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A lot was made of Squid Game surpassing Bridgerton to become Netflix’s biggest show ever (according to Netflix), with a staggering 1.65 billion hours viewed in its first four weeks of release compared to only (“only”) 625 millions for the Shonda Rhimes-created series. But Squid Game wasn’t Netflix’s most popular title in 2021, not even close.

Deadline reports that “Lucifer, a drama that debuted on the Fox broadcast network before becoming a Netflix show in 2018, topped Nielsen’s list of the most-streamed original series of 2021 in the United States.” All that honest-to-god silliness paid off:

The 93 total episodes of the series netted more than 18.3 billion minutes of streaming during the year, according to the measurement firm’s year-end report. That put it well in front of Squid Game‘s 16.4 billion, but the Korean phenomenon had only nine episodes on Netflix in 2021.

Netflix dominated Nielsen’s chart of 2021’s most watched streaming shows; the first non-Netflix series is all the way down at number 10, with Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, followed by Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso at #12 and Disney+’s WandaVision. Every other show in the top 15? Netflix, including The Great British Bake Off at #3. It also took the top 12 spots among acquired shows, topped by 33.8 billion minutes for Criminal Minds.

Meanwhile, Disney+ is the Netflix of 2021’s most-viewed movies list, taking nine of the top 11 spots, including Luca with over 10 billion minutes and Moana and Raya and the Last Dragon with over eight billion minutes. The only non-Disney+ or Netflix title is Amazon’s surprisingly fun The Tomorrow War at #12. You can see the full charts here.

(Via Deadline)

Lana Del Rey put out not one but two records last ear, and both Chemtrails Over The Country Club and Blue Banisters built on the slower, more folk-oriented sound she’s hewed to over the last few years. Her latest single, however, sounds pretty vintage Lana. Yes, it’s slightly more wispy, and her voice is a little wavery, but the classic strings and piano behind her melodies are a bit more structured than, at least, her 2021 output.

After teasing the new song in the Euphoria trailer a few days ago, “Watercolor Eyes” officially debuted within the show. Of course, this is nothing new for Lana, who is the queen of pairing her songs with cinematic events. Some might even argue she’s the queen of soundtracks, and getting a song in the next hot new TV show is just par for the course for Lana.

Since the pop star disappeared off social media, she’s been a lot more prolific, so maybe a few of us creative types can take a hint from that? Anyway, there’s been no news about yet another new Lana album as of yet, so it’s very possible the song is just a one-off released for the show. But then again, at the rate she’s going lately, this might well be the precursor for yet another project.

After making a strong arrival in 2019 with Dior Deposits, Guapdad 4000 brought things to a new level last year with 1176 alongside Illmind. The fourteen songs on the project, which featured contributions from Buddy, P-Lo, and more, showed the Bay Area rapper’s artistic growth. Keeping this in mind, he also makes sure to have some fun with his music and that’s what he does on his latest single, “I Need Bands.”

The track, which marks Guapdad’s first song of the year, captures his tunnel vision approach towards stacking his paper over a sample of LL Cool J’s seminal 1987 hit “I Need Love.” Ironically enough, the video released with the song shows him freely spending his money at strip clubs and high-end luxury stores. The song also proves that Guapdad’s mindset hasn’t changed despite it being a new year as “I Need Bands” arrives just a month after he delivered a music video for “Money.” The track was the first song the rapper released following his 1176 album with Illmind.

Guapdad’s 2021 year also included a remix of “How Many” with Rick Ross, videos for “Chicken Adobo” and “She Wanna” with P-Lo, and great collaboration between him and fellow West Coast rapper Buddy for “PlayStation.” His 2020 year featured two EPs: Platinum Falcon Tape, Vol. 1, and Platinum Falcon Returns.

You can watch the video for “I Need Bands” above.

Guapdad 4000 is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Gary Payton II has carved out quite the role for himself in Golden State this season after bouncing around the league and G League for a few years, showing the importance of finding a team that can provide a role catered to your strengths.

Payton is a tenacious defender and a great cutter and high-flyer on the offensive end, which the Warriors have embraced without trying to get him to play a traditional on-ball guard role, as that’s not his strength. The result has been a career-year and an awful lot of people wondering why the hell he wasn’t on a roster in a solid role prior to this season. Golden State is the beneficiary of the rest of the league not being creative enough to put Payton on the floor in spots where he can be his best self, and much of the league has been treated to Payton’s exploits as a dunker as a result.

