In an interview earlier this summer, Rihanna boasted that women are dominating pop music, rattling off a handful of artists to prove it: “It’s me, Gaga, Katy Perry, Beyoncé…who else? Ke$ha, for sure.” Albeit, it’s an easy statement to balk at–um, Ke$ha got a name check over Adele and Britney? Really? At first glance, the 24-year-old appears to be nothing more than a glitter-soaked hot mess suffering from a perpetual hangover. But take into consideration that in less than two years since being thrust in the limelight, Ke$ha has racked up a platinum debut album and six top ten hits, the first of which, “Tik Tok” stayed at no. 1 for nine consecutive hits. Of all the wannabe pop stars out there, this former waitress has made out like a bandit. Why? Because she unabashedly embraces that a good hook leads to more commercial success than an introspective lyric. In other words, it gets the public spending money and dancing like they’re dum dum-dum dum-dum-dumb. With LMFAO, Spank Rock. ERIKA HOBART

Sat., Sept. 10, 7:30 p.m., 2011