Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell has revealed that he is once again fighting cancer. In an interview with El Salvadorian station YSKL, the 63-year-old musician discussed his philosophy for keeping a positive, hopeful attitude after revealing in 2013 that he was battle Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which he said returned in 2015 and yet again recently.

“There’s only been one time that I felt it was gonna kill me,” Campbell said of his diagnosis. “In the winter of 2023, I got really scared about what was happening and the pace at which it was happening. And I realized at that point that I had to do a donor transplant. It was my only hope to survive … I did that in January of ’25 .… Unfortunately, it didn’t stick. So the cancer has returned, and I’m continuing treatments to manage it.”

Campbell said he plans to try another transplant within the next few years with a different donor to see if that will stick, but in the meantime, he is going to keep performing with the “Rock of Ages” band as well as his side project, the Last in Line, and racing rally cars, a lifelong obsession. “I love cars and I love driving,” he said. “And as a child, I thought, ‘If I don’t play guitar for a living, I’m gonna be a race-car driver.’ So I’m very, very, very fortunate and blessed that I get to do both.”

The key, Campbell told the station, is to keep “moving forward” and stay busy. “And I do think that that’s what helped me, even when I was at a really low ebb with cancer treatment. The fact that I could still continue to work, that gives me something to live for, something that you enjoy, that you’re passionate about, that you can wake up in the morning and look forward to,” he explained. “I think that deflects, that takes away from focusing too much on cancer.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, Hodgkin lymphoma is a type of cancer that affects the lymphatic system and is highly treatable and often curable by using chemotherapy, radiation, targeted therapy, immunotherapy and bone marrow transplant.

Campbell, who logged time in Ronnie James Dio’s band, Dio, as well as Whitesnake and the British new wave metal band Sweet Savage, joined Def Leppard in 1992 following the death of founding guitarist Steve Clark.

He observed that some people who get a diagnosis focus just on the cancer and nothing else, while he has been determined to keep living his life “as much as possible. In fact, even more so. After getting a cancer diagnosis, it amplifies that desire to tick all the boxes, to do the things you wanna do. But I also consider myself very fortunate because I caught my cancer early. So, it’s always been more about managing my cancer.”

Concluding with a message that “life is for the living,” Campbell, who was forced to miss some 2024 and 2025 shows due to health issues, said he just encourages everyone to keep an eye on their health. “And if you are unfortunate enough to get a cancer diagnosis to overcome the fear,” he said. “Fear is inevitable when you’re first told those words. But once you get over that, you gotta realize just how to manage it and how to deal with it as best as possible, and just don’t give in.”

Def Leppard are slated to play the Seminole Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Fla. on Oct. 15, followed by dates in Mexico and Central and South America in October and November.

Phoebe Bridgers finds herself at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart with Lost Weekend, her first leader in Australia, while KATSEYE roars to the summit on the national singles chart with “Animal.”

Lost Weekend opens atop the latest chart, published Friday, Aug. 21, besting the No. 12 peak position for the U.S. singer, songwriter and guitarist’s sophomore album from 2020, Punisher, and the No. 3 for 2023’s The Record, her recording with indie rock “supergroup” Boygenius.

Also new to the ARIA Chart is Peking Duk’s Paradise, at No. 6. Paradise is the first studio album from the ARIA Award-winning Canberra EDM duo, formed by childhood mates Adam Hyde and Reuben Styles. That entry beats the No. 12 peak for the Duk’s Reprisal EP from 2018.

British act Jungle shines on the new all-genres chart with Sunshine, new at No. 9, for a new career high. Jungle has now collected three top 20 entries, including 2014’s Jungle (No. 20) and 2021’s Loving In Stereo (No. 10).

Brisbane, Queensland singer and songwriter Kate Miller-Heidke returns to the chart with The Kiss And The Abyss, her sixth studio album. It’s new at No. 11. Miller-Heidke competed for Australia in the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest with “Zero Gravity” and is currently a coach and judge on The Voice Australia.

Goth-rocker Marilyn Manson sees his new album, One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2, open its account at No. 13. It’s Marilyn Manson’s 13^th studio album, 10 of which have reached the top 20, with two going all the way to No. 1 (Mechanical Animals in 1998 and We Are Chaos in 2020).

