• Taylor Swift No. 2 All Time for Weeks at No. 1; No New Albums to Interrupt Nicki Minaj, Pentatonix and One Direction Post-Christmas

    Another week and another run at history by Taylor Swift: Her album 1989 managed to top the Billboard 200 for the seventh time during its nine weeks on the charts, selling 326,000 full copies and generating 430 multi-metric equivalent albums (MME's). That no. 1 spot moves her into second place all-time for women atop the Billboard 200 with 31 weeks at no. 1, trailing only Whitney Houston and her crazy 46 week total.

  • Music Times 25 Best Songs of 2014: Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Hozier, St. Vincent & More

    2014 was the year of a thousand controversies: Taylor Swift pulled all of her music from Spotify, Sun Kil Moon started a feud with The War On Drugs, Jack White accused The Black Keys of ripping him off (again), and almost nobody went platinum. When you put all of that aside, however, what you're left with is a bunch of incredible songs, which is really what it's all about. Here are the 25 best songs from 2014, as determined by Music Times writers Ryan Book, Caitlin Carter, Joey DeGroot, Kyle Dowling, and Carolyn Menyes.

  • Taylor Swift First Artist to be Number One on Billboard's Artist 100 List for 10 Consecutive Weeks

    Taylor Swift is the first artist to be on top of the Billboard Artist 100 list for 10 weeks straight. The chart, which was introduced in July, tracks data from other Billboard lists like the Hot 100, Top Albums Sales and Social 50, all of which Swift has dominated with her new release, '1989.' Her record will be a tough one to break considering Sam Smith only topped it for three weeks straight and Ariana Grande only clocked in two.

  • Taylor Swift Continues Reign on 'Billboard' 200 with '1989'; Nicki Minaj's 'Pinkprint' Hits No. 2

    Taylor Swift's "1989" moved back into the No. 1 spot on the "Billboard" 200, bringing its total, nonconsecutive weeks at the top to six. It sold 375,000 copies last week, bringing the total for the year to 3.34 million. The record is on pace to overtake the "Frozen" soundtrack, which sold 3.46 million so far. Nicki Minaj's "The Pinkprint" sits comfortably at the No. 2 spot, "Billboard" notes. Swift is tied with Mariah Carey for total weeks at No. 1 with 30. Only one other woman has them beat with 46: Whitney Houston. The Beatles are still in first for all artists with 132 weeks at No. 1. Pentatonix has the No. 3 spot with "That's Christmas to Me." Minaj was able to crack the top 10 recently, and D'Angelo's new "Black Messiah" hit No. 5. "The Pinkprint" did not perform as well as the artist's previous effort "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded." The former sold 244,000 in its first week while the latter hit 253,000 — it also debuted at No. 1.

  • Sam Smith Only Performer to Attain Platinum Status in Both U.S. and UK This Year Thanks to 'In The Lonely Hour'

    Someone's got money on their mind, and that might explain the huge push in album sales for Sam Smith this year. The vocalist has passed the million-album sales mark in the United States for his debut In The Lonely Hour during the latest sales period and therefore earned platinum status. That accomplishment makes him the only performer to achieve platinum status in both the U.S. and the UK this year.

  • Eric Church Joins Taylor Swift, Sam Smith, Ariana Grande; 'Outsiders' Goes Platinum

    Move over, Jason Aldean, because Eric Church is joining the platinum party. The singer recently became the second country artist to reach the 1-million mark for albums sold in 2014 with "The Outsiders." Church is only the fifth artist this year to hit the milestone. Aldean, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Sam Smith were all certified platinum previously and the soundtrack for Disney's "Frozen" received the honor as well. As Church's website notes, "The Outsiders," released Feb. 11, sold 288,000 copies in its first week. It went straight to No. 1 on the "Billboard" 200 and Top Country Albums charts. Church received four Grammy nods, including Country Album of the Year, Country Song of the Year, Country Solo Performance of the Year and Country Group/Duo of the Year. The Outsiders also won the Album of the Year honor at the inaugural American Country Countdown Awards recently. He stressed the importance of albums during his acceptance speech.

  • Iggy Azalea, Lorde, Sam Smith Top Google's 'Year in Search' Musical Artists List for 2014

    As 2014 comes to a close, it's only proper that the good people at Google let us what's been popular in the world of online searches so that everyone can get on the same page. It turns out that Iggy Azalea was the most-searched musical artist of the year, followed by Lorde and Sam Smith. People also wanted to know about Taylor Swift, Daft Punk and "Weird Al" Yankovic.

  • Sam Smith Dating "Like I Can" Video Extra, Working On New Music For 'In The Lonely Hour' Follow-Up

    It's been a whirlwind year for Sam Smith, whose platinum-certified debut album In The Lonely Hour has been nominated for six Grammys this year. Although the album explores unrequited love and failed relationships, he is no longer in the "lonely hour" as he has recently started dating someone. According to an interview with The Sun, the UK crooner is dating an extra that he met on the set of his "Like I Can" video shoot.

  • Idina Menzel Performs Joni Mitchell's 'River' on 'The Tonight Show' [WATCH]

    Idina Menzel put out a Christmas album titled "Holiday Wishes" in October. The singer takes on the usual standards like "White Christmas," "Silent Night" and "Baby It's Cold Outside," but her shining moment comes closer to the end of the album. Menzel decided to include a breathtaking version of Joni Mitchell's Christmas-themed classic "River." Her performance of the tune on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" blew viewers away. Yes, we know you can sing, Idina. We have all heard "Let It Go" a million times, but this performance is devastatingly beautiful. Menzel lends her Broadway pipes and pop sensibilities to Mitchell's tune and lets the songwriter's words do the rest. "I wish I had a river so long / I would teach my feet to fly / Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on / I made my baby say goodbye," she sings in the video below. Check it out. "River" is off Mitchell's 1971 release "Blue." It is regarded as one of the folk artist's best pieces.

  • Sam Smith 'In the Lonely Hour' Is Platinum

    Sam Smith's month keeps getting better. After earning six Grammy nominations for his album "In the Lonely Hour," Sam Smith has reached another major milestone. The album has at last sold a million copies and has been certified platinum by the RIAA, according to a press release. In addition to selling 1 million copies with physical and digital download sales, the album has eclipsed that mark and sold an additional million when factoring track and album stream equivalents as computed by Nielsen SoundScan. Sam Smith has been arguably the biggest breakout artist of 2014. First tabbed by Disclosure to sing on their hit single "Latch" in 2012, the 23-year-old started to build a fan base in 2013, before his single "Stay with Me" was released earlier this year in April and has since gone four times platinum and stayed near the top of the charts for the better part of the year. He was nominated for six Grammys: two for "In the Lonely Hour" for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album and three for "Stay with Me," which garnered nominations for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. He was also nominated for Best New Artist.
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