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…)

Why does America want “Whatever You Like?” T.I.’s song is #1 yet again for a seventh non-consecutive week on the Billboard Hot 100…despite me giving you alternatives like T.I.’s other chart-topper with Rihanna, “Live Your Life” (currently #2 with a bullet, and is the Airplay Gainer for the week), or “Weird Al” Yankovic’s version of the song. Fortunately, it doesn’t have a bullet this week, so it will most likely be taken over by “Life” again next week. If not, then there is one other contender for next week…Beyoncé Knowles’ “If I Were a Boy” from her upcoming album I Am…Sasha Fierce (release date: 11/18/2008.) Thanks to digital downloads, the song jumps from #68 to #3 with a bullet on its third week on the chart. (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…)

So by now you’ve heard “Live Your Life” enough times to get it stuck in your head, right?  Perhaps you’ve even made an attempt to yodel that entertaining sample heard in the intro.  But where did that sample come from?  The answer reveals a true and modern example of the influence of pop culture on pop culture (if that makes any sense.) 

Maybe this will refresh your memory:

Yes, indeed …. it’s the viral video of the fat kid singing the disturbingly catchy “Numa Numa” song.  But just where did that song come from?

(more…)

With two songs at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, you would think rapper T.I. is living the dream But the superstar is about six months away from serving hard time for illegal weapons possession. He spoke with CNN about his upcoming year-long sentence:

The date was October 13, 2007. In four hours, T.I. was scheduled to appear at the BET Hip-Hop Awards in Atlanta. Instead, the hip-hop superstar found himself handcuffed in a downtown parking lot for attempting to buy machine guns and silencers in an undercover sting. He pleaded guilty to illegal weapons possession and was sentenced to seven months of house arrest, 1,500 hours of community service and one year in jail — which he begins serving next March.

Click here to read the rest of this article on CNN.com.

Wow…this is T.I.’s week! He is at #1 again on the Billboard Hot 100…but not for the song “Whatever You Like.” His song, “Live Your Life” featuring Rihanna, makes an amazing leap from #80 to #1, making it the highest leap to #1 in Hot 100 history (”Whatever” slips to #2.) Who held that honor previously? None other than T.I. with “Whatever You Like”… when the song jumped from #71 to #1 six weeks ago. He is also the first artist to replace himself at the top of the chart since Usher did it in July of 2004, when his single “Confessions Part II” replaced his single “Burn” at #1. The honors keep rolling though… the song broke the record for highest first week digital sales ever, shifting 335,000 digital downloads to debut at #1 on the Hot Digital Songs chart, according to Nielsen SoundScan, beating Mariah Carey’s prior digital debut week high-water mark of 286,000 with “Touch My Body.” Rihanna gets some props too, because the song officially makes her the female with the most #1 songs this decade (with five), beating Beyoncé Knowles and Carey. Predictions for next week? I’m almost positive that “Live Your Life” will be #1 for a second week, because it has a bullet and it is the Airplay Gainer for the week. Their are only two possible contenders. Kevin Rudolf featuring Lil Wayne with their song “Let it Rock,” which jumps from #15 to #5 with a bullet and is the Digital Sales Gainer this week, and Christina Aguilera’s “Keeps Gettin’ Better,” which debuts on the chart at #7 (her first time debuting in the top 10) with a bullet based on digital sales of 144,000. M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” run on the chart appears to have finally petered out, because it sinks from #5 to #9 and has lost its bullet. (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…)

As I predicted…all good things came to an end this week. I knew that Pink’s rockin’ response to her ex-husband Carey Hart with her song “So What” would have a short run…because it slips to #2 and loses its bullet. T.I.’s “Whatever You Like” regains its position atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a fourth non-consecutive week with a bullet. The song is the Airplay Gainer again for the second week in a row, and also sold more than 202,000 digital downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan. So the nation prefers a drowsy, lazy, boring song to a fist-pumpin’ rocker? Whatever you like, I guess. Let’s look into next week then. I don’t see the Pink song regaining the top position again, so unless T.I. scores a fifth non-consecutive week at #1 next week, we have two possible interesting contenders. The first one to fight for the top spot is Kanye West with his song “Love Lockdown.” It is the first single to be released off his new album 808s & Heartbreak (release date will be sometime in November.) It sold 213,000 digital downloads in only four full days of release, therefore causing it to debut at #3 on the Hot 100. This is West’s highest debut of his career, and the second highest debut on the Hot 100 of 2008. The song made its world premiere originally at the tail end of this year’s MTV Video Music Awards. The other song that might be a contender is Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” off her sophomore album Fearless. It jumps from #16 to #5 in just its second week on the chart, fueled by digital sales of 159,000. If “Love Story” tops the chart, it will be the first country song to top the Hot 100 since Lonestar did it back in 2000 with their song “Amazed.” One final note…we are back with rip-off acts charting on the Hot 100 covering Kid Rock’s “All Summer Long.” Since Rock still will not allow his original song to be downloaded individually (you can download it, but it will require you to download his whole album, Rock and Roll Jesus), these sound-alike bands are making money by convincing consumers that they are downloading the original. This time the rip-off band is The Rock Heroes, who have sold 63,000 digital downloads and debuted on the chart at #38. I think I will give up on trying to fight this phenomenon…but you will never see me downloading a cheap imitation over the original. (more…)