Why Is OMI’s “Cheerleader” No. 1?

Well, America, you certainly are consistent. One year—to the week—after the Hot 100 was topped by the frilly, reggae-based, down-on-one-knee “Rude” by Canadian jammers Magic, Billboard’s flagship pop chart is topped by another border-crossing, reggae-derived tune ending in a popped question. Only this time the act actually hails from Jamaica: Clarendon native Omar Samuel Pasley, [...] Read more

Without the Beatles

The three strange Lennon-McCartney hits that went to No. 1 without Lennon or McCartney—and what they tell us about the secret to recording a smash. Fifty-one years ago this summer—in late June 1964—the No. 1 song on Billboard’s Hot 100 pop chart was a Lennon-McCartney composition. Only it wasn’t by the Beatles, and John Lennon [...] Read more