Pop Chart

Whitney Houston's "Whitney" joined that small, select circle of albums that have debuted on the Billboard pop chart at No. 1 when the LP turned the trick on this week's Billboard pop charts. The last one to accomplish this feat was "Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Live 1975/85" last November. Houston's single, "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)," also hit the top of the singles chart. Houston's album deposes U2's "The Joshua Tree," which had been No. 1 for nine weeks.

Taylor Swift couldn't quite beat out Adele for the top-selling album of 2012, but Swift 's "Red" is heading into 2013 on a high note. The album retains its position at the top of the U.S. pop charts, her seventh week overall in the No. 1 spot.  Swift's Big Machine effort "Red" sold an additional 241,000 copies this week, according to Nielsen SoundScan, giving it a to-date total of 3.1 million copies sold.  As reported earlier today, Swift's...

U.K. boy band One Direction leads seven new albums onto the top 10 of the U.S. pop charts as record labels ramp up their release schedule for the holiday season. The act's second album in 12 months, "Take Me Home," sold more than 500,000 copies in its first week in stores in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.   "The X-Factor"-groomed One Direction, whose hit "What Makes You Beautiful" has sold about 3.7 million downloads, now has two albums in the top 30. The act's late 2011 debut, "Up All Night," is at No. 26 on the tally and has sold more than 1.3 million copies to date.

U.K. boy band One Direction leads seven new albums onto the top 10 of the U.S. pop charts as record labels ramp up their release schedule for the holiday season. The act's second album in 12 months, "Take Me Home," sold more than 500,000 copies in its first week in stores in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.   "The X-Factor"-groomed One Direction, whose hit "What Makes You Beautiful" has sold about 3.7 million downloads, now has two albums in the top 30. The act's late 2011 debut, "Up All Night," is at No. 26 on the tally and has sold more than 1.3 million copies to date.

Whitney Houston is still rules the Billboard magazine pop charts. Her album, "Whitney," which debuted last week at the top of the pop chart, is still No. 1. "I Wanna Dance With Somebody," the first single from the album, also heads the singles chart. L.L. Cool J's red-hot "Bigger and Deffer" moved up two notches to No. 11. Two artists not known as chart-toppers both have cracked the Top 40 with recent releases. Suzanne Vega's "Solitude Standing" is No.

Bob Dylan is back in a familiar place, landing at the top of the U.S. pop music chart for the fifth time in his career. His Columbia release "Together Through Life" sold 125,000 copies in its first week in stores, according to data provided by Nielsen SoundScan. The sales are in line with Dylan's recent past, with one exception. In 2006, his "Modern Times" debuted at the top of the chart with 192,000 copies sold.

It's been a good year for young soul singers. One of the surprise pop hits of the year is Bobby Brown's album, "Don't Be Cruel," which moved up four places to No. 8 on the Billboard magazine pop album chart. Keith Richards' debut solo album, "Talk Is Cheap," entered the pop chart at No. 75.

Rare is the star who can pull off high-wire circus acrobatics and deliver no-nonsense pop hooks. Now more than a decade into her recording career, Pink has managed to find the balance between radio-ready, dance-rock hits and diva-worthy, crowd-dazzling maneuvers. Pink has had numerous top 10 albums, but none has  opened at the top of the chart. Until now. Pink's latest for RCA, "The Truth About Love," bows at No. 1 on this week's Billboard chart , having sold about 280,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

It's a good week to be in a major label rock band. Nineties survivors Matchbox Twenty and relative newcomers Imagine Dragons own the top two spots on this week's pop chart, and both are winning sales with hand clap-driven mid-tempo singles.  "North," Matchbox Twenty's first album of entirely new material in a decade, lands at No. 1 after selling 95,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. The Rob Thomas-led band hasn't been entirely missing in action, as a 2007 hits collection, "Exile on Mainstream," mixed in new material with older hits and bowed at No. 3 on Billboard's charts , doing so after selling 131,000 copies.  The Atlantic Records act has a hit in "She's So Mean," a single that has reached the top 40 on Billboard's Hot 100. The song, about a bratty femme fatale who scratches her suitor's record collection, plays it light, boasting rather percussive verses that bring a communal vibe to Matchbox Twenty's late-'90s rock.  Interscope's Imagine Dragons mine similar territory with hit "It's Time," an anthemic, ukulele-friendly rocker that has thus far peaked at No. 63 on Billboard's singles chart.

When it comes to the U.S. pop charts, rising R&B star Frank Ocean can't seem to get a break. Although his major label debut, "Channel Orange," had a fine first week on the charts, the album's exclusivity with iTunes meant it never really had a shot at the top spot. This week, a low-balling sale via online retailer Amazon means the album has a sharper second week drop than expected.  Despite being available only at iTunes, "Channel Orange" bowed at No. 2 on last week's pop chart with 131,000 copies sold in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The protege has become the influencer. Justin Bieber will be No. 1 on the U.S pop charts when they're released tomorrow, bowing in the pole position one week after his mentor Usher topped the charts. Bieber, however, will be the one with bragging rights. His new album "Believe" has registered the bestselling debut week for an album this year.  "Believe," his first effort since November's holiday album "Under the Mistletoe," sold 374,000 copies in its debut week, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Records show that Amy Winehouse left an estate worth $4.66 million after her death last year. The 27-year-old soul diva was found dead in bed on July 23 at her London home. Probate documents showed Wednesday that she left behind assets totaling more than $6.7 million, with $4.66 million remaining after debts and taxes. Since Winehouse did not leave a will, the money will go to her parents. Nothing goes to her ex-husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, whom she divorced in 2009.

Whitney Houston, a willowy church singer with a towering voice who became a titan of the pop charts in the 1980s and 1990s but then saw much of her success crumble away amid the fumes of addiction and reckless ego, has died. She was 48. Kristen Foster, a publicist, announced Saturday that the singer had died, and police sources later confirmed that she was found unresponsive in her room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel about 3:30 p.m. Paramedics performed CPR on her, but she was pronounced dead about 4 p.m., Beverly Hills Police Lt. Mark Rosen told KTLA News.

The huge Michael Jackson portrait that Sunland artist Seaton Brown created from 1,680 empty soda cans, calling it "A Tribute to the King of Pop," has reached its logical destination. Brown said he recently sold the 144-square-foot work to Ripley Entertainment, which operates a chain of 31 Ripley's Believe It or Not! museums in 10 countries, including the one in Hollywood. Brown said the work fetched a not-quite-kingly $7,500 — enough, however, to cover the $1,000 he spent on raw materials (including about $600 worth of soda pop that he poured down the drain)

Newt Gingrich has jumped into the presidential race. But to hear him tell it, the game is rigged. President Obama, Gingrich told Fox News’ Sean Hannity Wednesday evening, “can’t afford to run in a fair election. If he was on an equal playing field, he’d lose.” FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of the photo caption that accompanied this article said Newt Gingrich appeared on Fox News' "Hannity" on Tuesday evening. He appeared Wednesday. Obama, the Republican candidate said, however, has the advantages of the presidency, support from the “left-wing media,” and the backing of labor unions and billionaires like George Soros.