Classic Hits

Queen frontman Freddie Mercury would have turned 80 in 2026, and the milestone won’t be overlooked.

As in previous years, the rocker’s birthday will be celebrated at the Official Freddie Mercury Birthday Party. The 2026 edition will be held Sept. 5, Mercury’s actual birthday, at the Casino Barrière in Montreux, Switzerland.

According to the announcement on Queen’s Instagram, this year’s theme will be “The Great Pretender’s Gala,” a reference to the song “The Great Pretender,” which was recorded by Mercury in 1987.

The dress code for this year’s event will be “fancy and formal,” with the announcement noting, “[W]e are leaning into Freddie’s smarter, sharper dress sense, so think tuxedos, dresses, waistcoats, cravats, scarves and maybe even a monocle or face mask.”

More information about the party, along with ticket info, will be announced at a later date.

Proceeds from the Official Freddie Mercury Birthday Party will go to The Mercury Phoenix Trust, which raises funds for the fight against HIV/AIDs. It was founded by Queen band members Roger Taylor and Brian May and their manager Jim Beach in memory of Freddie, who died from the disease in 1991.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Pink Floyd is close to reaching a huge milestone on the Billboard 200 chart.

The band’s iconic album The Dark Side of the Moon recently landed its 996th nonconsecutive week on the Billboard 200 albums chart, meaning it’s only four weeks off landing 1,000 weeks on all-genre chart. It currently ranks at #167.

The Dark Side of the Moon, which was released in 1973, is already the current record holder for the most weeks ever on the Billboard 200, an honor it earned in October 1983 with its 491st week on the chart.

The album debuted on the Billboard 200 in March 1973 and hit #1 on April 28 of that year. It rarely dropped off the chart from its debut until Oct. 8, 1988, spending 741 out of 813 weeks on it. The album then returned to the Billboard 200 on Dec. 12, 2009, after Billboard 200 rules changed, allowing catalog albums to return to the chart.

Pink Floyd celebrated the 50th anniversary of The Dark Side of the Moon in 2023, releasing a box set that featured a remastered version of the album, along with a 1974 live concert.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Yes is giving fans another preview of their upcoming super-deluxe reissue of 1973’s Tales from Topographic Oceans.

The band has just released the 2026 remastered single edit of “The Ancient (Giants Under the Sun),” described in a press release as being “inspired by Purāna, the mythic texts and sacred lore of humanity’s distant past.”

Tales from Topographic Oceans (Super Deluxe Edition) will be released Feb. 6 as a package of 12 CDs, two LPs and a Blu-ray. It includes a newly remastered version of the album, along with several new mixes by producer Steven Wilson, including a Dolby Atmos mix. It will also include rarities, and previously unreleased studio and live recordings.

Tales from Topographic Oceans, Yes’ sixth studio album, was the first to feature drummer Alan White, who had replaced Bill Bruford. Frontman Jon Anderson came up with the idea for the album after reading a footnote in Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda.

The album, which went to #1 in the U.K. and was a top-10 hit in the U.S., featured four songs, all of which were at least 18 minutes in length, taking fans on a “four-part musical journey through ancient Hindu scriptures.”

Tales from Topographic Oceans (Super Deluxe Edition) is available for preorder now.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Eagles and Dead & Company are among the nominees for the 2026 Pollstar Awards.

Both bands are in the running for residency of the year, with each recognized for stints at Sphere Las Vegas. Eagles played 28 shows at the Sphere in 2025, while Dead & Company played 18.

The category, which also includes Backstreet Boys, Bad Bunny, Kenny Chesney and New Kids on the Block, recognizes “the most commercially and artistically successful run of seven or more shows at a single venue.”

Also earning nominations this year are AC/DC, up for rock tour of the year for their Power Up tour, and Metallica, also up for rock tour of the year for their M72 world tour.

This year’s other nominees include Oasis, Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter and Lady Gaga.

The 37th annual Pollstar Awards will take place April 15 in Los Angeles.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Sting has been honored with Bass Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

While the magazine’s 2026 awards ceremony will take place Jan. 22 in Santa Ana, California, the mag presented Sting with his award earlier in New York, sharing the moment in a video on Instagram.

In the clip, Sting jokes that while it’s a lifetime achievement honor, he’s “only halfway through” his lifetime. He then gets serious and says, “Thank you so much, I’m deeply, deeply honored, profoundly honored.”

The rocker then reads from a letter he wrote in 2001 about the Fender bass guitar, which he says was addressed to the “archeologist of the future.”

“There are few artifacts of the 20th century as consistently recognized and recognizable as the Fender bass. Those elegant functional lines have etched themselves into our consciousness for over half a century,” he says. “A Fender bass can shake a room with its thunder or moan softly like a sleeping giant. The bass is the ground of all harmony, the root, the foundation of all musical structure.”

He adds, “A Fender bass has been my constant companion for most of my life, a brother to me, sister. The loom on which I have woven dreams and stories, and my oldest friend.”

Next up for Sting, he’ll star in a production of his musical The Last Ship, which is set to open in Amsterdam on Jan. 13. He’ll also appear in a run at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House from June 9 to 14.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Chaka Khan is set to be honored at the 2026 Resonator Awards, presented by We Are Moving the Needle.

Khan will receive the Luminary Award, which according to a press release, is given to “a creator whose profound impact has transcended the confines of the music realm to significantly change culture.”

“Empowered women empower women. I am honored to be part of a movement that celebrates the creativity, resilience, and determination of women creators everywhere,” Khan said in a statement. “We lift each other and shine. Together, we are moving the needle.”

