What about T.I. and Pharrell on Blurred Lines and Rihanna on The Monster?
I don't get why people think that black artists haven't been prominent on the charts lately. So far in 2016, for 21 out of 44 weeks, the #1 spot has been occupied by a black lead artist (Work, One Dance, Panda). If we count black featured artists, that's 34 out of 44 weeks (Cheap Thrills, Closer). And the fact that the next #1 will probably be by another black artist (Starboy).
Now that Starboy is ahead on Spotify, the iTunes #1 is incoming (when combined), and radio is catching up steadily (2M per day), I think it's safe to say it will go #1 officially in the coming weeks??? Youtube is remaining a slight block though.
What about T.I. and Pharrell on Blurred Lines and Rihanna on The Monster?
I don't get why people think that black artists haven't been prominent on the charts lately. So far in 2016, for 21 out of 44 weeks, the #1 spot has been occupied by a black lead artist (Work, One Dance, Panda). If we count black featured artists, that's 34 out of 44 weeks (Cheap Thrills, Closer). And the fact that the next #1 will probably be by another black artist (Starboy).
So this thread turned into a race thread/debate? weird, enjoy music regardless of color! one can't even avoid the black lives matter/race bait crap even on Billboard music threads...
From the week of July 12, 2003 to the week of April 30, 2005, every single Hot 100 #1 was from a black lead artist (any and all featured artists were also black), so maybe that makes up for it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What about T.I. and Pharrell on Blurred Lines and Rihanna on The Monster?
I don't get why people think that black artists haven't been prominent on the charts lately. So far in 2016, for 21 out of 44 weeks, the #1 spot has been occupied by a black lead artist (Work, One Dance, Panda). If we count black featured artists, that's 34 out of 44 weeks (Cheap Thrills, Closer). And the fact that the next #1 will probably be by another black artist (Starboy).
2013 was the first and only year in which no black artists went #1 as lead.
In 2010-2012 it was very bad for any black artists who made Urban music. It was washed off the chart.
Urban songs almost never did great digitally and they messed with airplay. Before that time Urban/Rhythmic was weighed way more heavier and Pop played songs that were hits on Urban/Rhythmic. Urban/Rhythmic lost most of their weight and Pop stopped touching almost any Urban songs.
For example, the amount of Urban songs that were Top 40 this week in 2012 vs 2002
.
