Twostepcublog

  It's time for my weekly new albums roundup, where I take a look at the big albums on this week's American and British albums charts, along with my choices of the new records I think you should check out. To catch up on this week's singles round, you can click here . This week Morgan Wallen spends a fourth week at #1 on the Billboard 200  which combines sales and (for better or worse) album or track streaming. There are four new albums on that list, as well as two more on the sales-only chart' s top-10  Face (EP)  - Jimin Billboard 200  debut: #2 Billboard Current Album Sales debut: #1 Choice cut: "Like Crazy" As he claims the first #1 hit on the Hot 100 for a K-pop solo act, the BTS member also claims the top spot on the album sales chart with his short extended play single (which is why it doesn't show on the British list), just five songs with two of them being the Kor-English and English-only versions of the single. (Click below to see the rest of the...

      It's time for my weekly new albums roundup, where I take a look at the big albums on this week's American and British albums charts, along with my choices of the new records I think you should check out. To catch up on this week's singles round, you can click here .   This week one record sees Morgan Wallen spend a third week at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, which combines sales and streaming, including streaming of individual tracks (for better or definitely worse ), while one album of the two that comes in the top ten on the pure sales chart makes the top ten.   Songs Of Surrender - U2 Billboard 200 debut: #5 Billboard Current Albums Sales debut: #1 British Albums Chart debut: #1 Choice cut: "Invisible"       God this is exhausting. At least the title gives away the game, seemingly a label-fulfilling grift that has nothing but reworked versions of their old material. But unlike Taylor Swift, this four-disc expanse is just acousti...

      It's time for my weekly new albums roundup, where I take a look at the big albums on this week's American and British albums charts, along with my choices of the new records I think you should check out. To catch up on this week's singles round, you can click here .   This week Miley Cyrus is back big, but was not even the biggest dance on either the sales-and-streaming Billboard 200 or the Current Albums sales list (though she does make the grade in the UK )...   Ready To Be: 12th Mini Album   - TWICE   Billboard 200 debut: #2 Billboard Current Albums Sales debut: #1 Choice Cut: "Set Me Free"    Yes the female titans of K-Pop are the winners this week, with this 7-track EP of six songs and an English version of the bass-heavy bop "Set Me Free"   (Click below to see the rest of the post)  

    It's time for my weekly new albums roundup, where I take a look at the big albums on this week's American and British albums charts, along with my choices of the new records I think you should check out. To catch up on this week's singles round, you can click here .    This week has two albums making their debut in the top ten on the Billboard 200 , which combines sales and streaming, with the obvious big story at #1, while those two plus three others enter that level on the Current Albums Sales list.     One Thing At A Time - Morgan Wallen Billboard 200 debut: #1 Billboard Current Albums Sales debut: #1 Official British Albums chart debut: #40 Choice cut: "Thought You Should Know"    I've laid out my problems with this release in yesterday's singles recap (since every one of the 36 tracks made the Hot 100). One Thing At A Time is completely overbloated, repetitive, and vacillates constantly between drinking and breakup songs that are ...

    It's time for my weekly new albums roundup, where I take a look at the big albums on this week's American and British albums charts, along with my choices of the new records I think you should check out. To catch up on this week's singles round, you can click here .    This week four albums enter in the top ten on the Billboard 200 , and five enter that level on the Current Albums Sales list, and only two sets do it on both.     Mañana Será Bonito - Karol G Billboard 200 debut: #1 Billboard Current Albums Sales debut: #6 Choice cut: "Cairo"    The multifaceted Colombian singer becomes the first female artist to top the chart with an all Spanish-language album. Sure, there's some chaff in this seventeen-track record, but there's enough variety to not make this a typical reggaeton slog. (Click below to see the rest of the post)

    It's time for my weekly new albums roundup, where I take a look at the big albums on this week's American and British albums charts, along with my choices of the new records I think you should check out. To catch up on this week's singles round, you can click here .   This week Pink rockets into the top ten on the Billboard 200 chart, with two other releases making the sales top ten as well.    Trustfall - Pink Billboard 200 debut: #2 Billboard Current Albums Sales debut: #1 Official British Albums Chart debut: #1 Choice cut: "Trustfall"    The monochromatically mononymed singer is back aimed squarely on the pop radio market. I featured her stellar song celebrating her late father in "When I Get There", and that opening track and this one are a great one-two punch to start this set. (Click below to see the rest of the post)  

    It's time for my weekly new albums roundup, where I take a look at the big albums on this week's American and British albums charts, along with my choices of the new records I think you should check out. To catch up on this week's singles round, you can click here .    This week has a chameleon rock trio enter the top ten on the "big" Billboard 200 chart which counts both sales and streaming (for better or worse), while two metal and two veteran rock acts drop in on the top ten on their current albums sales list .     This Is Why - Paramore Billboard 200 debut: #2 Billboard Current Albums Sales debut: #1 Choice cut: "Big Man, Little Dignity" Official British Albums Chart debut: #1    I featured the threesome's "Running Out Of Time" on my singles recap yesterday, and that track and this easy-going song are my highlighted of this diverse disc that are arranged around insecurity as a common theme.   (Click below to see the rest of...

