music blog
Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift Score U.K.’s Highest New Chart Entry With ‘The Joker and The Queen’
Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift’s “The Joker and The Queen” (Asylum) can’t unseat Encanto’s magical hit for the U.K. crown, though it makes a fist of the chart battle. Sheeran and Swift’s latest collaboration debuts at No. 2 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, for the highest new entry this week. The track, which becomes Sheeran’s 36th Top 10 single and Swift’s 18th, enjoyed a “dramatic uplift” following the double-hit of a new mix featuring the U.S. pop superstar’s vocals, and Ed’s performance at the 2022 Brit Awards, held Feb. 9 at the O2 Arena. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “Joker” is one of several tunes which enjoy a post-Brit Awards climb. Among them, Sam Fender’s “Seventeen Going Under” (Polydor) up 7-6; Sheeran’s “Bad Habits” (Asylum) up ...
Frank Turner Reigns Over U.K. Chart With ‘FTHC’
For the very first time, Frank Turner is king of the U.K. albums chart. The British punk rock poet debuts at No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart with FTHC (an initialism for Frank Turner Hardcore), his ninth studio effort. Until now, eight of Turner’s album have impacted the U.K.’s Top 75 and five have cracked the Top 10, including his most recent release, 2019’s No Man’s Land, which peaked at No. 3. Turner got even closer to the summit in 2013 with Tape Deck Heart, which peaked at No. 2. According to the Official Charts Company, FTHC (via Polydor) blasts to No. 1 with physical sales accounting for 90% of its first-week total. “It’s official folks,” reads a victorious post on his Instagram account. “I’m tired, proud, and mostly grateful.” Explore See latest videos, charts and news See...
‘Encanto’ Songs Set for 1-2 on U.K. Singles Chart
Disney’s Encanto isn’t done with its magical chart tricks. Based on sales and streaming data from the first 48 hours in the chart cycle, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” is poised for a sixth week at No. 1, while Jessica Darrow’s “Surface Pressure” could lift to a new peak of No. 2, while “The Family Madrigal” also improves to No. 7. When “Bruno” reached No. 1 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, it became the first original Disney number to do so. Later, the Encanto soundtrack set another record by becoming the first animated film soundtrack in U.K. chart history to simultaneously chart three songs in the Top 10. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Meanwhile, Mimi Webb is motoring to the week’s highest new entry with “House on Fire.” It’s new at No. 6 o...
TDE President Punch Henderson on Kendrick Lamar’s Departure From Label: “It’s a Full-circle Moment”
TDE President Terrence “Punch” Henderson has opened up about Kendrick Lamar‘s imminent departure from Top Dawg Entertainment, sharing nothing but words of praise and encouragement for the next phase of the rapper’s career. In a recent interview with Mic, Henderson explained that K-Dot has been with TDE for so long — “almost 20 years” — that watching him grow and move on is completely natural: “I don’t even know if I would describe it that way as ready to leave, as more so ready to build his own thing. That’s a grown man right now. We watched him grow from a teenager up into an established grown man, a businessman, and one of the greatest artists of all time. So how long do you actually be signed up under somebody? It’s been almost 20 years. So it’s time to move on and try new things and ve...
Kanye West Claims Stem Player’s One-Day $2.2 Million USD Revenue Made More Money Than If ‘DONDA 2’ Was on Streaming Services
The artist formerly known as Kanye West shared on social media that his Stem Player made $2.2 million USD in sales in just one day, and noted that his team would have never made the same amount of money if DONDA 2 was out on streaming services. Calling it “the first Yeezy Tech product,” Ye wrote, “To earn the $2.2 million we made on the first day on the stem player the album would have had to stream 500 million times.” He continued, “We did more revenue on stemplayer, without the album even being out, than we would have done with the album being out on streaming.” The artist announced last week that his upcoming album DONDA 2 will release exclusively on the Stem Player. “Today artists get just 12% of the money the industry makes. It’s time to free music from this oppressive system. It’s ti...
SCORPIONS’ KLAUS MEINE Says It Will Be ‘Very Emotional’ For Band To Play First Shows After Two-Year Break
SCORPIONS singer Klaus Meine spoke to AXS TV about his band’s upcoming Las Vegas residency, “Sin City Nights”. The run of shows, which was originally slated to take place in July 2020 and was later pushed back to May 2021, will now happen in March-April, 2022 at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. “We go to Vegas for nine shows, starting at the 26th of March until the middle of April,” he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “And we’re looking very much forward to that. It’s a new show, a new production, and it’s nice, for a change, that we don’t have to travel every other day, waking up every morning in different cities, different places, different countries and continents. So we stay for quite a while t...
