Inside Music with Katie Hasty

Music Power Rankings: 'Glee' helps Lady Gaga and friend 'Alejandro' to the top

Is Rdio better than Radio? Will M.I.A. go missing?

By Katie Hasty Friday, Jun 4, 2010 4:55 AM

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga strikes me as a woman who'se used to being on top -- that is with her perpetually selling "The Fame," the gift that keeps on giving. This week it's with her current, active Latin lover "Alejandro," which she touted in a teaser clip on "Larry King Live."

It was on the same program that the platinum blonde raised more eyebrows, in admitting she had tested "borderline positive" for Lupus, and that this time last year, she was prepping for an opening stint for Michael Jackson on his This Is It tour in London.

On top of that, she reaped the benefits of the May 25 airing of “Glee” – which focused in on her catalog – as the cast’s version of “Poker Face” rose in the ranks of digital sales something around 400%, just as the original enjoyed its own gains.

So even while “Alejandro” isn’t representative of this “monster’s” talents and abilities, it still helps her re-enter our rankings, all the way to the peak.

1. Lady Gaga (not ranked last week) – For all the above reasons, plus she kept her blood spatter routine of her Monster Ball tour spectacle in as she played to a crowd in Manchester this week – mere hours after a taxi driver murdered 12 people in a shooting spree. Not very sensitive, but ballsy at least.

2. Drake (not ranked) – Good God, can this thing just drop already? Drake’s first full-length “Thank Me Later” isn’t due ‘til June 15 (after many date shifts) but the whole darn thing leaked this week. That is, the few tunes that hadn’t already “leaked” before. The singer/flavor of the year hosted a media listening party prior to his descent on the VH1 Hip-Hop honors last night (June 3).

3. Glee (No. 7 last week) - The finale is upon us, but not after an action-filled week on “Glee,” as it’s “Showstoppers” soundtrack stays tight at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and six titles on the Hot 100. The funk-themed ep this past week may shoot any number of numbers into that total – perhaps their take on Beck’s “Loser” or on “Tell Me Somethin’ Good?”

4. Eminem (not ranked) – Marshall Mathers showed off his new album covers for “Recovery” at the same time as announcing its tracklist and special guests: Rihanna, Lil Wayne and Pink. In fact, not to leave fans dry, his tune with the latter on “Won’t Back Down” made a debut at the last minute on Thursday. Stay tuned for our thoughts on that.

5. Lil Wayne (not ranked) – Again: What can’t this guy do from jail? MTV premiered four new music videos from the incarcerated rapper – shot prior to his li’l Rikers visit -- over the weekend. Eminem announced him as an official guest contributor to his new set “Recovery” and Drake donned a “Free Wayne” tee at the aforementioned Honors – after having visited his mentor in the clinker.

6. Rdio (not ranked) – This new music subscription service got a formal introduction this week, primed and programmed by the dudes behind Skype and Kazaa. Why should this interest Apple (last week’s No. 1) or eMusic users (last week’s No. 11)? It has the “cloud” technology we’ve been bandying about for smart phones to home pcs, but also streaming social media features like auto-status updates of music selections from your friends. It, like many of its predecessors, boasts the cooperation of the major music labels and a catalog over 5 millions songs.

7. Arcade Fire (not ranked) – More like rapid fire. In just over a week’s time, the Montreal-based rockers let two new songs loose on the world, announced the title and release date of their record and provided details on their forthcoming U.S. tour.

8. M.I.A. (not ranked) – Last Friday, we mentioned the kerfuffle between the Interscope artist and New York Times journalist Lynn Hirschberg over a feature written on the artist in the paper’s weekend magazine. M.I.A. has since fired back with a new song “I’m a Singer (Haters)” and posted her own recordings of the interviews, which revealed that the truffle fries were ordered for her (just read the story) and that select quotes were crammed together out of context. To the latter point, the Times has since run a correction. Maya celebrated by posting her new album art.

9. Kanye West (not ranked) – A peep from Kanye is a roar on the ‘net, so a roar from Kanye make the blogs go berserk. The rapper-producer posted a new track “Power,” which we discussed here. The single’s cover art has also arrived.

10. Lee Dwyze (No. 2) – The American Idol season 9 winner stays in this week, but not for good reasons like he did last. His winner’s anthem “Beautiful Day” was met with a ho-hum response critically and commercially, with a No. 24 entry on the Hot 100 and No. 12 as far as digital sales went. Previous winners have shown much stronger starts.

Previous Ratings:
May 28
May 22
May 15
May 8
May 1
April 23