Taylor Swift breaks two Spotify records in a single day

Taylor Swift has broken two Spotify records in one day, and she's done it with songs most of us didn't know were coming. She's released The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore, four brand new songs added on to last year's album.

The one everyone's playing is Patient Zero. It's now the most-streamed song by a female artist in a single day this year. And across all her music, Taylor had the most streams of any female artist in one day in 2026. Two records, one day.

The story behind the songs is rather lovely. When The Life of a Showgirl came out, it had the biggest first week for an album in history. To celebrate, Taylor went to Sweden with her long-time producers Max Martin and Shellback, and they ended up writing these four songs. She says they came out of pure gratitude to the fans.

Four new Taylor songs in one go. Which one's your favourite so far?

Madonna and Taylor Swift headline a massive night at the VMAs

The MTV Video Music Awards went out overnight in the US, and it was one of the biggest line-ups in years.

Madonna was booked to open the show. It's her first time on the VMAs stage in 23 years, and she went into the night leading the nominations with 11. Taylor Swift had nine, and Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter had seven each.

Taylor was set to make history of her own, as the first person ever to receive a brand new award, the Artist Director Honors. She was also premiering the video for Patient Zero, starring Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell.

Snoop Dogg hosted, and the performers included Lisa from BLACKPINK, Raye, Shaboozey and Sienna Spiro, whose song Great Expectation is number one in the UK right now.

Did you stay up for the VMAs? Who's the one act you'd have tuned in for?

Why Miley Cyrus wasn't part of the VMAs tribute to Dolly Parton

One name fans expected to see at the VMAs was missing: Miley Cyrus. The show included a tribute to Dolly Parton, who died last month at 80, and Dolly wasn't just a hero to Miley. She was her godmother, and the two performed together many times over the years.

Instead, the tribute was led by Kacey Musgraves, and people have been asking why.

Showbiz insiders have a few theories. One says it may simply have been too soon, and that asking Miley to grieve on live TV would have been too much. Another claims she was never asked, because the moment she walked on stage the tribute would have become about her, not Dolly. A third says MTV wanted Kacey to bring in country music fans.

MTV hasn't said anything officially, so for now it's all speculation.

If you were putting together a Dolly tribute, which song would have to be in it?

Ed Sheeran cancels two stadium shows as storms hit Boston

Ed Sheeran has had to cancel two nights of his Loop Tour at Gillette Stadium, just outside Boston. Severe weather warnings were issued across Boston and New England, and after talking to local officials the promoter decided the shows couldn't go ahead. Fans who bought through Ticketmaster are being refunded automatically, and everyone else can claim a refund from wherever they bought their tickets.

It's been a rough few weeks for the tour. Ed's support act Macklemore made pro-Palestinian comments on stage at the New Jersey shows and was then taken off the tour. The other support acts, including Finneas and Lukas Graham, pulled out in solidarity.

At his next show, Ed spoke to the crowd about it. He said he'd made mistakes and had changed how he thinks about his role as a musician.

Have you ever had a gig you were really looking forward to cancelled at the last minute?

Harry Styles equals his own Madison Square Garden record, and he's only halfway

Harry Styles is in the middle of a huge run of shows at Madison Square Garden in New York, called Together Together. On Saturday night he played show number 15, which equals his own record for the most nights in a row at the arena. He set that record back in 2022.

The thing is, the residency is 30 nights long. So from tonight onwards, every show breaks his own record again, all the way to 30.

Fans had brought a banner reading 15 consecutive nights at the Garden. As Harry walked off, he spotted it and did a little mime of pulling it towards him, as if to say: that one's mine, and I'm coming for more. The crowd loved it.

Thirty nights in the same place. How many days in a row could you do the same job before going stir crazy?

Olivia Rodrigo's dress dissolves in the rain on tour opening night

Olivia Rodrigo kicked off her new Unraveled tour on Friday night, and there's one moment everyone's talking about.

During her song The Cure, she was wearing a collared mini dress by the designer Hussein Chalayan. The dress dissolved in the rain while she sang, which fits the tour's name perfectly. Clips of it are everywhere.

