Aitch completes skydive for World Down’s Syndrome Day

Here are the biggest albums yet to come for the rest of 2023,

Thania Garcia For a ninth week, Morgan Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time” rules over the albums chart, resisting monumental debut numbers and new releases from K-pop group Seventeen, Eslabon Armado, Jack Harlow and more. In its latest tracking week, as measured by Luminate, Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time” earns the equivalent of 138,000 sales in the United States and 174 million streams of its 36 songs. With another consecutive week at No. 1, the 36-song set joins Wallen’s previous “Dangerous: The Double Album” as the only album to log nine weeks in a row at the summit. The LP dominated the list for 10 weeks without interruption in early 2021 and sits at No. 5 this week in its 118th week in the top 10.

Mike McCahill Guest Contributor Ahead of the “Coronation Concert” – aired on the BBC on Sunday as the climax of the weekend’s royal celebrations – all the talk was of who wasn’t going to perform. Multiple A-listers (Adele, Ed Sheeran, Harry Styles et al.) were reported to have declined official invitations, and their wariness around hitching their brands to what often feels like Britain’s longest-running soap opera, currently scattering followers after a succession of unsavory plotlines, now seems understandable. Tonight, as we were confronted with the concert’s arbitrarily assembled ensemble, it’s clear we were probably only a few refusals away from witnessing the Duke of York bashing a tray with a spoon.

Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding are surging ahead for a fifth week at Number 1 with Miracle. It would become Ellie’s longest-running Number 1 single in the UK.

Ed Sheeran is celebrating his court victory with style.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic To say that the music industry was glued to reports coming out of the Ed Sheeran copyright infringement trial, and particularly the verdict, would be an understatement, coming as it did after the “Blurred Lines” case had a very different outcome. Ilene Farkas, the lead attorney from Pryor Cashman, which handled Sheeran’s defense, says the two trials weren’t exactly comparable, but knew well that many songwriters who worry they could end up in the same shoes as Sheeran were counting on a victory for the singer-songwriter to establish some fresh precedent for having future copyright claims facing a higher burden of proof. Farkas spoke with Variety the day after the verdict came in favoring Sheeran over the plantiffs, heirs of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” co-writer, Ed Townsend.

Ed Sheeran is celebrating his win in court with a surprise performance in an unexpected spot.

Post Malone is this year’s recipient of a distinguished songwriting award.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Ed Sheeran was found not liable Thursday in Manhattan federal court on a copyright claim alleging that he lifted key elements from the Marvin Gaye ’70s hit “Let’s Get It On” for his own “Thinking Out Loud.” The verdict that found him not liable for copyright infringement came after just a few hours of deliberation Thursday. Standing outside the courtroom, Sheeran read a statement for reporters that made it clear how frustrated he felt at being accused of plagiarism and having the case reach trial. “It looks like I’m not going to have to give up my day job after all,” Sheeran said, alluding to a statement he’d made on the stand earlier this week suggesting that he would feel compelled to quit music if the verdict went against him.

Here are the biggest albums yet to come for the rest of 2023,

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor The Songwriters Hall of Fame announced today that Post Malone will be the 2023 recipient of the Hal David Starlight Award, which is intended to honor “gifted young songwriters who are making a significant impact in the music industry with their original songs.” The award was created in 2004 to honor Hal David, Burt Bacharach’s longtime songwriting partner and SHOF chairman emeritus, for his support of young songwriters. Past recipients include Taylor Swift, Drake, Ed Sheeran, Lil Nas X, Sara Bareilles, Nick Jonas, Halsey, Nate Ruess, Imagine Dragons’ Dan Reynolds, John Legend, Alicia Keys, Ne-Yo, Benny Blanco, Jason Mraz, John Mayer, Rob Thomas, and John Rzeznik.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Testimony wrapped up in the Ed Sheeran copyright infringement trial at the end of the court day Wednesday, as the judge sent the Manhattan jury into deliberations with a pointed admonition: “Independent creation is a complete defense, no matter how similar that song is.” U.S. District Court Judge Louis Stanton’s instructions may have left a high bar in the jury’s minds for just how much evidence the plaintiffs’ attorneys needed to have established to prove that Sheeran and his co-writer actually copied Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” when they wrote the pop hit “Thinking Out Loud.” According to Insider, Stanton told jurors that the lawyers for the heirs of Gaye’s co-writer, Ed Townsend, needed to “prove by a preponderance of the evidence… that Sheeran actually copied and wrongfully copied ‘Let’s Get It On'” — as opposed to the coincidental, negligible similarities argued by Sheeran’s attorneys.

