Bullet Train‘s “Gachi Muchuu!” tops the Billboard Japan Hot 100, on the chart released May 20.

The title track of Bullet Train’s 23rd single sold 585,235 copies, surpassing the group’s previous personal-best first-week sales of 416,904 copies set with “NINE LIVES.” The song lands at No. 1 for sales, while placing No. 38 for downloads, No. 3 for radio airplay, and No. 19 for video views to give the group its third No. 1 on the Japan Hot 100.

Sakanaction’s song from 2012, “Yoru no Odoriko,” rises to No. 2 from No. 10, with streaming up 143%, downloads up 192%, radio up 160%, video up 256%, and karaoke up 153% week-over-week. M!LK’s “Bakuretsu Aishiteru” and “Sukisugite Metsu!” each climb two spots to No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, while Kenshi Yonezu’s “IRIS OUT” also moves up two positions from No. 7 to No. 5.

Ae! group’s “Dekoboko Life” enters the chart at No. 6. The theme song to the movie OSOMATSUSAN, in which the group makes its feature-film lead debut, logged 12,131 downloads to top the metric, while hitting No. 2 for radio and No. 39 for video. The CD version is set for release Jun. 17.

Utada Hikaru’s “PAPPAPARADISE” leaps 19-7, powered by a 133% streaming gain and a 254% radio gain week-over-week. The track serves as the new ending theme to the long-running anime Chibi Maruko-chan and has also been adopted as the new commercial song for Ayataka bottled tea.

The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, video views and karaoke data.

See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from May 11 to 17, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English X account.

Just before P!nk hosts the Tony Awards on Sunday, June 7, Laura Benanti and Tituss Burgess will “Get the Party Started,” to quote one of P!nk’s greatest hits, as cohosts of “The Tony Awards: Act One.”

The pre-show will be available to viewers for free on Pluto TV from 6:35 to 8 p.m. ET/3:35-5 p.m. PT on Tony Sunday. Viewers can access “The Tony Awards: Act One” on their smart TV, streaming device, mobile app or online by going to Pluto TV and clicking on the “Live Music” channel, found within the Entertainment category on the service.

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Benanti is a top star of Broadway musicals. She won a Tony in 2008 for her featured role in Gypsy and has also been nominated for her performances in Swing!, Into the Woods, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and She Loves Me.

Burgess received five Primetime Emmy nods for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and a sixth for Central Park.

Last year, the pre-show was cohosted by Darren Criss and Renée Elise Goldsberry. Criss went on to win a Tony on that night’s main show for his lead role in Maybe Happy Ending.

Immediately following the pre-show, the 79th Annual Tony Awards will broadcast live to both coasts from 8 to 11 p.m. ET/5 to 8 p.m. PT on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. This year’s show will be held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City for the second year in a row.

Raj Kapoor, Sarah Levine Hall, and Jack Sussman are executive producers of this year’s show. Kapoor and Levine Hall will also serve as co-showrunners. Patrick Menton and Rob Paine will co-executive produce, with Menton also serving as head of talent.

Kapoor was also an executive producer of this year’s Grammys, Oscars and Academy of Country Music Awards.

The Tony Awards are produced in collaboration with Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League. 


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Kylie Minogue has also seen those rumors that she might be a secret guest star on Madonna‘s upcoming Confessions II album. The whispers ramped up on Tuesday (May 19) when a Los Angeles Times interviewer asked Minogue about an Instagram post hinting at a new music video shoot, which led to some fan wish-making about a superstar diva team-up on Madonna’s upcoming (July 3) sequel to her 2005 Billboard 200 No. 1 album, Confessions on a Dance Floor.

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“That’s a random thing,” Minogue told the paper about the Madonna talk. “There was a rumor I was on her album, but I’m not — I’m excited to hear it, all!”

The speculation is not totally unfounded, as Minogue made a surprise cameo during the March 2024 Los Angeles stop on Madonna’s Celebration tour, where they performed Gloria Gaynor’s girl-power disco classic “I Will Survive” as well as Minogue’s 2001 hit “Can’t Get You Out of My Head.”

