Only one debut this week, but it has an interesting back story. "Wake Up, Everybody" was originally a No. 1 R&B and Top 20 pop hit nationally for Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes in 1976. More recently, the song was covered by John Legend & The Roots, along with Common and Melanie Fiona. That version hit No. 33 back in September. A few weeks ago, I saw the documentary "Waiting for Superman," which features the Legend version over the closing credits. It reminded me not only how much I like the song, but also how underwhelming I thought the remake was. As much as I like John Legend, his smooth sounds didn't fit the urgency of the lyrics the way Teddy Pendergrass' gritty vocals did. So this week, the original "Wake Up" storms back onto the survey at No. 34, one notch lower than the peak of the remake. We'll see where it goes from here.
Elsewhere, Nelly notches a No. 1 hit with "Just a Dream" moving 6-1. Other hits making a splash this week include Seal's "Weight of My Mistakes" (35-26), Darius Rucker's "This" (36-27) and Bruno Mars' "Just the Way You Are" (27-16, the week's biggest mover).
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Week of October 24
This week is a big week of chart movement, with five new songs in the Top 40 and five new songs in the Top 10.
Of the new entries to the Top 10, Nelly places highest with "Just a Dream" moving 12-6. The St. Louis native most recently appeared on the chart with Janet Jackson on "Call on Me" (No. 17, 2006), but his two biggest hits fell during the period when my weekly charts were on hiatus. Both "My Place" featuring Jaheim and "Over and Over" featuring Tim McGraw were hits in 2004; though I didn't post weekly charts at the time, I did create year-end surveys, and both songs placed in the year-end top 15. "My Place" was No. 11, while "Over and Over" was the year's top song.
The country crossover ratio in the Top 10 continues at the same pace as last week as new Top 10 crossovers from Reba McEntire ("Turn on the Radio," 13-9) and Trace Adkins ("Between the Rainbows and the Rain," 14-10) replace descending hits from Darius Rucker and the team of the Zac Brown Band and Alan Jackson.
By moving 16-8 with their take on the George Harrison composition "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," Yo-Yo Ma notches his first Top 10 hit, India.Arie her sixth, and Santana his/their seventh (that total includes credits for the group and for leader Carlos Santana). One of those was the No. 1 collaboration "Do You Like the Way?" in 2000, which also featured the artist who moves 15-7 with "Forget You," Cee-Lo Green.
Five debuts this week feature artists familiar to the survey: Shakira, Seal and Darius Rucker as well as the duo of Elton John and Leon Russell and former Barenaked Ladies singer Steven Page. "Never Too Old (to Hold Somebody)" at No. 39 comes from the new CD "The Union," the first album collaboration between the veteran musicians who had commercial peaks in 1975 -- Russell with the Top 20 hit "Lady Blue," and John with No. 1 hits in "Philadelphia Freedom," "Island Girl" and "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" as well as a Top 5 hit in "Someone Saved My Life Tonight." Page, meanwhile, has his first solo Top 40 hit, coming only a couple of month after BNL had their first non-Page No. 1 song, "Summertime."
Of the new entries to the Top 10, Nelly places highest with "Just a Dream" moving 12-6. The St. Louis native most recently appeared on the chart with Janet Jackson on "Call on Me" (No. 17, 2006), but his two biggest hits fell during the period when my weekly charts were on hiatus. Both "My Place" featuring Jaheim and "Over and Over" featuring Tim McGraw were hits in 2004; though I didn't post weekly charts at the time, I did create year-end surveys, and both songs placed in the year-end top 15. "My Place" was No. 11, while "Over and Over" was the year's top song.
The country crossover ratio in the Top 10 continues at the same pace as last week as new Top 10 crossovers from Reba McEntire ("Turn on the Radio," 13-9) and Trace Adkins ("Between the Rainbows and the Rain," 14-10) replace descending hits from Darius Rucker and the team of the Zac Brown Band and Alan Jackson.
By moving 16-8 with their take on the George Harrison composition "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," Yo-Yo Ma notches his first Top 10 hit, India.Arie her sixth, and Santana his/their seventh (that total includes credits for the group and for leader Carlos Santana). One of those was the No. 1 collaboration "Do You Like the Way?" in 2000, which also featured the artist who moves 15-7 with "Forget You," Cee-Lo Green.
Five debuts this week feature artists familiar to the survey: Shakira, Seal and Darius Rucker as well as the duo of Elton John and Leon Russell and former Barenaked Ladies singer Steven Page. "Never Too Old (to Hold Somebody)" at No. 39 comes from the new CD "The Union," the first album collaboration between the veteran musicians who had commercial peaks in 1975 -- Russell with the Top 20 hit "Lady Blue," and John with No. 1 hits in "Philadelphia Freedom," "Island Girl" and "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" as well as a Top 5 hit in "Someone Saved My Life Tonight." Page, meanwhile, has his first solo Top 40 hit, coming only a couple of month after BNL had their first non-Page No. 1 song, "Summertime."
Friday, October 15, 2010
Week of October 17
Not much movement at the top of the chart -- the only big mover in the top 20 is Brendan James' "The Lucky Ones" (26-20) -- so we'll concentrate on the songs in the lower portion of the chart this week.
Four debut songs are topped by Bruno Mars' first hit on my charts. "Just the Way You Are" enters at No. 35. The song is already the No. 1 hit on Billboard's Hot 100, where Mars has had success in collaborations with other artists this year. Another act doing well on the Hot 100 is the group the Far East Movement, right behind Mars with "Like a G6" at No. 2. On my charts, the group's collaboration with singer Keri Hilson, "Don't Look Now," enters at No. 40.
