entertainment blog
Here Are All the MusiCares Person of the Year Honorees
Motown legends Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson are poised to make history as the 2023 MusiCares person of the year recipients. As we reported when the news was announced on Thursday Oct. 20, it’s the first time that two individuals have been co-honorees at the annual fund-raising gala. But that’s not the only way in which Gordy and Robinson will be making history. The two music greats will be the oldest person of the year honorees to date. Gordy turns 93 on Nov. 28. Robinson is 82. The oldest honoree until now was Joni Mitchell, who was 78 when she was honored earlier this year. And Motown founder Gordy will be the first non-artist to receive the honor, as well as the first honoree who has not won a Grammy in competition. Gordy has received just one nomination – as a co-writer of the Jacks...
William Bowerman Breaks Down Their Preparations for Post Malone’s ‘twelve carat toothache’ Tour
For William Bowerman of WFB Live, the most difficult part of his job as Post Malone’s music director is slimming down the artist’s extensive and impressive catalog for the 90-minute shows of the twelve carat toothache tour. A high level of discipline must be instilled in Bowerman and his team in order to create the ideal setlist for the twelve carat toothache tour, especially when his job entails breaking down and building up different parts of numerous songs, rehearsing with the other teams involved in the tour and ensuring that Posty is comfortable. WFB Live may have been set up by Bowerman and his wife, Amy, just two years ago, but the former knew he wanted a career in live music when he was 12 years old. It was his interest in bands like Slipknot, Korn and Limp Bizkit that pushed his d...
Kendrick Lamar’s ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city’ Is First Hip-Hop Album to Spend 10 Straight Years on Billboard 200
Kendrick Lamar‘s good kid, m.A.A.d city is officially the first and only hip-hop album to have spent 10 consecutive years on the Billboard 200. The news was announced by Chart Data while Billboard’s chart history confirmed that the record has logged its 520th week, and went up three spots to No. 43 from last week. good kid, m.A.A.d city debuted at No. 2 upon its release and sold 242,000 equivalent album units in its first week — making it the highest-selling first-week hip-hop album from a male artist in 2012. As of writing, it has been certified triple platinum. K-Dot recently celebrated the album’s 10th anniversary with a show in Paris that was livestreamed via Amazon Music. His setlist included tracks from his latest album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, along with cuts from good ki...
Ticket Package For Beyoncé’s ‘RENAISSANCE’ Tour Reportedly Auctions for At Least $50,000 USD
A ticket package for Beyoncé‘s 2023 RENAISSANCE tour has reportedly auctioned for a minimum of $50,000 USD, and could have possibly sold for a maximum of $150,000 USD. A video from the Wearable Art Gala — where the tour was announced — showed that the bidding war over the ticket package went up to at least $50,000 USD, although a person present at the event claimed that the package was actually sold for $150,000 USD. The package, which is valued at $20,000 USD, includes two First Class International United Airlines Polaris tickets, a three-night stay at a Marriott hotel, two tickets to the tour in a city of their choice and a backstage experience with Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles-Lawson. The tour’s exact dates and ticket prices for the general public are yet to be revealed, and the ...
Fans Choose Taylor Swift‘s ’Midnights‘ as This Week’s Favorite New Music
Taylor Swift‘s new album Midnights has topped this week’s new music poll. Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (Oct. 21) on Billboard, choosing Midnights as their favorite new music release of the past week. Swift’s latest release brought in more than 66% of the vote, beating out new music by Carly Rae Jepsen, Shakira and Ozuna, Arctic Monkeys and more. As of Saturday (Oct. 22), Midnights was off to a record-breaking start in sales in the U.S. after its first day of release. According to initial reports, the album has sold more than 800,000 copies in the U.S. through its first day across all available formats. It has already logged the largest sales week for any album since 2017, is the top-selling album of 2022 year-to-date, and has set a modern-era record for single-week...
The 1975 Extends U.K. Chart Streak With ‘Being Funny In A Foreign Language’
The 1975 lands at No. 1 on the U.K. albums chart with Being Funny In A Foreign Language, the British alternative rock outfit’s fifth consecutive leader. Led by Matt Healy, the Cheshire, England band previously led the Official U.K. Chart their self-titled 2013 set, 2016’s I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it, 2018’s A Brief Enquiry Into Online Relationships, and 2020’s Notes On A Conditional Form. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news With their fast start, the 1975 enter the premium class of artists to have taken top spot with all five of their studio albums, drawing level with Ed Sheeran. The leader of that particular tally is Noel Gallagher, whose unbroken streak across Oasis and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Bird...
