Rock was the biggest music genre of 2011 earning 105,685,000 album sales for the music industry.

Despite the doom and gloom written about music retail 69% of all albums sold in America in 2011 were through retail outlets.

Rihanna has sold more digital tracks than any other artist.

We knew Adele was going to be the biggest selling artist of 2011 halfway through the year but just how big she was is staggering.

The biggest selling album on vinyl in the USA in 2011 was The Beatles ‘Abbey Road’.

Dynamo/Chrome Nips/Bowers/Jacky Winter/millions of other bands guitarist Phil Gionfriddo is the latest victim of a guitar-jacking after his 1966 Fender Electric XII was stolen.

Album sales in the USA for 2011 increased for the first time since 2004.

Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson have been announced as speakers at the SXSW Music Conference in Austin in March.

R&B wunderkind Jason Derulo has fractured his neck while rehearsing moves for his tour.

Kanye is back on twitter, Chili Pepper Chad Smith meets Rammstein, KISS actually make music, The Sword unveil epic t-shirt and heaps more.

77-years after the Mary Poppins book was written by Queenslander P.L. Travers the world famous nanny is coming home.

Jim Ward has had to cancel his show in Sydney on Friday because a close friend of his Esme Barrera has been murdered.

Pat Carney of the Black Keys has said that the popularity of Nickelback proves that rock n’ roll is dying.

Velvet Revolver have patched up issues with singer Scott Weiland and will reunite for one show only on January 12, 2012.

The Allman Brothers have announced their annual Beacon Theater run for 2012.

Metallica will release the four-track ‘Beyond Magnetic’ EP on CD at the end of the month.

Ke$ha has said that her new goal is to bring rock and roll back from the dead for her next album.

Australia’s biggest touring festival, The Big Day Out has announced a new partnership with C3 Presents, the company behind American juggernaut festivals Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits Music Festival.

Peter Frampton has reunited with an old friend, the guitar he played on ‘Frampton Comes Alive’.

If you can handle it, welcome to the disturbing world of California’s glitch-hop terrors Death Grips.

Bonnie Raitt will return with a brand new album called ‘Slipstream’ in April. It will be her first album since ‘Souls Alike’ in 2005.

After giving away the long-awaited Get Loved, Faker are already talking titles and tracks for their next album.

Kele Okereke has revealed that Bloc Party are working on demos for their fourth album in the Big Apple.

Almost 700 unreleased songs by Irish rock legends Thin Lizzy have been unearthed and will be released as a box set.

Christina Perri finds heaven, Skrillex wants to play to dogs, Bryan Adams watches prehistoric soccer coverage, Kings Of Leon and The Strokes start a book club, and heaps more.

Van Halen’s new song ‘Tattoo’ will surface on January 10 kicking off a year of activity for the band including their first album with David Lee Roth in 28 years.

In very exciting news for fans of dreamy psych-pop, Dead Meadow and The Pink Mountaintops are heading to Australia together.

Sir Paul McCartney has picked an unusual name for his next album.

Josh Groban in a video blog featuring his brother Chris looking on announced that he is about to begin work on his sixth studio album and that he has a new music video on the way.

The Australian College of the Arts (Collarts) has added three new degree programs specialising in the music industry.