Billboard will now be including catalog releases when calculating the best-selling albums, which were previously decided based on record sales from the past 18 months, reports Perez Hilton. The Nov. 25 chart will be the first to reflect these changes.
Taylor Swift is the only artist who sold more albums this year than Michael Jackson. Rihanna previously held the record for digital songs, selling 9.9 million, but Swift, Jackson, Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas have all broken that this year.
Nintendo shipped its 100 millionth portable DS system on March 9.
The 100 million sales include Nintento DS, DS Lite and DSi systems. All sales have been since late 2004 when the product launched.
“Consumers have shown their love for Nintendo DS – 100 million times over,” said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. “We are grateful that people of all ages continue to respond to our products, and we will continue to look for ways to please current gamers and create new ones.” READ MORE »
After the altercation with Chris Brown on Grammy day, Rihanna’s sales for her album “Good Girl Gone Bad” went up 33 per cent.
The singer’s 2007 release sold 25,000 copies, landing the No. 31 spot on the Billboard albums chart. Brown’s album on the other hand continues to decline in sales.
Brown’s “Exclusive” failed to make it on the Billboard Top 200. However, many artists have increased sales, including country singer Taylor Swift who took the number one spot (again) with “Fearless,” selling 92,000.
Album of the Year winner “Raising Sand” by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss followed at No. 2, selling 77,000 per Nielsen SoundScan..
Grammy Award Winner Coldplay shot up 23 spots with their album “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends,” landing the band the No. 8 spot.
India.Arie earned the No. 3 spot with “Testimony: Vol. 2—Love & Politics” (75,000 copies), followed by The Fray’s self titled album. Lily Allen’s “It’s Not Me, It’s You” landed the No. 5 spot on sales of 70,000.
“Highschool Musical 3: Senior Year” has earned the title of the best opening weekend for a musical. Disney’s popular song-and-dance series starring Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale grossed a hefty $42 million in box office sales this past weekend.
Other movies didn’t stay far behind. The fifth installment of the Saw series came in second place with $30 million for “Saw V”, pushing the series past the horror flick “Friday the 13th” making Saw V the highest-grossing horror franchise in history.
Mark Wahlberg’s “Max Payne” came in third place with $7.6 million. The film based on a video game has now made $29.7 million overall.
Another Disney flick, “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” came in fourth place with $6.9 million this past weekend, followed by “Pride and Glory,” which made $6.3 million in its first week of release.
In a shocking move yesterday, Universal Music, the world’s largest record company, said it would cut wholesale prices by up to $3 per CD, due to a 31% drop in sales over the last 3 years (industry wide).
Current wholesale prices per CD start at $12.02USD, with the average retail price being $18.98USD. Under the new pricing scheme, Universal hopes that retailers will also cut their prices by $3, bringing the average CD to about $10USD.
“Our new pricing model will enable U.S. retailers to offer music at a much more appealing price point in comparison to other entertainment products,” Jim Urie said. “We are confident this pricing approach will drive music fans back into retail stores.”
It is unknown at this time if these new prices will affect worldwide distribution channels or just in the United States. You can expect to see these lower prices beginning October 1st.
