Return of the Mac. Drake has wagered a $1 million bet on Conor McGregor to win in his return to the ring this weekend at UFC 329.

Drake posted his betting slip on Instagram on Friday (July 10) featuring a seven-figure wager on Stake with the belief that McGregor will defeat Max Holloway in McGregor’s comeback to the octagon in Las Vegas on Saturday night (July 11).

Drake’s $1 million wager would net him $1.85 million for a total of $2.85 million if McGregor wins the welterweight bout. As of press time, Conor McGregor is an underdog in the fight with +180 odds, according to FanDuel.

McGregor and Drake have been friends for a decade now after the UFC fighter revealed they connected in 2016 and met at one of Drizzy’s Summer Sixteen Tour stops later that year.

“I’m a big fan of Drake. I had a meeting with Jimmy Iovine of Apple and he invited me to the show,” McGregor said in an interview with UFC’s Meghan Olivi. “I’d spoke to Drake before the first Diaz fight – he reached out and messaged me – and we’ve been in contact since then.”

McGregor invited Drake to join him on stage at the weigh-in for his fight against Khabib at UFC 229 in October 2018, which found the 6 God sporting an Irish flag in support of McGregor on his back.

Drake is no stranger to gambling. He’s been locked in betting on the FIFA World Cup, which included a $1 wager on Morocco in an attempt to jinx the African nation in their match-up against Canada, but that didn’t end up working out for Drizzy. He also posted a clip hitting a $30 million jackpot while playing in the Stake casino earlier in July.

On the music front, Drake released a trifecta of albums in May, with ICEMAN, HABIBTI and MAID OF HONOUR debuting in top three slots of the Billboard 200. ICEMAN‘s “Janice STFU” also debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Drizzy the most chart-topping hits of any male soloist.

Find Drake’s betting slip below.

Hilary Duff has been bringing Y2K nostalgia to every night of her Lucky Me Tour since it kicked off last month, and across two sold-out nights at the L.A.-area Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, on Wednesday and Thursday nights, she turned back the calendar to 2004 with a very personal throwback T-shirt.

Duff wore her very own 2004 concert tee for the occasion, which includes photos of the then-16-year-old pop star/actress on the front and the back and a full list of that year’s tour dates on the back. She also started selling a reprint of the tee at Forum merch booths and on her website.

As seen in Billboard‘s video from Thursday below, Duff wore the tee to perform her 2003 single “Why Not” from The Lizzie McGuire Movie soundtrack and her Metamorphosis album. Duff also re-recorded the song for her (Mine) EP this year as a well as a Walmart-exclusive version of her most recent album, February’s Luck… or Something.

Billboard caught up with Duff backstage at the Forum for an Aperol Spritz meet-and-greet, where she was asked about a fan interaction she’ll remember long after her tour ends.

“A more recent interaction was actually with the sweetest 8-year-old who was excited to see me — but I do think her mom was even more excited secretly,” Duff laughed. “They told me it was her first concert and that I was also the mother’s first concert, which is an amazing full-circle moment while I’m in such a thick part of my own life, returning to music and motherhood.”

The Lucky Me Tour continues Saturday night in Mountain View, California, and extends through early next year in Mexico City.

BTS are bringing their immersive “BTS The City ARIRANG” experience to New York. The group announced on Friday (July 10) that following successful earlier editions in Seoul, Las Vegas, Busan and London, the traveling exhibition will open in New York City on July 24 and stay open through Aug. 3 in conjunction with the K-pop supergroup’s world tour in support of their ARIRANG album.

According to a release, “the citywide project will transform New York into an immersive extension of the concert experience, where fans can experience BTS’ music, storytelling, and artistry far beyond the concert stage.”

BTS is gearing up to perform at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. on Aug. 1 and 2 and “BTS The City ARIRANG NEW YORK” will give ARMY a chance to check out a diverse group of attractions and experiences across New York, including at the Korean Cultural Center New York, where ARMY can customize their light sticks and another at Grand Central Terminal, where “THE CITY” banners will be displayed and fans can customize T-shirts. There will also be a Samsung Galaxy Experience booth at the Korean Cultural Center with a chance to get some limited-edition BTS THE CITY merch and craft one-of-a-kind stickers, as well as a display of some of the band’s iconic stage outfits from the “LOVE YOURSELF: SPEAK YOURSELF” concerts at London’s Wembley Stadium.

