Pop Music News: February 14th, 2011

Welcome once again to Pop Music News, a weekly wrap up of some of the more noteworthy happenings in the world of pop music. This week's recap includes coverage of the Grammy Awards, a record setting weekend for "Born This Way", and a news tidbit on the hit show Glee.

The 53^rd Annual Grammy Awards

Of course the biggest news in music this week is the 53^rd Annual Grammy Awards, which took place last night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. As always, the show came was a mixed bag of great and not so great performances, as well as some surprises in the awards categories. Among my favorite performances were those of Cee Lo, all decked out a la Elton John circa 1976, and joined by Gwyneth Paltrow and a stage full of Muppets, performing his hit "Forget You" and of course Lady GaGa premiering her new "Born This Way" single, opaque egg and all.

Surprise winners included the heretofore obscure Esperanza Spalding, who earned the award for Best New Artist, and Arcade Fire, an indie rock group who snagged the Album of the Year Award for their set, "The Suburbs." Several favorite Yahoo Contributor Network writers have already covered much of what happened last night at the Grammys, so rather than recap all of the happenings at the show here, just follow these links to read more about them:

GaGa and the Egg

One of the most talked about experiences from last night's show was Lady GaGa's big entrance from the inside of an egg. Yahoo Contributor Angel Vee previewed the spectacle in her piece, Lady GaGa 2011 Grammys: Which Came First, the Chicken or Lady GaGa?

Other pieces discussing this particular event include:

2011 Grammys: Lady Gaga in an Egg, Justin Bieber's Tux and More, by Jennifer Waite

Grammys 2011, Christina Aguilera, Justin Bieber Fall Short; Lady Gaga's Eggs-cellent Entry (Links), by Carol Whyte

And the Winners Were...

As with all awards shows, last night's Grammys had its share of big winners, upsets and surprises. For a full rundown of all the winners and reviews of the many performances in the show, check out these fine pieces:

The Grammy Awards 2011 Winners Announced; Best New Artist and Album of the Year Shockers, by Jolie du Pre

2011 Grammy Winners: And the Awards Go To?, by Angel Vee

Grammys 2011 Recap: Grammy Winners List, Performance Recaps, and More!, by Jennifer Waite

2011 Grammy Awards: The Highlights and the List of Winners, by Victoria Leigh Miller

Esperanza Spalding Earns a Grammy Award, by Michael Segers

Grammys 2011 List of Winners, Best and Worst Fashion Slideshow Links, by Carol Whyte

Goo Goo Over GaGa

Lady GaGa's new song, "Born This Way" is officially a record breaker. With unprecedented hype leading up to and including the weekend of its release, the song elicited approximately 450,000 downloads in the three days since, breaking a previous record for downloads by a female artist that was set just four weeks ago by Britney Spears' "Hold It Against Me." According to Billboard magazine, the song has reached #14 on its Hot Pop Songs Chart and will likely debut at #1 when the new weekly chart comes out on Wednesday, February 16^th. The song has been played a total of 4,602 times thus far (according to Nielsen BDS), making it the highest ever for a debuting single in the chart's 18 year history.

Original Music to be Featured on Glee

Billboard also reports that Glee's music supervisor announced on Sunday that an upcoming episode will feature an original song, the show's first, and if all goes well, there may be a future episode featuring all new tunes. Stay tuned...

For last week's installment of Pop Music News, please click here.

Sources:

http://www.billboard.com/#/news/billboard-bits-glee-likely-to-feature-original-1005035152.story

http://www.billboard.com/#/news/lady-gaga-s-born-blasts-off-with-huge-sales-1005035102.story

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/arcade-fire-lady-antebellum-lady-gaga-win-big-at-the-grammys-20110214

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/grammy-awards-2011-the-winners-20110213