He made history again: Alok marked his name on the Tomorrowland timeline by breaking his own Latin American record, taking more than 1,000 drones to the skies of Tomorrowland Brazil in Itu, São Paulo, on Sunday (Oct. 12).

The machines created images of the mother flower — the “LIFE”-themed flower that sits center stage on the Tomorrowland main stage — as well as the Alok and Tomorrowland symbols, and a robotic face that moved as a voice interacted with the audience. The phrase “Rave the World” also formed in the sky.

“You are now forever connected by the universal melody of LIFE,” Alok wrote on Instagram alongside a video of the drone show. “United through the magical energy of friendship. Thank you, for writing history. Live Today, Love Tomorrow, Unite Forever.”

The crowd gathered at the main stage admired the brightness of the drones that fit in perfectly with the Brazilian DJ’s set.

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In 2024, Alok created a show unlike any other in the festival’s history — not even in the Belgian edition. He sent 600 drones flying over Maeda Park, creating images related to Tomorrowland‘s universe and its identity. The set was voted best performance of 2024 by the Electronic Dance Music Awards (EDMAs) and celebrated by Brazilians as one of the most iconic moments of the festival’s 20 years.

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This year, the Brazilian star raised the bar with more than a thousand drones choreographed and synchronized with fireworks, lasers and lights.

The show was the result of a collaboration between Alok’s creative team and Tomorrowland’s production.

You know the numbers by now, right? Taylor Swift‘s The Life of a Showgirl made history this week by officially moving 4.002 million units in its debut week of release, with 3,479,500 of those coming in sales — both single-week records for an album released in the modern era (since 1991).

Showgirl passes Adele’s 25, which previously held both benchmarks — moving 3.482 million units in its 2015 debut week, with 3.378 million of that number coming in sales. In addition setting those records while debuting atop the Billboard 200, Showgirl launches all 12 of its tracks into the top 12 of the Billboard Hot 100 — also a record for top-end dominance — as lead single and opening track “The Fate of Ophelia” bows at No. 1, becoming Swift’s 13th song to reign on the chart.

How has she managed to set so many new records with this album? And how has she done it at a time when none of her peers seem able to even get within striking distance of her numbers? Billboard staffers answer these questions and more below.

1. Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl debuts with 3,479,500 in first-week sales and 4.002 million first-week equivalent album units, beating both first-week records for the modern pop era, previously held by Adele’s 25. What’s the word that first comes to mind when you consider this level of accomplishment? 

Eric Renner Brown: Complicated. Swift’s accomplishment is a major feat, of course. But comparing Showgirl‘s release with 25’s is simply apples to oranges. The ways listeners consume new music has changed drastically in the last decade – and Swift has, to her credit, savvily navigated that. Still, Swift’s straight sales edged Adele’s by only about 100,000, and Adele didn’t have the wind of myriad vinyl variants in her sales sails. And while Swift’s equivalent album units figure includes streaming, Adele initially withheld 25 from streaming. When it comes to the charts, changing modes of distribution and consumption can make comparing artists from different eras challenging: What does one make of Future having three times more Hot 100 entries than The Beatles?

Hannah Dailey: Destiny. I think that Taylor was always going to achieve this record one way or another. I don’t think she ever would have stopped working for it until she got it. As astonishing as these numbers are, they’re the culmination of decades of Taylor working her a– off to get to this moment. Whether it was with Showgirl or not, she was always going to take it at some point.  

Kyle Denis: Cool. Seeing two all-time records fall in one week is an incredible moment, but I think I’m too aware of the sweat it took to make this moment possible for me to just sit back in awe. And I wish it was for a better album. 

Danielle Pascual: Incomparable. I’m confident that no other artist alive right now can do these numbers. In the age of streaming, surpassing even one million in album sales is a feat to be celebrated. Selling more than three times that in 2025 speaks to the power of the fanbase Taylor has carefully curated over the past near two decades since her debut. When a world of music is right at your fingertips thanks to DSPs, artists must have a following that truly supports them to have fans go out of their way to buy an album (let alone multiple). With the success of her Taylor’s Versions and the Eras Tour, we’ve already known Taylor to be in a league of her own — but with Showgirl, the ball’s been hit to another galaxy.

Andrew Unterberger: Wrong-proving? Pre-release week, I had several conversations where I said that there was next to no chance of her to break Adele’s first-week record. And that was no knock on Taylor Swift at all, just a recognition of the reality of the situation, which still included Swift falling way short of those totals with the 31-track expanded Tortured Poets at (seemingly) the absolute peak of her popularity, and now coming back with a 12-tracks-only effort where she seemed to have other priorities in mind. But it’s not the first time Swift has reorganized what I previously believed industry realities to be, and I’m confident it won’t be the last.

