The Week In Music: Warm Up With The Maxim Hot 100

Please select the service you want to use:

• Newsvine
• Digg
• Delicious
• StumbleUpon
• Technorati
• Buzz
• Favorites
• Google Reader

Maxim's annual list of hottest females includes Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Rihanna and … Stephen Colbert?

GRAMMY.com

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the hottest of them all? With the weather heating up in time for summer, Maxim released its Maxim Hot 100 list, ranking the fairest females across the entertainment spectrum. While model/actress Bar Refaeli topped the list, Katy Perry was the most scintillating music artist at No. 4, though the firework dropped one place from her No. 3 position in 2011. Other women of music making the grade were Selena Gomez (No. 24), Taylor Swift (No. 26), Rihanna (No. 32), Jennifer Lopez (No. 37), Julianne Hough (No. 47), Shakira (No. 60), and Miley Cyrus (No. 68). For this year's list, Maxim employed a new voting model in inviting readers to submit their personal picks of the world's most beautiful women. This likely explains the list's hottest surprise, GRAMMY winner and card-carrying male Stephen Colbert, who placed at No. 69. "With a massive write-in vote campaign, the Colbert nation proved they're not only loyal but also incredibly horny," said the magazine. Loyalty aside, and with due respect to Colbert, his inclusion here may be further evidence that democracy is not perfect.

The legendary Mick Jagger presided over a memorable season finale of "Saturday Night Live" on May 19. In addition to teaming with Arcade Fire, Jeff Beck and Foo Fighters for musical performances, Jagger got into the SNL spirit by participating in multiple skits. For one skit, Jagger impersonated fellow iconic rock frontman Steven Tyler. Donning a flowing wig, colorful jacket and scarf to match, Jagger did his best to capture Tyler's aura, though he failed to match the Aerosmith frontman's patented howl. Tyler seemed unimpressed by the performance. "I thought he got the hair right," Tyler told the Huffington Post, "but the rest of me wrong. He forgot that I'm his bastard son. He could have at least made some comments about that." Which did you like better, Jagger's performances or his skits? You can watch the entire episode here.

In related news, Tyler celebrated the finale of his latest season as a judge on "American Idol" on May 23 in a big way - debuting " Legendary Child," the band's first single from their forthcoming new album. It's possible "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest was more excited for Aerosmith's debut than the band themselves, as he welcomed them to the stage, saying, "I've been waiting two years to say this. Ladies and gentlemen, Aerosmith!" Speaking of children, after a record-breaking 132 million votes, 21-year-old Phillip Phillips from Leesburg, Ga., was crowned the season 11 winner of "American Idol," besting 16-year-old San Diego, Calif., native Jessica Sanchez. Dedicated music and "Idol" fans came out in droves to either contest or raise a toast to the results, while some even cracked a few jokes. "I don't watch the show, but really," tweeted one viewer, "The new American Idol is named Phillip Phillips. I'm not okay with that, I'm sorry." Actor Jim Carrey even joined in on the fun, tweeting, "Phllip Phillips win wins American Idol American Idols." Viewers were clearly Twitter-happy as the "Idol" finale broke a social media record, generating more than 1 million comments, according to a Los Angeles Times report. In contrast, viewers' eyes may have been too focused on Twitter as the finale delivered a preliminary 6.1/18 rating among adults 18-49, down 32 percent from last year.  

With 20 GRAMMYs to his name, Vince Gill has plenty of music credibility. And while the country veteran still believes he has plenty of creativity left in the tank, he is worried about the music industry's future. "Income streams are dwindling. Record sales aren't what they used to be," Gill recently toldPittsburgh Post-Gazette. "The devaluation of music and what it's now deemed to be worth is laughable to me. My single costs 99 cents. That's what a [single] cost in 1960." Gill seemed less humored by the app market. "On my phone, I can get an app for 99 cents that makes fart noises - the same price as the thing I create and speak to the world with. Some would say the fart app is more important. It's an awkward time. Creative brains are being sorely mistreated." Making things more awkward, fans can support the creative brains behind  Fart Sounds by downloading one of the album's 32 tracks for 99 cents.

What's a sure way to find out if your song is a hit? Have a celebrity lip-synch it. Lip-synching seems to be all the rage these days, from politicians to pop stars. OK, so political figures haven't really hopped on the lip-synching bandwagon yet, but "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" certainly crafted a clever spoof of presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama jamming to Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe." Katy Perry videotaped her own lip-synching version of "Call Me Maybe" while poolside with friends at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in April.

Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" featuring Kimbra is tops on the Billboard Hot 100 and Phillip Phillips' performance of "Home" on "American Idol" is No. 1 on the iTunes singles chart.

Any news we've missed? Comment below.