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Pop Rock Nation

Category: News

music-news-from-breakups-to-the-lastest-buzz

  • Dear Ms. Judd: Wy You Hatin’?

    So, apparently Wynonna Judd has decided to stop shoving Twinkies down her gullet and driving drunk to diss Taylor Swift for winning the Entertainer of the Year award at the CMAs. As I mentioned in an article earlier today, the 19-year old Swift became the youngest artist to win this esteemed honor, in addition to winning three other trophies at the ceremony last night.

    Wynonna seems to think that Taylor has to pay her dues before winning something like Entertainer of the Year. I call shenanigans. It’s not like the woman is winning a lifetime achievement award. She won “Entertainer of the Year”. You don’t have to pay dues or have a body of work to win this award…you just have to have been successful in the past twelve months. Who else in country music has had the year that Taylor’s had. The fact of the matter is this-Taylor has set a record by having 13 songs from one album hit the Top 40, she scored the biggest country crossover hit of the year with “You Belong With Me”, she became the first country artist to win an MTV Video Music Award, and…”Fearless” is the year’s biggest-selling album, regardless of genre. It may not be paying dues, but it sure as hell is success. The type of success Wynonna hasn’t enjoyed since the early Nineties. Might there be a little jealousy going on in Nashville?

    What I found even funnier was the comment section. First of all, people who leave anonymous comments are the worst. If you can’t stand behind your own words, you have no credibility in my book. Second, there’s a large group of people who think that Taylor was a nobody before the Kanye incident. Now, folks, y’all know I love Kanye to death, but Taylor had sold over 7 million records BEFORE the whole MTV thing went down. It’s not like Kanye jumped on stage, stole the spotlight and made her into a star.

    Anyway, seeing as Taylor is enjoying success and opportunities that Wynonna only dreams about, I don’t think Ms. Swift is paying too much attention to the talk.

  • Taylor Swift Sweeps the CMAs

    Exactly how many country music awards shows are there? I can’t tell the CMAs from the CMTs from the…well, I think there’s another one. Despite the fact that I’m a fan of some current pop-rock/country, I don’t think I could sit through two hours of yeehaws and cowboy hats.

    Nevertheless, the Country Music Awards aired last night (pre-empting “Modern Family”…grrrr…), and, as expected Taylor Swift made a big splash, winning four awards including Entertainer of the Year, which had gone to Kenny Chesney for three years straight. Taylor’s a pretty likeable chick, I’m happy for her, and I must admit that my resolve is breaking and I might wind up going out and buying “Fearless” finally. Hey, did anyone see her host “SNL” this past weekend? She served poor Joe Jonas. Anyway, Taylor also won Album of the Year, Best Female Vocalist and Best Video of the Year. Next up for her, the American Music Awards, where she will vie for the lion’s share of the night’s honors with Michael Jackson. Oh, Taylor is also the youngest artist to ever win the Entertainer of the Year honor.

    Other CMA winners included Sugarland, Brad Paisley, Lady Antebellum and my older twin brother Darius Rucker, who won New Artist of the Year, becoming only the second African-American artist to ever win a CMA. Might this be the most successful pop-to-country crossover in history? Remember, yall: Darius was doing Burger King commercials a few years ago. Now he’s a platinum-selling recording artist again. Good for him. I still have nightmares about that damn commercial.

  • Chart Chat 11/10/09: Carrie-On To The Top!!

    As expected. Carrie Underwood enters the Billboard Album chart at the #1 position with her new album “Play On”. 318,00 country fans made their way over to the cash registers for this one, making it Carrie’s third consecutive chart topper.  While it’s less than the 527,000 scans her second album, “Carnival Ride” garnered in it’s debut week, it’s about on pace with what her debut, “Some Hearts” scored in it’s first week (314,000). That particular album went on to sell 7 million copies. While I think the chances of that happening again are pretty much nil, it does look like Carrie has a hit on her hands.

    “Play On” is the highest of the 5 debuts in this week’s Top Ten. Andrea Bocelli’s holiday album, “My Christmas” enters at #3 with a healthy 149,000 units sold. Expect this to be the holiday-themed blockbuster of 2009. Right behind it is the first soundtrack for the TV series “Glee” (easily the highest-charted television soundtrack in recent memory). The 32nd version of the “Now That’s What I Call Music” series checks in at #5 with 102K, while Weezer’s latest, “Raditude”, opens up at a mediocre #7 with 66K sold. The Foo Fighters and Slayer also bow in the Top 20, at positions 11 and 12, respectively.

    If you thought people were waiting with baited breath for the return of R&B thrush Amerie, you were wrong. Her Def Jam debut, “In Love & War” starts off at an anemic #46 with 13,000 units sold. Her previous two albums were Gold sellers. It’s safe to say “War” will not follow that trend.

    Thanks to a reissue with bonus tracks, Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” has overtaken Michael Jackson’s “Number Ones” for the title of biggest selling album of 2009. Swift’s album has sold 2.1 million units this year, a scant 30,000 units more than MJ’s 2003 hits package. At this stage, it’s still anyone’s game.

    Over on the digital download side, Rihanna’s “Russian Roulette” opens with a healthy 132,000 downloads, landing at #4 on this week’s chart, behind Owl City’s “Fireflies”, Iyaz’s “Replay” and Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind”. For sake of comparison, Chris Brown’s latest, “I Can Transform Ya” sits at #17 in it’s fifth week out.

    Next week, Carrie could score a second week at the top if the dropoff isn’t too sharp. She’ll be competing with the new one from Bon Jovi and a hits package from Britney Spears. Who’ll come out on top? Check back with us in 7 days!! In the meantime, here’s this week’s complete top 20.

    1) Carrie Underwood “Play On”

    2) Michael Jackson “This is It”

    3) Andrea Bocelli “My Christmas”

    4) Soundtrack “Glee Vol. 1”

    5) Various Artists “Now That’s What I Call Music 32”

    6) Taylor Swift “Fearless”

    7) Weezer “Raditude”

    8) Michael Buble “Crazy Love”

    9) Sting “If on a Winter’s Night”

    10) Soundtrack “Twilight: New Moon”

    11) Foo Fighters “Greatest Hits”

    12) Slayer “World Painted Blood”

    13) Rod Stewart “Soulbook”

    14) Creed “Full Circle”

    15) Jay-Z “Blueprint 3”

    16) Tim McGraw “Southern Voice”

    17) Miley Cyrus “Time of Our Lives EP”

    18) Michael Jackson “Number Ones”

    19) Owl City “Ocean Eyes”

    20) Casting Crowns “Peace on Earth”