NEWS - JANUARY 2006 « December (part II) - News index - January (part II) »

14 January - Echo Award nomination Madonna has been nominated in the category 'Best Female' at the upcoming Echo Awards. She will be competing against Enya, Katie Melua, Shakira and Gwen Stefani. The award show will be held on March 12th in Berlin and will be broadcast live on TRL, starting at 8.15pm. 14 January - Sorry on Belgian radio Belgian Radio Donna has announced Sorry as their "Smaakmaker van de week" (Taste of the week), which means we'll be hearing the single once during each program for a full week. In other news, the radio air date for the US is supposedly February 7th. 14 January - Sorry maxi single According to the German Amazon the tracklisting of the Sorry 3-track maxi is the following: 1. Sorry (Single Edit) 2. Let It Will Be (Paper Faces Mix) 3. Sorry (Man With Guitar Mix) Note that 'Paper Faces' and 'Man With Guitar' are both aliases of Stuart Price. Meanwhile ICON has confirmed the remixers for Sorry: Pet Shop Boys Man With Guitar Paul Oakenfold Green Velvet 13 January - COADF back to #1 in Euro chart! Madonna's Confessions on a Dance Floor (Warner Bros.) takes over from Robbie Williams' 'Intensive Care' (Chrysalis) at the European Top 100 Albums summit for a second time. The album displaced Williams at No. 1 by debuting there in November, before itself ceding the top spot to Williams late in the year. Madonna now has five aggregate weeks atop the pan-European survey compared to Williams' six; the albums have held the top two spots on the chart for eight consecutive weeks. Hung Up, the first track taken from Confessions, leads Eurochart Hot 100 Singles for the ninth straight week. Madonna's surge back to the top albums spot is helped by climbs of 4 to 2 in Norway, 6 to 3 in Germany, 4 to 3 in Portugal, 5 to 4 in Hungary and Denmark and 6 to 5 in Italy. She's still No. 1 in Finland and top ten in most other European markets. The album, however, dips from 9 to 11 in the United Kingdom. Williams, meanwhile, keeps top place in Switzerland but loses the No. 1 position in both Germany and Austria to Xavier Naidoo's 'Telegramm Fur X' (Naidoo Records). [...] On the Eurochart, Hung Up is still trailed by Black Eyed Peas' 'My Humps' (A&M/ Interscope) at No. 2, while Mattafix's 'Big City Life' (Buddhist Punk) improves again, from 5 to 3. The latter track is No. 1 for a second week in both Austria and Switzerland, climbs from 4 to 2 in Germany and holds at No. 2 in Italy. The single, which reached No. 15 in the United Kingdom last August, comes from the duo’s album 'Signs of a Struggle,' released last October. (source: Monsters and Critics) 13 January - Hung Up UK chart performance Hung Up is now tied with both Vogue and Like A Virgin as Madonna's longest-running UK Top 10 single. And with the single holding steady at #3 on last Sunday's chart, there's every chance that Hung Up will claim a 10th week in the Top 10 next weekend, which would put Hung Up out on its own as her longest-running UK Top 10 single. Additionally, Hung Up already owns the title as Madonna's longest Top 3 residency (7 weeks and counting) and longest Top 5 residency (8 weeks and counting) Here are the chart runs in full for the three singles in question: LAV: Entry Date 17/11/84: 51-36-27-8-5-4-5-4-3-4-7-9-15-23-31-38-53-68 (18 weeks; 9 in the Top 10) Vogue: Entry Date 07/04/90: 4-1-1-1-1-4-6-8-9-15-27-36-48-65 (14 weeks; 9 in the Top 10) HU: Entry Date 19/11/05: 1-1-1-3-2-4-8-3-3 (9 weeks, all Top 10). The Official UK chart is a 75-position chart. (positions 75-200 are published to the trade but generally regarded as "provisional" as several additional more stringent rules are applied to the singles that find themselves outside the Top 75). Hung Up has now sold 339,285 copies in the UK, including 11,781, so it will probably struggle to overtake Music, next above it on the all time list of Madonna best selling UK singles, which stands at 390,624. COADF falls from 9 to 11 this week, after a 7-week Top 10 run (to date). COADF also finished 2005 as the 15th biggest seller of the year, with a 2005 total of roughty 830,000 copies. James Blunt's "Back To Bedlam" sold the most during 2005 - 2,367,758 copies to be precise - with Coldplay's X&Y finishing up in second place, just about a 1,000 