Less than a month after a $54 billion stock spinoff by Universal Music Group (UMG), three of the world’s biggest private equity players — KKR, Blackstone and Apollo Global Management — are making billion-dollar bets on the music business. KKR, which has $429 billion in assets under management and in March announced that it would […]

This story is part of Billboard’s 2022 Grammy Preview issue, highlighting the artists, issues and trends that will define awards season. Read our cover story on Halsey, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross here. After having to reinvent itself under extraordinary circumstances, the 2021 ceremony became one of the Recording Academy’s best-reviewed Grammy programs in recent years (if

BTS’ hit single “Permission to Dance” is already off to a quick start on Billboard’s charts, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts in July, and now is has more reason to celebrate: it led the inaugural Hot Trending Songs charts, powered by Twitter and sponsored

As we near the end of the spooky season, why not spice up your October playlists with new music from your favorite queer artists? Billboard Pride is here to help with First Out, our weekly roundup of some of the best new music releases from LGBTQ artists. From Sir Elton John’s long-awaited collaborations album to Pvris’s headbang-worthy

Billboard’s First Stream serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond. This week, Swedish House Mafia calls a big name in their rolodex, Lana Del Rey’s songwriting remains sharp as ever,

It’s a family affair atop Billboard’s Gospel Airplay chart, as Kierra’s “Something Has to Break,” featuring her mother, Karen Clark-Sheard, rises to No. 1 on the list dated Oct. 23. Kierra claims her fourth Gospel Airplay leader, after her featured turn on Mary Mary’s “God in Me,” in 2009; as featured on GEI’s “Hang On,”

Iranian composer and musician Mehdi Rajabian would like nothing more than to be nominated for a Grammy. But the Iranian government’s plans to shut down communications to the outside world may prevent him from promoting or even discussing his work with the outside world. In September, Rajabian, 31 — who was imprisoned in 2013 and 2015

LONDON — In April 2022, when Ed Sheeran begins his + – = ÷ x shows — which he’s calling the Mathematics Tour — dozens of trucks from the U.K. hauler KB Event will transport his production and crew to 15 or so European countries. But while KB’s trucks used to set out from the

Billboard’s third annual package spotlighting the independent music business opens with an inside look at the Phoebe Bridgers’ run label Saddest Factory Records. Just before the pandemic, when indie-pop singer-songwriter Claud got coffee with Phoebe Bridgers to discuss signing to Bridgers’ new label, they talked about Nickelodeon’s iCarly. In a 2008 episode of the show,

This story is part of Billboard’s 2022 Grammy Preview issue, highlighting the artists, issues and trends that will define awards season. Read our cover story on Halsey, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross here. Every year at the Grammys marks some combination of steps forward and backward for the Recording Academy’s historically shaky relationship with hip-hop. Last year,