During the two weeks I was vacationing, Billboard reported changes atop all three of its flagship charts—including the blessed end of Katy Perry's No. 1 reign on the Hot 100, which was displaced by a Rihanna song I like a lot. Even more amazingly, a song that may be the most left-field hit of the decade—"Paper Planes" by M.I.A.—soared into the Top Five.
Now that I'm back, the M.I.A. song is down a bit, and the biggest news on the charts is the post-American Idol debut by tween-and-grandma fave David Archuleta.
It's a cruel business, this chart-column writing.
Nonetheless, the good news, for those of us who rooted against the stage-managed moppet during Idol's last season, is that Archie's losing out on the Hot 100's top slot—by a whisker—to Rihanna. Meanwhile, there's change on top of two other charts, including the deadly static Modern Rock list. Let's catch up, shall we?
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Idolator
One thing the people behind American Idol have counted on in the past is the ratings racked up by the early-in-the-season audition episodes, which devote just as much airtime to the biggest sets of pipes as they do to those hopeless hopefuls who seem to aspire to become nothing more than the next William Hung. But one wonders if the news that a former contestant on the show—one who had three minutes of airtime during Season Five devoted to her slightly manic Paula Abdul fandom and her not-all-that-great rendition of "Proud Mary"—committed suicide outside Abdul's home yesterday isn't going to give the producers at least a little bit of a pause when they start editing the audition episodes for next season's first episodes, which start back up on Jan. 13.
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Season eight of American Idol opens in two months! Mark your calendars for Jan. 13 and 14, and wonder how the producers are going to spin the 
