Considering how many chart-topping albums he has had and the number of smash singles he has released, it's amazing to think that Jay-Z has never had a song top the Billboard Hot 100, the definitive pop songs chart. That changed this morning, as his "Empire State of Mind" took the top spot in its tenth week of release. The track, which of course features a memorable hook care of Alicia Keys, picked up a ton of radio airplay in the wake of the New York Yankees' World Series win (the team ended up adopting it as a victory anthem). Meanwhile, "Run This Town," the first single from The Blueprint 3, remains in the top 20.

While it does mark the first time Jigga has had one of his own songs at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, it's not the first time his name has been associated with the top spot. He has been a guest on three other number one tunes: Mariah Carey's "Heartbreaker," Beyoncé's "Crazy in Love" and Rihanna's "Umbrella." Keys is no stranger to the summit of the pop mountain either, as she has had two of her own songs hit the top spot ("Fallin'" and "No One") as well as another collaboration ("My Boo," with Usher).

Elsewhere on this week's Hot 100, Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" jumped seven spots up the chart to #11, which suggests that it should bust into the top 10 the same week that her The Fame Monster gets its official release. Other big gainers included 50 Cent's "Baby by Me" and the version of "Defying Gravity" as performed by Chris Colfer and Lea Michele from "Glee."

After the Black Eyed Peas took up permanent residence at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for most of the first part of the year, the recent weeks have been wide open, allowing a number of interesting and esoteric tracks to make their way to the top of the heap. Last week saw Owl City's "Fireflies" take the pole position, and this week sees Jason DeRulo's "Whatcha Say" as the top song in the country. DeRulo becomes the fourth artist this year to top the chart with a debut single, Lady Gaga ("Just Dance"), Jay Sean ("Down") and the aforementioned Owl City. (Of course, coupled with the recent chart surge and the New York Yankees' World Series victory, Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind" will probably topple it next week.)

"Whatcha Say" is a pretty unlikely chart-topper. The tune is built around a sample of Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek," which is best known as a featured song on a season finale of "The O.C." a few years back. DeRulo wraps his sweet, slightly Auto-Tuned voice around the song's groove, turning Heap's haunting, melancholy track into a head-nodding R&B jam.

Of course, it's been great for Heap, who not only must be cashing some sort of royalty check but is also getting the mainstream attention she has long deserved. She first gained attention as one half of Frou Frou (whose song "Let Go" accompanied the trailer for the 2004 Zach Braff film "Garden State"), and just released her third solo album Ellipse. She hasn't received the same kind of chart success as DeRulo, but at least she's in the conversation.

Britney Spears is back on top again, as her new single "3" (the lone new song on her forthcoming compilation The Singles Collection, which features 17 of her greatest hits and lands in stores on November 10) entered the Billboard Hot 100 in the top position (ending Jay Sean's single week at the top of the heap). She's the first artist to break onto the singles chart at #1 since Taylor Hicks did it three years ago, and she's the first non-"American Idol" to pull off that feat since Lauryn Hill broke into the Hot 100 with "Doo Wop (That Thing)" in 1998.

Yesterday, Spears shot a video for "3" that features the singer dressed in a lacey outfit and flanked by a pair of sweaty, muscle-bound dancers. It seems to match the suggestive tone of the song, which may or may not be about threesomes.

The Singles Collection will be available in a single disc edition as well as an "Ultimate Fan Box Set," which will contain each of Spears' 30 singles (including "3") as well as a DVD of every one of Spears' videos in chronological order. Each single gets its own disc, which will also contain b-sides and remixes as well as song-specific artwork and liner notes.

Spears has wrapped up the North American portion of her tour for Circus, her wildly successful 2008 album that spawned the hits "Womanizer," "If U Seek Amy," "Radar" and the title track. A few days before The Singles Collection drops, Spears will head to Australia for a three week tour down under. It's been a great year for Spears, who has been selling albums, moving concert tickets and mostly staying out of the tabloid spotlight.

(Click here for more behind the scenes photos from Britney Spears' "3" video shoot!)

Though it seems like they were overshadowed by the tremendous resurrection of Michael Jackson's back catalog following his death, the Black Eyed Peas have managed to set a new chart record. This week marks the seventeenth consecutive week atop the Billboard Hot 100 list, which sets a new mark for a group. "I Gotta Feeling" is the #1 song in the country for the fifth week, a track that replaced BEP's "Boom Boom Pow" after its 12 week reign in the top position. The Peas replace previous record holders Boyz II Men, who pulled 16 week streaks twice before ("One Sweet Day" in 1995-96 and an "I'll Make Love to You"/ "On Bended Knee" tag team in 1994). The Billboard Hot 100 sets it's tallies based on a combination of sales, radio airplay, online streams and downloads and is used to try to track what the most popular song in the country is at any given time. The Peas' dominance has prevented Drake from advancing to the pole position, as his "Best I Ever Had" sits in the second spot for another week.

Amazingly, "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling" represent the Black Eyed Peas' first trips to the top of the charts, as seemingly ubiquitous hits "Let's Get It Started" and "My Humps" only peaked at 21 and three respectively. But despite their singles dominance, that hasn't translated into album sales: After seven weeks, the group's E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies) has moved 778,000 copies, which is a pretty big number but probably should be bigger considering the size of "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling." They still need two more weeks to tie Usher for the overall record: He spent nineteen straight weeks on top with a combination of "Yeah!," "Burn" and "Confessions Part II" in 2004.

For the second time in a month, national album-sales figures released Wednesday morning by SoundScan — the firm that tracks and reports record sales in the U.S. — have been revised, making part of our report yesterday incorrect.

It seems that the Pussycat Dolls actually sold nearly 5,000 more copies of their latest LP, Doll Domination, than was originally reported by SoundScan. On Wednesday morning, the chart posted on the SoundScan site had PCD debuting at #5 on next week's albums chart with 74,000 copies sold, and the Kings of Leon's Only By the Night opening at #4, with 74,400 copies scanned.
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