(MENAFN- Arab Times) Country-pop star Taylor Swift held onto the top spot on the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday as her latest album "Red" kept rapper Meek Mill from the top spot.
"Red," Swift's fourth studio album safely took the No. 1 position after selling 344,000 copies according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.
Last week, "Red" scored the highest first week US sales in a decade after selling 1.2 million copies. The album has outsold One Direction's "Up All Night" to become the second-biggest album of 2012, behind Adele's juggernaut record "21," which has sold more than 4 million copies this year.
Rapper Meek Mill entered the chart at No. 2 with his debut studio album "Dreams & Nightmares," selling 164,000 copies. The rapper collaborated with fellow Maybach Music artists for his debut, including Trey Songz, Wale, Rick Ross and Mary J. Blige.
Ahead of the holiday season, two festive albums debuted on the chart, with veteran crooner Rod Stewart's "Merry Christmas Baby" at No. 3 and Trans-Siberian Orchestra's extended play record "Dreams of Fireflies (On a Christmas Night)" at No. 9.
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Country singer Toby Keith landed at No. 6 with his latest album "Hope on the Rocks," following his appearance and best music video win at the County Music Association (CMA) awards last week.
Country group Little Big Town also saw a boost from their CMA vocal group of the year win as their album "Tornado" climbed the chart to No. 10.
Canadian singer Neil Young and his band Crazy Horse scored their second top ten album this year with "Psychedelic Pill" at No. 8, following their "Americana" album in June.
Over on the Digital Songs chart, Korean rapper Psy held the top spot with his infectious dance-pop single "Gangnam Style," while Bruno Mars' "Locked Out of Heaven" remained at No. 2 and Ke$ha's "Die Young" was a non-mover at No. 3.
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LONDON: Grammy Award-winning US country-folk duo The Civil Wars have cancelled their British tour dates, citing "irreconcilable differences" via Twitter and Facebook.
The pair made the announcement shortly after performing at the Roundhouse in north London late on Tuesday, but they added that they hoped to record together soon.
"We sincerely apologize for the canceling of all of our tour dates," said the band, which comprises Joy Williams and John Paul White.
"It is something we deeply regret. However, due to internal discord and irreconcilable differences of ambition we are unable to continue as a touring entity at this time ... Our sincere hope is to have new music for you in 2013."
The band said it would "do its best" to reimburse fans who had made travel reservations to see them.
The Civil Wars released their debut studio album "Barton Hollow" last year and went on to scoop two Grammy Awards - the highest prize in music - for best folk album and best country duo/group performance.
TOKYO: Sony said Thursday that music by its Japanese artists was now available on Apple's iTunes store, in an apparent strategy shift by the Japanese firm to cash in on soaring demand for online music.
Sony, which competes with Apple's iPod and iPhone in the portable music player market, said its copyrighted Japanese-language songs had been made available for sale on iTunes from this week.
Earlier this year, Sony Music Entertainment allowed songs by its Western artists to be sold on Apple's online store, after reportedly keeping them away for years.
Some analysts saw the latest move as part of a shift by Sony to reverse years of losses largely tied to its struggling television division.
But a Sony spokesman said its Japanese artists' debut on iTunes was held up by protracted contract negotiations, not a strategy to keep its rival from selling Sony-copyrighted music.
"We've been trying to expand our marketing channels, and Apple's iTunes is the 15th site where we provide music," he told AFP.
"We are starting now as we've completed contract terms."
Prices for the Japanese artists' songs will range from 200 yen ($2.50) to 250 yen, the spokesman added.
BCN analyst Eiji Mori said that "Sony may have changed its strategy as sales of music CDs are declining while purchases of music via online shops are increasingly common".
Sony's once-iconic Walkman music player outsells Apple's iPod in Japan, but the overall market is shrinking as more consumers use smartphones to play digital music, Mori said.
The iPod has dug into the Walkman's dominant position as Sony also faces competition in its videogame division from rivals including Japan's Nintendo and US firm Microsoft, which makes the Xbox.
Sony, which reported a smaller quarterly loss last week and said it remained on track to eke out a small full-year profit, has struggled with a strong yen, high labour costs and fierce competition from overseas rivals.
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