Perched about 100 feet in the sky without a harness, Playboi Carti dangles atop a gothic staircase in front of over 60,000 fans locked in on his every move.

Rocking a Michael Jackson-esque outfit with a white dress shirt, leather pants and a YSL black suit jacket with tassels, which is accessorized in Carti fashion with star diamond earrings, piercings, a glistening chain, sunglasses and a du-rag, King Vamp is at home.

Carti returned to Rolling Loud Orlando to perform on Saturday night (May 9) for his record-breaking sixth headlining set. He took the stage around 10 p.m. ET as temperatures cooled off at the festival to “HBA,” which sent the Opium-favoring crowd into a frenzy.

Carti came out swinging with fan-favorites to kick off the set like “Pop Out,” “Evil J0rdan,” “Stop Breathing” and “Sky,” which led into the moshpits and chaos of “FE!N,” as plenty of pyrotechnics lit up the Under Armour Stage.

MUSIC topped the Billboard 200 upon its arrival in March of last year, and Carti’s album has remained on the album chart for all 59 weeks since being released.

It’s all about Opium this weekend at Rolling Loud, as Destroy Lonely and HXG performed ahead of Playboi Carti’s set, while Ken Carson is filling in for NBA YoungBoy as Sunday’s (May 10) headliner.

The Opium family reunited on stage as Carti stood alongside his mentees, which made for a heartwarming moment and a snapshot of who’s dominating rap when it comes to crews in 2026.

Carson actually premiered a rage-filled unreleased track, which could be a taste of what’s to come on the Lord of Chaos’ The Xperiment album. Carti got back in the driver’s seat while running through “Rockstar Made,” “OPM BABI,” “K Pop” and “Like Weezy.”

A standout moment came when Carti took it back to the intro of his 2017 self-titled mixtape with “Location” and there would’ve been tremors that registered on the Richter scale if Lil Uzi Vert popped out for “Shoota.” At one point, Carti even took off his belt and began whipping the railing in between screeches.

While he never went to college, graduation was weighing heavily on the Atlanta rap titan’s mind throughout the set, as he shouted out those who graduated during this academic year a few times. “Congratulations, you made it, b—h,” he said while performing “Long Time.” “Congratulations to the class of 2026. Congratulations to everyone who graduated. You made it.”

As the 11 p.m. ET curfew neared, Carti insisted he would blow past that and deal with whatever financial consequences would come after. “I got too many songs, just do it. F—k the budget,” he relayed to DJ Swamp Izzo before leading into “Rather Lie.”

There weren’t many surprises in the 30-year-old’s set, but he shocked fans when performing the Vory-assisted “24 Songs.” The vulnerable track has traces to the top of the 2020s and leaked in full back in 2023.

Down the stretch, the set lost a bit of steam, as unpredictability can be a bit of a gift and a curse for King Vamp. He mustered up the energy needed to close out with “Crank” and stamp his king of Rolling Loud title, but it was DJ Swamp Izzo who had the last word and had fans’ ears perked up. “Baby Boi on the way,” he teased of Carti’s rumored upcoming project.

Carti vanished into the darkness around 11:15 p.m. ET.

Noah Kahan’s The Great Divide spends a second week atop the Billboard 200 (dated May 16) following its debut a week ago. The set earned 163,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending May 7 (down 58% compared to its opening of 389,000), according to Luminate.

The Great Divide is the first rock album to spend at least two weeks at No. 1 in nearly three years. Zach Bryan’s self-titled set was the last rock set with two weeks at No. 1, in September 2023. (Rock albums are defined as those that are eligible for, or have charted on, Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart.)

Also in the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200, Kacey Musgraves collects her sixth top 10 — all of which have debuted in the top five — as Middle of Nowhere starts at No. 3. Plus, the success of the Michael Jackson biopic Michael continues to shine on the chart, as Jackson has two albums in the top 10. His former No. 1 Thriller rises 7-5 and the hits collection Number Ones jumps 13-6.

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 and Instagram.

Of The Great Divide’s 163,000 equivalent album units earned in the latest tracking week, SEA units comprise 137,000 (down 35%, equaling 139.5 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks; it spends a second week at No. 1 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 26,000 (down 85%; it falls 1-2 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise the remainder (down 66%).

Ella Langley’s former leader Dandelion holds at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 103,000 equivalent album units earned (down 8%).

Kacey Musgraves’ Middle of Nowhere debuts at No. 3 with 100,000 equivalent album units earned, her best week ever by units. It’s the singer-songwriter’s sixth top 10, all of which have debuted in the top five. Of the album’s starting figure, album sales comprise 64,500 (it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 35,000 (equaling 35.54 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs, it debuts at No. 10 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise 500.

Middle of Nowhere is Musgrave’s sixth studio album and was announced in early March. The project — which features collaborations with Gregory Alan Isakov, Miranda Lambert, Willie Nelson and Billy Strings — was led by the single “Dry Spell” (peaking at No. 15 on Hot Country Songs in March) and released on May 1. Musgraves’ Middle of Nowhere arena tour launches on Aug. 21 in Chicago and continues through the end of October.

The new album’s first-week sales were aided by its availability across 16 physical variants (including signed editions) and a deluxe download edition with two bonus tracks.

Chart-watchers take note: This is the second top 10-charted album with the exact title Middle of Nowhere. Brother trio Hanson reached No. 2 with their album of their same name in 1997.

Morgan Wallen’s former No. 1 I’m the Problem falls 3-4 on the latest Billboard 200 with 83,000 equivalent album units earned (up 3%).

