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Idolator

Darius Rucker Leaves Hootie Behind, Shows Kanye The Way To Cross Over

26 September 20082 February 2019
When this column launched one year ago this week, Kanye West was locked in a mortal struggle for the top of Billboard‘s Hot 100, first defeating and then retreating from a smash by Soulja Boy. Twelve months later, the smash holding down the No. 1 spot has changed—this time, it’s from a more seasoned hip-hop [...] Read more
Idolator

Pink And Estelle Have The Last Laugh

19 September 20082 February 2019
In this week of financial horrors, created largely by formerly cocksure men, it’s perhaps apropos that a couple of ladies post the most gloat-worthy performances in the upper reaches of Billboard‘s Hot 100. That starts at the top, where Pink, a nearly decade-long veteran of the chart wars, scores her first solo No. 1 (and [...] Read more
double-albums-montage
Idolator

Toppling ‘The Wall’: The Farce Of Double-Counting In The RIAA’s All-Time Platinum List

17 September 200810 May 2022
Reading the New York Times obituary of Pink Floyd’s Richard Wright yesterday, I came upon a statistic that the newspaper ran unquestioningly that ticked me off, as it always does when I see similar statements in print: Pink Floyd’s 1979 album, “The Wall,” eventually sold 23 million copies in the United States. No, it didn’t, [...] Read more
Idolator

Ruth Vs. Maris, meet “Twist” Vs. “Smooth”: All-Time Hot 100 Pits Old Against New

12 September 20082 February 2019
Baseball is such a rich sport for data geeks, what with every move made by a player having a number attached to it. But the inconsistencies and outright mistakes in the sport’s long history, from the number of games in a season to the exclusion of the Negro Leagues, make the sport even moregeek-friendly–those missteps [...] Read more
Idolator

Strummin’ In The Girls’ Room: Jason Mraz’s Folksy Ditty Climbs The Charts

5 September 20082 February 2019
Last fall and winter, chart fans noted the return to the radio of a style that, until recently, was pretty unfashionable on Billboard‘s Hot 100: pure-pop female singer-songwriters. Strummier and sunnier than their Lilith counterparts in the ’90s and closer in kinship to California’s post-Joni ladies of the ’70s, two gals with hard-to-spell names led [...] Read more

Recent Posts

  • Hip-Hop Has Had a Rough Year. Is This Really Its Great White Hope?
  • The Bridge: Can’t Tell Me Nothin’
  • Hit Parade: Ride ’til I Can’t No More Edition
  • The Bridge: Down at the Rock n’ Roll Club
  • Why Is a 4-Year-Old Taylor Swift Song No. 1?

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