“Les Miserables” Hits the Top of the Billboard Charts

They dreamed a dream and you had to have it. Yes, the Les Miserables soundtrack outsold all the competition this week to become the first soundtrack album based on a musical to hit # 1 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart since Mamma Mia in 2008. The soundtrack featuring surefire Oscar nominees Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman held off a charge from Mumford & Sons who flew back up to # 2 on a wave of special price sales at iTunes that also benefitted Philip Phillips, P!nk and Alicia Keys. Take a look at the new top ten below and head to Billboard here for more on the Les Mis soundtrack and its accomplishments this week.

Top Ten Albums on the Billboard 200:
1. Les Miserables soundtrack (last week~ 2)
2. Babel- Mumford & Sons (lw~8)
3. Red- Taylor Swift (lw~ 1)
4. The World from the Side of the Moon- Phillip Phillips (lw~ 11)
5. Take Me Home- One Direction (lw~ 3)
6. Unorthodox Jukebox- Bruno Mars (lw~ 4)
7. Pitch Perfect soundtrack (lw~ 10)
8. The Lumineers- The Lumineers (lw~ 9)
9. Girl on Fire- Alicia Keys (lw~ 18)
10. The Truth About Love- P!nk (lw~ 14)

Over on the Hot 100 Singles Chart, Bruno Mars makes it 5 weeks in a row at # 1 with “Locked Out of Heaven”. Mars could see some new competition for the top spot from Macklemore & Lewis as their rap hit “Thrift Shop” rockets into the top five. Also making news in the top ten is “Scream & Shout”, the new collaboration from Will.I.Am and Britney Spears which hits the top tier for the first time this week giving Spears her 13th top ten hit… Take a look at the new top ten below and head to Billboard for all the charts here.

Top Ten Singles on the Hot 100:
1. “Locked Out of Heaven”- Bruno Mars (lw~ 1)
2. “Diamonds”- Rihanna (lw~ 3)
3. “I Knew You Were Trouble”- Taylor Swift (lw~ 2)
4. “Ho Hey”- The Lumineers (lw~ 4)
5. “Thrift Shop”- Macklemore & Lewis (lw~ 10)
6. “Home”- Phillip Phillips (lw~ 9)
7. “Beauty and a Beat”- Justin Bieber w/ Nicki Minaj (lw~ 5)
8. “Scream & Shout”- Will I Am w/ Britney Spears (lw~ 12)
9. “One More Night”- Maroon 5 (lw~8)
10. “I Cry”- Flo Rida (lw~ 11)

And here’s that brand new top ten hit for Britney Spears and Will I Am, “Scream & Shout”

GLEE Preview~ It’s Britney 2.0

Glee is back this Thursday with another tribute episode. After taking on Madonna, Michael Jackson, Fleetwood Mac, Whitney Houston, Lady Gaga and Britney Spears, the show takes on another superstar diva… Britney Spears. Yes, it’s Britney 2.0…. Glee will tackle 8 more Spears hits including the iconic “Oops… I Did It Again”, the lovely ballad “Everytime” plus two more # 1 hits “Womanizer” and “Hold It Against Me”. Now, I have your first look at this week’s new episode with the full video for “Hold” below. (And for full music previews of the show’s songs, head to mjsbigblog here.) Enjoy and watch the rejuvenated season 4 of Glee Thursday on Fox following Britney herself on The X Factor.

Glee “Hold It Against Me”- Brittany (Heather Morris)

Madonna Lands her 43rd #1 Dance Hit with “Turn Up the Radio”

Currently traversing the world on her massively successful MDNA tour, Madonna is still making news stateside as the third release from her recent # 1 MDNA album, “Turn Up the Radio” hits the top of the Dance Charts  (and becomes her third #1 dance hit in a row from that album). That gives her a record-extending 43 chart toppers on that list. It’s pretty incredible and her lead is giant as Janet Jackson is far behind in second with only 19 # 1′s there. The single is also going for pop radio adds soon and could extend her lead for the artist with the most top tens on the Hot 100 (She currently leads with 38 top ten hits)… According to Billboard, Madonna has now amassed 156 #1 albums, videos and singles on their charts more than any other artist in history. Head to Billboard here for more info on Madonna’s amazing chart accomplishments. And take a look at all of the Grammy winning Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame icon’s # 1 dance hits below.