Other experiences throughout New York include, a citywide stamp rally at Bank of Hope, as well as fan events including Random Play Dance with I LOVE DANCE and exclusive offerings from local partners such as Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer, Kim’s Kimbap and others. Some of the details of the experiences have not yet been announced, but the list includes a BTS pop-up shop and brand activations with a range of restaurants and hotels.

BTS’ tour in support of their ARIRANG album will hit Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany on Saturday (July 11) and Sunday (July 12).

Check out a map and schedule with the full list of “BTS The City ARIRANG NEW YORK” events here.

Colin Hay was on top of the world with Men At Work. And then, abruptly, he wasn’t. In time, the Scotland-born singer and songwriter would climb the mountain once again.

Hay has gone on to enjoy one of rock music’s remarkable second acts, both as a solo artist, as a member of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, and as a raconteur, his stories and music opening doors and minds everywhere.

Hay has the gift of the gab, an easy charm, and stories that easily beat what the rest of us can drum up. Few tales can compare to the meteoric rise of Men At Work which, for a moment in 1983, simultaneously had the No. 1 single (with “Down Under”) and album (Business as Usual) both in the United States and in the United Kingdom, a rare achievement for an act from Australia, then and now.

Speaking with two-time Grammy Award–winning producer and music executive Pete Ganbarg for the Rock & Roll High School podcast, Hay remembered the high times, some “classic blunders” made along the way, turning his back on booze, and the comeback.

“You always think that you’re handling things really well, but of course you’re not,” he says of Men At Work’s bright start. “We made a couple of classic blunders but I think more than anything else it just wasn’t a band that was destined to go the distance really in terms of the personnel. This is also in hindsight really, we may have had another couple of albums in us, but five musicians and one manager. The manager was my friend and a couple of the guys in the band wanted to sack the manager and he wasn’t gonna get sacked cause he was my friend. It very much turned into an episode of Survivor, who’s gonna get voted off the island.”

That situation “soured me on the whole thing,” he continues. “I thought, well what is the point of conquering the world together if you can’t enjoy it together. It should be enjoyed and honored together by all the people who did that and there were six of us who did it. I’ll never understand why they wanted to get rid of him. It was just stupid. Even to this day I still think it was stupid, so it was over pretty much.”

Men At Work completed two more albums, before calling it a day: Cargo (from 1983) and Two Hearts (from 1985).

Speaking with Ganbarg, Hay points to a moment in January 1991 that he got his life and career back on track. With a move to Los Angeles, Hay kicked the bottle. “That really was the start of my new life,” he explains.  

Hay doesn’t have any bad feelings, except for the bruising — and costly — copyright battle over the flute refrain in “Down Under,” which began in 2009 and concluded several years on, an “unforgivable” situation, he mentions. “It was horrible and it went for so long as well. It went for six years or something. There was nothing really I could do about it but defend it,” he reckons.

To make matters considerably worse, bandmate Greg Ham died in 2012, aged 58, two years after the Australian Federal Court ordered Men At Work to pay 5% of royalties earned from the song since 2002 and from future earnings.

“At the end of the day the sadness for me was the fact that Greg, who wasn’t in great shape anyway at that particular time, felt a sense of guilt about the fact that he played the line and yet he wasn’t sued,” Hay continues. “I was the one that was sued as the songwriter and EMI Music Publishing was sued also. And it had a great effect on my father, who had come to Australia as an immigrant and was so proud of what we’d done and I would play him the songs all the time before they were records so he knew the song was clean in terms of composition so smoke would come out of his ears…I’ll never forgive them for that.”

For the podcast, Hay discusses songwriting, resilience, how life’s great setbacks can ultimately lead to fresh starts, how Zach Braff introduced Hay to new audiences on Scrubs and Garden State, the unlikely fan in System of a Down’s Serj Tankian, and much more.

Listen here or rockschoolpodcast.com.

Jack White, the record label chief, business owner and scathing critic of the Trump administration, gets back to the business of rock ‘n’ roll with Frozen Charlotte, his seventh studio album.

