So, that's why Slipknot made their drumming man Joey Jordison '#1' in their intraband numbering system, they knew one day Rhythm magazine would declare him the number one drummer of rock from the last 25 years. Yes people, according to Rhythm, Joey drums better than even Phil Collins, who'd have thought it possible?

You have to go down to number nine in the poll to find Phil. After Joey you get Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater, then Gavin Harrison of Porcupine Tree, then Neil Peart from Rush, and then some fella called Dave Grohl. And no Harry from McFly anywhere in the top ten.

Rhythm magazine editor Chris Barnes praised Jordison for having "mind-blowing technicality and [the] ability to bolster any project with his unique sound and style". Jordison himself said he was "at a loss for words" about topping the poll, adding: "This is beyond unbelievable. Something like this reminds me every day why I continue to do this".

Hey, it's time for Forbes' list of the world's richest rappers again. It seems to come around quicker every year, doesn't it? And the shops start putting the decorations up way too early, these days. It really takes the magic out of it.

Anyway, this year Jay-Z has held his position at the top of the list for the second year in a row (and third out of the four years Forbes have published it), having made $63 million in personal income between June 2009 and June 2010. If you're having trouble visualising that amount of money, it's enough to fill a really massive sack. Like a really, really massive one. Not one you could actually carry. It would be massive. It would probably take the entire staff of a sack-making factory about six days to make it. That's how big it would be. Hope that's helped.

Coming in behind Jay-Z was Sean 'The Diddy Daddy' Combs, with a pitiful $30 million. More interestingly, though, 50 Cent is way down at number fourteen. Having topped the poll in 2008 with annual earnings of $150 million, this year he ties with Eminem, both having pulled in just $8 million each.

In 2008, $100 million of Fiddy's earnings came from the sale of his drinks company Glaceau, though Forbes notes that poor sales of his 'Before I Self Destruct' album also account in part for his slip this year. But it adds that his "burgeoning acting career and upcoming tour should push Fifty back toward the top of this list in 2011".

As for Eminem, whose latest album has sold very well, Forbes points to his lack of business interests, something most others in the list have, for his low placing, saying: "Compared to his peers, he doesn't really do much outside of music".

The full top ten looks like this:

1. Jay-Z ($63 million)
2. Diddy ($30 million)
3. Akon ($21 million)
4. Lil Wayne ($20 million)
5. Dr Dre ($17 million)
6. Ludacris ($16 million)
7. Snoop Dogg ($15 million)
8. Timbaland ($14 million)
9. Pharrell Williams ($13 million)
10. Kanye West ($12 million)

Will Young has been voted the best role model in music for young British lesbian, gay and bisexual people, in a poll commissioned by campaign group Stonewall. Young took 58% of the votes, while Alison Goldfrapp followed at 15%, Kele Okereke had 12%, the only recently outed Joe McElderry came in with 10% and Lady Sovereign closed the top five with 5%.

Stonewall Chief Executive Ben Summerskill said: "Young people involved with Stonewall tell us that role models help them overcome the homophobic bullying that's rife in Britain's schools. Pop culture is hugely influential to young people so it's encouraging to see more openly lesbian, gay and bisexual British pop stars".

He added: "Joe McElderry is already recognised as a role model, so the scene is now set for him to become every bit as popular with young gay people as Will Young".

Some reports have dismissed Young's suitability as a role model, as he did not reveal his sexuality until after he had won TV talent show 'Pop Idol' in 2002, when a tabloid had threatened to out him. Though Young has always pointed out that not actively telling the public about his sexuality is not the same as hiding it.

U2 were the biggest rock earners of the last twelve months, according to Forbes.com, who track these things for fun. According to the US website, Bono et al raked in $130 million in the last year, despite the band having to put their touring activity on hold in recent months after Pauly did his back in. 

