Lil' Wayne CD tops '08

January 2, 2009

Rapper Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III" was far and away the top-selling CD of 2008, netting 2.88 million copies. However, it's the first time the bestselling album of the year has sold fewer than 3 million copies since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. Coldplay was a distant second with "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends" at 2.15 million, followed by Taylor Swift's "Fearless," Kid Rock's "Rock N Roll Jesus," and AC/DC's "Black Ice." (Billboard)

Michael Pitt is in final negotiations to star opposite Steve Buscemi in "Boardwalk Empire," Martin Scorsese's drama pilot for HBO. "Empire" is based on Nelson Johnson's book chronicling the 1920s origins of Atlantic City, N.J., and is executive produced by Scorsese, Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson, and Terence Winter. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Former Disney chief Michael Eisner is taking leave of "Conversations With Michael Eisner," which has been airing on CNBC about once a month since March 2006. Eisner's other business interest, Tornante Co., makes it harder for him to work as much as he'd like on "Conversations," a CNBC spokesman said. The program was never a great ratings success, averaging about 100,000 viewers per episode. Eisner, however, was able to bring star power to the interview show with a lot of top names. His most recent was with Houston megachurch pastor Joel Osteen. (The Hollywood Reporter)