Released through White’s Third Man Records, Frozen Charlotte dropped at the stroke of midnight on digital music platforms and houses the new single “Neighbors Blues,” the propulsive, previously-released “Dollar Bill,” and the tracks he performed on SNL earlier this year, “G.O.D. and the Broken Ribs” and “Derecho Demonico.” 

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee unveiled the 13-track collection during the free, two-part online series Third Man Release Lab, in which his team peels back the layers on his label’s joyfully chaotic release process.

Frozen Charlotte was produced and mixed by the Detroit native, and took sonic shape at White’s Third Man Studio in Nashville with a roll call of familiar collaborators, including Patrick Keeler (drums), Dominic Davis (bass) and Bobby Emmett (keys).

White has assembled the band for North America tour dates in support of the album, which begin tonight, July 10, with a sold-out show at Washington, DC’s The Anthem and then continues through a two-night stand at Atlanta, GA’s Coca-Cola Roxy on Nov. 20-21. Highlights include two-nighters in a string of cities, from Brooklyn to Chicago, Charlotte, and Miami Beach, along with top-billing at Borderland Festival (Sept. 19) and Iron Blossom Music Festival (Sept. 20).

White and Co. will make an Atlantic crossing for more summer dates and festival spots in the United Kingdom and Europe, including two-night stands at London’s Eventim Apollo (Aug. 25-26) and Dublin’s 3Olympia (Sept. 1-2). Then, a visit to Asia for shows in Seoul, South Korea; Shanghai, China; and Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The followup to White’s Grammy Award-nominated 2024 LP No Name, Frozen Charlotte is also available in physical formats, including CD, cassette, standard black vinyl, limited-edition “Zug Island Blue” vinyl (available via Third Man Records), limited-edition “Chrome” vinyl (available on tour), and limited-edition “Ice Blue” vinyl (available at independent record stores).

Stream Frozen Charlotte below.

The rock ‘n’ roll juggernaut that is the Rolling Stones continues to power on with Foreign Tongues (via Polydor/Universal Music), the band’s 25th studio album which arrives fully formed, 14-tracks in total.

The followup to the Grammy Award-winning 2023 collection Hackney Diamonds, the new set houses 12 new compositions, including the previously-released “Rough and Twisted,” “Jealous Lover” and “In The Stars” — plus a cover of Amy Winehouse’s “You Know I’m No Good” and a nod to one of the Stones’ all-time influences, Chuck Berry, on the closing track “Beautiful Delilah.”

Brought to life during a fruitful and “exceptionally creative period” at Metropolis Studios in West London, the new release features contributions from a starry lineup of guests Steve Winwood, Paul McCartney, The Cure’s Robert Smith and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers; longtime collaborators Darryl Jones, Matt Clifford and Steve Jordan; and late drummer Charlie Watts on “Hit Me In The Head,” his efforts captured during one of his final recording sessions before his death in 2021.  

“It was a very intense few weeks recording Foreign Tongues,” recounts frontman Mick Jagger. “We had 14 great tracks and we went as fast as we could. I like the room there as it’s not too big so you can feel the passion from everyone.”

The atmosphere in the room “was so creative,” remarks guitarist Ronnie Wood, “and the whole band was on top form throughout the whole process. Very often we nailed it on the first take. I hope everyone loves it.”

With Foreign Tongues, the Stones could enter rare territory on the Billboard 200. The Rock Hall-inducted group has 38 top 10 hits on the all-genres chart, and nine No. 1s. Another leader would lift the Brits into double-digit chart crowns. In their homeland, the Stones’ have nabbed eight leaders on the Official U.K. Albums Chart, including a No. 1 with Hackney Diamonds, winner in the Grammys category for rock album.

“The Foreign Tongues album has a continuity from Hackney Diamonds and it was great to be working in London again,” enthuses founding guitarist Keith Richards, “and to have that London vibe around us. It was a month of concentrated punch. To me, it’s all about the enjoyment of it.  I’m blessed to be able to do this and long may it last.”

A new Stones album tends to herald a new, global tour by this, the greatest rock band still doing it. Jagger has said he “can’t wait” to take the lads back on the road, though fans shouldn’t expect an imminent announcement.