Olivia posted afterwards that the first night was magic. She says she'd been planning the show in her head for a whole year, and seeing it come together was a dream come true.

It's a big one: 86 shows across North America and Europe, her third tour. It finishes next May with two nights at the O2 in London.

What's the best bit of stage magic you've ever seen at a gig?

Ella Langley's brutal reply to a fan who asked her out

Country star Ella Langley has gone viral for the way she turned down a fan.

She was outside her show in Knoxville, Tennessee, standing in the car park, when a TikTok creator called Tiki shouted through the gate: Ella, how many likes to take you on a date? Ella looked at him and said: not enough in the world. Then she turned away.

To be fair to Tiki, he took it well. He folded his arms, looked into his camera and quoted the old line about missing all the shots you don't take.

Online, people were split. Some loved it; others thought it was harsh. Ella later posted that it was meant as dark humour, and that it went quiet and she got nervous. She's since deleted that comment. She's reportedly going out with fellow singer Tucker Wetmore, so the answer was always going to be no.

Harsh or hilarious? And what's the best knockback you've ever had?

Sabrina Carpenter to play Ginger Rogers opposite Tom Holland

Sabrina Carpenter is off to Hollywood. She's been cast as the legendary dancer and actress Ginger Rogers in a new film about Fred Astaire, with Tom Holland playing Fred.

Margaret Qualley is playing Fred's older sister Adele. Before Hollywood, she was Fred's first dance partner, and the two of them were Broadway stars. It's directed by Paul King, the man who made the Paddington films and Wonka, and it's based on a book about Fred and Adele.

Tom Holland has been trying to make this film since 2021. He wants to do all the dancing himself, in long single takes with no body doubles, just like Fred did. He says he's done his first rehearsals and feels a mix of excitement and absolute dread.

Sabrina and Tom dancing together. Would you watch it?

Niall Horan's One Direction jump ends in a loud 'ow'

Niall Horan has found out that the old One Direction moves don't come as easily as they used to.

He was playing Co-op Live in Manchester on Friday night, part of his Dinner Party tour. He'd reached one of the old One Direction songs in the set, so he did his signature 1D jump for the fans. He landed, and the microphone picked up a very clear 'ow!'

A fan filmed it, and the 24-second clip has been all over social media. It's not clear whether he landed awkwardly or actually hurt himself, but he carried on with the show full of energy, and there's no sign of any lasting damage. Fans have found it hilarious.

What move from your younger days would do you an injury now?

Dua Lipa dances with a glass balanced on her head at a family wedding

Dua Lipa proved you can take the pop star to a family wedding, but she won't sit quietly in the corner.

On Saturday she was at what's reported to be her cousin's wedding in Peja, in Kosovo. Somebody filmed her on the dance floor, moving to the music with a glass balanced perfectly on her head, while the guests clapped and cheered around her. It's gone viral.

It's a nod to her Albanian roots. Dua's family is Kosovo Albanian, and dancing with a glass on your head is a party trick at celebrations there. She clearly knows what she's doing: she posted a video of herself doing the same thing back in 2023.

What's your party trick at a wedding?

Joe Jonas falls between two boats on holiday in Italy

Joe Jonas has told the story of a proper scare on holiday in Portofino, in Italy.

He was on a rented yacht with his girlfriend and friends, including the TV host Morgan Stewart. To get to a restaurant for lunch, they had to transfer from the yacht onto a smaller boat. The water was choppy, and as Joe stepped across, a wave pushed the two boats apart, and he fell straight into the gap, fully clothed, phone in his pocket. The crew member who tried to grab him fell in too.

Joe swam away from the boats because he was worried about the engines. He banged his shin on his first go at climbing out, then rolled aboard on the second. Nobody was badly hurt.

He admits it sounds like the poshest problem ever, but says it was terrifying. His first thought when he got out was that he needed to call his daughters and see their faces.

Have you ever had a holiday moment that could have gone badly wrong?

Rihanna's adorable tribute to her baby girl

Rihanna has shared a gorgeous set of photos and videos of her daughter, Rocki Irish, who turned one earlier this month.

