Billboarding Home / Music Home / Bullz-Eye Home
This week, we pay our third visit to the Hot 100, and even though that damn OneRepublic song is still here, the rest of the chart is mostly a pleasant surprise. Okay, so that Flo Rida song is a piece of garbage, and the source of Sean Kingston's appeal continues to elude us -- but how much fault can you find with a chart that puts Yael Naim next to a keytar-rocking Snoop Dogg? Not much, as Jeff discovers while counting down your Hot 100 Top 10 for the week of February 18, 2008. Ready, set, count!
1.
Flo Rida featuring T-Pain, “Low”
(Atlantic/Poe Boy)
What the hell is this? Only one T-Pain appearance in the entire Top
10? Homeboy be slippin’ – but hey, at least Mr. Pain is showing up at
the top, right? Anyway, “Low” is the leadoff single from the soundtrack
to Step Up 2 the Streets, the dance-drama sequel America must
have asked for, we guess, seeing as how the song is setting sales records
all over the place. Um…there isn’t much else to say about this song,
really. She got low. Low, low, low, low, low.
2. Chris Brown, “With
You” (Jive)
Okay, so the Stargate shtick is starting to wear awfully thin, and at
some point, tastefully strummed acoustic guitars are going to stop earning
so much mileage with R&B audiences, at which point they’ll go back
underground for another decade until the next Tony Rich comes along.
But right now, “With You” is at Number Two, extending a winning streak
that includes Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable” and Rihanna’s “Hate That I Love
You.” Plus, it’s hard to get too mad at a song that goes out to “hearts
all over the world tonight,” isn’t it? Chris Brown is like a smoother
Wolfman Jack!
3. Rihanna, “Don’t
Stop the Music” (Def Jam)
Cynics are already quibbling about the timing behind this single’s release
– the "Mama-say, mama-sa, mama-ko-sa" chanting in the bridge
reaches back to Michael Jackson’s “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” (which
lifted from Manu Dibango’s “Soul Makossa”) just in time for the deluxe
25th anniversary reissue of Thriller – but that misses the
point, which is that there’s no stopping Rihanna right now, and when
she spends a video pouring herself into a tight dress and getting nasty
in the club, you might as well just clear a path between this song and
the Number One spot.
4.
Alicia Keys, “No
One” (J)
We called this thing a hit months ago, and were we ever right – “No
One” has been the record industry’s official success story in ’08, and
given Keys’ career a boost after many assumed her days of tapping into
the zeitgeist were over. Are you sick of hearing it yet? Us neither.
5. Timbaland featuring OneRepublic, “Apologize”
(Interscope/Mosley)
This song, on the other hand, we’d be very happy to never hear again.
We’ve gone through the five stages of grief with this song, and although
we’re reluctant to call our feelings for it “acceptance,” we can at
least take comfort in the knowledge that, God willing, our next sojourn
into the Hot 100 will be blissfully OneRepublic free. Curse you, Timbaland.
6. Sara Bareilles, “Love
Song” (Epic)
Out with the Colbie Caillat, in with the Sara Bareilles – the piano-playing
singer/songwriter is the estrogen set’s latest happy discovery, thanks
to a ubiquitous (and, it must be said, actually kinda clever) commercial
for the Rhapsody service. Not a bad little pop tune, right? You’re kinda
bouncing in your chair a little, right? So are we – which is why we’re
dreading this song’s inevitable multi-format crossover and long, long
lingering on the charts. Let’s just enjoy it before it overstays its
welcome, shall we?
7.
Yael Naim, “New
Soul” (Atlantic)
In which a French-Israeli singer/songwriter rides a Macbook Air television
spot onto the Top 10, becoming the hippest Middle Eastern pop export
since Ofra Haza in the process. It’s the kind of left-field success
that makes you believe in the music business all over again, if only
for a few minutes. In six months, we’ll probably be talking about all
the ways Atlantic dropped the ball on the Stateside release of Naim’s
album, but in the meantime, isn’t it a hoot seeing this on the charts?
8. Snoop Dogg, “Sensual
Seduction” (Geffen/Doggystyle)
It’s deeply unoriginal and clearly a half-serious nod to the seemingly
bottomless well of nostalgia for ‘70s soul. It’s also without a doubt
the coolest thing we’ve seen all week. Consider us seduced, Mr. Broadus.
Do your thang.
9. Sean Kingston, “Take
You There” (Epic/Beluga Heights)
The most consistently non-threatening overweight hip-hop performer since
Heavy D, Kingston takes his Caribbean love to what is hopefully its
logical conclusion here, making like Jimmy Buffett with a darker complexion
and an armload of vintage synths. The song, though? It tries hard, but
doesn’t really go anywhere – kind of like Kingston trying to swim upstream.
Why is this a hit?
10.
Buckcherry, “Sorry”
(Atlantic/Eleven Seven)
Yep, that Buckcherry. We’re telling you guys – the music biz
is a strange, strange place right now. How else to explain a Top 10
pop hit from a B-list rock band that everyone thought broke up years
ago? The logical next step, we suppose, is a hit from Cry of Love. Then
maybe Steelheart. Then again, those bands probably couldn’t put together
a song that sounds this much like an unholy cross between Goo Goo Dolls,
Foreigner, and Daniel Powter. Wow.
You can follow us on Twitter and Facebook for content updates. Also, sign up for our email list for weekly updates and check us out on Google+ as well.