US Chart Roundup: Britney Spears And Avril Lavigne Can't Debut Soon Enough

We're a week away from seeing how Britney Spears' "Hold It Against Me" and Avril Lavigne's "What The Hell"—currently #1 and #2, respectively, on iTunes—affect the Billboard Hot 100. But until then, it's pretty much snoozeville in the Top 10.

Taio Cruz's "Higher" cracks the Top 40 this week, at #37. I've managed to somehow completely avoid hearing the American release with Travie McCoy on it (thank Christ). Maybe it's a subconscious boycott since they dumped Kylie, who's on the version released overseas?

And now that Pink's "Fuckin' Perfect" is finally gaining airplay, it re-enters the chart at #57. Lots of Max Martin this week.

Over on the Top 200, Taylor Swift's Speak Now, which is #1 for sixth non-consecutive week, sets record low sales for a top album (52,000 copies). Way to go, Taylor—thanks for fucking up the economy. Terrorist whore.

At least Daft Punk's TRON: Legacy soundtrack climbs to #4. I'm currently have a serious relationship with that album. I think it's love.

The U.S. Top 10:

1. "Grenade" - Bruno Mars  *2 weeks*
2. "Firework" - Katy Perry
3. "What's My Name" - Rihanna feat. Drake
4. "We R Who We R" - Ke$ha 
5. "Raise Your Glass" - Pink 
6. "Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)" - Enrique Iglesias ft. Ludacris & DJ Frank E 
7. "Black And Gold" - Wiz Khalifa
8. "The Time (The Dirty Bit)" - The Black Eyed Peas
9. "Just The Way You Are" - Bruno Mars
10. "Only Girl (In The World)" - Rihanna

iTunes' Best-Selling Singles & Albums Of 2010

In addition to Billboard posting its year-end charts, iTunes has published the digital music store's roundup of best-selling singles and albums for 2010. And it looks like Train's "Hey, Soul Sister"—which was tops halfway through the year—hung in their till the very end. Why don't they just replace the National Anthem with it at this point?

Of the iTunes best-sellers, I've noticed I actually paid (the shame) for six of the Top 10 singles, and one of the albums. But I'm not saying which. Well, alright—I'll say that, surprisingly, I did purchase The E.N.D. when it first was released, and then again for my mom (strangely a Peas fan) earlier this year.

How many did you purchase?

Best-Selling iTunes Singles of 2010:
1. Train, “Hey, Soul Sister”
2. Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg, “California Gurls”
3. Eminem feat. Rihanna, “Love the Way You Lie”
4. B.o.B feat. Hayley Williams, “Airplanes
5. Taio Cruz, “Dynamite”
6. Usher feat. will.i.am, “OMG"
7. Taio Cruz feat. Ludacris, “Break Your Heart"
8. Ke$ha, “TiK ToK”
9. Lady Antebellum, “Need You Now”
10. Eminem, “Not Afraid”

Best-Selling iTunes Albums of 2010:
1. Eminem, Recovery
2. Ke$ha, Animal
3. Lady Gaga, The Fame
4. Lady Antebellum, Need You Now
5. Taylor Swift, Speak Now
6. Drake, Thank Me Later
7. Mumford & Sons, Sigh No More
8. The Black Eyed Peas, The E.N.D.
9. Jack Johnson, To the Sea
10. Sade, Soldier of Love

Billboard's 2010 Year-End Hot 100 Songs:
1. Ke$ha, “Tik Tok”
2. Lady Antebellum, “Need You Now"
3. Train, “Hey, Soul Sister”
4. Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg, “California Gurls”
5. Usher feat. will.i.am, “OMG”
6. B.o.B feat. Hayley Williams, “Airplanes”
7. Eminem feat. Rihanna, “Love the Way You Lie”
8. Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”
9. Taio Cruz, “Dynamite”
10. Taio Cruz feat. Ludacris, “Break Your Heart”

Billboard's 2010 Year-End Top 200 Albums:
1. Susan Boyle, I Dreamed A Dream
2. Eminem, Recovery
3. Lady Antebellum, Need You Now
4. Lady Gaga, The Fame
5. Justin Bieber, My World 2.0
6. Andrea Bocelli, My Christmas
7. Taylor Swift, Fearless
8. Justin Bieber, My World
9. Taylor Swift, Speak Now
10. The Black Eyed Peas, The E.N.D.

Three AMA Hair Moments

The AMAs were full of glitz, sheer lace and that Bieber kid. Not very interesting, except for these three looks. Jessica Alba is simply stunning. I can't say I've ever seen her act or do anything interesting, but she's so easy on the eyes I'd be happy to see more. While there were many loose waves on the red carpet (are we going into the era of "the Middleton"?), Jessica is classy and classic.

I didn't recognize Taylor Swift at first. Taylor seems to have replaced the curling iron with a flat one. She looks more mature and incredibly beautiful.

Rihanna is wearing a wig, of course, but I really like this one. Retro, different and fun- and worlds better than the other wigs she's been sporting lately. I preferred the other Elie Saab Couture gown she wore that night, in sea-foam green, but this one was quite interesting on her, too.

Photos: Jusat Jared, Socialite Life.

U.S. Chart Roundup: Screw Taylor Swift—Ke$ha Has Landed Her Second #1 Hit

Now, some people will tell you the big chart news this week is Taylor Swift's third album Speak Now selling just over a million copies out of the gate, more than enough to debut at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 and post the best sales week for an LP since 50 Cent's The Massacre, back in March 2005. But those people would be wrong.

