Clay Aiken – Top Holiday Music

By musicfan123 · Comments (6)
Thursday, December 16th, 2010

Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada. The data is collected weekly and is made available every Wednesday to subscribers, which include executives from all the different sections of the music, film and TV fields. SoundScan has been the sales source for the Billboard music charts since 1991.

On Wednesday, December 15, 2010, Billboard published their 100 Hot Lists.  Because of the holiday season, many holiday albums are a part of their list.  The following Holiday albums were all a part of the Top 50 albums by sales for the last week.

  1. Susan Boyle – The Gift
  2. Glee Cast – Christmas Album
  3. Jackie Evancho – O Holy Night
  4. Andrea Bocelli – My Christmas
  5. Mariah Carey – Merry Christmas II You
  6. Josh Groban – Noel
  7. Vince Guaraldi – Charlie Brown Christmas
  8. Now That’s What I Call Christmas V. 4 – Various Artists
  9. Annie Lennox – Christmas Cornucopia
  10. Chris Tomlin – Glory in the Highest: Christmas
  11. Lady Antebellum – Merry Little Christmas
  12. Michael Buble – Let It Snow
  13. Taylor Swift – Holiday Collection

When you look at the list, you can see that it is a combination of new albums and albums that have become classics.  I am sure that each one of the albums is very nice, but it certainly isn’t MY list of favorite Holiday Albums.  My list would be:

  1. Merry Christmas With Love – Clay Aiken (Surprise!!)
  2. All Is Well – Clay Aiken (I wish more people could hear these fabulous songs)
  3. It’s A Wonderful Christmas – Michael W. Smith (I can imagine Clay dueting on Christmas Day.)
  4. Let It Snow – Chanticleer – New Yorker Magazine calls Chanticleer “the world’s reigning male chorus.”  The 12 male voices range from countertenors to bass.  It’s different, but really amazing.
  5. Christmas Carol – James Galway – This 1986 album is more instrumental than vocal.  Because Galway is a flautist, the arrangements are a bit different than you find in other albums.

What about you?  Besides Clay’s fabulous Christmas music, do you have a favorite album or recording?  If so, why not let us know.  We don’t need Billboard – we can put together are own Top list!!

Did you see the great music player that Team Clay put on Twitter today?  What a fun way to hear Clay sing O Holy Night!

O Holy Night


Another Twitter entry today revealed this great page.  Be sure to click on the chocolate to see the entire site!!

Here at Clay HQ we're enjoying some holiday treats! Look for a treat from us to you this coming Friday (though not the chocolate kind...)

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Clay Aiken – Roasted Boar or Figgy Pudding?

By musicfan123 · Comments (39)
Monday, December 6th, 2010

We need your help!! We all know that Clay Aiken sings carols better than anyone.  His album, Merry Christmas With Love and his EP, All Is Well are both examples of the beauty of the songs and the richness of Clay’s voice.

Many fans would love to see Clay perform again at the holiday time…….hopefully in 2011.  Many others are hoping for a new holiday album.  This is where you come in.  We need a list of the songs you would like to see on a new holiday album by Clay. Please don’t get too carried away….maybe a list of about 3 songs.  On December 13th, I will list the songs in popular order and we can see what our “scientific” poll chooses.

It might be more fun if you add your choices before you read what others choose.  I hope we get lots of different ideas.  Also, let’s not include any songs he has already recorded.  Although Clay commented that he would love to re-record some of the songs, we are looking for a list of different songs.

There is no doubt about it – Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without carols.  Even people who do not attend church still enjoy carols.  For some, they bring back all those memories of a childhood long ago and far away.  For others, Carols bring home the message and the spirit of Christmas as nothing else can.

Carols are about a baby, and a star, and the angels, and peace, goodwill, and figgy pudding.  Some carols also recall the old pagan times of holly and mistletoe, yule logs and evergreen trees, roaring fires and roasted boar and wassil.

