Our little Kelly Clarkson is growing up. Not only did she turn 30 in April, but she also recently celebrated the 10th year anniversary of her American Idol win. To commemorate all her accomplishments, the singer is releasing her first greatest hits album titled, Greatest Hits — Chapter 1, due to hit stores on November 16. She debuted her new track on the Ryan Seacrest show earlier today. She truly is still “Miss Independent” after all these years.

“To celebrate the strength and longevity that my fans, friends, and family have supported me with I wrote this song ‘Catch my Breath’ with one of my best friends that has seen me through everything,” Kelly wrote on her website. “This song represents who I’ve been, what I’ve felt, and where I’m headed as not only an artist but as a 30 year old that is now smart enough to know that it’s time to stop, catch my breath, and be proud of not only what has been accomplished but of all the people that have helped me become the woman I am today.”

With her hectic touring schedule, I don’t know how Clarkson found the time to record a new track. Thankfully for us, she did and decided to relax and ‘catch her breath’. Written by Kelly along with longtime friend Jason Halbert and Eric Olson, “Catch My Breath” is classic Kelly Clarkson, but far less angry then most of her breakup anthems. Her smoky vocals are pure perfection on the lighthearted and airy track. Check it out below.

listen to track after the jump

During the week of October 3, 1992, Billboard launched its Pop Songs radio airplay chart, gauging the biggest hits on mainstream Top 40 radio. To commemorate the chart’s 20th anniversary, Billboard is counting down the Top 100 Pop Songs on the chart over the past two decades (1992-2012). From rock to country music and everything in between, each genre is represented well in the countdown. That said, you’ll be surprised to know who lands in the Top 10.

Given that it’s a Pop Chart, you’d assume the artists in the above picture would’ve made the upper echelon of the list. Sure Katy Perry, Britney Spears, LMFAO and Adele make the Top 100 cut, but fail to make the Top 10. Instead, the list is occupied mostly by pop-rock ballads with a dance track thrown in for good measure. Even more shocking is who landed the No. 1 slot. Here are a few highlights from the Top 100 Pop Song list, with the Top 10 after that.

• 97. “Grenade” Bruno Mars (2011)
• 81. “My Love” Justin Timberlake Featuring T.I
• 79. “Stickwitu” The Pussycat Dolls
• 73. “Complicated” Avril Lavigne (2002)
• 68. “Promiscuous” Nelly Furtado
• 66. “Genie In A Bottle” Christina Aguilera
• 51. “Lovefool” The Cardigans
• 48. “The Sign” Ace Of Base
• 43. “You Belong To Me” Taylor Swift (2009)
• 40. “Don’t Let Go (Love)” En Vogue
• 30. “You Were Meant For Me” Jewel
• 27. “Bleeding Love” Leona Lewis
• 16. “…Baby One More Time” Britney Spears
• 15. “Tik Tok” Ke$ha
• 12. “We Found Love” Rihanna Featuring Calvin Harris

check out the Top 10 after the jump

On Kelly Clarkson’s current tour she performs covers based on fan requests. They ran the gamut from Madonna to Whitney Houston to Coldplay and everything in between. I’ve even listed a few of my favorite covers she’s performed on tour. At her concert in Independence, Missouri on September 4, 2012, she was inundated with so many requests for a particular song, she couldn’t say no. Have any guesses on which one?

Believe it or not, it was “A Moment Like This,” Clarkson’s Idol coronation song. The 30-year-old singer rarely ever sings the song anymore, but obliged since it was a special occasion. Fans knew it was exactly ten years ago on that day she became the very first American Idol. Can you believe ten years have passed since Kelly won the first season? My, oh how time flies. “It’s crazy that it’s still on!” said Kelly, “It’s so weird.”

Until Phillip Phillips‘”Home” this year, Kelly’s “A Moment Like This”, was my favorite coronation song with “Inside Your Heaven” by Carrie Underwood a close second. Given the success of “Home“, it’s now by far the best first single ever by an American Idol winner.

To honor the 10th anniversary of Clarkson’s win, I decided to embed three versions of “A Moment Like This” below. First, you have the one she sang in Missouri the other night. Then I added her Final 2 rendition, along with the performance after she was announced the winner. Poor girl, could barely get through it without crying. She’s definitely come a long way since 2002. Check out the videos below.

check out Kelly’s performances after the jump

The Pepsi NFL Anthems campaign launched today with the release of Kelly Clarkson‘s “Get Up (A Cowboys Anthem)” and it’s so good! The song is available for free download on the Pepsi Anthems website which I have included a link for below.

