Marshall Mathers has done it again. Billboard is following in Nielsen Soundscan’s footsteps and naming Eminem as the Top Artist of the Decade. Six of the seven studio recordings Em released in this decade — hell yes, we’re counting the 8 Mile soundtrack — reached or debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, while two of his 20 songs to chart on the Hot 100 singles tally hit the top spot there (“Lose Yourself” and “Crack a Bottle”).
In Billboard’s eyes, it’s still ultimately album sales that count the most (understandably so — sorry, Artist With The Most Number One Hits). But we’ve all pretty much shifted to a shuffle/singles world. Will the 00’s be remembered as the last decade that albums “mattered”? We’re nervous about the future — vomit on our sweater already — but excited.
See who trailed Eminem on the big list, and look who followed Mick & Keith on Billboard’s list of this decade’s (and probably the previous decade’s) biggest tours as the industry magazine cleans out the rest of its closet after the jump. More »
Next year, the UK will issue a series of stamps dedicated to the art of the British album cover. The Stones’ Let It Bleed, New Order’s Power, Corruption, and Lies, Primal Scream’s Screamadelica, and Blur’s Parklife will all be honored in this 10-stamp issue. If the US had a similar stamp issue, I wonder what albums would get the nod? You’d think Thriller would be a no-brainer, and Madonna’s True Blue would look kinda dynamite, but after that… ? (First person to shout “Merriweather Post Pavilion!” is fired.) The full issue of stamps after the jump. More »
Do any of you out there watch Bridezillas? I think it’s a telling commentary on the current moment that so many of the crazyperson weddings featured within are pretty low-budget affairs—hell, there was even one woman on the show who catered her own reception as a way of cutting costs. But really, who has money to throw around anymore in an era where Vh1’s “Fabulous Life Of…” specials are more interesting for the aftermath of their feature-ees, many of whom are currently broke and/or in jail and/or definitely not as “fabulous” as they were back in the day? Which is why this just-released list of “the most expensive wedding bands” (topped, of course, by the Rolling Stones) seems so oddly timed. I know August is a tough time for the music-news feature well, but in the post-Madoff era is there anyone with $8.176 million to blow on just the band? At least with that sort of food budget, you can get, like, an ice sculpture of the married couple. Anyway, the list of the big-money artists—which somehow includes Jennifer Lopez?!—after the jump. More »
The saxy smooth sounds that accompanied the Weather Channel’s Local On The 8s forecast breaks became so synonymous with the cable network’s identity, there were even Weather Channel-branded CD compilations. But it’s a new day, and the sultrier side of jazz is being abandoned by program directors en masse–and the Weather Channel, no stranger to which way the wind is blowing, has decided to follow suit. (“We wanted music that would get their attention–and this has,” an exec told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.) So what’s on the channel’s new, up-to-date playlist? Glad you asked! After the jump, the station’s daytime music picks for June 2009. More »