Thank you for participating in our Christmas music list.  I hope you all will give it a try…..you’ve got all week to pick your favorites.

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Clay Aiken – Still Holds The Record

By musicfan123 · Comments (10)
Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

Today is an anniversary of sorts in the ClayNation.  On November 16, 2004, Merry Christmas With Love, Clay Aiken’s first Christmas album was released by RCA.

The beautiful holiday album debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Top Holiday Albums chart with first week sales of 270,100 units.  This fete gave Merry Christmas With Love the biggest debut week sales figure for a Christmas album since the Soundscan era began in 1991.  Additionally, the album opened at #4 on the U.S. Billboard 200.  This chart tracks all album sales regardless of genre.  These numbers give Merry Christmas With Love the highest debut for a holiday album since Celine Dion’s album six years earlier.

Amazingly, the album is still has the highest debut sales of a holiday album in Soundscan history.  No one has beaten the record yet! Merry Christmas With Love reached platinum in only 6 weeks.  The album has sold over 2 million units worldwide.

Clay received many awards for MCWL.

Billboard Awards:

  • 2004: Won – Best Selling Christmas Album
  • 2005:  Won – Best Selling Christian Album

American Christian Music Awards

  • 2005: Won – Outstanding Yule CD

Even with all its success, Merry Christmas With Love had mixed reviews by the critics.  All of them enjoyed Clay’s voice, but a few thought the album was to “old-fashioned”…. ?!?

Christmasreviews.com had a great review of the album.  The author, a self-professed AI junkie, wrote a detailed review that included:

… Aiken has released Merry Christmas With Love, a lovely, heartfelt holiday card to his millions of adoring fans. The release definitely plays to Aiken’s strengths; this is no frivolous pop froth. Aiken sings these Christmas classics with the gusto of a seasoned holiday music icon, somewhat reminiscent of Sinatra or Como. Aiken is often compared with Harry Connick, Jr., and it’s a fair comparison. The arrangements are relatively straightforward, and Aiken’s stylings are old-fashioned, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. Although Aiken’s clean voice is accompanied by considerable engineering magic and background vocals, the production is largely restrained and tasteful. No annoying gimmicks clutter the fine music here.

Clay is in great company when you see the list of the best-selling Holiday albums of the different years in 2000.  I tried to find as many numbers as I could for each album, but I was not able to find all the details for all the albums.  The following are the numbers that I could find.

  • The best-selling Holiday album of 2000 was Dream a Dream, by Charlotte Church. The album went platinum after 2 seasons.
  • The best-selling Holiday album of 2001 was  Now That’s What I Call Christmas, by various artists. The album went platinum in two seasons
  • The best-selling Holiday album of 2002 was Now That’s What I Call Christmas, by various artists.  See 2001
  • The best-selling Holiday album of 2003 was Harry for the Holidays, by Harry Connick, Jr. The album went platinum during the second holiday season.  It reached #12 on the Billboard Charts.
  • The best-selling Holiday album of 2004 was Merry Christmas with Love, by Clay Aiken.
  • The best-selling Holiday album of 2005 was The Christmas Collection, by Il Divo.  The album charted at #12
  • The best-selling Holiday album of 2006 was Wintersong, by Sarah McLachlan. 20,000 units sold the first week.
  • The best-selling Holiday album of 2007 was Noel, by Josh Groban.  It sold less than 70,000 the first week, but exploded after a performance on Oprah.
  • The best-selling Holiday album of 2008 was Noel, by Josh Groban.  It is 5 times platinum.
  • The best-selling Holiday album of 2009 was My Christmas, by Andrea Bocelli. It sold approximately 100,000 the first week.

Clay’s debut sales figure might be challenged this year.  Susan Boyle’s new holiday album, The Gift will get great numbers.  We should get the totals today.  Mariah Carey also has a new album, Merry Christmas II You.  Sales are predicted to be around 56,000.

It is amazing that Merry Christmas With Love by Clay Aiken is still holding the record for most holiday albums sold in the debut week.  I am glad that so many people loved the album.

