Music

The numbers are in: Nicki Minaj‘s “Pink Friday 2” is the No. 1 album in the United States, touting the biggest debut sales week for a rap album by a woman in the last four years. The record joins the original “Pink Friday,” Minaj’s 2010 debut album, as her third overall record to hit the

A gold or platinum record doesn’t just happen: Even if an album, single or EP passes 500,000 (gold) or 1,000,000 (platinum) sales or their streaming-age equivalent, it must be certified by the Recording Industry Association of America, which is a whole process that involves submissions and research and certification and other bureaucratic official-ness. It’s something

Amp Fiddler, the Detroit musician known for melding funk, soul and electronic, has passed away at 65. According to a post on his Instagram account, he died after “an extensive and noble battle with cancer.” “We face the insurmountable responsibility of sharing the passing of Joseph ‘Amp’ Fiddler,” reads the statement. “Our beloved ‘Amp’ Fiddler,

Jack Harlow, Range Media Productions and Media.Monks, in partnership with Meta, are producing an immersive VR concert and behind-the-scenes VR documentary called “Jack Harlow No Place Like Home: A VR Concert.” The show takes a behind-the-curtain look at his record-breaking, sold-out third annual “No Place Like Home: The Kentucky Tour” in his home state, leading

We Are Moving the Needle, a non-profit organization that aims to empower women producers and engineers, will present its first annual awards during Grammy Week in Los Angeles. The invite-only Resonator Awards will take place Tuesday, January 30, 2024 and will showcase the top echelon of female and gender-minority producers and engineers. Resonator Awards will

Not even the pain of recovering from surgery for a broken hip could keep Kareem Abdul-Jabbar from expressing his love for the Manhattan Transfer. Although he wasn’t able to pay tribute to the group during their final concert Friday in downtown Los Angeles, as he was intending to when the injury occurred, he came through

Introducing the Manhattan Transfer’s final show at Walt Disney Concert Hall, writer Bruce Vilanch emphasized the multi-genre status the vocal ensemble built up and maintained over a 50-year-plus career that, from all indications, really was coming to a close Friday night. “I’m thrilled to be here for the final concert of the greatest pop-rock-jazz-soul-R&B-scat-vocalese-Brazilian group

Musician and BAFTA nominated actor Olly Alexander will represent the U.K. at the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden. Alexander revealed the news on Saturday during the finale of BBC’s “Strictly Come Dancing.” As a musician, Alexander fronted English band Years & Years, which in recent years has evolved into a solo project. Across three

Jacob Elordi will host “Saturday Night Live” on Jan. 20 with Reneé Rapp as the musical guest. Elordi is currently the star of Amazon MGM Studios film “Saltburn” and in the A24 feature “Priscilla” where he transformed into American icon Elvis Presley. The actor is also known for his work on the HBO series “Euphoria”

The last “Saturday Night Live” of the year is always a special occasion, and 2023 was no exception: Billie Eilish performed the television debut of “What Was I Made For?,” written and recorded for Greta Gerwig’s summer blockbuster “Barbie,” as well as a torchy interpretation of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” She also appeared

Credit country superstar Luke Combs for being a lot faster to get out ahead of a potential public-relations crisis than your average celebrity — to the point that he’s cleaning up messes before he’s had the chance to wipe the sleep out of his eyes. Combs woke up early Wednesday morning learning of a TV

In its inaugural year, the African music performance category for the 66th Grammy Awards is stacked with some of the continent’s biggest stars of the moment: Asake and Olamide (for “Amapiano”), Burna Boy (“City Boys”), Davido and Musa Keys (“Unavailable”), Ayra Starr (“Rush”) and Tyla (“Water”) are leading lights from the wide landscape of Afrobeats,

The holiday season is in full swing but Recording Academy voting members still have one critical task to cross off their to-do lists. Voters — comprised of music professionals across all genres and disciplines, including recording artists, songwriters, producers, and engineers — should cast their ballots for the final round of Grammy Awards voting starting

A carefree disco-influenced song like Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night,” from Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster summer film “Barbie,” might seem effortless. But it was anything but, as you can see from Variety’s latest “Behind the Song” words-and-music video, where she and producer/co-writer Mark Ronson talk about the song’s creation and play individual vocal and instrumental tracks

You have to appreciate the wonder of a holiday season when Brenda Lee’s seasonal hit from 65-years-past, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” gets to top December’s Billboard Hot 100 for several consecutive weeks. With that, expect Lee to ride (and rock) into Christmas with Santa on her tail. Christmas? Meet miracle. This year’s Christmas season

Cher‘s celebrated her holiday single “DJ Play a Christmas Song” hitting the top of Billboard’s Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart on “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” noting that she’s the only solo artist to have No. 1 hits in seven decades. The only other music act to achieve this feat is rock band the Rolling Stones.

