Chart Watch
  • Last week, you'll remember, Mumford & Sons' Babel trounced new albums by such heavyweights as Green Day and No Doubt. This week, Babel stays on top of The Billboard 200 for a second week, but the big surprise is that Green Day's Uno! and No Doubt's Push And Shove both drop out of the top 10. Uno! drops from #2 to #11. Push And Shove drops from #3 to #13.

    It's increasingly common for albums to fade quickly after big (or even not-so-big) first weeks. Of the five albums that debuted in the top 10 last week, only Babel remains. Albums by Lupe Fiasco and Deadmau5 also drop out this week.

    This is particularly bad news for Green Day and Lupe Fiasco, whose albums have sequels scheduled for release. If the first installment drops out of the top 10 after one week, that doesn't exactly bode well for the series.

    Read More »from Week Ending Oct. 7, 2012. Albums: Green Day, No Doubt Tumble
  • This is pitiful: Just three albums have topped the 1 million mark in U.S. sales so far this year. But the tally will be more like 12 before the year ends, which would nearly equal the tally of 13 in each of the last two years. The three albums that have sold 1 million or more copies already this year are Adele's sophomore album, 21 (4,027,000); One Direction's debut album, Up All Night (1,254,000) and Lionel Richie's surprise comeback hit, Tuskegee (1,020,000).

    Four albums that have already been released will probably make it over the 1 million threshold before the year is out. They are Justin Bieber's Believe (which has sold 902K copies so far this year), Carrie Underwood's Blown Away (823K), Luke Bryan's 2011 release Tailgates & Tanlines (802K) and Mumford & Sons' Babel, which sold 600K this week and will probably sell another 155K next week.

    Read More »from Chart Watch Extra: Getting A Jump On The Year-End Album Chart
  • Maroon 5's "One More Night" tops the Hot 100 for the third straight week, holding off PSY's novelty smash "Gangnam Style," which holds at #2 for the second week. But it was close. In fact, you could borrow the equine imagery of PSY's video and say it was "a real horserace." Billboard's Gary Trust reports that fewer than 500 overall chart points separated the two songs, down from about 3,000 points last week. Trust further notes that was the closest race for #1 since the week ending Feb. 5, when Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger (What Doesn't Kiss You)" dislodged Adele's "Set Fire To The Rain."

    Read More »from Week Ending Sept. 30, 2012. Songs: A Real Horserace For #1
  • Mumford & Sons' sophomore album Babel sold 600K copies in its first week, which is the biggest first-week total by any album since Drake's Take Care sold 631K in its first week in November. Babel sold more copies than the next seven albums on The Billboard 200 combined. That's especially impressive because those seven albums include new releases by such heavyweight acts as Green Day and No Doubt.

    "If you (had) told me in the '90s that I'd be in a chart battle with Green Day, I probably would have just laughed at you," Mumford & Sons' member Ted Dwane told the British rock publication NME. Mumford & Sons is not only in such a battle, it is winning it with ease. Babel outsold Uno! in its first week by a margin of more than four-to-one in the U.S. and more than three-to-one in the U.K.

    Babel posted the biggest first-week tally for a rock album since AC/DC's Black Ice debuted with sales of 784K in October 2008. (Mumford & Sons, which blends strains of contemporary folk and alternative music, and hard rock veterans AC/DC are at opposite ends of the rock spectrum, to be sure.)

    Read More »from Week Ending Sept. 30, 2012. Albums: Mumfordmania!
  • The most surprising fact in last week's obits for Andy Williams was that his version of "Moon River" was never released as a single. The gorgeous ballad was Williams' signature song for 50 years. He even named his theater in Branson, Mo. (the Moon River Theater) after it.

    But Cadence Records, Williams' record company from 1956 to 1961, questioned the song's youth appeal and discouraged the star from recording it. Williams moved onto Columbia Records, where he recorded the song in January 1962. But by then, two recordings of the song (by its composer, Henry Mancini, and by R&B hit-maker Jerry Butler) had become top 15 hits. Williams sang "Moon River" on the Oscars in April 1962 (where it won as Best Song). The following month, Williams' album Moon River & Other Great Movie Themes cracked the Billboard chart. Even without spawning a Hot 100 single, Williams' album was a fixture on the chart for more than three years.

    Williams' rendition of "Moon River" isn't the only recording that everybody knows, even though it was never released as a single. Here are 10 more.

    Read More »from Chart Watch Extra: That Wasn’t A Single?!
  • Lil Wayne this week surpasses Elvis Presley for the most Hot 100 singles by a solo artist. That's a true, actual fact. But it comes with a couple of very big asterisks. But first, the fact itself: Lil Wayne lands his 109th Hot 100 single as a featured artist on Game's "Celebration," which debuts at #82. Presley amassed 108 Hot 100 singles. Now the asterisks: Presley had 31 hits prior to the inception of the Hot 100 in August 1958, which this stat doesn't take into account. Furthermore, Presley was the lead artist on all 108 of his Hot 100 singles. Lil Wayne has been the lead artist on only 42 of his. About two-thirds of his hits have been collaborations on which he was a featured artist.

