Catching Up With My Charts

Mel's Weekly Top 20
Week of February 21, 2010
Be Sure to Check out Mel's Weekly Top 20 website

This Week - Song Title - Artist - Last Week

1. Hey, Soul Sister - Train - 2
2. Need You Now - Lady Antebellum - 1
3. Telephone - Lady GaGa Feat. Beyoncé - 3
4. Two Is Better Than One - Boys Like Girls
featuring Taylor Swift - 4
5. Bad Romance - Lady GaGa - 5
6. Breakeven - The Script - 7
7. If You Only Knew - Shinedown - 6
8. White Liar - Miranda Lambert - 9
9. Tik Tok (Radio Remix) - Kesha - 10
10. According to You - Orianthi - 11
11. Chasing Pirates - Norah Jones - 8
12. Hollywood - Marina and the Diamonds - 15
13. You and Me - Dave Matthews Band - 13
14. Walk With You - Ringo Starr - 17
15. Letters from the Sky - Civil Twilight - 18
16. We The People - Ray Stevens - 12
17. Hard (featuring Young Jeezy) - Rihanna - 14
18. Imma Be - The Black Eyed Peas - new
19. Temporary Home - Carrie Underwood - new
20. Smile - Uncle Kracker - new

CHART NOTES

Train has the new #1 track this week. "Hey Soul Sister" displaces the long running "Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum at the top spot, moving there from the #2 slot last week. The latter moves down from #1 to #2. Both are great songs.

Elsewhere on the chart we got 3 new debut tracks including "Imma Be" by Black Eyed Peas, "Temporary Home" by Carrie Underwood and "Smile" by Uncle Kracker.

R.I.P. Doug Feiger



Doug Feiger, lead singer of The Knack passed away on February 14. He was 57 and succumbed to cancer. Sad. While The Knack's popularity was short lived, they will always be remembered for 1979's biggest power pop hit, "My Sharona." I think in modern power pop / new wave / alt rock history, no song was bigger than "My Sharona". It was #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 for 6 weeks.

The single was the lead off on side 2 of The Knack's debut album "Get the Knack" which also featured 10 other great songs such as "She's So Selfish", "Maybe Tonight," "Lucinda", "Oh Tara" and "Good Girls Don't."

I have the original album on vinyl as well as the single, "My Sharona". Back in the day when I did some "disco DJ" work, I'd play "My Sharona" at many dances just to break up the monotony of the same old beat. People either loved or hated the rock vibe that echoed on the dance floor. It was fun and signaled a change for music yet to come.

Years later I also bought the CD version of Get The Knack which was ripped into iTunes and is pictured above in this Apple coverflow sequence.

Larger photo

Mel's Top 10 Oldies
February 18, 2010
As posted to Plannine's Classic Top 30 site

1. Give Up Your Guns - The Buoys
2. Hi Hi Hi - Paul McCartney & Wings
3. The Break Up Song - Greg Kihn Band
4. My Sharona - The Knack
5. Take This Job & Shove It - Johnny Paycheck
6. Love Stinks - J.Geils Band
7. Jolene - Dolly Parton
8. The Rubber Room - Porter Wagoner
9. Another One Bites The Dust - Queen
10. Superstar - The Carpenters

Lady Antebellum on Top Again

The country group Lady Antebellum is at #1 again.

Mel's Weekly Top 20
Week of February 14, 2010 | Website

This Week - Song Title - Artist - Last Week

1. Need You Now (7th Week @ #1!) - Lady Antebellum - 1
2. Hey, Soul Sister - Train - 3
3. Telephone - Lady GaGa Feat. Beyoncé - 4
4. Two Is Better Than One - Boys Like Girls
featuring Taylor Swift - 2
5. Bad Romance - Lady GaGa - 5
6. If You Only Knew - Shinedown - 7
7. Breakeven - The Script - 8
8. Chasing Pirates - Norah Jones - 6
9. White Liar - Miranda Lambert - 11
10. Tik Tok (Radio Remix) - Kesha - 16
11. According to You - Orianthi - 17
12. We The People - Ray Stevens - 12
13. You and Me - Dave Matthews Band - 15
14. Hard (featuring Young Jeezy) - Rihanna - 9
15. Hollywood - Marina and the Diamonds - 19
16. Cowboy Casanova - Carrie Underwood - 10
17. Walk With You - Ringo Starr - 18
18. Letters from the Sky - Civil Twilight - 20
19. I Heard of a Girl - Miss Li - 13
20. Meet Me Halfway - Black Eyed Peas - 14

CHART NOTES:

Lady Antebellum holds on to the #1 spot for the 7th week in a row with "Need You Now." This song is huge. A country crossover hit that has been burning on my chart for weeks. Great song. The last time a song on my chart held the top spot for this long was in 1999, when "Maria" by Blondie was #1 for 7 weeks. Will Lady Antebellum hold on for another week?

Hot on their tails are Train with "Hey Soul Sister" at #2 and "Telephone" by Lady GaGa at #3.

Big movers include Kesha with "Tik Tok" moving from #16 to #10 and Orianthi's "According to You" following, moving up from #17 to #11.

There are no new songs debuting on this week's chart. All 20 songs from last week held on though most changed positions either up or down. We'll probably see new music on the chart next week.

We Are The World 25

This is a remake of the original "We Are The World" written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie. New lyrics were added by Will I Am. Recorded by a new group of today's top rock, pop, r&b and rap artists, the song is now being used as a fundraiser for Haiti earthquake relief.

