Drake and Ye hashed it out onstage this week — not during a Verzuz battle, but during their joint Free Larry Hoover concert. And as two of the biggest male rappers shared a spotlight, so did pop’s leading ladies Beyoncé, Rihanna and Taylor Swift when Forbes named them some of the world’s most powerful women.
Take a look at Billboard‘s weekly roundup and the “awards” it’s giving to this week’s headlines.
Sweetest Music News: P!nk connects with terminally ill fan over Zoom
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P!nk hopped on a Zoom call with 63-year-old fan Diane Berberian, who is currently in hospice with terminal bone cancer, to fulfill her bucket-list wish. “THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO TOOK THE TIME TO TRY AND MAKE CONNECTIONS… OUR DREAM CAME TRUE!!!!!” the U.S. Paratriathalon National Championships competitor captioned the post. Watch a portion of their heartwarming Zoom call here.
Biggest Music News: Drake & Ye reunite for Free Larry Hoover concert in L.A.
Drake and Ye buried the hatchet and came together on a makeshift mound at LA’s Coliseum on Thursday night (Dec. 9) for the Free Larry Hoover charity concert. For the first time since 2016, the two world-class rappers came together on the same stage as Ye played his biggest nostalgia-inducing hits and Drizzy ran through Certified Lover Boy‘s memorable cuts. Read our recap of the show here, our interview with J. Prince about how he got the two to squash their beef here and our interview with the Coliseum staff about how they put on the legendary show here.
Wildest Music News: Drake turns down 2022 Grammy nominations
While Drake brought CLB to the Coliseum this week, he will not be letting the Recording Academy acknowledge his latest album at the 64th annual Grammy Awards after he turned down his 2022 nominations. The four-time Grammy-winning rapper was previously up for best rap album as well as best rap performance for “Way 2 Sexy,” featuring Future and Young Thug. Learn more about his decision here.
Most Record-Breaking Music News: Adele’s 30 sells 1 million copies in U.S.
Adele’s latest Billboard 200 No. 1 LP 30 becomes the first album in over a year to sell 1 million copies in the U.S., across all of its formats (CD, vinyl LP, cassette and digital album download), through Dec. 6, according to initial reports to MRC Data. The last new released album to achieve this milestone was Taylor Swift’s Folklore, which was the only album in 2020 to sell a million copies in the U.S. Read more here.
Most Powerful Music News: Beyoncé, Rihanna & Taylor Swift named world’s most powerful women by Forbes
Forbes honored Rihanna, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift as three of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women on its 2021 list, which was revealed on Tuesday (Dec. 7). RiRi, which Forbes described as “Barbados’ most famous export,” leads the trio with her ranking at No. 68, while Queen Bey lands at No. 76 and Swift rounds out the female musicians at No. 78. See why the publication recognized those three artists here.
Most Surprising Music News: Travis Scott gives first interview post-Astroworld tragedy
Travis Scott sat down with Charlamagne the God on Thursday (Dec. 9) for a one-hour interview to unpack the tragedy that unfolded at Astroworld last month. “As an artist, you just do the creative. And this to be my festival, I got to bring artists, creatively produce it. We just trust the professionals to make sure that people are taken care of and leaving safely. I just can control what I can on the stage, and you know have the professionals control what they can in the crowd,” the “Sicko Mode” rapper said. Watch the full interview here.