Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department has scored the biggest opening of an album in the U.K. in seven years, according to the Official Charts Company. The record is her 12th #1 album and her biggest opening ever in the U.K. It also set a new U.K. record for the amount of vinyl sales in a week by any album in the 21st century. She surpassed her own album, Midnights, to achieve the recognition.

Elton John will be one of the guest stars on Stampede Vol. 1, a duets album by South African alt-country artist Orville Peck. Peck, who is openly gay and always performs wearing some sort of mask, will sing with Elton on a remake of Elton's classic "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)." Other guests on the album include country icon Willie Nelson, Miley Cyrus' sister Noah Cyrus and roots rocker Nathaniel Rateliff.

Singer and actress Vanessa Williams has just released the first single and video from what will be her first pop album in 15 years. It's called "Legs (Keep Dancing)," and the song's title was inspired by the late Diahann Carroll's memoir The Legs Are The Last To Go. Vanessa's album will be out later this year; she's currently getting ready to play Miranda Priestly in Elton John's new musical The Devil Wears Prada, opening this fall in London's West End. Vanessa's biggest U.S. hit is her 1992 #1, "Save the Best for Last."

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Rachel Platten is sharing another song from her upcoming album.

"Bad Thoughts" was inspired by Rachel's struggles with panic attacks, anxiety and postpartum depression. She says in a statement, "When the darkness seemed all-encompassing and the battle with my thoughts became too much, songwriting was a form of medicine that helped me find my way back to myself ... this song, in particular, was a lifeline."

She adds, "The choruses are a declaration that no matter how brutal my mind could be, there was still a part of me that was bigger than all of that noise, bigger than the bad thoughts, and accessing that part would be my guiding light out of the darkness. My wish is that this song may be that light for others.”

Meanwhile, Rachel has scheduled what's described as a "candlelight show" at St. Ann's Church in New York City on May 30; she's also added a second LA show at The Sun Rose on May 14.

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The Eagles are back on the Billboard charts.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers' recently released best-of compilation, To the Limit: The Essential Collection, has landed in the top 10 on several charts.  

The band moved 7,000 copies of the album and 6,500 in physical sales to land at #9 on the Top Album Sales chart. It also lands at #6 on the Top Rock Albums chart and at #8 on both the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart and Top Current Album Sales chart.

On the overall Billboard 200 Album chart, To The Limit: The Essential Collection debuted at #30, which makes it the group’s 12th top 40 album.

Of those 12 albums, six went to #1; 1975’s One Of These Nights, 1976’s Hotel California and Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975, 1979’s The Long Run, 1994’s Hell Freezes Over, 2007’s Long Road Out Of Eden.

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Four surprise bonus tracks from Teddy Swims’ new album, I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 1.5), are out now.

The new songs from the “Lose Control” singer are called “Hammer to the Heart,” “Tell Me,” “Apple Juice” and “Growing Up is Getting Old.”

“I’ve Tried Everything but Therapy (1.5) is an extension to Part 1 of the album — this whole album is just me being honest,” Swims said in a statement. “You know, I’ve been touring, writing, and continuing to work on myself over the past 8 months and wanted to share something like a real-life check-in. These songs represent where I’m at and I didn’t want to wait till I had the whole part 2 done — so here you go.”

Additionally, Teddy’s newly announced fall tour dates are on sale now. His I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy tour is currently making its way through a sold-out run in the U.K. and Europe.

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Fantasia Barrino says she’d love to replace Katy Perry as a judge on American Idol.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight released Thursday, April 25, Fantasia said she wasn’t aware Katy was exiting the singing competition show at the end of this season, but she would be up to replace her on the panel.

“I'm gonna be honest, I would love to,” Fantasia, who won season 3 of the series 20 years ago, said. “I think that those kids, when they're coming into the game, I think that they need somebody to come in and not only show them how to sing a song, but how to handle the business because it's a lot.”

Fantasia continued by explaining how exactly she’d help the contestants strike that balance.

“Just having somebody to say, ‘Hey, make sure you have this, make sure you have that. OK, sing this song, sing that song.’ Getting to know them, their upbringing, what makes you want to sing, why do you love this, why do you want this? So, I would love to do it. I would be up for it,” Fantasia said.

