Blog Posts by Paul Grein

Alicia Keys' Girl On Fire enters The Billboard 200 at #1. It's Keys' fifth #1 album out of six releases. Here's the odd part: Girl On Fire puts Keys back at #1 even though it sold less than half of what her last album, The Element Of Freedom, sold when it debuted and peaked at #2 in December 2009. Girl On Fire sold 159K this week. The Element Of Freedom sold 417K when it bowed. That album had the misfortune of debuting when there was a phenomenon at #1. Susan Boyle's I Dreamed A Dream sold 661K in its fourth week at #1.

This is the slowest start to date for a Keys album. It sold even fewer copies than Keys' Unplugged album sold (196K) in its first week in October 2005. Of course, overall sales aren't as healthy as they were in 2005. Here a positive note for Keys: The title track (featuring Nicki Minaj) is shaping up as a big hit. It surges from #17 to #3 on this week's Hot Digital Songs chart.

Read More »from Week Ending Dec. 2, 2012. Albums: Good Week Or Bad For Keys?

Lionel Richie, Zac Brown, Kimberly Schlapman of Little Big Town (Photos: Scott Legato/Getty Images, Neilson Barnard/Getty Images, Katherine Bomboy-Thornton/ABC via Getty Images)Lionel Richie’s Tuskegee is likely to receive a Grammy nomination as Best Country Album. The pop and R&B veteran has won four Grammys, including Album of the Year for his 1983-1984 blockbuster Can’t Slow Down and Song of the Year for “We Are The World,” which he co-wrote with Michael Jackson.

A track from the album, “Easy” (which features Willie Nelson), is vying for a nomination for Best Country Duo/Group Performance. (The Commodores’ original 1977 version of the song was nominated for Best R&B Song and Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus.)

Zac Brown Band, Miranda Lambert and Jamey Johnson, past nominees for Best Country Album, are likely to return to the finals with Uncaged, Four The Record and Living For A Song: A Tribute To Hank Cochran, respectively.

Little Big Town has a good chance of rounding out the category with Tornado. The group was crowned Vocal Group Of The Year at the CMA Awards on Nov. 1, ending (at least for now) Lady Antebellum’s three-year lock

Read More »from Grammys 2013 Predictions: Country Field

This Oct. 12, 2012 photo shows R&B singer-songwriter and music executive Ne-Yo, born Shaffer Chimere Smith, in New York. Ne-Yo is releasing his fifth album, “R.E.D.” It’s his first release on Universal Motown, where he also serves as senior vice president of A&R. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Invision/AP)For the second year in a row, male and female pop artists are competing in the same Grammy category—Best Pop Solo Performance. And for the second year in a row, females are likely to take four of the five spots. Last year, Bruno Mars was the only male artist nominated in the category. This year, Ne-Yo may wind up as the only male artist in the finals for his smash “Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself).”

On last year’s Grammy telecast, Maroon 5 participated in a tribute to the Beach Boys. (Adam Levine and his crew sang “Surfer Girl.”) This year, the two acts may be competing for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Maroon 5 has won twice in this category (for “This Love” and “Makes Me Wonder”). The Beach Boys, remarkably, have never won a Grammy in competition (though group mastermind Brian Wilson won for an instrumental performance on his 2004 album Smile.)

Nicki Minaj performs “Freedom” at the 40th Anniversary American Music Awards on Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)Nicki Minaj’s debut album Pink Friday was a finalist last year for Best Rap Album. Her follow-up, Pink Friday:

Read More »from Grammys 2013 Predictions: Pop, Dance/Electronica and Traditional Pop Fields

FILE - In this March 12, 2012 file photo, guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys performs at Madison Square Garden, in New York. Attorneys for Pizza Hut and The Home Depot denied claims that two ads improperly copied their music. The Black Keys sued the companies in June, claiming the companies infringed their copyrights by using two of their hit songs to try to sell pizza and power tools. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, File)The Black Keys, which won the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album with its 2010 album, Brothers, is competing in the Best Rock Album category this time around. Jack White, who, with the White Stripes, won Best Alternative Music Album three times, is also competing for Best Rock Album. If the Black Keys or White wins the award, they’ll become be the fourth act to take top album honors in both fields. U2, Green Day and Coldplay also achieved the feat. (Acts are often seen as alternative when they are building and then as part of the rock establishment once they reach the top.)

Two past winners for Best Rock Album, Coldplay and Bruce Springsteen, are likely to be back in the running with their current albums, Mylo Xyloto and Wrecking Ball, respectively. Two other past winners in the category, Green Day and Muse, are also fairly strong candidates, though they may fall short this time around.