Madonna’s 43 # 1 Dance Hits~

1983, “Holiday”/”Lucky Star” (five weeks at No. 1)
1984, “Like a Virgin” (three)
1985, “Material Girl”
1985, “Angel”/”Into the Groove”
1987, “Open Your Heart”
1987, “Causing a Commotion (Remix)”
1988, “You Can Dance (LP Cuts)”
1989, “Like a Prayer” (two)
1989, “Express Yourself” (three)

1990, “Keep It Together”
1990, “Vogue” (two)
1991, “Justify My Love” (two)
1992, “Erotica”
1993, “Deeper and Deeper”
1993, “Fever”
1994, “Secret” (two)
1995, “Bedtime Story”
1997, “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”
1998, “Frozen” (two)
1998, “Ray of Light” (four)
1999, “Nothing Really Matters” (two)
1999, “Beautiful Stranger” (two)

2000, “American Pie”
2000, “Music” (five)
2001, “Don’t Tell Me”
2001, “What It Feels Like for a Girl”
2001, “Impressive Instant” (two)
2002, “Die Another Day” (two)
2003, “American Life”
2003, “Hollywood”
2003, “Me Against the Music,” Britney Spears featuring Madonna (two)
2004, “Nothing Fails”
2004, “Love Profusion”
2005, “Hung Up” (four)
2006, “Sorry” (two)
2006, “Get Together”
2006, “Jump” (two)
2008, “4 Minutes,” Madonna featuring Justin Timberlake & Timbaland (two)
2008, “Give It 2 Me”
2009, “Celebration”

2012, “Give Me All Your Luvin’,” Madonna featuring Nicki Minaj & M.I.A.
2012, “Girl Gone Wild”
2012, “Turn Up the Radio”

And here’s one of the many awesome remixes that have propelled Madge’s “Turn Up the Radio” to the top of the Dance Charts, the R3hab Remix.

Kelly Clarkson lets Katy and Britney Have It!

Grammy winning pop superstar Kelly Clarkson is currently on the summer leg of her fantastic Stronger summer tour and she has picked up where her spring tour left off by playing fan requests each night. The Duets star has tackled everyone from Coldplay to Barbra Streisand, the Foo Fighters and Heart and in her recent concerts, she took on two of her contemporaries, Britney Spears and Katy Perry. The results were naturally astonishing as Kelly utterly destroyed the other two ladies with brilliant versions of their hits “Everytime” and “Wide Awake” that showcased Clarkson’s amazing vocals. Check out both tracks below and Katy and Britney, please take note, this is how you sing live! … Also, head to Kelly’s website here for more deets on her tour and I’ll fill you in on my experience seeing her tonight at the world-famous Hollywood Bowl. I can’t wait!!! My life would suck without Kelly Clarkson!

Kelly Clarkson “Everytime” (live)

Kelly Clarkson “Wide Awake” (live)

Britney, Demi, Glee, Oh My! It’s the Fox 2012 Fall Schedule!

The new shows on Fox’s fall 2012 schedule sound pretty promising especially a new comedy from The Office star Mindy Kaling. However, they all may be overshadowed by the re-working of The X Factor with two new judges, teen starlet Demi Lovato and pop princess and headline-maker Britney Spears. Just how will these two affect the show and will they bring in higher ratings? We will see, but Britney has a total young Paula thing going for her, so I will at least tune in a couple of times to see if things have changed for the better. (And how could they not? The show was a mess last season!)… Fox made some news with other interesting schedule changes moving Glee to Thursdays following The X Factor results show, moving Touch to Fridays alongside the final season of Fringe, and installing an all comedy lineup on Tuesday with Raising Hope, New Girl, the aforementioned The Mindy Project and the sibling comedy Ben & Kate. New dramas include The Mob Doctor starring Jordana Spiro and the midseason entry The Following about a serial killer (James Purefoy) being traced by a former FBI agent (Kevin Bacon in his first TV series)… Midseason will also bring the return of American Idol and another new comedy The Goodwin Games…With the new additions come the cancellations of Terra Nova, I Hate My Teenage Daughter, Breaking In, The Finder and Alcatraz along with House departing after 8 seasons. For more on these shows and Fox’s fall schedule, head to Deadline Hollywood here, and take a look at the new lineup below

MONDAY
8:00-9:00 PM BONES
9:00-10:00 PM THE MOB DOCTOR THE FOLLOWING (new) joins in midseason.

