It's freezing! No, we're not talking about the weather. Actually, everything's pretty much frozen. But our staff Certified Chartologist forecasts a thaw, as things begin to warm up a bit. The new TPMusic Charts, now online, show rather static -- or is that stagnant? -- listings for the new Super Sixty, the TPM Hit Music Top 40, and the Component Charts.

Yes, this happens every year, and we know it doesn't last that long after the first of the new year. We were hopeful that the reports from source charts would begin to reflect more radio-activity before Sunday night, and that we could provide some interesting updates. However, the most notable changes were retrograde, and were of no help.

Songs which had been major hits and were now in decline suddenly resurged on the source charts. Of course! End of the year and start of new year airing of the top songs of 2008. So some hits on the way down suddenly bounced back up, and in a few cases rather significantly. In the end, we decided to overlook those "updates" -- or maybe more correctly "downdates"? Our projections from Friday night's preview -- static/stagnant though they may be -- are left to stand.

Katy Perry's HOT N COLD enters a second week at Number One on the Sixty, as well as a third week on top of the Hit Music Top 40. The closest immediate challenger is not a serious challenger at all -- Nickelback's GOTTA BE SOMEBODY moves up 3-2 on the new Super Sixty, while holding at # 4 on the Hit Music 40. On the Hit Music Mass Appeal list, former # 1 I'M YOURS remains the runner-up. The Jason Mraz hit slips 2-3 on the Sixty.

The first notable gainer on both composite listings is Taylor Swift's LOVE SONG, up 5-4 on the new Super Sixty and 5-3 on the Hit Music Top 40. LOVE SONG is now one of five serious contenders for ascension to the Number One position on either (or both) of our "master" charts in the first month or so of 2009.

The other contenders include Lady GaGa's JUST DANCE, Fray's YOU FOUND ME, Beyonce's SINGLE LADIES, and P!nk's SOBER.

The only chart on which there is some real movement is the TPM AC Component Charts, as Christmas music disappears and "real" hits jump back in. However, for the most part these are the same songs that were listed before the Holiday Hits took over. That, again, equals stagnation!

While we're waiting for radio airplay trends to return to full post-holiday-season normalcy, let's get to our regular Sunday night upclose look at the first 13 on the new Sixty, with the TPM Points for this week and last -- a behind-the-scenes look at some of the info contained on our insider version of the chart, marked "for internal use only." This is your chance to see why these hits are ranked as they are, and their gains or losses.

Week of: January 5, 2009

TW	LW	SONG TITLE	ARTIST	PTS TW	PTS LW
1	1	HOT N COLD	***Second Week at Number One*** KATY PERRY     [LISTEN]	113	113
2	3	GOTTA BE SOMEBODY *	NICKELBACK	95	96
3	2	# I'M YOURS	JASON MRAZ	94	112
4	5	LOVE STORY	TAYLOR SWIFT	93	92
5	4	SO WHAT *	PINK	92	93
6	6	LET IT ROCK	KEVIN RUDOLF FEATURING LIL WAYNE	81	82
7	7	WOMANIZER	BRITNEY SPEARS	80	79
8	8	JUST DANCE	LADY GAGA FEATURING COLBY O'DONIS	79	78
9	10	YOU FOUND ME	FRAY	76	73
10	9	LIGHT ON	DAVID COOK	73	77
11	11	SINGLE LADIES (PUT A RING ON IT)	BEYONCE	71	68
12	12	ADDICTED	SAVING ABEL	63	64
13	13	IF I WERE A BOY	BEYONCE	58	63

Between 14 and 60, ten songs receive highlighters -- four RED for Major Increases, and six  GOLD  for Significant Increases.

Only one song on the entire Sixty receives a    bullet. Katy Perry's newest, THINKING OF YOU, jumps into the six decade Super chart, entering at # 53 with a 15-position jump from its one week at Hitbound. Prior to that THINKING OF YOU was our TPM SURESHOT.

