OVO Sound leader Drake’s new Views album is doing things only most recently done by music superstar Adele after toppling its competition in its 12th week of availability.
According to reports, Drake’s latest solo offering has continued to reach new benchmarks atop the overall sales charts.
Drake’s Views stays put at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for a 12th nonconsecutive week, earning another 85,000 equivalent album units (down 5 percent) in the week ending July 28, according to Nielsen Music. Views has the most weeks at No. 1 for an album by an artist (as opposed to a soundtrack) since Adele’s 21 ruled for 24 weeks in 2011 and 2012. The last male artist to spend more than 12 weeks at No. 1 was Billy Ray Cyrus, with his Some Gave All album (17 weeks) back in 1992. (Billboard)
Drake’s Views sold nearly 90,000 copies in its 11th week of availability.
Drake’s Views remains steady at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart for an 11th nonconsecutive week, as the set earned another 89,000 equivalent album units (down 3 percent) in the week ending July 21, according to Nielsen Music. Views has now earned the most weeks at No. 1 for an album since Taylor Swift’s 1989 spent its 11th and final week atop the list on the chart dated Feb. 21, 2015. The last album to lead for more than 11 weeks was the Frozen soundtrack (13 weeks, 2014). (Billboard)
Recently, vixen Amber Rose revealed her involvement on Drake’s chart-topping album.
A few weeks ago, Views fell from grace after battling it out with rock group Blink-182.
After nine weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, Drake’s Views is dethroned from the top slot by Blink-182’s new set, California. The latter debuts at No. 1 with 186,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending July 7, according to Nielsen Music. (Billboard)
Drizzy hopped onto Instagram in early July and celebrated Views‘ nine straight weeks atop the sales chart.
We love how the beauty style on the Teen Choice Awards red carpet always feels so casual-chic — it's as if the stars are psyched to enjoy a stunning Summer night among friends. This year, celebrities like Lea Michele and Lucy Hale brought fresh, dewy skin and tousled, beachy strands to the red carpet, providing perfect hair and makeup inspiration for your next poolside soirée or outdoor brunch. Read on to see the best looks of the evening.
For months, an unnamed 18-hole golf course near Charleston has been on the market through a Georgia-based real estate company.
Now, the name has finally been listed. As long suspected, it’s Legend Oaks Golf and Tennis Club in Summerville, according to a listing in Golf Business magazine.
“The plantation-style clubhouse is approached through an avenue of 300-year-old live oaks,” according to the listing.
It says the greens at the semi-private, Scott Pool-designed course were replaced in 2014, and the site at 118 Legend Oaks Way off S.C. Highway 61 boasts a pool and four hard-surface tennis courts.
The 161-acre property is owned by Legend Oaks Facilities LLC, which is registered to golf club managing partner Jim Chickarello.
Chickarello said the property was originally listed anonymously “to minimize the disruption and impact on the community.”
Legend Oaks has about 1,300 homes. Several other communities are being developed nearby.
“We think the growth potential in the next 10 years will be very, very solid,” he said of the surrounding neighborhoods.
“It’s out there, and it’s for sale, and with the right price and the right buyer, we will sell it,” Chickarello said. “We are open to a partnership as well. My goal is to back out of the day-to-day operation.”
The course was originally constructed in the 1970s and then went dormant for several years before reopening in 1994. Chickarello and his wife, Kathy, purchased it in 2006.
It’s undergone several recent upgrades.
Chickarello declined to disclose publicly the asking price and said of the deal, “There’s a good chance it might not occur.”
The property is listed with Hilda W. Allen Real Estate Inc. A confidentiality agreement is required to receive additional information.
New heights
Redevelopment of the State Ports Authority’s offices overlooking Charleston Harbor took a step forward recently with Charleston City Council’s approval of a rezoning request by property buyer Lowe Enterprises.
L.A.-based Lowe, which owns Wild Dunes Resort on the Isle of Palms, has not said what it plans to do with the peninsula property at 176 and 186 Concord St. Fleet Landing restaurant is on part of the property and will continue to operate at least until its lease expires in 2024. The office site is in part of the city where a hotel with up to 225 rooms could be built.
Lowe spokeswoman Hannah Nuccio said the company has met with and gathered feedback from city staff, historic and preservation groups, neighborhood associations and business leaders.
