David Bowie has topped the American album charts for the first time with Blackstar, released two days before his death on January 10.
Blackstar sold the equivalent of 181,000 albums knocking Adele’s 25 off the top spot.
David Bowie’s highest-charting US album previously had been The Next Day, which peaked at No 2 in 2013.
Nineteen of his albums entered the UK album charts last week, after fans sought out his classic hits.
Blackstar is the first posthumous number one album in the US since Michael Jackson’s This Is It soundtrack topped the chart in November 2009.
Nine other David Bowie albums also made the Billboard 200 this week with the Best of Bowie reaching No 4 and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars at number 21.
David Bowie’s first hit on the US singles chart was in 1972 with Changes. The record did not initially find major success, only reaching No 66 that year.
However, the song returned to the chart in 1974, following David Bowie’s subsequent breakthrough on the American music scene with Space Oddity – his first top 40 hit which peaked at number 15.
David Bowie’s biggest selling single in the US was Let’s Dance, which reached the top of chart in 1983. He also achieved seven top 10 albums.
The iconic singer died on January 10 following an 18-month battle with cancer.
Fans around the world have been paying homage to the 69-year-old at tribute concerts and memorial sites linked to musician.
In Belgium, astronomers have paid tribute to David Bowie by dedicating a constellation to the self-proclaimed Starman. The constellation is made up of seven stars that, when connected, form the iconic lightning bolt seen on the cover of David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane album.
David Bowie has died following a battle with cancer. He was 69.
The legendary singer’s official Facebook page posted the news tonight: “David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer. While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief.”
Photo Getty Images
David Bowie’s son director Duncan Jones confirmed the news.
The singer only released his latest album Blackstar on his birthday on January 8.
His last live performance was at a New York charity concert in 2006.
Blackstar, which includes just seven songs, has been well received by critics.
David Bowie’s breakthrough came with 1972’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars.
David Bowie has announced his new album, Blackstar, will be released on his 69th birthday on January 8, 2016.
David Bowie made the announcement on his official website and Facebook page, adding that Blackstar will also be the title of his forthcoming single.
The singer said the single, released on November 20, will not be part of his theatre piece Lazarus.
Blackstar will follow-up 2013’s The Next Day.
Photo Getty Images
The Next Day was David Bowie’s first album release for a decade, and was announced on the singer’s 66th birthday.
David Bowie is yet to release details regarding the sound and content of the album, stating on Facebook that there had been inaccurate reporting on the subjects.
The singer has co-written Lazarus with Irish playwright Enda Walsh, the award-winning writer of the musical Once.
Lazarus is based on the 1976 sci-fi film starring David Bowie – The Man Who Fell to Earth – and is set to premiere at the New York Theatre Workshop in December.
David Bowie has confirmed he will not be appearing on stage in the play.
David Bowie is co-writing Lazarus, a stage show inspired by The Man Who Fell to Earth, the New York Theatre Workshop has announced.
Lazarus will feature new songs specially composed by David Bowie as well as new arrangements of his old songs.
The rock legend is working on the project with Irish playwright Enda Walsh, who won a Tony Award for the musical Once.
Lazarus is due to premiere in New York in the winter this year.
The stage show is inspired by 1963 novel The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis and centers on the character of Thomas Newton, played by David Bowie in the 1976 screen adaptation directed by Nicolas Roeg.
It will be directed by the Belgian Ivo van Hove.
Bowie is not expected to feature in the cast.
James C. Nicola, the artistic director of the New York Theatre Workshop, said the show had been in secret development for some years.
He told the New York Times: “It’s going to be a play with characters and songs – I’m calling it music theatre, but I don’t really know what it’s going to be like. I just have incredible trust in their creative vision.”
James C. Nicola said the show would not retell the story of the book and film, but would feature some of the same characters.
David Bowie surprised his fans in 2013 when he suddenly released a new single on his 66th birthday – followed by a new album – after a 10-year hiatus.
David Bowie has won Best British Male trophy at this year’s BRIT Awards in London, although he was not there in person to collect his award.
Arctic Monkeys won both Best Group and Best Album for the third time.
Ellie Goulding won Best British Female, while pop act One Direction were honored for their global success for the second year running.
Kate Moss collected David Bowie’s prize and read a speech on his behalf urging Scottish voters to reject independence.
“I’m completely delighted to have a BRIT for being the best male – but I am, aren’t I Kate? Yes. I think it’s a great way to end the day. Thank you very, very much and Scotland stay with us,” were David Bowie’s words – as delivered by Kate Moss.
One Direction also won Best British Video, in a public vote.
Their win, for the track Best Song Ever, was helped by their 17.8 million-strong Twitter followers.
