At the time, I found this decision bizarre. In late 2014, Billboard made a quiet but pivotal executive decision about a song that was climbing its charts and about to top the Hot 100: It was not going to classify Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ “ Uptown Funk” as an R&B song or allow it to chart on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
This is the best way I know how to explain the socio-cultural pickle Billboard has gotten itself into-an own goal so messy, it has dragged the music-industry bible into headlines about race and genre in the mainstream press. Follow me back in time to a little more than four years ago. 1 hit since 1965-we need to talk about the chart it’s not on … well, this week, at least. 1 song on Billboard’s flagship chart-an irresistible pencil sketch of a ditty, the shortest No. The Backlash Against Selena Gomez Has Been a Long Time Comingīefore I talk about the new No.
The Modest Invention That Let the Grateful Dead Live Forever There’s Only One Score Holiday Orchestras Look Forward to Playing Anymore, and You Bet Your Butt It’s Not The Nutcracker