    It's time for my weekly new albums roundup, where I take a look at the big albums on this week's American and British albums charts, along with my choices of the new records I think you should check out. To catch up on this week's singles round, you can click here .   This week's top ten on the Billboard 200 sees the return of one of the biggest selling singers of all times.   Queen Of Me - Shania Twain Billboard 200 debut: #10 Billboard Current Albums Sales debut: #2  Official British Albums Chart debut: #1 Choice cut: "Best Friend"    Six years after she made her triumphant return after a fifteen-year lapse with Now , which saw her recovering from almost losing her voice as well as her husband/svengali Mutt Lange, Twain proves she still has a fanbase in America with her latest, which despite Billboard placing this on the album chart is by no way anything but a pop album a la Taylor Swift's initial forays. It's a bit overpolished at tim...

    It's time for my weekly new albums roundup, where I take a look at the big albums on this week's American and British albums charts, along with my choices of the new records I think you should check out. To catch up on this week's singles round, you can click here .   There are three new albums in the top ten on this week's Billboard 200 chart, which tabulates both sales and streaming of albums as well as tracks from said albums (don't get me started).    The Name Chapter: Temptation - Tomorrow X Together Billboard 200 debut: #1 Billboard Current Albums Sales debut: #1 Choice cut:  "Sugar Rush Ride" With the void left by BTS being on hiatus, K-pop boyband TXT aspire to the crown with this extended play single of five songs that top the chart in America this week. I really want to like this radio offering whole-heartedly, but it's like two songs mashed into one, starting out great with the nicked Doobie Brothers hook before it devolves into...

    It's time for my weekly new albums roundup, where I take a look at the big albums on this week's American and British albums charts, along with my choices of the new records I think you should check out. To catch up on this week's singles round, you can click here .   There are two new albums in the top ten on this week's Billboard 200 chart, which tabulates both sales and streaming of albums as well as tracks from said albums (don't get me started). One is worth checking out, but first the other which is not...   Mansion Musik - Trippie Redd Billboard 200 debut: #3 Billboard Current Albums Sales debut: #6  Official British Albums chart debut: #79 Choice cut: "CRZY TRAIN"     I'm more surprised this one debuted at #6 on the sales chart - I don't know who would want to continuously own this collection of high-pitched auto-tuned whines. They only track approaching something different that a million other "trap" records is "...

    It's time for my weekly new albums roundup, where I take a look at the big albums on this week's American and British albums charts, along with my choices of the new records I think you should check out. To catch up on this week's singles round, you can click here .  It's another really slow winter week, where the highest new entry on the Billboard 200 is at #100, and it's a sub-par rap effort from Babytron, and only one other newbie, which is a pre-fame release from 2020 from indie-country artist Zach Bryan.   Elisabeth - Zach Bryan Billboard 200 debut: #192 Choice cut: "Revival"   As Bryan sees his song "Something In The Orange" unbelievably make the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Bryan's second indie album from 2020 sees itself on the big sales tally, and deservedly so. I truly have faith in the future of country music with the grass roots reception he has received, and this bare-bones outlay of emotion is quietly stunn...

    It's time for my weekly new albums roundup, where I take a look at the big albums on this week's American and British albums charts, along with my choices of the new records I think you should check out. To catch up on this week's singles round, you can click here .   It's another slow winter week, with only one album making its debut on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and it's yet another tepid rap release...   I Rest My Case - Youngboy Never Broke Again Billboard 200 debut: #9  Billboard Current Albums Sales debut: #59 Choice cut: "Just Like Me"     Youngboy's flood of banal releases make me fleetingly long for a Drake record. And that's saying something. The frequently-incarcerated Kanye apologist released his first "album" on Motown (I'm still cloudy on the difference between his albums and mixtapes, but whatevs), and its the same nasal sing-song he's been doing for the whole time. If anything, "Just Like Me"...

    Hey folks, it's time for my weekly round-up of the new albums hitting the American and British charts this week. You can catch up with yesterday's singles round-up by clicking here . This week, tracking the post-holiday, is even more sparse than last's, with only one album making its debut in the top 100 in sales and streaming. So I'm gonna throw in a couple more sets that came out last Friday that I think you should check out ( not the insufferable Run The Jewels and their "Latin Edition" - they have always been rap music for self-proclaimed alpha males for me, and I have no need for that).    Spin Off: From The Witness - ATEEZ Billboard 200 debut: #7 Choice cut: "Halazia"    If you like your K-Pop on the more dramatic side instead of the bubblegum pop BTS has turned into, this group brings a short set of five tracks, including this featured single, which I appreciate how they all seem to have different voices in the song instead of one gian...

