Once again, we present Rock-Critically Correct, a feature in which the most recent issues of Rolling Stone, Blender, Vibe, and Spin are given a once-over by a writer who’s contributed to many of those magazines, as well as a few others! In this installment, he looks at the new issue of Spin:
As a music blogger, I am contractually obligated… More »
While reading over this week’s SoundScan, I noticed–among the thicket of debuts that included Disney’s “new Miley Cyrus” Demi Lovato, Kings Of Leon, TV On The Radio (No. 12!), and the Pussycat Dolls (who just managed to squeak into the top five)–that not many full-lengths that had been out for a while were gaining in sales from the previous week. The No. 1 album, Metallica’s Death Magnetic, held on despite a 61% drop from the previous sales week, while Ne-Yo’s Year Of The Gentleman only dropped from No. 2 to No. 3 on a 67% loss. And the numbers didn’t get much prettier from there. In fact, the first album on the chart to experience a week-to-week gain was all the way down at No. 46: M.I.A.’s Kala, which had a modest-in-any-other-week 6% bump. So I decided to figure out just how many non-debuting albums gained momentum during a week that was marked by a lot of chaos on the financial front, and a 6.8% week-to-week decline in overall sales, not to mention a 28.8% year-over-year drop. Those albums–which constitute a mere 13.5% of the chart–are listed, with their big-board placements and overall sales, after the jump.
The just-launched MySpace Music is all about making money for the labels, right? So it would behoove them to have songs that the people want to buy available for purchase on the service, no? Come with me as I try to buy the top 10 songs on this week’s Hot Digital Tracks chart by using MySpace’s widgetry:
In this week of financial horrors, created largely by formerly cocksure men, it’s perhaps apropos that a couple of ladies post the most gloat-worthy performances in the upper reaches of Billboard‘s Hot 100.
That starts at the top, where Pink, a nearly decade-long veteran of the chart wars, scores her first solo No. 1 (and second overall), “So What.” And she does it with the largest one-week digital sales total we’ve seen since the beginning of summer.
A few rungs down, U.K. chanteuse and Atlantic Records guinea pig Estelle stages a massive comeback. Her return to iTunes fuels a 44-space move by her Kanye West–supported single “American Boy,” to a new peak of No. 9. Not a moment too soon: one week before the official start of fall in the United States, and a month after it appeared to have peaked at No. 11, our runner-up in the Idolator 2008 Summer Jam competition is finally an official U.S. Top 10 hit. Revenge is sweet.
As promised, M.I.A. has launched her limited-edition clothing line, and the “Okley Run” store is open for business on her Web site. While the prints are pretty much as outlandish as you expect, the prices for each individual piece are a bit insane–and not in the “clashing colors that actually look better and better the more you focus on their dissonance” way, or even the Crazy Eddie way*. A few of the looks, and their attendant price tags, after the jump.
M.I.A.’s longish-rumored clothing line will be available via her Web site sometime within the next day or so as “a fashion week surprise.” More »
If nothing else, the recent chart ascents of M.I.A.’s Kala and “Paper Planes” are fascinating for the parallels they evoke with… Moby. More »
Kanye West, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, and T.I. twist M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” into “Swagger Like Us,” which West says exhibits “THE RAP OLYMPIC TEAM!” (caps and punctuation his, of course). More »
Did you guys know that MTV’s sorta-live daily countdown show TRL is on at 11 a.m. these days? Neither did I, until I heard that the boys who make up the inexplicably popular German rock outfit Tokio Hotel would be co-hosting the show all this week (well, during its airings Tuesday, yesterday, and today, since I guess the power of Tokio Hotel’s popularity meant that everyone could take Monday off). I missed Tuesday and Wednesday’s episodes thanks to that scheduling snafu, but all was not lost when I found out that today’s show would be marked by the band performing live! Perhaps they will sound even better than last time! Since you all are probably in actual offices and deprived of cable, I figured I’d take the lead and live-blog this quasi-historic event. (Plus there’s really not much else going on.) Full coverage afer the jump!
