Eminem & Train Top iTunes Year-end Sales Charts

Eminem‘s Recovery was the best-selling album of 2010 at the iTunes Music Store, while Train‘s “Hey, Soul Sister” was the biggest single, according to year-end charts just released by Apple.

Other top-selling albums came from Ke$ha, Lady Gaga, and Lady Antebellum. Katy Perry, B.o.B, and Eminem were among the singles chart’s runners-up.

Here is the full list of iTunes’ top 10 best-selling albums and singles.

Best-Selling iTunes Singles of 2010:
1. Train, “Hey, Soul Sister”
2. Katy Perry, “California Gurls” (feat. Snoop Dogg)
3. Eminem, “Love the Way You Lie” (feat. Rihanna)
4. B.o.B, “Airplanes” (feat. Hayley Williams of Paramore)
5. Taio Cruz, “Dynamite”
6. Usher, “OMG” (feat. will.i.am)
7. Taio Cruz, “Break Your Heart” (feat. Ludacris)
8. Ke$ha, “TiK ToK”
9. Lady Antebellum, “Need You Now”
10. Eminem, “Not Afraid”

Best-Selling iTunes Albums of 2010:
1. Eminem, Recovery
2. Ke$ha, Animal
3. Lady Gaga, The Fame
4. Lady Antebellum, Need You Now
5. Taylor Swift, Speak Now
6. Drake, Thank Me Later
7. Mumford & Sons, Sigh No More
8. The Black Eyed Peas, The E.N.D.
9. Jack Johnson, To the Sea
10. Sade, Soldier of Love

For more information, please visit iTunes’ “Rewind 2010″ page.

Glee Tops the Download Charts!

A new Glee star has certainly been born.

Darren Criss, who plays Blaine, the new gay BFF of Kurt (Chris Colfer) on the show, has already quickly been made a series regular.

Now Deadline Hollywood reports that Glee‘s rendition of Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream debuted at #1 in digital track sales with 214,000 tracks sold, the first time a Glee track has done so. (Glee‘s signature song, cast’s version of Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ reached #2 in May 2009.)

Criss sang the solo literally seconds after his character was introduced on the show.

Video: "Celebration" by Madonna

Come join the party! Yeah....

MADONNA / CELEBRATION from james gardner on Vimeo.

Once again Madonna stays in tune with time and shares with us another remarkable music video. Join the "Celebration" by downloading this video for FREE on iTunes today, for a limited time only. Click here to download it!

Madonna's greatest hits CD and DVD will be released in the US on Tuesday, September 29th. You can pre-order your copy today on iTunes by clicking here.

Madonna's "Celebration" Now Availabe on iTunes

Madonna's single "Celebration" for her forthcoming greatest hits CD, by the same title, has been released by iTunes, Amazon, Masterbeast, and other internet outlets after it was leaked last week. It's great to see Warner Bros. adapted to the sign of times.

You can download it from iTumes by clicking this link GET IT IN ITUNES NOW! or on Amazon from this one Amazon.

This can definitely become a #1 hit for Madonna, who hasn't had a #1 hit since "Music" in 2000.

Support the Queen and purchase "Celebration" today!

Secret Chart Reveals American Idol's Top Sellers

The secret is out.

Producers for American Idol didn’t want anyone to know which contestants are selling the most downloads on iTunes, because it might spoil the results of the show or favor one contestant over another.

But last week a glitch in Apple’s software revealed an Idol ranking, giving fans a look at who’s on top on iTunes, the New York Post reports.

Keep reading to find out which contestants are selling the most.

Adam Lambert is way ahead, taking six of the top 10 spots on the Idol list. His rendition of “Mad World,” which earned him a standing ovation from Simon Cowell, is in the No. 1 spot on the secret chart.

That’s probably not a shocker. What does come as a bit of a surprise is that Kris Allen has three studio versions of his performances in the top 10 and fan favorite Danny Gokey only has one, his version of “Endless Love” from Idol’s recent movie night.

Whether or not the iTunes sales figures are a reflection of the way people are voting is undetermined. But it does seem like Kris has been gaining on Danny over the past few weeks.

The contestants will perform Rat Pack standards on tonight’s live performance show, airing at 8:00 pm (ET) on FOX.

iTunes Starts Variable Pricing

iTunes price changes went into yesterday on the digital music service. Whereas all songs used to carry a 99¢ fee, the new arrangement allows record companies to choose whether they want to price the song at $1.29, 99¢ or even 69¢.

The price change is most prevalent on songs in the Top 100 charts. Of those songs, 38 of them now carry a $1.29 charge, including the Top Three, the Black Eyed Peas’ “Boom Boom Pow,” Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” and Flo Rida’s “Right Round.” However, the fourth and fifth song on the chart, Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb” and Kid Cudi’s “Day ‘n’ Night,” currently retain their 99¢ charge.

However, with the 30¢ increase comes the abolition of the MP3s’ DRM, or digital rights management, technology. As part of Apple’s deal with the record labels, iTunes is in the process of making its entire library DRM-free, much like the Amazon MP3 Store.

Outside of the Top Songs, it seems like the pricing of an artist’s catalog is being done almost at random. Take for instance, Alice In Chains: The band’s entire iTunes catalog is priced at 99¢ except “Man In the Box,” which is priced at $1.29. It’s not just one anomaly, however. “Man in the Box” shows up three times on iTunes, on Facelift and two Best-Of comps, and all three times its priced at $1.29. A search to find songs priced at 69¢ has thus far produced no results.