Idolator

Ed. note: Chris "dennisobell" Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on this week's Billboard charts:

If you're trying to guess what might end up as Billboard's top song of 2008, you might take a gander at this week's Hot 100, where a prime contender is still sitting in the top three after peaking months ago.

That would be Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love," the neo-diva ballad that's outlasted anything her role model Mariah Carey has released so far this year. According to Nielsen SoundScan, which released its (mostly dismal) midyear report this week, Lewis' smash is the top-selling single for the six-month period beginning Dec. 31 and ending June 29.

That doesn't necessarily make the Lewis track a lock for the year's top prize, due to some technicalities which I'll discuss momentarily. But there is one thing that makes "Bleeding Love" emblematic of 2008: it's an undeniable smash single which has proven tough for the artist to follow up.

Ed. note: Chris "dennisobell" Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on this week's Billboard charts:

In the last two years, we've seen several impressive feats on Billboard's Hot 100 by Disney Channel-groomed pop acts, and this week, we see another.

Four songs from the Jonas Brothers vehicle Camp Rock, which premiered on the channel last week, debut within the Top 40. And separately, Miley Cyrus previews her first album unattached from the Hannah Montana brand—and quickly scores her second-ever Top 10 hit.

Dig below these impressive numbers, and it becomes apparent that this is not necessarily another short-lived High School Musical-style chart blip. One week into summer, teenpop may be launching one of its once-a-decade all-out assaults on the pop charts—the kind of siege that will make even you, person over 18, forcibly aware of these songs faster than you can say "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)."

Saturday brought the spring/summer edition of Z100's biannual pop medley concerts, Zootopia, to the Izod Center, an arena formerly named after former New Jersey governor Brendan Byrne and microwaved-cheesesteak-proffering air carrier Continental Airlines. The lineup was a testament to the currently scrubbed-clean nature of "pop music"; on the one side you had your petri dish-created acts designed to appeal to tweens of yesterday and today (Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, New Kids On The Block), while on the other you had your piano-thumping Billy Joel acolytes (OneRepublic, Sara Bareilles, Ferras, Gavin DeGraw). Hip-hop was nowhere to be found, unless the pre-show DJ dropping Kurtis Blow into his mix counts; R & B was a lesser presence, with only Danity Kane bringing the girl-group style (and not bringing it very well).