Adele and Gotye are Music’s Biggest Sellers in 2012

Adele ruled the Album Charts throughout 2011 and again in 2012 with her massive smash 21. According to Billboard, she sold another 4.41 million again to have the top-selling album of the year for two years running (and over 10 million to date). The Grammy winning singer held off Taylor Swift and two albums by boy band One Direction not to mention five country albums in the top ten. Take a look at the top sellers of the year below.

Top Selling Albums of 2012:
1. 21- Adele (4.41 million)
2. Red- Taylor Swift (3.11 million)
3. Up All Night- One Direction (1.62 million)
4. Babel- Mumford & Sons (1.46 million)
5. Take Me Home- One Direction (1.34 million)
6. Believe- Justin Bieber (1.34 million)
7. Blown Away- Carrie Underwood (1.2 million)
8. Tailgates & Tanlines- Luke Bryan (1.1 million)
9. Tuskegee- Lionel Richie (1.07 million)
10. Night Train- Jason Aldean (1.04 million)

As for the top-selling digital singles of the year, newcomer Gotye was one of five new artists to land in the year-end top ten. Gotye’s “Somebody that I Used to Know” was the big winner selling 6.8 million to lead over fellow newbie Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” with 6.4 million. The other new artists in the top ten were Psy, One Direction and fun. who grabbed two spots in the final list (as did Maroon 5). Take a look at the biggest selling singles of the year below and head to Billboard here for more info on all the year-end charts and sales figures.

Top Ten Selling Singles of 2012:
1. “Somebody that I Used to Know”- Gotye w/Kimbra (6.8 million)
2. “Call Me Maybe”- Carly Rae Jepsen (6.47 million)
3. “We Are Young”- fun. w/Janelle Monae (5.95 million)
4. “Payphone”- Maroon 5 w/Wiz Khalifa (4.76 million)
5. “Starships”- Nicki Minaj (3. 98 million)
6. “What Makes You Beautiful”- One Direction (3.89 million)
7. “Some Nights”- fun. (3.84 million)
8. “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”- Kelly Clarkson (3. 82 million)
9. “Gangnam Style”- Psy (3.59 million)
10. “One More Night”- Maroon 5 (3.46 million)

And here’s the biggest selling single of 2012 by Gotye.

Maroon 5, Jason Mraz and Train make big Debuts on the Charts

NBC’s The Voice may not be able to produce any viable pop star, but it sure does wonders for its pop star judges. Last year all four judges saw their album and singles sales rise with their exposure on the show and it yielded a bona-fide Grammy nominated # 1 smash with Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera‘s “Moves Like Jagger”. It may be doing the same thing this week as that groups new single “Payphone” featuring Wiz Khalifa debuted on the show last week and now it flies onto the Hot 100 at # 3 selling the most digital downloads in one week for a group in history. Will it rise to the top soon? It could but it will have to fend off Gotye’s hot “Somebody that I Used to Know” which makes it two weeks on top with this frame. Check out the new top ten below and for more on the Singles charts, head to Billboard here.

Top Ten Singles on the Hot 100:
1. “Somebody that I Used to Know”- Gotye w/Kimbra (last week~ 1)
2. “We Are Young”- fun. w/Janelle Monae (lw~ 2)
3. “Payphone”- Maroon 5 w/ Wiz Khalifa (debut)
4. “Boyfriend”- Justin Bieber (lw~ 5)
5. “Glad You Came”- The Wanted (lw~ 3)
6. “Wild Ones”- Flo Rida w/ SIa (lw~ 6)
7. “Call Me Maybe”- Carly Rae Jepsen (lw~8)
8. “What Makes You Beautiful”- One Direction (lw~ 4)
9. “Starships”- Nicki Minaj (lw~ 7)
10. “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”- Kelly Clarkson (lw~ 9)

And here’s Maroon 5 & Wiz Khalifa peforming “Payphone” live on The Voice

Over on the Billboard 200 Albums chart, we have several new entries from Grammy winners Jason Mraz and Train, plus some rapper I’ve never heard of called Future. However all three, despite getting their best sales weeks and highest charting albums to date, fall behind last week’s leader, Lionel Richie who makes it two weeks in the pole position with Tuskegee. For more on this race, head here and check out the new top ten below.

