Monthly Archives: December 2009

Not only is the week nearly over, but the year is just about over as well. But before you drink too much cheap champagne, dress a baby up in a sash that says “2010″ and finish that screenplay you swore you were going to complete before the decade was out, be sure to check out [...] Continue reading →

If you’re like us, you’re going to go to a New Year’s Eve party tonight, and as soon as the calendar turns over, somebody will inevitably start slurring the tune “Auld Lang Syne” because they thought they heard it in a movie or something (perhaps “200 Cigarettes” was on TV earlier in the day). But [...] Continue reading →

Photo: McCormack/WireImage.com; SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty Images;Kravitz/FilmMagic; Kempin/WireImage.com
As we say farewell to 2009 and welcome a new decade, Rolling Stone looks back at the biggest stories, funniest headlines and “all the news that fit” in 2009. It was the year we lost the King of Pop, the year Adam Lambert and Lady Gaga exploded, the year U2 cemented [...] Continue reading →

Photo: Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
It’s the end of the year and the end of the decade, and as our New Year’s Eve guide demonstrates, everyone in the rock universe from Lady Gaga to Phish will be doing one thing tonight: partying. So for those about to party, we salute you. Tell us your favorite songs [...] Continue reading →

Photo: Araya Diaz/WireImage.com; FilmMagic
For the past two weeks, we’ve been looking back at the decade in music — the top albums and songs as sweated over by the Rolling Stone editors. Before you dive into our Best Albums and Songs of the 2000s, check out the final two years of our flashback: 2007 and 2008. [...] Continue reading →

MTV News’ Top 9 Of ’09

A look back on all the madness, sadness, scandal, success and mayhem of 2009.

Related Artists

• Taylor Swift
• Kanye West
• Rihanna
• Chris Brown
• Eminem
• Miley Cyrus
• Lady Gaga
• Michael Jackson

Continue reading →

Photo: Bedder/Getty Images; Ach/Getty Images; LaVeris/FilmMagic
Rolling Stone unveiled our Best Albums and Best Songs of 2009 — now it’s the artists’ turn. Check out who Death Cab for Cutie, Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz and 3OH!3 had on repeat this year (and read Kings of Leon’s Jared Followill’s picks):
Death Cab for Cutie
Brand New [...] Continue reading →

Photo: Bedder/Getty Images
Ke$ha made digital sales history last week when her debut single “TiK ToK” was downloaded 610,000 times, the highest digital total for a female artist in one week since Nielsen SoundScan started tracking the figures. The current record holder for most downloads in a week, Flo Rida’s “Right Round,” also happens to feature [...] Continue reading →

Photo: Bedder/Getty Images
Ke$ha made digital sales history last week when her debut single “TiK ToK” was downloaded 610,000 times, the highest digital total for a female artist in one week since Nielsen SoundScan started tracking the figures. The current record holder for most downloads in a week, Flo Rida’s “Right Round,” also happens to feature [...] Continue reading →

It’s New Year’s Eve, which means that there are only hours left in 2009. No matter what you’re doing today, be sure to take time to reflect on everything you accomplished in the past 12 months and everything you hope to get done in the coming year. Sure, getting together with your friends, popping champagne [...] Continue reading →

It’s New Year’s Eve, which means that there are only hours left in 2009. No matter what you’re doing today, be sure to take time to reflect on everything you accomplished in the past 12 months and everything you hope to get done in the coming year. Sure, getting together with your friends, popping champagne [...] Continue reading →

Photo: Kane/WireImage.com
U2’s massive 360° Tour wasn’t just the biggest trek this year in terms of sheer size: the band’s latest jaunt supporting No Line on the Horizon has also been named the year’s most successful show by concert tracker Pollstar. Their research also revealed that despite the recession, concert ticket sales for the top 50 [...] Continue reading →

Photo: Shearer/WireImage.com; Djansezian/Getty Images

Drake tells MTV News his next collaboration with Jay-Z, “Light Up,” is in the can. The MC says of the track, destined for his March full-length debut Thank Me Later, “When I heard that beat, the drums that they had come up with, it was like, ‘Man, this is a moment.’ ”
Rowland [...] Continue reading →

In September, Season 5s country crooner, Bucky Covington, moved to the head of the class on CMT’s Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader. With the help of his classmates, Bucky answered all of the questions correctly and took home the $25,000 prize for his charity. Bucky played for the Arthritis Foundation, a non-profit which supports more than 100 types of arthritis and related conditions and helps people take control of arthritis by providing public health education, pursuing public policy and legislation, and conducting evidence-based programs to improve the quality of life for those living with arthritis.

