On Monday (Sept. 29), Lady Gaga begins the European leg of The Mayhem Ball at London’s O2 Arena. But even before the 24 shows in 10 cities across eight countries, 2025 is already a milestone year on the road for Mother Monster.

Taking into account the success of the tour’s first North American leg, extensions around the world, and the warm-up shows from earlier in the year, 2025 will be Gaga’s biggest-ever year on tour. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, Lady Gaga’s 27 shows in the United States and Canada brought in $103.4 million and sold 378,000 tickets. That makes it the highest-grossing leg of any Gaga tour, in North America or otherwise.

Back in April, Billboard projected that The Mayhem Ball might reach $100 million by the end of its entire run, which at that time, was the end of the Europe leg in November. Having already reached that milestone, the tour could near $150 million by the end of her European shows, before Gaga embarks on added stadium stints in Australia and Japan, plus another 25-show stretch in North America through April 2026.

The Mayhem Ball notably returned Gaga to arenas after playing stadiums for The Chromatica Ball (2022) and mixing both venues on the Joanne World Tour (2017-18). With fewer seats available each night, demand drove ticket prices to the point that her show grosses sustained against the supply shortage.

And even compared to the North American legs of her last all-arena runs, The Mayhem Ball is up (14,009 tickets per show) compared to ArtRave: The Artpop Ball (12,315 in 2014) and The Born This Way Ball (12,232 in 2013). She last cracked 14,000 in 2011 on The Monster Ball.

Even considering the expected drop-off in ticket prices in Europe, the lengthy run of arena shows will add at least half of North America’s gross and likely another 300,000 tickets. The Japanese stadium shows should fall somewhere between her recent Singapore run ($10.2 million per show) and 2022’s Saitama shows ($5.7 million) to add $40-45 million. Her December leg in Australia will be her first since 2014, padding another $35-40 million.

Next year’s return to the U.S. and Canada might be softer than Gaga’s recent run considering some of the smaller-capacity arenas included on her routing. Still, demand is high, and her continental gross should stretch toward $175 million. In all, The Mayhem Ball could be her first tour to approach $300 million, potentially tripling Billboard’s initial estimates. Sales will soar beyond 1 million tickets, becoming her third to do so, and first since The Born This Way Ball, plus 2009-11’s The Monster Ball.

Those totals don’t include Gaga’s international dates prior to the proper tour’s kick-off. Two concerts in Mexico City and four in Singapore grossed $56.6 million and sold over 300,000 tickets. Including this week’s shows in London, and with a couple dozen more to go, 2025 will become her biggest year on tour ever, surpassing 2012’s $161.8 million.

Already, Gaga’s reported career totals have climbed to $879.6 million and 7.1 million tickets. By tour’s end, she’ll have cleared $1 billion in ticket sales.

Kid Cudi is stepping away from music to focus on his other creative endeavors.

Prior to the expected hiatus, Cudi released an ethereal track titled “Once” to his SoundCloud on Sunday (Sept. 28) and explained that it serves as a letter to his fans. “This is a goodbye for now song,” he wrote. “It was produced by myself with my homie Sebastian addin’ extra sauce here and there. Taking a break but wanted to leave u [with] something special and from the heart. [You’ll] be hearing me featured on my friends’ albums but as far as me, I gotta step into the shadows and focus on my other dreams.”

Cudi posted a video to X, clarifying everything surrounding his upcoming absence, which will include a “pretty lengthy break” between now and the release of his next album.

“It’s gonna be a while between now and the next Kid Cudi album,” he said. “So I wanted to leave you with a little something that could motivate you, uplift you… I made it earlier this year, just f—ing around in the studio.”

Earlier this month, Kid Cudi directed and starred in his “Mr. Miracle” short film alongside LaKeith Stanfield. Cudi spoke to Billboard about his plans for more short films in the future. “People will be able to see Neverland soon,” he said. “We’re working on a way for that to come out so fans can absorb that — I know a lot of people have been excited to see it, and it’s coming soon.”

Cudi continued: “But I am definitely going to direct more short films in the future. I just finished writing my next one. It’s a really beautiful, heartwarming, funny short that I feel like a lot of people will connect with — a lot of my fans will connect with it. It’s a powerful piece and I can’t wait for you all to see that. Hopefully we shoot next month, so that’s moving forward.”

The Ohio native’s been busy in September, which saw him also guest on Lakeith Stanfield’s debut single “Fast Life.” With music moving to the back-burner, fans can expect Cudi to focus more on directing, acting, painting and fashion.

Listen to “Once” below.

On Thursday (Sept. 25), more than 2,100 music creators, including YUNGBLUD, Ashley Monroe and Kenyon Dixon, participated in the Recording Academy’s 11th annual Music Advocacy Day. In more than 200 meetings with federal lawmakers across 45 states and Washington, D.C., Recording Academy members met with elected officials to discuss key issues affecting the music industry and the importance of passing pro-music legislation in Congress.

Creators met with lawmakers, including Reps. Brad Sherman (D-CA), Marianette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) and Dusty Johnson (R-SD). Conversations focused on protecting creators from having their works exploited by artificial intelligence without compensation, passing legislation such as the Nurture Originals, Foster Art and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act to provide reasonable AI safeguards, and preserving federal funding for the arts.

“Music Advocacy Day represents the core of the Academy’s dedication to serving the music community year-round,” Todd Dupler, the Recording Academy’s chief advocacy & public policy officer, said in a statement. “Protecting creators and their art is crucial to ensuring a thriving music ecosystem, and the Academy is proud to gives thousands of our members the opportunity to converse with lawmakers across the nation whose support of pro-music legislation will positively impact the future of our industry.”

As previously reported, R&B star Leon Thomas served as this year’s Music Advocacy Day artist ambassador.

Year-round, the Recording Academy’s Washington, D.C.-based Advocacy team mobilizes Academy members and music professionals from across the country to lobby for music creators’ rights at the local, state and federal levels.