Dave, Stormzy, Little Simz Win Big at 2022 Rated Awards (Full List)
Dave was the big winner at the 2022 GRM Rated Awards, which focuses on the U.K. rap and grime scene. The rapper won four awards, including track of the year and video of the year for “Clash” (featuring Stormzy). The Rated Awards were held on Saturday Oct. 22 at Magazine London and will be broadcast on E4 on Tuesday Oct. 25 at 10 p.m. BST. Big Zuu and Julie Adenuga hosted the show. Dave’s second studio album, We’re All Alone in This Together, was named album of the year. It topped the Official U.K. Albums Chart for two weeks in August 2021. Dave also took home the award for male artist of the year. While accepting the award for track of the year, Dave discussed the long journey that the song took to become a hit. The song reached No. 2 on th...
Stormzy Rushes U.K. Top 10 With ‘Hide & Seek’
Stormzy secures a 26th top 10 as “Hide & Seek” (via Def Jam) storms the U.K. singles chart, while Sam Smith and Kim Petras complete a full month atop the survey with their “Unholy” collaboration. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “Hide & Seek,” lifted from Stormzy’s upcoming third album This Is What I Mean, is new at No. 7, giving the homegrown hip-hop star the week’s top debut. This Is What I Mean is due out Nov. 25. Meanwhile, Anne-Marie and Aitch’s “Psycho” (Atlantic) collab is on the climb. After chasing a top 5 spot on the midweek survey, some five weeks after its release, “Psycho” finishes the chart week up 9-6. No less than seven singles make a splash in the U.K. top 40 for the first time, including British rapper Central Cee, whos...
Hacker Who Stole Unreleased Music From Ye, Frank Ocean, Lil Uzi Vert and More Jailed for 18 Months
23-year-old Adrian Kwiatkowski has received an 18-month jail sentence after he stole and sold unreleased music from the likes of Frank Ocean, Kanye West, Lil Uzi Vert, Post Malone and more. According to reports, the computer hacker admitted to “three charges of gaining unauthorised access to a computer, 14 copyright offences, two charges of possessing criminal property and one offence of converting criminal property” and confessed that he sold a Frank Ocean song for $1,000 USD, hacked his Tumblr page and the Dropbox accounts of Uzi and Posty and downloading material from Ye’s Dropbox. Kwiatkowski’s Bitcoin wallet was supposedly connected to a Coinbase account that was linked to a Lloyds Banks account, which received a total of £61,855 GBP between June 2018 and July 2019, and experienced 35...
Lil Baby Earns Third No. 1 With ‘It’s Only Me’
Lil Baby is opening this week’s Billboard 200 at No. 1 with It’s Only Me. The rapper’s latest solo studio effort debuts with a total of 216,000 equivalent album units, including 209,000 in streaming equivalent album units (288.97 million on-demand officials streams of the 23 tracks), 6,500 in album sales and 500 in track equivalent album units. It’s Only Me marks his sixth top 10 effort and third No. 1 following The Voice of the Heroes with Lil Durk in 2021 and My Turn in 2020. Other new entries in this week’s top 10 are Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Return of the Dream Canteen at No. 3 with 63,000 equivalent album units, The 1975’s Being Funny in a Foreign Language at No. 7 with 32,500 equivalent album units and Bailey Zimmerman’s Leave the Light On at No. 9 with 32,000 equivalent album units. E...
Lil Durk No Longer Facing Attempted Murder Charge in Atlanta
In May, 2019, Lil Durk turned himself in to authorities after a warrant was issued for his arrest in connection with a February 2019 shooting outside of an Atlanta restaurant called the Varsity. At the time, a Fulton County, Georgia judge found probable cause to charge Durk and since-deceased rapper King Von with criminal attempt to commit murder, as well as aggravated assault, participation in criminal street gang activity, possession of firearm during the commission of a felony, and possession of firearm by a convicted felon. Now, the charges against Durk have been dropped, local ABC affiliate WSB-TV reports and Pitchfork can confirm. In a Dismissal of Charges Motion issued by Georgia’s Superior Court of Fulton County, District Attorney Fani T. Willis writes that “the facts of this case ...
Lil Baby Lands Third No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 With ‘It’s Only Me’
Lil Baby lands his third No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated Oct. 29) as It’s Only Me debuts atop the tally. The set earned 216,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 20, according to Luminate. It also claims the third-largest streaming week for an album in 2022. Lil Baby previously topped the list with The Voice of the Heroes (a collaborative set with Lil Durk in 2021) and My Turn (2020). The latter finished 2020 as Luminate’s most popular album of that year. It’s Only Me was announced in early September and marks the rapper’s sixth top 10, all consecutive, on the Billboard 200. Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ second album of 2022, Return of the Dream Canteen, enters at No. 3; The 1975’s Being Funny in a Foreign Language star...