Top Ten Albums on the Billboard 200:
1. Tuskegee- Lionel Richie (last week~ 1)
2. Love is Four Letter Word- Jason Mraz (debut)
3. 21- Adele (lw~ 2)
4. California 37- Train (debut)
5. Up All Night- One Direction (lw~ 5)
6. Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded- Nicki Minaj (lw~ 3)
7. Making Mirrors- Gotye (lw~ 7)
8. Pluto- Future (debut)
9. Slipstream- Bonnie Raitt (lw~ 6)
10. Tailgates & Tanlines- Luke Bryan (lw~ 13)

Lionel Richie, Gotye and “Glee” Make Moves on the Charts

There is clearly a lot of “Endless Love” for Grammy winning music icon Lionel Richie as his country collaborations album Tuskegee rises to the top of the Billboard 200 Albums Chart this week. Climbing to the summit in its third week in release, the record got a big boost from Lionel’s CBS special last Friday and was able to edge out our current Grammy winning superstar Adele. They both held off three debuts in the upper regions from Monica, Bonnie Raitt (with her first top ten since 1994!) and newcomer Hoodie Allen. For more on the album charts, head to Billboard here and check out the new top ten below.

Top Ten Albums on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart:
1. Tuskegee- Lionel Richie (last week~ 4)
2. 21- Adele (lw~ 2)
3. Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded- Nicki Minaj (lw~ 1)
4. New Life- Monica (debut)
5. Up All Night- One Direction (lw~ 5)
6. Slipstream- Bonnie Raitt (debut)
7. Making Mirrors- Gotye (lw~ 15)
8. Boys & Girls- Alabama Shakes (lw~ 16)
9. Changed- Rascal Flatts (lw~ 3)
10. All American- Hoodie Allen (debut)

And here’s Lionel Richie’s first single from Tuskegee, his remake of his own #1 duet with Diana Ross,”Endless Love”, this time featuring Shania Twain.

Over on the Hot 100, Gotye finally breaks fun.‘s stranglehold on the top spot as his debut single, “Somebody that I Used to Know” climbs a notch to # 1. The song is exploding at radio and had a huge week of digital sales with over 500,000 units sold. It was a nice boost after the song was featured on American Idol, Glee and Saturday Night Live where the singer performed. (This all helped boost his album sales too as he hit the top ten again.)… For more on Gotye’s hit and the Hot 100, click here and check out the new top ten below.

Top Ten Songs on the Hot 100:
1. “Somebody that I Used to Know”- Gotye w/Kimbra (last week~ 2)
2. “We Are Young”- fun. w/Janelle Monae (lw~ 1)
3. “Glad You Came”- The Wanted (lw~ 3)
4. “What Makes You Beautiful”- One Direction (lw~ 4)
5. “Boyfriend”- Justin Bieber (lw~ 5)
6. “Wild Ones”- Flo Rida w/Sia (lw~ 7)
7. “Starships”- Nicki Minaj (lw~ 6)
8. “Call Me Maybe”- Carly Rae Jepsen (lw~ 10)
9. “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”- Kelly Clarkson (lw~8)
10. “Part of Me”- Katy Perry (lw~ 9)

And there’s one last chart note this week as the Glee Cast notches its 200th charting single on the Hot 100. They land both their cover of “Somebody that I Used to Know” at # 26 and their mashup of Duran Duran’s “Rio” and “Hungry Like the Wolf” at # 98. Congrats Gleeks!!

Madonna’s MDNA Dances on to the Charts

She may be 53, but you wouldn’t know it if you listen to Madonna’s latest, and may I say fantastic new album, MDNA. The record is a dance sensation with amazing songs full of potential singles (hello “Turn Up the Radio”) and a few insanely gorgeous ballads like “Falling Free” and the Golden Globe winning “Masterpiece” from Madge’s film W.E. Clearly her fans like what they hear on this one as MDNA debuts at # 1 with a whopping 359,000 copies sold giving Madonna her best sales week since Music’s debut in 2001. It also becomes her 8th # 1 album, the second most among women just behind Barbra Streisand. As Billboard reports, Madonna has now had chart topping albums in 3 decades:
Madonna has now etched a total of eight No. 1 albums: three in the ’80s (Like a Virgin, True Blue, Like a Prayer), four in the ’00s (Music, American Life, Confessions on a Dance Floor, Hard Candy) and now one in ’10s (MDNA). She missed scoring a No. 1 in the 1990s, remarkably, but she did claim five No. 2 albums in that decade with I’m Breathless, The Immaculate Collection, Erotica, the Evita soundtrack and Ray of Light.
With a massive tour about to start and the recent top ten hit “Give Me All Your Luvin’” (which just became her 41st # 1 dance single), plus her new single “Girl Gone Wild” (which should become her 42nd # 1 dance hit next week), the Material Girl shows no signs of slowing down. Way to go Madge! ….And speaking of veteran performers, sixty-something singer Lionel Richie is back with his big country-duets album, Tuskegee, which debuts at # 2 with a big 199,000 copies sold. Well done as well Lionel… For more on these numbers, head to Billboard here and check out the new top ten below.