Every year we start off this column in the same way, with a “so many books, so little time” caveat and noting that it represents just a fraction of the fine music tomes released over the past year. And every year, we hope to spread the word on the excellent volumes that we actually managed

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. ‘Tis the season to be a country fan.  Country stars such as Lainey Wilson, Lady A and more will perform at the CMAs Christmas Special this Thursday night. The holiday special will air on

Spanish-language records were all over the map in 2023 — literally. Artists from across the Latin diaspora tested their musical breadth: reggaeton artists from Colombia and Puerto Rico tried their hand at Mexican music and in contrast, Mexican hitmakers infused the sounds of their homeland with rap and rock as last year‘s reggaeton titans —

Hello, Brooklyn. Is Madonna in the house? It’s after 10 p.m. on Wednesday night, and the Material Girl is nowhere to be found on the first hometown stop of her career-retrospective “Celebration” tour. The promenade down memory lane — by Madonna, for Madonna — kicked off in London in October, and is now belatedly on its North

After launching a feature allowing users to save sounds to third-party streaming services last month, TikTok has announced the expansion of its “Add to Music App” expansion in 19 additional markets. The video-sharing platform is continuing its efforts to translate the success of music on the platform onto DSPs with its latest development. TikTok initially

For the fourth consecutive year, Trevor Noah has been tapped to host the 2024 Grammy Awards, the Recording Academy revealed on Wednesday night. “I think it’s also important to acknowledge something. I’m hosting the Grammys,” Noah concurrently announced on his podcast “What Now? With Trevor Noah.” “I’m excited about that, yeah, it’s a lot of

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 10, Episode 12 of “The Masked Singer,” “Soundtrack to My Life,” which aired Dec. 13 on Fox. Oh, oh, here he comes. Watch out boy, he’ll chew you up! Oh, oh, here he comes. John Oates is an Anteater. Say it isn’t so.

One of the hottest nominees for the Grammys’ best new artist trophy, Noah Kahan, will be seen tonight in a free, one-time stream of his “Austin City Limits” taping, which fans will otherwise have to wait till 2024 to see in its television broadcast premiere. The preview stream begins at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT

ESPN veteran Raina Kelley has joined Vibe as Editor-in-Chief. Kelley will steer the editorial direction and vision of Vibe, the storied hip hop and lifestyle brand that revolves around music, entertainment and culture. Kelley’s appointment follows the move of longtime Vibe chief Datwon Thomas to a new role as executive producer, talent for Dick Clark

Luke Combs took to social media Wednesday morning to say that he was “sick to my stomach” after waking up to learn that he had won a $250,000 judgment against a Florida woman who’d earned $380 selling 18 handmade drink tumblers with his likeness on them. The country superstar said he was “completely and utterly

With five hours of airtime to fill, CBS’ Nashville-based New Year’s Eve special has to book a significant amount of the stars of country music, and many of those names were announced in a talent rollout Wednesday morning — including the genre’s blockbuster artist of the moment, Morgan Wallen. Among those also newly announced as

Scott Hendricks, who currently serves as executive vice president of A&R and creative advisor for Warner Music Nashville, is leaving the label at the end of the month. After nearly 16 years overseeing the label’s country music releases, Hendricks will exit his current post and continue working as an independent producer. His work as a

There were any number of notable moments in Kanye West’s public listening session for his new album, “Vultures,” in Miami late Monday night — including Nazi imagery, a lyric referencing antisemitism and West donning a black Ku Klux Klansman’s hood — but one was his use of the Backstreet Boys’ 1997 hit “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)”

Snoop Dogg has elected Kat MacLean Daley as the first vice president and head of publishing of Death Row Records. After acquiring Death Row Records in 2022, Snoop appointed Daley to manage the company’s day-to-day operations in music, with her primary focus being on their newly established publishing business. She is expanding their already existing