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    " (I Wanna Give You) Devotion " was a big club and international hit for the British dance act Nomad. Appearing on their sole album Changing Cabins , the song was written by Steve "Mac" McCutcheon, Damon Rochefort (who produced the track), and rapper Michael "DJ Mikee Freedom" Field, and featured vocals from Sharon Dee Clarke. On Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart, the single spent a week at #1 in 1991, while climbing to #2 on the British Singles chart. Clarke would go on to sing in the Queen musical We Will Rock You along with many other shows on the West End in London.      

    Friday's here, and it's time to run down my top "hit" tunes from the previous week. Miley Cyrus reigns for a fourth week, while Fall Out Boy (pictured above) climb into the top five. Former big hits from Avril Lavigne and TALK drop off my chart, while songs from Niall Horan, Beck, and Lizzo/SZA make the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ places highlighted in red ). And under the list, everything is Spotify playlisted for 5 1/2 hours of the biggest in pop, rock, R&B, country, and dance music. LOCK HIM UP! This Week           Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Flowers - Miley Cyrus (1) 2. Lavender Haze - Taylor Swift (3) 3. Escapism - RAYE f/070 Shake (4) 4. Die For You - The Weeknd & Ariana Grande (2) 5. Love From The Other Side - Fall Out Boy (7) 6. Wait In The Truck - HARDY f/Lainey Wilson...

    " Girlfriend " - *NSYNC featuring Nelly from the album Celebrity (2001) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #5 (four weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 17   Today's song comes from boy-band vocal group *NSYNC , who were at a precipitous point in their career in the begininng of the "naughties". Their fourth album Celebrity in 2001 sold close to two million (1.89 million) copies in just its first week, but at the expense of the record company holding back commercial releases of the first two radio singles, " Pop " and " Gone ", both of which stalled in the top-20 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100, a relative failure for an act of that stature.  For the third single, to salvage any momentum they had, Jive Records and *NSYNC doubled down, not only releasing it on CD single but including a new "remix" adding rapper Nelly , who had just come off another top-40 hit with " #1 " at the close of the year. Produced by the Neptunes (Pharrell ...

    " Sleepy Maggie " was a club hit for Canadian Celtic fiddle player Ashley MacIsaac. Appearing on his album Hi How Are You Today? , the record is a cover of a traditional folk song, and featured fellow Celtic folk artist Mary Jane Lamond. On Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart, the single peaked at #29 in 1997, while "bubbling under" the pop Hot 100 at #102. It also climbed to #13 on the Canadian Singles chart.    (Click below to see the rest of the post)

    " Hands Clean " - Alanis Morissette from the album Under Rug Swept (2002) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #23 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 10   Today's song comes from Canadian singer/songwriter Alanis Morissette , whose second album released in the U.S., Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie , had spun off a hit that was bigger than it's "chart peak" told, as " Thank U " came right before Billboard magazine changed their chart rules to allow radio hits that didn't get released as commercial "singles" to make their Hot 100. So while the "official" peak on the Hot 100 was #17 as it was declining at the end of 1998, the song had spent a week at #2 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart a couple months before that. The following year, Alanis released her episode of MTV Unplugged as an album, which went to #63 on the Billboard 200 sales tally and sold over a half-million copies. The acoustic version of the prior album cut " That I W...

    " James Brown Is Dead " was a club hit for the Belgian techno act L.A. Style. Appearing on their self-titled debut album (and only one), the song was written by member Denzil Slemming, who produced it with Wessel van Diepen from the group. On Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart, the single peaked at #4 in 1992, while climbing to #59 on the pop Hot 100. It also topped the charts in their native Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain.    (Click below to see the rest of the post)

    " Oops (Oh My) " - Tweet from the album Southern Hummingbird (2002) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #7 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 15   Today's song comes from R&B singer Tweet , who grew up Charlene Keys in upstate New York, before starting her career as a member of a vocal group Sugah. Although that act never got anywhere, Tweet got the attention of writer/producer/artist Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, who signed Tweet to her Elektra-distributed label Gold Mind. She guested on a few tracks from various artists, including Elliott, who featured Tweet on her single " Take Away ", which nearly made the pop Top-40. Keys recorded her debut album Southern Hummingbird , preceded by the single "Oops (Oh Me)", written by the singer with Missy, and co-produced by Tim "Timbaland" Mosley.  The lyrics have Tweet describing the effect this man has on her. This mostly includes her clothes falling off in ecstasy, though she "turns red...

    " Empty Kisses " was a club hit for the mysterious artist Kardia. Released as a stand-alone single (their only one), the song is listed as being written and produced by Kardia with credit as "S. Skunakis". On Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart, the promo single peaked at #45 in 1998.  

    " Nothing In This World " - Keke Wyatt & Avant from the album Soul Sista (2001) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #27 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 7   Today's song comes from R&B singer Keke Wyatt , who had grown up in Indianapolis before moving to Chicago to ramp up her music career. Still a teen, Wyatt had been doing writing and demo records behind the scenes, before being paired up with soul singer Avant for a remake of the Rene & Angela R&B classic " My First Love ", which reached the top ten on Billboard magazine's R&B singles chart and top-40 on the Hot 100 pop list at the close of 2000. With that momentum she was properly signed to MCA Records (Avant's label) for her own music, and released her debut album Soul Sista in 2001.  The first single from the record was " Used To Love ". Despite being released on a CD single, the midtempo jam was criminally shunned by radio, and only made it to #65 on Billboard 's R...

