Get to know the cast of “Santos Bravos,” the HYBE Latin America reality show that culminates in the formation of their first exclusively male Latin group, “Santos Bravos!” HYBE has a long history of creating successful groups, including the K-pop band KATSEYE. Will “Santos Bravos” be the next big thing? The show has narrowed down the contestants to ten, and we want to know who you think will make it into the band! Share your predictions and favorites below! And if you’re interested in seeing “Santos Bravos” perform live, click here to purchase tickets for their showcase at Billboard’s Latin Music Week in Miami.

Kenneth Lavil:

Hi, hello. How are you? I’m Kenneth Lavil. I’m fifteen years old, and I’m from Veracruz, Mexico.

Why am I called Kenneth Lavil? Well, Kenneth is my first name, and Lavil is a fusion of my two last names: Lagunes and Villegas. I took “La” from Lagunes and “Vil” from Villegas, merged them, and that’s how I got Lavil. I really like it. “Corre!” by Jesse & Joy is a song that I really love. I’ve been fond of it since I was little. I fell in love with it even when I couldn’t read or do much else, but I still learned the song. It’s a beautiful track that I always hold close to my heart.

Alejandro:

What I miss most about my dear Lima—my Lima Limón—is definitely the food. Don’t get me wrong, I really like the food in Mexico. I love tacos, but there’s just nothing like a good lomo saltado. One of my earliest memories of making music was when I was around four years old. My older sister, who’s four years older than me, was going to perform at a talent night. I grabbed the microphone—it was bigger than my head—and sang in front of about a hundred people. I still remember the applause, that magical feeling of being on stage. It’s a memory that never left me.

Gabi:

What do I miss most about Puerto Rico? Definitely the rice and beans my grandmother makes.I miss it so much. They make good beans here in Mexico, but they’re not like my grandmother’s.

My family is coming from Puerto Rico to visit me. My mom and dad are both coming. They know how much I’ve sacrificed to be here and how much I’ve improved. It has been a dream of mine since I was little to perform like this, alongside all the incredible artists who will be there.

Keep watching for more!

Esaú Ortiz’s Discontrol has topped Billboard’s latest new Latin music poll, published on Friday, Oct. 10.

In support of the weekly New Music Latin roundup and playlist, curated by Billboard Latin and Billboard Español editors, music fans voted for the Mexican artist’s new album as their favorite music release of the week. Ortiz came in first place with 60% of the votes for Discontrol. In second place, with nearly 40 percent of the vote, was La Nueva Ola de la Cumbia’s “Lucha Libre.”

Released via Esaú Ortiz Azuara and distributed by Sony Music Latin, the 14-track LP cements Ortiz as a rising force in música mexicana, opening with the title track that is a bona fide party anthem, fusing disco-tinged beats with regional Mexican instrumentation — showcasing the singer-songwriter’s versatility from the get-go. “Discontrol” sets the tone for Ortiz’s experimental essence in the album, dabbling in hip-hop, pop, cumbia and electronica.

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The album also includes his global viral hit “Triple Lavada,” which landed in Billboard‘s Best Songs of 2025 (So Far). The song’s remix, featuring Mexican heavy hitters Luis R Conriquez, Oscar Maydon, Alemán and Victor Mendivil, closes Discontrol.

In April, Ortiz signed with Sony Music Latin and said in a statement, “I have the best team to take my music to the next level and to the ears of everyone.” He added, ” I believe we will do great things together, which makes me very happy.”

The poll also included new releases by Nathy Peluso, who teamed up with Rawayana for “Malportada,” Santa Fe Klan’s “Wuare” and Shakira’s “Zoo” for Zootopia 2.

Editor’s Note: The weekly New Music Latin poll results are posted if the poll generates more than 1,000 votes.

Taylor Swift claims the top 12 spots on the latest Billboard Hot 100, all via her new album, The Life of a Showgirl. On the chart dated Oct. 18, “The Fate of Ophelia” leads her dozen debuts at No. 1 — as the 12-song set becomes the first album ever to place all its songs uninterrupted from the top of the chart on down.

Swift was already the only artist ever to hold the Hot 100’s entire top 10 and now achieves the feat for a third time. She first filled the top 10 thanks to her album Midnights in November 2022 and outpaced herself via The Tortured Poets Department in May 2024 — when she stormed the chart’s top 14 positions.

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(Whereas the entirety of The Life of a Showgirl resides in the Hot 100’s top 12, Midnights, along with the top 10, yielded 10 more debuts, between Nos. 13 and 45, for a total of 20 songs from the set in its debut week; The Tortured Poets Department in its first frame added another 17 debuts below the top 14 spots, from Nos. 22 to 55, making for 31 total entries from the LP.)

