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Post by Admin on Dec 24, 2014 5:09:49 GMT
Musician of the Year: Taylor SwiftWho: Taylor Swift, 25, musician Why: With the deliberate embrace of a new city (New York) and a new sound (unapologetic pop), Swift conquered music mainstream this year. If Taylor Swift wasn't the world's biggest pop star at the beginning of 2014, she certainly was by the end. In 2014, she wrapped her $150-million The RED Tour with shows in Europe and Asia. In the summer, she had a few scene-stealing seconds in The Giver. She also moved from Nashville to New York, foreshadowing a musical shift that was in the works. When she introduced her single Shake It Off — from the top of the Empire State Building, no less — she announced that her fifth album, 1989, would mark a full-fledged shift into the pop-music scene. But she had learned her lessons from her time in country music, staying in close touch with her fan base by poring over their Tumblr and Instagram accounts, often posting lengthy comments and even inviting a few of them to her homes to listen to the album early. When she released her transformative 1989 album in October, she sold 1.29 million copies in the first week, outpacing any "expert" predictions and giving her the year's first million-selling release. When she released 1989's second single, Blank Space, she became the first woman to replace herself at the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Hot 100 single chart. By the end of the year, the best-selling digital musical artist ever was outselling any other album released in 2014 by at least a factor of three.
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Post by Admin on Dec 25, 2014 5:34:07 GMT
Taylor Swift makes an expected return to the top of the Billboard 200 chart, as her 1989 album hops up one rung, bringing its total (nonconsecutive) weeks atop the list to six. The set shifted 375,000 equivalent units in the week ending Dec. 21 (up 16 percent), according to Nielsen Music. (The Billboard 200 chart measures multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums [TEA] and streaming equivalent albums [SEA].) Swift also leads the Top Album Sales chart, where the set sold 331,000 copies (up 19 percent). With one week remaining in Nielsen Music’s tracking year, 1989 has now sold 3.36 million and is on the verge of overtaking the Frozen soundtrack as 2014’s top selling album. The latter has sold 3.46 million this year. With 1989 atop the Billboard 200 for a sixth week, Swift’s total weeks at No. 1 rise to 30 (she’s had four No. 1 albums, and all have spent at least six weeks at No. 1). She now ties Mariah Carey for the second-most weeks at No. 1 among women in the chart’s 58-year history. Only Whitney Houston, with 46 leading frames, has more. (Among all acts, The Beatles have the most weeks at No.1, with a whopping 132 chart-topping weeks from 19 No. 1 albums.)
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Post by Admin on Dec 28, 2014 3:49:14 GMT
Taylor Swift has declared herself "OBSESSED" with one mashup of her 1989 tracks, "Blank Space" and "Style." Posted by Nashville-based singer Louisa Wendorff, and featuring Devin Dawson, the folky, acoustic cover of the songs from Swift's chart-topping 2014 release puts a "He said/She said" spin on the tunes. Swift shared the video on Dec. 27, days after Wendorff shared the video on her official website on Dec. 23. Prior to her Swift cover, Wendorff posted other cover videos of tracks by Sam Smith, Beyonce and Ed Sheeran. "I am so thankful for all of your guys' support in walking through this incredible journey with me. It's been a year since I posted 'Kiss Me// XO' and I can't thank you all enough! Constantly overwhelmed by the support," she wrote. "The biggest thanks to my amazing friends and collaborators, Blythe Thomas and Devin Dawson, for their work on this," she continued. "Literally could not have done it without these incredible people."
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Post by Admin on Dec 30, 2014 4:11:23 GMT
Taylor Swift's single "Blank Space" still sits atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making the pop superstar two-for-two with 1989 singles after "Shake It Off" reached the summit earlier this year. So what's going to be the next 1989 smash? The third single from the album has yet to be announced, but Scott Borchetta, the head of Swift's longtime home Big Machine Records, has weighed in on the crucial pop decision. During an impromptu Twitter Q&A on Sunday (Dec. 28), Borchetta -- President/CEO of the Big Machine Label Group -- was asked by a fan, "What's Taylor's next single??" Borchetta promptly responded, "I'M LEANING TOWARDS STYLE… YOU?" "Style," of course, is the ultra-cool, James Dean-evoking pop-rock gumdrop placed one spot behind "Blank Space" on the 1989 track list. Along with "All You Had To Do Was Stay," "Bad Blood" and "New Romantics," "Style" is an obvious single choice from the full-length, and it's not hard imagining hearing that wah-wah guitar lick all over Top 40 radio. By logging its sixth week at No. 1 last week, "Blank Space" continues to extend Swift's longest stay atop the Hot 100 chart. Her other two chart-toppers, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "Shake It Off," crowned the Hot 100 for three weeks and four weeks, respectively.
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Post by Admin on Jan 1, 2015 3:50:15 GMT
Frozen finally had to let it go. After spending most of 2014 as the year's top-selling album, the soundtrack has given up its status to Taylor Swift's 1989. Swift's album, released in October, has sold 3.661 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, overtaking the Disney movie soundtrack in the last sales week of the year. Frozen has amassed 3.53 million in sales in 2014 (though it has sold 3.865 million overall since its release in November 2013). No other album has sold even 2 million copies in 2014. The No. 3 album of the year is Sam Smith's In the Lonely Hour, at 1.21 million. Swift's fifth album sold 326,000 copies last week to Frozen's 64,000. According to Billboard, it's the second time Swift has had the top-selling album of the year, having sold 3.22 million copies of her second album, Fearless, in 2009.
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