SATURDAY NEWS WRAP #111

• Adele’s new single ‘Skyfall’ has officially impacted both radio and retail around the world and it’s already doing rather well for itself. The lead single from the new James Bond movie of the same name, the track is already top five on our iTunes chart and is currently No.1 on both the US and UK iTunes stores. The ‘Skyfall’ soundtrack is due at retail on Friday November 02.
• ‘Skyfall’ was one of a number of new singles serviced to Aussie media this week. Thursday was a big pop day for Sony when they serviced the new singles for Strange Talk, Delta Goodrem, Calvin Harris and Little Mix. But it was a big week for pop in general, with media being serviced with the new tracks for Ricki-Lee, Lana Del Rey, Rihanna, Bruno Mars, Zoë Badwi and many more. Hit our FACEBOOK page for a more comprehensive list of the singles taken to media this week (published on Thursday).

• It’s been five long years since the last studio album for Canadian songstress Celine Dion, but that’s all about to change, with her new French language album ‘Sans Attendre’ (cover image pictured left) due to hit retail in Australia on Friday November 02. The first taste of the album, the single ‘Parler à mon père’, was given a soft digital release back in July.
• EMI has confirmed the local release of the forthcoming ‘Special Edition’ of Emeli Sandé’s stunning debut album ‘Our Version Of Events’. The album, containing the singles ‘Heaven’, ‘Daddy’, ‘Next To Me’, ‘My Kind Of Love’ and ‘Read All About It’ (the latter used in the Olympic Games closing ceremony), will be repackaged with new artwork and bonus tracks. Though it’s due to hit British retail later this month, Aussie audiences will have to wait ’til November 26 to get their mitts on it.

• The overseas successes just keep coming for Aussie singer songwriter Jacob Butler. He’s been signing record deals right left and centre and now comes news that he’s inked new licensing deals with the respected V2 label to release his track ‘Mind Waltz’ in Belgium, The Netherlands and in Luxembourg. The track has been supported at home by Southern Cross Austereo’s Radar radio shows along with the Flow FM network.
• Eurythmics main man Dave Stewart was joined on stage in Los Angeles late last week by some high profile Australian singers for a special one-off show entitled ‘Dave Stewart & Friends’. Vanessa Amorosi joined him to cover The Eurythmics ‘Would I Lie To You’, Delta Goodrem performed ‘You Have Placed A Chill’ and Orianthi joined the superstar on guitar. Colbie Caillat and John Mayer were also in attendance.
• British songstress Rebecca Ferguson has revealed a dance reworking of her latest single ‘Backtrack’. It’s been remixed by the boys from RAW and you can wrap your listening gear around it HERE. The repackage of Rebecca’s album ‘Heaven’ (featuring the new single) is due for release in Australia this Friday.

• It’s not even close to the end of the year yet, but already details have emerged about next year’s Golden Plains Festival at the Meredith Supernatural Ampitheatre. To be held from March 9-11, the 2013 event will be headlined by US songstress Cat Power. The rest of the line-up is due to be unveiled later this month, but in the meantime, you’d best get organised for tickets, with a ballot revealed for first release sales. It’s open ’til towards the end of the month, but all the details you need are HERE.
• Perth outfit Birds Of Tokyo released their new ‘This Fire’ EP yesterday and have announced a couple of headline shows in support of it. They’ll play Melbourne’s Ormond Hall on Wednesday December 05 and The Annandale Hotel in Sydney on Friday December 07. Tickets are on sale via the band’s website this Friday morning.
• A new independent record company was unveiled this week in Sydney. The baby of respected industry identity Vicki Gordon, the Oxygen Music Group aims to “breathe some fresh air into the Independent commercial music scene”. We’re told that the new label has secured management deals with former ‘X Factor’ star Altiyan Childs and Sydney pop/rock outfit Baby Grand.

• The global domination of South Korean pop star Psy continues over on this week’s British singles chart, with his mega-hit ‘Gangnam Style’ hitting the No.1 position (up two spots on last week). He displaced The Script’s No.1 ‘Hall Of Fame’ and held off a challenge from Flo Rida’s new single ‘I Cry’. Fun., David Guetta and Conor Maynard all enter the top ten this week, with the highest debut coming from DJ Fresh down at No.13 (‘The Feeling’).
• Mumford & Sons’ new album ‘Babel’ hits the heights on the British albums chart this week, debuting at No.1 to hold off a challenge from Green Day’s album ‘¡Uno!’, which debuts at No.2. Jonathan & Charlotte premiere at No.5 with their SYCO debut ‘Together’ (they were runners-up on this season of ‘Britain’s Got Talent’… to a dog. That did tricks). Deadmau5’s ‘Album Title Goes Here’ debuted at No.9.

• Over in the US, Maroon 5 has maintained their heading atop the Billboard 100 singles chart with their latest track ‘One More Night’. But Psy’s challenge is strong, so how long will they hold him and ‘Gangnam Style’ off the top spot? The top five remains unchanged this week, but there’s a new entry from country starlet Taylor Swift, with ‘Begin Again’ debuting at No.7. Ke$ha’s new single ‘Die Young’ premieres at No.13; Rihanna’s ‘Diamonds’ at No.16.
• On the Billboard album chart, meanwhile, It’s Mumford & Sons lucky week! After premiering at No.1 on the UK chart, they replicate the success with a No.1 on the US chart too. The band enjoyed the biggest debut sales week of 2012, with the album selling 600,000 copies in the one week. Green Day’s ‘¡Uno!’ had to settle for a No.2 debut, with No Doubt’s ‘Push And Shove’ coming in at No.3. P!nk dropped from No.1 to No.4, with further top ten debuts for Lupe Fiasco (‘Food & Liquor II’ at No.5) and deadmau5 (‘Album Title Goes Here’ at No.6).
• No doubt all this talk of charts has you hungry for more! So join us tomorrow morning from 9am AEDT (yeps, daylight savings is back, kids) for all the action on the Australian top 100s in our weekly ‘Chart Watch’ segment. You know you want to.

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