Las Vegas rock group The Killers have scored their third number one album in the UK with Day & Age, beating Guns N’ Roses heavily-anticipated new album.

Axl Rose’s Chinese Democracy, rumoured to be the most expensive album ever recorded, landed at number two.

Other new entries came from X Factor star Rhydian at three and Priests - three actual Irish priests - at five.

Take That entered the singles chart at number one with Greatest Day, knocking Beyonce to two after a week at the top.

The band have now scored 11 UK number ones, and their new album The Circus is expected to enter the album chart at the same position next week.

Their closest rival is Britney Spears, whose album is also called Circus. Her current single, Womanizer, rose two places to number seven this week, following her appearance on X Factor.

Same Difference, who are alumni of last year’s X Factor, provided the second-highest new entry in this week’s single chart, as We R One goes in at number 13.

McFly also scored a new entry at 18 with double A-side Do Ya / Stay With Me, which is raising money for Children In Need.

Britain’s Got Talent winner George Sampson fared less well, however, with his debut single Get Up On The Dance Floor only making number 30.

Proceeds from the sale of his record go to the Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Inside the top 10, rapper TI rose one place to three with his europop-sampling single Live Your Life. He thereby switched place with The Killers, whose Human dropped to four.

The top five was rounded off by Katy Perry’s Hot ‘n’ Cold, a non-mover.

In the album chart, several BBC reality show stars scored new entries outside the top 10 - led by Only Men Aloud, the winners of Last Choir Standing, whose eponymous debut album landed at number 16.

2007 Strictly Come Dancing winner Alesha Dixon entered at 26 with The Alesha Show, while I’d Do Anything judge John Barrowman was at 35 with Music, Music, Music.

Other new entries came from Kanye West, whose decision to abandon rap may have resulted in his album, 808s and Heartbreaks, landing at number 11.

His last record, Graduation, went straight into the UK album chart at number one in 2007.

The Salvation Army also scored a new entry at 20 with Together - a collection of secular and religious classics performed by their International Staff Band.

BBC Entertainment November 30th 2008

Muse are “probably ” playing Glastonbury, according to television presenter Jonathan Ross.

Ross used his Twitter account to announce that Matt Bellamy had told him the band were likely to play next June’s festival. Muse performed ‘Uprising’ and ‘Undisclosed Desires’ on BBC One’s’s ‘Friday Night With Jonathan Ross’ programme last night (November 27).

Tweeting after the show was recorded, Ross said of Muse playing Glastonbury in 2010:

“Didn’t chat to them on the show, but Matt [Bellamy] told me they are probably doing it.”

Rumours that Muse were playing Glastonbury 2010 first surfaced earlier this week, after U2 were confirmed by Michael Eavis to be headlining the event on the Friday night (June 25).

nme.co.uk 30/11/09

In a move that is unlikely to be remembered as Robbie Williams’s most romantic, the singer has formally denied that he is betrothed to his long-time girlfriend. The announcement comes just days after Williams popped the question on an Australian radio show – and contradicts the proud news reported by his own poor mum.

“Hey all,” Williams posted on his website on Saturday. “We are not engaged. Rob.” His publicist’s message was equally terse, saying simply: “We have no more comment on this apart from to confirm that they are not engaged.”

These denials mark an abrupt change of events from Friday, when Williams asked Ayda Field if she would “mind being my betrothed for the end of time”. Worse, they contradict made comments by Jan Williams, Robbie’s mother, who told BBC 5 Live that the singer had told her “a week ago” that he planned to ask Field to marry him.

The fuss began on Australian breakfast show 2Day FM, when host Jackie Henderson told Williams that Sydney has a reputation for celebrity marriage proposals. The former Take That star then turned to Field, 35, and said: “Ayda Field, I love you so much. Do you mind being my betrothed for the end of time?” She laughed before replying, “I would love to be your betrothed ’til the end of time“.

This on-air exchange unleashed a torrent of congratulatory phonecalls from Australian fans. Williams accepted them blithely, borrowing a ring from Henderson and slipping it on to Field’s finger. But Williams’s spokesperson later called it a “joke” and the singer himself admitted he told “a lie” some time that morning.

If the proposal was a joke, someone should have alerted Robbie’s mum. Jan Williams told the BBC she had “always wanted a daughter-in-law” and was “very excited” for the couple. “They’ve been together for nearly three years, so it’s about time,” she said. “She’s a great mate, as well as a lover. She’s got all the qualities that he needs in a girl. It’s a lovely match.” Though Robbie has made the betrothal seem like an off-the-cuff gag, his mother said it was no such thing – and that he had already bought an engagement ring. As for the wedding itself, Jan Williams remarked, “I don’t think it will be that far in the not-too-distant future.”

