Frank Kogan

Ke$ha's sober and subtle "TiK ToK" has risen to number one (sober and subtle compared to everything else I've heard by her, that is; I'm impressed by Ke$ha's total commitment to cheesiness and stupidity, though nothing other than "TiK ToK" gets the cheese 'n' honey burbling together for an entire song).

( Alicia Keys )

( Eminem )

( Train )

America returns from vacation, anticipating the next vacation, and here we do three weeks as one, featuring Taylor Swift.

( John Mayer f. Taylor Swift )

( Boys Like Girls f. Taylor Swift )

( Leona Lewis )

( Rihanna )

( Shakira )

( Lady GaGa )

( Young Money )

( New Boyz )

( Snoop Dogg )

( Trey Songz )

"Russian Roulette" entered the chart two weeks ago at 100, rose last week to an unpromising 75, then this week on the heels of a publicity blitz that included Rihanna's 20/20 interview it jumps to 9. We'll see if it sticks; it doesn't match anything else on the chart, in subject matter or severity. My guess is it holds on for a bit, maybe falling a little then hanging around as people get used to it.

( Rihanna )

( Justin Bieber )

( Jay Sean )

( Jesse McCartney )

( Taylor Swift )

( Luke Bryan )

( Birdman )

"Fireflies" at number one. Ack. Or shrug. Top three tracks ("Fireflies," "Whatcha Say," "Down") are mediocre sugar goo, number four ("Party In The USA") at least tries something and is in your face with the rawness of Miley, though it took a bootleg Miley-Biggie mashup to make this sound really good, and number five ("Run This Town") is dull for the luminaries involved, but fortunately Rihanna puts on the dark sorrow voice she uses so well. "Paparazzi" at six is a definite grabber that genuinely engages with Sounds And What They Do, even if GaGa never seems to quite know what she's on about. (To be fair, the boring sugar pop at one-two-three also engages Sound; problem is that it settles for one good element and has nothing worth adding from there.) Number seven ("Meet Me Halfway") has its own engagement with Sound, though not engaging me as much as the last couple of BEP hits did. Number eight ("3") is more sugar slime but this one successfully gets under my skin, number nine ("I Gotta Feeling") is ol' Sound-engaging BEP hangin' around, and on number ten ("Sweet Dreams") an awesome pro wrestles with Sound and self, even if she's still something of a cipher.

So while the top of the ten is pop and r&b sweetening itself to death, there is creativity jiggling just underneath. July through October has been the worst Top 40 of the decade, but not altogether dire.

( Ke$ha )

( Usher )

( Glee Cast )

( Gucci Mane )

Let's take a look over at Britain, for a second. Says our pal Wikipedia, "Chipmunk also makes a reference to The Saturdays in ['Oopsy Daisy'] with the line 'And now I feel like The Saturdays are all week, cos me and my heart got crazy issues'. The song reached number one on the UK Singles Chart on 11 October 2009, coincidentally beating The Saturdays who charted at #2 with 'Forever Is Over'." Yeah, and it's a strange day when Chipmunk sounds like yesterday's mush in comparison to The Saturdays, but that's how it is overseas. Here, we've got a new number one ourselves, "Down" going down a spot, the second time in two weeks that a new artist takes over, after half a year of otherwise. And it's a long-time charmer/recent delinquent who does it for us. But does she do it for us? Check under the cut to see.

( Britney Spears )

( Justin Bieber )

( Glee Cast )

( Glee Cast )

( Lower reaches watch )

Black Eyed Peas celebrate half a year at number one, while two country acts and an oddball one-man band join the top 40.

( Carrie Underwood )

( Owl City )

( Lady Antebellum )

Familiar faces as the summer stumbles to a close.

( Lady GaGa )

( Kelly Clarkson )

( Cascada )

Sort of a hazy stumblebum of a week in new songs; indistinct and pleasant, the only standout being a kid up in Canada.

( Michael Franti & Spearhead )

( Flo Rida f. Ne-Yo )

( Justin Bieber )

( The Fray )

( Zac Brown Band )

Miley and Jay-Z storm the charts but can't beat the Peas.

( Miley Cyrus )

( Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Kanye West )

( Jessie James )

The Top 40 has only one newbie; meanwhile, Fabolous of all people jumps the album chart.

( T.I. )