Author: Rap Hooks

Billboard’s rock album charts dated June 21 are topped by a pair of full-length releases new to No. 1 – though one is brand new while the other recently celebrated its 21st birthday.

My Chemical Romance’s Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, the act’s 2004 breakthrough LP, returns to the Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums charts at No. 1, while Turnstile’s newly released Never Enough debuts at No. 1 on Top Hard Rock Albums.

Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge earned 44,000 equivalent album units (up 809%) in the United States in the week ending June 12, according to Luminate. That sum includes 37,000 album sales, spurred by the release of its 20th anniversary deluxe edition on June 6. For the reissue, the album’s 13-song original tracklist was remastered and remixed, while four live versions of the songs from BBC Radio 1’s punk show The Lock Up in 2005 were added. (All versions of the album are combined for tracking and charting purposes.)

Although the bulk of the album’s coronation was driven by album sales, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge nonetheless tallied a 77% increase to 8.9 million official U.S. streams in the tracking week.

Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge logged previous history on all three charts (in fact, it ranked at No. 14 on the inaugural Top Rock Albums tally in 2006), but its original release preceded the inceptions of those rankings. The set debuted at No. 103 on the Billboard 200 dated June 26, 2004, but had never risen higher than No. 28 (Sept. 24, 2005) prior to its reissue, which sends it to No. 6, as previously reported. The LP generated a trio of Billboard Hot 100 entries, paced by the No. 33-peaking “Helena (So Long & Goodnight).”

As for Turnstile, Never Enough launches at No. 1 on Top Hard Rock Albums with 38,000 units, including 28,000 from album sales. It’s the band’s first ruler on the chart, exceeding the No. 2 peak of Glow On in 2021.

Never Enough also bows at No. 2, behind Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, on Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums and arrives as the band’s first top 10 on the Billboard 200 at No. 9.

The albums hold the top two spots on Vinyl Albums, too. Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge leads with 31,000 vinyl copies sold, followed by Never Enough (21,000).

Two songs from Never Enough concurrently debut on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. The title track leads at No. 42 via 1.5 million streams and 1.4 million radio audience impressions, with “I Care” at No. 49 (1.4 million streams). They mark Turnstile’s first appearances on the tally.

Eight songs from Never Enough also rank on Hot Hard Rock Songs, fronted by “Never Enough” at No. 7.

Lead radio single “Never Enough” hits a new No. 11 high on Alternative Airplay. Turnstile is seeking its third top 10 on the chart in as many tries, following “Mystery” and “Holiday,” which reached Nos. 8 and 10, respectively, in 2022.

Bruce Springsteen isn’t backing down when it comes to his thoughts on President Donald Trump.

In a wide-reaching interview with The New York Times published Wednesday (June 18), the rock star criticized everything from the politician’s leadership to his effect on the social fabric of the United States. Springsteen is currently on his Land of Hope & Dreams Tour, on which he performs a setlist every night that he says “addresses our current situation” under Trump’s administration.

And how would Springsteen describe the current situation? “It’s an American tragedy,” he told the publication. “I think that it was the combination of the deindustrialization of the country and then the incredible increase in wealth disparity that left so many people behind. It was ripe for a demagogue. And while I can’t believe it was this moron that came along, he fit the bill for some people.”

Reflecting on Trump’s first few months in office since winning a second term, Springsteen added that “what we’ve been living through in the last 70 days is things that we all said, ‘This can’t happen here. This will never happen in America.’ And here we are.”

The Boss has long been vocal in his opposition to Trump, endorsing Kamala Harris in the 2024 election and telling The Atlantic four years prior that the twice-impeached POTUS was a “threat to our democracy.” Trump, however, hit back at Springsteen a few weeks ago after the rocker slammed his administration as “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous” during a May concert in Manchester, England.

“I see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States,” Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly after the show. “Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he’s not a talented guy — Just a pushy, obnoxious JERK … This dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT.”

The insults didn’t phase Springsteen, who has since continued to voice his dismay with the current state of affairs in his home country on stage. In late May, he released an EP featuring a recording of the speech that ticked Trump off.

And in his NYT interview, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer didn’t shy away from criticizing Trump’s immigration policies, which in recent weeks have manifested in widely criticized ICE raids in places like Los Angeles. “There’s a large migrant population that lives and has altered Freehold in a very vibrant way,” Springsteen said of his hometown in New Jersey.

“There are communities all across America now that have taken in immigrants and migrant workers,” Springsteen continued. “So what’s going on at the moment to me is disgusting, and a terrible tragedy.”

