On Tuesday (Nov. 23), nominations for the 2022 Grammy Awards were announced. In addition to the typical debate about snubs and surprises, the biggest headline has to be this year’s expansion to 10 nominees from eight in the Big Four categories.

On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith offer up their first impressions of the supersize marquee nominations, discussing top nominee Jon Batiste (11 nods), Grammy favorite FINNEAS scoring a best new artist nom, and Olivia Rodrigo looking like a front-runner in multiple categories. Who will win come Jan. 31? We’ll have to wait to find out.

Listen to the full show below:

Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how The Weeknd’s record-breaking “Blinding Lights” single has been crowned the No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 song of all time, Taylor Swift achieves her 10th No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart with Red (Taylor’s Version) and tops the Billboard Hot 100 with “All Too Well,” and how a certain superstar named Adele is off to a fast start with her 30 album, having already clocked the biggest week of 2021 for any album in just its first four days of release.

Jim and Sasha Allen stepped into eliminations on NBC’s The Voice with a performance that couldn’t have been more appropriate.

The father and son duo performed Jason Mraz’s “I Won’t Give Up.” Prophetic? Maybe.

Earlier, during the Top 10 results show, the Team Ariana pair slipped into the drop zone with a performance of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain.”

When all was said and done, it came down to the Newtown, Connecticut natives and Team Kelly Clarkson’s Gymani, who covered Rufus and Chaka Khan’s “Tell Me Something Good.”

America voted, and there could be only one survivor of the Instant save. Actually two: Jim and Sasha Allen.

As the credits rolled, a weepy Ariana Grande bolted onto the stage to hug her brood.

Immediately afterwards, Grande tweeted her thanks to all the Arianators who backed her singers. “Oh my god I am sobbing thank you #JimandSashaAllen !!!!!!!!!!! absolutely thank you from the bottom of my heart #teamariana,” she gushed.

oh my god i am sobbing thank you #JimandSashaAllen !!!!!!!!!!! absolutely thank you from the bottom of my heart #teamariana pic.twitter.com/11CGoqydrw

— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) November 24, 2021

Sasha is the first openly transgender singer to make it past the battle rounds in 21 seasons.

Watch below.

Lady Gaga can vouch for Tony Bennett as a friend, a collaborator, and an inspiration. And if Gaga has a say in it, Bennett should also be respected as a “remarkable human being” for his civil rights action and mastery of jazz.

On Tuesday night (Nov. 23), Gaga stopped by The Last Show for a chat with its host Stephen Colbert.

When conversation shifted to Bennett, Gaga shifted gears.

“He is a remarkable human being, he served our country, he also marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he used to sneak Duke Ellington into the back of hotels to play jazz music all night long,” she recounted. “His commitment to civil rights, and to humanity, is something that he has taught me from a young age to take with me in all that I do. I love him very deeply.”

Gaga knows all the best Bennett stories. She idolized the veteran singer from a young age, and a dynamic duo was formed when the pair cut Cheek to Cheek in 2014. The album went to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and won a Grammy Award for best traditional pop vocal album.

It was merely an entrée. Earlier this year, the pair reunited for their second and final collaborative covers album, Love For Sale, a collection of jazz standards by American composer Cole Porter.

The LP, explains Gaga, was the culmination of a promise made to Bennett back when Cheek to Cheek was blowing up around the world.

Love For Sale went to No. 1 on Billboard’s jazz charts and Top 10 on the all-genre Billboard 200, but will be the last studio recording for Bennett, who is now battling with Alzheimer’s disease.

“When jazz begins,” explains Gaga, holding back tears, “this man lights up in a way that is such magic.”

Music, she explained, has the power to help and heal in the most challenging of scenarios.

For anyone whose family member is presenting with Alzheimer’s, says Gaga, “music is magic. Music is a miracle.”

Watch the clip below.

TONIGHT! The incomparable @LadyGaga speaks from the heart about her special relationship with @itstonybennett. Tune in tonight for a performance by Tony and the woman he calls “Lady” ❤️ #LSSC pic.twitter.com/FePsBezCz7

— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) November 24, 2021

Just like last year, the R&B nominations for the 64th Grammy Awards are once again a potpourri of genre faves, surprises and omissions.

