Carly Rae Jepsen holds onto #1 for a second week as the top ten is stagnant save for a switch between Matt Nathanson and Alabama Shakes for #8 and #9. Second-week singles from Robin Thicke and Nicki Minaj, Lianne La Havas, and Jepsen make big moves into the top fifty. In the lower half, Years & Years score the week’s highest debut, as “Desire” enters at #61. They enter over new songs from Emily King, Rob Thomas, and The Band Perry, along with newcomers Felix Cartal (featuring Nikki Yanofsky), Audien (featuring Lady Antebellum), and Shane & Emily.

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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”

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”

With not a lot of movement in the upper reaches on the chart, The Band Perry ascends to the top ten with “If I Die Young.” Colbie Caillat has a big mover with “Shadow,” up 29-15; Demi Lovato’s “Skyscraper” also jumps ten spots to #18. Newcomer Ximena Sariñana has the highest debut at #35 with “Different.”

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Though Adele still has a firm grasp on the top two, The Band Perry jumps to #3 with “If I Die Young” as P!nk is unseated all the way down to #9. Just below, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals vault 33-10 with “Paris (Ooh La La),” followed by two debuts: “Alligator Sky” by Owl City featuring Shawn Chrystopher and “Long Goodbye” by Michelle Branch featuring Dwight Yoakam.

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