Despite everything, though, the musician says he still has a lot of hope for the future of the country he’s spent his career writing about in his songs. Why? “Because we have a long democratic history,” Springsteen said. “We don’t have an autocratic history as a nation. It’s fundamentally democratic, and I believe that at some point that’s going to rear its head and things will swing back.”

He added, “Let’s knock on wood.”

A beverage startup that once planned to work with Rihanna’s brother will pay the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) more than $1 million for allegedly lying about nonexistent talks to develop an alcohol brand called “RiRi Rum” with the music icon.

Long Island-based beverage company The3rdBevco and its founder, Peter Scalise III, agreed to a $1.1 million SEC fine, according to court documents filed Tuesday (June 17). The settlement states that Scalise and The3rdBevco neither admit nor deny the allegations made by the federal investments regulator in a civil complaint docketed the same day.

In 2022, The3rdBevco publicly announced that it planned to bring on Rihanna’s brother, Rorrey Fenty, as a “senior strategic consultant” to develop a new alcohol brand called RiRi Rum in collaboration with the superstar singer and business mogul (born Robyn Rihanna Fenty).

The SEC says that while it’s true that The3rdBevco did sign a letter of intent to hire Rorrey as a consultant, “there was never any deal, negotiation discussion or any other contact” with Rihanna or her management team for this supposed rum collaboration.

According to the complaint, The3rdBevco and Scalise repeatedly lied to investors throughout 2022 and 2023 that they were actively working with Rihanna on the rum product. Along the way, says the SEC, they used Rihanna’s “RiRi” trademark without her permission and included unauthorized Rihanna songs, images and even a fake signature attributed to the artist in investor presentations.

Neither Rihanna nor Rorrey is accused of participating in this illegal activity. While Rorrey did say he would try to facilitate a meeting between The3rdBevco and Rihanna if brought on as a consultant, the partnership agreement was never finalized, and Rorrey’s letter of intent was ultimately voided without him ever actually working for the company.

The SEC notes that Rorrey complained multiple times to Scalise that The3rdBevco should not have been using Rihanna’s images without authorization or touting the RiRi Rum brand without a deal in place.

In addition to claims about the fake Rihanna partnership, the SEC complaint also accuses The3rdBevco and Scalise of selling unregistered company shares and misusing nearly $900,000 worth of investor funds on personal expenses like tuition, mortgage payments and landscaping.

Mark David Hunter, a lawyer representing The3rdBevco and Scalise, told Billboard on Wednesday (June 18) that his clients “are pleased to have the matter resolved and behind them.”

Rorrey Fenty and reps for Rihanna did not immediately return requests for comment.

Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip.

This week: Keith Sweat’s “Nobody” gets a bump from an improbable cover source, a less-remembered Black Eyed Peas gets its moment in the TikTok sun and Playboi Carti may have a new Music breakout following his BET Awards performance.

‘Carnival Cruise Tyler’ Karaoke Performance Sets Off a Keith Sweat Revival

Who can do it like Carnival Cruise Tyler? Nobody, apparently – at least nobody outside of Keith Sweat himself. The 20-year-old Georgia native born Tyler Heyworth has been going viral on TikTok the past couple weeks for an unexpected performance he offered on vacation with his family on the Carnival Cruise line, where he sang Sweat’s 1996 top five Hot 100 smash “Nobody” (featuring Athena Cage of Kut Klose) — released when Tyler was approximately negative nine years old — to what could certainly be described as a receptive karaoke audience. 

Tyler’s performance, delivered with strong vocals, engaging (but never quite inappropriate) stage moves and an understated confidence, resulted in multiple crowd freakouts, with different captured angles of his now-storied rendition each seemingly revealing new multitudes of enraptured listenership. Unsurprisingly, his viral fame has resulted in much internet celebrity: “I’ve had a bunch of, uh, interesting women in my comments and in my DMs,” he told TMZ. “It’s kinda too much at this point.” 

