Happy Sunday all. After skipping a week due to technical difficulties, we are back!! Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) the charts remain more or less the same. Read on, my friends…(all chart information courtesy of Billboard magazine)
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Top 20 Singles
1) “Disturbia” Rihanna
2) “Forever” Chris Brown
3) “I Kissed a Girl” Katy Perry
4) “Take a Bow” Rihanna
5) “Paper Planes” M.I.A.
6) “Viva La Vida” Coldplay
7) “Dangerous” Kardinal Offishall feat. Akon
8) “A Milli” Li’l Wayne
9) “Burnin’ Up” Jonas Brothers
10) “Closer” Ne-Yo
11) “A Little Bit Longer” Jonas Brothers
12) “American Boy” Estelle feat. Kanye West
13) “When I Grow Up” Pussycat Dolls
14) “Leavin'” Jesse McCartney
15) “Bleeding Love” Leona Lewis
16) “Get Like Me” David Banner feat. Chris Brown
17) “Lollipop” Li’l Wayne feat. Static Major
18) “Put On” Young Jeezy feat. Kanye West
19) “Lolli Lolli (Pop That Body)” Three Six Mafia
20) “Pocketful of Sunshine” Natasha Bedingfield
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Top 20 Albums:
1) Various Artists “Mamma Mia Soundtrack”
2) “Breakout” Miley Cyrus
3) “Love on the Inside” Sugarland
4) “Rock & Roll Jesus” Kid Rock
5) “Tha Carter III” Li’l Wayne
6) “Viva La Vida or Death & All His Friends” Coldplay
7) “Lessons in Love” Lloyd
8) “Camp Rock Soundtrack” Various Artists
9) “Good Girl Gone Bad” Rihanna
10) “What Am I Waiting For” Heidi Newfeld
11) “Jonas Brothers” Jonas Brothers
12) “C’mon” Keith Anderson
13) “Now That’s What I Call Music Vol. 28” Various Artists
14) “Kids Bop 14” Various Artists
15) “Conor Oberst” Conor Oberst
16) “Taylor Swift” Taylor Swift
17) “Untitled” Nas
18) “Only Through the Pain” Trapt
19) “Revelation” Third Day
20) “One of the Boys” Katy Perry
*Thank God, “I Kissed a Girl” has finally been dethroned as the #1 single in the country. Rihanna scores her second #1 single of 2008 (and her fourth overall) with “Disturbia”. It’s also worth mentioning because one of the co-writers of the song is a gentleman by the name of Chris Brown, who, in a strange little kowinkydink, is the performer of the song at #2 this week.
*I hope M.I.A. sends Judd Apatow a fruit basket. “Paper Planes”, a song from her “Kala” album (which came out in the spring of ’07) has risen all the way to the #5 position on the chart thanks to being featured in trailers for the Apatow co-written film “Pineapple Express”. The album is starting to pick up steam as well, scooting up 17 places to #45 this week.
*Here’s something you don’t see too often anymore. Only one song in this week’s Top 10 boasts a “featuring” credit. Can we paraphrase the popular song and say singers are doin’ it for themselves? Granted, that song was by The Eurythmics featuring Aretha Franklin. Hmmm…I think I just nullified my own point.
*Wanna know how you know that we are in a quieter than usual period on the charts? You don’t know half the artists on it. While I’m pretty sure I’ve heard the name Keith Anderson before, I have no Earthly clue who this Heidi Newfield chick is. I can almost guarantee that she’s the first artist to appear in Billboard’s Top 20 with the name “Heidi”.
*To repeat a fact that’s been trumpeted all over the collective internets: the success of the “Mamma Mia” soundtrack marks the first time ever that ABBA (or at least the songs of ABBA) have hit the #1 spot on the American album charts. Hell, it marks the first time ABBA have hit the Top Ten on the American album charts. Another fact you might find hard to believe: despite the extreme singalong-ability of the group’s hits, only one ever topped the American singles chart. Which one, you ask? See below, kids. And you can literally sing along to this one!!
*Proof that there might still be hope for this country: the new T-Pain single, “Can’t Believe It”, hasn’t sped immediately into the Top 10, instead lodging itself at #31 in its’ second week. Try to hold in your shock at the fact that the featured artist on this song is…Li’l Wayne, who ALSO scores a debut at #21 as the featured artist on The Game’s new single “My Life”. Insert lame joke about Wayne’s ubiquity here. It’s too early in the morning for me to write my own.
*Wayne also figures in this week’s “Catch a Falling Star” award, which goes to R&B singer Lloyd. His third album, “Lessons in Love”, debuts at #7 on the overall albums chart and at #1 on Top R&B Albums, which seems like a pretty solid debut, until you realize that “Lessons” scanned only 51,000 units, or about 1/3 of the total that his last album, “Street Love”, which came out barely 18 months ago, sold in it’s first week. Chart positions can be deceiving, boys and girls. The catalyst for the success of Lloyd’s previous album? The single “You”, which featured Li’l Wayne. Granted, the first single off his new album also features Weezy, but maybe this shows that going to the well one too many times is not always a good idea.
And finally, folks, let’s close this week’s Chart Chat out with a giggle, shall we? It at least has some relevance to this week’s charts, seeing as the subject of the joke happens to be the dad of current teen favorite Miley Cyrus. Thanks to GB for forwarding it along:
A cowboy and a biker are on death row, and are to be executed on the same
day. The day comes, and they are brought to the gas chamber. The warden asks
the cowboy if he has a last request, to which the cowboy replies, “Ah shore
do, Ward’n. Ah’d be mighty grateful if’n yoo’d play ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ fur
me bahfore ah hafta go.”
“Sure enough, cowboy, we can do that,” says the warden. He turns to the
biker, “And you, biker, what’s your last request?”
“That you kill me first.”
(rimshot)
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen! You’ve been a lovely audience! Try the fish!!
