Billboard Hot 100: 12/09/2023

[Soulsista]

Billboard Top 10 from 40, 35, 30, 25, and 20 years ago:

December 10, 1983

01 02 Say Say Say - Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson (1st of 6 weeks at #1)
02 01 All Night Long (All Night) - Lionel Richie
03 03 Uptown Girl - Billy Joel
04 05 Say It Isn't So - Daryl Hall & John Oates
05 06 Love Is a Battlefield - Pat Benatar
06 04 Islands In The Stream - Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton
07 11 Union Of The Snake - Duran Duran
08 07 Cum On Feel The Noize - Quiet Riot
09 09 Crumblin' Down - John Cougar Mellencamp
10 10 Church Of The Poison Mind - Culture Club


December 10, 1988

01 02 Look Away - Chicago (1st of 2 weeks at #1)
02 01 Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird (Medley) - Will To Power
03 03 How Can I Fall? - Breathe
04 04 I Don't Want Your Love - Duran Duran
05 06 Giving You The Best That I Got - Anita Baker
06 10 Every Rose Has Its Thorn - Poison
07 07 Waiting For a Star To Fall - Boy Meets Girl
08 13 My Prerogative - Bobby Brown
09 11 Welcome To The Jungle - Guns N' Roses
10 12 Walk On Water - Eddie Money


December 11, 1993

01 02 Again - Janet Jackson (1st of 2 weeks at #1)
02 01 I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That) - Meat Loaf
03 03 All That She Wants - Ace Of Base
04 06 Hero - Mariah Carey
05 04 Shoop - Salt-N-Pepa
06 05 Gangsta Lean - DRS
07 07 Just Kickin' It - Xscape
08 09 Breathe Again - Toni Braxton
09 08 Please Forgive Me - Bryan Adams
10 17 All For Love - Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart & Sting


December 12, 1998

01 01 I'm Your Angel - R. Kelly & Celine Dion (2nd of 6 weeks at #1)
02 02 Nobody's Supposed To Be Here - Deborah Cox
03 03 Lately - Divine
04 04 Doo Wop (That Thing) - Lauryn Hill
05 05 From This Moment On - Shania Twain
06 06 Because Of You - 98 Degrees
07 10 Love Like This - Faith Evans
08 12 Lullaby - Shawn Mullins
09 18 ...Baby One More Time - Britney Spears
10 15 Have You Ever? - Brandy


December 6, 2003

01 02 Stand Up - Ludacris feat. Shawnna (1st and only week at #1)
02 03 Hey Ya! - Outkast
03 01 Baby Boy - Beyonce feat. Sean Paul
04 05 The Way You Move - Outkast feat. Sleepy Brown
05 04 Holidae In - Chingy feat. Ludacris & Snoop Dogg
06 06 Here Without You - 3 Doors Down
07 08 Suga Suga - Baby Bash feat. Frankie J
08 09 Walked Outta Heaven - Jagged Edge
09 07 Damn! - YoungBloodZ feat. Lil Jon
10 11 Step In The Name Of Love - R. Kelly

[Soulsista]

Billboard Top 10 Flashback:

December 6, 2008

01 01 Live Your Life - T.I. feat. Rihanna (5th of 6 weeks at #1)
02 28 Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) - Beyonce
03 03 If I Were a Boy - Beyonce
04 02 Whatever You Like - T.I.
05 04 Hot N Cold - Katy Perry
06 09 Love Lockdown - Kanye West
07 16 Just Dance - Lady Gaga feat. Colby O'Donis
08 05 So What - P!nk
09 11 Miss Independent - Ne-Yo
10 08 Right Now (Na Na Na) - Akon


December 7, 2013

01 01 Royals - Lorde (9th and final week at #1)
02 02 The Monster - Eminem feat. Rihanna
03 03 Wrecking Ball - Miley Cyrus
04 06 Counting Stars - OneRepublic
05 04 Wake Me Up! - Avicii
06 07 Demons - Imagine Dragons
07 05 Roar - Katy Perry
08 10 Timber - Pitbull feat. Ke$ha
09 08 Hold On, We're Going Home - Drake feat. Majid Jordan
10 11 Let Her Go - Passenger

