Billboard calculated the incomes of the five highest-paid musicians in the world in 2020. Queen are on the top with $48.7 million of total income, followed by Taylor Swift with $41.4 million, Billie Eilish with $32.8 million, BTS with $31.5 million, and finally Post Malone with $29.7 million.
At midnight on Sunday, at least a dozen venues in England celebrated "freedom day", the first night of clubbing since March 2020. The week started with a Monday morning full of clubbing, stuffed clubs, and scores of people queueing outside venues. At no point were clubbers asked to present proof that they had tested negative and vaccination passports were not required, Guardian reports.
Robby Steinhardt, a co-founder and former member of the progressive rock group Kansas, died Saturday at age 71, CJ Online report. Steinhardt shared lead singing duties with Steve Walsh while performing for 18 years with Kansas, while his classically influenced violin playing set Kansas apart from other rock bands.
The electronic music festival Verknipt in the Netherlands has been linked to more than 1,000 new cases of the novel coronavirus, although the organizers have followed all the health guidelines. CNBC reports. In early July Verknipt hosted about 20,000 attendees in Utrecht. Now, 1,050 of those people and counting have tested positive. This is especially discouraging because the electronic music event followed many expert guidelines - the festival was held outdoors, where infections are generally much lower; concert-goers also needed to show a QR code confirming that they were either fully vaccinated, had recently recovered from a COVID-19 infection, or had tested negative within the last 40 hours. That 40 hours window is seen now as the main possible reason for the infection spike.
Olivia Rodrigo’s 'Sour' earned 83,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending July 16, notching the fourth total week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. 'Sour' is the first debut album by a woman to spend four weeks at No. 1 since Susan Boyle’s 'I Dreamed a Dream' spent six weeks in 2009/2010, Billboard reports. Speaking of records, Inhaler’s 'It Won’t Always Be Like This' opens at the top of the Official U.K. Albums Chart, with 18,000 chart sales, and the fastest-selling debut album on vinyl of any band this century.
Irish group Song Collectors Collective is traveling through Ireland, Scotland and England recording the elderly singing songs that exist only as oral tradition. "Those people are sailors, tinsmiths, tinkers, but most are from the reclusive and sometimes difficult-to-approach traveler communities. Their strong culture and tight-knit families make them living goldmines of folklore and Irelesong", Good News Network reports.
"Posing the question 'What makes an image iconic?' the [‘Icon: Music Through the Lens’] series seeks answers through the studio portraits, record sleeves, music magazines, live shows, exhibitions, social media, coffee table books and the fine art world" - PBS' press release reads about the new 6-part series.
Veteran rapper Biz Markie has passed away Friday, July 16th aged 57, due to complications from diabetes, TMZ reports. Hailing from Harlem, New York, Biz Markie first made a name for himself as a beatboxer performing in Manhattan nightclubs in the early 1980s, releasing his first album 'Goin’ Off'. The 1989 single 'Just a Friend' propelled him to superstardom. The hip-hop universe is saying goodbye: The Roots drummer Questlove said “he taught me ALOT. I’m using ALL the education he taught me”; Beastie Boys' Mike D remembers his old friend and colleague - "we are so grateful to have had so many unforgettable experiences with the truly unique and ridiculously talented Biz Markie".
Mega Bog describes her new video 'Maybe You Died' as “dark, leathered, supernatural, horny, evil" - that pretty much applies to the song as well; Britsh folk icon Shirley Collins shares the haunting 'Sailor Boy'; Iron Maiden are back in the saddle - 'The Writing on the Wall' is their first new song in six years and a return to form, accompanied by a mini-film; folk singer-songwriter Shannon Lay starts with a cappella 'Geist' to expand into a waltz called 'Awaken and Allow'.
You sense freedom and youth when listening to Torres' big-sounding new pop-rock single 'Thirstier'. Her album of the same name is due out July 30 via Merge.
