NEWS
Ariana Grande’s ‘Positions’ Posts Big Vinyl Sales, Jumps 79-2 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales Chart
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now MRC Data. Pure album sales were the measurement solely utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. The new April 24-dated Top Album Sales chart (where Fearless [Taylor’s Version] debuts to No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on April 20. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both T...
London Grammar Hurtling to U.K. Chart Crown With ‘Californian Soil’
It’s an all-new Top 5 on the Official Chart Update, which sees AJ Tracey’s second studio album Flu Game (Revenge Records) at No. 2 (it’s the most-streamed album of the week so far); followed by The Offspring’s first new album in almost a decade, Let The Bad Times Roll (Concord); veteran Irish rock singer Imelda May’s sixth LP 11 Past The Hour (Decca); and blues-rock band Greta Van Fleet‘s sophomore LP, The Battle at Garden’s Gate (EMI), respectively. Taylor Swift’s current leader Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (EMI) looks likely to lose its crown after one week. It slumps 1-7 on the midweek chart. Meanwhile, a boxed set reissue of Jethro Tull’s A (Rhino) could catapult the 1980 album into the Top 10 for the first time. It’s at No. 8 on the chart blast. Rounding out the Top 1...
McFly’s Harry Judd Tests Positive For COVID-19: ‘Everything Smells Like Vinegar’
Judd’s wife had more to say on the subject. “What a way to start to the week, the panic that surged through me to receive this early this morning was horrid,” she writes on Instagram.” Harry, she says, experienced “body aches and our coughs became more persistent.” The pair got tested at an official testing site and positive results came back Monday morning. “I don’t want this to cause anyone added anxiety, I just want to spread the message to still be so careful,” she writes. If there’s any upside, the symptoms “are rotten but manageable,” she explains. The headaches, well that’s something else. The Judds aren’t alone in their misery. More than 4.39 million COVID infections have been recorded in the U.K., according to updating data published by Johns Hopkins University. The pop-rock...
Morrissey Says He’d Sue The Simpsons for Slander, But “It Requires More Funding Than I Could Possibly Muster”
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-20T02:27:36+00:00“>April 19, 2021 | 10:27pm ET Morrissey has issued his “first comment (and hopefully my last)” on a recent episode of The Simpsons parodying the former Smiths singer. Entitled “Panic on the Streets of Springfield”, Sunday night’s episode saw Lisa become obsessed with a British singer named Quilloughby, whose resemblance to 1980s Morrissey is uncanny. But after attending a concert, Lisa learns that Quilloughby has aged to become an overweight cantankerous racist, who has forsaken veganism after learning “it was invented by foreigners.” In response, Morrissey’s manager Peter Katsis issued two strongly worded statements on Facebook, in which...
Dua Lipa Covers Arlo Parks’ “Eugene”: Watch
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-20T02:53:12+00:00“>April 19, 2021 | 10:53pm ET During a recent appearance at the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge, Dua Lipa brought down the lights and turned up the temperature for a cover of “Eugene” by Arlo Parks. Lipa and Parks are both young (25 and 20, respectively) and both ascendent in different ways. Parks is our former Artist of the Month, and “Eugene” appeared on her excellent debut album Collapsed in Sunbeams. Meanwhile, Lipa is fresh off her Grammy win for Best Pop Vocal album for Future Nostalgia. The pop star reveled in the intimate setting of the Live Lounge, also performing a stripped-down version of her own song “Hallucinate”. For “Eugene”, Lipa sang without pe...
Rolling Loud Miami Announces 2021 Lineup: ASAP Rocky, Travis Scott & Post Malone to Headline
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-20T03:18:46+00:00“>April 19, 2021 | 11:18pm ET Rolling Loud Miami has announced the lineup for its 2021 festival, and it’s a doozy. The three-day event will be headlined by ASAP Rocky, Travis Scott, and Post Malone, topping a lineup featuring well over 100 other rappers. Many of the names on the bill are similar to the fest’s ill-fated 2020 iteration, which was obviously cancelled due to the pandemic. However, there are plenty of noteworthy changes and additions that are worth straining your eyes for in the gigantic lineup poster. Beyond the headliners, just a handful of the major supporting acts are Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Baby, 21 Savage, Young Thug, Playboi Carti, DaBaby, ...