2. After Swift’s Tortured Poets Department, released at the peak of Eras Tour mania, still fell well short of the Adele first-week records, many thought they might remain beyond her grasp. What do you see as the biggest factor behind her seizing them with this album? 

Eric Renner Brown: Quite frankly, I do not know. For the last several years, every day has felt like Peak Taylor Swift – but even so, April 2024, when Tortured Poets dropped, felt like the true pinnacle of her cultural omnipresence. Did Showgirl surpass Tortured Poets because Swift touted her long-awaited reunion with producers Max Martin and Shellback? Did her recent engagement to Travis Kelce buoy its numbers? Had fans’ wallets finally recovered from the damage done by the Eras Tour merch table? None of these feel substantial enough to totally explain Showgirl outstripping Tortured Poets to such a degree.

Hannah Dailey: I think it was very smart of Taylor to make the Eras Tour such a crucial part of The Life of a Showgirl’s brand, from marketing the album as a behind-the-scenes peek at her life on the road to singing about her experiences on stage with Sabrina Carpenter on the album’s title track. TTPD may have come out during the tour, but Showgirl is the album embodiment of the tour – and even nearly a year after it wrapped, people are still obsessed with all things Eras, meaning that a whole album dedicated to that chapter of Taylor’s life was always going to do phenomenally. 

Kyle Denis: I think capitalizing on post-Eras Tour momentum with another new album, tying Showgirl to her engagement and the beginning of the NFL season, and, of course, putting out seemingly infinite variants of the album are the biggest factors behind Swift seizing Adele’s first-week records. She also made herself incredibly visible throughout release week, appearing on late-night shows on both sides of the pond. It also worth noting that Showgirl tracks were unable to be individually purchased during release week, theoretically spurring more listeners to buy or stream the full 12-track album. 

Danielle Pascual: I think it has a lot to do with the rollout. Because Tortured Poets was released at the height of the Eras Tour, Taylor didn’t really have time to go out and promote the album since her focus was probably on her 3.5 hour stadium shows. On the other hand, since she announced The Life of a Showgirl on her now-fiancé’s podcast in mid-August, it has been all systems go on album promo. From Taylor’s return to radio and late-night interviews to brand activations and more, TS12 has completely infiltrated the mainstream in a way that TS11 did not.

Andrew Unterberger: If this were any other artist, we’d probably saying “well OF COURSE the 12-track set of pop bangers is doing way better than the 16-or-31-track set of tortured poetry.” Maybe we should just be saying it with Swift too.

3. Of Swift’s last two lead singles, “Anti-Hero” reigned on the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks, while “Fortnight” with Post Malone reigned for two. Which length of rule do you think the run for “The Fate of Ophelia,” which bows atop the listing this week, will more closely resemble? 

Eric Renner Brown: For much of this year, the upper echelon of the Hot 100 has felt stagnant – which means a Swift takeover could last longer than the brief blink-and-you-miss-it No. 1s we sometimes see in the streaming era. At the same time, Showgirl has felt more siloed off from the broader culture – as much as a multi-million-selling album can feel that way – than Swift’s other recent output. It’s easy to imagine Swift’s fans holding “Ophelia” and other songs from this album in high esteem, even as they fail to seize the zeitgeist like her previous hits have. Especially without another Post-caliber star in the mix, I don’t anticipate “Ophelia” clocking multiple weeks at the top.

Hannah Dailey: Both of my predictions for “Anti-Hero” and “Fortnight” turned out to be wrong, but if I have to guess, I’ll say that “The Fate of Ophelia” will have a No. 1 run that’s more similar to the latter – if only because of how little the Hot 100 top 10 has changed this year. Even when new songs have come for the crown, a lot of them have only remained briefly at the top before falling back behind the top 10’s longterm residents in 2025. 

Kyle Denis: Definitely “Fortnight.” “Ophelia” isn’t nearly as hooky as “Anti-Hero,” and that song already wasn’t as catchy as Taylor’s Red and 1989 pop hits. KPop Demon Hunters’ “Golden” also clearly isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. 

Danielel Pascual: “Anti-Hero.” I’m not so sure “The Fate of Ophelia” will beat eight weeks at No. 1, but I think it will come close. Her latest lead single sounds more like the radio-ready single we’ve come to expect from Swift’s pop projects. Despite the A-list feature of Post Malone on “Fortnight,” the song was a sonic departure for Swift. Timing-wise, I do think the Eras Tour overshadowed that single, whereas now, Taylor can put all her energy into promoting “Ophelia.” If she wanted this to be her biggest No. 1, she could undoubtedly do it.

