Taylor Swift is back on Australia’s chart throne, as 1989 (Taylor’s Version) returns to the summit.

The best-selling album for 2023 in Australia, according to trade body ARIA, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) racks up its 12th non-consecutive week at the top of the ARIA Albums Chart, published Friday, Jan. 26.

21 Savage’s American Dream last week bumped Swift’s re-recorded LP from top spot. But the dream didn’t last. Savage’s set dips 1-7, as Swift moves back to the top, 2-1, on the latest tally.

1989 (Taylor’s Version) is one of four TayTay albums in the top 10. With the start of the U.S. pop superstar’s The Eras Tour of Australia less than a month away, expect Swifties to keep her music at or near the top of the albums chart.

The top debut this week belongs to Green Day with Saviors, arriving at No. 2. The U.S. pop-punk trio’s 14th and latest studio album becomes their 12th top 10 album in these parts. The Rock Hall-inducted Bay Area band has topped the ARIA Chart on three occasions, with Dookie (1994), American Idiot (2004) and Father Of All Motherf—ers (2020).

Noah Kahan makes a move on both main Australian charts with Stick Season and its title track. The U.S. singer and songwriter’s album lifts 10-6, for a new peak, while “Stick Season” improves 3-2, also a new high on the ARIA Singles Chart. Further down the singles tally, a new version of the album track “Homesick,” featuring English singer Sam Fender, bows at No. 57.

At the top of the ARIA Singles Chart is Jack Harlow’s “Lovin On Me,” which enters a 10th non-consecutive week at No. 1, ahead of “Stick Season” and Tate McRae’s “Greedy” (up 4-3), respectively.

The Saltburn bump can be felt on the singles chart as Sophie Ellis-Bextor‘s 2001 hit “Murder On The Dancefloor” gains 12-7. The single, which is synced to the dark drama, peaked at No. 3 following its initial release.

U.S. singer and TikTok star Benson Boone bags a career high with “Beautiful Things,” new at No. 18, besting the No. 34 peak for his 2022 single “In The Stars.”

Finally, homegrown EDM DJ and producer Dom Dolla cracks the top 50 with “Saving Up.” The reigning ARIA Award-winner for best dance release, Dolla’s latest release starts at No. 44.

First the single, then the album, now Justin Timberlake completes his solo return with confirmation of a world tour.

The former boybander announced the big news when he stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, for a stint surfing the guest couch.

The Forget Tomorrow World Tour will support JT’s forthcoming collection Everything I Thought It Was, his first solo album release in more than six years.

Due out March 15, EITIW is Timberlake’s sixth studio LP, and the followup to Man of the Woods which peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 following its release in February 2018, for his fourth consecutive solo leader.

As a warm-up, the pop singer will play a small-capacity show in New York on Wednesday, Jan. 31, the 1,100-capacity Irving Plaza.

Fallon teased the touring news out of JT, in a totally above-board, pre-rehearsed kind of way.

Was there anything more to announce, the late-night show host prompted his musical guest? Well, yes, “we are still putting the setlist together for Irving Plaza,” noted Timberlake.

But wait, there was more.

“I’m going on tour,” was the dry response.   

The 10-time Grammy Award winner gave fans a taste of things to come earlier this week with the release of “Selfish,” the first cut from EITIW. He’ll be back on our screens when he serves as musical guest on Saturday Night Live this weekend, with Dakota Johnson hosting. 

Though his solo music career has been in deep freeze, Timberlake did return to his boy band roots last year when he reunited with *NSYNC for “Better Place,” which accompanied the JT-starring animated family film Trolls Band Together. The track started at No. 25, for *NSYNC’s lucky 13^th appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 and first appearance on the tally since “Girlfriend” featuring Nelly reached No. 5 — way back in 2002.

As a solo artist, Timberlake has landed 19 titles in the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, including five No. 1s.

Details of the Forget Tomorrow World Tour have yet to be announced. Watch the big reveal on Fallon’s late-night show below.

