Category: Music

Chris Martin isn’t taking any more chances with Coldplay’s kiss cam.

The frontman played matchmaker — and mock security guard — during the band’s concert at London’s Wembley Stadium on Friday (Aug. 22), helping a fan stage a marriage proposal with a bit of humor.

Before letting the romantic moment unfold, the singer paused the show to conduct some playful “basic security checks” to ensure there were no surprises — a clear nod to a recent viral mishap.

In fan-captured footage shared on TikTok, Martin is seen spotting a man in the crowd holding a sign that read, “I want to propose,” with an arrow pointing to the woman in front of him. Martin decided to intervene, but with some light-hearted screening first.

“Okay, now listen. My brother, I need you to nod as I do some basic security checks, okay?” Martin said to the man. “Is this person your partner? Yes? No one else’s partner?” After the man nodded yes, the “Yellow” singer continued. “Are you cousins or siblings, or anything weird like that? Are you AI? Are you real people? Okay, then I think we can continue.”

Martin then broke into a musical cue, singing, “My beautiful brother, here is some advice for free. As we all look on and see you go down, I advise you to get down on one knee.”

With cheers from across the stadium, the man dropped to one knee and proposed. The woman said yes, and the couple sealed the moment with a kiss. “Congratulations, my brother and my sister,” Martin said. “What a beautiful girl. What a wonderful guy. On a day like this, I encourage you to kiss. I hope you’re happy until the day that you die.”

The light-hearted scene comes about a month after a more controversial kiss-cam moment at Coldplay’s show at Boston’s Gillette Stadium in mid-July. During that segment, former Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and the company’s HR executive Kristin Cabot — both married to other people — were caught on the stadium screens sharing an intimate embrace.

At the time, Martin joked that the two might be having an affair, a comment that turned out to be eerily accurate. The moment exploded online, leading to widespread memes, the CEO’s resignation, and a comical twist in which Martin’s ex Gwyneth Paltrow was hired in as a temporary spokesperson for Astronomer in a PR move to manage the fallout.

Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem notches its 12th nonconsecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated Aug. 30). The set earned 121,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending Aug. 21 (down 4%), according to Luminate. I’m the Problem debuted at No. 1 on the May 31-dated chart, spent it first eight weeks in the pole position, stepped away from the top for two weeks and then returned to No. 1 for four weeks running.

Also in the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200, Conan Gray scores his highest-charting album yet as Wishbone bows at No. 3, Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft jumps back into the top 10 after a new one-year anniversary vinyl variant was released, and Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department returns to the top 10 following the buzz surrounding the announcement of her upcoming The Life of a Showgirl album.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Aug. 30, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Aug. 26. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Of I’m the Problem’s 121,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Aug. 21, SEA units comprise 116,000 (down 4%, equaling 154.02 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs — it leads Top Streaming Albums for a 13th nonconsecutive week), album sales comprise 4,000 (up 1%; it moves 21-17 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise 1,000 (up 1%).

Cumulatively, Wallen’s three No. 1 albums (I’m the Problem, One Thing at a Time and Dangerous: The Double Album) have spent a total of 41 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. That puts him in second place for the most weeks at No. 1 this century, surpassing Adele’s 40 weeks on top. Only Taylor Swift, with 86 weeks at No. 1 since 2000, has more. Before I’m the Problem’s 12 weeks at No. 1, One Thing at a Time ruled for 19 nonconsecutive weeks in 2023-34 and Dangerous: The Double Album was tops for 10 straight weeks in 2021.

The KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack holds at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 108,000 equivalent album units earned (up 3%). The album debuted at No. 8 nine weeks ago and has never left the top 10. The last soundtrack to spend its first nine weeks in the top 10 was Fifty Shades of Grey in 2015, which spent its first 14 weeks in the top 10.

Further, KPop Demon Hunters has spent five nonconsecutive weeks at No. 2 — its peak to date. The last soundtrack to spend at least five weeks at No. 2, without reaching No. 1, was Forrest Gump in 1994, which notched five straight frames in the runner-up spot (behind another soundtrack, The Lion King). KPop Demon Hunters is likely to sport further gains on next week’s charts, with the Netflix film getting a wide release in movie theaters for a sing-a-long event this weekend.

Conan Gray scores his highest-charting album ever on the Billboard 200 as Wishbone bows at No. 3. It launches with 71,000 equivalent album units earned — his best week by units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 53,000 (his best sales week yet — it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 18,000 (equaling 23.71 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it debuts at No. 27 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The set’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across seven CD variants (including signed editions) and seven vinyl editions (some signed) and a standard digital download edition.

Gray previously hit the top 10 of the Billboard 200 twice, with Superache (No. 9 in 2022) and Kid Krow (No. 5 in 2020).

Wishbone was preceded by its single “Vodka Cranberry,” which peaked at No. 38 on the Pop Airplay chart.

