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.
Three years after his Burger King ad (and six years after his failed R & B solo debut), Darius “Hootie” Rucker is trying make his country move legit. His new single, “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It”‘ has broken Billboard‘s Country Top 50, and his upcoming as-yet-untitled album may be the next big pop crossover. But don’t think Darius is just following the bandwagon: His love for the genre is as true as his love for holding hands.
