Winfrey is already the most important woman on television, and to the book industry, and recent trends suggest she is now also the most important woman in the record industry.

Recent visits to her Chicago studio have paid huge dividends for Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Jay-Z and Barbra Streisand, and this week provide the sales impetus for Canadian jazz/MOR star Michael Buble to top the US albums chart.

Buble's Crazy Love album wasn't supposed to come out until Tuesday (October ...