Jay-Z will earn his fourth Hot 100 No. 1, but his first as a lead or co-billed performer, as his collaboration with Alicia Keys, “Empire State of Mind,” will top the chart to be released tomorrow.

The legendary rapper’s prior chart-topping entries came as a featured vocalist on Mariah Carey’s “Heartbreaker” (1999), his now-wife’s “Crazy In Love” (2003) and Rihanna’s “Umbrella” (2007). “Empire” is also Keys’ fourth overall No. 1, as she previously scaled the list with her debut single “Fallin’” (2001), her duet with Usher, “My Boo,” (2004) and “No One” (2007).

“Empire” takes Hot 100 Airplay Gainer honors as it rises 6-1 on the Radio Songs chart (up 15 million listener impressions to 109.5 million), the largest climb to No. 1 on that chart since Kanye West’s “Stronger” jumped 7-1 on the chart dated Oct. 6, 2007.

Also noteworthy in the Hot 100 top 10 is the 22-5 jump of Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now.” The act, which won Vocal Group of the Year and Single of the Year (for “I Run To You”) on ABC’s “Country Music Awards” Nov. 11, performed “Need” on the highly rated broadcast. As a result, digital downloads soared 162% to 157,000, the highest one-week sum for a song by a country group since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking digital sales in 2003. Among all country acts, only Taylor Swift has moved more downloads for a track in a single week.

(more…)

(November 10, 2009 – New York, NY) Worldwide pop icon Utada Hikaru, who holds the record for the past decade as the top-selling Japanese-American female pop artist of all-time, has scheduled an 8-city U.S. tour in support of THIS IS THE ONE , her most recent album on Island Records, featuring the Top 5 Billboard Dance track, “Come Back to Me.”

Utada Hikaru born in January 19, 1983. The same birthday is shared by writer/poet Edgar Allan Poe, with whom she fell in love during my junior-high years; Ogai Mori, one of Japan’s literary geniuses; cute Udo Suzuki-san; and even cuter Rika Ishikawa-chan.  Her height about 158cm and hobbies are literature. This is because books are assets to be treasured by her. In terms of her favorite movie star, she like Amadeus, Crash, Munich, Brazil, Tasogare Seibei, Lost Highway, The Shawshank Redemption, The Godfather Part II, The Jerk, Orlando, works by Hayao Miyazaki.

In her career life, she actually prefer to be become a writer and  open a small bookshop and become a clerk there and also work part-time at a cafe. However, thing changes after she he made her first professional recording at the age of twelve, and recorded her first album, Precious, in 1996 under the pseudonym Cubic U. The album led to her career overseas.

It was released nearly a month earlier, on September 9 in Japan, with a special booklet and housed in a cardboard slipcase. In an MTV interview, Utada said: “There really aren’t any completely Asian people singing right now. For …

THIS IS THE ONE is the latest English-language album for New York-born Utada, the follow-up to Exodus, her Island Records English-language debut (released 2004). It was released nearly a month earlier, on September 9 in Japan, with a special booklet and housed in a cardboard slipcase. In an MTV interview, Utada said: “There really aren’t any completely Asian people singing right now. For …

THIS IS THE ONE debuted at #3 on the Oricon Japanese national chart, giving Utada a total of eight consecutive debuts in the top 3!! In support of the release of THIS IS THE ONE last May, Utada made a memorable early-morning interview appearance on New York’s Z-100 with Elvis Duran, setting the scene for jam-packed album signing events at Sephora Stores in New York, Los Angeles and Miami!

26-year old singer-songwriter, arranger, and producer Utada, who writes all her own music, has achieved record-breaking success since her 8-million selling premiere solo album First Love was issued in 1999 – holds the all time record for biggest-selling album ever for a Japanese-American pop artist-male or female.

THIS IS THE ONE extended her run to the U.S., when it debuted here at #20 on the iTunes overall Album chart and #2 on the iTunes Pop Album chart – making Utada the first Japanese-American artist to break the Top 20 Album chart on iTunes.  Utada also claimed her first debut on the R&R Rhythmic chart and her first ever debut on any R&R format chart with her single “Come Back to Me.”

As Island Records celebrates its 50^th anniversary in 2009, Utada  fits in perfectly with the label’s long-standing tradition of introducing unique artists with international followings.  Born and raised in Manhattan and educated at Columbia University, the bi-lingual Utada is closely tied to Japan: Her mother, Keiko Fuji, was a successful Japanese enka (ballad) singer, and her father, Utada Teruzane, an accomplished musician who is now his daughter’s manager and co-producer (as ‘Sking U’).  Living between New York and Tokyo, Utada had written and recorded her first song by age 11, and signed a major label deal and released her first Japanese album (as ‘Cubic U’) by the time she’d graduated from junior high.  In the decade to follow,  she became one of the most successful and acclaimed pop singers in Japanese music history.

She may have been the first girl to scream on a track, as Kelis says in her song “Bossy,” but she’s more like the 100th girl this year alone to try on the Euro-dance sound on her latest effort “Acapella.”

The singer — who took a break from music after being dropped by her former record label, having her first child with and divorcing rapper Nas — is reemerging with a new sound, new look, and a new place to call her label home.

She leaked the new single today via her twitter page and followed it up with a message to fans, saying she’s wrote it with “love and life in mind.”

Kelis compares her life to a song being sung in acapella and once love enters it, it’s brimming with pulsating beats and synthesis as illustrated by production by David Guetta. Although the overall sound is nothing new, the sincerity in the lyrics mixed with the danceable beat makes it pretty refreshing.

Kelis’ as-yet-untitled album is, she says, “pretty much done” and will be released in 2010.

However, different story go for her lifestyle. There is some rumors have swirled for nearly a year over the current status of the marriage between one of hip hop’s royal couples, Nas and Kelis. (more…)