Ted Nugent Tests Positive for COVID-19
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-20T03:58:50+00:00“>April 19, 2021 | 11:58pm ET In an ironic twist of fate, Ted Nugent has been diagnosed with the very virus he previously blasted as fake. In a video posted to Facebook on Monday, Nugent revealed his ongoing bout with COVID-19. “I’ve got an announcement to make,” Nugent said to begin his video. “Everybody told me that I should not announce this. I have had flu symptoms for the last ten days. I thought I was dying. Just a clusterfuck.” “I was tested positive today. I got the Chinese shit,” Nugent continued. “I’ve got a stuffed up head, body aches. My God, what a pain in the ass. I literally could hardly crawl out of bed the last few days… So I was officially ...
David Guetta Announces “United At Home” NFT Drop for Charity
One year ago, dance music icon David Guetta performed his first United At Home livestream DJ set for charity in Miami. As the COVID-19 pandemic began to run rampant through cities around the globe, Guetta was able to raise $700,000 for relief efforts provided by multiple organizations before continuing the series in cities like Paris and Dubai. Now, Guetta has announced that he is dropping an NFT (or non-fungible token) to commemorate the iconic Miami stream. The official United At Home webpage has been updated with an announcement that Guetta’s forthcoming NFT will directly benefit UNICEF and Feeding America, two charities that the esteemed producer and DJ has been working with for quite some time. David Guetta raised $700,000 for charity during his inaugural “...
Audi to Sell New A6 EV Hotness Alongside Old, Different A6 Gas Model
The electrification of the auto industry presents a conundrum for automakers transitioning legacy models from gas- and diesel-powered internal combustion engines to electric motors: what if the industry is ready before the customer is? In the case of the Audi A6, the brand says it’s planning on selling two versions: one gas and one electric, the latter of which is set to arrive for 2024 and bear the name A6 E-Tron. Why Two Audi A6s? Audi thinks some customers may not be ready (or able) to make the leap from gas to electric powertrains by the time the A6 E-Tron hits dealers. Audi cites today’s charging infrastructure as the main reason for this. While growing rapidly, today’s EV charging infrastructure still leaves much to be desired in some parts of the United States (and...
Lil Nas X Wants Bad Bunny & Rihanna on a ‘Montero’ Remix But Doesn’t Want to ‘Jinx It’
“Montero” already received RiRi’s stamp of approval before it was officially released on March 26. Back on July 29, 2020, Lil Nas X shared a snippet of his video conversation with the beauty mogul in support of her Fenty Skin line, which he modeled in the official campaign alongside Rihanna and A$AP Rocky. “I heard a clip of your new song the other day,” she told the “Old Town Road” hitmaker last summer. “Banging…. I’m not just saying that, honest to God, I’m not just saying that. It is dope…. I’m so glad because you came so strong in the beginning. That kinda gets tricky, like, where do you go next? But man, you’re killing it. I’m happy for you.” Lil Nas X recently clapped back at haters claiming he was “milking the s...
Miranda Lambert & Elle King Lead Top-Selling Songs Performed on 2021 ACM Awards
Here are the top 10 selling songs performed on the show, on April 18, according to initial reports: Elle King and Miranda Lambert, “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home) (3,000 sold on April 18; up 267%)Gabby Barrett, “The Good Ones” (2,300; up 25%)Little Big Town, “Wine, Beer, Whiskey” (2,000; up 360%)Ryan Hurd and Maren Morris, “Chasing After You” (1,900; up 613%)Luke Combs, “Forever After All” (1,700; up 218%)Chris Stapleton, “Maggie’s Song” (1,600; up 887%)Thomas Rhett, “What’s Your Country Song” (1,600; up 348%)Alan Jackson, “You’ll Always Be My Baby” (1,100; up 994%)Carly Pearce and Lee Brice, “I Hope You’re Happy Now” (1,100; up 867%)Kenny Chesney, “Knowing You” (1,100; up 386%) The ACM Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by MRC. MRC and Penske Media are co-par...
Congress Members Call on Biden to Investigate Live Nation
The letter points to a 2018 Government Accountability Office report, which concluded that Live Nation holds more than 80% of the U.S. venue ticket sales market. It goes on to add that the Department of Justice has found that the promoter has repeatedly violated the terms of the agreement over the course of the last 10 years by threatening venues and forcing the bundling of artists with ticketing services. In 2019, Live Nation reached a settlement with the DOJ’s antitrust division agreeing to extend the 2010 consent decree governing the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation to 2025 and clarifying rules regarding threats and retaliation against venues that don’t sign with the ticketing giant. “We believe the prior admin...
