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Scooter Braun and PsyPsy is so successful because he's good fun.

The South Korean rapper's music manager Scooter Braun thinks - who is also partly responsible for Justin Bieber's stratospheric rise to fame - believes the "Gangnam Style" hitmaker has become a global sensation despite not singing in English because of the hilarity of his dance moves.

"People love to watch that guy dance. It makes people have fun, and I think music should be a release," he said.

Psy's second international release, "Gentleman," has racked up 224 million views since April 13, which Scooter - who signed the rapper to his label School Boy Records last year - believes could catch up to his 1.5 billion views for "Gangnam Style" if he keeps making people laugh: "It went like Number One [in the video chart] in, like, 52 countries, so it was kind of mind-blowing for us. But he's just fun. And I think he's coming to the US at the end of this week to start performing it on TV, and around the world. And he represents having a good time, so good for him."


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RihannaRihanna has set a new chart record in the US. The singer's latest single "Stay" - featuring Mikky Ekko - has become her tenth number one on Billboard Mainstream Top 40 Radio Airplay Chart.

By having ten number one's Rihanna topples Katy Perry's record run of nine number one tracks on the same chart. The "Umbrella" singer also holds further records in the same chart, including most entries on the chart for an artist, with 35 songs.

While Rihanna's chart performances are holding up, she is having a hard time of her current Diamonds World Tour, and has had to cancel four shows in the US leg due to a recurring bout of laryngitis. After cancelling two shows in Texas earlier this month, she apologized to fans, writing on Instagram, "I kept working because I thought two days off after the Vegas show would be enough time to recover and I f****ed up, those were two days off from hell and today is not different! I'm sad and disappointed about it!"

Tonight Rihanna will perform in Baltimore, Maryland, the first of the previously cancelled shows she has rescheduled.


Daft Punk get lucky

In the few days since "Get Lucky" was released by Daft Punk, the track has gone on to hit #1 in the UK and France, and is right near #1 in the US as well. Even more interesting, "Get Lucky" now holds the record for the "biggest streaming day for a single track" on Spotify in the US and UK regions.

The upcoming Daft Punk album, Random Access Memories, is set to be released on May 21st. It'll be the first from the group in 8 years, with the exception of the 2007 live album and the Tron: Legacy soundtrack. Get a listen to "Get Lucky" below!

Read More | The Hollywood Reporter

Beyonce- Although online music service Spotify won't divulge approximate numbers, the company claims that Daft Punk has set the new record with their song "Get Lucky" for the biggest streaming day for a single track - a title previously held by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Thrift Shop."

- Perhaps weirdly influenced by her new role as a mother, Beyonce shocked Serbian concert-goers by somewhat-flashing them with a glittery leotard complete with bare faux-boobs.

- Those attending the Americanarama Festival of Music ought to be extra-ecstatic for the concert this summer, as Bob Dylan just signed on to perform on the tour alongside My Morning Jacket and Wilco.

- Amy Winehouse's father Mitch has spoken out about Beyonce's initially unauthorized cover of "Back to Black," which is featured in the upcoming film The Great Gatsby.

Click to continue reading Mix Tape: Beyonce Kind of Flashes Her Fans, Bob Dylan to Tour This Summer


David BowieDavid Bowie's new single has been banned from the UK charts.

The legendary singer released "Where Are We Now?" - his first track in 10 years - on Tuesday to coincide with his 66th birthday and it shot straight to the top of the iTunes downloads chart. But as well as being sold, it is also being given away to fans who pre-order his album, so chart bosses say it cannot be counted.

The Official Charts Company said, "It is not possible to distinguish album sales from track sales from the retail data."

Bowie's album, The Next Day, is out in March but already tops the iTunes chart with advance orders.

Yesterday, it was revealed Bowie wanted his new album cover to be as "minimal and undesigned as possible." The main picture on The Next Day was made by the singer with design company Barnbrook, and features the cover of his 1977 album Heroes in black and white, with the middle part obscured by a white block featuring the album's title.

Click to continue reading David Bowie Single Banned from Charts


GotyeGotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" was the biggest selling song of 2012 in the US. The Belgian-Australian singer's track sold 6.8 million copies, beating Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe," which was second, with 6.4 million sales.

"Somebody That I Used to Know (Featuring Kimbra)" became a phenomena in 2012, catapulting the previously unknown artist to the spotlight. The song has sold over 10 million copies worldwide and reached number one in more than 23 national charts, becoming the fourth most downloaded track of all time.

