Grammys 2012: Adele will return to the stage to perform

Sidelined since early October to deal with vocal cord trauma, British singer Adele will return to performing shape at the Feb. 12 Grammy Awards.

Whether the artist would be cleared to sing after undergoing November surgery had remained one of the biggest questions heading into the ceremony, to be held at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. Yet the Recording Academy put speculation that Adele would sing on the telecast to bed Tuesday morning, announcing that the singer would perform for the first time in nearly five months on the Grammy stage. 

"It's an absolute honor to be included in such a night, and for it to be my first performance in months is very exciting and of course nerve-racking, but what a way to get back into it all," Adele said in a statement.

PHOTOS: Grammys 2012: Top nominees

Whether or not Adele was cleared to sing, the style-over-substance singer was the heavy favorite heading into the awards. Her "21" was the top-selling album of 2011, with a final tally of 5.82 million copies moved during the year. Meanwhile, her nominated single "Rolling in the Deep," which will likely be the song Adele performs on the telecast, was the year's bestselling cut with 5.81 million copies. Both numbers are taken from Nielsen SoundScan's year-end data.

While rapper Kanye West led the Grammy field with seven nominations, it could be argued that Adele stole the spotlight from the outspoken West. West’s nods came predominantly in rap categories while Adele's six nominations include the most prestigious categories: record, album and song of the year, giving her a chance to sweep the top Grammy categories. 

It's all Adele at the top of the charts, but surprises lurk deeper

The music you bought this week: The weekly Pop & Hiss run-down that highlights some of what's on the charts. While the metrics for success continue to change, these are the artists that inspired folks to part with cash, from Adele to LMFAO to First Aid Kit. 

Even the most skilled of scribes will struggle some when attempting to write about the weekly pop charts. The story has been largely the same for much of the last 12 months, and it revolves around British soul singer Adele. What follows is a look at some of the notables on this week's pop charts. 

At the top: In its 48th week of release, Adele's "21" is once again the No. 1 album on the Billboard 200. Sales of "21" this week were just shy of 100,000 copies, at 95,000, bringing its to-date sum to 6.1 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan. With the Grammy Awards just around the corner on Feb. 12, look for "21" to maintain its grip at or near the top, regardless of whether or not the singer's medical team clears her to perform on the telecast. 

Billboard reports that "21" has now spent 17 weeks at No. 1, giving it the longest run at the top since the soundtrack to "The Bodyguard" tallied 20 weeks in 1993. Making Adele's streak even more impressive is the fact that she's logging album and single sales. Her "Set Fire to the Rain" sold 185,000 downloads this week, and has now sold more than 2 million. Her "Someone Like You," meanwhile, has now sold more than 4 million downloads. 

The locals: L.A. artists that traffic in the electronic/DJ world are well-represented near the top of the pop charts. Cartoonish dance act LMFAO is at No. 13 this week with "Sorry for Party Rocking," an album that has sold 582,000 copies to date, and Grammys' best new artist nominee Skrillex is at No. 25 with "Bangarang." Skrillex's seven-track set has spent four weeks on the chart and has sold 68,000 copies. 

A Bob Dylan tribute album with 76 tracks and a 2012 mind-set

The new  Bob Dylan tribute album, “Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International,” which is being released today, salutes both the songwriter and the human rights organization for half a century of their respective work.

But the album itself has been assembled and is being marketed with a very 2012 mind-set.

Veteran record industry executive Jeff Ayeroff, who is leading the charge for the benefit project, with proceeds going to Amnesty International, fully expects that few potential customers will be equally passionate about all 76 tracks by more than 80 artists appearing on the four-CD set.

Artists that participated constitute a diverse aasemblage spanning the pop music spectrum, and a bit beyond it, from young pop hit makers Adele, Miley Cyrus and Kesha to indie rockers the Silversun Pickups and the Belle Brigade to veteran folkies Joan Baez and Pete Seeger, alt-country musicians Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Brett Dennen and the Avett Brothers, mainstream rockers Dave Matthews, Joe Perry and Maroon 5, hard-edged  rock band Queens of the Stone Age, world music acts Ziggy Marley, Mariachi El Bronx and Somalian rapper K’naan and punk bands Bad Religion and Rise Against.
  
"Whatever I’ve learned in the evolution of the album, I know people who pay $20 for this are not going to like every song,” Ayeroff said. “But there are several records inside this album: There’s a country record, there’s an all female record of women interpreting Bob Dylan songs, which is probably the most significant part of the album for me. It shows that Bob speaks with many voices for many people.

“There’s an adult pop record, there’s a peer record, there’s an alternative rock album, and the rock record,” continued Ayeroff, adding that in the iTunes age he anticipates some people who buy the download version will pick and choose which parts of it they pull down.

In addition to the official four-CD version that’s going to all the usual online and physical music retailers, Starbucks has created a two-CD version.

Beatles versus the Stones: Who’s better?

Beatles versus the Stones: Who's better? What about MJ versus Prince? These and other pop music debates are settled.

Friday night at the Brixton South Bay in Redondo Beach, a score was settled. It’s a question that historians have wrestled with, that drunken pub-goers have come to blows over, that has broken up thousands of otherwise happy couples over the last four decades: Which is the better band, the Beatles or the Rolling Stones? Although the answer to this musical litmus test is obvious to anyone with half a brain (see below for details), two tribute acts, Abbey Road and Jumpin’ Jack Flash, sought to definitively answer this question in a contest of dueling sets made up of formative era-songs of the mid-1960s through their later work. (Considering the stakes, it was surprising that CNN and BBC satellite trucks weren’t stationed outside.)

During the duel on Friday, the four-piece Abbey Road came out as the dark-suited, mop-topped young Beatles and dropped quality renditions of “She Loves You,” “A Hard Day’s Night,” and “Can’t Buy Me Love,” while Jumpin’ Jack Flash delivered the way raunchier — and darker and smarter, catchier and well, better — “Mother’s Little Helper,” “Paint It Black,” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” The next night, No Doubt cover band No Duh was on a bill with the Red Not Chili Peppers and 40 Oz. to Freedom, a Sublime tribute act. Below, a few other yin-and-yang couplings that might work well in the future — the preferences of which may or may not serve as a reliable barometer of a person’s musical tastes.

• Biggie or Tupac

Imagine for a moment if the Beatles versus Stones rivalry had turned ugly, and Beatles manager Brian Epstein had been implicated in a hit on Brian Jones that saw Andrew Loog Oldham retaliating by taking out John Lennon: That’s one mythic scenario that’s grown around the beef between Christopher “Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace and Tupac Shakur, both of whom were murdered at their respective artistic peaks. Biggie’s flow or Tupac’s urgency?

• Prince or Michael Jackson

Although it may not seem so since the late Michael Jackson was enshrined as the King of Pop, in the 1980s the more obsessive of Prince fans cast dispersions on MJ as being a mere pop star, albeit one with a lineage to die for, a couple classic jams, and one amazing Moonwalk. Meanwhile, Prince remains the visionary funk auteur with a commanding artistic vision. A preference for one over the other is telling.

Taylor Swift, Foo Fighters to perform at Grammys, but WWKWD?

Producers for the Grammy Awards have begun unveiling performers for its Feb. 12 telecast, starting with a pair of album of the year nominees -- rock act the Foo Fighters and R&B chameleon Bruno Mars. Also named among the initial crop of performers were country star Jason Aldean, former "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson, rapper Nicki Minaj and country-influenced pop star Taylor Swift, who no doubt acted with wide-eyed surprise at merely being asked to appear at the ceremony. 

To maximize media attention, the Recording Academy will roll out the Grammy performing litter throughout the weeks leading up to the ceremony. It is typical for all album of the year nominees to perform, so it's all but guaranteed that future news releases will announce performances from Rihanna and Lady Gaga. The only question mark among this year's top nominees is whether or not soul singer Adele will be cleared by doctors to perform. 

When it comes to who will or won't perform, perhaps the most tantalizing questions remain not in whether reunited acts such as the Beach Boys or Van Halen will appear -- likely with younger acts with whom they have little in common (ahem, Swift and Stevie Nicks) -- but is once again WWKWD (What Will Kanye West Do?).

Rumors that Adele will perform at the Grammys have now begun

It's already started. The will she/won't she perform at the Grammy Awards rumors. Expect it to continue for the next month.

Adele has been sidelined since early October after vocal hemorrhaging forced the star to cancel her 10-city, sold-out U.S. tour; soon after, her sophomore album, “21,” received six nominations for the 2012 Grammy Awards, including one for album of the year.

Yesterday, VH1 has picked up a rumor that the British soul scorcher "might" be performing at the Grammy Awards, and with this here post by Pop & Hiss, the Los Angeles Times has joined in on the SEO-baiting fun. It all stems from a Radar Online story that Adele is planning to attend the Feb. 12 Grammys, and "producers of the show are hoping the singer's doctors will allow her to perform."

Hey, they've already, apparently, cleared her to hang out with baby tigers. 

But let's take a deep breath for a moment. Of course, producers are hoping Adele will perform. It's par for the course for every album of the year nominee to perform at the Grammys. Unless a nominated party has passed on, chances are the album of the year crop will strut for Grammy.

