The $1,000-an-hour prostitute reportedly hired by New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer may soon make much more than that, turning her 15 minutes of infamy into a tidy sum of money.

Since 22-year-old Ashley Alexandra Dupre was identified by The New York Times late on Wednesday as the governor’s paramour, the prostitute and aspiring singer’s songs have become the most popular downloads on a music-sharing Web site and at least one magazine is prepared to pay her for a nude photo spread.

Proving the adage there’s no such thing as bad publicity, Hustler publisher Larry Flynt told the Access Hollywood television program on Friday that he plans to offer Dupre $1 million to pose nude in his magazine.

Earlier this week, the woman told the Times she was worried about paying her rent this month after the escort service she worked for was shut down by federal officials.

The newspaper reported Spitzer was heard on a federal wiretap last month arranging a tryst with a prostitute called “Kristen,” whom the paper identified as Dupre.

Spitzer resigned on Wednesday and apologized for his “private failings,” but did not refer specifically to the report.

According to Dupre’s MySpace page (www.myspace.com/ninavenetta), she left home at 17 and moved to New York, where she is trying to pursue a music career.

Her R&B- and pop-tinged songs “What We Want” and “Move Ya Body” are ranked as the two best-selling songs on the AimeStreet.com music sharing Web site.

A spokesman for Aime Street, which uses a demand-price model where users pay more for popular songs, would not confirm how many times Dupre’s songs had been downloaded. But he said “Move ya Body,” which was uploaded to the site around 2 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Thursday, rose to the highest download price (98 cents) faster than any other song in the site’s history.

Dupre’s page on the site has been viewed more than 300,000 times and artists get a 70 percent cut of sales. If 1 million copies were sold, as some media outlets have estimated, then she’s already made more than $680,000 from her notoriety.

New York radio stations, including the top-rated Z100, have been playing her music on the airwaves. Her profile on the social networking Web site MySpace has had over 7 million page views.

Penthouse Magazine Group president and publisher Diane Silberstein has said the men’s magazine would consider offering Dupre a nude cover shot.

On Friday, The New York Post ran five pages of revealing pictures of Dupre from a 2007 photo shoot purportedly to promote her music career.

Want to know where Britney Spears is today? You can either follow the smell of wig glue and bubblegum through L.A., like the paps do, or just keep your eyes on this here site:

E! News has learned that Brit, who on Monday did a table read for her upcoming role on CBS’ How I Met Your Mother, will be on the Fox lot today for more rehearsals. The episode, in which the flirty celeb plays a flirty receptionist, tapes later this week. Way to show your range, girlfriend!

Spears is taking a break this week from her near-daily dance rehearsals while she focuses on her first TV acting gig since Will and Grace in 2006.

Can TV save the radio star?

MTV is giving young people the chance to follow their dreams through several new music- and dance-themed projects, including a drama from Nick Lachey that’s described as a reality version of “Fame.”

The network also has ordered two singing competitions — “Rock the Cradle” and a concept with the working title of “Celebrity Music Mentor Project.” It has also renewed the dance competition “Randy Jackson: America’s Best Dance Crew” for a second season.

The untitled pilot from Lachey, the former star of MTV’s “Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica,” revolves around the students at his alma mater, the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati.

It will blend performances by the students with a narrative about what takes place in the school. For example, it might feature students breaking out into dance in the cafeteria, or use a student’s practice session as the soundtrack for a scene. Lachey brought the project to the network and is serving as an executive producer.

“Rock the Cradle,” an eight-episode series that premieres April 3, features the offspring of famous musicians competing every week in front of their parents, a panel of judges and a live audience to become stars in their own right. Set to compete are Chloe Rose Lattanzi (daughter of Olivia Newton-John), Crosby Loggins (Kenny Loggins), Jesse Money (Eddie Money), Lucy Walsh (Joe Walsh), Lil Al B Sure (Al B Sure), Jesse Blaze Snider (Dee Snider), Lara Johnston (Doobie Brother Tom Johnston), Akeiba Burrell Hammer (M.C. Hammer) and Landon Brown (Bobby Brown).

“Celebrity Mentor” pairs eight music celebrity mentors with eight amateurs who will compete to become pop stars. MTV still is finalizing the celebrity cast list for the series, set to premiere in the fall. Hopefuls will be able to post their videos online, with the celebrities each selecting one contestant to coach. Viewers will whittle down the group over the course of the eight-week competition.

Meanwhile, “Dance Crew,” which debuted February 7 and has been the top-rated cable telecast in Thursday primetime among the 12-34 demo, will be back for a second season in the summer with 10 new episodes. This time, viewers will serve as casting directors, with aspiring dance troupes getting the chance to post their videos at dance.mtv.com and the audience favorites being featured on-air.

Pop singer Janet Jackson, whose fluctuating weight has fascinated the tabloids for years, is co-writing a book about her journey as an “emotional eater.”

A title and publication details are expected to be announced soon, but Jackson hopes to have the book out by the end of the year. She is collaborating on the project with her nutritionist, David Allen, she told Billboard.com.

“It’s not just this sterile, weight loss and how to do it book, but my journey even from when I was a kid … being an emotional eater,” said Jackson, who is 41.

“It takes you through those moments in my life up ’til now and what worked for me. And hopefully within that, if it doesn’t work for them, maybe they’ll find something that does work for them and a nice place for them to be content with who they are.”

Jackson, who said last month on CNN’s “Larry King Live” that she liked French fries, sweets, caramel and candy apples, reportedly put on 60 pounds in 2006. She currently occupies the No. 1 spot on the U.S. pop album chart with her latest release, “Discipline.”

Rock band Van Halen’s reunion tour fell into disarray on Monday when it announced it would postpone all shows through April 19 while guitarist Eddie Van Halen undergoes tests for an unspecified medical condition.

The news came a week after the group postponed four shows for the same reason.

Seventeen shows are now affected, beginning Tuesday in Charlottesville, Va., and running through April 15 in Baltimore, which was one of the four postponed last week. The next scheduled show is set for April 19 in Las Vegas.

According to organizers, Van Halen, 53, who has battled cancer and substance abuse, “is currently under doctors’ care” and will “continue medical tests to define a course of treatment.” No further details were made available.

Fans are being asked to keep their tickets, which will be honored at makeup dates to be announced.

Van Halen returned to the road last fall with original lead singer David Lee Roth for the first time in 20-plus years. The tour, which features Eddie Van Halen’s teenage son Wolfgang on bass in place of co-founder Michael Anthony, has routinely sold out North American arenas.