Adele Holds Number 1 Spot for 18th Week

Soulful singer Adele remained on top of the Billboard album chart with “21,” despite seven new entries vying for No. 1 this week, including stiff competition from country music singer Tim McGraw.

“21,” which has sold more than 6 million copies in the United States since its release in February 2011, notched its 18th week in the top spot of the Billboard 200 chart.

Adele, who has been resting her voice after vocal cord surgery last November, said she will be making her live comeback at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on February 12.

Country music star McGraw’s 11th studio album, “Emotional Traffic” debuted at No. 2, scoring the singer his 14th top 10 album in the Billboard 200 chart and 13th No. 1 in the Billboard Country Albums chart.

New albums from rock band “Lamb of God,” singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson, “American Idol” alumnus Kellie Pickler, Christian music singer Kari Jobe and soul singer Seal dotted the top 10, along with the “2012 Grammy Nominees” and “Kidz Bop 21″ compilation and Drake’s “Take Care.”

“21″ was the only album to cross the 100,000 copies mark, partially driven by a re-issued deluxe edition released last week in Target retail stores.

Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger” Nears #1

Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger” single climbs from No. 8 to No. 2, nearing the top spot, currently held by Adele’s “Set Fire to the Rain.”

On the Digital Songs survey, “Fire” remains at No. 2 after topping the chart two weeks ago. The song sold 167,000 downloads (down 10%) in the list’s tracking week, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

As announced yesterday, Adele will perform at the 54th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles Feb. 12, marking her first live performance since undergoing vocal surgery late last year.

Clarkson’s “Stronger” is aptly titled, as the second single from her album “Stronger” vaults 8-2 with top Digital Gainer honors. The song surges by 29% to 225,000 downloads sold and ascends 3-1 on Digital Songs, marking Clarkson’s second leader on the sales ranking. Her “My Life Would Suck Without You” spent two weeks at No. 1 on Digital Songs three years ago this month.

LL Cool J to Host Grammys

Rapper and actor LL Cool J will be the first official host of the Grammy Awards in seven years, the Recording Academy said on Wednesday.

“I’m thrilled to be a part of music’s biggest night,” said the two-time Grammy award winning host. “I will always have fond memories of my first Grammy Awards and to now be hosting the Grammy show, in the company of so many other incredible artists, is a dream come true.”

LL Cool J, who has been the host of the Grammy nominations concert since its first live broadcast in 2008, is the first emcee of the awards program since 2005 when Queen Latifah headlined. Since then, music’s biggest night has not had a host.

The 54th annual Grammy Awards will be held on February 12 in Los Angeles, and broadcast live on CBS.

Jason Aldean Biggest Winner at American Country Awards

34-year-old Jason Aldean walked away from Monday’s American Country Awards, which were held in Las Vegas, with six awards, including artist of the year and record of the year for My Kinda Party.

“This is getting a little ridiculous now,” he said after he won his second award. “I don’t know what else to say. It’s been a crazy year.”

In addition to the night’s top two honors, Aldean also won for touring artist of the year, male single of the year for “My Kinda Party,” and vocal collaboration single of the year and music video collaboration of the year for “Don’t You Wanna Stay” featuring Kelly Clarkson.

Carrie Underwood won three, and another American Idol alumn, season 10 winner Scotty McCreery, earned new artist of the year honors.

Kelly Clarkson to kick off North American tour in January

Kelly Clarkson will kick off a 40-city-plus North American tour in January, her record label said on Monday.

Clarkson’s Stronger Tour 2012, coming on the heels of the October release of her fifth studio album, “Stronger,” opens at the MGM Grand Theater in Mashantucket, Connecticut on January 13, with three months of dates through San Diego’s Valley View Casino Center announced so far.

Folk-rock singer-songwriter Matt Nathanson will join the Grammy-winning singer at several stops on the tour.

“Stronger” debuted at number-two on the Billboard Top 200 and the digital albums charts, and the first single, “Mr. Know It All,” made it to fourth on the iTunes Singles chart, marking Clarkson’s ninth top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

Clarkson, who last week won a Country Music Association award for Musical Event of the Year with Jason Aldean for their hit single, “Don’t You Wanna Stay,” burst onto the music scene in 2002 at age 20, when she was the first winner of “American Idol.”