Grinspoon frontman Phil Jamieson bows on the ARIA Chart with his second solo album, 10Charlie, new at No. 18. As part of the ARIA Award winning rock act band, he has nine top 10 appearances on the tally. Jamieson was recently in the news for having to cancel his PJ Air solo tour of his native Australia after an onstage mishap which resulted in a fracture to his spine.

Meanwhile, Melbourne’s Grace Cummings scores a No. 23 debut with Bloodhorse!, for her first appearance on the ARIA Chart.

Prolific Aussie prog-rock band King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard makes a top 40 splash with Alien Metal. It’s new at No. 26. According to ARIA, King Gizz, as they’ve affectionately known here, has notched more than 25 top 50 entries across studio and live albums and EPs.

In a busy cycle for new album releases, Sydney punk rock band The Hard-Ons’ collaboration with U.S. punk rock singer Jerry A (Hards-Ons/Jerry A at No. 35), Irish pop-rock act The Script (The User’s Guide to Being Human at No. 42) and Australian indie folk and roots duo Sunday Lemonade (The Forest To The Sea at No. 43) make an impression.

Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, KATSEYE snag their first No. 1 as “Animal” leaps 13-1. Co-written by Ed Sheeran, KATSEYE performed the track last week on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, ahead of the release of their third EP Wild. Until now, the girl group’s best performing track was “Pinky Up,” which topped out at No. 19 earlier in 2026, and was performed live to fans in these parts on a whirlwind promo trip to Australia in May.

Finally, Tame Impala bags a second top 10 this year as “Loser” improves 11-7, thanks to its placement in the hit MCU film Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Tame Impala’s “Dracula” peaked at No. 4 and sits at No. 17 this week. Both tracks are lifted from Deadbeat, the fifth studio album from Kevin Parker’s psychedelic pop project, which peaked at No. 2 on the ARIA Chart.

For the past decade, DMA’S have lived the dream. The Australian alternative rock band has amassed an enviable fanbase in the United Kingdom, their spiritual home. They’ve landed spots on the biggest stages. Awards have come their way, including an ARIA for best group in 2023.

One thing, however, is strangely missing. A No. 1.

The trio has got ever-so-close, on multiple occasions. Their most recent album, 2023’s How Many Dreams, opened and peaked at No. 2 on the ARIA Chart, and No. 3 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart. Its predecessor, 2020’s The Glow, also peaked at No. 2 in Australia, and No. 4 in the United Kingdom.

With their self-titled fifth album, a fresh start. DMA’S arrived Friday, Aug. 21, the product of recording sessions at the band’s own studio, and released through Wonderlick and Sony Music, their first through a major label machine.

Bandmates Johnny Took (acoustic guitar, backing vocals), Matt Mason (lead guitar) and Tommy O’Dell (lead vocals) recorded the collection in their studio in Sydney’s Glebe, a space that was established by rock’n’roll legend Col Joye, and hosted sessions with David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen and the Bee Gees. The DMA’S found the studio on Facebook Marketplace, buying it from Australian Music Prize winners Hermitude.

The LP was largely self-produced, with contributions from Lach Bostock of Mansionair, Norwegian duo Jimi Somewhere and two-times Grammy Award nominee Styalz Fuego.

“We did try with a producer overseas and it didn’t work out,” Mason tells Billboard over a Zoom. “We tried a few things out. It didn’t work. It solidified what were thinking, should we do it ourselves? F— it, let’s just go home. We’ve got our own studio now. We produce music for other bands. It’s album five. We know what we want, you know? Let’s just do it ourselves.”

DMA’S is the sound of a band that knows what they want. It’s an album with big songs, style and swagger, born from Britpop, raised in Australia. The trio boast an impressive following in both countries, but no Britpop frontman had the lungs of O’Dell, who shows off his natural talents on the singles “My Baby’s Place,” “Heatin Park” and “Killing Time,” and across the new album’s 11 tracks. 

