Candygram! Sweet Success for Madonna
Gotta give it to up for Madonna, lady sure knows how to make an exit.
Hard Candy, the Material One's final Warners album before joining Live Nation, dominated the pop chart, moving 288,000 copies to debut at No. 1 for the week ended Sunday, per SoundScan.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is now just one No. 1 away from tying Barbra Streisand's all-time record of eight chart-toppers, the standard for female artists.
Take that, Mariah.
The new single "4 Minutes" also reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Madonna her 37th Top 10 hit and pushing her past Elvis for the most Top 10s of all time. The Justin Timberlake collaboration is her 53rd single to crack the Hot 100 (and her second duet, following 2003's "Me Against the Music" with Britney Spears, fresh off her split with Timberlake).
Album producers include Timbaland and Pharrell Williams, while Kanye West appears as a, um, Candy rapper.
Hard Candy concludes the singer's quarter-century career with Warner, which dates back to her 1983's self-titled debut. Last fall, Madonna signed a 10-year deal with concert promoter Live Nation, reportedly worth $120 million, that includes albums, tours, merchandise and promotion.
Madonna's megadebut knocked down the newly married Mariah Carey's E=MC2 and Leona Lewis' Spirit to Nos. 2 and 3, selling 95,000 and 84,000 copies, respectively. (Carey's album still has bragging rights for biggest debut of the year, selling 463,000 copies in its opening week last month.)
Six other new releases cracked the Top 10.
Lyfe Jennings' Lyfe Change sold 80,000 copies at No. 4. Def Leppard's Songs From the Sparkle Lounge moved 55,000 at No.5, one spot and 1,000 copies ahead of the Roots' Rising Down.
Portishead, fresh off a Coachella reunion, checked in at No. 7, selling 53,000 copies of Third. This is the group's first studio release since its 1997 eponymous sophomore disc, which landed Portishead its previous career-high-debut at No. 21.
Speaking of reunions, Mudcrutch, the early '70s precursor to Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, finally recorded and released a debut album nearly four decades after forming. The self-titled effort, featuring Petty and his former bandmates, sold 38,000 to open at No. 8.
Tim McGraw lassoed in the week's seventh and final Top 10 bow with his limited-edition Greatest Hits collection. The two-disc Wal-Mart exclusive, which packages together his 2000 and 2006 retrospectives, sold 29,000 copies at No. 10.
Steve Winwood, who recently reunited with Eric Clapton for a trio of Blind Faith shows at Madison Square Garden, just missed, selling 26,000 copies of Nine Lives to debut at No. 12. The Brit rocker, who also logged in miles with Traffic, Go and the Spencer Davis Group, peaked at No. 126 with his last studio album, 2003's About Time.
The chart's other noteworthy newcomers included Carly Simon's This Kind of Love at 15, Augustana's Can't Love, Can't Hurt at 21, Lil' Mama's VYP: Voice of the Young People at 25, indie electro-rockers Mindless Self Indulgence at 27 with If, Maná's Arde el Cielo at 30 and Estelle's Shine at 38.
Overall, week-to-week sales were up 10 percent, but still down 10 percent compared to the same sales week in 2007.
- Hard Candy, Madonna
- E=MC2, Mariah Carey
- Spirit, Leona Lewis
- Lyfe Change, Lyfe Jennings
- Songs From the Sparkle Lounge, Def Leppard
- Rising Down, the Roots
- Third, Portishead
- Mudcrutch, Mudcrutch
- Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 27, various
- Greatest Hits, Tim McGraw
Mariah Wedding Rumor Steals Spotlight
Mimi sure knows how to make headlinesand not just of the musical variety.
After several days of speculation that Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon may have become engaged, it now seems the two may have gotten married.
Call us cynical (or awed by her marketing savvy), but the potential nuptial news just happens to hit the same week that pop chart rival, Madonna, has a new album in stores. Talk about perfect timing.
Word of the wedding comes from Latina.com, where an unnamed source confirms the couple swapped vows on Wednesday in a "very impulsive" small ceremony reportedly attended by just a few close friends, including Da Brat.
A subsequent report from the New York Post pinpoints the location as the home Carey just bought in Eleuthera, the Bahamas. (Her casa is his casa, however, as a Post source claims there was no prenup. "There wasn't time.")
If soand we're keeping the champagne corked until we get an official confirmationit would be the second marriage for Mimi (who was previously wed to Tommy Mottola) and the first for Nick (who was engaged to Selita Ebanks last year).
And one of the cleverest spotlight-stealing campaigns since Madonna recently bragged to the world that she pulled Justin Timberlake's pants down to deliver a B-12 shot.
(Updated May 1, 2008, at 2:45 p.m. PT)
Heidi Montag’s High Hopes For a Music Career
Heidi Montag’s High Hopes For a Music Career
On again-off again couple Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt were spotted enjoying a shopping trip together in West Hollywood, California yesterday.
And it sounds like the “Hills” babe is keen to look at a future in the music industry. With the release of her debut single “Higher,” Montag reached #7 on the iTunes Top 10 pop chart, despite being panned across the board by critics.
Of her mild success, Heidi proclaimed, “Looks like all the haters are also buying it!” Although, all of the negative responses took their toll on the singer/actress’emotions.
She told press, “I just started sobbing uncontrollably. I cried myself to sleep that first night after my video came out. I just couldn’t understand why people I didn’t even know felt the need to be so cruel and hurtful toward me. I am just a 21-year-old from a small town in Colorado trying to follow her dreams.”
Meanwhile, Spencer tried to rationalize the negative reaction. “I just held her and told her it was going to be OK. This is just part of being an artist. If it were easy, everyone would be a pop star.”
And Pratt claims that Heidi’s follow-up single/video will be released “within the month” and that it will “blow people’s minds.” We can’t wait!
To watch Heidi’s new music video - !
Mariah Carey Celebrates Sixth No. 1 Album
Mariah Carey Celebrates Sixth No. 1 Album
Celebrating her own success, Mariah Carey made her way to a big CD release party in downtown New York City on Tuesday evening (April 22).
Dressed in a sexy black outfit with diamond encrusted hoop earrings, the Grammy-winning singer was running a bit late for her late night affair - but still made an effort to pose for photographs along the way.
And Mimi had good reason to be in high spirits, as she scored her sixth No. 1 album on the U.S. pop chart Wednesday, sending her straight into the record books.
According to Reuters, “E=MC2 sold 462,971 copies during the week ended April 20, the best debut sales week of her career and the strongest week by any artist so far this year.”
As a result, the 38-year-old diva “is now tied with Madonna and Janet Jackson for the second most No. 1 albums among female artists. Barbra Streisand, with eight, leads the pack.”