SXSW London has confirmed on Monday (Sept. 22) it will return to the English capital in 2026 and announced ticket details for the upcoming event.

The European edition of SXSW will run from June 1 to 6 in east London for a second consecutive year. The 2025 edition took place throughout venues and locations in Shoreditch in June. Tickets for the event are set to launch on Oct. 20 from the festival’s website.

2025’s program saw a live performance from Tems as part of Billboard’s The Stage, a European premiere of Eminem documentary Stans, and a visit from King Charles.

Submissions for session proposals across the 2026 conference, music and screen verticals are also now open. The winning selections for the conference are reviewed by the public before being considered by an advisory group and editorial team for inclusion in the festival. The music festival and screen festival public submissions are managed by industry jury votes. 

The submissions period for the conference program will close on Dec. 7, and from the following day, the public will be able to view and vote for their favorites. Submissions for the music vertical will close on Nov. 24, and close for screen on Dec. 31.

SXSW London has also announced 15 “forward-thinking” conference tracks, which include topics such as artificial intelligence, startup innovation and immersive realities. In 2025, 9,868 submissions were made across its three verticals (screen, conference, music), with the conference strand attracting 40,000 public votes. The festival featured 400 talks, 1067 speakers, 562 music performances and 114 film and TV screenings.

Katy Arnander, director of programming for SXSW London said in a statement, “Bringing SXSW to London has always been about creating a platform for convergence across technology, business and creativity. Now in our second year, that mission is more alive than ever, and the SXSW London open submissions allows us to build the festival around what is most current and vital in these sectors.

“SXSW London 2026 will build on the momentum of our debut, expanding the scope of ideas, voices and disciplines we convene,” she continued. “We want our attendees to encounter unexpected perspectives and foster bold conversations, and we’re creating an environment for groundbreaking ideas to flourish in one of the most important capital cities in the world.”

“Gala,” the new single from XG, tops this week’s fan-voted music poll.

Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (Sept. 19) on Billboard, choosing the septet’s fresh track as their favorite new release.

“Gala” made its grand entrance during a week that also saw new releases streaming in from Cardi B, RAYE, Miley Cyrus, Lola Young and more, with the fashion-focused tune bringing in 65% of the vote.

“Gala” is the pre-release single from JURIN, CHISA, HINATA, HARVEY, JURIA, MAYA and COCONA’s long-awaited debut studio album, which arrives on Jan. 23, 2026. The group first teased the album release date in early September.

“This song was mainly inspired by the iconic Met Gala,” XG’s MAYA recently told The Hollywood Reporter, adding, “We tried so many new things, choreography wise, music wise and fashion wise, so we’re really excited to showcase that. I feel like this song is really XG.”

HARVEY explained to THR, “I think it’s fair to say that we’ve grown a lot since we first debuted, but personally I think we became a lot more fearless when it comes to challenging ourselves to new things. Especially with ‘Gala,’ I think we can see that come into play fully. We’ve challenged ourselves to try many different dances and a new sense of fashion that we haven’t done before to become bolder. In that sense, I think we’ve seen ourselves come a long way.”

“We tried voguing, break dancing and some acrobatics this time,” COCONA added in the group’s chat. “It was very, very hard to learn, but a great experience for us, and we wanted to make ‘Gala’ feel more like a show.”

Among the new releases trailing behind “Gala” on this week’s poll are Cardi B’s Am I the Drama?, with 4% of the vote, followed by RAYE’s “Where Is My Husband?” and Miley Cyrus’ “Secrets.”

See the final results of this week’s poll below.

Twenty One Pilots land the year’s biggest week for any rock album — and the largest in six years — as the duo’s new studio effort, Breach, bows at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 dated Sept. 27.

The set is the act’s second leader and launches with 200,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the week ending Sept. 18, according to Luminate. That marks Twenty One Pilots’ best week ever and the biggest week for a rock album since Tool’s Fear Inoculum launched at No. 1 with 270,000 on the Sept. 14, 2019-dated chart. (Rock albums are defined as those that are eligible for, or have charted on, Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart.)

The majority of Breach’s opening week was powered by traditional album sales, numbering 169,000 sold, which lands Twenty One Pilots its biggest sales week ever, and the biggest for any rock album in six years. The last rock set to sell more copies in a single week was Fear Inoculum, which sold 248,000 in its opening stanza.

Breach is Twenty One Pilots’ first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in a little more than a decade, since Blurryface bowed at No. 1 on the June 6, 2015 chart. All told, Breach is the band’s fifth top 10, following Clancy (No. 3 in 2024), Scaled and Icy (No. 3, 2021), Trench (No. 2, 2018) and Blurryface.

Also in the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200, Ed Sheeran scores his eighth top 10 album as Play premieres at No. 5.

