Okay…I’m calmed down a little from last week’s chart craziness.  The world is making a little more sense now.  T.I.’s “Whatever You Like” spends a second week atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart with a bullet.  I can’t make the gripe this week about the song not being heard on the radio, because it’s this week’s Airplay Gainer.  Threats this week to the peak position?  It looks to me that the only significant threat is Pink’s “So What.”  It jumps from #9 to #3 this week with a bullet after selling 136,000 digital downloads.  It looks like last week’s threat, Kardinal Offishall featuring Akon’s “Dangerous,” wasn’t much of a threat at all, because it slips from #5 to #6 and loses its bullet.  M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” rises from #6 to #5 with a bullet, so that might be a threat in a week or two.  Other than that, Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” jumps from #24 to #9 with a bullet, and it is the Sales Gainer this week after selling 112,000 units.  I’ve been a growing fan of Mraz’s quirky songs over the years, so I hope it makes it…but I doubt that it will.  I’d like to see a quirky song top the chart, a la The Barenaked Ladies’ “One Week.”  Finally, in the fight between Kid Rock and The Hit Masters’ versions of Rock’s “All Summer Long”…it looks like Rock is pulling ahead, because his version jumps up two places to #23 with a bullet, while The Hit Masters’ knock-off slides from #19 to #33 and loses its bullet.  Nyah-Nyah!! (more…)

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…)