The sessions were “basically free because it’s our studio,” Mason says. “You’re the one creating the deadlines, you can go on forever. It did take a long time because it’s just up to you. At least we can say that we love it. It’s my favorite album that we’ve done.”

Recording the album took roughly a year to complete. “It did take quite a bit longer than usual. Just because we had the luxury of just spending as long as we can,” Mason admits. “You have this unlimited sort of potential to just experiment as long as you can and to have that luxury was like something that we haven’t done before. Some records I can look back on and say, f—, I wish I could’ve switched in an extra day or two for that. Yeah. But this album was completely happy with every single segment of it.”

Some of the songs geminated at the beginning of their career. “My Baby’s Place” and “One & Only” borrow from recordings which the band members retrieved from a rusty old PC.

Since the release of Hill’s End, which this year celebrates its 10^th anniversary, DMA’S have amassed over 535 million streams. Breakthroughs, they can come from the least-expected avenues. In Australia, it was the band’s 2016 cover of Cher’s ‘90s dance hit “Believe” that got the ball rolling. Their version came out on top of triple j’s inaugural Hottest 100 “Live A Version” countdown in 2023.

In the U.K., a 2016 appearance on the now-defunct Sky Sports show Soccer AM, where they performed “Delete,” was an early goal. Mason remembers the experience for several reasons. “People liked the song. But the comments on YouTube, people were like, ‘why are their shoes so dirty?’” It was the first of several appearances. The bandmates are soccer tragics, a love affair that has spawned a merch collaboration with Sydney FC, featuring a jersey, jacket, scarf and wall flag.

Conversation shifts to that elusive No. 1. “I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t a part of it,” Mason tells Billboard, referring to their new major label route. Each of the band’s previous studio albums were released through I Oh You, part of the Mushroom Group. All crashed the ARIA top 10.

When the band’s contract came up, “we were kind of looking around, you know, what’s going to be our next move? I was thinking, I don’t know if we’re going to be able to find another family or another team that feels like that. Sometimes you just think like that would be impossible to find. A group of people who would be so accommodating and, you know, we’ve found it,” he says. “We’ve just made the right decision.”

The U.K. beckons, where the band has already made five return trips this year. There, DMA’S played 10 Hills End anniversary shows in February, with multiple dates sold out, including two at the O2 Brixton Academy. From September, DMA’S will play regional parts of Australia, performing sets at triple j’s One Night Stand in Griffith, Yours and Owls Festival in Wollongong the following month, and will end the year at Spilt Milk in Canberra, the Gold Coast, Geelong and Perth.

“I feel like this has been a busy year for us,” Mason considers. “There are a few places we really want to go back to. Italy, we have a decent fan base there and we just love it. Japan would be great. The United States, yep. I’d love to. Maybe next year.” Regular, long-haul travel “is f—ed,” he says with a laugh, “but there’s a beauty to be able to travel to the other side of the world and have that appreciation.”

Stream DMA’S below.

Earlier this year, Diane Warren became the first songwriter in Oscar history to be nominated for best original song nine years in a row. Can she possibly extend that streak to 10 consecutive nominations?

We won’t know for sure until the nominations are announced on Jan. 21, but as of today (Aug. 21), you can hear the song that she hopes will make it happen: “By Any Means,” which she wrote for a feature film of the same name starring Mark Wahlberg. The soulful, midtempo ballad is performed by David Kushner, whose “Daylight” reached No. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2023, in tandem with the legendary The Isley Brothers, who have had 40 Hot 100 hits, including three that made the top 10: “It’s Your Thing,” “That Lady (Part 1)” and “Fight the Power Part 1.”

Here’s a link to the soundtrack version of the song, which is available on all streaming platforms. The music video will be released on Aug. 28. Here’s a link to the slightly longer film version.

Warren has amassed 17 Oscar nominations for best original song, more than any other woman. One more nod and she will tie the legendary Johnny Mercer for second place on the all-time leaderboard. Another all-time great, Sammy Cahn, has long led the list with 26 nods.

Warren has yet to win a competitive Oscar, but in 2022 she received an honorary award which was inscribed: “To Diane Warren, for her genius, generosity and passionate commitment to the power of song in film.”

