00:00 Taylor Swift makes a historic debut with the Torture Poets Department.
00:04 The album does a complete takeover on the Hot 100.
00:07 Rihanna teases R9, leaving fans wanting more.
00:10 And we give you a preview of our chat with Willow Smith.
00:13 Welcome to a brand new week of Billboard News.
00:18 We've got a lot to get into, so let's start with our top story.
00:22 To no one's surprise, Taylor Swift's The Torture Poets Department
00:25 made a huge debut on the Billboard 200
00:28 and broke some other records too.
00:30 Taylor herself reacted to the huge news, posting on Twitter.
00:39 "My mind is blown. I'm completely floored by the love you've shown this album."
00:43 The album debuted at No. 1 on the chart.
00:45 It's the superstar's 14th chart-topping album.
00:48 That makes her tied with Jay-Z for the most No. 1 albums for a solo artist
00:52 in the nearly 70-year history of the chart.
00:54 Only the Beatles are ahead with 19 No. 1 albums.
00:57 The album launched with 2.61 million equivalent album sales
01:01 and over 891 million official streams.
01:04 With 1.9 million traditional album sales,
01:07 it's instantly the top-selling album of 2024.
01:10 To put that number into context,
01:12 the second biggest-selling album, counting weekly sales from January to now,
01:16 is Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter, with 228,000 copies total.
01:21 Taylor does it again.
01:23 Taylor Swift breaking records? Who would have guessed?
01:25 Here's this week's chart.
01:27 Taylor Swift's The Torture Poets department has done a complete takeover.
01:31 This is the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 for the week dated May 4.
01:35 At No. 10 is Guilty As Sin.
01:41 Who's Afraid of Little Ole Me is in at 9.
01:52 Florence and the Machine joins Taylor at 8.
01:55 But Daddy, I Love Him is at No. 7.
02:04 At 6 is My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys.
02:13 So Long London is at 5.
02:22 So Long London.
02:26 The title track is in at 4.
02:29 With I Can Do It With A Broken Heart at 3.
02:37 Down Bad is in at No. 2.
02:48 Debuting in the top spot is Taylor's 12th No. 1,
02:51 Fortnite featuring Post Malone.
02:53 I know you didn't think that was all the news we had.
02:58 Over here at Billboard, we're always on top of it.
03:01 Rihanna keeps fans on the edge of their seat
03:03 as she reveals more about her upcoming album.
03:06 Speaking with Extra on the red carpet for the launch of her Fenty Beauty Soft Lip Foundation,
03:15 Rihanna teased that the album will be worth the wait, saying,
03:18 She continued,
03:24 Riri also hints that the album won't have many collaborations,
03:34 saying she would only collaborate with another artist if it's "very intentional."
03:39 So while things are in the works,
03:41 it seems like the Navy will have to wait a little longer for the highly anticipated album.
03:46 Jess Glynn is a pop icon,
03:48 and it's not every day she tells you about how she's hung out with the Spice Girls.
03:52 Hey, I'm Jess Glynn, and this is Behind the Photo with Billboard.
03:56 This picture was taken in Rack Studios in North London,
04:05 where I've recorded a lot of this album.
04:08 I remember it quite specifically.
04:10 I wrote the intro to the album,
04:13 and this was a moment where I was obviously listening to the record back,
04:18 and my friend Jolene, who is my creative director,
04:20 thought, "Let's take a nice little snap.
04:22 This is a really light, beautiful moment,"
04:24 because there was a few tears, actually, that day.
04:27 This picture is me on stage last year at Radio 1.
04:32 This was quite a special moment for me
04:34 because I had not been on stage for, I would say, three to four years.
04:40 It'd been a minute.
04:41 It was actually a really big relief, being on stage and everyone's reaction.
04:46 And this moment captures it all.
04:48 This is a picture of me at Wembley Stadium with the Spice Girls,
04:53 and this was just before our last show.
04:55 This was one of the most surreal moments of my life.
04:58 The Spice Girls was the first gig I ever went to at Wembley Arena as a kid.
05:02 My manager came up to me.
05:04 He was like, "The Spice Girls are getting back together and doing a tour,
05:08 and they want you to go on tour with them."
05:09 And I was like, "Shut up."
05:11 And he was like, "Yeah, do you want to do it?"
05:13 And I was like, "Is this real?"
05:14 Fast forward, it was real.
05:16 I went on the tour with the Spice Girls,
05:18 and it was one of the most insane moments
05:21 and probably one of the biggest highlights of my career.
05:23 And I will never forget walking out into that stadium for the first time
05:28 and their show starting, and I actually felt like a little kid.
05:31 So that was a moment I will never forget.
05:34 This is me pouting with my new merch hat on that says,
05:38 "I take you for breakfast."
05:40 And that is a lyric from my musical, "Enough."
05:43 "Enough" is a really important song for this record.
05:49 It was the first song that I wrote that I decided was going to be on the album.
05:53 It kind of set me up for the messaging of this record,
05:56 and when we were announcing the album,
05:58 the only song that made sense to release with that moment was this song
06:02 because it kind of summarizes the journey that I've been on and where I'm at now.
06:06 It's crazy because the song's kind of evolved for me in its meaning over the years.
06:10 When I listen to it now, it's a really nice, reassuring message that I am enough.
06:15 Tomorrow I sit down with Willow Smith.
06:17 I had so much fun. I'm going to give you a little taste.
06:21 Souls spark, that flame inside of them that makes you go,
06:24 "Oh my God, I could ignite that inside of me.
06:28 I could help people ignite that inside of themselves."
06:30 Willow Smith stopped by the Billboard studio to talk all about her new album, "Out Friday."
06:36 The insightful artist teased what fans can expect
06:45 and why this album is more grown up than any of her previous albums.
06:50 For me, that path is sharpening my musicianship,
06:53 sharpening my compassion, and those two go hand in hand.
06:58 I feel like this album is the first album where I'm on the same page with myself.
07:05 Plus, she's about to become a published author.
07:08 I think my friends and my family just know me.
07:12 They just know all of my weird quirks and all the things that I love to read about
07:16 and pontificate about randomly, so I don't think it was a huge surprise.
07:21 That's today's show. Come back tomorrow for my full Willow Smith interview
07:24 and see who's on the cover of Billboard this week.
07:27 I'm Tetris Kelly and this is Billboard News.
07:31 (upbeat music)
Comments