Taylor Swift is Billboard’s ruler of the 21st century, ‘The View’ launches a weekend edition, and more of today’s top stories
Gold Derby’s top news stories for Jan. 8, 2025
Taylor Swift reigns as Billboard’s No. 1 artist of century’s first 25 years
To the surprise of no one, Taylor Swift has emerged as the No. 1 musical artist on Billboard’s recap of the first 25 years of the 21st century, based on performance on the Billboard 200 albums chart and the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart from the beginning of 2000 through the end of 2024 – even though she didn’t make her Billboard chart debut until July 1, 2006. Swift led Billboard’s year-end Top Artists charts in 2009, 2015, 2023 and 2024, becoming the first act with four annual titles dating to the category’s 1981 inception. (Billboard is a PMC sister publication of Gold Derby.)
After Swift, the Billboard top 10 artists of the first 25 years – in descending order – are Drake, Rihanna, Post Malone, Eminem, The Weeknd, Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, and Usher.
‘The View’ to launch a new weekend edition starting this Saturday
The long-winning ABC News daytime talk show The View is expanding into weekends starting January 11, as per Variety. The Weekend View is a half-hour premiering Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. and running throughout the weekend, exclusively on the streaming platform ABC News Live and featuring the show’s Friday panel, which includes moderator Joy Behar along with cohosts Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, Alyssa Farah Griffin, and Ana Navarro. The show will include an extended “Hot Topics” segment and include clips from the show’s companion podcast “Behind the Table” discussing the week’s top pop culture stories.
Amazon Prime drops ‘Reacher’ Season 3 trailer
Amazon Prime has released the official trailer for Season 3 of its action thriller series Reacher starring Alan Ritchson. The eight-episode campaign launches with three installments on February 20 before rolling out weekly episodes each Thursday through March 27. According to the logline of the show, “In the third season of the action-packed series, Reacher hurtles into the dark heart of a vast criminal enterprise when trying to rescue an undercover DEA informant whose time is running out. There, he finds a world of secrecy and violence – and confronts some unfinished business from his own past.” The series focuses on itinerant former military policeman Jack Reacher as he solves crimes and metes out his own brand of street justice. The third season is based on the Lee Child novel “Persuader.”
The trailer finds Reacher locked in fistic combat with a 7-foot-2 bodybuilder named Paulie (Olivier Richters). “Exactly how much danger is this job putting me in?” he asks. It’s clear from the trailer that the answer is, quite a bit.
Watch the new trailer below.
Prime Video series ‘Harlem’ to end with its third season
The Amazon Prime comedy series Harlem is ending with its third season, it was revealed in a surprise on Wednesday with the release of its official seasonal trailer. The series debuted in 2021 and dropped Season 2 in 2023. When the show was renewed in November, there was no mention that it was the final campaign. But that was made clear in the trailer, which labeled it as “The Final Chapter.”
From creator, writer and executive producer Tracy Oliver, Harlem follows four girlfriends whose lives are evolving in momentous ways. It stars Shoniqua Shandai, Grace Byerts, Meagan Good, and Jerrie Johnson. The logline for the third season promises that it will “follow the core four women on the precipice of change like never before. Whether it be motherhood, singlehood, sisterhood, complicated career journeys, or even more complicated families, our stylish and ambitious girlfriends strive to finally choose themselves above all else.”
Watch the Season 3 trailer below.
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