Do you have a favorite song from the album?

The information for this article came from Reality TV World, Billboard, Amazon, Wikipedia and Paul Grein at Chart Watch.

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Clay Aiken – Celebrating Christmas in November!

By musicfan123 · Comments (5)
Saturday, November 6th, 2010

Even though it is only November 6th, you can’t seem to get away from Christmas furor.  From the rows of decorations and toys in the stores to the jingles on TV advertisements, you would think that Christmas was only a few days away.

It was the same on November 6th, 2007.  Clay Aiken found himself in Las Vegas, Nevada,  celebrating Christmas on an Ice Skating rink at The Orleans Hotel and Casino.

Joining a cast of top figure skating stars, Clay was featured as the musical star of a Christmas ice-skating special.  Clay joined Sasha Cohen, Todd Eldredge, Yuka Sato, Shae-Lynn Bourne and many other figure skating stars to tape the Capital One Holiday on Ice.

The Skating Arena holds 9,000 people and the seats were filled with both Clay Aiken fans and skating fans.  In all, Clay sang eight Christmas songs.  One of my favorites was Merry Christmas With Love. Married skaters, Jenny Meno and Todd Sand skated gracefully to this beautiful song.

The evening ended with a wonderful skate by Clay, who joined the skaters in a lap around the rink.  It looked like both Clay and the skaters enjoyed the bravos from the fans and everyone looked like they were having a great time.

I was lucky enough to be a part of the audience.  It seemed like wherever I looked, I saw another Clayfan and received a big hello, followed by a hug.  There is nothing like the feeling of family when you are attending a Clay performance.

The wonderful figure skating program was broadcast on NBC on Christmas Day and yes, I watched it!  Did you?

The following videos will put you in the holiday mood and just maybe…….you won’t miss Clay so much!

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Clay Aiken – No One Sings Carols Better!

By musicfan123 · Comments (14)
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

No one sings Christmas Carols better than Clay Aiken.  Somehow, his voice just soars when he sings the beautiful songs of the season. His album, “Merry Christmas With Love set a record for 1st week sales of a holiday album with sales of 270,010.  When Clay released his Holiday EP, “All Is Well” in 2006, he added four more beautiful songs to his library of recorded Christmas Carols.

Clay included one of the most loved traditional Christmas Carols, “O, Holy Night,” on his album. This carol has been named one of the most beautiful of all Christmas Carols, with excellent lyrics and a beautiful melody.

The author of the lyrics was Placide Cappeau who lived in the historic city of Avignon. He was a commissionaire of wines, and an occasional writer of poetry. The local parish priest asked Cappeau to write a Christmas poem.

On a trip to Paris, Cappeau took the poem to the composer Adolphe Adam.  Adam was the composer of over 80 stage works. Adam wrote the tune in a few days, and the song received its premier at the midnight mass on Christmas Eve 1847.

There is some interesting trivia associated with this song: in 1906, Canadian inventor Reginald Fessenden made what many consider to be the first ever radio broadcast in Brant Rock, Massachusetts. His brief broadcast included him playing “O Holy Night” on the violin, making it the first song ever broadcast on radio.

 


“O, Holy Night”

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining;
This is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, oh night when Christ was born;
O night, oh holy night, oh night divine.

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, oh night when Christ was born;
O night, oh holy night, oh night divine.

 

No one sings this beautiful carol better than Clay Aiken!!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf8589ahRMI


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Clay Aiken – An Overcoat, A Striped Scarf and a Black Hat

By musicfan123 · Comments (13)
Sunday, November 29th, 2009

There is nothing that symbolizes the commencement of the holiday season more than the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.  The Ceremony is always a fun event, full of pomp and celebrities.

The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree tradition began formally in 1933 when a tree was decked with 700 lights and placed in front of the then eight-month old RCA Building, which is now the GE Building. The Christmas tradition was enhanced in 1936 with the opening of the Rockefeller Plaza outdoor ice skating pond. NBC-TV televised the first tree lighting in 1951 on “The Kate Smith Show” and as part of the nationwide “Howdy Doody” television show from 1953-55.

