Lee DeWyze was the surprise winner of "American Idol" on Wednesday, beating front-runner Crystal Bowersox on a night that saw all the talent show's former champions reunite to bid farewell to Simon Cowell. DeWyze's cover of U2's "Beautiful Day" is expected to be released later this week. His debut album, on a Sony Music Entertainment record label, will likely follow in the fall. more. Of course a quick look at the Nielsen SoundScan numbers shows that DeWyze's Idol song performance were outselling Bowersox by a wide margin. Songs Lee DeWyze performed on May 18th sold over 50,000 copies songs last week compared to Bowersox's 6,000 according to data sent to us by Nielsen Soundscan on Wednesday. That data may have just been for selected songs since they listed seven songs for DeWyze (including 5 different artist's versions of Hallelujah) and only two for Bowersox. So it really isn't that surprising since the fans have been voting with their wallets already.
A week ago Nikki Lynette released a mixtape called "Roses N' Guns: The totally bad ass mixtape that rocks." It is a hip hop/rock/pop mash up. Grab it here
Oprah Winfrey's charity, the Angel Network, is closing down as the popular U.S. television talk show host prepares to end "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in 2011 after 25 years to set up her own cable TV network. more
Country music fans have come to expect a little eccentricity from legendary crooner Willie Nelson, but he pulled off a real shocker this time: He cut his hair. Spokeswoman Elaine Schock said Nelson, who's been hanging loose in Hawaii, got his hair cut in the past couple of weeks. more
Art Linkletter, who as the gently mischievous host of TV's "People Are Funny" and "House Party" in the 1950s and '60s delighted viewers with his ability to get kids — and grownups — to say the darndest things on national television, died Wednesday. He was 97. more
Disney/ABC TV Group is shutting down decade-old cable channel SoapNet to make room for Disney Junior, a 24-hour channel devoted to youngsters aged 2-7. more
"Shutterbugg" music video from Big Boi has made its way out. The clip is directed by Chris Robinson and features, among other bizarre scenes, the member of OutKast climbing a mount of sneakers with a female companion. more
Selena Gomez is gearing up to follow up her debut album "Kiss and Tell" with a sophomore set. The "Wizards of Waverly Place" actress is eying to release the new effort which is yet to be titled in the United States on September 28. more
While working on his first album after getting out of jail, T.I. has been quite prolific. The Atlanta MC has recorded 80 songs thus far for King Uncaged more
