Most blogged artists: Vampire Weekend, Jay Reatard, Gucci Mane

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Monday in the blogosphere, people are talking about the US group Vampire Weekend, whose second album was released on January 11. Also getting mention is Jay Reatard, the Memphis punk musician who died on January 13.

Vampire Weekend's success, which began with the group's first album release in 2008, came about largely thanks to mention on a variety of music blogs. That notice from the blogosphere has moved into the mainstream with the release of Contra, which is expected to top the US Billboard 200 chart.

Jay Reatard, who recorded both as as a solo artist and as a member of The Reatards and Lost Sounds, was 29 when he died on January 13. A number of bloggers paid tribute to the artist by posting their thoughts and sharing MP3s.

The third most popular artist of the moment, according to music blog aggregator Hype Machine, was Gucci Mane, the American rapper whose second studio album The State vs. Radric Davis was released in December. Among tracks on the album is the single "Spotlight" featuring Usher.

Also mentioned is Swedish band jj, which just released two new tracks - "My Way," a bonus track, and "Let Go," from its forthcoming CD jj no. 3. The band is set to perform at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, in March.

10 most blogged artists on Hype Machine on January 18 at 10am GMT:

• Vampire Weekend
• Jay Reatard
• Gucci Mane
• jj
• the morning benders
• Dirty Projectors
• Hot Chip
• Rogue Wave
• Delphic
• Spoon
• The Ruby Suns

Launched in 2005, Hype Machine aggregates information from more than 1,000 music blogs worldwide. The site enables music fans to easily find out what music is hot in the blogosphere and to instantly hear and buy MP3s.

http://hypem.com