With close to six months of postponed release dates under its belt, two official videos already out in advance of its supposed release on June 15, and almost every one of its tracks leaked all over the internet, Drake's much anticipated first full-length, Thank Me Later, has generated a ton of hype. The latest track to get leaked, "Fireworks," has had the blogs and celebrity rags buzzing anew, because in the second verse, as Drake himself has confirmed, the teen-actor-turned-rapper addresses his brief and much-speculated-upon fling with songstress Rihanna.

For the second week in a row, album sales reached their lowest point in the history of the SoundScan era. "Indie" bands, meanwhile, continue to chart unexpectedly high: This week, The Black Keys are number three, Band of Horses is number seven and LCD Soundsystem is number ten.

But these are flashes of support -- last week's number three performance by The National fell to number fifteen this week. Still impressive, but the National will be in no man's land in a hurry. No, the real success stories continue to be the least fun to root for: Justin Bieber, still hanging around in the top five, and Glee, which has its second number one album of 2010. Goody.

This week's signs of the music industry's apocalypse: 1. The National had the highest selling debut album in the country this week, good for number three overall (behind Justin Beiber and Lady Antebellum). 2. This was the worst week for album sales since SoundScan started keeping track in 1991.

Q: Who is sadder than Matt Berniger, shown above being grave in the "Bloodbuzz Ohio" video? A: Record label executives.

As expected, B.o.B.'s Adventures of Bobby Ray is the number one album in the country this week. Of course, it only needed to sell 84,000 copies to do it. As Billboard notes, this is the first three-week run of no albums breaking 100,000 since February of last year. Cue alarm bells, death of The Industry rant, etc.

Not that B.o.B. is already proving a flop. He's still got a pair of songs in the top ten of the iTunes chart (not a horrible predictor of the Hot 100, and available sooner), although "Nothin' On You" is down to number six, while the Hayley Williams assisted "Airplanes" is up to number two. We'll have to wait until tomorrow, when Billboard releases the Hot 100, to see what else B.o.B.'s got charting (there was already a non-single in at 67 last week). So the point here is that, if anything, B.o.B.'s subpar sales are one more crystal-clear indication that what people are buying has little correlation with what people are listening to.

You know how they say sex sells and all that? Yeah? Well, spoiler alert: It does. Or does it? What if you're not instantly cognizant that it's sex that you're being sold? What if the innuendos aren't being overtly pushed along by an undeniably sexualized video? Do you still have the same reaction? Guess it depends on how good the song is, right? Consider this a test: Pretend, if you will, that there isn't a highly provocative clip awaiting you after the jump, and just listen to this track, "Ride," the first single from Ciara's forthcoming album, Basic Instinct, at face value. Go ahead. We'll wait.

There you have it: Fourteen-year-old Bieber's debut full-length is on top of the Billboard album chart. His debut EP, meanwhile, is at number five. That one's called My World (get it?) -- can't argue with either title. This makes him the youngest chart-topper since Stevie Wonder, yet something tells us their career arcs won't parallel for long. Also, if Usher's Raymond vs. Raymond doesn't unseat My World 2.0 next week, will Usher kick Bieber off his label or just cry in the shower?

Given the quality of her string of featured appearances in the last year, we're pretty pumped for Nicki Minaj's debut album, due in no hurry later this year. Above is probably the album's lead single, and it's just alright.

Somewhere between guest verses on Robin Thicke's "Shakin' It For Daddy" and Usher's "Little Freak," Minaj established herself as the best Young Money rapper not named Lil' Wayne. And yes, that includes Drake.

Before we get into the whole Free Scooter thing, which is mind-blowing on a couple levels and takes a little explaining, let's take a second to think about Justin Bieber, who is probably a stranger pop star than Lady Gaga. Above is a video of Beiber performing his hit "Baby" on, of all places, The View. He raps Ludacris's verse. Little girls scream their approval. Our head explodes.

The arrival of the "Telephone" video has now officially cemented Lady Gaga as the most compelling pop star on the face of the planet (your move, Kanye). It's only been out for four and a half days, and you could write a doctoral thesis on the Internet's reaction.

And now, the thing has amassed over 15 million views, which ABC thinks is a record of some sort. The first step at this point, if you haven't seen it yet, is to queue that mother up. Seriously, you will not have a more mind-blowing nine and a half minutes today.

Taio Cruz is a British dude who wrote and produced for A-listers until 2008, when he stepped in front of a mike. Now, two years later, he has broken a Hot 100 record by having the Ludacris-assisted remix of his single "Break Your Heart" enter the chart last week at 53 and make the ridiculous climb to number one this week.

That's a little misleading -- it's not like the world had never heard the song until fourteen days ago. In fact, it's been around since September, and the Luda version was a b-side on a digital release in November. We are left to assume that its success as a single has more to do with good timing and the increasing irrelevance of chart records than anything else.