No, pop chyldryn—the real news this week is the fact that Ke$ha's latest lyrical blessing, "We R Who We R," has debuted at the top of the Hot 100 single chart. I know, I know—I had to ask myself if this was just Jesus in disguise returning to our mortal plane, too.

This gives Ke$ha a second chart-topping hit after "Tik Tok," and it also makes her sixth Top 10 single (I'm including "My First Kiss," her pairing with the new Lennon-McCartney, 3OH!3). And start curling your toes—the Angelic Queen Of Soul's mini album Cannibal is out on November 22. God bless America!

Another poetic masterpiece makes great gains this week, as 10-year-old Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair" jumps from #78 to #11. Elsewhere, Chris Brown's overly-poppy single "Yeah 3X" debuts at #33. (Who let him back into the club?)

Other than that, basically #34 through #100 consists of new tracks from Taylor Swift's Speak Now that lonely teen girls from Kansas who will never get sex are downloading.

So have I mentioned Shayne Ward is on the cover of Gay Times in a wet T-shirt?

The U.S. Top 10:

1. "We R Who We R" - Ke$ha *new* *1 week*
2. "Like A G6" - Far*East Movement
3. "Just The Way You Are" - Bruno Mars
4. "Only Girl (In The World)" - Rihanna
5. "Just A Dream" - Nelly
6. "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love" - Usher feat. Pitbull
7. "Bottoms Up" - Trey Songz feat. Nicki Minaj
8. "Teenage Dream" - Katy Perry
9. "Dynamite" - Taio Cruz
10. "Raise Your Glass" - Pink

U.S. Chart Roundup: Can Pink's "Raise Your Glass" Please Just Go To #1 Already?

It's pretty bad when a mediocre song by Taylor Swift that sounds exactly like "You Belong With Me" is one of the only noteworthy things about the Billboard Hot 100 this week. The country-pop broad's upcoming album title track "Speak Now" debuts at #8 after being the top download on iTunes for the better part of last week.

Like with her previous album Fearless, Taylor's label is tossing out a single each week leading up to the release of Speak Now. So expect this latest to drop like four-dollar hooker at the wave of a fiver on Big Daddy's yacht at sundown by next week.

At least we also have the #51 debut of Pink's "Raise Your Glass" to keep this from being a total snoozefest. The new single off her upcoming Greatest Hits...So Far!!! was made available at digital retailers this week, and is currently #5 on iTunes. So hopefully airplay kicks in and this becomes another Top 10 hit for pop's hottest pistol.

Over on the album chart, David Archuleta's second album proper (not counting last year's holiday offering) The Other Side Of Down debuts at #13. Two years ago, his first album went into the Top 200 chart at #2. Awwww.

The U.S. Top 10:

1. "Just The Way You Are" - Bruno Mars" *4 weeks*
2. "Like A G6" - Far*East Movement
3. "Just A Dream" - Nelly
4. "Teenage Dream" - Katy Perry 
5. "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love" - Usher feat. Pitbull
6. "Only Girl (In The World)" - Rihanna
7. "Dynamite" - Taio Cruz
8. "Speak Now" - Taylor Swift *new*
9. "Club Can't Handle Me" - Flo Rida feat. David Guetta
10. "Love The Way You Lie" - Eminem feat. Rihanna

Taylor Swift Is Probably Having Sex With Her Grammys Because "Mine" Debuted At #3

Yes, children of America, YES! Download Taylor Swift's new single "Mine" that sounds like every other Taylor Swift single ever released, and then download it AGAIN (because that way you can pretend it's her NEXT single, which will undoubtedly sound like this and the previous ones anyway)! She deserves it! You deserve it! Shove your dollar twenty-nine in the G-string that is Taylor's bank account so she can ride her Grammys three at a time in appreciation!

So anyway, Taylor's "Mine" debuts at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, and has achieved something ridiculous like the eighth highest opening for a digital single, saleswise (with 297,000 paid downloads) in just four days (it went on sale last Thursday).

A sigle that deserves to do better than "Mine" is "Take It Off" by the New Queen Of Soul Ke$ha. The music video alone would make Cecil B. Demille and Alfred Hitchcock weep. In fact, I think I hear Hitchcock hurling up a vomit geyser of failure in his coffin in the wake of the "Take It Off" video right now! (Think of The Birds, Hitch.) At any rate, the song jumps from #52 to #27, becoming her fourth Top 40 hit off Animal.

This brings us to The Script and their UK hit "The Man Who Can't Be Moved," which was released in July 2008 and peaked at #2 across the pond. Over here the song has been kicking around for about a year and finally cracks the Hot 100 at #96. And, who knows—maybe, just maybe, it'll soar to the upper reaches of the chart, giving them a second American smash, and the Irish trio will at least avoid becoming the next BBMak.

The U.S. Top 10:

1. "Love The Way You Lie" - Eminem feat. Rihanna *4 weeks*
2. "Dynamite" - Taio Cruz
3. "Mine" - Taylor Swift *new*
4. "California Gurls" - Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg
5. "I Like It" - Enrique Iglesias feat. Pitbull
6. "Airplanes" - B.o.B feat. Hayley Williams
7. "Cooler Than Me" - Mike Posner
8. "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love" - Usher feat. Pitbull
9. "Teenage Dream" - Katy Perry
10. "Ridin' Solo" - Jason Derulo