As of this week, T.I. is the king of the Billboard Hot 100.  “Live Your Life” (with Rihanna) spends a fourth non-consecutive week at #1 with a bullet…which means that he has spent more weeks at #1 than any other artist in 2008 (”Life,” combined with his other #1, “Whatever You Like,” makes 11 weeks at #1, beating Flo Rida featuring T-Pain’s 10-week stay with their song “Low.”)  I’m predicting one more week for “Life” though next week, because last week’s threats, Kanye West’s “Heartless” and Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold,” both dropped positions.  “Hot N Cold” slipped one position to #4 (but retains its bullet), while “Heartless” drops from #4 to #12 and loses its bullet.  The only threat this week is Beyoncé Knowles’ “If I Were a Boy,” which rises two spots to #3 with a bullet and is the Sales Gainer of the week.  This is possibly because of her performance of the song on MTV’s “Total Finale Live” special last week, which included her other single, “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” which is ironically the Airplay Gainer of the week (it rises from #39 to #28 this week.) (more…)

As I predicted, people want to “Live Your Life” again. The T.I. featuring Rihanna track spends a third non-consecutive week at #1 with a bullet on the Billboard Hot 100, and it remains the Airplay Gainer of the week. I’m making a bold prediction that it will stay at #1 next week. Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold” is still a threat (having moved up one spot to #3), but they are also being threatened by Kanye West’s “Heartless,” which is the Hot Shot Debut for the week at #4 (his third top 10 Hot Shot debut in 2008, following “Swagga Like Us” with Jay-Z and T.I. featuring Lil Wayne, and “Love Lockdown.”) Pink’s “So What” is no longer in play, having dropped from #3 to #6 and having lost its bullet. (more…)

Yay! People want to “Live Your Life” instead of listening to “Whatever You Like.” For the second time this year, T.I.’s “Whatever You Like” has been knocked off the top spot by his other #1 song, “Live Your Life” (with Rihanna.) He is the only artist ever to replace himself twice on the Billboard Hot 100 with the same song. It retains its bullet and remains the Airplay Gainer for a second week in a row. I’ve stated before that I prefer “Life” over “Like,” and I think that it will remain #1 for a third non-consecutive week next week. Its only contenders are…surprisingly…two songs that were on a downward slide last week. Former #1 song “So What” by Pink moves up from #4 to #3 and gains a bullet, while Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold” moves up from #6 to #4 and also gains a bullet after sliding back one place last week. Beyoncé Knowles’ “If I Were a Boy” apparently didn’t do jack, because it slides back from #3 to #5 and loses its bullet. I’ve been seeing the video on VH1 (a.k.a. the only major music channel that still plays some videos) more often, so it might stick around the top 10 for another couple of weeks. (more…)

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…)

You all still like “Whatever You Like,” because T.I.’s boring tune spends a fifth non-consecutive week at #1 and is the Airplay Gainer again for the third week in a row. Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown” is still at #3, but it has lost its bullet, and the hopes of a country song topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart were dashed when Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” fell from #5 to #9 and lost its bullet. At this point, I might as well predict that T.I.’s song will be #1 next week as well, because there really aren’t any strong contenders. Katy Perry’s second top 10 hit “Hot N Cold” rises from #9 to #6 with a bullet, and M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” is still lingering around the top 10, this week rising from #6 to #5 (though the song has already peaked at #4 so far.) If “Whatever You Like” spends two more weeks at #1, it will eclipse Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” to be the second longest running song of 2008 (the longest running song is “Low” by Flo Rida featuring T-Pain at 10 weeks.) (more…)

I guess that T.I. is “Whatever You Like,” because his song is #1 for a third week with a bullet. It has sold 145,000 copies in the United States this week, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and it is the Greatest Airplay Gainer for the week as well. To be honest with you…the song is a little boring. I certainly hope that Pink’s “So What” takes the top spot next week. Last week it became her highest charting song to date at #3 (beating her former peaks of 2000’s “Most Girls” and 2002’s “Get the Party Started”…both of which peaked at #4), but this week, it is at #2 with a bullet. It is also the Greatest Digital Gainer after selling 197,000 downloads. Other possible contenders to take T.I.’s crown many, as the top nine songs all have bullets. Pink is a big one, but another one is “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz, who moves from #9 to #6. Last week I said that he probably won’t make it to #1 because the song is too quirky, but I have been surprised before. I originally thought that Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” wouldn’t make it…but it went on to top the chart for seven weeks. The last big threat may be from Flo Rida featuring will.i.am’s “In the Ayer,” which jumps from #21 to #9. I have been hearing the song everywhere, from radio airplay to a featured appearance in an episode of the CW’s “One Tree Hill.” I don’t think that it will take the top spot next week, but it might in two weeks. I hope that it does, because it is a fun little dance song that I could see all the high school kids requesting that it be played at their homecoming dances this fall (I should know…I am a part-time mobile DJ on the weekends when I’m not being The Chart Guy.) One possible last contender is the charity single “Just Stand Up!” by Artists Stand Up to Cancer, featuring an all-star group of pop/R&B/rock performers, including Beyoncé Knowles, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Fergie, Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge, Natasha Bedingfield, Miley Cyrus, Leona Lewis, Carrie Underwood, Keyshia Cole, LeAnn Rimes, Ashanti, and Ciara. Last week it debuted at #78, and this week it rockets to #11. Could it be the next “We are the World” by USA for Africa? (more…)