Billboard To Celebrate 50 Years

Before August 4, 1958, Billboard Magazine tracked the top songs in the nation separately for airplay and sales. The sales were calculated by tallying up figures reported by retailers. Airplay came from radio stations and juke boxes. What made the Hot 100 so special was that it incorporated all of the statistics to determine what songs were really #1 in America. "Poor Little Fool" by Ricky Nelson was the first number one. Now, fifty years later, Billboard is set to celebrate their birthday with an anniversary issue of their magazine as well as showcasing chart milestones for the past half century.

Bloc Party Says Early Digital Release A Success

This Thursday, Bloc Party digitally released their third album, Intimacy, two months before the physical release is set to hit stores. Lead singer Keel Okereke said of their decision, "We finished [Intimacy] a few months ago and we thought, 'Why do we need to sit on it for six months after it's done?' It seems that post-'In Rainbows' there are no rules about this sort of thing anymore." Even their record labels agree. Okereke commented that their British indie label, Wichita Recording, were, "really into this idea, just as much as we were."

Killers Announce Third Album's Title

The Killers have announced that their forthcoming third studio album is to be called Day And Age. It gets its name from one of its tracks, "Neon Tiger" and is to be released in November (and leaked in September). Stuart Price, aka the Thin White Duke, who has previously remixed "When You Were Young", "Mr. Brightside", and produced Madonna's Confessions On A Dancefloor will be producing the record.

Here's "Neon Tiger".