Guess Who Topped Ke$ha's First Week Sales?

 

Given the unrelenting catchiness of Ke$ha's single "Die Young," it's hard to believe her sophomore album Warrior wasn't a smash hit straight out of the gate. While Warrior managed to chart in the top 10 on the Billboard 200 this week, it proved less popular than a handful of older releases — including an album that's been around for a year.

Taylor Swift's Red nabbed the top spot for the fourth non-consecutive week, closely followed by Wiz Khalifa's O.N.I.F.C., which moved 141,000 copies. Rod Stewart's latest collection of mom-friendly holiday standards, Merry Christmas Baby, took the third spot, while One Direction's Live While We're Young held strong at No. 4. In fifth place, Michael Bublé's Christmas proved its staying power, leaving Ke$ha's Warrior the sixth place spot with approximately 85,000 copies sold.

A hit single does not always guarantee strong album sales. Carly Rae Jepsen had the year's most inescapable hit, but her full-length album Kiss debuted at No. 6 with 46,000 copies sold. But don't worry, Animals: With all the airplay it's getting, we expect Warrior to linger on the charts long into 2013.

Rihanna Wears C-Word Necklace to Check out a Jesus Statue

Rihanna's been having a blast this week in Brazil, where she's performed in itty bitty hot pants, partied with Katy Perry, and visited some of the country's most famous landmarks, including the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio and its adjacent chapel.

While Rihanna was relatively covered up in a yellow blouse and denim Daisy Dukes, there was one aspect of her ensemble that couldn't possibly be considered Catholic chapel-friendly: Her gold plate necklace, which was emblazoned with a very unpleasant 4-letter word that begins with a "C."

It's likely that Rihanna just hadn't thought her accessories through on this particular pilgrimage. There's also the fact that she uses the C-word pretty liberally, even applying a modified version (NSFW-ish) of it as a nickname for her buddy Katy Perry in public on Twitter. She definitely didn't intend to offend.

Lady Gaga Isn't So Single After All

Last month Lady Gaga proclaimed her singledom on a British talk show, but turns out the breakup with her "muse" Luc Carl was really more of a tiff that lasted a week or two.

She told host Graham Norton last month "I don't have a boyfriend," but sources say that might have been the case for a whole two seconds.

"They had a little fight," says an insider (via Us magazine). "I think the breakup lasted a week or two."

So Gaga might have stretched the truth a bit about her love life, but we can't be too surprised. She admitted: "I sometimes skirt questions about it -- and maybe not honestly."

The source says the longtime couple are "totally back together now," and we even hear the singer's bartender beau is planning to quit his job to come on the road with her!

Lady Gaga Giddy For 'Glee'

Lady Gaga is giddy for Glee. The musical FOX show dedicated an entire episode to the wild Lady last week, and Gaga loved every minute of it! 

The 25-year-old pop phenom went to Twitter to praise the show for "being brave+fighting for such modern social messaging." And while Gaga probably won't have an entire episode dedicated to her again anytime soon, she nevertheless hopes the show doesn't stop putting out great content. "Never back down," she added. 

Gaga is having quite the week of free advertising. First she got the Glee treatment last Tuesday, and now, this week, the music video for her song "Judas," is set to premiere on American Idol. 

Lady Gaga Believes She Has '2 Souls'

Lady Gaga's paternal aunt Joanne Germanotta tragically died of lupus at the age of 19, but Gaga believes she's living on through her and inspiring all of her music and art.

Gaga told WWD: “I really believe I have two hearts. I think I actually carry two souls in my body, and that I’m living out the rest of her life and her goodness -- she died a virgin, she died never having experienced all these things that we all get to love and experience in our lives. I think that I work in her image. I work in this life as part pop singer and part humanitarian, and to do great things for people because she was a good person and I don’t think she had enough time to do enough good.”

The 24-year-old singer insists the thing that is driving her career is her desire to help “disenfranchised” people, and she says she wrote her new track "Born This Way" -- which has been described as a pro-gay anthem -- to help her fans.

Gaga, who won three Grammy awards last weekend, explained: “I have so many young fans. I feel not only connected to them, but I feel responsible for them in many ways. They’re very smart. They’re very full of life. And it’s an important thing for me to listen to them. And when they say, ‘I feel disenfranchised,’ I speak for them as much as I can.

“I don’t do this for the money -- I want to make a difference. And I am making a difference with my music, which is why I wrote my new song, ‘Born This Way.’ It’s a song that’s much bigger than me or my understanding of fame. I want to continue to make a difference in every way that I can.”

Taylor Swift's Dad Sells T-Shirts at Her Shows

Taylor Swift’s dad Scott Swift is her biggest fan, and he likes to be heavily involved at her concerts, so he's happy to take on any task at her shows -- even if that means hocking T-shirts."My dad is adorably optimistic, positive, pie-in-the-sky," Taylor said. "He thinks every new song I write is my best. He sells T-shirts at my merchandise stands and hands out guitar picks to fans.”

Many fans have met Scott while at Taylor’s shows, and said how friendly he is. One fan, Emily, told how she met the former stockbroker at a concert in Washington, DC.She wrote on a fan site in June this year: “I got pit passes and met Scott (Taylor's dad for anyone unaware) He came out and gave us guitar picks then my friend and I talked to him for a minute or two by the soundbooth during ‘Hey Stephen.'

“I was so close to hugging Taylor but she had to turn around and go the other way to get back to the actual stage. But I touched her hand at one point during the show. And she looked right at me during ‘Fifteen’ on the moving stage.” Taylor also told how she takes elements of her mother’s personality into her onstage persona too.

She said: “Mom is a planner, an organizer. She’s very strong and practical. She’s the person that’ll tell me if I ever start to change my personality. The balance of the two of them created my personality.”

Lady Gaga Has a Secret to Tell Little Monsters on New Year's Eve

Lady Gaga has a big secret to tell her Little Monsters, but they're going to have to wait. The pop star promised to tell her fans a Born This Way announcement as soon as the clock strikes 12 on New Year's Eve. (We're guessing Eastern Time, in case you're wondering.)

She hinted at the news on Twitter on Christmas (via PopEater): "Merry Christmas little monsters! I love you with all my heart. My gift to you is a BORN THIS WAY announcement Midnight on NEW YEARS EVE. -MM," Gaga tweeted.

Originally, we thought she was going to reveal the name of he new album to ring in 2011, but that already happened at the VMAs earlier this year. So, it's gotta be something bigger and better now.

Will it be a new single? An album cover? Tour date announcements? We don't know...but, we do know that a LOT of Little Monsters will be glued to their Twitter pages on Friday!