Taylor Swift ranked at the top of Billboard’s Top 40 Money Makers in a list released today. Taylor came in at #1 with $35,719,000!

After wrapping the final leg of her Fearless tour, Taylor Swift’s blockbuster success two years ago left music industry observers wondering what she could possibly do for an encore. The pop-country superstar answered them with her smash Speak Now album and accompanying tour, which jetted through Asia and Europe in addition to making its way across North America. Grossing $88.5 million in the U.S. alone, the tour netted Swift a remarkable $29.8 million. Honored as Billboard’s Woman of the Year in December, she racked up U.S. album sales of 1.8 million units last year-led by booming business for late 2010′s Speak Now, which sold 967,000 units and digital single track sales of 7.8 million. Songwriting royalties were another highly beneficial source of income, given that Swift wrote all 14 Speak Now tunes herself.

See the rest of the list after the jump!  (more…)

Anne Hathaway does not like the paparazzi, let this be clear. In a bit on last night’s ‘Conan’, Anne says she likes to vent her frustration with the paparazzi by rapping – “in the style of Lil Wayne”.

That was awkward.

In the new issue of Rolling Stone Lil Wayne opens up for the first time about his time in prison. (See video from his cover shoot below.) During his eight month stint in Building C-76, cell 23 at Rikers Island, Weezy worked as an SPA (suicide prevention aide), listened to a lot of music on the radio (oldies and Hot 97) and played countless games of Uno with his cellmates in the Protective Custody division.

“I’d bust a nigga’s ass at Uno,” he told writer Josh Eells. “We gamble for phone time. I’d take nigga’s commissary: Lemme get them cookies, lemme get them chips, get that soup.”

Eventually his cellmates stopped inviting him to games. “They’d be like, ‘Oh, we thought you were asleep,’” Wayne says. “Like you can’t look inside my cell and see that I’m right there! We ain’t got no doors!”

Other highlights from the piece:

- When Wayne sat court-side at a recent Miami Heat/New Orleans Hornets game he was upset that Lebron James and Dwyane Wade never came over to talk to him. “Them niggas never speak to a nigga,” he says. “They don’t chuck me the deuce or nothing. Nigga spent all that money on them fucking tickets … Come holla at me. We sit right by them little bitch-ass niggas. At least come ask me why I’m not rooting for you.”

- In prison he read biographies of Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Marvin Gaye, Joan Jett, Vince Lombardi and Anthony Kiedis. “[Kiedis'] Scar Tissue was really good,” he says. “I also read the Bible for the first time. It was deep! I liked the parts where some character was once this, but he ended up being that. Like he’d be dissing Jesus, and then he ends up being a saint. That was cool.”

- He spent his final month in jail in solitary after he was caught with an iPod charger in his cell. It could have been worse: He also had a watch with an MP3 player on it, but another inmate took the rap. “He was a solid nigga,” says Wayne. “Shout-out to Charles…Solitary was the worst. No TV. No radio. No commissary. Basically you’re in there 23 hours a day.” The only upside was he had a window where he could watch cars go by. “I used to sit at that motherfucker all day,” he says.

Lil Wayne is a free man.

He has been released from the Rikers Island jail complex after serving eight months for his involvement in a gun case, it was announced Thursday.

His family and friends are planning a welcome home bash this weekend in Miami.

Lil Wayne (real name: Dwayne Carter Jr.) pleaded guilty in October 2009 to attempted weapon possession, admitting he’d had a loaded, semiautomatic .40-caliber gun on his bus after a Manhattan concert.

“I was never scared, worried nor bothered by the situation” behind bars, he said Tuesday through Weezythanxyou.com, which he set up to give fans a glimpse of his life in jail.

During his time behind bars, he dropped his latest album, I Am Not a Human Being, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart last month.

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Lil Wayne is in trouble with jail officials after he was caught stashing a charger and headphones for a digital music player in his jail cell earlier this year. He hid the items in a chip bag, in his trash can. His punishment? Spending the rest of his time in solitary confinement!

The Grammy-winning rapper was moved into his own cell on Monday, in what officials call “punitive segregation” for a month. He’s expected to be released in November.

Lil Wayne will spend 23 hours a day in his jail cell, being let out only for showers and visitations. Before he was busted he was allowed to mingle with the rest of the prisoners all day. He loses TV privileges, and where he used to get one phone call a day, he now is limited to one a week.

In March, the 28-year-old rapper was shipped off to Rikers Island Jail Complex. In plead guilty in October 2009 to attempted criminal possession of a weapon (he admitted he had a loaded semiautomatic gun on his bus in 2007).

After not one, not two, but three postponed sentencing hearings, rapper Lil Wayne has finally been taken into custody and is heading off to jail.TMZ reports that despite the first delay — due to dental problems — and the second and third delays, which were because of a courthouse fire, Wayne is on his way to serve a year in jail on a gun conviction.

When the judge asked Wayne before the sentencing began if he’d like to say anything, he shook his head no. Afterwards he bowed his head to his fans, was cuffed and taken from the room. He’s requested special medical attention in the slammer because of his painful teeth problems.

Other than that, he won’t be so special: E! Online reports that he’ll spend his time between meals in a 10-by-15-foot cell with a bed, sink, toilet and window facing a wall. He can watch TV with other inmates in a day room, but there are no iPods allowed.

His pals and family can visit him twice a week. Hope they bring him some good books to read!

Source, Fame Pictures

It certainly would have been cheaper to buy an alarm clock. Lil Wayne is being sued for nearly half-a-million bucks for sleeping when he should have been performing.

Red City Entertainment claims it fronted $432,000 for a Wayne concert appearance in the Bahamas. On September 27, 2008, there were plenty of lights and cameras… but no action, because Wayne was passed out in his hotel room. When he didn’t show for the performance, cops went to his hotel and found him unconscious.

In the lawsuit filed today, Red City claims it gave Wayne a $210,000 advance. The balance is for his hotel expenses and various costs involved in throwing the failed concert.

Calls to Lil Wayne’s rep were not returned.

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