The world has gone wacky!  Day is night, night is day, and songs that are never heard on the radio make jumps to #1.  Rihanna’s “Disturbia” stayed at #1 for two weeks, but it slips to #2 to make room for the biggest jump to #1 in Billboard history…rapper T.I.’s “Whatever You Like.”  Two weeks ago, it debuted on the Hot 100 chart at #99.  Last week, it went to #71.  This week, it jumped 70 positions to #1 with a bullet to make it the all-time biggest jump, breaking the record previously held by Maroon 5’s “Makes Me Wonder,” which jumped from #64 to #1 in May of 2007.  Part of the reason it made that jump (okay let’s face it…the only reason) is that it had huge first week digital sales of 205,000.  It’s T.I.’s first solo #1 and his second #1 overall, because he was also the featured artist on Justin Timberlake’s hit “My Love” in November of 2006.  “Disturbia” may be at #2, but it still has a bullet, so it could possibly reclaim the top spot next week.  Otherwise, the only other threat to the peak position (assuming that another song doesn’t make a huge jump to #1 based on digital downloads) is Kardinal Offishall featuring Akon’s “Dangerous,” which is currently at #5 with a bullet.  David Archuleta’s “Crush” was obviously not much of a threat, because it has fallen from last week’s position of #2 to #15, and it has lost its bullet.  Finally…to prove that I was right about last’s week rant about digital downloads’ effect on the charts (and that our chart world is backwards)…rip-off band The Hit Masters have risen from #65 to #19 with their cover of Kid Rock’s “All Summer Long,” and it is the Sales Gainer for the week.  Rock’s original version still sits at #25 (but it retains its bullet.)  It’s just sad that an inferior version of a great song should chart higher than the original (Rock has not allowed for digital downloads of individual tracks of his songs, so its place on the chart is based solely on airplay only.  The only way to download the original song is to download Rock’s entire Rock and Roll Jesus album.)  Want further proof that the world is crazy?  Another rip-off band called The Studio All-Stars are taking advantage of Atlantic Records’ decision to remove Estelle (featuring Kanye West)’s original version of her song “American Boy” from iTunes by releasing their own version, which debuts at #85 (the original version, meanwhile, has dropped from #11 to #37.)  Crazy!!! (more…)

MTV’s third week of four 2008 MTV Video Music Awards (airing September 7) nomination announcements revealed the fifth and sixth category nominations last week on their Friday night video show “FNMTV.”  I am going to give you the chart achievements of the nominated songs on the Billboard Hot 100 in the Best New Artist and Best Dancing in a Video categories:

Best New Artist

Miley Cyrus — “7 Things” (#9)
Katy Perry — “I Kissed a Girl” (#1)
Jordin Sparks (featuring Chris Brown) — “No Air” (#3)
Taylor Swift — “Teardrops on My Guitar” (#13)
Tokio Hotel — “Ready, Set, Go!” (never charted in America)

Best Dancing in a Video

Chris Brown — “Forever” (currently #2)
Danity Kane — “Damaged” (#9)
Madonna (featuring Justin Timberlake and Timbaland) — “4 Minutes” (#3)
Ne-Yo — “Closer” (currently #10)
Pussycat Dolls — “When I Grow Up” (currently #9) (more…)

Shawn the Chart Guy here…According to Jim Puzzanghera of the Los Angeles Times, federal judges today tossed out the $550,000 fine levied against CBS Corp. after Janet Jackson’s breast was briefly bared during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, ruling that the Federal Communications Commission “acted arbitrarily and capriciously” in penalizing the network for a “fleeting image of nudity.”  Furthermore, Jackson and Justin Timberlake were considered “independent contractors” and not CBS employees, so the corporation was not liable. (more…)