H.E.R. brings her total Grammy nominations count to 21 with eight more added Tuesday (Nov. 23) and four of those under the R&B banner: best performance and best song for “Damage,” best album for Back of My Mind and best traditional performance for “Fight for You.” And, of course, there were the expected nominations for Silk Sonic and “Leave the Door Open” (best R&B performance, best R&B song).

Also on tap were hoped-for nods on behalf of critically acclaimed projects from Jazmine Sullivan (best R&B album for Heaux Tales, best R&B performance and song for “Pick Up Your Feelings”), Lucky Daye (best progressive R&B album for Table for Two, best traditional performance for “How Much Can a Heart Take” featuring Yebba) and Giveon (best R&B song for “Heartbreak Anniversary”). The latter song was a breakthrough hit from the singer-songwriter’s Take Time EP, nominated last year for best R&B album. Snubbed last year, Snoh Aalegra won nominations for best R&B performance (“Lost You”) and best R&B album (Temporary Highs in the Violet Skies).

Several unexpected surprises also round out this year’s nominations slate. Justin Bieber received his R&B validation with a best R&B performance nod for “Peaches,” featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon. The recognition comes after the singer/songwriter posted a letter to the Recording Academy on Instagram last year after the 2021 Grammy noms announcement, declaring that his fifth album Changes — nominated for best pop vocal album — was being improperly honored as it was actually an R&B project.

Another major surprise this year is Jon Batiste. Leading the 2022 Grammy derby with 11 nods, the artist-musician-composer clinched two of those in the R&B field: best traditional R&B performance for “I Need You” and best R&B album for We Are.

In its second year of existence, the best progressive album category (formerly best urban contemporary album) numbers six nominees, owing to a tie. Besides Daye, those nominees include first-timer Masego (Studying Abroad: Extended Stay) along with previous Grammy winners Eric Bellinger (New Light, his first nod as a solo artist) and ex-Snarky Puppy member Cory Henry (Something to Say, also nominated for his co-producer-writer work on the Bellinger and Kanye West albums); prior Grammy nominees Hiatus Kaiyote (Mood Valiant) and Terrace Martin; as well as Robert Glasper, 9th Wonder & Kamasi Washington (Dinner Party: Dessert), all Grammy-nominated artists, with Glasper and 9th Wonder as past winners.

Glasper is also up a second time as a featured guest on Leon Bridges’ “Born Again” for best traditional R&B performance. “Bring It on Home to Me” by BJ the Chicago Kid, PJ Morton & Kenyon Dixon featuring Charlie Bereal completes that category. Bridges also scores a second nod for best R&B album for Gold-Diggers Sound. Nominated three times last year, including best R&B performance, singer-songwriter-musician Jacob Collier returns with a best R&B song nod for SZA’s “Good Days.”

There are some compelling outcomes to watch as the countdown begins, especially in best R&B song and R&B performance. Best R&B album nominees and labelmates H.E.R. and Sullivan are competing against each other and Silk Sonic in both categories. Then all three are vying against Bieber in the performance category.

However, there are still several striking omissions across the field. Among the names that spring to mind are newcomer Capella Grey, Ari Lennox and Normani featuring Cardi B for best R&B performance. Also Tank, Leela James, soul pioneer Merry Clayton and Charlie Wilson & Smokey Robinson’s silky pairing (“All of My Love”) for traditional R&B performance, as well as Shelley FKA DRAM for best progressive album and VanJess for best R&B album.

The 64th annual Grammy Awards will take place in Los Angeles on Jan. 31.

Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga and ABBA might want to thank the Recording Academy for getting rid of its nominations review committees. Wizkid might feel differently.

This year, for the first time in 27 years, the final nominations in the Grammys’ Big Four categories were determined by the Academy’s 11,000 voting members without being second-guessed by a review committee.

For the most part, the nominations are what you might expect. Olivia Rodrigo’s “drivers license,” Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open” and Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” are right in the Grammys’ wheelhouse. They’re well-crafted records that did well with just about every constituency – fans, critics, radio, the industry. They were going to be in the finals, committee or no committee.

