Britney’s Las Vegas Show Is a Hit

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Concerts / Tours, Industry News, Pop,

Britney Spears' residency is already the best-selling Las Vegas show of the year.

The "Perfume" singer, who kicked off Britney: Piece Of Me at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino on December 27 last year, has already outsold Las Vegas residencies by Celine Dion, Elton John, Shania Twain and Rod Stewart. It is also the third highest-selling residency ever, behind Elton John's, which began in 2009, and Celine Dion's show, which started in 2011.

The 32-year-old star has only performed four shows so far, but tickets are on sale for concerts through to September. According to ticket website StubHub, 14 per cent of all tickets sold for Britney's show so far this year were for her February 14 concert, although they have declined to provide exact sales figures.

A number of big names have already been to see Britney live in Las Vegas, including Katy Perry, Adam Lambert and Miley Cyrus, who was seen dancing on the front row during the first 90-minute show in December.

Gallery: Britney’s Las Vegas Show Is a Hit

Britney’s Album Set to Flop?

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Gossip, The Charts, Pop, New Releases,

Britney Spears is facing embarrassment over sales of her new album.

According to early figures, Britney Jean, the singer's eighth studio album shifted just 6,400 copies on its first day of release, including pre-orders. The record, which features her single "Work B*tch," is currently at number 14 in the UK Album Chart and was released on Monday after being streamed on iTunes for a week for fans.

Critics have described the songs as "disappointing," but the 32-year-old singer said she is proud of the effort. In an open letter on her website, she said, "I poured my heart and soul into this album. I know I keep telling you it is my most personal record yet, but it's true and I'm really proud of that. I have been through a lot in the past few years and it has really inspired me to dig deeper and write songs that I think everyone can relate to."

The pop star, who will start her Las Vegas residency at Planet Hollywood this month, sold more than 30 million copies worldwide of her debut record Baby One More Time, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time.

Gallery: Britney’s Album Set to Flop?

David Bowie Single Banned from Charts

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: The Charts, Dance, Electronic, Rock, iTunes, New Releases, Sales,

David Bowie's new single has been banned from the UK charts.

The legendary singer released "Where Are We Now?" - his first track in 10 years - on Tuesday to coincide with his 66th birthday and it shot straight to the top of the iTunes downloads chart. But as well as being sold, it is also being given away to fans who pre-order his album, so chart bosses say it cannot be counted.

The Official Charts Company said, "It is not possible to distinguish album sales from track sales from the retail data."

Bowie's album, The Next Day, is out in March but already tops the iTunes chart with advance orders.

Yesterday, it was revealed Bowie wanted his new album cover to be as "minimal and undesigned as possible." The main picture on The Next Day was made by the singer with design company Barnbrook, and features the cover of his 1977 album Heroes in black and white, with the middle part obscured by a white block featuring the album's title.

Click to continue reading David Bowie Single Banned from Charts

Gallery: David Bowie Single Banned from Charts

Bob Dylan’s Rare Album

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Folk, Rock, New Releases,

Bob Dylan has produced just 100 copies of his new album.

The 71-year-old singer's record label, Sony, decided to create the super-limited edition four-CD album, entitled The 50th Anniversary Collection, to avoid losing control of the songs under European Union copyright rules. The album features 86 live tracks and studio outtakes recorded by Dylan in 1962-63, including a previously unheard version of his classic "Blowin' In The Wind."

According to sources at Sony, the compilation isn't really meant for mass consumption and is just an attempt to keep the tracks from entering the public domain. "This isn't a scheme to make money. The whole point of copyrighting [this material] is that we intend to do something with it at some point in the future. But it wasn't the right time to do it right after [Dylan] released Tempest," a source explained to Rolling Stone.

The 100 copies have been sent to specialist record collector shops in Britain, Germany, France and Sweden, and the rare item is already being sold for $1,600 on eBay.

Gallery: Bob Dylan’s Rare Album

Christina Aguilera Shuns Commercial Success

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Gossip, Upcoming Releases, Pop,

Christina Aguilera is not worried about Lotus being commercially successful.

The 31-year-old singer - whose last studio album Bionic flopped - doesn't care if the general public don't buy her seventh record as she finds it more important to take risks and push herself creatively.