Gunna’s The Last Wun falls one spot to No. 4 on its second week on the Billboard 200 (48,000 equivalent album units, down 40%), while Alex Warren’s You’ll Be Alright, Kid is steady at its No. 5 high for a second week (nearly 40,000 units, down 6%).

Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft rallies 24-6 after the release of a one-year anniversary vinyl edition of the album. The set, counting all versions of the album, including the new vinyl variant, earned 38,000 equivalent album units in the tracking week (up 64%). Of that sum, vinyl sales accounted for nearly 18,000. The anniversary edition of the vinyl was pressed on bio-vinyl dark blue and orange splatter with its cover printed on silver mirror foil board and contains a poster.

Hit Me Hard and Soft, which peaked at No. 2 in its debut week (chart dated June 1, 2024), was last in the top 10 on the June 7, 2025-dated list (at No. 9) and last ranked as high on the Feb. 22, 2025, chart (when it was also at No. 6).

Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time rises a spot to No. 7 on the latest Billboard 200 (nearly 38,000 equivalent album units, down 1%), SZA’s former leader SOS is up two spots to No. 8 (35,000, down 1%) and Justin Bieber’s SWAG falls 7-9 (nearly 33,000, down 15%).

Closing out the top 10 is Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 The Tortured Poets Department, which jumps 18-10 with 30,500 equivalent album units earned (up 18%). Swift’s most recent studio album, which led the chart for 17 nonconsecutive weeks beginning in May 2024, returns to the top 10 for the first time since the Feb. 15-dated list (No. 9).

Poets’ vault back into the top 10 comes after Swift’s Aug. 12 announcement of her forthcoming new studio album, The Life of a Showgirl (due Oct. 3). On Aug. 13, Swift provided further details about the album, including its tracklist and producers, and appeared on her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s podcast, New Heights, to chat about the project. YouTube announced that the pod peaked at 1.3 million concurrent livestream viewers — more than any other podcast has garnered since the platform launched a “dedicated podcast experience in 2023,” per the company.

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

Just before unleashing Man’s Best Friend, Sabrina Carpenter is looking back fondly at Short n’ Sweet, last year’s hit album that spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Short n’ Sweet popped up one year ago, on Aug. 23, 2024, led by the trio of singles “Espresso,” “Please Please Please” and “Taste.”

Carpenter not only earned her first No. 1 with the set, but also her first Grammy, in the pop vocal album category. Short n’ Sweet had the entertainer living life on the road on an arena tour across North America and Europe that resumes this October (perhaps with a set list refresh incorporating tracks from Man’s Best Friend, out Aug. 29).

Man’s Best Friend promo saw a brief interruption Saturday (Aug. 23) when the pop star penned a note on Instagram giving Short n’ Sweet one more minute to shine. There, she also posted a carousel of visual memories from the past year — looking back at on-set moments, photo shoots, live performances, award show wins and more.

“pausing from MBF to say happy one year of Short n’ Sweet,” Carpenter wrote. “one year of kiss marks, camaraderie, and being so f—ing horny.”

“this album is one of my most prized possessions and brought me closer to myself as well as so many beautiful people and places,” said the singer, who in just a week will release her next studio album — her seventh — featuring the Billboard Hot 100-topping lead single “Manchild” among the 12 tracks found on the standard version. (There’s a bonus 13th track expected on a special edition vinyl variant.)

Celebrating Short n’ Sweet in her Instagram post, she added, “Thank you for still listening every single day x thank you for coming to the shows and singing till your lungs give out, thank you for loving these songs and every damn lyric as much as i do! Thank you to all my friends i got to make every song with, every video with, create the live shows with. One of the most fun years I’ve had in my whole life. I’ll never take it for granted!!! Love you all infinitely.”

See the photos Carpenter shared on Instagram. Soon after releasing Man’s Best Friend, she’ll be performing on Sept. 7 at the 2025 VMAs; October brings a new song from her and Taylor Swift, on Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl.

Mastodon is honoring the memory of their late bandmate and co-founder Brent Hinds.

On Friday (Aug. 22), the heavy metal band paid tribute to the guitarist during a performance at the Alaska State Fair, part of the ConocoPhillips Alaska Concert Series at the Borealis Theatre in Palmer, Alaska.

At the end of the set, drummer and vocalist Brann Dailor stepped to the front of the stage to deliver a heartfelt message about Hinds, who died earlier in the week following a motorcycle accident in Atlanta. He was 51.

“We lost somebody very special to us yesterday,” Dailor told the crowd. Brent Hinds, 25 years with us as our guitar player, one of the most creative, beautiful people that we’ve ever come across in this world, tragically left us. Very, very unfortunate. We loved him so, so, so very much.”

“We had the ups and downs of a 25-year relationship. You know what I mean? It’s not always perfect, it’s not always amazing, but we were brothers to the end. And we really loved each other and we made a lot, a lot of very beautiful music together. And I think that that’s gonna stand the test of time, evidenced by you people here tonight.”

