By Mark Harris

Ke$ha's TIK TOK reached to within about 140 TotalPlaysMonitored of Lady GaGa's BAD ROMANCE ... but has now begun to experience day-to-day losses, as reflected on recent editions of our Daily Dozen.

Week-to-week, it shows a decrease of 59 total plays; thus its chances of taking over the top spot are greatly diminished. We had expected TIK TOK to take over the Number One position at Total Popular Music by now. But, it looks like it ain't gonna happen! It still could, but current trending is against that.

As our new Super Sixty goes online, BAD ROMANCE begins its fourth week as top-tune-topper ... and a fifth week is not out of the picture. After coming so close to catching up, TIK TOK finishes 258 total plays behind BAD ROMANCE ... and there's is no other contender close enough to oust BAD ROMANCE.

The next serious contender for the penthouse is still far enough behind to need a couple of weeks to become an imminent challenger for the top spot. Orianthi's ACCORDING TO YOU is "waiting in the wings," up 7-5, and receiving the first SuperGainer "Blinky" on our update, and also earning Greatest Gainer honors on the new Sixty. But, it's still 4,630 total plays behind BAD ROMANCE.

Orianthi jumps ahead of TWO IS BETTER THAN ONE, which itself adds enough additional total plays to receive a crimson highlighter while holding at #6. That's good for Taylor Swift, who teams with Boys Like Girls, because her solo FIFTEEN is biting the dust. It has been practicing Olympic-style deep diving, ending up down 12-24.

Fear not, Taylor Swift fans! Her newest is featured further down in this column as our new TPM SURESHOT. And it's very likely to be a bigger than FIFTEEN.

Kris Allen's LIVE LIKE WE'RE DYING continues strong gains, up 10-9, while two songs move into the "Lucky 13."

This past week, Daughtry's LIFE AFTER YOU showed at #12 on our Daily Dozen for a couple of days. Then, Train's HEY, SOUL SISTER leaped ahead to the 12th spot. Now, Train is up 17-11 ... but Daughtry is not right behind. TELEPHONE from Lady GaGa (with assistance from Beyonce) leaps to #12. LIFE AFTER YOU is forced to settle for a one-spot move for the week, 15-14.

In the second decade, The Script's BREAKEVEN surprises us — not because it enters the Top 20, 24-18, but because it gains enough new TotalPlaysMonitored for a SuperGainer Indicator (aka "Blinky"), the second of six "flashers" on the Super Sixty.

Before we get below the first thirteen, a look at the "Lucky" list with exact gains or losses for each and every title!

Ranked by TotalPlaysMonitored™ Week of: February 8, 2010

TW	LW	SONG TITLE	ARTIST	Airplay + Gains OR - Losses
1	1	BAD ROMANCE	***Fourth Week at Number One*** LADY GAGA	- 108
2	2	TIK TOK	KE$HA	- 59
3	3	SEXY CHICK	DAVID GUETTA FEATURING AKON	- 117
4	4	REPLAY	IYAZ	- 824
5	7	ACCORDING TO YOU *	ORIANTHI	+1331
6	6	TWO IS BETTER THAN ONE	BOYS LIKE GIRLS & TAYLOR SWIFT	+457
7	5	# FIREFLIES *	OWL CITY (ADAM YOUNG)	- 939
8	8	DO YOU REMEMBER	JAY SEAN	+158
9	10	LIVE LIKE WE'RE DYING	KRIS ALLEN	+433
10	9	# ALREADY GONE *	KELLY CLARKSON	- 730
11	17	HEY, SOUL SISTER	TRAIN	+770
12	16	TELEPHONE	LADY GAGA  FEATURING BEYONCE	+659
13	11	HARD	RIHANNA	- 176

GOLD  =  100-399 new plays;       RED  =  400 or more new plays         =   SuperGainer: 800 or more new plays # Denotes a former TPM Number One         * Denotes a former TPM SURESHOT TW=This Week     LW=Last Week     HB=HITBOUND     SS=SURESHOT     BB=BIG BREAKER     CB=CROSSOVER BREAKTHROUGH     RE=RE-ENTRY

For actual airplay data for the entire first twenty on the new Super Sixty, check out the latest listing from ChartWatch Data Services®.

