Image source, AP

Fun fact to finish: 21 years ago today, Michael Jackson's Earth Song, external hit the top of the UK chart for six weeks, giving him the Christmas number one.

That's us done for another day, scroll down for new music from Izzy Bizu and Taylor Swift / Zayn, check out Robbie Williams duet with Jamie Cullum, plus news on Justin Bieber and Peter Doherty.

On Monday, its the BBC Music Awards so join us for the run-up to the event.

Until then, marvel at some of things that we learned in this week's Music News LIVE.

Image source, Getty Images

1. If you're a Morrissey fan and you go to one of his gigs... he's ranking you... 

Morrissey has an unusual hobby when he is on a lengthy world tour.

Writing on his own fansite, external, the former Smiths singer has ranked this year's audiences in order of their "appreciation".

If you hail from Mozza's hometown Manchester, congrats, you only managed eighth in his top 15 strong league table of crowds.

MUST. DO. BETTER.

Read more

Image source, Getty Images

2. Beyonce is now the most Grammy nominated woman. Like, EVER.

Beyonce's Lemonade still has plenty of fizz. She is now the most nominated woman in Grammys history with her nine nominations this year, adding to her previous 53.

She's won twenty of them and could be set to leapfrog her hubby Jay Z's haul of 21 come awards night on 12 February.

Read more.

3. Vinyl currently makes more money than downloads 

For the first time ever, more pre-Christmas cash was spent on vinyl in a week than money spent on downloaded albums.

Vinyls earned £2.4m last week, while downloads took in £2.1m, according to the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA).

The upturn's been attributed, in part, to supermarkets selling vinyl and its also worth noting that vinyl is, by some way, the more expensive medium.

Read more

4. Paloma Faith is a big fan of the NHS 

Midweek saw Paloma Faith welcome her first child into the world and she admits she couldn't have done it without the NHS.

As such, she has written an emotional thank you to the doctors midwives and nurses at University College Hospital in London.

She said she was "humbled" by their "the devotion, kindness and commitment" .

Good work guys and gals.

Read more

Image source, AP

5. Justin Bieber fans have a lot of time on their hands

Justin Bieber has not one, not two, not three...

...okay yes, three. Entries that is, in Vevo's top 10 list for the most viewed videos this year worldwide, with five of the top ten gaining over a billion views worldwide.

Topping the list is Bieber's Sorry which had seen a massive 1.8bn views when the list was sent out...but is already now beyond the 2bn mark.

That is the equivalent of 16,630 years of solid apologizing.

We know that feeling alright.

Read more

BBC Radio 3

Following a critically acclaimed appearance at Glastonbury in the summer, conductor Charles Hazlewood has been talking about the concert tour of Philip Glass’ David Bowie inspired symphonies, Heroes and Low.

Otherwise known as Symphony No. 4 (Heroes), is a 45-minute piece, in six movements based on Bowie’s 1977 album Heroes.

Speaking to Radio 3's In Tune, Hazlewood says the artists were big fans of each other.

They've collaborated with the likes of Tyler the Creator and Ghostface Killah but Toronto-based jazz band BADBADNOTGOOD have gone old school as they covered an absolute classic Beach Boys track for Australian radio station Triple J.

They teamed up with Sydney producer Jonti for the performance, which you can watch below.

Warning: Third party content, may contain ads.

Image source, Getty Images

A travel notebook kept by British songwriter PJ Harvey on her trip to Kosovo has inspired the writing of new radio drama.

On Kosovo Field is written by Fin Kennedy and stars Michelle Keegan (Our Girl, Coronation Street) and Nico Mirallegro (Rillington Place, Common) over five episodes, featuring unreleased song demos from the musician woven through.

Harvey’s latest album The Hope Six Demolition Project and her book of poetry The Hollow Of The Hand draws from several journeys undertaken by Harvey over a four-year period from 2011-2014; one of those being to Kosovo.

PJ said: “When I’m writing a song I visualise the entire scene.

"Gathering information from secondary sources felt too far removed for what I was trying to write about. I wanted to smell the air, feel the soil and meet the people of the countries I was fascinated with.”

PJ, like the rest of you, will be able to hear how the story turns out on BBC Radio 4 every weekday morning from 9-13 January.

BBC 6 Music

Image source, Getty

In yesterday's Music News LIVE, we told you about the first new Jesus and Mary Chain track in nearly 20 years.

