Vinyl Sales Up 22% in U.S. in First Half of 2023, Per Luminate’s Midyear Music Report (EXCLUSIVE)

Hundreds of spectators enjoyed New Galloway’s biggest event of the year on Sunday – the Scottish Alternative Games.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is set to introduce a new change in September which aims to improve the service it provides to millions of people claiming Universal Credit. The latest DWP figures show that at the end of May there were 5.9 million people claiming Universal Credit, which includes 3.7m out of work and 2.3m in employment.

Good Morning Britain star Charlotte Hawkins has recalled a terrifying dog bite ordeal involving her friend's young daughter. The ITV host had been walking with her pal's eight-year-old when two huge canines started jumping up from the other side of a fence.

A much-loved pensioner suffered a "horrific" death from an operable brain tumour after doctors failed to properly monitor her scan results, her husband has said.

An innocent driver was attacked by a crazed yob in a Lanarkshire car park.

EXCLUSIVE: In the opening scene of Netflix survival show Zombieverse, a dating couple in a bar in Seoul’s trendy Hongdae district lean in for a kiss. 

Måneskin have announced a new single called ‘Honey! (Are U Coming?)’ – check out the preview below.The Italian rockers, who released their third album ‘Rush!’ in January, shared a snippet of the forthcoming song on social media earlier this week (August 8).It wasn’t confirmed when the track will arrive, but the group promised it would be “coming soon” (pre-save/pre-add here).The news was accompanied by an official visual that features a five-second clip of ‘Honey! (Are U Coming?)’.

Welcome back to another week of Carrie and Aidan's Love-A-Palooza, where time is a construct and real-life problems don't exist. On this week's episode of the Max spinoff series,, Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Aidan Shaw (John Corbett) are still riding the midnight train to Virginia like it ain't no thang.

NCT are making their full-group comeback this month with a new album, ‘Golden Age’.The group’s agency, SM Entertainment, has confirmed the K-pop band’s return with the ‘Golden Age’ album arriving on August 28. It will mark the band’s first record as a full group since ‘Universe’ in December 2021.While the ‘Golden Age’ album is due for release on August 28, promotions for the record are set to kick off on Monday (August 14).

Naman Ramachandran U.K.-based sales and distribution company Blue Finch Film Releasing has secured global distribution rights, excluding North America, for Teresa Sutherland’s film “Lovely, Dark, and Deep.” The film debuted at the Fantasia International Film Festival. Blue Finch is set to kick off sales at the upcoming Toronto Film Festival. North American rights for the film are held by XYZ Films.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hybe Corp., the Korean pop music giant behind BTS, has further expanded the scale of its empire by buying out its partner in Belift Lab, the firm backing another K-pop powerhouse Enhypen. The company said that it has signed an agreement to acquire CJ ENM’s 51.5% stake in Belift. Deal terms were not disclosed.

The outgoing Chair of BAFTA has used his exit interview to urge writers, actors and studios to “come together to find a fair, equitable solution,” while pointing to gains required in “hidden areas” of diversity.

Taylor Swift told the Los Angeles crowd on the final night of the 2023 U.S. leg of The Eras Tour that her next re-recorded album will be ‘1989 Taylor’s Version.’

Welcome to New York (again)! Taylor Swift announced that her newest rerelease will be 1989 (Taylor’s Version).

And just like that, there might be a new couple in the Sex and the City universe.

Carrie Bradshaw has met Aidan Shaw’s three sons — and she’s already thinking about next steps with her former fiancé.

Taylor Swift has announced the re-recording of her fifth studio album ‘1989’.The singer-songwriter played her sixth and final show at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California last night (August 9), wrapping up the 2023 North American leg of the ‘Eras Tour’.Towards the end of yesterday’s concert, Swift instructed the crowd to look at the big screens as the artwork for ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ appeared.The re-worked album is due to arrive on October 27, 2023, which is the ninth anniversary of the original LP.

SM Entertainment has responded to statements that EXO member Baekhyun made in a livestream about new music and the founding of his own company.On Monday (August 7), the K-pop idol went live on his personal Instagram account to address speculation on his finances by Korean netizens. In the livestream, Baekhyun revealed that he had personally founded a company, tentatively named One Signature, with a friend, and that he had taken out a ₩13billion (approximately £77,500) loan for it.“It’s a company I started with my friend Kasper at the thought of wanting to grow many good choreographers and dancers.

The microphone that made headlines has been sold for almost $100,000!

Former Coronation Street star Ellie Leach was all smiles as she was spotted just hours before it was revealed she'd be joining the latest series of Strictly Come Dancing. The actress was announced as part of the 2023 line-up on Wednesday morning (August 9).

A special edition fifty pence coin marking the King's coronation will go into circulation from today (August 10).

