Tag: John Mayer (11-20 of 37)

Jun 13 2012 02:27 PM ET

Album Sales: Adele's spends a 24th week at No. 1; Alan Jackson and the Beach Boys score top debuts

Adele-Grammys

Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Have you seen your grandpa lately? If he’s not smoking his pipe in the front porch rocker, you may want to check your local Best Buy; there’s a good chance he’s there picking up some new tunes by Alan Jackson, The Beach Boys, Neil Young, or even old soul Adele, who topped the Billboard 200 this week for the 24th time with her blockbuster album 21.

Of course, the chart didn’t only appeal to septuagenarians (not that there’s anything wrong with that) — acts like Big K.R.I.T., One Direction, Curren$y, and Brandi Carlile muscled their way into the upper tier as well.

Check out the Top 10 below: READ FULL STORY »

Jun 6 2012 01:36 PM ET

Album Sales: John Mayer holds on to No. 1, One Direction makes chart history

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Image Credit: Gari Lamar Askew

John Mayer may be feeling dumpy and “humiliated” about that big meanie Taylor Swift, but the fact that his fifth album, Born and Raised, has just logged a second week atop the Billboard 200 should cheer him up.

The reformed(?) rocker’s twangified set sold 65,000 copies this week, holding off Adele and One Direction, as well as new releases from Regina Spektor, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and Sigur Rós, all of whom landed high in the top 10.

One thing Mayer couldn’t hold off? One Direction’s DVD release of Up All Night: The Live Tour, which sold 76,000 copies. As Yahoo‘s Paul Grein explains, this marks the first time ever that the No. 1 music DVD release has outsold the No. 1 album.

Check out the Top 10 below: READ FULL STORY »

Jun 6 2012 11:49 AM ET

John Mayer on being the subject of Taylor Swift's 'Dear John': 'It's cheap songwriting'

John-Mayer

Image Credit: Mark Von Holden/WireImage.com

John Mayer’s throat woes may keep him from singing, but it seems nothing can stop him from talking.

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the reformed playboy went public with his feelings toward the Taylor Swift Speak Now track “Dear John,” a song-letter Swift wrote for the older singer, following their brief (and apparently not awesome) love affair.

“It made me feel terrible,” Mayer said of the song. “Because I didn’t deserve it. I’m pretty good at taking accountability now, and I never did anything to deserve that.

“It was a really lousy thing for her to do,” continued the man who used to throw impromptu press conferences in order to speak publicly about ex-girlfriend Jennifer Aniston.

As for Swift, she’s previously said that the song “is sort of like the last email you would ever send to someone that you used to be in a relationship with.”

But Mayer would’ve rather dealt with this through his inbox. “I never got an email,” he said. ”I never got a phone call. I was really caught off-guard, and it really humiliated me at a time when I’d already been dressed down.

Added Mayer, “I mean, how would you feel if, at the lowest you’ve ever been, someone kicked you even lower?”

He also had some choice words for the song itself: “I will say as a songwriter that I think it’s kind of cheap songwriting. I know she’s the biggest thing in the world, and I’m not trying to sink anybody’s ship, but I think it’s abusing your talent to rub your hands together and go, ‘Wait till he gets a load of this!’ That’s bulls—.”

Okay! So, before we all take sides, let’s give the Swift song in question another listen to hear the other side of the story:

READ FULL STORY »

May 30 2012 05:35 PM ET

Album Sales: John Mayer earns third No. 1 with 'Born And Raised'; 'American Idol' alums fill the Top 20

john-mayer

Image Credit: Gari Lamar Askew

Despite John Mayer’s throat granuloma, which has kept him from singing — and promoting his new material — recently, the hat-loving guitar-maestro earned his third number-one album this week with Born And Raised, which debuted atop the Billboard 200 today with sales of 219,000.

Other new entries on this week’s chart come from Slash, MercyMe, and American Idol contestants Phillip Phillips (already!), Kris Allen, and Haley Reinhart.

Check out the Top 10 below:

1. John Mayer, Born And Raised – 219,000
The country-influenced, ’70s-tinged album, Mayer’s fifth, became his third number one debut after 2009′s Battle Studies, which sold 289,000 in its first frame, and 2003′s Heavier Things, which started with 317,000. Mayer’s debut Room For Squares peaked at number 9 in 2001, and his 2006 album Continuum shifted 300,000 copies — enough for a number 2 debut.

2. Adele, 21 – 56,000
She’s up to 9.2 million copies total after 66 weeks on the chart. That means Adele’s sophomore set has sold an average of over 139,000 units every week for the last 15 months. Take a moment to absorb that information.

