Comments on: Chartwalker: Why Billboard Geeks Remain Fond of Michael Jackson

By: DocStrange

DocStrange — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 04:10:46 +0000

@hansonfan: And how is this connected to anything?

By: hansonfan

hansonfan — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:44:38 +0000

Zac Hanson was however, the youngest to ever recieve a Grammy nomination.

By: DocStrange

DocStrange — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:21:23 +0000

@2ironic4u: "You Are Not Alone" is on both versions of the album (the US and the Europe/Canada versions). The oddest inclusion is the tepid "Invincible" album track "Break of Dawn" which was never released as a single and something better could've gone in its place.

By: DocStrange

DocStrange — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:18:48 +0000

@2ironic4u: it also includes the song "Thriller". Very few people (aside from chart geeks like Chris and myself) remember that while a megahit, "Thriller" only got as high as #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #10 on the UK singles chart. The only place in the world where it hit #1 were France and Belguim, which technically make it eligible due to the comp's "#1 anywhere in the world" rule thing, but still.

By: DocStrange

DocStrange — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:16:08 +0000

@Chris Molanphy: I love Silversun Pickups and are very happy for them that they got their first #1 hit on the Modern Rock/Alternative chart.

By: 2ironic4u

2ironic4u — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:20:11 +0000

You know what was strange about that “Number Ones” comp? It didn’t even follow its own rules. “You Are Not Alone” was excluded from that compilation as well as “The Girl Is Mine.”

By: Chris Molanphy

Chris Molanphy — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:16:53 +0000

A few things I was going to cover this week before Everything Changed:

Drake: Both new songs in the Top 10 are by him (Young Money is a supergroup consisting of Drake plus Lil Wayne), and they both reappear after a mixup at iTunes was resolved. The sham label that was releasing Drake’s music until two weeks ago was ordered to cease and desist, and the Young Money-approved hiphopsince1978 label reissued the tracks. The return of sales to the two songs’ chart points fuel their resurgence. Between this and Drake’s fast rise to No. 1 on the R&B chart, when the story of New Pop Stars of 2009 is written, it’s gonna be all about Lady GaGa and him.

Silversun Pickups: They interrupted Linkin Park’s hold of the Alternative No. 1 slot last week and, as predicted by my commenters two weeks ago, scored one of the few independent-label chart-toppers in the list’s 20-year history. (The first was the Epitaph-distributed “Come Out and Play” by Offspring in ’94.)

Franz Ferdinand: They now have one Top 10 Alternative hit from each of their three albums, as “No You Girls” completes a slow (16 weeks!) rise into the winners’ circle. If “Girls” moves past No. 9 it’ll be their second-biggest hit of all time, all by itself; as it is, it’s tied with the peak of 2005′s “Do You Want To.”

By: DocStrange

DocStrange — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:41:11 +0000

Now, unlike the US charts, the UK charts allow recurrent in their singles and album charts. I suspect that – even this late in the week – the charts there will have several MJ songs in there, and more next week. It was inevitable that sometime this year, a few Jackson oldies would appear on the Top 40 after the now never-to-happen concerts, but his death will absolutely have more of an impact on the increase of sales on his back catalog than those concerts ever would. I often write about the UK Singles Charts on my blog and I won’t be surprised if Sunday Afternoon, the chart updates with a clutch of Jackson songs somewhere in the Top 75, if not the Top 40 or Top 20.