Madonna leads Billboard's top-grossing tours

While this year's pop charts have been dominated by young singers, it is veteran music stars, led by Madonna, who are commanding big money in tour ticket sales, according to a new Billboard list released on Tuesday.
Madonna, 54, topped Billboard's list of highest-grossing live tours, earning an estimated $228.4 million in ticket sales from her sold-out ninth worldwide tour in support of her 12th studio album "MDNA." The singer will wrap her tour in South America this weekend, after performing more than 80 shows across the world starting in Israel in May.
Madonna came ahead of pop star Lady Gaga, who landed at No. 6, with ticket sales of $124.9 million from her worldwide "Born This Way Ball" tour. Gaga, 26, is currently midway through her tour, which kicked off in South Korea in April, and will wrap in Oklahoma in March 2013.
Music publication Billboard compiled its list through estimated gross ticket sales figures from Billboard box scores, which tracks concert tours, ticket prices and sales.
The top five highest-grossing tour acts of 2012 included Bruce Springsteen, 63, and the E Street band at No. 2 with $199 million from 72 shows and Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, 69, at No. 3 with $186 million.
Cirque Du Soleil's homage to late singer Michael Jackson in "The Immortal World Tour" ranked No. 4 with $147.3 million over 183 shows, and British rock band Coldplay was fifth with $147.2 million over 67 shows.
The only other young stars in the list of 25 top-grossing tours was Canadian pop star Justin Bieber, 18, at No. 20 with $30 million from 29 shows as part of his ongoing "Believe" tour, and country-pop darling Taylor Swift, 23, who raked in $26 million from 21 shows from her "Speak Now World Tour."
Last year, Swift ranked No. 5 on Billboard's list with an estimated $97 million in ticket sales from her "Speak Now World Tour," while Bieber came in at No. 15 with $44 million.
Swift will embark on her third worldwide concert tour in support of her studio album "Red" in March 2013.

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Taylor Swift keeps Bruno Mars out of Billboard 200 top spot

 Country pop star Taylor Swift held her reign at the top of the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday, keeping retro-inspired R&B singer Bruno Mars' new album at bay.
Swift's latest album, "Red," released in October, held the No. 1 slot for a fifth non-consecutive week with sales of 208,000, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.
Mars' second album, "Unorthodox Jukebox," sold 192,000 copies in its opening week to take the No. 2 slot.
The album's lead single, "Locked Out of Heaven," stayed at the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a second week, and is the singer's fourth chart-topping single. It also tops the Digital Songs chart this week.
Hip hop artist The Game entered the chart at No. 6 with his fifth studio album, "Jesus Piece," selling 86,000 copies.
Four festive albums sat in the top ten this week, with Michael Buble's "Christmas" at No. 3, Rod Stewart's "Merry Christmas Baby" at No. 5, Blake Shelton's "Cheers, It's Christmas" at No. 8, and Lady Antebellum's "On This Winter's Night" at No. 10.

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Music, roses at singer Jenni Rivera's memorial

