The #1 movie over the past weekend (8/29-8/31) was Tropic Thunder for a third weekend. It came in with $14,602,121 for a total gross so far of $86,935,945. The movie that came in #2 ($11,541,571) was the futuristic Vin Diesel Children of Men-rip off flick Babylon A.D. Despite the brief return to real acting in Sidney Lumet’s Find Me Guilty two years ago, Diesel continues his downward slope into crappy action flicks. This one wasn’t screened for critics (shocker!), so I had to see it over the weekend. It wasn’t the worst movie I’ve ever seen (or even the worst Diesel movie I’ve ever seen…which would be 2005’s The Pacifier), but it was just so bland for an action flick. There were a couple of cool toys, like a paper map that you could scroll down in the way you can do if you use Google Maps, but overall, it didn’t do anything for me. If you want to see a good movie from last weekend, check out the #5 movie ($11,507,654 from the previous Wednesday)…the political thriller Traitor, starring Don Cheadle and co-written by comedian Steve Martin. Think 2005’s Syriana…only not so long and boring. Read the rest of this entry »

Okay…I’m calmed down a little from last week’s chart craziness.  The world is making a little more sense now.  T.I.’s “Whatever You Like” spends a second week atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart with a bullet.  I can’t make the gripe this week about the song not being heard on the radio, because it’s this week’s Airplay Gainer.  Threats this week to the peak position?  It looks to me that the only significant threat is Pink’s “So What.”  It jumps from #9 to #3 this week with a bullet after selling 136,000 digital downloads.  It looks like last week’s threat, Kardinal Offishall featuring Akon’s “Dangerous,” wasn’t much of a threat at all, because it slips from #5 to #6 and loses its bullet.  M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” rises from #6 to #5 with a bullet, so that might be a threat in a week or two.  Other than that, Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” jumps from #24 to #9 with a bullet, and it is the Sales Gainer this week after selling 112,000 units.  I’ve been a growing fan of Mraz’s quirky songs over the years, so I hope it makes it…but I doubt that it will.  I’d like to see a quirky song top the chart, a la The Barenaked Ladies’ “One Week.”  Finally, in the fight between Kid Rock and The Hit Masters’ versions of Rock’s “All Summer Long”…it looks like Rock is pulling ahead, because his version jumps up two places to #23 with a bullet, while The Hit Masters’ knock-off slides from #19 to #33 and loses its bullet.  Nyah-Nyah!! Read the rest of this entry »

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, multiple Grammy winner, and controversy magnet Michael Jackson recently celebrated his fiftieth birthday last Friday (8/29) by just eating cake and watching cartoons with his three kids.  As freaky as I may think that he is, I can’t deny his talent as a singer or a dancer.  In honor of his birthday, I thought I would give you his Billboard chart history.  I’m going to concentrate only on his #1 songs from his ten albums, which are significant. Read the rest of this entry »

The number one movie over the weekend of 8/22-8/24/08 was the all-star action comedy Tropic Thunder for a second weekend atop the box office chart with $16,272,195, bringing its overall total to $65,839,915 (I didn’t report it last week because I was attending a funeral.)  I finally checked out the movie myself…and it was hilarious!  Warning…the movie lives up to its controversy by being extremely offensive to some…and un-PC to others.  Since I’m not easily offended, I loved it. Read the rest of this entry »

The world has gone wacky!  Day is night, night is day, and songs that are never heard on the radio make jumps to #1.  Rihanna’s “Disturbia” stayed at #1 for two weeks, but it slips to #2 to make room for the biggest jump to #1 in Billboard history…rapper T.I.’s “Whatever You Like.”  Two weeks ago, it debuted on the Hot 100 chart at #99.  Last week, it went to #71.  This week, it jumped 70 positions to #1 with a bullet to make it the all-time biggest jump, breaking the record previously held by Maroon 5’s “Makes Me Wonder,” which jumped from #64 to #1 in May of 2007.  Part of the reason it made that jump (okay let’s face it…the only reason) is that it had huge first week digital sales of 205,000.  It’s T.I.’s first solo #1 and his second #1 overall, because he was also the featured artist on Justin Timberlake’s hit “My Love” in November of 2006.  “Disturbia” may be at #2, but it still has a bullet, so it could possibly reclaim the top spot next week.  Otherwise, the only other threat to the peak position (assuming that another song doesn’t make a huge jump to #1 based on digital downloads) is Kardinal Offishall featuring Akon’s “Dangerous,” which is currently at #5 with a bullet.  David Archuleta’s “Crush” was obviously not much of a threat, because it has fallen from last week’s position of #2 to #15, and it has lost its bullet.  Finally…to prove that I was right about last’s week rant about digital downloads’ effect on the charts (and that our chart world is backwards)…rip-off band The Hit Masters have risen from #65 to #19 with their cover of Kid Rock’s “All Summer Long,” and it is the Sales Gainer for the week.  Rock’s original version still sits at #25 (but it retains its bullet.)  It’s just sad that an inferior version of a great song should chart higher than the original (Rock has not allowed for digital downloads of individual tracks of his songs, so its place on the chart is based solely on airplay only.  The only way to download the original song is to download Rock’s entire Rock and Roll Jesus album.)  Want further proof that the world is crazy?  Another rip-off band called The Studio All-Stars are taking advantage of Atlantic Records’ decision to remove Estelle (featuring Kanye West)’s original version of her song “American Boy” from iTunes by releasing their own version, which debuts at #85 (the original version, meanwhile, has dropped from #11 to #37.)  Crazy!!! Read the rest of this entry »