Rylan Clark appears to have delighted his fans as he shared some exciting career news - and it comes with a 12-month update. The BBC Radio 2 star appears to be going from strength to strength when it comes to his work having recently jetted back from filming two new shows.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Jason Aldean played his first concert Friday since his vigilante anthem “Try That in a Small Town” stirred up a national firestorm, soaking up a Cincinnati crowd’s adoration Friday night as he railed against “cancel culture” being responsible for the opposition to his divisive, violence-threatening song and video. “It’s been a long week. I’ve seen a lot of stuff suggesting I’m this, suggesting I’m that,” Aldean said, as the audience at the Riverbend Music Center booed the opposition he’s faced. “I feel everybody’s entitled to their opinion. You can think something all you want to, it doesn’t mean it’s true. What I am is a proud American… I love our country. I want to see it restored to what it once was before all this bullshit started happening to us. I love my country. I love my family. And I will do anything to protect that,” he declared, as the crowd began chanting “USA! USA!”

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Move over, Taylor Swift — Roger Waters has re-recorded the most famous of the albums he made with Pink Floyd in the 1970s for its 50th anniversary. The project, titled “The Dark Side of the Moon Redux,” comes out Oct. 6. The album’s first single, “Money,” a fresh take on the 1973 song that was the band’s biggest hit, was released today as an audio track and lyric video. Any similarities to Swift’s re-recordings end with the most basic concept, as Water says he does not mean the new version to supplant the old one, but to complement it as a more mature take on the material. As for the big question of who will replaced his estranged former partner David Gilmour’s lead vocal and guitar parts, the seven-and-a-half minute “Money” seems to at least partially answer that. Taking over Gilmour’s role on the mic in the song, Waters “sings” the song in a spoken whisper, and the guitar solo has been replaced by what seems to be a new, lengthy poem set in a metaphorical boxing-ring. The tune has been significantly transformed in other ways; it’s bluesier and less rocking, with no cash registers or random voices or other sound effects. Some of the first listeners to hear it after it came out in the wee hours compared it to a Leonard Cohen recitation.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Four senior executives at Interscope Geffen A&M just got a little more senior, as the company has boosted four execs that have already proven integral up to the president or general manager level. The promotions find Michelle An being named president of creative strategy; Gary Kelly becoming general manager of Interscope and EVP and chief revenue officer of Interscope Geffen A&M; and new roles for Sam Riback and Nicole Wyskoarko as presidents of A&R, with the former exec assigned to pop and rock genres and the latter charged with on urban music. John Janick, chairman-CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M, said in a statement: “Each of these four executives has played an integral role in propelling Interscope Geffen A&M to become one of the most consistently successful music and culture companies in the world. In doing so, they and the amazing teams that they lead have made IGA a magnet for some of the world’s most talented artists. These promotions recognize their innumerable contributions and ensure our success for years to come.”

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Reading between the lines of country superstar Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” has mostly been up to media commentators and social media participants so far, but one country/Americana singer has taken up the duty of writing a satirical number that spells out some of what Aldean’s critics believe are undertones implicit highly contentious hit. A criticism that has come Aldean’s way has been that the ominous language of “Try That in a Small Town” echoes the coded or uncoded threats that have historically been associated with the South’s “sundown towns” — places where, in the most dangerous eras of segregation, people of color and other outsiders were advised to get out of before dark. Now the singer known as Adeem the Artist has made that interpretation of Aldean’s “See how far ya get down the road” lyrics explicit with a parody song posted on social media called “Sundown Town.” (Hear the song embedded in the artist’s tweet, below.)

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Landing a first headlining slot at the Hollywood Bowl is a cherished milestone for any major musical acts who claim Los Angeles as their home base. It can even mean a little more, probably, when it’s a sibling jubilee. Last summer, it was a homecoming-queens coronation for the Haim sisters, who got the honor a mere nine years into their professional career. This year, the Bowl debut honor for cherished locals goes to the Mael brothers, who only had to wait 52 years for their own crowning gig. What’s five decades among friends and family … everybody loves a slow build, right? The brothers would never be mistaken for rank sentimentalists, but Sunday night’s Sparks show might have brought a hint of a tear to a waggish eye, knowing it was a boyhood dream. Or at least when Ron and Russell Mael’s mom brought them to see the Beatles at the venue in 1965, it was “probably some good education,” as Russell allowed near the beginning of the show. At the Bowl Sunday, Mom was likely not around, but they did have the closest thing they’ve probably had lately to a surrogate parent, director Edgar Wright, whose consciousness-raising documentary “The Sparks Brothers” can be loosely said to have kind of nurtured them across a sort of finish line. (The show-closing photo seen above, plus some video snippets below, are courtesy of Wright’s backstage camera.)