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“Think you the sh–, bi—? You not even the fart (Grrah),” Ice Spice raps on her latest single “Think You the Sh– (Fart)” that she released on Friday (Jan. 26) via 10K Projects and Capitol Records.

Her first single of the new year comes three months after her last release, “Pretty Girl” with Afrobeats star Rema, which the two performed during Ice’s Saturday Night Live debut. It also arrives one year after the 24-year-old MC dropped her debut EP Like..?, which featured her breakout hit “Munch (Feelin’ U)” and her second of four Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits, “Princess Diana” with Nicki Minaj.

Ice Spice is up for four Grammys next month at the 66th annual awards show: best new artist, best pop duo/group performance with “Karma” with Taylor Swift, best rap song and best song written for visual media with “Barbie World” with Minaj. Her Super Bowl commercial with Starry will also air next month.

And in March, she’ll be honored with the Hitmaker Award at Billboard‘s 2024 Women in Music Awards. Hosted by Tracee Ellis Ross, the show will be held on March 6 at Inglewood’s YouTube Theater and will stream the following day.

Listen to “Think You the Sh– (Fart)” below.

Let the snake saga continue. Just two months after launching her new era with the rock-tinged “Cobra,” Megan Thee Stallion has returned with her first solo offering of 2024: “Hiss.”

Co-produced by LilJuMadeDaBeat and Bankroll Got It, “Hiss” addresses all of the unwarranted opinions on her life and image that have hounded her for the past few years. The Stallion first teased “Hiss” on Monday (Jan. 22) with a graphic revealing the track’s title, and by Wednesday (Jan. 24), she followed up the announcement with a fiery voiceover that set the scene for what audiences should expect from the song.

“I just wanna kick this s–t off by saying, ‘F–k y’all!” she exclaims in the clip. “I ain’t gotta clear my name on a motherf–kin’ thang. [Every time] I get mentioned, one of y’all b—h a– n—as get 24 hours of attention. I’m finna get this s–t off my chest and lay it to rest, let’s go!”

“Hiss” continues the serpentine theme of Megan’s last solo release, 2023’s “Cobra.” That track served as her first independent single since leaving 1501 Certified Entertainment. The song peaked at No. 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became her eighth top 10 hit on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (No. 10). In the interim between “Cobra” and “Hiss,” Megan teamed up with Reneé Rapp for “Not My Fault,” the buzzy new single from the Mean Girls movie musical soundtrack. The Regina George crossover has already reached No. 22 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 and spawned a viral SNL performance.

Megan Thee Stallion has earned five top 10 titles on the Billboard 200, including 2020’s Good News (No. 2) and 2022’s Traumazine (No. 4). On the Hot 100, the Grammy winner has collected three top 10 hits from 31 career entries: “34+35” (with Ariana Grande and Doja Cat, No. 2), “WAP” (with Cardi B, No. 1) and the Beyoncé-assisted “Savage” (No. 1)

Stream “Hiss” now:

Morgan Wallen surprises fans with a re-recorded version of an older fan favorite, “Spin You Around (1/24 Version),” which dropped Thursday night (Jan. 25). While it’s a welcome treat for fans, Wallen is also attempting to thwart what he calls “the dark side of the music business.”

Via Instagram, Wallen explained, “I’m writing y’all from a duck hunting trip because I want to fill you in on something happening tonight. Back in 2014, I went to Florida to try my hand at making original music & songwriting for the first time. This led to a recording deal with a local investor & an artist management deal that I deeply regret. Unfortunately, I signed both deals without any legal representation.”

Wallen noted that they made 13 songs, saying, “Some were ok, most were terrible as I was just learning how to write in general & figuring it all out. I was not the only collaborator, so many of these songs were not my idea nor met my standards. We deemed 5 worthy-enough to make the Stand Alone EP which includes a fan-favorite, ‘Spin You Around.'”

The five-song Stand Alone EP was released in 2015 via Panacea Records.

