Well…as I predicted…Britney Spears is a “Womanizer” no longer. I also suspected that one of the two previous #1 T.I. songs would knock her out of the top slot on the Billboard Hot 100 to reclaim the position again. I was wrong though on which T.I. song would do it. I thought America would rather “Live Your Life,” but they still prefer “Whatever You Like.” Yes…T.I.’s first solo #1 climbs back up one position to be #1 with a bullet for a sixth non-consecutive week, making it the first song to climb to #1 three times since Leona Lewis did it earlier this year with her song “Bleeding Love.” Before that, the last song to climb back to #1 for a third time was Chic with the song “Le Freak” in 1978 (it first hit #1 on the week ending December 9, 1978. After one week, it fell to #2, knocked out by the Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond duet “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” [itself being a song “Le Freak” knocked out of the #1 spot the previous week], and returned to the top position on December 23, 1978. After two additional weeks at #1, it again fell to #2, this time replaced by “Too Much Heaven” by the Bee Gees, and then reclaimed #1 on January 20, 1979, where it remained for three additional weeks.) T.I.’s “Live Your Life” is up one spot to #2 with a bullet and is the Airplay Gainer for the week, so maybe he will replace himself again next week. Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold” is #5 with a bullet for a second week, but I don’t see it as a threat. Taylor Swift has the Hot Shot Debut of the week with the song “Fearless” at #9 with a bullet, but if it goes the way of her last song, “Love Story,” I’m guessing that we still won’t see another country song top the Hot 100 anytime soon. (more…)

After almost a decade, Britney Spears finally tops the Billboard Hot 100 for the second time with the song “Womanizer” off her forthcoming sixth studio album, Circus. Spears’ first #1 single on the Hot 100 was her debut song, “…Baby One More Time,” back in 1999. Her first-week download sales of the song were 286,000, the biggest opening-week tally by a female artist since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking digital downloads in 2003, topping Mariah Carey’s take for “Touch My Body” by just over 200 units. In addition, the song made a record-breaking jump from #96 to #1 on the Hot 100, breaking the record set by T.I.’s “Live Your Life” (featuring Rihanna), which jumped from #80 to #1 last week. “Live Your Life” has dropped to #3, but it is the Airplay Gainer, and it retains its bullet. T.I.’s other song, “Whatever You Like,” stays in the #2 position with a bullet, and is the Sales Gainer for the week. Despite the song also having a bullet, either T.I. song could easily knock “Womanizer” out of the top spot next week (I think that it will be “Live Your Life.”) Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold” inches up one spot to #5 with a bullet, but I don’t think that it is a threat to Britney or T.I. next week. (more…)

Since I’ve been blogging about the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards for weeks, I thought I would give you my impressions of the show.  The host, British comedian Russell Brand (the new boyfriend in this year’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall), wasn’t very funny in my opinion.  He starts off with stumping for Barack Obama and bagging on Bush.  I’m not on anyone’s side politically, but I don’t know why a comedian who can’t even vote in this country has any say at all.  He then goes on to make fun of tween dreamboat rock act The Jonas Brothers mercilessly.  He joked about their purity rings, which they each wear vowing not to have sex before marriage.  I could maybe understand him poking fun of them once…but those poor boys were picked on for most of the show!  After fellow purity ring wearer Jordin Sparks responded that “not every guy and girl wants to be a slut, OK?,” Brand sort of apologized, but he made one last jab by saying, “Promise rings, I’m well up for it. [But] a bit of sex, it never hurt anybody.”  I’m no prude or all that religious, but if the Brothers Jonas made a decision to abstain, it shouldn’t be ridiculed so heavily.  This is the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, so I wouldn’t deny Brand his right to free speech, but I think that he could have spread the snark around a little to other celebrities instead of ganging up on the J-Bros. (more…)