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100 and single

A Strapped America Goes To The 99-Cent Store, And New Singles Storm The Top 40

In a week where it seems the global financial crisis is inescapable, America decides that a buck is a nice price to spend on music, and the Top 40 of Billboard's Hot 100 sees a wave of new best-selling singles—including two in the Top 10 and a massive leap by a new No. 1 smash.

With that 79-place jump (which, ahem…I called last week), T.I. accomplishes two major chart feats. New No. 1 “Live Your Life” featuring Rihanna sets the record for the biggest leap to the top in history—which would be unremarkable, given the frequency with which this record has been broken recently, if not for the fact that T.I. is beating himself, having reset the mark just six weeks ago.

More impressively, by ousting his own “Whatever You Like,” T.I. joins a very elite club: acts that succeeded themselves at No. 1. During the Hot 100’s entire 50-year history, there have only been eight, and if you ignore featuring-artist credits, the number is six.

Besides these chart feats, T.I.’s hit also sets a record for the biggest debut sales week for a digital single. But we might want to get used to that happening. Already, iTunes is reporting a wave of new best-sellers as the music industry’s last blockbuster holiday hits full swing.

3:00 PM on Fri Oct 10 2008
By Chris Molanphy
291 views, 7 comments

100 and single

Whatever He Likes: T.I. Holds Chart Penthouse, Takes Reservation for Next Week

In a sleepy week for Billboard's Hot 100, Atlanta rap king T.I. maintains his grip on the No. 1 spot, his fifth nonconsecutive week there, with “Whatever You Like.”

The “jump ball” I expected to break within the Top Three turned out to be a dead ball, as the three hits hold their positions. T.I. actually outsold both Pink and Kanye West at buck-a-song retailers, blunting those two challengers’ previous digital-sales advantages and padding his already huge lead at radio. West, in particular, will probably muddle along for a while now, as his sales two weeks later have fallen off, and his airplay is emerging, steadily but slowly.

Besides, T.I. appears be settling into a long run atop the chart, and within a week or two it might be with a different song. His newest hit, previewed three weeks ago with Rihanna at the MTV Video Music Awards, leads a parade of fall contenders that will likely explode on next week’s chart. So in effect, this week feels like the calm before the pre-holiday storm.

3:00 PM on Fri Oct 3 2008
By Chris Molanphy
1,597 views, 4 comments

videodrone

R. Kelly Is Smokin' Hot In The Boardroom

The musical part of the video for R. Kelly's "Skin" is your standard CGI-as-substitute-for-desire fare; there are flames, and writhing, and R. Kelly standing in a pool with only his chiseled ab muscles to support him through his time of unbridled lust. But surrounding that part of the clip is a curious bit where Kells and a woman are staring at each other across a long boardroom table, a scene where you can feel the smoldering tension surrounding their discussion of... well, that's what I'm trying to figure out. Watch the clip and then vote on what's actually happening in our poll after the jump! More »

12:30 PM on Thu Sep 18 2008
By Maura Johnston
125 views, Comment

In case you missed it, R. Kelly's interview from last night has made its way online. [Straight From The A via bg5000]

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quotable

R. Kelly Wants You To Know That Champagne, GIrls, And Sex Are Nothing More Than Another Day At The Office

Last night, R. Kelly sat down with the journalist Toure to talk about the aftermath of being found innocent on child-pornography charges, and the future of his musical career. Thanks to other commitments (including my perhaps unwise decision to torture myself by watching the last half-inning of the Phillies-Braves game unfold via MLB.com's diagrammatic app Gameday), I missed the show, but MTV has helpfully provided us with some highlights. A few quotes from the hour after the jump. More »

11:00 AM on Wed Sep 17 2008
By Maura Johnston
358 views, 4 comments

Latest by TriedandTrue: @Nicolars: But this article does not even do that part justice. His reaction was hilarious in that it did not promote his case ONE IOTA. The fact he had to even ask where the age limit was........crazy. My other favorite part more »

Ne-Yo doesn't hate R. Kelly, but that may be because he really likes the judge who ordered Kells to pay the behatted singer $700,000 in damages because of the way he got kicked off the Double Up tour last year: "It's all in the past. I think I'm going to use the money and open up a club or a cigar bar in Atlanta." When life gives you lemons... open cigar bars? No, wait. [NYDN]

