1. Lil Wayne: Weezy surpasses Elvis Presley for the most appearances by any artist on the Billboard Hot 100 (there are caveats galore here). We can”t wait to hear Lil Wayne”s version of “Love Me Tender.”
2. Mumford & Sons: The British folk rock group will take “Babel” to the top of the Billboard 200 next week with the highest first-week sales of the year. If you stacked up 600,000 CDs, would they be as high as the Tower of Babel?
3. Katy Perry: Billboard names the California Gurl its Woman of the Year.
4. George Strait: Country”s King George announces that he will retire from touring in 2014. He”ll always be king of our hearts, just no longer king of the road.
5. Reba McEntire: After hosting the Academy of Country Music Awards consecutively since 1999 (and for the last two with Blake Shelton), the legendary country artist hangs up her hosting shingle.
6. Sony /ATV: Apple may seem unstoppable, but it would appear that”s not the case: According to several published reports, the world”s largest music publisher, Sony/ATV, halted Apple in its tracks from introducing its streaming service via the iPhone 5 after they couldn”t agree on a rate schedule.
7. Lyor Cohen: Warner Music Group”s gruff and tough chairman/CEO steps down to reportedly start his own talent management firm. Good luck to the labels who will now deal with him on the opposite side of the negotiations table.
8. Universal Music Group: UMG completes its $1.9 billion purchase of EMI after more than a year vetting by various territory”s regulatory commissions. Wait… we”re still haven”t heard from Lichtenstein.
9. The Beatles: The newly remastered Beatles albums will come out on vinyl for their first time in November. Let the magical mystery tour begin anew.
10. Jay-Z: He kicked off the first of his 8-night residency at Brooklyn”s brand new Barclays Center on Friday night. SInce he”s a minority investor in the arena, it”s the same thing as a house gig, right?