11 NE Diana - One Direction
12 NE Midnight Memories - One Direction
18 38 Say Something - A Great Big World feat. Christina Aguilera


December 8, 2018

01 02 SICKO MODE - Travis Scott (1st and only week at #1)
02 01 thank u, next - Ariana Grande
03 03 Happier - Marshmello & Bastille
04 04 Without Me - Halsey
05 06 High Hopes - Panic! At The Disco
06 07 Mo Bamba - Sheck Wes
07 10 ZEZE - Kodak Black feat. Travis Scott & Offset
08 09 Drip Too Hard - Lil Baby & Gunna
09 08 Girls Like You - Maroon 5 feat. Cardi B
10 05 Lucid Dreams - Juice WRLD

21 RE It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year - Andy Williams
23 RE Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee


December 10, 2022

01 01 Anti-Hero - Taylor Swift (6th of 8 weeks at #1)
02 05 All I Want For Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey
03 06 Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee
04 03 Unholy - Sam Smith & Kim Petras
05 09 Jingle Bell Rock - Bobby Helms
06 10 A Holly Jolly Christmas - Burl Ives
07 02 Rich Flex - Drake & 21 Savage
08 04 Bad Habit - Steve Lacy
09 19 It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year - Andy Williams
10 23 Last Christmas - Wham!

12 34 The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You) - Nat King Cole
13 42 Feliz Navidad - Jose Feliciano
16 40 Sleigh Ride - The Ronettes
17 48 Underneath The Tree - Kelly Clarkson
18 41 Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Dean Martin
19 43 It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas - Perry Como & The Fontaine Sisters w/Mitchell Ayres & His Orchestra
23 RE Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Darlene Love
24 RE Santa Tell Me - Ariana Grande

[Music Fan]

I mean -- playlisting has always been shady. I'm not sure why the surprise. It's the streaming era's payola.

[Me. I Am l!nk!nfan815...]

The ONLY way Brenda and her team were able to defeat AIWFCIY was to do payola. They never stood a chance organically. AIWFCIY is that massive.

Anyway, let the haters rejoice. Have your moment.

[clsvltn]

Dec 3, 2023 20:07:32 GMT -5 Me. I Am l!nk!nfan815... said:

The ONLY way Brenda and her team were able to defeat AIWFCIY was to do payola. They never stood a chance organically. AIWFCIY is that massive.

Anyway, let the haters rejoice. Have your moment.

Someone is bitter

[Me. I Am l!nk!nfan815...]

[Envoirment]

Dec 3, 2023 19:44:29 GMT -5 jenglisbe said:

More evidence of something weird going on at Pandora:
Brenda increased her monthly listeners over 2800% (not a typo) to 4.4 million while Mariah's monthly listeners stayed the same at 3.65 million. So, despite it being the holiday season, Mariah's monthly listeners at Pandora didn't increase. Mariah is also the 57th most played artist ever at Pandora, yet her listenership isn't increasing during her biggest time of the year. You can't tell me that's not shady.

But could it just be Brenda wasn't that high up on Pandora's playlisting previously and they moved her up? So whilst Mariah was getting really good support there years previous Brenda wasn't? So now it's a more even playing field?

Also the monthly listeners increases dramatically due to Xmas music being played. I'm sure Mariah had massive increases as well as soon as AIWFCIS started getting plays. Although given Mariah's discography her % increase would be smaller due to a more streamed back catalogue compared to Brenda.

[avamaxstan]

Apparently Spotify also removed AIWFCIY from its biggest Christmas playlists, then re-added it? If so, something truly is fishy.

[clsvltn]

Just because potentially one time Mariah is NOT #1 during Christmas does not all of the sudden mean there are some conspiracy theories. It was bound to happen eventually. It's not like it is some random song that no one cares about. RATCT is also one of the most iconic songs as well and is very deserving of being #1 if it happens tomorrow.

