Quick Takes: Adele tops Whitney Houston mark

Adele’s momentum is showing no signs of slowing. After winning six Grammy Awards last week and taking the top prize at the Brit Awards on Tuesday, the young soulful star on Wednesday bested a chart record set by another vocal powerhouse, the late Whitney Houston.

Adele’s “21” coasted to another week at the top of the pop charts, giving it 21 nonconsecutive weeks in the pole position. That’s the most by any album in the modern sales era.

Buoyed by her Grammy wins and return to the stage after vocal cord surgery, “21” sold a mighty 730,000 copies in the United States for the week beginning Feb. 13, according to Nielsen SoundScan stats released by Billboard. The tally gives Adele her best sales week. The album, which has now remained in the top-10 for one full year, has sold more than 7.3 million copies.

FOR THE RECORD:
Adele record: In the Feb. 23 Calendar section, a Quick Takes item about Adele’s album “21” setting a new record for most weeks at No. 1 said that the previous record holder, “The Bodyguard,” won the Grammy album-of-the-year award for 1992. It won for 1993. —

Adele beat a chart record set by the Houston-led soundtrack to “The Bodyguard,” the Grammy album-of-the-year winner for 1992.

—Todd Martens

27 Beatles tunes now ring tones

Hello? Hello?

Beatles fans can now set their cellphones to alert them to incoming calls with “Hello Goodbye,” take a call from IT support with “Help!” or signal a call from an angry partner with “We Can Work It Out” as the Fab Four’s music has become available for the first time as cellphone ring tones.

The group has licensed ring tones from its 27 U.S. and British No. 1 hits, from “Love Me Do” in 1962 through “Hello Goodbye” in 1967 to “The Long and Winding Road” in 1970, replicating the track lineup of the “1” compilation CD, which just surpassed 12 million copies sold in the U.S. since its release in 2000.

The 30-second ring tones, also downloadable to iPads and iTouches, are available exclusively through iTunes for $1.29 each — the same amount charged for downloading the entire song.

—Randy Lewis

It’s no longer the Kodak Theatre

The name “Kodak” will be verboten at the 84th Academy Awards this Sunday, according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The Oscars will still take place at what was until very recently known as the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. However, now that Kodak has filed for bankruptcy and gotten out of its naming rights deal for the theater, announcers on the telecast will refer to the facility simply as the Hollywood & Highland Center.

—Joe Flint

‘Conan’ renewed thanks to fans

Team Coco makes a powerful ally.

TBS announced Wednesday that it is renewing “Conan,” the nightly talk show hosted by former “Tonight Show” host Conan O’Brien, through April 2014 — despite some disappointing ratings.

In its release, TBS pointed directly to the power of “Team Coco,” as O’Brien’s rabid fans describe themselves. The host has more than 5 million Twitter followers, and video clips from the show on YouTube and elsewhere drew 83 million views in 2011.

That’s all well and good, but TBS doesn’t sell ads or collect subscriber revenue on Twitter. “Conan” has in 2012 averaged 1.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen — not bad for a cable talk show but far below totals for NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” CBS’ “Late Show” or even Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.”

The renewal is “a little surprising considering Conan’s audience delivery is not that much different [from how] George Lopez had been performing when he got axed,” said Brad Adgate, an analyst at the New York ad firm Horizon Media.

But TBS is counting on growth. The network said that “Conan” has delivered three consecutive months of improving ratings.

—Scott Collins

Designers guild hands out awards

Trish Summerville won the Costume Designers Guild Award for excellence in contemporary film for “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” while Arianne Phillips won in the period film category for “W.E.”

Jany Temime earned the award for fantasy film for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.”

The 14th annual Costume Designer Guild Awards were given out Tuesday night at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

—Susan King

Academy buys ruby slippers

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has bought a pair of the famous ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz” to display in the museum it is developing with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The shoes, one of four pairs known to have been made for the classic 1939 film, are believed to be the ones used in the close-ups when Dorothy clicks her heels three times to start her trip home, the academy said. The price was not disclosed.

—Lee Margulies