copies shy of 2 million. That album passed the 2 million mark early last week, meaning their 3 UK albums to date have all cleared the 2 million mark. (source: Neil F @ MIR, Music Week) 13 January - Franz Ferdinand praise Madonna Franz [Ferdinand] boys reveal who they rate and who they hate before this year's Brits nominations are announced. [...] Madonna could win: Best International Female The music doesn't sound like a 47-year-old woman. We think she'll be making records that sound fresh and exciting when she's in her nineties - good on her. We also think Madonna has gone beyond that level. Age doesn't really necessarily matter any more. She's a figure like Edith Piaf or Eartha Kitt who will be seen as a grand singer and an icon for the rest of her life. (source: Sunday Mail, MIR) 13 January - Sorry video shoot David Figueiredo from MIR reports that the video for Sorry will be shot on January 18th and January 19th in London. 12 January - Haber nabs Madonna tour doc US distributor Alfred Haber Distribution has signed on as the exclusive distributor of Madonna film I'm Going to Tell You a Secret, just in time to tout the documentary at Natpe. Featuring a mixed media format edited in a montage style, the doc is a behind-the-scenes portrait of Madonna while on her 2005 Re-Invention Tour. (source: c21media) 11 January - Madonna as presenter at Brit Awards Congratulations to Madonna for being nominated for 3 Brit Awards! Madonna is being recognized in the categories of International Female Solo Artist, International Album, Pop Act. Madonna will also be on hand as a presenter! Be sure to catch the Brit Awards on February 15th. (source: Madonna.com) ~ Judging from this official report, it seems she won't be performing on the show. 11 January - Madonna tops music sales on Amazon's busiest day So what was the busiest online shop ping day of 2005? According to Amazon, purchasing went into overload on Dec. 12 when shoppers ordered 3.6 million items - 41 every second. The hot sellers in books were: "Does Anything Eat Wasps? And 101 other Questions" followed by "The Da Vinci Code." After that "Eats, Shoots and Leaves." Then my personal favorite - "Schott's Miscellany." Madonna topped music sales that day with Confessions on a Dance Floor. (The disc has sold 6.4 million worldwide.) (source: New York Post, Madonna.com) 11 January - Billboard clears up best charting Female Artist issue Fred, All of us Dolly Parton fans were certainly pleased to see her back in the top 10 again this week after a 14-year absence. "When I Get Where I'm Going" with Brad Paisley is her 55th credited top 10 Billboard country single, allowing her to regain that record for a female artist (you had reported earlier in the year in "Chart Beat" that Reba McEntire had tied her at 54). My question is, does Dolly also hold the female artist record for most top 10s in any genre, or is there another woman with more top 10s on the Hot 100 or R&B or dance or some other chart? Thanks! T. Duane Gordon Dear T. Duane, Madonna holds the record on the Billboard Hot 100, as she is tied with Elvis Presley with 36 top 10 hits. Aretha Franklin is the clear female leader on the R&B chart, with 52 top 10 hits. I don't think anyone will be surprised that the female frontrunner on the Adult Contemporary list is Barbra Streisand, with 35 top 10 hits. (source: Billboard) 11 January - Three nominations at Brit Awards Former British Army captain James Blunt and Leeds rockers the Kaiser Chiefs have followed their explosion on to the music scene with five nominations each at the prestigious Brit Awards. [...] Madonna and the band Arcade Fire dominate the international categories with three nominations each. The queen of pop is up for best Pop Act, International Female Solo Artist, and International Album, for Confessions on a Dance Floor. Pop Act Winner chosen by CD:UK viewers; The Sun Bizarre column readers and customers of 02 and Motorola James Blunt Katie Melua Kelly Clarkson Madonna Westlife International Female Solo Artist Bjork Kelly Clarkson Madonna Mariah Carey Missy Elliott International Album Arcade Fire - Funeral Green Day - American Idiot Kanye West - Late Registration Madonna - Confessions On A Dance Floor U2 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (source: u.tv) ~ The Brit Awards take place at London's Earls Court on February 15. Rumours that Madonna will perform at the show are not yet confirmed. Fingers crossed! 