The investigation into Hayden Panettiere’s death is now closed after an investigation found that an accidental overdose was to blame.

The Greenville Police Department has confirmed to reporters that the actor’s passing on Aug. 16 was not being treated as suspicious.

“Based on the Medical Examiner’s determination and the findings of the investigation, Hayden Panettiere’s death has been ruled accidental,” reads a statement provided to Entertainment Weekly. “The Greenville Police Department has concluded its investigation.”

That decision follows a coroner’s report, seen last month by Associated Press, that claimed her death was from an accidental overdose of several drugs, including fentanyl, following a stint in rehab.

The former Nashville and Heroes star was found in cardiac arrest at a residence in South Carolina, aged 36. “It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden. She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her — and to the millions who watched her onscreen,” said her father, Skip Panettiere, in a statement.

Panettiere had an 11-year-old daughter, Kaya Evdokia Klitschko, with ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko, the former heavyweight champion boxer. In 2018, she agreed to give full custody of Kaya to Klitschko amid her struggles with postpartum depression and addiction.

According to AP, it’s remains unclear whether federal authorities will separately continue to examine the case. In a petition last month to a California court, Klitschko noted that federal law enforcement agents had taken some of her items for their own probe. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration did not immediately respond to emailed requests from the news agency.

Though she was best known for her small screen work, which got underway with a commercial shoot at 11 months old for a Playskool toy train, back in 1990, Panettiere also left behind a music imprint thanks to her run on Nashville from 2012-2018.

She played ambitious country-pop singer Juliette Barnes on Nashville opposite Connie Britton and her vocals anchored the series’ Billboard-charting companion soundtrack albums on Big Machine Records. She also recorded songs for family films and teen-pop compilations as a teenager, and after taking on the role of Claire Bennet in NBC’s modern superheroes saga Heroes, she signed to Hollywood Records and released the 2008 single “Wake Up Call.” Panettiere cracked Billboard’s Digital Song Sales chart in 2012 with Nashville number “Undermine,” a collaboration with Charles Esten (peaking at No. 58).

Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris is escalating her legal war with estate executor John Branca, claiming in new court filings he wants to pay himself more than $100 million for just two years of work without a proper explanation.

The younger Jackson, who has long sparred with Branca over his longstanding role as Michael’s executor, said in a Wednesday (Oct. 28) filing in Los Angeles court that he has offered only “defective filings” to support that massive payment of fees.

“This is not the first time Executor has avoided his disclosure obligations by means of incomplete filings,” the filing reads. “This instance, however, is particularly offensive in that Executor’s defective filings include a request for approval of more than one hundred million dollars in compensation.”

As a penalty for the alleged failures, the younger Jackson wants Branca’s compensation reduced from 15 percent to 10 percent of the estate’s gross entertainment-related income.

In a strongly worded response statement, the Jackson estate called Paris’ request “nonsensical” and “absurd.” It said Branca had in fact waived compensation from the start and has only ever been paid “a separate, court-ordered management fee for operating the hugely successful Michael Jackson business.”

“It is an understatement to say that this motion is completely without merit, nor is it argued on facts,” the estate added in the response statement.

Paris has been sparring with Branca for months. In November 2025, she said that Branca and estate co-executor John McClain‘s work, including a now-released Michael biopic, had been designed to “enrich and aggrandize” them rather than help the family. She cited the fact that movie star Miles Teller had been cast to portray Branca in the film.

Months later, the executors fired back, calling Paris’ objections “a profound waste of the court’s time and, ironically, the estate’s money.” They cited their well-documented business success, which took the estate from roughly $500 million in debt to a current valuation of more than $2 billion.

In May, Paris won a court ruling against the executors in which a judge ruled that $625,000 in bonuses paid to three outside law firms had been improper and must be “returned to the estate.” The judge said the large totals “appear arbitrary” and were merely “what Mr. Branca determined was appropriate.”

Merck Mercuriadis is combining eight management companies for his new venture, Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships.

Mercuriadis, known for popularizing the concept of music as an asset class with his previous suite of Hipgnosis catalog investment companies, detailed plans for his next venture during a keynote conversation at the Music Tectonics conference in Santa Monica, Calif., on Wednesday (Oct. 28).

