Taylor Swift leads U.S. pop chart as sales slide (Reuters)

Reuters - The year is off to a bad start for the music industry with U.S. album sales off 6.2 percent from the first week of 2008, according to data issued Wednesday.

CeCe Winans, others honored for gospel music (AP)
AP - Gospel stars CeCe Winans, Elbernita "Twinkie" Clark and Donald Lawrence will be saluted by their peers in a musical tribute in Nashville.

'Dark Knight' sweeps People's Choice Awards (AP)

AP - Holy, People's Choice Awards, Batman! "The Dark Knight" soared away with every trophy it was nominated for Wednesday at the 35th annual fan-favorite CBS ceremony. The caped crusader flick won five awards, including favorite cast, superhero, action movie and on-screen matchup for Christian Bale's Batman and the late Heath Ledger's Joker.

A Shining Dark Knight for the People (E! Online)

E! Online - Was there any doubt that fans would remember 2008 as the year of the Caped Crusader and his gnarliest nemesis yet?

Jennifer Hudson Gets Some Image Love (E! Online)

E! Online - Professionally, at least, things in Jennifer Hudson's world are looking up.

Beatles music pulled from Norwegian podcasts (Reuters)

Reuters - Norway's national broadcaster has pulled a series of 212 podcasts each featuring a different song by the Beatles. The podcasts would have essentially constituted giving away the entire Beatles catalog for free.

Aerosmith gets back to work after '08 break (Reuters)

Reuters - Aerosmith is ready to return to work on its next studio album, according to drummer Joey Kramer.

New Eminem, 50 Cent songs hit radio and Web (Reuters)

Reuters - There's still no solidified release dates for upcoming albums from Eminem and 50 Cent, but new music from both rappers has emerged in the past 24 hours.

Apple to sell copy protection-free songs (Reuters)

Reuters - Apple Inc has reached a deal with major record labels to sell digital songs without the copy protection software that had prevented fans from sharing music bought from its iTunes store, the maker of the iPod and iPhone said on Tuesday.

Help! No More Free Beatles Podcasts (E! Online)

E! Online - Norwegian would if they could.