11 January - Madonna continues to top Euro Singles chart Madonna continues to sit atop the European singles chart for a staggering eighth successive week with her smash hit Hung Up. The Material Girl's dance track keeps The Black Eyed Peas's My Humps at number two, while Eminem track When I'm Gone is at number three. At number four is UK TV talent show winner Shayne Ward's That's My Goal. Big City Life by Mattafix is at number five. Robbie Williams remains at number one in the European albums chart, as does Madnna's Confessions On A Dance Floor at number two. Also sitting at number three is James Blunt's Back To Bedlam, while Eminem hit compilation Curtain Call is at number four. Closing the top five is Enya's Amarantine. (source: ContactMusic) 10 January - Madonna afraid of getting fat Part of the reason Madonna keeps in such good shape is that she's afraid of getting fat, she reveals in the February issue of Elle, on stands Thursday. "I wish I were comfortable enough to look zaftig," she told the mag, "but I choose men who like carved-out women, the can-you-run-for-the-bus kind of guy. I'm naturally inclined toward men like that." The singer traces her desire to win men over back to her relationship with her father, who she said doesn't get excited about much of anything. "A good part of my life was spent trying to wow him, to get his approval," she said. Even so, she doesn't think her fame will help any man in her life, especially the big guy upstairs. "In the big picture, it means very little," Madonna said. "At the end of my life, God doesn't give a sh--." ... (source: MTV) ~ Also check MTV for some pictures of the Elle Magazine photoshoot. 10 January - Madonna wants eternal life Madonna is hoping for an eternal life because she likes the idea of reincarnation. The pop superstar and Kabbalah follower admits she turned her back on Catholicism because there was nothing consoling about the religion and she wanted something more. She says, "The thought of eternal life appeals to me. I don't think people's energy just disappears. "I hope by the time it's my moment to leave this world physically, I'll have gotten my head around the idea that life is an endless cycle." (source: ContactMusic) 09 January - Scans of Elle Magazine Check out fansite DrownedMadonna for some HQ scans of Elle Magazine, which hit US stands this week. It features an interview and pictures from a new photoshoot. 09 January - News titbits: performances There's no official announcement from Madonna's camp yet, but NRJ has announced that Madonna will perform at the NRJ Music Awards in Cannes on January 21. She's expected to open the show with her new single Sorry. (source: DrownedMadonna) Rumours are circulating that Madonna will be opening the Brit Awards, which takes place in London's Earls Court on February 15. No official confirmation yet either. 09 January - News titbits: releases According to Warner Music Belgium the video for Sorry will be seen for the first time on February 8 and the single will be released in Europe on February 20. (source: Madonnalicious) Warner Music UK says that Sorry will also be released as a DVD single. (source: MadonnaTribe) Warner Music Canada announces that the Sorry single will be released on February 28. Since Canadian singles are usually released a week after the US, it means the US can expect the single on the 21st, which also seems to confirm the date set by Warner Belgium. (sources: MadonnaTribe; David Figueiredo from MIR) More from Warner Canada: a release date for the DVD of I'm Going to Tell You a Secret is set for March 2006. No release date set yet for the live DVD of the Re-invention Tour in Lisbon. 