Robbie certainly seemed enthusiastic in a recent interview with Jonathan Ross. “She’s a wonderful person and I’m in love,” he said. Despite always thinking he was “going to be a bachelor … I was introduced to Ayda and things just changed.” It seems that this weekend they, er, changed again.

guardian.co.uk 30/11/09

Take That’s The Circus has overtaken Viva La Vida by fellow Brit artists, Coldplay, as the most pre-ordered album of all time.

To date Take That pre-orders on Play.com have already eclipsed those of Coldplay’s summer album release by 30% with four days still to go.

This Monday also sees the highly anticipated return of pop princess Britney Spears. Despite sharing a similar album title, Britney’s album, The Circus, is losing the pre-order battle on Play.com to Take That by 5 to 1.

Britney is not the only US superstar to be overtaken by pop’s favourite boy band – Take That have, in the last 24 hours, also sold more albums than this weeks big release, The Killers, who’s third album, Day and Age, is currently at number 2 in the Play.com chart.

This Monday will also see releases from Same Difference, Bob The Builder, Royal Scots Dragon Guards, Barry Manilow, Motown 50th Anniv, Josh Groban, Bratz. Take That’s The Circus already has more than double the pre-orders of all of these titles (including Britney’s Circus) combined.

Music.news.com 28th November 2008

Kylie Minogue is set to release a compilation of remixes of her songs, entitled ‘Boombox’, on January 5.

The album will feature 16 remixes of tunes that span the singer’s career, kicking off with the mash-up of her 2001 UK Number One hit ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ and New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’, which she performed live at the Brit Awards in 2002.

Other acts whose remixes feature on the compilation are The Chemical Brothers, Mylo and LA Riots.

The track-listing of ‘Boombox’ will be:

‘Can’t Get Blue Monday Out Of My Head’ (Bootleg with New Order)
‘Spinning Around’ (7th District Club Mental Mix)
‘Wow’ (Death Metal Disco Scene Mix)
‘Love At First Sight’ (Kid Creme Vocal Dub)
‘Slow’ (Chemical Brothers Mix)
‘Come Into My World’ (Fischerspooner Mix)
‘Red Blooded Woman’ (Whitey Mix)
‘I Believe In You’ (Mylo Mix)
‘In Your Eyes’ (Knuckleheadz Mix)
‘2 Hearts’ (Mark Brown’s Pacha Ibiza Upper Terrace Mix)
‘On A Night Like This’ (Bini & Martini Mix)
‘Giving You Up’ (Riton Re-Rub Vocal Mix)
‘In My Arms’ (Sebastien Leger Vocal Mix)
‘The One’ (Britrocka Remix)
‘Your Disco Needs You’ (Casino Mix)
‘Boombox’ (LA Riots Remix)

NME.com November 28th 2008

Tickets for Coldplay’s stadium tour next year are available now.

As was reported on NME.com, the band will perform three dates in the UK, with US rapper Jay-Z in support.

Coldplay will perform at Manchester Old Trafford Cricket Ground on September 12, Glasgow Hampden Park (16) and London Wembley Stadium (19).

Tickets for Stereophonics’ UK tour are also on sale.

The band will play Glasgow SECC on December 12. The tour will then call at Newcastle, Liverpool and Sheffield.

The tour will culminate at London O2 Arena on December 20.

For more tickets go to NME.COM/tickets.

Supergrass also tour this winter.

The band will play at Sheffield Plug on December 9 and Shepherds Bush Empire (10).

NME.com 28th November 2008

Performing live out of an actual shed comes a one-off New Year’s Eve special to the Queen Boadicea. Dr Rubberfunk shedlines with his much touted (by Mr Scruff, Groove Armada, Coldcut et al.) brand of  hip-hop-to-jazz-to-latino moonshine. Nom de Plume reggae-come-hip-hop bootlegger, Wrongtom (the Trojan and Hard Fi DJ who has just remixed Roots Manuva’s new LP, Slime and Reason) backup the mashups alongside the shed’s resident Arthur Fowler, DJ BarryDark and Head of Shed, Peepshow Paddy.

The Disco Shed will be rekindling the summer shedonism from its spiritual festival-based homes, and will be transforming the concept of what a DJ booth can, and in the name of fun, should be. Hanging baskets, disco balls, Bridget Fonda workout videos and Des O’Connor album covers are all scheduled to appear.

