So momentous was the news of Mariah Carey's triumph on the Hot 100 with "Touch My Body" that Billboard leaked it on Wednesday, a day early. Chart freaks talk about acts beating small records all the time. But it's not every day that someone beats a mark on the all-time list that involves something as iconic as career No. 1 hits. And it's even rarer when that record is four decades old and involves the King of Rock & Roll.

And hey, Elvis was only ranked second on the list for total No. 1 hits. (He was, until this week, first place among solo acts.) Even sadder for Presley fans, this same week, another lady bests a record he had all to himself—this time, for most Top 10 hits. As "4 Minutes" makes a 65-point leap to No. 3, Madonna pulls out of a tie with the King, leaving him all shook up with 17 No. 1's and 36 Top 10s, to Carey's 18 chart-toppers and Madge's 37 smashes.

There's no joy in Graceland today. And if you're near Abbey Road right now, don't be surprised if folks there look a bit twitchy, too.

As Carey's "Touch My Body" rises to No. 1, Billboard is already speculating that she will at least tie the Beatles' all-time record of 20 No. 1 hits before Island Def Jam is even done with her new album.

Two more chart-toppers off E=MC²? It's fair to discuss, but as mighty as she looks this week, Carey's not the unwavering hit machine she was a decade ago. Whether she beats the Fabs before 2008 is over will depend on a lot of variables.

As recently as two albums ago, Beatle geeks like me had all but written off this possibility, so deep was Carey's early-millennium slump. As of 2000, she had stalled at 15 No. 1's. Then Glitter, um, happened in 2001; and even after IDJ picked up her mangled career a year later, they couldn't seem to rid her of the stink of failure. 2002's Charmbracelet produced no Top 40 hits, let alone No. 1's.

But 2005's massive, summer-dominating "We Belong Together" changed all that. And by early '06 she'd tied Presley with a 17th No. 1, "Don't Forget About Us." (Carey could have beaten the King right then and there, if the song that came between those two hits, fall 2005's "Shake It Off," hadn't been bested by Kanye West's "Gold Digger," which shot to No. 1 the week she was supposed to and held her back at No. 2.)

You can review the complete list of Carey's No. 1 hits, broken down by album, thanks to this very helpful Idolator commenter. As you see, on each album, when Mariah's on a roll, her chart-toppers seem to multiply. Not counting the forthcoming album, only two of Carey's discs have produced a lone No. 1 hit; she usually gets two or more, or none at all. (It could even be argued that the two CDs with a sole chart-topper were aberrations. Her 1991 sophomore album Emotions was clearly released too soon after the first one, a tactical mistake; and 1992's MTV Unplugged was a live EP, impressive for producing any hits at all.)

Still, the other pattern that emerges is that Carey is long, long past the days when three No. 1s per album were de rigeur. Butterfly (1997), Rainbow (1999), and The Emancipation of Mimi (2005) each produced only two. And that last one is a cheat: IDJ reissued Emancipation in late 2005 with "Don't Forget About Us" added to it. If they're going to pull three No 1's from the new album, they're going to have to get even luckier than they did in 2005, which was very lucky indeed.

If it seems like the Pop-Industrial Complex is impatient for Carey to take the all-time record this year, it's probably a bit of longing for the days when the industry spun hits—even forgettable hits, like "Thank God I Found You"—and broke records regularly. Also, and it's rude of me to bring this up, this will likely be the last studio album Carey releases before she turns 40 in March 2010, and not even L.A. Reid knows how marketable she'll be in early middle age.

Then again, her fellow Elvis-beater on the charts this week is months away from the half-century mark. So if, like me, you're futilely hoping Carey doesn't ever beat the Beatles, let's at least not be spiteful enough to wish the curse of ageism on her.

Here's a rundown of the rest of this week's charts:

• About that 49-year-old Elvis-beater: "4 Minutes" is not just Madonna's first Top 10 since "Hung Up" in 2005, it's her biggest hit since "Music" went to No. 1 in the fall of 2000. Apparently, 2000 wasn't just a start-of-slump year for Carey, because Madge has been stalled at 12 career No. 1's ever since, tying her in fifth place on the all-time list with the Supremes. If she and new bump-n-grind pal Justin Timberlake can claw their way to No. 1, she'll move up to fourth, tying Michael Jackson with 13 chart-toppers. But I wouldn't count on that happening anytime soon: airplay for "4 Minutes" is growing strongly but is a fraction of what "Touch My Body" or Usher's "Love in This Club" are receiving.

