Bad Bunny is ready to take summer by storm, but first, he’s performing as the musical guest during the season finale of Saturday Night Live this weekend.
In promos for the May 17 finale of season 50 shared on Thursday (May 15), the superstar appears alongside host Scarlett Johansson and SNL mainstay Kenan Thompson, with the trio hilariously discussing their plans during the show’s summer hiatus.
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“Umm…I guess just doing awesome stuff,” Bad Bunny replies after Thompson asks what he’ll be up to during the summer months. “Oh, yeah? Like what?” Johansson follows up, to which the three-time Grammy winner answers, “Just awesome stuff, don’t worry about it. My life is awesome, especially in summer.”
That evasive answer wasn’t good enough for Thompson, who couldn’t resist doubling down and asking for just a single example of all the awesome things Bad Bunny plans on doing. The Calvin Klein model’s admittedly awesome answer? “Eating breakfast for dinner.”
An earlier segment features Johansson excitedly positing that the season finale will be even bigger, better and longer than the recent SNL50 anniversary special — much to the chagrin of Thompson, who points out that the NBC celebration was “like nine hours, so…”
Only when the Black Widow actress suggests that the episode could be more star-studded than SNL50 does the “DTMF” rapper step in to take Thompson’s side, chiding, “Now you’re just being unrealistic.” (“Yeah, what Bad Bunny said,” Thompson amusingly seconds.)
The SNL stint arrives at a rather fortuitous time for Bad Bunny, whose latest album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, just bounced back to the apex of the Billboard 200 following its vinyl release.
Watch Bad Bunny riff on the awesomeness of summer vacation ahead of this weekend’s SNL finale below.
The New York Knicks are riding hot as a rocket blast in the 2025 NBA Playoffs, and Nick Jonas has an inkling that his role in Broadway’s The Last Five Years might have something to do with the team’s success.
“OK, so real quick: The Knicks are in the playoffs, and they could advance to the next round if they win their game against the Celtics tonight,” the superstar explained in an Instagram video posted Wednesday (May 14). “During rehearsals for The Last Five Years, I said to our director, ‘I really think Jamie,’ my character, ‘should be a New York basketball fan.’ And she was like, ‘Great. What team?’
“And I was like, ‘Well, hmm…good question, what team.’ And eventually we decided to make Jamie a Knicks fan,” the pop singer-turned-Broadway star continued.
From his dressing room, Jonas then showed off a vintage Knicks crewneck found by The Last Five Years costume designer Dede Ayite, explaining that he wears the shirt during every performance of “Moving Too Fast,” one of Jamie’s first big musical numbers in the show.
“So I’m not saying that the Knicks are in the playoffs and could potentially go to the next round because of The Last Five Years and because of this,” he then concluded, gesturing to his costume. “But coincidence? I think not.”
While the Knicks ultimately lost Wednesday night’s game, they’re still currently leading the Celtics 3-2 in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and will have home court advantage going into Game 6 on Saturday night (May 16) at Madison Square Garden.
Meanwhile, Jonas has six more weeks of his run on Broadway before The Last Five Years closes its limited engagement at the Hudson Theatre on June 22. After that, he’ll segue full force into album mode, with the Jonas Brothers’ seventh LP, Greetings from Your Hometown, set for release Aug. 8 — two days before the kickoff of JONAS20: Living the Dream Tour, the North American trek celebrating their 20th anniversary as a band.
Check out Jonas’ witty theory before it expires on his Instagram Stories here.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The list features only U.S. tours by Latin music artists and is updated on a regular basis. Tours will be removed from the list once they have ended.
2024 was a phenomenal year for the Latin touring industry, where five Latin acts — Luis Miguel, Bad Bunny, Karol G, RBD and Aventura — grossed more than $100 million, up from one in 2023 and two in 2022. Billboard reported in December that Latin artists are responsible for 16% of the year’s top 100 touring grosses, more than ever before.
This year, Luis Miguel topped Billboard’sHighest-Grossing Latin Tours of the Year list, grossing $290.4 million across 128 shows, according to figures reported to BillboardBoxscore. Following El Sol de México’s trek is Bad Bunny’s Most Wanted tour, grossing $211.4 million across 49 concerts. Both tours ranked top 10 on the overall Billboard Year-End Top Tours of 2024 list — the former at No. 4 and the latter at No. 9 — alongside artists such as Coldplay, The Rolling Stones and Madonna, to name a few.
Now, 2025 is already shaping up to be another great touring year for Latin music.
Already announced for the new year are Shakira’s Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran stadium trek kicking off in the spring; Rauw Alejandro’s Cosa Nuestra World Tour beginning in North America; and Nathy Peluso’s first-ever U.S. run in honor of her album Grasa. Mexican band Camila and Colombian tropi-pop artist Gusi have also secured tours in the U.S.
