Fred Said . . .

Billboard Hot 100
Issuedate: week 09/2008

01. Flo Rida and T-Pain - Low
02. Chris Brown - With You
03. Rihanna - Don't Stop The Music
04. Alicia Keys - No One
05. Sara Bareilles - Love Song
06. Timbaland and OneRepublic - Apologize
07. Snoop Dogg - Sensual Seduction
08. Sean Kingston - Take You There
09. Buckcherry - Sorry
10. Webbie featuring Lil' Phat and Lil' Boosie - Independent
11. Miley Cyrus - See You Again
12. Fergie - Clumsy
13. Taylor Swift - Teardrops On My Guitar
14. Lupe Fiasco - Superstar
15. Alicia Keys - Like You'll Never See Me Again

Yes, "Low" by Flo Rida remains at Number 1 for an unbelievable 9 weeks.  I just think that is too long for a song with lyrics as inane as:

Apple Bottom Jeans [Jeans]
Boots with the fur [With the fur]
The whole club was lookin at her
She hit the flo [She hit the flo]
Next thing you know
Shawty got low low low low low low low low.

Yikes.  Funny and cheesy, hahaha!  At the other end of the chart, Flo Rida debuts with his follow up "Elevator" featuring Timbaland this time, at #100.

Anyway, elsewhere on the chart, we have many other notable debuts:

Mariah Carey (photo, with her naked body only covered by a hat!) is back on the chart after being absent from the Hot 100 for the whole 2007, with her new song "Touch My Body", debuting at #54.  Well not bad, but for me it is just a continuation of her "We Belong Together" success couple of years back.  This song could have been part of that older album.  But still, we would be eager to hear how the other tracks of her new album, interestingly titled "e=mc2".

UK X-Factor winner Leona Lewis, who looks and sounds very much like Mariah Carey to me, finally debuts on the US Hot 100 with "Bleeding Love" at #85.  This very song has already landed Lewis at #1 in the UK and other European charts.

Also, Usher makes it back to the chart after a long absence.  "Love In This Club" featuring Young Jeezy debuts at #834.  Locally, the new Usher song being played on the radio is "That Girl Right There" featuring Ludacris.

On the Billboard 200 album chart, Amy Winehouse and Herbie Hancock rocket literally into the Top 5 after their Grammy wins.  Amy's "Back In Black" jumps back up from #24 to #2 on its 49th week on the chart.  Hancock's Album of the Year winner "River:  The Joni Letters" shoots up to #5 from a lowly #154 on only its 4th week on the chart.  Withstanding these big moves is Jack Johnson's "Sleep Through the Static" which remains at #1 after debuting there last week.

Another interesting piece of news this week was the decision of Billboard to put Michael Jackson's "Thriller 25" in the Pop Catalog Album chart instead of the Billboard 200 big chart.  Billboard explains its decision by saying that "The overwhelming consensus at leading retailers was that despite the new material added to "Thriller 25," this essentially represents a re-issue of a 25 year old album and it thus belongs on the catalog charts."   Of course, elsewhere in the world where there is no catalog chart, "Thriller 25" debuted in the Top 10.