Zayn Malik is headed in one direction going into 2026, setting his sights on Las Vegas for a seven-night residency at the beginning of the new year.

As announced Monday (Sept. 22), the pop star is planning a stay at Dolby Live at Park MGM in Sin City, with opening night slated for Jan. 20. The remaining shows will take place on Jan. 21, 24, 25, 28 and 30 before a grand finale on the 31st.

The expedition will mark a rare chance for fans to see Malik live. As a soloist, he’s only ever embarked on one tour since leaving One Direction in 2015, launching his Stairway to the Sky trek last year.

“VEGAS!! JAN 2026!!” Malik wrote excitedly on Instagram on the same day as the residency announcement, sharing a trio of artsy photos of himself in the city.

According to a release, the English singer’s Vegas shows will feature a setlist spanning his entire discography, which includes the albums Mind of Mine (2016), Icarus Falls (2018), Nobody Is Listening (2021) and Room Under the Stairs (2024). All four of his LPs charted on the Billboard 200, with his debut full-length reaching No. 1 on the chart nearly a decade ago.

“The shows are only the beginning of what will be a massive year for Zayn as he gears up for his next chapter,” reads a description.

To accompany the announcement, a helicopter is scheduled to fly down the Las Vegas Strip on Monday night in celebration of Zayn’s upcoming stay.

Tickets go on sale at 12 p.m. PT on Friday (Sept. 26) following a presale at the same time on Wednesday (Sept. 24). To sign up for the VIP presale, fans can visit a special link shared by Malik on his Instagram Story.

See the full list of dates for Malik’s upcoming Las Vegas residency below.

HUNTR/X’s “Golden,” from Netflix’s animated smash movie KPop Demon Hunters, dominates the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts for a 10th week each. In July, the song became the first No. 1 on each list for the act, whose music is voiced by EJAE, Audrey Nuna and REI AMI.

“Golden” is just the eighth of 72 No. 1s since the Global 200 began in September 2020 to rule for double-digit weeks. On Global Excl. U.S., it’s only the sixth of 63 leaders to reach the milestone.

Hits from KPop Demon Hunters account for half the Global 200’s top 10 for a fifth week. Below “Golden,” Saja Boys hold at No. 3 with “Soda Pop” and No. 4 with “Your Idol,” with both having reached No. 3; both are sung by Andrew Choi, Neckwav, Danny Chung, Kevin Woo and samUIL Lee. Plus, HUNTR/X’s “How It’s Done” drops a spot from its No. 5 high and “What It Sounds Like” keeps at No. 8, after hitting No. 7.

Elsewhere, Olivia Dean’s breakthrough hit “Man I Need” surges to the top 10 on both the Global 200 (16-9) and Global Excl. U.S. (17-10).

The Billboard Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by Luminate. The Global 200 is inclusive of worldwide data and the Global Excl. U.S. chart comprises data from territories excluding the United States.

Chart ranks are based on a weighted formula incorporating official-only streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of audio and video music services, as well as download sales, the latter of which reflect purchases from full-service digital music retailers from around the world, with sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites excluded from the charts’ calculations.

“Golden” crowns the Global 200 with 111.8 million streams and 16,000 sold worldwide (down 5% week-over-week in each metric) in the week ending Sept. 18.

Two songs not from KPop Demon Hunters rank in the Global 200’s top five: Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” holds at No. 2 after 10 weeks on top beginning in May and sombr’s “Back to Friends” rises 7-5, surpassing its prior No. 6 peak to become his first top five hit on the chart.

Olivia Dean’s “Man I Need” becomes her first top 10 on both the Global 200 (16-9) and Global Excl. U.S. (17-10). The song, which has hit the top 10 on nine rankings in Billboard’s Hits of the World charts menu, boasts gains of 13% to 34 million streams and 32% to 4,000 sold worldwide in the tracking week. The Art of Loving, the English singer-songwriter’s debut LP, featuring the single, is due Friday (Sept. 26).

“Golden” leads Global Excl. U.S. with 81 million streams (down 4%) and 8,000 sold (down 3%) outside the U.S.

The rest of the Global Excl. U.S. top five holds in place: “Ordinary” at No. 2, after eight weeks at No. 1 starting in May; “Soda Pop” at its No. 3 high; “Back to Friends” at its No. 4 best; and Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” at No. 5, after 17 weeks at No. 1 beginning last September.

The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated Sept. 27, 2025) will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, Sept. 23. For both charts, the top 100 titles are available to all readers on Billboard.com, while the complete 200-title rankings are visible on Billboard Pro, Billboard’s subscription-based service. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X 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.

It’s free Billboard charts month! Through Sept. 30, subscribers to Billboard’s Chart Beat newsletter, emailed each Friday, can unlock access to Billboard’s weekly and historical charts, artist chart histories and all Chart Beat stories simply by visiting the newly redesigned Billboard.com through any story link in the newsletter. Not a Chart Beat subscriber? Sign up for free here.

When Grammy voters open their digital ballots beginning on Friday Oct. 3, they’ll notice a big difference from years past – all entries will be listed in randomized, rather than alphabetical, order for the first time. That won’t make all that much difference in categories with modest numbers of entries, but it will make it significantly harder to find what you’re looking for in categories with large number of entries.

And, while the academy doesn’t come right out and say it, that’s the point. The academy is trying to force (or at least strongly encourage) voters to read through the entire list of entries, so they’re reminded of entries that they may have forgotten about, rather than just revert to a handful of favorite artists every year.

“This ballot update brings our process in line with standard voting best practices … and further ensures the process is fair and equitable for all entries,” Ruby Marchand, chief awards and global industry officer for the Recording Academy, said in an exclusive statement to Billboard. “As with any change, there will be an adjustment period in the first year but, our staff will be on hand to assist voters with any questions.”

