Entered Top 40: February 24, 1996 3 weeks Peaked at: 39 At this stage in our project, format fragmentation is really setting in, but even in the ’70s with the rise of FM radio, Hard Rock or A…

YouTube video by Pearson's Candy

Entered Top 40: February 24, 1996 1 week Peaked at: 37 On the Boy Band continuum between Boston (New Edition, New Kids on the Block) and Orlando (Backstreet Boys, N*SYNC) we hop to Los Angeles for …

“While Charlie Brown did once again accelerate toward the ball, miss the ball entirely as Lucy pulled it away, flip backward through the air, and land violen...

Entered Top 40: November 18, 1995 3 weeks Peaked at: 39 Atlanta continues to stake its claim in the hip hop world. Goodie Mob came out of Atlanta’s Dungeon House scene; a loose group of artis…

Entered Top 40: October 28, 1995 3 weeks Peaked at: 38 Salt-N-Pepa are forever best known for their initial hit, “Push It,” but the group’s most successful period was around 1993 to 1995, whe…

Entered Top 40: October 28, 1995 2 weeks Peaked at: 37 Like we saw with Album Rock in the ’70s and ’80s, some acts just aren’t really singles artists. Wu-Tang Clan’s Enter t…

Entered Top 40: May 27, 1995 2 weeks  Peaked at: 39 Adam Ant spent the first 15 or so years with Adam and the Ants and as a solo artist distilling imagery from 18th-century pirates and gentlem…

Entered Top 40: April 29, 1995 2 weeks  Peaked at: 39 We just ran into Rappin’ 4-Tay last year, with “Playaz Club” enjoying a lengthy Top 40 stay. Released just a few weeks after “P…

YouTube video by SQRtv

Entered Top 40: April 1, 1995 2 weeks  Peaked at: 38 Circus screamers are fast-tempo marches composed and arranged mostly in the early 20th century to get crowds hyped up for circus performanc…

Entered Top 40: March 18, 1995 2 weeks  Peaked at: 38 Sean “Diddy” Combs started Bad Boy Records after his 1993 firing from Uptown. The label’s first release was “Flava in Ya Ear” by Cra…

Entered Top 40: February 18, 1995 4 weeks  Peaked at: 37 I should probably start with the ending here: Amy Grant and Vince Gill got married in 2000, but they first struck up a friendship recording …

Entered Top 40: February 4, 1995 2 weeks  Peaked at: 38 Andru Donalds is a Jamaican-born singer who hooked up with Eric Foster White, a songwriter/producer best known at the time for a 19…

Entered Top 40: February 4, 1995 2 weeks  Peaked at: 38 In researching Changing Faces I found an article from 2019—after the Surviving R. Kelly documentary but before his 2021–22 federal trials and…

Entered Top 40: December 31, 1994 3 weeks  Peaked at: 37 The members of our old friends the Geto Boys were releasing solo projects throughout their group’s tenure. Scarface’s The D…

Entered Top 40: December 17, 1994 1 week  Peaked at: 38 I don’t remember this existing at all, but Sting had long fallen off of my radar and into the Workplace Radio/Wine Mom music bucket. Af…

Entered Top 40:   November 26, 1994 4 weeks  Peaked at: 37 Originally from Chicago, Da Brat signed with Atlanta-based So So Def and Jermaine Dupri. Her debut album Funkdafied became the f…

Entered Top 40:  May 3, 1980 3  weeks  Peaked at: 36 Usually just thinking about the persona of Dolly Parton is enough to make me smile. I’m especially heartened by the idea th…

Entered Top 40: November 12, 1994 9 weeks  Peaked at: 36 One of the things that drew me to The Bottom Five concept is the transitory nature of slots 36 to 40 in this dumb Billboard weekly rank…

Entered Top 40: September 17, 1994 7 weeks  Peaked at: 36. We last heard from Anita Baker in 1987, just before she’d really break through with “Sweet Love.” Baker took a hiatus in 1991 t…

Entered Top 40: September 10, 1994 2 weeks  Peaked at: 40 We’ve run into the songwriting/production team of David Cole and Robert Civillés here, here, and here, but not as their most notable …

Entered Top 40: May 7, 1983 3  weeks  Peaked at: 37 Here, I think, is the first bona fide MTV Hit we’re encountering. Something where the music video achieved an iconic status in it…

Entered Top 40: September 3, 1994  1 week Peaked at: 40 One of a very short list of notable singers with the first name Dwight, Heavy D (Dwight Evans) and the Boyz debuted with the 1986 single “Mr.…

Entered Top 40:   August 13, 1994 1 week Peaked at: 40 The Puppies are our first One-Hit Wonder Trifecta entry since 1991; another act:a) having exactly one US Top 40 hit,b) peaking at #4…

Entered Top 40: July 30, 1994 1 week  Peaked at: 40 Zhané is sort of a first-name portmanteau of Jean (Norris-Baylor) and Renée (Neufville), two Philly singers spotted by Naughty By Nature&#82…

Entered Top 40:   July 23, 1994 1 week  Peaked at: 40 We haven’t covered a pure country song since…well, I’d count “Constant Craving,” but I suspect the country industry wouldn&#8…

Entered Top 40: May 28, 19943 weeks Peaked at: 38 Part of the problem shaking off inertia after an extended break is trying to generate enthusiasm for what’s on deck. Ugh, I gotta write …