Best Of Archives - Chris Molanphy

Hit Parade: The Great War Against the Single Edition

29 September 20177 September 2023

The story of how the recording industry made you shell out $18 for one good song in the ’90s. Listen to Hit Parade No. 5 with the audio player below. Ever since the ’60s, the recording industry emphasized the album over the single. By the ’80s, they were milking as many hits as possible from [...] Read more

Best Of Pitchfork

I Know You Got Soul: The Trouble With Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Chart

14 April 201411 February 2019

Billboard's R&B chart once reflected the tastes of the genre's core fans, paving the way for countless legendary artists in the process. But now, slipshod methodology has rendered it a shell of its former self, replete with dubious racial consequences. Here, for your consideration, is a Top 10 list published in Billboard magazine toward the [...] Read more

Best Of NPR Music's The Record

How The Hot 100 Became America’s Hit Barometer

1 August 201311 February 2019

Listen at the audio link to Chris Molanphy and NPR's Audie Cornish talk on All Things Considered about the history of Billboard's Hot 100 chart. Hear that? On the radio? That slick, dreamy crooner dude, singing about how he's going out of his mind over that girl? Well, she's an animal — baby, it's in [...] Read more