 Jenni Rivera's "celestial graduation" was marked by festive music, heartfelt speeches in Spanish and English and passionate chants of "Jen-ni! Jen-ni!"
Rivera's children and famed singers Olga Tanon and Joan Sebastian performed during the nearly 2 ½-hour Christian-themed memorial service Wednesday at the Gibson Amphitheatre, where thousands of fans gathered to salute the "Diva de la Banda" who died in a plane crash Dec. 9.
One fan, Veronika Flores, drove nearly eight hours from her home in Woodland, Calif., near Sacramento, to be united with other fans at the service.
"I just came to say goodbye to a Latina woman, La Gran Senora," she said, invoking the name of one of Rivera's most beloved songs.
Mexican singers Marco Antonio Solis and Ana Gabriel and actors Lou Diamond Phillips and Kate del Castillo were also among the guests at Wednesday's service.
A red casket sat onstage amid a sea of white roses as images of Rivera played on three big screens. Family members embraced and kissed the casket at the conclusion of the service, and thousands of fans lined up to lay more white roses atop it.
While most of the speeches and songs were delivered in Spanish, Rivera's children spoke in English, often directly to their late mother.
"We're not here to mourn the death," said son Michael, 21. "We're here to celebrate the life and graduation of a singer, an entertainer, a diva, a fighter, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, and more than anything, a mother — the best mother."
He then called for 27 seconds of silence for the victims of the massacre in Newtown, Conn.
Rivera's youngest child, 11-year-old Johnny, was heartbreakingly poised as he said, "The person that everyone's talking about is my mom."
"Mama, I've been crying so much these last few days. I miss you so much," said the little boy, wearing a red bow tie like many of his family members. "I hope you're taking care of my dad and I hope he's taking care of you, too."
Rivera's second husband, Juan Lopez, died in 2009. The couple divorced in 2003.
Rivera's brothers and sisters spoke lovingly of the singer, calling her "the queen of queens," ''perfectly imperfect" and an "eternal diva." Her father said Rivera's "happiness, smile and care for the public will never be forgotten." He then performed a song he wrote about his daughter, a woman who rose from humble roots to become "la Diva de la Banda."
One of Rivera's brothers said his sister "made it OK for women to be who they are. Jenni also made it OK to be from nothing with the hopes of being something."
The family asked that Latin radio stations play Rivera's song "La Gran Senora" at noon Thursday in her honor.
The service was closed to most media, although a broadcast of the proceedings was made available. A reporter from The Associated Press obtained entry to the venue.
The burial will be private.
Rivera's last album before her death, "La Misma Gran Senora," topped the Latin albums chart this week, selling 27,000 copies — the best sales week for any Latin album this year. Rivera also holds three spots on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
Rivera and six other people died Dec. 9 in a northern Mexico plane crash that remains under investigation. Rivera, a mother of five children and grandmother of two, was 43.
Rivera sold more than 15 million copies of her 12 major-label albums. Her soulful singing style and honesty about her tumultuous personal life won her fans on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. She was also an actress and reality TV star.
Born in Los Angeles, Rivera launched her career by selling cassette tapes at flea markets. By the end of the 90s, she won a major-label contract and built a loyal following.
Many of her songs deal with themes of dignity in the face of heartbreak, which Rivera spoke of openly with her fans.
She had recently filed for divorce from her third husband, was once detained at a Mexico City airport with tens of thousands of dollars in cash, and publicly apologized after her brother assaulted a drunken fan who verbally attacked her in 2011.
"She was a fighter, a woman who can push boundaries," said Flores. "That's why I liked her, because I'm just like her.

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Singer Odell first male to win Brit newcomer award

 Singer-songwriter Tom Odell was named the Brit Awards' tip for the top in 2013, the first male artist to receive the honor previously won by chart queens including Adele and Jessie J.
The 22-year-old, whose musical style and voice has drawn comparisons to Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin, beat London electronic duo AlunaGeorge and classically trained soul singer Laura Mvula to the Critics' Choice Award.
Selected by a panel of music industry experts, the annual prize goes to a British artist tipped for mainstream success, and previous winners have gone on to top charts in Britain and beyond.
"Looking at the list of amazing female artists who have won the Award already, I just hope I don't let the boys down!" Odell said in a statement.
He released his debut E.P. "Songs From Another Love" in late 2012 and followed up with a performance on the popular live music show "Later...with Jools Holland".
Odell also appears on the BBC's Sound of 2013 longlist and MTV's Brand New For 2013 selection of 10 up-and-coming artists, as the music business seeks to identify the chart-toppers of tomorrow.
Many acts, including Odell, already have record deals with major labels.

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"Gangnam Style" in line for UK dictionary inclusion

