CHART PREVIEW: Warner’s My Chemical Romance leads the chart parade at midweek. The 20th anniversary edition of The Black Parade is on track for 65k in activity, 56k of that in pure sales, giving the alternative troupe a slim 1k edge over Interscope’s Olivia Rodrigo, who is currently holding at 64k (predominantly from streams) with you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love. If the Parade ultimately out-marches the girl, it’ll be MCR’s first #1. Elsewhere, Anderson .Paak and Cordae are projected to debut at #8 with joint set Heavy Is the Crown (APESHIT/Mass Appeal/EMPIRE), and devout troubadour Josiah Queen eyes a Top 20 bow for Damascus Road (Capitol CMG).

Temper City is taking its nearly billion-streaming breakthrough hit out for a spin. The Los Angeles trio, which signed to Interscope in August but has only ever played a handful of live dates, will launch The Self Aware Tour on March 9 at San Francisco’s Independent. The tour follows the runaway success of “Self Aware,” which has amassed more than 930m streams and spent nine weeks at #1 on Mediabase’s Alternative chart.

JAŸ-Z is (now officially) the halftime headliner of Super Bowl LXI, slated for Valentine's Day at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Roger Goodell's one request: "that JAŸ-Z take the stage himself one day, whenever the moment felt right to him." The booking, announced during Monday Night Football, caps a valedictory phase in the artist-mogul's storied career. It's Roc Nation's eighth time booking the Super Bowl. Hova: "Thirty years of music, work and culture on the world's biggest stage."

New Release Projections: My Chemical Romance’s 20th anniversary edition of The Black Parade (Warner) is heading toward full week activity of 60-65k. This appears initially to be in the same range as Interscope’s Olivia Rodrigo who topped last week’s chart and sets up a potential battle for #1. Meanwhile, Anderson .Paak & Cordae (APESHIT/Mass Appeal/Empire) target the top 10 with an opening of 33-38k.

IT'S OUR WEEKLY CHEAT SHEET OF TRENDING BIZ TOPICS 1. Michael Rapino 2. JAŸ-Z 3. Tate McRae 4. Zach Bryan 5. Jeffrey Remedios 6. Michaelle An 7. U2 8. Chappell Roan 9. Manos Xanthogergis 10. AI

Start your sobbing: John Mayer is getting into the label business, launching Sob Rock Records through a partnership with Mercury Records—and teeing up his first solo single in five years in the process. Friday will see the arrival of “Tom and Jerry,” Mayer’s first new song since 2021’s gold-certified Sob Rock. “The path from creative vision to execution has never been easier or more rewarding,” said Mayer. “I feel very inspired, and I’m excited for what’s to come.” Mercury Chairman and CEO Tyler Arnold welcomed the seven-time Grammy winner to the label, calling Mayer “one of the greatest artists of all time.” For its part, HITS sobs a little every day.

Spotify keeps finding new ears—and more ways to monetize them. The streaming giant added 6m premium subscribers in Q3, bringing its paying customer base to 306m. Monthly active users climbed to 788 million, up 11% year over year. Revenue for the quarter reached €5b, up 16% year over year in reported terms; operating income rose to €672m, up from €582 million the previous year. Subscriber gains in every region, with key performance indicators meeting or exceeding guidance. Looking ahead, the Swedes forecast Q4 operating income of €820m and revenue of €5.2b and change, with premium subs expected to reach 316m.

Kacey Musgraves is taking Middle of Nowhere even farther south of the border: Middle of Nowhere Vol. 2: Tex Mex Tapes, a 16-track collection arriving Jan. 15 on Lost Highway. Four tracks are sung entirely in Spanish, including a newly recorded version of Middle of Nowhere’s “Uncertain, TX” featuring Mexican Norteño group Intocable. Two tracks, “Weekend in Texas” and Musgraves’ rendition of Norteño classic “Mi Tesoro,” arrive Thursday at midnight ET. It expands on its predecessor’s eclectic exploration of solitude and contentment through the musical and cultural connections between Texas and Mexico.

Leading, Big 3 nominees ROSALÍA, Jorge Drexler, Mon Laferte and Silvana Estrada are confirmed to take the stage at the Latin Grammys on Nov. 12. It's the first group of performers for the ceremony at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Also booked: Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year Daddy Yankee, Carín León, Juanes, Rawayana, Anitta, Kany García, Elena Rose, Xavi, Vivir Quintana and Banda Los Recoditos.

SoundCloud and Moises partner on AI integration: musicians can bring SoundCloud tracks into Moises to "practice, produce, collaborate and reimagine" before publishing finished music back to SoundCloud. The goal is to enhance—not replace—human creativity. Pro capabilities: stem separation, chord and lyric detection, AI-assisted mixing and mastering and real-time collaboration. SoundCloud CEO Eliah Seton: AI in music "should be artist-first and human-first."

Sam Fender is thinking very big for 2027: the Proper Massive stadium tour, including his biggest headline shows to date — two nights at London's Wembley Stadium on June 18 and 20. A 10-date summer run across the U.K., Ireland and Belgium, it also has him headlining Belgium's Rock Werchter festival on July 3. Fender is also rumored to be in the mix as a potential Glastonbury headliner, but the lineup has yet to be officially confirmed. The artist’s stadium-sized ambitions are backed by substantial box office receipts. Fender’s three shows at Newcastle’s St. James’ Park in June 2025 moved more than 150k tickets and grossed $14.64m, according to Pollstar. His June 2025 London Stadium concert sold nearly 79k tickets and grossed nearly $8m.

AI can imitate a superstar's face or voice. But getting permission is another story. Music-biz attorney Don Passman explains why major artists aren't rushing to license their likenesses—and why the economics don't add up. “We’re still in such early stages of this tech cycle, which is the same one that every new technology goes through.” In the beginning, “there’s no established marketplace, there are no set rules, and nobody particularly wants to be the guinea pig.” Read our conversation: hitsdd.co/an9xh6

Capitol's SIENNA SPIRO has extended her My House tour with 22 North American dates, beginning Aug. 3 in Dallas, in venues more than double the size. She's playing the 3,500-capacity Hammerstein Ballroom tonight but will settle into the 6,000-seat Radio City Music Hall on Aug. 17. Reports that The Rockettes have begun to choreograph a "Die on This Hill" number could not be confirmed at press time.

If you're last-minute shopping for a dark-horse Best New Artist candidate this Grammy season, look no further than Island's Remi Wolf. Her defiantly vulnerable album, Mud, was released past the eligibility deadline, yet she has been put forth for BNA—a timeline that worked like a charm for fellow Island-er Olivia Dean last year. The third LP has been garnering rapturous reviews, and first-week sales were double that of 2024's Big Ideas. “We’re homieing down so hard.”

CHART PREVIEW: Olivia Rodrigo appears poised to slide back to #1 with you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love (Geffen/Interscope), projected at 78k in activity this week. The set is undoubtedly being propelled by a new remix of the track “expectations” featuring Chappell Roan, which has streamed like gangbusters. Belting Bronco/Warner’s Zach Bryan will bow at #2 with Young Manhood and Other Donatable Organs; its projected 62k in activity is attributable to the fact that all eight of its songs appear on the Spotify U.S. chart, led by his Lana Del Rey team-up, “Lies,” at #5. Elsewhere, virtual K-Pop group PLAVE will open in the Top 15 with HYPERDRIVE (VLAST), and Fontaines D.C. aim for a Top 20 debut with Dopamine Chamber (XL), the Dublin five-piece’s fifth album.