09 January - News titbits: year end Hung Up is Song of the Year 2005 on the Lebanese Radio One and Mix FM yearly charts (#1 in the top 100). It's the second time Madonna has scored the biggest hit of the year; previously Music was named Song of the Year 2000. (thx to Tony :-) Despite having spent less than two months on the stores' shelves, Confessions On A Dance Floor is the 10th top selling album of the year in Italy (7 weeks in the charts) and Hung Up is #2 in the 2005 annual chart of mix and singles compiled by FIMI/AC Nielsen (8 weeks in the charts). Confessions is also the 3rd top selling album by a non-italian artist in the chart. Speaking of airplay, Hung Up remains at #1 in Europe and Italy, and #2 in Germany and the UK. (source: MadonnaTribe) Canadian based International Media Giant CanWest has named their choices for the 50 best songs of 2005, and Madonna came in at number 2! Isaac was the only Madonna song included on the list, and was a runner up to 'Gold Digger.' Other songs that were included were 'Bucky Done Gun,' 'Galvanize,' 'Belly Dancer,' and 'Shake It Off.' CanWest also named Confessions On A Dance floor the third best LP of the year. (sources: Herald Media, DrownedMadonna) 09 January - Meet Madonna on the set of the Sorry video Official fanclub ICON is organising the "Please Don't Say Forgive Me Contest", which sends one fan to the filming set of the Sorry video to meet Madonna and get a picture taken with her: "Before Madonna performed at Live 8 during the summer of 2005, she first asked Sir Bob Geldof to send her a letter explaining her why she should do it. We are now in 2006 and our lady is about to start filming of her Sorry video. And for the first time in 23 years, you'll maybe be THE lucky Iconer to makeone of her fans biggest dreams to come true: Madonna would like to invite one Iconer to visit the set of her new video!!! This contest's winner will be able to watch some of the filming of the video, meet Madonna and get his/her picture taken with her! Can you believe it?!" More info at ICON. 09 January - Palthrow's baby loves Madonna Gwyneth Palthrow's young daughter Apple is huge fan of her mother's celebrity pal Madonna. The 20-month-old tot, whose father is Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, prefers the Material Girl's number one hit Hung Up to her dad's rock sounds. Paltrow says, "Apple loves to dance. She absolutely loves Hung Up by 'Dadonna' - that's how she pronounces Madonna. We have it on repeat in our house. She demands to hear it over and over and over." (source: ContactMusic) 05 January - Madonna's record company files for appeal in plagiarism case Music distributors Warner, EMI and Sony are filing for appeal against the ruling of the court in Bergen (Belgium) about the song Frozen of Madonna. That has come to the knowledge of the lawyer of Salvatore Acquaviva. On November 18, the judge ruled that Frozen plagiarised a song by Belgian composer Salvatore Acquaviva and that Frozen was no longer allowed to be played on Belgian territory. According to Acquaviva's lawyer the record companies will file for appeal against the ruling. Fabienne Brison, who represents Warner, EMI and Sony, doesn't want to comment at the moment. "Appeal will be filed before the court of Bergen on January 24th. The pleadings will presumably follow only four or five months later", says Acquaviva's lawyer Victor-Vincent Dehin. (source: VRTnieuws; translation by Mad-Eyes) ~ Since the court ruling on November 18, Frozen hasn't been played on Belgian radio anymore. During the Donna Top 2005 (see our monday item) it wasn't played but instead a Belgian singer sang a parody with some words from Frozen. Many record stores however still haven't received an official notice prohibiting the sale of all material containing the song and are still selling the Ray Of Light album. 03 January - Pet Shop Boys confirm Sorry remix The official site of the Pet Shop Boys confirms the earlier reported Sorry remix: "We can confirm that Pet Shop Boys have remixed Madonna's next single, Sorry, which will be released in February. At the moment we do not know whether "Sorry (PSB Maxi-Mix)" will be commercially released or only made available on promo copies to club DJs. Chris and Neil remixed the track in December and Neil added some vocals to it. Further release details will be here when we have them." 03 January - Billboard on Hung Up airplay The past few months, Mad-Eyes has received several mails from American fans complaining about the poor airplay on US radio. Since the single was a smash hit everywhere except the States, it's fair to say the American Life boycott by American radio DJs is still kept up. Here's another comment from Ask Billboard: Hello Keith, This question is in regard to Madonna's single Hung