Andrew Unterberger: I hope it’s more like “Fortnight,” since “Ophelia” is one of my least-favorite Taylor Swift singles. (Actually can we get a longer run for the somehow-highly-underrated “Fortnight” retroactively instead?) But I’d guess it ends up being more like “Anti-Hero” — the streaming numbers are still too gargantuan, and radio is only just starting to get going with the song, with every reason in the world to continue embracing it.

4. The most staggering thing about Taylor Swift moving four million units of an album in one week in 2025 might be that no other artist has even moved one million — and only Adele herself has come particularly close. What do you think is the biggest reason why Swift has separated herself from the pack so dramatically? 

Eric Renner Brown: In the year 2025, Taylor Swift has a remarkably high floor. Her gaudy sales numbers mirror her Eras Tour live statistics, which were similarly Barry-Bonds-on-steroids margins beyond other successful stadium artists. Her popularity feels more akin to the monocultural stars of yesteryear than any of her “peers” today. But when considering the sheer distance by which she has surpassed the rest of pop’s A-list, I do credit some of it to her savvy – to put it uncynically – navigation of how records are sold today. Granted, plenty of other major artists today use things like vinyl variants to bolster their numbers, without attaining Swift’s success; in a world where Swift offers a more limited range of purchasing options, I bet she still healthily trumps Adele and all other challenges, just not by such a staggering margin.

Hannah Dailey: She puts so much effort into turning each of her albums into their own miniature brands. The variants, the visuals, the exclusive photos and poems. Her album sales numbers are consistently wild because she consistently gives fans so many different goodies to get their hands on — and most importantly, she makes it fun for them to do so. Swifties truly want to live inside these album worlds Taylor creates, and where there’s demand, she always knows how to supply. 

Kyle Denis: Her willingness to sweat and play the game. Musically, Showgirl is tailor-made for mass appeal. The song structures and melodies are familiar; the production is largely inoffensive, and any pop radio station can play these lyrics. She also isn’t aligning herself with — or explicitly calling out — a sociopolitical movement. When you combine all of this with Swifty’s nifty marketing mind (30+ variants with exclusive mixes, BTS voice notes, early demos, etc.), you end up with an album and a campaign specifically engineered for mass consumption.

But it also takes a committed fanbase with the buying power to pull this off, and Taylor has conditioned an army of consumers who trust her ability to deliver quality material (to their ears, at least) and believe in the virtues of collecting and investing in the never-ending lore of her career. She’s completely committed her focus to securing the biggest first-week totals possible, and that’s a level of tenacity that a lot of her peers don’t seem to be interested in leaning into. 

Danielle Pascual: No other artist has had anything like the Eras Tour. With it, she brought together die-hard fans and casual listeners, who’ve all come to realize how big of a role her music has had on so much of their lives. Now, it’s been 10 months since that final show, and people are still talking about its impact. Showgirl was introduced as an album that gives fans a look behind the Eras Tour curtain, so attendees of that tour were eager to not just relive the magic but learn more about Taylor’s thought processes during such a whirlwind time of her career.

Andrew Unterberger: It’s pretty hard to point to one thing — it’s more 15-plus years of savvy creative and business decisions building on one another and paying off in a way we’ve simply never seen before. It’s amazing that Taylor Swift has gotten to this point, but it’s not totally shocking: Even as a teenager, you could tell she was playing the long game with her music, always looking to the future and how to continue growing her audience, her profile and her artistry to the point where she is now not just flop-proof, but able to make the other biggest pop stars in the world look like DIY bedroom-pop artists by comparison. She has, in fact, told us that she is a mastermind.

5. Make a prediction: Will Taylor have another album eventually sell more than 4.002 million in a week? 

Eric Renner Brown: Probably! If Showgirl has proven anything, it’s that even in a year where Swift feels less in the zeitgeist (relatively speaking), she can still do mind-boggling – record-breaking, even – numbers. If there’s a future album campaign where she combines Showgirl-esque release mastery with an acclaimed, chart-dominating pre-release single, it’s easy to imagine that album surpassing Showgirl’s sales marks.

Hannah Dailey: Yes. There’s no reason to doubt that she’ll keep topping herself at this point – she always, always proves that she can.  

Kyle Denis: What the hell, sure. 

Danielle Pascual: Yes. When Showgirl was first announced, I didn’t think she could surpass the 2.61 million units moved with Tortured Poets — and clearly I was wrong. Although Taylor’s chart dominance isn’t new, I don’t think it’s over yet. Her next album will be her 13th, and since that’s her favorite number, she’s got to go big or go home, right?

