Music

Travis Scott’s "Utopia" is the biggest rap album of the year by miles, earning its 3rd consecutive week on top of the Billboard 200 ... and a deep discount for the project's vinyl definitely helped keep it on top.

Trav raked in 185k equivalent album units in the U.S. alone last week, bringing his total to over 800k units ... nearly platinum status in just a month!!!

Out of the 185k Travis sold last week, 93k of them came from "Utopia's" vinyl record sales, which were discounted from $50 to $5 for a limited time.

Despite the low payout, "Utopia" now holds the record for biggest vinyl sales week for an R&B/hip-hop or rap album ... and it ranks in the top 10 of vinyl sales for any album -- at No. 7 -- since 1991.

Dodger fans had at least one thing to cheer about before falling to the Marlins on Friday ... 'cause "American Idol" star Nutsa Buzaladze had the whole stadium going wild after a killer rendition of the national anthem!!

The Georgian singer was a special guest at Dodger Stadium for the home team's contest against Miami ... getting the honor of singing the "Star-Spangled Banner" in front of 46,000 spectators.

Nutsa -- who's repped by agent/manager Darren Prince -- got to hang out with some high-profile peeps at the game ... including Magic and Cookie Johnson, Guggenheim Partners CEO Mark Walter and Dodgers pitcher Brusdar Graterol!! Small world, 'cause Prince also has repped the Lakers legend for nearly 30 years.

Of course, Nutsa made the top 12 of the famous singing show ... but after hearing her perform at the game, it's hard to figure out how she didn't go all the way!!

Taylor Swift is no stranger to the fact she draws a crowd ... making sure her team met with local cops before Jack Antonoff's wedding to prep for the crush of fans showing up to catch a glimpse of their favorite singer.

Beach Haven Police Chief James Markoski tells TMZ ... security for the singer and her producer pal met with the department 2 weeks before the weekend wedding, and Jack's wedding planner paid for 3 additional officers to be on duty during the event.

We're told 2 viewing areas were set up for fans outside the Long Beach Island bash in New Jersey -- cops also shut down 3 intersections to prevent cars from getting near the folks in the designated areas, hoping to get a peek of the celebs.

For those unaware, a fishing competition and a block party were going down in the area at the same time ... but we're told there were no arrests, tickets, or major injuries that went down during all the ruckus.

As for the swarm of fans, Markoski tells us they stuck around for nearly 12 hours, showing up around 2 PM and getting out of there after Taylor finally left the wedding around 1:30 AM.

Britney Spears is working fast to put Sam Asghari behind her … surrounding herself with a ton of shirtless men, all vying for Brit's attention.

The pop star posted the racy video on Instagram, showing one guy trying to lick Brit’s leg all the way up to her thigh. You can hear the cameraman order him to, “Start at the boot, bro..”

The video then jumps to Brit being hoisted up by 5 bare-chested men around a pool. Brit seems more than satisfied, punctuating the moment with “Okay cool!"

Brit wrote in her caption, 'When you go to meet up with a so called "friend" and drive an hour for chicken! Then you have to wait in the car and need to use the bathroom.”

She continued. “So what does a b**** like me do?! I put my green dress on and show up at my friends! I invited my [favorite] boys over and played all night!”

On Sunday, Britney also posted a topless video on Instagram. Of course, this all followed last week’s drama when Sam Asghari filed for divorce from Britney, citing irreconcilable differences.

Since then, it’s been all downhill for the exes, who are no longer talking to one another.

We covered the story on the latest episode of The TMZ Podcast, available on all podcast platforms.

Bill Belichick might be telling his locker room to be more like Taylor Swift ... 'cause the legendary Patriots coach can't get enough of the pop superstar's toughness after seeing her perform!!

Belichick raved about T-Swift during his appearance on WEEI's "Greg Hill Show" on Monday ... admitting while he's usually a Bruce Springsteen kinda guy, he had to hit up Gillette Stadium when the "Eras" tour rolled through earlier this year.

"I saw a little bit of Taylor," BB said ... stopping short of calling himself a full-blown "Swiftie," but praising the 12-time Grammy winner for putting on a helluva show, despite the heavy rainfall that night.

"That was pretty impressive. She's tough, man. She just stood out there and played right through it."

In fact, Bill even mentions how he can relate to one song in particular ... and who knows, he may need to use the mantra during games this upcoming season.

"I'm definitely on the 'You gotta calm down,' that's pretty good. 'You gotta calm down.' There's a lot of times when that's very appropriate. 'You just gotta calm down.'"

Chrisean Rock is setting the internet ablaze, because she blazed up while pregnant ... and while many fans are up in arms about the baby's safety, others are actually supporting her right to light up.