Wallen continued: “Tonight, those colleagues I parted ways with almost 10 years ago plan to release a ’10th anniversary’ edition of Stand Alone against my wishes & include eight unreleased songs, distributing them with the assistance of my former managers. For months I’ve been exploring every avenue possible to acquire the rights to this old music & keep the quality of my catalog consistent with songs I choose to release & believe in.”

Wallen also called it “an example of how the dark side of the music business can suck the soul out of artists.”

Wallen emphasized: “I want you to know this is NOT my new music, & I don’t want to see this happen to anyone else. I cringe when I listen to these songs & I’m very concerned my fans may mistakenly believe this is a new release by me.”

To counteract the release of that 10th-anniversary project, Wallen recorded his own version of “Spin You Around” this week in Nashville, working with producer Joey Moi and instrumentalist Bryan Sutton. Moi has worked on all three of Wallen’s Big Loud label albums, including 2018’s If I Know Me, 2021’s Dangerous: The Double Album and 2023’s One Thing at a Time, while Sutton has offered his musicianship to of many of Wallen’s songs. Wallen signed with Big Loud in 2016.

Wallen also designed the artwork for the song in the woods while duck hunting.

Additionally, Wallen noted he is donating $100,000 from the Morgan Wallen Foundation to the Volunteer Lawyers & Professionals for the Arts (VLPA) program.

“I hope young aspiring musicians read this story and know they should never have to give up their creative freedoms for an opportunity in this business,” he said, adding, “Trust me, when new music is ready, you’ll hear it directly from me.”

Wallen also told fans that he begins recording his next album at the end of February. “I’m feeling inspired creatively & super excited to make more music I’m proud of,” he said.

Read his full message and stream “Spin You Around (1/24 Version)” below:

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Brent Faiyaz isn’t resting on his laurels following last year’s Larger Than Life album, as he’s teasing more new music to kick off 2024 on a high note.

The R&B singer posted a photo to his Instagram on Thursday (Jan. 25) seemingly on the set of a music video with Academy Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o.

Faiyaz cleared his Instagram feed outside of the new caption-less post, which features him alongside the Black Panther star dressed in a black suit and driving some sort of race car.

“Bro might be in the next black panther movie,” a fan commented on the post, while another chimed in: “The tongue out sitting next to brent is a whole mood!”

A rep for Brent Faiyaz confirmed in a press release that the Maryland native’s short film is slated to arrive at some point next week, which will be his first offering of the year.

Last year, Faiyaz launched his ISO Supremacy creative agency in partnership with UnitedMasters.

“Brent Faiyaz is one of the most prolific independent artists today, and we are extremely excited to embark on this new partnership with him,” said UnitedMasters founder/CEO Steve Stoute at the time.

Giving fans just a day’s notice, Faiyaz surprise-released his Larger Than Life album in October with features from Missy Elliott, Coco Jones, Babyface Ray and more.

The LP moved 42,000 equivalent album units in the first week ending Nov. 2 and debuted at No. 4 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

As for Nyong’o, the Us star made time out of her busy schedule to work with Faiyaz. She’s slated to star in the horror film A Quiet Place: Day One later this year.

Find Brent Faiyaz’s post with Nyong’o below.

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Muni Long banks her second top 10 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Songs chart as “Made for Me” races 15-8 on the list dated Jan. 27. The single, already a major airplay hit, finds its new wind thanks to the release of its music video and a resulting social media trend that fueled streaming and sales bumps.

“Made for Me,” released on Supergiant/Def Jam Records, earned 3.9 million official U.S. streams in the tracking week of Jan. 12 – 18, according to Luminate, up from 125% to 1.8 million the previous week. The nearly 2-million stream improvement comes largely thanks to the song’s growing viral profile from a video started by TikTok creator @milck.marie, in which participants (usually in blue pajamas) sing the song’s hook while walking toward the camera. On TikTok, the track’s main audio has swelled to soundtracking 163,000 clips – up from 44,000 on Jan. 18. In addition, the song’s official music video, which stars actor and singer Luke James, dropped at the tail end of the tracking week, on Jan. 17.

