Eminen tops Billboard 200
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Eminem's "Encore" tops The Billboard 200, even though it was legitimately available for just three days during the sales week, Billboard said Wednesday.
Released Friday to head off piracy, "Encore" sold 711,000 copies in the United States through Sunday, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Albums typically hit retail stores on Tuesday.
Following her appearance in the Nov. 9 broadcast of the Country Music Association Awards, Shania Twain hit the chart at No. 2 on sales of 530,000 copies of her first "Greatest Hits" album.
Toby Keith, who also performed on the CMA show, took No. 3 on sales of 435,000 "Greatest Hits 2" sets, while Britney Spears' "Greatest Hits: My Prerogative," her first album not to open at No. 1 on the 200, is No. 4. Rounding out the top five is last week's chart-topping 17th installment of "NOW That's What I Call Music!"
Suspect named in Vibe awards stabbing
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Santa Monica police named a young rapper as a suspect in a stabbing at hip-hop's Vibe awards, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.
Police identified the suspect as David Darnell Brown, 23, known to fans as Young Buck, a member of the G Unit. That group is one of the top acts in rap and hip-hop, and won a Vibe award Monday for best group.
Brown left the G Unit to record his own album in August, the paper said. He was being sought for allegedly stabbing Jimmy James Johnson, 26, of Los Angeles, who was last reported in stable condition at a Los Angeles-area hospital.
Chaos broke out during Monday's ceremony at a hangar at Santa Monica Airport after rap pioneer Dr. Dre was apparently punched in the face and the Grammy-winning producer/rapper's bodyguards set upon the attacker.
Santa Monica police said one man was stabbed in the chaos that followed. Police summoned reinforcements from neighboring law enforcement agencies to help control the situation.
'American Idol' sets fourth season
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- "American Idol" will return to the Fox network's prime time schedule in January, the network announced Wednesday.
The network said the show's fourth season would premiere Jan. 18 with a two-hour episode featuring highlights -- and low lights -- of auditions that were held this summer in Cleveland, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Orlando, San Francisco, St. Louis and Washington. Episodes featuring the auditions will also air the following night -- and on Tuesday and Wednesday nights during the following two weeks.
The first performance show of the season is scheduled for Feb. 22.
Ryan Seacrest is set to return as host, and the panel of judges will still feature Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson.
Rolling Stone picks 500 best songs
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Rolling Stone's new best-songs list may leave young fans wondering if the panel of experts even considered songs of the past quarter century.
Of the magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, 202 were written in the 1960s, 144 in the next decade and 55 in the 1980s. Just three "current" hits -- Eminem's "Lose Yourself" at No. 166 and "Stan" at No. 290 and OutKast's "Hey Ya" at No. 180 -- made the list.
Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at No. 9 is the only Top 10 song written after 1971.
The Beatles lead all groups with 23 songs on the list, followed by the Rolling Stones with 14, Bob Dylan's 12 and Elvis' 11.
Interestingly, Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" tops the list, before the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," John Lennon's "Imagine," "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye and Aretha Franklin's "Respect."
