Author: Rap Hooks

After months of speculation and years of anticipation, Bizarrap and J Balvin have finally joined forces for “BZRP Music Sessions #62/66” on Friday (Dec. 26), closing out the year on a high note.

Clocking in at just over three minutes, the track showcases Balvin’s romantic side over a vallenato-tinged production with a splash of EDM, courtesy of Bizarrap. “Siento que tu nombre está en todos mis pensamientos/ No te puedo ver pero estás como el viento” (“I feel like your name is in all of my thoughts/ I can’t see you but you’re like the wind”), the Medellín artist belts out, donning a dapper blue suit.

The Argentine producer and the Colombian reggaetón superstar announced the unexpected collaboration on Christmas Day with a playful photo posted on social media. The snapshot, where both artists hold sneakers as if they were phones, was captioned, “BZRP Music Session #62. Mañana. Feliz Navidad,” immediately igniting fan excitement.

This union also carries historical weight, subtly reminding to Balvin’s complicated past with Bizarrap, specifically 2022’s “BZRP Music Session #49” with Residente. The nearly 10-minute diss track famously targeted the Colombian superstar, fueling debates across the Latin music world. Now, with Session #62/66, Balvin appears to turn the page, using the platform to reflect on his resilience and personal growth.

This release comes just days after another public moment of introspection and reconciliation: J Balvin’s surprise appearance during Bad Bunny’s final Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour show in Mexico City. The two artists, who had a falling out in 2022 partly due to the Latin Grammys controversy, shared a heartfelt moment, exchanged apologies, and performed hits from their 2019 collaborative Oasis album for the first time in years.

Fueled by his viral collabs with artists like Shakira, Daddy Yankee, and Peso Pluma, Bizarrap keeps building hype with every session he drops.

Watch Bizarrap and J Balvin’s “BZRP Music Sessions #62” above.

Russell Wilson and Ciara are definitely in the giving spirit this holiday season, with the couple donating millions of dollars to the Mount Sinai Karvis Children’s Hospital to close out a year of charitable efforts through the football player’s Why Not You Foundation.

As announced Friday (Dec. 26) through a Good Morning America segment, Wilson and the singer have contributed $3 million to the medical center’s pediatric programs. The money will go toward improving the hospital’s common area — where patients are free to engage in therapeutic and creative activities as a respite from doctors and treatments — as well as the children’s holiday shop.

The donation comes as Wilson has been visiting the children’s hospital every Tuesday on his days off from practice and games with the New York Giants. “I started going to children’s hospitals, because my dad was unfortunately always in the hospital — he had diabetes — and my mom was an ER nurse,” he said in an interview with GMA.

“For me, I thought, like, ‘How can I make a difference somewhere?’” the athlete continued. “Every time I walk in a room, I’m praying for a miracle, something great to happen. And I’ve seen those miracles happen time and time again.”

The $3 million comes by way of Wilson’s Why Not You Foundation, which he founded in 2014. “My dad used to always say, ‘Son, why not you?’ It kind of became the mantra of my life,” he recalled, adding that he and Ciara decided to name the organization in honor of the phrase as “our parents both instilled that ‘Why not you?’ attitude in us.”

Six weeks prior to the Mount Sinai news, Wilson wrote on Instagram that the Why Not You Foundation had raised more than $21 million to go toward its programs championing education, children’s health and the fight against poverty. Some of the money also went to The V Foundation for Cancer Research.

Ciara, who works closely with her husband’s Why Not You Foundation, also recently attended an event at St. Peter’s Church in Atlanta to pledge $2 million to programs combating food insecurity.

As for what he hopes to see his donation accomplish, Wilson told GMA, “I want [the kids] to be inspired, and I want them to take their mind a little bit off of the pain they’re going through.”

“It’s probably been the greatest thing I’ve been able to do in my career so far,” he added of helping young hospital patients. “It’s better than any touchdown or any trophy.”

Learn more about Wilson and Ciara’s donation to Mount Sinai Karvis below.

Soso no Frieren (Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End) Vol. 15 rules this week’s Billboard Japan Book Hot 100, a comprehensive list integrating physical books, e-books, library loans, and subscription-based metrics such as social media.

On the chart released Dec. 25, the latest volume of the popular high fantasy manga series (released Dec. 18) leads both physical-store sales and e-books, while also coming in at No. 3 for EC and landing within the top 50 on social media. The series is set to return with a second anime season beginning in January next year.

At No. 2 is Vol. 21 of the comic adaptation of Kusuriya no Hitorigoto (The Apothecary Diaries), currently serialized in Monthly Sunday GX. Following at No. 3 is Hirohiko Araki’s The JOJOLands Vol. 7, making its chart debut in the top 3. The volume enters the top 20 across three metrics, placing No. 2 in physical stores, No. 14 in EC, and No. 7 in e-books.

The comic adaptation of Uketsu’s popular novel Henna Ie (The Strange House) Vol. 6 opens at No. 7, coming in at No. 5 for physical stores and No. 11 for e-books. Close behind, Kanae Minato’s Ningen Hyouhon (Human Specimens) jumps from outside the top 20 last week to No. 8, following the launch of its live-action drama adaptation on Prime Video beginning on the 19th. The book places No. 11 in physical stores and No. 7 in social media, while also earning points from EC, e-books, and subscriptions, charting across all five metrics of the Japan Book Hot 100 methodology.

