How The “Chris Brown’s Album In Jeopardy” Rumor Became Today’s Most Puzzling Rumor In The World

Artist: Chris Brown Rumor: Because of the lukewarm response to his first single, “Wall To Wall,” the R & B singer’s forthcoming album, Exclusive, may be scrapped by his label, Zomba. First mention: That Grape Juice, which had previously broken the news about Mya’s album suffering the same fate, posted the rumor on Sunday. The item cited the lackluster chart performance of “Wall To Wall,” which leaked in May and is currently at No. 84 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Build-Up: Vibe Confidential tried to link to the That Grape Juice post in question yesterday, although someone stuck a huge break tag in the middle of the HREF.

The Dam-Break: None, really–probably thanks to the holiday-shortened day and similar rumors about Mario. Odds Of Truthfulness: We’re going to go long on this one and say 10-1. Yes, “Wall To Wall” isn’t as instantly grabbable as “Run It!,” and it has been hanging in the lower reaches of the Hot 100 for the past four weeks–curiously, though, it’s listed on said chart as a digital single, and it doesn’t seem to be available on iTunes at present. So while radio response to the song may have been lackluster, the jury’s still out on whether or not the sales of the track–and, by at least some extension, the album–will be strong. (As an added note, the obviously-Michael-Jackson-influenced video was only released last week.) The fact that the song leaked nearly two months ago may hurt it, but Zomba may want to rush out a digital single just to make sure that reworking its forthcoming release schedule is worth the extra effort. (As a side note: Did the one-two punch of My December and Curtis being involved in release-date squabbles make album-pushed-back rumors “hip”?)

Chris Brown’s New Project In Jeopardy [That Grape Juice, via Vibe Confidential]