He has the most-watched video in Youtube history, become a pop sensation with a horse-riding dance craze that has swept the world and now Korean singer Psy may cement his place in popular culture with recognition from a British dictionary.
"Gangnam Style," Psy's signature song, has been chosen along with "fiscal cliff" and "Romneyshambles" as some of Collins Dictionary's words of the year.
"We were looking for words that told the story of the year," said Ian Brookes, the dictionary's consultant editor.
"Some words are from events that have been and gone and so are not likely to stick around ... but others are probably here to stay."
Other headline entries centered on American politics.
"Fiscal cliff" has drawn a lot of attention as the deadline for Congress and President Obama to agree on government spending and tax plans draws nearer.
While the term "Romneyshambles" entered the British public's consciousness after Mitt Romney's gaffe-ridden visit to London in July in which he questioned Britain's readiness to host the Olympics.
The inclusion of "47 percent" on the list after a leaked video showed Romney telling donors that 47 percent of Americans would definitely vote for Obama because of their dependency on the government capped off a bad year for the losing presidential candidate.
Collins received over 7,000 submissions on its online database.
Twelve words of the year - one for each month - were then selected on the basis of the frequency with which they were spoken, how many places they appeared and their longevity in public discourse.
Appearing on the Collins words of the year list is no guarantee of insertion in the next dictionary.
But Gangnam Style stands a very good chance, Brookes said.
"It's obviously a craze, so there's the possibility it will go away. But it's been heard by so many people that I think it's probably earned the right to go into the dictionary."
Other words of the year include "mummy porn" after the popularity of the "Fifty Shades of Grey" books, and "superstorm" after Superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc along the east coast of America in October.

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'Dwarf': Undergoing Controversial Lengthening Surgeries

Tiffanie DiDonato  said everything she has ever wished for has come true: a handsome husband, loving friends and a new baby. But most of her childhood dreams play out in simple, everyday victories, like taking out the trash or driving.

DiDonato, 32, was born with diastrophic dysplasia, a rare form of dwarfism. The condition left her with a "typical size" torso, but abnormally short arms and legs. By the time she was in middle school, she was only three-and-a-half feet tall.

Watch the full story on "Nightline" tonight at 11:35 p.m. ET

Growing up in Marlborough, Mass., DiDonato fantasized about being tall enough to grab something off the grocery store shelf, cook on the stove, take out the trash and drive a car, but almost everything was out of reach.

But that all changed when DiDonato endured an excruciating and controversial series of limb-lengthening surgeries, which breaks bones and forces them to re-grow longer. It was a decision she made when she was very young, knowing that it would have risks and rewards with a lifetime of consequences.

At age 8, DiDonato had her first surgery to lengthen her arms and gain four inches of height.

"When I woke up, when it hurt so much, you freeze it, almost like if you scream it is going to hurt worse," she said. "All you can do is kind of let the tears fall and deal with it and suck it up and let it ride."

When she was 15, DiDonato decided to have the surgery again. Ignoring the recommended maximum of four inches, she and her doctor decided not to put a cap on her growth. Her mother, who raised her to be a fierce fighter, said she supported her daughter's decision.

"It was all about independence," Robin DiDonato said. "It was doing things on her own, brushing her own hair. My biggest fear was her being dependent on others for her care because, let's face it, Gerry and I won't be around forever."

Her father, Gerry DiDonato, said he told her she didn't need to have the surgery, and it was torture to him to watch his daughter suffer.

"It was very nerve-racking," he said. "She would cry it out. It was tough … it's horrible."

But Robin never wavered. She said she didn't let herself cry in front of her daughter, even during the most gut-wrenching days.

"I was not going to because if I broke, maybe she would have too, maybe she would have stopped," Robin said. "Who knows what she would have done. I think she needed me to be strong for her."

After her second surgery, Tiffanie DiDonato gained an unprecedented 10 inches of additional height, putting her at 4-foot-10 -- right on the cusp of little-person status. She kept a journal, which she said helped her get through the painful process.

"I was honest with myself, if I wanted to die, if I felt like that's what I wanted to do, then I wrote it down," she said.

Her journal was turned into a memoir she defiantly titled "Dwarf." In it, DiDonato chronicles her "no pain, no gain" view of life and how surprisingly grateful she is for the experience.

"If you go through a struggle, if you know what sacrifice is, and you have felt a little pain, it makes you that much braver," she said. "It makes you a little bit more aware."

DiDonato is now married to Eric Gabrielse, a nearly-six-foot-tall Marine, and they recently welcomed a baby boy.

"She's so powerful and strong," Gabrielse said of his wife. "Being in the military, you need somebody that one, can be independent, but two, can be extremely supportive and because everything she's gone through, she's been through her own battles, so she knows exactly how to support me through mine."

