Rucker, Brown make chart history
NASHVILLE — Darius Rucker and Kane Brown are sharing a chart record as the first two solo acts who are also minorities to follow each other with No. 1 country songs in the 28-year history of the Billboard Country Airplay chart.
According to Billboard, Brown, who is biracial, had a two-week No. 1 with “Heaven” and Rucker, who is black, followed him with his single, “For The First Time,” on the chart dated June 2.
Rucker called the achievement “incredible” while Brown said that sharing it with Rucker felt “like an honour.”
In 1975, Latino singers Johnny Rodriguez and Freddy Fender twice followed each other to the top on Billboard’s previous country singles chart.
Brigitte Nielsen pregnant at 54
LOS ANGELES — Fifty-four-year-old model, actress and reality star Brigitte Nielsen is pregnant with her fifth child.
The expectant Nielsen posted photos of herself lounging on Instagram and Twitter. She wrote the family is getting larger.
The “Rocky IV” costar is the mother of four sons, ranging in age from 23 to 34.
She married her fifth husband, Mattia Dessi, in 2006.
Nielsen didn’t reveal a due date.
32 years later, sequel to Top Gun
LOS ANGELES — Tom Cruise is back on the flight line for a sequel to the 1986 film “Top Gun.”
The actor on Thursday tweeted a photo of himself as Navy pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in a flight suit, looking at a fighter jet. The photo includes the phrase “feel the need.” In the original movie, Cruise’s character talks about how he feels the need for speed.
The movie is scheduled for release in July 2019.
Mellencamp heads to Songwriters Hall
The new Songwriters Hall of Fame class includes John Mellencamp, Alan Jackson, Jermaine Dupri, Kool & the Gang, Allee Willis, Bill Anderson and Steve Dorff. Sara Bareilles, Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge and Neil Diamond — who announced he has Parkinson’s disease earlier this year — will receive special honours.The ceremony will be held later this month.