A former artist manager himself for acts like Beyoncé, Guns N’ Roses and Elton John, Mercuriadis previously announced that Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships would be aimed at sharing asset ownership between managers and musicians. During Wednesday’s keynote, moderated by Music Tectonics director Dmitri Vietze, Mercuriadis revealed for the first time that he is rolling up eight “very significant management companies to create a juggernaut management company.”

Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships has not named its target acquisition companies. The first of these transactions is set to be announced in the first quarter of 2027.

Mercuriadis detailed how Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships’ revenue-share model will work: Artists and managers will co-own all assets created during the life of the relationship, with the artist as majority shareholder and the manager as minority owner. The artist is free to leave, but “those assets that are created in the partnership always stay in the partnership,” Mercuriadis said.

“Day one when we’re writing checks for the artists, the majority of the money’s coming to the company, but money’s always flowing through to the artist, at least 20 or 30%, regardless of recoupment,” said Mercuriadis. “They recoup very, very quickly because they’re now recouping from all income streams. And then when they recoup and the company hits its return-on-investment targets, it’ll swing so they’re getting 80% of the money and the company’s getting 20% of the money.”

According to Mercuriadis, Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships is about a “value shift” — that is, moving money away from record companies and toward artists and managers. But he’ll still rely on the majors for publishing administration and label services: “We will lease the infrastructure of Universal, Warner and Sony, but Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships will be the ones to decide how the money is spent,” he said.

Mercuriadis built three companies under the Hipgnosis name starting in 2017, acquiring and managing a valuable catalog that included songs by Shakira, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fleetwood Mac and Diana Ross. He ultimately sold his stake to private equity backer Blackstone during a turbulent period in 2024. The consolidated companies, renamed Recognition Music, were acquired by Sony this past May.

Asked during Wednesday’s keynote what he thinks about those in the music industry who say he overpaid for the Hipgnosis catalog, Mercuriadis replied that he succeeded in his goal: elevating the value of songs.  

“When you then sell your catalog for $1.2 billion more than what you paid for it, that argument tends to go out the window,” added Mercuriadis. “To anyone who thought that I overpaid, god bless you. Keep doing what you’re doing.”

CCM artist Forrest Frank is set to release his new album, The Jesus Generation, on Dec. 4 via River House Records.

Frank announced the new album on social media, along with new music preview clips that include collaborations with Lecrae & KB (“Go Go Go”), JVKE (“Let The Light In”), Michael W. Smith (“Glory Hallelujah”), ZVC *(“My Little Miracle”) and Elevation Rhythm (“Revival’s in the Air”). New music from the album is set to release on Friday (Oct. 30).

The new album follows Frank’s May 2026 single “The Jesus Generation” and his recent sold-out stadium and arena-headlining The Jesus Generation Tour, which sold more than 470,000 tickets within 10 days of its announcement.

Fans will get a deep look at the recent tour via The Jesus Generation Tour Movie, which will hit theaters next year via Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company.

To date, Frank has earned five GMA Dove Awards and three Grammy nominations. In May, he earned his second chart-topper on Billboard‘s Hot Christian Songs tally with “Jesus Is Alive!” Since 2023, Frank has logged several hits on the chart, including “No Longer Bound” (featuring Hulvey), “Up!” “Good Day” and “Your Way’s Better,” which became his first song to break through on Billboard‘s all-genre Hot 100 chart. His song “Lemonade” with The Figs also landed on the Billboard Hot 100 last year.

Frank led Billboard‘s 2025 year-end Top Christian Artists and Top Christian Artists — Male charts. Additionally, his projects Child of God and Child of God II landed the top two spots on Billboard‘s 2025 year-end Top Christian Albums chart.

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Some of George Harrison‘s most personal photos are being revealed for the first time as part of a new coffee table book from the Beatles guitarist.

The Third Eye: Early Photographs is billed as an “intimate, beautiful collection of more than 200 never-before-collected photos of the Beatles at work and at play.” All of the photos were taken by Harrison through his Pentax film camera between 1963 and 1970, with many of the images being published for the first time in this collection. Those dates span the most prolific years of the Beatles’ career, and the photos cover everything from the making of seminal albums like A Hard Day’s Night to the band’s famous appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show and subsequent tours around the world.

