Guinness World Recordssalutes Billie Eilish, Beyoncé, The Weeknd and morein its latest edition.
Billie is the youngest “triple crown” of music winner after her James Bond theme “No Time to Die” won a Grammy, Golden Globe and an Oscar. She’s also the woman with the most consecutive Record of the Year Grammys.
Adele is the solo artist with the most Album of the Year Brit Awards — three thanks to 30 — and is the first Best British Artist winner, the BRIT’s new gender-neutral category. “Easy on Me” is also the most-streamed song in 24 hours on Spotify; it racked up nearly 20 million streams after it was released October 15.
Harry Styles‘ “As It Was” holds the male record of the latter honor, with 16.1 million hits.
Ed has the most-streamed track on Spotify after “Shape of You” amassed over 3 billion streams. He also has the most Spotify followers — 95.3 million, to be exact.
The Weeknd’s “Save Your Tears” is the biggest-selling digital single of the year after it was bought over 2.15 billion times in 2021.
Glass Animals was awarded “Slowest climb to No.1 on the US singles chart” after “Heat Waves” needed 59 weeks to top the Billboard Hot 100.
BTS won the most “grand prize” wins at the Mnet Asian Music Awards — 17 if you’re counting.
Taylor Swift has the most simultaneous new entries on the Billboard Hot 100 after 26 songs from her rerecorded Red charted in November 2021. “All Too Well” is also the longest song to go to #1.
Guinness World Records 2023 is out now in hardcover.
You can now watch the trailer for The Return of Tanya Tucker, Featuring Brandi Carlile. The documentary film follows the creation of Tanya Tucker’s 2019 While I’m Living album, which Brandi Carlile produced.
Legacy Recordings has announced plans to put out a live album of Willie Nelson’s 1984 performance at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan. The project, called Willie Nelson Live at Budokan, will be out November 18.
Bailey Zimmerman has announced his debut EP, Leave the Light On, which is due out October 14. His current single, “Fall in Love,” is inside the top 15 at country radio.
Faith Hill will be a special guest on season 2 of the Food Network’s Be My Guest With Ina Garten. The four-episode season premieres October 9.
Nas turned 49 years old Wednesday, and on Tuesday, he celebrated onstage in Newark, New Jersey, with Busta Rhymes and Wu-Tang Clan.
As they performed on the NY State of Mind Tour at the Prudential Center, the crowd wished the Illmatic rapper a happy birthday as he was hugged by Busta and Ghostface Killah, according to Hip Hop DX.
Nas thanked all the artists who were onstage with him, including RZA, Method Man, Raekwon, GZA, Inspectah Deck and Masta Killa, before performing his 2002 hit “One Mic.”
The Grammy-winning rapper began his birthday celebration on Monday with a party at Cote Steakhouse in New York City. Nas posted a series of Instagram photos from the event, and several stars gave him birthday love in the comments, including Swizz Beatz, Fat Joe and Nia Long.
The NY State of Mind Tour continues Friday in Bristow, Virginia, and runs through October 4 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
While both stars are officially mum, Blake Lively let her apparent baby bump speak for itself at a red carpet event Wednesday: It appears she and hubby Ryan Reynolds are expecting their fourth child.
While reps for the parents of daughters James, 7, Inez, 5, and Betty, 2, haven’t answered ABC News’ request for comment, Lively’s appearance caused a stir while she was working the carpet at the 10th annual Forbes Power Women’s Summit in New York City.
Lively literally couldn’t hide the good news in the sequined, cream-colored minidress she wore as she posed for pictures at the event; she smiled atop sky-high matching platform heels, to boot.
Two weeks ago, Lively turned 35, an occasion Reynolds marked with a sweet Instagram post featuring a throwback photo of their 2012 wedding. The Deadpool star declared, “You’re spectacular. I’m not sure if you were born or invented. Also, thank you for urging me to leave the house every now and again.”
In a move that’s not surprising, considering the history of the project, Disney has removed Wonder Woman movie director Patty Jenkins‘ Star Wars: Rogue Squadron from its release schedule.
The film was initially announced back in 2020, with Jenkins explaining in a short film that the movie about the legendary Rebel fliers will be a tribute to her late military pilot father.
“When he lost his life in service to this country, it ignited a desire in me to turn all that tragedy and thrill into one day making the greatest fighter pilot movie of all time,” Jenkins said.
In 2021, Jenkins’ own schedule was to blame for the movie’s start being bumped from the Disney schedule. However, some outlets said creative differences behind the scenes were actually at fault.
Rogue Squadron would have been the next big-screen Star Wars project for Disney-owned Lucasfilm since 2019’s Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker and would have made Jenkins the first woman to direct a big-screen Star Wars film.
Other just-announced Disney scheduling moves were less potentially dramatic: The ride-based movie The Haunted Mansion starring Ahsoka‘s Rosario Dawson, Danny DeVito, LaKeith Stanfield and Jamie Lee Curtis will now open August 11, 2023, instead of March 10.
