Billboard‘s stats nerds have come with their own take on the high and low points of the decade: the music industry trade mag named Daniel Powter, singer of American Idol fail theme “Bad Day,” as the biggest One-Hit Wonder of the last ten years, while on the other end of the spectrum, Usher topped Billboard‘s hit list as the artist with the most number ones of the Noughties. The hit-maker (and TV home-builder) took seven songs to the top spot on the Billboard’s Hot 100 in the last decade, and he didn’t even need the full ten years to do it: his bouncy classic “U Remind Me” ranked No. 1 in 2001, and beat-recycling smash “Love in This Club” peaked at the top in 2008. That’s definitely a reason for Usher to celebrate something other than his divorce. And hey, Daniel Powter’s name is being mentioned again for the first time in three years, so that dude’s probably breaking out the champagne right about now.
The rest of the Top 10 One Hit Wonders after the jump: More »
You already know the end of the year/decade will bring no shortage of best-of lists from perfectly nice people who still think it’s all about the Strokes or Neko Case. But the most interesting decade-in-review feature we’ve seen yet isn’t a countdown—it’s just a smart look back at the biggest hits of the decade by the whiz kids over at NPR.
For the last two weeks, the music crew that puts together NPR’s Song of the Day segment, has taken a smart look back at the best and brightest in pop smashes from the aughts – one song and one year at a time. Check out their ten picks for the songs that summed up the 00’s, complete with a brief write-up (full song-by-song analysis can be seen at the source). Apologies to those with an aversion to Britney Spears and Idol alumni: this just wasn’t your time. More »
What were the 80 most important musical recordings, artists, trends, events, and performances of 2008? What were the eight things this year that broke our hearts—or, at least, our ears? We’re happy to announce 80 ’08 (and Heartbreak), Idolator’s year-end overview. The list is below the jump.
Radiohead’s “gotcha!” release of In Rainbows last year had something of a ripple effect on artists who also appeal to that band’s tech-savvy, sorta-into-paying-for-music fanbase. Jack White’s other band, The Raconteurs, played with the idea of bringing back the “event record” by shortening the period between announcement and release first, when they announced that their second album Consolers Of The Lonely would be available a week following its announcement. “We wanted to get this record to fans, the press, radio, etc., all at the EXACT SAME TIME so that no one has an upper hand on anyone else regarding it’s availability, reception or perception,” the [sic]-ly release said. Of course, this didn’t stop the damn thing from leaking anyway. (And it was all iTunes’ fault!)
Sure, Gnarls Barkley’s video for “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul” brings together overwrought breakup conversations and singing internal organs in such a way that one wonders when the wordily bloody genre of “mumblegore” is going to begin plaguing film festivals around the world. But friend of Idolator Reed Fischer noted a curious resemblance between the clip and a scene from one of my all-time most favorite movies, and I figured sharing the clip with all of you would brighten up this too-lovely-to-be-inside Thursday:
Gnarls Barkley’s The Odd Couple was supposed to hit stores last week, but then Internet leakers ruined the duo’s carefully calibrated promotional strategy and forced Downtown Records to push up the release of the album to mid-March. More »
That Riches star/alt-country aspirant Minnie Driver could grab Ryan Adams and his Cardinals for her new album Seastories is no surprise. Liz Phair? Yeah, that’s pretty easy to picture. But when the NME announced that “members of Gnarls Barkley” would appear on the album, I was a little shocked. Isn’t that a little less-than-hip for Danger Mouse? Is Cee-Lo trying to break into the Triple-A market?
