I enjoyed talking w/Lawrence Peryer for his cultural conversation podcast @thetonearm.com. We had a wide-ranging chat—from Taylor Swift to James Taylor…why I loved Bruce Hornsby & couldn't abide Bon Jovi…why Billy Idol + Pointer Sisters are great #HitParadePod topics…& why Ella Langley is still No1.

Chris Molanphy on the Hot 100, Poptimism, and Music Trends

The Hit Parade host on what better data revealed about hit songs, why country radio guards its gate, and his refusal to believe in guilty pleasures.

podcast.thetonearm.com

In @newyorker.com, the great @luxante.bsky.social on Daft Punk’s master single: “We need ‘Get Lucky’ too, because we need romance, or at least hope. The struggle we face is not just political but existential…we need to dance and to love, so that we don’t forget what we’re ultimately fighting for.” 😭

When “Get Lucky” Took Me Back to the Years of Disco

The 2013 Daft Punk track was uncannily evocative of the late nineteen-seventies, when I was young and dancing was my creed.

newyorker.com

Anybody playing Catalogues, the new pattern-recognition game from @newyorker.com? Today’s installment (Fri 31 Jul) was—you might say—up my alley. I got it in 1—if you’re a fellow #Hot100 chart nerd you will too. P.S.One of the names in the stack will make you sad for him. 1 guess 😻 🟢 🟢 🟢 🟢 🟢 🟢 🟢

Play Catalogues: Friday, July 31, 2026

Can you sort the items into the correct order?

newyorker.com

Allow him to reintroduce himself: my new #HitParadePod —live on @slate.com—celebrates 30yrs of JayZ rocking the mic. His 4 #Hot100 No1s are teamups w/female singers & you can organize his career around them: Striver Jay…Imperial Jay…Mogul Jay + Elder Statesman Jay. He’s never had girl problems, son.

Jay-Z’s Collaborative Path to No. 1

He may have created rap’s Blueprint, but female collaborators were key to Hova’s formula for chart success.

slate.com

It’s a gas…it’s a hit: my new #HitParadePod on @slate.com is about Pink Floyd & the alltime album-chart record #TheDarkSideoftheMoon still holds. How does this LP keep seducing new generations of HS stoners+vinyl buyers? What competing LPs are creeping up on Floyd’s record? slate.com/podcasts/hit...

Don’t fear the repeat: my new #HitParadePod on @slate.com is about 2-Hit Wonders—fluky acts who could’ve been one-hitters but made lightning strike twice. It’s all about the hit gap—the best 2HWs come back years, even a decade after their 1st hit…from Gloria Gaynor to Murray Head to Golden Earring.

Lightning Strikes Twice: the Fluky World of Pop’s Two-Hit Wonders

Whether it's Hozier or Blue Öyster Cult, Gloria Gaynor or Paula Cole, certain artists surpass the one-hit wonder curse with a second smash.

slate.com

Fun w/charts: The news that Robert Smith (!) guests on the new Stones LP (!!) sent me back to fall ’89 to see if my suspicion was right that the Cure & Stones mixed it up on the #Hot100. Boy howdy, did they! One week after this, the Cure’s biggest-ever pop hit rose to its No2 peak; Stones held@ No5.

Chain of Flowers@craigatcof.bsky.social · 3mo ago

“You are Robert Smith from the Cure!” Mick Jagger recalls the unexpected moment that led to a Rolling Stones collaboration

What can I say about the last days of @slate.com #CultureGabfest? It’s been my honor to help @juliaturner.bsky.social @thehighsign.bsky.social & Steve Metcalf curate Summer Strut—their annual collection of hot-time bops. I’m on this week to help them strut into the sunset. slate.com/podcasts/cul...

They remembered they loved her: my latest #WhyIsThisSongNo1? article on @slate.com is about Taylor Swift’s instant chart-topper from #ToyStory5. Why’d it take her so long to score a No1 soundtrack hit? And why did country radio welcome her back like her 15-year pivot to pop never happened? Giddy up.

Taylor Swift Once Told Country “We Are Never, Ever Getting Back Together,” but Now Here We Are

Would country music ever welcome back Taylor Swift? We finally have the answer.

slate.com

Forever yours—faithfully: What is a power ballad? My new #HitParadePod episode on @slate.com explores how these climaxing…cringy…kinda awesome mini-melodramas took over the charts in the ’70s–’80s—from Styx to Skid Row. Does a PB require spandex…or an Olympic voice? And who’s keeping them alive now?