Speaking on BBC Radio 2’s Tracks of My Years alongside Wood, Jagger was asked whether the Stones would ever tour again. “I’d love to go on tour, I can’t wait,” he said, before tempering expectations. “I don’t think it’s going to be this year. But hopefully it’s going to be as soon as possible.”

Those remarks come after the band scrapped plans for a U.K. and European stadium tour, on unconfirmed reports that Richards was unable to “commit” to the jaunt. Richards has since hinted at a potential return to the road in 2027, and Jagger’s latest comments are a good indication that the legendary outfit will head out once more.

Stream Foreign Tongues below.

Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to New Music Friday’s most essential releases each week — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond. 

Last week, we featured Madonna, Sienna Spiro, Riley Green and more.

This week: Beyoncé surprise drops a new R&B-leaning single; Suki Waterhouse releases her third album Loveland; and Teddy Swims shares a tender summer breakup ballad while teasing a new album in the works…plus much more. Check out all of this week’s picks below:

Beyoncé, “Morning Dew (Donk)”

Over the weekend, Queen B decided to surprise drop her new R&B-coated single — much to everyone’s delight. “Morning Dew” is a gorgeous, downtempo track from Beyoncé, showing yet another side to the singer following ventures into country and dance music on her previous two albums (granted, this is a side we already know well). And while it’s long been speculated that her ACT III could lean rock, this single might just prove otherwise — or at least keep us on our toes a while longer.

Suki Waterhouse, Loveland

Following the 2024 release of her memorably-titled second album (Memoir of a Sparklemuffin), dreamy singer-songwriter Suki Waterhouse is back today with her third full-length, Loveland. As the British artist shared on X earlier this week: “Loveland is memorialization of the places that made me. The realisation that reality is not a given and must be continually pursued. The best and worst nights of my life. The move towards aliveness.”

Teddy Swims, “Break Up In Reverse”

For anyone not experiencing summer lovin’, Teddy Swims has you covered with his new heartbreak anthem for the season. The downtempo ballad is all about hitting rewind and yearning to be loved when a relationship ends in the same way he felt at its start. “Upon writing this song and my next album I’ve been going through it with my relationship with my baby’s mother coming to an end,” Swims shared in a statement. “We were super inspired by an old NAS song called ‘Rewind.’ We loved how the whole song takes place in reverse. So we thought, ‘how beautiful would it be if we took the same idea, but wrote it about my relationship.’”

The Rolling Stones, Foreign Tongues

As only a legendary act can do, The Stones shares its 25th studio album today, a fresh and tight set for the veteran rockers clocking in at just over an hour across 14 songs. Mick Jagger’s vocals are clear-eyed while the band’s instrumentals are just as driving as ever, resulting in an album well worth listening from top to bottom.

The Linda Lindas and Hayley Williams, “Closer”

It’s fitting, really, that Williams would help The Linda Lindas with its major label debut single. The band goes back with the rock icon, citing Williams as a longtime inspiration and even welcoming her onstage last year to perform their breakout hit “Racist, Sexist Boy” at London’s O2. Now, that relationship has been formalized with a collaboration; “Closer” is the bands first release since signing to Reprise/Warner in June, and the midtempo alt-rock track surely signals more new music ahead.

Chris Lake & Tiga ft. Aatig, “Party Time” 

The release of the first ever Chris Lake and Tiga collab finds each producer on a respective hot streak, with Lake recently moving 55,000 tickets across shows in New York and L.A. and remixing Taylor Swift’s “Opalite” just prior. Tiga, meanwhile, released his excellent new album, Hot Wife, in April. So yes, it’s party time indeed on this new single, which finds Lake leaning into the weirder, squelchier area of his sound, a realm in which Tiga has permanent residency. Vocals come from Aatig, the artist name of Lake’s wife, Gita, and the song is out on his own Black Book Records. — KATIE BAIN

Chris Avantgarde, Hyperreal

German-born, London-based producer Chris Avantgarde releases his debut album with a confident statement, calling the project “an album that moves through genres with the energy of a night out. The build, the peak, the sunrise on the roof. On my own terms, with my own sonic identity. I’ve done that for plenty of other artists over the years, never really for myself. This time it’s mine, and I’m standing behind it.” Indeed, while Avantgarde has worked on myriad projects by Anyma along with music by artists including Kölsch and Adam Beyer, Hyperreal marks the most complete statement of his 15 year career thus far. Coming on the heels of Avantgarde becoming a father for the first time, Hyperreal is cool and pristinely made, a nearly 90-minute journey traversing throttling club beats to spacey, emotional ambient for the afters. — K.B.