• Last week's No. 1, Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love," takes a pretty sizable hit, falling to No. 4. Clearly her Oprah-fueled sales are starting to tail off—digital downloads are down 17% this week—and her airplay still has to catch up. She'll probably have a bit of a comeback in a couple of weeks, after the album drops and gives the single a pop on iTunes. It's notable that the song she ousted from No. 1 last week, Usher's, holds at No. 2 thanks to his strong airplay, while she drops past him. As we say here all the time: sales give you a big hit, but you need airplay to hold onto it.

• Actually, Usher has a pretty good week in general—not only does "Love in This Club" hold at No. 2 on the pop chart amidst the Mariah/Madonna onslaught, it also ascends to No. 1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart, ousting seven-week ruler Keyshia Cole's "I Remember."

• This week's song-booster from the world of TV isn't Oprah, it's the Donald. After taking second prize on Trump's Celebrity Apprentice, Trace Adkins has a big week in both sales and airplay. "You're Gonna Miss This" blasts to No. 12 from No. 40 on the Hot 100, fueled by more than 72,000 downloads; and on the all-airplay Hot Country list, which is unaffected by iTunes sales, Adkins ousts Alan Jackson from No. 1.

• Songs boosted on iTunes thanks to performances on American Idol's "Year You Were Born" week: "Billie Jean," both the original by Michael Jackson (up 24% to 12,800 copies) and the David Cook-bitten cover by Chris Cornell (14,900 copies, its first time on the list); "Alone" by Heart; and "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler (each up nearly 250%, to about 8,000 copies each). We're pretty sure that the obscure, cruise-ship-quality David Foster tune sung by David Archuleta is out of print; otherwise, God only knows how many doting grandmas would've downloaded it...

• The top debut on the Hot 100, based entirely on iTunes downloads, is Fall Out Boy's cover of Michael Jackson's "Beat It," which features everyone's favorite we-like-you-but-not-your-schlocky-music guest star, John Mayer, on guitar. Debuting on iTunes just ahead of the band's wittily-titled live album ****: Live in Phoenix, the track sold 88,000 downloads in its first week. Expect it to drop back next week, now that the initial wave of FOB fans have purchased it—but the forthcoming release of a music video might fuel a comeback in a few weeks, once the TRL set starts voting for it in droves. Then we'll have to see if it can eventually outdistance the No. 12 peak of the all-time greatest version of "Beat It."

Top 10s
Last week's position and total weeks charted in parentheses:

Hot 100
1. Mariah Carey, "Touch My Body" (LW No. 15, 7 weeks)
2. Usher feat. Young Jeezy, "Love in This Club" (LW No. 2, 7 weeks)
3. Madonna feat. Justin Timberlake, "4 Minutes" (LW No. 68, 2 weeks)
4. Leona Lewis, "Bleeding Love" (LW No. 1, 7 weeks)
5. Jordin Sparks with Chris Brown, "No Air" (LW No. 6, 13 weeks)
6. Ray J & Yung Berg, "Sexy Can I" (LW No. 3, 9 weeks)
7. Lil Wayne feat. Static Major, "Lollipop" (LW No. 9, 3 weeks)
8. Chris Brown, "With You" (LW No. 4, 18 weeks)
9. Sara Bareilles, "Love Song" (LW No. 5, 22 weeks)
10. Flo Rida feat. T-Pain, "Low" (LW No. 7, 23 weeks)

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
1. Usher feat. Young Jeezy, "Love in This Club" (LW No. 2, 8 weeks)
2. Keyshia Cole, "I Remember" (LW No. 1, 22 weeks)
3. Mariah Carey, "Touch My Body" (LW No. 8, 8 weeks)
4. Ray J & Yung Berg, "Sexy Can I" (LW No. 5, 12 weeks)
5. The-Dream, "Falsetto" (LW No. 3, 17 weeks)
6. Alicia Keys, "Like You'll Never See Me Again" (LW No. 4, 23 weeks)
7. Mario, "Crying Out for Me" (LW No. 6, 31 weeks)
8. J. Holiday, "Suffocate" (LW No. 7, 26 weeks)
9. Mary J. Blige, "Just Fine" (LW No. 9, 27 weeks)
10. Chris Brown, "With You" (LW No. 10, 18 weeks)

Hot Country Songs
1. Trace Adkins, "You're Gonna Miss This" (LW No. 2, 17 weeks)
2. George Strait, "I Saw God Today" (LW No. 4, 8 weeks)
3. Chris Cagle, "What Kinda Gone" (LW No. 3, 37 weeks)
4. Alan Jackson, "Small Town Southern Man" (LW No. 1, 21 weeks)
5. James Otto, "Just Got Started Lovin' You" (LW No. 6, 24 weeks)
6. Jason Aldean, "Laughed Until We Cried" (LW No. 8, 34 weeks)
7. Taylor Swift, "Picture to Burn" (LW No. 9, 12 weeks)
8. Rodney Atkins, "Cleaning This Gun (Come on in Boy)" (LW No. 7, 28 weeks)
9. Carrie Underwood, "All-American Girl" (LW No. 5, 18 weeks)
10. Phil Vassar, "Love Is A Beautiful Thing" (LW No. 10, 22 weeks)