1 comment

putting the pseudo in pseudo-event

Live-Blogging The 2008 Video Music Awards: No Britney, No Peace

Oh HI! It's dickdogfood. I welcome you to Idolator's liveblog of the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. Now before I became a quasi-anonymous commentator legend, I was known as Michael Daddino. (I still am, in certain obscure circles.) Once, during that long-gone era, I watched 24 hours of MTV and wrote about it on the internet in real-time; thus the concept of the liveblog was forged in the smithy of my soul. And today I return to my old stomping grounds, all Proverbs 26:11-style, to point and laugh at...well, what's it going to be today, kiddies? What's it gonna be? Contrite Britney? Egotasmic Kanye? The JoBros making their inevitable Fleet Foxes move? Nickleodeon crossovers? Candidate cameos? Overrehearsed spontaneity? Underwhelming medleys? Regrettable covers? A smidge of actual entertainment? Yes, we are likely to get them all: the stars will it so. The handwringing and the laughter begin after the jump. More »

7:45 PM on Sun Sep 7 2008
By Dickdogfood
6,448 views, 100 comments

Latest by cosmiclove: @Dickdogfood: You did a great job last night. Do you like sexy psychos? If so, wanna go out? more »

somethin 4 the weekend

Another Long Weekend Brings Another Long List-Making Exercise

Over the Independence Day weekend, I challenged you guys to pick one favorite album for each year that you've been alive, and you all certainly rose to the occasion. So I figured I'd give it another go—only this time, with songs instead of full-lengths. Obviously, picking a "favorite" song from each year would take longer than a three-day weekend, and possibly drive you utterly mad in the process. So let's do it this way: Craft a mix CD that contains one track representing each year of your life, in order. This way, you can transfer any fretting you might have about whether or not "Last Child" or "Beth" should be your representative for 1976 to whether or not 1990's outro transitions well into 1991's intro. Don't get me wrong, it's still difficult, but at least it won't send you on a holiday trip to the sanitarium, where you'll only have the Jerry Lewis Labor Day telethon to accompany your murmurings about whether "White Belly" is superior to "Rid Of Me." My stab at it, after the jump. More »

2:00 PM on Fri Aug 29 2008
By Maura Johnston
1,318 views, 53 comments

Latest by zaxxon25: 1969 Elvis Presley - Suspicious Minds1970 Elton John - My Father's Gun1971 Grin - White Lies1972 Todd Rundgren - I Saw The Light1973 John Cale - Paris 19191974 Rupert Holmes - Our National Pastime1975 Led Zeppelin - Night Flight1976 Flamin' more »

100 and single

T.I. Sets Perennially Broken Hot 100 Record

Atlanta hip-hop king T.I. vaults 70 places into the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Hot 100 this week with "Whatever You Like," a sing-songy, smudgy Xerox of his classic 2006 hit "What You Know."

With this move, Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. scores his first No. 1 as a lead artist (he was credited two years ago on Justin Timberlake's chart-topper "My Love") and sets a new Hot 100 record for biggest leap to the top spot. T.I. takes the record away from Maroon 5, who set it just 16 months ago when "Makes Me Wonder" leapt from No. 64 to No. 1 in a single bound. They, in turn, had stolen the record from Kelly Clarkson, whose only No. 1 hit, "A Moment Like This," held the record for about four years, after she leapt from No. 52 to the top in 2002.

Before Clarkson, this record was held for 28 years, by the Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love" (No. 26-No. 1 in 1964). The fact that a record held for three decades has been broken thrice in the last six years says less about these songs' popularity and more about the quirks of the modern charts and the sometimes dysfunctional relationship between sales and airplay.

And it means T.I. shouldn't gloat for too long—this record's likely to be broken again.

2:00 PM on Fri Aug 29 2008
By Chris Molanphy
2,358 views, 9 comments

now that's what i call listmaking

Our "Now!" Comps Have So Much Growing Up To Do

Britain's The Independent celebrates the 70th incarnation of the pop-comp series Now! with an extensive list of the hits and misses among the compilation's selections, which number 2,701 songs over the last 25 years. While the quality level of our Stateside counterpart doesn't nearly reach the heights of the original (the first volume of the UK series featured "Love Cats," after all), surely I could do the same for the 28 volumes that have shown up on our shores, and in our stores. More »

1:00 PM on Fri Aug 29 2008
By Dan Gibson
538 views, 6 comments

Latest by bcapirigi: @Michaelangelo Matos: Also, worst band name ever. seriously. ewwww. more »

