Rihanna has a lot to celebrate with hit singles and a new platinum album. Read more below about the success of her newest album, "Loud" as well as stories on R. Kelly's next album and Keyshia Cole firing her manager!
She may have had a slow start but her consistency has had her back all the way. Pop/R&B superstar Rihanna’s fifth studio album ‘Loud’ has shipped over a million copies in the U.S. and will probably snag a platinum certification in the coming weeks.
Happy about the album’s success, Rihanna tweeted “Thank you #RihannaNavy for being so sexy and makin #LOUD platinum in the U.S.”
‘Loud,’ which debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 album chart with a little over 200K units sold, has moved upwards of 830,000 copies in the U.S. The music video for the third single, ‘S&M,’ which will premiere soon, will definitely add a boast to her sales.
“Never have I ever stressed out on the first week,” Rihanna tells New York radio host Angie Martinez late last year. “Ever since ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’, the first week was like 160[,000], and it grew to sell nine million albums. The first week never determines what the success of the album will be.”
Keyshia Cole Fires Former ManagerIn the wake of disappointing first-week sales for her latest album, "Calling All Hearts," singer and former reality show star Keyshia Cole announced she has fired her longtime manager, Manny Halley.
On the afternoon of Jan. 17, Cole, 29, wrote on Twitter: "Would like for u guys to know that Manny Halley is no longer my management." Half a day later, she followed up: "Someone said if the people around u won't change, change the people around you."
Cole's latest album, released Dec. 21 on Geffen/Interscope, debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 and subsequently slips 23-26 this week. Entering at No. 5 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, "Hearts" moves 9-8 on the chart. Her two previous albums, 2007's "Just Like You" (which received a Grammy Award nod for best contemporary R&B album) and 2008's "A Different Me," both debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
In the four weeks since its release, "Calling All Hearts" has sold 194,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. By comparison, "A Different Me" sold 539,000 during its first four weeks.
R. Kelly Plans New AlbumR. Kelly took a more soulful approach on his latest album Love Letter, but Kellz is ready make you “Bump N’ Grind” again with his next project. The Pied Piper of R&B is readying another sequel to his classic 12 Play.
Kellz’ 11th studio album was originally called Zodiac, but he has scrapped the title in favor of one that pays homage to his 1993 debut. “I’ve changed the name to The Return of 12 Play: Night of the Living Dead,” he tells Interview magazine. “I think it’ll be an R&B-like thriller album, if you will.”
He had been recording the LP prior to releasing Love Letter. “I was working on the Zodiac album, which was all, like, the bump ‘n’ grinds—I couldn’t work on it because I was so overwhelmed and overpowered and pretty much musically abducted by [the Sam Cooke days],” he explains. “So I switched and started working on Love Letter, and the next thing you know, ‘When a Woman Loves’ came out and I was like, ‘What?’ I was like, ‘Wow!’”
Love Letter debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 upon its release in December, selling 154,000 copies in its first week.
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