The-Dream & Fabolous › Slow It Down

"Slow It Down" by The-Dream feat. Fabolous

The-Dream & Casha › Kill The Lights

TMJ Charts: Gotye Still #1, Santigold's Big Debut

Two main things are happening this week on the charts. First of all, Gotye manages to stay at the top of the Songs countdown for a seventh consecutive week with the Kimbra-assisted Somebody That I Used To Know, extending it's lead as the biggest song of the year so far. But things get complicated now that we have a huge debut from Santigold, whose Disparate Youth shots all the way up to the #2 spot. So with more evident competition now, Gotye's chances to stay at the top have gone from big to slim.

Santigold's debut is huge in many ways because it's the fifth song ever to debut at the runner-up position after The-Dream and Mariah Carey's My Love (2009), Sean Garrett and Ludacris' Grippin' (2008), Hellogoodbye's Here (In Your Arms) (2007) and Natasha Bedingfield's These Words (2004). It's also Santigold's best charting song after I'm A Lady peaked at #5 in 2008, and with that, it's most likely going to become her first #1 song on the charts in the upcoming weeks.

Further down the chart there's no giving up on Adele as she hangs at #3 with Someone Like You while Flo Rida and Sia return to the Top Ten with Wild Ones jumping to #8. Wilco is about to go big on the charts now that Born Alone is both the biggest jump and power play with a huge leap to #39 this week. They've already outdone themselves after their first chart entry, Walken (2007), peaked at #59. New entries this week include Nicki Minaj with Starships at #88 followed by Katy Perry's Part Of Me at #89.

Adele keeps reigning more charts as her hit Rolling In The Deep stays at #1 of the Recurrent Charts for an eighth week while her album 21 climbs back up again to the #1 position for a total of 10 weeks at the top.

The-Dream › Roc

The Year of Pala

With last week's 15th consecutive run at the No. 1 position with Hawaiian Air, Friendly Fires tied the record for most weeks at the top of the Songs chart with one same title. Sadly, they're not able to break that record because it all ends this week as Hawaiian Air finally gives up the throne and falls to No. 4. But it's all not lost, because Friendly Fires replace themselves at the top with Blue Cassette, off their album Pala, after debuting at No. 100 eight weeks ago. So after all, Friendly Fires is the act with the most consecutive weeks - sixteen - at the top of the Songs chart, with one or more songs.

Blue Cassette (Live at the Lightbox Session)


Get music by Friendly Fires

More crazy stats? And I say crazy because they all involve the number 7 somehow...

With such a long run at the top for Hawaiian Air, many titles had to settle with a not less respectable No. 2 position. A total of seven songs are included in this list starting most recently with Snow Patrol's This Isn't Everything You Are, which stays as runner-up for a second week. But there's also Benny Benassi's Close To Me featuring Gary Go (#3), Blink-182's Fighting The Gravity (#6), Young The Giant's My Body (#7), Coldplay's Paradise (#10), Foster The People's Pumped Up Kicks (#12) and Florence + The Machine's Shake It Out (#18).

Also, Blue Cassette becomes the seventh song that made its debut at the No. 100 position and eventually went on to the top of the Songs chart. This list includes Bone Thugs-N-Harmony (Wind Blow - 2007), Fergie (Clumsy - 2007), Mariah Carey (O.O.C. - 2008), Kanye West (Love Lockdown - 2009), Jay-Z (Real As It Gets - 2010) and Outasight (Everything - 2011).

But that's not all. Friendly Fires is also the seventh act to replace itself at the top of the Songs chart after Interpol (Wrecking Ball, Rest My Chemistry - 2007), Mariah Carey (twice)(Migrate, Side Effects, I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time, O.O.C. - 2008; Betcha Gon' Know (The Prologue), H.A.T.E.U. - 2009), The-Dream (My Love, Right Side Of My Brain - 2009), Akon (Sexy Bitch, Available (Benny Benassi Remix) - 2009), Jay-Z (Empire State Of Mind, Real As It Gets - 2010) and Lykke Li (I Follow Rivers (The Magician Remix), Love Out Of Lust - 2011).

