Fuma Kikuchi 1st Photo Book “Latido” debuts at No. 1 on Billboard Japan’s Book Hot 100 chart, for the list released Feb. 12.

The Japan Book Hot 100 is a comprehensive chart combining physical sales, e-books, library loans, subscription data, and social media activity. This week, timelesz member Fuma Kikuchi’s first photo book opens atop the chart after leading the EC (e-commerce) metric. Shot in Spain’s Basque region, the book captures Kikuchi as he enters his thirties in a natural, unguarded setting.

At No. 2 is the latest volume of Chainsaw Man, whose anime film adaptation of the bittersweet Reze arc continues a long theatrical run. Vol. 23 rules physical stores and e-books and comes in at No. 5 for EC. Following at No. 3 is BORUTO-TWO BLUE VORTEX Vol. 7, coming in at No. 3 for physical stores and No. 2 for e-books.

Outside the top 10, Ryunosuke Matsushita’s Ichijigen no Sashiki (Labyrinth of Hortensia and the Minotaur) climbs to No. 15 from outside the top 20 last week. The Sci-Fi mystery follows Haruka, a graduate student studying genetics, as he investigates his missing sister and a DNA-related mystery. The book won the grand prize in the paperback division in the 23rd Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! (“this mystery is amazing!”) Awards.

See the top 10 titles on this week’s Japan Book Hot 100, tracking the period from Feb. 2 to 8.

(Numbers in parentheses indicate the title’s metric placements for physical stores, EC, e-books, subscriptions, and social media, top 20 only. English title given if translations or adaptations exist.)

1. Fuma Kikuchi 1st Photo Book “Latido”, Fuma Kikuchi (-・1・-・-・-)

2. Chainsaw Man Vol. 23, Tatsuki Fujimoto (1・5・1・-・-)

3. BORUTO-TWO BLUE VORTEX Vol. 7, Mikio Ikemoto, Masashi Kishimoto (3・-・2・-・-)

4. Ao no Hako (Blue Box)Vol. 24, Kouji Miura (2・-・3・-・-)

5. Idol Keieisha, Tadayoshi Okura (4・2・-・-・-)

6. Gokurakugai Vol. 6, Yuto Sano (5・-・11・-・-)

7. Kingdom Vol. 78, Yasuhisa Hara (6・-・7・-・-)

8. In the Megachurch, Ryo Asai (-・-・-・16・1)

9. Shinimodori no Mahou Gakkou Seikatsu wo Moto-Koibito to Prologue kara (Tadashi Kokando wa Zero) (Re-Living My Life with a Boyfriend Who Doesn’t Remember Me)　Vol. 7, Gin Shirakawa, Eiko Mutsuhana, Yugiri Aika (15・-・5・-・-)

10. 2.5 Jigen no Lilysa (2.5 Dimensional Seduction) Vol. 25, Yu Hashimoto (18・-・4・-・-)

It looks like Riley Green may be adding actor to his resume. In the trailer for the new Taylor Sheridan-created series, “Marshals,” a man who appears to be Green is very briefly singing and playing guitar around a campfire at the 1:39 mark.  

The show, which premieres March 1 on CBS and Paramount+, is a spinoff from Yellowstone and follows Luke Grimes’ Kayce Dutton as he moves into the next chapter of his life following his father’s death. Though his wife, Monica, was alive at the end of Yellowstone, it looks like she may also be dead in the Marshals premiere, and Kayce makes a comment that “Yellowstone’s gone along with most of my family.” He also remarks, “The only thing I ever wanted was taken from me,” as a sheet is pulled over an unidentified body.

Kayce is now a full-time U.S. marshal and is quickly taking on the bad guys — both the two- and four-legged kind — in the trailer.

Green’s representative had no comment on whether he is appearing on the show.

Last May, Scott Borchetta, founder and head of Green’s record company, Big Machine Label Group, told Billboard that acting was definitely on Green’s mind.

“Riley called me about a year ago and asked about Tim McGraw and how did Tim [get into acting],” Borchetta said at the time. “That’s something that he is going to spend some energy on, and I think we could see another gear with him in that space.” McGraw is also part of the Sheridan universe, having starred in Yellowstone prequel 1883 with his wife, Faith Hill.

