Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 16h

Taylor Swift broke the one week album sales record in the US. HOWEVER… #musicnews

Taylor Swift broke the one week album sales record in the US. HOWEVER…

When we heard that Taylor Swift sold 2.7 million copies of Life of a Showgirl on its first day on sale with 2.7 million copies (and here’s the sneaky way she did it),

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 16h

MAGA has announced its own Super Bowl halftime show #musicnews

MAGA has announced its own Super Bowl halftime show

MAGA has been melting down since it was announced that Bad Bunny would be the halftime entertainment at the Super Bowl in February. Their complaints: Now Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk’s organization, says

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 17h

ICYMI: Spotify has a new deal with ChatGPT. Here’s what that means. #musicnews

Spotify has a new deal with ChatGPT. Here’s what that means.

Yesterday, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, the people behind ChatGPT, said that more than 800 million people are using its AI services every month. That works to “six billion tokens per minute”–whatever

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 18h

ICYMI: What are the most anticipated concerts and tours of 2026? #musicnews

What are the most anticipated concerts and tours of 2026?

Now that we’re into the second week of October, there’s not much left of the 2025 touring season. Things will be pretty much wrapped up for the Christmas break by the time we

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 18h

ICYMI: Trump isn’t going to like this AI music video #musicnews

Trump isn’t going to like this AI music video

Trump’s thin orange skin is going to shrivel when he sees this. Please enjoy. (Via Oreo)

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 18h

How did Taylor Swift manage to sell 2.7 million copies of her new album in a single day? I’ll tell you. #musicnews

How did Taylor Swift manage to sell 2.7 million copies of her new album in a single day? I’ll tell you.

The news earlier this week was that Taylor Swift managed to move 2.7 million copies of her new album, Life of a Showgirl, the highest-ever first-day sales number. How did she do it?

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 18h

ICYMI: Ongoing History Daily: Can music be used to predict the stock market? #musicnews

Ongoing History Daily: Can music be used to predict the stock market?

People who play the stock market are always looking for an edge. Can music be used to predict the way the market will go? Dr. Philip Maymin was an assistant professor of finance

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 18h

The Ongoing History of New Music, episode 1058: Stories behind iconic album covers, part 2 #musicnews

The Ongoing History of New Music, episode 1058: Stories behind iconic album covers, part 2

In 1938, a 23-year-old graphic designer named Alex Steinweiss was hired as the first-ever art director for Columbia Records in New York. He was assigned a project: to help promote a new release

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 18h

Ongoing History Daily: Eddie Vedder repays a favour #musicnews

Ongoing History Daily: Eddie Vedder repays a favour

About a decade ago, Eddie Vedder was out boating with some friends in the Pailolo Channel off the coast of Maui when their craft overturned, leaving Eddie and two women stranded. They were

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 18h

ICYMI: Random music news for Tuesday, October 7, 2025 #musicnews

Random music news for Tuesday, October 7, 2025

Imagine being the Guinness Book of World Records official who had to certify this. Now that you’re grossed out, here’s music news for October 7, 2025. BONUS: Wait. Is grandma doing gak?

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 18h

Random music news for Friday, October 10, 2025 #musicnews

Random music news for Friday, October 10, 2025

A fan of Apple TV+’s Slow Horses? Then you might like this special ranking. Or maybe not. Either way, here’s music news for October 10, 2025. BONUS: A disco cover of one of

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 1d

ICYMI: Rush announces a new tour. WAIT–WHAT? #musicnews

Rush announces a new tour. WAIT–WHAT?