A year later, speaking to People, Minogue said, “That was an incredible night and an incredible moment. And a lot of people had been waiting a long time, probably including us, but I thought that was just perfect.” At the time, she said she would “obviously” love to collaborate with Madonna one day. “So, there’s been no discussion, but if it were to happen, that would be great,” she said in December.

So far, Madonna has released “I Feel So Free,” as well as the Sabrina Carpenter collab “Bring You Love,” the album’s first official single. And while the tracklist was revealed in street posters around the world, it did shed light on any other potential guest stars.

The (relatively) bad news came with a bit of good news for Minogue fans, with the 57-year-old singer confirming that she’s recorded a new song called “Light Up” that she said “lives perfectly” next to her new three-part Netflix documentary, Kylie, which dropped on Wednesday (May 20).

Minogue said the fresh track is no “Padam Padam,” the Grammy-winning 2023 global dance smash that was the singer’s second No. 1 on Billboard’s Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart. She described the song as having a “lot of heart. Initially, I was thinking about my mom, ‘cause you can see in this documentary — don’t make me cry — I love her so much. I was writing about when you’re struggling, whether you’re a child or a grown-up, and someone who loves you will look into your eyes and, like a manga cartoon, you kind of zoom in and you see this world of possibility. When you’re lost, helpless or glassy-eyed, someone who can see in you what you can’t see can light you up, and you can get through that moment.”

The intimate documentary chronicles Mingoue’s rise from a teen star on the mega-popular Australian soap opera Neighbours — which instantly made her a household name in her native country beginning in 1986 — to her whirlwind romance with late INXS singer Michael Hutchence. It also touches on her unusual friendship with fellow musician and dark prince of Australian rock Nick Cave, as well as the seemingly constant wave of negative press and criticism she received during the initial years of her pop career in the 1990s.

With her signature charm and humor, Minogue responds to those slings and arrows with good cheer, while also delving into the heartbreak of her split with first love Hutchence and the devastating impact of her breast cancer diagnosis in 2005. She also reveals her, until-now, undisclosed second cancer diagnosis in 2021, which she discusses for the first time in the doc.


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Cher has been keeping it groovy for eight decades now, with the multi-hyphenate superstar celebrating her 80th birthday on Wednesday (May 20). And to celebrate, Billboard wants to know which of her many songs to reach the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 thus far is the greatest.

In total, Cher has notched a dozen tracks in the top 10 over the course of her solo career — four of which went No. 1, mind you. That’s not including the smashes she secured in her legacy by way of Sonny & Cher, her former music duo with ex-husband Sonny Bono best known for “I Got You Babe,” which spent three weeks at the top of the chart in 1965. After going out on her own, the singer-actress first reached the summit in 1972 with “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves.” She would continue to outdo herself with 1973’s “Half-Breed” and 1998’s “Believe,” which spent two and four weeks at No. 1, respectively. (1974’s “Dark Lady” also reached the summit for a week.) Some of her most beloved enduring hits never made it to the top spot, but certainly came close, with “If I Could Turn Back Time” peaking at No. 3 and “After All (Love Theme From Chances Are)” hitting No. 6 in 1989.

But which of those staples in Cher’s iconic discography is the best? Now’s the time to decide.

In honor of the legend’s big day, Billboard wants to know your favorite of her top 10 hits on the Hot 100. Tell us your pick by casting your vote in the poll below.


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More than 40 years after its release, Thriller yet again vaults Michael Jackson into the record books. The landmark album spends a 39th nonconsecutive week at No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (dated May 23), bringing the King of Pop’s total weeks at No. 1 — across his nine No. 1 albums — to an even 100. He is the first solo artist to reach the triple-digit mark in the chart’s 61-year history.

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For its latest week in charge, Thriller earned 66,000 equivalent album units in the tracking week of May 8-14 in the United States, according to Luminate. The album improved 6% in units compared to its previous week’s count.