Hot Modern Rock Tracks
1. Foo Fighters, "Long Road to Ruin" (LW No. 1, 23 weeks)
2. Puddle of Mudd, "Psycho" (LW No. 2, 22 weeks)
3. Atreyu, "Falling Down" (LW No. 5, 10 weeks)
4. Seether, "Rise Above This" (LW No. 6, 6 weeks)
5. The Bravery, "Believe" (LW No. 4, 26 weeks)
6. Linkin Park, "Shadow of the Day" (LW No. 3, 26 weeks)
7. 3 Doors Down, "It's Not My Time" (LW No. 10, 6 weeks)
8. Foo Fighters, "The Pretender" (LW No. 8, 35 weeks)
9. Seether, "Fake It" (LW No. 7, 31 weeks)
10. Panic at the Disco, "Nine in the Afternoon" (LW No. 12, 9 weeks)

If you're the editors of Parade, a Mariah Carey cover story seems like a slam-dunk. People know who she is, you can use some slightly creepy short-shorts pictures. It's a win/win. Little would you guess that Mariah's presence in the magazine would bring out the nutjobs on your Web site:

(as a disclaimer, all spelling, etc. within in the quote is the author's own)

Part 1 In referrance to the article about Mariah Carey sharing the record for most number one hits on the Billboard Top 100 with Elvis. If Billboard allows this to happen it will take the last bit of respect i and the public has for them. Everyone knows that Carey's former husband (Tommy Mattola) had huge influence with pop radio stations when he was president of Sony music corporation. This resulted in payola (the practice of paying off radio stations to play artists songs) which is supposed to be illegal. Now that she is at Island Def Jam her friend L.A. Reid is doing the same thing. A couple of years ago Sony along with other record labels were caught and fined for payola. This proves that when Carey was with the label she benefited from the actions of her label. Now Island Def Jam must be investigated. The government should go after these people just like they're going after athletes for steroid use. It is cheating, plain and simple and Miss Carey should be exposed for the fraud she and her record labels are perpetrating. Back in the 1990s she was sued in court three times for plagiarism (sampling other people's music without their permission) which she settled out of court for an undisclosed sums. This also proves she is dishonest and she most likely knew about her record labels practice of paying radio stations to play her music.

I guess there's an interesting point somewhere in there, although assuming that Mariah "likely knew" about anything seems like a false premise.

Part two is where the agenda comes in:

Part 2 If Billboard plans to go through with this farce they should do one of two things. 1. They should recognize the Elvis number ones on the Billboard Single Sales Chart (for the simple fact that you can't fake sales) "A LITTLE LESS CONVERSATION" 2002 , "RUBBERNECKING" 2003, "THAT'S ALRIGHT MAMA" 2004 and "HEARTBREAK HOTEL" 2006. or 2. They should put a disclaimer at the top of their weekly chart listings explaining that the resulting chart placings are a result of dishonest practices between the artists record labels and the radio stations that play their music. Tommy Mattola must be questioned as well as other Sony executives that were there during Carey's tenure. Elvis would've never gotten away with it if his label would've participated in payola. He was investigated along with **** Clark back in the late 1950s payola scandal which rocked the music world ,but he and Clark were found not guilty. If someone were to top Elvis (like the beatles did) without cheating we would have no problem accepting it ,but payola is music's version of the steroid scandal going on in baseball now. We must show our young and old people that taking short cuts to the top is wrong because it is lying and cheating.

He's actually upset that Mariah Carey is currently tied with Elvis for second place on the list of artists with the most No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100. The Beatles are still solidly at the top with 20, but Mariah and Elvis have 17 a piece. Hence, just like the Mitchell Report rocked baseball, the 19 comments left by "Don" will be similarly thought-provoking for anyone who stumbles upon the comments section of a Mariah Carey article from Parade. At very least, we might know what Eliot Spitzer has been up to... cracking down on radio payola even while temporarily unemployed.

Comments: Interview With Mariah Carey [Parade]

Some of America's biggest culture icons have made their mark on the extreme foods scene. Elvis Presley made famous a meal known as the Fool's Gold Loaf, reportedly his favorite: To construct one, mix one jar of peanut butter, one jar of grape jelly and a pound of bacon. Scoop the mixture inside a hollowed-out loaf of fresh-baked bread, smother the outside in butter and bake. Elvis would eat the whole thing in one sitting—and once flew from Memphis to Denver in the middle of the night to get one from a restaurant called the Colorado Mine Company.