With “The Fate of Ophelia,” Swift scores her 13th career Hot 100 No. 1, tying for the fourth-most over the chart’s 67-year history. She also ups her count to 69 top 10s, the most among women.

Also notably, the song blasts in with 92.5 million official U.S. streams, according to data tracker Luminate — the most for a title in a single week since official streams became the metric’s sole contributor to the Hot 100 in September 2020.

As previously reported, The Life of a Showgirl, released Oct. 3 on Republic, launches at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with the biggest week for an album, by equivalent album units and album sales, since Luminate began collecting album data electronically in 1991. Swift earns her 15th No. 1 set, passing JAY-Z for the most among soloists in the chart’s 69-year archives.

Read on for in-depth highlights of Swift’s latest historic week on the Hot 100.

The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data, the lattermost metric reflecting purchases of physical singles and digital tracks from full-service digital music retailers; digital singles sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites are excluded from chart calculations. All charts (dated Oct. 18, 2025) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, Oct. 14. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

Taylor Swift achieves her 15th No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Oct. 18) in record-breaking fashion with the debut of The Life of a Showgirl. Swift breaks out of a tie with Drake and JAY-Z for the most No. 1 albums among soloists and becomes the sole act with the second-most No. 1s. Only The Beatles, with 19 No. 1s, have more, dating to when the chart began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in 1956.

All 15 of Swift’s full-length studio albums and rerecorded projects from 2008’s Fearless (her second album) through The Life of a Showgirl have debuted at No. 1.

The Life of a Showgirl debuts with 4.002 million equivalent album units (which include pure album sales and streaming activity) earned in the United States in the week ending Oct. 9, according to Luminate, following its Oct. 3 release. Of that sum, pure album sales total 3,479,500. Those are the largest weekly sums for an album, by both equivalent album units and pure album sales, since Luminate started electronically collecting data in 1991, beginning the modern era of weekly music tabulation.

Previously, the modern-era records for single-week equivalent album units, and pure album sales, for an album were set by the opening frame of Adele’s 25, with 3.482 million units, of which 3.378 million were pure album sales, in November 2015.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new, Oct. 18, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Oct. 14. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Of The Life of a Showgirl’s 4.002 million first-week equivalent album units, pure album sales (purchases of the physical and digital versions of the album) comprise 3,479,500 (it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales) and SEA units comprise 522,600 (equaling 680.9 million on-demand official streams of the tracks on the album; it also debuts at No. 1 on Top Streaming Albums). The album has zero TEA units, as none of its tracks were available to purchase individually on digital retail services. (Notably, The Life of a Showgirl is the first album to be No. 1 with no TEA units, and no tracks available to purchase individually, since the Billboard 200 began ranking albums by equivalent album units with the Dec. 13, 2014-dated chart.)

The Life of a Showgirl was announced on Aug. 12 and Swift’s official webstore began taking preorders for the album soon after. The album bowed on Oct. 3 and during its first week Swift hit the promotional trail, chatting up the album on radio programs and sitting down for interviews on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (Oct. 6) and Late Night with Seth Meyers (Oct. 8). Her film Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl barnstormed movie theaters over the Oct. 3-5 weekend, coming in atop the box office at U.S. and Canada movie theaters. The official music video for the album’s first single, “The Fate of Ophelia,” debuted on Oct. 5.

Here’s a look at some of the key figures for the opening week of The Life of a Showgirl.

Megan Thee Stallion has become a renowned mental health advocate by opening up about her personal struggles on her path to stardom.

The Houston rapper sat down with actress Taraji P. Henson at the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation’s inaugural I Am the Table Benefit Brunch in Maryland on Sunday (Oct. 12), where Megan got emotional recalling her journey and the moment she realized she needed therapy.

“Through all of that grief, I was just working and trying to be the best Megan I could be,” she said while getting choked up. “And I didn’t know I needed therapy until one day, I was just like, ‘Damn, I’m really sad, and it’s really scary how sad I am.’ And it was like, I didn’t care what happened to me. And I didn’t want to feel like that, like I should care about my life.”

Megan’s mother, Holly Thomas, passed away in 2019 from a brain tumor. Not long after, she endured the trauma that came with being shot by Tory Lanez in July 2020, which was followed by a lengthy and intense trial with plenty of social media scrutiny (Lanez was sentenced to a decade behind bars).

The LGBTQ nonprofit the Trevor Project honored Megan Thee Stallion with the 2025 Mental Health Champion award. “I’m honored to receive this year’s Mental Health Champion award from The Trevor Project,” Megan wrote in a statement. “My goal has always been to use my platform to help break stigmas around mental health and provide resources for those seeking safe spaces to have honest and heartfelt conversations.”