[Ｓｏｕｎｄｃｌ🕤ｃｋ]

Dec 3, 2023 20:07:32 GMT -5 Me. I Am l!nk!nfan815... said:

The ONLY way Brenda and her team were able to defeat AIWFCIY was to do payola. They never stood a chance organically. AIWFCIY is that massive.

Anyway, let the haters rejoice. Have your moment.

The gap between AIWFCIY and RATCT became smaller and smaller over the years, and RATCT at #1 was bound to happen this, or next year. IIRC, last year RATCT was like 5 points behind, and 4 years ago it was impossible to imagine it at #1.

Can't say for other people, but I'm kinda sick of AIWFCIY, and I know I haven't heard the song in 10 months, but still...
I mean, it's on my playlist, just not on top like before. 

Nothing is written in stone and changes are normal, Santa Tell Me wasn't even on charts 5 years ago, and now it's really close to the top 10 in the US - and probably will be in the top 5 in a few years. AIWFCIY will be fineee, and it'll probably break the record for most weeks at #1 eventually, but I'm glad something's finally happening in December on the Hot 100, and not that predictable huge lead by AIWFCIY (it was interesting in the beginning).

[HolidayGuy]

"Rockin'..." indeed is one of the most iconic holiday songs, and if it hits No. 1, terrific. "All I Want..." has ruled for 12 weeks already. I know it's become a given for it to dominate year in and year out, but a little shakeup at the top of the charts is a good thing.

And as others have said, playlisting has worked in the favor of many an act since streaming took off. However, listeners are not being forced to listen to a track; they can pick and choose what they want to listen to. If a track comes on and you don't like it, click another one, skip to the next, etc. Some will let a playlist play, and that's similar to leaving a radio station on and not turning the dial.

In any event, who says playlists and the order in which tracks appear have to be the same each year?

[Me. I Am l!nk!nfan815...]

Dec 3, 2023 21:51:37 GMT -5 Ｓｏｕｎｄｃｌ🕤ｃｋ said:

Dec 3, 2023 20:07:32 GMT -5 Me. I Am l!nk!nfan815... said:

The ONLY way Brenda and her team were able to defeat AIWFCIY was to do payola. They never stood a chance organically. AIWFCIY is that massive.

Anyway, let the haters rejoice. Have your moment.

The gap between AIWFCIY and RATCT became smaller and smaller over the years, and RATCT at #1 was bound to happen this, or next year. IIRC, last year RATCT was like 5 points behind, and 4 years ago it was impossible to imagine it at #1.

Can't say for other people, but I'm kinda sick of AIWFCIY, and I know I haven't heard the song in 10 months, but still...
I mean, it's on my playlist, just not on top like before. 

Nothing is written in stone and changes are normal, Santa Tell Me wasn't even on charts 5 years ago, and now it's really close to the top 10 in the US - and probably will be in the top 5 in a few years. AIWFCIY will be fineee, and it'll probably break the record for most weeks at #1 eventually, but I'm glad something's finally happening in December on the Hot 100, and not that predictable huge lead by AIWFCIY (it was interesting in the beginning).

I honestly don’t have a problem with RATCT hitting number #1 but it’s just the way it’s being done that puts a sour taste in my mouth.
I’ve always loved that song. But when I see shady things being done to get it there just make me look at it differently.

Also, it’s so messed up that people are hiding behind liking Brenda/RATCT when in reality they are truly celebrating that Mariah isn’t #1.

[Push The Button]

Brenda has been closing the gap every year, and it looks like there is nothing slowing it down. Mariah’s time at #1 may be done.

[85la]

Lord, you would think no one would have a problem with one 78 year-old woman, who only has two other number one hits for a combined 4 weeks way back in 1960 taking just one week away from an already dominant, year-after-year 12 week and counting #1, and from someone who already has 18 other #1s for a combined 90 weeks!!! And I say this as a life-long lamb, but of course Mariah's streak of #1s has been built on an EXTENSIVE DEGREE of years-long chart manipulation and tricks, from her very heavy singles discounting to the strategic timing of the releases or just to the fact that many of them were heavily airplay-driven, which of course has zero direct listener selection criteria, very similar to playlisting. So is all airplay fraudulent and shouldn't be counted for the charts? So what if Brenda just gets a little playlisting boost for just one week at #1, it's so close and would be #2 anyway and isn't really all that different from the types of things that are orchestrated to get the vast majority of singles to #1. Almost no #1s are completely organic.