There's a video of Rocki trying to pull a huge wig off her head, a photo of her with hair rollers in, her first red carpet appearance with her big brother, and a clip of her saying hey to the camera. There's also a sweet one of Rihanna feeding her while Rocki tries to grab her mum's sunglasses and cap.

Rihanna summed it all up with a caption asking who let her have a daughter.

What's the funniest thing your little one did when they were one?

Ariana Grande's rekindled romance goes public with a sweet photo dump

Ariana Grande's boyfriend Ricky Álvarez has shared a set of loved-up photos of the two of them, and fans are melting.

There's a shot of their shadows against a wall, Ariana putting on lip gloss, a mirror selfie of them kissing, and their legs tangled together on the floor. He captioned it Chula Vista and back.

Here's the backstory. Ricky is a former professional backing dancer, and he and Ariana first went out ten years ago, in 2015 and 2016. They got back together after Ariana's recent break-up, and made it Instagram official in August. The comments are full of fans saying how happy they are that she's happy.

Would you ever get back together with an ex? Or is that a hard no?

Harry Styles and Paul Mescal in a short shorts face-off

Harry Styles and the actor Paul Mescal were photographed walking together through London, and the internet had one question: whose shorts were shorter?

The pair were dressed very similarly, both in seriously short shorts, and social media turned it into a contest. One person called it a short shorts off. Another asked if Harry was out looking for a stunt double.

There's no word on why they were together. It looks like two famous mates out for a walk, but it's become one of the most shared photos of the weekend.

Short shorts on men. Yes or no?

SNL UK turns Oasis into Russian spies

Saturday Night Live UK has had a go at Oasis. Saturday's episode opened with a sketch starring Andy Burnham as Prime Minister, running the country from a Number 10 North office in Manchester.

Two local lads turn up: Liam and Noel Gallagher, offering him tickets to their Etihad Stadium shows. They ask if he knows a guitarist, so he offers himself and signs up online, typing in his password, his National Insurance number and his pet's name.

Then the lights change, the Manchester accents vanish, and it turns out they're Russian spies. They claim Oasis has always been Russian pop, and that Wonderwall is really about the Berlin Wall. Burnham tells them to leave and go back to being Oasis.

If you could have any band as secret agents, who would you pick?

Scotland's gamer gran sets a Fortnite world record at 78

An Aberdeen gran has been named by Guinness World Records as the oldest female Fortnite streamer in the world.

Cath Bowie turned 78 on the first of September. She started playing Fortnite in 2017, when the game first came out, set up her own account in 2018, and started streaming herself playing online. Nearly nine years later, she says she's still absolutely loving it.

It all started with a challenge from her grandson, who didn't think she'd get any followers. She's now got more than 24,000 people following her on Twitch. Her username, grumpygran48, was her granddaughter's idea, as a joke.

Her message to everyone: never let age stop you. If she can do it, so can you. And she's already looking forward to 80.

Any gamer grans or grandads listening? Tell us what you play.

The world's first Minecraft rollercoaster and hotel are coming to London

If you've got Minecraft fans at home, this is the news they've been waiting for. Chessington World of Adventures in south-west London is building a whole Minecraft world, the first of its kind anywhere.

The star is a rollercoaster called Escape the Nether. You climb into a minecart with Steve and Alex from the game and fight your way past the mobs to get back to the Overworld. In the words of the people behind it: will you escape? And yes, there's lava.

There'll also be the first official Minecraft hotel: 69 themed rooms over four floors, corridors that look like mineshafts, an underwater restaurant and a bar themed on the game's Woodland Mansion. They're calling it the ultimate Minecraft sleepover.

The whole thing is costing £50 million and opens in 2027. Prices haven't been announced, but there's already a waiting list.

Would you queue for Escape the Nether? Or stay the night in a Minecraft hotel?

A runner beats Monopoly by visiting every London square in 91 minutes

How long does a game of Monopoly take you? One to three hours, usually. Well, Joabe Bayer Barbosa has done the real-life version faster.

