Justin Bieber’s music keeps surging on streaming after Coachella
You better belieb it. After Justin Bieber headlined the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, California, Billboard reports the pop star is experiencing the biggest non-Super Bowl catalog bump this year, with his music tripling in streams just days after his first set on April 11.
Following Bieber’s performance on Weekend 2 at Coachella on April 18 (which included appearances from Billie Eilish and SZA), his streams climbed even higher.
On Monday (April 20), Bieber’s streams reached a new high for the year, amassing 32.4 million official on-demand US streams, according to Luminate, which is a 12% increase from his total the previous Monday (just over 29 million) and a 5% gain from the previous Tuesday (30.9 million), his previous high-water mark for 2026.
(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)
Since the Coachella bump, he’s had a total of six days with at least 30 million streams, compared with only four days in all of 2025, when he released his “Swag” album.
Spotify reported that following Bieber’s first Coachella set, the pop star reached No. 1 on Spotify’s Global Top Artist chart, with his catalog surpassing 77 million streams in a single day, which marked his biggest streaming day of the year.
While prediction markets currently show that Bruno Mars is in the lead at 74% for the artist with the most monthly Spotify listeners at the end of April, Bieber could slowly catch up with a week left in the month. The “Baby” singer is currently in second place, with his odds at 27%.
On Monday (April 20), Bieber’s streams reached a new high for the year, amassing 32.4 million official on-demand US streams, according to Luminate, which is a 12% increase from his total the previous Monday (just over 29 million) and a 5% gain from the previous Tuesday (30.9 million), his previous high-water mark for 2026.
(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)
Since the Coachella bump, he’s had a total of six days with at least 30 million streams, compared with only four days in all of 2025, when he released his “Swag” album.
Spotify reported that following Bieber’s first Coachella set, the pop star reached No. 1 on Spotify’s Global Top Artist chart, with his catalog surpassing 77 million streams in a single day, which marked his biggest streaming day of the year.
While prediction markets currently show that Bruno Mars is in the lead at 74% for the artist with the most monthly Spotify listeners at the end of April, Bieber could slowly catch up with a week left in the month. The “Baby” singer is currently in second place, with his odds at 27%.
Xbox cuts price of its Game Pass subscription by 23%, removes new “Call of Duty” games
A Halley’s Comet-level event in the world of subscriptions is occurring at Microsoft: the company announced it will lower the price of its Game Pass Ultimate from $29.99 to $22.99.
The move comes a little over a week after reports revealed an internal memo from new Xbox head Asha Sharma in which the exec told employees that Game Pass has “become too expensive.” Back in October, before Sharma’s tenure began, Xbox hiked its Game Pass subscription by 50%.
With the price drop, Game Pass will also see a major shift: new “Call of Duty” titles will no longer be added to the service at launch, instead joining the library about a year later during the following holiday season. The subscription will still cost a bit more than it did before the popular titles were added in 2024.
According to estimates reported by Bloomberg, the decision to put “Call of Duty” on Game Pass cost Xbox more than $300 million.
The most popular male and female names in the US, according to the latest Census
New data published Tuesday by the US Census Bureau has revealed the most common names provided in the 2020 Census, in the first release to include forename data since 1990.
As described in the brief, Michael was the most popular name for males in the US, with roughly 3.5 million American men reporting having this name or a close variant. This is up from fourth place in the 1990 Census, when the top US male name was James — though there were still 3 million Jameses in 2020’s tally.
Despite a three-decade gap, Mary remained the top name for American females in both censuses, with the 2020 survey counting almost 1.8 million females with this given name. Interestingly, Mary was one of just two predominantly female names that broke the top 10 given names in the US, with the overall list dominated mostly by male monikers.
In all, American females had far more first-name diversity than male counterparts: 16% of US males had one of the top 10 most frequent names among men, compared with 7.8% of women. Zooming out, almost 3x as many given names were needed to cover a quarter of the US female population than that of males.