The smash album, released in 1982, reclaimed the top spot last week for the first time since 1984 as fan reaction to the Michael biopic has prompted massive surges in Jackson’s overall streaming catalog across all of his songs. For the fourth consecutive week, Jackson reaches a new best streaming week career for his solo material in U.S. official on-demand streams. His May 8-14 sum of 190.4 million follows his 181.6 million count (May 1-7), 137.6 million (April 24-30) and 55.9 million (April 17-23).

With Thriller retaining the crown, Jackson adds his 100th career week at No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. He claims the second-best career total in the chart’s history, after only The Temptations, whose record 17 No. 1s on the chart combined for 109 weeks in the top spot. Jackson joins the triple-digit club via these nine No. 1s:

Weeks at No. 1, Album Title, Year(s) at No. 1

  • 16, Off the Wall, 1979-80
  • 39, Thriller, 1983-84; 2026
  • 18, Bad, 1987-88
  • 12, Dangerous, 1992
  • two, HIStory: Past Present and Future Book 1, 1995
  • four, Invincible, 2001
  • four, Michael Jackson’s This Is It Soundtrack, 2009
  • two, Michael, 2011
  • three, Xscape, 2014

In its original era, Thriller clocked a then-record 37 weeks at No. 1 in 1983-84 off the strength of classic singles including “Billie Jean,” “Beat It” and the title track. Its mark stood for 41 years until SZA’s SOS, reinforced with its SOS Deluxe: LANA edition, surpassed it in June 2025 and extended to 46 total weeks at the top.

“Billie Jean” leads Jackson’s song catalog again, at No. 3 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, maintaining last week’s position. The former No. 1 is joined by Thriller tracks “Human Nature” (6-4) and “Beat It” (7-6) closely behind. In total, Jackson lands 14 cuts on the chart, the most simultaneous appearances he’s ever had in a single week.


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There are Survivor fans, and then there’s Sia — a Grammy-nominated pop star who has given away more than $1 million of her own money to numerous contestants across eight seasons. And, after a brief pause, she’s bringing back her tradition for the season 50 finale with a fan-centric twist.

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The Sia Prize began in 2016 as an unofficial cash reward for players whose personal stories resonated with the “Chandelier” singer. After she surpassed the $1 million mark, host Jeff Probst put his foot down. “I’m stopping this because you’ll just keep giving money and you have a family,” he told Rolling Stone in an interview published Tuesday (May 19).

Now, 10 years after the inception of the Sia Prize, the reward will return, with the Australian singer-songwriter asking fans to vote for “the kind of player she always recognizes.” In keeping with this season’s “In the Hands of the Fans” theme, this year’s Sia Prize winner will be announced during the season finale on Wednesday, May 20, and walk away with $100,000.

At press time, representatives for Sia have not responded to Billboard’s request for comment.

“When we decided that Survivor 50 was going to be ‘In the Hands of the Fans,’ I reached out to Sia to let her know what we were doing and to see if she had any interest in being part of it again,” Probst explained to RS. “She loved the idea of fans having a real voice in shaping the game and was very enthusiastic about participating. And the twist on the Sia Prize was actually her idea. She said, ‘If this season is truly about the fans having a say, then the fans should choose the winner of the Sia Prize too.’”

Sia last handed out her prize in 2023 for the show’s 45th season, with Katurah Topps winning $100,000 and Jake O’Kane and Kaleb Gebrewold each earning $15,000. “‘I’ve been really fortunate [and] music has been good to me,’” Probst recalled Sia telling him. “‘I make a lot of money, and Survivor brings me a lot of joy, so I want to share my money with people who brought me a lot of joy.’”

Season 50 of Survivor has a strong musical bent — and it doesn’t stop with Sia. Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong and his son, Jakob, recorded a cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes” for this season’s promos, and Probst’s original song, “Survivor 50 Come and Get It,” was recorded in the same studio as Joni Mitchell’s Blue and Carole King’s Tapestry. Country star Zac Brown also launched his own “epic spearfishing” prize this season, while Jack Harlow, Billie Eilish and Doja Cat have all proved themselves to be major Survivor fans over the years.