'Run The World (Girls)' by Beyoncé + Video Teasers

The world is about to get ready for Beyoncé's return to the music scene, even though the longevity of her 'Sasha Fierce' era makes it seem like she hasn't been away for too long. Will that work against her? She's already in the process of releasing new material and Run The World (Girls), yet another female-empowerment-themed production, is the buzz single, a video for which will be released soon. And I call it a buzz instead of lead single because the reception has been less than stellar so far. Maybe the video will turn things around. Her fourth studio album will be aptly titled 4. Watch the teaser videos and listen to the song below, which is produced by The-Dream and features a sample by Major Lazer's Pon de Floor.

Video Teaser 1


Video Teaser 2


Get Run The World (Girls) | More music by Beyoncé

Lykke Li Scores Second #1

Only a few artists like Interpol, Mariah Carey, The-Dream and Jay-Z have managed to get back to back #1 singles on my chart, but this week we can add another name to that list: Lykke Li. Up until this weekend she had dominated the songs chart with a remix to her song I Follow Rivers. Three weeks at the top went by and now she switches places with herself by getting her song Love Out Of Lust on top. This is now the singer's second #1 so far. But things are looking way better for this Swedish artist because, besides the two songs mentioned before, she's also charting the Greatest Gainer Silent My Song (#8) and the original I Follow Rivers (#10) in this week's Top 10. That's helping her album Wounded Rhymes get another week at the top of the albums chart.

A resurgence for Kings Of Leon's Birthday earns them the week's biggest leap by going from #77 to #44, quite impressive considering the song is on it's 24th chart appearance. The Power Play and Highest Debut belongs to Benny Benassi and Gary Go with their single Cinema. As expected, the song makes a quick debut at #68, just one spot higher than the Congorock Remix which debuted last week.

A couple more entries come from T.I. with Big Picture landing at #90 and Britney Spears' third song from Femme Fatale to debut, Criminal, opens at #96.

T.I. & The-Dream › No Mercy

Check out the music video for T.I.'s title track off his just-released album No Mercy, featuring The-Dream:

The-Dream & T.I. › Make Up Bag

Snoop Dogg: "Gangsta Luv (Feat. The-Dream)" video

TMJ's Weekly Chart: Mariah gets a 5th

It's 5th week at #1 for Mariah Carey as "Obsessed" doesn't seem to go anywhere any time soon. Runner-up Mary J. Blige is making her way up with "The One (Feat. Drake)" and Sharam gets the greatest point gain for second week in a row as "She Came Along (Feat. Kid Cudi)" jumps to #3 this week. Kings Of Leon round up the top 5 as "Frontier City" moves up a spot to a new peak and "Closer" falls 3 after 43 weeks on the chart.

Big jumps for "Kings Of Medicine" by Placebo and "Crazi" by Sharam. Yeah Yeah Yeahs ("Heads Will Rolls") and The-Dream ("Can't Wait To Hate You") also make big jumps to land in the top 50 this week. Drake came short of being the biggest jump but it's good enough as "Best I Ever Had" leaps to #13. On the other hand, the biggest jump of the week is Cobra Starship's "Good Girls Go Bad (Feat. Leighton Meester)" but the song is still lingering in the lower half of the chart.

Two hot shot debuts within the top 50 as David Guetta leads with "Sexy Bitch (Feat. Akon)", probably his first song to really catch my attention since "The World Is Mine" came out a few years ago. Mariah Carey follows with the Jump Smokers Remix to "Obsessed". Jump Smokers' other appearance on the chart is their "Jump" remix by Flo Rida featuring Nelly Furtado. Some more new tracks from Placebo's new album Battle For The Sun and Bloc Party returns with "One More Chance" remixed by Alex Metric.

We Are Scientists rule the recurrent chart for a third consecutive week with "What's The Word". I'm thinking this should have been #1 when it made its rounds on the main chart.

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Rick Ross: "All I Really Want (Feat. The-Dream)" video

Gym Class Heroes: "Cookie Jar (Feat. The-Dream)" video

T-Pain, Lil Wayne among winners at BET Awards

T-Pain transformed the BET Awards into a circus Tuesday with a multi-artist medley that showed the rapper and singer's wide-ranging influence on urban music, while best-selling rapper Lil Wayne and songstress Alicia Keys gave rousing performances of their own.

Wearing a spangled top hat, T-Pain -- nominated for a leading five BET Awards -- shared the stage with fellow nominees Flo Rida, Rick Ross, Ludacris and Big Boi, along with a bevy of big-top freaks, including fire eaters and acrobats.