The Christmas tree that adorns Rockefeller Center is usually a Norway Spruce. The director of the Rockefeller Center gardens prefers the tree be between 75 and 90 feet tall and proportionally wide. Norway Spruce that grow in forests don’t typically reach these proportions, so the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree tends to be one that was planted in someone’s front or back yard. There is no compensation offered in exchange for the tree, other than the pride of having donated the tree that appears in Rockefeller Center.

Over five miles of lights are used to decorate the tree every year. Only the lights and the star decorate the tree. The tree is recycled and the 3 tons of mulch are donated to the Boy Scouts. The largest portion of the trunk is donated to the U.S. Equestrian team in New Jersey to use as an obstacle jump.

On November 30, 2004, Clay Aiken was part of the star-studded hour-long special on NBC celebrating the lighting the world’s most famous tree.

Co-hosts for the evening were Al Roker and Nancy O’Dell.  Olympic Gold Medalist Sarah Hughes skated to Vanessa Williams who sang “Silver and Gold.”

Besides Clay, the musical lineup for the special included performances by Hilary Duff, Kenny Chesney, Tony Bennett, Jessica Simpson, Nick Lachey, Chris Isaak, Michael Buble, Vanessa Williams, and The Radio City Rockettes. Chicago was the special house band for national telecasts.

Clay was dressed for cold weather in an overcoat, striped scarf and a black hat.  Clay sang “Winter Wonderland” during the National broadcast, and “Hark the Herald Angels Sing/O Come All Ye Faithful” during the earlier hour broadcast that was only shown in New York.

At the beginning of Clay’s live segment during the National Broadcast, the audience sang “Happy Birthday” to Clay, as it was his 26th birthday.  Towards the end of the show, Clay joined the line of guests, as they closed the show by singing the song, “Let It Snow.”

Clay Aiken fans were excited to see Clay as a part of this exciting evening. It was an excellent opportunity to be seen and for people to be introduced to Clay’s Christmas album. “Mary Christmas With Love.”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U6Jy-1r6Fg

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VeSVMICLw4


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Clay Aiken – Too Much To Do

By musicfan123 · Comments (11)
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

The month of November in 2004 has to have been one of the most exciting, busy and probably frustrating months for Clay Aiken. There were so many important things happening in his career that month.


The list is long.  Are you ready??

  1. 11-8  The Cover of TV Guide
  2. 11-9  World Children’s Day – McDonalds House
  3. 11-14 Presenter at the American Music Awards
  4. 11-15 Guest on Larry King Live – ½ hour interview
  5. 11-16 Release of CD, Merry Christmas With Love
  6. 11-16 Release of Book, Learning To Sing
  7. 11-19 Host of Voices of Change Gala for BAF
  8. 11-26 Start of Christmas Tour
  9. 11-30 Musical Star at the Christmas in Rockefeller Center
  10. 11-30 Birthday!

Oh, wait!!  I forgot to mention all the TV shows that Clay appeared in to promote his book, CD and Christmas Special.

Then, to top it off, Clay became ill with a serious infection.  Following doctors orders, he had to postpone the beginning of his tour and was not able to perform at the Voices of Change Gala.  I’m tired just reading the schedule.

On November 17th, Clay was in New York, feeling under the weather, and had an interview with Katie Couric promoting Learning To Sing and Merry Christmas With Love. They talked about what the Idol experience had taught him, about being a nerd in Middle School, and accepting who you are, believing in yourself, and learning from your life experiences.

The following video shows the visit with Katie.  I had to look for this one.  Do you remember this?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp4bEN3QlD4




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It is not always about performance art, but about receiving positive energy from people with positive spirits. Sometimes we can see someone's spirit, and those are the people with great energy. Those are the people that get me through the day, especially on Broadway. -Clay Aiken

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