DAILYSESSION

By Jim Farber – Daily News

In an era ruled by pop and R&B acts, a scrappy rock band just racked up the most downloaded CD of the year.

“Only By The Night” from Kings of Leon has earned the title of top selling digital album of the year so far, according to iTunes, enjoying sales of just under 400,000 units. (Apple doesn’t release exact figures for its downloads, but SoundScan Nielsen does, and the overwhelming majority of those come from iTunes).

Another edgy rock album took the No. 2 spot – the “Twilight” soundtrack – followed by the debut from shock dance queen Lady GaGa at No. 3. Each enjoyed sales in the 330,000 to 350,000 range. (The two works switched positions on SoundScan’s list, which demonstrates the narrow margin between general downloading figures and iTunes’ own). [Read More]

By Patrick Mcgeehan – NewYork Times

At a glance, the far corner of the main floor of J&R Music looks familiar to anybody old enough to have scratched a record by accident. There are cardboard boxes filled with albums by the likes ofMiles Davis and the Beach Boys that could be stacked in any musty attic in America.

But this is no music morgue; it is more like a life-support unit for an entertainment medium that has managed to avoid extinction, despite numerous predictions to the contrary. The bins above the boxes hold new records — freshly pressed albums of classic rock as well as vinyl versions of the latest releases from hip-hop icons like 50 Cent and Diddy and new pop stars like Norah Jones and Lady Gaga. [Read More]