Check out the top 10 titles for this week:

Japan Book Hot 100 Top 10

(Numbers in parentheses indicate the title’s metric placements for physical stores, EC, e-books, subscriptions, and social media, top 20 only. English title given if translations or adaptations exist.)

1. Soso no Frieren (Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End) Vol. 15, Kanehito Yamada, Tsukasa Abe (1・3・1・-・-)

2. Kusuriya no Hitorigoto ~ Maomao no Kokyu Nazotoki Techo ~ (The Apothecary Diaries) Vol. 21, Hyuuganatsu, Minoji Kurata, Touko Shino (3・-・2・-・-)


3. The JOJOLands Vol. 7, Hirohiko Araki (2・14・7・-・-)

4. Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray Vol. 22, Taiyo Kuzumi, Masafumi Sugiura & Pita, Junnosuke Ito (4・-・4・-・-)


5. Jun Shison Anniversary Photo Book “final”, Jun Shison (-・1・-・-・-)

6. Naruse wa Miyako wo Kakenukeru, Mina Miyajima (10・-・-・-・3)


7. Henna Ie (The Strange House) Vol. 6, Uketsu, Kyo Ayano (5・-・11・-・-)

8. Ningen Hyouhon (Human Specimens), Kanae Minato (11・-・-・-・7)


9. Naruse wa Tenka wo Toriniiku, Mina Miyajima (-・-・-・1・4)

10. World Trigger Vol. 29, Daisuke Ashihara (6・-・16・-・-)

Note: There will be no chart release on Jan. 1, 2026. The chart covering Dec. 22–28 will be published on Jan. 8, followed by the chart covering Dec. 29–Jan. 4, on Jan. 9.


2025 got off to a rough start in the music world, with two music greats passing away on the first day of the new year. Argentine artist and composer Leo Dan — known for his romantic tracks such as“Cómo Te Extraño Mi Amor,” “Mary Es Mi Amor” and “Pídeme La Luna” — died at age 82; Wayne Osmond, the second oldest of the Osmond Brothers, died at 73, his family announced the day after his passing.

Soul singer Brenton Wood, known for 1967’s “The Oogum Boogum Song,” died of natural causes on Jan. 3 at age 83. And before the first week of the new year ended, Peter Yarrow of popular folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary died in his New York City home at age 86 after a four-year battle against bladder cancer.

The losses continued with Sam Moore of the duo Sam & Dave passing away at age 89 on Jan. 10, followed by The Whites’ Buck White, who died three days later at age 94, then Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake guitarist John Sykes passing on at age 65 after a cancer battle. And on the final day of the third week of the new year, Garth Hudson — the last surviving member of Rock Hall-honored group The Band — died in his sleep at age 87.

Music fans were dealt another blow when the iconic Roberta Flack died at age 88 on Feb. 24, surrounded by her loved ones. Another big loss hit on July 22, when metal icon Ozzy Osbourne passed away at the age 76, just weeks after the final Black Sabbath concert.

While the world has had to say goodbye to many musicians so far this year, they will live in the memories of not only their families, but their fans. Here, Billboard remembers the musical artists who passed away in 2025.

In late 2015, Ariana Grande‘s seemingly frictionless ascendance to all-consuming pop superstardom had finally hit a tiny bit of turbulence. “Donutgate” and other small-scale controversies had put her in the media’s crossfire for the first time, while “Focus” — the planned lead single off her upcoming third album, then to be titled Moonlight — had disappointed commercially and left fans a little cold. It was nothing she couldn’t and wouldn’t bounce back from, but in the meantime, she dropped a surprise release to celebrate the holiday season, and give both her sound and her career a little bit of a reset: the six-song EP Christmas & Chill.

On this week’s Great Moments in Pop Star History episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard staff writer and longtime Arianator Kyle Denis to look back at 10 years of Christmas & Chill. We remember the Ariana Grande holiday releases that preceded it — including a song that’s already well on its way to being an all-time seasonal standard — and then dive into why Chill has come to hold a particularly special place in the hearts of fans and of Grande herself, as well as how it ended up predicting a lot of the places she would go in her later secular releases.

While doing so, we address all the most pressing questions around Grande’s Christmas & Chill — how did an EP with no self-consciously big songs on it end up playing such a big part in her career? What are our favorite songs on the EP? How did she get away with a ukulele song in 2015? Do we care about the difference between the “Naughty” and nice versions of “Santa Tell Me”? Why has Grande never made much of an effort to actively revisit or repromote any of her holiday releases? And perhaps most importantly: Is there a world in which Grande eventually ends up being Mariah Carey’s successor as the Queen of Christmas?

Check it out above — along with a YouTube playlist of some of Ariana’s most relevant holiday music moments, all of which are discussed in the podcast — and subscribe to the Greatest Pop Stars podcast on Apple Music or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts) for weekly discussions every Thursday about all things related to pop stardom!

Also check out Kyle’s 2025 Year in R&B review, as well as his recent Druski cover story.

And as we say in every one of these GPS podcast posts — if you have the time and money to spare, please consider donating to any of these causes in the fight for trans rights:

Transgender Law Center

Trans Lifeline

Destination Tomorrow

Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe