Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- Singer Chris Brown earned a glowing probation report six months after he was sentenced to "labor-oriented service" for assaulting his pop star girlfriend, Rihanna, the judge said Thursday.
Brown, 20, sat silently in court Thursday afternoon as Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg reviewed his probation report.
"It looks like you're doing really, really well," Schnegg said.
The police chief in Richmond, Virginia -- where Brown is being allowed to complete his sentence -- reported that he had worked 32 days of hard labor, she said.
Schnegg said when she sentenced Brown that she wanted to see him do "actual physical labor, as opposed to some type of community service."
The report on his court-ordered
domestic violence counseling said he had completed 17 out of 52 groups sessions, she said.
The agency running the sessions reported "you are participating and doing a very good job," the judge said.
The judge rewarded Brown by signing an order allowing him to again travel outside the United States for concerts.
When Brown returns to court on May 11, 2010, for his next probation progress report, he will be "way over halfway there" to completing his sentence, she said.
Brown was sentenced in August to serve five years probation and to spend more than 1,400 hours in "labor-oriented service" for the assault conviction.
(CNN) -- It's been 12 months since the private lives of Chris Brown and Rihanna spilled out into the Los Angeles streets following a violent argument while driving home from a pre-Grammy party.
According to a sworn statement by Los Angeles Police Detective DeShon Andrews, Brown punched her in the face numerous times, put her in a headlock, bit her fingers and ear and threatened to kill her.
Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault in June and lost several public endorsements. In August, he was sentenced to five years' probation in addition to 1,400 labor-oriented community service hours.
One leaked photo, a few soul-baring interviews and two questionable album covers later, both of the young singers now find themselves at uniquely different points in their careers.
Rihanna steered clear of the spotlight for several months, re-emerging in New York City last spring, boldly walking the red carpet at the Costume Institute Ball, with a new look and a new album to begin promoting.
"There's no restriction on
Rihanna, but he [likely] can't go anywhere without his judge's permission," said RollingStone.com deputy editor Caryn Ganz. "He has to appear for court appearances to prove that he's doing his community service," noting that the legal issues don't make it any easier for the star to move forward with his career.
Brown did release a pop-inflected album, "Graffiti," on December 7, which has sold a little more than 250,000 copies. He also sold out stops on his fans' appreciation tour, but those performances were in smaller venues than he'd played previously.
"In the immediate aftermath of the incident, there was all of this 'dead' talk -- nobody will work with him, he'll never be able to sell another record -- and that's turned out to not be true," she said. But, Ganz noted, "Rihanna is clearly doing better than he is, both in sales figures and public reception."
To date, Rihanna's literal take on being "Rated R" has sold more than a half-million since it dropped November 23. She's also taken to the stage again, performing everywhere from NBC's "New Year's Eve with Carson Daly" to the "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon. "Rated R" is her fourth studio release; it entered the Billboard Hot 200 chart at No. 4, and sold more in its first week than "Good Girl Gone Bad."
Brown's last album, "Evolution," sold more in its first week at 294,000 than "Graffiti" has in its seven weeks on the shelves, Ganz said.
(CNN) -- Days after Chris Brown took to his Twitter page accusing stores of "blackballing" his new album, "Graffiti," the singer's account was deleted after he left a final message to his fans.
"I WANNA THANK MY FANS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT," said Brown's final tweet, posted Monday afternoon. "I LOVE YALL. GOODBYE!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Over the weekend, Brown went on a tirade after he visited a Wal-Mart store in Connecticut and didn't see his album on shelves.
"The didnt even have my album in the back ... not on shelves, saw for myself," he tweeted.
Brown said he spoke to the manager, who had no answers.
"the manager told me that when there are new releases its mandatory to put em on the shelves. BUT NO SIGN OF #GRAFFITI. BS," he tweeted.
He continued to say that Alicia Keys' new album was stocked and ready for release, though it wasn't due out until Tuesday.
Fans began instantly replying with unverified stories about their attempts to buy Brown's CD. The singer began retweeting, or forwarding the tweets out, some of which claimed when fans asked when the shelves would be restocked they were told "never," and allegations that managers said they didn't support "woman-beaters."
News of his outrage spread quickly and many media outlets began reporting on his complaints.
Brown began using
Twitter as a way to connect to his fans after he pleaded guilty and was sentenced for beating his then-girlfriend
Rihanna.
From
abc
In an exclusive interview, music superstar Rihanna sits down with Diane Sawyer revealing publicly for the first time what happened last February with singer and ex-boyfriend Chris Brown.
"He was definitely my first big love," she told Sawyer.
The incident resulted in the couple's seemingly fairytale relationship being shattered and Brown being sentenced to community labor, five years of probation and one year of domestic-violence counseling.
"...This happened to me...it can happen to anyone," Rihanna said.
The interview is scheduled to air on "Good Morning America" on Thursday, Nov. 5 and Friday, Nov. 6 at 7 a.m. ET, and on "20/20" on Friday, Nov. 6 at 10 p.m. ET.
During the in-depth interview, Rihanna also talks candidly about growing up in Barbados, her family life and how she has been doing over the last nine months.
