andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

Billboard will now be including catalog releases when calculating the best-selling albums, which were previously decided based on record sales from the past 18 months, reports Perez Hilton. The Nov. 25 chart will be the first to reflect these changes.

Taylor Swift is the only artist who sold more albums this year than Michael Jackson. Rihanna previously held the record for digital songs, selling 9.9 million, but Swift, Jackson, Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas have all broken that this year.

Think you’ve heard enough about the Taylor Swift-Kanye West MTV Awards stage crash? Well, apparently not everyone does.

In a promotional shoot on Tuesday for Swift’s upcoming role as both host and musical guest on “Saturday Night Live,” Swift and “SNL” cast member Bill Hader poke some fun at the now-infamous event, according to MTVnews.com.

The promo opens with Swift and Hader standing in a 30 Rock corridor. Hader is on his cell phone as Swift says, “Hey, I’m Taylor Swift, and I’ll be the host and musical guest this week on ‘SNL.’” As she finishes her line, Hader gets off the phone and tells the young country star, “Whoops, Kanye just called. He thinks Beyoncé should host instead.” As Swift looks at him in disbelief, Hader goes, “Funny joke, right?”

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Band Hero let's you be Taylor Swift without being interrupted by Kanye West!

After last week’s amazing DLC 3 pack of Gwar, Marilyn Manson, and The Misfits is there any better way to follow it up than offering a new game featuring Taylor Swift and Adam Levine?  Heck no!

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Disney Interactive Studios has announced recently that there will be a Disney Sing It: Pop Hits, available to the masses. With the game being a multi-platform karaoke style title letting everyone the chance to give it a try. There will be a lot of familiar songs and expect singing tips along side vocal lessons from Tiffany Thornton herself.

On the Wii, Playstation 3 and Playstation 2 consoles, players will have the opportunity to match their talents with the performers which includes master recordings and popular music videos from global fan favorites. READ MORE »

With a new album due out in November, John Mayer has announced two charity shows that will take place during the holiday season, according to johnmayer.com. Mayer will perform with the John Mayer Trio, which is made up of himself, bassist Pino Palladino, and drummer Steve Jordan.

The Trio will be playing at San Diego’s Copley Symphony Hall on December 29, and at Las Vegas’ The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on New Year’s Eve. All ticket proceeds for both shows will go to Military Outreach Ministry Camp Pendleton, a not-for-profit organization that supports young military families, and the Veterans Health Research Institute, an institute that investigates such issues as the causes and best treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and other war-related injuries.

Ticket prices for the San Diego show are $60.50 (US), and prices for the Las Vegas show range from $96.00 – $226.00 (US). Tickets for both shows went on sale on Saturday. Mayor Hawthorne and The County will be opening for Mayer.

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While Kanye West may have claimed to Jay Leno to be keeping a low profile on things after his Taylor Swift-MTV Video Music Awards debacle, the new video clip he posted on his blog begs to differ.

The promo video released on Wednesday, Sept. 23 for his new “Fame Kills” tour with Lady Gaga is anything but low profile, according to MTV News.

The video clip, posted by West under the headline, “What Happened to All the Rock Stars? Fame Killed Them!” is a slow motion film featuring a topless Gaga covering herself and wrapped in the arms of a black man while soft, moody music plays in the background. When 30 seconds of this pass, the name of the tour appears on the screen along with a voice that says, “Fame Kills!” and then “West + Gaga” flashes across.

West first made an announcement about the tour earlier this summer at an appearance on “The View,” but it wasn’t a sealed deal until last week. The “Fame Kills” tour is set to begin on Nov. 10 in Phoenix and wrap up Jan. 24 in Dallas.

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We all know what KanyeWest did at the VMAs and it looks like we’ll be talking about it until the Grammys. But shouldn’t we be prepared for this by now?

Kanye has based his career on the unlikely pairing. College student becomes iced-out rapper. Rapper wears sweater vests and horn-rimmed glasses. Prep-school rapper spits rhymes about Jesus and the politics of blood diamonds. Catholic hip-hopper samples Ray Charles for a song about women horny for money. Blues piano samples replaced with electro-house synthesizers and Auto-Tune.

Et cetera.

When he stormed the MTV VMA stage on Sunday, interrupting the sugary acceptance speech of tween country princess Taylor Swift, the event was actually more scripted than offensive. It wasn’t like the time Kanye accepted an MTV Europe award he didn’t win, or refused to accept an award he did win because he felt Outkast deserved it more.

No, it was more of a half-assed display of choreographed ego, just Kanye scoping out the most unlikely character to stand next to and making sure it happened before commercial break. Sure, Kany emay have been upset Beyonce’s video for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” lost out to Swift’s beige video for “You Belong with Me”.

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Kanye you are a talented guy but sometimes you push it too far. At tonight’s VMA awards, Taylor Swift was awarded the Best Female video. However during her acceptance speech an aggressive West stole the mic from Taylor, saying “Taylor, I’m really happy for you. I’ll let you finish.” “But Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time … one of the best videos of all time!” The camera then panned to Beyonce who continued to sit in the crowd obviously shocked and stunned. All we can say is poor Taylor, poor Beyonce, and Kanye you are a huge douche. See below to watch:

The Country Music Television channel has announced the initial lineup of performers for its eighth annual awards show.

Taylor Swift, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts and Toby Keith will be among the artists taking the stage at the gala on June 17.

More performers will be announced at a later date.

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When it comes to artists twenty and under, I tend to, how do I put this, ignore them.

If, on the rare occasion, these stars actually pen the music they sing, I have a difficult time relating to their stories about bubblegum and falling madly in love at the age of twelve.

But, in recent years, the likes of Rihanna, Joss Stone, Adele and, more specifically, Taylor Swift, have proved me (*cringe*) wrong.

And no, I do not consider Miley Cyrus or The Jonas Brothers remotely close in that category.  

From all of the young artists who have emerged in the last few years or so, Taylor Swift, without a doubt, is my favourite. Although barely 20, Taylor has cemented her place in the country-pop world.

Here are five reasons why I think Taylor will rock for years to come:

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