Dailor aslo reflected on the band’s decades-long journey with Hinds. “So we will continue to play Brent’s beautiful, beautiful music that he helped us make, that we formed this band together and traveled the world together, slept in a van together, laid our heads down on beds of f—king kitty litter, got way too drunk to remember anything the next day about a thousand, million times over and over again with the love that we shared and the beauty, all the audiences that we played, for all the stages we stepped on,” he said.

He concluded, “I don’t know. We’re just at a loss for words. We’re absolutely devastated and crushed to lose him and to be able to never have him back again. But you guys made it okay for us to come on stage and do this tonight. So that was for f—king Brent, okay? Thank you guys so much. We will see you real soon.”

Hinds co-founded Mastodon in 2000 in Atlanta alongside bassist Troy Sanders, guitarist Bill Kelliher and Dailor. Over a 25-year career, the band released nine albums that charted on the Billboard 200, including The Hunter (2011), Once More ’Round the Sun (2014), and Emperor of Sand (2017) — the latter two peaking at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart. In 2018, Mastodon won a Grammy for best metal performance for “Sultan’s Curse.”

In March, Mastodon announced that Hinds would be stepping away from the lineup. The band initially claimed the decision was mutual, but Hinds later said he was “kicked out” of the group.

Following his passing on Wednesday (Aug. 21), Mastodon shared a statement on Instagram.

“We are in a state of unfathomable sadness and grief… Last night, Brent Hinds passed away as a result of a tragic accident,” they wrote. “We are heartbroken, shocked, and still trying to process the loss of this creative force with whom we’ve shared so many triumphs, milestones, and the creation of music that has touched the hearts of so many. Our hearts are with Brent’s family, friends, and fans. At this time, we kindly ask that you respect everyone’s privacy during this difficult time.”

The Last Dinner Party withdrew from their scheduled performance at Victorious Festival on Saturday (Aug. 23) in protest of an incident involving fellow band the Mary Wallopers, whose set was cut short after they showed support for Palestine.

The British indie rock-pop group announced their decision on social media Saturday morning, referencing the previous day’s events in which the Mary Wallopers displayed a Palestinian flag on stage and called for a “Free Palestine.”

“We are outraged by the decision made to silence the Mary Wallopers yesterday at Victorious,” the Last Dinner Party wrote on Instagram. “As a band we cannot cosign political censorship and will therefore be boycotting the festival today.”

They continued, “As Gazans are deliberately plunged into catastrophic famine after two years of escalating violence it is urgent and obvious that artists use their platform to draw attention to the cause. To see an attempt to direct attention away from the genocide in order to maintain an apolitical image is immensely disappointing.”

The Last Dinner Party also encouraged fans to donate to medical aid for Palestinians and closed their message with “Free Palestine.”

On Friday (Aug. 22), members of the Mary Wallopers took the stage at Victorious Festival carrying a Palestinian flag and voiced the message, “Free Palestine and f—k Israel.” Their sound was cut off after a crew member removed the flag, prompting the band to lead a chant of “Free Palestine” and encourage festival-goers to leave.

The incident was documented in a video posted on the Mary Wallopers’ Instagram.

“We are uploading this video so everybody can see @victoriousfestival cut our gig short for having a Palestinian flag on stage,” the Irish band captioned the post. “The festival have released a misleading statement to the press claiming they cut our sound because of a discriminatory chant and not the band’s call to Free Palestine. Our video clearly shows a Victorious crew member coming on stage, interfering with our show, removing the flag from the stage and then the sound being cut following a chant of ‘Free Palestine.’ The same crew member is later heard in the video saying ‘you aren’t playing until the flag is removed.’”

On Saturday, Victorious Festival organizers addressed the incident in a statement on their Facebook page.

“We are in the business of putting on great shows, not cutting them off and this is the last thing we wanted, for the band, their fans and ourselves,” the statement read. “We didn’t handle the explanation of our policy sensitively or far enough in advance to allow a sensible conclusion to be reached. This put the band and our own team in a difficult situation which never should have arisen. We would like to sincerely apologise to all concerned.”

The organizers added, “We absolutely support the right of artists to freely express their views from the stage, within the law and the inclusive nature of the event. Our policy of not allowing flags of any kind, which has been in place for many years for wider event management and safety reasons, is not meant to compromise that right.”

The statement concluded, “We accept that, although mics remained live for longer, sound for The Mary Wallopwers’ audience was cut as described in the band’s video and that comments after that were not audible to the public. We are sorry that this situation has come about and will be making a substantial donation to humanitarian relief efforts for the Palestinian people.”

Several other acts, including The Academic and Cliffords, have also announced they will be boycotting this year’s Victorious Festival.

The 2025 edition of Victorious launched on Friday and runs through Sunday (Aug. 24), with headliners including Queens of the Stone Age, Vampire Weekend and Kings of Leon.