All categories that appear on the first-round ballot will be listed in a randomized order. However, voters will be able to download a PDF of all entries listed in alphabetical order. And voters will still have access to locate their selections via a search tool within the voting platform.

The academy’s awards team has worked with their technical partners to craft uniquely personalized, randomized ballots. No two voter ballots will be identical (in terms of the order that entries are listed in).

This change was brought forward and supported by academy trustees, all of whom are members of the Recording Academy.

The change will make it harder to find entries in categories with large numbers of entries. Last year, 14 categories had 300 or more entries, topped by three of the highest-profile categories — song of the year (978 entries), record of the year (780) and album of the year (707). In the past, albums and songs were listed alphabetically by artist’s last names, so if you were looking for something from, say, Sabrina Carpenter or Kendrick Lamar, you could go right to it. Songs were listed alphabetically by song title, so again you could go right to, say “Espresso” or “Not Like Us.” Now, they’re in jumbled order. Voters will have to hunt through hundreds of entries to find what they want.

The Recording Academy has begun to put the word out so that voting members won’t be shocked when they go to vote – first-round voting runs from Oct. 3 through Oct. 15. The academy notes that members can return to their ballot multiple times, if need be, before they finally submit, at which no further changes can be made. Each voter’s ballot will remain the same, no matter how many times that voter revisits their ballot as they listen, assess, and make their final vote selections.

“The key is to approach the process with preparation and patience,” Marchand said in a Q&A posted on Grammy.com. “Start early, set a reasonable pace, and plan for multiple visits to the ballot. This year, the ballot will appear in randomized order (not alphabetical), so giving yourself time to navigate and review thoroughly is especially important. Don’t wait until the last day – or worse, the last hour – to submit, as technical issues can derail your vote. Use Academy resources ahead of time, and once the ballot opens, take time to explore the diversity of entries along with tools within the ballot to assist in your voting.”

All voting members may join a half-hour ballot overview webinar on Sept. 29 at 2 p.m. ET for guidance and tips. Marchand will be joined by Harvey Mason jr., Recording Academy CEO; Michael Almanza, senior director, awards; and Nick DiFruscia, senior director, awards

The webinar, dubbed “Your Ballot at a Glance,” promises to shed light on these topics: “how to navigate your voter portal, changes to the ballot, including the new randomized ballot order, the importance of having a voting strategy, features/tools within the ballot to assist with your voting and critical resources to help you during 68th Grammy voting.”

The number of categories in which voters can vote remains unchanged. Voters can vote in up to 10 categories across no more than three different genre fields plus all categories in the “general field” (which consists of album, record and song of the year, best new artist, and producer and songwriter of the year, non-classical).

A new season of NBCUniversal Local’s Emmy-nominated series The Swift Effect — which covers Taylor Swift‘s economic and brand power — will kick off its second season on Oct. 2 on Peacock and the NBC-owned stations’ free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels with the debut episode “A New Era.”

The show’s return will coincide with the Oct. 5 release of Swift’s upcoming album, The Life of a Showgirl, with the episode airing on the FAST channels at 10:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. ET and then encoring on CNBC and NBC News Now on Oct. 4, before hitting NBC-owned stations on album release day.

“We’re thrilled to present the next installment our series just as she embarks on the next phase of her groundbreaking career with her highly anticipated new album and the personal news she recently announced,” said Diane Petzke, NBCU Local V.P. of programming and partnerships and one of the series’ executive producers. “Her remarkable story as a performer, businesswoman and cultural icon continues to expand and evolve, and we’re proud to continue to explore her and her impact in a meaningful way.”

The first, four-episode season of the series was nominated for a 2025 Daytime Emmy award in the arts and popular culture programming category; the 52nd annual Daytime Emmys will be held on Oct. 17.

According to a press release, the “A New Era” episode will reveal Swift’s impact on the rise of fan-led media, as well as, “the growth of Swift-focused journalism, and the way traditional outlets now approach coverage of her work. The new episode explores how the icon has redefined the balance of power between artist, audience and the press through the lens of influencers, podcasters, established media figures and other leading experts.”

Among the experts who appear in the episode are dedicated USA Today Swift reporter Bryan West, the New York Post Page Six editorial team, the co-hosts of the Taylor Watch podcast Kelly Keegs and Gia Mariano; psychotherapist, author and commentator Dr. Robi Ludwig, Swift influencer Vinny Sonderby, author and music critic Annie Zaleski, DNY senior strategic advisor Valerie DiFebo, Billboard deputy editor Andrew Unterberger and others.

“With each new episode of The Swift Effect, we’re showcasing another layer of Taylor Swift’s influence — not just as an artist, but as a force reshaping industries,” said series producer Cody Broadway. “This next chapter continues to spotlight the ripple effects of her creativity, showing how one person’s vision can spark cultural and economic transformation on a global scale.”

Check out the scheduled for the “A New Era” episode below.

Peacock:
Oct. 2 at 12:00 a.m. ET
NBC-Owned Stations FAST Channels:
Oct. 2
10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT
11:30 p.m. ET / 8:30 p.m. PT
CNBC:
Oct. 4 at 10 p.m. ET
NBC News Now:
Saturday, Oct. 4 at 11 a.m. ET
Sunday, Oct. 5 at 10:30 p.m. ET
NBC-Owned Stations:
Oct. 5
NBC 7 San Diego, NBC 4 Los Angeles, NBC Bay Area: 11 a.m. PT
NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, NBC 5 Chicago: 1 p.m. CT
NBC6 South Florida: 12:30 p.m. ET
NBC4 Washington, NBC Connecticut: 1 p.m. ET
NBC10 Philadelphia: 1:30 p.m. ET
NBC 10 Boston, NBC 4 New York: 2 p.m. ET