On Sunday, social media users debated a recent clip from Chrisean and Blueface's reality show "Crazy In Love" ... where the two are having a mild disagreement as Chrisean blows billows of smoke in the kitchen.

Blueface seemed more concerned about money, informing Chrisean she did not accumulate $10 million in her last round of paydays -- but plenty of viewers expressed concern for the unborn child, and launched into anti-Chrisean tirades.

The CDC strongly advises against smoking while pregnant, but her actions aren't illegal and Chrisean still had some folks supporting her.

As fans argued amongst themselves, Blueface and Chrisean were able to squash their immediate differences to attend Jason Lee's birthday party Sunday night in Los Angeles.

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are officially one year into marriage -- the honeymoon's over -- and she's marking the milestone with a sneak peek of a new song all about him.

On Sunday night, the singer posted a couple shots from their wedding day -- both of them rocking massive smiles, of course.

In her caption she dropped some lyrics from her upcoming track, "Dear Ben Part II" ... saying, "Dear Ben, Sitting here alone / Looking at my ring ring / Feeling overwhelmed / It makes me wanna sing sing / How did we end up here / Without a rewind / Oh my, This is my life."

She threw in a couple of hashtags, too -- one being the song's title, and the other reading, "This Is Me Now," the name of her upcoming album where the track will live.

You'll recall, the OG track, "Dear Ben," came out over 2 decades ago ... on the album, "This Is Me ... Then."

As we reported, Ben and Jen tied the knot in Las Vegas in July 2022, but threw the big party at Ben's beautiful 87-acre property in Georgia the following month -- it seems she's counting the anniversary based on the GA bash, not their legal marriage day.

BTW, J Lo's upcoming album -- which doesn't have an official release date -- will be her first since "A.K.A." in 2014.

Britney Spears fans eager to get their hands on her memoir won't get a glimpse into the downfall of her marriage with Sam Asghari ... TMZ has learned.

It was back in July when Britney announced her book, "The Woman in Me" had finally gotten a release date of October 24. Obviously, fans were thrilled ... but there's been a huge development in Britney's life since that announcement.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ there won't be any changes made to the memoir to reflect Britney's divorce ... we're told the book will be released as is.

In fact, our sources say 2 weeks ago, Britney gave her final sign-off on the book, meaning she had no right to demand any further changes.

What's more, our sources say since the news of Britney's divorce broke, presales for "The Woman in Me" have only increased ... though it's likely those fans don't realize the divorce drama won't be included.

We've spoken with someone directly involved with the book who tells us Sam is featured in it, but their relationship is not the main crux of her story -- it's more about Britney's early life, career and journey out of her conservatorship.

It's been a couple days since Kid Rock was spotted sipping a Bud Light -- and the reactions across Twitter have been just as unhinged as you'd expect ... with people weighing in on both sides.

For starters, accounts that usually push conservative views seem to feel betrayed in a sense ... some writing, "TREASON" another wrote, "I am STRONGLY against CANCEL CULTURE but I am calling for a boycott of all Kid Rock products until further notice."

Others simply seem to be in disbelief, "C'mon Kid Rock, what are we doing?"

However, some on the right are still sticking with their guy, announcing, "I will ALWAYS stand with Kid Rock! If you’ve already had many non-woke beers, it is easy to be tricked into drinking a woke Bud Light by accident. Give Kid a break. He’s fighting hard for our freedom!"

Of course, the images have also been met with plenty of humor and memes as well, one account writing, "Damn, never thought I’d have to give Kid Rock the Bud Light treatment but here we are. Just shot up all my Kid Rock vinyl and CDs. I loved Kid Rock, but I hope Kid Woke goes broke."

TMZ broke the story, the Trump fanatic was spotted drinking a Bud Light at a concert in Nashville last week.

The scenario seemed almost impossible a few months back when KR uploaded himself shooting up a bunch of cases of the beer, exclaiming, "F*** Bud Light and f*** Anheuser Busch" after trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney published an ad-spot with the company.

This week's Summer Hot Shots are making their way from South Beach where Argentinian model Valentina Ferrer flossed on Florida with her perfectly bronzed buns, a stringy bikini and boonie cap.

When this Miami Beach mama isn't soaking in the sun down south, Valentina models around the world, focuses on her health line Kapowder and spends her time raising her adorable baby with her longtime love ... and Reggaeton king...  J Balvin!

Mi Gente!

Memphis Bleek hears the fans loud and clear ... he's totally on board to record a collab project with Jay-Z but he's not the one who needs convincing!!!

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with the Roc Nation legend outside of LAX and he tells us he's constantly sending Jay material to record, and even gets rejected from time to time.

Bleek jokes he should've attempted the Jay duet album when his bank account was sitting at $100 mil as opposed to his current billionaire status -- but he points out, he was riding with Team Roc well before Jay started stacking commas.

