1. Katy Perry: She comes “roaring” back with hot first new single from “Prism,” as the single wins the battle between Perry and Lady Gaga”s “Applause” and is on track to sell close to 500,000 copies in its first week.
2. Luke Bryan: Country superstar”s new album, “Crash My Party,” released Tuesday, will crash onto the Billboard 200 with sales of more than 500,000 copies in its first week. And he”s done it by staying country as country can be.
3. George Strait: Billboard names him the recipient of its Legends of Live award as the cowboy rides away on his last tour, taking the record for the most No. 1 tunes by any artist in any genre with him. It”s good to be king.
4.Lady Gaga: Katy Perry may win the first week single sales battle (“Roar”s” 450,000 to “Applause”s” 225,000), but Momma Monster managed to snare her share of this week”s headlines, including condemning the leak of her uplifting, sweet duet with Cher, “The Greatest.” C”mon LG, let Cher include it on her album!
5. This Charming Charlie: Smiths fans are dying over the great new Tumblr that combines Peanuts cartoons with Morrissey lyrics. Charlie Brown and the whole gang get into the act in one of the greatest combos since peanut butter and chocolate.
6.Pete Townshend: The Who frontman diffuses an assault from One Direction fans by saying he likes the band and he doesn”t mind at all if “Best Song Ever” rips off “Baba O”Riley. (a comparison we noted ourselves) Can a duet be far behind?
7. Eminem: Slim Shady drops his first new music in two years with “Survival,” a biting, propulsive track from “Call Of Duty: Ghosts.” Shady”s back and he”s taking names.
8. Robin Thicke: In a rather strange lawsuit, the “Blurred Lines” singer/co-writer has filed a suit asking a judge to rule that the song does not steal from Marvin Gaye”s “Got To Give It Up” and Parliament”s “Sexy Ways,” before either party (or estate) has filed a suit claiming the song is rip-off. Talk about a preemptive strike…
9. Michelle Obama: Is a gold record next for the First Lady? She makes a cameo appearance in “Everybody,” a hip-hop song about eating healthily and taking care of our bodies. We just want to know if she does the Dougie in the video.
10. Kelly Clarkson: The singer is banned from taking a ring once worn by Jane Austen out of England, but she sweetly agrees to sell it back to the Jane Austen museum if it can raise enough money to pay her what she paid for the ring. As the engaged star prepares to walk down the aisle, we think she already has a ring on it so she can spare Austen’s bling.