After a run of three consecutive number one albums coming from the country genre, the streak is broken by Lil Wayne. The New Orleans rapper’s latest effort, “I Am Not a Human Being”, bounces from #16 to #1 in its third week on the chart. The reason for this jump? After two weeks as a digital exclusive, “Human” was officially released on disc. Over 125,000 people scooped it up-not a huge number considering Weezy’s recent past, but when you take […]
Country Music
Chart Chat 10/14/10: His Name Was Toby
Country Music / hip-hop / Lists! / music / New Releases / news / Pop Music / rock music / soul music
Country music continues it’s stronghold on the Billboard album charts this week. For the third consecutive week, the genre scores a chart-topping debut. This week’s chart-topper is the latest record from Toby Keith. Everyone’s favorite Dixie Chick-basher scores the #1 album with “Bullets in the Gun”. Unfortunately, it also starts with what’s probably the lowest total for a chart-topper in October EVER, scanning just under 71,000 units. Nevertheless, Toby follows Kenny Chesney (now #2) and Zac Brown Band (#5) to […]
The People Speak: Eminem & Antebellum Lead the American Music Awards
Well, folks, we’re in the thick of music award show season. The MTV Video Music awards kicked things off at the beginning of September, and the season concludes at the end of January with the Grammy Award ceremony. Smack dab in the middle, we have Dick Clark’s American Music Awards: an almost 40-year old institution that prides itself on being the people’s choice. Unlike the Grammy nominees, which are chosen by a “blue-ribbon” panel of music industry professionals, AMA nominees […]
New Release Report 10/12/10: Weezy & Hootie: What a Combination
Country Music / hip-hop / Indie Rock / music / New Releases / news / Pop Music / rock music / soul music
Aren’t there supposed to be good albums coming out now? For the second week, I find myself looking at a list of new releases not containing a single title I feel worthy of my hard-earned $10 bucks. That’s not to say the rest of you won’t find something to enjoy, though. So here are a couple of this week’s key releases. Some of you, like me, are still old school enough that we don’t buy albums digitally (actually, more people […]
Chart Stalker 10/7/10: The Yee-Haw Edition
Guess what type of music people are still buying? Ding Ding Ding!! Country music! Kenny Chesney becomes the second straight country act to debut at #1 on the national Billboard charts. His latest effort, “Hemingway’s Whiskey”, starts with 183,000 units. It replaces Zac Brown Band’s “You Get What You Give” at the top of the chart. The Grammy winning band’s sophomore effort slides two spots to #3 this week. Guess what other type of music people are apparently still buying? […]
New Release Report 10/5/10: Imagining Lennon Reissues
Following last year’s Beatles reissues, the folks at EMI/Capitol are commemorating what would have been the 70th birthday of the great John Lennon by remastering and reissuing his entire eight-album catalog. If you have the scratch and/or are a tremendous Lennon fan, there is also the 11-disc [amazon-product text=”Signature Box” tracking_id=”popblerdcom-20″ type=”text”]B003TVMIDO[/amazon-product] that contains just about everything the man ever recorded and released. As John Lennon is one of the most iconic figures in popular music, I can think of […]
Another Billboard Nail-Biter: Chart Stalker! 9/30/10
In the red corner, an upstart country band who won the 2009 Grammy for Best New Artist. Representing for the peeps who like a little bit of Jack Johnson with their Kenny Chesney, we have…the Zac Brown Band! In the blue corner, a group of funk/rock pros whose lead singer has finely chiseled cheekbones and unbelievably sculpted hair! The Grammy winner for Best New Artist of 2004…Maroon 5!! It was a close race for the top of the Billboard charts […]
New Release Report 9/28/10: Walking Down “Lonely Avenue” with Ben Folds
When I saw Ben Folds in concert earlier this year, he noted that the album he’d been working on with British author Nick Hornby had been completed, and I was super intrigued. I’m a pretty major Folds fan, and “High Fidelity” has long been on the list of my favorite books and films (and I also picked up “Long Way Down” over the summer…it was a great read). The one song that Folds played from the collaboration that night was […]
Chart Chat 9/23/10: Linkin Park and Trey Songz In A Photo Finish!
1,005 units separate this week’s #1 and #2 albums in one of the closest races for the top spot in history. The eventual victor? Rock giants Linkin Park score the top spot with 241,000 units sold of their fourth studio album, “A Thousand Suns”. While that sum is healthy, it is cause for alarm considering that LP’s last album, “Minutes to Midnight”, debuted with triple that sum just three short years ago. Linkin Park’s sound has gradually evolved over the […]
New Release Report 9/21/10: Wanna Get Your Hands All Over Maroon 5?
I’m scared of the new Maroon 5 album, “Hands All Over” ( purchase on Amazon mp3 ). The first single, “Misery”, seemed like the height of laziness to me. If you stuck “This Love” and “Makes Me Wonder” in a blender, the result would be “Misery”, and despite the critical arrows that seem to get slung Adam Levine and co.’s way, they’re definitely better than that. However, no less an authority on music than Popdose’s Grand Poobah Jeff Giles Y’all has deemed M5’s third studio effort, “Hands All Over”, […]