Perfect 11
Chart-watchers generally acknowledge that Nos. 2, 11 and 41 are the worst positions at which a song can peak on any chart. (I once sent a letter to then-"American Top 40" host Shadoe Stevens wondering why Kim Wilde's "You Came" peaked at No. 41 in 1988, just missing inclusion on the show. How happy was I to have received a friendly response, noting that songs sometimes simply run out of steam at the most inopportune times of their chart lives. And, the Shadoe's background backs him up; while he's perhaps best known for his acting career, if not for succeeding Casey Kasem as host of "American Top 40", he first made his name as the original program director of powerhouse KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, one of the country's first alternative rock radio stations.)
But, back to the countdown. This week, Mariah Carey holds patiently at No. 11 on the Hot 100 with "Obsessed". The song has now spent four weeks directly on the doorstep of the top 10: the last three and its debut week on the July 25 chart. The song is still bulleted, and gaining on Radio Songs/Hot 100 Airplay (up from No. 9 to No. 7 this week). But, should it fail to reach the top 10, it would join a select group of songs to log the most weeks at No. 11 without ascending higher.
Currently, here are the songs to spend at least four weeks at No. 11 on the Hot 100 and not reach the top 10: 5 weeks, "All for You", Sister Hazel (1997)
4 weeks, "Honey Chile", Martha Reeves & the Vandellas (1967)
4 weeks, "Time Has Come Today", The Chambers Brothers (1968)
4 weeks, "It's Raining Again", Supertramp featuring Roger Hodgson (1982)
4 weeks, "Gone", 'N Sync (2001)
4 weeks to date, "Obsessed", Mariah Carey (2009) The No. 11 peak position has frustrated some of music's biggest names, including Elvis Presley (four titles), Michael Jackson ("Another Part of Me", 1988) and Madonna ("The Power of Goodbye", 1998). And, one iconic duo has turned the chart nightmare triple play. Hall & Oates peaked at No. 2 with the appropriately-titled "Say It Isn't So" in 1983, No. 11 with the even more appropriately-titled "So Close" in 1990 and No. 41 with "Don't Hold Back Your Love", the follow-up to "So Close", in 1991. The pair can't be too upset, however: Hall & Oates has sent six songs all the way to No. 1. (Billboard's Chart Beat)
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