Drake is numero uno this afternoon. He sold 658,179  copies of his “Nothing was the Same” album and came in on top of the charts like crazy. He completely out sold number 2, Kings of Leon. Their “Mechanical Bull” motivated only 115,088 fans to plunk down some dough. Old pals Cher and Elton John followed in the top 5. But aside from Drake it was a pretty sad week saleswise for everyone. Sting came in at number 11 with  “The Last Ship,” and that’s pretty good considering it’s an album tied to a Broadway show.

Who is Drake? He’s always fighting with either Chris Brown or that Bieber kid. His real name is Aubrey Drake Graham. Are you ready for this? His mother is Jewish and he was Bar Mitzvahed. His father is black, and the father’s uncles are Larry Graham (of Graham Central Station and Sly Stone fame) and Memphis legend Teenie Hodges. Wow. The parents divorced and Drake grew up between Toronto and Memphis. Good genes. Good for him.

Anyway. Lots of good music. Drake is now the prime suspect in the hunt for Album of the Year and R&B nominations at the Grammys.

The song starts at 2:45

And now, the beginning of a new music year: Katy Perry released two new tracks from her forthcoming Prism album last night. They immediately went into the top 10 on iTunes. “Walking on Air” went right to number 1, with “Roar” holding strong at number 2. Another new track, “Dark Horse,” jumped to number 9. “Prism” isn’t released until October 22nd. But it does seem Perry’s people have followed the Taylor Swift pattern from one year ago.

“Dark Horse” didn’t do much for me. But “Walking on Air” is a strong track, again creating “the sound of triumph,” as I told you weeks ago about “Roar.” Perry’s production team is very smart. They showcase her strong, strong voice. And they write songs that are upbeat anthems. Katy Perry is no Joni Mitchell or Carly Simon. There’s no time for introspection. She is “Walking on Sunshine” 24/7, lest her teen followers feel let down. It would be so interesting to hear her sing real songs with a real producer. But I doubt that will happen any time soon. In the meantime, it’s all good.

Miley Cyrus’s “Bangerz” album is streaming on iTunes. It’s not very interesting. I really liked “We Can’t Stop.” But the rest of “Bangerz” feels tired, hackneyed, anonymous. You can only push the naked thing so far. At some point there have to be records. Miley has ‘duets’ with Britney Spears and with Nelly. Right away, you sort of feel manager Larry Rudolph used her to push other clients. And not very hip ones. (I liked Nelly’s “Suit” album, don’t get me wrong. But it was a long time ago.)

Streaming the whole album now may be a mistake. It might have been better as a surprise. “Bangerz” goes on sale Oct. 8th. One thing: a couple of times you can hear her actual ‘country’ style voice come through. That’s her natural style. And that’s where Miley should be headed as she gets older. She’s forcing this “female rebel” thing.

The broadcast networks wanted to know where everyone was last night. Well, they were watching “Breaking Bad” on AMC on cable. The series finale was up 300% from the last “Breaking Bad” season finale in the key demo. The total viewing number was 10.3 million. At the same time– 9pm– 1.9 million people were watching the return of “Homeland” on Showtime.

This means that aside from football games, “Breaking Bad” had the most number of actual viewers than the totals for the night on CBS, ABC, and Fox. NBC won the night with 15.9 million people watching the NFL.

Of course, it was a one time thing. AMC could only wish “Breaking Bad” had more episodes. Now they will return to shows like “The Walking Dead” and wait for seven episodes of  “Mad Men” each in 2014 and 2015. But this was a phenomenon that built week after week.

Who could have imagined that Dr. Tim Watley–actor Bryan Cranston– would go from being a a dentist who becomes Jewish for the jokes to Malcolm’s nutty father to an insane meth dealer dying of cancer? Only in America.

Exclusive: Garrett Hedlund, star of “On the Road,” tells me he may appear in the next Kings of Leon video. He says that he and Caleb Followill are old friends and they’ve discussed it. “Kings of Leon usually don’t have actors or other people in their videos, but Caleb and I talked about it. It may happen,” Hedlund told me last night at the Coen Brothers concert. Hedlund is shooting a film now with “Inside Llewyn Davis” star Oscar Isaac. He’s still bemoaning the poor release of “On the Road,” a movie that was so anticipated but then seemed to vanish. I think in time Walter Salles’s take on Jack Kerouac will become a cult classic on video… Kings of Leon’s new album, “Mechanical Bull,” hits the album charts tomorrow in the top 5…

Oscar Isaac has suffered a lot of indignities in his short career. He was one of the few bright spots in Madonna’s “W.E.” A great movie in which he starred, called “Bilabo,” was never actually released and had to be put on YouTube in pieces. “Agora,” in which he also acquitted himself well, also fell by the wayside. He was one of many talented actors no one could see because of the poor lighting in “Che.” But intrepid manager Jason Spire knew Isaac’s secret weapon: he was a damn good musician. Now Oscar is the star of the Coens’ “Inside Llewyn Davis.” And he’s going to get an Oscar nomination.

All of that was pretty clear from this weekend. The movie screened Saturday night at the New York Film Festival to raves. And then on Sunday night came the live concert at Town Hall in New York. Amidst a sea of professional musicians, Oscar Isaac emerged as the night’s big star. He was almost its most gracious. As he strapped on a guitar last night, Isaac was the only singer of the evening to marvel at all the talent around him. Then he knocked the audience out with four performances. If he does just a little of this for Academy voters, he’s in. The public will get to see him on Showtime’s special about the concert on December 13th.

Just a note that Oscar could easily have a hit single with Bob Dylan’s very early traditional “Dink’s Song” also known as “Fare Thee Well.” He sings it in the movie as Llewyn Davis and sang it last night. He’s going to be doing it a lot this winter, by request.

Meantime, last night’s audience was filled with stars, from Julianne Moore and Bart Freundlich (with their kids) to Paul Rudd, Zooey Deschanel, Nina Arianda, Chris Rock (who came just to the after party at the Bowery Hotel), Jesse Eisenberg, “Moneyball” director Bennett Miller and even a very low key Liam Hemsworth. CBS’s Les Moonves and Julie Chen entertained David Geffen. Joel Coen’s Oscar winning wife Frances McDormand showed up with some pals. Neither Joel nor Ethan Coen nor McDormand participated in the show.

And the breakout music stars– they included Lake Street Dive and the Punch Brothers, the Avett Brothers, Gillian Welch, and Rhiannon Giddens. Rhiannon needs to wear her red dress and no more pigtails. She is one step away from being a star. At the after party at the Bowery Hotel, Rhiannon got into an impromptu jam session with Joan Baez and members of the other groups. They were just spectacular. What a relief last night to hear real musicians. No Auto Tune, sampling, or lip synching. No artifice. Just the real deal. Four stars!