    "Let The Beat Hit 'Em" was a club hit for British singer Sheryl Jay. Released as a stand-alone single, it was a remake of the #1 club and R&B hit for Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam in 1991 written by Rob Clivilles, Dave Cole, Alan Friedman, and Duran Ramos, with this version produced by Karl Grant. On Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart, the import single peaked at #25 in 1997.     (Click below to see the rest of the post)

    " Brotha " - Angie Stone from the album Mahogany Soul (2001) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #52 (three weeks)   This week's "robbed hit" comes from R&B singer Angie Stone, who grew up in the capital of South Carolina, Columbia, where she sang gospel before joining the female rap group the Sequence, which released three albums and scored three top-40 R&B hits in Billboard magazine, including " Funk You Up " which peaked at #15 there in 1980. In the early 90's Stone became the singer for the R&B band Vertical Hold, which had a top-40 R&B hit in 1993 " Seems You're Much Too Busy " (R&B #17) which also hit Billboard 's Hot 100 at #73.  After going through most of the 1990s doing studio work for Lenny Kravitz and D'Angelo, Stone was signed by Arista Records, where she released her debut solo album Black Diamond in 1999. The lead single from the record, the Gladys Knight-sampling " No More Rain (In This Clo...

    " Young'n (Holla Back) " - Fabolous from the album Ghetto Fabolous (2001) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #33 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 3   Today's song comes from rapper Fabolous (aka Johnathan Jackson), who landed his first top-40 pop & R&B hit in the autumn of 2001 with " Can't Deny It ". His second single from his debut album Ghetto Fabolous was "Young'n (Holla Back)", written with the production team of the Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo).  The rhymes themselves are the usual wealth porn, but the Neptunes, who were in their earlier stages, can grab your ear with their original production, and the non-reliance on samples elevates the record just a bit even though the subject matter is the overused bling and hoes tripe. Nevertheless the song again did well enough to get Fabolous back into the "big" top-40. The mobile technology in the music video is quite quaint, while also name-checking Billboard maga...

      It's time for my weekly new albums roundup, where I take a look at the big albums on this week's American and British albums charts, along with my choices of the new records I think you should check out. To catch up on this week's singles round, you can click here .   This week Miley Cyrus is back big, but was not even the biggest dance on either the sales-and-streaming Billboard 200 or the Current Albums sales list (though she does make the grade in the UK )...   Ready To Be: 12th Mini Album   - TWICE   Billboard 200 debut: #2 Billboard Current Albums Sales debut: #1 Choice Cut: "Set Me Free"    Yes the female titans of K-Pop are the winners this week, with this 7-track EP of six songs and an English version of the bass-heavy bop "Set Me Free"   (Click below to see the rest of the post)  

    It's time for my weekly new music roundup, where I feature the big entries on the Hot 100 as well as my personal choices of the songs making the various radio charts in Billboard magazine , as well as on the charts in the United Kingdom .  This week, the Hot 100 only sees five new entries, four of them from Miley Cyrus' new album, but there's some nuggets spread around the different charts. " River " - Miley Cyrus from the album Endless Summer Vacation (2023) Billboard Hot 100 debut: #32 Billboard Pop Airplay debut: #27  Billboard Adult Top-40 Airplay debut: #26 Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs debut: #2 Official British Singles chart debut: #16 British Singles Sales debut: #38 The biggest debut on the big chart is Miley's electrodance number from her new album. For me, it's a little busy, trying so hard to get Billboard to place it on their Dance chart (which apparently worked), but it could've used the "less is more" adage. It...

    " Pennies From Heaven " was a big club hit for the house music act Inner City. Appearing on their third album Praise , the song was written by the act's Kevin Saunderson and Paris Grey, with Kevin producing. On Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart, the single spent two weeks at #1 in 1992, while also climbing to #24 on the British Singles chart.   (Click below to see the rest of the post)

    Friday's here, and it's time to run down my top 100 "hit" tunes from the previous week. Miley Cyrus holds tight at #1 for a third week, while Australian singer/songwriter Dean Lewis (pictured above) climbs a notch in the top ten. Songs from PinkPantheress/IceSpice, BONNIEXCLYDE, and SZA make the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ places highlighted in red ), while former big hits from the 1975, Paramore, and Thomas Rhett drop out. And under the list everything is Spotify playlisted for 5 1/2 hours of the biggest in pop, rock, R&B, country, and dance music Where's spring already dammit!   This Week             Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Flowers - Miley Cyrus (1) 2. Die For You - The Weeknd & Ariana Grande (2)  3. Lavender Haze - Taylor Swift (3) 4. Escapism - RAYE f/070 Shake (6) 5. Until I Found You -...

    " Wrapped Around " - Brad Paisley from the album Part II (2001) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #35 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 4   Today's song comes from country music singer/songwriter/guitarist Brad Paisley , whose debut album Who Needs Pictures in 1999 had scored two #1 country radio hits that crossed over to the top 40 of Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart with " He Didn't Have To Be " and " We Danced ". In the spring of 2001, Brad returned with his sophomore effort, appropriately titled Part II . The lead single from the record, " Two People Fell In Love ", was another Hallmark-ready wholesome story song much like his first breakthrough "pop" hit. While it was a decent country radio hit at #4 on Billboard 's Country Songs chart, the single stalled just under the halfway mark on the Hot 100 at #51. Another track from the album, " Too Country ", a sarcastic take on the state of the Nashville music busi...