The new The Life of a Showgirl:The Encore tracks marks the superstar’s 16th song to top the Billboard Hot 100

Taylor Swift for ‘The Life of a Showgirl’

If you want to party with somebody who might know what it’s like to have 16 Number One songs, you can now hit up Taylor Swift. The superstar just topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart once again with her new single “Patient Zero.” It marks Swift’s fourth chart-topper of the year after “The Fate of Ophelia,” “Opalite,” and “I Knew It, I Knew You” also notched the top slot.

With the feat, Swift has knocked Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” from the top slot, halting its historic reign with a whopping 24 weeks atop the chart since February. She also joins Rihanna as the only female solo artists to earn four Number One hits on the chart in the same year. The song marks the third single from The Life of a Showgirl to go Number One as well. Earlier this year, “The Fate of Ophelia” became Swift’s longest-running chart-topper with nine weeks.

Swift released “Patient Zero” as the lead single on the extended version of her 12th studio album The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore, which included three other new tracks: “Cleveland!,” “Pink Clouding,” and “Babylon.” All of those songs also made it on the Hot 100’s top five. Showgirl also returned to the top of the Billboard 200 for a 13th week.

On “Patient Zero,” the singer-songwriter paints the picture of what happens when an ex’s new girl calls you up for advice “from the perspective and the side of the phone call of the ex who’s been through it before,” as she told Capital FM.

A couple of days after The Encore was released, Swift premiered the cinematic music video for “Patient Zero” at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards. The unconventional release follows in the steps of the other Showgirl singles (and Number Ones) which premiered visuals in theaters and exclusively on Spotify and Apple Music. Just like with “The Fate of Ophelia” and “Opalite” music videos, the “Patient Zero” visual was not immediately available on YouTube. The move coincides with YouTube’s decision to withdraw its data from Billboard charts following changes to the charts’ methodology.

The commercial success of “Patient Zero” comes after The Encore received a mixed response from fans online and critics alike.

Noah Kahan at Rolling Stone Stateside Festival on July 4, 2026 in Kingston, NY.

Noah Kahan has released his contribution to the upcoming The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping soundtrack, “Draw You Out.”

The song may be one of the most compelling tracks to be included in the list of Hunger Games soundtracks that include the likes of Grammy-winning “Safe & Sound” by Taylor Swift featuring The Civil Wars for Songs from District 12 and Beyond and Olivia Rodrigo’s “Can’t Catch Me Now” for The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.

On “Draw You Out,” Kahan delivers the aching chorus: “I carry you on with me/I promised you I would, and I do/And I float around/Show up unannounced in the places that you knew.”

Kahan, a self-professed fan of The Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins’ work, shared a post to social media prior to the new track’s release. “This is something I’ve always wanted to do and I am so grateful for the opportunity to write for this moving film, having adored the works of art by Suzanne Collins,” wrote Kahan. “I was already totally connected and inspired by the tragic yet hopeful story of Haymitch and Lenore Dove, and writing a song about the purpose, grief and perseverance through pain that they exemplify was an experience I’ll always be grateful for.”

The singer-songwriter added, “This is an incredible film, and I am so honored to be a small part of it.”

Sunrise on the Reaping, which released in March last year, serves as a prequel to the original trilogy and marks the fifth book in the series, following The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay, and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

The story follows a young Haymitch Abernathy — who was a mentor in the original Hunger Games novels and was portrayed by Woody Harrelson in the first four films — and his tragic story as he participates in the 50th Hunger Games.

“Draw You Out” reunites Kahan with Aaron Dessner, who co-wrote and co-produced the track at Dessner’s Long Pond Studio in New York and Nashville’s Gold Pacific Studios and East Iris Studios. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (The Album) is executive produced by Dave Cobb and is set to arrive Nov. 13, one week before the film debuts in theaters on Nov. 20.

The Backstreet Boys are bringing their Millennium era back to Canada, with a four-show residency Toronto, planned for Rogers Centre in February 2027.

The group announced Friday that Into The Millennium – Homecoming: Live in Canada will take place February 12, 13, 19 and 20, and will be the band’s only North American stadium shows of 2027.

“Canada was one of the first places to embrace us, and the love and support we’ve received from our fans there has meant so much from the very beginning,” Brian Littrell said in a statement. “Coming back feels incredibly special. It is a chance for all of us to celebrate the memories we’ve made together and create some new ones.”

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The Backstreet Boys broke through globally at the end of the '90s, with Canadian audiences among their earliest major supporters. More than three decades later, the group is bringing a show built around the album that helped define its global peak.

The Toronto concerts will revisit Millennium, the 1999 blockbuster featuring “I Want It That Way,” “Larger Than Life” and “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)”.

The shows follow the band’s ongoing Into the Millennium run at Sphere in Las Vegas and its 10-show Homecoming stadium residency in Düsseldorf, Germany. The current production has brought back elements of the original Into the Millennium Tour, including the band’s entrance on hoverboards.

Toronto will also get its own Backstreet Boys fan destination. The Backstreet Boys YYZ Terminal will be an Millennium-inspired pop-up featuring official merchandise, photo opportunities and fan events throughout the residency.

Rogers customers can access the first presale October 5 at 10 a.m. ET, while sales for the general public open October 9 at 10 a.m. ET through Ticketmaster.

After weeks of requests from fans, Drake has finally released some of the songs from his ''not-so-short film'' project Fear of Missing Out. On Friday, October 2, the Toronto rapper expanded his 2026 album HABIBTI with four previously unreleased tracks featured in FOMO, his self-funded film that premiered online September 15. The expanded edition, titled HABIBTI (FOMO), brings the album from 11 to 15 tracks.

The new material includes “Quebec,” which first appeared in FOMO before receiving a standalone visual last month.

