The GRAMMY Awards are often described as Music’s Biggest Night. While the awards ceremony typically lives up to the moniker with star-studded performances and gramophone trophies for hundreds of artists across many genres each year, iTunes charts also show how music sales are impacted, providing the year’s first prominent sales increase following the post-Christmas bump fueled by gift card redemptions. Many of the songs featured during the 56th GRAMMY Awards broadcast on January 26 received significant jumps on the iTunes song chart throughout and following the show, and numerous songs heard in its music-centric commercials felt the benefit of exposure as well. The statistics below reflect positions on the US iTunes chart of about 1500 songs, tracked from the beginning of the broadcast in the Eastern time zone at 8:00pm to the end of the Western time zone broadcast at 2:40am Eastern. Continue reading “iTunes sales surge for Daft Punk, John Legend, and more following the 56th GRAMMY Awards”
Katy Perry
Little action this week in the upper echelon of the chart, but several big movers below. Lady Gaga’s “Gypsy” makes the biggest jump, up 41 to #27, followed by Elizabeth & The Catapult’s “Shoelaces” (up 29 to #46) and Stromae’s “Tous Les Mêmes” (up 24 to #22). Foster The People leads a set of fourteen debuts with “Coming Of Age” at #28; lower debuts include another track from Beyoncé’s self-titled album and two tracks apiece from Switchfoot and Katy Perry.
These are one hundred songs that stayed in my heavy rotation throughout 2013. In a year that saw personal advancements including eight weeks studying abroad in France and graduation from college, these songs soundtracked my year, each song appealing to me through instrumentation, lyrics, or just its overall mood. Read on for descriptions of each track, access the whole playlist on SoundCloud to listen, and judge away.
Continue reading “Kurt’s 100 Favorite Songs of 2013”
Lady Gaga and The Script swap spots in the top five, but the most interesting news in the top ten is at its bottom: Michelle Branch debuts new single “Loud Music” at #9, while Katy Perry moves to #10 with “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.).”