Billboard Hot 100
Issuedate: May 6th, 2008

01. Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love
02. Lil Wayne and Static Major - Lollipop
03. Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown - No Air
04. Usher and Young Jeezy - Love In This Club
05. Ray J and Yung Berg - Sexy Can I
06. Madonna and Justin Timberlake - 4 Minutes
07. Mariah Carey - Touch My Body
08. Natasha Bedingfield - Pocketful of Sunshine
09. Sara Bareilles - Love Song
10. Jesse Mccartney - Leavin'
11. Danity Kane - Damaged
12. Flo Rida and T-Pain - Low
13. John Mayer - Say
14. Miley Cyrus - See You Again
15. Chris Brown - Forever

This week's singles chart is basically static from last week's chart, with Leona Lewis's "Bleeding Love" still holding sway on top.  I'm just wondering why her second single "Better in Time" has disappeared from the Hot 100.  That second song is already doing well here locally.

The big news this week is the big jump of Natasha Bedingfield and her "Pocketful of Sunshine" from #19 all the way to #8.  This was of course spurred by her appearance on American Idol recently singing this song.   This really shows that American Idol is still a very good stage to promote your material, as what also happened to Leona Lewis and Mariah Carey's songs.  The irony is that Idol's own Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson's project "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow" did not show the same chart progress.

The really significant chart news is on the Billboard 200 album chart where Madonna's latest CD "Hard Candy" debuts at Number 1. This is her 7th Number 1 album, which puts her in 2nd place among solo female artists.   The topnotcher in this area is diva Barbra Streisand who has 8 Number 1 albums.   Madonna's previous Number 1 albums were: "Like a Virgin," three weeks (1985), "True Blue," five weeks (1986), "Like a Prayer," six weeks (1989), "Music," one week (2000), "American Life," one week (2003), "Confessions on a Dance Floor," one week (2005). 

Madonna also has some news on the Hot 100 as her latest release "Give It 2 Me" is the Hot Shot Debut this week at #57.

Billboard Hot 100
Issuedate: April 22nd, 2008

01. Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love
02. Lil Wayne and Static Major - Lollipop
03. Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown - No Air
04. Usher and Young Jeezy - Love In This Club
05. Mariah Carey - Touch My Body
06. Ray J and Yung Berg - Sexy Can I
07. Madonna and Justin Timberlake - 4 Minutes
08. Chris Brown - With You
09. Sara Bareilles - Love Song
10. Flo Rida and T-Pain - Low
11. Miley Cyrus - See You Again
12. Rihanna - Don't Stop The Music
13. OneRepublic - Stop And Stare
14. Timbaland and OneRepublic - Apologize
15. Alicia Keys - No One

Pretty exciting chart this week.  A lot of movement within the Top 5, wow!  Leona Lewis wrests the #1 slot away from Mariah Carey.  Ms. Lewis does this feat as she also makes a splash on the Billboard 200 Album Chart with her debut album "Spirit" at #1. It was fascinating to learn that "Spirit" is only the third album by a solo British born woman to hit the top of the album chart.  The previous two were by Olivia Newton-John, the last of which was way back in 1975.  As a bonus, Leona also debuts on the Hot 100 with her second single, "Better in Time" at #62.

"No Air" by Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown hits another peak as it makes it to the #3 slot.  It is the Greatest Gainer in Sales this week.

The big news this week is "Idol Gives Back" TV Special because it sends four songs performed on the show into the chart.  The highest debut this week is Daughtry with "What About Now" which starts at a lofty #18.  Carrie Underwood's version of "Praying For Time" comes in at #27.  If you recall, in last year's Idol Gives Back, Carrie sang "I'll Stand By You" and sent it straight into the Top 10 on the very first week.

Of the three group songs sung by the American Idol Top 8 that episode, the one that hits the chart is the controversial "Shout To The Lord" number which closed the show.  Just goes to show that Idols' foray into Christian music seems well-supported by the American majority.

The last hit from this TV special is "Many Rivers to Cross", a Jimmy Cliff song which was sung in a memorably emotional manner by Annie Lennox.  This song is the first song by Ms. Lennox on this chart since "No More I Love You's" back in 1995.  It comes in at #80.

Billboard Hot 100
Issuedate: March 25th, 2008

01. Usher and Young Jeezy - Love In This Club
02. Chris Brown - With You
03. Flo Rida and T-Pain - Low
04. Sara Bareilles - Love Song
05. Rihanna - Don't Stop The Music
06. Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown - No Air
07. Ray J and Yung Berg - Sexy Can I
08. Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love
09. Timbaland and OneRepublic - Apologize
10. Lupe Fiasco - Superstar
11. Miley Cyrus - See You Again
12. Webbie featuring Lil' Phat and Lil' Boosie - Independent
13. Alicia Keys - No One
14. Mariah Carey - Touch My Body
15. Snoop Dogg - Sensual Seduction

Not a very exciting week again on the Hot 100 as the Top 7 remains static from last week.  Usher remains at the Number 1 slot for the 3rd week running.

The only big news on this chart is the 21-8 jump of Leona Lewis, with her debut hit "Bleeding Love."  In the UK, Leona Lewis was very popular because of her winning the Simon Cowell talent show "The X Factor" over there.  In the US however, she is carving her name the harder traditional way.  Now her music is making it all over the world, as this song is also making waves here locally.  Leona Lewis really reminds me of a young Mariah Carey.  Even her vocal inflections and range are Mariah-esque.

Talking of Mariah, her current hit "Touch Your Body", which had been pacing "Bleeding Love" for the past weeks, now falls behind at #14 with a bullet.

While it hangs on to #26 on its 38th week in he Hot 100, Colbie Caillat's "Bubbly" (Universal Republic) deserves special mention by becoming the longest-running No. 1 debut single by a female artist on the Adult Contemporary chart since this was introduced in July 1961.

There were three debut singles by female artists that remained in the AC chart pole position for 11 weeks each that "Bubbly" overtook:  "How Do I Live," LeAnn Rimes (1997), "I Hope You Dance," Lee Ann Womack (2001) and "Unwritten," Natasha Bedingfield (2006).

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.