Fetch the Champagne!

Fiona Apple’s “Fetch the Bolt Cutters” sold 30,000 albums and paid downloads this week. Apple’s fifth album since 1996 sold the most of any release, almost three times as many as the album by Da Baby (who will not be here in 26 years. Or months, maybe.)

Even so, “Bolt Cutters” finished in fourth place because it had little streaming– just 15,000 copies’ worth. Da Baby (yes. him again) streamed the equivalent of 115,000 copies. Plus his 11,000 downloads. So he wins. The Weeknd’s hit album, “After Hours,” finished in second place.

Fiona’s “hit” (30,000 copies is like nothing, really) was nevertheless a success for Sylvia Rhone at Epic Records. It was very well marketed. I mean, Fiona Apple? How they pulled that off, I’ll never know.

Will “Bolt” cutters even sell 250,000 copies in its lifetime? Who knows? I’m sure it will get Grammy nominations, as will The Weeknd’s record. If we have the Grammys. Good lord.

This week’s top 100 even with streaming was another low in the history of sales charts. Without each week’s new number 1, there would be no chart. Nothing is selling. Everything is stagnant. But at least the Rolling Stones are number 1 on iTunes today.

Billy Porter has camped it up so much the last couple of years that we almost forgot why he won a Tony Award. He’s actually a very talented singer.

Now he’s recorded a cover of Stephen Stills’s Buffalo Springfield classic “For What It’s Worth.” Billy’s dumped the artifice and gotten serious on this one, and it’s a relief. Even Stills gave approval. The song is produced by Zack Arnett (not the football player/coach) for Arnett Music and executive produced by Bill Butler and Carmen Cacciatore for The Butler Music Company Inc.

Let’s hope if Billy performs this somewhere, it’s not in a gold lame dress. This is too good to have distractions.

Actually I did find a video of him performing the song at Cyndi Lauper’s house last December. That version, and then the better studio version, follow:

The live album Taylor Swift was carping about yesterday it out and available at least on Spotify.

“Live from Clear Channel Stripped 2008” is streaming but it’s only on some platforms. It has a copyright 2020 Big Machine Records.

Swift is furious that Big Machine would issue such a record without her permission. But Big Machine owns her masters and catalog, so they can do whatever they want.

This sort of thing is part of the record industry tradition, it’s been going on for decades. That’s how we got Elton John’s “Here and There” live album in the mid 70s. Elton said in his book recently that he hated it, but I always liked. Best version of “Crocodile Rock.”

Anyway, Taylor will just have to Shake it Off and move on. Big Machine seems like they’re going to do more of these, so let’s get used to it.

The Rolling Stones haven’t had a number 1 hit probably since 1981’s “Start Me Up.” They’ve had scattershot singles since then– they were never a great singles chart band. They certainly have never had a number 1 hit on iTunes, a relatively new service.

But this morning the nearly 60 year old Best Rock and Roll Band in the world is number with “Living in a Ghost Town.” The single was dropped yesterday to great acclaim. With a nod to the Specials’ “Ghost Town,” the song by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards couldn’t be more timely.

Ironically. the group recorded the song last year. But recently, Mick says in his video, they realized it might have some impact now, The accompanying video is excellent, also. So interesting that our anthems for this moment are coming from the Stones and Jon Bon Jovi, older acts that have stood the test of time.

‘Living In A Ghost Town' out everywhere at 5pm BST today – thanks to Beats 1 for the first play pic.twitter.com/mUlnxpcliA

— Keith Richards (@officialKeef) April 23, 2020

Alicia Keys knows how to write an anthem, that’s for sure. She repurposed “Love on a Two Way Street” into one of the best ever, “Empire State of Mind.”

Tonight she dropped a new single, called “Good Job,” that will be set to countless montages of health care workers during this perilous time. It’s very catchy. See below.

“Good Job” follows my favorite song of the season, “Underdog.” They’re from Alicia’s self titled album that was postponed. Her last album was very good but lacked a single. Now this new one has two! Clive Davis must be kvelling. An album only of hits! like it, too!