Pop Shots – New Year, Who Rules?

Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from Carrie Underwood ruling a chart that’s relatively new for her, to Adam Levine ruling out a return to The Voice, to the crowd that’s now ruling the album buying market, and since this is Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.

* Carrie Underwood and John Legend’s “Hallelujah” hit #1 on Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart, replacing Underwood’s previous single, “Favorite Time of Year,” which fell to #2. With Carrie Underwood apparently being the new queen of religious music, does this mean the theme for Sunday Night Football should now be considered a Christian rock song?

* Billie Eilish saw some negative results from participating in a “post a photo of” Instagram challenge. When asked to share the image of her phone’s lock screen, and a drawing that she's proud of, Eilish posted a photo of two topless women, and a series of drawings of a woman's bare breasts surrounded by snakes. She immediately lost 100,000 followers. Personally, I’m just confused as to how there were a 100,000 people in a heretofore unknown puritan Billie Eilish fan base.

* During an Instagram Story Q&A, Adam Levine was asked if he’d ever return to The Voice. The Maroon 5 frontman gave a three word reply – “No thank you.” I think we’ve seen enough formerly well known singers auditioning for that show that he shouldn’t rule out the possibility of being on the other side of those rotating chairs one day.

* Lil Pump was banned for life from JetBlue after refusing to wear a mask on a flight. I’m sorry, but is being banned from JetBlue supposed to act as a deterrent?

* Ariana Grande is now engaged to real estate agent Dalton Gomez. I’m such a pro wrestling fan that when I read the announcement I thought she was getting engaged to Dalton Castle, which, let’s face it, would be a much more interesting story.

* Paul McCartney’s new studio album, McCartney III, debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart with 104,000 copies sold. For longest time it was teenage girls who used to wield all the buying power when it came to music … now it’s their dads.

* In incredibly sad news, Michelle Branch revealed she suffered a miscarriage. There’s nothing I can say about this other than I wish her well, and hope she has better days ahead.

* Master P has teamed up with former NBA star Baron Davis in an attempt to buy Reebok. The price is going to be high, as estimates are the sneaker brand will sell for around $2.4 billion, so P may have to trade in his solid gold tank.

* Former presidential candidate Kanye West released a surprise EP titled Emmanuel. If you didn’t know this, don’t worry, nobody else did either.

* Jessie J spent Christmas Eve in the hospital with an extreme bout of Meniere's disease. The singer was temporarily deaf, and unable to walk, but is now on the mend. I have a weird amount of knowledge about this disease because I have a family member who lives with it. As long as Jessie J is careful about her diet, she should be back in action, making the world dance, in no time.

That’s all for this edition of Pop Shots, but come back next Monday for more shots on all things pop.