Loading ...Who’d have thought that a “YouTube sensation” would wind up with the best sales week of 2009? When all was said and done, Susan Boyle’s I Dreamed A Dream ended up selling 701,000 copies last week, reports Billboard. Needless to say, it debuted at #1 on the trade publication’s Top 200 Albums chart.
The warbling minx not only dethroned John Mayer from the top—his Battle Studies got bumped all the way down to #13. So how did things shake out with Adam Lambert, Lady Gaga and Rihanna? More »
The suspense surrounding the John Mayer/50 Cent/Kris Allen/Norah Jones/Justin Bieber/Leona Lewis battle ended today, as Billboard has reported the Top 200 Albums chart positions for the new entries.
It’s probably no surprise that John Mayer landed at #1 after selling 286,000 copies of Battle Studies. However, Kris Allen’s chart debut might make a few of the American Idol winner’s fans live like they’re dying—or just drop dead in general. More »
The other night, Chelsea Handler joked to Justin Bieber that she would help him knock John Mayer out of the way in this week’s album sales race. However, judging by Billboard’s early estimates, it’ll take a lot more than the E! host’s quips to slay Mayer’s Battle Studies. More »
Perhaps not surprisingly, Bon Jovi bumped Carrie Underwood down and rocked their way to the top of the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart with The Circle in a week that is pretty much the calm before the high-profile release storm. But—yeeowch!—the 163,000 copies the New Jersey band moved over the seven days sales were tracked is quite a dip from the 292,000 their last set, Lost Highway, did. More »
This morning a press release went out touting Amazon presales for Britain’s Got Talent-propelled belter Susan Boyle’s debut album; “Susan Boyle’s I Dreamed A Dream is Amazon.com Music’s Largest CD Pre-Order,” the headline touted, and once again, many a media outlet eagerly reported this bit of non-news. While the appetite for Boyle’s sorta-brassy voice and up-from-under backstory among the segment of people who still buy CDs—your Streisand fans, your Bubléholics—is probably undeniable, the lack of numbers in the press release is enough to make me get all existential. You know—what does it all mean, man? After the jump, a little bit of number-crunching with the press release’s top 10. More »
Norah Jones has a new album coming out in November, and it’ll feature contributions from chameleonic musician/famous type Ryan Adams, Okkervil River frontman Will Sheff, and avant-garde guitarist Marc Ribot, as well as songs that she worked on with the co-writer of her breakout hit “Don’t Know Why,” Jesse Harris. (Am I the only person who thought of “Don’t Know Why” as more of a slightly more mannered indiepop song than anything “jazzy”? No? OK.) [Billboard] More »
Last night’s 30 Rock season finale closed out with a grand parody of one of those celebrity-studded benefit songs, a la “We’re Sending Our Love Down This Well” and “What’s Going On ‘01.” “Kidney Now!” saw Cyndi Lauper, Michael McDonald, Mary J. Blige, Elvis Costello, Norah Jones, and a slew of other well/sorta-well-known musicians warbling in honor of Jack Donaghy’s dad (played by Alan Alda)’s nephorotic needs. There’s even a splashy mini-site with a karaoke version of the track to go along with it–although Clay Aiken fans are probably going to get a bit riled up, given that its list of participating celebrities somehow managed to exclude their hero, perhaps because of his alleged relation to Kenneth the Page. (Take heart, Claymates: Mike D got left off the list as well, and he doesn’t even have your insane completely devoted fanbase!) Clip after the jump. More »
Nominations for the Academy Awards are announced tomorrow, and we can’t help but wonder what five tracks will be in the running for Best Original Song. It’s been an oddly good year for music in movies—relatively speaking, anyway—and while there’s no reason to have faith that the Academy will make anything other than a tacky choice for the winner, there might be some surprises in the nominations. The Golden Globes nominated songs from Wall-E, Gran Torino, Cadillac Records, Bolt, and The Wrestler, ultimately going with Bruce Springsteen’s song from the latter for the win. But maybe something else will sneak in? Something from High School Musical 3, perhaps? A list of the most intriguing contenders is after the jump.