One of his best so far this season came on Thursday night against the Pacers when Payton rose up, hung in the air, and banged on Goga Bitadze to the delight of the crowd in San Francisco.

It was a ferocious dunk and Payton gave Bitadze a staredown that enraged the big fella, to the point that he got in Payton’s face and then…tried to nibble his nose??!

It’s hard to tell from this angle what exactly Bitadze was doing if not taking a little bite, but whatever it was earned him a trip to the showers as he was ejected from the game. The best part is how Payton doesn’t react at all to Bitadze, simply scratching the top of his head as a little reminder that he just put one on him, while Goga tries to intimidate him with a chomp.

The start of 2022 marks another year of independence for Big KRIT. The Mississippi-bred rapper returned to the indie route back in 2017 prior to the release of his third album 4eva Is A Mighty Long Time. He followed up that project with 2019’s KRIT Iz Here, and now KRIT is ready to grace the world with his fifth album. The rapper announced that the project, which remains untitled, is complete through posts on social media with a caption that read, “Album Officially Turned In” with the hashtag #DRDD, which could be the abbreviation for the album.

Just days after that announcement, KRIT makes a quick return to drop off his first release of the year with “So Cool.” The track is a lush and laid-back release from KRIT that shows off his soulful side. In the song, he shares how he remains cool at all times thanks to his confident aura and his determination to stay cool, calm, and collected no matter the occasion.

The new song and video come after KRIT spent most of 2021 reuploading his past mixtapes to streaming services. These project were 2010’s KRIT Wuz Here, 2011’s Return Of 4eva, 2012’s 4eva In A Day, 2013’s King Remembered In Time, and 2015’s It’s Better This Way — which can all be enjoyed to the fullest extent thanks to their presence on platforms like Apple Music and Spotify. He also continued his “Sub” series in 2019 with its fifth installment, “Ballad Of The Bass (My Suv V).”

You can press play on “So Cool” in the video above.

In just a few weeks, 2 Chainz will drop his Dope Don’t Sell Itself album, his first full-length release in almost two years. He began the rollout for the project, which may be his “last trap album,” by releasing “Million Dollars Worth Of Game” with 42 Dugg. Just a couple of weeks later, 2 Chainz is back with a second single for his listeners to enjoy. “Pop Music” finds the Atlanta rap star standing beside Moneybagg Yo and Beatking for a fun and energetic single.

The track is an ideal release for the strip club, with the three artists encouraging the women around them to shake what their mommas gave them. 2 Chainz leads the way with a lighthearted verse before Moneybagg Yo comes in to handle business on the second verse. Beatking holds it all together with a simple but effective hook on the track. The trio also released a music video for the song and it’s a risque visual, obviously inspired by the infamous Freaknik festival, that’s filled with plenty of women who have no issue with twerking their lives away.

Prior to “Pop Music” and “Million Dollars Worth Of Game,” 2 Chainz united with DJ Premier to show off their tunnel vision spirits on “Mortgage Free.” As for Moneybagg Yo, he recently teamed up with French Montana for a video for their “FWMGAB” remix.

You can watch the video for “Pop Music” and check out the artwork for Dope Don’t Sell Itself above.

Dope Don’t Sell Itself is due 2/4 via Def Jam.

Dope Don’t Sell Itself is out 2/4 via Def Jam. Pre-order it here.

Shenseea has made quite the name for herself in the dancehall lane. She’s just a few months removed from landing two guest appearances on Kanye West’s tenth album Donda where she’s featured on “Ok Ok Pt. 2” and “Pure Souls.” Shenseea has also worked with artists like Tyga, Masego, Swae Lee, and more, but today, she returns with what will surely go down as one of her biggest collaborations. Shenseea and Megan Thee Stallion team up for the new song “Lick,” which comes with quite the music video that will certainly earn itself plenty of attention.

Through the song (and its raunchy music video) Shenseea and Megan Thee Stallion look to offer proper instructions on just how to lick. Context clues from the song should help clarify what is being licked, and if that’s not enough, the track’s accompanying music video should do the job. Shenseea and Megan strut their stuff in Candyland throughout the visual which features lollipops, ice cream, and other tasty treats.

