Performing everywhere from Good Morning America to The View and making comical songs about twerking on the spot on Watch What Happens Live–that, my friends, is how you promote a new album.

And it seemed to work for Fantasia, because her latest release, Side Effects of You, shot up the Billboard charts to number two. Blame it on the well-produced and popular songs, “Lose to Win” and the deep-cut banger, “Without Me” featuring Kelly Rowland and Missy Elliott.

According to Billboard.com, her fourth studio album debuted behind Michael Buble of all people (hey, he clearly has a major following), coming in at number two with 91,000 albums sold. Her last album, Back To Me, with jams like “Bittersweet” and “I’m Doin’ Me” also debuted in the number two spot, with 117,000 copies sold. Billboard claims that the number of albums sold for Side Effects of You is Fantasia’s smallest to date, but in reality, there are really just a handful of people out here selling more than 500,000 copies nowadays, let alone more than 300,000. Let’s face it, times have been hard in the music industry.

But all in all, after the rocky time Fantasia has been having lately with handing her home over to the bank, relationship drama, and of course, all the issues with talking crazy on her social media and the editor of JET disrespecting her, it’s time to call a win a win for homegirl. Congrats! And according to our associate editor, the album (yes, she did buy it) is a winner.

Have you checked out the album? What do you think of it?

Source: AP Images

Justin Timberlake hasn’t moved units this large since he was rocking a perm and doing the stomp dance in ‘N Sync. Matter of fact, aside from Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and maybe Eminem, nobody is selling many copies of anything, let alone going damn near platinum in a week. That should tell you something. Well, three things:

The album is VERY good.

Promotion for the album was also VERY good.

And the fans were tired of waiting for some new music–and they finally got it.

While jamming to your favorite songs, do you ever wonder about who wrote your favorite tune? Okay, probably not. But it’s still cool to see who helped put some of today’s major hits together, and most of the time, it’s  people who you didn’t expect. We started looking into the names behind some popular tracks back in March, and now we’ve compiled a few more. Here’s a list of some major songs by major artists that were created with a little help from their famous (or at the time, soon-to-be-famous) friends.

Graphic by Desire

“Baby” Justin Bieber feat. Ludacris (2009)

The-Dream/Tricky Stewart/Christina Milian

The song that threw Bieber into pop’s stratosphere, and was his highest charting single until 2012′s “Boyfriend,” was put together by former lovers The-Dream and Christina Milian and Dream’s writing partner Tricky Stewart (who has penned songs for Beyoncé, Rihanna, and more). The Dream claims that Milian only helped with the melody of the song- but there’s no way you can just get a royalty check and credits off a melody right? If so, then I stand corrected. Either way, it’s the jam folks of all backgrounds and ages can’t help but sing to, and it’s the song that pretty much made Bieber a household name.

These days, finding a good love song on the radio is like locating snow in Nevada. Sure it happens but you have to go to great lengths to see it. Unless you’re listening to an old school hour, the love songs of today leave a lot to be desired. But they are out there; so in the spirit of 2011 coming to a close, we’ve taken the time to compile some of the best love songs this year had to offer.

1. “So in Love”

Jill Scott Feat. Anthony Hamilton

I love your mannerisms, babe,
The way you handle them
Oh, I’m so proud to be with you
So attracted to you too…

Is it really a surprise that these two members of the royal family of soul would produce the smooth groove of the year? Jill and Anthony have been on my fantasy collaboration list for a very long time. So I was excited to see them working together. If you’ve been known to step, this song was made just for you.