‘Dark Knight’ tuned in for Oscar score eligibility

December 14, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

LOS ANGELES — Batman has a shot at an Academy Award for musical score, after all.

The music branch committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has reversed an earlier decision that would have made “The Dark Knight” score ineligible to compete for the Oscar.

On Nov. 10, the committee declared the score ineligible because the studio submitted too many names as musical contributors. The committee now has reversed that ruling after getting further information that only two composers, Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, wrote the score.

A statement from the academy says nomination ballots and lists of eligible scores have not yet been distributed to branch members, so voting will not be affected by the change. Oscar nominations come out Jan. 22.

Chris Brown is named Billboard’s top artist

NEW YORK — The accolades keep coming for Chris Brown — this time, he’s been named Billboard’s top artist of 2008.

“It’s bigger than what I can ever imagine. It’s unexpected totally, so it’s a surprise,” Brown said in an interview last week.

It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise for Brown. He not only nabbed the Billboard honor in 2006, he had a great ’08, with solo hits like “With You” and “Forever” as well as successful collaborations, like the Jordin Sparks duet “No Air.” Last month, he won three awards at the American Music Awards, including artist of the year.

The artist rankings are determined by album sales as well as digital downloads, radio airplay and Internet streams. The No. 2 artist was Lil Wayne, who had a huge year thanks to hits like “A Milli” and “Lollipop”; No. 3 on the list was Rihanna, whose hits included “Take A Bow” and “Disturbia,” which was co-written by boyfriend Brown.

Rounding out the top five were Alicia Keys and Taylor Swift.

Billboard named Flo Rida’s “Low” as the year’s top song.

Today’s birthdays

Actress Patty Duke is 62. Actress Dee Wallace is 60. Bassist Cliff Williams of AC/DC is 59. Actress Cynthia Gibb (“Fame”) is 45. Actress Vanessa Hudgens (“High School Musical”) is 20.