This was not an announcement anyone was expecting to start the week. When Neil Peart died, the general consensus among everyone–including Geddy and Alex–was that Rush was done. They’d been a team since

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 1d

Time for the weekly Canadian CD, vinyl, and streaming report (09 Oct 2025) #musicnews

Time for the weekly Canadian CD, vinyl, and streaming report (09 Oct 2025)

Back to the normal schedule of reporting on the weekly sales of CDs and vinyl in Canada long with a look at what we’re streaming. All figures courtesy of Luminate. Streaming numbers:

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 1d

Photos and a review of Queens of the Stone Age at Massey Hall in Toronto #musicnews

Photos and a review of Queens of the Stone Age at Massey Hall in Toronto

[Stephanie Snape covered things for us with both the photos and the review. – AC] Sunday night, the red lights that read “Massey Hall” glowed bright against the faces of the people lined

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 1d

Before you click on the new Rolling Stone list of the 250 best songs of the millennium so far, read this. #musicnews

Before you click on the new Rolling Stone list of the 250 best songs of the millennium so far, read this.

Rolling Stone has released another one of its “greatest” lists, this time focusing on the best songs released so far in the 21st century. This is, of course, clickbait designed to get people

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 1d

ICYMI: Science says that these are the 10 catchiest songs ever made #musicnews

Science says that these are the 10 catchiest songs ever made

Every few years, a story about which songs are the catchiest and earwormiest ever written. This all began with a 2016 study by St. Andrews University in Scotland, which distilled everything down to

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 1d

ICYMI: Bonehead to miss Oasis tour dates to get treatment for cancer–again. #musicnews

Bonehead to miss Oasis tour dates to get treatment for cancer–again.

The Oasis reunion tour has hit its first real snag. Guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs will miss gigs in Australia and Asia because he needs treatment for prostate cancer. That includes Seoul, Tokyo, Melbourne

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 1d

This AI band has released 40 albums in 30 days #musicnews

This AI band has released 40 albums in 30 days

Talk about AI slop. If you’re following the whole AI-and-music situation, you’ve heard of The Velvet Sundown, a totally fake band produced using Suno AI and somehow spearheaded by a guy named Andrew

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 1d

ICYMI: Oasis adds to their giant offering of reunion merch with a coffee table book that will weigh as much as an SUV. #musicnews

Oasis adds to their giant offering of reunion merch with a coffee table book that will weigh as much as an SUV.

My sources told me that the Oasis reunion tour was in the works for at least a year before the announcement was made in August 2024. Why did everyone have to start planning

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 1d

ICYMI: Taylor Swift sold HOW MANY copies of her new album on day one? #musicnews

Taylor Swift sold HOW MANY copies of her new album on day one?

Taylor Swift remains a sales monster. On the first day Life of a Showgirl was on sale, it moved 2.7 million copies in the US alone. To put that into perspective, the highest

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 1d

Ongoing History Daily: David Bowie’s deceptively simple anonymity trip #musicnews

Ongoing History Daily: David Bowie’s deceptively simple anonymity trip

David Bowie was one of the galaxy’s biggest rock stars and was instantly recognizable by millions. But he lived in New York for years in almost complete secrecy. How did he remain anonymous

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 1d

ICYMI: Ongoing History Daily: Artists who were kidnapped #musicnews

Ongoing History Daily: Artists who were kidnapped

If you want an artist to play a private gig, normally you would arrange something through that artist’s manager. Or you could just kidnap them. In December 1963, Frank Sinatra Jr., the singing

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 1d

ICYMI: Random music news for Monday, October 6, 2025 #musicnews

Random music news for Monday, October 6, 2025

When I was in Singapore, I saw a mobile phone company offering a 750 GB/month data plan for about $20. Canadians getting hosed when it comes to data. On that happy note, here’s

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 1d

Random music news for Thursday, October 9, 2025 #musicnews

Random music news for Thursday, October 9, 2025

Just what we need: Elon Musk-created “sexy chatbots.” I’m really starting to hope that AI/Atlas really is an alien invasion. Elsewhere, we have music news for October 9, 2025. BONUS: And there goes

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Alan Cross🇨🇦 @alancross.bsky.social · 2d

Rush will now play FOUR hometown shows at Scotiabank Arena: Aug 7, 9, 11, 13, 2026.

Extra dates have also been added in LA, Fort Worth, Chicago, New York, and Cleveland.

Haters gonna hate, but I think this is brilliant.

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