Other music types to appear in the Forbes list of big earners were AC/DC, Beyonce, Springsteen, Britney, Jay-Z, Gaga, Madonna, Kenny Chesney, Black Eyed Peas and Coldplay; and if you ever wondered what that list would look like presented as a chart, well, wonder no more, because here it is:

1. U2: $130m (£84.9m)
2. AC/DC: $114m (£74.5m)
3. Beyonce Knowles: $87m (£56.8m)
4. Bruce Springsteen: $70m (£45.7m)
5. Britney Spears: $64m(£41.8m)
6. Jay-Z: $63m (£41.1m)
7. Lady Gaga: $62m (£40.5m)
8. Madonna: $58m (£37.9m)
9. Kenny Chesney: $50m (£32.6m)
10. Black Eyed Peas/Coldplay: $48m (£31.3m)

Commenting on the Forbes poll, Paul 'Bono' Hewson told reporters: "We'd like to thank our fans for putting over a hundred and thirty million dollars into the U2 pot this year, this means Adam can eat as many Snickers bars as he likes, Larry can buy a new basket for his cat, The Edge can commission a brand new hat and I'll be able buy $129,999,917 worth of Deep Heat. Now if you could all just hand over another $130 million to make poverty history, we won't have to". Well, that's the sort of thing he might have said.

The Prodigy have topped a poll of the most influential dance acts of all time, which is probably fair.

Organisers of the Global Gathering festival polled 2000 festival and club goers on the most importance dance acts, and the Prodge got 29% of the vote, just ahead of those Daft Punk geezers. Faithless came in third, while Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers and Carl Cox all also appeared in the top ten.

This year's Global Gathering takes place from 30-31 Jul, and is headlined by the third most influential dance act of all time, no less.

Fans of Frank Sidebottom are making a bid to get the papier mache-headed creation of musician Chris Sievey, who sadly died of cancer aged 54 last month, to number one in the singles chart this weekend.

The track chosen, 'Guess Who's Been On Match Of The Day?', has been re-released digitally by Cherry Red Records, backed with another song, 'The Robbins Aren't Bobbins'.

Having made a fast ascent up the iTunes chart the campaign is gaining speed as the cut-off point of midnight on Saturday approaches.

Buy the song on iTunes here: bit.ly/FrankNo1

For more information, head over to www.radiotimperley.com

Justin Bieber has become the most searched for celebrity on the UK internet, according to Ask Jeeves. Although judging by the various messages we've received on the subject of the Bieber of late, many of these searches will have been along the lines of "who the hell is Justin Bieber?" and "how do I send Justin Bieber to North Korea?".

The search engine said of the singer, who was originally discovered on YouTube and is a popular Twitterer: "The Bieber is an online sensation so it's fitting he now rules the search engine world too. It's as though to millions he only exists on the net".

On the subject of sending Bieber to North Korea, it's been widely reported this week that pranksters have gatecrashed a "where should Justin play next?" competition set up by the popster's people, all voting to have the teen star play in North Korea as part of his world tour. With the 'Axis Of Evil' hotspot topping the poll as voting closed (with over 650,000 votes), some wondered how Bieber's management would spin having to reject the whims of his 'fans'.

However, upon closer inspection, it appears no such climb down will be required, because Bieber-loathers online have, in fact, been spending their time skewing a poll that never had anything to do with the pop star in the first place. It seems there was never any official association between Team Bieber and the site the poll appears on, faxo.com, or, for that matter, even any suggestion by said website that the singer would actually play a show in the winning country.

Other polls on faxo.com allow users of the site to vote for "the best pet", and there's no suggestion that said pet will come and lick everyone's face. Which is probably a good thing, as the current leader is some kind of parrot.

Here's a bit of useless digital trivia for you. Lady Gaga has become the first person in the world to have more than ten million Facebook fans, according to Famecount.com, who seemingly follow these things. Who'd have thought the Gaga would out fan Jedward?

Actually, although this Facebook feat is being widely reported today, Gaga currently has 11,109,469 fans on the social network, which suggests she passed the ten million benchmark a while ago. Close rival, in all sorts of ways, especially the crazy costumes, Barack Obama also now has 10,018,956 fans, so has now passed the ten million point too.

Interestingly, while Gaga is the biggest Facebook star, she doesn't have the most fans overall. A gambling website called Texas Hold'em Poker has over 20 million fans, proving once again we should all get out of this pop nonsense and set up companies that just screw cash out of idiots with serious gambling addictions.