Future has returned just in time to heat the summer up. The Atlanta rap dignitary released his The Real Me album on Friday (July 10), which serves as his first project since teaming up with Metro Boomin for a pair of collab efforts in 2024.

The album boasts 22 tracks in total and includes the previously released single “Radio.” If The Real Me tops the Billboard 200, it will be Future’s 12th time at the summit.

Even though he kept details of the album under wraps, Future set a high bar for the project, calling The Real Me the “album of the century” in a post to X in June.

2026 has still been a busy year for Future before releasing an album. Pluto ended his feud with Drake as the “Life Is Good” collaborators had a reunion on ICEMAN‘s “Ran to Atlanta” in Atlanta, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Hendrix also got involved in the FIFA World Cup 2026, which saw him tag-team with Tyla for “Game Time.” They performed the live debut of the collab during the World Cup’s Opening Ceremony at SoFi Stadium in June.

Future also reunited with DJ Khaled and Lil Baby for “One of Them” in April, which entered the Hot 100 at No. 70 and will appear on Khaled’s Aalam of God album.

To date, Future has 229 Hot 100 entries, 16 of which reached the top 10. He also has three No. 1 hits to his name.

Stream The Real Me below.

Madonna had an epic 1985. From performing her hits “Holiday” and “Into the Groove” at Live Aid in Philadelphia, to starring in the comedy Desperately Seeking Susan and headlining her Virgin Tour (with up-and-coming opening act the Beastie Boys), it was a year for the ages.

The seminal period that rocketed the singer to global stardom and made her a fashion icon will be explored in a new photo book from Simon & Schuster called Madonna: Into the Groove: An Intimate Portrait of the Queen of Pop. Due out in October, the book will focus on pictures taken by famed rock photographer Ken Regan, with the publisher describing the collection as a trove of, “beautiful, timeless images, most never before published, [which] follows her through an array of unforgettable moments —studio poses, bedroom positions, fitness routines, onstage performances — highlighting her raw, magnetic sexuality.”

The 160-page book’s text was written by Rolling Stone staff writer Tomás Mier, and it “brilliantly traces the development of her signature style,” and includes new interviews with producer Nile Rodgers, choreographer Brad Jefferies, stylist Maripol and others in the singer’s inner circle at the time. Per the publisher, Mier’s copy offers “fresh insights into Madonna’s whirlwind romance with Sean Penn, why the Mondrian session became the most successful shoot of Regan’s career, and even how the infamous Penthouse and Playboy photos affected her performance at Live Aid, where, behind the scenes, Regan shot her at the center of one of the most remarkable group photos of all time.”

That iconic pic featured Madonna in the middle of an iconic group of rock superstars, including Bob Dylan, Tina Turner and Mick Jagger.

Mier said working on the book was an “absolute honor,” noting that while he never got a chance to meet Regan, who died of cancer in 2012, “but through interviewing those who worked with him, I truly understand what made him such a visionary photographer: he approached his subjects with genuine empathy and respect. These images are a perfect encapsulation of his talent, capturing the Queen of Pop at a pivotal, electric moment in her own career and in music history.”

Variety reported that the book features archival images from Regan’s 1985 sessions with Madonna, including shoots at Le Mondrian in Los Angeles, where she posed in a hotel room, ballroom and gym, with the singer sporting a number of her signature looks from that era, including lace leggings, leotards, multiple crucifixes and stacked rubber bracelets. The chapter titles include “A Material Girl,” “Le Mondrian,” “The Virgin Tour,” “Live Aid” and “Aftermath,” combining glossy studio-style photos with behind-the-scenes stories from her collaborators.

Madonna just released her 15th studio album, Confessions II, which features the Sabrina Carpenter duet “Bring Your Love” and such dance-floor-ready bangers as “I Feel Free,” “Danceteria” and the bubbling “Bizarre” feat. Martin Garrix.

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