Taylor Swift - Idolator

friday chart preview

Surprise, Surprise: Nas Takes Over The Top Spot

According to early reports, Nas has managed to pull off the seemingly impossible task of keeping Lil Wayne and Coldplay from the top spot on the Billboard albums chart. Of course, what with Miley Cyrus' album dropping next week, Nas shouldn't get too used to life on top, but around 200,000 albums sold is a decent take for an album with minimal radio airplay. Meanwhile, Tha Carter III appears to have Viva La Vida beat in the longevity game, taking second with an estimated 110,000 album sales to Coldplay's 85-90,000. The Camp Rock soundtrack slots into fourth with a projected 80-85,000 copies sold, while Kid Rock's resurgence continues with another 75,000 albums sold this week for fifth place. The rest of the top ten is a logjam in the 50,000-sold range with the Mamma Mia soundtrack, John Mellencamp, O.A.R., David Banner, Taylor Swift and NOW 28 all falling somewhere near that number. [HITS Daily Double]

9:45 AM on Fri Jul 18 2008
By Dan Gibson
155 views, 4 comments

Latest by tigerpop: O.A.R. -- O RLY? more »

project x

Project X Plays with Some Of "Our Favorite Things"

As part of Idolator's continuing effort to geekily analyze every music chart known to man, we present a new edition of Project X, in which Michaelangelo Matos breaks down rankings from every genre imaginable. In this installment, he talks about the way experimental-music quarterly Signal To Noise broke free from the typical listicle template: More »

12:00 PM on Fri Jun 20 2008
By Michaelangelo Matos
480 views, 2 comments

why does it not surprise me that ashlee simpson likes sublime?

Seventeen Magazine Lets You Openly Judge The Taste Of The Stars

Seventeen (which the idea of my infant daughter reading someday fills my heart with dread already) is rolling out widgets that are complete with animated somethings and interactive whatsits, which play tracks selected by today's biggest pop stars with sizable teen audiences. Apparently, if you are in fact a teenage girl, you could express your fandom for your favorite artist by embedding this sort of thing on your Facebook page. Instead, let's just take a look at the artists' choices, and validiate our existing feelings about their artistic output! More »

12:30 PM on Tue May 6 2008
By Dan Gibson
1,029 views, 9 comments

Latest by n/a: Jeez, Gibson, you have EVERYTHING, huh. more »

everybody's a winner

The CMT Awards Take "One-Hit Wonder" Jokes To An Uncomfortable New Level

Last night's CMT Music Awards—the country-music television network's version of its sister network MTV's Video Music Awards—veered into "a little more than slightly excruciating" territory when co-host Miley Cyrus tripped her way through a Taylor Swift intro in which she talked about texting the glittery-guitar-hoisting country protege incessantly, an endless setup to what would be one of many "ha ha, Dad, I'm paying your bills!" zingers that the Hannah Montana star sent in the direction of her father/svengali, "Achy Breaky Heart" singer Billy Ray Cyrus. (Yes, he performed the line dance that sent him and his mullet to stardom back in 1992, the same year his cash cow was sired.) The opening skit, in which Trace Adkins and his really greasy mop tried currying favor with everyone from Donald Trump to the three remaining Presidential candidates in order to get passes to the show, also mined that route; its final punchline was that Billy Ray was making extra scratch by scalping tickets, which were of course hot properties because of his daughter's presence. That girl is going to be so messed up in three years. Full list of winners—which includes three awards for Kellie Pickler, two for Taylor Swift, and one for that super-creepy video where Jon Bon Jovi and Leann Rimes make out—after the jump. More »

9:15 AM on Tue Apr 15 2008
By Maura Johnston
2,327 views, 11 comments

Latest by Silverfuture: @Clevertrousers: You're obviously out-of-touch and elitist. more »

yay, journalism!

Someone Figured Out A Way To Make The "Women In Rock" Concept Even More Offensive

I've been trying to muster up a response to this bit of Tony Sclafani-penned nonsense written under the delusion that, since this year's Best New Artist category in the Grammys is made up of female-fronted bands from tip to toe, it's time to trot out the old "Women In Rock Rock!" trope that has brought so much lazy "trend" journalism to the world in recent years. My objections have, of course, been laid out in this space: the whole idea of creating women as Others in music only serves to further cement the old patriarchal ways, if someone like Feist whose persona possesses a lot of traditionally feminine traits succeeds is it really "progress," etc., etc. But every time I try to read the damn thing, I can't get past its first line, which should probably be in some Hall Of Fame for bad lede-writing because of its blend of bubbleheadeness, press-release-ready bland hyperbole, and, uh, schoolyard taunts: More »

4:50 PM on Wed Feb 6 2008
By Maura Johnston
941 views, 19 comments

Latest by Moimeme: @teknohed: But...why can't we just sing the guys' songs? Better than they sing them? more »

videodrone

Taylor Swift Has Surprisingly Decent Flow

Country ingenue Taylor Swift was a mere tot (well, OK, a preteen) when Eminem's "Lose Yourself" made it big, but apparently its message stuck with the 18-year-old singer, as evidenced by this pretty spot-on snippet of the song that she performed live in California late last spring. You know, this rendition of his most motivational hit may be just what Eminem needs to rouse himself from the burrito-clouded, hermitlike state that he's currently existing in. Someone get her (and a chaperone) on a plane! [YouTube, via koganbot]

4:45 PM on Thu Jan 17 2008
By Maura Johnston
457 views, 3 comments

Latest by Charles A. Hohman: She is phenomenal. Hence her presence among my top five artists of 2007. Seriously, Swift's self-titled album is probably the best mainstream country debut since "Wide Open Spaces" a decade ago, and may prove every bit as influential in the more »

100 and single

Heckuva Job, Brownie: Chris B. Has A Good Week On The Hot 100

Ed. note: Chris "dennisobell" Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on the Billboard Hot 100 in the latest installment of "100 And Single": More »

4:15 PM on Thu Jan 17 2008
By Chris Molanphy
499 views, 5 comments

Idolator

"Rough"-ing It In East Africa