Andrew Unterberger: Yes. Which still feels impossible, of course, but I simply refuse to get burned betting the under with Taylor Swift again.

Billboard Japan sat down with BABYMETAL for its Monthly Feature series spotlighting artists and releases of note today. The trio’s fourth studio album called METAL FORTH made a historic debut at No. 9 on the U.S. Billboard 200 — the first time ever that a group made up entirely of Japanese members has broken into the chart’s top 10.

The record kicks off with “from me to u (feat. Poppy),” composed by former Bring Me The Horizon member Jordan Fish, setting the tone for a collection of ten collaborations with artists the band has encountered throughout their global journey. The title, METAL FORTH, reflects the idea of going “beyond metal,” and as SU-METAL explains, it’s “an album packed with BABYMETAL seen from many different angles.”

More than just a bold new chapter for the band’s reborn lineup, the release also comes at a milestone moment: BABYMETAL’s 15th anniversary. METAL FORTH marks a brilliant update to the group’s career, and the three members — SU-METAL, MOAMETAL, and MOMOMETAL — chatted about what it means to them.

First, tell us your honest impressions of the album.

SU-METAL: This time we worked with many different artists, so the album shows BABYMETAL from all kinds of angles. Each track gave us the chance to try something new and push ourselves in a different direction. Every BABYMETAL album is like a toy box— you hear it and think, “What is this?!” — and I feel like we managed to top that expectation again. The range of songs has expanded a lot, and while it was tough being asked to sing in a more grown-up style, once I went for it, those songs ended up being the key moments of the album. Overall, it was a lot of fun.

MOAMETAL: Hitting No. 9 on the Billboard 200 also gave us a real sense of accomplishment. We’ve been doing this for 15 years, so breaking our own record feels great. And knowing that people still haven’t gotten tired of us and continue to want more is what really keeps us going.

On the same chart, METAL RESISTANCE peaked at No. 39 in 2016 and METAL GALAXY hit No. 13 in 2019. This time you reached a new peak. How did you feel when you got the news?

MOAMETAL: We’d just finished our set at SUMMER SONIC in Osaka, so the three of us came together, went “Yeahhh!” and gave each other big hugs.

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MOMOMETAL, this is your first album since officially joining the group.

MOMOMETAL: Being involved in the creative process as a member taught me how an album actually comes together. And since this is my first one, I’m just so glad it turned out to be so rich and wonderful, and that we were able to achieve such results. It really feels like all my hard work has paid off.

Does the commercial side of music, like charts and sales, serve as positive inspiration and motivation for you, or do you prefer to keep some distance from it?

MOAMETAL: It feels like the people around us help us keep some distance so we don’t think about it too much ourselves. Like, these days, short songs tend to be popular, right? But if you listen to our album, it’s clear we weren’t thinking about that at all. That’s what makes it feel so true to us, and because the chart positions we’ve earned weren’t influenced by trends, it actually gives us confidence. I really love the environment we’re in right now.

During the production process, were there any tasks that left a particularly strong impression on you, or any unexpected surprises?

MOMOMETAL: I was in charge of the death growls a lot, so that task definitely left a strong impression on me.

SU-METAL: MOMOMETAL started doing the death growls originally as a joke within the group. But as we worked on the album, her death growl parts kept increasing. I watched her gradually become more professional — practicing her technique, figuring out, “Is this the right way?” on her own — and seeing that growth has me excited for what’s next.

THE OTHER ONE, released in 2023, was a concept album exploring “another story of BABYMETAL” and really stood out in your discography. Do you think the experience of making that album influenced this one?

SU-METAL: As the title suggests, THE OTHER ONE was all about showing another side of BABYMETAL, and I think we really went all in on the metal. When we released “Metari!! (feat. Tom Morello),” which is also on METAL FORTH, a lot of people were like, “BABYMETAL is back!” You could say that expanding our range with THE OTHER ONE is what brought BABYMETAL to where we are today. And listening to this new album, I just feel, “Yep, this is definitely BABYMETAL.”

MOAMETAL: I feel like we grew a lot in terms of dance during THE OTHER ONE, too. The choreography MIKIKOMETAL gave us was pretty hard, and that experience really carried over into the moves for METAL FORTH. For “RATATATA,” we came up with almost all of the choreography ourselves, and I think being able to take on that kind of challenge was made possible because of what we learned during THE OTHER ONE.

BABYMETAL’s music has often been described as “Kawaii Metal.” How did you approach the song “KxAxWxAxIxI”?

