50 Fun Facts About 2009 Music

Whose debut album opened with 701,000 US copies in November, the biggest sales week of any album in 2009?

Susan Boyle's I Dreamed a Dream was also the fastest-selling debut album ever in the UK, shifting 411,820 copies in its first week there and outselling the rest of the top five combined.

Which Flo Rida single, interpolating a 1984 Dead or Alive hit, set a first-week record of 636,000 downloads in February?

Right Round beat a download record set only a week earlier by 'Crack a Bottle', and its uncredited female hook was sung by a then-unknown Kesha.

Whose 'My Life Would Suck Without You' leapt 96 places to number one on the Hot 100 in one week, a record?

Kelly Clarkson broke a record she already held: her 2002 debut 'A Moment Like This' had set the previous biggest leap to the top.

Whose debut single 'Whatcha Say', built on Imogen Heap's 'Hide and Seek', topped the Hot 100 in November?

Jason Derulo had spent 2006 to 2009 writing songs for Diddy, Danity Kane and Lil Wayne before his own record reached number one in the issue dated November 14, 2009.

Who became the youngest person ever nominated for and awarded CMA Entertainer of the Year in November 2009?

Taylor Swift also won five of her six American Music Award nominations that month, and Fearless took Album of the Year at both the CMA and ACM awards in 2009.

Who played the Super Bowl XLIII halftime show in Tampa, having turned down numerous earlier invitations?

Bruce Springsteen called it probably the busiest month of his life: Working on a Dream became his ninth US number-one album and 'The Wrestler' won a Golden Globe.

Which band's 360° Tour, staged beneath a four-legged rig nicknamed 'The Claw', was the highest-grossing tour of 2009?

U2 took more than $311 million from 44 shows in 2009 alone, and by 2011 the tour had become the highest-grossing ever at the time, with $736 million in ticket sales.

Which Britpop band, reunited with guitarist Graham Coxon, headlined Glastonbury for the first time since 1998?

Blur's comeback also filled London's Hyde Park on 3 July, and The Guardian called them 'the best Glastonbury headliners in an age'.

Which British singer won Best New Artist at the 2009 Grammys, also taking a pop vocal award for 'Chasing Pavements'?

Adele's 'Chasing Pavements' had also been nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, and she collected both awards while still only 20.

Which 'Wall of Sound' producer was found guilty in April of shooting dead an actress at his California mansion in 2003?

Phil Spector was sentenced to 19 years to life the following month; the victim had been shot in the mouth at his Alhambra home, the Pyrenees Castle, and he died in prison in 2021.

Which group held the Hot 100's number one for 26 consecutive weeks in 2009 with two singles back to back?

The Black Eyed Peas' 'I Gotta Feeling' took over from 'Boom Boom Pow' at the top and stayed 14 weeks, the longest run of any number one that year.

Which Journey song's cover by the cast of Glee, heard in the show's May pilot, reached number four on the Hot 100?

Don't Stop Believin' reached number two in the UK for the Glee cast, in an arrangement adapted from Petra Haden's version that outperformed the original internationally.

Whose two Slumdog Millionaire Oscars in February came a day before the Pussycat Dolls released their 'Jai Ho!' remake?

A. R. Rahman's 'Jai Ho' became the highest-charting Oscar-winning song since 'Lose Yourself' in the Pussycat Dolls' version, fronted by Nicole Scherzinger.

Which Lady Gaga song did she perform at the 2009 VMAs in a piece that ended with her collapsing in stage blood?

Paparazzi's video had already won two VMAs that night, for art direction and special effects, and the performance itself was nominated as Most Iconic at the 2024 VMAs.

Which composer co-wrote the UK's 2009 Eurovision entry with Diane Warren and played piano on stage in Moscow?

Andrew Lloyd Webber's song finished fifth, the UK's best Eurovision result since 2002, after the entries on either side of it had both come last.

Which country quit the Moscow Eurovision after the EBU rejected its entry 'We Don't Wanna Put In' as rule-breaking?

Georgia's song by Stephane & 3G was heard as a dig at Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, and the broadcaster pulled out rather than change it.

Which Girls Aloud member's debut solo single 'Fight for This Love' sold 292,000 copies in its first week in October?

Cheryl Cole's opening week beat the 213,000 that Girls Aloud's own debut 'Sound of the Underground' had managed back in 2002.

Who won the sixth series of The X Factor on 13 December, with Olly Murs finishing as runner-up?

Joe McElderry's winner's single went straight to number one in Ireland, but a Facebook campaign for Rage Against the Machine denied it the UK Christmas number one; it topped the UK chart a week later.

Which Miley Cyrus ballad from the 2009 Hannah Montana film became the X Factor winner's single in a cover version?

The Climb was not written with the film in mind, yet it peaked at number four on the Hot 100 and was the eighth-best-selling digital single of 2009.

Which twins, called 'not very good and incredibly annoying' by Simon Cowell, became 2009's X Factor phenomenon?

Jedward were the seventh act eliminated, mentored by Louis Walsh, and the wave of ironic popularity that kept them in was dubbed 'the Jedward paradox'.

Whose comeback album Reality Killed the Video Star was beaten to UK number one by JLS's debut by about 1,500 copies?

Robbie Williams sold 238,125 copies that week, making it the first of his studio albums to miss number one in the UK.

Which 2008 X Factor winner's 'Bad Boys', featuring Flo Rida, entered the UK Singles Chart at number one in October?

Alexandra Burke's single shifted more than 187,000 copies in its first week, replacing Chipmunk's 'Oopsy Daisy' at the top.

Which 18-year-old's debut single 'Mama Do (Uh Oh, Uh Oh)' entered the UK Singles Chart at number one in June?

Pixie Lott's single sold 58,840 downloads in its first week and launched her debut album, Turn It Up.

Which synth-pop act fronted by Elly Jackson entered the UK Singles Chart at number one with 'Bulletproof'?

La Roux's Elly Jackson and producer Ben Langmaid cut 'Bulletproof' at Elfin Studios in Teddington before it was mixed in Virginia Beach.

Whose 'Number 1', featuring N-Dubz's Dappy, was the first song of that title ever to top a national chart?

Tinchy Stryder's single came from his album Catch 22, sold 87,000 copies in its first week and spent three weeks at the top.

Which German dance act kept 'Man in the Mirror' off UK number one the week after Michael Jackson died?

Cascada's 'Evacuate the Dancefloor', their first UK chart-topper, features a rap by Afro-German rapper Carlprit and also went to number one in the Netherlands.

Which UK Eurovision entrant replaced Keisha Buchanan in Sugababes in September, leaving no original members?

Jade Ewen had sung for Britain in Moscow just four months earlier, while Buchanan had been the last founding Sugababe after 11 years.

Which Boyzone singer died suddenly in Mallorca on 10 October, aged 33, of a congenital heart defect?

Stephen Gately shared lead vocals with Ronan Keating, and every Boyzone studio album released in his lifetime reached number one in the UK.

Which guitar pioneer, whose name is on Gibson's most famous solid-body model, died of pneumonia in August aged 94?

Les Paul's 1940s prototype 'the Log' inspired the Gibson Les Paul, and he had survived a near-fatal electric shock while jamming in his basement in 1941.

Which singer became the first woman to win three Brit Awards in one night, including British Album for Rockferry?

Duffy's Rockferry had been the UK's best-selling album of 2008, and the ceremony was hosted by Kylie Minogue, James Corden and Mathew Horne.

Which act took the Critics' Choice award at the 2009 Brits, months before its debut album Lungs was released?

Florence and the Machine's Lungs then sat at number two for its first five weeks on the UK chart and won British Album at the 2010 Brits.

Which Lily Allen single held UK number one for all four weeks of February, the longest run of any chart-topper in 2009?

The Fear led off It's Not Me, It's You, which entered at number one in the UK, Australia and Canada on 112,568 first-week British sales.

Which rapper's debut album, recorded mostly in Australia, won the 2009 Mercury Prize in an upset over Kasabian?

