Beyonce highest paid woman in music in 2014: Forbes

NEW YORK | Beyonce is the highest paid woman in music in 2014, with estimated earnings of $115 million, more than double what she pulled in last year, Forbes magazine said on Tuesday.

The huge sum, most of which was from her world tour, propelled Beyonce, 33, from fourth place last year and put her firmly ahead of pop star Taylor Swift, 24, with $64 million, who jumped up one spot from last year to No. 2.

Pop singer Pink, 35, climbed up from No. 8 in 2013 to third with $52 million.

“Beyonce played 95 shows during our scoring period, bringing in an average of $2.4 million per city,” said Forbes, citing data from the Pollstar trade magazine.

The R&B singer’s self-titled album released last December and endorsement deals pushed her earnings up further assuring her the top spot.

Barbados-born Rihanna, 26, with $48 million and Katy Perry, 30, who earned an estimated $40 million, rounded out the top five on the annual list.

Madonna, 56, ranked No. 1 last year, failed to make the top 10 in 2014. Lady Gaga, 28, slumped from No. 2 in 2013 to ninth place this year with estimated earnings of $33 million.

Forbes compiled the list after estimating pre-tax income calculated for the 12 months from June 2013 to 2014 based on record sales, concert tickets, touring information merchandise sales and interviews with concert promoters, lawyers and managers.

It also looked at data from the Pollstar, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan.

source: interaksyon.com

Boy band One Direction makes chart history with third No. 1 album debut

LOS ANGELES | British boy band One Direction made chart history on Wednesday as its third album debuted at No. 1 on the weekly U.S. Billboard 200 album chart, the only group to have its first three albums top the chart in opening week sales.

The quintet’s “Midnight Memories” sold 546,000 copies, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.

The group’s first album, “Up All Night” and second record “Take Me Home,” both released in 2012, also debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, but with smaller opening week sales.

One Direction, comprised of singers Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan, was formed on the U.K. reality singing television show “The X Factor” in 2010 and has gone on to conquer the United States with songs such as “What Makes You Beautiful” and “Story of My Life.”

The band’s music is targeted at a young audience, and its fans are mainly teenage girls, dubbed “Directioners.” The group has more than 16 million Twitter followers and 22 million Facebook fans.

One Direction’s big opening week marks an increase in overall album sales for the week ending December 1, due to the shopping boost during the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Total album sales were 8.6 million for the week, up 14 percent from the comparable week in 2012, according to Billboard.

Only one other new album debuted in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 this week. Country singer Garth Brooks came in at No. 3 with a box set of music called “Blame It on My Roots,” which sold 164,000 copies in an exclusive deal with retailer Walmart.

On the digital songs chart, which measures single track downloads, rapper Pitbull’s song “Timber” featuring Ke$ha climbed from No. 4 to No. 1 with 237,000 downloads, benefiting from the duo performing the song at the November 24 American Music Awards.

Eminem’s “Monster” featuring Rihanna dropped one spot to No. 2, while A Great Big World’s “Say Something” featuring Christina Aguilera climbed three spots to No. 3 this week, also benefiting from a performance at the AMA.

source: interaksyon.com

Miley Cyrus twerks her way to No. 1 on Billboard 200 album chart

LOS ANGELES | Pop singer Miley Cyrus twerked her way to the top spot of the weekly Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday, notching her fourth chart-topping record.

“Bangerz,” which features Cyrus experimenting with hip hop, dance and R&B influences, sold 270,000 copies in its first week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.

Former Disney star Cyrus, 20, has captured headlines with a series of scantily clad, raunchy performances that began with the MTV Video Music Awards last month, where she showed off some provocative dance moves, known as “twerking.”

In the video for her latest song “Wrecking Ball,” the second single from “Bangerz,” Cyrus is seen naked and swinging from a giant wrecking ball and provocatively licking a sledgehammer.

“Bangerz” leads seven new debut records in the top 10 of this week’s Billboard 200 chart. Alt-pop group Panic! At the Disco landed at No. 2 with its latest album “Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!” selling 84,000 copies. Rapper Pusha T entered the chart at No. 4 with his latest set “My Name is My Name.”