Prior to his concert last night at the newly renovated Hard Rock Cafe Nashville, Bucky presented the Arthritis Foundations Tennessee Chapter with a check for the $25,000. Following the presentation, Bucky took the stage to join in the venues countdown to 2010 celebration. He treated the packed crowd to an energizing live performance, which included his Top 10 hits Its Good To Be Us, Ill Walk, A Different World and the new track Mexicoma from his forthcoming sophomore album Im Alright.All of the proceeds from last nights show will benefit The Arthritis Foundation (Tennessee Chapter), which serves all 95 counties across the state and is actively working to better the lives of the 1.5 million adults and over 6,000 children in Tennessee with this disease. Presented by ASCAP, the concert is a part of Hard Rocks series of special events and week-long live music series leading up to New Years Eve to celebrate the … read more Continue reading →

With the new season of American Idol less than two weeks away, here are some of the many ways you can join in on the Idol conversation.

Join the MyIdol Community
It takes less than a minute to sign-up for the number one American Idol fan community. MyIdol members can post blogs on the American Idol site, chat in forums, meet new friends, comment on photos/videos/news, and more. Sign-up now.

Become a Fan on Facebook
The Official American Idol Facebook page is a place where you can receive show updates, view photos, watch videos, and chat with American Idol fans all over the world. Become a Fan of American Idol.

Follow @AmericanIdol on Twitter
A great way to stay on top of the latest news, get show times and updates, and hear about new content is by following @AmericanIdol on Twitter. Forget the water cooler! Gather on Twitter and talk about the show. Use #AmericanIdol to trend the topic or @AmericanIdol to reply to us. You can also share AI news and other content we send out by simply retweeting our alerts. Follow American Idol on Twitter.

Add American Idol as a MySpace Friend
For photos, videos, downloads, and more, visit American Idol on MySpace. Leave a comment for American Idol and connect with other fans of the show. Add American Idol as a friend.

Continue reading →

Season 4 rocker Constantine Maroulis currently stars in the hit Broadway musical Rock of Ages. This has been a great year for the Idol alumnus who received his first (and American Idol alumnis first) Tony Award nomination. Now, Constantine has been voted the 2009 Broadway.com Star of the Year by the sites readers. Not only did Constantine receive the most votes, he was the overwhelming choice of more than 25,000 votes for the years top honor. His name appeared on the poll alongside some of the most popular actors and actresses in show business.

Constantine received the award for his role as Drew in Rock of Ages, but this isnt his first musical role. He made his Broadway debut in The Wedding Singer in 2006. Off-Broadway, Constantine has appeared in Rock of Ages, Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, and before Idol he was in a national tour of RENT.

Watch Constantines Star of the Year acceptance speech on Broadway.com.

View photos of Constantine and the rest of the Season 4 Idols performing in 2005.

Continue reading →

A decade ago, MTV played host to a slew of celebrities hanging out in Times Square to ring in the New Year. Although everyone was there to party, the big question was: Is the world going to end tonight? The Y2K bug* was plaguing the world. Would we make it to the millennium? (Spoiler alert: [...] Continue reading →

“He was somebody who just had a warmth and an easy smile and a laugh, and he was as smart as they come. You could sit and talk to him about anything. He was expressive. He’d tell you how he felt about you — you didn’t wonder, because he’d put his arm around you. He [...] Continue reading →

It was the year that gave us our Number One single of the entire decade: Gnarls Barkley’s 2006 hit “Crazy.” Bob Dylan got the friskiest he’d been since 1968’s John Wesley Harding on his stellar Modern Times, the Red Hot Chili Peppers churned out the two-disc Stadium Arcadium and T.I. had everyone chanting “What You [...] Continue reading →