ABBA’s record of the year nomination for “I Still Have Faith in You” is a shocker. For one thing, the group had never previously been nominated for a Grammy in any category, though its masterminds Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus were nominated individually for their work on the Mamma Mia soundtrack (Andersson) and the Chess musical cast album (both of them). It seems reasonable that the committee might have bypassed that record in favor of something else.

What might the committee have favored? Perhaps Wizkid’s “Essence” (featuring Tems), a mellow, vibey track that is the front-runner to win in the new best global music performance category. The record peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 two weeks before first-round voting closed on Nov. 5, which is ideal timing. While we’ll never know for sure, “Essence” probably made the top 20 in the vote of regular voting members. If it did, the committee, were it still in place, likely would have given it a push into the top 10.

The album of the year nomination for Bennett & Gaga’s Love for Sale and the record of the year nod for their spry recording of Cole Porter’s “I Get a Kick Out of You” also may not have happened if the committee were still in charge. Bennett hadn’t been nominated in a Big Four category since 1994, when his MTV Unplugged won album of the year. That win, and a nomination in that category that same year for The Three Tenors in Concert 1994, caused some grumbling that the Grammys were out-of-touch.

That wasn’t really a knock on Bennett or The Three Tenors (José Carreras, Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti with conductor Zubin Mehta). It was just a reflection of the fact that hip-hop and alternative music were the most vital genres in music at that time, and neither was represented in the album of the year nominations. (The other three nominees that year were Eric Clapton and Bonnie Raitt, who had both won in the category previously, and Seal.) The controversy led Mike Greene, the Academy’s president/CEO at  the time, to install a nominations review committee the following year.

Bennett has won 12 Grammys in competition since his 1994 album of the year win, but until now he had not made it back to a Big Four category. Bennett and Gaga’s first joint album, Cheek to Cheek (2014), wasn’t nominated for album of the year, nor were either of his best-selling duets albums: Duets: An American Classic (2006) or Duets 2 (2011).

It’s as if the committee was afraid that he might win again if he was nominated in a Big Four category – which might have triggered another round of complaints about the Grammys being out-of-touch or stuck in the past.

Favoring legacy artists, at the expense of more contemporary stars, is a longstanding Grammy practice. Legacy artists are hard to beat. They have decades worth of friends, associates and admirers in the Academy.

At the 1990 Grammys, Quincy Jones won album of the year for Back on the Block, which was smartly marketed as reflecting his journey “from be-bop to hip-hop.” It beat Mariah Carey’s debut album and M.C. Hammer’s Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em, the first hip-hop album ever nominated in the category.

The following year, Natalie Cole’s Unforgettable With Love, a sentimental tribute to her father, Nat “King” Cole, won album of the year. Their silky duet version of “Unforgettable,” first a hit for the elder Cole in 1951, took record of the year, beating R.E.M.’s masterful “Losing My Religion” and Bryan Adams’ megahit “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You.”

No one questions the artistry of Jones or either of the Coles. But it sometimes seemed like every time the voters had a chance to salute a legacy artist, they took it. This goes way back in Grammy history.

In both 1965 and 1966, Frank Sinatra beat The Beatles for album of the year. In 1966, Sinatra’s A Man and His Music, a two-disc set in which he re-recorded songs from throughout his career, beat Revolver, one of the Beatles’ most prized albums.

The two acts – two of the greatest names in recording history — competed again in 1967 – for the third year in a row. This time The Beatles finally prevailed with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which beat a Sinatra collab with bossa nova giant Antonio Carlos Jobim. (If The Beatles hadn’t won for Sgt. Pepper’s, one of the most classic and impactful albums of all time, the Recording Academy’s credibility would likely never have recovered.)

Even after the nominations review committee was in place, if they let a legacy artist compete in a marquee category, the voters would often flock to that artist. Ray Charles won album of the year posthumously for 2004’s Genius Loves Company – beating three red-hot contemporary Black stars, Usher, Kanye West and Alicia Keys, as well as Green Day.

Three years later, Herbie Hancock’s River: The Joni Letters won album of the year, beating albums by West (again) and Amy Winehouse, among others.

The Academy’s voting membership is different today than it was in 1994 or 2004 or 2007 – through natural attrition as well as through the Academy’s concerted effort to expand and diversify its membership.