The so-called “stars” of the seventh season of ABC’s hit show “Dancing with the Stars” were announced on Monday morning on “Good Morning America.”  The stars this season are:  Lance Bass, former ‘N Sync singer and actor (paired with Lacey Schwimmer); Toni Braxton, Grammy Award winning singer (paired with Alec Mazo); Brooke Burke, model/TV host (paired with Derek Hough); Rocco DiSpirito, TV chef and cookbook author (paired with Karina Smirnoff); Maurice Greene, Olympic Gold Medal winning sprinter (paired with Cheryl Burke); Kim Kardashian, model, stylist, stolen sex tape star, and reality TV star of E!’s “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” (paired with Mark Ballas); Cloris Leachman, Oscar and Emmy winning actress (paired with Corky Ballas); Cody Linley, “Hannah Montana” star (paired with Julianne Hough); Susan Lucci, Daytime Emmy Award winning “All My Children” actress (paired with Tony Dovolani); Misty May-Treanor, Olympic Gold Medal winning volleyball professional (paired with Maksim Chmerkovskiy); Ted McGinley, multiple sitcom actor and JumpTheShark.com “patron saint” (paired with Inna Brayer); Jeffrey Ross, comedian and director (paired with Edyta ?liwi?ska); and Warren Sapp, former NFL player for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Oakland Raiders (paired with Kym Johnson.)  Since Bass and Braxton are the only singers competing, I thought I’d give you their Billboard chart history. Read the rest of this entry »

No Doubt lead singer Gwen Stefani and former Bush lead singer Gavin Rossdale welcomed their second child into the world…an 8 pound, 5 ounce boy named Zuma Nesta Rock…on Thursday, August 21. Their first child, Kingston James McGregor, was born on May 26, 2006. In honor of the joyous occasion, I’m going to give you the chart history for both Gwen and Gavin. Read the rest of this entry »

MTV announced last Thursday four more artists that will be performing on the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards show: Rihanna, Pink, Paramore, and T.I.  They will be joining the previously announced artists…The Jonas Brothers, Lil Wayne, and Kid Rock…onstage for the show.  Rihanna, who performed last year with Chris Brown to perform her song “Umbrella,” will most likely be performing her current chart-topper “Disturbia.”  Pink is slated to perform her new song “So What,” while Paramore will be performing “Misery Business.”  T.I. is making a return to an awards show stage after being arrested last October before the BET Hip-Hop Awards in Atlanta and accused of trying to buy machine guns and silencers; he was sentenced earlier this year to serve about a year in prison after completing at least 1,000 hours of community service.  I’m going to give you the chart history of these four performers on the Billboard charts. Read the rest of this entry »

Even though this is only the second week for the run of Rihanna’s “Disturbia,” the Billboard Hot100 chart is recording historic firsts.  As Puck reported on Thursday, “American Idol” Season 7 runner-up David Archuleta had the best debut on the charts in 18 months with his #2 song “Crush.”  The last time a song debuted in the #2 slot was in January of 2007, when Fall Out Boy’s “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race” debuted (and peaked) there.  It’s also the highest debut for an “AI” alum for a song not originally performed on the show.  Furthermore, it’s the second time that the runner-up from the show has bested the winner on the charts, since winner David Cook’s single “The Time of My Life” only peaked at #3 (though it currently sits at #28 with a bullet this week based on actual radio airplay and not just digital downloads.)  The first time that happened was when Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken peaked at #1 with his song “This is the Night” over winner Ruben Studdard’s #2 song “Flying Without Wings.”  Where do we go from here?  “Disturbia” still has a bullet, but if “Crush” gains some airplay, it may topple Rihanna next week (it isn’t anywhere within the top 25 on the Airplay chart.)  None of the songs within the Top 10 pose much of a threat to Rihanna (except for the Archuleta song)…including the new one by Taylor Swift, whose song “Change” (from the Olympic AT&T Team USA soundtrack) debuts on the chart at #10. Read the rest of this entry »

So Rihanna’s somewhat lackluster tune about her mind going to a scary place has held onto the number one spot for a second week… but barely.  Crush by David Archuleta enjoyed the best debut in the last 18 month’s coming in at #2.  Don’t get me wrong…. I’m not ripping in Rihanna, I just don’t feel that Disturbia is that strong of a tune and the lyrics are somewhat lame.  Sure, it’s got a good beat, but that alone does not make it a great tune.  Here’s proof …. Read the rest of this entry »