Also entering the main TPMusic Chart from Hitbound is Ne-Yo's MAD, advancing 69-58. Here's a talented artist with a great smooth sound who just can't seem to land and remain in the upper portion of the TPM Super Sixty. Yet for the new chart week Ne-Yo sets a record at Total Popular Music as the first artist ever to have three different songs -- as the main artist credited -- on our Super Sixty at the same time. MAD joins MISS INDEPENDENT and CLOSER on this week's list.

TW	LW	SONG TITLE	ARTIST
14	16	SOBER *	PINK
25	28	CIRCUS	BRITNEY SPEARS
32	34	ANGELS ON THE MOON	THRIVING IVORY
37	40	WHERE I STOOD	MISSY HIGGINS
41	44	ROCK & ROLL	ERIC HUTCHINSON
43	47	1, 2, 3, 4	PLAIN WHITE T'S
46	50	GREEN LIGHT	JOHN LEGEND
48	51	DON'T GO AWAY	BUCKCHERRY
53	HB 68	THINKING OF YOU *	KATY PERRY
58	HB 69	MAD	NE-YO

In the midst of the annual holiday season freeze, no new singles were officially released. We've been able to jump the gun on some upcoming releases to feature as our TPM SURESHOT. Such is the case again with this week's SURESHOT. Slated for later this month officially, Shontelle's follow-up to T-SHIRT could be even bigger than the former. It's a tribute to President-elect Barack Obama, BATTLE CRY, officially due to hit radio in conjunction with the upcoming inauguration. If you haven't heard it yet, give it a listen. We think it's powerful -- with major pop potential!

*** TPM SURESHOT *** BATTLE CRY             SHONTELLE

Our only question about that new SURESHOT is whether a credit for the President-elect should appear. You know, "Shontelle featuring Barack Obama"?

The Hitbound section of the new All American Playlist remains sparse after a second week in which no new titles were actually released. Actually, it has gotten even sparser. (Sparser? Would you like a twig of sparsely with that?) And there's only one "blinky"!

Such as it is, here's our Hitbound review with the "this week" and "last week" info found only on this page.

TW	LW	SONG TITLE	ARTIST
62	62	BOUNCE	THE CAB
63	63	ROLL ON	KID ROCK
64	65	I WILL BE *	LEONA LEWIS
65	66	SOULMATE	NATASHA BEDINGFIELD
66	67	WHITE HORSE	TAYLOR SWIFT
67	70	LUCKY	JASON MRAZ & COLBIE CAILLAT
68	SS	A LITTLE TOO NOT OVER YOU *	DAVID ARCHULETA

= Hottest Hitbounds

Another song enters the "witty protection relocation program" moving from the Super Sixty to TPM Recurrents -- Matt Nathanson's COME ON GET HIGHER.

Expect a number of major 2008 hits now in decline to make the transition to the TPM Recurrents in the next couple of weeks! Hints: VIVA LA VIDA ... WHAT ABOUT NOW ... CRUSH -- just to name a few.

Now, our weekly look back at the five biggest on our TPM Super Sixty one year ago...

THE TPM FIRST FIVE ONE YEAR AGO THIS WEEK
^{From the TPM    Dated Jan. 7, 2008}

TW	LW	SONG TITLE	ARTIST
1	1	BUBBLY	***11th Week at Number One*** COLBIE CAILLAT
2	2	APOLOGIZE	TIMBALAND & ONEREPUBLIC
3	3	NO ONE	ALICIA KEYS
4	4	WHO KNEW	PINK
5	6	OVER YOU	DAUGHTRY

Did you notice? The "stagnation situation" really is an annual event. From the above look back, one can easily see the same syndrome last year at this time!

This is our first Chart Chat of 2009, and this entire column was written wearing TPM's annual New Year's costume! Yes, dressed as the New Year Baby -- sans diaper! Fortunately for your sake, no photos are being published! But since "it's freezing" refers not only to the chart activity -- or lack of it -- wethinks it's time to get dressed in our brand new SuperTPMan 2009 costume. Neither Superman nor Spider-Man ever had such a great Supersuit!

