Do you know odd it is to see a non-Hip hop/R&B/ballad single be at #1 for more than one or two weeks in the U.S. in the '00s? And by odd I mean it's pretty effing refreshing. And I don't care that it's that faux coconut-slammer, Katy Perry. It could be Janice Dickinson moaning the alphabet out of key at this point and I'd shout its praises.With all the record label staff cuts, the rap payola czars of yesteryear must be gone.
That said, it's a week of redemption on Billboard's Hot 100 as Chris Brown's "Forever"—a song that after three months still hasn't gotten old—is the Sales Gainer, and moves up to a new peak of #4. Again, that's another one I'd become to skeptical to ever imagine the U.S. music-buying public would embrace. The long, depressing George Bush era truly is ending, folks.
Even the fact that the Top 10 contains pop songs by Natasha Bedingfield, Coldplay and teen harlot Miley Cyrus hints that the week that miserable fucker leaves the White House next January, we can probably expect the Sugababes to have their first American hit!Further evidence: Ne-Yo's "Closer," already a U.K. #1 which has been struggling for over three months now on the chart, jumps ten positions to a new high of #17, while Estelle's "American Boy" slowly makes its way to #31.
Of course, directly linking the so obviously payola-driven music that was on the charts for years—the countless J. Lo atrocities, the Ja Rules, the 50 Cents and Chingys—to the current President that's in office might seem like a bit of a stretch, but doesn't all the garbage start at the top and come down?
The U.S. Top 10:
1. "I Kissed A Girl" - Katy Perry *4 weeks*
2. "Take A Bow" - Rihanna
3. "Lollipop" - Lil Wayne Feat. Static Major
4. "Forever" - Chris Brown *sales gainer*
5. "Bleeding Love" - Leona Lewis
6. "Pocketful Of Sunshine" - Natasha Bedingfield
7. "Viva La Vida'" - Coldplay
8. "A Milli" - Lil Wayne
9. "7 Things" - Miley Cyrus
10. "Push It Baby, Part 2" - Plies Feat. Ne-Yo