He's set a Guinness World Record for the fastest time to visit every London location on the Monopoly board on foot: one hour, 31 minutes and 14 seconds. He started at Old Kent Road at 7am and ran all the way round to Mayfair, taking a photo at every stop as proof.

It wasn't easy. He had to learn the route, and even then he took a wrong turn near Leicester Square, nearly forgot to photograph Oxford Street, and lost two or three minutes at traffic lights. His camera even steamed up.

Why do it? He loves running and planning routes, and he wanted to prove to his younger brother, who apparently cheats at Monopoly, that you can win fair and square.

Who's the Monopoly cheat in your family?

The Laughing Cow has stopped laughing, and nobody knows why

After more than 100 years of smiling, The Laughing Cow has stopped laughing.

The cheese brand has swapped its famous grinning red cow for one with a straight, glum face on special packs in more than 4,700 shops across the US. On the pack there's a QR code that takes you to a website with two sad little videos: the cow staring out of a diner window, and the cow sitting alone on a swing.

The website says the Laughing Cow has stopped laughing, and we need to talk.

The company isn't saying why. Its marketing boss says whatever finally got to her must be worth talking about, and they'll explain on social media when she's ready. It's clearly a marketing stunt, but people are hooked.

What do you reckon has upset the Laughing Cow?

Instagram now lets you blur your other half out of photos

Instagram has a new feature aimed at anyone who wants to show off a new partner without actually showing them.

It's called Pixel, and it works in Stories. You pick the effect, tell it in words what to blur, like the man next to me, and it pixelates that person so they're almost impossible to recognise. You can choose how strong the blur is. Instagram announced it with the line: soft launching? We got you.

Soft launching, if you've not heard it, is hinting that you're seeing someone without revealing who: a hand holding a drink, the back of a head.

Reactions are mixed. Some people say it's handy for hiding strangers in the background or keeping children's faces off social media. Others have called it a humiliation ritual, and say if you have to blur someone out, don't post them at all.

Would you be offended if your partner blurred you out on Instagram?

The viral way to make iced tea: just put teabags in a bottle of Sprite

Matcha's everywhere at the moment, but there's a new iced tea taking over TikTok, and you won't need any special powder or a whisk.

It's called Hong Kong Sprite Iced Tea, and you make it by pushing two or three teabags into a bottle of Sprite, putting the lid back on, turning it upside down a couple of times, and leaving it in the fridge. Anything from an hour to overnight, depending on how strong you like it. Then take the teabags out, pour it over ice with a slice of lemon, and add a squeeze of lemon juice.

One video of it has been watched more than 20 million times.

It's a lazy riff on a real Hong Kong classic. Iced lemon tea is a huge part of life there. It's made with strong black tea, fresh lemon, sugar and lots of ice, and served in the city's famous diners, the cha chaan tengs. Sprite has even got in on the act with its own Sprite and tea drink.

Tea in Sprite: genius or a crime against tea?

The alarm app that won't switch off until you've done your squats

If you're a serial snoozer, there's an app that's been made for you, and you might hate it.

It's called Alarmy, and it won't let you turn the alarm off until you've completed a task. You choose: solve a maths problem, do a memory test, type out a motivational phrase, shake your phone, do squats, or even get up and scan the barcode on something in another room. There's also a wake-up check afterwards, to make sure you haven't gone straight back to sleep.

It's had more than 50 million downloads, and a video about it has just been watched nearly 27 million times.

What's your trick for actually getting out of bed on a Monday?

Google reveals the most-used emoji of every year since 2020

Google has revealed the most-used emoji of every year since 2020, and it's a surprisingly good history lesson.

2020, the year of lockdowns: the face with just eyes and a mouth, which basically means it is what it is. 2021: the face breathing out a little puff of air. Relief, maybe. 2022: the melting face, for embarrassment, burnout or a heatwave. 2023: the pink heart, the gentler, friendly version of the red one. 2024: the head shaking side to side, a hard pass. 2025: the pinched fingers, for chef's kiss or what do you want?

And this year's most-used emoji is the sideways crying-with-laughter face.

