Slate Archives - Chris Molanphy

Country music is dominating the Billboard charts like never before. I know what’s happening. Pop radio station Z100, in my hometown of New York City, is America’s most listened-to contemporary-hits radio station, with a regular audience “cume” of more than 2 million listeners a week. When I get into a taxi or a Lyft, there’s a [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

Hit Parade: Pour Some Sugar on Me Edition

15 November 202522 January 2026

Pour Some Sugar on Me Edition: Mutt Lange built the sound of arena rock—then ruled the charts for decades. Read more

Hit Parade Slate

The Bridge: Every Little Thing They Did Was Magic

31 October 202516 November 2025

Biographer Geoff Edgers on what powered the Police, rock’s most combustible trio. In this Slate Plus exclusive, host Chris Molanphy sits down with author and music journalist Geoff Edgers to discuss his upcoming book on the Police—their meteoric rise and inevitable implosion. Drawing on lengthy interviews with each member and his own lifelong fandom, Edgers [...] Read more

Slate Why Is This Song No. 1?

Did Taylor Swift Really Have the Biggest Album Debut of All Time? Yes, With an Asterisk, or Two.

24 October 202516 November 2025

America is already moving on from The Life of a Showgirl—with one major exception. A couple of months ago, when we first heard about The Life of a Showgirl, Taylor Swift’s heavily hyped 12th album of new material, on an episode of her fiancé Travis Kelce’s podcast, we were told it contained all “bangers.” This [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

Hit Parade: If You Love Sting, Set Him Free Edition

17 October 202516 November 2025

From the schoolroom to sophisti-pop, Sting’s genre-bending career is packed with hits. Walk into any store or flip on a radio, and you’ll probably hear the Police’s “Every Breath You Take” sooner or later. Thanks to that ubiquity, the swooning, menacing megahit’s songwriter—Sting—is a very wealthy man. Now, his former bandmates, Stewart Copeland [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

The Bridge: You Like My Hit? Gee, Thanks—Just Bought It

26 September 202516 November 2025

A chart-data scholar says No. 1 debuts need an extramusical X-factor. In this Slate Plus exclusive, host Chris Molanphy welcomes fellow chart scholar Chris Dalla Riva, author of the forthcoming Uncharted Territory: What Numbers Tell Us About the Biggest Hit Songs and Ourselves, for a deep dive into his analytical approach to tracking No. 1 [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

Hit Parade: Toppermost of the Poppermost Edition

12 September 202516 November 2025

The odd alchemy that sends a brand-new song to the top of the charts. In the rarefied world of smash pop singles, there are No. 1s—and there are No. 1 debuts. Entering Billboard’s Hot 100 at the top is one of the hardest tricks in music. In fact, it wasn’t possible in the [...] Read more

Slate Why Is This Song No. 1?

America’s New No. 1 Song Is by a Group That Doesn’t Exist

16 August 202516 November 2025

“Golden,” the breakout hit from Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters, is both a throwback and a sign of the changes in how hits are made. In the late summer of 1969, a song debuted on Billboard’s Hot 100 that would emerge as the year’s biggest hit. The final year of the ’60s had already produced some [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

The Bridge: How Ya Like Me Now?

28 July 202510 August 2025

Skip to the content Slate Shop Games Newsletters Sign In Account Account Sign out News & Politics Culture Technology Business Life Advice Podcasts Menu Menu News & Politics Culture Technology Business Life Advice Podcasts Search Light Dark Auto Subscribe Slate Shop Games Newsletters Sign in Account Sign out Account A Delectable Blend of [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

Hit Parade: Here’s The Beef Edition

18 July 202510 August 2025

The Kendrick-Drake feud made it all the way to the Super Bowl, but pop star beefs go back to the earliest days of wax. When Kendrick Lamar took the Super Bowl halftime stage in 2025 and had the stadium chanting along to “Not Like Us,” it was clear: Diss tracks had gone stratospheric. The Kendrick [...] Read more