Currently, the property has a 50-25 height limit, which means any new building there must be between 25 and 50 feet tall. The proposed zoning would increase the height limit overall to 56 feet and would allow up to 25 percent of the building to reach as high as 70 feet. However, the developer would have to invest more on the street level — by creating retail space or other public spaces — to qualify for the additional height.
City Council is expected to give the rezoning final approval next month. Lowe reportedly has agreed to pay about $40 million for the 6.5-acre, waterfront SPA property. The sale is expected to close this fall.
Flying high
Charleston International Airport is soaring after picking up an exceptional inspection report from the FAA for the second consecutive year.
“A 100 percent score is significant for at least two reasons: It comes at a time of great upheaval due to the terminal redevelopment and because it demonstrates that CHS has an outstanding operations department,” said Paul Campbell, executive director and CEO of Charleston County Aviation Authority, which oversees the airport.
During the inspection, regulators examined airport records as well as training, operations and compliance with emergency, fire and rescue procedures. They also conducted airfield inspections to ensure that lighting, pavement markings and signage comply with safety regulations. In Charleston International’s case, special attention was given to safety during the Terminal Redevelopment and Improvement Program to renovate and expand the airport terminal, a $200 million overhaul that is winding down.
An exemplary inspection is no small fete, Campbell said.
“It takes a lot of time and effort to ensure that the airport is running safely and efficiently every day, not just when there is an inspection,” he said.
(Reuters/Mark D. Smith/USA TODAY Sports)Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry during Game 3 of the 2016 Western Conference Finals.
Back-to-back Most Valuable Player (MVP) Stephen Curry parting ways with the Golden State Warriors is a huge impossibility. But another team is already aiming to nab the point guard from the former champions.
In an Instagram post by Bleacher Report, Ric Bucher mentioned that one team is hoping Kevin Durant's addition would turn out bad for the Warriors and this will be used to lure Curry out of Oakland.
This contending squad sees Durant taking the last shots for the Dubs, which was Curry's job before. The interested team's "pitch" to Curry once this happens is if he joins the franchise, he will be the star again.
The team was unnamed and even if the scenario seems ridiculous, it is not that far from happening.
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When Durant made the free agency decision to be part of the Dubs, numerous questions arose. But there are two main concerns following the blockbuster move.
First, who is going to to take the driver's seat for the Warriors? And second, who are the star players willing to give way?
Having Curry and Durant is a luxury for the Warriors, however it could also be a burden for head coach Steve Kerr and his entire staff. Or perhaps it will not be, since Curry reportedly texted Durant once the announcement was made and assured him that all he cares about is winning.
Because of Durant's acquisition, almost everyone is looking at the Warriors as the team to beat in the 2016-17 season.
Last season, the Dubs set a new regular season record when they finished at 73-9. They cruised to the Western Conference Finals and took on the Oklahoma City Thunder, the franchise in which Durant came from. The Thunder held a 3-1 lead in the series before losing the next three games to bow out.
Unfortunately, the Warriors could not cap off a monumental run with a Larry O'Brien Trophy as they also blew a 3-1 lead in the Finals versus the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Another new UFC champion was crowned on Saturday night.
A new UFC champion was crowned at UFC 193 in November and again at UFC 194 in December.
It happened again at UFC 196 in March, UFC 197 in April, UFC 198 in May, UFC 199 in June, at UFC 200 in July and at UFC 201 in Atlanta on Saturday. Title changes haven’t been limited to pay-per-view cards, though. In January, Dominick Cruz won the bantamweight title at UFC Fight Night in Boston, and earlier this month, Eddie Alvarez captured the lightweight title at UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas.
Beginning with Ronda Rousey’s defeat at the hands of Holly Holm on Nov. 14 at UFC 193, defending champions are 6-10 (That record doesn’t include the two interim title fights, which Jon Jones won at UFC 197 and Jose Aldo won at UFC 200).
Since UFC 193, the only champions to successfully defend the belt have been Joanna Jedrzejczyk over Valerie Letourneau at UFC 193; Rafael dos Anjos over Donald Cerrone at UFC on Fox in December; Demetrious Johnson over Henry Cejudo at UFC 197 in April; Cruz over Urijah Faber at UFC 199 in June and Jedrzejczyk over Claudia Gadelha at The Ultimate Fighter Finale in July.
