Ask Billboard is updated every Friday. Submit your burning music questions to Gary Trust at askbb@billboard.com. Please include your first and last name, as well as your city, state and country, if outside the U.S.



THE SO-LO-DOWN

Hi Gary,

Get ready for an extremely geeky chart-related e-mail. It addresses a big, unanswered question I've had for years, and I would really love to hear your thoughts.

In yesterday's Chart Beat Thursday (May 6), you list the artists with the most Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s. I'm curious as to why you grant Paul McCartney the chart-toppers that are credited solely to Wings but don't give George Michael the same credit for Wham! hits that reached No. 1.

I understand that McCartney was the driving force of Wings and that some of his band's hits were credited to Paul McCartney & Wings, but by either rationale, shouldn't Michael also be considered owner of 10 chart leaders? Counting solo singles and Wham! hits, he has also topped the Hot 100 10 times. He was certainly the creative force of Wham! (no offense to Andrew Ridgeley), and in the United States, one of his group's No. 1 singles ("Careless Whisper") was credited to Wham! featuring George Michael.

Strictly speaking, in fact, Michael has more chart-toppers to his name than Paul McCartney. His name appears on eight No. 1s, while McCartney's appears on six. (Wham! is solely credited with two No. 1s, and Wings are solely credited with three).

For the record, these are Wham!/Michael's 10 No. 1s on the Hot 100:

"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" (Wham!), 1984
"Careless Whisper" (Wham! featuring George Michael), 1985
"Everything She Wants" (Wham!), 1985
"I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (duet with Aretha Franklin), 1987
"Faith," 1987
"Father Figure," 1988
"One More Try," 1988
"Monkey," 1988
"Praying for Time," 1990
"Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" (duet with Elton John), 1992

I ask about all this because I see the Wings/McCartney and Wham!/Michael combination in various chart books and websites, and I always wonder what keeps chart followers from creating the same combination for any major star who leaves a group for a solo career.

Using another example, if we're going to say that Wings contributes to McCartney's solo chart totals, then why not say that Cher can count Sonny & Cher's hits, including the No. 1 "I Got You Babe," in hers? Yes, Sonny & Cher was a consistent duo, but Wings was also a band with consistent members.

Again, this has confused me for years. Thanks for your help in untangling this knot!

Cheers,

Mark Blankenship
Brooklyn, New York


Hi Mark,

This topic has confounded the Billboard charts department a bit, too.

For a definitive answer on Billboard's policy on classifying solo vs. group credits for certain artists whose discographies sport gray areas regarding their solo careers, I asked director of charts Silvio Pietroluongo. Here is his response:

"When Billboard was compiling our Hot 100 50th Anniversary chart special in 2008, we had to make some difficult choices when it came to artist histories. Your point of view, Mark, is certainly valid, and it's hard to say if there is a right or wrong way of determining such No. 1 totals.

"We decided to include all No. 1s for Paul McCartney under Wings since he charted titles under his name as both a solo act and under the Paul McCartney & Wings banner. How this is different than George Michael, in our opinion, is that McCartney was a known entity before forming Wings, and he was credited by name on the band's earlier singles.

"George Michael was born out of Wham! To us, that was no different than merging Phil Collins' history with Genesis or Rob Thomas' history with Matchbox Twenty, which are classifications we do not make."



YOU'RE IN AND YOU'RE OUT, YOU'RE UP AND YOU'RE DOWN

Hello Gary!

As always, your work with Billboard and "Chart Beat" is greatly appreciated by chart geeks like myself.

Over the years, I've noticed some big gains and drops within the top 40 and the entire Hot 100. In 1979, I remember "Tusk" by Fleetwood Mac leaping from No. 40 to 15, while during the same chart period, the Commordores' "Still" soared from No. 38 to 10. In 1980, I remember Alice Cooper's "(We're All) Clones" tumbling from its peak of No. 40 to 93.

Bold chart moves, however, have seemed more noticeable in recent years. On the plus side, Kelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You" made a record-setting jump from No. 97 to 1 last year. Conversely, there have some heady drops on the Hot 100 of late, including great songs from the "Glee" cast. Sadly, the act's remakes don't usually stick around for long, such as its cover of "Like a Prayer," which plummets 69 notches from its No. 27 debut last week to No. 96 this week.

If possible, I'd like to know the biggest jumps and falls within the full Hot 100 and the chart's top 40. Just one of those weird chart angles in which I'm interested.

(And, as a side note and shout out, spending its seventh week on the Hot 100 is the No. 37-peaking hit (and first single) "I'm Awesome" by rapper Spose - from Wells, Maine, just down the road!)

Thanks,

Ron Raymond, Jr.
Music Director, WMPG-FM
Portland, Maine


Hi Ron,

Hope all is well in Maine. Being from Boston, I know that the upcoming warm summer months there have so much to offer. I'm getting hungry now just thinking of all the seafood shacks along the southern Maine coast. Nothing like piping hot fried clams (with stomachs, of course) at the end of a long day at the beach.

Oh right ... your e-mail was about charts, not delicious food.

You are correct that several songs have logged notable plummets on recent Hot 100s. In an era of digital downloads, such moves are fairly common, especially with weekly "Glee" tracks that are top of mind only until new tracks by the troupe are released alongside the next week's episode. In other instances, album tracks may impact the Hot 100 the week an album is released, then drop the following frame.

With four of the chart's five sharpest week-to-week descents having occurred since 2008, here is a look at the Hot 100's top all-time plunges:

Position Drop, Title, Artist (Year)
73 (13-86), "Hallelujah," Justin Timberlake & Matt Morris featuring Charlie Sexton (2010)
73 (21-94), "Never Let You Go," Justin Bieber (2010)
73 (16-89), "Pushin' Me Away," Jonas Brothers (2008)
72 (20-92), "The Beatles' Movie Medley," the Beatles (1982)
71 (23-94), "The Other Side of the Door," Taylor Swift (2009)

Within the top 40, the starkest week-to-week dip belongs to Linkin Park's "New Divide." The song sunk 6-39 on the chart dated June 13, 2009.

More positively, here are the chart's biggest week-to-week jumps, which now tend to occur when a song debuts low on the Hot 100 based only on airplay, then vaults after a strong opening sales week for its digital single:

Position Jump, Title, Artist (Year)
96 (97-1), "My Life Would Suck Without You," Kelly Clarkson (2009)
95 (96-1), "Womanizer," Britney Spears (2008)
91 (94-3), "Beautiful Liar," Beyonce & Shakira (2007)
88 (95-7), "Smack That," Akon featuring Eminem (2006)
85 (96-11), "Cowboy Casanova," Carrie Underwood (2009)
85 (100-15), "Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)," A R Rahman & the Pussycat Dolls featuring Nicole Scherzinger (2009)

Inside top 40, the greatest week-to-week climb was logged by the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow," which flew 39-1 on the chart dated April 18, 2009.