The X Factor judge, Cheryl Cole has scored both the #1 single and album in the UK this weekend. Cole’s album, ‘3 Words’ zoomed to the top of the album charts beating Michael Buble and Michael Jackson’s ‘This Is It’.

Meanwhile, her single ‘Fight For This Love’ reigned the singles chart for a second week.

Despite being a mediocre album and an average single (though truth be told, I absolutely love the song!), it just goes to show what the power of X Factor can do — especially for someone as hyped as Cheryl.

The second track from Rihanna’s much anticipated ‘Rated R’ album has leaked! Previously known as ‘The Wait Is Ova’ — the Chase & Status produced ‘Wait Your Turn’ is hot off the press. Ms Fenty comes hard on the gritty track, with her Bajan accent also coming through:

Following the so-so ‘Russian Roulette’, this one is far more memorable with cries of: “It’s just how the game is played / You gotta wait your turn.” Rihanna definitely came hard on this track, but I can’t help but feel this is fully mastered. There’s some inconsistency on the track.

This is definitely a harder, edgier sound from Rihanna who has previously served up perfection with ‘Umbrella’ and ‘Disturbia’. I don’t know how well this will perform outside of the urban charts, it’s a great departure from RiRi’s Hot 100 sound. It seems as though Rihanna’s going for a darker sound and though it does sound good, that is my worry — her mainstream fans won’t be eating up. With new it girl, Lady Gaga on the scene, RiRi needs to really stake her claim and she has failed to so far.

As for the track, I’m liking the beat but I just feel the song is a bit of a mish-mash. I’ll reserve any real judgement till I hear the fully mastered version on Rihanna’s CD, which drops on November 23rd.

Umbrella hitmaker, Rihanna is coming hard with the promotion for her new album ‘Rated R’. With the CD due on November 23rd, it seems Riri has teamed up with ABC for her promotional drive. As well as the network premiering her new music video for ‘Russian Roulette’ next month, the Bajan singer will ‘tell her story’ in two interviews next week.

Translation: Riri is telling all about Chris Brown beating her up for album sales. Watch the promo below:

Rihanna will appear next Thursday on Good Morning America, followed by what will likely be an epic Whitney-esque interview with Barbara Walters on 20/20 next Friday night.

Diva of the moment, Leona Lewis has had another track leaked from her upcoming album ‘Echo’. Leona’s much anticipated collaboration with producer & pal Ryan Tedder’s band, OneRepublic, ‘Lost Then Found’ is the latest victim of the leak treatment. The song will feature on her sophomore album, due November 16th in the UK.

I’m not sure if this is the final mastered copy, the vocals still sound kinda ‘raw’, like they haven’t been levelled out — Leona sounds louder than Tedder. I’m liking the sound of this one, though even I [the Leona stan] will admit that it is seems rather formulaic of Mr Tedder. It should make a nice album cut, however.

Leona also performed her current single, ‘Happy’ [also produced by Tedder] earlier this week in Sweden. Watch below:

Leona looked absolutely gorgeous, wearing the epic Vivienne Westwood gown that can be seen on the cover art for Happy [and on this layout, to your left]. The vocals, as always, were flawless though I will concede that I wish there was more production to it. Hopefully there’ll be some dancers telling a story when Leona performs it on The X Factor next week. While some bloggers aren’t feeling ‘Happy’, I love it. Leona’s vocals have definitely gotten stronger, if that’s even possible!

Fierce Columbian diva, Shakira has unveiled the video for her second European track from album, ‘She Wolf’. Shakira will release ‘Did It Again’ in Europe in the follow-up to the amazing ‘She Wolf’ [the song] which did well on the charts earlier this year. Peep the vid below:

A nice track and another creative video, giving new meaning to the phrase ‘bedroom aerobics’. As an established artist with the biggest selling track of the millennium, not even Shakira is without some issues with her promotion. Her album ‘She Wolf’ was released in Europe this month, but won’t be released in America until November 23rd. By this time, surely most will have been able to download the album off the Internet.

Meanwhile, Shakira won’t be releasing ‘Did It Again’ in the States, opting for a more ’safe’ single choice in ‘Give It Up To Me’ which features Timabaland and Lil Wayne. As an artist who has prided her entire career on being ‘out there’ and taking risks, it seems like she and her label are wary of not doing well with this album.

In bonus Shakira news, she has been confirmed to perform on The X Factor on November 15th.

One of R&B’s finest, Alicia Keys was spotted filming the video for her fantastic new track ‘Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart’ yesterday. The song will be the second to be released from Alicia’s new album, ‘The Element of Freedom’ due December 15th, after ‘Doesn’t Mean Anything’ failed to garner a response.

 

Ms Keys is looking awesome. I’m loving ‘Try Sleeping…’, cannot wait to see the video!

Reigning X Factor champion, Alexandra Burke helped reign in the launch of new UK digital music channel, Viva earlier this week with a performance of her #1 smash hit ‘Bad Boys’ and an album cut, ‘They Don’t Know’. Check out Bad Boys below:

Pretty much the standard performance of the song that we’ve seen a lot of for the past few weeks. I was more interested in her performance of ‘They Don’t Know’, which she performed later that evening:

I’m not a fan of Alex’s album ‘Overcome’ at all, it’s more of a pop album than R&B which is really disappointing, but I have to say this performance may have sold me on the track. Alex’s vocals were beautiful, so soulful and full of spirit. This was a great performance and Alex, unlike my precious Leona, seems to have a better grasp of stage presence which is always a plus. I think I may listen to this track a few times as a result of the performance, something I wouldn’t do otherwise.

In a move that will raise even more eyebrows than the Sugababes have already raised — their new album, ‘Sweet 7′ has been pushed back to 2010.

The girls’ seventh studio album, though the first featuring Jade Ewen, was set to drop on November 23rd with preceding single ‘About a Girl’ on November 9th. The single will still be available but the album will now be released on February 23rd, 2010. The band will release a third single, ‘Wear My Kiss’ in February also.

All I can is hot damn! It’s been one drama after another with the ‘Babes; from the lukewarmly received ‘Get Sexy’ to the ousting of Keisha Buchanan and introduction of Jade, an awful video for ‘About a Girl’ and now this? Perhaps it’s for the best that the album is pushed back till next year because everything seemed to be in a bit of a rush as it is. With the album’s original release in just three weeks, it would not be a good look if the album leaked in full between now and February — there are some advance copies out there already!

Former Destiny’s Child star Michelle Williams has taken an unlikely route for her new track, ‘Sick Of It (Remix)’ — Twitter. The ‘We Break The Dawn’ songstress released a download link for the song on her Twitter page earlier today.

You can listen to/download the song by clicking here.

A daring move from Michelle, who’s criminally underrated Unexpected album is still a big favourite of mine. Let’s hope this bold decision works out for her!

Hip-hop supremo, Jay-Z has debuted his brand new music video for ‘Empire State of Mind’, the New York love letter track that features Miss Alicia Keys. Hova and Keys performed the track at the Video Music Awards back in September and since, it’s been doing big business on the UK and US charts! Check it out the Hype Williams directed video:

The black and white video encapsulates all that you’d expect from New York City just perfectly, before launching into full colour. A great video!