Christmas came late thanks to the insanity of the MTV mailroom around the holidays. But boy, did Santa come through big time!
Although it was delivered a week ago, today I finally received a magical package from the North Pole. And when I say the North Pole, I really mean Arkansas.
Kris Allen’s adorable, beautiful, witty, hilarious, [...] Continue reading →

Photo: Dyson/WireImage.com
We’ve seen our share of strange lawsuits in 2009, from Joe Satriani versus Coldplay versus Cat Stevens over “Viva la Vida,” Starbucks’ battle with Carly Simon — even Eddie Van Halen taking Nike to court over a color scheme — but a new suit involving Eddie Vedder seems unprecedented. The Pearl Jam frontman covered [...] Continue reading →

The end of 2009 is upon us, which means that it’s time to toast to the year that was and make predictions and draft resolutions about the coming 12 months. We caught up with a handful of stars who have vowed to make changes in 2010, including Adam Lambert (he wants to stay positive), Usher [...] Continue reading →

Season 8s Matt Giraud put his stamp on last season. The dueling piano player received one of the wild cards to enter the finals. After several successful weeks in the competition, Matt surprisingly received the fewest votes during Songs from the Cinema week. When Matt had the opportunity to sing for his life post-elimination, the judges were so moved that they used the first ever save on him. Since his time on American Idol, Matt has been busy working on his music. Matt took the time out of the busy holiday week to open up exclusively to AmericanIdol.com.

Matt is spending the holidays back in the Detroit area, and taking a break from working for a short while. What was on Matt Girauds Christmas wish list? For the first time I have the simple things, Matt said. As for his 2010 resolutions, he plans on working out again, buckling down, getting his music out there, and touring.

Last week, Matt tweeted a video of his brand new original song 4 AM. He said hes working on releasing a record, and shared, Im writing tons with some of the best people in the country and I hope to put out an EP to send out to labels. I have no definite plans, but Id like to include my top four or five songs.

On January 29, 2010, Matt will perform his first solo concert at the Forest Hills Fine Arts Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a location thats just an hour away from where Matt lives. Performing a concert there means Matts career has come full circle, as he explains, I auditioned … read more Continue reading →

Photo: Furniss/WireImage.com
While the Beatles’ greatest hits compilation 1 was the bestselling album in the U.S. this decade, the charts across the pond told a decidedly different story: James Blunt’s Back to Bedlam, which boasted the hit “You’re Beautiful,” was the bestselling album in the U.K. in the 2000s, BBC reports. The disc finished Number One [...] Continue reading →

Every day a multitude of stars wanders through the halls of MTV News to talk about their latest projects and goof around with our intrepid correspondents. But sometimes we catch stars elsewhere, and that’s why we put together Spotted!, a daily compendium of stars in the wild.
It’s freezing cold here in New York, so anybody [...] Continue reading →

Rolling Stone has named the 25 Best Albums and 25 Best Songs of 2009, and our readers have weighed in with their own year-end picks. Now’s the time to look back at the year’s great new discoveries: our 45 Breaking Artists from 2009 and five Artists to Watch. A few of these folks — including [...] Continue reading →

No matter what stars were grabbing headlines this year — from Taylor Swift to Jay-Z to Drake to Shakira to Adam Lambert — they no doubt had some sort of encounter with the MTV News team. Whether on location or right in the MTV Newsroom, every star worth talking to sat down for a chat [...] Continue reading →

Photo: Loud/Getty Images
The Big News: For the second consecutive time, Mary J. Blige had to settle for a Number Two debut as the diva’s Stronger With Every Tear was outsold by Susan Boyle’s I Dreamed a Dream on the Billboard Top 200. Stronger sold 330,000 copies, but it wasn’t in the same weight class as [...] Continue reading →

2009 is coming to a close, which means that it’s time to check in on what the favorite albums, artists, songs and moments were among the fine folks in the MTV Newsroom. Be sure to check out James Montgomery’s definitive year-end list for 2009, and enjoy the “10 In 2009″ series that will be running [...] Continue reading →

By Gil Kaufman & Kyle Anderson
The shocking news about the passing of Avenged Sevenfold drummer Jimmy Sullivan — known to fans as the Rev — has hit the rock world exceptionally hard. While police have declared that there was no foul play involved in his passing, the initial autopsy was deemed “inconclusive,” and it will [...] Continue reading →