Below, see our updating list of Latin tours that have already been announced for 2025.
When co-host and Harlem native KP suggested that Jim Jones had better songs than Styles P when it came to a Verzuz, the Yonkers rappers respectfully disagreed and laid out the differences between the two artists.
“You’re entitled to that feeling,” Styles replied. “This is what hip-hop is about: You connecting with music that connects with you. If that’s how you feel, I ain’t mad at you for feeling that way. I f—in’ totally think… I know you’re f—in’ wrong.”
He continued: “Me and Jim ain’t in the same league. Me and Jim don’t do the same things. I am a bar master. I am a lyrical technician. I been on joints with some of the best MCs in the world: Big, Hov, Black Thought, Talib… I bar sh– down. If there’s a lyricist or MC, I’m one of their f—in’ favorites.
He then continued by saying he’s got love for Jim and respect for how he came up in the game, but at the same time feels a little disrespected by the comparison.
“I’m not here to make catchy hooks. … I don’t knock that,” he explained. “I’m trying to say some sh– that’s gonna make your soul move. That’s what I’m into. So when I say a verse, if it resonates with you, it’s gonna be some sh– that you may catch 10 years later down the line, so me and Jim don’t do the same things. I have the utmost respect for Jim, for how he built his career. I love Jim, that’s like my bro, but I think to compare us is an unfair comparison.”
If you recall, both rappers’ respective groups battled in one of the best Verzuz face-offs to date when The LOX dismantled The Diplomats at The Theater at Madison Square Garden back in 2021.
SoundCloud has altered its platform policies to require opt-ins for training generative AI models with artists’ music following widespread user backlash, the company announced today in a letter from its CEO.
On Friday, Futurism broke the story that SoundCloud had quietly updated its Terms of Use (TOU) in February 2024 with language allowing it to train AI using users’ uploaded content, which could include uploaded music.
The updated terms — which were flagged by users on Bluesky and X (formerly-Twitter) — included some exceptions to account for music and other content licensed under third parties. But the AI provision was overall extremely broad, and could feasibly grant the music-sharing site the right to funnel much of its vast content library into generative AI models as training material, whether now or in the future.
Though the change was made back in February 2024, it seemed like site users were largely unaware of the change. Artists responded with rage and frustration, taking to social media to express their anger at the company and, in many cases, claiming they’d deleted and scrubbed their accounts.
In response to the mess, SoundCloud issued a lengthy statement clarifying that, despite the provision’s sweeping language, it hadn’t used artists’ music to train AI models. That included generative AI tools like large language models (LLMs) and music generation tools, according to SoundCloud.
Now, it looks like SoundCloud is doubling down on those promises — and changing its policies.
In the letter released today, SoundCloud CEO Eliah Seton conceded that SoundCloud’s language around AI training was “too broad.” To rectify that, said Seton, the company revised its user terms, which now bar SoundCloud from using artists’ music to “train generative AI models that aim to replicate or synthesize your voice, music, or likeness” without the explicit consent of artists.
The new clause adds that should SoundCloud seek to use its artists’ music to train generative AI, it would have to earn that consent through opt-in mechanisms — as opposed to opt-outs, which are notoriously slippery.
Seton also reiterated SoundCloud’s commitment to blocking third parties from scraping SoundCloud for AI training data, and characterized the changes as a “formal commitment that any use of AI on SoundCloud will be based on consent, transparency, and artist control.”
According to Seton, the initial AI policy change was a reflection of SoundCloud’s internal use of AI for features like music discovery algorithms and Pro features, fraud detection, customer service, and platform personalization, among other features. SoundCloud also uses AI to target opted-in users with advertisements based on their perceived mood. It also allows users to upload AI-generated music, and boasts a slew of partnerships with platform-integrated AI music and generation tools.
If there’s any moral here, it’s that language matters, as do the voices of the artists who power creative platforms — especially in an era where data-hungry AI models and the companies that make them are looking to suck up valuable human-made content wherever they can.
Seton, for his part, promised that SoundCloud would “keep showing up with transparency.”
“We’re going to keep listening. And we’re going to make sure you’re informed and involved every step of the way,” reads the letter. “Thanks for being a part of the SoundCloud community and for holding us accountable to the values we all share.”
Veteran music journalist Gerry Wood died on Saturday (May 3) in Inverness, Fla. He was 87.
Wood was Billboard’s Nashville bureau chief and country editor in 1980 when he was promoted to editor-in-chief of the magazine, resulting in a transfer to the publication’s New York headquarters. He served in that capacity through 1983, when he left Billboard, only to return in 1986 as general manager/Nashville, a position he held into 1991.