The ceremony at the O2 Arena also featured a host of performances, including from Beyonce and Katy Perry, who put on a colorful, Egyptian-themed show.
However, Katy Perry lost out to New Zealander Lorde in the race for Best International Female.
Kate Moss collected David Bowie’s Best British Male award and read a speech on his behalf
Bruno Mars also gave a live performance, just shortly after picking up the prize for Best International Male.
David Bowie’s prize came at the expense of four much younger hopefuls – Jake Bugg, Tom Odell, John Newman and Mercury Prize winner James Blake.
At 67, David Bowie is the oldest recipient of a BRIT Award in the ceremony’s history and the award comes 18 years since his last BRITs success.
David Bowie, who released his The Next Day album after a 10-year hiatus, previously won Best British Male in 1984.
However, David Bowie, who spends much of his time in New York, did not attend the gala.
Noel Gallagher, announcing the award, remarked: “You maniacs didn’t think he’d actually be here? David Bowie’s too cool for that.”
The ceremony was wound up with a medley by Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers.
Ellie Goulding lifted the first prize of the night and said she was “genuinely in shock” and “shaking”.
Her award, presented by singer Prince, comes four years after she was named the Critics’ Choice, a prize won this year by Sam Smith.
Arctic Monkeys repeated their Best Group triumph of 2007 and 2008, and frontman Alex Turner joked that they had put money on rivals One Direction to win.
While One Direction scooped two prizes, they were denied a third by dance group Rudimental, who won Best British Single for the number one hit Waiting All Night.
From a clutch of three nominations, Bastille were named Best British Breakthrough Act, while French dance act Daft Punk took Best International Group.
Bastille and Disclosure lead the nominations at the 2014 Brit Awards to be held at London’s O2 arena on February 19.
Both acts have four nominations, followed closely by pop star Ellie Goulding and dance collective Rudimental, who have three each.
Two-time Brit winner David Bowie is up for best British male and best album, while Arctic Monkeys also get two nods.
The Sheffield band will open the awards ceremony on February 19.
Other bands scheduled to perform at the show include Bastille, Bruno Mars, up for best international male, and Rudimental.
The dance act, whose three nominations include British group, have spent the last year investing in their own live show and are “excited” to perform at the awards.
Katy Perry, who competes in the international female category after last year’s global hit Roar, will also take to the stage on the night.
New artists feature strongly on this year’s long list, with London Grammar, John Newman, Lorde, Drake and Haim all receiving their first nominations.
London four-piece Bastille, who met at university in Leeds, are up for best single, best British group, breakthrough artist and best album for their debut Bad Blood.
Featuring the catchy, triumphant hit singles Pompeii and Things We Lost In The Fire, it went straight to the top of the UK charts in March and ended up the year’s 11th best-selling album.
Disclosure, who are nominated in the same four categories, are brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence from Surrey.
Combining soul melodies with deep house and UK garage, their album, Settle, featured guest vocals from fellow Brit nominees Sam Smith and London Grammar, and was a number one in June.
Bastille and Disclosure lead the nominations at the 2014 Brit Awards
Ellie Goulding is nominated twice in the best single category, for the dance-pop anthem Burn and her collaboration with DJ Calvin Harris, I Need Your Love.
Also up for female solo artist – where her competition includes Birdy, Jessie J, Laura Marling and Laura Mvula – an “overwhelmed” Ellie Goulding announced at the nominations launch that she too would be performing live at the ceremony.
David Bowie is a strong contender for best British male, after emerging from a 10-year hiatus and rumored health problems last year.
David Bowie, who celebrated his 67th birthday on Wednesday, is old enough to be the grandfather of his fellow nominees: Jake Bugg, Tom Odell, John Newman and Mercury Prize winner James Blake.
He is also up for best British album – deemed the night’s main award – for The Next Day, where he must see off Bastille, Disclosure, Arctic Monkeys, for their lascivious fifth album AM, and Rudimental, for the euphoric club record Home.
If David Bowie wins either award, he will receive his first Brit statuette since being honored with the outstanding contribution award 18 years ago.
For the second year running, there will be no outstanding contribution award in 2014.
However, the best British video category is being resurrected for the first time since 2002, when it was won by So Solid Crew’s 21 Seconds.
Nominations for the prize have yet to be announced, but the winner will be decided on the night by fans using social media.
That makes One Direction, whose fanbase are particularly ardent, the likely winners. Harry, Zayn, Louis, Liam and Niall are also expected to lift the “global success award”, which recognizes overseas record sales.
With nominations for best British group and best single, the boyband could be the night’s big winners.