2002-10-19 1 Dilemma - Nelly Featuring Kelly Rowland
2 A Moment Like This - Kelly Clarkson 3 Gangsta Lovin' - Eve Featuring Alicia Keys
4 Hey Ma - Cam'ron Featuring Juelz Santana, Freekey Zekey & Toya
5 Work It - Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott
6 Complicated - Avril Lavigne
7 One Last Breath - Creed
8 Underneath It All - No Doubt Featuring Lady Saw 9 Lose Yourself - Eminem
10 Luv U Better - LL Cool J
11 Sk8er Boi - Avril Lavigne 12 Cleanin' Out My Closet - Eminem
13 I Need A Girl (Part Two) - P. Diddy & Ginuwine Featuring Loon, Mario Winans & Tammy Ruggeri
14 Like I Love You - Justin Timberlake 15 Move B***h - Ludacris Featuring Mystikal & Infamous 2.0
16 Gotta Get Thru This - Daniel Bedingfield 17 If I Could Go! - Angie Martinez Featuring Lil' Mo & Sacario
18 Gimme The Light - Sean Paul
19 I Care 4 U - Aaliyah
20 Nothin' - N.O.R.E.
21 The Game Of Love - Santana Featuring Michelle Branch
22 Trade It All - Fabolous Featuring P. Diddy & Jagged Edge
23 Happy - Ashanti
24 Baby - Ashanti
25 Just Like A Pill - Pink 26 Somebody Like You - Keith Urban
27 Goodbye To You - Michelle Branch
28 A Thousand Miles - Vanessa Carlton 29 Po' Folks - Nappy Roots Featuring Anthony Hamilton
30 Ordinary Day - Vanessa Carlton 31 Dontchange - Musiq
32 Beautiful Mess - Diamond Rio
33 Cry - Faith Hill 34 Heaven - DJ Sammy & Yanou Featuring Do
35 Hot In Herre - Nelly
36 Stingy - Ginuwine
37 No Such Thing - John Mayer 38 Jenny From The Block - Jennifer Lopez Featuring Jadakiss & Styles
39 When The Last Time - Clipse
40 Good Times - Styles
2012-10-20
1 One More Night - Maroon 5
2 Gangnam Style - PSY
3 Live While We're Young - One Direction
4 Some Nights - fun.
5 We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - Taylor Swift
6 Red - Taylor Swift
7 As Long As You Love Me - Justin Bieber Featuring Big Sean
8 Skyfall - Adele
9 Blow Me (One Last Kiss) - P!nk
10 Too Close - Alex Clare
11 Good Time - Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen
12 Whistle - Flo Rida
13 Everybody Talks - Neon Trees
14 Die Young - Ke$ha
15 Lights - Ellie Goulding
16 Don't Wake Me Up - Chris Brown
17 Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself) - Ne-Yo
18 Diamonds - Rihanna 19 Clique - Kanye West, Jay-Z, Big Sean
20 Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen
21 Wide Awake - Katy Perry
22 Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye Featuring Kimbra 23 Mercy - Kanye West, Big Sean, Pusha T, 2 Chainz
24 Blown Away - Carrie Underwood
25 Home - Phillip Phillips
26 Pound The Alarm - Nicki Minaj 27 Adorn - Miguel
28 50 Ways To Say Goodbye - Train
29 Payphone - Maroon 5 Featuring Wiz Khalifa
30 Give Your Heart A Break - Demi Lovato
31 Wanted - Hunter Hayes
32 I Will Wait - Mumford & Sons
33 Titanium - David Guetta Featuring Sia
34 Locked Out Of Heaven - Bruno Mars
35 I Won't Give Up - Jason Mraz
36 Finally Found You - Enrique Iglesias Featuring Sammy Adams 37 No Lie - 2 Chainz Featuring Drake
38 Pop That - French Montana Featuring Rick Ross, Drake, Lil Wayne
39 Take A Little Ride - Jason Aldean
40 Ho Hey - The Lumineers
There was a bunch of Urban hits that should've been way higher on the charts (N*ggas in Parris, The Motto, Beez in the Trap, etc should've been atleast Top 10) since they had huge streams, were culturally big, and the artists behind them were selling huge amount of albums like Pop artists with #1 hits. They just didn't have digital sales in their favor, and radio weighting was bias towards Pop/HAC hits.
Now the Hot 100 is pretty good and the most accurate it's ever been. It's not strongly bias towards Pop/HAC hits like before, and not strongly bias towards R&B/Hip-Hop like before. We can also thank streaming for that.
2016 has been the best year for black artists since the early 2000s imo. Drake, Rihanna, Bey, Solange, Frank, Abel, Bruno (?), Kent Jones, DRAM, Nicki, some other I'm probably forgetting all had either a great selling album, a top 10, or both.
2013 was the first and only year in which no black artists went #1 as lead.
In 2010-2012 it was very bad for any black artists who made Urban music. It was washed off the chart.
Urban songs almost never did great digitally and they messed with airplay. Before that time Urban/Rhythmic was weighed way more heavier and Pop played songs that were hits on Urban/Rhythmic. Urban/Rhythmic lost most of their weight and Pop stopped touching almost any Urban songs.
For example, the amount of Urban songs that were Top 40 this week in 2012 vs 2002
.