As “Made for Me” rallies, the track also climbs to 1,000 sales downloads in the week, a gain of 128% from the prior week. The sales bump also sparks the single’s No. 2 debut on R&B Digital Song Sales.

While “Made for Me” enjoys fresh viral buzz, the single has already proven a strong airplay hit on the R&B formats. The tune drops 2-3 on the Adult R&B Airplay chart, with an 8% decline in plays in the latest tracking week, after five nonconsecutive weeks in the runner-up spot. Notably, “Made for Me” tied the singer-songwriter’s “Hrs and Hrs” as her highest peak on the radio ranking.

Anchored by the adult R&B format support, “Made for Me” reached a No. 14 best on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, which combines audience from both adult R&B and mainstream R&B/hip-hop radio stations. On the latest chart, the track slides 14-15, though it improves in audience to 7.4 million, a 9% increase from the previous week. Given the renewed social media activity, it’s possible that the single could attract additional radio gains in the coming weeks. There’s already positive momentum – “Made for Me” sits just outside the 40-position cutoff for the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart but improved 101% in plays in the latest tracking week compared to the one prior.

Elsewhere, “Made for Me” impresses on two other main Billboard charts: It moves 45-39 in its second week on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs list and debuts at No. 93 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100.

Mesita, Nicki Nicole, Emilia and Tiago PZK‘s “Una Foto” holds at No. 1 on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 chart (dated Jan. 27) for a second week.

The song earned Uruguayan Santiago Messano, better known as Mesita, his first champ on the overall Argentina songs chart, when it flew from No. 30 to No. 1 (list dated Jan. 20). While Nicki Nicole added her fourth leader and Emilia her third, Tiago PZK secured his sixth, entering into a tie with Maria Becerra for the second-most, both with six No. 1s, trailing only Bizarrap’s long-standing crown with nine rulers.

Argentinian rapper Khea earns his first top 10 in 2024, and sixth overall, as “Hola Perdida,” with Luck Ra, rises 8-2. Luck Ra captures his fourth top 10.

Young Miko nabs her highest-charting song with her first Bizarrap collab, “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 58”. The song, which gives the Puerto Rican her second top 10, picks up the Greatest Gainer honors of the week, as it climbs 55 rankings, from No. 58 to No. 3. Bizarrap ups his top 10 career count to 20. Young Miko is also set to receive the Impact Award at the 2024 Billboard Women in Music Awards, taking place March 6 and streaming on March 7.

Elsewhere, Emilia notches her 29th entry on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 as “Jet_Set.Mp3,” her team-up with Nathy Peluso, debuts at No. 30. The song, the Hot Shot Debut of the week, gifts Peluso her highest debut thus far, after “Argentina,” with Trueno, debuted and peaked at No. 48 in May 2022.

Further, two other songs debut this week, starting with “Tal Para Cual” by Salastkbron and Omar Varela, which starts at No. 55. The track brings back Varela to the tally, after “P Rreo,” with Kaleb Di Masi, Salas, and Alejo Isakk, took him to a No. 99 high in April 2022. Lastly, Ariana Grande secures her 11th chart entry with “Yes, And?” at No. 61.

Forever No. 1 is a Billboard series that pays special tribute to the recently deceased artists who achieved the highest honor our charts have to offer — a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single — by taking an extended look back at the chart-topping songs that made them part of this exclusive club. Here, we honor the late Shangri-Las frontwoman Mary Weiss by looking at their lone No. 1 as a group: the spellbinding tragi-pop classic “Leader of the Park.”

