If anybody has reason to smile these days, it's Gotye.

Another strong week for Gotye, who held on to number one with "Somebody That I Used To Know." If you haven't kept track, that's a tally of eight weeks at the top now. However, that could change next week, as strong pushes from both Rihanna and Katy Perry, not to mention Carly Rae Jepsen, who could very well challenge "Somebody" with her "Call Me Maybe," as the former finally begins to lose some steam.

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John Mayer knocks Adam Lambert from the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart this week as Mayer's new record, Born And Raised, lands at number one. Lambert's Trespassing, meanwhile, drops all the way to number twelve.

Born And Raised is Mayer's third number-one album, joining 2003's Heavier Things and 2009's Battle Studies. It's followed by Adele's 21 and Carrie Underwood's Blown Away at numbers two and three, respectively. These albums' positions haven't shifted since last week.

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It's a big week for American Idol this week. Besides the crowning of the season 11 winner, Phillip Phillips, the singing talent show sees another of its alums rise to the top of the Billboard 200 chart.

The first time in chart history, one Idol is succeeded by another, as Adam Lambert's Trespassing debuts at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart, replacing Carrie Underwood's Blown Away. This also marks the first time an openly gay solo artist has reached the top of the album chart in an album's first week on the chart, according to Rolling Stone.

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The competition gets Blown Away again by Carrie Underwood this week.

Many of previous weeks' big-performing albums have rebounded on the Billboard 200 chart, thanks to a Mother's Day sales surge. Adele's 21 is the best example of this boost, as the album shoots up from number four to number two this week. It's still not enough to reclaim the top spot from Carrie Underwood's Blown Away, which holds at number one for a second week. Blown Away is Underwood's first number-one album, of three, to stay at the top more than seven days. Lionel Richie's former chart-topper, Tuskegee, was also popular with moms last week, since the album rose three spots to number three.

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Carrie Underwood debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart this week with her fourth album, Blown Away, selling 267,000 copies. Underwood's latest trails only Madonna's MDNA, which sold 358,000, as the biggest-selling debut of 2012.

Another noteworthy feat for Underwood this week: She follows in the footsteps of Linda Ronstadt and Faith Hill as being only the third female who can stake claim to the distinction of having issued three country albums that have each gone to number one.

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It's like Rihanna has to prove something. We know she can do serious, and sexy, and frightening, and strong, and addicted. But now, in one of her less controversial music videos post-Chris Brown, she really wants to remind us that she can dance. And Rihanna can dance if she wants to. Hell, she can even look frighteningly like Diana Ross if she wants to. However, "Where Have You Been," RiRi's second Calvin Harris collaboration and third single from Talk That Talk, had so much visual potential, it's a shame "Where Have You Been" has gone to her waist.

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Music sales were slow last week. Jack White's debut solo album, Blunderbuss took the top spot with 138,000 copies sold -- that's less than half of what Madonna 's new one, MDNA , shifted its first week on the chart this time last month: 359,000 (although sales subsequently plummeted the following week). Nevertheless, White still has reason to be excited. This is the first time his musical output has ever charted this high -- albums by the White Stripes, the Raconteurs and the Dead Weather peaked no higher than number two.

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See Also:
• Nicki Minaj's "Beez in the Trap" video plays into stereotypes and fails to entertain
• Nicki Minaj's "Stupid Hoe" video takes aim at Gaga and other fellow pop stars
• Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, is a Minaj-à-trois of pop, dance and hip-hop

After months of waiting, Nicki Minaj finally beamed down from her spaceship and landed on Earth long enough to premiere the much-anticipated video to her international pop hit, "Starships." She released the video on Friday; it's already amassed more than 5.5 million views. And there's a reason for that. "Starships," the explosion of neon sexiness, is as interesting as it is meaningful. Look at it like this: "Starships," in all of its visual glory, is like symbolically watching Minaj's musical career unfold before our very eyes.

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Ke$ha delivers some tasty cock rock with her Flaming Lips collaboration, "2012 (You Must Be Upgraded)."

We expected a lot from the collaboration between Ke$ha and The Flaming Lips -- something rocky, guitar-heavy and feisty, Ke$ha bringing the personality and The Flaming Lips bringing an unmatched quirkiness. What we got, however, was the first decidedly brilliant collaboration Ke$ha has ever done. Even 3Oh!3 must realize this.

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See Also:
• Madonna's MDNA falls harder than Lady Gaga's Born This Way did
• Madonna's MDNA outsells Lionel Richie's Tuskegee (what year is this again?)

Madonna and Lionel Richie -- who would have thought that after four weeks on the Billboard 200 albums chart, only Richie would remain in the top ten and, for the past two weeks, at number one. To compare, Richie's Tuskegee has claimed the top spot on the albums chart for two weeks, while Madonna's MDNA only claimed it for one and is dropping almost as fast as it arrived at the end of March.

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