Speech Debelle's Speech Therapy came out on Big Dada, a small Ninja Tune imprint, and her track 'Spinnin'' was later reworked as an official London 2012 anthem.

Which supergroup formed in Los Angeles paired Josh Homme and Dave Grohl with Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones?

Them Crooked Vultures played their first gig in Chicago on 9 August 2009, though Grohl had floated the idea in a Mojo interview back in 2005.

Which Alice in Chains album, the first since Layne Staley's death, has Elton John on piano for its title track?

Black Gives Way to Blue's title song is Jerry Cantrell's tribute to Staley, and it was also the band's first record with William DuVall and first away from Columbia.

Which Green Day rock opera, following a young couple named Christian and Gloria, was produced by Nevermind's Butch Vig?

21st Century Breakdown went on to win Best Rock Album at the Grammys in January 2010, and its story plays out in an America emerging from the Bush years.

Which Muse album, a number one in 19 countries, includes the three-part, 13-minute symphony 'Exogenesis'?

The Resistance's lead single 'Uprising' was inspired by Goldfrapp and 1970s glam rock, and the symphony later got its own vinyl release for Record Store Day.

Which Arctic Monkeys album was partly recorded in the California desert at Rancho de la Luna with Josh Homme producing?

Humbug swapped the band's garage-punk for stoner and surf-rock shades, with the remaining tracks cut in New York by James Ford.

Which folk-rock band's debut album Sigh No More, led by the single 'Little Lion Man', came out in the UK in October?

Mumford & Sons' album became only the second debut after The Fame to sell a million digital copies, and it did not reach the US until February 2010.

Which experimental pop group named Metacritic's best-reviewed album of 2009 after a Maryland amphitheatre?

Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion is named for the venue where members Dave Portner and Brian Weitz went to concerts growing up; 'My Girls' was Pitchfork's best song of 2009.

Which pop-punk band announced its reunion on stage at the February Grammys, where it presented the rock album award?

Blink-182's hiatus had begun in February 2005; the award went to Coldplay, and a North American reunion tour followed from July to October.

Whose 'For Your Entertainment' performance at the American Music Awards drew 1,500 complaints to ABC?

Adam Lambert, American Idol's runner-up that May, gave the song its live debut at the Nokia Theatre on 22 November; ABC then pulled his 25 November booking.

Which Australian duo of Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore won seven ARIA Awards, including Album of the Year, in 2009?

Empire of the Sun's debut Walking on a Dream drew 11 nominations and has gone triple platinum in Australia, yet it peaked only at number six on the albums chart there.

Which debut single spent eight straight weeks atop Australia's ARIA chart, the longest number-one run there in 2009?

Tik Tok went on to spend nine weeks at number one on the Hot 100 in 2010 and is certified nine-times platinum in Australia.

Which nine-member South Korean act's 'Gee' topped KBS's Music Bank for nine consecutive weeks, a record at the time?

Girls' Generation's single also became the top-performing song of the entire 2000s on the Korean streaming platform Melon.

Which Canadian became the first artist to chart seven songs from a debut album on the Hot 100, with November's My World?

Justin Bieber set the mark on 17 November 2009, the day My World was released, while still only 15 years old.

Which Colombian singer hosted September's free Paz Sin Fronteras concert before over a million people in Havana?

Juanes drew more than 1.2 million people to Revolution Square, many dressed in white for peace, and the show was debated on the floor of the US House of Representatives.

Which rapper, never named in the lyrics, was widely read as the target of Mariah Carey's 2009 single 'Obsessed'?

Eminem had referenced Carey in several songs; 'Obsessed' peaked at number seven, her 27th Hot 100 top-ten hit and the only one of them to miss the top five.

Which crooner's album Crazy Love, led by 'Haven't Met You Yet', topped the Billboard 200 after only three days on sale?

Michael Bublé co-wrote 'Haven't Met You Yet' with Alan Chang and Amy Foster, and the 132,000-copy opening gave him his second US number-one album.

Which group became only the second hip-hop act inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in April 2009?

Run-DMC followed Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five into the Hall, at a ceremony that also inducted Metallica with former bassist Jason Newsted back on stage.