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The last time Taylor Swift performed The Eras Tour, she had not released her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department. Now that the surprise double album and all 31 of its tracks are out in the world, Swifties are wondering if the pop superstar will add the new era to the set list when the tour resumes on May 9 in Paris, France.

In a new YouTube Shorts video Taylor posted on Thursday, April 25, she is seen rehearsing for The Eras Tour. The 15-second clip is set to her new single “Fortnight” and features a brief shot where Taylor stands next to a silver railing. Fans immediately noticed that the railing was in the shape of The Tortured Poets Department logo, and speculation ran rampant.

“A fortnight til Paris ... Brought to you by YouTube Shorts #ForAFortnightChallenge,” the video’s description reads.

Additionally, it seems Taylor's wearing the same shoes she dons in the “Fortnight” music video in the short clip. There also looks to be new choreography and costumes on display. Taylor’s background dancers are seen wearing top hats and dancing with canes, which have not been featured during the concert previously.

If Taylor does add the The Tortured Poets Department era to the set list, this would mark the first major change to The Eras Tour since it began in March 2023.

While Taylor has switched out a few songs here and there — namely changing the folklore section's opener from “invisible string” to “the 1” and adding “Long Live” to the Speak Now section after her version of the album was released last summer — this would be the first time she has added an entire new section to the show. 

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Bon Jovi is looking back at their 40-year career with the new four-part docuseries Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, and front man Jon Bon Jovi tells ABC Audio he’s very proud of the final product.

“Overall, it's a very emotional piece, to see your life flash before your eyes,” he says. “You're showing everything. You're putting all your cards on the table.”

As for why he felt now was the right time for such an in-depth look at the band, Jon says, “I just felt that it was an opportunity for us to mark the first 40 years and to look back while I'm looking ahead.”

There’s no doubt Bon Jovi’s devoted fan base will tune in to watch — and while some may think they know all there is to know about the group, Jon thinks there’s still a lot fans can learn about how the band got to where they are today.

“I think that folks think that these songs fall out of the sky, and then we just do things,” he says. “There's a lot of hard work that goes into making it look easy.”

But will this documentary bring a new set of fans to Bon Jovi? Jon’s not so sure.

“That's what's interesting about putting a documentary out,” he says. “Even if you have a perception of something, how it's then viewed and perceived by others is completely out of your control.” 

Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story premieres Friday, April 26, on Hulu.

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Unsung Hero, a biopic about the family of music duo for KING + COUNTRY, opens April 26. For KING + COUNTRY's Joel Smallbone co-wrote the movie, directed it and stars in it as his father, which he said was pretty challenging mentally.

The movie's about how David Smallbone and his pregnant wife, Helen, uprooted their six kids and moved to Nashville after David lost their savings. The flat-broke family survived on the kindness of strangers until daughter Rebecca became a Christian music star.

On set, though, Joel found himself in the weird position of doing scenes as his father, while another actor played him as a small child.

"It's like, 'I am my dad. But that is me. But I am me and this is my mum. But I'm kissing my mum. But it's not my mum, it's an actor,'" he says. "Like, [it] just breaks your brain."

As for how he managed to direct and star in the film, having never directed before, Joel says musicians are great at multitasking, so he just transferred those skills to the set.

"It was outrageous. It was intense. It was drinking from a fire hose. It was all of those things," he notes. "But somehow I felt in such a flow with it all."

As for the added pressure of making sure his entire family was OK with the film, Joel reports, "Everyone was really proud of it and thrilled. And it's been really redeeming for all of us."

So, who is the Unsung Hero of the title?

"Depending on your life experience ... folks are coming at it and seeing themselves in different ways, which is beautiful," says Joel. "My mom and my sister Rebecca are kind of my personal unsung heroes in the film."

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Sheryl Crow is a Billie Eilish fan. After Billie posted photos from her Rolling Stone cover shoot to Instagram, Sheryl took to the comment section to send her some love. "Man, I love what you do so much! So glad you are on the cover!!" Sheryl wrote.

