Arcade Fire’s third album, The Suburbs, has debuted at #1 in both the US and UK. I think this means that “indie rock” is now officially mainstream, or something like that. I’m actually not much of a fan of Arcade Fire. I find their approach to be a bit over-dramatic. They remind me of my [...]

From time to time I like to check out the Billboard album charts to see what kind of music people are buying in mass quantities these days. This is one of those times. I’m mostly pretty detached from the “pop” world (most of my favorite new music doesn’t sell huge quantities) so this is my [...]

Occasionally I like to peep into the world of mainstream music to check out what teenagers and secretaries are listening to lately. This could be seen as a waste of time (and I won’t argue too strongly that it’s not) but I do think it’s a decent idea to keep a bit of perspective on [...]

According to this story on Billboard, Michael Jackson has sold over 30 million copies of his albums around the world since his death one year ago (June 25, 2009.) In the US alone, MJ has sold over 9 million copies of his albums in the past year. On top of that he has sold over [...]

The new Billboard album charts are out today and I find the sales numbers for MGMT’s new album, Congratulations, interesting enough to pass along: 66,000 copies sold in the first week which is good enough to debut at the #2 spot (behind Justin Bieber at #1.) The Billboard story also mentioned that MGMT’s first album, [...]

I wasn’t that surprised to see that Valleys of Neptune (the latest collection of previously unreleased Hendrix recordings released as a new album) debuted at #4 on the US album charts this week, because Hendrix definitely seems to have an enduring popularity. But I was a bit surprised to see how many of his older [...]

The Hope For Haiti Now charity album debuted at #1 on the US album charts and made a bit of history by becoming the first digital download only album to make it to #1. The album sold 171,000 copies to get the top spot. This is most impressive when you consider that it only became [...]

On the final Billboard 200 album chart prior to Christmas a total of eight Beatles releases made the top 200 sellers of the week: #082 Abbey Road (1969) #085 The White Album (1970) #099 The Beatles in Stereo Box Set (2009) #126 1 (2000) #130 Sgt. Pepper’s… (1967) #163 Rubber Soul (1965) #170 Revolver (1966) [...]

Susan Boyle has topped the Billboard charts for the 4th consecutive week and her sales actually went up this week from the week before. She’s already sold well over two million copies of her album (I Dreamed A Dream.) She looks to have a very good shot at reaching three million sales for the year [...]

In further proof that the average American is an imbecile, Billboard has named Nickelback as the “Band of the Decade” for having more chart success during the decade than any other “group or duo.” They were 7th overall behind Eminem, Usher, Nelly, Beyonce, Alicia Keys, and 50 Cent. Quite a group isn’t it? In case [...]