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 Sept. 27, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Sept. 23. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Of Breach’s 200,000 first-week equivalent album units, album sales comprise 169,000 (it debuts at No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart), SEA units comprise 31,000 (equaling 40.68 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs — the act’s best streaming week yet; it also debuts at No. 8 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

Breach’s opening-week sales were bolstered by its availability across more than 15 vinyl variants, which sold a combined 72,000. That marks Twenty One Pilots’ best week ever on vinyl and the largest vinyl sales week for a rock album in the modern era (since Luminate began electronically tracking sales in 1991).

Breach was also issued on three deluxe CD editions in lavish packaging containing collectible ephemera, a standard widely available CD and digital download, along with a widely available deluxe digital download edition with the bonus track “Drag Path,” alternative cover art and a PDF booklet.

Breach was preceded by its first single, “The Contract,” which hit No. 1 on the Alternative Airplay chart dated Aug. 2, marking Twenty One Pilots’ 12th leader. The band kicked off its The Clancy Tour: Breach 2025 on Sept. 18 in Cincinnati, and the trek continues with dates in the U.S. and Canada through Oct. 26 in Los Angeles.

The KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack falls to No. 2 on the Billboard with 112,000 equivalent album units earned (down 12%) after reaching No. 1 for the first time a week ago. Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping I’m the Problem is a non-mover at No. 3 (97,000, down 2%) and Sabrina Carpenter’s former leader Man’s Best Friend dips 2-4 (88,000, down 26%).

Ed Sheeran scores his eighth top 10-charting album on the Billboard 200 as Play starts at No. 5 with 71,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 51,000 (it debuts at No. 2 on the Top Album Sales chart), SEA units comprise 19,000 (equaling 24.26 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it debuts at No. 23 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise 1,000.

Play’s opening sales week was aided by its availability across more than 10 vinyl variants (one signed), four standard CD variants (two signed), two deluxe CD editions (with two bonus tracks, one signed), a deluxe CD boxed set containing a T-shirt and a signed CD, a standard streaming and digital download album, and a deluxe streaming and digital download album with five bonus tracks.

Play was previewed by the hit song “Azizam,” which reached the top 10 on Pop Airplay, Adult Pop Airplay and Adult Contemporary, and No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 (Sheeran’s 26th top 40-charted hit).

Justin Bieber’s SWAG shifts 4-6 on the Billboard 200 (44,000 equivalent album units, down 45%); Alex Warren’s You’ll Be Alright, Kid falls 5-7 (36,000, down 4%); SZA’s chart-topping SOS is down 6-8 (a little more than 33,000, up less than 1%); Wallen’s former No. 1 One Thing at a Time descends 7-9 (33,000, up 1%); and sombr’s I Barely Know Her is steady at No. 10 (29,000, up less than 1%).

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.

Olivia Rodrigo is making her stance clear on the controversy surrounding Jimmy Kimmel’s recent suspension.

The 22-year-old pop star took to social media on Saturday (Sept. 20) to voice her frustration over the indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! by ABC. The network’s decision came after Kimmel made controversial remarks during a monologue about the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.

“So upset over this blatant censorship and abuse of power,” Rodrigo wrote alongside a previous statement from SAG-AFTRA. “I stand with Jimmy Kimmel and I stand for freedom of speech.”

Rodrigo’s comments align with those of SAG-AFTRA, the union representing around 160,000 actors, dancers, singers, recording artists and other media professionals. Earlier in the week, the organization publicly condemned ABC, a Disney subsidiary, for what it called an attack on free expression.

“Our society depends on freedom of expression,” SAG-AFTRA posted on Instagram on Wednesday (Sept. 17). “Suppression of free speech and retaliation for speaking out on significant issues of public concern run counter to the fundamental rights we all rely on. Democracy thrives when diverse points of view are expressed.”

The statement continued, “The decision to suspend airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! is the type of suppression and retaliation that endangers everyone’s freedoms. SAG-AFTRA stands with all media artists and defends their right to express their diverse points of view, and everyone’s right to hear them.”

Rodrigo isn’t the only musician pushing back against the suspension. Margo Price also voiced her disapproval in a symbolic and emotional post. On Tuesday (Sept. 16), the country singer shared a video clip from her performance that same day on Jimmy Kimmel Live! singing “Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down.”

Her caption read, “If this was the last word, I’m glad it was mine.” During the performance, she sang, “Keep all them fascists underground,” while strumming her guitar. “Don’t let the bastards get you down.”

ABC announced the indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! one day after the episode featuring Price aired. The decision followed Kimmel’s monologue, where he addressed the assassination of Kirk, who co-founded Turning Point USA.

“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel had said on the program.

The backlash was swift. Nexstar, which owns 28 NBC-affiliated local stations, announced it would pull Kimmel from its programming. Around the same time, FCC Chair Brendan Carr publicly condemned the remarks, threatening to revoke the licenses of any affiliates that aired the segment. He labeled Kimmel’s comments as “news distortion” and “the sickest conduct possible.”