SU-METAL: I actually don’t think of this song as “Kawaii Metal” at all — it feels like it’s going in a completely opposite direction. It doesn’t really feel Kawaii or even Metal, and that’s what makes it interesting. People who listened to “from me to u (feat. Poppy)” or “Song 3 (BABYMETAL x Slaughter to Prevail)” and thought, “Ah, this is classic BABYMETAL,” will probably stop for a second here and go, “Wait, what’s going on?” We’ve been flying the “Kawaii Metal” flag for so long, but now we’re singing “I’m KAWAII” over this super aggressive track. It kind of makes you wonder, “Does what they’re saying and what they’re doing even match up?” That sense of confusion might actually be the “What is this?!” moment of the album. I think it’s one of those songs that grows on you the more you listen to it.

MOMOMETAL: When I first heard the title, I imagined something bright and pop — like the kind of Kawaii you associate with Japan — so I was like, “Oh, this isn’t what I expected.” It has a hint of allure, a mature kind of cute, you could say. I think we ended up creating a version of Kawaii that’s different from what people usually imagine.

You have two shows coming up at Saitama Super Arena set for January 2026. How are you feeling as you look ahead to them?

SU-METAL: Those will be the final shows of our world tour, which also includes stops at the O2 Arena in the U.K., the Intuit Dome in the U.S., and arenas in Hong Kong and Mexico. It’s our first time touring the world on this scale, so I’d be really happy if people could see how much we’ve grown through it. What I can say now is that it’s going to be the culmination of everything we’ve done over the past year. I hope everyone looks forward to it.

Looking further ahead, one of my dreams is for us to headline an overseas festival someday. Of course, there are things like sales and numbers that matter, but in the metal world, where you stand on a festival lineup really carries a lot of weight. So I’d love for us to reach that point one day.

Also, lately when we play overseas, there are a lot of people from our own generation, and even kids, coming to see us. But in Japan, I think there are still a lot of people who see metal as something mainly for men or feel a bit of resistance to it. Through BABYMETAL, I want to show more people that metal is a kind of music anyone can enjoy.

—This interview by Takuto Ueda first appeared on Billboard Japan

This Thursday (Oct. 16) is going to be a challenging day for Liam Payne‘s family and friends, including the late star’s girlfriend, Kate Cassidy.

That’s because the date will mark exactly one year since Payne died after falling from the fourth floor of his hotel in Argentina. Four days before that, the influencer saw her boyfriend for what she didn’t know yet was the last time — something Cassidy reflected on in an emotional TikTok posted Sunday (Oct. 12).

“One year ago today on Oct. 12 was the last day that I spent with Liam,” Cassidy began. “I feel honestly extremely numb today. I actually think somebody could slap me across the face, and I wouldn’t even be fazed.”

“I wanted to make this video, because I wanted to express how important it is to really remind your loved ones how much you love them,” she continued. “I know I always say it, but you never know what tomorrow brings.”

The internet personality went on to describe the last conversation she had with Payne in Argentina. Cassidy had accompanied him for the first part of the trip, but left a few days before his death.

“I was sitting on the couch, just expressing to him how much I’m going to miss him, how much I love him,” she told the camera with tears in her eyes. “Honestly, it’s so weird to look back at because it was such a long, heartfelt goodbye. He looked at me, and he said, ‘[Kate], you’re going to miss your flight. You’re acting like this is the last time you’re ever going to see me again.’ And little did I know, it literally was the last time I got to see him.”

She added, “I’m so, so glad that me and Liam had that last goodbye the way it was.”

In the immediate days that followed Payne’s death, family members, fans and all four of his former One Direction bandmates shared statements expressing their grief.

Louis Tomlinson recently revealed that, like Cassidy, he’s also still working through his emotions surrounding the loss of his friend. “There’s still a level in my head [where it feels] unjust and frustrating that he’s not with us anymore,” he told Rolling Stone UK. “It was really, really, impossibly difficult for me to deal with losing Liam.”

At the time of his death, Payne had high levels of alcohol and other substances in his system, according to toxicology reports. The musician had been open about his struggles with drinking and addiction in his lifetime.

In an interview on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast following Payne’s death, Cassidy touched on the same subject. “He experienced struggles with mental health for years before dating me,” she said at the time. “It’s something that I, at first, didn’t fully understand. I don’t have addiction that runs in my family. I think in the beginning of our relationship, when he was struggling a little bit, I think that I remember just kind of being like, in my head, ‘Can’t you just not do that?’ But it’s not that easy. It’s not easy at all.”

See Cassidy’s TikTok below.

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