The latest compilation of songs from Fox musical TV series “Glee” came in at No. 7 this week, featuring tracks sung by the cast for last week’s memorial episode “The Quarterback,” dedicated to deceased cast member Cory Monteith and his character Finn Hudson. The episode pulled in 7.4 million viewers according to Fox, the highest ratings for the show in over a year.

Other new debuts in the top 10 include metal rock band Korn at No. 8 with “The Paradigm Shift,” “The Voice” winner Cassadee Pope at No. 9 with “Frame by Frame,” and rockers Mayday Parade at No. 10 with “Monsters in the Closet.”

On the Digital Songs chart, New Zealand singer Lorde continued her reign at No. 1 with her breakthrough single “Royals,” while Katy Perry’s “Roar” remained steady at No. 2 and Aviici’s dance track “Wake Me Up!” climbed one spot to No. 3.

Overall, album sales for the week ending October 13 totaled 4.8 million, down 6 percent from the comparable week in 2012, according to Billboard. Singer Justin Timberlake’s “The 20/20 Experience” released in March, leads the top-selling albums of the year, with 2.3 million copies sold in the United States to date.

source: interaksyon.com

Justin Timberlake celebrates return to music with second No. 1 album this year

LOS ANGELES | Pop singer Justin Timberlake scored his second chart-topping album this year on Wednesday as his latest record debuted at No. 1 on the weekly Billboard 200 album chart, capping the singer’s successful return to the musical spotlight.

Timberlake’s “The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2,” which follows the first set of 10 songs released in March this year, sold 350,000 copies in its first week, according to figures compiled by Nielsen SoundScan.

The first installment of “The 20/20 Experience” sold 968,000 copies, the biggest opening week sales of the year so far.

Timberlake, 32, returned to music after more than a five-year hiatus, during which he focused on his acting career. His debut single “Suit & Tie” featuring rapper Jay Z became a chart-topper in January, and his album was received well by fans and critics.

Other new albums in the top 10 this week include 16-year-old New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde at No. 3 with her debut album “Pure Heroine,” selling 129,000 copies.

The album has been driven by the popularity of the single “Royals,” which topped Billboard’s digital songs chart this week, selling more than 2 million download copies in the United States. Lorde’s album also garnered nearly 6 million U.S. plays on online streaming platform Spotify in its first week.

Country singer Tyler Farr entered the chart at No. 5 with his debut album “Redneck Crazy,” while Los Angeles sister trio Haim came in at No. 6 with the critically acclaimed debut album “Days Are Gone.”

On the digital songs chart, which measures song downloads, the top three songs remained steady this week with Lorde’s “Royals” at No. 1, Katy Perry’s “Roar” at No. 2 and Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” at No. 3.

A surprise entry on the digital songs chart this week came in the form of British 1960s rock band Badfinger’s “Baby Blue” at No. 32. The song scored 37,000 downloads in the past week after being featured in the closing scene in the final episode of AMC’s drug drama “Breaking Bad” last month.

Overall, album sales for the week ending October 6 totaled 4.8 million, down 10 percent from the comparable week in 2012, according to Billboard.

source: interaksyon.com

Madonna crowned top music earner in 2012 due to world tour

REUTERS – Madonna was named the biggest money maker in music in 2012 on Friday, with a world tour helping her take home up to $34.6 million and highlighting the earning power of live performances as the industry increasingly goes digital.

The 54-year-old Material Girl topped Billboard Magazine’s annual list of 40 top money makers for the second time after earning an estimated $32 million — 93.5 percent of her revenue — from her 88-date “MDNA” tour, 2012′s biggest tour.

Madonna, who also led the list in 2008 due to tour income, was the only woman in the top 10 with last year’s winner, Taylor Swift, who fell to 15th place as she did not tour in 2012.

In second place in the music magazine’s list was Bruce Springsteen whose $33.4 million revenue was also primarily driven by touring, playing to sold-out stadiums and arenas.