By the time “Leader of the Pack” hit No. 1 in late 1964, the first golden age of girl-group pop was already nearing its end. Groups like The Shirelles, The Angels and The Orlons had seen the hits dry up, while super-producer Phil Spector — who had set much of the sonic and structural template for the era with outfits like The Crystals and The Ronettes — was enjoying his final hits with the latter trio before turning his attention to The Righteous Brothers and Ike & Tina Turner. The Supremes would dominate throughout the ’60s, and their Motown labelmates Martha & The Vandellas and The Marvelettes were able to successfully evolve their sound to the changing era, but they were increasingly the exceptions to the rule. The Beatles were in the midst of modernizing the music world, scoring six Hot 100-toppers in ’64 alone, and the Brill Building pop production model that powered most of the girl group era suddenly didn’t seem quite so fresh.

What was fresh, though, was The Shangri-Las. Making their name with a street-tougher image and more emotionally complex songs than the glammed-out girl groups of the early decade, the quartet fit in just fine with the British-invaded pop world of the mid-’60s — touring with rock hitmakers The Animals and Vanilla Fudge and even performing with proto-punks The Sonics as their backing band. Betty Weiss sang lead on the group’s earliest songs, but she was soon eclipsed as frontwoman by younger sister Mary, whose more expressive and adaptable voice was better suited for the increasingly dramatic songs and rich productions given to the group by George “Shadow” Morton — who brought the Shangri-Las to Red Bird Records as teenagers and ultimately wrote and produced the majority of their hits. (Weiss died earlier this month at age 75.)

“Remember (Walkin’ in the Sand)” was first up for the group in the summer of ’64. Its mix of pounding piano chords, tempo switches, histrionically belted and tensely sung-spoken vocals, despairing lyrics and evocative sound effects proved a perfect introduction to the teenage mini-operas that would ultimately became their signature. It also made for one of the most striking pop singles of its era, as “Remember” peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, establishing the group as stars. But it would turn out to just be the warm-up for the group’s biggest hit, and the one they remain most known for 60 years later: The tearjerking story song “Leader of the Pack,” a doomed wrong-side-of-the-tracks romance that ends with its titular rogue speeding off to his tragic death.

Tragedy was nothing new in the pop music of the time: So-called “death discs” had made for one of the most bankable top 40 themes of the turn of the ’60s, with smashes like Ray Peterson’s “Tell Laura I Love Her” and J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers’ “Last Kiss” hinging on such fatalities. The overwhelming majority of these hits were male-sung, however, and a girl group had yet to find major success with one. But with several such groups singing songs in praise of the misunderstood Bad Boy — The Crystals’ Hot 100-topping 1962 gem “He’s a Rebel” being the most obvious and popular example — it made perfect commercial sense to mix such a star-crossed lover ballad with a teen tragedy song, delivered from the girl-group perspective.

But “Leader of the Pack” really revved up the melodrama — somewhat literally, in the case of its recurring motorcycle-engine sound effects — from its opening seconds, with one of the most show-stopping intros in pop history. A single, thundering piano chord is repeatedly struck, as backing vocals hum elegiacally in the background, and intra-Las spoken dialogue introduce the song’s central narrative, first through side gossip (“Is she really going out with him?”) and then through direct questioning (“Betty, is that Jimmy’s ring you’re wearing?”). It establishes everything about the song’s tone and content before the first verse, and also makes it clear that despite its obvious influences, “Leader” doesn’t follow in the path of any pop song before it.

And yes, despite “Betty” being the name of the “Leader” narrator, it was in fact Mary singing lead on the single, and delivering one of the unforgettable vocal performances of ’60s pop. Just 15 years old at the time of recording, there was a rawness and unguardedness to her wailing vocal (“He stood there and asked me wuhhhhh-eyyyyeeee“) that even brilliant young pop peers like Ronnie Spector and Diana Ross were a little too polished for. That was by design, according to legendary songwriter Jeff Barry (who composed the song along with Morton and usual songwriting partner Ellie Greenwich), telling Fred Bronson for The Billboard Book of Number One Hits that he sat close to her while recording “Leader” to give her stability and allow her to “feel free to let it out emotionally.” He notes that her emotional connection to the song is audible on the final product: “She was crying, you can hear it on the record.”

