TOP TWENTY IS TIGHT

With the chart on its 17th week and stabilizing, the Top 10 is now very competitive and many big chart hits have not yet peaked in the Top 10, including Local H's "All The Kids Are Right", Madonna's "The Power Of Goodbye", Semisonic's "Singing In My Sleep" and Fastball's "Fire Escape". All these songs are doing great in terms of points. Two songs manage to creep into the Top 10 this week, Korn's "Got The Life" and Stabbing Westward's "Sometimes It Hurts". However, even more interesting is that every song in the Top 20 this week was in the Top 20 last week. Outside the Top 20 though, there are 9 debuts and one re-entry and songs moving up and down.

THE HITS AND THE FOLLOWUPS

Many bands have two singles charted this week, including Candlebox and Monster Magnet, who have come off very successful first singles. Their followups look equally bright, but we'll really have to wait and see if these new entries do as good as their predecessors. Fuel's "Bittersweet", the followup to the #1 smash "Shimmer", seems to have peaked at #35, sliding to #44 this week, not doing so hot on radio as well. We'll see if this one can pull off a rebound. One of the hottest #1 followups though, is "Slide" from the Goo Goo Dolls, who move to #2, the second band to have two Top 3 hits, after Everclear. If the Dolls can go all the way to #1, they will be the first band to have two #1 hits, following the biggest chart hit, "Iris". What a great year for them. Stabbing Westward are also looking great with two simultaneous Top 20 hits.

LONGEVITY IS THE GAME

The oldest title in the Top 10 is Everclear's "Father Of Mine", which has spent 10 consecutive weeks in the Top 10, longer than any other chart hit. Previously, "Iris" and "One Week" spent 9 weeks in the Top 10 portion of the chart. "Father Of Mine" is already doing great in its point total and is guaranteed a high placing on the year end chart. Meanwhile, "One Week" looks like its ready to head out of the chart after 14 weeks. Meanwhile, "Iris" and "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing", are still overplayed and still doing great on their 17th week on the chart. On the first week of the chart, "Iris" was #1 and "Miss A Thing" was #20, on the then 20 position chart. All the songs in between have disappeared.

ROCK SPOTLIGHT

Creed hold on for a 6th week on the official Mainstream Rock Chart at #1. It is bulleted and should be up there for a long time. The song could just be the biggest hit of the year on hard rock radio, as it did very well this summer, ranking #9 on summer airplay. Veteran rockers, Kiss lose their bullet but remain at #2. Strong competition come from the #3 and #4 titles, "Fly Away" and "Celebrity Skin", which are both doing extremely well on the Modern Rock Charts, at #1 and #4 respectively. Meanwhile, Goo Goo Dolls' "Slide" moves to #8 and #2 on the Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock charts respectively. "Slide" matches "Iris"' peak on the Mainstream Rock chart (#8) and looks like it will do the same and hit #1 on the Modern Rock charts, something few artists have done this year. Semisonic and Fastball had huge hits earlier this year and the followups didn't do too hot on the Modern Rock charts. Meanwhile, Lenny Kravitz, has the most interesting story. After his first single flopped, his second single, "Fly Away" has been burning up rock radio and is set to cross over to pop. And what a great song it is.

GOLD

No singles go gold this week but next week, it is very likely, "Iris" will go platinum while a whole lot of other songs will go gold.

Billboard Mainstream Rock Top 10	Billboard Modern Rock Top 10
[ 1] Creed What's This Life For [ 2] Kiss Psycho Circus [ 3] Lenny Kravitz Fly Away [ 4] Hole Celebrity Skin [ 5] Eve 6 Inside Out [ 6] Days Of The New The Down Town [ 7] Rob Zombie Dragula [ 8] Goo Goo Dolls Slide [ 9] Monster Magnet Space Lord [10] Kenny Wayne Somehow, Somewhere	[ 1] Hole Celebrity Skin [ 2] Goo Goo Dolls Slide [ 3] Eve 6 Inside Out [ 4] Lenny Kravitz Fly Away [ 5] Cake Never There [ 6] Everclear Father Of Mine [ 7] Beastie Boys Intergalactic [ 8] Eagle Eye Cherry Save Tonight [ 9] The Flys Got You [10] Garbage I Think I'm Paranoid