Music Power Rankings: Justin Bieber, Adele and Eminem duke it out for No. 1

The clock may (or may not) be clicking on Justin Bieber”s 15 minutes of fame, but he is making the absolute most of it. “Never Say Never” has already grossed more than $50 million at the box office with way more to come this week with the extended Director”s Cut, which started its one-week engagement Feb. 25. He also has the No. 1 album in the land. And he”s not even old enough to vote.

1. Justin Bieber (No. 6 last week): He tops the Billboard 200 with “Never Say Never: The Remixes, ” the first remix album top top the charts since Jennifer Lopez”s “J to tha L-O!: The Remixes” in 2002. Okay, who thought that album title was a good idea?

2. Adele (not ranked): Her second album, “21,” not only will be No. 1 next week on the Billboard 200, it will sell up to 300,000, far and away the biggest opening frame of the week.  She”s been promoting the record everywhere–as someone on only their second set should– and the best news is it”s an album well worth touting.

3. Eminem (not ranked):
He becomes the latest artist, following Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga, to join the Billionaires Club as his YouTube page views surpass 1 billion. He is also the most “liked” living person on Facebook with 28,883,000 likes. And yet still no Grammy Award for album of the year. What”s wrong with this picture?

[More after the jump…]

4. YouTube (not ranked): The site continues to grow in influence as people”s main source for music, as noted during this week”s Digital Music Forum East. As BigChampagne”s CEO Eric Garland said, “People play what they don”t buy and buy what they don”t play.”  General revenue? $1 for 1,000 plays. It”s kind of hard to imagine parsing that up, however, that translates into serious money for Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Eminem, all of whom are past 1 billion views.

5. Barry Weiss (not ranked): The  RCA/Jive CEO leaves his home of 28 years to finally head over to UMG as head of the east coast operations.  All the details are sketchy, but look for him to make his mark under new boss Lucian Grange fairly quickly….and for some of his trusted allies to possibly follow.

6. Chris Medina (not ranked) : No, he didn”t make the final 24 on “American Idol,” but he is this season”s first break-out star. Star producer Rodney Jerkins  wrote a song for Medina, which he premiered on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” on Friday. We smell a record deal.

7. Steve Stoute (not ranked):
The industry vet took out an ad in the New York Times to complain about the Grammys, some of his points valid, others not so much, but he certainly got the industry talking.

8. The Grammys (not ranked): Stoute and industry pundit Bob Lefsetz can (and will) grouse all they want. You know who”s not complaining? The acts like Mumford and Sons, whose sales went from 25,000 the week before the Grammys to 133,000 the week after (despite losing two Grammys) and a number of other acts who saw massive spikes after appearing on the show.

9. U2 (not ranked): Arguably the biggest band in the world (or at least the most profitable when it comes to touring) announces that it will headline Glastonbury this year after having to pull out last year due to Bono”s back injury. Beyonce and Coldplay were previously confirmed as headliners.

10. George Harrison (not ranked): Feb. 25 is his 68th birthday and that deserves observing. That is all.

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