Ed. note: Chris “dennisobell” Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on this week’s Billboard charts:
Imagine, for a moment, you’re in promotions at Sony/BMG, and you’re trying to stoke interest in the 25th-anniversary edition of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. This isn’t the first time you guys have rereleased the record, and with Michael coming up on his 50th birthday, you’ve got your work cut out to make him look relevant.
Sure, the obvious move is lining up some current acts to help Jacko remix those classic tracks–like bringing in Akon to rethink “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.” While you’re at it, try convincing the Grammy people to let Michael perform on the show (what the hell, they need ratings and hey, you can’t guarantee that Michael won’t have a Britney-in-Vegas-style meltdown…). But then you think:
You know what would really seal it? If we could get a current act…somebody really hot…to sample something from Thriller and have a big, fat hit with it. Like, Justin biting “Billie Jean”…or Jigga rapping over “Thriller”…or something. I mean, Kanye sampling “P.Y.T.” was helpful, but that record peaked months ago. We need something hot right now, just as we’re dropping the disc…
And then, like a table-dancing angel from above, Rihanna answers your prayers.
As part of Idolator’s continuing effort to geekily analyze every music chart known to man, we present a new edition of Project X, in which Idolator Critics’ Poll editor Michaelangelo Matos breaks down rankings from every genre imaginable. After the click-through, he looks at two books aimed at list fanatics, one intermittently entertaining but flawed and one recommended unreservedly to all music geeks:
Ed. note: Chris “dennisobell” Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on the Billboard Hot 100 in the latest installment of “100 And Single”:
For a fifth week, Flo Rida’s “Low” rules Billboard‘s Hot 100. But that bit of warmed-over southern crunk finally has some competition: “With You,” Chris Brown’s collaboration with Norwegian pop-masters StarGate, is the biggest gainer in both sales and airplay on the entire chart. Unless there’s a left-field surge by a fast-rising Rihanna, Mr. Brown will likely evict Mr. Rida from No. 1 in another week or two.
Ed. note: Chris “dennisobell” Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on the Billboard Hot 100 in the latest installment of “100 And Single”:
The stasis continues in the upper reaches of Billboard‘s Hot 100, with Flo Rida’s “Low” on top for a fourth week and the next four positions unchanged. But a rising hit is knocking on the door of the Top Five, and it gives Chris Brown two simultaneous Top 10 hits, just a couple of weeks after his current album crossed one million in sales. In a music industry gone mad–or maybe just gone dead–it’s good to be a 18-year-old R&B/pop star with moves.
Ed. note: Chris “dennisobell” Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on the Billboard Hot 100 in the latest installment of “100 And Single”:
“[A]s I type, playlists are returning to normal, and that plus the inevitable comedown in digital sales will make next week’s chart rather topsy-turvy.” So said I, with hope in my heart, last week in this space.
What the hell was I thinking?! One week later, Billboard‘s Hot 100 couldn’t be any snoozier, with a virtually static Top 10 and only marginal movement farther down the chart. Chalk it up to early-winter doldrums, distraction from the presidential primaries, or some kind of Jedi mind-trick Flo Rida’s “Low” is performing on this great nation’s populace, but right now, it feels like no one’s buying or listening to any new music. Or maybe folks are just too busy playing with their little plastic guitars…
In this week’s Who Charted, I noted that the Alvin & The Chipmunks soundtrack had taken up residence in the album chart’s top 20, which prompted this comment from our in-house chart guru Chris Molanphy: “I chose to ignore this in last week’s “100 and Single” column, but contrary to my prediction of a couple of weeks ago, not only is “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” not gone yet, but three other Chipmunks songs debuted on the Hot 100 last week, including their cover of Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day.” Imagine, if you can, the existence of people who went out of their way to download the Chipmunks version of that song.” It’s actually even more frightening to imagine those peoples’ existence when you’ve heard the Chipmunks’ take on the track, so… here you go!
Ed. note: Chris “dennisobell” Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on the Billboard Hot 100 in the latest installment of “100 And Single”:
It’s weeks like this when you begin to see why record execs fear the Internet and hate Steve Jobs. In a post-holiday frame where 98% of albums–the industry’s cash cow–sell less than the week before, iTunes enjoys its annual post-Christmas, iPod-filling sales bonanza, fueling a record week of sales for 99-cent digital singles. The big beneficiary: Billboard‘s current Hot 100 champ, Flo Rida, whose No. 1 smash with T-Pain, “Low,” becomes an all-out blockbuster, selling more downloads (nearly half a million) in a single week than any song in iTunes history.
Ed. note: Chris “dennisobell” Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on the Billboard Hot 100 in the latest installment of “100 And Single”:
Tidily, the first Billboard Hot 100 dated for 2008 brings the new year’s first No. 1 single, as Flo Rida’s generic, T-Pain-backed banger “Low” finally ends Alicia Keys’s run at the top after five weeks. On the whole, the chart looks a lot like last week’s: static toward the top (the No. 1 changeover notwithstanding) but with lots of interesting activity in the lower regions.
Ed. note: Chris “dennisobell” Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on the Billboard Hot 100 in the latest installment of “100 And Single”:
Now in its fifth week atop Billboard‘s Hot 100, Alicia Keys’ “No One” is as unmovable as sticky toffee pudding–as is most of the Top 10. But there are songs percolating further down the chart, and they give a hint of what might burst into the winner’s circle when the year-end logjam breaks.
Ed. note: Chris “dennisobell” Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on the Billboard Hot 100 in the latest installment of “100 And Single.” This week, he takes a break from the regular charts, which are sleepy just before the holiday, to focus on the hits of the year:
A couple of weeks ago in this space, we tried to handicap the likely winners on Billboard‘s year-end charts. Well, we’d like to tell you there was a last-minute, super-exciting, left-field surprise, but things went pretty much as expected. Thanks to the strange December-to-November “chart year” Billboard uses to calculate its year-end tallies, two releases that got their start back when 2006’s turkeys were in the oven are the big winners for 2007: Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable,” and Chris Daughtry’s self-monikered debut album. Maura has already covered the latter, so let’s focus on Billboard‘s No. 1 Hot 100 song of the year.
