charts? Is there a Wikipedia page for No. And I was just like, “Well, is there a version of this for the U.S. And it was a really fun read, he’s a great writer. I’d been reading Tom Ewing’s column Popular. When you first started the column in 2018, were you thinking of it as a compendium, a history of pop music? Or were you just thinking, “I’m gonna review these 1,100-whatever songs…” note: The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.) Below, Breihan talks with Billboard about the genesis and growth of his column and subsequent accompanying book, while also sharing his feelings about the Hot 100 as it currently stands, and what he thinks (or hopes) the chart might look like in the future. Regardless, both the book and column are fascinating looks at the last six-plus decades of popular music through the prism of Billboard‘s signature songs chart, digging into the nooks and crannies of both the music and the chart itself as the subject requires. (“I figure nobody’s buying the book to read about me,” he explains.) 1s, ranging from The Beatles to, well, “Black Beatles.” And though a large part of the regular column is Breihan’s own song analysis and personal feelings - including anecdotes from his own life, unfiltered praise and/or criticism, and a whole-number final rating from 1 to 10 (“Poor Little Fool” scored a 3, “Lose Yourself” a 9) - the book version finds him more in that professor mode, telling the stories of the songs and their cultural contexts without devoting as much space to his own personal takes. 2002 - the book edition of The Number Ones focuses on 20 particularly pivotal No. 2018 and most recently caught up to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” which first bested the chart in Nov. 1958 Hot 100-topper “Poor Little Fool” in Jan. 1s in chronological order - he started with Ricky Nelson’s inaugural Aug. While Breihan’s triweekly column will ultimately hit on all 1,143-and-counting No. The column’s following has grown along with it, and even expanded to the site’s comment section, where several regular Stereogum readers are contributing their own parallel commentaries, tracking other chart-toppers and notable releases occurring contemporaneously. Despite starting as a series of short-form song reviews, “The Number Ones” has since grown into a set of thoughtful, funny and thoroughly researched essays - zooming in on the tales behind the hits’ creation and release, and zooming out on their larger place in pop history, both in the short-term and the long-term - tracing a non-linear but ultimately fairly comprehensive history of modern pop music in the process.
1 throughout the 63-year history of the Billboard Hot 100. The Number Ones, based on his popular Stereogum column of the same name, dives into songs that have hit No. 15), it will be that kind of historical compendium. And yet, when Breihan releases his first book (on Nov.
0 kommentar(er)