[SPRΞΞ]

Brenda is just using tactics like Mariah has used before countless times. Charts are a game, remember. Tit for tat. Besides, it's gotten really boring seeing the same songs in the exact same order year after year. I'm glad things are switching up a bit.

Hopefully Underneath the Tree makes the Top 10 this year. And I hope Cozy Little Christmas and Merry Christmas, Darling somehow gain some footing.

[SPRΞΞ]

Dec 3, 2023 23:27:56 GMT -5 Push The Button said:

Brenda has been closing the gap every year, and it looks like there is nothing slowing it down. Mariah’s time at #1 may be done.

it's an easy listen. You can listen to RATCT anytime, anyplace. I'm not surprised by any of this. If it was another banger like AIW then I would be, but not surprised something more toned down has gained more traction.

[theycallmedualian]

Dec 3, 2023 22:20:04 GMT -5 Me. I Am l!nk!nfan815... said:

Dec 3, 2023 21:51:37 GMT -5 Ｓｏｕｎｄｃｌ🕤ｃｋ said:

The gap between AIWFCIY and RATCT became smaller and smaller over the years, and RATCT at #1 was bound to happen this, or next year. IIRC, last year RATCT was like 5 points behind, and 4 years ago it was impossible to imagine it at #1.

Can't say for other people, but I'm kinda sick of AIWFCIY, and I know I haven't heard the song in 10 months, but still...
I mean, it's on my playlist, just not on top like before. 

Nothing is written in stone and changes are normal, Santa Tell Me wasn't even on charts 5 years ago, and now it's really close to the top 10 in the US - and probably will be in the top 5 in a few years. AIWFCIY will be fineee, and it'll probably break the record for most weeks at #1 eventually, but I'm glad something's finally happening in December on the Hot 100, and not that predictable huge lead by AIWFCIY (it was interesting in the beginning).

I honestly don’t have a problem with RATCT hitting number #1 but it’s just the way it’s being done that puts a sour taste in my mouth.
I’ve always loved that song. But when I see shady things being done to get it there just make me look at it differently.

Also, it’s so messed up that people are hiding behind liking Brenda/RATCT when in reality they are truly celebrating that Mariah isn’t #1.

If you got a bad taste in your mouth over a 65 year old woman reaching #1 after being blocked for the last few years by a woman with 19 #1s then that’s your problem, and I feel sorry for the microorganisms living in your mouth.

Also, The fact that all it took for Brenda to beat Mariah was slightly more ahead in various playlists shows literally nobody living persons actually listens to these. They’re just background noises being played in shopping malls and restaurants.

So You basically got dismayed over noises of gunshots outstreamed noises of explosions because this year the clip of gunshots was placed above explosions on the playlist.

[groovetheory]

Mariah wasn't trying to get to #1 just to block Brenda, push her down or remove her from the playlists etc. that's the difference here. She was promoting her own brand and succeeded. I am also all for different Xmas #1's but sorry, not like this.

[badrobot]

Villainizing a 78yo woman is a new low here.