As if R. Kelly's year wasn't fraught enough, now it looks like he's involved in a South African legal tangle that seems to be part 419 scam, part phony concert promotion. A South African woman raised at least $130,000 from investors in 2005 by claiming that she was going to bring the Pied Piper of R & B in for a concert; she then deposited the money into an account owned by a "Robert Kelly," according to German police, even though no concert took place. Kelly's camp is claiming that the singer has nothing to do with either the bank account or the woman, and they're so convinced of his innocence, they're saying that he'll cooperate fully with the investigation. No, really! [Uberblog]

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100 and single

Who's A Big Pop Star? Yes, You Are! David Archuleta's Post-"Idol" Chart Debut

During the two weeks I was vacationing, Billboard reported changes atop all three of its flagship charts—including the blessed end of Katy Perry's No. 1 reign on the Hot 100, which was displaced by a Rihanna song I like a lot. Even more amazingly, a song that may be the most left-field hit of the decade—"Paper Planes" by M.I.A.—soared into the Top Five.

Now that I'm back, the M.I.A. song is down a bit, and the biggest news on the charts is the post-American Idol debut by tween-and-grandma fave David Archuleta.

It's a cruel business, this chart-column writing.

Nonetheless, the good news, for those of us who rooted against the stage-managed moppet during Idol's last season, is that Archie's losing out on the Hot 100's top slot—by a whisker—to Rihanna. Meanwhile, there's change on top of two other charts, including the deadly static Modern Rock list. Let's catch up, shall we?

2:30 PM on Fri Aug 22 2008
By Chris Molanphy
4,670 views, 7 comments

The Pussycat Dolls' follow-up to the grating "When I Grow Up" is "Out Of This Club," a tender ballad about hooking up after last call that features R. Kelly. What does it sound like? Think "'Love In This Club' remixed for the purposes of soundtracking a particularly soft-focused ad for feminine hygiene products." [Music Is The Heart Of Our Soul]

1 comment

this thing sounds like that thing

Trapped In The Closet With Miley Cyrus

Most people over the age of 16 have heard of Miley Cyrus (or at least Hannah Montana), but many have probably never actually heard one of her songs. I was one of these fortunate souls until last Monday, when a friend made me—and I'm still not sure exactly why—watch the Brett Ratner-directed video for her single "7 Things." The one thing that struck me about this more or less mediocre song: Miley Cyrus' voice sounds just like that belonging to the cop's wife from Chapters 8-11 of Trapped in the Closet. More »

12:00 PM on Tue Aug 12 2008
By Kate Richardson
1,696 views, 20 comments

Latest by chachwitablog: forget Miley "bad voice on a girl less cute than at least 20 people I went to high school with" Cyrus, can we just have a post about how awesome it is when R Kelly says "pears" at 1:46 in more »

rock-critically correct

"Blender" Gives It Up For Lil Wayne Once Again

Once again, we present Rock-Critically Correct, a feature in which the most recent issues of Rolling Stone, Blender, Vibe, and Spin are given a once-over by a writer who's contributed to many of those magazines, as well as a few others! In this installment, he looks at the new issue of Blender: More »

10:00 AM on Fri Aug 8 2008
By Anono-Critic
1,615 views, 4 comments

journalism, yay

Idolator Presents Second-"Best Music Writing 2008" (Part Three)

Right: one of my pieces is linked in here. My apologies. I like it still, if that helps any. Anyway, as with the second batch, I found myself hooked on one piece here in particular: Michael Martin's New York story about the preparation for Broadway of Xanadu, one of the worst movies ever made. Two lines in particular knocked me sideways: "(Andy Gibb, a Newton-John friend and Beck's doppelgänger, had originally signed but dropped out, perhaps wisely opting to stay home and snort cocaine instead.)" And this absolute mind-bender: More »

2:00 PM on Wed Jul 30 2008
By Michaelangelo Matos
868 views, 7 comments

Latest by the rich girls are weeping: @Ned Raggett: LOLZ! So true. I have no desire to see the show, though. This is hard for me to say, but it's just a little too panderingly uh, G-A-Y!!!! -- even for me. more »

leak of the week?