How Power Ballads Taught Us to Pledge Love While Rocking Out

From intimate whispers to soaring glory notes—plus a wicked guitar solo—the everlasting reign of the power ballad.

slate.com

I am a longtime, diehard @slate.com #PoliticalGabfest fan—literally since week one, over 2 decades ago—so I was thrilled to hear Gabfest host David Plotz shout out my latest #HitParadePod toward the end of this week’s show! The full Gabfest episode can be heard here: slate.com/podcasts/pol...

Guess I can retire—an article I wrote for @slate.com 6 years ago became an answer in the semifinals of Netflix’s #PopCultureJeopardy! The article, from the start of the pandemic—my #WhyIsThisSongNo1? piece on The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights”: slate.com/culture/2020... “FLAILING…ARMS & LEGS” FTW.

Live&let die? Think again! My new #HitParadePod on @slate.com is a tour of near-miss hits—No2s, 11s & 41s that became legendary. In this episode…the ’70s: How’d Wings’ No2 Bond theme outlast a No1 ballad? Why’d Steely Dan’s yacht rockers miss the Top10? How’d Elton’s blue-jean baby miss Casey Kasem?

Near Misses: Hit Songs That Never Quite Made the Winner’s Circle

“We Are Family,” “Wild World” and “Tiny Dancer” are signature songs of the ‘70s that fell just shy of No. 1, the Top 10, and the Top 40.

slate.com

Announcing the return of my @slate.com podcast #HitParadePod! We now offer single-episode topics more frequently in a conversational style. For our comeback I go deep on ’80s shapeshifter + Rock Hall inductee Billy Idol. How’d the sneer king fuse punk w/pop+dance+goth+metal to rule MTV & the charts?

Bleached Hair + an Elvis Sneer = MTV Immortality

His punk look was unmistakable, but Billy Idol's sound was ever-changing as he explored new wave, glam metal, even club music in his quest for pop stardom.

slate.com

This @billboard.com factoid should come w/10 asterisks. Sure…technically ‘Number Ones’ is “new” to the Billboard 200’s Top10 this week…but for over a month in 2009 it was America’s top-seller, excluded from the chart only cuz of a now-defunct rule that purged catalog titles. A dubious MJ chart feat.

As part of Slate’s commemoration of my 100th episode of #HitParadePod, this week EIC Hillary Frey interviewed me for her weekly Friday email to Slate Plus members. It was fun reminiscing about how charts have changed, why Casey Kasem mattered, favorite HP episodes and my recent musical comfort food.

This ranking is fun but w/all due respect to @augetoffmygold.bsky.social & the Billboard gang, ranking JT’s “SexyBack” No1 & the still-superior, Pitchfork-poptimism totem “My Love” No37 is revisionist madness (not like opinion changed in 20yrs—cf @tombreihan.bsky.social’s ratings on The Number Ones)

billboard@billboard.com · 4mo ago

The 100 Best Songs of 2006: Staff Picks

On a new #HitParadePod –The Bridge, my guest @slate.com editor Forrest Wickman says the trick of both my podcast & column #WhyIsThisSongNo1? is making connections between modern chart-toppers & hits of yore—an Archies-to-Huntr/x continuum. Plus—Casey Kasem trivia & words of gratitude from your host.

The Pop-Chart Column That Isn’t Afraid to Ask: Why Is This Song No. 1?

The Hot 100 has never been more accurate than it is today.

slate.com

If you missed it last week, check out our annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Voter's Guide episode - this year with an actual voter!!! Special thanks to @cmolanphy.bsky.social for guesting while in town for PopCon at USC

Chris Molanphy@cmolanphy.bsky.social · 5mo ago

It was a blast joining the #BeyondYachtRock gang— @jdryznar.bsky.social @hollywoodsteve.bsky.social Hunter & Dave—in the Fart Dungeon™ for a #RockHall ballot podcast chat. What genre is Billy Idol? Why can’t we agree on Mariah? Why do JD & NO belong together? And why does everybody diss the Crowes?

Billboard Bildungsroman: For the 100th episode of #HitParadePod on @slate.com I go deep on my chart-geek history. Part 1: my musical memoir, Solid Gold to Nirvana. Part 2: the story of Casey Kasem, original #AmericanTop40 host—how he nationalized countdowns, invented the LDD & survived the Dead Dog.

Hit Parade’s Origin Story—and a Long-Distance Dedication to Casey Kasem.