Named after late R&B singer Luther Vandross, this sinful sandwich consists of a bacon cheeseburger served between two glazed Krispy Kreme donuts. The increasingly popular concoction has been served up at locations as diverse as minor league ballparks and Google's employee cafeteria.

Wait, people are actually selling the once-apocryphal donut burger to their employees? It's amazing these corporations aren't pushing for socialized medicine only so they won't have subsidize their own workers' inevitable bypasses. But while Elvis and Luther's taste in sandwiches, long widely known among/mocked by music fans, is indeed "extreme," both are actually overshadowed in grossness/awesomeness by the contributions of enterprising folks like you and me.

Barbecue how-to Web site Peppers and Smoke invented this beauty, which consists of a patty made from ground 100% hickory-smoked bacon. Cook in a skillet, add two slices of pepper jack cheese, and serve with Habanero potato chips.
In Philadelphia, hungry booze hounds looking for an alcohol-absorbing snack after the bars close have popularized the Philly Taco, one of the city's famous cheesesteaks wrapped up inside of a big slice of cheese pizza.

Even as a Philadelphian who would deep fry a hoagie and cover it in nacho cheese, I'm kinda boggling at that one.

Extreme Eats [Forbes]

Certainly, the real issue is how come Elvis got anointed "the king", while Little Richard is seen as a hysterical sissy, Ike Turner is better known as a wife beater, and Chuck Berry is a musical footnote who once sang about his ding-a-ling.

No argument about Ike Turner, but on which planet is Chuck Berry a footnote? It's true that "My Ding-a-Ling" is Berry's only No. 1 hit—and that it's one of his worst recordings. (Not even because of the song, necessarily: listen to the Bees' "Toy Bell," the same song under a different title, sometime, and you'll hear what the song can do given a lot more verve than Chuck's flaccid run-through.) But that's the record books. In real life, no one remembers "My Ding-a-Ling" except pop historians and lovers of irony, as in, "The greatest singer-songwriter of the first rock era, maybe the greatest ever, had his only No. 1 hit with a really bad song—sad, isn't it?"

Little Richard is a thornier case, because the "hysterical sissy" aspect of his persona was surely central to it. But no one in their right mind could consider him ineffectual: Richard was clearly in charge when he took the stage—and the frenzy he embodied was a large part of early rock's appeal (and the source of the horror it incited among adults). If he was dismissed by homophobes, it doesn't make him all that different from—to pick a far family-friendlier icon from the same period—Liberace.

If anything, Elvis's reputation has gotten a lot worse since the '50s than any of the other rock founders. He's the easy butt of a zillion white-trash jokes (because, you know, it's OK to make fun of white southerners and their tacky mansions), his movies entered the camp pantheon before there was a camp pantheon to speak of, the entire Elvis imitation industry runs off a mixture of affection and mockery so thorough no one could begin to separate the two. Among people under 40 (at least), he's essentially a kitsch object, a laughingstock, that fat has-been who died on the toilet, and thanks to the Chuck D lyric Gonzales discusses, a lot of people who couldn't care less about Presley's music or life are convinced he was a racist,/a>, whatever the evidence for or against the assertion. And as a result, it's a lot harder to hear what's there on Elvis's records than with any other early-rock icon.

Down with the King: Black Folks and Elvis [Blackadelic Pop]

While I've grown to appreciate the early Elvis sides, he was never much of a hero to me—too much Public Enemy in my system, I guess—and whatever his ethical and moral standing (and however much his his life devolved into tabloid ludicrousness before he expired), Guralnick's piece is a delicate (if obviously biased in Elvis' favor) look at an issue that can still spark vitriol from folks who weren't even alive when Elvis died.

Walk A Mile In My Shoes [Boogie Woogie Flu]

"American Idol" will raise the dead on Wednesday and feature a performance with Celine Dion and ...

Elvis Presley?!

While "A.I." teased their "Idol Gives Back" charity benefit by revealing that "two of the biggest stars in musical history come together," sources at last week's taping tell TMZ that Celine sang Elvis Presley's hit, "If I Can Dream" — with an Elvis impersonator! Ugh! But we're told the impersonator was just used as a stand-in, and what you will actually see when the show airs is Celine singing with a virtual Elvis — in the vein of Natalie Cole and Nat King Cole's "Unforgettable." Unbelievable!

Unbelievable, indeed. After all, shouldn't it at least have a 3-D component to really be historic?

Celine & Elvis' "Idol" Duet from the Grave [TMZ]