In a Q&A at the Grammy Museum in August in Los Angeles, avowed movie lover Green talked about his interested in making the leap to the big (or little) stage after showing off his acting chops in such videos as “Worst Way.” Then in December, he confirmed to Country Now that he had already shot a guest spot. “I’ll just guess I’m allowed to say that I have done some acting, and it’s a show, and it’s going to be airing sometime fairly soon,” he cryptically said, adding that he had felt very comfortable on set during the quick taping.

“It just happened so fast that I didn’t really have time to get nervous and so I was just kind of, the scene was done, and I was like, ‘OK, well I guess it was all right,’” he shared. “They didn’t yell at me or yell ‘cut’ or anything, but it was a lot of fun.”

More Taylor Swift fans than ever before likely tuned in to this season of The Traitors to watch Donna Kelce — who is the mom of the pop superstar’s fiancé, Travis Kelce — compete. But in a new interview, the show’s producers revealed how those extra eyeballs impacted the show in ways they didn’t expect.

While speaking to Variety in a Thursday (Feb. 12) breakdown of the competition series’ fourth installment, executive producers Rosie Franks and Sam Rees-Jones reflected on the choice to not only cast Donna, but to also make her The Traitors‘ first ever Secret Traitor. “She really did want to play,” Franks began. “She came with so much strategy.”

“And then the idea of having Taylor Swift’s future mother-in-law wandering around the castle secretly in a red cloak, there’s nothing more camp than that,” she continued. “So we felt like that really would lean into the tone of The Traitors.“

What the showrunners didn’t expect, however, was that the other contestants on the Peacock reality competition would feel influenced by the 14-time Grammy winner’s fanbase when making decisions on who to vote in or out of the castle. “We never thought the players would be scared of the Swiftes, but maybe we underestimated the Swifties,” Rees-Jones said.

Franks agreed, “Never underestimate the Swifties.”

Indeed, Donna’s competitors were keenly aware of how her soon-to-be daughter-in-law’s devoted listeners might react if they crossed her on the show. As Dorinda Medley said in one episode, “No one’s gonna murder [Donna] — the Swifties will kill you.”

Season four premiered on Jan. 8, revealing in episode three — when she was eliminated — that the Kelce matriarch was the first contestant on the show to ever compete as a Traitor without the other Traitors ever knowing her identity. At one point, she aptly quoted Swift’s Midnights track “Vigilante Shit,” saying, “Don’t get mad, get even.”

She now has her youngest son’s wedding to look forward to, something she touched on when TMZ approached her recently and asked whether she’d signed an NDA ahead of the under-wraps ceremony.

“No, no, no,” she told the outlet. “[Taylor and Travis] know I can keep a secret.”

Andrew Ranken, one of the co-founders of beloved Irish folk rock group The Pogues has died at age 72. The percussionist who earned the nickname “The Clobberer,” was honored by his former bandmates in an Instagram post announcing his passing in which they wrote, “It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of Andrew Ranken, drummer, founding member and heartbeat of the Pogues.”

While the band did not reveal a cause of death, in a separate post, Victoria Mary Clarke, the widow of the band’s late singer, Shane MacGowan, said that Ranken passed following a “long and brave battle with illness.”

The group thanked Ranken for his “everything, for your friendship, your wit and your generosity of spirit, and of course for the music, forever a true friend and brother.” In her remembrance, Clarke added, “Andy was a fierce drummer and founding member of the Pogues, having joined Poguemahone in 1983 and braving all the beer-swilling, pogo-jumping, underground illegal drinking joints the fledgling band played and developing his own unique style of a warrior drumbeat. Without him the Pogues could never have developed their battle-ready rhythm and sound. He truly was the heartBEAT of the band.”

Ranken joined the group in 1983 and played on all their seven of their studio albums, providing sometimes bashing, sometimes martial, army band-like percussion on such beloved tunes as “Fairytale of New York,” “Dirty Old Town,” “A Pair of Brown Eyes,” “If I Should Fall From Grace With God,” “Sunny Side of the Street” and countless others. In addition to playing drums and harmonica, Ranken took the occasional vocal turn as well, taking lead on the minute-long, movie monster-like interlude “Worms” from 1988’s If I Should Fall From Grace With God and adding backing vocals on 1990’s Hells Ditch.

