Chart analyst/pop critic. Host of podcast #HitParadePod. Writer of Slate's #WhylsThisSongNo1? Author of book #OldTownRoad. Feet on the ground, reaching for the stars. (Pronouns—he/him/his.)
Chris Molanphy
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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.
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?
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.
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)
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?
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...
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.
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.
Also! While #HitParadePod –The Bridge episodes are only for Slate Plus members, non-Plus listeners can now hear Pt2 of our March show celebrating our milestone 100th episode. I tell the story of chart king Casey Kasem—how he launched AT40, created the LDD & survived a Dead Dog tape. Pts1&2 are here:
And of course, lest I forget, here’s that latest #HitParadePod episode—the “Near-Miss Hits: ’70s Edition” that David shouted out. Also available wherever you listen to podcasts: slate.com/podcasts/hit...
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“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.
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.
