By Silvio Pietroluongo and Jonathan Cohen

NEW YORK (Billboard) - The rap triumvirate of Eminem, Dr. Dre and 50 Cent soared 77 places to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on Thursday, setting a new first-week record for download sales.

"Crack a Bottle" sold 418,000 downloads, surpassing the prior record of 335,000 downloads shifted last October by T.I.'s "Live Your Life" featuring Rihanna.

Eminem, Dr. Dre and 50 Cent, each with highly anticipated albums on the way, previously collaborated on "Encore," which peaked at No. 25 on the Hot 100 in January 2005.

... Read more »

By Ray Waddell

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - If anyone had any doubt that touring is where the money is in today's music business, a look at Billboard's top moneymakers of 2008 should hammer the point home.

Regardless of genre, retail sales or radio play, each of the 20 acts on the moneymakers list toured last year. For almost all of them, touring generated the most revenue. And in a year when recorded-music sales declined yet again, many earned more at the box office than ever before.

Madonna was No. 1 on the list with $242.2 million. She had the 50th-best-selling album i ... Read more »