Earlier in the week, 50 cent said that he?s going to stop putting out solo records if his arch rival Kanye West?s new album outsells his when they drop on the same day next month. Get ready with your retirement plans 50.
They might be getting equal promotion at the very top of the iTunes store but Kanye is still outselling 50 when it comes to pre-orders. Kanye is up at #3 on the iTunes Top Albums chart while 50 is only at #9. On the singles chart, Kanye?s kick-off song ?Stronger? is at #2 while 50?s ?Ayo Technology? is at #10.
It seems that not even Justin Timberlake?s collaboration could help 50. Game over.
The person who makes you the happiest can hurt you the most just ask 17-year-old rapper/songwriter 
.
“I was going out with this girl for two years — the most beautiful girl in school — but she cheated on me with my best friend,” the Miami-born, Jamaica-bred Kingston says about his first heartbreak.
The experience, though, served as inspiration for the record-setting “Beautiful Girls,” from his self-titled debut, due July 31 via Beluga Heights/Epic Records. The single, which samples Ben E. King’s 1961 classic “Stand by Me,” entered the Hot 100 Airplay chart in June at No. 58, and in just four weeks jumped to No. 5, the quickest climb by a new male artist since Lou Bega in 1999.
Kingston, who is the first artist signed to J.R. Rotem’s Beluga Heights label, was so eager to work with the producer that he “wrote a message asking him to check out my music and sent it via MySpace. I kept going back and copying and pasting the e-mail and resending it to J.R. three times a day for weeks,” he says. “I knew eventually he would have to reply.”
Rotem’s younger brother Tommy, who manages his page, weeded out Kingston from the many requests and started to correspond with him. “(Tommy) saw the promise in Sean when he first heard him, so he started to work with him, giving him beats and direction so he could present him to me in the best possible light,” says Rotem. “When I heard him, I knew it felt right.”
Kingston, whose grandfather is Bob Marley & the Wailers producer Jack Ruby, discovered his affinity for music at the age of 10, when he wrote his first song over an Alicia Keys beat. His mother was so impressed that she started to invest in studio time for Kingston. With her support, Kingston spent the next few years penning tracks and recording music, hoping to catch his big break.
“I used to go to different studios, barbershops, skating rinks, flea markets … you name it. I was always ready to show talent and hand out my CDs.” But at 14, Kingston experienced the second heartbreak of his young life when his mother was arrested for tax evasion. “I was really close to my mom, and so when she went away it took a big chunk out of me,” Kingston says. “My sister stayed with me, but then she also went away for her involvement in my mother’s crime.” His sister was released after four months, but his mother is still serving time.
Instead of allowing the ordeal to deter him, Kingston, who chooses not to curse in his music (“If a pastor’s daughter wants to buy my CD, she’ll be able to because I make clean music,” he says), used the events to inspire the track “Prosecutor,” in which he recounts his family’s court trials.
“Beautiful Girls,” which will be made available July 24 on iTunes, sits at No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has sold 593,000 mastertones through the week ending July 8, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Kingston is the No. 1 artist on MySpace, with more than 5 million profile views.
American Idol rocker Chris Daughtry has scored the biggest-selling record in America of 2007 after sailing past the three million sales mark with his debut, Daughtry. The success also gives Daughtry the fastest-selling rock debut in the 16-year history of the Billboard album chart’s sales tracking system. Daughtry admits he has been struggling to come to terms with his success since the album hit the one million sales mark. Good for your Chris.. Don?t let the fame screw with your head. The album has also been certified triple platinum and is the fifth best-selling digital release of all time. It?s a rare thing for a singer to have such huge success with his debut album becoming the fastest selling rock album and 5th best selling digital release of all time. Looks like now there must be no looking back for him and this should be a stepping stone for him as he looks forward to more success.
Radio stations billboard that showed Britney Spears unflattering photos on which she looked bald and scowling have been taken down after the pop star?s attorneys threatened legal action.
Britney Spear?s attorneys sent a letter to Clear Channel Communications Inc. dated Thursday
In which they accused the company of ?offensive, unauthorized commercial exploitation? of the 25-year-old singer. Their demand is that the billboards in the Tampa area be removed. The letter was posted on The Smoking Gun Web site.
The billboards, advertisements for WFLZ FM?s ?The MJ Morning Show?, depicted a bald Spears and show host Todd Schnitt along with the slogans ?Total Nut Jobs?, ?Shock Therapy? and ?Certifiable.?
?We have confirmed that the billboards are down?, Clear Channel spokeswoman Michele Clarke said Tuesday. She referred other questions to the Clear Channel offices in Tampa, whose representatives didn?t immediately return a call seeking comment.
?Clear Channel has removed the billboards, and I?m not happy with that?, Schnitt told the St. Petersburg Times.