Travis Kelce's mom, Donna Kelce, says Taylor Swift doesn't need her advice on growing older, People reports. "She doesn’t need my advice on anything," Donna said. "In fact, I hope she will give me advice."

Andrea Bocelli is celebrating 30 years of making music with a three-day event this summer in Lajatico, Italy. Taking place on July 15, 17 and 19, Andrea Bocelli 30: The Celebration will feature a number of additional performers, including Ed Sheeran, Shania Twain, Jon Batiste and David Foster. It'll be recorded and released as a concert film directed by Sam Wrench, who helmed Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour last year.

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Neil Tennant, the lead singer of U.K. duo Pet Shop Boys, must have some kind of social media death wish: At a London event on April 22, he publicly dissed Taylor Swift's songwriting ability.

Tennant, who used to be a music journalist, took part in a live discussion Monday organized by the U.K.'s The Guardian. He said of Taylor, "I have listened to Taylor Swift’s album. ... Taylor Swift sort of fascinates me as a phenomenon because she’s so popular and I sort of quite like the whole thing. But then when I listen to the records, [bandmate Chris and I] both have the same feeling actually, for a phenomenon as big [her], where are the famous songs? What is Taylor Swift’s ‘Billie Jean’?”

When someone at the event suggested "Shake It Off" is Taylor's "Billie Jean," Tennant asked, "Is it, though? No, ’cause I actually even know that’s the answer. ... But I listened to that the other day, and it’s not ‘Billie Jean.’ It’s not."

"Melodically — she’s got a great voice, by the way, and the production’s beautiful ... but melodically it’s all ... sung one or two notes going up and down. But anyway, it’s a fascinating thing.”

Tennant allowed that he likes the fact that Taylor's music "brings all these people together, even multigenerational," but added, "I just think that the one disappointing thing is the music. Not even, not the lyrics, the music.”

If you're now wondering what some of Pet Shop Boys' famous songs are, their hits in the U.S. include "West End Girls," "Opportunities," "It's a Sin," "What Have I Done to Deserve This," a remake of Elvis Presley's "Always On My Mind" and "Domino Dancing." They're the most successful duo in U.K. chart history and have sold over 50 million records.

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The new Hulu docuseries Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story features some unheard music from the group — and Jon Bon Jovi says in the future everyone will get to hear it.

Asked by Billboard if the archival music will ever come out, he says, "Yes. One thing that we have always known, and our deep fan base knows as well, is that we always write 30 songs to get 10. And so there’s always been a backlog of material that’s been unreleased. There’s no shortage of it."

"So I think that we stumbled on 30 or 40 songs that no one’s heard, and they’ll all come out, yeah," he added.  Jon notes that the unreleased songs are from "all the records" — including Slippery When Wet and New Jersey.

The bad news is that Jon doesn't know when these songs will be released. "But," he explains, "We know what we’ve got. It’ll happen during the course of the release of the album." That'd be Forever, which is coming out in June.

"There’s some really good songs that I can’t believe didn’t make those records," he says.

The docuseries also shows Jon's struggle to get his voice back after undergoing surgery. He says he won't go on tour until he can, as he puts it, "go out on that stage ... and pick any song I want throughout [our] catalog on a nightly basis, the way I used to be able to do."

He adds, "That’s where I have left to go ... that’s the bar that I need to get back to."

As for what he's doing to get back to that point, Jon says it involves vocal therapy four times a week, as well as, "Hoping, wishing. Wishing, hoping. Praying."

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Remember when Taylor Swift sang, "Dreaming about the day when you wake up and find/ That what you're looking for has been here the whole time?" Apparently that's what happened between Taylor's BFF Selena Gomez and Selena's boyfriend, Benny Blanco.

Speaking to WSJ. Magazine, Benny says he and Selena had known each other professionally and as friends for nearly 10 years before they fell for each other. "I was the last one to know,” says the producer.

"It’s crazy how your partner could just be sitting there the whole time, right in front of your eyes, and you don’t even notice," he continues. "And then you have that Clueless moment where you’re like, 'Wait, I’m in love.’"