The Mysteries Behind R. Kelly's Leaks (Album Division)

On Monday night, a collection of songs purporting to be R. Kelly's 12 Play: Fourth Quarter showed up on a few of the leak blogs I read, prompting Vulture to send itself into a tizzy, and Digital Music News to cluck its tongue about the early release's effects on the biz. But 12P4Q doesn't even have a release date yet, and the blog where I first saw it, the kooky Music Is The Heart Of Our Soul, had a disclaimer that read "For your own information, this isn't the retail version just a compilation of tracks that might be on his album but it is still great to enjoy and to listen to." Which I think means that it's not really the official version of the album, but a bunch of tracks that were laying around the studio that happened to make it outside the Kells compound. Further confusing the whole picture are the torrent sites that had versions of the album marked "[RETAIL]" (which signifies that the version being traded is, in fact, the commercially available one) floating around their ether. So what gives? More »

11:00 AM on Wed Jul 30 2008
By Maura Johnston
1,030 views, 7 comments

Latest by Maura Johnston: @encyclopediablack: That made the song for me. more »

leak of the (yester)day

Akon, Michael Jackson Do Their Best Hootie Impersonations

ARTIST: Akon
TITLE: "Hold My Hand (feat. Michael Jackson)"
WEB DEBUT: June 29, 2008 More »

leak of the day

R. Kelly Looks Around Our Interconnected World And Sees Only The Lonely

ARTIST: R. Kelly
TITLE: "Playas Get Lonely"
WEB DEBUT: June 25, 2008 More »

heaven needed a timberlake wannabe

Arista Drops Idol Runner-Up Blake Lewis After Less Than A Year

Ruben Studdard released three albums before getting dropped. Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee got a year and a half on their post-Idol contracts before being let go. Now 2007 American Idol runner-up Blake Lewis has been cast away by Arista, less than a year after they announced signing him. How long will Jive give David Archuleta to find a niche? Six months? More »

2:30 PM on Mon Jun 23 2008
By Anthony Miccio
1,836 views, 6 comments

leak of the weekend

T.I. Sings, Continues His Half-Assed Repentance

ARTIST: T.I.
TITLE: "A Better Day"
WEB DEBUT: June 21, 2008 More »

somethin 4 the weekend

"Entertainment Weekly" Best-Albums List Reveals Every Problem With (And Advantage Of) General-Interest Listicles

Despite sagging page counts, general print-media malaise, and the fact that they're still saddled with that Diablo Cody column, Entertainment Weekly found reason to celebrate this week: It's the magazine's 1,000th issue, and in honor of that milestone the editorial team there put together a buttload of lists of "New Classics," arbitrary best-of rundowns that supposedly quantify the best pieces of pop culture of the past 25 years. The list-craziness is apparently the latest step in EW's plan to turn itself into a printed-and-stapled blog, which has resulted in more meandering first-person front-of-book pieces and, well, Cody's occasional game of "Spot The Reference." The centerpiece of the issue's music-related offerings is a 100-album list that's supposedly meant to count down the best albums that came out between 1983 and now—it's bookended by the soundtrack to Purple Rain and George Michael's Faith—and because I needed something to do, I organized it by year. More »

7:30 PM on Fri Jun 20 2008
By Maura Johnston
2,531 views, 28 comments

Latest by MrStarhead: Life's Rich Pageant is the sole REM entry. Not Automatic for the People or Murmur, Life's Rich Pageant, an album that the band freely admits was slapped together out of old rejected songs, covers, and about an EP's worth of more »

harder, better, faster, stronger

Kanye, Fall Out Boy To Entertain Joggers

Those participating in the Los Angeles arm of the Nike+ Human Race this August will be rewarded for their charitable efforts and physical endurance with a performance by none other than Kanye West, who I assume will not leave runners waiting for several hours while his spaceship is being assembled. Nike is hoping to get over a million people in 25 cities to participate in the run, which will raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the World Wildlife Foundation, ninemillion.org, and, of corurse, Nike. As Kanye obviously can't hit every city in one day (...or can he?), other musical acts will serenade the winded, defecating, and sweaty at finish lines around the world. More »

3:30 PM on Thu Jun 19 2008
By Anthony Miccio
346 views, 1 comment

Latest by Poubelle: hometown favorite Fall Out Boy in Chicago How droll. more »

art?