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The hardcover book features a foreword by Harrison’s wife, Olivia, along with an afterword by American author and Booker Prize winner George Saunders.

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In between, the book collects 250 images ranging from unretouched photographs to 8mm movie stills. The images capture behind-the-scenes moments of The Beatles on tour, along with photos from the band’s travels and more personal, introspective moments seen through Harrison’s lens. There are also portraits of John Lennon, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney snapped by Harrison himself.

Publisher Random House says the photos were all curated by Harrison’s widow, Olivia Harrison, and that the book features “singular images” of The Beatles as “they rocketed to stardom and fostered the joyful madness that came to be known as Beatlemania.”

The book features accompanying descriptions and captions taken from Harrison’s own words and written recollections. As he recounts about a concert in Italy, “We’d often talk of having a tour where we didn’t have to play any shows. Everyone was using the mania as an excuse to go mad — the world did and they blamed it on us. But we were just inside of a car or a hotel room and really couldn’t do much of anything — we couldn’t even go outside.”

“I want to show people, from George’s unique photographic perspective during the Beatles’ early years, the moments when the whole of your life is ahead of you with unknowable possibilities,” Olivia Harrison said in a press release. “His images in The Third Eye capture that spirit.”

“I like cameras because you can see things in a different way,” George Harrison once said. “You can make things look how they feel instead of how they are.”

First announced last year, The Third Eye: Early Photographs is available now on Amazon. Released Oct. 6, the book has shot to number one on Amazon’s bestselling photography books chart.

Create Music Group has acquired a minority stake in DistroKid, Billboard can confirm.

The deal, which went down earlier this year, comes several months after CVC Capital Partners announced it had acquired a majority stake in the DIY distribution platform. That agreement was announced in July; while no terms were disclosed, MBW reported in January that DistroKid was exploring a sale at a valuation of roughly $2 billion. MBW was also first to report the Create deal.

In a statement sent to Billboard about the DistroKid minority acquisition, Create CEO and co-founder Jonathan Strauss said, “Create is home to some of the world’s largest and most storied independent record labels and artists, and DistroKid is where countless artists begin their careers. We’re excited to partner with CVC as a minority investor in the company and to support its continued growth.”

In March, Create announced it had raised $450 million through a combination of equity investments and debt capital, valuing the company at $2.2 billion. At the time, the company said it had invested more than $500 million over the previous year on acquisitions, advances and other growth initiatives. This included a $300 million investment in Canadian indie Nettwerk Music Group to support the label’s managers in buying out their existing investors. Prior to that deal, Create acquired the electronic labels Monstercat, !K7 and Cr2, along with deadmau5’s publishing and master recording catalogs and a 50% stake in the U.K. dance label and publisher Enhanced Music.

At the time of the March fundraising announcement, Strauss said in a statement that the $450 million would “not only accelerate our roadmap, expanding our footprint in media, IP and technology, but also empower our partners to build generational businesses that redefine culture and value creation across the global entertainment ecosystem.”

Create’s investors include Flexpoint Ford, Ares Management and 2 Mile. The company also operates the digital entertainment and marketing agency Flighthouse and indie music distribution platform Label Engine.

J. Cole went into The Fall-Off with the intent that the 2026 album would be his last, but he’s had a change of heart following the project and its subsequent sold-out arena tour.

Cole sat down with his longtime manager Mark Pitts and GQ‘s Frazier Tharpe in Las Vegas on Wednesday (Oct. 28), where he confirmed retirement isn’t in the plans for him any longer, saying that word is gone from his vocabulary now.

“Nah, I’m not gon’ use that word. After this tour right here? Come on man, this is crazy,” he said. “Nah, I’m not using that word at all. I’m not using that word.”

Cole continued: “When I was making that album, I was making it like, ‘Damn, this is going to be my last s–t.’ Luckily, by the time I got to actually finishing the album, because of circumstances — it’s like, ‘Nah, I’ll never say I’m going to retire.’ I don’t know when the next thing is going to happen, but I’m definitely not going to say no.”

The Fall-Off arrived as a double-disc album in February and notched Cole his seventh No. 1 atop the Billboard 200.