TUESDAY
8:00-8:30 PM RAISING HOPE
8:30-9:00 PM BEN AND KATE (new)
9:00-9:30 PM NEW GIRL
9:30-10:00 PM THE MINDY PROJECT (new)
THE GOODWIN GAMES (new) joins in midseason.

WEDNESDAY
8:00-10:00 PM THE X FACTOR (fall) / AMERICAN IDOL (midseason)

THURSDAY
8:00-9:00 PM THE X FACTOR Results (fall) / AMERICAN IDOL Results (midseason)
9:00-10:00 PM GLEE

FRIDAY
8:00-9:00 PM TOUCH
9:00-10:00 PM FRINGE (fall)
HELL’S KITCHEN returns in midseason.

SATURDAY
7:00-10:30 PM FOX SPORTS SATURDAY (fall)
COPS returns in midseason.
ANIMATION DOMINATION HIGH-DEF(new) will join late-prime in 2013.

SUNDAY
7:00-7:30 PM NFL Game (fall) / ANIMATION DOMINATION (encores)
7:30-8:00 PM THE OT (fall) / THE CLEVELAND SHOW
8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS
8:30-9:00 PM BOB’S BURGERS
9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY
9:30-10:00 PM AMERICAN DAD

Kelly Clarkson takes on Olivia Newton-John and Grease

Today, Entertainment Weekly online had a great post on the end of Kelly Clarkson‘s phenomenal Stronger tour. As I’ve also shared with you, at each stop, she has done an amazing cover song (and fan request) by artists ranging from Heart to Barbra Streisand to Coldplay and Britney Spears (“Til the World Ends” which we saw at her exceedingly brilliant show in LA las week). EW compiled their favorites and the list included one of her last covers, Olivia Newton-John’s Oscar and Grammy nominated # 3 smash from Grease, “Hopelessly Devoted to You”. As you can imagine, two-time Grammy winner Clarkson’s version is amazing, but I have to say I still love four-time Grammy winner Newton-John’s the best. (And yes, I loooooooove me some Olivia!!!) Hey it’s from Grease! It’s a classic. Anywho, I know you’ll love them both. Check them out below and watch for Clarkson this summer on the new ABC singing contest Duets.

Kelly Clarkson “Hopelessly Devoted to You” (live)

Olivia Newton-John “Hopelessly Devoted to You” (from Grease)

Kelly Clarkson v. Britney Spears~ “Til the World Ends”

Last night, I went to the Kelly Clarkson concert in L.A. and it was simply amazing. She was in fine form, so funny and an incredible presence on stage. Her vocals were predictably astonishing and it was possibly one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. And I have I mentioned the girl can SANG?!!!! Her cover of Carrie Underwood‘s “I Know You Wont” was stunning and she had special guests galore. Her friend and season 1 American Idol Tamyra Gray joined her for “When You Believe”. Her buddy Blake Shelton helped her out on “Don’t You Wanna Stay” and her friend Michelle Branch showed up to duet on her song “Leave the Pieces” (by Branch’s group The Wreckers). The final awesome duet was between Kelly and her own idol Reba McEntire on a flawless version of “Because of You”. I’ll post clips as I can find them. I was too busy squealing like a crazy person to film anything. … However, my friend sent me this clip of Kelly’s fan request for the night. (She’s been doing a different one at each show). Last night she took on Britney Spears dance smash “Til The World Ends” and let me tell you, Kelly kicked Spears’ ass. Check out Clarkson’s version and Britney’s original below. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Kelly Clarkson can sing anything… and usually do it better than the original artist. Watch for Kelly on her Stronger tour throughout the year.

Kelly Clarkson “Til the World Ends” (live in L.A. 4/3/12)

Britney Spears “Til the World Ends”

The VMA Winners and a Bodacious Beyonce!

The less said about last night’s VMA’s, the better. The winner list was pretty ridiculous: Britney over Adele? Justin Bieber over Bruno Mars and Eminem? What? And who the heck is Tyler the Creator? … And several performances were like an all out attack on your senses and not in a good way (Um, vomit on Chris Brown)… However, there were a few great moments, namely a newly pregnant Beyonce in a wonderful performance of “Love on Top” one of the few tracks I like on her latest album, 4, and a brilliant Adele who grabbed a standing ovation for her exquisite take on her latest smash “Someone Like You”… And ok, I loved me some Lady Gaga doing “You and I” as a man. However, the rest of her schtick was a tad annoying and awkward as the night went on, and that’s coming from one of her biggest fans…. I also enjoyed the Amy Winehouse tribute with a great performance from Bruno Mars and a lovely speech from her friend a restrained Russell Brand…. For more on the show plus pics and performances, head to MTV below.
www.mtv.com