The three-time Billboard Hot 100-topping rapper launched the Bad B—hes Have Bad Days Too wellness website in 2022, which provided mental health resources, crisis hotlines and therapy contacts for youth. She also contributed to the Seize the Awkward campaign in 2023, which focused on breaking the stigma surrounding mental health.

An angry Taylor Swift fan has filed a class action lawsuit against StubHub over allegations that the company refuses to honor its “FanProtect Guarantee,” leaving her with clearly “inferior” seats after she dropped $14,000 on Eras Tour tickets.

Despite StubHub’s promise, Alexis Christensen says that her pricy tickets to Swift’s December show in Vancouver were suddenly voided on the day of the concert – and that the platform offered her only a “sharply angled side view of the stage” as a replacement.

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Those new tickets were worth only $3,600, Christensen says, and StubHub “pocketed the difference.”

“With less than forty minutes until the once-in-a-lifetime concert began, and with no alternative option or recourse provided by the defendant, Ms. Christensen was forced to use the inferior tickets that StubHub provided,” her attorneys write in the lawsuit, which was obtained by Billboard. “StubHub exploits the consumer’s lack of alternatives and coerces them into using tickets that are significantly less valuable than those they purchased.”

Christensen’s case is the latest legal battle driven by the infamously pricey market for Swift’s tour, which wrapped in December with a record-shattering haul of more than $2 billion in face-value ticket sales over a two-year run. Numerous fans filed class actions against Ticketmaster, and the Federal Trade Commission is suing an Eras re-seller who jacked up prices. Prosecutors in New York even filed criminal cases against a “cybercrime crew” that stole Eras tickets and resold them at a huge profit.

StubHub’s FanProtect Guarantee promises buyers that tickets they buy on the platform are valid; if not, the company promises to “find you comparable or better tickets to the event” or offer a refund or credit. But the fine print is more nuanced: the meaning of “comparable or better” is decided at StubHub’s “sole discretion,” based on “cost, quality, availability and other factors.”

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In her complaint, Christensen says her three replacement tickets were hardly “comparable” – and in fact were “significantly worse.” She says her original $14,000 seats were located in BC Place Stadium’s Section 249, directly in front of the stage, while the replacements were located in Section 218, almost parallel with the stage and with a bad view of Swift on the tour’s long catwalk stage.

“In Section 249, the plaintiff would have had a full view of the stage, including the runway reaching from the main stage out onto the concert floor,” her lawyers say, including side-by-side images of the two vantage points. “In Section 218, the plaintiff only had a sharply angled side view of the main stage, and a rear view whenever the runway was in use.”

And Christensen’s lawyers say she’s not the only one to be duped by the FanProtect Guarantee. They say StubHub uses it to convince consumers to use the platform, but “routinely and knowingly provides inferior tickets” or “refuses to offer refunds.” By providing lesser replacements, the lawsuit claims the company is “able to pocket the difference in value and further profit from this fraudulent scheme.”

Filed as a proposed class action, the lawsuit seeks to represent “hundreds of thousands if not millions” people who the attorneys claim have faced similar treatment: “Despite its representations, StubHub regularly declines to honor its FanProtect Guarantee.”

In technical terms, the lawsuit accuses StubHub of violating Washington state’s consumer protection law as well as a variety of other forms of legal wrongdoing, including making intentional misrepresentations to buyers and fraudulently inducing fans to buy tickets.

A spokesperson for StubHub did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday.

There’s a reason they call her a legend — when Gloria Estefan steps up to a microphone, even the quietest room becomes a dance floor ready to ignite.

On Monday (Oct. 13), the Cuban-American icon turned the cozy space of NPR’s Tiny Desk into a stage for celebration and a display of the timeless magic that has defined her career for nearly five decades. Wearing a dazzling red dress and hoop earrings, Estefan effortlessly spanned seven songs in 30 minutes, from crowd-pleasing classics to new material from her August album, Raíces.

Backed by a 14-member ensemble featuring brass, percussion, strings and vocalists, the Latin hitmaker’s voice shone with warmth and precision. From iconic staples like “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You” and the electrifying “Conga,” she transported viewers to the golden era of Miami Sound Machine, while newer pieces like “Raíces” and the playful “La Vecina (No Sé Ná’)” testified to her relevance today. “I don’t think you realize how hard it is for musicians to cut down their songs to be tiny for Tiny Desk,” she quipped, drawing chuckles from the audience. “So we’re trying to give you as much as we can!”

“Everything we’ve done — despite the fact that it may not be either Cuban or American — it’s still music that I have celebrated throughout my life, that I’ve learned about, and that I’ve made my own, to a degree. I’d love to head over to Peru with this next song,” she mentioned before kicking off “Wrapped,” originally written by Peruvian poet/musician Gian Marco. Estefan is the only artist who has been allowed to record a video in Machu Picchu. “It was quite something to experience that magic,” she said.

