Ryan Book

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  • Mariah Carey, Madonna and TLC: The Longest Hot 100 Streaks of 1995

    TLC celebrated the beginning of its longest streak on the Hot 100 on this date 20 years ago, as "Waterfalls" topped the singles charts for seven weeks afterward. Now, the Hot 100 is different than the Billboard 200 in that it's rare for any one album to top the chart for more than a few weeks, while songs can rack up huge runs on their chart. For example, only two albums have been at no. 1 for more than one week during 2015 (Taylor Swift's 1989 and Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly), while Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk" has ruled the Hot 100 for 14 weeks thus far (the other 14 weeks have been split between Swift and Wiz Khalifa). Five songs managed to stay at no. 1 for seven weeks or more during 1995...so at least 35 of the year's 52 weeks were owned by just five songs. Check out the playlist of '95's most popular tracks.

  • 5 First No. 1s: 2001 vs 2015; Destiny's Child, Meek Mill and Blink-182 Face Off

    This week marked an unusual accomplishment on the Billboard 200: For the first time in 14 years, the last five no. 1 albums on the chart have been from performers who had never been to the top before. We went back to check out what five albums were hot sellers during that period and compared them to this year's first-timers, to see what "generation" has the better taste. Old millennials, get ready to spar with the young millennials. We lined the albums up from one-to-five, based on where in the order they fell during their respective years.

  • Meek Mill Dominates Billboard 200; Miguel, Taylor Swift Try to Keep Up

    Things started off big on the Billboard 200, with Meek Mill's 'Dreams Worth More Than Money', but then quickly dropped off. Mill might argue that his ideals have more philosophical value, but he can't argue with the financial results: Dreams opened with 246,000 in equivalent sales, easily marking his best sales week ever, as well as the fourth-largest opening of 2015 (trailing only Drake's 'If You're Reading This It's Too Late,' Kendrick Lamar's 'To Pimp A Butterfly' and Mumford & Sons' 'Wilder Mind').

  • Ariana Grande All-Star Game Concert Cancelled Amid Donut Fallout

    Ariana Grande's quest for the career All-Star Game Grand Slam has been hampered as sources indicate the performer's free concert ahead of this weekend's MLB All-Star Game in Cincinnati has been cancelled. No confirmation has been given whether the decision was passed down by the pop star's camp of if Major League Baseball made the decision...either way, there's no doubt that the now-viral "donut incident" is the cause.

  • Grateful Dead's 'Fare Thee Well' Concerts Earns Estimated $55 Million

    The Grateful Dead has never been about the money...but the "Fare Thee Well" concert seems to have provided quite enough to supplement its members' retirements (in case they don't continue with their other acts). Although AEG Live hasn't opted to reveal any of the financial information for the two weekends of the concert series, Billboard has compiled its own estimate and concluded that the band made, at the very least, $55 million over the last two weeks.

  • Snoop Dogg, Amitis Sued for Blasphemy for Religious Imagery in 'King' Video

    Snoop Dogg has inadvertently gotten himself wrapped up in controversy after starring in a music video that has inspired a lawsuit from the Indian Zoroastrian community, alleging that the clip features blasphemy and should be blamed. The video for "King" comes from Iranian-American pop performer Amitis, and features the rapper sitting on a throne, smoking a joint with the religious imagery in the background, which brought allegations of blasphemy.

  • 8 Big City Mayors Sing Lorde, LL Cool J, Idina Menzel and More [VIDEO]

    Philadelphia citizens and hip-hops fans got a gift over the weekend when Mayor Michael Nutter joined The Roots onstage at the Philly Fourth of July Jam to perform the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight." His performance was flawless and he ended the performance by dropping the microphone and exiting the stage. It was, truly, one of the best musical performances from a politician that we've ever seen, but mayors-on-the-mic is all the rage recently, perhaps inspired by Barack Obama and his many soulful appearances. Here's seven other city heads that have stood in the spotlight...willingly or otherwise.

  • Amy Winehouse Documentary Breaks Film Records in the UK; Acclaim and Controversy

    Amy Winehouse is the name behind the second most-hyped documentary of the year thus far, and it paid off, creating the largest homeland opening weekend for a British documentary in history (the most-hyped doc has to be 'Montage of Heck,' the recently released film on Kurt Cobain). 'Amy,' directed by Asif Kapadia, brought in more than $800,000 in the UK. Good reviews and an expansion from 133 theaters to 200 will keep that number rising.

  • 'Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' Meets 'Grand Theft Auto V' in Clever Video

    Will Smith doesn't have to cuss in his rap to sell records, so it doesn't seem obvious to correlate his hit TV show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air with Grand Theft Auto. Yet YouTube user Merfish has recreated the entire opening sequence of the sitcom using the newest chapter of the controversial video game series.

  • Did A McDonald's Employee Replace Happy Meal Toys with His Mixtape?

    A McDonald's employee in Chicago has reportedly been fired when it was found that he was replacing the toys in Happy Meals with copies of his mixtape. Music Times places extra emphasis on "reported" because the story hasn't appeared on too many reputable news organizations, although the hilarity behind it would certainly justify one. Regardless, it ended up on Power 105's blog and that's good enough for us.
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