Now, our weekly look at the Greatest Gainers and Biggest Losers on the new Super Sixty. We mentioned there are six songs on the new Super list receiving SuperGainer "Blinkies." They're the first half dozen of the ten Greatest Gainers.

We talked about the deep dive of Taylor Swift's FIFTEEN, 12-24, but as you'll now see, it's also the Biggest Loser by a minus of more than 1,500 TotalPlaysMonitored.

Our SURESHOT for the new chart week, as already mentioned, is the latest from Taylor Swift. We had predicted FIFTEEN would only go so far before Top 40 ditched it. We were right about that, but are surprised Hot Adult also appears to be backing off from it now.

However, making a new prediction ... TODAY WAS A FAIRYTALE will put Taylor (solo) back in the first decade. This could, in fact, be her next #1 Total Popular Music hit. It's back in line, "flavor-wise," with LOVE STORY and YOU BELONG WITH ME.

Our TPM BIG BREAKER this week is SAY AAH ... what I say after an 18-hour day when I finally get my five hours of sleep! (I really, really need to sleep more!) The song, however, has nothing to do with me or my needs. It's from Trey Songz featuring Fabolous (not Fabulous!) — and it's starting to break big at Top 40 Radio. We'd originally planned to add it as Hitbound. But, BIG BREAKER, works for me!

Two songs debut as Hitbound this week — Jaicko's FAST FORWARD and Hassle's HURTFUL.

Three songs enter the Witty Protection Relocation Program — endorsed by TPM but not by the FBI — and move from the Super Sixty to Hit Music Recurrents ... Beyonce's SWEET DREAMS ... Cascada's EVACUATE THE DANCEFLOOR ... and Green River Ordinance's COME ON.

We get email. Sometimes we've even answer it!

Big Apple PD Scott writes, "Yo Mark, it's been a long time. But I think I've finally tagged your Total Popular Music format. It should be described as 'SuperHot Contemporary Adult.' What do you think?"

Whatever you say, Scott. So long as you don't try to get the letter "Z" in there!

"Just Curious" from Portland emails, "A couple of years back, you defined 'idiot' by giving someone's name, and then later issued a retraction because of threats of a lawsuit. How would you define 'idiot' now?"

In two ways. "Male Cat" and "Tailor" — and please don't translate the first and put it together with the second. I don't need another lawsuit threat!

We're still waiting for a few hundred thousand of you to make those calls! (Yeah ... as if that many people actually read this column!) We want you to tell every radio station in the United States of America: "I Want My TPM."

Demand the music you want — not just "popular music" but Total Popular Music!!!

The Big News at Total Popular Music continues to be the All-New Total Popular Music Videos page. We were long aware of slow loading because of the number of videos that were embedded on the original format for the page. And so we made the first major change to our TPMusic Videos page in more than 16 months. The revision was in planning for several months.

We're now providing a sleeker, faster-loading page that contains direct links to all of the videos for our Total Popular Music Super Sixty Hits. Wherever possible, the clickable link opens a new window with a full screen version of the video. We also feature the current SURESHOT and other featured songs, such as the Big Breaker and/or Crossover Breakthrough. We've recently added some of our Recurrents ... more are coming. And before long we hope to also offer video links for our Hitbounds (when available). Initial reaction to the new format for the page has been extremely positive. Thanks to all for the nice comments.

Look for our regular Friday Night Update to again appear above this column on Friday night — the only night we're legally allowed to offer a Friday Night Update. As always, it's highlighted by the "Top 20 Now," an update of the first twenty which helps trend toward the first third of the next official Sixty.

Don't forget, the TPM Daily Dozen updates the 12 biggest songs at Total Popular Music, including CWDS Total Airplay stats, every day!

We'll be back, right here, with an all-new Chart Chat next Sunday night.

OK, so what's the speed of dark?

And that's the way it is!

New TPMusic Charts are online Sunday nights in advance of their Monday chart date.

Updates and Breaking News are added to this page throughout the week as needed.

Archived past editions of CHART CHAT are available upon request.