Blog Posts by Paul Grein

The most surprising fact in last week's obits for Andy Williams was that his version of "Moon River" was never released as a single. The gorgeous ballad was Williams' signature song for 50 years. He even named his theater in Branson, Mo. (the Moon River Theater) after it.

But Cadence Records, Williams' record company from 1956 to 1961, questioned the song's youth appeal and discouraged the star from recording it. Williams moved onto Columbia Records, where he recorded the song in January 1962. But by then, two recordings of the song (by its composer, Henry Mancini, and by R&B hit-maker Jerry Butler) had become top 15 hits. Williams sang "Moon River" on the Oscars in April 1962 (where it won as Best Song). The following month, Williams' album Moon River & Other Great Movie Themes cracked the Billboard chart. Even without spawning a Hot 100 single, Williams' album was a fixture on the chart for more than three years.

Williams' rendition of "Moon River" isn't the only recording that everybody knows, even though it was never released as a single. Here are 10 more.

Lil Wayne this week surpasses Elvis Presley for the most Hot 100 singles by a solo artist. That's a true, actual fact. But it comes with a couple of very big asterisks. But first, the fact itself: Lil Wayne lands his 109th Hot 100 single as a featured artist on Game's "Celebration," which debuts at #82. Presley amassed 108 Hot 100 singles. Now the asterisks: Presley had 31 hits prior to the inception of the Hot 100 in August 1958, which this stat doesn't take into account. Furthermore, Presley was the lead artist on all 108 of his Hot 100 singles. Lil Wayne has been the lead artist on only 42 of his. About two-thirds of his hits have been collaborations on which he was a featured artist.

Even so, anytime an artist comes anywhere near a record by chart royalty such as Elvis, The Beatles and Michael Jackson, it's worth pointing out—if only to start a good debate.

PSY's novelty smash "Gangnam Style" leaps from #11 to #2 in its third week on the Hot 100. The song sold 301K digital copies, which represents a 60% gain from last week's total of 188K. (And that, in turn, represented a 210% gain over the previous week's total of 61K.) This week's sales tally sets a new one-week record for a novelty song in the digital era.

"Gangnam Style" is an international smash. It jumps from #37 to #3 on this week's Official U.K. Chart. It will probably be #1 in the U.K. next week. The song has already reached #1 in Denmark, Finland, New Zealand and PSY's native South Korea. It's in the top three in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands and Scotland.

If you're under 50, you probably have no idea what a big star Andy Williams was in the 1960s and 1970s. The ultra-smooth singer and TV personality hosted the first seven Grammy Awards telecasts. In fact, producer Pierre Cossette was only able to sell the concept of the Grammys as a live telecast when he assured ABC that he could deliver a big star like Williams as host.

Williams, who died Tuesday at his home in Branson, Mo. at age 84, was in the vein of such crooners as Bing Crosby and Perry Como. He was just about the last singer in that traditional pop style to become a major star—not counting latter-day revivalists such as Harry Connick Jr. and Michael Buble.

Michael Jackson's 1987 album Bad re-enters The Billboard 200 at #23, while a deluxe 25th anniversary edition debuts at #46. The two albums sold a combined total of 27K copies, about one-sixth of the number (166K) that a 25th anniversary release of Jackson's most famous album, Thriller, sold in its first week in February 2008. (That was 16 months before Jackson's untimely death, so sympathy wasn't a factor.) Thriller 25 would have ranked #2 for two weeks if catalog albums had been eligible to make The Billboard 200 (as they are now).

In a way, this week's so-so debut for Bad is fitting: In its time, Bad was seen by many as a somewhat disappointing follow-up to Thriller. Was that judgment fair or unfair? You decide.

[Photo: Christie Goodwin]Billboard has named Katy Perry its Woman of the Year. The prolific hit-maker follows in the footsteps of  past winners Beyonce, Fergie and Taylor Swift. The award will be presented at the Billboard Women in Music event set for Nov. 30 at Capitale in New York City.

Women have dominated the pop charts in the past few years to such a degree that the idea of a Woman of the Year sounds pretty retro.  Perry, Beyonce, Fergie and Swift are among the hottest artists in pop music, period.

According to Billboard, "the award honors the achievements of a trailblazing female recording artist over the past 12 months, and acknowledges her overall success in the music business and her leadership in embracing the changing industry."

Seven months after winning a Grammy for Best Comedy Album for Hilarious, Louis C.K. won two Emmys: one for his FX comedy series Louie a second for his comedy special, Louis C.K. Live At The Beacon Theatre.

The 45-year old comedian is the first person to win a Grammy for Best Comedy Album and an Emmy in any category in the same calendar year since Stephen Colbert enjoyed the double victory in 2010. Colbert won an Emmy that year for writing for his Comedy Central show The Colbert Report; a Grammy for A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift Of All!

"Gangnam Style," the loopy novelty hit by Korean pop star Psy, vaults from #64 to #11 in its second week on the Hot 100. The song, which The Village Voice called "an inspired piece of silliness," is shaping up to be this year's "Macarena" or "Rock Me Amadeus." That's no small feat:  Los Del Rio's "Macarena" logged 14 weeks at #1 in the summer and fall of 1996. Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus" spent three weeks on top in the spring of 1986. As you can see, the desire for escapist fare with a sense of the absurd is nothing new. All three of these songs were recorded in foreign languages (Korean, Spanish and German, respectively), which also shows that a playful spirit transcends language differences.

"Gangnam Style" ranks even higher on the Hot Digital Songs chart, which measures only sales. It leaps from #25 to #4 on that chart, based on sales of 188K copies. "Gangnam Style" is a global pop phenomenon. It has already reached the top 10 in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and South Korea.