Bruce Springsteen and Steve Van Zandt

 

Credit: Evan Agostini/AP

Will Bruce Springsteen’s “Wrecking Ball” have the momentum to knock Adele’s  “21” out of the top spot on the Billboard 200?  With a few days left until the charts close on Sunday night, it’s too early to tell marking the first time in several weeks that “21” has had a true challenger.

They both are on track to sell between 210,000 and 220,000, according to Hits Daily Double. That mean “Wrecking Ball” should come in almost exactly with the same numbers as Springsteen’s last studio set,  2009’s “Working On a Dream,” which debuted at No. 1 and sold 224,000 copies.

In Usher’s new song, “Climax” the song takes on the less sexual meaning in that he’s singing about a relationship coming to the end of its time. In the video, there’s definitely room for  double meaning of the song.

In the moody video, Usher spends a lot of time behind the wheel, looking confused and hurt (either that or he can’t find his car keys). It’s also totally unclear how much of the activity is really happening and how much is going on totally within his own head.

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Credit: AP Photo

Christina Aguilera’s redemption continues: First she signs up as a judge on “The Voice,” which turns into a runaway hit that is beating “American Idol” at every turn (take that Jenny From the Block). Then she and her “Voice” mate Adam Levine duet on Maroon 5’s No. 1 smash, “Moves Like Jagger,” and now, she’s unleashed the below batch of awesomeness.

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Adam Lambert

Credit: AP Photo

Adam Lambert has delayed the release of his second post- “American Idol” set, “Trespassing,” from its original March 20 release date to later this spring, but we’ve got two tracks potentially from the album below.

Lambert performed at a radio event and showed off two songs, “Cuckoo,” and “Chokehold,” according to The Insider. We aren’t sure where these were filmed, although on Lambert recently tweeted about performing before some radio fans in Denver.

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“Blood for Poppies” will be the first single from Garbage’s “Not Your Kind Of People,” our May 15.

We'll have to wait until March 18 to hear the song, but the video has already been shot in Los Angeles by director/photographer Matt Irwin. We wonder if it sounds like “I Hate Love,” another album track that the band circulated last month.

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The Monkees

As we’ve seen all too recently with Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston, an artist’s death — and the attendant publicity — spurs sales.

The Monkees are the latest act to see such a jump. Following Davy Jones’ Feb. 29 death, the group returned to the Billboard 200 for the first time in nine years, according to Billboard. “The Best of the Monkees’  popped back onto the album chart yesterday at No. 20.  The Best of the Monkees” was last on the charts in June 2003.  The title’s sales of 17,000 were up 7,808% over the week before. (We can’t do the math, but that means it must have sold something like 400 copies last week).

“Flashback With the Monkees” came on the chart at No. 125.

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Katy Perry

Credit: AP Photo

Ready to see Katy Perry’s strawberries in 3D? The singer’s 3D concert movie, “Part of Me,” will hit theaters this summer.

As we first reported in February, Perry was in discussions with Paramount and Imagine Entertainment to create the flick.  Those conversations clearly worked out, as Perry confirmed the release yesterday via, what else, Twitter: “FINALLY, my MOVIE is coming out with Paramount this summer! It's called "KATY PERRY: PART OF ME."

She’s the latest artist to appear on the big screen following “Michael Jackson’s This Is It,”  “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never,” “Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds,”  and “Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience.”

It’s a smart play to keep Perry, who appeared on Fox’s “Raising Hope” earlier this week,  foremost in fans’ minds as she takes some time off the road.  Up next for Perry is March 26’s release of “Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection.” The set features all of “Teenage Dream,” including some new material. Among the new songs are “Part Of Me,” the 3D movie’s title track, which Perry took straight to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 following the song’s premiere on the Feb. 12 Grammy Awards.

She tells MTV that she sees “Confection” as a gift to her longtime fans and also a way to bring in new fans.

One, I'm doing it mostly for the hard-core fans because they always love all the extras," Perry told MTV News in Los Angeles. "The second reason I wanted to do it is because it's my one last push, to push that person that is on the precipice of becoming a fan. They're thinking to themselves, 'I bought four or five singles, maybe I should actually complete my album and now I should really complete my album because I'm gonna get 19 songs for a really great price.' I think it's like a bargain and I'm doing it for my fans."

Follow Melinda Newman on Twitter @HitfixMelinda
 

fun.

Credit: Atlantic

As fun.’s “We Are Young” featuring Janelle Monae ascends to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, we also got news that Toby Keith’s former country smash, novelty song “Red Solo Cup,” is going for ads at Top 40 radio as well.

Those are just two examples of the changing landscape at Top 40 radio, which is, slowly but surely, expanding its parameters once again.

For the last several years, Top 40 has been dominated almost exclusively with hip-hop and rhythmic leaning tunes.  To be sure there have been a few exceptions, such as Train’s “Hey Soul Sister,” Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” and, of course, Adele’s three chart toppers, but by and large, even a Katy Perry or Britney Spears track would get bolstered by a remix with a rapper or with some heavy rhythmic component. For awhile there, it seems like Lil Wayne was on every song because his presence definitely gave the song a better shot at rising up the chart.

.fun

Credit: AP Photo

Fun.’s “We Are Young” featuring Janelle Monae soars to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 this week, making it the first rock band in a decade to score a No. 1 with its debut charting song.

As chart followers know, rock has been scarce in the top 10 at all for any rock-leaning act in the last several years as Top 40 has been rhythmic leaning for more than five years (and it’s a blurry line between if fun. is pop or rock, but we digress).  The last rock band to take its debut chart single to the top was Nickelback in 2001 with “How You Remind Me.”  It is also the first No. 1 by a rock band on the Billboard Hot 100 since Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” in June 2008, according to Billboard.

There’s a lot going on in Florence + the Machine’s new video for “Never Let Me Go.”  First of all, Florence Welch has traded in her famous red locks for black hair and a total goth look.

There’s also a tarry substance, similar to blood, running down her face. But she finds solace on, where else, an ice rink with her boyfriend.

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