The first chart of a new year sees a new No. 1 from a singer who hasn't been there before. "Britain's Got Talent" and YouTube phenomenon Susan Boyle moves 2-1 with "Wild Horses" from her debut CD, "I Dreamed a Dream." The live version of the title track went to No. 2 last spring. Boyle's debut album has already sold more than 2 million copies in five weeks in the U.S.
Last week's highest debut is this week's biggest mover. Even as Kyle and Fish heat up on TV's "One Life to Live" (check out YouTube for more on that), their love song, "My Confession" by Rie Sinclair & Friends, does the same here, moving 29-9. It's one of the three biggest movers of the week, all packed together this week in spots 9, 10 and 11. Robbie Williams' "Last Days of Disco" jumps 19-10, while the Alicia Keys/Beyonce duet "Put It in a Love Song" sprints 22-11.
Only one new song in the Top 40 this week, but it makes for an interesting chart coincidence. Ringo Starr's "Walk With You" enters at No. 40, just a few weeks after a different song with that title by Edwin McCain dropped off the countdown. This song features backing vocals by Paul McCartney, and it marks the first time the two surviving former Beatles have been in the Top 40 on my weekly charts. Starr's solo success occurred in the 1970s prior to the establishment of my surveys; his sole '80s chart hit, 1981's "Wrack My Brain," fell during a period when McCartney wasn't active. But this week, Starr joins both McCartney and their late bandmate's older son, Julian Lennon, in the Top 40. Starr is at No. 40, McCartney at No. 28 with "(I Want to) Come Home" and Lennon at No. 32 with James Scott Cook on "Lucy."
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
Final weekly chart of 2009
Soap operas have spurred on several chart hits, both on the national charts and on my own charts, over the past couple of decades. Probably the best known is "Baby, Come to Me," the Patti Austin/James Ingram duet from 1983 that went to No. 1 in Billboard and on my charts after becoming popular on ABC's "General Hospital."
This week's highest debut comes from another ABC soap, "One Life to Live." "My Confession," by Rie Sinclair & Friends at No. 29, was the background music for a key scene a couple of weeks back between the characters of Oliver Fish and Kyle Lewis (or, as they're known in the soap fan world, "Kish"). It became available this week on iTunes.
It's not the first chart hit linked to "OLTL." Back in 1994, the show released a soundtrack of cover songs and original compositions, and three songs from that CD -- "Teach Me How to Dream" by Chris Walker, "Here We Are, My Friend" by Billy Dean, and "All I Know" by Michael McDonald and Amy Holland -- performed well enough to make the year-end Top 100. Most recently, Mary J. Blige earned a Top 10 hit in spring '08 with "Hurt Again," a track from her "Growing Pains" album that she performed on "OLTL."
Speaking of Ms. Mary ... the most popular artist of this decade on my decade-end top 1000 is back with not one, but two, tracks from her new CD, "Stronger With Each Tear." "I Am" enters at No. 35, while "Each Tear" debuts at No. 37. The concurrent chart action echoes her chart heat with "Growing Pains," when the tracks "Work That" and "Just Fine" moved up at the same time.
This week's highest debut comes from another ABC soap, "One Life to Live." "My Confession," by Rie Sinclair & Friends at No. 29, was the background music for a key scene a couple of weeks back between the characters of Oliver Fish and Kyle Lewis (or, as they're known in the soap fan world, "Kish"). It became available this week on iTunes.
It's not the first chart hit linked to "OLTL." Back in 1994, the show released a soundtrack of cover songs and original compositions, and three songs from that CD -- "Teach Me How to Dream" by Chris Walker, "Here We Are, My Friend" by Billy Dean, and "All I Know" by Michael McDonald and Amy Holland -- performed well enough to make the year-end Top 100. Most recently, Mary J. Blige earned a Top 10 hit in spring '08 with "Hurt Again," a track from her "Growing Pains" album that she performed on "OLTL."