When RS asked Probst why musical artists might be drawn to the long-running competition, he shared: “From the music perspective, because people like Sia are fans who happen to be musicians. But I think, to extrapolate, our son is a musician. When he plays us a song he just wrote, he’s nervous. It’s from his soul. And that’s Survivor: real people telling you their truth. Being vulnerable. Like the vulnerability of sharing your art. That’s what people connect with.”

Sia’s most recent solo studio album, Reasonable Woman, arrived in 2024 and reached No. 153 on the Billboard 200. At the top of this year (Jan. 29), she released a 10th anniversary edition of her 2016 This Is Acting LP, which spawned her Sean Paul-assisted, RIAA Diamond-certified Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single “Cheap Thrills.”

Survivor airs Wednesdays on CBS at 8 p.m., and streams on Paramount+.


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Cardi B isn’t letting motherhood cramp her style, unless you count 7-year-old daughter Kulture stealing pieces from her closet on the regular.

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When asked by E News! in a Wednesday (May 20) article whether having kids has changed her approach to fashion, the rapper responded with her signature bluntness. “It hasn’t,” she said. “F–k that, they haven’t changed me for s–t!”

“I like to get dressed up, I like to feel nice,” the Grammy winner continued. “When you look good, you want to work, you want to go outside, you want to do something.”

That said, there are some boundaries here and there that Cardi has. “I’m not gonna go to my daughter’s school with a see-through shirt or with a shirt [where] my nipples are rock hard,” she told the publication.

The interview comes as Cardi — who shares Kulture and two other kids with estranged husband Offset as well as a baby boy with Stefon Diggs — is launching her partnership with Fashionphile. In her new commercial for the consignment company, she quips that the resale platform is perfect for anyone who’s “got bags, jewelry and watches just sitting, like the ones from certain exes.”

One person who may need to try out the website in the future is Kulture, because Cardi says she’s not planning on sharing her purse collection with her eldest child anytime soon. “Oh my god. This girl is always in my closet,” the rapper added to E. “I’m about sick of it, but she already knows the rules — my clothes, whatever, and my shoes, whatever, but don’t touch Mommy’s purses. You already wrote on one of them.”

Cardi’s latest money move comes about a month after she wrapped her Little Miss Drama Tour, which grossed more than $70 million across 453,000 tickets sold, according to numbers reported to Billboard Boxscore. The trek supported her long-awaited sophomore album, Am I the Drama?, which debuted atop the Billboard 200 in October.

Watch Cardi’s new commercial for Fashionphile above.


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In 2011, Shakira spent 163 days in Spain between stops on her blockbuster Sale el Sol world tour. That tally ended up being crucial in the star’s long quest to void a $69 million tax penalty levied by the European nation — showing just how granular the work of international tour accounting can get.

Experts helped Billboard unpack Shakira’s Monday (May 18) legal victory following an eight-year battle with Spanish tax authorities. In this ruling, Spain’s National Court acquitted the Colombian star of tax fraud and ordered the return of 60 million euros ($69 million) that had been levied for the 2011 income tax year. She separately paid a $7.6 million fine in 2023 for Spanish taxes between the years of 2012 and 2014.

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Spanish authorities alleged in the 2011 case that Shakira owed taxes to them because she was a resident of Spain while on tour that year and dating Spanish soccer player Gerard Piqué. Shakira maintained she merely visited the country frequently for a long-distance relationship, and her true country of residence was the Bahamas.

Music industry professionals say the question of where one lives can be complicated for someone whose job requires them to traverse the globe. “Touring artists live unusually mobile lives,” says Russell King, an entertainment lawyer who handles tax structuring for many touring musicians. King, who was not involved in the Shakira case, says this means musicians have some flexibility in deciding where to declare residence — but they must show they have real roots in a country to satisfy the tax authorities. 

