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According to hitsdailydouble.com, Taylor is on track to sell 388,000 copies this week of her “Tortured Poets Department” album.
This is an expanded version with 35 tracks, sold only at Target. The original 31 tracks are included plus four acoustic takes only available with this collection.
Taylor’s already sold around 6 million “Poets” this year, or 12 million if you include all versions and tracks.
Rolling Stone says Swift is only the 2nd biggest music act of the 21st century, however, after selling gazillions of albums and selling out arenas around the world. They put Beyonce at number 1. Their calculations are suspect, certainly.
“Poets” thus returns to number 1 this Friday for its 17th time in 2024.
Chapman, who played Tracy Morgan’s bodyguard and assistant on the Alec Baldwin-Tina Fey comedy, has lost his home suddenly after a truck crashed into it.
According to NBC4 in Washington, Chapman’s home of two years at the Moorings of Occoquan Condominiums off of Gordon Boulevard near Woodbridge Virginia was destroyed when a freight truck slammed into it Monday morning.
Chapman, luckily, was not home at the time. He told NBC4, “My neighbor called screaming and crying and concerned because everybody thought that I was downstairs.”
Chapman is living in a hotel until his insurance company evaluates what was damaged. He said he has nowhere to live otherwise, and hopes he helps get soon. The apartment was filled with “30 Rock” memorabilia.
According to reports, Chapman received a kidney transplant in July 2010. The actor suffers from severe hypertension and had been undergoing dialysis treatments prior to the transplant.
Victor Willis, writer of “YMCA,” wants to clarify something: the song is not gay themed. “There is nothing gay about it,” he says in a Facebook post.
Willis is thrilled Donald Trump likes the song, especially since the Village People singer says he’s made millions from it since Trump started using it.
Willis also says his wife will start suing people who insist the song is gay themed. Whoever Willis’s wife is, she’s pretty busy according to him carrying out their efforts. He says “my wife” more often in his post below than the word “fiancee” is used in a famous “Seinfeld” episode.
So Willis is raking in the dough, the song — about picking up men in the local Y — isn’t gay, and everyone should leave him alone.
His key paragraph: “The financial benefits have been great as well as Y.M.C.A. is estimated to gross several million dollars since the President Elect’s continued use of the song. Therefore, I’m glad I allowed the President Elect’s continued use of Y.M.C.A. And I thank him for choosing to use my song.”
It’s unclear what and his co-writer make from licensing “YMCA.” But Luminate indicates that the song has sold the equivalent of 265,750 copies thanks almost entirely to streaming this year. That’s not a huge number in sales, which only came to 16,383 in downloads. So his excitement should be taken with some skepticism.
Willis writes:
“To Village People fans and the media:
I am the singer and writer of the lyrics to the hit Y.M.C.A. In fact, as was adjudicated and ruled in a U.S. District Court, I wrote 100% of the lyrics, and my writing partner, Jacques Morali wrote the music.
Since 2020, I’ve received over a thousand complaints about President Elect Trump’s use of Y.M.C.A. With that many complaints, I decided to ask the President Elect to stop using Y.M.C.A. because his use had become a nuisance to me.
However, the use continued because the Trump campaign knew they had obtained a political use license from BMI and absent that license being terminated, they had every right to continue using Y.M.C.A. And they did.
In fact, I started noticing numerous artists withdrawing the President Elect’s use of their material. But by the time I said to my wife one day, hey, “Trump” seems to genuinely like Y.M.C.A. and he’s having a lot of fun with it.
As such, I simply didn’t have the heart to prevent his continued use of my song in the face of so many artists withdrawing his use of their material. So I told my wife to inform BMI to not withdraw the Trump campaign political use license. My French partners were contemplating legal action out of France. So I had my wife contact our French partners and asked them to stay out of the Trump campaign’s use of Y.M.C.A. because it is a U.S. matter, and I will make the decision on his use. Our French partners quickly backed off of their objection to his use.
Y.M.C.A. has benefited greatly from use by the President Elect. For example, Y.M.C.A. was stuck at #2 on the Billboard chart prior to the President Elect’s use. However, the song finally made it to #1 on a Billboard chart after over 45 years (and held on to #1 for two weeks) due to the President Elect’s use.
The financial benefits have been great as well as Y.M.C.A. is estimated to gross several million dollars since the President Elect’s continued use of the song. Therefore, I’m glad I allowed the President Elect’s continued use of Y.M.C.A. And I thank him for choosing to use my song.
There’s been a lot of talk, especially of late, that Y.M.C.A. is somehow a gay anthem. As I’ve said numerous times in the past, that is a false assumption based on the fact that my writing partner was gay, and some (not all) of Village People were gay, and that the first Village People album was totally about gay life.
This assumption is also based on the fact that the YMCA was apparently being used as some sort of gay hangout and since one of the writers was gay and some of the Village People are gay, the song must be a message to gay people. To that I say once again, get your minds out of the gutter. It is not.
