Billboard.com

100 & Single: fun., Gotye, Carly Rae Jepsen, And The Era Of The Snowball Smash

If you're a pop fan, I'm going to guess you like at least one of the last three No. 1 songs in America. In many ways, 2012 has been an entertaining year for discriminating chart-watchers, as a slew of left-field singles have made strides on Billboard's Hot 100. I've met people who love fun.'s "We A ... More >>

100 & Single: The R&B/Hip-Hop Factor In The Music Business's Endless Slump

Here are a few recent data points from chart bible Billboard and data provider Nielsen Soundscan as we move into the second half of 2012: • In its midyear music-industry report card, Soundscan reports a return to the dismal album sales climate; year-to-date disc sales are off 3.2% from the sam ... More >>

Dead Sara Is Weathering the Storm

Blazing hard rock might signal a sea change

100 & Single: Answering Questions On Adam Lambert's Historic Chart-Topping Album

I've never been happier to be wrong about something. Two weeks ago, the last line of my column read: "Probably won't happen. But wouldn't it be fun if it did?" The event I didn't think could happen was Adam Lambert scoring a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 album chart with his second disc, Trespas ... More >>

100 & Single: Buy An Adam Lambert Album, Strike A Tiny Blow For Gay Rights

About a year ago, the movie Bridesmaids opened in the U.S. and was the subject of a rather unusual awareness campaign. Female movie fans, largely independently of the film's producers, compelled women to go see the film in its opening weekend and defy common Hollywood wisdom that non-rom-com movies ... More >>

Carly Rae Jepsen: Crush Patrol

The singer infatuates the charts

100 & Single: Gotye And fun. Help Alternative Rock Go Pop Once Again

Consider this six-pack of rock acts: Siouxsie and the Banshees, Big Audio Dynamite, the Psychedelic Furs, U2, R.E.M. and Julian Cope. My dream Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? Not quite—it's a list of the first six artists to go to No. 1 on the chart Billboard launched in the fall of 1988, then call ... More >>

100 & Single: Madonna's Chart Transformation Into A Classic-Rock Act

Whatever you thought of her performance at this year's Super Bowl, Madonna's halftime appearance had the desired effect: It drummed up awareness for her first album in four years, the longest recording gap of her career. When the Billboard 200 album chart is tallied in the middle of this week, Madg ... More >>

100 & Single: fun., Gotye, M83, EDM, And The Beginning Of The Hot 100's Spotify Years

How do you know when you're at the dawn of a new pop era? It's not like someone sends a memo. Sure, occasionally there's a well-timed cultural event that offers a hint—the disastrous Altamont festival in December 1969, which signaled that the flower-power dream was over, or Comiskey Park's Di ... More >>

100 & Single: Of Monkees, Michael, and "Maria"—The History Of The Chart-Dominating, Lifestyle-Accessory Album

Cassandra (Tia Carrere): You've heard it? Wayne (Mike Myers): Exqueeze me? Have I seen this one before? Frampton Comes Alive?! Everybody in the world has Frampton Comes Alive. If you lived in the suburbs you were issued it. It came in the mail with samples of Tide. —Wayne's World 2 (1993) Fo ... More >>

Oddsmaking: Is Bon Iver Or Foster The People Alt-But-Not-Too-Alt Enough To Win At This Year's Grammys?

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences introduced the Best Alternative Music Performance category in 1991 in anticipation of punk breaking later that year (and permanently renamed the award in 2000). Over the past two decades, the changing demographics of the nominees have reflected the ... More >>

100 & Single: Adele's Focus-Grouped Chart-Topper And The Demise Of The "Deep Cut"

Remember the album cut—the track deep on a disc that fans knew best, that only cool radio stations would play? Like so many cherished things from before the iTunes era, it's essentially extinct. My evidence for this bold and seemingly facile statement isn't the steady, well-chronicled disappe ... More >>

Radio Hits One: Beyoncé's Unlikely Pazz & Jop Coup

If the triumph of tUnE-yArDs in this year's Pazz & Jop albums poll was one of the biggest upsets in the poll's history, then the companion singles poll offered one of its most predictable winners to date: Adele's "Rolling In The Deep." Smart money had been on that song taking the prize since it bega ... More >>

Pazz & Jop's Album Results Get Soundscanned

The incredible shrinking album

The Year Ravers and Pop Fans Learned to (File) Share

100 & Single: Can Katy Perry Turn The States' Post-Christmas No. 1 Race Into Something UKrazy?

​Thanks to her husband, Katy Perry considers herself as an honorary Brit. But as the most frequent current inhabitant of the Billboard charts, she must wish we were all anglophiles. If only America had a Christmas No. 1 competition as rabid and media-fueled as Old Blighty's! Katy would have t ... More >>

Lady Gaga, Born Superstar

Rewriting the pop record at Jingle Ball

100 & Single: A Dozen Contenders For Billboard's Year-End Top 10, And Their Fight Against The "Last Christmas Effect"

​Later this week, Billboard is expected to announce its tallies for the biggest hits of 2011. And what a year for music it's been. Remember all those big hits: "Like a G6," "We R Who We R," "Raise Your Glass," "Fuck You!" and "What's My Name?" What's that—you say the songs I just rattle ... More >>

100 & Single: What Billboard's Rule Changes Mean For The Britney, Michael And Gaga Albums You Bought

When you go see a movie at a Saturday half-price matinee, should it count toward that weekend's box office? You paid less than the guy who saw the movie Friday night. Does that mean your viewing shouldn't count? What about if you see an old movie at a revival house: Should that count toward the box ... More >>

100 & Single: You Can Keep Your EGOT; Adele's Going For A 2011 PB&G

​The lady sitting atop both of Billboard's major lists this week has made enough news in 2011 that I'm tempted to rename this column "This Week in Adele." The British thrush is certainly making enough sad news these days, canceling her tour and preparing to undergo much-needed throat surgery. ... More >>

100 & Single: The Erratic Chart Fortunes Of TV-Crowned Idols, From Kelly To Scotty

​Scotty McCreery—winner of the 10th edition of American Idol, and owner of the new No. 1 title on Billboard's album chart, Clear as Day—sets a handful of chart records this week that certainly sound impressive. As Billboard reports, McCreery is the first country act to debut at No ... More >>

100 & Single: The Increase In Hot 100 Rebounders, And The iTunes-Radio Tug Of War

​The first week I remember ever hearing American Top 40 with Casey Kasem on the radio, back in the summer of 1981, the No. 1 spot was a real cliffhanger. As Kasem explained, the week before, Kim Carnes's synth-pop smash "Bette Davis Eyes" had ceded the top spot after about a month, to a song ... More >>

100 & Single: Considering The Album-Chart Class Of 9/11, 10 Years Later

​A king of hip-hop, retaking the penthouse of the album chart with his latest blockbuster. A middle-of-the-road rock band, reviving a turn-of-the-'90s "alternative" sound that's now squarely mainstream. A sexagenarian legend who debuted in the '60s and who still captures Boomers' hearts and ... More >>

100 & Single: Is It Okay For Katy Perry To Bum-Rush Her Way Into The History Books?

​Chart fandom makes strange bedfellows. Six months ago, if you'd asked me what act I'd root for in a head-to-head chart battle between pop princess Katy Perry and electrodance goofballs LMFAO, I'd probably have picked Perry, whose song catalog includes at least one or two gems. Her current hit ... More >>

100 & Single: The Dawning Of The MTV Era And How It Rocket-Fueled The Hot 100

​What was the first rock and roll song? Ask music historians and you'll get a range of '40s and early '50 candidates, from "Good Rockin' Tonight" to "Rocket 88." Ah, but when did the Rock Era begin? That's easier. Everybody knows that Bill Haley and His Comets' rendition of "Rock Around the C ... More >>

100 & Single: How Digital Changed The Charts, From Gwen To GoonRock

Spotify's top tracks (left) and albums on Friday, July 15.​The headline-grabbing music story of the week isn't on the Billboard charts—it's the U.S. debut of Spotify. With the streaming-music service less than 48 hours old here, it's a bit too soon to analyze what songs are getting the m ... More >>

Radio Hits One: The Foo Fighters Foster The Alternative Generation Gap

​ The Foo Fighters' seventh album Wasting Light became the band's first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 upon its release in April, following a mountain of pre-release hype that included some of the best reviews of the band's career, a documentary about the making of the album, and the inevitable pu ... More >>

Lady Gaga's Born This Way Gets The No. 1 Spot It Was Probably Born To Have

​Congratulations to Lady Gaga, whose album Born This Way beat out the projections and moved 1.1 million copies in its first week for the top slot on the Billboard 200 and the best seven-day sales tally since 2005, when 50 Cent's The Massacre moved 1.14 million copies over the span of a week. I ... More >>

100 & Single: Lady Gaga Gets Ready To Join The Million-Weeker Club

​The phrase "the calm before the storm" appears in virtually every chart-related story this week. That's because the latest edition of the Billboard 200, which covers sales from the week ending May 22, is topped by Adele's 21. That album is No. 1 for the ninth and (presumably) final week befor ... More >>

Will An Army Of Beyoncés Save "Run The World (Girls)" From Chart Oblivion?

​Last night's Billboard Music Awards handed out popularity-contest trophies to the likes of Eminem, Justin Bieber, and Katy Perry, all of whom were rewarded for the copious amounts of radio play and sales they racked up in recent months. But the evening's real winner was probably Beyoncé, who ... More >>

Radio Hits One: Shinedown's Marathon Of Rock-Radio Domination

​ One of Billboard's biggest recent chart records was set last week, when Katy Perry marked 52 consecutive weeks in the top 10 of the Hot 100. She became the first artist to stay there for the entire year thanks to four singles from her sophomore album Teenage Dream, all of which peaked at No. ... More >>

100 & Single: Katy Perry And Adele Score Big On The Rebound

​At first glance, the tops of Billboard's two big charts--the Hot 100 (singles) and the Billboard 200 (albums)--look pretty dull this week: returns to No. 1 by two ladies who have dominated since the winter (and, in one case, since last summer). But the interesting story is in the numbers behi ... More >>

Rock-Critic Pop Quiz: How Many of Boyz II Men's Five #1 Singles Can You Name?

​Thanks to new albums by The Weeknd and Frank Ocean, this is totally the month of hipster R&B. You can read our own Sean Fennessey's magnificent think piece on it , or maybe peep The Guardian's informative take on the "cult of Cassie" among chillwaver types, or maybe just follow Eric Harvey ... More >>

Week in Review: Top Train-Wreck Bloggers

Presenting... burger-core. Pic by Puja Patel.​In the week we spent holed up in Sound of the City headquarters preparing Pazz & Jop results, we still found time to report back from shows by former Talking Heads members Tom Tom Club, former Deee-Lite member, Lady Miss Kier, former the Pack membe ... More >>

After Only Three Weeks, Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Is Out of the Top 10--What Happened?

Four weeks ago, Kanye West stood on a Bowery Ballroom stage and, in a far ranging and now thoroughly documented speech, cited "perfect scores across the board" for his album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and made an ill-advised prediction: "To be slated to do 600,000 in the first week--and I ... More >>

Eminem Is Back At #1, But Arcade Fire Still Have the Second Most Popular Record in the Country

Yeah, so their sales got cut in half and they only retained the #2 spot by the grace of one of the slowest release weeks in the entire year--but Arcade Fire are still mostly on top! (On top of the Disney Channel's Camp Rock 2: the Final Jam, but whatever.) The indie band sold 52,000 copies their s ... More >>

Rick Ross Momentarily Thinks He's Eminem, Is Quickly Disabused

Rap fans are now (perhaps overly) familiar with the plastic nature of reality as it appears to Miami rapper Rick Ross. So while Ross spent yesterday afternoon and evening gleefully proclaiming he had his fourth #1 record, it didn't necessarily mean anything but that he wanted it to be his fourth ... More >>

The-Dream Sold 58,000 Copies of Love King

​The-Dream's Love King--by our own Rob Harvilla's estimation, the r&b auteur's "third-straight deliriously triumphant solo album"--debuts at #4 on the Billboard charts this week, selling 58,000 copies of a record that's about a third as good as last year's Love Vs. Money (which, whaddya know, ... More >>

We Live In A Country In Which Godsmack's Oracle Is #1

​Real convincing proof of SOTC chart guru Maura Johnston's twin theorems regarding Billboard success: a), terrible rock bands sell, and sell, and keep selling, for years at a time, and b), what's old is new, and what passes for nostalgia on Billboard charts looks a lot like what was popular on ... More >>

Listening To Rappers Gush Over Sade Will Seriously Never Get Old

Sade media-blitz week is winding down (much to David Letterman's dismay) -- looks like her Soldier of Love, despite its rampant iciness, will top next week's Billboard chart with ease. It's nice to have something/someone we can all agree on. With that in mind. our arch-enemies over at Vulture corr ... More >>

So Was Lil Wayne's Rebirth a Modest Success Or a Total Commercial Failure? Maura Johnston Reads the Charts

"Billboard's 'Tastemakers' chart is the one we should all paying attention to, don't you think?"​This week's Billboard 200 is headed once again by Lady Antebellum, the milquetoast country trio whose second album Need You Now moved 481,000 copies in its debut week, and 209,000 copies in the sal ... More >>

Clip Job: Goldstein Questions the Pop Charts

​Clip Job: an excerpt every day from the Voice archives. January 12, 1967, Vol. XII, No. 13 Pop Eye By Richard Goldstein Conclusive proof of the dubious value of charts in measuring true popularity comes with this year's onslaught of "Hot 100" lists. Billboard magazine ranks the top five ... More >>

It's Official, World: Vampire Weekend's Contra Is America's #1 Record

​Certainly a victory for something or other, one would sort of have to think. Contra sold 120,000 copies on its way to topping the charts, only the 12th time a nominally indie-distributed record has gone #1 since 1991, according to Billboard. (Sorry Ke$ha. Your reign on the top was short like ... More >>

Vampire Weekend May Very Well Have the #1 Album In The Country Next Week

​So says Billboard, who we consider credible on this topic. Maura notes that a January release date surely helps, and just now Ke$ha did the grunt work of knocking off Susan Boyle. But still: Vampire Weekend. #1. In a land beyond the Internet. Haters intent on preventing this had better go buy ... More >>

'David Foster & Friends'

Grizzly Bear Are Top Ten Material: Take That, Montgomery Gentry

The first week sales figures are in for Grizzly Bear, the scrappy, very well-exposed Brooklyn native sons whose Veckatimest seems to be the most all-around well-liked record of the year so far, certain critics at the Times notwithstanding. The band's sold 33,000 copies of their third studio album (n ... More >>

Wait a Minute: Chrisette Michele Outsold Ciara?

Chrisette Michele's weepy, fiery, only occasionally baby-shaking Epiphany debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts, a huge coup for the vaguely retro-minded r&b belter. Her legacy, alas: At 83,000 sold, it's the weakest #1 record in Nielsen SoundScan's nearly two-decade history. She just won the last g ... More >>

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