A call to Britney?s attorney who sent the letter to Clear Channel Inc wasn?t immediately returned.
The singer spent a month in the Malibu?s California rehabilitation center after she attracted people?s attention with her wild parties and unusual behavior. The singer even shaved her head at a stop at a San Fernando Valley hair salon
With all four members ensconced in solo projects, the Black Eyed Peas have been unusually dormant in 2007. And singer Fergie says it may be that way for a little while longer.
?We don?t have an album yet, a Black Eyed Peas album?, she tells Billboard.com. ?We haven?t had time; everybody?s been constantly working, as we always do. But we will have an album. We?re not going away.?
The group won?t be completely invisible this year. The quartet will perform at the London Live Earth concert on July 7 and at Japan?s Summer Sonic Festival on Aug. 11 in Tokyo and Aug. 12 in Osaka.
The group is also planning a special tour for later this year. ?It?s 15 different countries featuring 15 shows in some pretty unique places?, she says. ?So that?s going to be exciting. This will have been the longest time we have not performed together, so it?ll be a nice reunion.?
Fergie, who joined the Peas in 2002, reports that bandmates will.i.am, apl.de.ap and Taboo are all working on solo albums, all of which are on target to be released before the end of the year. But Fergie isn?t concerned about the group breaking up- even in the wake of the success of her solo debut, ?The Dutchess? which has sold nearly two million copies in the U.S. according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Fergie plans to spend the bulk of 2007 on the road, either on her own or with BEP. She?s currently ?knee-deep? in a tour sponsored by Verizon Wireless and supporting ?Big Girls Don?t Cry? the fourth single from ?The Duchess?. She expects more singles to pop off the album but says at this point it?s anybody?s guess which will be released.
?I love ?Mary Jane?s Shoes? that kind of chill girl thing?, says Fergie. ?Or maybe ?Clumsy? a throwback to oldies. I?d just like to get as much music out there as possible so that I can show as many sides of myself as possible and so people can discover that there?s something on the album for them.?
Pop band Maroon 5′s first album in four years opened at No. 1 on the U.S. charts Wednesday, while veteran rocker Ozzy Osbourne scored a personal best with his first release in six years.
Maroon 5′s “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long” sold 429,000 copies in the week ended May 28, according to Nielsen SoundScan data. The group’s prior best sales week came in December 2004, when its 2003 debut, “Songs About Jane” sold 138,000.
Maroon 5 currently also rules Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart with “Makes Me Wonder”.
The group sold 102,000 copies of its new album digitally, breaking a record set last week when rock band Linkin Park’s “Minutes to Midnight” moved 84,000 via that format to debut at No. 1. The latter album fell to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 198,000, a hefty 68 percent sales slide.
Osbourne flew in at No. 3 with “Black Rain”, which sold 152,000 copies. That’s only 1,000 fewer than the opening week for 2001′s “Down to Earth”, which entered at No. 4. Nearly a quarter of sales for “Black Rain” came from digital retailers, which offered early ticketing to this summer’s Ozzfest with pre-orders for the limited edition of the album.
Hip-hop trio U.S.D.A., Young Jeezy’s collaboration with Slick Pulla and Blood Raw, started at No. 4 with “Cold Summer”, which sold 95,000 units.
Rock troupe the Used’s “Lies for the Liars” bowed at No. 5 with 92,000, a chart high-water mark. The quartet’s last effort, 2004′s “In Love and Death” opened at No. 6 with 93,000.
Other debuts included the soundtrack to box office champ “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” at No. 14; Lil Boosie, Webbie & Foxx’s “Survival of the Fittest” at No. 17; the Bravery’s “The Sun and the Moon” at No. 24; and the Beach Boys compilation “Warmth of the Sun” at No. 40.
Paul McCartney’s entire solo catalog will appear on-line for the first time as part of a “comprehensive re-launch” of the Beatles legend’s repertoire, his former record company, EMI Music announced.
EMI Music also confirmed its Parlophone label has retained the McCartney catalog, terms for which were not disclosed. Through the planned reissue campaign, albums from McCartney and his group, Wings, will be made available across all digital platforms and in physical formats.
The project will cover the singer/songwriter’s post-Beatles legacy, from his first album “McCartney” (1970), to his most recent studio album “Chaos and Creation in the Backyard” (2005), which earned three Grammy Award nominations and worldwide sales in excess of 1 million copies.
“Our digital campaign will be DRM-free,” explains an EMI spokesperson, adding that more details will follow shortly.
The news follows McCartney’s recent revelation to Billboard that a deal to finally make the Beatles catalog available for sale on-line is “virtually settled.”
McCartney left EMI earlier this year to sign with Hear Music, the label formed by Starbucks Entertainment and Concord Music Group. His new studio album, “Memory Almost Full,” arrives June 4 internationally and a day later in North America
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