Summer Walker and Taylor Swift now share a record for the most songs by a female artist simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Atlanta singer has 18 tracks on the chart this week, tying the record previously set by Swift in September 2019 from her RIAA double-Platinum album, Lover. All the songs are from Summer’s new album, Still Over It, which debuted this week at number one on the Billboard 200. Drake holds the overall record for the most single-week entries, 27, in July 2018, from his five-times platinum Scorpion album.
Walker’s highest entry is “No Love,” with SZA, at number 13, followed by “Bitter,” featuring Cardi B, at number 25.
As previously reported, Still Over It earned 166,000 units in its first week. That marks the biggest week for an R&B album in 2021, and Still Over It is the first R&B album by a woman to top the Billboard 200 in more than five years. Solange’s A Seat at the Table ruled for one week in October 2016.
Summer’s 20-track project also set the record for the largest streaming week ever for an R&B album by a woman, with 201 million on-demand streams, surpassing her first album, Over It, which earned 155 million streams in its debut week in October 2019.
Plus, Still Over It achieved the biggest sales week for an R&B album by a woman since Beyoncé’s Lemonade earned 202,000 units in May 2016.
In addition to Cardi B and SZA, Still Over It features Pharrell Williams, Ciara, Omarion, Lil Durk and Ari Lennox, plus JT from City Girls, who teamed with Summer for the first single, “Ex for a Reason.”
(BELLINGHAM, Wash.) — Devastating flooding in western Canada forced 184 people to evacuate overnight in Abbotsford in British Columbia, Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun said.
Bill Blair, a Member of Parliament, tweeted, “In response to extreme flooding across Southern BC, we have approved the deployment of @CanadianForces air support personnel to assist with evacuation efforts, support supply chain routes, and protect residents against floods and landslides.”
At least one person has died in British Columbia from mudslides sparked by the heavy rain, The Associated Press reported.
A fire has also erupted in Abbotsford in British Columbia. Police said the blaze is blowing large plumes of smoke and they urged residents to stay inside “due to the potential of the smoke being toxic.”
Just to the south, in Washington state, over 1 foot of rain fell in five days, flooding neighborhoods, shuttering roads, forcing evacuations and bringing rivers into major flood stage.
ABC News’ Christine Theodorou, Chris Looft and Hilda Estevez contributed to this report.
Adele isn’t allowing her divorce to ruin her opinion on marriage. In fact, she hopes notorious bachelor John Mayer settles down with the love of his life one day.
“You should get married,” she told John during their recent interview on SiriusXM. “Yes, I think it is a really incredible thing, marriage.”
Adele, 33, acknowledged that her advice may come as a surprise, especially since some believe she “gave up” on her marriage with ex Simon Konecki, with whom she shares a nine-year-old son, Angelo. The “Easy on Me” singer explained she doesn’t regret marrying Konecki and, although she couldn’t “really say why,” revealed she is “definitely open to marriage again.”
“The feeling I had in being married was the safest feeling I’ve ever had in my life and, sadly, it didn’t work out, but I miss being married,” Adele confessed before flashing a thumbs-up to John, who was clearly moved by her honesty. He placed a hand to his chest and let out a small “aww” before promising Adele, “I’m gonna get myself married… one of these days.”
“You should,” Adele shot back with a grin.
John, whose past romances have included Jessica Simpson, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Aniston, Katy Perry and others, is not believed to be dating anyone at the moment.
Elvie Shane’s star continues to rise, as the “My Boy” hitmaker has shared plans to hit the road next year. His first-ever headlining trek, the My Kinda Trouble Tour, will launch February 17 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Extending through late April, the run will take Elvie to cities like Chicago, Nashville and Birmingham, and includes two dates in his home state of Kentucky. Police officer turned burgeoning Texas country star Frank Ray will accompany him as opening support.
“I’ve never been more ready to break the chains!” the singer says. “Getting to go out on the road for my first headlining tour is something we’ve been plotting for a while, and feels just like the kinda trouble I could get into. I can’t wait to get out there and play this record live.”
The record in question is Elvie’s full-length major-label debut, Backslider, which came out late in October. It includes his first-ever country radio chart-topper, “My Boy,” a heart-tugging ode to his stepson that went viral over the summer. Not only did the song land Elvie his first number-one hit, but it also earned him some RIAA hardware, as the song was recently certified Gold.