Springsteen, who also released a No. 1 album, “Wrecking Ball,” last year, earned 92 percent of his revenue from live shows where strong merchandise sales also boosted takings.

Roger Waters, founder of Pink Floyd, came a distant third with earnings of $21 million largely from “The Wall Live” tour and Van Halen was fourth with $20 million after touring in support of their album “A Different Kind of Truth”.

“When it comes to making the biggest score, the most money always comes from high-paying live performances,” Billboard’s editorial analyst Glenn Peoples wrote in explaining the list.

“Ironically, the most popular touring artists are usually well past their peaks on the album sales charts.”

Country music veteran Kenny Chesney, the Dave Matthews Band, country’s Tim McGraw and Jason Aldean, and British band Coldplay came next on the list.

Canadian teen sensation Justin Bieber was 10th, earning almost $16 million of which about $10 million came from his sold-out “Believe” arena tour.

“The entire top 10 averaged 84.2 percent of their income from concerts, and the number would have been higher, if not for Justin Bieber’s mere 60.1 percent share at No. 10 dragging down the average,” said Billboard.

However touring was not vital for every act on the list such as Swift and Britain’s Adele.

Swift earned $12.7 million after selling the most digital tracks in 2012. She sold more than 3 million digital albums and 15.6 million digital tracks driven by her hit “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”.

Adele took the year out after having a baby but still earned nearly $14 million, putting her 11th in the rankings, due to continuing strong physical and digital sales for her album “21″.

Maroon 5, ranked 33rd in the list, took the highest share of streaming revenue which made 3.5 percent of its $7.2 million.

Billboard said streaming music online to paying customers has not caught on with older generations and was small in percentage terms but growing.

“Yet even in the coming years, as streaming services become a more important revenue source, possibly replacing digital downloads and CD sales, one thing is unlikely to change: concerts will have the greatest influence of top earners’ overall earnings,” said Peoples.

The list was compiled by Billboard editors using data for Boxscore archives of U.S. concert gross figures, Nielsen SoundScan data for sales, YouTube, and Nielsen BDS data.

source: interaksyon.com

Justin Bieber becomes youngest artist with five No. 1 albums

LOS ANGELES – Canadian pop star Justin Bieber became the youngest artist to land five chart-topping albums in the United States on Wednesday when his latest record, “Believe Acoustic,” debuted atop the Billboard 200 album chart.

“Believe Acoustic,” which features stripped down versions of Bieber’s songs from his fourth No. 1 album, “Believe,” released last June, as well as three new songs, sold 211,000 copies in its first week according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.

The album also topped iTunes downloads charts in 63 countries, and became a hot topic on social media platforms as the singer’s 34 million-strong followers on Twitter raced to purchase the record as soon as it was released.

Bieber was previously tied with former Disney star Miley Cyrus with four chart-topping albums before turning 19, and he is only one of nine artists in Billboard history to have a No. 1 album for four consecutive years.

Bieber’s 19th birthday is March 1.

The singer, who failed to pick up a Grammy nomination this year despite having a top-selling album and sold-out world tour in 2012, will be hosting and performing on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” this week, the night before the Grammy awards.

Four new albums debuted in the top five of the Billboard 200 chart this week, led by “Believe Acoustic.”

Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli’s 14th studio album, “Passione,” landed at No. 2 with sales of 93,000, while Canadian sister duo Tegan & Sara notched No. 3 with their seventh studio album, “Heartthrob,” selling 49,000 copies.

R&B singer Charlie Wilson came in at No. 4 with his latest record, “Love, Charlie,” selling 44,000 copies in its first week.

Singer Beyonce saw a boost in sales following her widely praised performance at the Super Bowl in New Orleans on Sunday, which was watched by more than 108 million people.

For the week ending Sunday, February 2, digital sales of Beyonce’s songs “Halo,” “Crazy In Love” and “Single Ladies” saw the biggest bumps. There were 19,000 digital copies of “Halo” sold, a 338 percent increase from the previous week.

The new Destiny’s Child compilation album, “Love Songs,” didn’t see as big a bump, selling under 6,000 copies last week.

source: interaksyon.com