The young man’s “Nobody” performance is not yet available on DSPs – but of course, Keith Sweat’s apparently well-enduring original certainly is, and fans new and old were motivated to spend time with the ‘90s R&B classic. The song’s daily official on-demand U.S. streams rose gradually throughout last week, hitting a high of 319,000 on Friday (June 13), up 91% from 167,000 the previous Friday (June 6), according to Luminate. Sweat himself even shared video of Tyler’s performance, with the caption, “If everybody don’t sing NOBODY it’s not done correctly.” – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

Black Eyed Peas’ ‘Rock’ Is Rolling With Viral Resurgence

In 2009, “Boom Boom Pow,” the lead single from the Black Eyed Peas’ album The E.N.D., spent 12 straight weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 — and was then replaced by the album’s second single, “I Gotta Feeling,” which proceeded to log 14 weeks in the top spot. The mind-boggling run of chart domination represented the apex of the quartet’s commercial appeal — the Peas would never return to the top of the Hot 100 afterwards, in fact — but now, another song from The E.N.D. has gone viral, and could crack the chart 16 years later if it keeps picking up steam.

“Rock Your Body” followed the same electro-pop-rap blueprint of the album’s biggest hits, with Will.i.am relying heavily on Auto-tune, Fergie’s voice pitched way up and a sample of Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock’s “It Takes Two” heavily involved; the song’s hook, in which Will cedes the floor to Fergie, has slowly grown as a popular TikTok sound, with users creating different dance routines to the vocal hand-off. After earning 667,000 weekly official U.S. on-demand streams six weeks ago (Apr. 18-24), “Rock Your Body” scored 4.14 million streams last week (June 6-12) — an increase of 520%, according to Luminate. Is this a viral one-off, or can the nostalgia cycle fuel a full-on BEP revival? The E.N.D. is an acronym for The Energy Never Dies — maybe we’re about to experience proof of that claim. – JASON LIPSHUTZ

Playboi Carti Fans Like ‘Weezy’ Following BET Awards Performance

Sometimes, when you release an album with an enormous track list, some of the songs in the back half of that full-length require a special platform to reach a larger audience. Case in point: at the 2025 BET Awards last Monday night (June 9), Playboi Carti reached deep into his Music bag to perform “Like Weezy,” the springy 25th track on the 30-song track list, as well as The Weeknd collaboration “Rather Lie” while surrounded by luxury cars and smoke machines onstage at the awards ceremony.

“Like Weezy” has benefitted from the performance choice by Carti: in the four days following the BET Awards (June 10-13), the track earned 1.28 million U.S. on-demand streams, a 90% increase from the previous four days (670,000 streams from June 6-9), according to Luminate. Carti has also been performing “Like Weezy” in his nightly sets opening for The Weeknd’s ongoing stadium tour, which continues through early September — meaning that the song could enjoy a sustained boost instead of a one-week uptick due to an awards show performance. – J.L.

Chappell Roan is one of the most outspoken artists of her generation, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t sensitive to the backlash she often receives when she speaks her mind.

While interviewing SZA for an Interview Magazine piece published Tuesday (June 17), the pop star — who has sparked heated public discourse on everything from toxic fan behavior to political endorsements in the past year alone — was candid when the R&B hitmaker asked whether she “gave a f–k about the backlash.”

“I didn’t until people started hating me for me and not for my art,” Roan replied. “When it’s not about my art anymore, it’s like, ‘They hate me because I’m Kayleigh, not because they hate the songs that I make.’ That’s when it changed.”

“When things are taken out of context, people assume so much about you,” she continued. “I didn’t realize I’d care so much. When it comes to my art, I’m like, ‘B—h, you can think whatever you want. You are allowed to hate it with all your guts.’ But when it comes to me and my personality, it’s like, ‘Damn. Am I the most insufferable b—h of our generation?’”

Fortunately, Roan isn’t alone. SZA shared that she also feels hurt when she comes across tough criticism about herself, telling the Missouri native, “Maybe everybody secretly gives a f–k … I tried to tell myself that I didn’t care what people were saying about me, but it was so weird that I was being misperceived so far from who I am.”

“It makes me cry,” Roan added. “I don’t know if it will ever feel okay to hear someone say something really hateful about me.”

Roan has spoken before about how difficult it can be to feel misunderstood. While guesting with Sasha Colby on TS Madison’s Outlaws podcast in May, she reflected on being labeled a “villain” at different points in her career, sharing that she “cannot bear people saying I’m something I’m not.”

She also hasn’t let it stop her from voicing her opinions or speaking up when she feels mistreated — like when she confronted photographers at not one, but two events in 2024. “I think that I’m doing it the way I want to, but not everyone likes that,” she told SZA for Interview. “I will yell at a b—h on the carpet. I think that right now in my career, I’m just trying to see if the way I’ve been doing it is sustainable. Am I okay with the backlash of speaking my mind? That’s where I am right now.”