The anthems quest “was born from this insight that sports and music are intersecting in more ways than ever,” said Todd Kaplan, Pepsi Sports Marketing director. “We wanted to partner with top artists, and a critical piece in the process was authenticity. We chose artists with a true passion for their favorite NFL teams and their hometowns.”

Clarkson was the perfect choice to team up with the Dallas Cowboys. She’s from Fort Worth so naturally that’s the team she’d cheer for and she’s pretty much a proven success with the many “anthems” of her own. With that, Kelly and the Cowboys created a song together that would appeal to everyone. When Pepsi first approached Kelly about writing the song, she was so excited she wrote the lyrics that same night. Listen and download the new upbeat track below!

Listen & download after the jump…

Kelly Clarkson’s hit, “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)“, certainly lives up to its name. Not only is it the original Idol winner’s longest-running chart topper of her career, but it just became the best-selling “American Idol” single of all time. Congrats. The empowering track surpasses previous champion “Before He Cheats” sung by Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood.

As of last week’s Neilsen SoundScan numbers, “Stronger” has sold 3,510,000 singles, just narrowly beating “Before He Cheat’s” 3,509,000 units. Just in case you were wondering, Jordin Sparks earns the bronze in the Idol Olympics. Her duet with Chris Brown on “No Air” is in third place with 3,437,000 singles sold to date.

find out which record Carrie still holds over Kelly after the jump

We’re halfway through 2012, and what better time than now to reflect on the past six months in music. Soundscan has tallied mid-year sales totals for both albums and singles, giving us the Top 20 in each category. For the first time ever, only one album has moved more than one million units at this point of the year. Not surprisingly, it’s Adele’s “21” that holds that honor. Her sophomore album also held the top spot at the mid-year point in 2011 and eventually came out on top at the end of the year. The British songbird is on her way to topping the charts again for 2012. If she does, it’ll be the first time an album lands at No. 1 on the year-end chart two years running. Amazing.

Coming in the runner-up slot for best-selling album is Lionel Richie’s “Tuskegee“. Not to shabby for the veteran singer who came out of left field with this surprise hit. This album was his first No. 1 since 1996′s “Dancing on the Ceiling“. The third-biggest selling set is from British group One Direction. When their CD dropped, it became the first debut album by a UK group to ever bow at No. 1. Next up is Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Hit’s” set, obviously buoyed by her untimely death. Rounding out the Top 5 is another NOW compilation. I can’t believe there have been 41 editions from the franchise. Who is buying these albums?

Over on the Top Singles chart, Australian singer Gotye is top dog. His infection hit has moved 5,501,000 downloads. “Somebody That I Used To Know” could become the first song to pass the six million mark. Coming in second place is fun’s duet with Janelle Monae with 5,087,000. Potential summer song of 2012, Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” lands in third place with 4,064,000. Rounding out the Top 5 are Kelly Clarkson and Nicki Minaj with “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” and “Starships” respectively. Check out the entire Top 20 list for both categories below.

check out the Top 20 albums and singles downloads after the jump

Tonight, Canada rocked the corner of Queen and John in the heart of Toronto for the annual MuchMusic Video Awards aptly nicknamed the MMVAs. The night celebrates the best in Canadian music with a little bit of International flare. Joining the usual MuchMusic VJ’s on stage to present were Party Rockers LMFAO who kicked off the show with a bang. Joining them on stage was none other than Canada’s current it-girl, Carly Rae Jepsen.

Speaking of Carly Rae, home girl walked away with three awards throughout the evening including the biggest award of the night, Video of the Year. The night included some heavy hitting presenters like sexy men Chord Overstreet and Jesse Metcalfe along with appearances from Selena Gomez and Perez Hilton.

The night was also alive with performances from international stars Justin Bieber and Nelly Furtado who originally hail from Canada along with superstars Kelly Clarkson and Katy Perry. Canadian talent was also represented well with performances from Hedley and Rock Video of the Year winners, Mariana’s Trench. Check out the evening’s rockin’ performances and winners’ circle below.

Check out a few of the evening’s performances and winners’ circle after the jump.

Over the weekend, pretty much all of the biggest names in music right now performed at the Capital FM Summertime Ball 2012 at Wembley Stadium in London. You may recall that yesterday I posted a special DJ Earworm mashup of all of these songs & performers. If you haven’t checked it out the video and downloaded the song (free), you should.

With artists like Kelly Clarkson, Justin Bieber, The Wanted, Cheryl Cole, Usher, Carly Rae Jepsen, Connor Maynard and countless others, it was one epic concert that I would have loved to have been at.

I’ve compiled a bunch of the performances from many of the big artists that were there. Of course many performed multiple songs, but I decided to choose some of my favorites. Cheryl Cole’s, “Call My Name” performance was hot! Enjoy the videos below.

Watch a bunch of the performance after the jump…