December 2017 - Chris Molanphy

Clockwise from top left: Camila Cabello, J Balvin, Luis Fonsi, and Daddy Yankee. Chris McKay/WireImage; Lester Cohen/Getty Images for LARAS; Sergei Bobylev/TASS via Getty Images; Johnny Nunez/WireImage

The Music Club, 2018

28 December 201720 February 2019

Entry 12: This year’s Latin pop boomlet might not last—but white pop stars probably aren’t about to take back the charts either. Happy holidays, my Molly Percocets: As I’ve been reading your entries in this year’s Music Club, I am struck that you all seem to have had the same sort of year I’ve had, [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

Hit Parade: The Silver Medalists Edition

28 December 20174 January 2019

On the Billboard Hot 100, two is often the loneliest number. Listen to Episode 8 of Slate’s Hit Parade: On the Billboard Hot 100, two can be the loneliest number. While having a No. 1 song can define an artist’s career, there’s much less glory in finishing one spot shy of the top slot. Yet [...] Read more

Slate Why Is This Song No. 1?

Why Beyoncé Needed Ed Sheeran to Score Her First No. 1 Hit in Nine Years

15 December 20174 January 2019

If living well is the best revenge, perhaps charting well is the best Grammy clap-back? For Ed Sheeran, our premier polymath pop troubadour, this holiday season really has been the ultimate in bad news–good news whiplash. Within the space of two weeks, Sheeran was shut out of every top Grammy category—by a Recording Academy that [...] Read more