Miley Cyrus Glitters Thanks To The Power Of Her Magic Wand

The R. Kelly trial is over, but it still has some juice: Lisa "3-Way Basketball Court Booty Call" Van Allen told prosecutors that one of R. Kelly's associates suggested she should be "murked" (which she took to mean killed but, knowing Kelly, may have had something to do with merkins), while another paid $100,000 for yet another tape of the singer finding nothing wrong with a little underage bump n' grind. Even if these allegations are true (and they're certainly not outlandish), it's surprising that the prosecution would call a "star witness" who claims to have successfully blackmailed and stolen from Kelly in the past. But then, hindsight is 20-20. [E! Online]

1 comment

true stories, what... miracles, what

R. Kelly May Trade "12 Play: Fourth Quarter" For "U Saved Me From Prison"

Judging from "Hairbraider" and "Body Body," some people might assume that R. Kelly will continue to dish out the same odes to freaknasty he's given us in the years following his initial arrest for child pornography. But Billboard correspondent Gail Mitchell likes to see the urine jar as being half full. "It will be interesting to see what he comes back with," she told MTV, "because I'm sure he's had time to do some introspection. And out of adversity, artists sometimes come through with something they didn't know they had in them before, like Marvin Gaye with What's Going On. " Actually, Gaye followed What's Going On by cheating on his wife with an underage girl, inspiring such hits as "Let's Get It On" and "You Sure Like To Ball." So maybe he's not the best example. More »

11:30 AM on Wed Jun 18 2008
By Anthony Miccio
3,276 views, 2 comments

Latest by BakerStreetSaxSolo: Janis Gaye was underage? What, is it 18 over there or something? more »

what have you sung for us lately?

Five Singles Janet Jackson Shouldn't Bother Relearning For Her Tour

Janet Jackson has some ambitious plans for her upcoming tour. "My true goal is to try at least do every single that I've ever had. So, I've got to figure out a way to fit this in two hours, and yet give them enough of each song so that they don't feel hungry for more of that song in particular." Wow! If we generously qualify "single" as songs with American-released videos (and ignore some airplay-charting B-sides), that's still more than 30 tracks. Seeing as how she's probably too proud to just ignore everything she's done since the wardrobe malfunction, I've got five post-Rhythm Nation 1814 (the singles on that and Control are unfuckwithable) songs that she might think about just yelling the title of in the middle of a medley. More »

11:00 AM on Wed Jun 18 2008
By Anthony Miccio
1,092 views, 8 comments

Latest by KikoJones: "When I Think of You" is hands-down, the greatest of all of Janet's singles. Word. more »

R. Kelly attorney Sam Adam Jr. has publicly apologized to Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana for dragging her name into the Gary Coleman and X-rated-snowman-filled closing arguments of his client's trial last week. "This wasn't a gardener or the man down the street or a janitor," Adam's argument went. "This was a 13-year-old girl having sex with a superstar, and she doesn't tell anyone? She doesn't let it slip to her best friend? Never? Not anyone? You can't keep a 13-year-old's mouth closed over Hannah Montana tickets, but this?" Classy! Adam has since taken to MTV to tell Miley/Hannah "sorry," saying that he didn't mean to drag her into the worst of both worlds and that he only brought her into his spiel because she's "the biggest thing out—no offense, Robert." (Yes, he really did append that apology. Talk about digging a hole!) [MTV via The Kelly Chronicles]

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trapped no more

R. Kelly Jury Just Glad To Never See The Tape Again

While post-trial commentary has sweated R. Kelly's fame, the Little Man defense, and other colorful parts of the recently concluded circus, jurors in the six-years-in-the-running child pornography trial claim that the reasonable doubt (or "grayness," as one juror described it) that resulted in their "not guilty" verdict revolved around the identity of the girl in the video, not as to whether Chuck and Keith had grafted Kelly's head onto another fellow's watersports so Stephanie "Sparkle" Edwards and her minions could tarnish Kells' good name. Had the alleged victim or her parents corroborated her identity in the video, or had three family members not testified for the defense, the case may have had a very different outcome, mole or no mole. More »

3:30 PM on Mon Jun 16 2008
By Anthony Miccio
565 views, 4 comments

Latest by BakerStreetSaxSolo: I entirely agree the vote would have swung if the jury had been made aware of that previous information. I know it's a legal principle that an accused is tried on the basis of the actual incident-at-hand and not on more »

the last word

The R. Kelly Verdict: A Nation Reacts

From time to time, we like to round up the all-important, all-summarizing last sentences of the biggest new-music reviews. Recent events, however, have caused us to canvass the Internet for initial reactions to the acquittal of R. Kelly, which came down earlier today: More »

6:00 PM on Fri Jun 13 2008
By Maura Johnston
1,606 views, 8 comments