Led by milestones and box-office momentum: BTS’s “SWIM” became the first 2026 song to pass one billion Spotify streams, Taylor Swift marked 20 years since her debut album while holding the Hot 100 top spot with “Patient Zero,” DC horror film Clayface earned a rare A- CinemaScore on its way to a projected $23-25 million opening, and Indian cinema kept building toward Diwali with Jailer 2 nearing Rs 350 crore net in India and Ramayana posting strong advance bookings, while new Nigerian Afrobeats releases and a cancelled European tour rounded out a busy global weekend.
- Global Movies: Clayface earned $9.5 million on its opening day including $3.5 million in Thursday previews and is estimated for a $23-25 million weekend, with an A- CinemaScore treated as unusually strong for R-rated body horror
- Global Movies / Celebrities: Quentin Tarantino closed his AFI Fest Q&A by showing the first 17 minutes of Cliff Booth, David Fincher’s follow-up project, with Fincher saying he cut 60 pages from Tarantino’s original script
- Global Celebrities: Nicole Kidman is profiled in a “red-hot renaissance” at 59, starring in Lioness season 3, filming Discretion, and returning to Nine Perfect Strangers
- Bollywood Pop / Global Movies: Rajinikanth’s Jailer 2 collected Rs 14.50 crore net on day 9, taking India net to Rs 348.85 crore and worldwide gross to Rs 628.05 crore
- Bollywood Pop: Ayushmann Khurrana and Sara Ali Khan’s Udta Teer opened at Rs 4.10 crore net on day 1, with India gross of Rs 4.82 crore and worldwide gross of Rs 4.92 crore
- Bollywood Pop: Ranbir Kapoor and Yash’s Ramayana sold 1.79 lakh tickets across 4,335 shows by October 24, for Rs 7.93 crore gross in day-1 advance booking, 12 days before its November 5 release
- Bollywood Pop / Celebrities: Rakul Preet Singh and Arjun Kapoor praised Luv Ranjan’s Pehla Pyaar Doosri Baar as a nostalgic, emotional ride for its newcomers, while Saiyaara star Shaan R Grover headlines the genre-bending thriller Junglywood
- K-pop: BTS’s “SWIM” passed 1 billion Spotify streams on October 24, becoming the first song released anywhere in 2026 to reach the mark and BTS’s fastest track to do so
- K-pop: RESCENE topped October’s singer brand reputation rankings ahead of BTS and Lim Young Woong, based on data collected September 24 to October 24
- K-pop / Global Movies: BTS’s ARIRANG tour will screen in Indian theatres via PVR INOX, with Buenos Aires on October 25 and São Paulo on October 31
- Western Pop (US/UK): Taylor Swift’s “Patient Zero” remains No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a third week, with Tame Impala and JENNIE’s “Dracula” at No. 5 and Karol G’s “BbY WOW” at No. 9
- Western Pop / Celebrities: Taylor Swift’s self-titled debut album turned 20 on October 24, 2006 to 2026, with a new Tennessean documentary revisiting her Nashville beginnings
- Western Pop / Euro-pop / Indie Pop: Slayyyter cancelled the remaining UK and European dates of her tour after doctor visits for laryngitis and vocal cord tears, with full vocal rest ordered for at least two weeks
- Latin Pop: Karol G’s “BbY WOW” is only her second Billboard Hot 100 top 10 entry, joining the week’s top 10 alongside ADÉLA’s “Nicole Kidman” and Dominic Fike’s “Babydoll”
- Afro-pop: New October 24 Nigerian releases include Fireboy DML’s “C’est La Vie” from his album ZUKO!, Reekado Banks’ “Mercy”, and Mayorkun’s “Kaluba”
- C-pop, V-pop, T-pop, P-pop, Indo-pop, Malay-pop, Arab-pop, Turkish Pop, French Pop, Synth-pop, Electro-pop and City Pop: No separate verified top headline for these scenes appeared in today’s checked sources, so they are not filled in here rather than invented.