Put another way, Cruz and Jedrzejczyk are 2-0 in title defenses and all other champions are 4-10.
That can’t be just coincidence.
The sport is one with so many ways to win that it’s hard to reel off a long winning streak. But the turnover in the last nine months, with champions winning at just a 37.5 percent clip, has to speak to something else.
The sport has grown significantly in the last 18 months. In the last year, there have been 13 pay-per-views. Nearly half of them – UFC 189, 190, 193, 194, 196 and 200 – have been at or over 1 million sales.
That kind of interest puts a great demand on the biggest stars. And who are the biggest, most in-demand stars? The champions, of course.
Rousey’s schedule prior to UFC 193 was insane. She literally was traveling the world prior to her fight. She was selling her book, doing movie appearances, talking to MMA reporters and scores of others.
It’s not the reason she lost, but it had to have some impact. It would be foolish to think otherwise, and her near-total media blackout since seems to be evidence of that.
When a fighter under the current circumstance becomes a champion, he or she is yanked from the familiar rhythm that led to success in the first place. There are appearances on network television, on ESPN, on radio stations everywhere. They’re brought to other UFC shows, where they’re worshiped by the fan base and pestered by reporters.
It’s all good, until the back slaps and good wishes and personal appearances cut into the preparation they need to stay at the top.
Champions earn a cut of the pay-per-view and in the UFC, that’s no small thing. It’s why an inordinate amount of the pay goes to the title-holders.
The UFC expects a lot of work for that extra pay, and the huge additional demand takes fighters off schedule. They either don’t get the same amount of work in they once did, or it’s not of the same quality.
Challengers have the luxury of focusing solely on the upcoming bout. For them, the upcoming title fight is their personal Super Bowl. It’s the biggest fight of their life.
For champions, even if they say that, it’s hard to top the day one first captured the title. There’s only one first time and you know that once you’ve done it, you’ll be in the history books forever.
So perhaps their intensity isn’t quite the same as it was. Many of them do meet and greets with their sponsors and often pick up new sponsors. That adds another level of demand to their schedules.
At the end of the day, of course, it’s about two people climbing into the cage and fighting. The UFC is signing the best fighters in the world and they compete in a sport in which there are a variety of ways to win, so upsets happen more than in other types of combat sports. As a result, the champions are going to lose their fair share.
It’s stunning, though, to see champions losing a bit better than six of every 10 title fights, particularly quality fighters like Rousey, Chris Weidman, Luke Rockhold, Miesha Tate and Robbie Lawler.
Some of them may regain the belt down the line. As we’ve seen, it’s the nature of the best.
If they do, don’t be surprised if they’re just a little less accessible during their upcoming reigns than they were during the previous ones.
It will be proof they’ve identified a major issue in their downfalls.
Dierks Bentley is giving his new album, Black, the retro treatment. To celebrate its August 12 release on vinyl, he’ll do a special performance at St. Louis record store, Vintage Vinyl, before his Somewhere on a Beach Tour cranks up that night in the Gateway City.
“When we created this album, I kept imagining the flow of this record being told with an A side and B side,” Dierks reveals. “We’ve released vinyl before, but I’ve never had the chance to really master it properly and didn’t really put the time in before that it deserved. With Black , every little detail has mattered to me... I can’t wait for fans to hear the whole album this way.”
You can check out a behind-the-scenes video of Dierks readying the vinyl version of Black at AmericanSongwriter.com .
Tyler Perry treated some staffers to the trip of a lifetime this week, flying them in his private jet from Atlanta to meet Beyoncé at her concert in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Perry’s costume designer Crystal Renee posted on Instagram, “@tylerperry knows my LOVE for Beyoncé! Not only did I get to experience the Formation World Tour in Europe I also got to meet my girl Bey right before she took the stage! This is just another testament to the type of person Mr. P is!!!”
Actress Crystal Fox, who stars in Perry’s series “The Haves and the Have Nots,” also went along, and he even brought his flight attendant to the concert.
Perry’s rep told us that he wanted to go somewhere he could be more anonymous and enjoy the show, and told the two women to pack their bags, they “were going to meet Beyoncé.”
“It was a once-in-a lifetime experience for both Crystals,” the rep said.
She added that the showbiz magnate is famously generous with friends and even deserving strangers.
A few years ago, he paid a year’s rent for a Georgia mother with a sick teen facing eviction.
