Billy Joel landed his first #1 album with 52nd Street, his sixth studio album. The record spent eight weeks on top of the charts.
The album, one of the first to be commercially released on CD, featured three top-40 singles: “My Life,” which peaked at #3, “Big Shot,” which hit #14, and the ballad “Honesty,” which went to #24.
It would go on to earn Joel two Grammys, album of the year and best pop vocal performance. “Honesty” was also nominated for song of the year.
Joel would go on to have three more #1 albums: 1980’s Glass Houses, 1989’s Storm Front and 1993’s River of Dreams.
Garth Brooks, ‘The Anthology Part VI: The Comeback – The Next Five Years’ (Credit: GarthBrooks.com)
Garth Brooks continues to tell the story of his career in the new installment of his ongoing The Anthology series.
The latest chapter, The Anthology Part VI: The Comeback – The Next Five Years, will be released on Dec. 5; it’s available for preorder now via TalkShopLive.com and Amazon.com. The six-disc set includes 60 songs and over 150 behind-the-scenes photos, plus stories from Garth and other key players during that moment in his career.
Part VI covers Garth’s 2018 North American stadium tour, his 2019 series of shows in dive bars, his return to Ireland and his Garth Brooks/Plus ONE 2022 Las Vegas residency at Caesars Palace. The albums FUN and Time Traveler are also covered.
On Dec. 1 Garth will appear in a 30-minute show on Amazon LIVE, Amazon Prime Video FAST, TalkShopLive and GarthBrooks.com to discuss the new release and share never-before-seen concert footage.
Mötley Crüe The Return of the Carnival of Sins tour admat (courtesy of Live Nation)
Mötley Crüe is hitting the road in 2026 to celebrate some big milestones.
The band has announced dates for The Return of the Carnival of Sins tour, celebrating both the band’s 45th anniversary and the 20th anniversary of their 2005-06 Carnival of Sins tour.
The 33-city North American tour, with special guests Tesla and Extreme, will kick off July 17 in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, and wrap Sept. 26 in Ridgefield, Washington.
“Bringing back the spirit of Carnival of Sins has been a blast, and we wanted to take it even further for its 20th anniversary,” the band said in a statement. “This new show is for the Crüeheads who’ve been with us through it all and for the new Crüeheads who didn’t get to experience Carnival of Sins last time around. Get ready — we’re coming your way and we can’t wait to see you next summer.”
A Mötley Crüe presale begins Wednesday at 12 p.m. local time. Tickets go on sale to the general public Friday at 10 a.m. local time. One dollar from every ticket will be donated to ASAP! (After School Arts Program) through the Mötley Crüe Giveback Initiative.
A complete list of dates can be found at Motley.com.
Randy Blythe of Lamb of God performs during a concert at Café Iguana on November 6, 2025 in Monterrey, Mexico. (Medios y Media/Getty Images)
Lamb of God has announced a U.S. tour for 2026.
The headlining outing launches March 17 in National Harbor, Maryland, and concludes April 26 in Boston.
“We are beyond thrilled to announce the loudest, proudest, floor shakin’-est, earth quakin’-est, ear-splittin’-est, mosh pittin’-est, undiluted, undisputed HEAVIEST tour of the whole damn year,” says guitarist Mark Morton.
Presales begin Tuesday at noon ET, and tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday at 10 a.m. local time. For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit Lamb-of-God.com.
Lamb of God released a new single, “Sepsis,” in October. The band’s most recent album is 2022’s Omens.
For the first time in 10 years, Josh Groban will be circling the globe with his music.
Josh has announced his 2026 GEMS World Tour, which begins in Honolulu, Hawaii, and will visit Asia, Australia, Europe and the U.K. before wrapping up in Amsterdam. Exact dates will be announced at a later time, but for more information, visit joshgroban.com.
“It is with the greatest excitement that I get to take these songs I’ve loved so much around the world – to places I haven’t visited in far too long and to places I’ve always wanted to visit,” Josh says in a statement. “I’m honored to see the world through music. I can’t wait to see everyone soon!”
According to a press release, the tour will feature a “career-spanning production” that highlights the songs on Josh’s best-of compilation GEMS, released earlier this year. Josh released the companion album Hidden Gems on Friday, featuring fan-favorite and rare tracks. It also includes a brand-new song, “The Constant.”
Cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here 50’/ (Sony Music)
Pink Floyd’s iconic album Wish You Were Here begins and ends with the two-part track “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” a tribute to their late bandmate Syd Barrett. Now the two parts have been put together as one complete song.
The band has just released “Shine On You Crazy Diamond (pts. 1-9, New Stereo Mix),” which marks the first time the song has been released as one continuous piece. The 25-minute track, newly mixed in stereo by James Guthrie, is part of Wish You Where Here 50, Pink Floyd’s 50th anniversary reissue of the album, which is dropping Dec. 12.
To coincide with the release, comedian and Great British Baking Show co-host Noel Fieldinghas created a commissioned set of original paintings inspired by Barrett’s iconic image.
“I was pretty young when my affinity with Pink Floyd and Syd started,” Fielding shares. “What’s amazing about Pink Floyd, especially with Wish You Were Here, is that the artwork was as good as the music.” He adds, “It is a masterpiece, that album cover, and that album. It’s a masterpiece. And it’s based on Syd Barrett, who is a walking masterpiece.”