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Wood’s elevation to editor-in-chief coincided with the explosion of country music in the late 1970s and early ‘80s, when Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson and Alabama were among the top-selling acts in any genre and the film Urban Cowboy became a pop-culture phenomenon. Wood was there before, during and after the explosion, charting every bit of it. He could probably relate to the lyrics of a Barbara Mandrell hit in 1981: “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool.”
Ken Schlager, former Billboard managing editor, paid tribute to Wood on Facebook: “When I joined Billboard as managing editor in November 1985 one of the first tasks was finding a new Nashville bureau chief. Our publisher, Sam Holdsworth (R.I.P.), had asked Gerry, who was no longer associated with Billboard, to check out the candidates that had emerged and scout for others. After several weeks, Gerry reported back that he, in fact, was the best candidate. It seemed like a whole lotta hubris, but it turned out he was right. That’s how Gerry ended up back at Billboard.
“Some weeks later, when I made my first trip to Nashville, Gerry, now bureau chief, greeted me with a gift basket in my hotel room filled with GooGoo Clusters, Moon Pies, and airplane bottles of Jack Daniel’s.
“Gerry was a sweet guy. Smart, hard-working, knowledgeable and well-connected. I’m sorry to hear of his passing.”
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Born Gerald Edmund Wood in Lewiston, Maine, on April 7, 1938, Wood began his career in radio. He was a news and sports reporter and DJ at WSON in Henderson, Ky., and at WVJS in Owensboro, Ky. He also served as news reporter and DJ at WAKY in Louisville, Ky.
Wood graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1960 and went on to earn a master’s degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville in 1965. He later worked in public relations at Vanderbilt (1966-69).
While attending Vanderbilt and after, Wood served as news reporter and DJ at WKDA in Nashville (1964-66). After working in public relations at Vanderbilt (1966-69), he shifted to working on Music Row, where he worked in public relations at ASCAP (1969-75), rising to associate director. Wood began his first stint at Billboard in 1975.
Wood left Billboard in 1983 when the editorial leadership was reorganized under group publisher Jerry Hobbs. He moved back to Music City to become editor-in-chief at Nashville magazine (1983-84) and a special correspondent for People magazine (1984). Like many others before and since, Wood returned to Billboard for a second tour of duty, rejoining the staff in 1986 as general manager/Nashville. In that capacity, he directed and coordinated editorial, chart and sales activities in the country sector. He held that position through 1990.
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On local TV, Wood became known as “The Gamboling Gourmet” on WTVF-TV. He also worked under that identity for Nashville magazine. As a freelance journalist, Wood wrote for Country Weekly and many other publications. He was also a regular reviewer on the TNN cable channel in the mid-1980s.
Wood won a Journalistic Achievement Award from SESAC in 1981. He was a board member of the Nashville Entertainment Association and a member of the Country Music Association, the Gospel Music Association, the Recording Academy, the Nashville Songwriters Association International, and Sigma Delta Chi.
Wood was also a published author. Ain’t God Good (1975) and Let the Hammer Down (1978) were collaborations with country comedian Jerry Clower. Other titles included The Grand Ole Opry Presents the Year in Country Music (1997) and Tales From Country Music (2003).
Outside of his career, Wood was a travel enthusiast. Late in life, he moved to Florida and wrote books and articles for local publications on the Gulf Coast.
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“I was just laughing with Ed [Morris] yesterday as we were reminiscing about our days at Billboard with Gerry at the helm of the Nashville bureau,” says Debbie Holley, who worked under Wood in the country department at Billboard in the 1980s.
“Ed and I never knew where he would be calling in his column from, to whichever one of us was willing to take it over the phone by dictation. If he wasn’t on a plane or boat, he was calling from a train making his way across the country!
“Ed and I truly loved Gerry Wood! If free-flowing, imaginative, intuitive, and emotional thought are characteristics associated with the right brain, his right hemisphere must have been double in size. Gerry Wood definitely encompassed and underscored ‘creative.’ He was full of original ideas, artistic works and new possibilities. He was unconventional and impractical at times, but that always led to even more interesting projects. He was more than willing to share the spotlight and pushed everyone around him to ‘be your best self,’ ‘try things without fear of judgment,’ and ‘go for it, or you’ll always wonder!’
“I’m sad that he has left us, but I bet there are a couple of one-way streets called ‘Music Row’ just inside ‘Heaven’s Gates!’ And, I bet Gerry Wood is right there with all of the songwriters, music publishers and record label execs on ’16th (and 17th) Avenue!’”
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Ed Morris, who was Billboard’s country music editor from 1990-95, tells Billboard, “Gerry hired me in 1981 as he was leaving Nashville for New York to take the chief editor job. Having heard I was an atheist, he found it enormously amusing to name me gospel editor, thereby making me hostage to the Righteous for the next two years. Gerry lived to be entertained—by both by personalities and circumstances—and I never once saw him less than buoyant.”