The Resonator Awards, which recognize “artists, producers, and engineers whose craft shape the sound and culture of our time,” as per the release, will take place during Grammy Week, on Jan. 27 at Chaplin Studios in Los Angeles.

Also being honored at the event are rocker St. Vincent, who is set to receive the Golden Trifecta Award, and the band Haim, the recipients of the Disrupters Award. Olivia Rodrigo, Sia, Anderson. Paak and more are confirmed to present.

The 2026 Resonator Awards marks the second iteration of the event. The first took place in 2024 and honored artists including Alanis Morissette and Corinne Bailey Rae. The 2025 awards were canceled due to the Los Angeles wildfires.

As for Chaka, this isn’t the only honor she’ll be receiving during Grammy week. She’s also being recognized with the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2026 Special Merit Awards, taking place Jan. 31 in Los Angeles.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A new children’s book inspired by the life and career of rocker David Bowie is set for release this fall.

Starman: The Cosmic Voyage of David Bowie, by author Matthew Cordell, imagines Bowie as a real spaceman. It is described as “the galactic journey of Bowie’s life, with stops for each phase of his ever-transforming career.”

People revealed the cover of the book, which features Bowie inside a star. Each point illustrates a different iconic Bowie look, including the face of Ziggy Stardust.

“I wanted to share with young readers Bowie’s journey in a similar sense of how he lived it — traveling with eyes wide open, constantly seeking and observing, all with an intergalactic flair,” Cordell tells the mag. “I love the way Bowie’s endless curiosity led him to discover, be inspired by and implement new sounds into his own artistic output, throughout his artistic life.”

Starman: The Cosmic Voyage of David Bowie will be released Sept. 1.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

ZZ Top’s Billy F Gibbons has confirmed a story that the band members were once offered $1 million to shave off their iconic beards.

In an interview with Jay Mohr’s Mohr Stories podcast, Gibbons said it’s true that they were offered the money to shave their beards for a Super Bowl commercial. When asked if it was razor company Gillette, Gibbons confirmed that it was, but noted, “They deny it.”

“It was a million dollars per man,” Gibbons said, before revealing why they turned down the money. He explained that they went to their publicist Bob Merlis with the offer, and he was the one who gave them a reason to reconsider.

“He said, ‘The money’s good, you might as well consider doing it, but I’m not so sure you guys — any of you guys — know what’s under there,’” Gibbons said. “So we passed. We passed, and our fans loved it. Word got out.”

Gibbons and ZZ Top have a busy 2026 ahead of them. Gibbons kicks off a tour with the BFG Band on Jan. 20 in Napa, California. Then ZZ Top will hit the road on the Big One! tour starting March 21 in Abilene, Texas. They are also headlining the Dos Amigos tour with Dwight Yoakam, which consists of 15 shows starting March 26 in Brookings, South Dakota.

ZZ Top is also bringing their the Big One! tour to Europe, which will be their first European tour in two years. The trek starts June 13 in Estonia.

A complete list of ZZ Top dates can be found at ZZTop.com.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Billy Joel shocked fans on Jan. 2 when he took the stage — for the first time since his brain condition diagnosis — to perform with a Billy Joel cover band in Wellington, Florida. The singer in that cover band is now speculating that the Rock & Roll of Famer is working toward a return to the stage.

Tony Monaco, lead singer of the tribute band Turnstiles, tells Spin.com that he had no idea Billy was coming to their gig until he, his wife and his daughters showed up backstage and Billy said “maybe” he’d be interested in sitting in with the band.

According to Tony, Billy suggested they do “New York State of Mind” together, despite the fact that, as he told Tony, “I haven’t sang in months and I don’t play piano much lately.” When the time came for the song, Billy was nowhere to be found. Soon afterward, Tony says, he saw Billy making his way to the stage.

“I was excited, but now I didn’t know what we’d play,” Tony said. Billy suggested “We Didn’t Start the Fire,”  followed by “Big Shot,” which thrilled the audience.

“He’s not 100%, but his voice was strong, and I do think he’s going to come back,” Tony concluded.

“He may not do it on such a grand scale or get up from the piano too much, but I know he wants to play again and hasn’t shut the door on doing so. I’m not so sure that this wasn’t a little testing of those waters.”

Billy, 76, announced in May that he’d been diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus, which causes hearing, vision and balance problems. He canceled all his concerts.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Peter Frampton took to Instagram Tuesday to mark the 50th anniversary of his iconic live album, Frampton Comes Alive!

“I can’t believe today’s the day. It’s now been 50 years since Frampton Comes Alive! was released. Wow, 50 years,” he said. “Thank you all for helping it become such a huge phenomenal success,” he added, before joking, “probably time to buy a new one anyway.”

Frampton Comes Alive! helped launch the now-Rock & Roll Hall of Famer to stardom, with the album becoming one of the bestselling live albums of all time. It features live performances of now-iconic Frampton tunes like “Show Me the Way,” “Baby, I Love Your Way” and “Do You Feel Like We Do,” which all became top-15 hits.

Frampton Comes Alive! was the first live album to really make an impact, and in an interview with ABC Audio, Frampton said he was very proud of what the album did for both him and “music in general.”

“They say that it changed everything because of the massive sales for not a studio album. The biggest-selling album at that time for a couple of years there, and not even biggest-selling live album, biggest-selling album,” Frampton said. “We surpassed Tapestry, Carole King‘s wonderful album.” 

Frampton Comes Alive! would go on to become Frampton’s only #1 record, spending 10 nonconsecutive weeks in the top spot. In 2020 it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.