There’s only one band that could top the Beatles, and that’s the Beatles.
The British foursome split up more than 30 years ago but you wouldn’t think so considering the amount of product they’re moving nowadays, spawning a new generation of Beatles lovers.
The Fab Four’s latest release of all 27 of its No. 1 hits, “1,” has already sold more than 12 million copies worldwide and topped the charts in 28 countries since the album debuted three weeks ago, The Associated Press reports.
The latest achievement for the Beatles is that “1” has reclaimed the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Top 200 albums chart after dropping to the No. 2 spot for two weeks. In the United States alone, the album has gone platinum five times over (an album qualifies for platinum after 1 million units have been sold).
“Decades after their original releases, these songs still resonate with a potency and vibrancy that simply don’t exist in a lot of today’s pop music,” Billboard said in a statement. “Truly the best from the best.”
ROCK ‘N’ ROLL HALL OF FAME: A lifetime of performing has paid off for Aerosmith. The bad boys of rock ‘n’ roll will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with singer/songwriter Paul Simon and King of Pop Michael Jackson, Reuters reports.
R&B legend Solomon Burke, doo-wop group the Flamingos, rock groups Queen and Steely Dan and rock pioneer Ritchie Valens will also be inducted at a black-tie ceremony in New York on March 19. Each inductee will be represented with a permanent exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum in Cleveland.
Musicians become eligible to be inducted 25 years after the release of their first record.
WHAT’S THAT SMELL? This was Metallica’s year for filing lawsuits. The hard rock band first went after Napster and now they’re making a stink over a perfume company. The band filed a suit against Guerlain, the maker of a vanilla-scented perfume called Metallica, USA Today reports. Further details of the suit were not disclosed.
It’s not the only lawsuit the band filed this year. Metallica also filed suit in January against Victoria’s Secret for selling Metallica lip liners.
SUGE KNIGHT ORDERED TO PAY $10M: Can it get much worse for rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight? The jailed founder of Death Row Records was ordered to pay $10 million in punitive damages to two brothers for interfering with their contract with rapper Kurupt, The Associated Press reports.
The decision comes from the same jury that ordered Knight and Death Row Records to pay an additional $4.34 million in compensatory damages last week. The story is that Kurupt signed with Death Row Records in 1993 when he already had a deal with Lamont Brumfield’s Rapp Central Productions and Ken Brumfield’s Hoodsta-4-Life Publishing, according to documents from the lawsuit.
Knight’s lawyer said that the verdicts are “inappropriate,” and he will appeal the court’s decision. Knight is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence for violating his parole.
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