    Happy Sunday, everyone, it's time for the first new albums roundup of 2023, where I run down my picks of the albums making the sales charts in Billboard magazine in the U.S. and the Official British Charts in the UK. It's the week after Christmas with an extremely light release schedule - only three new albums made their debut on the Billboard 200 with one being a Christmas benefit - and last week when I was off for New Year's had only nine, so I'll combine both weeks and still have only three worth a listen to roll out. You can check out yesterday's New Music singles recap by clicking here .   All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster (Live From Red Rocks) - Zach Bryan Billboard 200 debut: #88 (01-07-23) Billboard Current Albums Sales debut: #58  Choice cut: "Something In The Orange" The indie country artist who defied the odds by bucking Nashville and going straight to the people has had a great 2023, and this live set from Colorado's famed venue whi...

    Happy Sunday, everybody, it's time for this week's new album round-up, where I sample my picks of the best of the albums making their debut on Billboard magazine's sales charts as well as the same across the pond in the United Kingdom. You can check out yesterday's new singles recap by clicking here . It's another very light week due to the Christmas/Hanuakkah holidays, but of course one big album comes in to steal the show.  SOS - SZA Billboard 200 debut: #1 Billboard Current Albums Sales debut: #11  British Albums Sales debut: #2 Choice cut: "Special"   "Bedroom soul" singer Solána Imani Rowe, aka SZA, finally returns with her second album after tussles with her record company, and it's a sprawling feast of experiments in rock, alt-country, and hyper-pop, but mostly centered around romantic troubles and self-image. Personally, I would've liked this pared down to 12 cuts, but there's nothing unlistenable here for sure. (...

    Happy Sunday, everybody, it's time for this week's new album round-up, where I sample my picks of the best of the albums making their debut on Billboard magazine's sales charts as well as the same across the pond in the United Kingdom. You can check out yesterday's new singles recap by clicking here . It's another "slow week", where the big story is producer Metro Boomin's new album, but although there are a few good tracks in there, it involved too much of Travis Scott and Young Thug for me to put it in my own choices, the three big K-pop releases from RM, Itzy, and Enhyphen left me cold, and Sam Smith's live EP is an Apple exclusive. So what's I'm left with is two huge re-releases from veterans from the 1960s.   The 7" Singles Box - Paul McCartney Billboard 200 debut: #126 Billboard Current Albums Sales debut: #66 Choice cut: "Listen To What The Man Said" and about 30 others    Well, this compilation of eighty v...

    Happy Sunday, everybody, it's time for this week's new album round-up, where I sample my picks of the best of the albums making their debut on Billboard magazine's sales charts as well as the same across the pond in the United Kingdom. You can check out yesterday's new singles recap by clicking here .   Live At The Fillmore, 1997 - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Billboard 200 debut: #35 Billboard Current Albums Sales debut: #2 Choice cut: "Listen To Her Heart"    A document of Petty and the Heartbreakers' twenty-show residency at the legendary rock venue stitched into a three and a half hours mega-concert that has them pretending to be the Fillmore's "house band", with half Petty songs and half inspired covers that is so well conceived yet so freeform that it's simply my favorite live album of the year.  (Click below to see the rest of the post)

    Happy Sunday, everybody, it's time for this week's new album round-up, where I sample my picks of the best of the albums making their debut on Billboard magazine's sales charts as well as the same across the pond in the United Kingdom. You can check out yesterday's new singles recap by clicking here .    Divisive - Disturbed Billboard 200 debut: #13 Billboard Current Albums Sales debut: #2  British Album Chart debut: #17 Choice cut: "Don't Tell Me" with Ann Wilson    The neo-heavy metal band is back with their eighth album, with sufficient brooding about, and including a very good song on the pain of divorce featuring Ann Wilson of Heart. (Click below to see the rest of the post)

    Happy Sunday, everybody, it's time for this week's new album round-up, where I sample my picks of the best of the albums making their debut on Billboard magazine's sales charts as well as the same across the pond in the United Kingdom. You can check out yesterday's new singles recap by clicking here .   Only The Strong Survive - Bruce Springsteen Billboard 200 debut: #8 Billboard Current Albums Sales debut: #3 British Albums Sales debut: #2 Choice cut: "Turn Back The Hands Of Time"    Well, it's come to the point where the Boss, the greatest storyteller in rock music today, is going the oldies cover album route. In one way, it makes me sad, it does seem a little bit like a product, but he does put his heart into picking the songs on the set. He's at his best when he's doing a song he can growl and give drama on, like this one and the Four Tops' "7 Rooms Of Gloom". But on others, like the Tops' "When She Was My Gi...

    Happy Sunday, everybody, it's time for this week's new album round-up, where I sample my picks of the best of the albums making their debut on Billboard magazine's sales charts as well as the same across the pond in the United Kingdom. You can check out yesterday's new singles recap by clicking here .    Smithereens - Joji Billboard 200 debut: #5 Billboard Current Album Sales debut: #2  British Albums chart debut: #13 Choice cut: "Glimpse Of Us"    A short but bittersweet set mostly about lost love, this third release and breakthrough from the Japanese singer that formerly was known for doing the Harlem Shake in a bodysuit reveals layers of emotion.  (Click below to see the rest of the post)