Tickets for the My Kinda Trouble Tour go on sale this Friday at 10 a.m. local time. For dates and details, visit Elvie’s website.
“The Star Wars Holiday Special” — CBS via Getty Images
November 17, in case you don’t know, is an important day for Star Wars fans, and Wookiees alike, for the same reason. It’s Life Day!
The holiday was at the center of the infamous, George Lucas-disowned Star Wars Holiday Special, which only aired once on TV in 1978 and about which Lucas has publicly said he wished he could personally destroy every copy.
The special — which lives on, thanks to YouTube — features Star Wars icons Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher in character as Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia Organa. The heroes are trying to return to the Wookiee home planet Kashyyyk [kah-SHEEK] to celebrate the holiday. Along the way, they run afoul of Boba Fett, making his screen debut in an animated interstitial segment.
Also along the way, Jefferson Starship performs, and Bea Arthur sings a torch song, as does Diahann Carroll, while Chewbacca’s dad, Itchy, inappropriately digs on Carroll’s sexy hologram in front of his family.
The special closes with Fisher addressing the audience in character. “We all share with you this day brings us closer to freedom and to harmony and to peace. No matter how different we appear, we’re all the same in our struggle against the powers of evil and darkness.”
“I hope that this day will always be a day of joy in which we can confirm…our love for one another,” Leia continues, before belting out the Life Day song.
The Star Wars Holiday Special may be janky, but that message is arguably sweet. And while Lucas has distanced himself from the special he never controlled, ShopDisney is offering Life Day-themed items, including a plush Chewie and other related goodies.
(NEW YORK) — Nearly 57 years after the assassination of Malcolm X in the New York City neighborhood of Washington Heights, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance is moving to vacate the convictions of two of the men convicted as accomplices, his office said Wednesday.
Muhammad Aziz, now 83 and previously known as Norman Butler, spent 22 years in prison before he was paroled in 1985. A co-defendant who also maintained his innocence, Khalil Islam, died in 2009. Confessed assassin Thomas Hagan had long said neither man participated in killing Malcolm X at the Audubon Ballroom on Feb. 21, 1965.
Vance’s office, along with the Innocence Project and civil rights attorney David Shanies, began reexamining the investigation last year.
There’s a hearing Thursday at which the two convictions are expected to be thrown out.
Travis Scott, Drake, and the promoters of the Astroworld Festival are named in a $750 million lawsuit filed Tuesday on behalf of victims of the tragedy.
Attorney Tony Buzbee filed the lawsuit for 125 victims, including Axel Acosta, 21, who was one of 10 people who died from injuries suffered November 5 during the event, People reports, when the crowd of 50,000 surged toward the stage.
Buzbee’s legal team said Acosta’s death “was needless, and was the result of gross negligence.”
“When Axel collapsed, he was trampled by those fighting to prevent themselves from being crushed,” the lawsuit states. “As he lay there under a mass of humanity, dying, the music played and streamed on — for almost forty minutes.”
The complaint continues: “Axel Acosta loved and adored Travis Scott and the other performers at Astroworld—the feeling was not mutual; certainly, neither Travis Scott nor his exclusive partners, streaming service, record labels, handlers, entourage, managers, agents, hangers on, promoters, organizers, or sponsors cared enough about Axel Acosta and the other concertgoers to make an even minimal effort to keep them safe.”
Promoters Live Nation are also named in the lawsuit, along with Apple Music, Epic Records, Scott’s Cactus Jack Records, and Tristar Sports & Entertainment Group.
The lawsuit states that Scott “glorifies violence and other dangerous behaviors.”
Drake was a surprise guest performer during Scott’s set at the festival. “When [Drake] accepted [Scott’s] invitation to perform at Astroworld 2021, [Drake] was well aware of the damage [Scott] had caused at his shows in the past,” Buzbee writes in the lawsuit. “[Drake] was also well aware of the anticipated size and volatility of the crowd, and the likelihood of incitement.”
The attorney adds that he intends to file another lawsuit “with another 100 named plaintiffs.”
(WASHINGTON) — U.S. Catholic bishops on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a controversial teaching document on who should receive Holy Communion that many believe was aimed at President Joe Biden and other Catholic politicians who support abortion rights.
But the document, passed by a vote of 222-8 at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting in Baltimore, does not mention Biden or any other politician by name, avoiding a more direct confrontation.
