If, like me, you’ve been putting together your annual summer playlist to pump at block parties and barbecues, you may have found yourself with a historically odd problem: a relative dearth of hits this year by dudes. After you’ve rounded… Read more

Imagine if People named an actor “Sexiest [Gender] Alive” months before he or she had released a hit movie or TV show. It’s not unthinkable, certainly—think back to the ’90s and the Julia Ormonds and Skeet Ulrichs who scored Next… Read more

The phrase “the calm before the storm” appears in virtually every chart-related story this week. That’s because the latest edition of the Billboard 200, which covers sales from the week ending May 22, is topped by Adele’s 21. That album… Read more

The music business spikes the football over its gradually improving sales the same week a certain U.K. chanteuse completes her conquering of the U.S. pop charts. Coincidence? Maybe not. The omnipresent Adele takes control of Billboard‘s Hot 100 this week; “Rolling in the Deep” finally evicts Katy Perry and Kanye West’s five-week chart-topper “E.T.” from the [...] Read more

At first glance, the tops of Billboard‘s two big charts–the Hot 100 (singles) and the Billboard 200 (albums)–look pretty dull this week: returns to No. 1 by two ladies who have dominated since the winter (and, in one case, since last summer). But the interesting story is in the numbers behind the chart positions. On the [...] Read more