A little more Jackson for you, and the Official Charts Company confirmed on Friday that the late king of pop has sold more albums in the UK than any other act in the year since his death. Music fans bought some 2.77 million Jacko albums since last June, in addition to 1.54 million singles. The biggest selling track was 'Man In The Mirror', while 'The Essential' greatest hits collection was the best selling long player.

Commenting, Charts Co top man Martin Talbot told CMU:  "The UK was one of Michael Jackson's favourite countries in the world and he had a massive fanbase here, as these figures clearly demonstrate. They came out and bought his music in massive numbers after his untimely death last summer - and will no doubt do so again, over the coming days and weeks, as they commemorate this month's anniversary".

For fans of lists, here are the Official Charts Company's Most Sold Michael Jackson Records Since He Snuffed It Charts...

Biggest tracks...
1. Man In The Mirror
2. Billie Jean
3. Thriller
4. Smooth Criminal
5. Beat It
6. Dirty Diana
7. Black Or White
8. They Don't Care About Us
9. You Are Not Alone
10. The Way You Make Me Feel

Biggest albums...
1. The Essential
2. This Is It
3. Bad
4. Thriller
5. Off The Wall
6. Number Ones -
7. The Very Best Of (also featuring Jackson Five)
8. The Motown Years (also featuring Jackson Five)
9. Dangerous
10. King Of Pop

Christina Aguilera has broken a new chart record, though I don't imagine it will be making its way onto any of her press releases any time soon.

Having gone straight in at number one last week, her new album 'Bionic' dropped down to number 29 this week, the biggest single-week fall in the album charts ever. Not only that, but having shifted just 24,000 copies to get to the top spot in the first place, it's also the lowest selling number one album for eight years.

Meanwhile, it has been announced that the next single from the album will be 'You Lost Me', which was written in collaboration with Sia, in September.

An online campaign is hoping to have a big impact on next week's singles chart, by encouraging people to download tracks from forty unsigned or independently signed artists in the same week, with the aim of getting as many of the selected songs into the chart as possible.

Inspired by last Christmas's 'Get RATM to number one' Facebook campaign, but with the focus this time on brand new music, organisers of the Storm The Charts venture have selected forty songs from new artists who have never charted before from hundreds of submissions and suggestions. A Storm The Chart panel, music fans signed up to the venture's Facebook page and guest judges like Huw Stephens and Emily Eavis have all helped pick the final forty tracks, which have now been listed at the URL below.

Storm The Charts followers are now urged to download as many of those tracks as they can after midnight on Saturday, from chart-returning download stores, with the aim of influencing the singles chart published on 4 Jul.

Check the forty tracks and get more info from: stormthecharts.wordpress.com/the-bands-in-our-final-40/

The Black Eyed Peas' track 'I Gotta Feeling' has become the first ever single to be downloaded more than one million times in the UK. Why? No one can say. People must be downloading it accidentally or hacking into their enemies' computers and buying it multiple times. Or a million people may have downloaded it because they actually want to listen to it, although that seems quite unlikely.

The band's Will.i.am said of the achievement: "Wow! Out of all the artists in the world? I had a feeling I was supposed to move to the UK".

Singer Fergie added: "It's exhilarating to know we are so connected to our Peabodies [she means BEP fans]. Hopefully, the good vibes from that song will continue to brighten people's lives".

Official Charts Company MD Martin Talbot then butted the pair of them out of the way and screamed: "Many congratulations to the Black Eyed Peas for an incredible achievement which is all the more impressive for being a record which can never be taken away from them. Black Eyed Peas will forever be able to state that they scored the UK's first million-selling download and 'I Gotta Feeling' is now firmly established as one of the defining tunes of our time".

He continued: "Their landmark also represents a coming of age for digital downloading, six years after music downloading moved into the UK mainstream in 2004 through the launch of services including 7Digital, iTunes and MyCokeMusic - and underlines the enduring, and growing, popularity of legitimate digital music today".

'I Gotta Feeling' was originally released in June last year and became the group's third UK number one single. They also currently stand as the group who have sold more downloads than any other in the UK too, having racked up sales of over 3.3 million tracks in total.

The Association Of Independent Festivals has published the results of its second annual festival-goers survey and found that while just over 44% of those surveyed admitted harder economic times might mean they spend less on festivals this year, just under 60% said the recession meant they'd spend less on other kinds of entertainment, suggesting that festivals might be more resistant to economic gloom than other parts of the live industry in 2010.

