Some, like Lil Wayne, pack that gap with hundreds of mixtape tunes and guest appearances, but even Weezy seems to be struggling to nail what is shaping up to be the new brass bragging ring in the biz: the two (or three) albums in a year watermark. While his rock album, Rebirth, was supposed to be released this spring, last we knew it was still in the "TBD" category.

So far this year, we've had U2, Eminem and Coldplay saying they'll drop a second brand-new disc of material either in the same calendar year or within 365 days of their most recent efforts. But considering the gaps between their two most recent releases (almost five years, five years and three years, respectively), and the fact that they're among the biggest acts in the world, turning that ship around so quickly would be impressive, though highly unlikely.

And, you might recall, last year Erykah Badu promised that she had a conceptual album trifecta up her billowing sleeve, but so far we've only seen the mind-blowing first chapter released, New Amerykah Part 1, 4th World War. No release date has been set for New Amerykah Part 2, Return of the Ankh, or the third "period piece" album, Lowdown Loretta Brown, all of which were supposed to originally drop in 2008. And, before all his recent legal issues, DMX had said he was going to release a hip-hop and gospel album within months of each other.

You might also recall that Chicago’s Lupe Fiasco promised to end his career with a three-album flurry entitled LUPE.N.D. but that project seems to have been back-burnered as well. Hell, even Cam'ron is talking trifecta, recently telling MTV News that he's got two albums, a soundtrack and two movies in the pipeline for '09.

While plenty of artists have beat the 12-month clock in the past (DMX, Tupac, Jay-Z, and last year, Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails), it's a tough game to play and we're not going to hold our breaths for those new U2, Eminem and Coldplay albums.

But we have full confidence that one artist will deliver exactly as promised.

Prince, notorious for his shelf-buckling backlog of recorded material, also has three albums teed up for release this year, only two of which, LOtUSFLOW3R and MPLSoUND are, technically, his own, plus a third from his protégé, Bria Valente, Elixer, that he had a heavy hand in writing and playing on.

And the reason, unlike all these other acts, that you can believe Prince? He cut an exclusive deal with Target that will see the whole thing drop for the low-low price of $11.98. Maybe front-loading is the key?

Do you think U2, Coldplay and Eminem will get two albums out this year?

For those who missed it, one item on the list was "Cool name: The Edge. Uncool name: Sting." Everyone seemed to make a big deal of it the next day, seemingly eager for a beef between these two guys with strange nicknames.

But when MTV News caught up with the guys last night at their secret show in Boston, The Edge used it as a place to clear the air and reassure fans of both Sting and U2 that there's nothing but love between the guys.

Lots of stories going on in the newsroom, and Tim Kash found some kindness in his heart to sit down and chat about 'em earlier today.

If you liked "Iron Man," there's a pretty good chance you'll like "Iron Man 2." Some big names have been added to the film's cast, and our movies editor, Josh Horowitz, is here to talk about them.

Last night, our very own Sway helped U2 host a very intimate concert in the very, very U2-obsessed city of Boston. Find out what he thought of the show, and check out our videos!

And lastly, Taylor Swift is headlining her own nationwide tour! What? Didn't you do the very same when you were 19?

That oughtta hold you over until tomorrow. Talk to you then!

It's not every day that U2's management calls your boss and requests your services.

The pressure was on. My introduction to U2 happened in 1992, when I went to the Oakland Coliseum to see Public Enemy. I didn't know that U2 were headlining — or even who they were — but to my surprise, their performance blew me away and opened my mind to contemporary rock music. And now they wanted me to host a global radio broadcast!

I was just trying to get in the zone all day. It's one thing to prepare and research, but wrangling your emotions when everything's going crazy around you is another thing entirely. And it was crazy in the Somerville Theatre!

The band was soundchecking clear up until doors. There were thousands of fans outside trying to get in. Police everywhere, satellite trucks, TV production — the works.

By the time I hit the stage, though, I was having fun. After getting the crowd all riled up, I announced, "Live from the Somerville Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts —" and a cameraman cut me off. The floor manager miscued me in front of 900 people!

Now, people trust that I'll keep things under control. They know that I'll be honest and truthful. That helps me stay solid. So when there are missed cues or mispronunciations or whatever, I'm able to find my way to the next moment without making a mistake and having U2 go, "Whoa! He just messed up!"

They didn't. It worked out. I started over, and no one was the wiser. Later, as the band prepared for the Q&A, I told the crowd about my experience at the Zoo TV Tour. I wove the band into my story, they fell into their seats, and we were off.