And here’s the full winner list:
•Best Video With a Message- Lady Gaga – Born This Way
•Best Pop Video- Britney Spears – Til The World Ends
•Best Rock Video – Foo Fighters – Walk
•Best Hip Hop Video – Nikki Minaj – Super Bass
•Best Collaboration – Katy Perry/Kanye West – E.T.
•Best Male Video – Justin Bieber – U Smile
•Best Female Video – Lady Gaga – Born This Way
•Choreography: Beyonce, “Run the World (Girls).”
•Best Editing – Adele, “Rolling in the Deep.”
•Best Special effects – Katy Perry featuring Kanye West, “E.T.”
•Best Cinematography – Adele, “Rolling in the Deep.”
•Best Art direction: Adele, “Rolling in the Deep.”
•Best Direction – Adele, “Rolling in the Deep.”
•Best New Artist – Tyler The Creator – Yonkers
•Video of the Year – Katy Perry – Firework

And here are the two best perfs of the night~

Adele “Someone Like You” (live at the VMA’s)

Beyonce “Love on Top” (live at the VMAs)

Eric Church, Britney and Amy Winehouse make news on the Charts

Country crooner Eric Church (who?) lands his first # 1 album on the Billboard Top 200 Album charts and the Country album charts with his latest, Chief, as it pushes the biggest record of the year, Adele’s 21 back a notch. The up and coming Church leads two other debuts from Kelly Rowland and Joss Stone in this week’s top ten, but the big news comes from the late Amy Winehouse who bounds into the top five with her signature Grammy winning album Back to Black. It’s up to # 4 after a full week of sales since her sad passing pushed the record back into the top ten last week. Take a look at the new top ten below.

Billboard 200 Top Ten Albums:
1. Chief- Eric Church (debut)
2. 21- Adele (last week~ 1)
3. Here I Am- Kelly Rowland (debut)
4. Back to Black- Amy Winehouse (lw~ 9)
5. My Kinda Party- Jason Aldean (lw~8)
6. 4- Beyonce (lw~ 4)
7. Kidz Bop 20- Various Artist (lw~ 2)
8. Red River Blue- Blake Shelton (lw~ 6)
9. LP1- Joss Stone (debut)
10. Hell: The Sequel- Bad Meets Evil (lw~11)

Winehouse is also making waves on the singles charts as three of her tracks fly up the Digital songs charts with “Rehab” hitting # 20, “You Know I’m Know Good” at # 52 and “Back to Black” at # 54. … Over on the Hot 100, LMFAO are still holding off Katy Perry at the top with “Party Rock Anthem” while Britney Spears grabs her 3rd consecutive top ten from her Femme Fatale album with “I Wanna Go”. This represents the first album in Brit’s career to amass three top ten singles on the Hot 100. She had two a piece from Circus (“Womanizer”, “Circus”) and Baby… One More Time (“Baby… One More Time”, “You Drive Me Crazy”). For more on these charts, head to Billboard here, and take a gander at the tops in pops below.

Hot 100 Top Ten Singles:
1. “Party Rock Anthem”- LMFAO (lw~ 1, 5 weeks on top)
2. “Last Friday Night”- Katy Perry (lw~ 2)
3. “Super Bass”- Nicki Minaj (lw~ 4)
4. “Give Me Everything”- Pitburll w/ NeYo, Nayer & Afrojack (lw~ 3)
5. “How to Love”- Lil Wayne (lw~ 6)
6. “Rolling in the Deep”- Adele (lw~ 5)
7. “Lighters”- Bad Meets Evil w/Bruno Mars (lw~ 10)
8. “Tonight Tonight”- Hot Chelle Rae (lw~ 7)
9. “I Wanna Go”- Britney Spears (lw~ 11)
10. “The Edge of Glory”- Lady Gaga (lw~8)

Here’s Brit’s fun new video for “I Wanna Go” as well, and let me say, this is by far her best single and vid from Femme Fatale yet!
Britney Spears “I Wanna Go”

One last thing for ya concerns Adele. Over the past few weeks, no one has seemed to be able to pick which song should be her follow-up to her massively successful first single “Rolling in the Deep” which hit # 1 on the Hot 100, Pop, Adult Top 40, Adult Contemporary and Adult Alternative charts along with charting on the Rock, Dance and R&B charts. So, what’s happening? A bunch of her songs are all appearing on the Hot 100 now. First at # 73 is the supposed second single and my fave from the album, “Someone Like You” (which is climbing at Pop and Adult Top 40 radio). Then “Set Fire to the Rain” re-enters at # 84 (and is charging up the Dance charts with a hot remix). Finally the current Adult Alternative # 1 “Rumour Has It” debuts at #96. It’s all Adele all the time! Congrats to this deservingly brilliant talent.