Up. While it did manage to crack the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, would it be safe to assume that if radio had played it more, could it have been a No. 1 single? I read an article in the Los Angeles Times which discussed local top 40 radio station KIIS and its reluctance to play her single because of her age and because Hung Up wasn't a hip-hop song. It amazes me that her video of the same song could maintain a No. 1 position on MTV's "TRL" for days on end but radio would still shun her. Do radio programmers have that much control over the airwaves? Thanks, Jimmy Rivera Hi Jimmy, Your question is more of a general gripe about commercial radio in general, but I understand where you are coming from. Right now, hip-hop music is the most popular and dominant format in the United States. There is a lot of research to back this up -- otherwise radio wouldn't be playing rap and hip-hop. Radio spends a lot of time, effort and money to determine what their listeners want to hear. Programmers play what they conclude their listeners want to hear. Right now, the masses want to hear hip-hop. Specifically regarding Madonna's Hung Up, certainly if it had more radio airplay it would have achieved a higher position on the Billboard Hot 100. But, it still went all the way to No. 7 -- a huge feat for a disco song. I say that because dance music (that isn't hip-hop or rap) doesn't have a lot of support from mainstream radio stations, thus, you don't find many traditional pop/dance songs getting much airplay. KIIS Los Angeles has to make sure it plays what its listeners want to hear. If you are a radio programmer, you don't want to run the risk of having a listener turn off the radio or switch to another station. So, they play what is the most popular according to their research. Madonna's Hung Up evidently didn't do very well in their research with listeners, so they opted not to play it very much. (To KIIS' credit, the station did play Hung Up, usually about 16 times a week during its peak.) Madonna's next single will be Sorry. Perhaps it will climb higher on the Hot 100 with more widespread support from radio. (source: Billboard) 03 January - Madonna in Billboard Year In Music Madonna is mentioned three times in Billboard's 2005 Year In Music: August: Madonna celebrates her 47th birthday by breaking a collarbone, a hand and cracking three ribs in a fall from a horse in England. November: Madonna tops The Billboard 200 for the sixth time in her career, with her new album, Confessions on a Dance Floor (Warner Bros.), which sells nearly 350,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. November: Belgian songwriter Salvatore Acquaviva wins a plagiarism case against Madonna, leading a local court to ban the pop star's song, Frozen from sale or broadcast in the country. Acquaviva's suit alleged that Madonna's 1998 hit plagiarized parts of his song, "Ma Vie Fout L'camp (My Life's Getting Nowhere)," written five years prior. 03 January - Don't cry for me Ford Cortina Madonna is used to being ferried around the world in complete luxury. When she is in LA she relaxes in the comfort of a £300,000 Mercedes Maybach limo and her lavish private jet is on stand-by 24 hours a day. Even her mountain bike for tackling London's traffic is top-of-the-range. Yet the Queen of Pop will delight legions of Britain's boy racers with an MTV Pimp My Ride-style video for next single Sorry. Madge is ditching her fleet of fancy motors to transform a rusty old banger into the ultimate blingmobile. With UK Pimp My Ride host and Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood making a cameo appearance on the promo, a team of experts will take a Ford Cortina and turn it into a high-spec speedster, just like my graphics boffins have drawn above. A source said: "Madonna really loves the MTV show. She wanted to do a video with a rags-to-riches story, taking a battered old British banger and turning it into something special. "Her record company contacted the MTV producers behind Pimp My Ride and they came up with a storyboard and car for the video." Madge - who had a big hit with Don't Cry For Me Argentina - has used a 'cameo star in a car' on a video before. ALI G was her limo driver in the video for her No1 single Music in 2000. The new song will be