By Any Means is directed by Elegance Bratton with a script written by Sascha Penn. Inspired by a true story and set in the 1960s, a young Black FBI agent (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is sent to Mississippi to investigate a wave of brutal killings targeting civil rights leaders.  He is forced to work alongside notorious hitman Greg Scarpa (Wahlberg).

Two of Warren’s recent Oscar nominations are for songs from period films that dealt with the civil rights struggle. She and co-writer Common were nominated in 2018 for “Stand Up for Something” from the film Marshall, which starred the late Chadwick Boseman as Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court Justice. She was nominated in 2025 for “The Journey” from The Six Triple Eight, which told the story of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, an all-Black, all-female battalion in World War II.

In a statement, Warren explained her inspiration in writing the song, “I wanted to write a song that captured the spirit of the film which is about those who go beyond the rules to do what is necessary. My idea was to take an iconic artist who came from that era and pair them with an artist from this current era. Having the legendary Isley Brothers come on board was a dream come true. They are as amazing today as they were when they were performing during the time of these events, they are so authentic to this story. David Kushner is a great young singer who sounds like he could have come from that era too.  He is a young guy with an old-soul voice. The combination of him and the Isleys is pure magic, and together they have created a song that could live in many eras to come. I’m proud to be a part of it.” 

Ronald Isley explained his connection to the story. “Having lived through the Civil Rights era, this story is personal. We saw firsthand the courage, sacrifice and struggle it took for change to come. Music has always had the power to speak to what people are going through, and Diane Warren has written a song that carries that kind of meaning. It was an honor for Ernie and me to be a part of it and to lend our voices to a film that remembers this history while reminding a new generation why it still matters.”

Ernie Isley further explained, “I believe the film and the song will have a major impact. Ronald and I are happy to be involved with this project.” 

Kushner, 25, added: “It’s an honor to be a part of the music that soundtracks a powerful film like By Any Means. I’m a huge fan of Mark Wahlberg and being part of this song alongside Diane Warren, a songwriter I’ve looked up to since I fell in love with music and began writing songs, as well as musical legends like The Isley Brothers, is beyond surreal and has been an incredible experience.”

By Any Means, The Album soundtrack is being released by AB Records/The Orchard on Sept. 18 and features two versions of the original song. The single version is produced by Jacob Olofsson, with Ron Isley’s vocals produced by PooBear. Veteran music supervisor Bonnie Greenberg served as executive music producer for the song.  By Any Means is distributed domestically by Paramount Pictures and is scheduled for theatrical release on Sept. 4.  

Weezer’s Blue, Green, Red, White, Teal, and Black eras are in the rearview. We’ve now reached Gold.

At midnight, Rivers Cuomo and Co. turned over a new leaf — gold leaf — with the release of their 20^th studio album. The process behind the new, self-titled collection, the so-called Gold Album, was a blast from the past, an LP made the old fashion way.

Following a well-received 30^th anniversary tour, the four band members got down to business in a rehearsal space in Orange County, Calif. Those sessions marked the first time Cuomo and Weezer’s drummer Pat Wilson had fleshed out the framework of a song since their first album, released back in 1994.

Klas Ahlund and Kenneth Blume (FKA Kenny Beats) came on board to produce the new body of work. Ahlund contributed a “more mathematical, stringent approach,” reps say, while Blume set about to make the “most violent Weezer album ever.”

The fruits of their OC labor, 10-tracks including the lead singles “Shine Again” and “We Might As Well Be Strangers” featuring Wednesday, the latter track performed live Wednesday night (Aug. 19) when the rockers stopped by NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

“We hung out in a living room, actually, for months. All four of us. And just threw ideas out. It was really fun,” Wilson told Fallon of the new project.

“What you hear on the record is something that could only be created by humans coming together and being vulnerable and creating something together,” Cuomo added. “It just can’t be created by AI or a somebody on their own working on a computer or something.”

The band will support the new Gold Album with Weezer: The Gathering tour, getting underway in September with multiple stops across North America.