It’s almost unfair to evaluate Weiss’ performance on “Leader” strictly in musical terms, since it was every bit as much a theatrical performance. The single was structured less like a pop song than a radio play — with the backing Las prodding the narrative along with further questioning (“What’cha mean when you say that he came from the wrong side of town?“) and bombastic sound effects providing the necessary punctuation to the story when needed. But it all pivoted on Weiss as its leading lady, torn between her parents and her Jimmy, selling the combined devastation of both young heartbreak and young loss. “I was asking her to be an actress, not just a singer,” Morton later said.

Of course, Weiss was helped in her star vehicle by having pro’s pros as screenwriters and director. Barry and Greenwich were among the most accomplished songwriters of their era (“Be My Baby,” “Doo Wah Diddy Diddy,” “Chapel of Love”), and they establish the teen-soap story and feelings of “Leader” with maximum lyrical efficiency: “They told me that he was bad/ But I knew that he was sad.” Meanwhile, the song’s melodic instincts are sharp enough that the song never feels too stagey for the top 40: Note how after Weiss spends the verse waxing nostalgic with long, over-drawn phrases and her Las classmates answer her with clipped, staccato responses, they all come together at the end of the refrain to punch in the title phrase with maximum sing-song clarity and impact.

And Morton’s production is what brings the whole song together. It clearly follows from Spector’s Wall of Sound pocket symphonies, but with the added stakes of “Leader,” the song’s sonics are heightened to near-operatic levels: drum thumps approximate loudly echoing heartbeats on the chorus, reverb-soaked, minor-key piano gives the feeling of an impending thunderstorm on the bridge, and the group is elevated to an angelic choir on the heavenly outro, singing the fallen Leader home. And of course, there’s that incessant motorcycle engine: one of the all-time on-record sound effects, as crucial to the song’s pop appeal as any of the more obviously melodic hooks, and also serving as a much-needed act break following each emotionally exhausting verse and refrain. Throw in an unsettlingly vivid crash scene on the bridge — complete with skidding sounds, chilling “LOOK OUT! LOOK OUT!” cries from the backing La’s, and (of course) a climactic key change — and “Leader” was very likely the most action-packed pop single ever released to that point.

Appropriately, “Leader of the Pack” was received like a late-season blockbuster. It debuted at No. 86 on the Hot 100 dated Oct. 10, 1964, and was No. 1 just seven weeks later, ending the four-week reign of the ascendant Supremes and their second Hot 100-topper “Baby Love.” It spent just one week on top, before being replaced by a very different sort of story song, Lorne Greene’s “Ringo.” The Shangri-Las would never return to the chart’s top spot again, but dizzying follow-up “Give Him a Great Big Kiss” reached No. 18, and 1965’s “I Can Never Go Home Anymore” returned them to the top 10, peaking at No. 6. Even several Shangri-Las singles that failed to reach the top 40, like 1965’s heart-rending “Out in the Streets” (No. 53) and 1966’s absolutely harrowing “Past, Present and Future” (No. 59) made huge impressions not just on fans of the time but future generations of pop listeners, playing a large part in the cult fandom the group inspires to this day.

Indeed, though the Shangri-Las would only be major hitmakers for a couple years, their influence would be widespread for many decades to come. Several key figures from the first generation of punk rockers in the ’70s would cite the Las as formative influences, with The Damned even borrowing the “Is she really going out with him?” intro from “Leader” — which would also title famed angry young rocker Joe Jackson’s breakthrough hit just a couple years later — on their debut single “New Rose.” Later noise-pop merchants like Sonic Youth and The Jesus and Mary Chain similarly found inspiration in the group’s edgy melodrama, and retro-minded 21st century pop stars like Amy Winehouse and Lana Del Rey venerated their fashion, attitude and still-shattering songs. And while the girl group would be less impactful on the top 40 of the late ’60s than it was in the decade’s first half, there would be additional golden ages to come, with the Shangri-Las enduring as one of the gold standards of the form. Despite being perhaps the defining “death disc” of them all, “Leader of the Pack” has proven thoroughly eternal.