What makes a person want to track these rankings? Why do we care about what—or who—is No. 1?

slate.com

I joined @djlouiexiv.bsky.social on his #PopPantheon podcast along with pop critic @popsamcam.bsky.social to debate the past & current state of the #Hot100 and what a No1 hit means. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...

It was a blast joining the #BeyondYachtRock gang— @jdryznar.bsky.social @hollywoodsteve.bsky.social Hunter & Dave—in the Fart Dungeon™ for a #RockHall ballot podcast chat. What genre is Billy Idol? Why can’t we agree on Mariah? Why do JD & NO belong together? And why does everybody diss the Crowes?

155. 2026 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Voters' Guide

Podcast Episode · Beyond Yacht Rock 2000 · March 19 · 2h 8m

podcasts.apple.com

If "Sinners" had won would the ending sketch be Conan meeting Buddy Guy in '90s Starter jacket clothes

I’m back playing #Oscars pundit on the music categories for #BelowTheLine podcast. First up…Best Score—Louis Weeks, Jennie Armon & I discuss: Will the Academy go for 𝘉𝘶𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘢 weirdness or 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘪𝘯 lushness? Why’s 𝘏𝘢𝘮𝘯𝘦𝘵’s best tune ineligible? And does Göransson have the prize locked for 𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴?

S26 - Ep 11 - 98th Oscars - Original Score

YouTube video by Below the Line podcast

youtube.com

Two-steppin' round the room: my new #WhyIsThisSongNo1? on @slate.com is about “Choosin’ Texas,” Ella Langley’s country smash that’s improbably tops@pop—the 1st song by a woman to top #Hot100, Hot Country +Country Airplay (a decade after #Tomatogate). How did Ella go where even Dolly&Taylor couldn’t?

America’s New No. 1 Song Just Did What Even Taylor Swift Couldn’t

The latest Hot 100 chart-topper announces the arrival of a new country-music superstar.

slate.com

wrote a little about Langley/Moroney and What It All Means in my latest for @billboard.com ! www.billboard.com/music/countr...

Ella Langley and Megan Moroney’s Milestone Chart-Toppers Are Forcing Nashville to Break a Decades-Old Rule

Megan Moroney's and Ella Langley's simultaneous success is breaking traditional country rules about only woman thriving in the mainstream at a time.

billboard.com

On a new #HitParadePod –The Bridge, live on @slate.com, my guest @cantkill.bsky.social says Olivia Newton-John & John Denver were just part of a ’70s country-to-pop crossover wave, as Nashville acts covered a slew of rock&pop hits. Plus trivia…and a next-episode preview that’s ready for a milestone.

They Were Country When Crossovers Weren’t Cool

Can you believe she was magic? Music journalist David Cantwell on Olivia Newton-John’s trailblazing country-pop crossover campaign.

slate.com

It's all right…dancing through the lightning strikes: my latest #WhyIsThisSongNo1? on @slate.com is about “Opalite,” which gives Taylor her first followup No1 hit since her ‘1989’ heyday. How did the celeb-studded video & clever sales tactics push it to the top? And why does it deserve to be there?

Taylor Swift’s Just Scored Another No. 1 Song on Billboard’s Hot 100. But Is It a Real Hit?

It’s harder than ever for albums to produce multiple chart-topping singles. Taylor Swift just did it anyway.

slate.com

Always a delight to join @augetoffmygold.bsky.social on @billboard.com’s Greatest Pop Stars podcast. This time, for Andrew’s Vintage Pop Stars series, I’m on to talk about David Bowie’s ’83—his commercial peak. How well do hits like “Let’s Dance” & “Modern Love” hold up? Has “China Girl” aged badly?

AUgetoffmygold@augetoffmygold.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Vintage Pop Stardom back! Looking at the 1983 start to David Bowie's "Phil Collins Years" with the great @cmolanphy.bsky.social. -Bowie + '83 pop meeting in the middle -"China Girl" karaoke memories (whoops!) -What the hell was the US Festival? -Poor Mark Goodman megaphone.link/PMC9612816379

¡Métase to'l mundo! My new @slate.com #WhyIsThisSongNo1? column is about Bad Bunny’s “DTMF”—beneficiary of his halftime triumph+the 1st all-Spanish #Hot100 No1 since “La Bamba.” Out of all of Benito’s hits why’d this one top the charts? And what does it have to do w/the country song it replaced@No1?

The Right-Wing Backlash to Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Performance Has Only Made Him More Popular Than Ever

Long after the right-wing freak-out, the Puerto Rican superstar is getting the last laugh.

slate.com