What's the one emoji you use more than any other?

Japan's AI-invented pickle lemon tart goes on sale

Would you try a pickle-flavoured lemon tart? Lots of people in Japan are about to.

The convenience store chain Lawson asked AI to come up with brand new snacks, and deliberately didn't tell it what normally sells, so it wouldn't just copy what already exists. Then real chefs made and tasted the ideas and tweaked them until they worked.

The result: a lemon tart with chopped pickles, citrus and cheese; a bread roll filled with red bean paste, butter and yoghurt cream; and a salad of crab sticks, cucumber and radish on rice noodles, set in jelly.

They did well enough in trials earlier this year that they're going on sale in around 4,700 shops from tomorrow. The labels even credit the AI. The tart costs 270 yen, about £1.40.

What's the weirdest food combination you secretly love?

The salons where people pay to be gently scratched

In China, one man has found a very unusual way to help people relax: scratching them.

Zhang Xiaochao, who's 32, runs two salons in Shenzhen. Customers lie on their backs while staff wearing pointy plastic fingernails gently scratch them. It costs about £30 an hour, and he says people use it for stress and to help them sleep. Some tell him it's more relaxing than a massage.

He got the idea from an online video where commenters said they'd happily pay for it. He opened in May and is already making around £11,000 a month, and he wants to open 100 more.

It's quite a turnaround: he says he changed jobs seven times in one year, and two businesses failed before this one.

Would you pay to have your back scratched? And who does it best in your house?

That guilty look on your dog's face isn't guilt at all

If your dog gives you that guilty look after chewing a shoe, science says it isn't guilt.

In a famous experiment, researchers told owners not to let their dogs eat a treat, then left the room. Sometimes the dogs ate it, sometimes they didn't, and sometimes the owners were given false information about what had happened. It made no difference: the dogs that got told off looked guilty whether they'd done anything wrong or not.

In another study, owners were asked to tell just from their dog's face whether it had misbehaved. They got it right no more often than if they'd guessed.

So what's the look? Experts say the head-down, looking-away, lip-licking face is your dog reacting to you being cross and trying to calm things down, not remembering what it did.

Be honest. What's the worst thing your dog's done, and did it look guilty?

Baby girls and boys behave differently within hours of birth

Scientists at the University of Cambridge say boys and girls behave differently just hours after they're born.

They studied 130 newborn babies. Each baby was shown two videos side by side: one of a person's face moving naturally, and one of a Newton's cradle, the office toy with the swinging silver balls. The researchers checking where the babies looked didn't know whether each baby was a boy or a girl.

All the babies preferred the face overall. But the girls spent more of their time looking at the face, while the boys spent more of their time looking at the Newton's cradle.

The team says it's too early for the babies to have learned it, so something before birth, like hormones, may play a part. They stress these are averages, with lots of overlap between boys and girls.

Parents: did you notice a difference between your boys and girls right from the start?

Eating with your partner could be good for your blood sugar

Here's a good excuse for a lunch date. Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have found that having your partner nearby changes how your body handles food.

They gave 108 adults some white bread, once on their own and once with their partner in the room. When their partner was there, their blood sugar rose 24 percent less.

It wasn't just food. With a partner nearby, people also recovered faster after putting their hand in cold water and got less stressed by a mild electric shock. Babies calmed down faster when their mum was close by.

And it wasn't about holding hands or feeling calmer. Just having that person near you seemed to be enough. The results did vary, though, and some people saw no benefit at all.

Who's your go-to lunch partner?

How often should you go to the loo? Most of us are completely normal

Here's one for the breakfast table. How often is it normal to go for a number two?

A big American study of nearly 5,000 adults found that almost everyone, 96 percent, falls somewhere between three times a day and three times a week. So if you're in that range, you're normal.

And if you think everyone else goes like clockwork once a day, a British study found only around a third of women and 40 percent of men actually have a regular daily routine.

Experts say the number on its own doesn't tell you much. What matters more is what it's like and how you feel, and doctors even have a special chart for it, called the Bristol Stool Scale.

We'll leave that one there. Moving swiftly on...