Week of August 8

A few weeks back, I reflected about how cool it is that the Internet gives music lovers far more sources for learning about new artists than were available in past decades. I've learned about Janelle Monáe through a friend's Facebook posting, the Zac Brown Band through another's music blog and charting, and Nikki Yanofsky, Larsen B and others through iTunes' "Free Single of the Week" feature.

Well, this week you can add "forgotten artists" to "new artists," as this week's top entry is a 36-year-old recording I learned about through the music blog of disc jockey and music lover Jim Bartlett. His blog, The Hits Just Keep On Comin', regularly introduces me to facets of the industry I've never known, and this week -- in his look at one-hit-wonders that peaked at No. 92 on the Hot 100 -- he introduced me to Lea Roberts. Through his blog, I heard her version of Neil Sedaka's "Laughter in the Rain." Recorded in 1974, the song still sounds fresh today. And it's fresh enough for me to chart it; it's No. 32 this week.

My local radio stations may not where I learn about new music any more, but radio still has its own powers. (My current local radio faves are two new AM stations that focus on country music of the '60s. '70s and early '80s and pop-Top 40 music of the '50s-'80s.) Reba McEntire's latest, "Turn on the Radio" at No. 36, is but the latest of several chart songs to extol the powers of radio; it joins the 20-week-charting "Heard It on the Radio" by The Bird and the Bee in this week's survey. "Heard It..." became the biggest "radio" song on my charts, surpassing such Top 10 hits as Bruce Springsteen's "Radio Nowhere," Everclear's "AM Radio" and Queen's "Radio Ga-Ga."

One sign of how swiftly new music is moving is seeing how many songs in the Top 10 have been on the charts for less than 10 weeks. This week, only two of the Top 10 songs are older than 10 weeks, making for the "newest" Top 10 in all of 2010. Only the former No. 1 song "Free" from the Zac Brown Band and the new No. 1, "Cool My Heels" by Nikki Yanofsky, are in double-digit chart runs. It'll be interesting to see which of the young turks arise victorious in the weeks to come.