Speaking of Ms. Mary ... the most popular artist of this decade on my decade-end top 1000 is back with not one, but two, tracks from her new CD, "Stronger With Each Tear." "I Am" enters at No. 35, while "Each Tear" debuts at No. 37. The concurrent chart action echoes her chart heat with "Growing Pains," when the tracks "Work That" and "Just Fine" moved up at the same time.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Insights from the top 1,000
‘Wonderful’ decade? Some would argue that the “aughts” were anything but wonderful. But in terms of the charts, the most popular title for hits was indeed “Wonderful,” with four different songs sharing that title: Everclear at No. 226, Gary Go at No. 649, India.Arie at No. 732 and Annie Lennox at No. 934. (Other shared titles in the countdown: “Bad Day,” “Better Days,” “Broken,” “Change,” “Crazy,” “Drive,” “Everyday,” “Feel,” “Here With Me,” “I Believe in Love,” “I’ve Got You,” “Love Song,” “Shine,” “Smile,” “Sober,” “Sunrise,” “The Real Thing,” “Unbreakable,” “What If?” and “With You.”)
There’s something about Mary: The act with the most songs in the top 1,000 (solo or collaborations) is R&B singer Mary J. Blige, with 16; rock legend Bruce Springsteen is second with 15, and R&B singer-songwriter Alicia Keys is third with 14. Among women, the top five are Blige, Keys, Kelly Clarkson (12), a tie between Pink, India.Arie and Macy Gray (11) and Angie Stone (10). Among men, the top five are Springsteen, Tim McGraw (13), Elton John (12), David Gray (10) and a four-way tie between Keith Urban, John Mayer, Luther Vandross and Alan Jackson (8). Train is the decade’s top group or duo with 10 hits in the top 1,000, followed closely by Coldplay (9), a tie between U2 and Maroon 5 (8), Lonestar (7) and a tie between Nickelback, Daughtry, and Brooks and Dunn (6).
Other configurations: Among siblings, the Jacksons (Janet, Michael and Jermaine) beat the Bedingfields (Daniel and Natasha) and the Simpsons (Jessica and Ashlee), with 12 hits – eight from Janet, three from Michael and one from Jermaine – to the Bedingfields’ 8 and the Simpsons’ 4. Lisa-Marie Presley edged out father Elvis, 3-2, while Springsteen handily outranked his wife (and E Street bandmate) Patti Scialfa, 15-1.
Title trivia: The decade’s top musical question was “Why Don’t You and I?” (Santana and Chad Kroeger at No. 10) followed by “Who Knew?” “Do You Like the Way?” “Are You Ready for Love?” and “Did You See Me Coming?” Among days of the week, only Sunday made an appearance, in Amanda Marshall’s “Sunday Morning After” (No. 420). Twice as many “summer” songs as “winter” songs made the decade-end chart, but “Seasons of Love” at No. 74 from the movie version of “Rent” beat them all. Four hits referred to an angel and four hits referenced God, while only one did the opposite – Madonna’s “Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You” (No. 644). Twice as many songs about days as nights (12 to 6), but tonight trumped today 5-1. Of the 71 songs about love, David Gray’s “The One I Love” scored the highest at No. 5 for the decade.
‘Idol’ influence: I still have yet to see a regular episode of Fox’s “American Idol” (though the addition of Ellen DeGeneres might sway me to check out an episode), but the charts still reflect the power of the series on the pop charts. The top artists who made their debut on the series and their number of hits in the decade-end survey are Kelly Clarkson (12), (Chris) Daughtry (6), Jennifer Hudson (4) and a three-way tie between Fantasia, Kimberley Locke and Jordin Sparks with 3 each. Interestingly, only Clarkson, Fantasia and Sparks won their respective seasons.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
The top 100 of 2009
With the chart year complete (mid-December 2008 to mid-December 2009), it's time to rank the year's 100 biggest hits. At the top is Uncle Kracker's "Smile," a song that spent more weeks at No. 1 -- four -- than any other this year. It's by far his biggest hit on my charts. (Had the charts been active when his remake of Dobie Gray's "Drift Away" was popular, that would've come close.)