Wish You Were Here 50 will be released in a variety of configurations, including a three-LP or two-CD set, with the original album plus 25 bonus tracks, including six tracks that have never been released before. There will also be a Blu-ray with Dolby Atmos and 5.1 Surround mixes of the album; three concert films from the band’s 1975 tour; and a short film by famed art designer and Hipgnosis co-founder Storm Thorgerson.
On Wednesday night, Lainey Wilson steps into the spotlight to host the CMA Awards solo for the very first time, after sharing the honor with Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning in 2024.
“It’s crazy to think that I even got the opportunity to host the first time,” she reflects. “But I’m getting to do it this year again, and it feels good to have a little bit of experience under your belt.”
“Truth is, I don’t think you could ever be fully prepared for something like this,” she admits, “but I like doing things that are a little scary, so throw me in coach!”
Ultimately, Lainey feels like Luke and Peyton got her ready to lead Country Music’s Biggest Night by herself.
“I learned to get up there and relax and don’t take yourself too serious and just keep the main thing about the main thing,” she says. “We’re there to celebrate country music. It is really the biggest night in country music, so that’s what it’s gonna be.”
Lainey’s also tied with Ella Langley and Megan Moroney for the most nominations going into the night, with six apiece.
Tune in to witness all the winners and the performances live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena starting at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday on ABC. You’ll also be able to stream the 59th annual CMA Awards Thursday on Hulu.
Zoltan Bathory and Ivan Moody from Five Finger Death Punch perform on stage at Oslo Spektrum in Oslo, Norway on January 23, 2020 in Oslo, Norway. (Per Ole Hagen/Redferns)
Five Finger Death Punch‘s collaborative single with BABYMETAL, “The End,” has hit #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay chart. The Las Vegas metallers now have a total of 17 leaders on Mainstream Rock Airplay, including a streak of 13 in a row, while BABYMETAL becomes the first Japanese act to reach the top spot on the ranking.
Guitarist Zoltan Bathory tells ABC Audio how “The End” reflects the “visual” way in which he writes music.
“It’s almost like I’m always writing some kind of a soundtrack to a little movie that’s playing in my head,” Bathory says.
In writing “The End,” the image that came to Bathory’s mind was of a samurai battle.
“When we were talking about a possible feature, that, to me, was immediate, like, ‘Oh, man, if this would be BABYMETAL,’ because they could do it in Japanese,” Bathory says.
BABYMETAL vocalist SU-METAL sings on “The End,” and Bathory noticed how she adapted her voice specifically for the track.
“She didn’t sing in her style, she found a way to use her voice and sing something that would be fitting for this song,” Bathory says. “I see that in the comments … her fans are saying, like, ‘Wow, we’ve never heard her singing this way.'”
Not only was Bathory impressed with SU-METAL’s vocals, he and his bandmates had absolutely zero notes on BABYMETAL’s contribution, which he says is very rare in the world of collaborations.
“That’s unreal,” Bathory says. “We just got the tracks and we were like, ‘Yeah, perfect.’ There was nothing to say.”
“The End” is featured on FFDP’s new Best Of – Volume 2 compilation, which features rerecorded versions of some of the band’s biggest hits.
It’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but some people have been bumping Christmas music since Halloween. Pentatonix have been out on their Christmas In the City tour since Nov. 8 so, as the Christmas experts, what do they think is the best time to start listening to holiday tunes?
“You can start in the ‘ber,’ months,” the groups Kirsten Maldonado tells ABC Audio. That’s September, October, November and December.
“A long time ago, I would have said, don’t do it before Halloween, because Halloween was like my favorite holiday,” she says. “But now Christmas is so year ’round that … the ‘ber’ months feel appropriate.”
The Christmas In the City tour features nearly 30 songs, including much of their new Christmas In the City album. “It’s the longest show we’ve done. And it’s hard because we’re singing the entire time!” says Kirstin.
It was also hard figuring out the perfect mix of old songs and new material.
“I think we balanced it by bringing back some of our super classics — like, we brought back ‘Little Drummer Boy,’ we, of course, are keeping ‘Mary Did You Know?’ ‘Hallelujah’ … So we try to pull from, like, ‘old old’ so people would be happy, and then grab all the ‘new new.'”
The group’s also grateful that all their members are at full strength. If he hadn’t gotten eliminated in October, Scott Hoying would have simultaneously been doing the tour and competing on Dancing with the Stars, which Kirstin says “would’ve been a lot.”
“We were very excited for him and wanted him to be able to continue,” Kirsten says, noting that they changed their schedule to accommodate him. “But he would have very stressed, because I don’t know how he was even doing it with rehearsals …. he would’ve had to be drinking a lot of energy drinks and coffee!”
Poster for Erykah Badu’s Veeps livestream of Mama’s Gun ’25 tour (Courtesy of Veeps)
Erykah Badu wants fans to join her in celebrating 25 years of her album Mama’s Gun. She’s teaming with VEEPS to livestream one of the performances from her Mama’s Gun ’25 – Return of The Automatic Slimtour.
Erykah Badu: Mama’s Gun | Live from King’s Theater will capture her second show in Brooklyn, featuring a performance of the album in full, storytelling and “signature Badu arrangements,” a press release states.
“Celebrate 25 years of Mama’s Gun with @ErykahBadu. Raw emotion. Deep grooves. Pure Baduizm,” Veeps writes on Instagram.
Tickets are now available at online, with the stream set to take place Dec. 6 at 9 p.m. ET. It will also be available for ticket holders to watch following the live broadcast.
Mama’s Gun ’25 – Return of The Automatic Slim tour kicked off in early October and is set to wrap Dec. 10 in Dallas. The next stop is Tuesday in Boston.