"This industry is my circus," said T-Pain. "Ride with the ringleader."

Then T-Pain -- whose nominations came not for his own hits but for his collaborations with others, and whose vocoder-assisted voice is among the most ubiquitous in urban music -- gave a sample of his musical assists over the past year.

Double nominee Flo Rida performed his hit with T-Pain, "Low"; a bare-chested Ross flaunted his gut while singing his song with T-Pain, "Boss"; and all joined in on the collaborative "I'm So Hood."

Not to be outdone, the ladies offered a showstopping performance of their own, led by double nominee Keys. Rocking a sleek bob and skintight jeans, Keys invited vintage girl groups SWV, En Vogue and TLC to join her onstage for a medley of their biggest hits. By the time they closed with TLC's "Waterfalls," the crowd at the Shrine Auditorium was on its feet. Even Kanye West was singing along.

Viewers Choice award winner Lil Wayne was set to deliver the night's most anticipated performance, and he didn't disappoint. Joined by uber-collaborator T-Pain, who wore a t-shirt that read "T-Wayne," Lil Wayne delivered a medley of hits including "A Milli" and his No. 1 smash "Lollipop."

West, who won awards for best male hip-hop artist and best collaboration for his song with T-Pain, "Good Life," used his victories to praise both T-Pain and Lil Wayne.

"We're blessed to be in this man's presence," West said of T-Pain, whom he called "a genius." "I'll let y'all know because I'm one of the kings of this game. My opinion counts."

West called Lil Wayne "my fiercest competition." The New Orleans-based rapper last week sold 1 million copies of "Tha Carter III" for the year's best sales debut.

"You scared me man," West said. "Congratulations on selling over a million records. And they say hip hop is dead."

After tributes by Jill Scott and Maxwell, Lifetime Achievement Award winner Al Green delivered a smash performance of his own, hitting all the high notes on his hits "Let's Stay Together" and "Love and Happiness."

Diddy, Ludacris and the rest of the awards-show audience sang along as the 62-year-old Reverend Green shook his booty on stage.

"I'm sorry I didn't sing as well as I could. I got scared," a modest Green confessed backstage.

Queen Latifah introduced Humanitarian Award recipient Quincy Jones, calling him "an international artist, an innovator ... and a leader."

"He showed us black entertainment is more than just a hustle," she said. "It's more than just selling albums. It's about inspiration."

Jones said growing up on the south side of Chicago during the depression moved him to give back to people in need.

"My piece of bread only belongs to me if everybody has a piece to eat," he said.

Receiving the award "is one of the very treasured moments of my life," Jones said, "and I always hope to live up to this honor."

A somber moment came when UGK was named best group. Bun B honored his fallen bandmate, Pimp C, who died in December at age 33 from complications of sleep apnea.

"It's hard to do this with my brother not being here," Bun B said, while joined onstage with Pimp C's wife. "We want to thank y'all for supporting UGK all these years. It's still UGK for life... Long live Pimp C."

Usher opened the show pyrotechnics-filled performance as he sang "Love in this Club." The highly choreographed set, which featured Usher pop-locking, gyrating and grooving his way across the stage with a bevy of voluptuous dancers, gave the show a high-energy start.

Host D.L. Hughley's opening monologue was a little less explosive -- his jokes about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, the recently acquitted R. Kelly and President Bush fell flat -- but he didn't slow the pace of the performance-heavy show.

Key collaborations kept the show buzzing along.

Singer (and BET reality star) Keyshia Cole gave a glamorous performance of her ballad "Heaven Sent," descending from the ceiling while wearing a long flowing gown, before a dancer ripped it off, revealing a white top and shorts as she sang her hit "Let It Go" with Lil Kim.

West rapped alongside Young Jeezy in performance that was marked by its omissions -- censors muted much of their performance. Chris Brown, who was seated next to rumored girlfriend Rihanna, won the night's first award: best male R&B artist. Brown was later joined onstage by Ciara for a sizzling performance that showed off each artist's dance skills, and a shirtless Nelly unveiled a new song with Fergie.

Kobe Bryant and Missy Elliott were early winners, but the best male athlete and female hip-hop artist weren't there to collect their awards, nor was the evening's best new artist winner, The-Dream.

Source: CNN.com