Lilith Fair to head down under!

– Photo from Billboard.com

Lilith Fair is headed down under!

Billboard reports the recently revived all-female tour has scheduled a five-day-tour, to be headlined by the festival’s co-founder, Sarah McLachlan, in October.

Also reportedly on the bill are Australian singer Kate Miller-Heidke, the Court Yard Hounds (Martie Maguire and Emily Robison of the Dixie Chicks) and the Verses.

The tour has had a tough season in North America, cancelling more than a dozen of its total 36 tour dates due to poor ticket sales – just one of many tours that had to cancel shows this season because of sales.

The “A Taste of Lilith” will kick off Oct. 4 at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre, and will hit Perth, Adelaide, and Melbourne before wrapping up at the Brisbane Convention Centre Oct. 16.

Billboard reports the Australia shows will carry two-tiers of ticket prices. The standard ticket price will be $149 Australian ($133 U.S.), while a “Platinum Reserved” ticket package will be priced at $249 Australian ($222 U.S.). For each ticket sold, $1 Australian ($0.89) will be donated to the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation.

Do you think Lilith has a better chance of success down under?

Hear new music first – HP

Eminem’s “Recovery” posts huge numbers in first week sales; easily tops Billboard 200

Eminem’s latest work Recovery had an amazing first week of sales, logging 741,000 according to Nielsen SoundScan,which was more than enough for him to secure the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200.

Billboard reports that the sales figure for Recovery makes it the biggest sales week for a single album since AC/DC’s Black Ice debuted in October 2008, selling 784,000 copies in its first week.

Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that this album is Eminem’s sixth straight No. 1 debut; the only album that missed the top spot was his Slim Shady LP which peaked at No. 2 in 1999 in its initial sales week. The only hip-hop artist to earn more No. 1 debuts is Jay-Z, who has had 11 according to Billboard.

Another tidbit to note – especially since we are also asking you to rate this song in the HitPredictor jukebox now – is that Eminem’s collaboration with Rihanna “Love The Way You Lie” debuted at No. 1 on the Digital Songs chart after selling 338,000 downloads. Have you rated this song yet at HitPredictor? If not, check it out and let us know what you think!

Last week’s title holder Drake slips to No. 2, after selling 157,000 copies of his debut album Thank Me Later.

The rest of the Billboard 200 includes:

• At No. 3, Can’t Be Tamed, Miley Cyrus, 102,000
• At No. 4, Scream, Ozzy Osbourne, 81,000
• At No. 5, Now That’s What I Call Music Vol. 34, compilation, 55,000
• At No. 6, How I Got Over, Roots, 51,000
• At No. 7, To The Sea, Jack Johnson, 44,000
• At No. 8, My World 2.0, Justin Bieber, 43,000
• At No. 9, Laws of Illusion, Sarah McLachlan, 38,000
• At No. 10, Twilight: Eclipse, soundtrack, just under 38,000

Did you purchase any of these albums last week? If so, what did you buy and why?

Hear new music first – HP

On point, Drake debut tops Billboard 200

As expected, Drake’s Thank Me Later album debuts at the top of the Billboard 200, after selling 447,000 copies in its first week according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Those numbers make it the third-best sales week so far this year for any album with only Sade’s Soldier of Love, and Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now beating Drake’s debut after selling 502,000 and 481,000 respectively in their debut weeks earlier this year.

Billboard is reporting that the top four slots on the chart belong to new entries, which is the first time it’s happened since last December. At No. 2 is Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ Mojo, which sold 125,000 units, marking Petty’s best debut sales week since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991 AND his highest charting album since 1980!

The rest of the Billboard 200 top 10 includes:

• At No. 3, Law of Illusions, Sarah McLachlan, 94,000
• At No. 4, Now That’s What I Call Music Vol. 34, compilation, 88,000
• At No. 5, To The Sea, Jack Johnson, 68,000
• At No. 6, Eclipse Soundtrack, 55,000
• At No. 7, My World 2.0, Justin Bieber, 47,000
• At No. 8, Need You Now, Lady Antebellum, 40,000
• At No. 9, Bionic, Christina Aguilera, just under 40,000
• At No. 10, Glee: The Music, Journey to Regionals, 39,000

Did you buy any of these albums last week? Let us know!

Hear new music first – HP

Sarah McLachlan talks Lilith Fair, plenty of cheap tix still available!

Sarah McLachlan’s reprise of Lilith Fair after an 11-year hiatus was actually a pretty easy decision, as she pointed out in a recent interview with Billboard.com.

In the interview McLachlan said; “We talked about it every once in awhile, but the mood shifted last year. Before it was like, ‘Oh no, Lilith, I can’t imagine going back there and doing that again’ to, ‘Y’know, that was a lot of fun…Let’s talk about that’ and we thought, ‘Well, let’s do it again.’ It was pretty much as easy as that.”

She also said the festival remains focused on a female audience, but don’t expect to see a naked woman coming out of a mandrake root as has happened in the past. McLachlan said: “We’re trying to put on a really good musical show. We’re trying to create awareness for local women’s issues in the communities we’re going into. We’re trying to raise money for charity. We’re trying to leave a positive imprint wherever we go.”

However, despite the hype surrounding the return of the festival McLachlan notes ticket sales are still pretty soft right now. She said there are still about 9,000 tickets that are only $25, and feels fan complaints about high prices are unfounded since only about 300 seats out of 16,000 are $250.

“We’re working our hardest to have reasonably priced tickets so it can be accessible for everyone and that people will want to come. We might get slaughtered, I don’t know, but I kind of have blind faith in the fact we’re putting on a really great show and we always have, and that will bring people in the end.”

And, as for what McLachlan plans to play at Lilith Fair, she is excited to play some new songs off her upcoming album, Laws of Illusion, but is prepared to play some of her greatest hits since she knows that’s what fans want to hear. McLachlan said: “I’ll rehearse four or five of the (new) songs and just rotate ’em and do two each night or something like that.”

Lilith Fair officially kicks off June 27 in Calgary and will stop in a total of 36 cities before it closes out Aug. 16 in Dallas.

Do you have tickets to go?

New music first – HP

New Sara Bareilles single at HitPredictor along with some other new music!

Happy Music Monday everyone! We are in the process of uploading some brand new music for you to rate!

Right now, we have Sara Bareilles’ brand new single “King of Anything” in the HitPredictor jukebox!

This is the first single off Sara’s new sophomore album, Kaleidoscope Heart, which she has reportedly been working on in the studio for the past seven months! The album is due out sometime late this summer and is something Sara says “has shaped up to be something I’m so incredibly proud of.”

So check out the song at HitPredictor and let us know what you think. If you want to hear more Sara you will have a chance to see her live at several Lilith Fair Tour shows in Late July and early August. Click here for more information (dates, locations, and tickets) for those shows.

We also have new music from Sarah McLachlan, Keith Urban, Uncle Kracker, John Rich, and more! So make sure to check the HitPredictor jukebox for a taste of what’s new in music and let us know what you like!

New music first – HP