“Countries such as Spain have really tightened their regimes and are looking to enforce this,” explains King. “That’s what happened here, but it turned out Shakira had done things properly and was able to emerge victoriously.”

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In Spain, and in many other jurisdictions, a person is considered a resident for tax purposes if they spend at least 183 days of a year within the country’s borders. (The country has been particularly aggressive with celebrities in recent years, bringing tax cases against the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo over the past decade.) That means Shakira’s case came down to meticulously retracing the star’s 2011 calendar for the court to ultimately determine that she was 20 days short of that threshold.

This sort of to-the-day schedule tracking is a crucial tax consideration for international touring artists, since they don’t want to cross the 183-day limit for multiple countries and become at risk of double taxation. “I advise my clients to maintain a calendar where they document every single day where they are, just for this reason,” King says.

Timothy Jorstad, a business manager for rock acts who also had no involvement in Shakira’s case, similarly tells Billboard that keeping an eye on the calendar is a big part of his job when it comes to certain touring musicians. This is the case for his client Arnel Pineda, the lead singer of Journey, who is a resident of the Philippines but spends much of any given year in the U.S. on tour.

“We monitor that very closely,” says Jorstad of Pineda’s calendar. “We make him go to Canada for part of the tour, or Mexico or South America or Europe. We try to keep him out of here if he’s coming close to that 180-day period.”

An artist’s country of residence is just one piece of the complex accounting system that managers and attorneys must handle for international tours. There is also the issue of taxes in each country they visit on tour, where artists must pay a portion of concert revenues to the local authorities. If handled correctly, these foreign taxes can be applied as credits to get money deducted from home-country income taxes.

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This work can be complicated by the fact that each country has a separate taxation system with its own quirks. In the U.S., for example, the IRS will levy a 30% tax on international acts’ concert gross revenues unless they enter into what’s known as a central withholding agreement. King says he often helps his clients sign these advance agreements to reduce withholding, since the 30% rate “is often such a harsh cash-flow hit that it can grind tours to a halt.”

As Jorstad puts it, “some countries are more difficult than others” when it comes to tax regimes. He cites as an example his client the Doobie Brothers, who were recently denied touring-specific tax deductions for some U.K. shows after the British government claimed these were actually “album promotion costs.”

“England is getting to be a pain in the ass,” says Jorstad.

The trick to navigating this mathematical puzzle, says Jorstad, is to contract with local accountants and specialty law firms at each tour stop. By working with people who are experts in a country’s specific tax requirements, artists can be sure they are in full compliance with the laws of every place they pass through while on the road.

King also says artists should rely on professionals, not “shortcuts,” to make sure their cross-border touring finances are structured correctly. Significant work should be put into mapping out all this at the outset of a tour; otherwise, an artist could come to regret it later on.

King works with many Latin musicians and says he often invokes the Spanish saying “lo barato sale caro” to get this point across. Rough translation: “What is cheap eventually becomes expensive.”


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Kehlani steps into the Billboard history books with “Folded,” which achieves a record-breaking 17th week at No. 1 on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. With its latest term, on the chart dated May 23, the track becomes the longest-running leader in the radio ranking’s history, from its launch in September 1993.

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“Folded” holds the line despite a 6% dip in plays from panel-contributing mainstream R&B/hip-hop radio stations during the track week of May 8-14, in the United States, compared with the week prior, according to Luminate.

The all-time champ reached No. 1 for the first time on the chart dated Dec. 13, 2025, and reigned for 12 consecutive weeks. It recaptured the top spot on April 11 for two more weeks and rebounded for three more frames beginning May 9. During its record-breaking run, it jostled for the crown with its main competitors, Chris Brown’s “It Depends,” featuring Bryson Tiller, and T.I.’s “Let Em Know,” on multiple occasions.