Also included is “Cold Shoulder,” a collaboration with Don Toliver and Yebba, which debuted in the film alongside a video shot at Canada’s Wonderland.

Drake also officially released “Classic PT2,” an expanded follow-up to “Classic” from the original HABIBTI, as well as “Solar Eclipse,” his collaboration with Don Toliver built around Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas.” The latter had been teased before FOMO and arrives with its new title on the streaming release.

The release follows weeks of speculation about whether the songs previewed in FOMO would receive official releases. Drake had previously told fans that some of the music from the film was coming to streaming, while cautioning that not everything featured in the project would necessarily be released.

Sean Combs in New York in 2018.

Sean Combs was reportedly placed back in solitary confinement following a NBC News report that the music mogul was using a contraband cellphone to scroll on Instagram, kept a private stash of premium liquor, and had access to a jailbroken tablet where he watched a Netflix documentary about himself.

The 56-year-old was put in a special housing unit, both NBC and TMZ have reported, after footage was released of Combs seemingly using a cell phone while serving his 50-month sentence at Fort Dix in New Jersey. This would be Combs’ second time placed in isolation, following a physical fight with a fellow inmate in July.

Last year, Combs was convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution following a high-profile criminal trial. Combs recently had his release date bumped up to January 2028, though it is unclear if the apparent violation will push back his homecoming.

In a statement, Combs’ spokesperson chalked up the reporting of Combs’ time behind bars as sensationalization of “ordinary prison life,” adding that “the only real news is that Sean continues to serve his sentence while awaiting the court’s decision on his appeal.”

According to NBC News, Combs had been enjoying a relatively pampered stay at the low-security federal correctional facility. The one-time billionaire reportedly had been directing thousands of dollars to fellow inmates in exchange for favors, including cooking him gourmet meals, and scrubbing down showers and toilets before he uses them. “He’s a billionaire. People are in awe of him,” one source told the outlet. “Money is power, especially behind bars.”

But beyond basic “pampering,” Combs allegedly has managed to secure contraband. He reportedly has a stash of Hennessy liquor, buys Remeron pills, a mood-boosting antidepressant drug, possess a jail-breaked tablet that he used to watch Netflix’s 50 Cent-produced docuseries about him, and has a cell phone that he uses to scroll on Instagram and view nude photos from an ex-girlfriend.

Rolling Stone has reviewed the Instagram account believed to belong to Combs, which is among the 365 accounts his own publicist follows. The anonymous profile follows Combs’ children, longtime family friends who are not public figures, and women romantically linked to Combs. The account has recently reposted videos pertaining to Combs’ former girlfriend Yung Miami, 50 Cent and former Bad Boy artist Mase.

Fort Dix has had issues with contraband being smuggled inside the facility. Last month, five people — including one current and one former Fort Dix corrections officer — were charged with conspiracy to provide contraband in prison. Between May 2025 and May 2026, the defendants are accused of smuggling in knives, marijuana, tobacco, cellular phones, vapes, cell phone chargers, tool kits, and a tattoo kit into Fort Dix, with more than $100,000 being transferred among the co-conspirators, according to the criminal complaint.

Lil Nas X for new single "World's Greatest"

Lil Nas X holds one particular guiding phrase close to his heart: “Walk by faith, not by sight.” The quote comes from his late mother, Tamikia Hill, whose death he announced in August. “As I move through life it resonates more and more,” he said about the quote. It’s what he’s holding onto as he takes his first confident strides back into music with “World’s Greatest!,” his first single in nearly two years.

Lil Nas X introduced “World’s Greatest!” with a stirring social video in which he listened back to a voicemail his mother left him. “Hey Doobie, been calling you multiples times today,” she said in the clip. “I just wanna say, I love you. Keep your head up. Continue to walk by faith, not by sight. Let go and let God handle the rest. Everything is gonna work itself in its own place. Don’t give up, never give up.” Hill ended the voicemail with a promise to call her son back, “just to check up on you,” she said.

With “World’s Greatest!,” Lil Nas X does some checking up of his own. The song builds on the foundation of his mother’s words of wisdom with a mantra of his own: “I hope your dreams work out for you/I hope your green comes out the blue/I hope you learn to love again/Yeah, I hope you learn to trust the plan.” The rock-driven single is the most musically self-assured and inspired release from Lil Nas X since his 2021 debut, Montero.

“World’s Greatest!” arrives alongside a poignant music video directed by Phillip Youmans. The rapper and singer born Montero Hill returned to his hometown of Atlanta to capture the visual, which traces threads between his past and present as he navigates his coming-of-age experience. It’s a candid and sensitive presentation from the 27-year-old, who has been largely absent from the spotlight following a very public mental health crisis and subsequent bipolar diagnosis for which endured a stint in rehab.

Standing in front of his own reflection at a dance studio, Lil Nas X keeps hitting a mental block as he tries to move freely through the space. There’s something holding him back. He’s physically present, but in his mind he’s thinking back to his childhood. There’s a scene of a younger version of himself trying on high-heeled boots, dozing off at church, and snagging candy bars from the corner store when the cashier isn’t looking.

They’re small, carefree moments that build up over time and have shaped Lil Nas X in the process. Reconnecting with that inner part of himself proves to be the key to release as his younger self appears in the studio, instructing him to mirror his movements. Suddenly, his rigid movements are free flowing and his head is held up high without anyone having to tilt his chin up. “I’m a champion,” he repeats throughout the song. As nears the end, there’s a spliced sample of the lyric “This one is for the champions,” pulled from “Industry Baby.”

When the song ends and he’s standing in the studio all alone, Lil Nas X runs it back again — this time more sure than ever. The voicemail from the song announcement closes out the video, which he dedicated to his mother. “Love u forever mommy,” his tribute reads.