Rihanna, who just slipped out of the countdown two weeks ago with her collaboration with Eminem, "Love the Way You Lie," is back with a solo hit. "Only Girl (in the World)" debuts at No. 38. It's her fourth chart appearance this year; besides the Eminem duet, she's hit with "Russian Roulette" (No. 14 in January) and "Redemption Song (for Haiti Relief)" (No. 11 in April).
The last of the new songs this week is "What Do You Got?" at No. 39. It's Bon Jovi's follow-up to the Top 20 "Superman Tonight." The group's appearances on my chart go back to 1986, when "You Give Love a Bad Name" hit No. 11. I remember seeing the band open for .38 Special in 1986 and reviewing the show as "the stuff of which homeroom conversations are made." They've come a long way since then ...
Four debut songs are topped by Bruno Mars' first hit on my charts. "Just the Way You Are" enters at No. 35. The song is already the No. 1 hit on Billboard's Hot 100, where Mars has had success in collaborations with other artists this year. Another act doing well on the Hot 100 is the group the Far East Movement, right behind Mars with "Like a G6" at No. 2. On my charts, the group's collaboration with singer Keri Hilson, "Don't Look Now," enters at No. 40.
Rihanna, who just slipped out of the countdown two weeks ago with her collaboration with Eminem, "Love the Way You Lie," is back with a solo hit. "Only Girl (in the World)" debuts at No. 38. It's her fourth chart appearance this year; besides the Eminem duet, she's hit with "Russian Roulette" (No. 14 in January) and "Redemption Song (for Haiti Relief)" (No. 11 in April).
The last of the new songs this week is "What Do You Got?" at No. 39. It's Bon Jovi's follow-up to the Top 20 "Superman Tonight." The group's appearances on my chart go back to 1986, when "You Give Love a Bad Name" hit No. 11. I remember seeing the band open for .38 Special in 1986 and reviewing the show as "the stuff of which homeroom conversations are made." They've come a long way since then ...
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Week of October 10
Three debuts this week, capped by the chart return of the late John Lennon. The slain singer-songwriter would have turned 70 this year, and to mark his birthday, his solo catalog is being re-released in remastered and reworked versions. From the "stripped down" version of his 1980 CD "Double Fantasy" comes the 2010 remix of "Watching the Wheels" at No. 34. The studio single version hit No. 8 in 1981. Lennon's last solo appearance was in 1984 when "Nobody Told Me" also hit No. 8; with The Beatles, he most recently appeared in 2007 when three of the group's compositions -- "Drive My Car," "The Word" and "What You're Doing" -- were remixed into a medley for the Cirque du Soleil show "Love." That medley hit No. 13.
At No. 37 with "Shame" are two former members of another successful British export, though not nearly as popular as the Fab Four. Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow both got their start in Take That, a vocal group that only had one U.S. hit -- "Back for Good," which hit No. 2 in 1995-96. Since then, neither artist has had massive success in the U.S., although both have done well in the U.K. Barlow made minor waves with "So Help Me Girl" in 1997; Williams has been more successful with dance and pop fans, with his biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit being the 2000 ballad "Angels." On my charts, he's done considerably better; "Angels" is but one of three No. 1 songs. The most recent came earlier this year -- "The Last Days of Disco."
Another collaboration produces the debut at No. 40. "Picture Window (Pop Version)" is from singer-songwriter and pianist Ben Folds, working with author and screenwriter Nick Hornby ("High Fidelity"). Hornby wrote the lyrics and Folds wrote the music for 11 tracks on the new collection "Lonely Avenue." "Picture Window" marks Folds' first time in the top 40 since his team-up with Regina Spektor on "You Don't Know Me" hit No. 6 in early 2009.
Elsewhere: MercyMe hits No. 1 with "Back to You," the group's first official charttopper (the breakthrough hit "I Can Only Imagine" was released in 2003 during my chart's hiatus). ... David Gray is trying for his seventh No. 1 as "A Moment Changes Everything" moves 6-2 ... One-third of the top 15 songs this week are country crossovers, with Trace Adkins, Reba McEntire, Darius Rucker and Lady Antebellum joining the former No. 1 hit from the Zac Brown Band featuring Alan Jackson.
At No. 37 with "Shame" are two former members of another successful British export, though not nearly as popular as the Fab Four. Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow both got their start in Take That, a vocal group that only had one U.S. hit -- "Back for Good," which hit No. 2 in 1995-96. Since then, neither artist has had massive success in the U.S., although both have done well in the U.K. Barlow made minor waves with "So Help Me Girl" in 1997; Williams has been more successful with dance and pop fans, with his biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit being the 2000 ballad "Angels." On my charts, he's done considerably better; "Angels" is but one of three No. 1 songs. The most recent came earlier this year -- "The Last Days of Disco."
Another collaboration produces the debut at No. 40. "Picture Window (Pop Version)" is from singer-songwriter and pianist Ben Folds, working with author and screenwriter Nick Hornby ("High Fidelity"). Hornby wrote the lyrics and Folds wrote the music for 11 tracks on the new collection "Lonely Avenue." "Picture Window" marks Folds' first time in the top 40 since his team-up with Regina Spektor on "You Don't Know Me" hit No. 6 in early 2009.
Elsewhere: MercyMe hits No. 1 with "Back to You," the group's first official charttopper (the breakthrough hit "I Can Only Imagine" was released in 2003 during my chart's hiatus). ... David Gray is trying for his seventh No. 1 as "A Moment Changes Everything" moves 6-2 ... One-third of the top 15 songs this week are country crossovers, with Trace Adkins, Reba McEntire, Darius Rucker and Lady Antebellum joining the former No. 1 hit from the Zac Brown Band featuring Alan Jackson.
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