Quick, what was the top song of 2011, according to Billboard? Go on, think back to where you were three years ago now, and what was pumping out of your radio. Did you say Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”? Good memory—congrats! Or…sorry, you over there—did you say LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem,” featuring Lauren Bennett and [...] Read more

When it comes to winter and popular music, you might as well call it Event Season—the Billboard charts are shaken and stirred almost weekly by a series of major televised happenings. Just as we’re coming down from the momentary high of the Grammys, the Super Bowl comes along and sends a pair of albums by halftime [...] Read more

It’s been an interesting couple of days since the Grammy Awards. Critics and cultural observers have tried to make sense of the crossover-heavy spectacle: assessing why white artists supported by black artists keep winding up on top; dissecting Macklemore’s heartfelt but self-serving apology to Kendrick Lamar; and calling the spectacle everything from sublime to a [...] Read more

It’s been just over two weeks since Americans unwrapped the bounty under the tree, and the Billboard charts have settled into their usual post-holiday funk. But the last couple of weeks on Billboard’s flagship album and singles lists—reflecting sales and airplay from the 12 days after Christmas—are revealing in their own way. I call it [...] Read more

In a 2013 fourth quarter that has seen virtually every leading contender for the Queen of Pop title drop a new album, Beyoncé just trumped everybody, crashing in late last week with an eponymous set that sucked all the oxygen out of the internet. Before the weekend was even over, Billboard had already reported that [...] Read more

If you’re a pop music fan and you’ve been on the internet this week, you’ve probably read some of the chatter surrounding the lackluster debut of Lady Gaga’s third full-length, ARTPOP. Mother Monster debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this week with 258,000 in sales. As Billboard points out in this week’s chart numbers, [...] Read more

Photo by Guy Aroch First-week sales of 140,000 were enough to give Arcade Fire a No. 1 album, as Reflektor takes the penthouse on the Billboard 200 album chart. If you’re a regular chart-watcher, that sales number might look vaguely familiar. That’s because a number in the low six figures with a "1" in front of [...] Read more

Photo (c) Timothy Greenfield-Sanders "Lou Reed's Album Sales Rise 607% Following Death," trumpeted a midweek Billboard headline that got picked up across the media. You had to get to the third paragraph, though, before you were given the sales total: roughly 3,000 Reed albums sold last week. The late Reed’s discs sold only about 1,000 copies the week [...] Read more

The most interesting song on Billboard's Hot 100 right now is one that, in some ways, should have never even been on the chart in the first place. Ylvis’s "The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)", this week's No. 6, was quite literally recorded as a joke. Brotherly comedy duo Bard and Vegard Ylvisaker conceived of [...] Read more