Other D23-announced titles were also given official release dates Thursday: Pixar’s Elio will open March 1, 2024. Disney’s live-action Snow White, starring Gal Gadot and Rachel Zegler, will open March 22, 2024; Inside Out 2 from Pixar will open June 14 of that year, and the Lion King prequel Mufasa: The King is slated to open July 5, 2024.
Alicia Keys made husband Swizz Beatz’s 44th birthday on Tuesday very special with an indoor party and a nighttime beach celebration.
“Happy born day my KING!!!!@therealswizzz. The most incredible mind, man, and soul,” the 15-time Grammy winner captioned a series of Instagram photos from the festivities.
“I celebrate your life!! I can’t get enough of you!! I just want to kiss u forever! Here’s to the best years ahead of us,” Alicia added.
Swizz also posted several pics, including a childhood photo with the comment, “44 years of the Zone and I didn’t even start yet. Blessings and love to everyone.” He added a highlight video showing him enjoying champagne while flying on a private jet. Beatz wrote, “Thank you my love and friends.” The clip ended with the caption, “The sky is not the limit. it’s just the view.”
The couple celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary on July 31. Alicia and Swizz have two sons together, Egypt Daoud, 11, and Genesis Ali Dean, 7.
(EL DORADO, CA) –A wildfire that has destroyed dozens of homes in California is now the largest in the state this year.
The Mosquito Fire has burned through nearly 64,000 acres and gutted 70 structures in El Dorado and Placer counties since it sparked on Sept. 6, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Of the structures that were destroyed, at least 25 have been single-occupancy residences, fire officials said.
The fast-moving fire has exploded by more than 15,000 acres since Monday and is just 20% contained, according to Cal Fire. It has now surpassed the McKinney Fire as the largest in the state in 2022.
The smoke is so intense that it has produced hazardous air quality in states farther north and east, such as Oregon and Wyoming, and it is billowing farther east toward the Midwest. Combined with other wildfires in the West, heavy smoke is causing poor air quality as far east as Billings, Montana, and moderate air quality as far east as Rapid City, South Dakota — and the smoke is expected to continuing traveling toward the East Coast.
This is not the first time smoke from wildfires in the West has traveled to cities more than 1,000 miles away.
Last year, smoke from more than 100 large wildfires from California to Montana drifted toward Denver and the Rocky Mountains.
However, humidity is on the rise for the majority of the area covered by the Mosquito Fire, which will assist firefighters in containing the blaze, fire officials said.
Nationwide, more than 6.7 million acres of land have burned this year, with most of the fires concentrated in the Northwest, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. More than 43,000 of those fires were sparked by people, while just 6,341 were sparked by lightning, according to the agency.
Bone-dry landscapes as a result of a decades long megadrought in the West is exacerbating the fire danger, causing dehydrated vegetation to act as fuel for the flames.
(NEW YORK) — The New York City Parks Department has again rejected calls by members of the city council to terminate the Trump Organization’s license to operate a city-owned golf course in the Bronx.
Council members on Thursday called for the “immediate termination” of the Trump Organization’s license to operate the golf course at Ferry Point Park, a month before it’s scheduled to host a women’s tournament underwritten by Saudi Arabia.
City officials previously said they could not “unreasonably withhold approval” for the course to host the October event.
“The Trump-operated golf course hosting a golf tournament sponsored by the Saudi government just weeks after the 21st anniversary of this country’s most devastating event ever is insensitive to say the least,” Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said Thursday.
The tournament, part of the women’s Aramco Team Series, has close ties to the Saudi government but is separate from the LIV Golf tour that has poached players from the PGA Tour.
Council member Shekar Krishnan called the tournament “so offensive to the families of 9/11.”
But a New York City Parks Department representative said the city would continue to honor its contract with former President Donald Trump’s namesake company.
“As we’ve told Chair Krishnan and his colleagues in the City Council, ending the contract we inherited would require the city to pay up to tens of millions of dollars to the Trump Organization, an outcome no one wants,” a department spokesperson said in a statement. “We agree with the chairman on the desired outcome to cancel both this tournament and the overarching license agreement, and hope in the future he seeks a productive partnership on the issue.”
In April, a New York state judge upheld Trump’s right to continue to operate the course after former Mayor Bill de Blasio attempted to terminate Trump’s operating license following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The Trump Organization called the effort to terminate the company’s operating license “nothing more than a political vendetta.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden will meet Friday at the White House with the families of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, two American citizens who remain detained in Russia.
“The president wants to make sure their families know they remain front of mind and that his team is working on this every day,” said a senior administration official, who confirmed the meeting to ABC News.
The president will meet with Griner’s wife, Cherelle, and with Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth, who both spoke with Biden in July, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre detailed at a later briefing with reporters.
The Biden administration said in July that it had made a “substantial proposal” to Russia to have Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan returned to the U.S. but Jean-Pierre said no breakthroughs were expected at Biden’s meeting.