Elsewhere, the survey discovered that the average independent-festival-goer will spend £346 on a festival weekend, including ticket, that 69% will spend some extra days in the local area before the main event, and that 50% are attracted to the overall 'vibe' more than anything else when choosing which fests to go to. Only 12% of indie festival fans said headline acts would sway which festivals they attend.

Commenting on the survey, AIF GM Claire O'Neill told CMU: "It is good to see that for another year, despite an overall economic downturn, independent festivals continue to make a great contribution both nationally and locally. This survey further cements the knowledge that festivals offer a great many entertainments and attractions aside from music, and that is the experience as a whole that so many people love".

Steve Brookstein has been voted the biggest reality TV pop flop of all time, which is something for him to tell the grandkids.

The first ever 'X-Factor' winner was considered the biggest reality show flop of them all in a survey of 1300 people regards the acts which have enjoyed big success on telly talent shows but then zero success in the world of pop. Brookstein, of course, has made no secret of the fact he blames 'X-Factor' chief Simon Cowell for screwing up his career, and, if I remember rightly, he has a book in the pipeline about the whole ordeal.

The top ten biggest reality show flops are given below. Poor old Joe McElderry is at number nine even though his post-'X-Factor' career hasn't even started yet. To be declared a bigger flop than One True Voice without having even finished recording your debut album has got to be a bit depressing.

1. Steve Brookstein
2. Leon Jackson
3. Hear'Say
4. Rik Waller
5. Andy Abraham
6. Gareth Gates
7. Michelle McManus
8. Same Difference
9. Joe McElderry
10. One True Voice

Black Eyed Peas track 'I Gotta Feeling' has been named the biggest selling download of all time in the US by Neilsen SoundScan, having sold 5.56 million copies via online stores in the country.

The song narrowly beat Flo Rida's 'Low', which came in at 5.53 million sales, while Lady Gaga came in third and fifth with 'Just Dance' and 'Poker Face' respectively. The Black Eyed Peas also scored a second entry in fourth place with 'Boom Boom Pow'.

Lady Gaga has been named the most influential 'artist' in the world in Time magazine's annual poll of such things. You wouldn't think she'd been around long enough for her influence to spread that far, but you can't argue with a poll, can you?

Comedian Conan O'Brien is second on the list, with director Kathryn Bigelow at three, Oprah Winfrey at four, and Russian conductor Valery Gergiev at five. Other music people in the artists list include Taylor Swift at nine, Prince at twelve, Simon Cowell (who is apparently an 'artist') at fifteen, and Elton John at seventeen.

There might be a lack of women at the top of the music industry behind the scenes, but when it comes to young on-stage talent the ladies are dominating.

It's Sunday Times Rich List time again, and the list of wealthy UK music stars under 30 is very female dominated, with Charlotte Church, Katherine Jenkins and Leona Lewis tying for first place (each with an £11 million fortune), followed by Cheryl Cole (£10 million), Katie Melua (£10 million) and Joss Stone (£9 million). You have to go down to Craig David and his £8 million haul at seventh place to find a cock, in two senses of the word.

Though, unsurprisingly, when you open up the poll to Brit-based music types of all ages, the men reappear at the top of the heap. Warner Music boss Edgar Bronfman Jr, new to the Rich List following his decision to relocate himself in London town, comes top thanks to his £1.6 billion fortune, much of which comes from his family's former booze empire, of course. The other big bucks music men are one time Zomba Records owner Clive Calder, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Paul McCartney, Simon Fuller and Simon Cowell.

The Sunday Times Rich List is published on Sunday.

Led Zeppelin dominate in a 'favourite rock song' poll undertaken by the Absolute Classic Rock radio station, with three of their songs in the top ten, including a number one placing for 'Stairway To Heaven'. Here's the full top ten.

1. Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven
2. The Who - Wont Get Fooled Again
3. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
4. Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love
5. Deep Purple - Smoke On The Water
6. The Who - Baba O Reilly
7. Led Zeppelin - Rock N Roll
8. Free - All Right Now
9. The Beatles - Revolution
10. The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter

The vast majority of music journalists in the UK are not ready to switch to digital-only promos, according to a new survey of music media people undertaken by CMU.