Controversy Around Lengthening Surgeries

We first met DiDonato four years ago when she and Gabrielse were about to tie the knot. After her story aired, she caught flack for her lengthening surgeries from critics who said The Little People of America organization doesn't support the risky procedures.

Reza Garakani was also born with dwarfism and said he regrets that his father pushed him to have the lengthening surgery back in the '80s. He was 12.

"I did not want to undergo the painful procedure which, in my mind, I was worried that, what if this fails," he said. "For a few inches, I didn't want to damage my life. I was happy with who I am."

Unlike DiDonato, Garakani said the surgery left him paralyzed.

"Because of this procedure, I lost a major part of me," he said. "Before I was just an average dwarf. I could run around, I could play sports, I could swim and do things. Now, I can't do what I was able to do. I would have rather been three feet tall than be a few inches tall with all the complications."

Even DiDonato's father, who still has mixed feelings about the surgery, said it may have taken a physical toll on his daughter.

"Personally, I feel she lost a little mobility with the extreme lengthening," he said. "I'll always remember her with her little jeans on chasing a ball, but she feels good about herself and that's the most important thing."

But DiDonato said she was well aware of the risks from the start and has no regrets. It seems to have paid off. Being a new mom and the wife of a Marine, she seems to personify the Marine's fighting philosophy: Adapt and overcome.

"Having a baby, every day I'm adapting and overcoming, but I kind of feel like that's for every parent," she said. "Every mom, every dad, you have to take the punches as they come."

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Kim Kardashian brings out fans, Islamists and police in Bahrain

MANAMA (Reuters) - U.S. television celebrity Kim Kardashian brought out screaming fans, angry Muslim hardliners and police throwing stun grenades on Saturday when she visited Bahrain to launch a milkshake franchise, witnesses said.

About 100 Sunni Salafists demonstrated with banners outside The Walk Bahrain, an upmarket mall in the capital Manama, after some MPs tried to block the visit over what they called her "bad reputation", according to a local newspaper.

Thousands of fans, who had paid up to 500 Bahraini dinars a ticket, broke into hysterical screams as the 32-year-old celebrity launched the Millions of Milkshakes franchise inside the mall.

Witnesses said police dispersed the demonstrators with stun grenades as the inauguration proceeded inside. There were no reports of casualties.

Kardashian stirred controversy even before she arrived in Bahrain from Kuwait, where she opened another store last week.

Hardline Sunni Muslim MPs presented a motion to parliament calling her "an actress with an extremely bad reputation", according to Bahrain's English language Gulf Daily News.

The assembly did not vote on the motion, the newspaper said.

Many Kardashian fans tweeted their displeasure, saying the "MPs should focus their time on solving key political, economic and social issues", the newspaper reported.

Bahrain, where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based, is trying to overcome nearly two years of unrest among its majority Shi'ite Muslims demanding political reforms and equality with the Sunni Muslims who rule the kingdom.

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More mannequins, less clutter at heart of JC Penney plan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - More mannequins are on the floors of J.C. Penney stores. About 40,000 more.

They are one of the most visible changes J.C. Penney Co Inc Chief Creative Officer Michael Fisher has made to try to revive the 110-year-old department store chain, whose sales plunged 26.6 percent last quarter and whose shares have tumbled more than 50 percent this year.

Penney has a plan to transform its 700 larger stores by 2015: each store will contain 100 boutiques, offering brand-name fashion and home merchandise ranging from Levi's to PVH Corp's Izod to Martha Stewart.

Eight boutiques have been rolled out so far and the feedback has been good. But these chic spaces take up only a small part of a store, and about 89 percent of the floor is still the so-called "Old J.C. Penney."

That's where Fisher's new mannequins come in. The goal is to spruce up old store areas and stem the sales slide as more boutiques are introduced.

"Customers don't know what to buy. They love a mannequin that shows you how to put the outfit together," said Fisher, 55, as he gave Reuters a tour of Penney's Manhattan store last week.

"We find anything we put on a mannequin sells out."

That may sound like Retail 101 but it reflects a radical rethinking of the Penney shopping experience under CEO Ron Johnson, who joined the company from Apple Inc in late 2011. He poached Fisher from Apple in February this year.