remixed by the Pet Shop Boys after a personal plea from her Madgesty. She bumped into Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe at a party last year and told them she thought "they were brilliant". The Pet Shop Boys recently signed up Little Britain stars Matt Lucas and David Walliams to appear in the video of a single from their forthcoming brilliant album Fundamental. Having the two comedy kings associated with a tune produced by legendary hitmaker Trevor Horn will be a little Brit special. (source: The Sun) 03 January - Madonna-Guy divorce among relationships betting odds Only a few days ago, Madonna and Guy celebrated their 5th wedding anniversary and judging from her recent interviews and her honest relationship statements in I'm Going To Tell You A Secret, Madonna has never seemed happier in any relationship before. Yet journalists are always on the hunt for sensation and a divorce of the happy couple is already between the 2006 betting odds of website SportingOdds: "Madonna And Guy Ritchie To Get Divorced - Madonna is a woman in charge of her image. She only lets the world see of her what she wants to show. Except for that time she stacked it off a horse, of course. So it's hard to tell what the state of her marriage to Guy Ritchie is like. There are always reports in newspapers that the couple are always having big fights, but divorce has never been mentioned. Still - Madonna might be going on a long tour this year, which could put a strain on their relationship. And - to be fair - if we were Madonna, we'd divorce Guy Ritchie after watching Revolver. Current divorce odds - 16/1" (source: HecklerSpray) 03 January - Hung Up back to #3 in UK Seems the Xmas sales had a great effect on Hung Up; it makes a remarkable rise in the UK singles chart from #8 back to #3! In other chart news, the single still reigns the Italian single chart, now #1 for 8 weeks in a row. In the Euro chart, the single holds on to the #1 spot for a 7th week now, fighting off competition from Xmas singles Crazy Frog's 'Jingle Bells/Last Christmas' and Johnny Hallyday's 'Mon Plus Beau Noel'. The COADF album is at #2 in the Euro album chart, right behind Robbie's 'Intensive Care'. 02 January - Madonna asked to credit eyelash designer Pop superstar Madonna is being asked to credit lash designer Sol Rafael or return the diamond-trimmed mink eye accessories she wore on a chat show in October (05). A source close to Rafael tells America's In Touch magazine that the designer worked with Madonna's stylist when the singer appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman. But she has yet to return the fluttering lashes. The source quotes Rafael as saying, "If she's going to keep them it would be nice to have her acknowledge me as the designer." (source: ContactMusic) 02 January - Madonna in Donna Top 2005 After a week holiday, the Mad-Eyes team is back and wishes you the best for 2005; lots of love, friendship, happiness and of course some great Madonna singles and a summer tour! In the week between Christmas and New Year, Belgian Radio Donna broadcasted their Top 2005 of All Time. As usual, Madonna nudged several positions in the top. In 2005 the listeners voted 27 Madonna songs into the playlist. Hung Up debuted in the list immediately at #82. Like A Prayer, the topper of 2004, dropped from #82 to #112. There was a lot of commotion for Frozen, which was at #204, but wasn't played because of the plagiarism case in Belgium. Instead a Belgian singer sang a parody song, which contained some words from Frozen. 2005 (2004) Song 82 (-) Hung Up 122 (83) Like A Prayer 204 (112) Frozen 390 (299) La Isla Bonita 463 (563) Like A Virgin 515 (443) Vogue 585 (379) Music 699 (448) Me Against The Music 768 (1397) Material Girl 853 (661) Ray Of Light 899 (762) The Power Of Good-Bye 960 (1649) Die Another Day 1025 (1200) Papa Don't Preach 1061 (1815) Beautiful Stranger 1161 (1920) Into The Groove 1210 (1336 ) Borderline 1270 (-) Don't Tell Me 1313 (1731) Holiday 1339 (877) Live To Tell 1383 (1150) Justify My Love 1534 (992) Drowned World/Substitute For Love 1562 (-) Erotica 1590 (-) What It Feels Like For A Girl 1655 (-) American Life 1711 (-) Open Your Heart 1797 (838) Hollywood 1928 (1785) Nothing Really Matters

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