June 2014 - Chris Molanphy

photo by Neal Preston Hey, did you hear that awesome Michael Jackson song that popped into the Top 20 a month ago? It just materialized all the way up at No. 14 on Billboard’s Hot 100 one week in late May, and it was better than anything on the chart that week. Supple, propulsive, impossible [...] Read more

Casey Kasem in 2001 Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

Slate

Why Casey Kasem Was the Nerd Leader of Pop Music Geeks

16 June 20142 February 2019

The first time I can recall hearing Casey Kasem count down the hits on American Top 40 was on a Sunday in June 1981. Just shy of 10 and in the car with my cousins driving to the beach, I asked them to stop flipping the radio when they landed on Kasem, who was just [...] Read more

One of these artists may have recorded your perfect Song of the Summer. From left to right, photos by Dave J. Hogan, Patrick Kovarik, Larry Busacca, Kevin Winter, Kevin Winter again, and Ethan Miller. All photos are Getty Images.

Slate Why Is This Song No. 1?

Find Your Perfect Song of the Summer With This Interactive Quiz

10 June 20142 February 2019

The “Song of the Summer” is an old concept but a fairly new sport. Pop artists since the ’60s have on occasion tried to score a self-conscious summer smash—but the media only began studying the horserace a decade or two ago. We’re barely into June, and already several outlets have offered predictions for 2014. But [...] Read more

Musically speaking, Charli XCX, on the left, is the real standout on the no. 1 hit by Iggy Azalea (right). Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Slate Why Is This Song No. 1?

Why is Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” No. 1?

4 June 20142 February 2019

Three decades ago, in an interview with chart-trivia master Fred Bronson for his Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, Blondie lead singer Debbie Harry said the following about 1981’s “Rapture”—the song with the rap about the man from Mars who’s eatin’ cars, and the first Hot 100 No. 1 song to feature rapping. “It took [...] Read more