[whaleblubber]

All due respect but why tf are we accusing Brenda Lee, a 78-year-old singer who's long retired, of chart fraud like it's a stan war

[SPRΞΞ]

Dec 4, 2023 0:05:34 GMT -5 85la said:

Lord, you would think no one would have a problem with one 78 year-old woman, who only has two other number one hits for a combined 4 weeks way back in 1960 taking just one week away from an already dominant, year-after-year 12 week and counting #1, and from someone who already has 18 other #1s for a combined 90 weeks!!! And I say this as a life-long lamb, but of course Mariah's streak of #1s has been built on an EXTENSIVE DEGREE of years-long chart manipulation and tricks, from her very heavy singles discounting to the strategic timing of the releases or just to the fact that many of them were heavily airplay-driven, which of course has zero direct listener selection criteria, very similar to playlisting. So is all airplay fraudulent and shouldn't be counted for the charts? So what if Brenda just gets a little playlisting boost for just one week at #1, it's so close and would be #2 anyway and isn't really all that different from the types of things that are orchestrated to get the vast majority of singles to #1. Almost no #1s are completely organic.

exactly. Imagine if RATCT was sung by Taylor and she was stuck at #2 for years. Do you not think she would pull out all the stops and try and get #1? lol

[lurker2]

Dec 4, 2023 1:49:57 GMT -5 whaleblubber said:

All due respect but why tf are we accusing Brenda Lee, a 78-year-old singer who's long retired, of chart fraud like it's a stan war

I will say she's very clearly doing a bunch of stuff to promote really heavily - she obviously cares! It's not like Brenda's out go get Mariah, obviously, she just wants a chance on top. And who can blame her! I would it too if I were in her shoes (also, Mariah did much of the same stuff in past years for AIWFCIY), and tbh I really don't care about these Christmas song number ones. It feels like a different game then the non-Christmas ones, so I just ignore the charts (to an extent) for a bit and chill.

Although I do hope AIWFCIY gets back later on, I think I prefer it to RATCT a little bit.

[groovetheory]

Brenda is not the one to blame here, she deserves the #1. Of course she can promote the hell out of it but it's the label's tactics, and the dirty playing that's not okay.

[Juanca]

Brenda wasn’t lifting a finger all these years her song was at #2. People were asking for her to leave retirement and do something! In the meantime Mariah was promoting as if it were her new single, with several new videos, singles, performances, etc.
This year Brenda wakes up and starts to use social media and perform the song… it’s not strange to see this benefit her performance. Plus she’s always been at the top of Pandora and other streaming services.
In terms of play listing, she herself was affected at the beginning of the season with the White Christmas mess. But it DOES make sense for her to be in more playlists. Her song is a classic and an oldie. The sound flows with other oldies, whereas Mariah’s would sound a bit out of place in a list with Jingle Bell Rock, A Holly Jolly Christmas, It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Baby it’s Cold Outside, and other oldies.
Finally, it’s MARIAH we’re talking about —someone whose label would’ve done MUCH MORE shady things to get her a #2 (eg Loverboy) or #1 (eg Thank God I Found You) in the past. I love her and hope she gets to 20 weeks for AIWFCIY, but come on now if Brenda gets to #1 it’s all fair game and deserving IMO, especially in a battle with chart savvy Mariah and team

[JamaicaFunk²]

I think there’s a big difference in tactics for your own song to get it to #1, and tactics AGAINST another song to get your own song to #1.

Of course artists (labels) are mostly free to do what is available to them to push their record; however, purposefully hindering your competition is not a tactic I’ve seen used before. Basically, Brenda is the Tonya Harding of this holiday season. Well, her label is, at least.

[wavey.]

It's simply not that deep. Majority of us have chart tactics. Everyone can have their moment. If it's only one week at #1...so what?

We move.

[Gary]

What song on music history has NOT needed a marketing push to top the charts? Yes there are some obviously but use of marketing tactics to get a song in the public eye are probably more common than not.

[mms82]

Dec 4, 2023 7:19:00 GMT -5 JamaicaFunk² said:

. Basically, Brenda is the Tonya Harding of this holiday season.

it’s not that deep

[sheardbeard]

My favorite thing about all this is: the same people who say that Christmas songs shouldn’t chart because all they do is clog up the Hot 100 are the same ones saying that 78 year-old Brenda Lee is a villain who is trampling over Mariah Carey’s rightful crown. It’s ridiculous. Let the sweet old lady hit #1 for a change, especially while she’s still around to celebrate it. She deserves it. Sheesh.

[musiclife]

Brenda is going to be #1 the rest of the year.