Afterward, I felt like I'd been hanging out with guys I'd known my entire life. They're genuine, good guys. It felt good that when they called me, I delivered. And it felt even better when, at the end of the night, the band handed me a well-poured Guinness.

They were excited about music culture. As big as they've become, they have more humility and hunger than rappers I've interviewed who've only had one hit in the past year. Music to them is not just plucking their strings; it's spiritual. Them boys live to play, and they love to create and they love to make an impact on those who listen, and they want to be as good as they can be. They care immensely about their fans.

Talking with them, I felt the way I felt the first time I interviewed Cee-Lo long before he was in Gnarls Barkley, or Andre 3000 a long while back. It was very refreshing. We covered everything from their concert at New York's Fordham University to the reduced ticket-pricing for their tour (check back for that, and the full interview on Monday).

We also discussed lyrics: To give you an idea of how great the interview was, I paraphrased a few and asked if Bono was mocking his activism in it, and I said, "Is that to lighten the blow?" He said yes. They also explained why they chose not to work with producer Rick Rubin, and Bono also talked about what he's learned from Jay-Z and Kanye West, and the band's relationship with hip-hop.

There's a lot in the interview, so be sure to check it out on Monday — I'm still on a natural high.

MTV News will have lots more from our exclusive interview with U2 on Monday and throughout next week!

U2 can now add having their very own street (temporarily) to their stacked list of accomplishments. MTV News was there when the rockers christened U2 Way in New York City.

Can't wait for Kelly Clarkson's new album to drop? If you didn't already check it out when the songs were leaked last month, MTV has the official preview of Kelly's highly anticipated comeback.

Usher has some words of advice for Chris Brown. From one R&B star to another, Usher says Brown should lay low and stay off the jet skis.

Evan Rachel Wood told MTV News why you should be excited for the "Spider-Man" Broadway show. You know, besides the fact that it's a "Spider-Man" musical.

It's one of those questions that can keep you awake at night: Which Jonas Brother looks best in 3-D? Well, don't fret, we asked the boys themselves.

Sprinting down 10 city blocks to be within 10 feet of Bono and the rest of U2 was not what I was expecting for my Tuesday agenda. But this is MTV News, and my time as an intern here has continued to provide one surprise after the next!

The day started off normally (I had made about eight trips up and down the elevator running errands), and I was in the midst of deciding what to eat for lunch when the senior editor came running into the intern room, saying that the naming ceremony for "U2 Way" was under way, and that the band was there with Mayor Bloomberg. He asked for an intern to race there and snap a few pictures, and as the rock nerd of the crew, I was selected.

Without a dose of shame (and with no time to spare), I nearly broke a sweat in the 16-degree weather, racing uptown to 53rd and Broadway for a ceremony that was supposed to have started the moment I left the building.

From a couple blocks away, I could see there was a huge pack of press, fans, and a bunch of people who probably didn't care who was there — the heavy police presence was clue enough it was probably someone big. As luck would have it, U2 and Bloomberg had not even made it to the podium yet, so I was able to catch my breath, flash my credentials and find a semi-visible location from where I could see what was going on.

Bloomberg and the guys came out and I immediately began taking a bunch of pictures and the few notes I could gather. Being surrounded by a bunch of pushy photographers made the writing a bit difficult, especially when a particularly inconsiderate one pushed me off of a stool and took it away from me (!), causing me to fall on my own bag.

Anyway, I saw U2 today, and pretty up-close. With my heart racing from excitement and my eyes tearing from the cold, I was so happy to be in the presence of such an incredible band that I didn't know what to do with myself. Who knows what my internship will bring tomorrow?

(For more photos from the event, click here.)

Can Lil Rounds live up to the hype? We've got a preview of the aforementioned diva and her fellow contestants in the last "American Idol" group vying for three spots in the top 12 tonight.

MTV News' gives 10 reasons Zack Snyder's "Watchmen" adaptation could be considered the riskiest movie ever. And Billy Crudup going full-frontal is only one of them.

Britney Spears gave fans an early look at what to expect on her Circus tour, which kicks off tonight in New Orleans, by posting a set list on her Web site. And by the way, we'll be in N'Awlins tonight, so check back for plenty of stories about the show.

Dev Patel and Freida Pinto swear they are not dating. After talking to "Slumdog Millionaire" producer Christian Colson and director Danny Boyle, we're starting to believe them.

U2's brand-new album, No Line on the Horizon, hits stores today, and they've got a new gig as Letterman's house band this week. We take a minute to look back at their last big release and mega-tour.

