Coldplay Stays on Top of the Billboard Top 200

Coldplay’s Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends remains on top of the Billboard Top 200 album chart, selling 249,000 copies (a 66% sales decline from last week).

Lil’ Wayne’s Tha Carter III holds steady at number two, selling 209,000 copies (a 32% sales decrease). The Camp Rock soundtrack holds steady at number three, selling 169,000 copies (a 10% sales dip from last week).

Motley Crue’s Saints of Los Angeles debuts at number four, selling 99,000 copies. Three 6 Mafia’s Last 2 Walk debuts at number five, selling 77,000 copies.

The Now 28 compilation album falls two spots to number six, selling 66,000 copies (this is a 19% sales decrease from last week). Usher’s Here I Stand falls one spot to number seven, selling 52,000 copies (which is a 21% sales decrease).

Shinedown’s The Sound of Madness debuts at number eight, selling 50,000 copies. Disturbed’s Indestructible falls one spot to number nine, selling 50,000 copies (a 16% sales decrease from last week). And Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad falls three spots to number ten, selling 47,000 copies (which is a 26% sales decrease).

This week’s album sales (7.6 million units) are down 7.66% from last week’s total, and down 13.2% compared to the same week last year.

New Releases: July 1, 2008

Here are this week’s new music releases:

Alkaline Trio - Agony & Irony
Earlimart - Hymn and Her
G-Unit - T.O.S.: Terminate on Sight
Vanessa Hudgens - Identified
Los Lonely Boys - Forgiven
John Mayer - Where the Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles
Meet Dave soundtrack
Night Ranger - Hole in the Sun
John Powell - Hancock soundtrack
Relient K - The Bird and the Bee Sides
The Thrillseekers - Nightmusic, Vol. 3
Tickle Me Pink - Madeline

Lost Beatles Tape to Air on BBC Radio

The British Broadcasting Corporation will air a long lost Beatles interview that features John Lennon and Paul McCartney. During the interview, they talk about the day they met, as well as their songwriting partnership. This nine minute long interview was recorded at the Scottish Television studios in April 1964. Even though the film footage is 44 years old, the audio portion is still usable for radio broadcast.

The interview will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 today, and will be repeated later this week.

Bon Jovi to Play Free New York Concert

Officials in New York City have announced that Bon Jovi will be playing a free concert in Central Park this summer. The concert, which is scheduled to take place on July 12, is being billed as a “prelude” to the July 15 All-Star baseball game.

Coldplay Debuts at Number One on the Billboard Top 200

Coldplay debuts at the top of the Billboard Top 200 album chart with Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, selling 721,000 copies. Forty percent of these sales (288,000 copies) were digital downloads, which makes it the biggest sales frame ever registered for a digital album.

Lil’ Wayne’s Tha Carter III falls one spot to number two, selling 309,000 copies (which is a 69% sales decline from last week). The Camp Rock soundtrack debuts at number three, selling 188,000 copies.

The Now 28 compilation album falls one spot to number four, selling 81,000 copies (this is a 39% sales decrease). Plies’ Definition of Real falls three spots to number five, selling 68,000 copies (which is a 68% sales decline from last week).

Usher’s Here I Stand falls one spot to number six, selling 65,000 copies (which is a 36% sales decrease). Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad flies up 117 spots to number seven, thanks to a re-issue of the album that includes three new tracks. The album sold 63,000 copies, which is a 930% sales jump from last week.

Disturbed’s Indestructible falls four spots to number eight, selling 59,000 copies (which is a 42% sales decrease). Katy Perry debuts at number nine with One of the Boys, which sold 47,000 copies. The Offspring’s Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace debuts at number ten, selling 46,000 copies.

This week’s album sales (8.30 million units) is down 10.6% from last week, and down 6.7% compared to the same week last year. So far this year, a total of 196.98 million units have been sold. Sales are down 10.9% overall compared to last year.

New Releases: June 24, 2008

Here are this week’s new music releases:

Gerald Albright - Sax for Stax
Babyshambles - Oh What a Lovely Tour
Jessie Baylin - Firesight
Big Blue Ball compilation album
Deborah Bonham - Duchess
Ry Cooder - I, Flathead: The Songs of Kash Buk and the Klowns
Crooked Still - Still Crooked
Anthony David - Acey Duecy
Eric Darius - Goin’ All Out
Bobby Digital (RZA) - Digital Snax
Luke Doucet and The White Falcon - Blood’s Too Rich
Dwele - Sketches of a Man
Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
Hacienda Brothers - Arizona Motel
Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair
Incognito - Tales From the Beach
Kutless - To Know That You’re Alive
Less Than Jake - GNV FLA
Love As Laughter - Holy
G. Love & Special Sauce - Superhero Brother
Edwin McCain - Nobody’s Fault But Mine
Mötley Crüe - Saints of Los Angeles
Mike Rayburn - Mike Rayburn at Carnegie Hall
Reckless Kelly - Bulletproof
Robin Rogers - Treat Me Right
Rose Hill Drive - Moon is the New Earth
Shinedown - The Sound of Madness
Sigur Rós - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Edalaust
Sam Sparro - Sam Sparro
Three 6 Mafia - Last 2 Walk
Trillville - Straight Up. No Chaser
Walter Trout - The Outsider
Steve Tyrell - Back to Bacharach
Wall*E soundtrack album
The Watson Twins - Fire Songs
The Wombats - The Wombats Proudly Present A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation

Lil’ Wayne Debuts on Top of the Billboard Top 200

Lil’ Wayne’s Tha Carter III debuts at number one on the Billboard Top 200 album chart, selling one million copies in its opening week. This is the first time an album has sold a million units in one week since 50 Cent’s The Massacre achieved this feat in 2005.