Unlike many other winners who failed to rise to the heights of superstardom, Clarkson has enjoyed chart-topping success with pop rock singles such as “Miss Independent” and the smash hit, “Since U Been Gone.”

She has also won two Grammys, two American Music Awards, two MTV Awards, in addition to last week’s CMA honor.

Tickets for the tour go on sale on November 18.

Kelly Clarkson’s New Song “What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger)”

Check out one of Kelly Clarkson’s new songs “What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger)”. Do you like it??

Kelly Clarkson Premieres New Single ‘Mr. Know it All’

After months of unauthorized song leakage, an official new single by original Idol Kelly Clarkson–from her upcoming, way-overdue fifth album, Stronger–has fiiiinallly premiered. Kelly in fact introduced the tune herself, via an adorably chatty Livestream broadcast on her website this Tuesday afternoon, just to let us all know it’s legit.

The long-awaited single, “Mr. Know It All,” traffics in the same “raining on boys’ parades” revenge fantasies that made Kelly’s “Never Again,” “Walk Away,” “Miss Independent,” and of course “Since U Been Gone” such fist-pumping, girl-powered fun. Sample lyrics, which earlier appeared on Kelly’s website scrawled in her own girlish hand, include: “Mr. Play Your Games/Only got yourself to blame/When you want me back again/But I ain’t fallin’ back again…Let’s be clear, baby/This is goodbye.”

Kelly Clarkson "Know It All" Lyrics

Kelly Clarkson Performs Medley On The Ellen Show

While we wait in anticipation for Kelly Clarkson’s new album to be released, the pop idol gave us something to hold us over for a bit when she performed a medley of her hits on the Ellen Show yesterday in Orlando.

New Details On Kelly Clarkson’s Upcoming Album

Songwriter Claude Kelly, who worked with Kelly Clarkson on ‘My Life Would Suck Without You’, has teamed up with original American Idol and is dishing new details on Clarkson’s upcoming album release in September.

“I will say that I’d be willing to bet that the reason it was pushed back was not for anything as horrible or earth-shattering as people think — it’s probably [just] a better setup.”

Describing the current pop scene as “congested,” Claude Kelly thinks that a slightly delayed release will work in Clarkson’s favor. “They want to make sure that the arena is clean for Kelly Clarkson’s return, ’cause when she comes back, she always comes back pretty big,” he said. “They want to make sure when her first single comes out, there’s nothing out there that’s competing with it. I don’t know for sure, but Kelly always does it big, so when it comes out, the fans will be happy and she’ll sing her butt off and it’ll be good times.”

“The songs I did write for her were in true Kelly Clarkson form, singer records that showcase her voice, but also show her edge and her attitude and her personality,” he explained. “[It's] always up-tempo for me when it comes to Kelly. I like to hear her in kick-butt mode. She has an edge to her voice that you want to hear her sing high and get in your face.”

Kelly Clarkson’s New Album Has Been Delayed!

Kelly Clarkson has famously feuded with her record label in the past over her vision for her music, and it appears we are going to have to wait even longer for her new album.

“We are all excited about Kelly’s new album and are looking forward to announcing a release date soon,” Clarkson’s record label, Sony Music, said in a statement.

Clarkson broke the news to her fans on her Facebook page Tuesday.

“I recently found out that my album won’t be coming out until September,” the singer informed her followers in the post. “The album has been recorded but I can’t release it until then. I realize that is a long time but that’s the best time to release it apparently, so I’m sorry for the wait but I promise you it sounds great!”

The “Since You’ve Been Gone” singer is very excited about her new album.”This album was influenced by Prince, Tina Turner, Sheryl Crow, Radiohead and there’s a little bit of a country vibe/influence on a couple of songs,” she said.

The album is being produced by “Idol” producer Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, as well as Toby Gad. Her most recent release was in 2009 with the hits “My Life Would Suck Without You,” “Already Gone” and “I Do Not Hook Up.”

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