Jay handpicked Bleek to rap alongside him when he was just a teen in their Marcy Housing projects in Brooklyn, and Bleek thinks their collab would be a fitting close to their "Coming Of Age" saga ... which details their relationship.

Bleek also gave us an update on Jay's storied 40/40 Club, which closed its doors without warning after 20 years this week.

What appeared to be a setback is actually the dawn of another venture ... Bleek says they're bringing the 40/40 to midtown NYC sometime in 2024, and they're already taking applications for beautiful women to handle the VIP bottle service!!!

The "My Mind Right" rapper also gave us his 2¢ on the current state of hip hop, including his earnest reasoning as to why things have gone stale. Like many of his fellow rappers, Bleek feels the genre's lacking creativity -- mainly because copycatting isn't frowned upon in the younger generation.

Hidden behind this mashed-up image is a singer and actress who was born in New Mexico, grew up in Dallas, Texas and turned into a child star in the early 2000s! Don't let the swirled eyebrows get in your way from guessing this A-lister!

From "Camp Rock" to "Confident," there's no denying she's got skills for days! And when she's not belting it out, you can catch her sharing her latest tats and hairstyles ... today, she's celebrating her 31st birthday, and she's "Sorry Not Sorry" about it!

Sam Asghari knows he's going to be under the spotlight as his divorce from Britney Spears plays out ... so now he's playfully asking folks for help hiding from photogs.

Britney's estranged husband just posted a hilarious poll on his Instagram story ... asking fans to vote on one of three disguises he can use to throw the paparazzi off his scent.

Sam's choices include glasses with a gray mustache and gray hair, aviator sunglasses with curly brown hair, or a very Gen-Z TikTok haircut.

It's all in good fun ... Sam's still pretty recognizable in any of the three disguises, and the paparazzi are not easily fooled. Unless Sam's going all Richard Simmons.

Remember .. Sam filed for divorce this week after getting into a blowout fight with Britney over allegations she physically abused him and cheated.

Britney broke her silence on the split the night before Sam's paparazzi disguise poll, saying she's a "little shocked" by the divorce, though she suggests their marriage wasn't working and admits she "couldn't take the pain anymore honestly."

Billy Porter has three things for the Hollywood studios, producers and executives he blames for the strikes ... venom, rage and a little bit of grace.

The actor was at LAX Friday when a photog asked him about the unnamed studio exec who was quoted as saying studios are purposefully delaying negotiations with the writers and actors "until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses."

Billy unloads ... he says he's already losing his home, and his financial situation is why there are strikes in the first place ... though he's not quite going full Ron Perlman here.

Getting emotional, Billy says the strikes aren't a game ... and he's trying to have some grace about the situation he and others in Hollywood find themselves in.

At the same time, Billy says he's tried to bite his tongue because he knows all that's going to come out of his mouth is venom and rage, which he fears will not be useful to the strike's end goal.

Billy also seems to reference some of his recent interviews, like the one where he slammed Harry Styles' Vogue cover and called Anna Wintour a bitch.

For Billy, he says he's just telling the truth and is getting dragged as a result of keeping it real.

Drake's now having books thrown at him onstage, in addition to bras ... and it sounds like a fan got lucky the page-turner didn't smack him in the face.

Ya gotta see the video from Drizzy's Friday concert in San Francisco ... he's onstage talking to fans between a break in songs when suddenly a book comes hurtling out of the crowd, and he snatches it with one hand.

While it appears the book may have gone over his head, Drake told the book-thrower ... "You lucky I'm quick. Would've had to beat your ass if that hit me in the face."

Champagne Papi's been totally cool with women throwing bras at him during his concerts, even helping one big-chested fan go viral and land modeling deals.

But, it appears book throwing is crossing a line for Drake.

It's part of a larger trend unfolding at concerts ... Bebe Rexha got hit in the face with a flying phone, Keslea Ballerini took a friendship bracelet to the noggin and someone even threw a bag of cremated ashes at Pink.

Fat Joe made a huge splash to ring in his 53rd birthday — on a $100 million superyacht surrounded by his closet and coolest pals, including Babyface, who performed a song he’s never done live!!!

The BX bomber’s shindig went down on the Hudson River across from NYC and was hosted by Market America co-founder Loren Ridinger.

Babyface ribbed Joe for being his #1 superfan but did him a solid and performed his favorite song, “Given A Chance” a deep cut from BF’s 1989 album “Tender Lover” … and managed to bring the house down, without sinking the ship!!!

Other artists in attendance such as Jim Jones and Styles P also performed hits but Remy Ma stole the show when she grabbed the mic and rapped Lil Kim’s “Quiet Storm (Remix)” verse — in front of the Queen Bee and sent everyone into a frenzy!!!