Following the announcement by Sony Music last month that they intended to phase out all physical promo CDs, so that in future DJs and journalists will only receive advance copies of their releases in a digital format, CMU surveyed 100 music journalists about the way they are 'serviced' by record labels and music PR companies. The first question we asked was how those journalists would prefer to receive advance copies of single and album releases.

75% of those surveyed said their still preferred to receive review and pre-release copies of music in a physical format, ie as a CD. Five main reasons were given to justify this preference.

First, many said that digital preview services that require a journalist to sit at their computer misunderstood how most reviewers go about experiencing new music before writing a review. Those journalists argued that before starting a review they'd listen to an album several times over, normally while at home, or on the move. A CD lets reviewers play albums on home stereos or in the car, or they can rip tracks to an iPod for previewing while out and about.

Second, others, presumably those writing for older music consumers, argued that when they review an album they are not just reviewing a group of stand alone tracks, but the whole package that their readers may or may not wish to purchase. For them, that includes the packaging, artwork and liner notes, and the experience that you get from opening a new CD and putting it in your player for the first time. Digital-only previews do not allow such reviewers to get the "whole experience".

Third, some of those surveyed were review editors, and a number of them said that the system they used to manage the commissioning and publishing of reviews relied on physical product, which can be placed in racks on a desk, and is therefore much easier to manage that processing a plethora of emailed links and digital files in folders on a computer desktop.

Fourth, those running more grass roots music magazines and websites pointed out that their reviewers were not paid for their work, and that a perk of the job was the get a CD in the post which, if they liked the album, they could keep. A digital copy was less attractive, especially if it was a stream, because there is not permanent "gift" to keep in that scenario.

Fifth, a number of journalists pointed out that the PC technology being used by some media - especially regional and local media - is hardly bang up to date, with some still using versions of Windows which first surfaced in the 1990s. For these people many of the digital preview systems simply don't work.

Of course, it is probably inevitable that all record labels will move to a digital preview system eventually, the cost and time involved in pressing and mailing CDs to journalists being an obvious expense for cash strapped record companies to cut. But, while it seems that many reviewers will resist any move to digital previews, there is definitely a lot more resistance to streaming preview services than to MP3-based preview downloads. Of the 25 journalists who expressed a preference for digital promos, 18 said they preferred links to MP3s, while only 7 preferred links to preview streams, ie the kind of digital previews currently being offered by Sony Music and most other labels.

In fact, while some journalists are resistant to any move from physical to digital promos, it is possible some of those hanging onto CDs are doing so because they are unimpressed with the stream-based preview platforms currently being used by record companies, certainly the majors. It is possible that an MP3-based preview platform could overcome many of the concerns raised about the move to digital promos.

But, in the short term, it seems Word magazine boss David Hepworth was probably right when he predicted that Sony will find turning all music hacks to digital promos very difficult and that  "within a year, when they want reviewers to take notice of something, they'll start sending out [physical] copies again".

The promo CD debate is just one of several things covered by CMU's music journalist survey. Details of other matters discussed will be revealed here in the CMU Daily in the coming weeks. More information on the survey will also be presented at the next CMU seminar on music PR, which takes place next Wednesday at CMU HQ in Shoreditch. This full day training event reviews the state and future of the music media, offers a beginners guide to music PR and best practice press releases, a summary of the aforementioned journalist survey, and a review of social media and its role in music marketing in 2010. Some places are still available, full info at www.theCMUwebsite.com/events.

Former Red Hot Chili Pepper John Frusciante has been named the greatest guitarist of the last three decades in a survey undertaken by 6music. It seems they forgot to include Danny from McFly on the shortlist. Slash came second, Muse's Matt Bellamy third, Modest Smiths Cribber Johnny Marr fourth and RATM's Tom Morello fifth. James from Busted wasn't shortlisted either. Criminal.

As previously reported, Frusciante confirmed last year that he will not rejoin his former bandmates on their next album, the second time he has left the Peppers. He now plans to return to his solo work. I'm not sure if it was his many past solo albums or his RHCP contributions that so impressed the 30,000 people who apparently voted in 6's Axe Factor poll. Perhaps they were attracted by his vaguely exotic surname.