Their strategy is to make Penney look like an upscale specialty store that still offers inexpensive wares, not a bazaar overflowing with ordinary merchandise and discount signs.

Pants, ties and shirts used to be presented in separate blocks in the men's section, but are now mingled together to make it easier for a shopper to imagine mixing and matching - and to encourage customers to buy more than one item. Plastic wrapping has been removed from men's dress shirts for a more upmarket presentation.

Another trick of the trade Fisher is using is the "ballet bar" clothing rack, which has one bar set a few inches above another - so tops and bottoms can be displayed together, again to suggest a whole outfit to the shopper.

These changes are not without risk - they could backfire and alienate Penney's traditional, discount-obsessed shopper.

"It's going to be for people who have more money," said long-time Penney shopper Elizabeth Sadallah, 52, as she hunted for bargains at a Penney store in Elmhurst, New York.

Patty Edwards, chief investment officer at Trutina Financial, warned that Penney may be overdoing the overhaul, even as she called the new boutiques "gorgeous" and "Apple-esque" in their design.

"Here's my concern: that's not their consumer," she said, adding that it was more urgent for Penney to improve its marketing to convince shoppers they are getting good deals.

Penney, which has about 1,100 stores, has stagnated for years, and was slow to recover from the last recession compared with Macy's Inc or Kohl's Corp . But analysts blame the hemorrhage in revenue this year to Johnson's move to scrap most coupons and sales events in favor of an "everyday low price" strategy.

Edwards said Penney's recent effort to highlight its relatively low prices by putting manufacturers' suggested retail price on price tags is a step in the right direction.

AIMING HIGHER

Fisher and Johnson worked together on Apple's stores, which are widely admired and generate $6,060 in annual sales per square foot, according to research from RetailSales.

While Apple's 390 stores are very different from Penney's much larger chain, there is clearly room for improvement.

Johnson has said Penney's new boutiques are generating sales at an annual rate of $269 a square foot, twice what the old parts of the stores do. Johnson also has said Penney can eventually get to numbers comparable to a specialty chain's. Last year, Gap Inc posted sales of $391 per square foot.

Fisher, who worked for Bloomingdale's for 17 years and guided Coach Inc's expansion in Japan, grew up in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and remembers a time when shopping at the local Penney was a special treat - a nicer place than the local Sears , he said.

That is the Penney he wants to help recreate, from sprucing up the kids sections to offer more than basics, to taking a page from IKEA for the home section, where products will be displayed as they would appear in a room.

Fisher said the importance of de-cluttering struck him one day when he saw a woman struggling to get to merchandise as she pushed a stroller at the Penney store in Manhattan.

"That's been my challenge, to turn 'J.C. Penney' into 'jcp' and treat it as a fashion specialty store," he said, referring to the hipper name the company is rebranding itself as.

Fisher sees signs of progress. Pointing to a young, hip shopper in red, skinny jeans, sneakers and a hoodie, he said he doubted that guy would have shopped in a Penney store before.

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More mannequins, less clutter at heart of J.C. Penney plan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - More mannequins are on the floors of J.C. Penney stores. About 40,000 more.

They are one of the most visible changes J.C. Penney Co Inc Chief Creative Officer Michael Fisher has made to try to revive the 110-year-old department store chain, whose sales plunged 26.6 percent last quarter and whose shares have tumbled more than 50 percent this year.

Penney has a plan to transform its 700 larger stores by 2015: each store will contain 100 boutiques, offering brand-name fashion and home merchandise ranging from Levi's to PVH Corp's Izod to Martha Stewart.

Eight boutiques have been rolled out so far and the feedback has been good. But these chic spaces take up only a small part of a store, and about 89 percent of the floor is still the so-called "Old J.C. Penney."

That's where Fisher's new mannequins come in. The goal is to spruce up old store areas and stem the sales slide as more boutiques are introduced.

"Customers don't know what to buy. They love a mannequin that shows you how to put the outfit together," said Fisher, 55, as he gave Reuters a tour of Penney's Manhattan store last week.

"We find anything we put on a mannequin sells out."

That may sound like Retail 101 but it reflects a radical rethinking of the Penney shopping experience under CEO Ron Johnson, who joined the company from Apple Inc in late 2011. He poached Fisher from Apple in February this year.