The song arrives after Megan released a teaser ad with Cheetos that saw the rapper gearing up to meet some exotic animals. Prior to that, she signed a first-look production deal with Netflix.

You can watch the video for “Lick” above.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The music world hasn’t gone too long with an album from 21 Savage. He ended his 2021 year with two singles, “No Debate” and “Big Smoke,” songs that arrived after a period filled with guest features alongside names like Drake, Rick Ross, Roddy Ricch, Nardo Wick, Young Nudy, and more. In 2020, he teamed up with Metro Boomin for Savage Mode II which gave both him and Metro the second No. 1 albums of their careers. Despite all of this, it’s been a little over three years since 21 Savage dropped a solo album, which was 2018’s I Am > I Was, and he’s looking to change that soon.

The Atlanta rapper teased the project in a tweet from the Billboard Charts Twitter account which said that he was tied for fifth place with the most entries on the singles chart this year. “No album in a year and a half tho…it’s time,” 21 Savage. That tweet references Savage Mode II with Metro Boomin but it’s been even longer without a solo album from him, a streak that will hopefully end in the coming months.

The tweet from 21 Savage comes after he and Baby Tate joined JID for their “Surround Sound” collaboration. Prior to that, he teamed up with Gunna on “Thought I Was Playing,” where he insisted that Kanye West broke up with Kim Kardashian and not the other way around as we all know it.

You can view 21 Savage’s tweet above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Democrats supposedly have control of the Senate, but two right-leaning Democrats, Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin refused to vote with their party in what’s only the latest of departures for them. This issue, however, will bring far-reaching effects because it affects the very foundation of our country. That would be Manchin and Sinema’s effective shutting down of voting rights legislation — The Freedom to Vote Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would have helped improve access to voting by marginalized communities that are affected by gerrymandering and the like.

After this move, the Arizona Democratic Party appears to have had enough and issued a statement about Sinema. The timing says a lot here, given that this didn’t really happen when Sinema raved about Mitch McConnell (while denying that she’d go Republican) or when she gave a literal thumbs-down on a minimum wage vote. Here’s part of the Arizona Democratic Party’s response (from Chair Raquel Terán), via Raw Story:

“This should not be a partisan issue — the duty to protect our most fundamental right to vote is one that we all share. Despite last night’s outcome, our fight to protect the rights of Arizonans by passing the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act continues.

“We were counting on Senator Sinema to fight for Arizona, find a path forward, and protect our democracy, but on this issue she has fallen short… Right now, Arizona is ground-zero for the modern-day fight for voting rights, and we don’t have any time to waste.”

“She has fallen short” seems like a pretty clear-cut way to say that the ADP has had enough of Sinema’s antics. As well, her largest donor has denounced Sinema, which does not bode well for her reelection, at least as a Democrat.

(Via Raw Story)

Geraldo Rivera’s one of the only Fox News personalities these days who’s not diving into far-right territory. He’s not afraid to tell his fellow talking heads where he doesn’t agree, particularly when it comes to Tucker Carlson spreading anti-vaxxer misinformation. Recently, he went off on went off on “arrogant, selfish” antivaxxers, and he’s unafraid to say that he wants to kick them “in the ass” while also coming for Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld’s on The Five when they argue.

On Thursday afternoon, Jesse Watters slipped in a fast one and a twist on the Big Lie while declaring that Biden “allegedly got more votes than any other person in American history.” In response, Dana Perino signaled her agreement, yet Geraldo didn’t let it slip past him: “Why do you say allegedly?”

It’s worth noting that CBS News performed a fact check not too long ago to confirm that, yep, Joe Biden “[set] a new record with more than 81,284,000 vote” in 2020. That compares to Obama’s 69 million and Trump’s 74 million, even though Trump continues to bizarrely (and falsely) insist (with the occasional truthful slip-up) that the election was stolen from him.

With all of this said, it’s worth wondering how long Geraldo will hang at Fox News. He’s been there for decades, but then again, Chris Wallace (another rare independent thinker at the conservative news network) decided to head to CNN+ after an 18 year tenure. Or maybe Geraldo simply likes arguing with his co-workers, which seems awfully stressful.