The singer’s holiday classic “All I Want For Christmas Is You” tops the Billboard Hot 100 single chart for an 18th nonconsecutive week, putting her one step closer to a new chart record.
Just a week ago, Mariah’s Christmas track surpassed “One Sweet Day,” her collab with Boyz II Men, to become the song with the second-longest run at #1. “One Sweet Day” spent 16 weeks on top from 1995 to 1996.
Released in 1994, Mariah’s song first topped the chart in 2019 thanks to streaming. It was #1 for three weeks in 2019, two in 2020, three in 2021, four in 2022, two in 2023 and four, and counting, this year.
Now “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is one week away from tying the record for the longest run at #1, which is currently shared by Shaboozey‘s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus.
“All I Want For Christmas Is You” is also #1 on the Billboard‘s Streaming Songs chart again this week, extending her record for the longest-running #1 at 22 weeks.
Gov’t Mule is once again set to ring in the new year at New York’s Beacon Theatre, with shows set for Dec. 30 and Dec. 31, and the venue is certainly one place frontman Warren Haynes is familiar with.
“The Beacon Theater is the place that I played more than any place on the planet,” he tells ABC Audio. “I think I’ve played there over 300 times now, which is absolutely crazy.”
Haynes notes that he loves playing there because the Beacon has “a great vibe,” adding that “the New York audience is fantastic.”
“It’s just a fantastic place to play,” he says. “We just always wind up having great shows there.”
Gov’t Mule has been celebrating New Year’s at the Beacon for over 20 years. “It’s kind of become tradition,” Haynes says.
And whether fans come out New Year’s Eve or the night before, it’s always special for him.
“I love the challenge of trying to figure out something crazy every New Year’s,” says Haynes, who released the new solo album Million Voices Whisper in October. “But it’s also nice the night before to just go to relax and not have to think about all this new material that we’re learning.”
Following the New Year’s shows, Haynes has a busy schedule for 2025. Gov’t Mule’s Island Exodus 15 is taking place in Runaway Bay, Jamaica, from Jan. 19 to Jan. 23, and then he’ll kick off a Warren Haynes Band tour on Feb. 7 in Knoxville, Tennessee. A complete list of dates can be found at warrenhaynes.net.
Neil Young has treated fans to another performance of a song he rarely plays live.
Following a recent fireside session, in which he shared a performance of “Silver and Gold,” a song he hadn’t played live since 2007, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has now shared a second fireside session. This time he featured a performance of “Pardon My Heart,” a track from his 1975 album, Zuma.
The latest performance was posted to the Neil Young Archives site, with a message that read, “Hello again folks, Pretty laid back version here. This is our second fireside of the season,” signing off with “Love to all of you, Peace” and “Love Earth, Be well, Neil and Daryl,” the latter being Young’s wife, actress Daryl Hannah.
According to Rolling Stone, Young hasn’t performed “Pardon My Heart” live in 50 years. In fact, he’s only performed the song live two other times: in May 1974, during a surprise set at the Bottom Line in New York, and in August 1974, at a Uniondale, New York, stop on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s reunion tour.
The Beatles‘ George Harrison and his wife, OliviaHarrison, were attacked in their Friar Park estate by a 34-year-old mentally ill intruder named Michael Abram.
Abram punctured George’s lung with a kitchen knife and stabbed him more than 40 times. Abram was finally stopped by Olivia, who repeatedly struck him with a fireplace poker and a lamp.
In the hospital, George had to have part of his punctured lung removed.
Abrams was tried and found not guilty by reason of insanity and was sent to a mental health facility. He was released in 2002 and apologized to the Harrisons.
George died in 2001 after a battle with cancer. He was 58.
There certainly were a lot of big things happening in music in 2024. Here’s a roundup of some of the other music stories that made headlines this year:
– The four members of R.E.M. – Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Peter Buck and Bill Berry – reunited for a performance of their 1991 hit “Losing My Religion” at their induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York. It was the first time all four members performed together since 1995. Also inducted into the Hall of Fame that night was Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen and the late Walter Becker.
– After postponing their 2023 Peace Out tour when frontman Steven Tyler fractured his larynx onstage, Aerosmith rescheduled the tour — only to cancel it in August, one month before it was to start up again. Not only that, they announced their retirement from the road for good, citing Tyler’s continued vocal issues.
– Also announcing their retirement were Jeff Lynne’s ELO, noting their 2023 Over and Out Tour would be their last, and REO Speedwagon, who cited “irreconcilable differences” between the band’s only two remaining original members, frontman Kevin Cronin and bassist and vocalist Bruce Hall.
– There were a lot of big catalog sales this year, including KISS, who made a deal with Pophouse, the Swedish company behind ABBA’s London hologram show, Voyage. Reports claimed the deal was worth $300 million. Queen also reportedly sold their catalog to Sony, in a deal said to be worth $1.27 billion.
– Speaking of Queen, in September guitarist Brian May revealed he was recovering from a “minor stroke” that left him without the use of his left arm, putting his ability to play guitar in doubt. By the time he made his announcement he had already been improving.
– The Zombies’ Rod Argent announced his retirement from touring after suffering a stroke. It prompted the band to cancel all their planned shows for 2024.
– Journey members Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain were in a court battle over the band’s finances. Cain sued over what he claimed was Schon’s overspending and requested the court appoint a third party to the board of their company to settle their disagreements. Schon called the accusations “absolute rubbish.” In the end they settled the dispute and agreed to hire a third director of their company.