Sadly, when the President Elect started using the song, people attempting to brand the song as a gay anthem reached a fever pitch as many used it to say, oh, Trump don’t know the song is a gay anthem? This was done in a manner to attempt to shame the President Elect’s use of the song.
As I stated on numerous occasions, I knew nothing about the Y being a hang out for gays when I wrote the lyrics to Y.M.C.A. and Jacques Morali (who was gay) never once stated such to me. In fact, Jacques never once told me how to write my lyrics otherwise I would have said to him, you don’t need me, why don’t you simply write the lyrics.
I therefore wrote Y.M.C.A. about the things I knew about the Y in the urban areas of San Francisco such as swimming, basketball, track, and cheap food and cheap rooms. And when I say, “hang out with all the boys” that is simply 1970s black slang for black guys hanging-out together for sports, gambling or whatever. There’s nothing gay about that.
So, to the extent that Y.M.C.A. is considered a gay anthem based on the fact that gays once used certain YMCA’s for elicit activity, the assumption that the song alludes to that is completely misguided.
Therefore, since I wrote the lyrics and ought to know what the lyrics I wrote is really about, come January 2025, my wife will start suing each and every news organization that falsely refers to Y.M.C.A., either in their headlines or alluded to in the base of the story, that Y.M.C.A. is somehow a gay anthem because such notion is based solely on the song’s lyrics alluding to elicit activity for which it does not. However, I don’t mind that gays think of the song as their anthem.
But you’d be hard-pressed to find Y.M.C.A. on the play list at any gay club, parade or other gay activity in a way that would suggest it’s somehow an anthem to the community other than alluding to illicit activity, which is defamatory, and damaging to the song. But it stops in 2025.
However, you know where you-will find Y.M.C.A.? On the play list of almost every wedding, bar mitzvah, sporting organization, and the song is used in commercials and motion pictures and products worldwide.
The true anthem is Y.M.C.A.’s appeal to people of all strips including President Elect Trump. But the song is not really a gay anthem other than certain people falsely suggesting that it is. And this must stop because it is damaging to the song.”
Alex Gibney has made dozens of terrific documentaries. So has Lexi Bloom.
But Gibney says their film, “The Bibi Files,” about the corruption and crimes of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has not gotten one bite from a distributor or a streamer.
Gibney writers on Twitter:
“I want to tell a story. I was leaked never-before-seen police interrogation videos from the Netanyahu corruption case. They shed light on Bibi’s corruption – from cheap bribes to the way he has ruthlessly embarked on a forever war in Gaza. I asked Alexis Bloom to direct a film about it which she did: “The Bibi Files.” It is a scathing and coruscating behind-the-scenes look at how his venal attempts to elude judgement and stay in power have cost over 50,000 lives and are taking us to the brink of WWIII. Shocker: to date, no mainstream outlet will show the film in the US. So, we have partnered with a new outlet called http://Jolt.film, so that Americans can see the film. Jolt is an alternative that will allow independent cinema to thrive. Please check it out.”
The cozy Metrograph Theater is at the corner of Chinatown and Who-knows-where, but a lot of A-listers showed up tonight for a screening of “Wicked” with Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Peter Dinklage, producer Marc Platt, and director Jon M. Chu.
Presented a low key event in out of the way place, “Wicked” turned up the Oscar heat. Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively brought a couple of their daughters. Brooke Shields popped in, so did Joe Pantoliano, famed composer Carter Burwell, and a large contingent of Academy voters.
“Wicked” may have $266 million in the bank, but now they want nominations.
There’s no doubt they will get them, too, as this group is ready to pitch in. Big Pop Star Ariana told me that despite having a lot of pop hits she loves singing Broadway showtunes. “That’s where it all started,” she reminded. I mentioned that she sampled “My Favorite Things” in one of her songs, which rocked her memory. “Well, in a way!” she said. This is the second time I met her this year, and she is totally delightful.
I was very eager to see Cynthia Erivo, who’s staring a Best Actress nod down her broom. Her Elphaba is just a straight line from her Tony Award win in “The Color Purple” on Broadway. How does she feel about being in such a huge hit, I asked? Isn’t it time for Universal or the producers to send her a big gift marking the occasion?
Erivo joked, “I’ll take an Hermes bag! A Birkin!”
Director Chu told me he’s just started editing Part 2 for release a year from now. I complained that the Wizard in these versions has gone from affable con man to really bad guy. Can’t he do anything about that? (‘Fraid not.) Chu also told me it doesn’t look like we’ll ever see a sequel to his classic comedy hit, “Crazy Rich Asians.”
“We couldn’t a script,” he said. “We had a few versions.” Nothing with Gemma Chan picking up the baton? He said, “I don’t think people want to see a story about really rich people right now. And so much time has passed, we’d have to take a lot in.”