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic CMT has confirmed that, after initially airing Jason Aldean’s highly controversial music video for “Try That in a Small Town,” the network pulled the contentious clip from the air on Monday, even before the furor over the tune grew greater on Tuesday. A CMT spokesperson had no further comment on the video being yanked. Reps for Aldean’s label, BBR Music Group, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Billboard was first to report the video being removed by the network. Meanwhile, Aldean took to his social media Tuesday afternoon to defend the song from its many critics, taking a much softer tone in his messaging than he does in the hostile single itself, or a video that projects images of demonstrators onto a courthouse that was the site of a famous lynching.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic If country music used to pride itself on being about “three chords and the truth,” the increasingly belligerent superstar Jason Aldean has a different idea of what the genre should represent: two chords and a beating, or maybe a shotgun blast. Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” is close to being the most cynical song ever written about the implicit moral superiority of having a limited number of neighbors, which is saying something, given how many attempts to write the Great American Small Town Anthem are generated in a single year. At least most of the others at least put up the appearance of celebrating local pride, not prejudice. But for Aldean, it’s about how tiny burgs are under the imminent threat of attack from lawless urban marauders who will have to be kept at bay by any means necessary — meaning, pretty explicitly, vigilantism.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Taylor Swift is setting some high chart benchmarks with the release of her “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” album. Not only has it debuted at No. 1 with the biggest numbers of the year so far for any release, but it’s one of four albums she now has in the top 10 of the album chart. According to Billboard, that’s the first time a woman has done that in the entire six-decade history of there being an album chart — and she’s one of only three artists to ever accomplish the feat. Swift also set a record for the female artist with the most No. 1 albums in history: She now has a dozen, moving ahead of Barbra Streisand, with whom she was formerly tied with 11 each.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic It’s not many tours that take a complete left turn from the style, content and tone of how they started with just a few dates left on the itinerary before everyone heads home. That’s coasting time. Yet that’s exactly what happened with the final six shows on Elvis Costello & the Imposters’ “We’re All Going on a Summer Holiday Tour,” where no one who saw any of the first 17 gigs on the outing would have much recognized how things transpired in the final half-dozen. It was all due to the transformative presence of a three-man horn section, which the advertising had accurately promised would only be showing up for the tour coda. What was unexpected was just how thoroughly Costello retooled the whole show to build it around these new brass arrangements, discarding certain set staples and adding new ones to show just what different flavors could be realized with horns o’ plenty.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Jung Kook launched his first major solo single, “Seven,” at the stroke of midnight ET Friday morning, as promised. It came with a surprise that was unpromised: the appearance of one of the hottest female rappers of our day, Latto, making a featured appearance on the track. The lyrics talk about some hot action that is due to go down between the two, but the music, however, high-energy, feels deeply chill. In other words, it feels designed to be a late entry in the “songs of the summer” derby. In an email interview with Variety, Jung Kook acknowledges the summery vibe but sounds almost surprised to hear a hit-status projection for the tune, as if this crossed his mind about the Andrew Watt/Cirkut co-written and -produced track belatedly. “I honestly didn’t have a huge goal in mind, but since you said that, I’d be ecstatic if it becomes a ‘hit,'” he says.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Music-related films, limited series, specials and documentaries are well-represented in the 2023 Emmy nominations — including projects like “Daisy Jones & the Six” that were shut out by the music branch in actual music categories but did just fine just about everywhere else. Actors playing famous musicians fared well. Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain, who portrayed George Jones and Tammy Wynette in “George & Tammy,” were nominated for best lead actor and actress in a limited series or movie. Also up in those categories, respectively, are Danielle Radcliffe, for his comic turn in the satirical title role of “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” and Riley Keough for her more serious take as a fictional singer-songwriter in “Daisy Jones.”

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Will he turn an audience of 2023 theatergoers into screaming bobbysoxxers? That remains to be seen, but a bio-musical about the life of Frank Sinatra, “Sinatra the Musical,” has found an actor to play the late superstar in a premiere production set to open in the U.K. in just over two months. Tony winner Matt Doyle landed the prize role of Ol’ Blue Eyes in the show, opening in Birmingham Sept. 28 for a tryout run of just over a month. The musical is being presented by Birmingham Rep in association with Universal Media Group Theatrical and Frank Sinatra Enterprises, with an eye, obviously, toward a life far beyond England. Michele Anthony, executive VP of Universal Music Group), and Bruce Resnikoff, president-CEO of Universal Music Enterprise, are producing on behalf of Universal Music Group Theatrical.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The Global Citizen Festival will return to Central Park Sept. 23 for another ticketed-but-free concert, with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Ms. Lauryn Hill set as the day’s headliners. Megan Thee Stallion, Conan Gray and Stray Kids are also on the day’s bill.  As always, tickets to the show on the Great Lawn are free, but require fulfilling a task as part of the international advocacy organization Global Citizen’s initiative to raise awareness about hunger, poverty, climate change and inequities facing women around the world, among pressing related concerns. The broadcast component will be produced by Done and Dusted; broadcast partners have not yet been announced. The show is being presented by  by Citi and Cisco. 

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Taylor Swift’s “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” is not just a one-day streaming wonder. Yes, it did hit the highest single-day numbers for Spotify so far this year when it came out Friday. But as of Monday evening, not quite 96 hours into the new album’s release, Swift is so thoroughly dominating the streaming world that she holds 23 of the top 50 slots on the Spotify U.S. Top 50. That includes all 22 of the newly released songs, plus the resurgent “Cruel Summer.” Her domination is nearly that complete globally, too. On Spotify’s Global Top 50 at the same hour Monday night, Swift held down a third of that chart’s 50 spots, with 17 songs represented.