The women in music dominated this week.
Britney Spears finally gained her freedom from the conservatorship that had controlled her personal and financial affairs for the last 13 years. Adele found love again (with herself) in her highly anticipated album 30, which she released on Friday (Nov. 19).
Taylor Swift gives her fans many ways to enjoy the 10-minute version of “All Too Well,” from her latest re-recorded LP Red (Taylor’s Version) — which is set to make a splashy debut on the Billboard 200 next week — with a star-studded short film, Saturday Night Live performance, live acoustic performance and “Sad Girl Autumn” remix.
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See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
And R&B lovers are still not over Summer Walker‘s Billboard 200-topping album Still Over It, which made a historic No. 1 debut on the albums chart.
Take a look at Billboard‘s weekly roundup and the “awards” it’s giving to this week’s headlines.
Happiest Music News: Britney Spears is free from her conservatorship
Supporters of the #FreeBritney movement, and Spears herself, got their wish granted last Friday (Nov. 12) when a Los Angeles Superior Court judge terminated the pop superstar’s court-ordered conservatorship that had been controlling her life and career for the last 13 years. “Good God I love my fans so much it’s crazy!!! I think I’m gonna cry the rest of the day!!!! Best day ever … praise the Lord … can I get an Amen. #FreedBritney,” she wrote on Instagram Monday. Read more what happened in the courtroom Friday here, how Spears has been enjoying her freedom here, and what happens next here.
Biggest Music News: Adele releases 30
Get that big glass of wine ready, because Adele finally released her long-awaited fourth album 30 on Friday (Nov. 19). Critics have been hailing the new 12-track project as the British superstar’s “toughest, most powerful album yet.” Listen to the album here and read our critics’ song rankings here.
Longest Music News: Taylor Swift performs 10-minute version of “All Too Well” on SNL
Taylor Swift performed the extended, 10-minute version of the song Swifties know “All Too Well” during her appearance on Saturday Night Live last Saturday (Nov. 13). She performed the tender ballad, which is fresh off her re-recorded album Red (Taylor’s Version), while the All Too Well short film starring Dylan O’Brien and Sadie Sink played on the screen behind her. Watch her SNL performance here, and watch the All Too Well short film here.
Most Record-Breaking Music News: Summer Walker’s Still Over It breaks R&B, streaming records while topping Billboard 200
Taylor Swift might be ushering in Sad Girl Autumn, but it’s still Summer on the Billboard 200 this week, after Summer Walker’s latest album Still Over It earned the singer her first No. 1 album, with 166,000 equivalent album units moved in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 11, according to MRC Data. Still Over It scores the biggest week in 2021 for an R&B album, earns the largest streaming week ever for an R&B album by a woman, and becomes the first R&B album by a woman to top the all-genre albums chart since Solange’s A Seat at the Table in 2016. But whatever season we’re in, Walker and Swift have one thing in common: They’re the only female artists to place as many as 18 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously. Learn which other albums make up the top 10 of the Billboard 200 here as well as Walker and Swift’s Hot 100 chart record here.
Most Surprising Music News: Drake and Kanye West squash their beef with new photos
Drake and Ye seem to have put their decade-long feud behind them after both all-star rappers posed for a peace-making photo alongside J Prince in Drizzy’s native Toronto, Canada on Wednesday (Nov. 17). Prince later announced the two would come together on one stage for a Free Larry Hoover concert in December. See Drake and Ye extend an olive branch to one another in new photos here.
Most Badass Music News: Christina Aguilera returns to 2021 Latin Grammys after more than 20 years
Xtina appeared at the 2021 Latin Grammys on Thursday night (Nov. 18) and performed “Pa Mis Muchachas” alongside Becky G, Nicki Nicole and Nathy Peluso. “Being Latina has always been such an important part of who I am — my heritage, my father, my childhood — so being able to come back to making a record completely in Spanish was something I wanted to do for a long time,” she told Billboard on the red carpet. ” Watch Aguilera’s fierce, female-empowering Latin Grammys performance here.