Beyonce “4″-Peats on the Charts

Making it four in a row, Beyonce latest album, 4, becomes her fourth consecutive # 1 album on the Billboard Top 200 Album charts. That comprises all of her solo releases and makes her only the second female to do that with her first four records following Britney Spears. It’s quite a feat despite the lackluster reviews (I gave the album a “C-” grade) and her lowest debut week total of 310,00 copies (which is still a fine number, mind you). We’ll see if her new single “Best Thing I Never Had”, which is the best track off the album in my eyes, can keep momentum up for 4 after the first single, the terrible “(Girls) Run the World” tanked upon its release… While Queen B leads the chart, she’s not the only one making news on the Top 200 as we also have top ten debuts from rapper Big Sean, teen queen Selena Gomez, and American Idol winners David Cook (season 7) and Scotty McCreery (season 10). For Cook, it’s good news/bad news as his album gives him a second top ten, but the first week numbers (46,000) are a huge drop from his initial release (260,000). He needs a hit single asap… McCreery’s release is an EP of some of his best Idol moments from this season and gives him his first top ten and leads his contenders from the final four who also debut this week with their EPs. Runner Up Lauren Alaina comes in at # 24, while fourth place finisher James Durbin is at # 31 and third place finisher, the delightful Haley Reinhart lands at # 37. For more on all the Album charts, head to Billboard here and check out the new top ten below.

Top Ten Albums on the Billboard 200:
1. 4- Beyonce (debut)
2. 21- Adele (last week~ 3)
3. Finally Famous- Big Sean (debut)
4. When the Sun Goes Down- Selena Gomez & the Scene (debut)
5. The Light of the Sun- Jill Scott (lw~ 1)
6. My Kinda Party- Jason Aldean (lw~ 10)
7. This Loud Morning- David Cook (debut)
8. Dream with Me- Jackie Evancho (lw~ 4)
9. Hell: the Sequel- Bad Meets Evil (lw~ 6)
10. American Idol Season 10 EP- Scotty McCreery (debut)

Switching over to the singles chart, LMFAO lands their first # 1 with “Party Rock Anthem” as it climbs to the top displacing Pitbull’s “Give Me Everything”. Check out the new top ten below.

Top Ten Singles on the Hot 100:
1. “Party Rock Anthem”- LMFAO (last week~ 3)
2. “Give Me Everything Tonight”- Pitbull w/NeYo, Nayer & Afrojack (lw~ 1)
3. “Rolling in the Deep”- Adele (lw~ 2)
4. “Last Friday Night”- Katy Perry (lw~ 4)
5. “Super Bass”- Nicki Minaj (lw~ 5)
6. “The Edge of Glory”- Lady Gaga (lw~ 6)
7. “E.T.”- Katy Perry w/Kanye West (lw~ 7)
8. “How to Love”- Lil Wayne (lw~ 10)
9. “Good Life”- OneRepublic (lw~ 18)
10. “Tonight Tonight”- Hot Chelle Rae (lw~ 13)

And while there are no American Idol’s in the top ten, several are on the charts including Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson and McCreery. However, that other TV singing show, The Voice, makes waves with a bunch of debuts after its finale lead by winner Javier Colon’s first single “Stitch by Stitch” at # 17. Here are all the Voice debuts this week~

17. “Stitch by Stitch”- Javier Colon (The Voice)
20. “Inventing Shadows”- Dia Frampton (The Voice)
45. “Man in the Mirror”- Adam Levine & Javier Colon (The Voice)
57. “I Wont Back Down”- Blake Shelton & Dia Frampton (The Voice)
74. “Beautiful”- Christina Aguilera & Beverly McClellan (The Voice)
78. “Afraid to Sleep”- Vicci Martinez (The Voice)

And before I go, please enjoy Beyonce’s latest ”Best Thing I Never Had” live from the Macy’s 4t of July celebration.