Radiohead have released a song that they wrote and recorded for the James Bond movie Spectre. Radiohead's song "didn't work out" for the movie, they say, but the band are proud of it — and released the track via SoundCloud on Friday as a holiday gift to their fans. Radiohead say they "were asked" to write a song for the film; while they're a little vague about exactly whom did the asking, presumably it was the film's producers, who ended up opting for a Sam Smith song as the film's theme. (Rolling Stone)

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/239061508" params="auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%" height="450" iframe="true" /]

Singer William Guest has died of heart failure at age 74. Guest was a founding member of the Pips — Gladys Knight's famous supporting singers — and sang on all the group's hits with Knight. As a member of Glady Knight and the Pips, Guest was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. (Rolling Stone)

Singer Stevie Wright has died at age 68. Wright was the frontman for the Easybeats, one of Australia's biggest rock bands in the 1960s. The band's best-known song, "Friday on My Mind" (1966), has been covered by David Bowie and Bruce Springsteen among many others. (Billboard)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBJLoYd8xak

Janet Jackson has postponed the remainder of her Unbreakable World Tour while she undergoes surgery for an undisclosed ailment. Announcing the postponement on Twitter, Jackson asked for her fans' prayers, and assured them that she's "Gon' b alright." (Rolling Stone) The tour made a local stop on Nov. 2, which became Janet Jackson Day in the City of Minneapolis.

The original Star Wars cast got back together for the new movie The Force Awakens — and some moviegoers over the weekend saw a mysterious trailer that may hint at another impending reunion. The montage of crowd shots soundtracked by Guns N' Roses fueled mounting rumors that Axl Rose and Slash may once again tour together. (Billboard)

Once the shock of the Beatles' catalog being available on streaming services subsided, music fans were curious to know: what would prove to be the band's most popular songs among listeners? We now have the answer, at least among Spotify listeners over the holiday weekend. In the U.S. and the U.K., the Beatles' most popular three songs were the same: "Come Together," followed by "Hey Jude" and "Here Comes the Sun." (Rolling Stone)

Adele has done it: having already become the first artist to have an album sell over a million copies in each of two separate weeks, she added another feather to her cap when 25 sold over a million copies for a third separate week in the lead-up to Christmas. 25 has now sold over seven million copies. (Billboard)

After taking last year off while recovering from his bicycle injury, Bono resumed his annual holiday tradition of busking in Dublin on Christmas Eve to raise money for the homeless. This year, a group including Hozier and Glen Hansard joined Bono for a performance of U2's songs "When Love Comes to Town" and "Every Breaking Wave." (Pitchfork)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faCj3-s1H_A

On Friday, Timbaland released a new mixtape with a very special guest appearance: Aaliyah. A previously unreleased vocal track by the singer, who worked closely with Timbaland before her death in 2001, is part of the track "Shakin." (Billboard)

Barack and Michelle Obama have published a holiday playlist to Spotify, as have Joe and Jill Biden. Among the things we learned: the Obamas are fans of the Destiny's Child holiday album, and the Bidens apparently prefer U2's take on "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" to the original by Darlene Love. (Billboard)