“The gathering has something to do with summoning sorcerers from all corners of the world to come into this,” Cuomo explained to Fallon. “And I think this tour is something like that. We’re summoning all the different kinds of Weezer fans from around the world to come rock out with us.”

Stream The Gold Album below.

Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to New Music Friday’s most essential releases each week — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.

Last week, we featured Phoebe Bridgers, Katseye, Ayra Starr, Troye Sivan and more.

This week, Sam Smith shares their new album, Hazel Eyes; Stella Lefty releases her highly-anticipated debut set; and Weezer drops its 20th (!) full-length… plus much more. Check out all of this week’s picks below:

Sam Smith, Hazel Eyes

On “Constant Companion” — one of 12 tracks on Smith’s fifth album — the English singer-songwriter chooses to spotlight their impressive range, singing in their deeper, lower register to start and slowly softening into a more familiar tone that allows their voice to soar. Accompanied by gentle percussion and choral harmonies throughout, delicate keys and an acoustic guitar kick in later and help carry the song. But it’s in the last minute, after the addition of winding strings, that it reaches its peak as Smith bellows with renewed intention: “’cause you, you are my constant companion.” — LYNDSEY HAVENS

Stella Lefty, Long Way Home

After breaking out this year with her debut chart hit “Boston” (which interpolates Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season”), fast-rising country-pop artist Stella Lefty shares her first full-length, Long Way Home. Lefty, 24, co-wrote all 14 tracks on the album, which follows her May EP and is produced by Joe Reeves. As Melinda Newman writes in the album’s Tracks Ranked, “Reeves’ low-key production perfectly complements Lefty’s sweet, unadorned vocals, creating what feels like an uncomplicated, authentic effort and a solid introduction to a formidable, developing talent.” — L.H.

Weezer, Weezer (Gold Album)

What else could Weezer possibly name its 20th album except for Weezer? So they did just that — then added (Gold Album) for good measure. It’s a bold title for a fittingly bold album, full of power-pop-rock anthems led by Rivers Cuomo’s distinguishable vocals. Co-produced by Klas Ahlund and Kenneth Blume (formerly known as Kenny Beats), the latter set out to make “the most violent Weezer album ever,” according to a release. Turns out, they did just that.  — LYNDSEY HAVENS

Jorja Smith, What Are The Odds

The third album from British singer-songwriter Jorja Smith is injected with energy and beats primed for the dance floor, as previewed by previously-released singles “What’s Done Is Done” and “I Lied, You Lied.” Meanwhile, single “Alive” with Wizkid showed that Smith can still it slow it down when she wants. And while the album mostly leans into those more booming tracks — some of which feel a world away from the more intimate R&B of her 2018 debut Lost & Found — songs like “Pretend” and album closer “When It Gets Like That” let Smith’s stellar vocals take the lead. — L.H.

Brandon Flowers, Thrasher

For his first solo effort in 11 years, The Killers frontman Brandon Flowers turned to his dad’s record collection for inspiration — and found himself creating an album full of country-western-inspired tunes. Across Thrasher, which is Flowers’ third solo project, he turns inward not only for the sonics but for the song’s lyrical content as well — and perhaps that’s where the album’s title and boxer-inspired artwork come from. Think less of a production punch, and more of a mental one — which can sometimes hit even harder. — L.H.

Brennan Wedl, Brennan Wedl

With signees including Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman, ANTI- Records has emerged as the marquee destination for alt-country artists — and that roster now includes Brennan Wedl, who supported Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman’s joint spring tour and captures rootsy magic on her self-titled label debut. With a voice that immediately conjures Lucinda Williams, Wedl lyrically channels both Lenderman’s hyperspecificity (“Let’s get on the Jumbotron at MSG / And shake it like an Etch A Sketch,” on “Let’s Be Models”) and Waxahatchee’s poetic concision (“I can be your low-grade fever / Keep you hot and bothered,” on “I Wanna Be Your TV”) across the set’s 13 gems, which blend punk, garage-rock and country for what Wedl calls “grungetry.” Produced by Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield and her longtime producer Brad Cook, Brennan Wedl is another essential entry in the subgenre that has become indie-rock’s dominant style this decade. — ERIC RENNER BROWN