Black artists rule US Top Ten chart for first time

NEW YORK, Oct 8 (AFP) - For the first time in the nearly half century history of the Billboard singles charts, all top 10 songs in the US this week are by black artists, reflecting hip hop's dominance of the popular music scene.

With the exception of the number one song, Beyonce's "Baby Boy" which features Sean Paul, the other nine songs are all by rappers.

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"The charts reflect hip-hop's acceptance into all facets of mainstream culture," proclaimed the website allhiphop.com.

Billboard, the trade magazine for the music industry, compiles charts in many genres of music.

The Billboard Hot 100, which started in 1958, measures the popularity of songs from every pop music format and is compiled from a national sample of sales reports and radio playlists.

Silvio Pietrolongo, who manages the Billboard's chart, said Wednesday he was not aware of black acts having swept the top 10 before.

"We haven't gone through every single chart for the past 50 years, but being musical historians we can assume it didn't happen," Pietrolongo said.

"We looked back for at least the past 10 years and before that it was much more diversified than it is now," he added.

Since 1998, the Billboard chart has been weighted heavily toward data from radio rather than retail, indicating a song's popularity in terms of airplay rather than sales.

According to Pietrolongo, hip hop's assault on the charts in recent months has been spearheaded by the level of airplay being given to rap artists on the 40 largest mainstream US radio stations.

"The mainstream top 40 is playing those songs more often and playing them immediately, not waiting for another format, particularly the R and B format to start a record for them. Now, they jump on those songs right away," he said.

Rounding out the top three on this week's chart were "Shake Ya Tailfeather" by Nelly, P. Diddy, and Murphy Lee in second place, followed by "Get Low" by Lil Jon and The East Side Boyz featuring the Ying Yang Twins.

The other acts on the chart are Chingy, Pharrell featuring Jay-Z, YoungBloodZ featuring Lil Jon, 50 Cent, Fabolous Featuring Tamia/Ashanti, Ludacris featuring Shawnna, and Black Eyed Peas.

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