As 2021 draws to a close, Billboard crowned artists from Dua Lipa to Drake as some the biggest stars on our Year-End Charts. Olivia Rodrigo, who is Billboard‘s top new artist and top female artist of the year, is also one of the musicians honored on Forbes‘ 30 Under 30 list this week.
And Mariah Carey and Rihanna receive their own grand honors, while BTS successfully reigns over L.A. and Adele plots her Vegas takeover with a new residency.
Take a look at Billboard‘s weekly roundup and the “awards” it’s giving to this week’s headlines.
Happiest Music News: BTS dominates L.A. for four-night SoFi Stadium stand
BTS left their mark on L.A.’s SoFi Stadium during their incredible four-night concert run, which ended Thursday night (Dec. 2). The K-pop boy band brought out special guests like Megan Thee Stallion and scored the biggest Billboard Boxscore total by any act in nearly a decade, grossing $33.3 million and selling 214,000 tickets. Check out our night 2 recap of “BTS Permission to Dance On Stage – LA” here and read about how BTS’ made Boxscore history here.
Savviest Music News: Dua Lipa, Drake & more top Billboard‘s 2021 year-end charts
Billboard unwrapped its year-end charts on Thursday (Dec. 2), with Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” becoming the No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 song of the year and Drake becoming Billboard‘s top artist of the year. Read more about their accomplishments here and here, and explore all the year-end charts here.
Youngest Music News: Miley Cyrus celebrates being on Forbes‘ 30 Under 30 list
Miley Cyrus is among those honored on Forbes‘ annual 30 Under 30 list, which was unveiled Wednesday (Dec. 1). “I turned 29 last week. It was now or never,” she captioned a video from the magazine shoot. Olivia Rodrigo, Jack Harlow and more musicians were selected as fellow honorees. See Cyrus’ reaction and which other artists made 30 Under 30 here.
Most Record-Breaking Music News: Adele scores largest opening week for an album in 2021 with 30
It’s Adele’s year, and we’re just living in it. Her latest album, 30, had the largest week of 2021 for any album after it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 839,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 25, according to MRC Data. It was already heralded as the year’s best-selling album just three days after 30‘s release when it sold more than 500,000 copies. Learn more about Adele’s latest chart feat here, our staff’s Five Burning Questions column about it here as well as her new “Weekends with Adele” Vegas residency here.
Most Heroic Music News: Rihanna crowned national hero of Barbados
Rihanna has a new title to her name: National Hero. Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley gave the title to the billionaire singer-entrepreneur, who became only the second woman and 11th person overall to be declared a national hero of Barbados, during the Pride of Nationhood ceremony on Monday (Nov. 29). “May you continue to shine like a diamond and bring honor to your nation by your works, by your actions,” Mottley told Rihanna while referencing her 2012 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Diamonds.” Learn more here.
Most Heart-Warming Music News: Ye’s Sunday Service Choir covers Adele for Virgil Abloh tribute
Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) dedicated his Sunday Service on Nov. 28 to his dear friend and late fashion designer Virgil Abloh, whose death was announced that same day. Ye’s Sunday Service Choir performed a revised rendition of Adele’s five-week Hot 100 No. 1 “Easy On Me” during the livestream before the screen read, “In loving memory of Virgil Abloh, the creative director of Donda.” Watch the Sunday Service performance here as well as tributes to Abloh here, here, here and here.
Most Festive Music News: Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is certified diamond
If all Mariah Carey wanted for Christmas this year was diamonds, then she certainly got it. The Queen of Christmas celebrated her latest present by the tree, a diamond award from the RIAA for 10 million in sales and streams for her timeless holiday classic “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” on Friday (Dec. 3). See it here.