By landing at a 17th week at No. 1, “Folded” breaks a tie with Future’s “Wait for U,” featuring Drake and Tems, for the most weeks at No. 1 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay. As the leaderboard reshuffles, here’s a review of the longest-lasting leaders:

Weeks at No. 1, Song Title, Artist, Date Reached No. 1

  • 17, “Folded,” Kehlani, Dec. 13, 2025
  • 16, “Wait for U,” Future feat. Drake & Tems, July 2, 2022
  • 13, “Super Gremlin,” Kodak Black, Feb. 26, 2022
  • 12, “Blame It,” Jamie Foxx feat. T-Pain, March 7, 2009
  • 12, “Not Like Us,” Kendrick Lamar, June 22, 2024
  • 11, “No Scrubs,” TLC, March 20, 1999
  • 11, “Adorn,” Miguel, Sept. 22, 2012
  • 11, “The Box,” Roddy Ricch, Feb. 22, 2020
  • 11, “Laugh Now Cry Later,” Drake feat. Lil Durk, Oct. 3, 2020
  • 11, “TGIF,” GloRilla, Sept. 21, 2024

Paralleling its record-breaking success, “Folded” unlocked new achievements for Kehlani across a host of charts, including as the singer-songwriter’s first No. 1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and top 10 breakthrough on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100. It also scored Kehlani their first two Grammy Awards, winning best R&B performance and best R&B song at the ceremony on Feb. 8.

Elsewhere, “Folded” also picks up a 17th week at No. 1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, which ranks songs by combined audience totals from the adult R&B and mainstream R&B/hip-hop panel stations. The single registered 23.1 million in audience (down 4% from the previous week) but has noticeable clearance of the No. 2 title, “It Depends” (17.9 million, also down 4%).


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On the heels of Drake giving Kevin Durant a shout-out on Maid of Honour, Drizzy and KD star alongside one another in a hilarious commercial for the Houston Rockets forward’s new KD19 Nike sneaker, which arrives on June 17.

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“OK, first thought, transcending the game,” Drake said to Durant when getting a first look at a blue and orange pair of KD sneakers that are essentially half cowboy boots. “You need a banjo for those. Those are crazy. Y’all went home, home, home on the range with it. Wow. You’re in 2038 with those.”

“Come on, bro, I can’t hoop in these,” Durant responded before breaking out an all-white pair of fluffy kicks that have seemingly been growing hair for years.

“This guy’s an abominable snowman. They’re hard. This guy’s trying to dominate the Alaskan market,” Drake quipped. “You gotta keep the ankles warm. Those are crazy.”

Durant goes on to question if Drake’s “even a real friend,” as the 37-year-old couldn’t believe the 6 God co-signed the pairs of kicks. “Are you a yes man, bro?” he snapped at Drizzy.

KD finally brought out the real KD19’s in a capri blue colorway, which Durant nicknamed the “Candy’s.” Drake immediately hyped the monochromatic sneaker and joked that he suffered a cavity after just holding the pair.

“Someone call the dentist,” Drake said before continuing to nudge Durant about other colors on the way, which annoyed the NBA star. The Nike ad comes to a close with a tagline: “Everyone needs a yes man.”

“Normalize glazing the bros @easymoneysniper 19th sneaker available on nike.com and SNKRs 6.17,” Drake captioned his post to IG regarding the commercial.

While Drake has had his issues with NBA stars such as LeBron James and DeMar DeRozan, Drizzy and Durant have been close friends for some time now. KD pulled up to Drake’s Iceman release party on Thursday night (May 14) in Toronto.

The 6 God even gave Durant a shout-out on Maid of Honour‘s “Q&A.” “Me and KD got way too much cheese like the— yeah, yeah/ I got some questions for you and I need answers for ’em,” he raps.

Drake returned to the music scene on Friday (May 15) with three brand new albums, as Iceman was joined by the aforementioned Maid of Honour and Habibti. It marked Drake’s first solo LP since For All the Dogs, which topped the Billboard 200 in 2023.

Watch the funny commercial starring Drake and Durant below.


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