2002-10-19 1 Dilemma - Nelly Featuring Kelly Rowland
2 A Moment Like This - Kelly Clarkson 3 Gangsta Lovin' - Eve Featuring Alicia Keys
4 Hey Ma - Cam'ron Featuring Juelz Santana, Freekey Zekey & Toya
5 Work It - Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott
6 Complicated - Avril Lavigne
7 One Last Breath - Creed
8 Underneath It All - No Doubt Featuring Lady Saw 9 Lose Yourself - Eminem
10 Luv U Better - LL Cool J
11 Sk8er Boi - Avril Lavigne 12 Cleanin' Out My Closet - Eminem
13 I Need A Girl (Part Two) - P. Diddy & Ginuwine Featuring Loon, Mario Winans & Tammy Ruggeri
14 Like I Love You - Justin Timberlake 15 Move B***h - Ludacris Featuring Mystikal & Infamous 2.0
16 Gotta Get Thru This - Daniel Bedingfield 17 If I Could Go! - Angie Martinez Featuring Lil' Mo & Sacario
18 Gimme The Light - Sean Paul
19 I Care 4 U - Aaliyah
20 Nothin' - N.O.R.E.
21 The Game Of Love - Santana Featuring Michelle Branch
22 Trade It All - Fabolous Featuring P. Diddy & Jagged Edge
23 Happy - Ashanti
24 Baby - Ashanti
25 Just Like A Pill - Pink 26 Somebody Like You - Keith Urban
27 Goodbye To You - Michelle Branch
28 A Thousand Miles - Vanessa Carlton 29 Po' Folks - Nappy Roots Featuring Anthony Hamilton
30 Ordinary Day - Vanessa Carlton 31 Dontchange - Musiq
32 Beautiful Mess - Diamond Rio
33 Cry - Faith Hill 34 Heaven - DJ Sammy & Yanou Featuring Do
35 Hot In Herre - Nelly
36 Stingy - Ginuwine
37 No Such Thing - John Mayer 38 Jenny From The Block - Jennifer Lopez Featuring Jadakiss & Styles
39 When The Last Time - Clipse
40 Good Times - Styles
2012-10-20
1 One More Night - Maroon 5
2 Gangnam Style - PSY
3 Live While We're Young - One Direction
4 Some Nights - fun.
5 We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - Taylor Swift
6 Red - Taylor Swift
7 As Long As You Love Me - Justin Bieber Featuring Big Sean
8 Skyfall - Adele
9 Blow Me (One Last Kiss) - P!nk
10 Too Close - Alex Clare
11 Good Time - Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen
12 Whistle - Flo Rida
13 Everybody Talks - Neon Trees
14 Die Young - Ke$ha
15 Lights - Ellie Goulding
16 Don't Wake Me Up - Chris Brown
17 Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself) - Ne-Yo
18 Diamonds - Rihanna 19 Clique - Kanye West, Jay-Z, Big Sean
20 Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen
21 Wide Awake - Katy Perry
22 Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye Featuring Kimbra 23 Mercy - Kanye West, Big Sean, Pusha T, 2 Chainz
24 Blown Away - Carrie Underwood
25 Home - Phillip Phillips
26 Pound The Alarm - Nicki Minaj 27 Adorn - Miguel
28 50 Ways To Say Goodbye - Train
29 Payphone - Maroon 5 Featuring Wiz Khalifa
30 Give Your Heart A Break - Demi Lovato
31 Wanted - Hunter Hayes
32 I Will Wait - Mumford & Sons
33 Titanium - David Guetta Featuring Sia
34 Locked Out Of Heaven - Bruno Mars
35 I Won't Give Up - Jason Mraz
36 Finally Found You - Enrique Iglesias Featuring Sammy Adams 37 No Lie - 2 Chainz Featuring Drake
38 Pop That - French Montana Featuring Rick Ross, Drake, Lil Wayne
39 Take A Little Ride - Jason Aldean
40 Ho Hey - The Lumineers
There was a bunch of Urban hits that should've been way higher on the charts (N*ggas in Parris, The Motto, Beez in the Trap, etc should've been atleast Top 10) since they had huge streams, were culturally big, and the artists behind them were selling huge amount of albums like Pop artists with #1 hits. They just didn't have digital sales in their favor, and radio weighting was bias towards Pop/HAC hits.
Now the Hot 100 is pretty good and the most accurate it's ever been. It's not strongly bias towards Pop/HAC hits like before, and not strongly bias towards R&B/Hip-Hop like before. We can also thank streaming for that.
Black people were dominating the charts in 2014 and 2015. Don't Wake Me Up, Pound The Alarm, Where Have You Been, Scream, Let Me Love You were all huge under-performances and also very airplay driven. Pound The Alarm and Where Have You Been in particular most people were expecting to be #1. And I'm pretty sure Let Me Love You and Don't Wake Me Up would have been #1s (or close) in 2008 considering how hard Closer and Forever smashed at the time.
In 2014 and 2015 Happy, All Of Me, Hot N*gga, Trap Queen, Nasty Freestyle, See You Again, The Hills, Cheerleader, Hotline Bling, etc. were smashing lol.
You said dance-pop was finished in 2012-13 and black artists couldn't guarantee hits like that, but all those were hits during that period. AirPlay driven or not. And they didn't underperform too bad based on their year end positions. I made no mention of Pound the Alarm - just the numerous top ten hits by black artists with dance songs. Actually forgot about WHYB, the end tail of WFL. Both of LMFAOs hits, a few more from Flo etc.
And I meant 2014-15 as far as that trend dying out. Applying better to what you said.
You said dance-pop was finished in 2012-13 and black artists couldn't guarantee hits like that, but all those were hits during that period. AirPlay driven or not. And they didn't underperform too bad based on their year end positions. I made no mention of Pound the Alarm - just the numerous top ten hits by black artists with dance songs. Actually forgot about WHYB, the end tail of WFL. Both of LMFAOs hits, a few more from Flo etc.
And I meant 2014-15 as far as that trend dying out. Applying better to what you said.
Oh I see.
