Chart Watch: Six Months And Going Strong

The Black Eyed Peas have now notched their 26th consecutive week at No. 1. That's half a year. The only other artist to display this level of domination was Usher in 2004 who spent 28 weeks at pole position. Usher however, achieved this feat with four different songs spread throughout the entire year.

With "I've Gotta Feelin'" sitting on top undisturbed for 14 weeks, it is now tied with Mariah Carey's 2005 hit, "We Belong Together", for the longest running No. 1 of the decade.

The question remains: How? Sure the Black Eyed Peas had hits on their hands with both "Boom Boom Pow" and "Feelin'", but hasn't this gone a little too far? Is their iron fisted stranglehold over the Billboard Hot 100 a result of being the most wildly popular group of all time or is it something else?

The Peas have already done some major damage to the record books, obliterating the longest consecutive stay at No. 1. With two more weeks at No. 1, they would not only tie Usher for the most weeks logged at the top in a calender year, but"Feelin'" would tie "One Sweet Day", a 1995 collaboration between Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men, for the longest running song at No. 1 of all time. If the groups' third single, "Meet Me Halfway", continues its ascent up the chart (debuted at No. 75 and moved to No. 47 this week) and displays the same popularity as its predecessors, the Peas could become the first act to ever replace themselves at No. 1 twice. We're talking about some major rewriting of Billboard records in the twilight of the record industry age.

Chart watcher Chris Molanphy noted, "["I've Gotta Feelin'"s] sales have been slacking and it’s not the biggest radio song anymore, the ongoing story since late summer has been a gross mismatch between sales and airplay (i.e., the big songs at iTunes aren’t the songs radio is playing in power rotation), which keeps clearing the field for the Peas."

The Black Eyed Peas aren't the new Beatles, there just hasn't been a song for the past six month that has been able to get all its stars to line up. Last week for instance, Taylor Swift's "You Belong To Me" was the most played song on America's radio stations but only the ninth most downloaded one. That combination of radio airplay and digital downloads was only good enough for No. 6 on the Hot 100. The most downloaded song was "Empire State of Mind" by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys. Compare their 205,000 downloads with "I've Gotta Feelin'" which only sold 153,000 copies last week. "Empire" was No. 5 on the Hot 100.

For this national nightmare to end, either "Feelin'" needs to fizzle out, or someone needs a song that can capture both radio programmers and iTunes customers at the same time. The current best seller is the artist formerly known as Hannah Montana. Her "Party In The U.S.A." has been No. 1 on iTunes for five weeks now, but who besides Radio Disney is playing that song? Swift's "Belong" returns to No. 1 for radio airplay but its sales are slipping even more. With mismatched numbers like that, no one can defeat "Feelin'" which is the third most downloaded song and second most played song on the radio.

The recession will end before the Black Eyed Peas are done. Ugh.

1. "I've Gotta Feelin'" - Black Eyed Peas
2. "Down" - Jay Sean feat. Lil Wayne
3. "Party In The U.S.A." - Miley Cyrus
4. "Run This Town" - Jay-Z feat. Kanye West & Rihanna
5. "Whatcha Say" - Jason DeRulo
6. "You Belong With Me" - Taylor Swift
7. "Paparazzi" - Lady Gaga
8. "Use Somebody" - Kings of Leon
9. "Obsessed" - Mariah Carey
10. "Empire State of Mind" - Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys