Music industry – One step closer to being accurate
Who’s popular in South Africa? A lot of information is available for many countries from Europe and America, but what about the main African market?
One would instinctively expect hugely popular black artists from the decade to dominate, like Michael Jackson and Prince, but in truth sales were mostly driven by British expatriates. Should we expect to see Kylie Minogue and Rick Astley in full force then?
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Who’s popular in South Africa? A lot of information is available for many countries from Europe or America, but what about the main African market?
The few bits of data which emerged relate to artists from the 80s onwards, with the likes Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, and Celine Dion doing very well there. Who was at the top of the game before them, during the 70s?
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With only three albums to his name, Bruno Mars has become one of the most played artists of the millennium. He got famous thanks to his massive debut single Just the Way You Are, as well as a large string of hits all around the world.
How have his albums performed, though? Is he more than just a singles artist? This article might answer your questions.
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Do you have any idea of what was popular in Mexico during the 80s? Which international music star struck them the most? Was Thriller as huge there as it was everywhere? Were other megastars like Madonna, Phil Collins or Prince equally big?
During the 80s everything got bigger. Arena rock, heavy metal, power ballads, dancefloor anthems, kings & queens of pop, existing genres got louder, heavier. The scene also became more diverse with rap and electronic music breaking the main audience. Are the flagships of this generation, Michael Jackson and Madonna, still the most popular artists from this era?
There is always excitement around the release of an album. Fans are eagerly waiting to hear new music, media are curious about what will happen, and chart geeks can’t wait to see the first results come in from iTunes, Spotify, Hits Daily Double, and Billboard.
The career of Meat Loaf has been a one-of-a-kind story since day one. He is nowhere and everywhere at the same time. Acting, singing and performing he built a curriculum vitae insanely impressive in comparison to his own fame. Among his stand-out moments feature the iconic album franchise Bat Out Of Hell.
How big were Simon & Garfunkel? The Beatles are often compared to the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys and the Monkees for different reasons. The former because they are the leading symbols of the British invasion. The second due to them being their main challengers artistically speaking. Then the latter since they were created as an American answer to them which in all fairness was insanely massive in 1967. In terms of global success and sales though, the closest to the fab four from 1966 to 1970 was none of them but instead the aforementioned duo Simon & Garfunkel.
The mastermind of Simon & Garfunkel, Paul Simon is one of the most successful singer-songwriter of all-time. Exaggeration? No, not according to the data. He started very young. His father was a professional musician and he started singing with Art Garfunkel at the age of 13. Two years later in 1957, he wrote and issued his first recording with his duet partner, Hey Schoolgirl, which went top 50 in the US. For the next 8 years, Simon struggled getting hits, either solo or with Garfunkel. At the time, even their name wasn’t settled, they recorded songs under aliases like Tom & Jerry or Jerry Darcey and True Taylor for his solo material.
During the last few months we lost various popular musicians including Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots, Velvet Revolver), Lemmy (Motörhead), David Bowie, Glenn Frey (The Eagles), Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane), Maurice White (Earth, Wind & Fire).
I followed closely the news and the impact of View More