I would still say those songs were under-performances. Were they still hits? Yes. But you have to realise how many people were insisting Where Have You Been was an obvious #1 (and it's understandable because we'd become accustomed to dance-pop songs going #1 all the time effortlessly). Yet, it didn't come close. It was a shock to many people, they didn't know why. Some people also thought Pound The Alarm would be bigger than Starships, obviously NOW looking back it seems ridiculous people ever said that, but honestly before it was released people were saying it could be bigger. It was another shock for people, it was nowhere near as big as Starships. Like it did roughly as well as Truffle Butter and Only.
And with Flo Rida his least dance-y single was the one that went to #1, which was also significant imo.
If Lady Gaga or Ke$ha released a ballad in 2010 (or even a mid-tempo like Diamonds) they would have flopped. That's why they never released one until after Adele started smashing in the US.
New Peaks: #29 Various Artists - The RCA-List (Revised) ( + 2) #42 D.R.A.M. - Google Play: Live At The Milk Jamroom (EP) ( + 4) #149 Grace - Memo (EP) (RE)
New Entries: #1 Green Day - Revolution Radio #2 Norah Jones - Day Breaks #3 OneRepublic - Oh My My #8 Alter Bridge - The Last Hero #9 Phantogram - Three #13 Dance Gavin Dance - Mothership #17 Meshuggah - The Violent Sleep Of Reason #19 Phish - Big Boat #22 Sum 41 - 13 Voices #26 BTS - Wings #34 Melissa Etheridge - Memphis Rock And Soul #35 Colbie Caillat - The Malibu Sessions #36 Daya - Stil Still, Look Pretty #51 Set It Off - Upside Down #54 NOFX - First Ditch Effort #56 The Devil Wears Prada - Transit Blues #63 Barry Gibb - In The Now #71 Fit For A King - Deathgrip #83 Shovels & Rope - Little Seeds #99 Rend Collective - Camplife II: Simplicity #100 Britt Nicole - Britt Nicole #137 Balance And Composure - Light We Made #175 Third Eye Blind - We Are Drugs (EP) #177 Tucker Beathard - Fight Like Hell (EP) #184 A Boogie Wit da Hoodie - Artist #192 Joyce Manor - Cody
Re-Entries: #96 Green Day - International Superhits! #116 Bruno Mars - Doo-Wops & Hooligans #132 Van Halen - 5150 #147 Bruno Mars - Unorthodox Jukebox #149 Grace - Memo (EP) #150 Garth Brooks - The Ultimate Hits #179 Maxwell - blackSUMMERS'night #193 Green Day - American Idiot #196 The Beatles - Abbey Road
Biggest Jumps: + 43 Jon Bellion - The Human Condition (#144 - #101) + 38 PARTYNEXTDOOR - PARTYNEXTDOOR 3 (P3) (#84 - #46) + 35 The Head And The Heart - Signs Of Light (#150 - #115) + 22 Skillet - Unleashed (#146 - #124) + 21 Jon Pardi - California Sunrise (#193 - #172) + 19 Various Artists - WOW Hits 2017 (#93 - #74) + 19 Eminem - Curtain Call: The Hits (#131 - #112) + 17 Queen - Greatest Hits I II & III: The Platinum Collection (#122 - #105) + 15 Blake Shelton - If I'm Honest (#99 - #84) + 15 Lil Yachty - Lil' Boat (#143 - #128)
Biggest Falls: - 150 Opeth - Sorceress (#24 - #174) - 137 John Prine - For Better, Or Worse (#30 - #167) - 127 Banks - The Altar (#17 - #144) - 113 Blink-182 - California (#25 - #138) - 107 Drive-By Truckers - American Band (#26 - #133) - 104 Bob Weir - Blue Mountain (#14 - #118) - 92 William Michael Morgan - Vinyl (#65 - #157) - 62 Britney Spears - Glory (#138 - #200) - 60 The Beatles - 1 (#120 - #180) - 50 Ty Dolla $ign - Campaign (#91 - #141)
Most Weeks In Top 200: 439 weeks: Bob Marley And The Wailers - Legend: The Best Of... 430 weeks: Journey - Journey's Greatest Hits 400 weeks: Metallica - Metallica 374 weeks: Guns N' Roses - Greatest Hits 339 weeks: Nirvana - Nevermind 311 weeks: Eminem - Curtain Call: The Hits 295 weeks: Adele - 21 293 weeks: Bruno Mars - Doo-Wops & Hooligans 290 weeks: Creedence Clearwater Revival - Chronicle The 20 Greatest Hits 289 weeks: Eminem - The Eminem Show
What's the difference between #1 and #2? I love Closer but I don't want it at #1 for more weeks!!
Even if the video has a big effect, I doubt Closer will be #1 for much longer (unless it gets a discount or promo). Starboy is increasing in all metrics, especially radio where Closer is getting ready to peak.