Gnarls Barkley keeps working their way higher on both the top albums and top singles chart. Even though I’m not much of a fan, I’m glad to see some interesting music from smart people catching the attention of enough folks to break out of the various niches to which such music is assigned.
They’ve proven themselves to be much bigger than the Danger Mouse Black Album event that appeared to some to be the basis for their success. That was a great story and it helped their initial visibility but now they’ve far exceeded that event to reach a popular audience with some very unique material. Cee-Lo’s incredible voice is also a big part of this story.
Top ten from the Billboard 200 album chart:
1. Johnny Cash – American V: A Hundred Highways
2. Nelly Furtado – Loose
3. India.Arie – Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship
4. Dixie Chicks – Taking the Long Way
5. Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere
6. Rihanna – A Girl Like Me
7. Rascal Flatts – Me and My Gang
8. Soundtrack – High School Musical
9. Dashboard Confessional – Dusk and Summer
10. Rise Against – The Sufferer & the Witness
Top ten from the Hot 100 singles chart:
1. Nelly Furtado – Promiscuous feat. Timbaland
2. Gnarls Barkley – Crazy
3. Cassie – Me & U
4. Shakira – Hips Don’t Lie feat. Wyclef
5. Yung Joc – It’s Goin’ Down
6. Rihanna – Unfaithful
7. Christina Aguilera – Ain’t No Other Man
8. Lil Jon – Snap Yo Fingers
feat. E-40 & Sean Paul (YoungBloodZ)
9. Chamillionaire – Ridin’ feat. Krayzie Bone
10. Fray – Over My Head (Cable Car)
Update: If you’ve been wondering about this whole Gnarls Barkley thing, Rizoh has some examples of Gnarls Barkley press release photos that are kind of fun.
Gnarls produced one of the few “Summer Songs” this year. Usually you have a handful of songs that define the summer. It has been slow this year.
I hadn’t thought about Crazy as a summer anthem. Interesting point.