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Someone in the United States needs to talk to the BBC Music Awards on how to set up a music trophy show. The event, held Thursday night, featured the handing out of only four prizes, simplifying reporting and allowing viewers to avoid prizes that they don't have much interest in. Among the few winners, Ed Sheeran and Pharrell Williams received the most acclaim. -
iTunes Year-End Best Sellers are Soundtrack Heavy: Pharrell Williams "Happy," 'Frozen' & 'Guardians of the Galaxy' Sell High
It was a big year for movie soundtracks and singles. Today (Dec. 8), iTunes announced its top-selling songs and albums of the year, and Despicable Me 2's "Happy" by Pharrell Williams and the soundtrack to Disney's Frozen lead the pack, clocking bigger numbers than Taylor Swift's 1989 and mega-hits from John Legend, Katy Perry and Meghan Trainor. -
Beyoncé Faces Stiff Competition for Grammy Album of the Year
The Grammys announced several award nominees on Friday morning, but kept "Album of the Year" under wraps until its "A Very Grammy Christmas" broadcast during primetime. Without further ado, let's break down the tale of the tape. Here are your nominations. -
GRAMMYs 2015: Meghan Trainor, Sam Smith, Pharrell Williams & More React to GRAMMY Nominations on Twitter and Instagram
As musicians are wont to do when nominated for a major prize, they shared the news of their GRAMMY nomination and expressed their thanks on social media. In the midst of this morning's announcements, nominees from Meghan Trainor to Sam Smith to Ed Sheeran and Mali Music turned to Twitter and Instagram to share their reactions. -
GRAMMYs 2015 Nominations: Sam Smith, Taylor Swift, Pharrell Williams Among Early Nominees
The biggest night in music is just around the corner, even if it's hard to believe that yet another year has passed. Today (Dec. 5), the nominations for the 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards are being rolled out via Twitter and various television appearances. Early on, predicted favorites lead the nominations with Sam Smith, Iggy Azalea, Sia, Taylor Swift and Pharrell Williams all racking up multiple nods. -
Ed Sheeran Most Streamed Spotify Performer Worldwide in 2014; Eminem Tops U.S. Stream Numbers
Yesterday Ed Sheeran made news when his album X cracked one million sales in the UK and today, partially thanks to his popularity in Europe, the pop star was named the most streamed performer of the year by Spotify. Sheeran amassed more than 860 million listens across all of the streaming service's markets. If Spotify's reports on pay rates are accurate, that means the performer should have brought in nearly $7.25 million in revenues from Spotify this year (before labels take their cut). According to Billboard, almost exactly half of those streams were for X. -
Jessie Ware Shares Music Vid for 'You & I (Forever)' from Album 'Tough Love' [WATCH]
English pop singer Jessie Ware has shared the music video for her latest single "You & I (Forever)," which you can check out below. The video opens with a quote — presumably by Ware — saying how the song is "celebrating the person you love being by your side," and features Ware singing the song from inside a photo booth, intercut with images of other people posing inside the booth themselves, mostly with friends and loved ones. It is quite similar to Robyn and Kindness's "Who Do You Love?" music video, only a bit grainier. You can check out Jessie Ware's "You & I (Forever)" music video here: "You & I (Forever)" is the third single to be shared from Jessie Ware's latest album "Tough Love," following "Say You Love Me" and the album's title track. "Tough Love" was released Oct. 13 and is Ware's second studio album following her 2012 debut "Devotion." -
Ed Sheeran Covers Foy Vance "Make It Rain" for Sons of Anarchy [LISTEN]
It may have seemed like Ed Sheeran was gearing up for a rap career with all the hip-hop influences on his latest album x and his Hoodie Allen collaboration "All About It," but he's not leaving his roots. Today (Dec. 2), the "Don't" singer released a new track for the penultimate episode of Sons of Anarchy, a true and bluesy cover of Foy Vance's "Make It Rain." -
Ed Sheeran Sells One Million Copies of 'X' in The UK, His Second Album to Do So
Ed Sheeran, perhaps the most toned-down superstar possible (we'd argue he's even more toned-down than Lorde) has continued to outdo his flashier cohorts. This week saw the performer crack the million-albums-sold mark in the UK for his 2014 set X. -
'Now 89' and 'Now 88' Top Sales Weeks in The UK for 2014; Does This Spell Trouble for British Artists?