Wood also had a good sense of humor about himself. At one Billboard staff conference, a staff member, Jean Williams, wasn’t able to be present, but sent in taped remarks. At one point she said, “Gerry Wood had a good idea. I think it was about a year ago.”
William paused just a little too long between those two sentences, creating the impression that good ideas from Wood were a rarity. Everyone in the room laughed at the unintended slight. No one laughed harder than Gerry.
Latto really needs “Somebody,” and she announced on Monday (May 12) that she’s dropping her new single with that name on Friday.
“Greetings from Jamaica,” she wrote on Instagram under the island-inspired artwork. She first teased the single on X back in March with a one-minute clip of her playing it in the car. “I’m on a beach, my hair blowing in the wind. I’m sippin’ a piña colada in a G-string bikini,” she says while licking her lips. She posted a slowed-down version of that snippet in her latest IG announcement.
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“Somebody” will mark Latto’s first solo single release of 2025, and it will arrive four months after she dropped the “Blick Sum” remix featuring fellow ATL rapper Playboi Carti. “Blick Sum” was originally featured on her third studio album Sugar Honey Iced Tea, which she released last August via Streamcut and RCA Records. The 17-track project included the hit single “Big Mama,” which was nominated for a best melodic rap performance at the 2025 Grammys, and reached No. 15 on the Billboard 200 and earned Latto her first No. 1 on Top Rap Albums.
Next month, Latto will embark on the mini Big Mama Takes Europe tour, featuring festival stops at DLT Malta in St. Paul’s Bay, Malta, Tinderbox in Odense, Denmark, Yardland Festival in Paris, France and Les Ardentes in Liège, Belgium, as well as shows in London, Berlin and Amsterdam.
See Latto’s “Somebody” single announcement below, and pre-save it here.
Sleep Token‘s new album Even in Arcadia tops this week’s new music poll.
Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (May 9) on Billboard, choosing the cryptic English group’s latest LP — their first with major label RCA Records — as their favorite new music release of the past week.
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In a week brimming with fresh offerings, Sleep Token rose to the top; their 10-track collection brought in more than 61% of the vote. Voters chose Even in Arcadia over new releases from artists including ROSÉ, Kid Cudi, Miley Cyrus, Kali Uchis, Halsey & Amy Lee, PinkPantheress and Maren Morris.
Sleep Token built up to the May 9 release of Even in Arcadia with “Emergence,” which sprung to No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot Hard Rock Songs chart and broke into the Hot 100, marking Sleep Token’s first entry on the all-genre chart. Two more Hot Hard Rock No. 1s followed suit: “Caramel” and “Damocles.” (On the May 10-dated Hot Hard Rock Songs ranking, “Damocles” sits at No. 1, “Caramel” at No. 2 and “Emergence” at No. 3.)
Though Even in Arcadia is Sleep Token’s fourth studio album, it’s the first to see a release through RCA.
“Before we could approach the rollout plans for Even In Arcadia, it was critical to me that everyone who would be tied to the project deeply understood and respected the profound and expansive world the band created to surround its artistry long before this record,” RCA vp of marketing Aaron Stern told Billboard in April. “Sleep Token set a best-in-class standard for how an artist can cultivate an audience of fans that sincerely immerse themselves in the music and surrounding visual identity.”
Among the new music trailing behind Even in Arcadia on this week’s poll are songs from ROSÉ (“Messy,” with 25% of the vote), Kid Cudi (“Neverland,” with 4% of the vote) and Miley Cyrus (“More to Lose,” with 3% of the vote).
Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos returns to the top, jumping 7-1 on the May 17-dated chart after its vinyl release, while Fuerza Regida achieves its highest-charting album ever, as the band’s new 111XPANTIA debuts at No. 2.
Fuerza Regida also lays claim to the highest-charting Spanish-language album by a duo or group, or a regional Mexican music album, ever.
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Debí Tirar Más Fotos adds a fourth total week atop the list, as it previously spent three weeks at No. 1, consecutively, on the Jan. 25-Feb. 8-dated charts.
The Billboard 200 began publishing on a regular weekly basis in March 1956.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new May 17, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on May 13. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
In the tracking week ending May 8, Debí Tirar Más Fotos earned 84,500 equivalent album units in the United States — with album sales comprising 48,000 (essentially all vinyl purhases), according to Luminate. As for 111XPANTIA, it earned 76,000 units — and of that, 39,000 were album sales.
Let’s take a look at some of the major milestones achieved this week by the teaming of Bad Bunny and Fuerza Regida in the top two slots of the Billboard 200.
