Billboard Updates Album Chart

Beginning December 5, Billboard will include all albums sold nationally in its Billboard 200 album chart.

This was how albums were originally tracked, but in 1991, Billboard excluded albums that had been out longer than 18 months and dropped below the No. 100 position. This was done so the record industry could see how their albums were doing without having Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon in the way. In 2003, the Top Comprehensive chart was created to reflect the sale of both old and new albums.

Earlier this year, Michael Jackson became the first artist to ever outsell a new release with an older catalog album. His Number Ones, Essential, and Thriller all outsold the Black Eyed Peas' The E.N.D. for several weeks following his death in June. Without having a precedent for such a feat, Billboard just reported the Top Comprehensive chart, made things up as they went along, but didn't budge on the rules.

In September, the Beatles released their entire body of work digitally remastered. Once again, these titles were excluded from the flagship Billboard 200 album chart, but they dominated the Comprehensive chart.

Nothing like this has ever happened before, or at least happened with the ability to track it. Several Elvis Presley albums probably outsold Fleetwood Mac's Rumors in 1977 following his death, but until the advent of Soundscan in 1991, album sales couldn't be tracked as precisely. With two high profile instances of catalog albums outselling new releases, both dealing with two of the biggest artists in popular musical history, Billboard has decided to tweak their chart.

For an industry in decline, reporting album sales this way makes sense. Sure, Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga will be big sellers this Christmas, but so will Michael Jackson and the Beatles. My big question is will Dark Side of the Moon rocket up the chart out of nowhere, and, if it does, who is still buying it?

Underwood Plays On

Carrie Underwood's third studio album, Play On, debuted at the top of the Billbaord 200 last Tuesday and moved 320,000 copies in its first week, becoming her second #1 album. This marks the highest first week sales of a female artist in 2009.

The first single, "Cowboy Casanova", has reached the top of the Country Hot 100 in record time, becoming the Oklahoma native's 11th #1 single. Underwood is no dummy; she's mastered a fail-proof formula that has brought her incredible success, and her third album strays very little from this formula.

It wasn't long after being crowned the fourth America Idol in 2005 that Underwood established herself as a powerful force in the music industry and quickly became the most decorated new-comer in the business. Her list of awards to date is astounding: 7 AMAs, 5 CMAs, 8 ACMAs, 14 Billboard Awards, 4 Grammys, and the most prestigious of all honors for country music stars, becoming an inductee into the Grand Ole Opry.

Album sales reflected this surge in popularity; her debut album, Some Hearts, has been certified 7x platinum, making it the highest selling female country artist debut ever, and her follow-up, Carnival Ride, has sold nearly 3 million records in the U.S. alone. With ten #1 singles under her belt, two critically-acclaimed blockbuster albums, and countless honors and awards, Underwood's third effort came with some pretty high expectations.

Whether you're a country music fan or not, there's no denying Underwood's incredible talent. Each of her albums have been polished, sparkly productions, with impeccable, near flawless vocals from Underwood. And that's where this effort falls a little flat -- it's too neat. It's too much of the same.

Play On has all the staples: The treacly love songs with lines like, "Life is short, love is sweet"? Check. The kiss-off anthem complete with sass and growl? Check, check and check. The tear-jerker about a starving child, a leaving lover, or a old man on his death bed? Of course. The title track brimming with inspirational messages? To be sure! As an artist, Underwood could really benefit from taking a few risks and stretching herself artistically.

Then again, Country music hasn't really changed since...ever. If you were to look up the term "old-fashioned" in a dictionary, you just might find yourself looking at a picture of a Country singer. So if Underwood isn't looking to broaden her fan base, general appeal, or musicality, she deserves all the accolades the country music world so liberally gives.

Beatlemania Never Looked So Demented

The Billboard website was having some glitches so the headlines to their top stories weren't in sync with the graphics. It made for some funny images.

Chart Watch: One-Two Punches

With Michael Jackson's passing, all news of the Black Eyed Peas chart achievements became seemingly irrelevant. For the first time in the 18-year history of Soundscan, the company responsible for tracking album sales, catalog albums are outselling new releases. Michael Jackson's Number Ones is outselling B.E.P.'s The E.N.D. on roughly a two-to-one margin and even Thriller is selling more than the hip-pop group's set.

Regardless, the Black Eyed Peas were able to pull off two feats this month that elluded the King of Pop. The first was their having both the No. 1 and No. 2 song in the country, something that only happened twelve times in Billboard's history when "I've Gotta Feelin'" moved into the second spot behind "Boom Boom Pow". Two weeks later "Feelin'" overtook "Pow" to make the Peas the tenth act to replace themselves at No. 1. Michael Jackson came close in 1983 but "Come On Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runner kept "Beat It" from succeeding "Billie Jean" for a single week.

Below are the songs that make up the elite list of 1-2 punches. The Beatles are the only act to have more than the top 2 spots at any given time. Their explosive debut in the United States in 1964 gave them complete control over the top 5 . Nine of the twelve instances have occured in the 2000s thanks in part to the popularity of collaborations. Three instances owe their 1-2 dominance to an artist having lead credit on one single and a featuring credit on another (Ashanti in 2002, 50 Cent in 2005, and Akon in 2007). Welcome to the club Fergie.