Steve Lamacq had the first play of Amputation on his 6 Music show yesterday and, thanks to the magic of iPlayer, you can hear it again below - around 39 minutes in.

Set your shoes to gaze mode...

Another new music release for y'all now.

Jack White has recorded a classy black and white performance video for the song The Rose With the Broken Neck, which he recorded for producer Danger Mouse's epic 2011 Rome album.

The performance was recorded at the Pink Garter Theatre in Jackson, Wyoming in April last year and begins with Jack spinning a ripping yarn about how the song-writing collaboration came about.

Warning: Third party content, may contain ads.

Image source, Thinkstock

YouTube has apparently agreed to pay millions of dollars in unclaimed music royalties following an agreement with the US National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA).

The payout refers to tracks with unknown owners shown on the platform between August 2012 and December 2015.

Publishers who opt in will be sent a list and will then have a window in which to claim ownership.

The total has not been confirmed, but was reported by the New York Times, external to be more than $40m (£31m).

Earlier this week, YouTube said it had paid the music industry $1bn (£794m) in royalties already this year - but record companies said it was not enough.

"The announcement gives little reason to celebrate...with 800 million music users worldwide, YouTube is generating revenues of just over $1 per user for the entire year," said global music body, the IFPI.

Read more

Ok it's Friday, so it must be new music time? Right?

How's about a bit of newly-crowned BBC Introducing Artist of the Year Izzy Bizu, with her video for brand new single Talking To You.

It's been a mad crazy year for the 22-year-old South Londoner, who released her debut album in September, was also nominated for a MOBO Awards and has just returned from a short tour of America.

But she's keeping grounded. Despite the song title this new number is apparently not aimed at you (out there), but is in fact written for her old man.

Izzy told the BBC: “That one’s about my dad, and it’s just about still having the motivation to keep going when you’re quite old.

"He’s 76 now, so it’s about getting him going and doing the things he used to do when he was younger – which I think is really important. 

"When people get older they sometimes get set in their ways. I think it’s good to get them out of that.”

But what does her dad make of her singing career?

“He’s really proud, and I’m really relieved that he supported me" she added. 

"I understand that, if he wanted, he could have been really old-fashioned and insisted I got a proper job or whatever.

Izzy will follow in the footsteps of previous Introducing winners like Catfish and the Bottlemen and Jack Garratt, when she performs at the BBC Music Awards on Monday.

Also on the same bill will be the likes of Robbie Williams, John Legend, Kaiser Chiefs, Emelie Sande and Craig David and you can watch it live on BBC One.

More on Robbie now (scroll down for news on his SPOTY appearance).

He played a special gig for Radio 2 last night and was interviewed by Jo Whiley.

He performed his new single Love My Life, about his kids. Awww...

Robbie also brought out Jamie Cullum to duet on a festive favourite (below)

You can also listen again to the full show.

For the third year in a row, the High Flying Bird himself Noel Gallagher will join old pal Steve Lamacq for a chat and bring a sack full of records to soundtrack the BBC 6 Music Drivetime Christmas Party.

Previously on Noel's Noel, the former Oasis guitarist has treated us to alternative 60's cuts from The Velvet Underground and The Animals, alongside crackers from The Kitkats, Gino with Johnny The Greek and Kid Koala. So expect the same psychedelic sounds this time around.

Steve will chat to Noel about his world tour with The High Flying Birds and the biographical Oasis film Supersonic which came out earlier this year. 

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the annual Gallagher festive rant would it? So tune in over on 6 Music from 1600 GMT.

Pete Doherty, or Peter as he likes to be called these days, has revealed that being a Libertine is a lifelong vocation, that he doesn't want to end up "lost at 50" and that he is now finally clean after a long battle with addiction.

The Libertines front man was talking to Channel Four ahead of his gig at the Kentish Town Forum in London this week, about his pride at helping to re-open the Bataclan after having been in Paris on the night of the attacks, as well as his enduring love for his old band.

“The Libertines is a lifelong trip with very dear friends, that for one reason or another will never end" he said.

"And then, bang – soon as you’re in the industry, you think that’s the dream. But that’s when the dream starts to end.”

Beware false prophets kids.

Image source, Gett

The 37-year-old French resident adds that "something has finally" clicked with regard to his drug use, after turning down the offer of some methadone onstage at gig in Nantes.

Oh and he doesn't like being called a "rock star". Not one bit.

"Its like me calling you a daytime TV host," he told reporter Krishnan Guru-Murthy.

