The song "Touch My Body" has reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making it Mariah Carey's 18th number one single and eclipsing the record of 17 of the King, Elvis Presley. This despite the fact that the video for Touch My Body sucks major ass and is the dumbest music video ever made.
Universal Island Def Jam Music Group representative Laura Swanson says “Mariah is now positioned as the only active recording artist in the 50 years of the Hot 100 (which began in 1958) with the potential to surpass the Beatles’ all-time high of 20 #1 hits.”
So here's your challenge: Can you name all 18 of the diva's No. 1 singles? (Or just a couple of them?) And how the heck does Mariah Carey score 18 No 1 singles? Can you say ... chart manipulation?
Touch My Body was not well received when it debuted on February 12, rising to the top 20 of the airplay charts but then it drops for a spell, then suddenly rising again to number 8 on the pop chart. So six weeks after it's debut on airplay go by, the song is finally released for download. It sells well because 6 weeks of sales to fans have been delayed and it sells big over 2 days. It hits number one and takes over the top spot from Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love" (which sold almost 220,000 downloads last week - still selling strong since it was first released back in December '07).
And hells bells there was other chart manipulation accusations too - Mariah was charging 49 cents for the "Loverboy" single, while singles for other artists were priced at $2.99. It only went to number one because she was practically giving them away -- for 49 friggin cents!
In other news, Elvis will also be nudged from his standing as the top selling artist with the most top 10s in the rock era, as Madonna surpasses him with her 37th top 10, "4 Minutes" featuring Justin Timberlake. Previous to the establishment of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958, the industry standard chart was the Best Sellers in Stores tally, where Elvis scored his first 12 top 10s.