Estefan also performed “Mi Tierra” and “Chirriqui Chirri.” This showcase is part of NPR’s “El Tiny” series celebrating Latin artistry during Hispanic Heritage Month. In August, the Miami icon graced the cover of Billboard Español. On Oct. 22, Gloria Estefan will join Emilio Estefan at Billboard Latin Music Week for an Icon Q&A at the Fillmore Miami Beach. Get your tickets at Billboard Latin Music Week 2025.

Watch Gloria Estefan’s full Tiny Desk Concert above.

Billboard’s Live Music Summit will be held in Los Angeles on Nov. 3. For tickets and more information, head here.

Chrissy Teigen is hoping that her honesty about using weight-loss drugs will inspire people to feel more confident in themselves, including the kids she shares with John Legend.

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While speaking to People on Saturday (Oct. 11), the model opened up about why she chose to reveal this year that she used Ozempic to help her on her weight-loss journey post-miscarriage. Teigen has previously shared how traumatic it was to experience pregnancy loss in 2020, and this past September, she shared on the Self-Conscious podcast that she’d tried GLP-1 medication after struggling to feel at home in her body after the tragedy.

“Since the beginning of social media, I’ve always wanted people to know that things weren’t as fluffy and beautiful as they may seem,” she told the publication of why she chose to share the information on the podcast. “I knew it would really resonate and make a lot of people feel a lot better about their families, themselves, their own bodies.”

Teigen shares 9-year-old Luna, 7-year-old Miles, 2-year-old Esti and 1-year-old Wren with Legend. Five years ago, she and the EGOT winner had been preparing to welcome a son they’d named Jack into their family, but that October, the couple shared the news that Teigen had suffered a miscarriage.

On Self-Conscious, the cookbook author divulged that she later started taking Ozempic — an insulin-boosting medication that many people have started using for its weight-loss properties — because she’d fallen into a “deep depression of seeing this pregnant belly with no baby in it.”

While speaking to People, Teigen emphasized that she hopes her honesty will make her kids feel safer when it comes to their own health choices in the future. “I would want my daughter — or son, if Miles wants to venture into hair plug territory or something — I would want them to know that it’s not about pretending to be perfect, it’s about being open and honest about what it feels to make you feel better,” she said.

Teigen is just the latest A-lister to be transparent with fans about using Ozempic. Both Lizzo and Fat Joe have been open about their experiences with the drug while on their own health journeys, while Kelly Clarkson has said that she used a similar weight-loss medication while trying to shed some pounds.

But as Teigen pointed out, losing weight will never fix self-confidence issues. “It’s not about striving for perfection, because it doesn’t make anybody else feel emotionally happy at the end of the day,” she added. “It’ll never truly fulfill you. But people are going to make their own decisions about their bodies and what will make them feel healthy and safe and proud of themselves, and everybody has a right to do those things.”


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At her concert in San Francisco, Dua Lipa was joined by local royalty — Billie Joe Armstrong — to perform Green Day‘s “Wake Me Up When September Ends.”

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The cameo went down toward the end of the pop star’s Sunday night (Oct. 12) show at the Chase Center. Every night on her Radical Optimism Tour, Lipa has sang a cover of a local artist’s song — but this night was extra special as the frontman of her chosen band was there to perform it with her.

“Every night we do a different song, we do a surprise song, and we do a song by a local artist,” she told the crowd before Armstrong joined her on stage. “I immediately thought about San Francisco, and I thought about all of the incredible music that has come out of here. I thought about one band in particular that would be perfect tonight.”

“I love this band for so many different reasons,” Lipa continued. “I love them because of their rawness, their authenticity, the message behind it, the space it holds for people who feel like sometimes they might not belong.”

Then, as the audience erupted in excitement, the singer cheered, “Join me in welcoming the incredible Billie Joe from Green Day!” (Green Day formed in the Bay Area’s Rodeo, Calif.)

A guitar player went on to play the recognizable opening riff of “Wake Me Up,” which came out in 2004 and hit No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 the following year. As Armstrong and Lipa took turns singing lead vocals, the latter’s pop show temporarily transformed into an electric rock concert.

Lipa’s Radical Optimism Tour kicked off in November 2024. The star will have been on the road for more than a year by the time the trek concludes in December with three shows in Mexico City.

Her past locally sourced song covers have included “Royals” by Lorde in New Zealand and “One Last Time” by Ariana Grande in Miami. Armstrong isn’t the only star who’s made a cameo on the Radical Optimism trek, with Gwen Stefani joining Lipa to sing “Don’t Speak” in Los Angeles earlier in October.

Billboard’s Live Music Summit will be held in Los Angeles on Nov. 3. For tickets and more information, head here.


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