I did tell Peter Dinklage I watched him over the weekend in “Elf.” His review: “It’s the Citizen Kane of Christmas movies. A classic.” Did he love making it? “What do you think?” he replied.
Monday night’s Gotham Awards were packed with A list stars, notching up the importance of the evening as the opening salvo for Hollywood prizes
Among the guests were Nicole Kidman, Angelina Jolie, Jessica Chastain, Timothee Chalamet, Demi Moore, and Colman Domingo.
But gender neutral nominations produced a tricky outcome. Only men won acting awards, leaving the women empty handed.
Here’s a list:
The winner for Best Feature was A Different Man.
The winner for Best International Feature was All We Imagine as Light.
The winner for Best Documentary Feature was presented to No Other Land.
The winner for Best Director was RaMell Ross for Nickel Boys.
The winner for Best Screenplay was Azazel Jacobs for His Three Daughters.
The winner for Breakthrough Director Gotham was Vera Drew for The People’s Joker.
The winner for Outstanding Lead Performance was Colman Domingo in Sing Sing.
The winner for Outstanding Supporting Performance was Clarence Maclin in Sing Sing.
The winner for Breakthrough Performer was Brandon Wilson in Nickel Boys.
The three acting winners all went to men. Big name actresses with knockout performances were completely overlooked.
Nevertheless the evening itself ran smoothly and on time, and tables at 55 Wall Street Cipriani were filled with movie stars and the top tier up and comers. The left field choice for Best Feature was the unexpected “A Different Man,” keeping the Gothams still the most important venue for indie films
Yes, 2024 is pretty much over. Hitsdailydouble.com has the countdown of albums sold.
Taylor Swift was number 1 with 6.1 million copies of “The Tortured Poets Department.” Of those, 2.8 million were actual physical CDs, LPs, and downloads. These are astounding numbers. Taylor sold almost 6 million copies of other albums this year, as well. So you can say 12 million for 2024 and not be wrong!
“Poets” sold a total of twice as many copies as number 2, Morgan Wallen “One Thing at a Time.” And just to put that in perspective, almost all of his sales were from streaming. Just 66K were physical.
Number 2 in physical sales was Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft.”
Twenty six albums sold more than 1 million copies. The rest all fell below that standard. The number 26 album was Charli XCX’s “Brat.”
Elton John sold 847,000 copies of his “Diamonds” box set. It sells for between $25 and $50 in different iterations. So he really cleaned up. Other big legacy albums were Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours,” Bob Marley’s and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s greatest hits sets.
Beyonce sold 1.3 million copies of “Cowboy Carter.”
Taylor is headed to sweep the Grammy Awards at this point. Her sales alone guarantee it. There’s no escaping her. She’s a phenom on all fronts.
“Days of our Lives” has been on the air for 60 years, so it’s not implausible that the older actors are dying off.
This week the show is a tribute to Bill Hayes, who passed this year at age 98. He was on the show for 50 years. Last year it was John Aniston.
A couple of weeks ago, actor Drake Hogestyn died much too young at age 71 from pancreatic cancer.
Today the show announced that Wayne Northrop, who played the same role as Hogestyn before he left the show, has passed after battling Alzheimer’s for six years. He was 77.
Northrup, married for 40 years to “General Hospital” star Lynn Herring, was wildly popular in the 1980s as Roman Brady. He and Deidre Hall’s Marlena Evans were a hot couple when soaps were at their zenith popularity. He left to appear on nighttime’s “Dynasty,” but returned a couple of times after Hogestyn took over the role. (Don’t ask.)
“Wayne was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s 6 years ago. He took his last breath in the arms of his family,” said Herring in a statement. “We wish to thank the most caring and amazing place, The Motion Picture and Television Home for taking such great care of him. Wayne touched so many people with his sense of humor and wit. A husband for 43 years, the best dad ever to his two boys, Hank and Grady, and a rancher who loved his cows and was a friend to many.”
Condolences to all the fans, friends, and family. Alzheimer’s is insidious. We are still far away from a solution.
In truth, “Yellowstone” could just have ended tonight. The cops and family are closing in on Jamie.
Instead, they have to pad out three episodes. So tonight they killed off a good character for no reason. It had nothing to do with the plot. But Colby was killed by a horse right after he told Teeter he loved her.
So the fourth episode of season 5.2 was incredibly boring. The first 11 minutes was a discussion of horses. Aside from the cops’ visit to Jamie, and Kayce threatening Grant Horton, the soccer coach assassin, nothing happened. Food was made, a glass of whiskey was thrown in a fire place.
Next week, who will get killed? Taylor Sheridan is running out of cast. This is sad conclusion to four and a half seasons of excitement. Even the trailer for next week looks dull. But they will stretch again until two week from now.
Let’s just wrap this up and call it over. Beth and Rip can move to “Knots Landing” and start over.