Top Ten Albums on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart:
1. MDNA- Madonna (debut)
2. Tuskegee- Lionel Richie (debut)
3. 21- Adele (last week~ 2)
4. Amaryllis- Shinedown (debut)
5. The Hunger Games Soundtrack- Various Artists (lw~ 1)
6. Up All Night- One Direction (lw~ 4)
7. Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection- Katy Perry (lw~ 31) * re-issue of Teenage Dream with added material
8. Vulnerable- The Used (debut)
9. Wrecking Ball- Bruce Springsteen (lw~ 6)
10. Now 41 Compilation- Various Artists (lw~8)

And here’s one of my favorite songs off of MDNA, Madonna’s “Turn Up the Radio”, which is reportedly going to be a single in the future too.

Over on the Hot 100 Singles chart, fun. just barely holds off teen titan Justin Bieber who gets his biggest hit ever with “Boyfriend” as it charges onto the chart at # 2 with massive sales. We’ll see if it can become a real hit in the weeks ahead with increased airplay and longevity or falls quickly like several of his songs have done in the past. (Those tween girls sure do love to buy his records, but not many others and thus his airplay is not so good.)… Two other artists grab their first top ten singles this week as Brit Boy band from The X Factor, One Direction hits # 9 and former Canadian Idol top-three finisher Carly Rae Jespen flies up to # 10. Take a look at the new list below.

Top Ten Singles on the Hot 100:
1. “We Are Young”- fun. w./Janelle Monae (last week~ 1) * 5 weeks at # 1
2. “Boyfriend”- Justin Bieber (debut)
3. “Somebody that I Used to Know”- Gotye w/Kimbra (lw~ 4)
4. “Glad You Came”- The Wanted (lw~ 3)
5. “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”- Kelly Clarkson (lw~ 2)
6. “Starships”- Nicki Minaj (lw~ 5)
7. “Wild Ones”- Flo Rida w/Sia (lw~ 7)
8. “Part of Me”- Katy Perry (lw~8)
9. “What Makes You Beautiful”- One Direction (lw~ 11)
10. “Call Me Maybe”- Carly Rae Jespen (lw~ 18)

And with her first top ten, here’s “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jespen

The Stars of NBC take you to Broadway!

NBC is pretty much an unmitigated disaster area these days. Despite having two of the best and award-winning comedies on television. 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation, the network is mired at the bottom of the ratings heap. However, they are hoping two new rays of light will save the network, the singing competition show The Voice and the new Broadway musical show Smash. I think those two shows are a fantastic start. While The Voice grew into a disastrous mess last year, it was quite fun to watch and the judges are very entertaining. Plus they will be adding great mentors like Lionel Richie, Miranda Lambert, Alanis Morissette and Kelly Clarkson (hello defecting from her alma matter!) to the mix; so, I’m cautiously optimistic…. And looking at the new show Smash, I’m overjoyed. The pilot is wonderful, hilarious, moving and intoxicating with a great cast (Debra Messing, Angelica Huston, Katharine McPhee and  Wicked’s Megan Hilty to name a few) tackling the making of a new Broadway musical. I gave the pilot an “A” grade and I can’t wait to see where it goes.
So, with both of those shows in mind, the NBC brass is taking to the Broadway stage again to publicize its shows. Check out this fantastic promo (airing during today’s Super Bowl) which features the stars of the network’s shows from The Office to SNL, Parenthood and beyond singing “The Brotherhood of Man” from the current hit revival of How to Succeed in Business without Trying. Enjoy it below and catch the season premiere of Smash tomorrow night at 10pm on NBC.

NBC “Brotherhood of Man” Promo