To donate all you have to do is buy the song. According to the video it's available through Apple's iTunes online store.

More information can be found at the following links:

• We Are The World 25
  
• We Are The World 25 on myspace.com
• We Are The World 25 on YouTube
• We Are The World Wikipedia entry
• We Are The World 25 on iTunes

Mel's Weekly Top 20 - February 7, 2010

Mel's Weekly Top 20
Week of Feburary 4, 2010 | Website

This Week - Song Title - Artist - Last Week

1. Need You Now (6th week @ #1) - Lady Antebellum - 1
2. Two Is Better Than One - Boys Like Girls
featuring Taylor Swift - 2
3. Hey, Soul Sister - Train - 6
4. Telephone - Lady GaGa Feat. Beyoncé - 7
5. Bad Romance - Lady GaGa - 3
6. Chasing Pirates - Norah Jones - 4
7. If You Only Knew - Shinedown - 8
8. Breakeven - The Script - 9
9. Hard (featuring Young Jeezy) - Rihanna - 10
10. Cowboy Casanova - Carrie Underwood - 5
11. White Liar - Miranda Lambert - 13
12. We The People - Ray Stevens - 14
13. I Heard of a Girl - Miss Li - 11
14. Meet Me Halfway - Black Eyed Peas - 12
15. You and Me - Dave Matthews Band - 17
16. Tik Tok (Radio Remix) - Kesha - 18
17. According to You - Orianthi - 19
18. Walk With You - Ringo Starr - 20
19. Hollywood - Marina and the Diamonds - new
20. Letters from the Sky - Civil Twilight - new

CHART NOTES

Lady Antebellum holds on to the #1 song spot for a 6th consecutive week with "Need You Now". Train's "Hey Soul Sister" is at #3 in its 3rd week, up from #6 last week. Lady GaGa follows train with "Telephone" also moving up 3 spots from #7 to #4. Her former number one song "Bad Romance" drops 2 from #3 to #5.

Marina & the Dimaonds' "Hollywood" is our featured video this week with the single making its debut at #19. Civil Twilight also checks in for the first week at #20 with "Letters From the Sky."

My Top 10 Oldies
February 4, 2010.
As submitted to Plannine's Classic Top 30

1. Love Stinks - J. Geils Band
2. Give Up Your Guns - The Buoys
3. No Time - The Guess Who
4. The Break Up Song - Greg Kihn Band
5. Take This Job & Shove It - Johnny Paycheck
6. Hi Hi Hi - Paul McCartney & Wings
7. Wrack My Brain - Ringo Starr
8. In a Gadda Da Vidda - Iron Butterfly
9. Jolene - Dolly Parton
10. The Rubber Room - Porter Wagoner

Leaping, Leaping - January 31, 2010.

Mel's Weekly Top 20
Week of January 31, 2010. | Website

1. Need You Now (5th Week @ #1!) - Lady Antebellum - 1
2. Two Is Better Than One - Boys Like Girls
featuring Taylor Swift - 3
3. Bad Romance - Lady GaGa - 4
4. Chasing Pirates - Norah Jones - 5
5. Cowboy Casanova - Carrie Underwood - 2
6. Hey, Soul Sister - Train - 18
7. Telephone - Lady GaGa Feat. Beyoncé - 19
8. If You Only Knew - Shinedown - 10
9. Breakeven - The Script - 11
10. Hard (featuring Young Jeezy) - Rihanna - 12
11. I Heard of a Girl - Miss Li - 6
12. Meet Me Halfway - Black Eyed Peas - 7
13. White Liar - Miranda Lambert - 13
14. We The People - Ray Stevens - 14
15. It's Your Life - Francesca Battistelli - 8
16. The Sweetest Thing - Camera Obscura - 9
17. You and Me - Dave Matthews Band - 20
18. Tik Tok (Radio Remix) - Kesha - new
19. According to You - Orianthi - new
20. Walk With You - Ringo Starr - new

CHART NOTES

Lots of movement on this week's chart. First of all, the big leaps were accomplished by Train and Lady GaGa.

"Hey Soul Sister", a single by Train that has been lingering around since last year, debut on the top 20 at #18 last week. It leaps to #7 this week. Ditto for "Telephone" by Lady GaGa with Beyonce. That track goes from #19 to #8 this week, an eleven point leap. Can anyone say number one record? Problem is, which one, if any?

Lady Antebellum holds on to the #1 spot with "Need You Now" for the 5th week. The single is now the title track to their brand new album. Great country stuff with lots of pop crossover potential.

Also new to the top 10 is "Breakeven" by The Script, climbing 2 to #9 this week. Also climbing 2 points is Rihanna's "Hard" up from #12 to #10.

Up in the top 5 land, Lady GaGa moves up a point from #4 to #3 with "Bad Romance". This is a former #1 record that also stayed at the top spot for 5 weeks. Rebound anyone?

Be sure to check out our featured video, "Hey Soul Sister" by Train.


The Buoys "Give Up Your Guns" on Sceptor Records (1971).

TOP 10 OLDIES
As submitted to Plannine's Classic Top 30 site

1. Hi Hi Hi - Paul McCartney & Wings
2. Wrack My Brain - Ringo Starr
3. Give Up Your Guns - The Buoys
4. Take A Litle Rhythm - Ali Thompson
5. If Not For You - Olivia Newton John
6. 1984 - Spirit
7. Take This Job & Shove It - Johnny Paycheck
8. Long Time to Be Alone - New Colony Six
9. Crocodile Rock - Elton John
10. You're So Vain - Carly Simon