Speaking of the track, Gotye - real name Wouter De Backer - said he doesn't mind if it's his only successful single: "I would take a sort of perverse pleasure if a certain part of the public think of me as a one-hit-wonder. I'd be in some good company."

Click to continue reading Gotye Has Biggest Selling Song of 2012


Nicki Minaj's 'Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded - the Re-UpWhen all else fails, blame your retailers.

Nicki Minaj was recently asked about why she thinks that the re-release of her Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded album (titled Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded - The Re-Up) didn't perform as well as its predecessor.

"It is hard to get the album because the stores basically said that the last few re-releases they had put out did not do well and they didn't want to take a chance. So, Target and Walmart is not selling the album. Target is actually my biggest retailer - they've always been my biggest retailer. They've sold the most Nicki Minaj albums ever, so, thank you, Target. But I wish you could've sold this one."

Click to continue reading Nicki Minaj Blames Target, Walmart Over Poor Album Sales

Read More | The Huffington Post

Nelly FurtadoShe might not be flying like a bird with her latest album sales, but Nelly Furtado won't let that stop her from making music.

Her new album, The Spirit Indestructible, is the follow-up to her 2009 Spanish-language album Mi Plan. Before that was her career-boosting album Loose, which featured her hit single, "Promiscuous." The Spirit Indestructible failed to meet album expectations, selling a mere 6,000 copies (debuting at 79 on Billboard) compared to Loose's 219,000 in its first week (in which it debuted at number one).

"Just like a lot of my albums, actually. I have very few albums that debut high," Furtado said. "I've had kind of everything happen to me commercially and at different levels," she says. "I've had different scenes and I've dabbled in a lot of markets so I see the music world as very global and I'm always looking for new avenues and opportunities, so one chart or anything doesn't necessarily [mean anything]."

Click to continue reading Poor Album Sales Don’t Bother Nelly Furtado

Read More | Huffington Post

RihannaRihanna has been named Billboard's Top Pop Artist of the last 20 years.

The "Diamonds" hitmaker tops the music magazine's list of the most successful artists in the history of its Pop Songs chart, which started on October 3, 1992. The magazine awarded her top spot for her achievements on the chart, which include 34 appearances with 21 top ten hits, and nine number one songs, an accolade she shares with Katy Perry, placed at sixth on the list.

The top ten was dominated by solo women singers, with Usher the only male, and Black eyed Peas the only group. Pink is in second place, followed by Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson and Mariah Carey.

Katy comes in next, and New York based radio program director Sharon Dastur, reminisced about the first time she worked with her: "Katy's very first single, 'I Kissed a Girl,' had just recently come out and we were playing it on [radio station] Z100. We started to feel an early buzz on the song, but the masses still weren't that familiar with who Katy was. We invited her to come on-stage at our Jingle Ball to help introduce one of the acts performing. We weren't sure if the crowd would be familiar with her by name, so we suggested that when she went out there, she should sing the hook of 'I Kissed a Girl' a capella. As soon as the crowd heard that, they sang every word along with her. Katy has told us that she'll always remember that moment."

Click to continue reading Billboard Crowns Rihanna as Top Pop Star


Mumford and Sons

Mumford and Sons' new album Babel has achieved the biggest sales week of 2012 in the US Billboard Chart. The group sold over 600,000 copies of their second LP in America, but Daniel Glass - of their US label Glassnote - says the boys won't be getting over-the-top gifts to celebrate their success: "No new cars. We have something we think is very special... we hug. We're big huggers. We will give them a big hug and compliments on their job."

Daniel says he always knew the band - made up of Marcus Mumford, "Country" Winston Marshall, Ben Lovett and Ted Dwane - would be successful as they're so talented and work really hard, especially when on tour. "I can go back to the beginning and I knew we were signing a very talented band to our roster. They delivered incredible music for a second time... and the work that was done, it's very empowering and shows a lot of confidence when a band goes out for almost two months playing new music from the new album for their fans and shares it with them and makes the fan experience so wonderful and inclusive. The attitude of Mumford and Sons is that fans really do come first and word of mouth is important. They've let you in on new music for a long time and it's not a marketing ploy. It has been that unfurling and exposure going on for a year and a half with the new music," he said.

Click to continue reading Mumford and Sons’ Babel Success


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