Long chart runs can propel a song toward the top even if the song spends one week -- or no weeks -- at No. 1. Four of the year's Top 10 are songs that spent one week each at the top but more than 20 weeks on the survey: Darius Rucker's "It Won't Be Like This for Long," Nickelback's "If Today Was Your Last Day," Sister Hazel's "This Kind of Love" and the most recent, Owl City's "Fireflies." (That song is still in the survey, in its 23rd week.) Among the songs that did not hit No. 1, the biggest is No. 29, Carolina Liar's "Show Me What I'm Looking For." An 11-week run in the Top 10, with five weeks at No. 2, gave that song its year-end chart power.
No one artist dominated the charts this year, but several placed two songs in the year-end survey: David Cook, Whitney Houston, Keith Urban, James Morrison, Nelly Furtado, John Legend, Bruce Springsteen, The Fray, Solange, Mariah Carey and India.Arie.
Long chart runs can propel a song toward the top even if the song spends one week -- or no weeks -- at No. 1. Four of the year's Top 10 are songs that spent one week each at the top but more than 20 weeks on the survey: Darius Rucker's "It Won't Be Like This for Long," Nickelback's "If Today Was Your Last Day," Sister Hazel's "This Kind of Love" and the most recent, Owl City's "Fireflies." (That song is still in the survey, in its 23rd week.) Among the songs that did not hit No. 1, the biggest is No. 29, Carolina Liar's "Show Me What I'm Looking For." An 11-week run in the Top 10, with five weeks at No. 2, gave that song its year-end chart power.
No one artist dominated the charts this year, but several placed two songs in the year-end survey: David Cook, Whitney Houston, Keith Urban, James Morrison, Nelly Furtado, John Legend, Bruce Springsteen, The Fray, Solange, Mariah Carey and India.Arie.
Week of Dec. 20
Twenty five years ago this week, Julian Lennon was in the top 10 with his first hit song, "Valotte." He's back this week at No. 40 with "Lucy," a collaboration with singer-songwriter James Scott Cook. This song is a fundraiser for lupus research. From now through March 15, 2010, 100 percent of the proceeds from each download of it from iTunes will be donated to lupus research. Both artists talk of their personal connection to lupus: James’ 92-year-old grandmother, Lucy Cook, has lived with it for years, and Julian’s childhood friend (and reported inspiration for the Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds") Lucy Vodden recently died at age 46 after a long battle with it.
Meanwhile, the other two new songs this week are from Alicia Keys' latest album, "The Element of Freedom." Her official second single, "Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart," enters at No. 39, but it's outpaced by her album track duet with Beyonce, "Put It in a Love Song." The upbeat number, which is similar thematically though not melodically to Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)," is the highest new entry of the week at No. 33.
While most songs between positions 30 and 11 move up the chart modestly (if they move up at all), Raphael Saadiq's "Staying in Love" leapfrogs 22-10. That gives the former Tony! Toni! Tone! frontman his second Top 10 solo hit after "Never Give You Up" from late 2008.
At the top of the charts, look for an interesting chart battle over the next several weeks between three disparate female singers: Norah Jones, Susan Boyle and Lady GaGa. Jones takes the top spot this week with "Chasing Pirates" moving 3-1, but Boyle is fast approaching with "Wild Horses" sprinting 7-2, and GaGa's "Paparazzi" jumps 9-4.
Meanwhile, the other two new songs this week are from Alicia Keys' latest album, "The Element of Freedom." Her official second single, "Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart," enters at No. 39, but it's outpaced by her album track duet with Beyonce, "Put It in a Love Song." The upbeat number, which is similar thematically though not melodically to Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)," is the highest new entry of the week at No. 33.
While most songs between positions 30 and 11 move up the chart modestly (if they move up at all), Raphael Saadiq's "Staying in Love" leapfrogs 22-10. That gives the former Tony! Toni! Tone! frontman his second Top 10 solo hit after "Never Give You Up" from late 2008.
