Exclusive: Justin Bieber’s sales numbers, which I’ve been writing about this week, are really, really in trouble.

His concert ticket sales are very poor, and some are wondering if promoters will be able to use the Coronavirus as an excuse if things really go south. Imagine arenas full of rock fans wearing masks.

The new album, “Changes,” sold 200,000 copies last week including streaming. This week, through yesterday, the number is 30,000, or an 85% drop off.

Even worse: “Changes” sold 127,000 actual CDs and paid downloads last week. In its second week, so far, the number is 5,400. That’s a 95% drop, for an average of 90%.

This happens, as it did recently to Coldplay, which struck out in week 1 with its most recent release. But Coldplay, wisely, cancelled their tour, realizing that if no one wanted the album they weren’t going to buy tickets to hear the group play those songs.

Bieber, however, has a tour starting May 14th, and it’s in trouble. Tickets are not selling. In every venue, huge chunks of seats are just sitting there, unsold. Bieber’s “Intentions” may be good, but the reality is not. Increasing fear of the Coronavirus may be used as an excuse, even if it’s unfounded.

Also, the “Love” tour is all in arenas that have cut the seating in half at each theater. Arenas can do this; they drape off all the seats behind the stage, so as to cut down on lost sales. At the Meadlowlands in New Jersey, Bieber’s show in September has been cut way down.

But the cut downs don’t matter, as the remaining seats– except for floor seats– are not moving.

For the first show, in Seattle on May 14th, huge swaths of seats are still available. On Stubhub, the cheapest ticket is $41, and falling. See below. This is in contrast to Harry Styles’s tour, which is solidly sold out for most of its run, even if the secondary market is going crazy.

Things get even worse for Bieber a couple of weeks later in Las Vegas, on June 2nd, where the solid blue indicates hundreds of seats still waiting to be sold. It’s going to be a long, tough summer for Justin unless there’s some renewed interest in “Changes,” or the tour. Stay tuned. PS Hitsdailydouble must have seen my piece from last week, because they ran a “blind” item about faltering tours the other day.

The Carly Simon tribute night at Carnegie Hall on March 19th has just grown again with more stars added!

Deborah Cox, Jimmy Webb, Julie Simon, Natasha Bedingfield, Susanna Hoffs, Tony Shalhoub, and the Romulus Hunt Quintet have been added to the already announced list of artists including Indigo Girls, Livingston Taylor, Michael McDonald, Rachael Price of Lake Street Dive, Darlene Love, and so on. Yes, Tony Shalhoub? Well, he can do anything.

They’ve even added a rehearsal show the night before, on March 18th, at the Cutting Room, which should be terrifyingly crowded!

All proceeds go to music education programs for underprivileged youth. Michael Dorf of City Winery puts together these tribute concerts every year, but this is the first time I can recall that an honoree– Carly– has gotten so involved.

Justin Timberlake has dropped the first single from his “Trolls World Tour” soundtrack, with SZA. “The Other Side” is a cool piece of pop disco, a la his masterwork in this area, “Can’t Stop the Feeling.” RCA was smart to drop the single today, well in advance of tomorrow night’s Lady Gaga premiere of a new single called “Stupid Love.”

Justin says on Instagram that he’s been working for a year on the soundtrack which will also include Kelly Clarkson, Mary J Blige, George Clinton, Anderson Paak, and others. The movie comes April 17th with the album just preceding it.

View this post on Instagram

#TROLLSWORLDTOUR 🤘 The Other Side 2/26

A post shared by Justin Timberlake (@justintimberlake) on Feb 21, 2020 at 11:55am PST

Duffy was going to be Adele. She was the next Dusty Springfield. Twelve years ago, Duffy, aka Aimee Anne Duffy is a Welsh singer, songwriter and actress. Born in Tipperary Town, County Tipperary, Ireland. She had a massive hit with the album, “Rockferry” and was set to explode in the US on DefJam Records. At the 51st Grammy Awards held in February 2009, Duffy even won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album for “Rockferry.” Earlier she had been nominated for awards in the categories of Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her single, “Mercy.”

But then she vanished. There were rumblings since 2011 of a career, but very little materialized. Until today, that is. Her sole post on Instagram is below, in which Duffy says she is safe now, but was “raped and drugged and held captive over some days. Of course I survived. The recovery took time. There’s no light way to say it. But I can tell you in the last decade.”

This is so sad. She is obviously not mentally well, and hasn’t been for a very long time. She’s either off her meds and or escaped from a guardian. It’s not funny. News outlets are taking her wild claims seriously. They certainly shouldn’t. We have to hope she gets the right help ASAP.

Here’s the posting:

You can only imagine the amount of times I thought about writing this. The way I would write it, how I would feel thereafter. Well, not entirely sure why now is the right time, and what it is that feels exciting and liberating for me to talk. I cannot explain it. Many of you wonder what happened to me, where did I disappear to and why. A journalist contacted me, he found a way to reach me and I told him everything this past summer. He was kind and it felt so amazing to finally speak. The truth is, and please trust me I am ok and safe now, I was raped and drugged and held captive over some days. Of course I survived. The recovery took time. There’s no light way to say it. But I can tell you in the last decade, the thousands and thousands of days I committed to wanting to feel the sunshine in my heart again, the sun does now shine. You wonder why I did not choose to use my voice to express my pain? I did not want to show the world the sadness in my eyes. I asked myself, how can I sing from the heart if it is broken? And slowly it unbroke. In the following weeks I will be posting a spoken interview. If you have any questions I would like to answer them, in the spoken interview, if I can. I have a sacred love and sincere appreciation for your kindness over the years. You have been friends. I want to thank you for that x
Duffy

Please respect this is a gentle move for me to make, for myself, and I do not want any intrusion to my family. Please support me to make this a positive experience.