3. Carrie Underwood, Blown Away – 45,000
Following a performance of its theatrical title track on last Sunday night’s Billboard Music Awards and an appearance at the American Idol finale, the country vixen’s fourth album achieved a nice 18 percent drop, and after four weeks, Underwood’s set has sold 486,000 copies. Of course, her 2007 disc Carnival Ride sold 527,000 copies in its first week, but that was five years ago — it’s a different industry these days. (Unless, of course, you’re Adele.)

4. Slash, Apocalyptic Love – 38,000
The ex Guns N’ Roses guitarist’s second solo album started off one spot lower than his self-titled 2010 release, which debuted in third place with sales of 60,000.

5. One Direction, Up All Night – 37,000
Simon Cowell’s British fivesome increased 9 percent and jumped 10-5 this week, which means that Up All Night has sold approximately 697,000 copies. As sophomore single “One Thing” continues its chart ascent, sales should remain strong throughout the summer.

6. Lionel Richie, Tuskegee – 33,000
He may have dropped out of Duets (the show’s premiere helped Kelly Clarkson’s Stronger increase 45 percent this week), but Richie’s country collaboration album has still sold an impressive 823,000 total copies.

7. MercyMe, The Hurt & The Healer – 33,000
The “I Can Only Imagine” Christian band earned their second Top 10 album with The Hurt & The Healer, though it got off to a slower start than the band’s 2010 effort The Generous Mr. Lovewell, which sold 88,000 copies in its first week. Healer was bolstered by the album’s title track, which has so far peaked at number 3 on the Christian Songs chart.

8. Sara Bareilles, Once Upon Another Time – 31,000
The piano-playing chanteuse, who served as a judge on the third (and alas, final) season of The Sing-Off, released a five-song EP and notched an eighth-place debut. Not bad at all, considering she hasn’t had a significant Hot 100 hit since her ubiquitous breakout smash “Love Song.”

9. Various Artists, Now 42 – 31,000
Songs like “Good Feeling” by Flo Rida and “Brokenhearted” by Karmin have helped the compilation album sell 232,000 total so far.

10. Norah Jones, Little Broken Hearts – 28,000
After 4 weeks on the chart, the Danger Mouse-produced album has now sold 243,000 copies.

And then there are a whole lot of American Idol alums (other than Carrie Underwood) to talk about: Season 8 runner up Adam Lambert’s second set Trespassing, which topped the album chart last week, dropped by 71 percent to 22,000 this week — dropping him down to 12th place. Of course, that was still more than enough for Lambert to beat out Season 8 winner, Kris Allen, whose second album Thank You Camellia started out at number 20 with sales of 17,000. (Allen’s self-titled debut started off with 80,000 in 2009).

Meanwhile, Season 10′s Haley Reinhart, who finished in third place, achieved a 17th-place start after selling 20,000 units of her debut album Listen Up!. Ahead of all of them, though, was this year’s Idol winner, Phillip Phillips, whose iTunes-only compilation album Journey to the Finale was downloaded 24,000 times. His runner up, Jessica Sanchez, managed to sell 4,000 copies of her own Journey to the Finale compilation.

More on EW.com:
Florence + the Machine gets David LaChapelle for new ‘Spectrum’ video: Watch it here
Jason Mraz gets emotional on ‘VH1 Storytellers’: Watch the sneak peek here — EXCLUSIVE
Jay-Z and Kanye West’s ‘No Church in the Wild’ video: Watch it here

May 24 2012 12:02 PM ET

John Mayer talks girlfriends, Gosling, and surgery on 'Watch What Happens Live'

Johnny Depp’s hobo doppelganger John Mayer dropped by the Bravo clubhouse last night to appear on Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live.

The singer, whose Born and Raised hit stores this week, displayed an intense self-awareness that verged on caginess at times. Which is not to say he wasn’t the same goofy guy who wrote about candy lips and bubblegum tongues 10 years ago (witness his doffing of a bedazzled Xtina-style hat).

So what did he have to say about his string of famous ex-girlfriends, the world’s second Sexiest Man Alive, and his recovery from the past year’s vocal troubles?

Andy Cohen wasted no time getting to the juicy questions during his dreaded Plead the Fifth segment. First question: “Shag, Marry, Kill — Taylor Swift, Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Simpson?” Mayer pled the fifth, insisting in his next question that he doesn’t consider any of his famous exes “the one that got away.”