– The Guess Who founding singer Burton Cummings and guitarist Randy Bachman settled the lawsuit they filed against original members Jim Kale and Garry Peterson in October 2023, accusing them of tricking fans into thinking Cummings and Bachman were still performing with the group, when they were actually getting a “cover band.” The settlement resulted in Cummings and Bachman acquiring the trademark for the name The Guess Who.
– Don Henley took the stand in the trial of three men charged with conspiracy involving nearly 100 pages of his handwritten notes and lyrics for the Eagles album Hotel California. In the end, the case was dismissed by a judge due to Henley’s lawyers’ “jarringly late” disclosure of thousands of pages of material.
– Speaking of the Eagles, they wrapped the Long Goodbye tour but it didn’t keep them off the stage. They kicked off a residency at the Las Vegas Sphere in September. Also launching a residency at the Sphere was Dead & Company, who just announced a second residency in 2025.
– And Lenny Kravitz, who dropped the new album Blue Electric Light this year, went viral with a video of him lifting weights in boots, a mesh shirt, leather pants and sunglasses.
A building that once housed the Morrison Hotel, made famous on the cover of The Doors‘ fifth studio albumof the same name, was destroyed by fire on Thursday, Variety reports.
According to the outlet, 17 fire companies responded to the blaze at the building, which housed a transient hotel when it was immortalized in a 1969 photo by rock photographer Henry Diltz and was used for the album’s cover. It took 30 minutes for flames to be controlled.
Prior to the fire breaking out, plans were in the works to turn the building, on the corner of Pico Boulevard and Hope Street in Los Angeles, into affordable housing. It has now been red-tagged, meaning it is unsafe to be occupied.
Released in February 1970, Morrison Hotel peaked at #4 in the U.S. and featured the single “Roadhouse Blues,” which was a Hot 100 hit for the band and became a staple at their live shows.
The Grammys are coming up on Feb. 2, but before we find out the 2025 winners, CBS is giving viewers a look back at winners past with two Grammy specials, airing Dec. 27 and Dec. 29.
Grammy Greats: The Stories Behind the Songs focuses on past winners of the Song of the Year category. Song of the Year and Record of the Year are different because Song goes to the people who wrote the song, while Record goes to the artist, the producer and the engineer. Stars like Bonnie Raitt, Sting, Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald are all featured in the special, along with John Mayer, Alicia Keys, Mark Ronson, Billie Eilish and Richard Marx. It airs Friday at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Sunday’s special is called Grammy Greats: The Most Memorable Moments, focusing on those special duets and other events that only seem to take place on the Grammy stage. Among the artists featured in this special: Elton John, Joni Mitchell, Melissa Etheridge and Annie Lennox, as well as Dua Lipa, Ricky Martin and LLCool J. It airs at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
A happy 80th birthday to Foreigner founder Mick Jones.
Jones got his first break in music in the 1960s as a member of Nero and the Gladiators and later played in such bands as Spooky Tooth and the Leslie West Band. He formed Foreigner in 1976, with multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald, singer Lou Gramm, drummer Dennis Elliott, keyboardist Al Greenwood and bassist Ed Gagliardi.
The band released their self-titled debut album in 1977, which peaked at #4 on the Billboard chart and featured two top-10 hits, “Feels Like the First Time” and “Cold as Ice.” The album’s follow-up, Double Vision, was also a hit, peaking at #3 thanks to songs like “Hot Blooded,” which hit #3, and the album’s title track, which went to #2.
Foreigner landed their only #1 album with 1981’s 4, which spent 10 weeks on top and featured hit singles “Urgent,” “Waiting for a Girl Like You” and “Juke Box Hero.” The follow-up, 1984’s Agent Provocateur, peaked at #4 and featured the band’s only #1 single, “I Want To Know What Love Is.”
Foreigner experienced various lineup changes over the years, with Jones being the only member to appear on all of Foreigner’s albums. As of 2003 he was the only original member still touring with the group, although since 2021 his participation in their tours declined.
In February 2024 Jones revealed he had stopped performing because he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, although he insisted he was still very much involved with Foreigner behind the scenes.
Jones and Gramm were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2014, and in 2024, almost 22 years after they were first eligible, Foreigner was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, Jones’ health kept him from attending the ceremony.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s fifth studio album, Double Fantasy, hit #1 on the Billboard 200 and went on to spend eight weeks in the top spot.
The album was released in November and initially didn’t perform well, but after Lennon’s Dec. 8 death the album became a commercial success. It was eventually certified triple Platinum by the RIAA.
Double Fantasy, recorded at the Hit Factory in New York City, featured such songs as “(Just Like) Starting Over,” which hit #1 three weeks after Lennon’s death; “Woman,” which peaked at #2; and “Watching The Wheels,” which peaked at #10.
The album went on to win Album of the Year at the 1991 Grammy Awards.
On Jan. 5 of 2024, Michael Bolton told fans that he had to undergo brain surgery. Now, a year later, he seems healthy and happy.
Back in January, Michael wrote on Instagram, “Just before the holidays, it was discovered that I had a brain tumor, which required immediate surgery. Thanks to my incredible medical team, the surgery was a success.”
On Wednesday, Christmas Day, he shared a photo on Facebook of himself and some family members. They wore festive pajamas, while he sported a Santa hat. “Sending warm wishes for a holiday season filled with peace, love, and joy,” the post’s caption reads. “May the New Year bring health, happiness, and countless moments to cherish. Here’s to fresh starts and beautiful moments in 2025!”
In his initial January post, Michael said he’d be taking a “temporary break” from touring. In October, he canceled some scheduled shows, noting on Facebook that he wasn’t “quite 100% yet,” adding, “I only want to give you my very best, so please bear with me as I continue my road to recovery.” He also teased “a couple exciting projects.”