Plies’ Definition of Real debuts at nuimber two, selling 215,000 copies. The Now 28 compilation album falls one spot to number three, selling 132,000 copies (this is a 28% sales decrease from last week).

Disturbed’s Indestructible falls three spots to number four, selling 102,000 copies (which is a 60% sales decline). Usher’s Here I Stand falls two spots to number five, selling 101,000 copies (this is a 30% sales slip).

Journey’s Revelation falls one spot to number six, selling 89,000 copies (this is a 15% sales decrease from last week). N.E.R.D.’s Seeing Sounds debuts at number seven, selling 80,000 copies.

Alanis Morissette’s Flavors of Entanglement debuts at number eight, selling 70,000 copies. My Morning Jacket’s Evil Urges debuts at number nine, selling 49,000 copies. Weezer’s third self-titled album falls six spots to number ten, selling 46,000 copies (this is a 64% sales decline from last week).

This week’s album sales (9.29 million) are up 22.8% from last week, but is down 3.1% compared to the same week last year.

New Releases: June 17, 2008

Here are this week’s new music releases:

2 Pistols - Death Before Dishonor
Eef Barzelay - Lose Big
James Blackshaw - Litany of Echoes
Camp Rock soundtrack
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Etana - The Strong One
From Autumn to Ashes - Live at Looney Tunes
Craig G & Marley Marl - Operation Take Back Hip Hop
Grupo Fantasma - Sonidos Gold
Rebecca Lynn Howard - No Rules
Judas Priest - Nostradamus
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl soundtrack
The Love Guru soundtrack
The Mannish Boys - Lowdown Feelin’
Chanté Moore - Love the Woman
Gary Nicholson - Whitey Johnson
The Offspring - Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace
Katy Perry - One of the Boys
Trevor Rabin - Get Smart soundtrack
The Real Tuesday Weld - The End of the World
Reggie and the Full Effect - Last Stop: Crappy Town
Rehab - Sittin’ at a Bar
Ride the Boogie - Ride the Boogie
Becky Schlegel - For All the World to See
Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
Sister Hazel - Before the Amplifiers-Live Acoustic
Sy Smith - Conflict
Teddy Thompson - A Piece of What You Need
Tilly and the Wall - o
Dan Tyminski - Wheels
Julieta Venegas - MTV Unplugged
Shane Wyatt - The Last Cowboy

Nine Inch Nails to Release “The Slip” This Summer

Nine Inch Nails will be releasing a new album, titled The Slip, this summer. It will be available in two different pressings: a CD pressing and a vinyl pressing.

The CD pressing will be available in an individually numbered 2 disc, 6 panel digipak in the United States, Canada, and parts of Japan (but limited to 200,000 pieces only); in the rest of the world, the CD will not be limited or numbered. The CD pressing includes a DVD on Nine Inch Nails performing live tracks from The Slip at rehearsals, as well as a 24-page booklet and an exclusive sticker pack.

The gatefold vinyl pressing contains 1 LP (180 gram vinyl), and comes with a 24-page booklet. The vinyl will not be limited or numbered anywhere in the world.

The CD is being released in the UK and Europe on July 21, and the US and Canada get the CD on July 22. The vinyl is being released in the UK and Europe on August 4, while the US and Canada get the vinyl on August 5. Release dates for Japan and Australia are pending.

Atlantic Records Suing Two Members of Stone Temple Pilots

Atlantic Records has sued two members of Stone Temple Pilots (Scott Weiland and Eric Kretz), accusing the two of trying to prematurely end their recording contract with the label. The suit claims that Weiland and Kretz have threatened to stop performing under their contract and want to end the agreement unless Atlantic makes some significant changes. The label wants the band to deliver a seventh album, and deliver up to two more if label decides it wants them.

Atlantic says the contract with Stone Temple Pilots was written under New York laws, but that Weiland and Kretz are trying to use California law to terminate it. The label claims that Weiland and Kretz’s claims that they have a right to terminate the contract “have given rise to a definite, real and substantial controversy between the parties that threatens to harm Atlantic’s business.”

In the suit, Atlantic is seeking a court declaration of its rights under the recording contract, the costs of its legal fees and any other relief that the court deems is appropriate.

After the band fell apart in 2002-2003, two members of the group (Dean DeLeo and Robert DeLeo) were released by Atlantic from their recording contract because they had wanted to pursue separate careers. However, the remaining members had been kept under contract. And now with the band reunited and successfully touring, as well as indicating an intention to record together again, Atlantic wants to hold Weiland and Kretz to their contract.