The Year in Music: November 2010

After years of lawsuits and legal red tape, the music of the Beatles finally became available on iTunes. “Here Comes the Sun” and “Something” were their most downloaded MP3s, while Abbey Road, which features those songs, became their most downloaded album.

 

Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn, which featured the star teaming up with Sheryl Crow and Miranda Lambert on the title track, was released. The rest of the compilation features covers of her hits by the White Stripes, Paramore, Alan Jackson, Lucinda Williams, Kid Rock, and more.

 

Though Miranda Lambert swept the 44th Annual Country Music Awards with four separate wins, controversy arises as to how host Carrie Underwood didn’t receive any nominations at all.

 

The 38th American Music Awards were the lowest-rated installment of the annual ceremony, with only 11.6 million viewers tuning in to see Justin Bieber become the youngest ever Artist of the Year honoree. The show was mostly remembered for its 18 individual performances, including the TV debut of supergroup NKOTBSB.

 

Nelly Furtado (Best Female Pop Vocal Album) and Alex Cuba (Best New Artist) became the first two Canadians to win Latin Grammys at the 11th annual Latin Grammy Awards.

 

The 2010 Soul Train Music Awards honored the year’s best in R&B and hip-hop, which included Alicia Keys, Eminem, Usher, and Ciara, among others, but it mostly took time to recognize legends like Ron Isley and Anita Baker.

 

Singer, actress, future reality-show judge, and former Mouseketeer Christina Aguilera receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It’s the bright spot in a bad year for Aguilera, who released an under-performing album, canceled a high-profile tour, and starred in the box-office bomb Burlesque in a matter of months.

 

With new Christmas-themed albums by Wilson Phillips, Indigo Girls, Celtic Thunder, and the cast of Glee already in stores, the year in holiday releases continued with Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas II You, Susan Boyle’s The Gift, Annie Lennox’s A Christmas Cornucopia and Jessica Simpson’s Happy Christmas.

 

Some of the new albums that hit store shelves just in time for holiday shoppers were My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys by My Chemical Romance, The Beginning by the Black Eyed Peas, Pink Friday by Nicki Minaj, Loud by Rihanna, All The Woman I Am by Reba McEntire, Nelly 5.0 by Nelly, Live It Up by Lee DeWyze, The Hits Collection, Vol. 1 by Jay-Z, I Am… World Tour by Beyonce, Teargarden By Kaleidyscope, Vol. 2: The Solstice Bare by The Smashing Pumpkins, Libra Scale by Ne-Yo, Only One Flo (Part 1) by Flo Rida, The DeAndre Way by Soulja Boy, Live in London by Regina Spektor, Let Freedom Reign by Chrisette Michele, the soundtrack to the movie Burlesque, and Tim McGraw’s Number One Hits.

 

Some of the people in music who left us this month included Bachman-Turner Overdrive bassist Jim Clench, composer John Gerrish, Broadway singer Michelle Nicastro, pianist Hotep Idris Galeta, the Myriad’s Randy Miller, opera singer Shirley Verrett, Models’ James Freud, composer Henryk Gorecki, yodeler Maria Hellwig, opera singer Roxana Briban, producer Mario Pacheco, singer Irena Anders, jazz singer Mimi Perrin, Croatian Eurovision Song Contest contestant 75 Cents (Ladislav Demeterffy), composer Piotr Hertel, clarinetist Monty Sunshine, Indian folk singer Shahir Vitthal Umap, and opera tenor Peter Hofmann.