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Chart Beat

Punjabi Artist Navaan Sandhu Debuts 'The Finest' On Billboard Canadian Albums Chart

The singer makes his first appearance on the chart, debuting at No. 97. Also, after a Drake-assisted hometown show at Budweiser Stage, PartyNextDoor has re-debuted on the chart.

Navaan Sandhu

Navaan Sandhu

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Punjabi singer Navaan Sandhu is doing just fine on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart this week.

Sandhu makes his first appearance on the chart with his new album The Finest debuting at No. 97. The chart debut is yet another indicator of Punjabi music's popularity in the country.


Amritsar-born Sandhu has been racking up millions of streams with The Finest. The music video for the album's title track, released two weeks ago, has 2.9 million views. The high-energy track finds Sandhu singing over ominous strings and powerful hand claps.

Some of Sandhu's followers are also big fans of the late Sidhu Moose Wala, who helped elevate Punjabi music in Canada. One comment on the music video reads: "Sidhu was king Navaan is prince."

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Sandhu was going to play a short Live Nation-presented tour of Canada last year, though those dates appear to have been postponed. He was recently announced as a guest on veteran Punjabi artist Yo Yo Honey Singh's new album, Glory.

Elsewhere on the chart, Kanye West's Vultures 2 is the No. 1 album in Canada, while *NSYNC's Greatest Hits makes a chart debut at No. 80, thanks to Deadpool & Wolverine. PartyNextDoor's P4 re-enters at No. 87 following his Budweiser Stage performances in Toronto, which saw a special appearance by Party's longtime collaborator Drake.

Over on the Canadian Hot 100, Shaboozey holds the No. 1 spot for an 11th week with "A Bar Song (Tipsy)." Chappell Roan hits a new peak at No. 8 with "Good Luck, Babe!" following her standout Osheaga performance, and Charli XCX enters at No. 9 with a Billie Eilish-assisted "Guess."

Check out the full charts here.

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Théodora
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Théodora

Concerts

Francos de Montréal 2025 Highlights: One Language, A Thousand Faces

From June 13 to 22, Montreal transformed into a vibrant capital of Francophone music. From French rapper Théodora to local rockers Corridor, this year’s acts showed that the French language, far from static, is an endless playground.

In Montréal, June rhymes with music, and Francos de Montréal are the perfect proof. Once again this year, the festival celebrated the full richness of the French language in its most lively, vibrant, and above all, varied forms. While French served as a common thread, every artist inhabited it in their own unique way – with their accent, life experience, expressions, imagery and struggles. Between urban poetry, edgy rock and hybrid Creole, Francos 2025 showed that French has never been so expansive – or popular.

What Francos 2025 proved is that the French language is no fixed monument. It’s alive, inventive, plural. It can be slammed by a poet from Saint-Denis, chanted by an afro-futurist rapper, whispered by an indie band, or hammered out in Montréal neighbourhood slang. From Congolese expressions to Québec regionalisms, from playful anglicisms to Creole nods, the French language danced in every form this year. It was « full bon »!

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