Blog Posts by Paul Grein

This isn't what Jennifer Lopez wants to hear as she comes down from the high of the two-hour season finale of American Idol (and as she weighs the decision of whether to re-sign for a third season with the hit show), but her current single seems to be running out of gas on the Hot 100. "Dance Again," featuring Pitbull, drops from #17 to #19 in its seventh week. Singles often move up and down, but since J.Lo's twice-weekly Idol visibility is coming to an end, at least for this season, it's starting to look like #17 will be this record's peak.

By contrast, "On The Floor," J.Lo's 2011 collaboration with Pitbull, logged 15 weeks in the top 10, peaking at #3. I don't think "Dance Again" is as striking as "On The Floor." As Randy Jackson might say, "This one was just OK for me."

Adam Lambert's Trespassing enters The Billboard 200 at #1, displacing Carrie Underwood's Blown Away. This marks the first time that artists who rose to fame on American Idol have had back-to-back #1 albums. Lambert was the runner-up on Season 8. Underwood was the winner on Season 4.

Lambert is the second Idol runner-up to land a #1 album, following Clay Aiken. One other Idol "loser" has topped the chart: Chris Daughtry, who finished fourth in Season 4.

Billboard didn't have a prime-time TV show in 1978 on which to dole out awards to the year's top sellers. If it had, Bee Gees would have gotten a real workout sprinting up to the stage to pick up all their prizes. The brother trio was the year's Top Pop Singles Artist and Top Pop Albums Artist in the magazine's year-end chart recap issue. Saturday Night Fever, which they dominated, was the year's #1 album and #1 soundtrack. Bee Gees were also the year's Top Pop Producers (in conjunction with their colleagues Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson).

Photo by Frank Hoensch/Getty ImagesRobin Gibb died in a London hospital today after a battle with colon and liver cancer. He was 62. Robin's series of health crises began in August 2010 when he underwent emergency surgery to treat a blocked intestine. The same hereditary condition led to Robin's twin brother Maurice Gibb's death in January 2003 at age 53.

Gibb's family released a statement today, saying: "The family of Robin Gibb, of the Bee Gees, announce with great sadness that Robin passed away today following his long battle with cancer and intestinal surgery. The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this very difficult time."

[Related: 2012 Billboard Music Awards Photo Gallery]

Gibb's death puts a spotlight on Bee Gees, one of the most successful groups in pop music history. The brother trio, which also included oldest brother Barry Gibb and Robin's twin Maurice, amassed nine #1 hits on Billboard's Hot 100, a total matched by only two other groups or duos. The Beatles lead with 20. The Supremes had 12.

You can bet that Donna Summer will be remembered at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday. Summer took the award for Disco Artist of the Year in 1977 when Billboard first had a prime-time TV show on which to honor the year's chart champs. The TV show didn't start up again until the early 1990s, but Billboard's year-end issues document Summer's strength through the years.

Summer was the #1 female artist in combined activity on the Hot 100 and The Billboard 200 album chart for two years running, 1979 and 1980. The two years before that, 1977 and 1978, she was #2 among female artists (behind Linda Ronstadt) in combined singles and albums activity.

I'm sure that Jimmy Iovine tried to be fair and even-handed in selecting songs for the top three contestants on American Idol, but his choice for Joshua Ledet, the Mary J. Blige hit "No More Drama," put Ledet at a disadvantage. It's not that "No More Drama" isn't a great song. It's that it's not as well-known to a broad TV audience as the songs that Iovine chose for the other two contestants.

"I'll Be There," which Iovine selected for Jessica Sanchez, has been a #1 hit twice, for the Jackson 5 in 1970 and Mariah Carey in 1992. "We've Got Tonite," which he chose for Phillip Phillips, has been a top 15 hit twice, for Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band in 1979 (#13) and for Kenny Rogers & Sheena Easton in 1983 (#6). (That duet recording was also a #1 country hit.) By contrast, "No More Drama" has been a hit just once, for Blige in 2002. (It reached #15.) "No More Drama" is a signature song for Blige, but these other songs, by virtue of the covers they've received, are contemporary standards. If there was a modern-day "Great American Songbook," they'd be in it.

Disco dominated the 21st annual Grammys in February 1979. The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack won for Album of the Year. For their work on the album, Bee Gees won five awards, including Producer of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. A Taste of Honey, which had a #1 smash with "Boogie Oogie Oogie," won for Best New Artist. Donna Summer's "Last Dance" won for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female. That last-call anthem, written by Paul Jabara, won for Best Rhythm & Blues Song.

There was just one little problem. Even with 52 categories that year, the Grammys didn't have a category devoted exclusively to disco. Feeling a little bit "out of it," the Trustees ratified a new category, Best Disco Recording, which was introduced at the 22nd annual Grammys in February 1980.

Donna Summer was universally hailed as "the Queen of Disco," but the title didn't really do her justice. Summer had a big, powerful voice that would have served her well in any era. Such Summer hits as "Heaven Knows" and "On The Radio" were really just great pop records with a dance beat. But because of her strong association with disco, when the disco bubble burst in the early 1980s, Summer's career also suffered.

But while she was hot, she was on fire. Summer had eight consecutive top 10 hits, from "Last Dance" in July 1978 to "On The Radio" in February 1980. All eight were certified gold by the Recording Industry Assn. of America. "Last Dance," which Summer sang in the 1978 movie Thank God It's Friday, won an Oscar as Best Song.