Some major artists have been overlooked – including Vampire Weekend, Robbie Williams, Kanye West and Beyonce, whose self-titled album arrived slightly too late for the eligibility period.
Robin Thicke and Miley Cyrus were also missing – perhaps a reaction to the controversy over their sexually-charged music videos.
The trophies, designed by Philip Treacy, will be handed out at London’s O2 arena on February 19, with comedian James Corden presiding over the ceremony for the third and final time.
The Next Day – David Bowie’s most recent video music, which stars Gary Oldman and Marion Cotillard – was temporarily pulled from YouTube over its graphic content.
The Next Day features heavy religious imagery, including Marion Cotillard bleeding from stigmata marks.
YouTube admitted making the “wrong call” in removing the video, and reinstated it with an adult content warning.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey has called the video “juvenile”.
Lord Carey told The Telegraph: “If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery perhaps Christians should not worry too much at such an exploitation of religious imagery.
“I doubt that Bowie would have the courage to use Islamic imagery – I very much doubt it.
David Bowie’s The Next Day video, which stars Gary Oldman and Marion Cotillard, features heavy religious imagery
“Frankly, I don’t get offended by such juvenilia – Christians should have the courage to rise above offensive language, although I hope Bowie will recognize that he may be upsetting some people.”
The Next Day is taken from David Bowie’s comeback album of the same name.
The video sees David Bowie performing in a basement bar, surrounded by religious figures, while Gary Oldman, dressed as a priest, punches a beggar before dancing with a prostitute, played by Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard.
A spokesman for YouTube said: “With the massive volume of videos on our site, sometimes we make the wrong call. When it’s brought to our attention that a video has been removed mistakenly, we act quickly to reinstate it.”
David Bowie’s last video, for The Stars (Are Out Tonight), featured another Oscar-winner, Tilda Swinton.
Gary Oldman previously worked with David Bowie in the 1990s, when they performed a duet on guitarist Reeves Gabrels’ 1995 album The Sacred Squall of Now.
The 20/20 Experience, Justin Timberlake’s first album for seven years, has gone straight to the top of the UK chart, dethroning David Bowie’s comeback LP off the summit.
The 20/20 Experience is Justin Timberlake’s third solo album. It has deposed The Next Day, David Bowie’s first album for a decade, which spent one week on top.
However, Justin Timberlake’s song Mirrors has lost the top spot in the singles chart.
It has been replaced by The Saturdays’ What About Us, the girl group’s first number one after five years of trying.
They had previously scored 11 UK top 10 singles without hutting the top spot. But the new single, which features reggae star Sean Paul, has become the fastest-selling single of the year so far with 114,000 copies sold.
Justin Timberlake’s first album for seven years, has gone straight to the top of the UK chart, dethroning David Bowie’s comeback LP off the summit
Justin Timberlake’s Mirrors dropped to number two. Meanwhile, his album sold almost 106,000 copies – more than the rest of the top five combined.
Elsewhere on the album chart, Emeli Sande is still at number three with Our Version of Events, while the soundtrack to Les Miserables has gone back up to number four.
Other new entries include British indie survivors Suede at 10 with Bloodsports and singer-songwriter Billy Bragg at 13 with Tooth and Nail, according to the Official Charts Company.
David Bowie exhibition at London’s V&A has become the fastest-selling in the museum’s history with more than 42,000 advance tickets being already sold for the retrospective which opens to the public on Saturday.
Sales are more than double the number of advance tickets of London’s V&A ‘s previous exhibitions.
David Bowie Is will explore the creative processes of the singer as a musical innovator and cultural icon across five decades.
His first album in a decade became the fastest-selling of the year earlier this week.
The Next Day is David Bowie’s first number one since 1993’s Black Tie White Noise.
Although David Bowie, 66, is not directly involved with curating the V&A exhibition, the David Bowie Archive gave the London museum “unprecedented access” to pick out flamboyant costumes, early photographs and other memorabilia.
David Bowie exhibition at London’s V&A has become the fastest-selling in the museum’s history with more than 42,000 advance tickets
On display will be more than 60 stage-costumes including Ziggy Stardust bodysuits (1972) designed by Freddie Burretti, Kansai Yamamoto’s flamboyant creations for the Aladdin Sane tour (1973) and the Union Jack coat designed by David Bowie and Alexander McQueen for the Earthling album cover (1997).Personal items such as handwritten set lists and lyrics, as well as some of David Bowie’s own sketches, musical scores and diary entries will also be shown.
David Bowie’s innovative approach to creating albums and touring shows centered around fictionalized stage personas, with 1972 marking the birth of his most famous creation Ziggy Stardust – a human manifestation of an alien being.