FILE - In this April 15, 2012 file photo, Australian artist Gotye performs during the first weekend of the 2012 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. Gotye’s smash hit “Somebody I Used to Know” is Spotify’s top song of the year. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, file)Gotye’s Making Mirrors is the front-runner for Best Alternative Music Album. Fiona Apple

Read More »from Grammys 2013 Predictions: Rock/Alternative Fields

Frank Ocean Basks in Fans' Love in New YorkFrank Ocean’s Channel Orange, which is likely to receive a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year, is also the front-runner to win for Best Urban Contemporary Album. This will be the first time the latter award will be presented. It’s an adaptation of an old category, Best Contemporary R&B Album, which was presented from 2003 through 2011.

Ocean’s competition is likely to include Chris Brown, who won last year for Best R&B Album; Usher, a two-time winner for Best Contemporary R&B Album; Mary J. Blige, who won both Best R&B Album and Best Contemporary R&B Album; and Trey Songz, who has yet to win a Grammy.

Boyz II Men, which won the first Grammy ever presented for Best R&B Album for 1994’s II, has a chance of returning to the finals in that category for its 20th anniversary album, Twenty. The other likely nominees are Monica’s New Life, R. Kelly’s Write Me Back, Eric Benet’s The One and Anthony Hamilton’s Back To Love.

FILE - In this Feb. 13, 2011 file photo, singer Whitney Houston performs at the pre-Grammy gala & salute to industry icons with Clive Davis honoring David Geffen in Beverly Hills, Calif. Celine Dion, Jennifer Hudson and Usher will pay tribute to the late Whitney Houston in a one-hour TV special. “We Will Always Love You: A Grammy Salute to Whitney Houston” will tape Oct. 11 at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live and will feature performances by Dion, Hudson and Usher. It will air Nov. 16 on CBS. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, file)Whitney Houston, who died the day before the 2012 Grammy

Read More »from Grammys 2013 Predictions: R&B Field

Thirty years after its release, Michael Jackson's Thriller is tied with Eagles' Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 as the best-selling album of all time in the U.S., according to the Recording Industry Assn. of America. Both albums have shipped 29 million copies. (The RIAA measures shipments to stores, not actual sales.)

No album comes close to Thriller as the all-time international best-seller, but Eagles' hit-studded album has proved to be a surprisingly strong competitor in the U.S. Both albums have extraordinarily broad appeal. Thriller and its key hits brought Jackson Grammys in the pop, rock and R&B fields. Eagles are the only group to have won Grammys in the pop, rock and country fields.

Read More »from Chart Watch Extra: Where “Thriller” Ranks

It's hard to believe, but Friday marks the 30th anniversary of the release of Michael Jackson's Thriller, an album that appealed to all audiences—all ages, races and nationalities—like few other recordings in music history.

Jackson and producer Quincy Jones recorded and mixed the album between April and November 1982. Jones was 49 at the time. Jackson turned 24 during the sessions. The production budget was a reported $750K, which means Epic Records got a pretty good rate of return on its investment.

Thriller doesn't remotely sound 30 years old. Its best cuts, including "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," still sound fresh and vital.

Happily, Jackson lived to see the album meet the test of time. In 2008, the album was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. That same year, a 25th anniversary edition became the second best-selling album in the U.S. for two weeks, a rarity for a catalog album. Also that year, Rihanna's "Don't Stop The Music" (which sampled "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'") became a #3 hit, Fall Out Boy's "Beat It" (featuring John Mayer) made the top 20 and David Cook sang "Billie Jean" in route to his victory on American Idol.

To mark the anniversary, here are some things you probably know about Thriller—and some you may not.

Read More »from Chart Watch Extra: “Thriller” Turns 30

Phillip Phillips' "Home" jumps from #12 to #8 in its 22nd week on the Hot 100. This is its highest ranking to date. The song debuted at #10 in May following Phillips' victory on American Idol. It dropped off the chart after just three weeks, but started showing signs of life again in July. It vaulted from #84 to #9 in August following NBC's use of the song in its coverage of the Summer Olympics. It then started dropping again, falling as far as #27, but has been resurging in recent weeks as radio support spreads.

The song was also boosted by the release of Phillips' debut album, The World From The Side Of The Moon, which enters The Billboard 200 this week at #4.

Read More »from Week Ending Nov. 25, 2012. Songs: Phillip Phillips Is “Home”