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ADELE AND GOTYE LEAD MUSIC SALES IN 2012


Adele's six-time GRAMMY-winning album 21 has sold over 3.6-million copies, topping the mid-year charts, according to Nielsen SoundScan.  Meanwhile, Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" featuring Kimbra is the year’s biggest-selling digital song, shifting over 5.5-million copies.  Through July 1st, Adele’s 21 is the only album that has sold over one-million copies this year, with Lionel Richie’s Tuskegee in second place with 912-thousand copies.  It marks first time the industry has seen just one album sell a million mid-way through the year in the 21 years SoundScan has been tracking sales data.

NIELSEN SOUNDSCAN TIDBITS:

  • There have been 91-million CD album sales through the first six months of the year.
  • CD album sales account for 61 percent of all album sales through the first six months, compared to 66 percent in 2011.
  • Vinyl album sales are up 14 percent for the first six months compared to 2011.
  • Whitney Houston’s Greatest Hits album is the best-selling overall catalog album and digital catalog album of the year.
  • 47 digital songs have sold at least one-million downloads, while 15 have sold at least two-million digital downloads.
  • Digital album sales are up 14 percent
  • Digital track sales are up six percent 

JUSTIN BIEBER’S “MARIA” IS LIKE HIS “BILLIE JEAN”


Justin Bieber wrote his tune “Maria,” and it’s about a woman who wrongly accuses him of being her baby daddy. This happened to Bieber in real life. Justin’s manager, Scooter Braun, told MTV News that he thinks Justin’s tune “Maria” is similar to Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” in that they were both written about the problems that come with having a celebrity status. MTVNews.com has more.

GOO GOO DOLLS OFFER AN EXCLUSIVE VIDEO


Goo Goo Dolls just posted an exclusive video of their live and acoustic performance of “Slide.” To see the full clip, head over to GooGooDolls.com and join their Inner Machine Fan Club. You can preview a clip of the acoustic performance now at their site.

RIHANNA SUES FORMER ACCOUNTANTS


Rihanna has sued two of her former accountants as well as New York’s Berdon LLP, accusing them of improper bookkeeping, failure to recommend cutting expenses for a tanking tour, tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue and an ongoing audit by the Internal Revenue Service. Rolling Stone reports that she filed suit in a Manhattan federal court under her real name, Robyn Fenty, claiming that the accountants took millions in revenue from her four international tours in the last five years. She noticed in 2009 that her Last Girl On Earth tour had suffered “significant losses,” even though revenue had increased.  Allegedly, her accountants took 22 percent of this revenue and left her with only six percent. The singer also claims that she had to pay tax returns to correct their bookkeeping negligence and that they did not advise her to control her expenses. Berdon also paid themselves a percentage of tour income as commission, which is not a standard accounting practice. Rihanna hired them in 2005 at the start of her career and fired them in 2010.

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