Ed Sheeran is still attending his ongoing copyright trial in New York City, even if it meant he had to miss his late grandmother’s funeral.

The “Perfect” replacements! Ed Sheeran and Alanis Morissette will fill in for American Idol judges Katy Perry and Lionel Richie as they perform at King Charles III’s coronation.

Thania Garcia Alanis Morissette and Ed Sheeran will join Luke Bryan as “American Idol” guest judges on May 7. The pair have been selected to take over for Katy Perry and Lionel Richie, who will be traveling overseas for their upcoming performances at King Charles III’s coronation. ABC revealed the switch on May 1, adding that Perry and Richie will still be checking into “Idol” with live updates from all the festivities at Windsor Castle. Morissette and Sheeran are scheduled to take over the show’s “616” episode, where America will cast their votes for the remaining top 5 contestants. This is the first “Idol” appearance for both of the guest judges, who will deliver performances of their own on the episode, with Morissette singing one of her many hits and Sheeran singing his new single, the ballad “Boat.”

has revealed who will be filling in for Katy Perry and Lionel Richie as they complete their coronation duties across the pond.Alanis Morissette and Ed Sheeran will serve as guest judges on Sunday, May 7, alongside Luke Bryan, while Perry and Richie fulfill their duties, ABC announced Monday.Morissette will be pulling double duty as she will also be a mentor to the remaining hopefuls, who will be performing her songs live on stage. The contestants will also perform duets of Sheeran's popular songs.Both are also slated to perform. Morissette will take the stage to perform one of her classics while Sheeran, who will be celebrating the release of his latest album, — (pronounced ), will perform his new single.

facing legal woes in a copyright infringement trial over his 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud.”The 32-year-old, who admitted he would be “done” if the trial doesn’t go his way, has also opened up about a “horrible month” that devastated him in February 2022.While still reeling from his wife Cherry’s cancer diagnosis, he was then shattered by the death of his best friend, British music entrepreneur Jamal Edwards, who helped launch his career.  “I don’t think I’ll ever get to February and be like, ‘This is a great month,’ ” says the “Shape of You” singer-songwriter in “Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All,” a four-part Disney+ docuseries that premieres on Wednesday. “That was a horrible, horrible month.

Train is set to chug, er, travel all over the country on their 47-concert 2023 nationwide tour that will send them from Alaska all the way to Delaware.Now that’s a commute.Along the way, the band that brought the world “Soul Sister” and “Drops Of Jupiter” is set to drop into New York City’s The Theater at Madison Square Garden on May 2 and Atlantic City’s Caesars on Aug. 25.The septet can’t wait to hit the road either.“Gonna make this the best summer ever,” they shared on Instagram.Plus, on select dates, Pat Monahan and co.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The copyright case in which Ed Sheeran is being sued for allegedly lifting portions of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” for his own “Thinking Out Loud” took on some unexpected drama Wednesday afternoon when the plaintiff, Kathryn Townsend Griffin, collapsed and had to be carried out of court, causing an interruption in otherwise routine testimony. According to CNN, Townsend Griffin (pictured above left) — the daughter of “Let’s Get It On” co-writer Ed Griffin — fainted about two minutes into the Sheeran team’s cross-examination of a musicologist who had been brought in to testify that there was a substantial similarity between the two songs.

A video that Ed Sheeran’s lawyers tried to stop being shown to jurors in the big ‘Thinking Out Loud’ song-theft trial is the “smoking gun” that proves that the pop star ripped off Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’ when he wrote his song. Or so said a lawyer representing the estate of ‘Let’s Get It On’ co-writer Ed Townsend as that trial got underway in New York yesterday. But not so, reckoned Sheeran himself.