Elsewhere in the interview, Cole reflected on his mindset during his consequential battle with Kendrick Lamar in 2024. After hearing K. Dot diss him and Drake on Future’s “Like That,” the Dreamville rapper was conflicted about feeling like he had to respond, but also having a verse from Lamar on his next album (Cole previously revealed that there were two Lamar features on The Fall-Off that he ultimately scrapped due to leaks).

“I’m not giving him the real, which is like, ‘N–a, f–k!’ I probably told you I got this n–a on the album, which puts me in a weird position,” Cole said. “I got to like respond without responding, but still try to save face. I was holding a lot. On top of that, I thought I was done with the album. I’m retired, uninspired in my mind. I probably would’ve did a little better getting it all off.”

J. Cole ended up dissing Lamar on Might Delete Later‘s “7 Minute Drill” in April 2024. Days later, he apologized to Lamar and bowed out of the feud later that month while on stage at his Dreamville Festival. The diss track was then removed from streaming services.

“That s–t don’t sit right with my spirit,” he said at his festival. “That s–t disrupts my f—ing peace. So what I want to say right here tonight is in the midst of me doing that and in that s–t, trying to find a little angle and downplay this n—a’s f—ing catalog and his greatness, I want to say right now tonight, how many people think Kendrick Lamar is one of the greatest motherf–kers to ever touch a f—ing microphone? Dreamville, y’all love Kendrick Lamar, correct? As do I.”

The decision to pull the plug on feuding with Lamar eventually cleared the way for Lamar to clash with Drake, which reached a head in May 2024.

Watch J. Cole’s full interview with GQ below.

On Tuesday (Oct. 27), City of Hope hosted its annual Spirit of Life gala at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles. This year, the organization honored Primary Wave founder/CEO Larry Mestel, who spoke passionately about his support of the organization, even calling Dr. Leo Wang, one of the doctors working with City of Hope, as “the real rock star tonight,” before adding, in a self-deprecating tone: “He cures cancer in children, and I buy music catalogs,” which got a laugh from the crowd.

It also featured performances by Melissa Etheridge — a breast cancer survivor herself — along with Jackson Browne and Stevie Nicks, all of whom have professional ties to Mestel and Primary Wave. There was also a virtual performance by Pete Townshend from his home, as he could not attend that night due to a medical reason.

“For a long time, when my team asked me what I wanted my legacy to be, I had an answer,” Mestel explained in his acceptance speech. “I wanted to build a respected and large independent music company, but when I got involved in City of Hope, I realized I was wrong. I still want to build that music company — but I want our company to have a philanthropic impact. I don’t want my kids to look back someday and simply say, ‘Our dad worked hard. He left a great business behind.’ I want them to say: ‘Our dad built something meaningful, but more importantly, he was a good person and made a positive impact while doing it.’ And that brings me to why tonight means so much to me.”

Mestel paused, overcome by emotion before continuing: “Last year, I lost my sister to breast cancer and three months ago my uncle to Lymphoma. Losing them changed me a bit…it made cancer personal.”

He added: “I don’t look at this award simply as an honor. I look at it as a call to action. We can be better. We all have to be better.”

At another point in the night, Universal Music Publishing Group president of North America Evan Lamberg, who serves as chairman of the board for City of Hope’s music, film & entertainment industries division, acknowledged Mestel’s tribute to his sister and uncle, saying, “Your sister Marcy and Uncle Herve are looking down on you and smiling tonight.”

Founded in 1913, City of Hope is one of the United States’ biggest cancer research and treatment facilities. Its Spirit of Life event is always well attended by the music industry, and it has become a tradition for the gala to select one entertainment executive each year for their support of the organization.

This year, Spirit of Hope aimed to raise $10 million. Proceeds from the evening will go to City of Hope’s work in CAR T cell therapy and other cellular immunotherapies designed to harness the body’s immune system to fight cancer with greater precision and effectiveness.

City of Hope is recognized in the medical field as a leader in cellular therapy and is considered one of the nation’s largest outpatient CAR T cell therapy programs. A share of the proceeds from the gala will also support City of Hope’s advanced breast cancer research and care initiatives.

