iTunes Chart Watch: Black Eyed Peas and Kings of Leon Continue Their Reign

I almost made good on a previous promise. I didn't download one of these songs this week but I did go listen to some 30 second sound clips of them. That was about all I could take. "Boom Boom Pow" damn near put me in therapy. The beats are nothing we haven't heard before and the canned rhyming boasts embarrassed me. "Good Girls Go Bad" had something approximating a melody, but it was what I thought it was. This song has been written before but might have been packaged just a little differently. I wanted to be crueler to it but Black Eyed Peas weakened me.

One of my extended family nieces is a Taylor Swift fan. I caught a snippit of "You Belong With Me." It's basically Donny Osmond's "Puppy Love" with a little bit of twang, or so it seemed to me. It's vapid teenagers singing about what they think is love. Yeah. I know how impossibly old, grouchy, and out of touch I sound when I say things like that and it bothers me but I can't take this one seriously. It's not even all that great a vocal or melody. I guess I just don't get it.

iTunes' top 10 selling singles of the week ending Aug. 10, 2009:

1. "I Gotta Feeling" – Black Eyed Peas

2. "Down" – Jay Sean

3. "Use Somebody" – Kings of Leon

4. "Good Girls Go Bad (feat. Leighton Meester)" – Cobra Starship

5. "You Belong With Me" – Taylor Swift

6. "Hotel Room Service" – Pitbull

7. "Fire Burning" – Sean Kingston

8. "Best I Ever Had" – Drake

9. "Knock You Down" – Kanye West, Ne-Yo, Keri Hilson

10. "Boom Boom Pow" – Black Eyed Peas

The big news on the album chart for me is Whitney Houston. She's coming back and her album has already been pre-ordered enough times to break into the Top 10. I don't consider myself a Whitney Houston fan, but seriously: who doesn't want to hear that voice sing songs to you? I'm not a sucker for every redemption story but for some reason I find myself cheering for Whitney to pull it off one more time. I hope this album sells a billion copies. I want the cheap knockoffs and bad cover versions to be reminded once more you can't impersonate greatness. There's no denying she was once great and they don't bottle that.

Kings of Leon are once again kings of the album chart for a second consecutive week. Hillsong has summoned their inner King's X and debut at #7 on the charts. I got an advance of the (500) Days of Summer soundtrack. I recognized many of the names and even knew a few of the songs. Fans of the '80s will delight in songs by The Smiths. Today's indie kids would do well to study their Morrissey and they can do that with this soundtrack and hear those songs alongside some of their favorite contemporary indie artists.

iTunes' top 10 selling albums of the week ending Aug. 10, 2009:

1. Only By the Night – Kings of Leon

2. No One's First, and You're Next – Modest Mouse

3. Gloriana – Gloriana

4. The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies) – Black Eyed Peas

5. (500) Days of Summer – Various Artists

6. Breakthrough – Colbie Caillat

7. Faith+Hope+Love – Hillsong

8. Bright Side of Life – Rebelution

9. Leave This Town – Daughtry

10. I Look To You – Whitney Houston