Ed. note: Chris "dennisobell" Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on this week's Billboard charts:
As I look at this week's charts, I recall a 1994 interview in which Paul McCartney assured the world that the highly anticipated, ultimately anticlimactic 1995 Beatles single "Free as a Bird" would have a "grungy" guitar sound.
As with so many things, Sir Paul was just ahead of his time—14 years later, one of the Fab Four's most cherished chart records would be nearly equaled by a dude who can make anything, even "Eleanor Rigby," sound like grunge.
That record is for most songs on the Billboard Hot 100 by a single act. It was set on April 11, 1964, by the Beatles, who were credited on 14 of that week's 100 songs. The Fabs still hold this record, for now.
But thanks to a confluence of chart-tabulation quirks, this week a former bartender from Missouri—who until now had never appeared on any Billboard chart—comes close to tying it, placing 11 songs on the Hot 100 all at once. In so doing, David Cook sets a new, blowout record for most debuts, comes within spitting distance of the Fabs' record, and generally makes the chart grungier than it's been since Paul gave that interview.
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Idolator
Auditions for season eight of American Idol kick off next week, and a slight alteration to the rules means that we may see some of the faces from last year again come January. The only people from last year's show who are barred from trying out again, aside from those who have signed to a record label like car-dwelling hopeful Josiah Leming, are those who made the top 24—a change from previous years, which barred people who placed as low as 44th. Does this mean that the Idol producers are so scared of the unplumbed talent reserves out there, they're looking to go back to the well of people who were OK, but not as charismatic as Ramiele Malubay? Is Paula getting tired of having to remember so many new people? Or do the powers that be really want to play up Kyle Ensley's political leanings in the wake of the Presidential inauguration?
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