For the third year in a row, DJ Earworm has created a mashup of the top 25 songs of the year, as determined by Billboard, in his 2010 United States of Pop (Don’t Stop the Pop). Featured: Katy Perry, Ke$ha, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Enrique Iglesias (really? He was back this year?), the Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna, Eminem, and — wait, no Bieber?!? I can’t imagine a 2010 mashup without the Baby hook that I still maintain ripped off “Runaround Sue” (oh look! Proof!).

Kanye West is riding high right now after his new album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, opened to rave reviews and huge sales. Yesterday he performed a surprise show in New York (which people went absolutely crazy trying to get tickets for) and made sure to include a truly ridiculous, nine and a half minute rant in it. The whole thing is epic and worth about a hundred of his awesomely insane Tweets.

Last night on the Tonight Show, Jay Leno played a version of a popular Internet video made by Rich Juzwiak and Kate Spencer for during an interview with Taylor Swift. Before the show, the producers promised Juzwiak that he and Spencer would receive credit, however, when the episode aired, they used a reedited version and Leno introduced it as something he and his staff “put together.” Juzwiak isn’t thrilled. And, like that, the Internet had a new reason to hate Jay Leno.

Twitter is the new Oprah. Just ahead of next Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards Kanye West spent yesterday penning a long apology to Taylor Swift on Twitter. And I mean long. As in 70-plus tweets. Says Kanye: “I’ve hurt, I’ve bled, I’ve learned. I only want to do good. I am passionate I am human I am real. I wish I could meet every hater.” Also: “Beyonce didn’t need that. MTV didn’t need that and Taylor and her family friends and fans definitely didn’t want or need that.” Also, he wrote her a new song.

Kanye West made his first awards show appearance in more than nine months at last night’s BET Awards – since his infamous stage crashing at last year’s MTV Video Music Awards.

He kicked off Sunday night’s live show with a performance of his new single “Power” – rapping on top of a makeshift mountain with a gorgeous video screen backdrop.

According to the leading two paragraphs in today’s New York Times feature on gender relations at colleges, here are the things that girls like: bars, beer, jokes, and Taylor Swift. That’s “everything” – “except guys.” When we weren’t looking men went extinct. Here, let a college girl explain: “This is so typical, like all nights, 10 out of 10… because there are no guys.” Even “tight-fitting tops, hair sculpted, [and] makeup” can’t lure them out. What’s a girl to do?

From Pink’s glittering ascent into the air to Beyoncé’s feisty, militaristic performance to Green Day‘s 21 Gun Salute to Elton John and Lady Gaga’s sharing a double-sided piano to the Zac Brown Band’s rousing Americana, to the pairing of Ke$ha with Justin Bieber (!), to Sn00ki in the Glamostrator, to people like Stevie Nicks and Alice Cooper, Lionel Richie and Smokey Robinson taking the stage, to Paris and Prince Jackson honoring their father, the 2010 Grammy Awards was a pretty memorable night.

It’s always been my understanding that the Grammys are Hollywood’s Halloween of sorts. For one night, all bets are off. You can stray from safe, bring the hem line up, and add an inch (or 5) on your heel. Alas, this year’s Grammy’s seemed to pull a page from the always safe Oscars: a bunch of yawns, and too many huge misses. Here’s a look at the best (and worst!) of what the red carpet had to offer tonight.

This has been making the rounds, and for good reason — it’s a catchy, boppy new yet familiar song that sums up the last year not only in mashing up some of the biggest hits of 2009 but in doing so in auto-tune, which was one of the distinctive, hallmark sounds of the year. (It [...]

So it’s that time of year. Everyone is trying to figure out who the most important person of the year is. Time will be releasing their pick shortly (though they have been known to apply the term “person” loosely). So: Who is the most important person of the year? Capt. Sully over President Obama? Have your say.

It was a strong return by SNL last night after two weeks off, with the unselfconscious and rather adorable Taylor Swift hosting. Swift had a heavier load as the musical guest as well, but you could barely tell. Plus: vampires and Fox News!

So it’s the day before Halloween, and you don’t have a costume. What to do? Fortunately, Mediaite has come up with some costume suggestions for you. Pulled straight from the headlines, these are guaranteed to be hits:

TMZ has posted the audio of President Obama referring to Kanye West as a “jackass.” It’s an interesting listen for a number of reasons, not the least of which is whether it was clear to everyone that the remark was of the record. Moreover, it leaves one wondering whether the whole episode will actually work out in Obama’s favor?

After reading Steve Krakauer’s account of Kanye West’s outburst at last night’s MTV Video Music Awards, along with some priceless celebrity reactions, I was on Twitter when this tweet caught my eye. Hip-hop writer and “Media Assassin” Harry Allen, re-tweeting another tweep named Lemekh, had this to say:

President Obama just can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to holding the nation’s attention with details of his health care plan. Perhaps the President should embrace an ‘if you can’t beat’em, join’em’ mentality and stage his own outburst. It may be a good last resort before all is lost. Consider this.

This week was full of shout-outs, mostly of the incongruous, impolite variety. First Joe Wilson at the Obama’s joint-session health care talk. Then Kanye West at last night’s Video Music Awards. And somewhere in the middle, Serena Williams did a little shouting-out of her own. In this video, Kanye and Wilson collide.

It makes sense that everyone is talking about last night’s MTV Video Music Awards for reasons other than the actual videos. This is MTV in 2009, and videos are low on the priority list.

Instead, people are talking about the performances – Janet Jackson tribute to her brother, Lady Gaga‘s bloody fantasy sequence. But mainly, it’s how Kanye West was even more of an ass than usual.

Women’s fashion magazine covers typically fall somewhere between sexy and sophisticated. But finding the sweet spot is much trickier when your cover girl is still a teen. This month, women’s fashion mags across the globe plucked their covergirls from the young, supple crop of up-and-comers. Does putting teens on the cover help attract younger readers? (Or any readers at all?)