Melody Plant

Lady Gaga’s latest single ‘Telephone’ just hit the coveted top spot on the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play chart this week. That makes it the princess of pop’s fifth consecutive number one. Even if you’re not a fan of the singer it would be tough to say that you aren’t amazed. Lady Gaga’s talent is undeniable and we are constantly reminded by all of her awards, chart-topping and record-breaking hits. There is absolutely no stopping Lady Gaga! I’d be surprised if there are still a big percentage of music lovers who haven’t become fans of her yet. I love Lady Gaga and everyone else should too.

Ke$ha’s breakout hit Tik Tok is still atop the US charts.

Billboard.com reports the single has been No.1 for six consecutive weeks.

Hot on Ke$ha’s trail is multi-award-winner Taylor Swift’s Today Was a Fairytale. Pop sensation and performance artist Lady Gaga follows at No.3 with Bad Romance.

Billboard on Thursday reported Young Money’s BedRock at No.4 and Justin Bieber’s Baby featuring Ludacris at No.5; Iyaz’s Replay at No.6; David Guetta’s Sexy Chick featuring Akon at No.7; Jay-Z’s and Alicia Keys’s Empire State of Mind at No.8, Rihanna’s Hard at No.9 and Train’s Hey, Soul Sister at No.10.

Michael Buble is ruling the charts! First, the singer ran over KISS. Now, he rules over the ‘New Moon’ soundtrack. Michael’s ‘Crazy Love’ is still number 1 on the Billboard charts for the second week in a row, snatching the top spot from the soundtrack for the ‘Twilight’ sequel. Michael sold an amazing 203,000 records this past week while the ‘New Moon’ soundtrack only managed to sell 115,000 copies despite the huge hype. Could that mean that ‘Twilight’ is losing its steam? Or was the album just too riddled with indie acts that not many teenyboppers care about? But anyway – congratulations Michael!

Lady Gaga has just made history as her first single, ‘Just Dance’ has become only the fifth song ever to reach the 4 million mark in paid downloads! Her follow up to that single, ‘Poker Face’ is gearing up towards that direction too as it recently hit the 3 million mark last week. Only two other female solo artists have had two songs top the 3 million mark and those two are Rihanna and Katy Perry. Lady Gaga’s album ‘The Fame’ is also on the top 10 of The Billboard 200 for the 14th week last week. It’s been a huge week for her. Congratulations!

Country singer Taylor Swift has reclaimed the #1 billing and with that the top spot on the Billboard’s U.S. pop album chart for the third time in non-consecutive weeks. That is remarkable in some ways because after taking the top spot her album did see a dip and has climbed back to that position not once but twice.

This is a clear indication for her growing popularity and the nineteen year-old took the spot on Wednesday with her release Fearless, which sold 330,000 copies on the week ending December 21.

Taylor Swift beat R&B star Keyshia Cole, her debut album A Different Me sold 322,000 copies, taking in the number two spot in its opening week. Jamie Foxx who was also making his debut with the album Intuition grabbed the 3rd spot, with sales of 265,000 copies.

Britney Spears successful comeback seems to be continuing for now with Circus selling 196,000 copies which put Britney at the forth position. In fifth place is Beyonce with her release I Am…Sasha Fierce, sold 195,000.

Rihanna is looking hot as she waved to photographers while out shopping in West Hollywood with her family. Rumored boyfriend Chris Brown wasn’t around though. Rihanna is currently spending her second week at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with her hit song ‘Disturbia’. Someone finally knocked off Katy Perry! David Archuleta’s ‘Crush’ made the best chart debut in over 18 months by reaching number 2 and sold 166,000 downloads in the US. It looks like Rihanna has some stiff competition. I wonder when David Cook will be releasing more of his stuff. One David is not enough for me.

Katy Perry rules the charts for the third week in a row as the singer’s monster hit is the #1 song in America by topping the Billboard Hot 100. It’s shaping up to be the song of the summer. Other notable chart movement for this week include Rihanna’s ‘Take a Bow’ moving from #4 to #2, Lil Wayne’s ‘Lollipop’ going from #2 to #3, and Miley Cyrus’ ‘7Things’ moving from #16 to #10, mostly due to digital downloads as the song isn’t getting much love on the radio. It looks like this summer is all good for the ladies. Katy better watch out as Rihanna looks like she’s hot on her heels.

Tori Amos is going indie as the musical genius has left her record label deciding to pursue alternative routes to get her music out to her fans. Tori’s manager John Witherspoon explained the new development to Billboard magazine saying “After 22 years of being in the shackles of the major label system, Tori has chosen the path of independence for her next work. As with many of her contemporaries, Tori is devising new and exciting ways of getting her music to the masses without the boundaries and limitations of the major music companies. This will commence with a project of new music and visuals which is being started in the summer and due for release in Spring 2009.”

Cassie was spotted when she attended the Pepsi Smash re-launch party at Pasha nightclub on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on Thursday night. The singer recently did an interview with Billboard about her a-yet-untitled sophomore album which will be dropping on May 20.

The 21-year old said that “I guess I grew up a lot but I’m still in essence the same person. Lots has changed in my life, stuff that has made me think about things differently. I’m more vulnerable and you can hear my vocals better this time around. There’s real emotion and a much realer connection with my fans.” A single is yet to be released but Cassie assures that it will be a club record.

She had the biggest selling album of 2005 and everyone has been wondering when she would be back. After several delays to her album, we now know when Mariah Carey would officially be back.

There has already been a listening session in London for her new album which pretty much confirmed that her album would be out soon. Billboard now has a few more details and even mentions the release of Mariah’s new record on April 1st, and that’s no joke. They also have more info about specific songs and if that’s anything to go by, it looks like her album is a very promising one.