Mariah Carey [ tickets ] will sing the National Anthem at Super Bowl XXXVI at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans on Feb. 3.

According to the artist's publicist, 241,741 copies of Garth Brooks [ tickets ]' "Scarecrow" (Capitol) album were sold last week, representing 21% of all country album sales.

Billy Joel [ tickets ] will be honored as the 2002 MusiCares Person of the Year at a Feb. 25 tribute dinner and fundraiser in Los Angeles. The Grammy week event will honor Joel for "his accomplishments as a musician and as a humanitarian," according to a press release.

In his first performance since the death of George Harrison, Paul McCartney dedicated two songs--"Freedom" and "Your Loving Flame"--to his former Beatles bandmate on Tuesday (12/11), Reuters reported. McCartney entertained at a concert in Oslo that celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The most-played songs on radio for the week of Dec. 4-10, according to Broadcast Data Systems:

Pop: Mary J. Blige, "Family Affair"
Rock: Creed, "My Sacrifice"
Alternative: Linkin Park, "In The End"
Urban: Usher, "You Got It Bad"
Country: Toby Keith, "I Wanna Talk About Me"

Singer Freddy Fender, whose health problems include hepatitis C, will have a kidney transplant operation in January, the Associated Press reported. The organ was donated by his 21-year old daughter.