Michael Jackson has a pair of albums in the top 10 as the buzz generated from the Michael biopic continues to resonate on the chart. His chart-topping Thriller climbs 7-5 (62,000 equivalent album units, up 36%) and best-of set Number Ones, released in 2003, reaches the top 10 for the first time, rising 13-6 (62,000 units, up 65%), becoming his 11th top 10.

With Number Ones’ ascent, Jackson, who died in 2009, has now claimed at least one new top 10 album in every decade from the 1970s onwards as a soloist. And, he’s only the fifth act overall to do so, joining Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and James Taylor.

Jackson found two new top 10s in the 1970s (first with Ben peaking at No. 5 in 1972 and then with 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; 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.

BTS’ chart-topping ARIRANG falls 5-7 on the latest Billboard 200 (49,000 equivalent album units earned, down 13%), Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving is steady at No. 8 (42,000, down 3%), Wallen’s former leader One Thing at a Time is a non-mover at No. 9 (40,000, up 3%), and Bad Bunny’s former No. 1 DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS climbs 12-10 (37,000, down 3%).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

Saturday Night Live‘s Weekend Update took aim at Tucker Carlson on Saturday night (May 9), with the former Fox News host portrayed by featured player Jeremy Culhane raging about the Met Gala, slamming the Michael biopic and closing with his most offensive hot take yet.

Appearing alongside co-hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che, the sketch version of Carlson opened by unloading on the annual fashion fundraiser at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

“Let’s all prance around in our $100,000 clown outfits and watch the American empire crumble,” he said. “What are we doing? Come on.”

When Jost noted that Carlson clearly didn’t enjoy the event, the character replied sarcastically: “Oh no, I loved it. Because when I go to a museum, I don’t want to learn about history. No, I want to look at The Rock in a skirt. Do you smell what the Rock is cooking? Because I do — it’s gender confusion.” He then turned his attention to Madonna: “She named herself after the Virgin Mary. And you want to know my favorite thing about the mother of Jesus Christ? The big pirate ship on her head.” On Heidi Klum’s veiled statue look: “The left has finally gotten what they’ve always wanted. They put the Statue of Liberty in a burqa.”

Jost pointed out that Carlson actually lives in Maine, which sent the character into a conspiracy tangent about the state’s silent “E.” “What does the E even stand for? Oh, I know: ‘Euphoria.’ And no, I’m not talking about the feeling I get when I press one for English.”

Culhane-as-Carlson then turned to the Michael biopic — taking issue not with the film’s handling of Michael Jackson’s alleged crimes, but with something else entirely.

“The movie ends in 1988, so obviously they avoided something serious that needs to be acknowledged,” he said. “The part of Michael Jackson’s life no one wants to talk about anymore. The part when he was a white man. Sorry, kids, Michael Jackson doesn’t get to live a beautiful white life anymore. ‘Shamona’ — more like ‘shame on ya.’” The segment closed with Carlson’s take on A$AP Rocky’s Met Gala look: “He was on the red carpet wearing my least favorite color, African American.”

Saturday’s episode was hosted by Matt Damon, with Noah Kahan serving as musical guest. SNL Season 51 closes next week with Will Ferrell hosting and Paul McCartney as musical guest.

Noah Kahan made his return to Saturday Night Live on Saturday night (May 9), joining host Matt Damon as musical guest for Season 51’s penultimate episode — his second SNL appearance since his breakthrough 2023 debut.

The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter appeared on the show two weeks after releasing The Great Divide, his fourth studio album, out April 24 via Mercury Records, performing album tracks “Doors” and “The Great Divide” for the Studio 8H audience.

The album debuted at No. 1 in both the United States and United Kingdom, with the former marking the best first-week sales for a rock album in over a decade. Produced by Gabe Simon and Aaron Dessner of The National, the 17-track record has been widely praised as a significant artistic step forward for Kahan.

In the lead-up to Saturday’s appearance, Kahan delivered a stripped-back Tiny Desk performance featuring album tracks “American Cars,” “The Great Divide” and “Paid Time Off,” alongside Stick Season fan favorite “Orange Juice.”

He also appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to discuss the album, and attended this year’s TIME100 Gala after being named among TIME’s 100 Most Influential People of 2026, where he was honored by Marcus Mumford, who wrote: “Musically, he brings us closer to our humanity in the same way some of the great ’60s folk songwriters did: pairing lyrics set in a particular space and time with traditionally infused pop melodies like Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell at their best.”

Saturday’s episode also marked a milestone for host Matt Damon, who returned to Studio 8H for his third hosting stint. Promotional materials leaned into the shared New England heritage of both artists — Damon hailing from Boston, Kahan from Strafford, Vermont.

Kahan also recently launched Noah Kahan: Out of Body, a Netflix documentary that premiered at SXSW 2026, where it received the 24 Beats Per Second Audience Award. The film follows Kahan’s rise to stadium-level stardom and addresses his ongoing struggles with anxiety and body dysmorphia.

Kahan’s first SNL appearance in December 2023 saw him perform “Dial Drunk” and “Stick Season” from his breakthrough album We’ll All Be Here Forever. That record produced the multi-platinum hit “Stick Season,” which peaked at No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned Kahan two Grammy nominations. His Great Divide World Tour includes four record-breaking sold-out nights at Boston’s Fenway Park — making him the first artist in history to play and sell out four shows at the venue — as well as additional arena dates in London, Dublin, Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland.

SNL Season 51 closes next week with Will Ferrell hosting and Paul McCartney as musical guest.