Real Music People

Industry projections have come in recently and they are saying that Michael Jackson’s ‘This is It’ album is expected to sell around 300,000 copies in its first week, which is sure to be more than enough to clinch the number 1 spot on the charts. And depending on how the pieces fall together, the King of Pop may end up moving higher on the Forbes list next year. If that were to be the case, the late singer’s posthumous career might end up catching up to the success of his earlier years in the music industry. We all know that it’s going to top the last couple of years.

Beyonce is industry bible Billboard’s woman of the year.

The superstar will be honoured at Billboard’s annual Women In Music event. Billboard on its website states the honour is given to a female recording artist that has inspired the music business with her success, leadership and new ideas.

Billboard in particular was awarding Beyonce’s accomplishments over the past 12 months. The magazine noted Beyonce in the past year kicked off her world tour “I Am…” in support of her third solo album I Am … Sasha Fierce. The album debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 chart in November. The singles If I Were A Boy, Single Ladies, Halo, Ego and Sweet Dreams have come off the album.

Billboard editorial director Bill Werde said: “Beyonce is a multi-platinum artist and a multi-talented woman who clearly embodies the qualities of excellence and achievement that the Billboard Woman Of The Year Award was created to honour.”

Past Woman Of The Year honorees were Ciara and Reba McEntire.

Beyonce will be on hand to accept her award at an October 2 event in New York City.

Source: Splash News

Even is the single ‘Crack a Bottle’ by the rapping powerhouse trio of Eminem, Dr. Dre and 50 Cent is somewhat of a dud considering the hits they have among them, the song somehow managed to set a new Billboard record for first week download sales. The boring comeback track from Eminem and company is the new #1 song in America as it stole the top spot from the previous opening week record holders, TI and Rihanna. Am I missing something with that song? I just don’t get how it got the top spot. Maybe people just got curious is Eminem is still the same douche bag he was years ago. I bet people will stop caring in a few days.

Metallica’s first album in over five years ‘Death Magnetic’ is projected to do fairly well. The record is actually on track to take the number one spot on the US album charts. According to preliminary estimates, their new album will make it big by having sold 450,000 to 500,000 copies last week even though the album was only on sale for 3 days. Something that might be helping the band is the fact that some stores are bundling the album with Guitar Hero or some Metallica headphones. Ticketmaster is also offering ticket/album deal for buyers. It’s a great deal but I don’t think that it’s enough to put them back in the spotlight.

The R&B prince Chris Brown and his R&B princess Rihanna performed at the Louisiana Superdome during the 2008 Essence Music Festival on Friday, the Fourth of July, in New Orleans. In other news, Billboard recently did a review of Rihanna’s latest single ‘Disturbia’ saying “…It’s safe to say that Rihanna is the premier artist of the second half of the decade, with no signs of wear and tear. This latest is a sort of ‘Thriller’ for partygoers, with multilayered vocals cascading across Ri’s lower register, alongside fun scatting, a la ‘bum bum bi dum bum’ with co-writing (and background vocals) from the irrepressible Chris Brown…”

In the music industry, no one is safe from a lawsuit, not even if you’re on their payroll. Rockers Scott Weiland and Eric Kretz of Stone Temple Pilots have been sued by their own record label Atlantic. According to Billboard, the suit claims that lead singer Scott and drummer Eric have threatened to stop performing under their contract and indicated that they would like to end the agreement unless the label makes significant changes. The company wants the group to record a 7th album and deliver up to 2 more if Atlantic decides it wants them. The band has come out with a statement regarding the matter saying that the were surprised by the suit as they were in the middle of what was believed to be cordial discussion on making a new album. They also denied the claims that they threatened to terminate their contract.

Out of four albums released over the span of her career, all four have debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts. Her most recent album was released last week, entitled As I Am.

A #1 debut is not her only Thanksgiving blessing this week, though. Keys has already sold 742,400 copies and is her highest performing debut yet. Her first album Songs in a Minor (2001) sold 235,800 copies while her sophomore album The Diary of Alicia Keys sold 618,300. Unplugged (2005) sold approximately 196,000 copies. This year, her closest competition was Josh Groban’s Neel, a Christmas themed album, which hit #2 with around 223,000 copies.

This recent increase in album sales has shown us that it is indeed beginning to look at a lot like Christmas. And a lot of people will be pleasantly surprised to find a copy of the R&B songster’s latest gift in their stockings!

It’s always annoying when a rapper says that he’s retired then comes back only to retire again and then come back again. But in Jay-Z’s case, no one should care as long as he’s number 1.

The rapper may have flashed two fingers when he passed paparazzi on his way to TRL on Monday. But as of the middle of the week, he hit number 1. As it was projected by music insiders last week, his American Gangster-inspired album took the top spot on the Billboard charts and knocked the Eagles down a notch.

Congratulations to Jay-Z. This is his 10th #1 album!

‘Crank That (Soulja Boy)’ by Soulja Boy is currently at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. If the name sounds familiar but you’re not sure from where you’ve heard it before, let me tell you a story.

Souljah Boy, do notice the ‘h’, was part of the group Mo Thugs during the 90s. The guy with the h says he has been using that name for around 12 years and says that he was shocked when DeAndre Way, the real name of the guy without the h, Interscope and Collipark decided to ‘infringe and misappropriate his name’.

Souljah’s lawyers are reportedly in the process of contacting all the parties involved and are hoping to fix the problem.