6 months after hiking Game Pass prices by 50%, Xbox determines it may be too expensive
Microsoft’s new Xbox chief, Asha Sharma, thinks the division’s recent price hikes have been a mistake, per an internal memo to employees seen by The Verge.
“Short term, Game Pass has become too expensive for players, so we need a better value equation,” Sharma’s memo reportedly read.
It’s an interesting take, given that Xbox hiked the price of its Game Pass subscription by 50% in October, before Sharma took over. The memo is a signal that Sharma’s tenure — which began in February, taking the industry by surprise — will include some big changes for Microsoft’s gaming strategy.
Whether Game Pass prices will drop is not yet clear. Last month, The Information reported that Sharma and Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters have “kicked around ideas” about potential bundles. That would fit with Netflix’s renewed gaming ambitions.
It’s an interesting take, given that Xbox hiked the price of its Game Pass subscription by 50% in October, before Sharma took over. The memo is a signal that Sharma’s tenure — which began in February, taking the industry by surprise — will include some big changes for Microsoft’s gaming strategy.
Whether Game Pass prices will drop is not yet clear. Last month, The Information reported that Sharma and Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters have “kicked around ideas” about potential bundles. That would fit with Netflix’s renewed gaming ambitions.
Roblox announces age-based accounts for young users as child safety lawsuits pile up
Roblox on Monday announced its first accounts created specifically for young children and teens, furthering its efforts to increase child safety on the platform.
In June, Roblox Kids (for ages 5 to 8) and Roblox Select (for ages 9 to 15) will roll out, following the company’s global launch of mandatory age checks in January.
The new account types will feature different default settings — chats will automatically be set to “off” on Kids accounts — and limit access to games of certain ratings depending on age.
Child safety lawsuits and social media bans are piling up for Roblox, whose shares have dropped more than 30% year to date. In February, Los Angeles County sued the platform, alleging it created a “largely unsupervised online world” in which “child predators can readily locate, contact, and interact with minors.”
The new account types will feature different default settings — chats will automatically be set to “off” on Kids accounts — and limit access to games of certain ratings depending on age.
Child safety lawsuits and social media bans are piling up for Roblox, whose shares have dropped more than 30% year to date. In February, Los Angeles County sued the platform, alleging it created a “largely unsupervised online world” in which “child predators can readily locate, contact, and interact with minors.”
Amid engagement downturn, Epic Games reportedly planning first game with Disney for November launch
“Fortnite” maker Epic Games, struggling through an engagement downturn that led the company to lay off 1,000 employees last month, is leaning into its Disney partnership to turn things around.
Per a report by Bloomberg, the company is set to launch a new extraction shooter (in the vein of Nexon’s hit “Arc Raiders”) featuring Disney characters in November.
The game will be the first to come out of Epic and Disney’s partnership, which began with a $1.5 billion investment from the entertainment juggernaut in early 2024. If the November launch date sticks, the game will also land at the same time as Take-Two’s massive “Grand Theft Auto 6.” According to Disney, new CEO Josh D’Amaro has been a longtime champion of the Epic partnership, and the exec is said to have made tech-based interactivity a priority for the company.
In recent weeks, rumors that some senior executives at Disney are pushing for Disney to eventually acquire Epic have made headlines, first reported by tech journalist Alex Heath on entertainment podcast “The Town.”
The game will be the first to come out of Epic and Disney’s partnership, which began with a $1.5 billion investment from the entertainment juggernaut in early 2024. If the November launch date sticks, the game will also land at the same time as Take-Two’s massive “Grand Theft Auto 6.” According to Disney, new CEO Josh D’Amaro has been a longtime champion of the Epic partnership, and the exec is said to have made tech-based interactivity a priority for the company.
In recent weeks, rumors that some senior executives at Disney are pushing for Disney to eventually acquire Epic have made headlines, first reported by tech journalist Alex Heath on entertainment podcast “The Town.”