The last time I interviewed Bono was at the Sundance premiere of his modest Irish quartet's modest little concert flick, "U2 3D," a rock doc so massive it required 250-pound cameras shooting 70mm film and was helmed by not one but two directors.

At the time, U2 were still fleshing out their then-untitled 12th album with the aid of Joshua Tree co-producers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno.

"Daniel is about the ancient," Bono explained. "And Brian is about the modern, the future, the things that haven't happened. Somewhere between that is our next album."

That next album, No Line on the Horizon, finally hits stores today, accompanied by all of its itinerant hype: The band performed a surprise gig on a tiny, seventh-floor London balcony last week, and is acting house band on "Late Night With David Letterman" all this week.

The album comes in a dizzying array of options as well, including a basic, deluxe and box-set edition. The box set comes complete with a DVD of an Anton Corbijn film and a hardcover book with interviews and photographs that document the making of the album.

Today's the day, then, to decide whether U2 made good on their promise to navigate that intersection of past and future.

Sway will catch up with Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. on Friday.

Meanwhile, you can brush up on U2 with this full-length interview from the tail end of the band's 2005 Vertigo Tour.

Or a diary on boozy New Year's Eve revelry from the lead singer of a rock band? If you picked "C," then clearly you knew how high to aim for the Sunday debut of guest New York Times op-ed columnist Bono. The Irish bar(d) is, of course, a world-renowned philanthropist, a compassionate provoker of stubborn politicians and a deep, poetic thinker when it comes to delivering everything from Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction speeches to impassioned exhortations to world-governing bodies on the importance of bootstrapping the developing world.

But c'mon, the dude's also been one of the biggest rock stars on the planet for nearly 30 years. So when Bono's column began with the phrase "Once upon a couple of weeks ago" and continued with the scene-setting furniture, "I'm in a crush in a Dublin pub around New Year's. Glasses clinking clicking, clashing crashing in Gaelic revelry: swinging doors, sweethearts falling in and out of the season's blessings, family feuds subsumed or resumed. Malt joy and ginger despair are all in the queue to be served on this, the quarter-of-a-millennium mark since Arthur Guinness first put velvety blackness in a pint glass," I knew what I was in for.

The deconstruction of bleary-eyed New Year's fears, hopes, regrets and recriminations touches on the music playing in the pub as the Celtic Tiger (Ireland's once high-flying, now shattered economy) tucks its tail between its legs: Frank Sinatra's "My Way," of course.

"I am struck by the one quality his voice lacks: sentimentality," Bono writes. "Is this knotted fist of a voice a clue to the next year? In the mist of uncertainty in your business life, your love life, your life life, why is Sinatra's voice such a foghorn — such confidence in nervous times allowing you romance but knocking your rose-tinted glasses off your nose, if you get too carried away.

"A call to believability.

"A voice that says, 'Don't lie to me now.'

"That says, 'Baby, if there's someone else, tell me now.'

"Fabulous, not fabulist. Honesty to hang your hat on."

This is the Bono we know and love. Populist, prickly poet and barstool philosopher.

Not a few paragraphs later, he's back in his Dublin spread (which he claims has a "hole-in-the-wall" cellar I suspect is bigger and nicer than my parents' house), drinking again (this time red wine), steeling himself for the messy late-night conversations among well-lubricated family and friends. He brags a bit about a painting Sinatra sent him back in 1993, a Chairman original he describes as a "mad yellow canvas of violent concentric circles gyrating across a desert plain" that looks like jazz sounds. Or something.

Why is he telling us this? Who knows? Maybe as a setup to boast about hanging out with Sinatra at the singer's Palm Springs, California, pad and rapping about Miles of jazz and Sinatra's quip that he "doesn't usually hang with men who wear earrings."

Pow!

He ponders what Sinatra would have thought of the months, sometimes years, U2 take to record an album, instead of, like jazz, seizing "the moment you're in." I suspect the earring quote applies here, too.

Bono riffs on about singers depending on what they know to succeed, how two different versions of Sinatra's signature "My Way" show how the accumulated ravages of time can pile up on the same words and render them different.

Cut back to the pub and the rousing chorus of "My Way" coming back around. And the question, "This is our moment. What do we hear? ... Hubris and humility, blue eyes and red."

Nah, me? Even with the economy in tatters and the world on the brink, I just hear Bono being Bono. And that's something you can always bank on.

What do you think of Bono's column? Sound off below!