Harvey Mason jr., the Academy’s CEO, alluded to that in an interview with Billboard this week. Asked if he was at all nervous about what the voters might do, left to their own devices, he replied: “I wasn’t nervous. I felt like we’d done a lot of important work on our membership. We’ve done a lot of outreach into different communities that we felt were maybe underrepresented in our voting membership. … So I felt like the timing was right for our membership to be able to directly decide who the nominees were. That’s why we felt good with removing the nominations review committees at the time that we did it.”

Asked about Wizkid not making the record of the year finals, Mason said “It is a great record. He’s a very talented artist. I can’t speak to why it didn’t make it, but I do really love the record.”

Mason reported being pleased overall with the nominations. While he expressed some concerns, such as the nominees in the rock categories skewing toward older, veteran artists at the expense of younger stars, he felt more confident than he did on Nominations Day 2020, when he had the unenviable assignment of talking up nominations that included not a single nod for The Weeknd.

Adele’s 30 has captured the biggest week of 2021 for any album in the U.S., surpassing the debut of Drake’s Certified Lover Boy.

According to initial reports to MRC Data, 30 has earned more than 660,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. from its Nov. 19 release through Nov. 22, with over 560,000 of that sum in traditional album sales.

In terms of weekly units earned, 30 has now beaten the debut week of Drake’s Certified Lover Boy, which launched with 613,000 units earned in the week ending Sept. 9.

Equivalent album 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 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.

It was earlier reported that 30 is also 2021’s top-selling album (surpassing the sales of any album over the past 11 months combined) and has the year’s largest week for any album in terms of traditional album sales, beating the debut of Taylor Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version), which sold 369,000 copies in the week ending Nov. 18.

The current tracking week ends at the close of business on Nov. 25. Billboard is scheduled to announce the album’s official final first-week numbers on Sunday, Nov. 28, after MRC Data has completed processing the week’s data.

If 30 debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart dated Dec. 4 (which reflects the tracking week ending Nov. 25), it will mark Adele’s third No. 1. She previously topped the list with her last two studio albums: 25 (10 weeks in 2015-16) and 21 (24 weeks in 2011-12).

Multiple Latin pair-ups have debuted on or topped the Latin charts this week (dated Nov. 27), and now it’s Don Omar and Nio García’s turn, whose first collaboration “Se Menea” bows at No. 4 on the Tropical Airplay chart.

As the old-school merengue tune with rhythmic nuances starts in the list’s upper tier, Don Omar scores his highest-charting debut ever since the survey’s inception in 1994. It surpasses his topmost entrance until now: “Ella y Yo” which opened at No. 5 in 2005.

“I am extremely happy with everything that has been happening in this new musical era,” Don Omar tells Billboard. “I am working with a great team and continue to have the best fans in the world.  Today I have another achievement to celebrate, thanks Billboard!”

With the No. 4 arrival of “Se Menea,” Don Omar adds a 24th top 10 to his career board, dating back to his first, the No. 4-peaking “Dile” (2004). Out of those, eight have topped the tally, including the 18-week champ “Danza Kuduro” with Lucenzo (2010-2011), which ties with Aventura’s “Inmortal” for the third-most leading title just behind Prince Royce’s “Carita de Inocente” (29 weeks at No. 1) and Daddy Yankee and Marc Anthony’s “De Vuelta Pa’ La Vuelta” (22 weeks).

“Se Menea” starts with 5.5 million in audience impressions, earned in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 21, according to MRC Data.

The No. 4 start concurrently earns García his third straight top 10, one out of those a No. 1, and all of which have arrived in 2021.

Elsewhere, the No. 15 start for “Se Menea” on the overall Latin Airplay tally establishes a personal best for both Don Omar and García. For the former, it’s his highest entrance among 43 singles and the highest-charting title since “Encanto,” featuring Sharlene Taule, peaked at No. 9 (2017). For the latter, the highest debut among a collection of nine entries.

Beyond its Tropical Airplay top 10 debut, “Se Menea” bows at No. 17 on Hot Latin Songs mainly on the strength of streaming activity. It logged 2 million U.S. clicks in the week ending Nov. 18. It also sold a little under 1,000 downloads in its first tracking week, enough to arrive at No. 4 on Latin Digital Song Sales.

