August 2008 - Chris Molanphy

Atlanta hip-hop king T.I. vaults 70 places into the No. 1 spot on Billboard‘s Hot 100 this week with “Whatever You Like,” a sing-songy, smudgy Xerox of his classic 2006 hit “What You Know.” With this move, Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. scores his first No. 1 as a lead artist (he was credited two years [...] Read more

Idolator

Once More, With Loathing: Are Labels Moving To Kill The Single Again?

28 August 20082 February 2019

Last Friday, one of the regular commenters on my “100 and Single” column poured cold water all over my prediction that Estelle’s “American Boy” might finally creep into the U.S. Top 10. Noted regular reader ukidol, “Estelle’s song has been removed from iTunes since the start of the week, so she’ll drop sharply in the [...] Read more

Idolator

Who’s A Big Pop Star? Yes, You Are! David Archuleta’s Post-“Idol” Chart Debut

22 August 20082 February 2019

During the two weeks I was vacationing, Billboard reported changes atop all three of its flagship charts–including the blessed end of Katy Perry’s No. 1 reign on the Hot 100, which was displaced by a Rihanna song I like a lot. Even more amazingly, a song that may be the most left-field hit of the [...] Read more

Idolator

Bulls, Bears, And Bullets: 50 Years Of The “Billboard” Hot 100

1 August 20086 August 2019

When this column debuted on Idolator, I briefly referred to the Hot 100, Billboard‘s premier singles chart, as “the Dow Jones of pop.” As quippy as that might have sounded, I wasn’t kidding. Like the Dow Jones Industrial Average — which signifies the health of the U.S. economy for millions of people who understand little [...] Read more