Along with honoring Mestel for his commitment to City of Hope, the event also featured a fundraiser allowing attendees to pledge anywhere from $1,000 to $100,000. Members of the Primary Wave staff also matched some donations to further the goal. For those not in attendance, Fandiem Relic and Primary Wave provided materials for the “More Than Words” auction, which allows anyone to bid on rare items like handwritten lyrics from Sting, Natasha Bedingfield and Little Big Town. There will also be more musical memorabilia available through Julien’s Auctions, including pieces associated with Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Itzhak Perlman and Guns N’ Roses.

Nicks delivered a touching tribute to end the night when she performed her hit “Landslide” accompanied by an acoustic guitarist. She also spoke about her own connection to City of Hope and how it changed the lives of four cancer survivors she knows personally: her “best friend Robin,” a vocalist she works with, “an amazing producer” and “my brother.” “The City of Hope has meant so much to me because those four people I know who went through there loved it so much,” she said.

Megan Thee Stallion’s Hottieween party is back, and the Houston Hottie tapped into her adoration for horror movies along with her Hotties fan base and Facebook to craft a spooky Thee Hottieween Trailer, which arrived on Wednesday (Oct. 28).

The nightmarish trailer finds Megan transforming into Thee Grown Ass Woman throughout the clip, starring as a giantess in the circus. The rapper seemingly pulled on themes from American Horror Story and the surrealism of Tim Burton’s filmmaking to bring her bone-chilling vision to life.

“I’m a grown woman, don’t judge me/ Ride on this horse, don’t judge me/ I just wanna have fun, don’t judge me,” she raps before the curtain drops in the black-and-white trailer.

This wasn’t a one-woman-band on the production side, as Megan used suggestions from her Hotties on Facebook, which were incorporated into the flick.

“Horror Hotties record a creepy-found footage-style clip that feels like it was captured outside a spooky circus…think fog, static, a mysterious figure in the darkness whatever freaks you out,” she wrote in a horror-themed Facebook group, while soliciting ideas from fans. “I want to build some creepy animal masks for my spooky circus…what animals would be the freakiest?”

Thee Hottieween Trailer sets the stage for the return of Megan’s Hottieween circus in Las Vegas on Oct. 30. Tickets are still on sale for the party, which is set for Zouk nightclub.

Megan Thee Stallion didn’t add to her Tina Tuesday Freestyles series this week, but brought the trio of installments to streaming services on Oct. 24, which is led by the fiery “Thin Ice.” Megan’s next album, Act: III, appears to be on the horizon.

Watch Thee Hottieween Trailer below.

Rihanna may be a billionaire beauty mogul, but she still never seems to have enough body wash — and it seems as if A$AP Rocky is to blame.

When asked by The Cut at a Fenty Beauty event which of her products her partner steals the most, Ri turned serious. “Every time I go into the shower, somehow my body wash — vanilla flowers, that one in particular — is just going down by a quarter of the bottle,” she said in a clip posted Wednesday (Oct. 28).

“I remember how many pumps I had,” she continued. “I know exactly where the bottle was at. And somehow, that bottle just is empty right now.”

She then stared pointedly into the camera. (Rocky, she’s on to you!)

Also at the event, Ri turned a question about which beauty rituals she’s excited to pass down to her daughter, Rocki — whom she and the rapper welcomed in September last year — on its head. “I’m looking forward to Rocki passing up beauty rituals to me,” the 14-time Billboard Hot 100-topping artist said. “She is like a skin goddess. Her skin is so perfect. The elasticity, always moisturized, perfect complexion. These are the things that we want.”

The quick chat with Ri comes as Fenty is about to celebrate its 10-year anniversary, meaning it’s been a full decade since the star launched her game-changing business with a line of foundations that came in a radically diverse number of shades. The brand is now launching a new foundation formula, which the singer-mogul told The Cut stays perfectly airbrushed onto her face, even when she’s sweatily trying to “wrangle all three of my kids.”

And though it’s been just as long since she dropped an album (2016’s Anti) that she’s been building her beauty empire, Rocky recently teased that his partner is hard at work in the studio.

“Yo, she in the studio right now,” he revealed in August on The Jason Lee Show. “Yeah, I said it. Sorry, babe. Like, bro, she working. She cooking, no funny s–t. Damn, I’ma get in trouble for this.”

See Ri talk about her family below.