Their strategy is to make Penney look like an upscale specialty store that still offers inexpensive wares, not a bazaar overflowing with ordinary merchandise and discount signs.

Pants, ties and shirts used to be presented in separate blocks in the men's section, but are now mingled together to make it easier for a shopper to imagine mixing and matching - and to encourage customers to buy more than one item. Plastic wrapping has been removed from men's dress shirts for a more upmarket presentation.

Another trick of the trade Fisher is using is the "ballet bar" clothing rack, which has one bar set a few inches above another - so tops and bottoms can be displayed together, again to suggest a whole outfit to the shopper.

These changes are not without risk - they could backfire and alienate Penney's traditional, discount-obsessed shopper.

"It's going to be for people who have more money," said long-time Penney shopper Elizabeth Sadallah, 52, as she hunted for bargains at a Penney store in Elmhurst, New York.

Patty Edwards, chief investment officer at Trutina Financial, warned that Penney may be overdoing the overhaul, even as she called the new boutiques "gorgeous" and "Apple-esque" in their design.

"Here's my concern: that's not their consumer," she said, adding that it was more urgent for Penney to improve its marketing to convince shoppers they are getting good deals.

Penney, which has about 1,100 stores, has stagnated for years, and was slow to recover from the last recession compared with Macy's Inc or Kohl's Corp. But analysts blame the hemorrhage in revenue this year to Johnson's move to scrap most coupons and sales events in favor of an "everyday low price" strategy.

Edwards said Penney's recent effort to highlight its relatively low prices by putting manufacturers' suggested retail price on price tags is a step in the right direction.

AIMING HIGHER

Fisher and Johnson worked together on Apple's stores, which are widely admired and generate $6,060 in annual sales per square foot, according to research from RetailSales.

While Apple's 390 stores are very different from Penney's much larger chain, there is clearly room for improvement.

Johnson has said Penney's new boutiques are generating sales at an annual rate of $269 a square foot, twice what the old parts of the stores do. Johnson also has said Penney can eventually get to numbers comparable to a specialty chain's. Last year, Gap Inc posted sales of $391 per square foot.

Fisher, who worked for Bloomingdale's for 17 years and guided Coach Inc's expansion in Japan, grew up in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and remembers a time when shopping at the local Penney was a special treat - a nicer place than the local Sears, he said.

That is the Penney he wants to help recreate, from sprucing up the kids sections to offer more than basics, to taking a page from IKEA for the home section, where products will be displayed as they would appear in a room.

Fisher said the importance of de-cluttering struck him one day when he saw a woman struggling to get to merchandise as she pushed a stroller at the Penney store in Manhattan.

"That's been my challenge, to turn 'J.C. Penney' into 'jcp' and treat it as a fashion specialty store," he said, referring to the hipper name the company is rebranding itself as.

Fisher sees signs of progress. Pointing to a young, hip shopper in red, skinny jeans, sneakers and a hoodie, he said he doubted that guy would have shopped in a Penney store before.

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Rihanna to star in own U.S. fashion reality show

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Chart-topping R&B star Rihanna is delving into the world of fashion, starring in a reality television show competition that will challenge designers to make outfits for a handful of celebrities, U.S. cable channel Style Network said on Wednesday.

"Styled to Rock," set to premiere in the latter half of 2013, will feature 12 young designers handpicked by the Barbadian Grammy-winning singer.

The designers will be tasked with styling a celebrity guest on each episode, and the guest will help determine which designer moves on to the next round of the competition.

"Fashion has always played an integral part in my life and career. I am so excited to partner with Style Network and share my creative insight with these 12 designers and give them this opportunity to showcase their work," Rihanna, 24, said in a statement.

The singer will also serve as an executive producer under her given name, Robyn Rihanna Fenty. Style Network has yet to announce which celebrities will guest host or the fashion experts who will serve as mentors to contestants.

The series will piggyback on a British show of the same name in which Rihanna appeared over the summer.

The "Diamonds" singer recently concluded a seven-date globe-trotting tour in support of her new album "Unapologetic," which debuted atop the Billboard 200 album chart last week.

Style Network is a unit of Comcast Corp's NBCUniversal.

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