this week's hot headlines

Rodeo concert reviews and new Ren Fest docuseries dominate top stories

Editor's note: It's time to recap the top stories on CultureMap from this past week.

1. Bun B, Drake, and hip hop all-stars cowboy up at historic RodeoHouston performance. The 33-song, 90-minute set featured a who’s-who of internationally recognized stars, including Drake, Nelly, Rick Ross, Eve, Ying Yang Twins, That Mexican OT, and DMC of Run-DMC..

2. Nickelback burns Houston to the ground with sold out RodeoHouston debut. Canada’s biggest rock export's RodeoHouston debut proved why they sell out arenas and amphitheaters around the world.

3. Dramatic new docuseries on the Texas Renaissance Festival could be the next Tiger King. The series is unexpectedly and deeply funny in the way only true stories can be.

4. Meet the entrepreneurial couple behind a River Oaks Tex-Mex institution. From their legendary Thursday night parties to their businesses in Katy, Cinda and Armando Palacios share their story in this interview.

5. Yellowstone star Lainey Wilson enthralls at sold-out RodeoHouston debut. Almost 75,000 were lucky enough to witness the birth of country music’s newest star.

Bun B All American Takeover Rodeo 2024 DMC

Photo by Marco Torres/@marcofromhouston

Rap pioneer DMC joined Bun B on Bun's House.

H-Town rising

Houston leaps back into top 50 'World's Best Cities' list for 2025

Photo by Adrian Newell on Unsplash

Houston made a big leap back into the top 50, ranking No. 40, after previously plummeting into No. 72 last year.

Lively Houston has regained its rightful place among the top 50 best cities in the world, according to a prestigious new report by Resonance Consultancy.

The Canada-based real estate and tourism marketing advisors ranked Houston the 40th best city worldwide for 2025 in its annual "World's Best Cities" list.

The report quantifies the relative qualities of livability, "lovability," and prosperity for the world's top 100 cities with metropolitan populations of 1 million or more. New to the 10th anniversary edition, Resonance partnered with global market researchers Ipsos to include perception-based data into the rankings, surveying over 22,000 people in 30 countries worldwide to determine "the most desirable places to visit, live or work."

Houston made a major rebound after plummeting to No. 73 in last year's report. In 2022, Houston ranked No. 42.

Resonance refers to its previous "World's Best Cities" reports and its 2024 "America's Best Cities" list – which ranked Houston in the top 10 – when explaining the Bayou City's successes. The report praised Houston's vast cultural diversity and placed a great focus on its economic prosperity, even going so far as to suggest Houston residents make more money "and can sock more away."

"...[W]here America’s fourth-largest city truly takes off is in its economic heft and wealth, ranking No. 9 globally for GDP per Capita and No. 14 for Fortune 500 companies in town," the report said. "All that rolls up into an overall Prosperity index ranking of No. 36, which is even more impressive given the No. 14-ranked Price-to Income Ratio [of the city]."

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin and Dallas also earned spots on the World's Best Cities list for 2025, but only one made a similar rebound from the previous year's rankings. Dallas moved up from No. 66 in last year's report to its current rank as No. 55. Meanwhile, Austin took its first tumble out of the 43rd spot (which it had occupied for two years straight) and now ranks No. 53.

London held onto its crown as the No. 1 best city in the world for 2025, followed by New York (No. 2), Paris (No. 3), Tokyo (No. 4), and Singapore (No. 5).