June 27th, 2012
As expected, Justin Bieber's Believe owned the charts in its first week of release in a very big way: It hit number one in 30 countries. Still, the Biebs' numbers are paltry in comparison to what boybands 'N Sync and Backstreet Boys pulled in the early aughts, and were less than half Adele's biggest sales week this year. Also in music news, Katy Perry can't wait to let her real hair grow back, Adam Levine says he and Christina Aguilera have no beef, and Muse's "Survival" is the official song of the London Olympics.
Justin Bieber scored the biggest debut of the year with his new album Believe, narrowly edging out Madonna's MDNA with 374,000 copies sold. That's still less than half the number Adele sold after her Grammy performance in February, but still a worthy achievement for Bieber, who can now celebrate his fourth No. 1 album. There's also the fact that he replicated this success in the U.K., Canada, Australia, Brazil, Spain, Sweden, and a number of other countries. Everybody wants a piece of the Biebs.
Still, Justin's sales are a far cry from the numbers that his teen pop predecessors used to pull in the late '90s and early '00s. The biggest sales week ever still belongs to 'N Sync's No Strings Attached, which sold a staggering 2.4 million copies in the U.S. during its first week of release in March 2000. If Justin is ever to join the exclusive club of artists who've sold over a million records in one week, his Beliebers are going to have to organize a lot more buyouts.
Now that Katy Perry has finally debuted her 3D concert film Part of Me, she can take a break from the biz. First on the list of things she wants to do: Grow her hair back.
"I think I'm going to go into a cave after this. It might be appropriate," the singer told Us Weekly. "I would like to be in a beautiful unplugged place where there's not a lot going on so I can get back into and hopefully write some good songs. Just take these damn extensions out of my hair and fill my head again! Although I will look like a complete freak," she admitted.
Adam Levine, currently on the promotional trail for Maroon 5's Overexposed, says that he and his The Voice co-star Christina Aguilera aren't feuding and reports of such are "sensationalized."
"We bickered a little bit in the beginning, to be totally truthful, we had a little bit of a rough start, just kind of all getting to know each other," Levine told MTV. "But I love her, she's the best, and we're having a fantastic time as of late on the set. She's great, and all of that is sensationalized media BS ... so don't worry about any of that."
It's funny to hear Levine criticizing the media for covering one of his show's most watchable aspects, is it not?
This summer's Olympics have a soundtrack: Muse's "Survivor" has been named the official track of this year's Games, Rolling Stone reports. The song will eventually be loathed by anxious athletes from around the globe who will be forced to listen to it as they enter stadiums and arrive at medal ceremonies.
Frontman Matthew Bellamy stated, "It's a huge honor to have the track chosen as such a major part of the London 2012 Olympic Games. I wrote it with the Games in mind as it expresses a sense of convition and determination to win."
The song will make its radio and iTunes debut on Wednesday evening.
B.o.B.'s new music video for "Both of Us" features Taylor Swift, but it's missing the fairy-tale princess sparkles we usually associate with country's reigning crossover queen.
