Update” segment to poke fun at a recent article about a decommissioned Staten Island ferry he purchased with Colin Jost in 2022. The two had planned to transform the vessel into an upscale entertainment venue.
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“The New York Times recently ran an article calling the Staten Island Ferry that I purchased with Pete Davidson a ‘money-losing fiasco.’ With more on this, is Pete Davidson,” Jost said in introducing The King of Staten Island star.
“Colin, you’re looking great as ever. [Michael] Che, starting to crack,” Davidson joked, mentioning his recent appearance at the 2025 Riyadh Comedy Festival and that he’s expecting his first child.
“So yeah, in case you’re wondering why I had to do a show in Saudi Arabia, we’re losing millions on this ferry,” he continued. “I assume that’s what the article says. I can’t spend $5 on a paywall when I got a kid on the way.”
Davidson and Jost then continued trading jokes about the 2,109-ton ferry, which they bought at a New York auction for $280,100.
“We even gave the boat a new name,” Davidson said. “We thought the Staten Island Ferry sounded too depressing, so now it’s called the Titanic 2.” Jost added, “That’s right, and it’s actually going very well. Recently, we got paid by Nike to put an ad on it for the New York City Marathon.”
Earlier on Saturday, Davidson told People that he’d “do anything” for SNL boss Lorne Michaels, saying he’d return to the show if asked.
“I had a great time hosting last time, and anytime you get that call, it’s an honor and a privilege,” the eight-season SNL vet said. “It’s always relevant, it’s a hot show. People look forward to it, and the cast is great.”
Saturday’s episode was hosted by comedian Nikki Glaser, with singer-songwriter Sombr serving as the musical guest.
Watch SNL’s “Weekend Update” segment with Davidson below, and find all the ways to stream the full episode here.
The Los Angeles Dodgers weren’t the only winners in town this week. Returning to City of Angels for the first time since 2022, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ushered in a new class of inductees during its 40th annual induction ceremony Saturday night (Nov. 8).
“Welcome to the second-best thing to happen to Los Angeles in the past week,” said John Sykes, chairman of the R&R Hall of Fame, welcoming the audience at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is officially middle aged and to celebrate the 40th induction ceremony, a 10-minute sizzle reel spanning the four decades played prior to the official start of the proceedings, which, thanks to a more streamlined process when honoring the musical excellence and non-performer categories, came in at a relatively brisk four-and-a-half hours.
Beamed live on Disney +, the Rock Hall honored Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, Outkast, Soundgarden and The White Stripes in the performer category, Salt-N-Pepa and Warren Zevon for musical influence; Thom Bell, Nicky Hopkins and Carol Kaye for musical excellence, and longtime Warner Records executive Lenny Waronker with the Ahmet Ertegun Award (named after the Atlantic Records co-founder). A primetime trimmed- down special will air on ABC on Jan. 1, 2026.
Many of the 2025 honorees were not in attendance: Of course, Zevon, Cocker, Hopkins and Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell were inducted posthumously, and legendary Wrecking Crew bassist Kaye declined in advance to attend. Though the White Stripes’ Jack White referenced her and even dedicated part of his speech to her, his former bandmate, Meg White, did not attend. At 84, “The Twist” singer = Checker was still doing what he does best and passed up his induction to keep a regularly scheduled paying gig, though he delivered his acceptance speech from the show before going into a shortened version of his biggest hit. After initially hoping to attend and even reunite with his band Bad Company, lead singer Paul Rodgers pulled out for health reasons.
But there was still a dazzling amount of star power in the room from the honorees who were present and the nearly 40 artists who helped induct them.
Below are nine highlights from the evening.
