Horus Music began in 2006, but there were also quite a few other significant events that happened within the music industry that year too. Here we recount just some of the main musical events of the momentous year of 2006.
24th January – British girl band All Saints announce they will regroup for a tour and album later in the year.
22nd February – The one billionth song is downloaded on iTunes; the song is “Speed of Sound” by Coldplay.
18th February – The Rolling Stones give a free concert to two million people in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
11th March – James Blunt, with his single “You’re Beautiful”, becomes the first British artist to top the US Billboard Hot 100 chart since Elton John with “Candle in the Wind 1997″ almost nine years earlier.
5th April – Eminem files for divorce Kim, less than three months after they were married for the second time.
25th April – The Goo Goo Dolls, celebrate 20 years in the music industry with the release of “Let Love In”.
29th – 30th April – The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival takes place in Indio, California, USA. Performers include Madonna, James Blunt, Kanye West, Daft Punk, Depeche Mode, and Paul Oakenfold.
1st May – 1,951 guitarists simultaneously play Jimi Hendrix’s song “Hey Joe” in Wrocław, Poland. They set a new Guinness World Record.
21st May – Madonna begins her ‘Confessions Tour’ in Los Angeles, USA. Tickets were sold out within minutes in North America, Europe, and Asia, resulting in new dates to be announced in New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and London. The tour grossed more than US $260 million – the highest grossing tour in history by a female artist.
8th June – Shakira’s single “Hips Don’t Lie” sells 266,500 downloads in its first week of availability, overtaking D4L’s record of 175,000. “Hips Don’t Lie” also gains the greatest airplay in a single week with 9,657 plays, breaking Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” record of 9,582.
19th June – Taylor Swift released her first single, “Tim McGraw”, at 16 years old. It was a top 10 hit.
30th July – The last ever weekly edition of the British chart show, ‘Top of the Pops’ is broadcast. The show had been on TV for 42 years.
1st August – The 10th anniversary of television channel MTV2′s launch and the 25th anniversary of MTV’s launch.
23rd August – Horus Music founded.
5th September – The Mercury Music Prize is held in the UK, with Arctic Monkeys’ debut album “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” winning ahead of entries from acts such as Muse and Thom Yorke. Audioslave’s third and final album, “Revelations”, is released.
15th October – New York City music club CBGB closes after a lengthy rent dispute. Patti Smith performs the final show at the club that night.
11th November – Kylie Minogue resumes ‘Showgirl – The Homecoming Tour’ in Sydney, Australia after a break of a year and a half resulting from undergoing treatment for breast cancer.
6th December – Beyoncé achieves her fourth number one single in the U.S. with “Irreplaceable”, which then went on to become the best selling single of 2007.
25th December 25 – James Brown dies.
It’s hard to believe that all of these events took place 10 years ago. 2006 was a good one!