The mobile disco shed is best known for kitschly pummelling festivals with its party sounds, from the bigger (Reading) to the middler (Big Chill) to the tiddler (Latitude). The shed’s collection of gnomes are blooming excited about coming to London. They’ve never met the queen before, you see.

Promoter/ Night:   Disco Shed- New Year’s Eve Shedonism
Date:                  Wednesday 31st December 2008
Times:                8pm-3am
Cost:                  £14 in advance (www.discoshed.com) or limited on the door.
Venue:                Queen Boadicea, 292 St John Street, Clerkenwell, EC1V 4PA
Tube/rail:            Angel/ Farringdon
Website:             www.discoshed.com, www.thequeenboadicea.com

Beyonce Knowles’ song ‘Crazy In Love’ has been voted the best song of the decade.

The 2003 single – which features her now husband Jay-Z - was released as the lead single from her album ‘Dangerously in Love’ and went on to massive success, reaching the top spot in the UK and US charts, as well as landing Beyonce two Grammy awards.

The former Destiny’s Child singer beat MGMT, whose 2008 song ‘Time To Pretend’ came second, to the top spot, while The Strokes’ ‘Hard To Explain’, from 2001, was third.

At number four was MIA’s 2008 track ‘Paper Planes’ and at number five was Outcast with ‘Hey Ya!’, which saw listeners told to head to the dance floor to “shake it like a Polaroid picture’.

The Klaxons, with their 2007 song ‘Golden Skans’, Blur, with their 2003 track ‘Out Of Time’, and Arctic Monkeys’ ‘A Certain Romance’ all made the top ten.

NME magazine Top 100 tracks of the decade top 20:

1. Beyonce Knowles – ‘Crazy In Love’
2. MGMT – ‘Time To Pretend’
3. The Strokes – ‘Hard To Explain’
4. MIA – ‘Paper Planes’
5. OutKast – ‘Hey Ya!’
6. The Rapture – ‘House Of Jealous Lovers’
7. Klaxons – ‘Golden Skans’
8. Blur – ‘Out Of Time’
9. Arcade Fire – ‘Rebellion (Lies)’
10. Arctic Monkeys – ‘A Certain Romance’
11. The Libertines – ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’
12. The Streets – ‘Dry Your Eyes’
13. The Walkmen – ‘The Rat’
14. The White Stripes – ‘Seven Nation Army’
15. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - ‘Bang’
16. Rihanna – ‘Umbrella’
17. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – ‘Maps’
18. OutKast – ‘Ms Jackson’
19. Radiohead – ‘Reckoner’
20. Hot Chip – ‘Over And Over

musicnews.com 26 November 2009

Jennifer Aniston has reportedly turned down John Mayer’s marriage proposal.

The former ‘Friends’ star – who recently rekindled her relationship with ‘Gravity’ singer John after a brief split earlier this year – is said to have declined John’s offer because she doesn’t want to damage their relationship.

A source said: “Jennifer said no when John asked her. She told John that everything is so perfect between them right now, they shouldn’t ruin the focus of their relationship.”

“A wedding would be so stressful and Jennifer just wants to enjoy this phase, falling madly in love and getting a thrill if the other one texts when they are apart.”

However, despite being taken aback by Jennifer’s refusal, John is determined not to let her decision affect their romance, and still thinks they have what it takes to go the distance.

The source added to Look magazine: “John told Jennifer she is the girl for him and he is sure of it. He is willing to do anything she wants as long as they are together. He is like a different guy.”

“John was over the moon when Jennifer took him back last month and he never wants them to be apart again. He really wants to settle down with her. He wants children, marriage - the whole thing at some point.”

Music-news.com 26th November 2008

Lily Allen will announce her return to the music scene with a one-off London gig at Koko on January 28.

It will be her first proper show in the capital for 18 months and the star will debut tracks from her second album It’s Not Me, It’s You.

That record comes out February 9 with Lily’s comeback single The Fear out on January 26.

Tickets for the gig went on sale Tuesday November 25 priced £16 each.

It’s Not Me, It’s You- Tracklisting

01 Everyone’s at It
02 The Fear
03 It’s Not Fair
04 22
05 I Could Say
06 Go Back to the Start
07 Never Gonna Happen
08 Fuck You
09 Who’d've Known
10 Chinese
11 Him
12 He Wasn’t There

MTV.co.uk 26th November 2008