1) Scotty McCreery: “American Idol”s” season 10 winner sets a passel of records as his debut, “Clear As Day,” bows at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 making him the youngest male to land his first album in the top spot. Take that, Justin Bieber.
2) Adele: She leads all nominees for the American Music Awards, stays at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Someone Like You,” but, more importantly, within the next two weeks, “21” will surpass the 4 million mark in U.S. sales. It will be the first album to move past that mark since Eminem”s “Recovery,” taking less than half the time to do so.
[More after the jump…]
3) Taylor Swift: At 21, she”s named Billboard”s Woman of the Year. She”s the youngest female to receive the honor, but at least she can legally drink a glass of champagne to celebrate. On a serious note, kudos to Swift, who donated 6,000 books to a local Pennsylvania library this week.
4) Britney Spears: Brit reaches a milestone achieved by only a handful of other public figures by reaches 10 million twitter followers. She, Lady Gaga, President Obama and Kim Kardashian. Which one of these is not like the others?
5) Lil Wayne: He”s come out of prison stronger and more successful than ever: With the ascension of “She Will” featuring Drake to the top of Billboard”s Mainstream R&B Hip Hop Radio airplay chart, he becomes the first artist to land six No. 1s on the chart in one calendar year…and there are two more months to go.
6) Evanescence: Goth-metal band takes five years between albums and comes back likely to debut at No. 1 on next week”s Billboard 200. Nice work if you can get it. “What You Want,” indeed.
7) Tom Morello: Was there ever any doubt that his travels would take him to Occupy Wall Street? He, Kanye West, and Dresden Dolls” Amanda Palmer all hung with the masses this week to offer support. Can Bruce Springsteen be far behind?
8) Paul Simon: Simon, who turned 70 this year, plans to hit the road for a 25th anniversary tour commemorating the Grammy-winning, landmark album, “Graceland” with many of the musicians who played on the set. It”s a place we never get tired of visiting.
9) Pitchfork: Don”t stick a fork in them, they”re far from done: Pitchfork announces its fourth music festival this week. Forms will be a four-day multi-media festival taking place Feb. 1-4, 2012. That”s how you build a brand.
10) “Footloose”: The remake of the 1984 musical is expected to top the box office this weekend and garners relatively strong reviews. “Everybody cut, everybody cut…”
Who’s at the top of your list this week?