Top 40 for June 21

Hi, everyone. Thanks for looking at the Music of a Lifetime blog, which focuses on the stories behind each week's chart. I'll update this at least once a week to match the new chart (which is usually posted Thursday night or Friday) -- and possibly more often as interest warrants.

This week's No. 1 song, "Goodbye," is the first chart hit for 19-year-old Kristinia DeBarge. She's the daughter of James DeBarge, keyboardist with the '80s R&B/pop group DeBarge. That group had a half-dozen hits make the top half of Billboard's Hot 100, but none of them hit my chart. ("All This Love," from 1983, got the closest, listed as chartbound for six weeks.) More successful were two of Kristinia's uncles. El (lead singer of the group) hit No. 6 solo with "Who's Johnny?" from the movie "Short Circuit" in 1986 and No. 4 as part of the conglomerate performing with Quincy Jones on "The Secret Garden" in 1990. And her uncle Chico, who was not a member of the group DeBarge, hit No. 24 in 1987 with "Talk to Me."

My tastes in Top 40 music are pretty varied, but this week's chart definitely shows a teen pop/power pop lean. (That's not unusual at the start of summertime!) The only debut song this week, at No. 40, is "Hey," from 17-year-old Mitchel Musso, an actor on the Disney TV series "Hannah Montana." (I wasn't aware of this until a few minutes ago, as the only "Hannah Montana" fans I know are my nieces up in the D.C. area. I heard a snippet on iTunes this week, liked it, downloaded it and charted it.) Mitchel's debut puts him one up on castmate Miley Cyrus, who has yet to make a song that has registered with me enough to chart. Most I find unlistenable; "The Climb" isn't bad, and it's getting airplay in this market (Raleigh-Durham, N.C.), but I find her voice on the unpleasant side of nasal. She's young, though, so I'll keep an open mind, and maybe another single down the line will catch on with me.

One last observation: For someone who does not watch "American Idol," I seem to like the music that comes from its participants. This week, five "AI" vets are on my chart: Kelly Clarkson, Adam Lambert, David Cook, (Chris) Daughtry and Elliott Yamin. Clarkson is by far the most accomplished on my chart; "I Do Not Hook Up," which drops from its peak of No. 13, is her 12th hit. Daughtry isn't too far behind, though, as "No Surprise" becomes his group's seventh hit.