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In 2025, Loop announced a partnership with McLaren Racing for a new pair of limited-edition McLaren Racing x Loop Switch 2 earplugs. The pair features the racing team’s iconic McLaren Papaya colorways with Loop’s sleek and cozy design. Cut to a year later, after announcement and release, I put the earplugs through their paces during the Miami Grand Prix.

Taking place during race weekend at the Miami International Autodrome in Miami Gardens, the weather was hot and sticky with the very humid and sweltering 87-degree South Florida heat beating down on those who couldn’t find shade, like myself. While I was very sweaty, as I baked in the sun, my ears, however, certainly looked cool and stylish with the McLaren Racing x Loop Switch 2 earplugs I used during sprints and qualifying rounds leading up to race day.

The earplugs fit snuggly and securely in my ears, while the roar of engines were reduced to a dull rumble, so I could pay attention to the race instead of being annoyed with the cheers from the crowd. It was a surprise to hear the difference between having the earplug in my ears compared to when they were removed. Experiencing the dampened sounds to the actual sounds of the track was like going from soft and gentle to harsh and abrasive at a moment’s notice.

To customize my race day experience, the McLaren Racing x Loop Switch 2 earplugs feature three modes of noise-reduction — quiet, experience and engage — which toggle back and forth with a dial on each earplug. This was ideal when I wanted to focus in on the race itself, but then toggle the noise reduction lower to talk with my friends sitting next to me about a driver attacking for better position.

McLaren Racing x Loop Switch 2

$64.95

Buy Now at Loop

Tested and reviewed

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The McLaren Racing x Loop Switch 2 earplugs were very comfortable to wear throughout the entire race weekend. Usually, I find most earplugs either stiff with hard plastic or too squishy with foam, but the McLaren Racing x Loop Switch 2 earplugs feel very comfortable and lightweight for all-day use. In fact, the earplugs come with four interchangeable eartips for a better seal and comfort, depending on your ear sizes.

And as a bonus, you could also pick up the Loop Link, which makes it possible to wear the earplugs like a fashionable necklace with a very clever magnet system. This way you don’t have to dig into your pockets or purse to find the earplugs when you need them during a loud event. Instead, you place them in your ears to block out noise when its loud, but then let them dangle around your neck for easy access when its not.

Otherwise, the earplugs come in a heavy-duty hard plastic clamshell case with Loop and McLaren Racing branding. The case is small, compact and durable, but could get lost if you have a lot of other things in your pockets or purse.

Starting at $64.95, the McLaren Racing x Loop Switch 2 sets the bar for premium earplugs, thanks to their custom fit, stylish looks, unique design and overall effectiveness for noise reduction in loud atmospheres, like motorsports events, concerts and music festivals.

Want more? For more product recommendations, check out our roundups of the best Xbox deals, studio headphones and Nintendo Switch accessories.

On the new Billboard 200 albums chart (dated May 16), Michael Jackson‘s Number Ones ascends seven spots to No. 6, becoming his 11th top 10 and his first new top 10 of the 2020s.

In turn, Jackson becomes only the fifth act with at least one new top 10 album in every decade from the 1970s onwards. He joins Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and James Taylor as the only acts with new top 10 albums in the 1970s, ’80s, ’90s, 2000s, ’10s and ’20s.

Number Ones was first released in 2003 and jumps into the top 10 on the latest chart following the continued buzz generated by the Jackson biopic Michael. The film premiered in United States movie theaters on April 24 and had grossed more than $240 million in the U.S. and Canada through May 10, making it the top-grossing music biopic of all time, surpassing Bohemian Rhapsody (not adjusted for inflation).

Number Ones joins Jackson’s former No. 1 Thriller in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, as it rises 7-5 — its first week in the top five since May 1984. Thriller spent 37 weeks at No. 1 in 1983-84, the most weeks at No. 1 for an album by a singular artist.

Here’s a rundown of Jackson’s 11 top 10s, by decade. Jackson notched two new top 10s in the ’70s (first with Ben peaking at No. 5 in 1972 and then Off the Wall, which reached the top 10 in September 1979 and peaked at No. 3 in February 1980), two in the ‘80s (Thriller, No. 1 for 37 weeks in 1983-84 as noted above, and Bad, No. 1 for six weeks in 1987), two in the ‘90s (Dangerous, No. 1 for four weeks in 1991-92, and HIStory: Past, Present and Future Book 1, No. 1 for two weeks in 1995), two in the 2000s (Invincible, No. 1 for one week in 2001, and his first posthumous top 10, the soundtrack to Michael Jackson’s This Is It, No. 1 for one week in 2009), two in the ‘10s (Michael, No. 3 in 2011, and Xscape, No. 2 in 2014) and now one in the ‘20s with Number Ones.

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 2,500 ad-supported or 1,000 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new May 16, 2026-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard’s website on May 12. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

It’s a new era for aespa, and the band wants to you “feel somethin’.”

Seoul-based K-pop girl group aespa released “WDA (Whole Different Animal),” the first song from their upcoming second studio album LEMONADE, on Monday (May 11). The new track features G-DRAGON, the band leader of fellow K-pop hitmakers BIGBANG.

“WDA (Whole Different Animal)” is bass and synth-heavy dance track with clear hip-hop influences. The song features lyrics in English and Korean. G-DRAGON lends his rap skills to the song’s third verse before the track closes out with one more refrain of “She a whole different animal” and “Give me all smoke, gun powder, powder.”

Alongside the single release, aespa has also dropped a music video for the track. The visual for “WDA (Whole Different Animal)” brings viewers into a world where the line between reality and digital is blurred. In the eerie video, replicas of aespa’s four members appear and continuously multiply, distorting ideas of what is real and what is fake. Ultimately, the girl group is able to break through the chaos and reclaim their identities.

Winners of the 2025 Billboard Women in Music award for Group of the Year, aespa announced the release of its forthcoming album LEMONADE in April. The LP is the follow-up to the group’s 2024 Billboard 200 No. 8 EP Whiplash and will drop on May 29. The album release will be followed by the girl group’s fourth world tour SYNK: COMPLæXITY, which begins not long after the conclusion of its SYNK : aeXIS LINE tour last month. SYNK: COMPLæXITY will kick off on August 7 with two nights in Seoul before making its way across a few more stops in Asia, traversing across North America and concluding with shows across Europe.

Fans can pre-order aespa’s LEMONADE here and watch the music video for “WDA (Whole Different Animal)” below.