Ziggy’s androgynous and otherworldly appearance had a powerful influence on pop culture and signaled a challenge of social traditions.
David Bowie’s many hits over the years include Space Oddity, Changes, The Jean Genie, Young Americans, Ashes to Ashes, China Girl and Let’s Dance.
The Next Day, David Bowie’s first album in a decade, has become the fastest-selling of the year in UK, hitting No. 1 spot in its first week.
The Next Day is David Bowie’s first No. 1 since 1993’s Black Tie White Noise.
The album sold 94,000 copies this week, according to the Official Chart Company, outselling No. 2 album What About Now from Bon Jovi two to one.
Justin Timberlake remains at the top of the singles chart with Mirrors.
The announcement that David Bowie was releasing new material came as a surprise to many in the music world, and has had Bowie aficionados picking over the fiercely private star’s back catalogue, comparing his early work with his latest release.
A retrospective of the eclectic performer is being unveiled at London’s V&A Museum on March 23, celebrating David Bowie as a musical innovator and cultural icon.
The Next Day is David Bowie’s first No. 1 since 1993’s Black Tie White Noise
Although David Bowie is not directly involved with curating the exhibition, the David Bowie Archive gave “unprecedented access” to the V&A, which picked out flamboyant costumes, early photographs and other memorabilia to show.The Next Day’s first week sales beat that of the previous fastest-selling UK album, which was Biffy Clyro’s Opposites which sold 71,600 in its debut week in January.
Emeli Sande’s Our Version of Events slipped down one to No. 3, following behind Bon Jovi’s What About Now.
Last week’s No. 1 from chart-toppers Bastille fell to No. 4.
In the singles chart, One Direction saw their Comic Relief effort One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks) rise to No. 2 in the wake of Friday’s Red Nose Day.
David Bowie’s first new song in a decade, Where Are We Now?, has reached the Top 10 in this week’s UK singles chart.
Where Are We Now? placing, at six, followed initial concerns by the Official Charts Company that its sales could not be tabulated.
David Bowie left his fans surprised and delighted when he released the track on Tuesday, his 66th birthday.
It was originally feared that sales of the song as a single track could not be differentiated from copies given free to those who pre-order his new album.
The track went straight to the top of the UK iTunes chart after it was put on sale.
Scream and Shout, will.i.am’s collaboration with Britney Spears, climbs one place from two to claim this week’s top spot.
The song becomes Britney Spears’ sixth UK number one single and her first since her solo effort Everytime topped the chart in 2004.
David Bowie’s first new song in a decade, Where Are We Now, has reached the Top 10 in this week’s UK singles chart
Taylor Swift’s track I Knew You Were Trouble moves up three places to two, while last week’s chart-topper James Arthur falls to third place with Impossible.
In the album chart, Emeli Sande’s Our Version of Events returns to the top spot at the expense of Calvin Harris’s 18 Months.
That record, number one last week, now sits at two, one place ahead of the self-titled debut album from songwriter Jake Bugg.
Rihanna’s Unapologetic drops to four, while the soundtrack for the new film of Les Miserables enters the chart at five.
David Bowie’s last Top 10 hit in the UK came 20 years ago when Jump They Say, from his 1993 album Black Tie White Noise, peaked at nine.
His most recent solo number one came 10 years earlier when the title track to his 1983 Let’s Dance record spent three weeks in pole position.
According to the Official Charts Company, Where Are We Now? sold 30,000 copies compared to Scream and Shout’s 62,000.
David Bowie has released a new single on his 66th birthday, following ten years of silence and speculation.
The glam-rock legend has released the recording Where are we now? on iTunes, which will be followed by a new album, entitled The Next Day, in March.
David Bowie has not performed live since 2006 and has rarely been seen in public since then.
The new track was recorded in New York and produced by the singer’s long-time collaborator Tony Visconti.
According to a statement released through his press representatives, “throwing shadows and avoiding the industry treadmill is very David Bowie”.
David Bowie, it continued, was “the kind of artist who writes and performs what he wants when he wants”.
David Bowie has released a new single on his 66th birthday, following ten years of silence and speculation
The track precedes a new fourteen-track album The Next Day which is due to be released in March.
Where are we now? is accompanied by a video directed by multimedia and installation artist Tony Oursler, which harks back to David Bowie’s time in Berlin.
The promo, which can be viewed via the singer’s website, features his face projected onto the body of a puppet.
The face of a woman is projected onto the mannequin beside him, with David Bowie appearing in more conventional form later on in the video.
David Bowie, who was last reported to be living in New York with his wife and daughter, has not released material since his 2003 album Reality.
In September, David Bowie denied reports he was involved in an upcoming exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum in London charting his career.
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