Back on airplay charts, “Se Menea” also adds a Latin Rhythm Airplay career top 10 for both acts as the songs starts at No. 9.

With a trial looming in Cardi B’s defamation lawsuit against a vlogger who the superstar has accused of spreading false rumors that she has herpes, a federal judge has cleared the way for a California hospital to turn over STD tests conducted on the rapper.

In an order issued Monday, Judge William M. Ray II directed the Center for Women’s Pelvic Health at UCLA to produce “any and all medical records within your possession related solely to the testing for Herpes and HPV for Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar,” referring to Cardi B by her birth name.

Monday’s order came in a bitter libel lawsuit filed by Cardi B against a blogger named Latasha Kebe. The case accuses Kebe of waging “a malicious campaign” to hurt Cardi B’s reputation, including releasing dozens of videos that made allegedly false claims of prostitution, drug use and sexually transmitted diseases. A jury trial is scheduled to kick off Jan. 5.

The medical records are important to Cardi B’s case against Kebe because a negative test would help show that the blogger’s STD accusations were false, which must be proven to win a defamation lawsuit. Monday’s order was sought by Kebe’s attorneys, but an attorney for Cardi B told Billboard on Tuesday (Nov. 23) that the same tests had already been voluntarily disclosed earlier in the case — and as evidence in favor of the rapper’s accusations.

“The medical records concerning the HPV and herpes tests were previously produced subject to a protective order and in support of my client’s claims,” said Lisa F. Moore of Moore Pequignot LLC. An attorney for Kebe did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday.

The case has been hard-fought for more two years. Kebe initially countersued on accusations that Cardi B’s fans had threatened her on social media, but Judge Ray ruled last year that there was “no evidence” that the rapper had caused the alleged harassment.

Even scheduling issues have led to nasty disputes. After Cardi B asked earlier this month to delay a November trial to January because of a family emergency, Kebe accused her of fabricating the story so that she could host the American Music Awards, citing Instagram stories showing “no family emergency in sight.”

The judge rejected those claims and scheduled the trial for Jan. 5.

On Nov. 5, 10 people died and hundreds more were injured during Travis Scott‘s headlining performance at the Astroworld Festival in Houston. The cause: A densely packed crowd surged toward the stage, causing a severe crush that is believed to have led to cases of deadly compressive asphyxia, which occurs when a person’s lungs can no longer expand and take in more air.

Astroworld wasn’t the first instance of this deadly phenomenon at a live music event. In 1979 at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum, 11 people were killed when restless fans waiting to enter a The Who concert surged towards the venue’s entrance. During a 1988 Guns N’ Roses concert held at Donington Park in the U.K., two fans were crushed to death just a few feet from the stage as the band performed. In 2000, nine people were killed during a Pearl Jam concert at Denmark’s Roskilde festival despite the band’s repeated calls for the crowd to step back.

While tragedies like these are preventable, they can often happen quickly and with little warning. In the wake of the Astroworld catastrophe, Billboard spoke with several crowd management experts who have emphasized a number of strategies concertgoers can employ when caught in a similar situation. Based on that reporting, and as full-capacity live events continue ramping up across the U.S. and around the world, we’ve compiled our own list of five survival tactics for anyone who finds themselves trapped in a potentially deadly crowd surge at a concert or festival.

Protect your chest with your arms. If the crowd starts to get too packed, lift your forearms and hold them up against your chest, with fists clenched. Use your arms and fists to protect your chest from anything that could compress your ribs and lungs. Keep your eyes open. Try to locate the epicenter of the crowd, then look for areas where it’s thinning out. If you think you have a reasonable chance of escape, leave.

Stay on your feet. If it’s too late to get out, focus on keeping your balance. If you fall, the weight of the crowd could pin you to the ground.

Save your breath. Oxygen is what will keep you alive. The vast majority of deaths in stampedes are caused by asphyxiation. Avoid screaming, yelling or even talking unless necessary.

Move with the crowd, not against it. Your natural reaction will be to push back, but resisting only wastes precious energy. Allow yourself to be carried with the crowd but focus on keeping your balance.

Avoid physical barriers. The first casualties of a crush are often pinned against walls and barricades. When possible, move away from hard structures.