Then things got real. Because he used his free pass on the first question, Mayer had to name a fellow celebrity with whom to “dip in the man pond.” Mayer qualified, “Full immersion?” That’s affirmative. READ FULL STORY »

May 16 2012 11:24 AM ET

John Mayer talks voice issues, being an 'idiot' on 'Ellen'

john-mayer

Image Credit: Gari Lamar Askew

Former guitar-solo-face-making bad boy John Mayer is pretty serious about courting forgiveness for past transgressions. The entirety of his new album Born and Raised is a lengthy apology to the people—mostly female—he’s wronged over the past few years. And yesterday, he took the seat opposite Ellen DeGeneres to chat about his tabloid-worthy exploits.

“It was a very strange time and it sort of rocketed me into adulthood,” Mayer told the host of The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “It was a violent crash into being an adult.” That violent crash was the main reason Mayer decided to decamp from L.A. to a ranch in a particularly remote part of Montana. “The question ‘Why Montana?’ is the answer,” he said. “Why not be happy after awhile? You get to a certain age where you prepare yourself to be happy, sometimes you never remember to actually get happy. So I remembered how to get happy.” READ FULL STORY »

Apr 27 2012 12:19 PM ET

John Mayer's new 'Shadow Days' video is as American as apple pie: Watch it here

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John Mayer is America, and so can you!

In the new video for his single “Shadow Days,”  hippie-cowboy heartbreaker Mayer drifts through his own private Idaho, Arizona, and other dusty locales.

As our wandering hero travels across this great land of ours in his mostly reliable Jeep Wrangler (he does have to stop to buy antifreeze at around the 2:18 mark), he makes sure to visit key scenic landscapes in order to play guitar as approving eagles soar above him.

Okay, fine, we’re kidding about the eagles part, but only barely. Check out the American prince in action in the video below:

READ FULL STORY »

Apr 9 2012 02:50 PM ET

Lana Del Rey gets a tribute from John Mayer, probably isn't dating Axl Rose

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Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Like Jason Voorhees and Rick Santorum, Lana Del Rey never stops coming back. Every time you think she’s about to slip out of the conversation for good, she sneaks back in.

Last time, she gave herself a boost by performing “Video Games” on American Idol. This time, she got a shout out from John Mayer, the now-mute guitar hero who recorded an echo-filled, guitar-only cover of “Video Games.” It’s spare and lovely without being laborious. (If Mayer’s voice is gone for good, he can still have a career crafting instrumental versions of already popular songs).

Check out the recording below (which was originally posted to Mayer’s Tumblr). READ FULL STORY »

Mar 9 2012 05:49 PM ET

John Mayer takes 'indefinite break from live performing' thanks to throat woes

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Last year, John Mayer had to disappear for a while to get treated for throat problems. (Sound familiar?)

As of a few weeks ago, everything was looking up for Mayer — he had just dropped his new single “Shadow Days,” announced the release date of his new album Born and Raised, and set up a brand new tour for himself.

Unfortunately, all of that will have to go on the back burner for now. In an announcement made on his official website, Mayer disclosed that the problems with his vocal cords are forcing him to cancel all of his upcoming plans. Born and Raised will still be released on May 22, but otherwise that’s the last we’ll be hearing from Mayer for the foreseeable future.

Mayer explained the details of his injury on his site. READ FULL STORY »

Feb 16 2012 07:08 PM ET

John Mayer premieres teaser of new single 'Shadow Days'

John-Mayer

Adele already made her big post-surgery comeback, and now it’s John Mayer’s turn. The guitar-savvy singer-songwriter with a penchant for making this face spent most of the latter half of 2011 on the bench thanks to his own throat surgery.

But according to the rocker, he’s just about done with a new album and has begun rolling out the first samples of new music.

Earlier today, Mayer put 60 seconds’ worth of a new song called “Shadow Days” up on his official Tumblr. It promises to be the first single form the forthcoming album, which he has titled Born and Raised. “Been looking forward to a post like this since October 14, 2010, the first day I started writing this group of songs,” he wrote in the post accompanying the snippet. “Enjoy.”

This will be Mayer’s first batch of new material since 2009′s Battle Studies, which spawned the hits “Who Says” and “Half of My Heart,” went platinum, and earned him three Grammy nominations.

Based on the minute of “Shadow Days” he posted, he comes across as contrite (he opens with the line, “Well I ain’t no troublemaker/ And I never meant her harm”) and ready to put his past behind him (it closes with “My shadow days are over”).

What do you think of the first tease from John Mayer’s new album, which should be out some time this spring?

Read more on EW.com:
John Mayer announces medical condition, cancels two shows and delays upcoming album
John Mayer quits Twitter
John Mayer slams ‘Huffington Post’ over Jennifer Aniston story: ‘Go f– yourself’

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