In The Meantime... What Happened in August?

Let's continue with the recap of the biggest music news to have occurred during my bloggeritis. Welcome to August 2011! August has one major popular music moment and that's the VMAs, and with such an awards show comes quite a lot to blog about. Here's what we (or rather I) missed.

August 19: On the evening of August 18th, blogs all over America (and some Billboard aficionados from across the globe) were wondering if Katy would do it. What would "it" be, you might be wondering? Well "it" is the only album other than Michael Jackson's Bad to score five Billboard Hot 100 number ones. Come the next day, it was officially confirmed when Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" rose to the summit to take the honor as the fifth number one from Teenage Dream and the first time in Billboard history for a female's album to secure five chart-toppers. Would Ms. Perry break the record?



August 28: The 2011 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) started off... well... interesting. Lady Gaga opened the program with a Shakespearean-like soliloquy, dressed as Jo Calderone (remember Viola's cross-dressing in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night?), which turned into a performance of the singer's top ten hit "You and I." While Katy Perry's "Firework" won the coveted "Video of the Year" award, what really stole the show was Beyonce's performance of "Love on Top." While nothing particularly spectacular, it ended in enormous fireworks - figuratively speaking. The wife of Jay-Z finished the song, dropped her mic, unbuttoned her sequined jacket and revealed what some had speculated for sometime: a bulging abdomen holding the first Jay & Bey baby.

Biggest Song of August 2011: "Last Friday Night" by Katy Perry, which tied the most number ones from any album with five.

Biggest Album of August 2011: Watch The Throne by Jay-Z & Kanye West & 21 by Adele, with the former being among the most anticipated releases of 2011. After releasing the promo single "H.A.M." in January, it would take eight months for the album to appear on store shelves. Again, we'll get to Adele shortly.