We at Music Times have been fairly grim when reporting album sales for 2014. As you know by now, only one album, released during this year has gone platinum (Taylor Swift's 1989) and only a few more titles threaten to crack one million before 2015 strikes. Frankly, things in the UK seem even worse. Last week featured the highest sales week for a debut thus far during 2014 as Now 89 sold 283,000 copies. The record-holder before Now 89? Now 88 sold 182,000 copies during its first week when it came out during June. -
Ed Sheeran Surprises Fan with Gifts on 'The Late Late Toy Show' [WATCH]
It is the holiday season and that means relentless Black Friday shopping has come and thankfully gone, but also a time to be thankful for friends and family and, if you have them, fans who love us. Ed Sheeran went on Irish chat show "The Late Late Toy Show" to surprise one lucky fan and present her with gifts in a touching, authentic moment. Aimee Keogh was explaining to the host Ryan Tubridy how to work an app that lets you sing out of your phone using a PlayStation 4. She listed her favorite acts as including One Direction, 5 Seconds of Summer and Ed Sheeran. As she started to sing Sheeran's "Lego House," the musician entered the stage and crept up behind her, gifts in hand, to surprise Keogh, via "Billboard." Once the introductions were made — not that she needed to know who he was — the duet sang the rest of "Lego House" together. Sheeran had just flown in from a concert in Newcastle to surprise her. He presented her with a signed copy of his latest album "x," a Christmas sweater and tickets for her and her family to see him play at the O2 Arena in London next summer — all expenses paid. He capped off the dream night for Keogh by inviting her to sing along with him as he performed acoustic his chart-topping single "Thinking Out Loud." -
Usher New Song "Cuz We Can" Leaks Online [LISTEN]
Though Usher's upcoming album UR isn't going to be released any time soon, a new song from the R&B superstar titled "Cuz We Can" has leaked online, which you can check out below. It's not clear when this song was recorded, or how it will be officially released, if it was intended for release at all, though its sparkling electronic production suggests that this is a recent production. -
Kygo Teases New Single 'Firestone' Featuring Conrad [WATCH]
Dance music's new golden boy, Norwegian producer Kygo has previewed a new song on his Facebook. "Firestone" featuring 300-signed Australian singer Conrad will be released according to Dancing Astronaut on Dec. 2 exclusively via Spotify. The preview is included in a recap video for the last leg of his "Endless Summer" tour with sold out shows in New York City and Los Angeles, while having him discuss the making of the track, how his time on tour was and what he has coming up. -
Taylor Swift "Blank Space" Reigns Supreme on Hot 100 Again: Hozier "Take Me To Church" Cracks Top 3
Taylor Swift is still a force to be reckoned with on the American single charts, with "Blank Space" spending its second week atop the Billboard Hot 100 this week. As the second 1989 single continues to dominate the charts, Ariana Grande and Ed Sheeran return to the top 10, thanks to the power of the music video. -
Sinead O'Connor Backs 'Do They Know It's Christmas?," Tells Critics to 'Shut the F--k Up'
Last week, on Nov. 17, the latest version of Band Aid's classic charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" was released online to raise money for the Ebola crisis in West Africa, and though it went straight to the top of the U.K. charts and is supporting an undoubtedly good cause, the song has been the subject of plenty of criticism, particularly for its lyrics. According to two British newspapers, Emeli Sandé, who actually appears on the latest version, said the lyrics need "changing," while Lily Allen called the song "a bit smug" and said she would prefer "donating actual money." One artist who is vigorously defending the song, however, is the famously outspoken Sinead O'Connor, who also appears on the song. "I think everyone should shut the f--k up," O'Connor told "Broadsheet," via "Billboard." "If you didn't like the lyrics you shouldn't have agreed to sing the song. I think it's smug of Lily Allen to say it's smug."
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