Welcome to the first of two year end editions of Chart Stalker! Why two, you ask? Simple answer-Billboard’s year-end issue comes out before the end of the actual calendar year (to allow for publication time and ad purchasing). Generally speaking, it covers the year from December 1st of the previous year to November 30th of the current year, or thereabouts. Additionally, Billboard calculates it’s rankings by using a formula based on chart position, so where an artist ends up on […]
Posts tagged "Taio Cruz"
Chart Stalker 7/21/10: The Singles Bar
There’s not a heck of a lot to report on the album chart this week-we are officially in the summer doldrums, although the first serious challenger to Eminem’s four weeks and counting run at the top of the chart arrived in the form of Rick Ross. If his “Teflon Don” can squeeze out 130,000 or so copies (not a stretch considering the rapper is inexplicably popular), he has a chance of sliding Slim Shady out of the perch he’s inhabited […]
Chart Stalker 6/9/10: Jack Johnson Provides a Semblance of Order
One thing I should have mentioned in last week’s column is that it was the lowest week of recorded music sales in the Soundscan era, which goes back almost 20 years. Yes, we know there’s been a downturn in paid consumption of music over the last decade, but this is pretty much rock bottom, I think. Hopefully there’s nowhere to go from here but up. We’d be looking at an even worse week this week if not for Jack Johnson. […]
New Release Report 6/1/10: You Don't Know Jack
OK. I lie. If you’ve heard even one Jack Johnson record, you probably know him pretty well. The mellow Hawaiian surfer dude has very quietly become probably the most popular male pop/rock singer in the country not named John Mayer. And he’s done it without dating any celebrities, making an ass of himself in print media, or even having a hit song at radio. He definitely has a certain appeal. A lot of folks-myself included-occasionally need to hear music that […]
Chartstalker 3/10/10: Who the Hell is Taio Cruz?
I’ll get to the albums chart in a minute, but I must first register my surprise at this week’s new #1 single. British newcomer Taio Cruz jumps from #53 to #1 on the Hot 100 with his new single “Break Your Heart”, which features Ludacris (who will now have an impressive three songs in the Top Ten). I’ll admit that even as I write this, I haven’t heard the song yet (bad reporting, I know…but I have the Broken Bells […]