The modern music industry’s version of a four-leaf clover is the diamond-status album. Sure, some releases still reach that vaunted 10 million mark after several years (or in the case of Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory a dozen) on the charts, but it’s an increasingly rare feat.
But in an era when YouTube views, concert ticket sales, magazine covers, endorsement deals and product lines, TV appearances and digital single downloads have become the new measures of an artist’s success, how did Adele pull it off? And is she the last of a dying breed of mega-sellers? Read more
Although Adele had quite an amazing year she did get some bad news. Her ’21’ album dropped out of the UK Top 40 for the first time since it was released in January 2011.
According to BBC News and several other news sources, the album dropped from 34 to 42 in the last countdown on November 26. It spent a staggering 96 weeks on the charts, garnering sales in the UK of over 4.5 million copies and around 10 million in the United States.
She also received some good news. Adele’s 21 has reached a new milestone, becoming the 21st album to sell more than 10 million copies since Nielsen SoundScan began keeping track in 1991. Adele’s is the third album to reach sales of 10 million copies this year, following Linkin Park’s 2000 LP Hybrid Theory and Usher’s 2004 release Confessions.
The Telegraph slams the Rolling Stones with the headline “The Rolling Stones: the greatest rock and roll band in the world? That’s a bit rich. Their latest shows prove the Rolling Stones can still work a crowd, but their music is of a time long gone”
“On Sunday night, while the Rolling Stones were performing for 20,000 people at the O2 in London – the first of five concerts they will be playing in London and New York to mark their 50th anniversary – one of their early heroes was also making an appearance a few miles across town, in the somewhat shabbier surroundings of the Kentish Town Forum.
Bobby Womack is the veteran soul singer who wrote, and with his group The Valentinos recorded, the original version of It’s All Over Now, which gave the Stones their first number one hit in Britain in 1964. Womack once recalled his chagrin at his mentor Sam Cooke giving the Stones his song, and depriving him of having the hit himself. “I was still screaming and hollering right up until I got my first royalty cheque. Man, the amount of money rolling in shut me right up.” Read more here…
“Hundreds of tickets for the Rolling Stones 50th anniversary gigs remained unsold on Sunday night as touts were accused of pricing fans out of the market.
Just hours before the band took to the stage at London’s O2 Arena, scores of tickets for the veteran rockers’ first performance in five years were still available online for up to £1,300.
Agencies and individual touts hoping to profit by snapping up the tickets at face value before selling them at vastly inflated prices found that fans simply refused to pay, leaving the band facing the prospect of playing to a far from sell-out crowd.
A Rolling Stones spokesman told the Daily Telegraph: “It’s a real shame that fans have been prevented from buying tickets at the original price and that secondary marketing agencies are attempting to profit. The band does not participate in anything of this nature.” Read more here.
“The American Music Awards pulled in its lowest ever TV audience on Sunday, despite the presence of teen heart-throb Justin Bieber and Korean “Gangnam Style” sensation Psy.
According to ratings data issued on Monday, Sunday’s ceremony and performance show broadcast live on Walt Disney Co’s ABC television was watched by an average 9.5 million viewers – down from 12 million in 2011.
The annual show also dropped 21 percent of its viewers compared to last year in the key 18-49 demographic most prized by advertisers.
The American Music Awards was up against stiff competition this year from football, but ABC said the telecast was the top TV show of the night with women and teens.
But big stars like Katy Perry, Rihanna, Adele and Beyonce did not turn up for the show as it celebrated its 40th anniversary as an alternative to the Grammys.
Bieber, 18, was the top draw on Sunday, winning three awards including artist of the year and performing live twice. Read more here
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