Lady Gaga was magic for mags in 2010

LADY GAGA kicked off 2011 by tweeting that her new album, "Born This Way," will drop on May 23. She'll release the record's first single on Feb. 23. That's the same night as the 53rd annual Grammy Awards (just in case you're not one of the seven people who still watch them), leading to speculation that LaGa will perform on the show.

In addition to the album info, Gaga also sent out a picture of herself wearing a jacket with her next album title emblazoned on the back and her butt peeking out from under the coat. This bodes well for Gaga's future endeavors. We'd be concerned if she decided to start wearing pants.

2010 was good for Lady Gaga, and what's good for Gaga is good for the magazine industry. Her cover visage catapulted Rolling Stone and Cosmo to their best-selling issues of the year, Vanity Fair to its second-highest and Elle to its third, according to Women's Wear Daily's Memo Pad.

While Lady Gaga issues went flying off the shelves, Taylor Swift's turns as a cover girl didn't go so well: Her covers accounted for the lowest-selling issues of Elle, the second-lowest-selling issue of Glamour and the third-lowest-selling issue of Marie Claire. Her Elle issue sold 60,000 fewer copies than the average issue. Expect a weepy song about it on Swift's next record.

What could account for such disparity, considering both ladies are two of an increasingly select group who can actually sell albums? Could it be that Swift was more likely to appear on mag covers dressed chastely, while Gaga was rarely dressed at all? See, we told you we'd be worried if she started wearing pants.

King of the Trekkers

Martin Luther King Jr.: Secret nerd?

Nichelle Nichols, who played classy, yet lethal communications officer Uhura on the original "Star Trek" series, said she was thinking of leaving the landmark show after its first season for a career on Broadway.

But then Nichols attended an NAACP fundraiser and was told a huge fan wanted to meet her. Assuming it was some average aficionado, she was blown away when introduced to Dr. King. The civil-rights pioneer told Nichols that he was "the biggest Trekkie on the planet" and that "Star Trek" was the only show he and wife Coretta allowed their kids to stay up and watch. When she admitted she was thinking of departing, he pleaded with her not to.

We wonder if MLK also had a pair of Spock ears.

Nichols' performance is widely cited as the first major TV performance by an African-American woman not playing a servile role. She is also credited with being half of the first scripted interracial kiss on TV because of an episode in which she locked lips with William Shatner's Capt. James Kirk. Nichols, who also sang with the Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton bands, is to appear on the second season of PBS' "Pioneers of Television," Jan. 18.

Tattlebits

* "Jersey Shore" doyenne Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi releases her first book, "A Shore Thing," today. The tome is about a guidette named Gia who finds love down the Jersey Shore.

The New York Post, noting that Snooki has admitted to reading only two books in her life - "Twilight" and "Dear John" - published some excerpts from her book, including this gem: "Gia danced around a little, shaking her peaches for show. She shook it hard. Too hard. In the middle of a shimmy, her stomach cramped. A fart slipped out. A loud one. And stinky."

Pulitzer Prize judges: Look no further.

The third season of "Jersey Shore" premieres Thursday on MTV.

* The salvia 'scapades of Miley

Cyrus may make a lucky toker a rich man. The owner of the bong made famous after Cyrus inhaled what she claims was (legal) salvia is looking to sell the smoking device for five figures, according to TMZ.com. Interested parties can contact the seller at mileycyrusbong@gmail.com.

* Mila Kunis, who received a

Golden Globe nod for her work in "Black Swan," split from "Home Alone" star Macaulay Culkin after seven years of domestic bliss. Gossip hacks across the globe will now wonder if Kunis' recent success drove away her child-star boyfriend, which is an idiotic thing to wonder. Why would he give up an on-the-rise meal ticket like Kunis?

* Doctors are trying to avoid

amputating one of Zsa Zsa Gabor's legs after gangrene sent the 93-year-old to the hospital. Gabor had a 2010 full of health scares, including a broken hip, which led to several hospital visits. During a hospital trip in August, she requested that a priest read her last rites but she recovered and returned home. Here's hoping the always glamorous Gabor has the same luck this time around.

* Hell hath no fury like a

teenage girl scorned. TMZ.com reports that after photos of Selena Gomez smooching boytoy Justin Bieber surfaced, the Disney pop starlet received numerous death threats via Twitter.