Here’s a fun trivia question: In terms of Billboard chart history, what do Bob Dylan, Randy Newman, Bruce Springsteen, and Ed Sheeran have in common? I mean besides the fact that these quirky, downcast geeks became unlikely pop stars in the first place. Give up? Here’s the answer: These four troubadours have all scored No. [...] Read more

The pop star is deeply repentant for the grievous offense he caused us. He acknowledges that he behaved badly. If you were offended, he wants to offer you—all of you, the whole nation, really—a heartfelt apology. Here, he’s even captured his plea in melodic form, for posterity, expressing sincere remorse and a pledge to do [...] Read more

In the spring of 1983, as David Bowie’s 15th studio album Let’s Dance began its charmed climb up the charts, the album’s producer, Chic bandleader Nile Rodgers, was receiving regular phone calls from his friend and client. “David might not want me to say this,” Rodgers told Rolling Stone in 1989, for the magazine’s feature [...] Read more

Picture a young pop act selling a rare 10 million copies of an album: “diamond” status in America, a major career pinnacle. This is a remarkable feat, especially considering that the act originally launched in the shadow of another genre-defining artist. Our young act reached the diamond level the old-fashioned, solid-and-steady way: never selling a [...] Read more

A crucial part of being a star is knowing how to make an entrance. Perhaps no one knew this better than golden-age movie stars. They made entrances that pretended to be about the material but were really all about them. Picture Rita Hayworth, flipping her hair and issuing a mock-surprised “Me?” in 1946’s Gilda. Or [...] Read more

Shouldn’t the most talked-about, most-memed song of the week be on top of the hit parade? I mean, what’s a pop chart for? From “Call Me Maybe” to “Harlem Shake” to “Wrecking Ball,” this decade has brought us a raft of No. 1 hits that got to the top thanks to a combination of musical [...] Read more

It’s always a mug’s game to try to predict which songs will wind up atop the Billboard Hot 100, but let me just establish this up-front: I did not see The Weeknd’s “The Hills” coming. In fact, I am on record, here at Slate, on that very point. Six weeks ago, when The Weeknd’s infectious, [...] Read more

Here’s a list of No. 1 hits from the last half-dozen years of Billboard’s Hot 100. What do they have in common? Britney Spears, “3” (October 2009) Eminem, “Not Afraid” (May 2010) Ke$ha, “We R Who We R” (November 2010) Britney Spears, “Hold It Against Me” (January 2011) Lady Gaga, “Born This Way” (February 2011) [...] Read more

A singer steps in front of a glittery curtain on a tiny stage at a seedy nightclub. As he begins to sing, he leans hard into the mic, closing his eyes and throwing down his best Michael Jackson splayed-leg dance moves. The crowd at the club looks on passively—a woman smiles coyly, but the rest [...] Read more