It appeared, however, to empower individual priests to deny Communion to pro-abortion rights politicians should they encounter them.
“It is the special responsibility of the diocesan bishop to work to remedy situations that involve public actions at variance with the visible communion of the Church and the moral law,” the document reportedly said.
The vote is the culmination of year-long debate between America’s largely conservative bishops and the Vatican about whether punitive measures should be taken against public officials who are at odds with the church’s teaching on abortion.
Biden, only the nation’s second Catholic president, who has said his “personal” views were a “private matter,” has openly professed his faith throughout his political career — diligently attending Sunday Mass, infusing speeches with scripture and wearing his late son Beau Biden’s rosary beads.
After his meeting last month with Pope Francis before the G-20 summit, and amid criticism from conservative bishops, Biden said that the pope told him that he should continue receiving Communion and said the pope called him a “good Catholic.”
Some bishops, however, see things differently, citing Biden’s vocal public support of abortion rights as a key reason why clarification on who can receive Communion is necessary.
Prominent Catholic politicians, including Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have typically been careful about where they attend Mass so as to avoid controversy.
While Cardinal Wilton Gregory of the Archdiocese of Washington has said that he doesn’t plan to deny Biden Communion, he has publicly questioned whether the president is living up to Catholic Church teachings on controversial issues, including abortion.
“The Catholic Church teaches, and has taught, that life — human life — begins at conception,” Gregory told journalists at the National Press Club in September. “So, the president is not demonstrating Catholic teaching.”
While the document does not mention Biden or other pro-abortion rights Catholic politicians by name, its intent is to issue a stern rebuke of individuals, especially of public officials, who present themselves for Communion after breaking with church teaching on fundamental issues.
In a leaked draft of the document before the conference, the bishops reportedly wrote “there are some sins, however that do rupture the communion we share with God and the Church.”
“As the Church has consistently taught, a person who receives Holy Communion while in a state of mortal sin not only does not receive the grace of the sacrament, he or she commits the sin of sacrilege by failing to show the reverence due to the Body and Blood of Christ,” the document said.
An official at the bishop’s conference insisted that they are staying true to their mission of defending church teachings, pointing to the conference’s outspoken disagreement with the Trump administration’s policies regarding undocumented migrants.
According to a Pew Research Center survey, many American Catholics are divided about whether Biden should be denied Communion over his support of abortion rights.
A majority of U.S. Catholic adults say Biden should be allowed to receive Communion during Mass, while nearly 30% say Biden should not be allowed to receive Communion.
The divide underscores a growing tension amongst American Catholics about who they see as the true authority on matters of faith and what they should believe.
“The U.S. bishops, and Pope Francis see things in very different ways,” said Massimo Faggioli, a theology professor at Villanova University. “American Catholics for the first time in many decades have to decide if they want to follow Pope Francis or U.S. bishops, which is new, because U.S. bishops are traditionally very Roman, loyal to the pope.”
Warner Bros. has released an all-new poster for The Matrix Resurrections, which hits theaters and HBO Max on December 22.
It shows Keanu Reeves‘ Neo with his hair and beard at John Wick-length, and wearing a long black trench coat. His arm is extended and outstretched, as he was seen in the trailer stopping a hail of bullets.
Standing around Reeves on the poster are his co-stars: Carrie-Ann Moss, who reprises as Trinity, as well as series newcomers Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Jessica Henwick. Another figure, farther in the background, appears to be Jada Pinkett Smith. The trio play, respectively, Morpheus, Bugs, and returning character Niobe.
jxdn has released a cover of Blink-182‘s “Happy Holidays, You Bastard.”
The rising rocker stays faithful to both the sound and attitude of the pop-punk trio’s original, famously profane tune, which sticks so many swear words into 43 seconds that the clean version is just an instrumental except for the final line.
“‘Happy Holidays You Bastard’ is one of the best Christmas songs of all time,” jxdn says. “It’s funny as hell and exactly the carefree attitude we should all have.”
You can listen to jxdn’s “Happy Holidays” cover now exclusively via the Spotify Singles Holiday Collection, which also features contributions from Spoon and MisterWives.
jxdn released his debut album, Tell Me About Tomorrow, this past summer on Blink drummer Travis Barker‘s DTA Records label. It includes the Machine Gun Kelly collaboration, “Wanna Be.”