ANNIHILATOR’s JEFF WATERS Looks Back On His COVID-19 Battle: ‘It Took Me Six Months To Get My Lungs Back’
ANNIHILATOR leader Jeff Waters has once again opened up about his battle with COVID-19, saying that it took him six months to “get [his] lungs back.” The 56-year-old guitarist/vocalist, who moved to the United Kingdom from his native Canada back in 2018, discussed his recent health issues in a new interview with Belgian Jasper. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I caught COVID in April 2020, in the beginning. I had a bad, nasty one. I didn’t get as far as my friend Will Carroll from DEATH ANGEL where I got put into an induced coma in a hospital, but I got pretty close there for 12 days. It was one of those ‘human sitting on your chest’ and when you breathe in and out, it sounded like a crackling fire, like a bad asthma attack. And I made it t...
Snoop Dogg Releases ‘B.O.D.R.’ Short Film in Celebration of New Album and Death Row Records Acquisition
Snoop Dogg has released a new short film in celebration of his acquisition of Death Row Records and his new album B.O.D.R. (Bacc on Death Row). In a 43-minute long video set in Long Beach, the clip is a compilation of behind-the-scenes studio sessions, intertwined with old footage, new music videos and other Snoop moments. The video offers fans a first-hand look at what to expect for Snoop’s latest album under his new label. In one clip, Snoop performs at Nate Dogg’s cemetery alongside the late rapper’s son Naijiel Hale. Snoop acquired Death Row earlier this month from Blackstone-controlled company MNRK Music Group. In a statement, he said, “It feels good to have ownership of the label I was part of at the beginning of my career and as one of the founding members. This is an extremely mean...
‘SBTV’ Founder Jamal Edwards Dies at 31 Years Old
SBTV founder Jamal Edwards has died at 31 years old. The BBC confirmed the news and reported that the British music industry figure died on Sunday. No other information about his death was revealed as of writing, other than the understanding that Edwards attended the BRIT Awards earlier this month and performed as a DJ in north London on the evening of Saturday. Edwards and his SBTV platform — which was launched in 2006 — were focused on shining a light on rising artists and were instrumental in aiding the early careers of musicians such as Stormzy, Dave, Ed Sheeran and more. He was awarded an MBE for his contributions to music in 2014, was an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust youth charity and renovated youth centers. Tributes to Edwards poured in on social media, with the likes of AJ Tra...
Justin Bieber Postpones Las Vegas Show Due to COVID-19
Justin Bieber has postponed his next Justice World Tour concert due to positive COVID-19 test results within his team, Rolling Stone and The Los Angeles Times point out. The show was scheduled to take place tonight (February 20) at the T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip. “Due to positive COVID results within the Justice Tour family, we will unfortunately have to postpone Sunday’s show in Las Vegas,” the official Instagram page for Bieber’s tour states. The post announced that Bieber’s Las Vegas date is being rescheduled to Tuesday, June 28. Pitchfork has reached out to Bieber’s representatives for further comment and information. The post added that Bieber “is of course hugely disappointed, but the health and safety of his crew and fans is always his number one priority.” TMZ initially ...
Jamal Edwards, SBTV Founder Who Championed Grime, Dies at 31
Jamal Edwards—the British entrepreneur, DJ, and founder of SBTV who was awarded an MBE in 2014 for his services to music—has died, BBC News reports. His company confirmed the news to the BBC. His cause of death is unknown. He was 31. Edwards, born in Luton and raised in Acton, began SBTV as a YouTube channel when he was a teenager. It became an influential space in the world of grime, giving young and established artists alike a space to share their craft. One trademark series he launched was F64, which asked rappers to deliver 64 bars of new lyrics. An acoustic spin-off of that format, A64, helped launch the career of Ed Sheeran. Dave, Stormzy, Jessie J, Skepta, Wiley, and countless others were featured on SBTV. Outside of the channel, he was an entrepreneur whose self-help book Self Beli...
‘Encanto’ Soundtrack Spends Sixth Week Atop Billboard 200 Albums Chart
The Encanto soundtrack stays firm at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart for a sixth nonconsecutive week on top. It is now tied with Adele’s 30 for the third-most weeks at No. 1 in the last five years. Only Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album (with 10) and Taylor Swift’s Folklore (eight) have tallied more weeks at No. 1 since January 2017. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Encanto earned 98,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 17 (down 11%), according to MRC Data. Plus, Eminem’s Curtain Call: The Hits and Dr. Dre’s Dr. Dre – 2001 albums both return to the top 10, following the artists’ performance during the Super Bowl LVI halftime show on Feb. 13. The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in...
