Rihanna Takes Her Bow Atop UK Pop Chart

Rihanna makes it a transatlantic double: just a couple weeks after her song “Irreplaceable” “Take a Bow” hit No. 1 in the U.S., it has jumped to the top of the UK charts. Who knows if she’ll repeat the success of last summer’s “Umbrella” and take up residence there for 10 weeks?

Poor Duffy. She looks so devastated in the video for “Warwick Avenue.” Cheer up, Duff! You have your second straight top 10 smash – and you accomplished that with a weak, squawky, unbearably nasal voice! She seems quite nice, but I swear this girl hurts my heart. And “Mercy,” which spent six weeks at No. 1 in the UK, has suddenly become ubiquitous here in the States. I really thought we were going to avoid that one. But everywhere I go, it’s “Yeah yeah yea-ah!” In the grocery store, it’s “Yeah yeah yea-ah.” At the gay bar, it’s “Yeah yeah yea-ah!” Someone please make it stop or I’ll set myself on fire like the dancer in the video.

1. Rihanna – Take A Bow
Watch the video

2. The Ting Tings – That’s Not MyName
Watch the video

3. Madonna ft. Justin Timberlake – 4Minutes
Watch the video

4. Will.I.Am – Heartbreaker
Watch the video

5. Sam Sparro – Black & Gold
Watch the video

6. Wiley – Wearing My Rolex
Watch the video

7. Duffy – Warwick Avenue
Watch the video

8. Usher ft. Young Jeezy – Love InThis Club
Watch the video

9. September – Cry For You
Watch the video

10. Coldplay – Violet Hill
Watch the video

In other news:

• Get well: Shirley Bassey underwent an emergency stomach operation last night after suffering stomach pains. Her condition is unknown. Our thoughts are with the Dame at this difficult time.(The Times)
• A rash of murders and stabbings among young people stunned the UK over its holiday weekend. A Harry Potter actor, Rob Knox, was among the victims: he was murdered in a bar fight.(The Times)
• Tricky says hip-hop shoulders some of the blame for the rising violent crime in the UK. “It has to take some responsibility for the gun culture we’ve got over here. We’re getting super-violent. You can walk around the Bronx for days on end and nobody bothers you. In England, you can say the wrong thing in a pub and, before you know it, you’ve got a bottle over your head or a bullet in your brain. English people have got quicker tempers.”(Daily Record)
• Pink Floyd may get back together again…again.(NME)
• Amy Winehouse‘s face is a dermatological disaster zone. Can’t Alicia Keys loan the girl some of her Proactiv? Damn!(Daily Mail)
• Amy Winehouse and Beyoncé are facing off over the new Bond theme.
• After being banned from seeing her husband in jail, Amy Winehouse “dodged the nearest crack pipe and went for a fat, greasy kebab instead.” Hmmm, at the end of the day, which one is deadlier?(Mirror)
• KT Tunstall is proud to be called “the best female singer to come out of Scotland since Sheena Easton.” I think my girl Liz Fraser might have something to say about that…too bad it wouldn’t be intelligible. (Daily Record)
• There’s a new Paul Weller video out: “Have You Made Up Your Mind.”(Stereogum)
• Irish man-band Boyzone, who have reunited after 45 or so years, are doing all they can to out-do Take That. To show how buff they are, they even brought treadmills on stage at the kickoff to their new tour. Ronan Keating and Shane Lynch (the one with the tats) still look good.(The Sun)
• UK supermodel Agyness Deyn, who is just about everywhere these days, is doing a movie with Dustin Hoffman‘s son.(The Sun)
• Danielle Floyd – disgraced former Miss Great Britain and alleged Celebrity Big Brother bigot – continues to shock in her ability to pull hot guys. She’s dating a TV Gladiator named Tornado, whom you can see here. That’s one Tornado I wouldn’t mind being sucked up in, so to speak.(The Sun)
• Danielle has a £700,000 ($1.4 million) apartment?!?!? Where the hell did she earn that money?(Daily Mail)
• Another woman known for her skill with pulling handsome men – Ms. Naomi Campbell – was spotted in romantic clinches with two different guys over the weekend.(Daily Mail)
• The Daily Mail goes after Naomi’s “bald patch.” They really know nothing about black women’s hair, do they?
• Hot couple alert: race car driver Lewis Hamilton and Pussycat Dolls frontwoman Nicole Scherzinger? If true, they’d make very hot beige babies.(Daily Mail)
• Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora offers to show David Beckham how to wield an ax.(The Sun)
• Has Gordon Ramsay, TV’s shar-pei chef, had Botox?(Daily Mail)
• Michelle Ryan‘s American accent on Bionic Woman has been voted the worst by a British actor on U.S. TV. Eddie Izzard (The Riches), Anna Friel (Pushing Daisies), Hugh Laurie (House), and Ian McShane (Deadwood). OK, people are insane if they think Laurie and McShane have bad accents. And, what, no Jonny Lee Miller?(BBC)
• Sir Paul McCartney‘s smile has been voted the sexiest among “senior celebrities” in the UK. Helen Mirren and, yes, Camilla were second and third.(Digital Spy)
• Is Julie Walters, who isn’t even a damn dame yet, every bit Dame Judi Dench‘s equal when it comes to quality work?(Guardian)