At the top of the charts, look for an interesting chart battle over the next several weeks between three disparate female singers: Norah Jones, Susan Boyle and Lady GaGa. Jones takes the top spot this week with "Chasing Pirates" moving 3-1, but Boyle is fast approaching with "Wild Horses" sprinting 7-2, and GaGa's "Paparazzi" jumps 9-4.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Week of Dec. 13
Lots of work this week on the year-end Top 100 and the decade-end Top 1000. They'll be popping up here within the next few weeks. The year-end Top 100 will be posted here next week. This week's chart (Dec. 13) was the last one for the 2009 chart year, and it made a difference. A song leapt into the year-end Top 10 as a result of this week's survey. Next week, you'll know which one that was.
Meanwhile, this week's chart news belongs to Susan Boyle and Reba McEntire. Boyle looks like she's going to take a third week at the top of Billboard's album charts with her debut release, and she's gunning for the top of my charts with "Wild Horses." This week, she's up another 10, moving 17-7.
McEntire has the week's highest debut with "Consider Me Gone" at No. 36. It's her first chart hit since her duet with Justin Timberlake, "The Only Promise That Remains," a year and a half back, and her first solo hit since 1996.
Also back in the Top 40 is Paul McCartney with "(I Want to) Come Home" at No. 38. It's from the much-panned new Robert DeNiro movie "Everybody's Fine." It's the first McCartney hit to make the 40 since "Ever Present Past" a couple of years back.
Meanwhile, this week's chart news belongs to Susan Boyle and Reba McEntire. Boyle looks like she's going to take a third week at the top of Billboard's album charts with her debut release, and she's gunning for the top of my charts with "Wild Horses." This week, she's up another 10, moving 17-7.
McEntire has the week's highest debut with "Consider Me Gone" at No. 36. It's her first chart hit since her duet with Justin Timberlake, "The Only Promise That Remains," a year and a half back, and her first solo hit since 1996.
Also back in the Top 40 is Paul McCartney with "(I Want to) Come Home" at No. 38. It's from the much-panned new Robert DeNiro movie "Everybody's Fine." It's the first McCartney hit to make the 40 since "Ever Present Past" a couple of years back.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Week of Dec. 6
Catching up after having been away over the weekend. Looks like Michael Jackson's stay turned out to be brief with "This Is It," as it slides 1-2 this week. (Hint to Epic Records: This song would've made a larger dent nationally if it had been commercially available as a single ... Forcing fans to buy an album full of songs they already have to get one new song is the kind of '90s-style greed that prompted lots of folks to illegally download. I wasn't one of them, but I can sympathize with the sentiment. Off the soapbox.)
Norah Jones' "Chasing Pirates" continues to make healthy moves, this week rising 9-5. But the big movers on this week's chart are two other women who couldn't be more different: Lady GaGa and Susan Boyle.
Lady GaGa's "Paparazzi" jumps 29-16. I find her music full of hooks, but some I like (e.g. "Just Dance" and this single) and some drive me nuts ("Poker Face," "LoveGame" and, now, "Bad Romance").
But Susan Boyle's "Wild Horses" has the week's biggest move, shooting from 38 to 17. That kind of chart action usually portends a No. 1 hit. We'll see if that can happen; "I Dreamed a Dream" blasted on to the charts at No. 23 earlier this year but only went to No. 2.
As 2009 is winding down, it'll be time in the next few weeks not only for the top 100 of the year but the top 1,000 of the decade. Look for the top 100 of 2009 before Christmas and the top 1,000 of the decade before New Year's.
Norah Jones' "Chasing Pirates" continues to make healthy moves, this week rising 9-5. But the big movers on this week's chart are two other women who couldn't be more different: Lady GaGa and Susan Boyle.
Lady GaGa's "Paparazzi" jumps 29-16. I find her music full of hooks, but some I like (e.g. "Just Dance" and this single) and some drive me nuts ("Poker Face," "LoveGame" and, now, "Bad Romance").
But Susan Boyle's "Wild Horses" has the week's biggest move, shooting from 38 to 17. That kind of chart action usually portends a No. 1 hit. We'll see if that can happen; "I Dreamed a Dream" blasted on to the charts at No. 23 earlier this year but only went to No. 2.
As 2009 is winding down, it'll be time in the next few weeks not only for the top 100 of the year but the top 1,000 of the decade. Look for the top 100 of 2009 before Christmas and the top 1,000 of the decade before New Year's.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