Watch the full interview here., external

Image source, Getty Images

Calling all Beliebers - pop star Justin Bieber is bringing his Purpose world tour to the BST festival in Hyde Park next summer.

The singer will play to 65,000 fans at the open-air venue on 2 July.

It comes a day after the star's single, Sorry, was revealed as the most-streamed video of 2016 having been seen 1.8 billion times worldwide.

If you're thinking about going to see him though, be careful not to scream too loud.

"The screaming in these breaks has got to stop. Please and thank you," he said on stage in Manchester.

He will be supported at BST by Tove Lo, Anne-Marie and Martin Garrix.

The festival has previously announced headliners Green Day, Kings of Leon and Phil Collins.

Read more

Image source, PA

Now let's treat you to a bit of much-needed (on our part) glamour shall we, while its Friday.

London supermodel and rock 'n' roll enthusiast Kate Moss has appeared in the new video for the orchestral re-working of Elvis Presley's The Wonder of You.

Miss Moss, who has previously writhed around on a pole for The White Stripes, external in the service of rock n roll, is now seen writhing around on a piano for The King at Abbey Road studios.

Image source, Getty Images

The song is the third track off the number one album of the same name, which aligns The King with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Mossy said: “I was so excited to be asked to be involved in this project, anything for Elvis..."

Wonderful.

Warning: Third party content, may contain ads.

Image source, AP / Reuters

While Kanye has gone fifty shades lighter with his new bottle blonde look (scroll down), pop stars Taylor Swift and Zayn Malik have gone over to the dark side for a new movie soundtrack duet .

I Don't Wanna Live Forever, from the forthcoming sequel Fifty Shades Darker, is Taylor's first release since her multi million-selling 1989 album in 2014.

The film is the latest instalment in EL James' erotic trilogy.

Her announcement of the song, external on Twitter was retweeted nearly 15,000 times in an hour while her Instagram post (below), featuring a snippet of the song, has been viewed 2m times.

She's still got it...

Read more

Kanye West, with freshly bleached blonde hair, has been seen in public for the first time since he was taken to hospital, at an art installation in Los Angeles.

According to reports, he stopped by the Rick Owens furniture exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Pacific Design Center space in West Hollywood.

Yesterday, his wife Kim Kardashian West's family denied reports that the couple's marriage is in trouble.

Good to see him looking well.

Image source, EPA

Robbie Williams, Laura Mvula, Gareth Malone and the Invictus Choir have been announced as performers at this year's BBC Sports Personality of the Year

Local girl made good Laura will perform the opening number to the event at the Genting Arena in Birmingham while the Robster will provide the soundtrack to a segment celebrating the Team GB Olympians and Paralympians of Rio 2016.

In what will be the lump in the throat moment - Gareth Malone will be joined by the Invictus Choir to remember sporting icons who have died this year. 

The award, will be screened live on BBC One on Sunday 18 December and you can see the nominees at BBC Sport.

Robbie said: "It’s been a truly amazing year for sport and I can’t wait to take to the stage in Birmingham in front of such sporting heroes.”

Image source, Reuters

Congratulations to great-grandad and Rolling Stones frontman Sir Mick Jagger after he became a dad again at age of 73.

Sir Mick's 29-year-old girlfriend, American ballerina Melanie Hamrick, gave birth to his eighth...yes...eighth child, a boy, in New York yesterday.

There's been somewhat of another baby boom in the Stones this year after guitarist Ronnie Wood, 69, and his wife Sally gave birth to twin girls in the summer. A deliberate ploy to safeguard the future of rock 'n' roll?

Mick and co proved this week that they can still rock out, as their covers album Blue & Lonesome is on course to go straight to the top of the charts this evening. But can any of them still remember how to put on a nappy? 

Read more.

Image source, PA

Morning all. He's done it again. Turn your back for a second, log off and by the time you've got home pensionable-age ladies man Mick Jagger's had another baby. 

We'll have more on that today plus Baby singer Justin Bieber is the latest star off to Hyde Park in London next summer, Robbie Williams was in concert for Radio 2 and Noel Gallagher reprises his role as a part-time radio presenter later alongside Steve Lamacq.

And always - we'll tell you five things we've learnt this week on Music News LIVE.

For now check out yesterday's MNL for tributes to Greg Lake, Rag N Bone Man is tipped by the Brits for 2017 success and the Kardashians deny Kim and Kanye split rumours.