    Even so, anytime an artist comes anywhere near a record by chart royalty such as Elvis, The Beatles and Michael Jackson, it's worth pointing out—if only to start a good debate.

    Read More »from Chart Watch Extra: Lil Wayne Passes Elvis (Sort Of)
  • PSY's novelty smash "Gangnam Style" leaps from #11 to #2 in its third week on the Hot 100. The song sold 301K digital copies, which represents a 60% gain from last week's total of 188K. (And that, in turn, represented a 210% gain over the previous week's total of 61K.) This week's sales tally sets a new one-week record for a novelty song in the digital era.

    "Gangnam Style" is an international smash. It jumps from #37 to #3 on this week's Official U.K. Chart. It will probably be #1 in the U.K. next week. The song has already reached #1 in Denmark, Finland, New Zealand and PSY's native South Korea. It's in the top three in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands and Scotland.

    Read More »from Week Ending Sept. 23, 2012. Songs: The Song That Is Sweeping The Globe
  • If you're under 50, you probably have no idea what a big star Andy Williams was in the 1960s and 1970s. The ultra-smooth singer and TV personality hosted the first seven Grammy Awards telecasts. In fact, producer Pierre Cossette was only able to sell the concept of the Grammys as a live telecast when he assured ABC that he could deliver a big star like Williams as host.

    Williams, who died Tuesday at his home in Branson, Mo. at age 84, was in the vein of such crooners as Bing Crosby and Perry Como. He was just about the last singer in that traditional pop style to become a major star—not counting latter-day revivalists such as Harry Connick Jr. and Michael Buble.

    Read More »from Chart Watch Extra: Days Of Andy Williams
  • Michael Jackson's 1987 album Bad re-enters The Billboard 200 at #23, while a deluxe 25th anniversary edition debuts at #46. The two albums sold a combined total of 27K copies, about one-sixth of the number (166K) that a 25th anniversary release of Jackson's most famous album, Thriller, sold in its first week in February 2008. (That was 16 months before Jackson's untimely death, so sympathy wasn't a factor.) Thriller 25 would have ranked #2 for two weeks if catalog albums had been eligible to make The Billboard 200 (as they are now).

    In a way, this week's so-so debut for Bad is fitting: In its time, Bad was seen by many as a somewhat disappointing follow-up to Thriller. Was that judgment fair or unfair? You decide.

    Read More »from Week Ending Sept. 23, 2012. Albums: Not “Bad,” But Not Great
  • Katy Perry Is Woman Of The Year

    [Photo: Christie Goodwin]Billboard has named Katy Perry its Woman of the Year. The prolific hit-maker follows in the footsteps of  past winners Beyonce, Fergie and Taylor Swift. The award will be presented at the Billboard Women in Music event set for Nov. 30 at Capitale in New York City.

    Women have dominated the pop charts in the past few years to such a degree that the idea of a Woman of the Year sounds pretty retro.  Perry, Beyonce, Fergie and Swift are among the hottest artists in pop music, period.

    According to Billboard, "the award honors the achievements of a trailblazing female recording artist over the past 12 months, and acknowledges her overall success in the music business and her leadership in embracing the changing industry."

    Read More »from Katy Perry Is Woman Of The Year

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News for You

  • Actress Bynes accused of bong toss out NYC window

    NEW YORK (AP) — Actress Amanda Bynes appeared disheveled in a long blond wig and sweats Friday in a criminal court where she was charged with reckless endangerment after police said she heaved a marijuana bong out the window of her 36th-floor Manhattan apartment.

  • Latest 'Bachelorette' won't say if she's engaged

    NEW YORK (AP) — ABC's newest "Bachelorette," Desiree Hartsock, says it's not hard to keep the details of her experience on the show a secret from her friends.

  • Jersey shore reopens for 1st post-Sandy summer

    SEASIDE HEIGHTS, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey rolled out some of its big guns Friday to proclaim that the shore is back following Superstorm Sandy, using Gov. Chris Christie and the cast of MTV's "Jersey Shore" to tell a national audience the state is ready for summer fun.

  • Takei says Cho good choice for latest 'Star Trek'

    SINGAPORE (AP) — Portraying USS Enterprise helmsman Hikaru Sulu in the latest "Star Trek" movie comes with big shoes to fill, but the man who played the part in the TV series and six films has given his blessing to the actor currently playing the role.

  • Rare Superman comic found in house insulation

    MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — It's considered the Holy Grail of comic books: Action Comics No. 1 from 1938, featuring the debut of Superman. And David Gonzales found one mixed in with old newspapers insulating a house he was renovating in a small town in Minnesota.

  • Actress Bynes arrested in NYC on marijuana charge

    NEW YORK (AP) — Police say actress Amanda Bynes has been arrested in midtown Manhattan after she heaved a marijuana bong out of a window.

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