YouTube reminds everyone it’s a streamer, raises Premium subscription prices
YouTube announced on Friday that it’s raising the cost of its Premium plan by $2 a month to $15.99. The changes will take effect on June billing statements, the company said.
YouTube — which last hiked Premium subscription prices in 2023 — has some cover in boosting prices. Netflix announced a price hike last month, as did Amazon Prime Video. Spotify increased its subscription pricing earlier this year.
The move reflects a level of subscriber security from YouTube, which last year said its paid Premium and Music plans had 125 million subscribers (far fewer than Netflix’s 325 million subscribers). The platform continues to dominate overall streaming market share, accounting for 12.5% of TV viewing time in January, per Nielsen. YouTube has consistently stood atop Nielsen’s monthly viewership charts since February 2025.
Netflix launches gaming app for children 8 and under
Netflix on Monday launched Netflix Playground, a new stand-alone gaming app aimed at kids 8 and under.
The app promises “no ads, in-app purchases, or extra fees” and is included with all memberships. At launch, it includes games featuring “Peppa Pig,” “Storybots,” and “Sesame Street.”
Netflix began adjusting its gaming strategy in 2024, closing its large AAA studio. Last year, the streamer began focusing more on multiplayer party and family-friendly games.
Late last month, Netflix quietly raised its prices for the fourth time since 2022.
Netflix began adjusting its gaming strategy in 2024, closing its large AAA studio. Last year, the streamer began focusing more on multiplayer party and family-friendly games.
Late last month, Netflix quietly raised its prices for the fourth time since 2022.
“Super Mario Galaxy Movie” delivers holiday weekend records for theater chains
Universal’s “Super Mario Galaxy Movie” cleared an estimated $372.5 million globally in its opening five-day weekend, marking another successful foray into theaters for Nintendo.
Both AMC and Cinemark on Monday announced that the movie — along with continued popularity for titles like “Project Hail Mary” and “Hoppers” — propelled them to record-breaking Easter weekends.
According to AMC, the Yoshi popcorn bucket has pushed “Mario Galaxy” into the second-best merchandising program ever for the theater chain, behind only Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert film. According to Cinemark, Mario-themed “glitter popcorn” and other food items tied to the title have already resulted in the “most successful merchandise program Cinemark has ever delivered for a single title.”
AMC and Cinemark shares climbed in early trading on Monday.
“Mario Galaxy” pulled in $190.1 million domestically over the five-day weekend, below the first film’s $204 million (it was also released over the Easter weekend in 2023), but still near the top of the best holiday box office performances ever.
The peptide gold rush: How impending deregulation could supercharge a shadow industry
Peptides, the gray-market supplements that have flooded Silicon Valley, may soon make their way into the mainstream. Who stands to benefit?
Prediction markets show “One Battle After Another” leads in Oscar race for Best Picture
It’s finally Oscars week — and with voting officially closed, all that’s left to do is count the ballots and wait to see who wins this Sunday night.
This year, the acting categories have been the most interesting to watch, especially the showdown between “Marty Supreme” star Timothée Chalamet and “Sinners” actor Michael B. Jordan for Best Actor. While Chalamet was long the favorite, Jordan has caught up and overtaken him after winning the Actor Award.
(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)
But perhaps the most exciting race of all is for Best Picture. Out of the 10 nominees, the two at the top are Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” and Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners,” both of which are studio releases from Warner Bros. Discovery.
Which will win the top prize seems to be split among award pundits and experts. As of Monday afternoon, Gold Derby still has “One Battle After Another” as the front-runner with odds of 76.87%. AwardsWatch, AwardsRadar, and Numlock Awards are also still predicting that “One Battle After Another” will take the statue for Best Picture.
On the other side, reporters from some major trade publications like Variety’s Clayton Davis and The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg predict that “Sinners” will take the top honor.
Odds in the prediction markets currently show that “One Battle After Another” is still ahead of “Sinners,” with the former priced in at 75% while the latter is priced at 23%.