These days Benny is switching up his focus from his songwriting and producing career to his cooking career, readying his first cookbook, Open Wide: A Cookbook for Friends. He tells WSJ. Magazine that he and Selena, who has a cooking show on the Food Network, cook together all the time. In fact, they made a steak dinner for both their families that included Selena's corn casserole and Benny's corn bread with honey butter.

"I just love entertaining and pleasing people," he says. "Doesn’t everyone want to be cared for, whether it’s your friend or a lover or your family? Doesn’t it feel good when someone makes you something?”

Fun fact: Open Wide includes a recipe for deep-frying a watch, because one of his best friends, Ed Sheeran, once gave him a $16,500 Rolex and that's what he did with it. He claims it still works.

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After announcing it last week, Barbra Streisand has now unveiled her new song, "Love Will Survive," which she recorded for the upcoming Peacock limited series The Tattooist of Auschwitz. It's Streisand's first-ever song for a TV series.

As previously reported, Streisand, 82, said of the song, "Because of the rise in antisemitism around the world today, I wanted to sing 'Love Will Survive' in the context of this series, as a way of remembering the six million souls who were lost less than 80 years ago [in the Holocaust]. And also to say that, even in the darkest of times, the power of love can triumph and endure.”

In the emotional ballad, Barba sings, "Until we face every heartache together / I'll keep believing, feel you breathing, hear your cries / with every season of sorrow / somehow our loves survives."

The Tattooist of Auschwitz stars Harvey Keitel, Melanie Lynskey, Jonah Hauer-King, Anna Próchniak and Jonas Nay. It follows the love and survival story of a prisoner at a Nazi concentration camp who falls in love with a fellow prisoner he meets while tattooing her identification number on her arm. Years later, he finally tells his story to an aspiring writer.

The six-part series launches globally on May 2.

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Artists including Jason Mraz, Billie Eilish and Sia have signed an open letter supporting the proposed Fans First Act, which aims to "combat predatory resellers and the use of illegal bots" in the concert ticket industry.

The letter was released by a coalition called Fix the Tix, organized by the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA).

"As artists and members of the music community, we rely on touring for our livelihood, and we value music fans above all else," the signees write. "We are joining together to say that the current system is broken: predatory resellers and secondary platforms engage in deceptive ticketing practices to inflate ticket prices and deprive fans of the chance to see their favorite artists at a fair price."

"Predatory resellers have gone unregulated while siphoning money from the live entertainment ecosystem for their sole benefit," the letter continues. "They use illegal bots, speculative ticket listings, and deceitful advertising, which cause real harm."

It concludes, "We, as artists, as music lovers, and as concert attendees ourselves, urge you to support the Fans First Act to combat predatory resellers’ deceptive ticketing practices and the secondary platforms, which also profit from these practices. Predatory resellers should not be more profitable than the people dedicating their lives to their art."

Others who signed include Lorde, Billie's brother FINNEAS, Train, Cyndi Lauper, Duran Duran, Diplo, Fall Out Boy and Dave Matthews.

To read the whole letter, visit NIVAssoc.org/fixthetix.

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Travis Kelce's mom, Donna, is spilling the tea about what her son and Taylor Swift do in their downtime: hang with other power couples, apparently.

People reports that during the QVC Age of Possibility summit in Las Vegas on April 24, Donna revealed that Travis sent her a photo showing him and Taylor on the beach in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, with Taylor's pal Gigi Hadid and her boyfriend, Bradley Cooper.

Why did he send the pic? Well, on that beach day, Travis found out Cooper and his mom would both be at the event in Vegas. When Cooper showed up, Donna was able to greet the Oscar-nominated actor/director saying, "Travis told me you were going to be here."

At the event, Donna told People that she's listened to Taylor's new album, The Tortured Poets Department. "I was just very impressed," she said. "She is a very talented woman, and I think it is probably her best work."

At least two songs on the album are thought to be about Travis: "The Alchemy" and "So Like High School."

On the other end of the spectrum, People reports that The 1975 singer Matty Healy, who is thought to have inspired numerous tracks on the album, told paparazzi on April 24, "I haven't really listened to that much of it, but I'm sure it's good."

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