While Adele continues to conquer the world with her record-breaking 21, an honest collection of bluesy, rollicking odes to heartbreak and sorrow (which is still the best-selling record of 2012, despite being released last year), England may well have just found themselves their next humble hometown glory by the name of Jessie Ware.
According to Hits Daily Double, Madonna‘s MDNA will top the Billboard 200 chart this week at #1 with 357,943 copies sold.
EDIT: The official Billboard report is in–Madonna clocks in at #1 with 359,000 sold. From Billboard:
Madonna remains in second place among women with the most No. 1 albums. She now needs only one more No. 1 to tie Barbra Streisand, the leader among women with nine chart-toppers.
“MDNA” sold 359,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan, and is Madonna’s fifth straight studio album to debut at No. 1. It follows 2008′s “Hard Candy,” which moved 280,000 in its first week. “MDNA’s” opener is her best sales week since 2000′s “Music” shifted 420,000 when it debuted at No. 1.
The opening week album sales surpasses that of Rihanna‘s Talk That Talk (198,000), Katy Perry‘s Teenage Dream (192,000), Beyonce‘s 4 (310,000), The Holy Spearit‘s Femme Fatale (276,000) and yes, even Adele’s 21 (352,000). The only one to outsell her opening week is, of course, Lady Gaga‘s Born This Way (1,108,000). (Lest we forget, the controversial $0.99 Amazon MP3 sale accounted for roughly 440,000 of those copies. Also, entire subways and buildings were covered in her face.* La, la, la…)
The sales also best the opening weeks of several of her most recent efforts, including 2008′s Hard Candy (280,000), 2003′s American Life (241,000) and slightly edges out 2005′s Confessions On A Dance Floor (350,000).
But wait! There was one major promotional move: Those who purchased tickets to the MDNA Tour via Ticketmaster also had the option to receive a copy of MDNA along with their purchase. Since those albums factor into the mix, sales from concert-goers factor into the final tally. (There aren’t any official figures around the Ticketmaster-specific albums, but 1 album per $150 ticket is a different story than 150 albums for $150. I digress.**)
That’s right, y’all: Madonna just outsold almost every single one of your favorites (and mine too) relying on a single Super Bowl performance back in February, a 20 minute Facebook chat and a Q&A on Twitter on the night of the album’s release.
*I’m being facetious. Calm the fuck down, Little Monsters.
**I’m still being facetious. Calm the fuck down, Little Monsters.
Madonna: Queen of Everything.
MDNA was released on March 26. (iTunes)
Last night was the 54th Annual Grammy Awards! Or was it the 2012 CMT Music Awards? I literally couldn’t tell, what with all the banjos, geetars and all that.
No, it was The Grammys! A time when the industry comes together to honor REAL music! A time to dress tastefully and bring a bishop as a date! A time when Jennifer Hudson sings half of a Whitney Houston song while Chris Brown gets two whole performances and a Grammy! Yes! Music finally wins!
Mercifully, Adele rightfully won in all six of her major categories: Pop Vocal Album, Best Pop Solo Vocal Performance, Short Form Music Video, Record Of The Year, and Song Of The Year, and Album Of The Year. (Okay, the music video win was a bit “Really though?”, but…you know, whatever.)
All in all, that shit was as cray as usual. Here are nine moments worth your time. There were more, but, like…I’m tired. You know?
Two weeks ago, I presented my Top 25 Albums of 2011. Now…it’s time for the Top 50 Singles of 2011!
If the album list was tough, this was one step short of impossible, Shontelle style. Between rock-solid offerings from my favorite pop princesses, to stunning debut tracks from some of MuuMuse’s Most Anticipated artists, to throbbing dance floor bangers from DJs and producers worldwide–there was simply too much to love in 2011!
As a result, the list took a while. I didn’t sleep. I didn’t eat. I haven’t bathed. I’m literally a disgusting music-minded mess right now.
BUT NOW IT IS COMPLETE!
This is a list of 50 of my favorite offerings of the year (plus one honorable mention which was never actually released as a single.) Since I am giving like the Baby Jesus, I’ve created a full playlist of all my Top 50 tracks on Spotify. You are welcome in advance.
So without further ado, check out the full list below. Remember: If you have a problem with the final ranking, please…don’t hold it against me!
There’s no way around it: 2011 was an astoundingly good year in pop music.
Not since the 2007 reign of Kylie‘s X, Britney‘s Blackout, Rihanna‘s Good Girl Gone Bad and Girl’s Aloud‘s Tangled Up has there been such a strong showing in pop: We found love in the most hopeless of places, hung onto a moment and danced to the beat of our drums ’til the world ended (well, until next year anyway.)
As per usual, I’ve hemmed and hawed over a final ranking for my favorite records released over the past year. Although I wasn’t initially going to rank them numerically (YAY–everybody wins!), I ultimately realized that was just a cop-out.
Nonetheless, every album featured on this list deserves to be on included on everyone’s iPods and Spotify/iTunes libraries (or, dare I say it, in your CD players), because they’re all beautiful in their way.
Now, I present my Top 25 Albums of 2011. And if you’re not satisfied with the ranking? Please…don’t hold it against me.
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