Andrew Ranken was born in London on Nov. 13, 1953 and was working towards a degree in media and sociology at Goldsmiths College at the University of London when he joined a then-gestating band called Pogue Mahone (whose Irish translation is roughly “kiss my arse”). The band’s unique blend of traditional Irish folk, punk and rock was anchored by late frontman MacGowan’s shambolic, mesmerizing, often inebriated performance style, along with the eclectic attack of multi-instrumentalist Jem Finer (banjo, vocals, saxophone, piano, guitar), singer/tin whistle player Spider Stacy and James Fearnley (accordion, piano, guitar).

According to The New York Times, MacGowan and Finer heard Ranken practicing in his apartment one day and asked him to join their band, making him audition twice. After the second try-out, the pair reportedly told Ranken that he could join them, but only if he performed with a spare kit made up of a snare and floor tom, which he would have to play standing up. “No cymbals,” they told him, “but you can have a saucepan lid.” The gambit work, as evidenced by the propulsive, rat-a-tat percussion he played on the band’s 1985 single “Sally MacLennane.”

Ranken appeared on the group’s 1984 debut, Red Roses For Me, which exploded them onto the U.K. music scene with a then-unique mix of punk swagger and attitude mixed with traditional Irish folk music and covers, many of them about hard drinking, hard lives and liberally laced with a transgressive attitude and grim storytelling. The band quickly evolved into a fan favorite with 1985’s Rum Sodomy & the Lash, which landed them their first U.K. chart placement with the group’s take on the traditional song “A Pair of Brown Eyes.” The LP’s title was adapted, at Ranken’s suggestion, from a quote attributed to late British Prime Minister Winston Churchill: “don’t talk to me about naval tradition. It’s nothing but rum, sodomy, and the lash.”

In a 2023 Instagram post, the band credited Ranken with the title idea, sharing that he said, “it seemed to sum up life in our band.”

Indeed, life in the group was chaotic at times due to MacGowan’s substance issues and unpredictable nature, though they held it together to release their classic If I Should Fall From Grace With God in 1988, as well as 1989’s Peace and Love and 1990’s Hell’s Ditch, before parting ways with their troublesome lead singer on 1993’s Waiting For Herb. In addition to songwriting, Ranken also took a ragged lead vocal on that album’s raging love lost lament “My Baby’s Gone.”

MacGowan died in 2023 at age 65 following years of drug and alcohol use.

In addition to touring with the group, Ranken appeared on the Pogues’ seventh and final studio album, 1996’s Pogue Mahone, on which he wrote and shared vocals on the pugnacious Cajun/Irish rocker “Amadie.” Following the band’s split, Ranken was again behind the kit for their series of reunion tours from 2001-2014 and later led the group Andrew Ranken and Mysterious Wheels, as well as playing with the Recidivist.

Listen to some of Ranken’s work below.

Harry Styles is opening the disco early for lucky fans in 40 cities, with the British pop star announcing Thursday (Feb. 12) that he’s planning pre-release listening parties for his Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally album.

Sharing the news on Instagram, the One Direction alum revealed that the exclusive events will kick off on Feb. 18 — more than two weeks before his fourth solo LP arrives. A poster — in which Styles smiles with his eyes closed while modeling a black sweater with a smiley-face cutout — promises that those who attend will get to “hear the album in full.”

“We wanna dance with all our friends,” his caption reads.

Fans on Styles’ text subscription list also received a link to an event page for the listening parties at the time of the announcement. After waiting in a queue, those who clicked were taken to a submission page where they could enter their information — and answer the question, “What do you think listening to the album will feel like?” — for the chance to be picked to attend one of the events. In the U.S., there will be listening parties in Los Angeles and Madison, Wis.

Styles has been keeping fans engaged in the lead-up to Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally, which is set to drop on March 6 and was preceded by Billboard Hot 100-topping lead single “Aperture.” The 40 listening parties will build up to a recently announced one-night-only concert in Manchester, England, where the Grammy winner will perform his new album for the first time in front of a crowd at Co-op Live.

After the album officially drops, Styles will embark on a global tour kicking off May 16 in Amsterdam. The trek will include a 30-night residency at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

See Styles’ announcement for his Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally album listening parties below.