No doubt, Grammy producers will happily wait till early February, as Radar reports they must, to see if Adele will be able to sing. It's not uncommon, in fact, for the Grammys to unveil performers in the days just before the ceremony. 

U2 is tops again in concert and music-sales revenue

The Irish band tops Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga for concert and music-sales revenues.

Demonstrating that there's no substitute for the live concert experience, U2 has once again taken the crown in Calendar's annual Ultimate Top 10, a ranking that combines concert revenue with sales of recorded music.

U2 amassed $160.8 million for 2011, well ahead of runner-up Taylor Swift, whose combined earnings came to $126.8 million. Lady Gaga was the only other act to top $100 million, posting $109.4 million to place third. Country music road warrior Kenny Chesney landed in fourth place with $98.5 million. The year's blockbuster album and singles sales champ, Adele, pulled in at fifth place with $92.8 million, a figure that certainly would have been higher if vocal cord problems hadn't forced her to cancel big chunks of her 2011 tour itinerary.

Figures are drawn from Pollstar's recently published tallies of North American box office revenues and Nielsen SoundScan's tracking of retail music sales in the U.S. The Ultimate Top 10 uses figures from North America because they are tracked more reliably than in many other parts of the world. But most of these musicians pulled in even more than these totals with ever-expanding ancillary income sources such as tour merchandise, product endorsements, video game sales, ring tones and clothing and jewelry lines.

Adele logs top-selling album and song of 2011

To the surprise of virtually no one, Adele’s “21” is officially the top-selling album of 2011, with a final tally of 5.82 million copies, while the British soul singer’s single “Rolling in the Deep” was the year’s bestselling song with 5.81 million copies, according to Billboard, based on Nielsen SoundScan's year-end sales report.

Adele’s album has not dropped out of the Top 10 since it entered the chart at No. 1 in February. It is now in its 14th non-consecutive week as the nation’s top-selling album.

Michael Bublé’s latecomer holiday entry “Christmas” was the No. 2 selling album of the year with nearly 2.5 million copies, followed by Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” (2.1 million), Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter IV” (1.9 million) and Jason Aldean’s “My Kinda Party” (1.6 million).

The remainder of the top 5-selling digital songs behind “Rolling In the Deep” are LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” (5.5 million), Katy Perry’s “E.T.” (4.8 million), Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger” (4.1 million) and Pitbull’s “Give Me Everything” (3.9 million).

Industry -wide perhaps the best news in the year-end figures is that album sales increased over the previous year for the first time since 2004, up 1% to 330.6 million units, compared to 326.2 million in 2010. Overall music sales, including albums, singles, music video and digital tracks, increased nearly 7% in 2011 compared to a year earlier.

More from Nielsen SoundScan’s year-end report will be reported in Thursday’s Calendar.

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Photo: Adele's performance in February at the 2011 Brit Awards at the O2 Arena in London. Credit: Joel Ryan / Associated Press.

Adele tweets, but she expects something in return

Adele is sitting on six Grammy nominations and recovering from throat surgery, so she must have a little free time on her hands. And what does one do with moments of free time in the 21st century? Get on Twitter, of course.

The British singer-songwriter took control of her official Twitter account Sunday, writing: "Right! Its me! I will start tweeting if 10k of u start following @drop4drop  &their trip to India this wk. Its a wonderful charity. Go! A xxx."

Apparently, her request was fulfilled, and then some. She wrote the next day, "... that was quick!ThankU! I'm in bed,watchin Gladiator,eatin an apple. Heres a pic of me&Queen B last wk in NYC!X"

Adele has had an official Twitter account since September 2010, but this is the first time the singer herself has actually tweeted on it. (Up to now, it's been used for Adele promotion by her people).

No further word if future tweets from the "Rolling in the Deep" singer will require more acts of civic engagement by her fans, but it's always possible.

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Photo: Adele performs at the Brit Awards in February 2011. Joel Ryan / Associated Press

Amnesty International 'Chimes of Freedom' salutes Bob Dylan's music

Bob Dylan gets a broad-spectrum musical salute with the  new four-CD, 75-song multi-artist tribute album “Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan: Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International,” being released as part of anniversary efforts for the human rights organization.

Participating arists include Adele, Elvis Costello, Pete Townshend, Patti Smith, Miley Cyrus, Ke$ha, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, My Chemical Romance, Queens of the Stone Age, Sting, Sugarland, Airborne Toxic Event and the Dave Matthews Band.

Dylan was selected as the focus of Amnesty International’s latest project because 2012 also will be the 50th anniversary of the release of his debut album, “Bob Dylan.” The “Chimes of Freedom” album seeks to raise funds for and awareness of the organization that lobbies on behalf of political prisoners and victims of human rights abuses throughout the world.