"I've already put out a greatest hits record, so I've been in this business for a while, and I'm a risk taker, that's just who I am at heart. It's who I can't help but be. It's who I always am in nature, as a person and as an artist. With that comes hurdles and certain areas where people aren't going to get it and understand it artistically; sometimes it will go over their heads and it will not be as commercially successful," she told MTV News.

The "Candyman" singer reinvented herself as a mentor on TV show The Voice in 2011, and hopes Lotus will appeal to new fans who have been introduced to her music through that, as well as to those who have followed her since her self-titled 1999 debut album.

Click to continue reading Christina Aguilera Shuns Commercial Success

Gallery: Christina Aguilera Shuns Commercial Success

Adele Outsells Michael Jackson

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Industry News, Pop, R&B / Soul, Sales,

Adele's 21 has now outsold Michael Jackson's Thriller in the UK.

The "Rolling In The Deep" hitmaker's second album - which was released in January 2011 - has sold 4,274,300 copies in Britain, more than 500 more than the late singer's 1982 classic record, meaning it is now the fifth best-selling album of all time in the UK. "To add to her many landmark records, Adele's achievement in overtaking Thriller in the all-time sales list is truly remarkable. Thriller has long been recognized as one of the most iconic albums of all time - there is now no doubt that 21 can be spoken of in the same breath," said Official Charts Company's managing director Martin Talbot.

Click to continue reading Adele Outsells Michael Jackson

Gallery: Adele Outsells Michael Jackson

Aerosmith: New Album on the Way

Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Artist News, Gossip, Reunions, Upcoming Releases, Rock,

The feud between Steven Tyler and Joe Perry is over. Along with the other members of Aerosmith, the rockers will get to work on a new album this summer.

According to Tyler, he and Perry smoked a “peace pipe” to at last bury the hatchet. Reportedly, the rift began when Tyler accepted his current American Idol judging gig.

But Aerosmith isn’t going to question a good thing anymore. Since Steven Tyler started appearing on the new season of the reality gorilla, sales of the band’s greatest hits have increased 250%.

Read More | Entertainment Weekly

Gallery: Aerosmith: New Album on the Way

Chris Brown Benefits from YouTube Wedding Clip

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Artist News, The Charts, Videos, R&B / Soul,

While it’s still unclear whether anyone’s buying Chris Brown’s videotaped apology, people are starting to buy his music again. Why? Well, he has Jill and Kevin to thank.

The popular YouTube clip from the couple’s wedding has sparked a boost in sales for the single “Forever.” According to Billboard, the song was downloaded 50,000 times over the last period. That’s the biggest week Chris has had since last December.

Let’s just hope this marriage fares better than Brown’s last relationship…

Read More | Entertainment Weekly

Gallery: Chris Brown Benefits from YouTube Wedding Clip

Taylor Swift Comes Back to Beat Britney

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: The Charts, Country,

Has the Britney Spears hype already died down?

Just one week after debuting at #1, the pop princess has already been dethroned. Unfortunately, Circus wasn’t topped by a new entry. Spears was actually surpassed by Taylor Swift.

Fearless, which has been out since November 11, jumped 23% over the last seven days. Swift sold 249,000 units besting Spears by 49,000. (Circus fell 60% from last week’s 505,000 achievement.) Beyonce’s release came in third during this round.

You can see the remaining Top Ten charters after the jump.

Click to continue reading Taylor Swift Comes Back to Beat Britney

Read More | Variety

Gallery: Taylor Swift Comes Back to Beat Britney

Taylor Swift’s Fearless available for $3.99

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Country, Amazon MP3 Store, Sales,

The Amazon MP3 Store is a fantastic alternative to something like iTunes since all the music available is DRM-free and compatible with just about any portable media player under the sun. They also have fantastic deals from time to time. Today you can grab the new Taylor Swift album, Fearless, for the low price of $3.99. Yes, I’m talking about the album that came out this morning. Thirteen tracks of goodness for a cool $4. Not too shabby at all. Click on through to check it out.

Read More | Taylor Swift Fearless

Gallery: Taylor Swift’s Fearless available for $3.99