Elvis Presley 1956

1. "Hound Dog"/"Don't Be Cruel"

2. "Love Me Tender:

The Beatles 1964

1. "Can't But Me Love"

2. "Twist And Shout"

3. "She Loves You"

4. "I Want To Hold Your Hand"

5. "Please Please Me"

The Bee Gees 1978

1. "Night Fever"

2. "Stayin' Alive"

Ashanti 2002

1. "Foolish"

2. "What's Luv?" (Fat Joe featuring Ashanti)Nelly 2002

1. "Hot In Herre"

2. "Dilemma" featuring Kelly Rowland

OutKast 2003

1. "Hey Ya!"

2. "The Way You Move" featuring Sleepy Brown50 Cent 2005

1. "Candy Shop"

2. "Hate It Or Leave It" (The Game featuring 50 Cent)Mariah Carey 2005

1. "We Belong Together"

2. "Shake It Off"Akon 2006

1. "I Wanna Love You" featuring Snoop Dogg

2. "Smack That" featuring EminemAkon 2007

1. "Don't Matter"

2. "The Sweet Escape" (Gwen Stefani featuring Akon)T.I. 2008

1. "Live Your Life" featuring Rihanna

2. "Whatever You Like"The Black Eyed Peas 2009

1. "Boom Boom Pow"

2. "I Gotta Feelin'"

Billboard Releases Their Top Singles, Albums of 2008

Billboard Magazine's year end review of the 2008's top performing singles and albums has just been released and topping the lists were a song and record that were both released in...2007. Flo Rida's "Low" is the chart's #1 single, and Alica Key's As I Am topped the album list. "Low", which spent ten weeks at the summit from January to March, but actually made its radio debut September of '07. As I Am was released only two months later, in November.

Each of these respective chart toppers benefit from the way Billboard defines 2008. In order to meet the constraints of printing the year end issue of the magazine, Billboard's calender year runs from December 2007 to November 2008. This helps Keys more than anyone, as her album sold 1.8 million copies, half of its total sales, between Black Friday and New Years. If last December weren't included in the tally, Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III would be the undisputed champion.

Coming in second place for the singles list is Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love" giving Lewis the highest year end rating for a British artist since Elton John's "Candle In The Wind" topped the ranking in 1997. Songwriter Ryan Tedder, responsible for "Bleeding Love" will be rolling in the royalty checks as his group, OneRepublic, also scored the #5 song. The most prolific artist is Chris Brown who landed four songs in the top 20 (#6, #9, #10, and #19) while Rihanna managed three (#12, #16, and #17).

Top Hot 100 Singles of 2008:
1. Flo Rida feat. T-Pain, “Low”
2. Leona Lewis, “Bleeding Love”
3. Alicia Keys, “No One”
4. Lil Wayne feat. Static Major, “Lollipop”
5. Timbaland feat. OneRepublic, “Apologize”
6. Jordin Sparks with Chris Brown, “No Air”
7. Sara Bareilles, “Love Song”
8. Usher feat. Young Jeezy, “Love In This Club”
9. Chris Brown, “With You”
10. Chris Brown, “Forever”
11. Ray J & Yung Berg, “Sexy Can I”
12. Rihanna, “Take a Bow”
13. Coldplay, “Viva La Vida”
14. Katy Perry, “I Kissed a Girl”
15. T.I., “Whatever You Like”
16. Rihanna, “Disturbia”
17. Rihanna, “Don't Stop the Music”
18. Natasha Bedingfield, “Pocketful of Sunshine”
19. Chris Brown feat. T-Pain, “Kiss Kiss”
20. Ne-Yo, “Closer”

These are the top 50 songs to ever chart on the Billboard Hot 100. (Click on the chart to see a larger image.) How did they determine this list? Billboard explains it all here. Chubby Checker's "The Twist" is the top song of all time. It's actually the only song to ever hit #1 two different years, once in 1960 and once in 1962. There are three songs that made the list that never made it to #1. They are LeAnn Rimes' "How Do I Live" (#4), Jewel's "Foolish Games/You Were Meant For Me" (#15), and OneRepublic's Timbaland-remixed "Apologize" (#50) all peaked at #2. The Bee Gees and Boyz II Men are tied with the most tracks on the list with three apiece. The Beatles and Mariah Carey scored two apiece. If Paul McCartney is counted in all his incarnations (with the Beatles, Wings, and solo) he comes in with four in the top 50. As a family, the Gibbs add a single by their brother Andy to their three Bee Gees hits.

In the 50 year history of the Billboard Hot 100, 23 songs have topped the charts for 10 weeks or longer. These songs are so diverse that it would make the weirdest mix with the most counter-intuitive track listing ("Candle In The Wind" followed by "Macarena"?) and there probably are a lot of things that just piss you off about it (Two Santana songs? Two Mariah Carey songs? Thank Heavens Carrie Underwood's "Inside Your Heaven" went #1 for a week during the reign of "We Belong Together" or it would have 15 weeks at #1. Ew.). Regardless, here are the songs with the longest stay at #1:

To celebrate 50 years of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, 17 Tracks will highlight the chart's record breakers, chart toppers, and milestones for the next two weeks. Perhaps the most important record is that of most #1 hits of all time. There's a bit of controversy surrounding the inclusion of Elvis Presley. The Hot 100 was first complied in August of 1958 by combining the airplay, jukebox play, and sales. Ten of Presley's 17 #1's came before the creation of the Hot 100 but reached pole position on the pop chart. Some chart watchers count pre-Hot 100 hits while some do not. Here, we will. Elvis is the freaking King of Rock n' Roll; how can we not include him?