T.I. Replaces Himself Again Atop Hot 100

November 06, 2008 , 11:00 AM ET
Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

T.I. again succeeds himself at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 as "Live Your Life" featuring Rihanna, trades places 2-1 with "Whatever You Like." On Oct. 9, "Life" replaced "Like," making T.I. the ninth artist in the rock era to do this.

"Life" also returns to No. 1 on Hot Digital Songs with 184,000 downloads, while "Like" maintains the top spot for an eighth week on Hot 100 Airplay, with 162 million impressions.

There's not much other action within the top 10 of the Hot 100. Pink's "So What" rises 4-3 and Katy Perry's "Hot N Cold" moves 6-4, while Beyonce's "If I Were a Boy" slides 3-5. Britney Spears' "Womanizer" is down 5-6, with Kevin Rudolf's "Let It Rock" featuring Lil Wayne and Ne-Yo's "Miss Independent" holding at Nos. 7 and 8, respectively.

Akon's "Right Now (Na Na Na)" powers 14-9 and is the top digital gainer after selling 117,000 downloads. Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" holds at No. 10 to round out the top portion of the Hot 100.

Right below, Taylor Swift's "You're Not Sorry" is the top debut at No. 11, narrowly missing her third top 10 debut of the year. Her sophomore album, "Fearless," arrives Tuesday (Nov. 11) from Big Machine Records.

"Miss Independent" is No. 1 for a second week on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, where Jamie Foxx's "Just Like Me" featuring T.I. is the top debut at No. 48. Foxx's next album, "Intuition," is due Dec. 16 via J.

Carrie Underwood's "Just a Dream" starts a second week atop Hot Country Songs. Metallica's "The Day That Never Comes" is No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart for a sixth week, while the Offspring's "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" leads Modern Rock for a seventh.

Dupri: Usher 'Itching' To Release New CD

January 11, 2008, 10:45 AM ET
Clover Hope, N.Y.

Usher's 2004 Jive album, "Confessions," has shifted 9.4 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, but tentative release dates keep coming and going for its follow-up, which is now nebulously slated for sometime this year.

So what's the holdup? "He has been taking a pretty long time to put it out, but I think he's ready now," says Jermaine Dupri, who has worked closely with Usher for years but scaled back his contributions to the new album after taking the reins of Island's urban music department.

"The last couple times I've been around [him], you could tell he's got the bug to hurry up and put this record out. He wants to get back out here and give the people that. He's got that itch."

Dupri is known to have produced the track "The Realest," which was at one time mentioned as a possible first single. T-Pain produced "All the Time," while Ludacris guests on "Dat Girl Right There," which leaked last month. Dre & Vidal and Cool and Dre are also said to have contributed to the album.

Dupri declined to reveal other specifics to Track, but conceded with a laugh, "I know that I've done my songs and I know that my songs on his record are crazy."

Source: Billboard