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Top Super Bowl halftimes

Bill Sullivan — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:06:55 +0000

After the Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake “wardrobe malfunction” in 2004, the National Football League decided to rethink its approach to one of the world’s biggest stages: The Super Bowl halftime show.

For a while there, the event had become a dizzying parade of often mismatched talents. Before you could start to warm up to one performer, another had virtually ripped the mic from his/her hand and bolted off in a different musical direction.

Since the Jackson/Timberlake debacle, organizers have tended to play it safe, turning to ex-Beatle Paul McCartney to restore a bit of dignity and order the following year. The 2009 headliner — Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band — continued in that vein.

To give you an idea of the evolution of the halftime show, here are the previous 10 acts to appear:

2008: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

2007: Prince

2006: The Rolling Stones

2005: Paul McCartney

2004: Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, P. Diddy, Kid Rock, Nelly

2003: Shania Twain, No Doubt, Sting

2002: U2

2001: Aerosmith, N’SYNC, Britney Spears, Nelly, Mary J. Blige

2000: Phil Collins, Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias, Toni Braxton

1999: Stevie Wonder, Gloria Estefan, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Savion Glover

Source: Rolling Stone

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Billboard Hot 100 appearances

Bill Sullivan — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:40:34 +0000

In celebration of 50 years of charting popular music, Billboard went through all those old lists to determine which artists had racked up the most appearances on its Hot 100.

The all-time leader probably comes as no surprise, and he leads by a comfortable margin.

Who else made the cut?

Here’s the list:

1. Elvis Presley: 108

2. James Brown: 89

3. Aretha Franklin: 73

T3. Ray Charles: 73

5. The Beatles: 72

6. Elton John: 67

7. Stevie Wonder: 63

8. The Rolling Stones: 57

9. Marvin Gaye: 56

T9. Frankie Valli & The 4 Seasons: 56

T9. Dionne Warwick: 56

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Top-selling recording artists of all time

Cyndi Hughes — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:09:08 +0000

Let’s finally put this one to rest once and for all: Who are the top-selling recording artists of all time? The Recording Industry Association of America, the same group that actually owns the copyright to the Gold, Platinum, Multi-Platinum and Diamond designations for record sales, compiled this definitive list, based on certified units sold.

Is the No. 1 artist any surprise? No. 2 might be, country’s favorite son Garth Brooks (right). But look at where the Stones landed! And why do we find it immensely satisfying to see George Strait finishing way ahead of Madonna? But AC/DC?!?! Who knew?!

Here is the top 20 and the number of certified units sold:

The Beatles: 170 million
Garth Brooks: 128 million
Elvis Presley: 118.5 million
Led Zeppelin: 111.5 million
The Eagles: 100 million
Billy Joel: 79.5 million
Pink Floyd: 74.5 million
Barbra Streisand: 71 million
Elton John: 69.5 million
AC/DC: 69 million
George Strait: 67.5 million
Aerosmith: 66.5 million
The Rolling Stones: 66 million
Bruce Springsteen: 63.5 million
Madonna: 63.5 million
Mariah Carey: 61.5 million
Michael Jackson: 60.5 million
Metallica: 57 million
Van Halen: 56.5 million
Whitney Houston: 54 million

For the rest, see the complete RIAA list.

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Courting Lyrical Opinions

Cyndi Hughes — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:59:00 +0000

he New York Times gives us the “Most Cited Rockers in Judicial Opinions,” assembled by Alex B. Long. The list comes from an article Long wrote on the use of popular music in legal writing, published in 2007 in The Washington & Lee Law Review.

Bob Dylan (26)
Paul Simon/Simon & Garfunkel (12)
Bruce Springsteen (5)
The Rolling Stones (4)
The Beatles (3)
The Grateful Dead (2)
Joni Mitchell (1)

According to the Times, “Professor Long freely notes that his casual methodology, which involved typing names of artists into the LexisNexis database and searching federal and state cases, might have missed some artists and citations.”

Long’s entire article — complete with oft-cited lyrics — is here.