“So, while I would love to say that the purpose of this meeting is to inform the families that the Russians have accepted our offer, and we are bringing their loved ones home, that is not what we’re seeing in these negotiations at this time,” she said.
“Look, as we have said, the Russians should accept our offer. They should accept our offer today. We will keep working diligently until the day we get to share that good news,” she added.
Still Jean-Pierre said Biden wanted to let the families know they remain “front of mind” for the administration.
“So one of the things that the president wanted to — to make clear is and one of the reasons he’s — he is meeting with families is that he wanted to let them know that they remain front of mind and that his team is working on this every day on making sure that Brittney and Paul return home safely. One family member was already scheduled to be in town and the president wanted to meet with both of the families on the same day,” Jean-Pierre said.
Griner, the famous WNBA player, was arrested in February on drug charges and sentences to nine years in prison. Whelan, a corporate security executive, is currently serving a 16-year sentence for espionage charges that his family says are trumped up. The U.S. declared both to be wrongfully detained, a legal clarification that mobilizes federal resources to free Americans imprisoned abroad.
The talks between Washington and Moscow have been complicated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
There have been few public signs of progress since Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a rare announcement in late July, revealed the U.S. had made the “substantial proposal” to secure the release of both Americans.
Sources told ABC News that offer included a prisoner swap that would exchange Viktor Bout — a convicted Russian arms dealer currently serving a 25-year sentence in a federal penitentiary in Illinois — for Griner and Whelan.
While U.S. officials say direct communication with the Kremlin continues at a regular clip, they acknowledge the slow pace is frustrating.
“Why this process has taken so long is a better question for Moscow,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Thursday.
“I wouldn’t characterize the process as stalled, he said. “It certainly hasn’t moved with the speed we would like.”
Some observers speculate Russia will demand parity, demanding two prisoners for the American detainees. Others within the State Department have questioned whether the Kremlin is negotiating in good faith and genuinely interested in reaching an agreement.
As talks continue behind the scenes, the Biden administration has bristled at any outside influence. After former New Mexico governor and hostage negotiator Bill Richardson traveled to Moscow this week, officials warned such interference could jeopardize the delicate diplomacy underway.
“Our message is that private citizens should not be in Moscow at all right now and that private citizens cannot negotiate on behalf of the United States government,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Wednesday.
Richardson became involved in Griner’s case at her family’s request back in May and over many years has been involved in multiple successful efforts to free detained Americans.
“Of course, families are perfectly free to engage in to consult with outside voices, with outside entities,” Price said Wednesday. “But again, we want to make sure that any outside effort is fully and transparently coordinated with us.”
Price said the U.S. embassy is Moscow had not been involved in Richardson’s trip.
ABC News reached out to the Richardson Center for Global Engagement, but a spokesperson declined to comment or answer questions.
Anne, the only daughter of the queen and the late Prince Philip, was by her mother’s side as the queen’s coffin made its journey from Balmoral Castle in Scotland to Edinburgh and then to Buckingham Palace in London.
In Wednesday’s procession escorting the queen’s coffin from the palace to Westminster Hall, Anne, wearing military dress, was the only female member of the royal family to walk behind the coffin. She will do the same on Monday, when the queen’s state funeral is held at Westminster Abbey.
Anne, now 72, is 16th in line to the throne, even though she is the queen and Philip’s second-oldest child.
As a woman, Anne was leap-frogged in the line of succession by Andrew and Edward.
She was born decades before a law called the Succession to the Crown Act went into effect in 2013, ending the centuries-old practice of a younger son superseding an elder daughter in the line of succession.
As the princess royal, Anne also has a different title than the ones given to her brothers.
The title of princess royal is typically, but not automatically, bestowed to the eldest daughter of the monarch.
Anne, who was nearly 3 when her mom became queen, has carried the title for nearly her entire life, and she will continue to hold it after the queen’s death.
As the father of two sons, Charles will not bestow the title of princess royal during his reign.
Charles’ eldest son, Prince William, the heir to the throne, may choose to bestow the title on his only daughter, Princess Charlotte, when he becomes king.
Anne chose not to give her two children, Peter Phillips and Zara Phillips Tindall, royal titles when they were born, an option she would have been given by the queen had she wished to do so.
“I think it was probably easier for them, and I think most people would argue that there are downsides to having titles,” she said. “So I think that was probably the right thing to do.”
Phillips and Tindall, whose father is Anne’s first husband, Mark Phillips, are the only two of the queen’s eight grandchildren to not have royal titles.
Tindall, a mother of three, shares a love of horses with the queen and Anne, who competed in equestrian for Great Britain in the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
Tindall competed in the same event at the 2012 London Olympics and won a silver medal, which was presented by Anne.
Phillips, the queen’s eldest grandchild, is a father of two.
He walked side by side with his cousins William and Prince Harry in Wednesday’s procession for the queen.
