noah | November 20, 2008 3:15 am

Yesterday, Al wondered why Guns N’ Roses’ record label was rush-releasing a second single from Chinese Democracy, the leaked-long-ago “Better,” a few days before the album had even arrived on Best Buy’s shelves. Well, it would appear that the title song, which was the album’s inaugural emphasis track, has already peaked at radio: This week, it’s down one spot on Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks (to No. 5) and down two places on Hot Modern Rock Tracks (to No. 26). While its slide down Modern Rock was sorta predictable, what with the cognitive dissonance factors and all, it should be noted that the one-place drop on Mainstream Rock came during a week where the song gained in airplay, but was outgunned by–sigh–Shinedown. Gotta love the post-dignity era. [Full coverage]