Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" returns to #1 on the Hot 100 in the wake of her performance of the song on last week's VMAs. This is the song's third week on top of Billboard's flagship chart. That's the longest run at #1 for a song by a "core country artist" since Kenny Rogers' "Lady" was #1 for six weeks in November and December 1980 (which was a full nine years before Swift was born).

Both of these songs seriously stretch the definition of country music. Pop titans Max Martin and Shellback co-wrote and co-produced Swift's hit. Pop and R&B giant Lionel Richie wrote and produced Rogers' smash. (Country radio was far more accepting of Rogers' adult contemporary-style ballad, which reached #1 on Hot Country Songs, than they have been of Swift's sleek pop hit, which debuted and peaked at #13 on the country chart.)

"We Are Never Ever…" is the best-selling song in the U.S. for the fourth straight week. It's the first song to spend its first four weeks at #1 on Hot

Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" this week pushes ahead of "We Are Young" by fun. featuring Janelle Monae to become the second best-selling song of 2012. That was no small feat: "We Are Young" has sold 5,515,000 copies so far this year. "Call Me Maybe" is now a hair ahead of it with sales of 5,531,000. "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye featuring Kimbra continues to hold the lead for the year-to-date, with sales of 6,300,000.

In the very unlikely event that nobody bought another copy of any of these songs for the rest of the year, 2012 would still go down as the first year in digital history that three songs sold 5.5 million copies in a calendar year. Last year, just one song topped that threshold: Adele's "Rolling In The Deep" (5,813,000).

As you can see, "Call Me Maybe" is just 769K copies behind "Somebody That I Used To Know" as the year's best-selling hit. Can it possibly catch it before the year is over? I don't think so. "Call Me Maybe" sold 98K copies this week, but the

This week, for the first time since it was released in February 2011, Adele's 21 does not rank among the top 10 albums on The Billboard 200. It drops from #8 to #12, ending (at least for now) a 78-week run in the top 10. 21 is one of only five albums to log 78 or more weeks in the top 10 since 1963, when Billboard merged its separate stereo and mono charts into one comprehensive listing. The others are The Sound Of Music soundtrack (109 weeks), Bruce Springsteen's Born In The U.S.A. (84 weeks), Michael Jackson's Thriller (78 weeks) and Def Leppard's Hysteria (78 weeks).

Much has happened in the pop world since 21 was released. Amy Winehouse (whose success paved the way for Adele) died, as did Whitney Houston, Donna Summer, Robin Gibb and Adam Yauch of Beastie Boys. Justin Bieber and Chris Brown both released two #1 albums. One Direction and 2Chainz debuted. Lionel Richie made an improbable comeback. Katy Perry tied Michael Jackson's record for most #1 hits from one album. American Idol crowned two more winners, Scotty McCreery and Phillip Phillips. The Voice debuted and stole some of Idol's thunder. Maroon 5 got its second wind.