Carrie Underwood photo by James White, courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.
Carrie Underwood was ‘blown away’ by an exciting 2012 that included a new album, headlining tour, hit songs and multiple media appearances. She played to more than half a million fans throughout her 62 show Blown Away Tour, leaving her as the top female country touring artist of the year according to Pollstar’s year-end chart. She also played her first shows in Australia and the U.K. selling out her concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall in just 90 minutes.
Carrie released her Blown Away album in May, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard country and all genre sales chart. The album spent seven weeks atop Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart in 2012 and ended the year ranked as the No 2 country album and the No. 7 album in all genres. Continue Reading
Music icon Patti Page died on New Year’s Day in Encinitas, California. She was 85 years old. The best-selling female artist of the 1950s, she was best known for her signature song, “Tennessee Waltz.” Other hits included “The Doggie in the Window,” “All My Love” and “I Went to Your Wedding.”
“I was a kid from Oklahoma who never wanted to be a singer, but was told I could sing,” she told Billboard in a 1999 interview. “And things snowballed.”
Written by Red Stewart and Pee Wee King, Patti’s “Tennessee Waltz” was one of the earliest country crossover hits, reaching No. 1 on the pop, country and R&B charts in 1951. The single sold more than 10 million copies, second only to Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” at the time. “Tennessee Waltz” was named the Tennessee state song in 1965.
“I knew that it was important,” she told the Tennessean in 2000. “I have always enjoyed singing it. I have never tired of it.” Continue Reading
Billboard Charts are calculated using custom formulas collecting sales, streaming and radio play. What was your favorite album of 2012? Leave us a comment below!
Billboard Charts are calculated using custom formulas collecting sales, streaming and radio play. What do you think of this chart? Which 2012 song is YOUR top song? Leave us a comment below!
“Tuskegee is where it all began, the place where I felt that everything was available and possible,” he said. “It’s where I learned about life and love and the power of music, and the place I built a musical foundation that knows no genres or boundaries.” Continue Reading
The Top 20 includes several new faces this year. Lionel Richie secured the No. 15 spot with the release of his country duets album, Tuskegee. Lee Brice, Hunter Hayes andLittle Big Town also made the Top 20 this year.
Billboard Charts are calculated using custom formulas collecting sales, streaming and radio play. What do you think of this ranking? Who’d top YOUR Top 50 list? Leave us a comment below!
Lady Antebellum photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.
Lady Antebellum picked up the Breakthrough Award at the 2012 Billboard Touring Awards on November 8, taking the crown over fellow nominees Miranda Lambert and The Black Keys. The award goes to the highest grossing touring artist who cracks Billboard’s Boxscore recap for the first time in their careers based on ticket sales and other touring data. Though snowstorms and airport closures kept Lady A from attending the awards in New York City, they were thrilled nonetheless.
“Mother Nature wasn’t our friend this week…we would have loved to have been there to accept this in person,” Dave Haywood said. “We count this tour as one of our proudest accomplishments and want to thank our band, crew and all the fans around the world who came out to ‘Own The Night’ with us. It’s a huge honor, and a responsibility to our genre, to travel around the globe representing country music. We don’t take that lightly and really appreciate the recognition.”
Taylor Swift’s 2012 CD, Red. Photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.
Taylor Swift has more than a million reasons to smile. Her new album, Red, sold 1.208 million copies last week, according to Nielson SoundScan, to reach platinum status. Red’s debut is music’s highest weekly sales number since Eminem’s The Eminem Show in 2002 and make Taylor the only female artist – and the fourth artist ever – to sell more than one million albums in first week sales twice.
“They just told me Red sold 1.2 million albums first week. How is this real life?! You are UNREAL. I love you so much. Thanks a million ” Taylor tweeted after hearing the news.
Additionally, Red was the eighth largest first week debut in SoundScan chart history and the second biggest week ever for a female artist. The album debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 charts and sold more units than the rest of the albums in the Top 50 combined. Continue Reading
Taylor Swift’s 2012 CD, Red. Photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.
Taylor Swift’s highly-anticipated Red album is officially in stores and as part of the promotion surrounding the album’s relief, Taylor is on the cover of the current issue of Billboard. She discussed the making of Red and how important emotions were to the finished product. Read our review of Red >>
“On this particular record I tried to operate from an emotional place,” she told the magazine. “I made the emotion of the song a priority rather than asking, ‘What should we do from a production standpoint, or what works in this genre?’ Instead, it was, ‘What did that emotion feel like when I wrote the song?’ And whatever the answer was determined what the track sounded like and what my vocals were supposed to sound like.”
When Taylor visited GAC to talk about the album, she also revealed 5 things she learned while making Red. Watch the clip below to find out what those 5 things are:
Red is a collection of 16 songs that range from country to pop, dance and even dubstep. The eclectic mix of tunes was done on purpose to serve as a snapshot of where Taylor is in her own life. Continue Reading
Jason Aldean photo courtesy of Broken Bow Records.
Jason Aldean is giving fans the chance to listen to his new album Night Train before they can buy it. The full album is streaming exclusively at iTunes for the full week leading up to its October 16 release. Fans can listen to the stream on desktops or iPads at www.iTunes.com/JasonAldean.
“It’s a really cool thing that iTunes is letting us offer a stream of the album a week before release,” Jason said. “As a music fan, I love going on there and digging for new tunes and new artists that I may want to download. I am so anxious to get this album out and for the fans to hear it, so this feels like an early birthday present or something.” Continue Reading
” Taylor 