Hotter than Hot AC ...    Brighter than Light AC...     More Firm than Soft AC...      More Mainstream than Mainstream CHR...       Wider Demographics Than Any of Them! Listen up! On the air! It's a rocket ... It's a missle ... No! It's ... Mass Appeal for the 21st Century The NEW Radio Programming SuperHero!

One more time we want to remind you that our Top TPM Hits of 2008 is online. It will be permanently available from our TPM Archives Menu.

And for those asking (both of you!), "What happened to the special Christmas charts?" They are still available, also from our Archives Menu. You'll find the 12 Songs of Christmas 2008, plus the All Time Top Christmas Songs (2008 Edition) near the top of the Archives Menu.

Now that we have our new SuperTPMan Supersuit, we're throwing away all of our other clothes!

Junk is something you've kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it!

And that's the way it is!

All new TPMusic Charts are online every Sunday night.

Every Friday night, CHART CHAT features a preview of the next week's TPM Charts.

Archived past editions of CHART CHAT are available upon request.

INTRODUCING OUR ALL NEW SECOND STATION! TPM Hit Music

Taylor Swift Still Reigns On Billboard 200 Billboard's Katie Hasty reports that Taylor Swift's sophomore album "Fearless" tops The Billboard 200 for a fourth non-consecutive week after selling 262,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, a 21% sales decline from last week. With the continued success of her track "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", Beyonce's "I Am ... Sasha Fierce" leaps up 5-2 on a 7% sales boost to 211,000. Britney Spears' "Circus" rebounds 4-3 with 203,000 (+4%), while Nickelback's "Dark Horse" climbs 6-4 with 177,000 (-9%). Re-entering the top tier with an 11-5 move is Kanye West's "808s and Heartbreak" -- on a 16% jump in sales. The soundtrack to "Twilight" ascends a notch 7-6. After a # 2 debut last week, Keyshia Cole's "A Different Me" takes a 61% sales plunge, moving the set down to # 7. Similarly, Jamie Foxx's "Intuition" experiences the same decline in its second week and slips 3-9. The 29th volume of the multi-label "Now!" hits compilation climbs 10-8 on a 12% decline. David Cook rounds out the top 10 with his self-titled debut, ascending. In the last chart week of 2008, sales totaled 17.02 million, up 17% compared to the final week of 2007. However, the week ending Dec. 28, 2008 included three full days of pre-Christmas shopping. The final week of 2007 ended on Dec. 30, and only contained one day of last minute holiday shopping. There were 428.4 million albums sold in 2008, down 14.4% compared to 2007's 500.5 million. Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III" was the top seller of the year with 2.88 million copies. For "Popular Music" Radio Airplay, there is no other Hit Music Chart like the Total Popular Music Super Sixty. But when it comes to all-format-airplay combined with sales, the industry standard remains the Billboard Hot 100. Beyonce Starts 2009 Atop The Hot 100 Billboard's Jonathan Cohen, reporting from N.Y., tells us Beyonce begins 2009 with a fourth week atop the Billboard Hot 100 with "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)." The track sold a massive 382,000 downloads last week according to Nielsen SoundScan, a 157% increase. Near-record digital sales drive Lady GaGa's "Just Dance" featuring Colby O'Donis up 3-2; the song sold 419,000 downloads, the second biggest single-week sum of all time behind Flo Rida's 467,000 from the same week last year. T.I.'s "Live Your Life" featuring Rihanna slips 2-3, as Kanye West's "Heartless" holds at # 4, and Taylor Swift's "Love Story" jumps 7-5. Katy Perry's "Hot N Cold" remains # 6 and Britney Spears' "Womanizer" slides 5-7. Rounding out the top portion of the Hot 100, West's "Love Lockdown," T.I.'s "Whatever You Like" and Beyonce's "If I Were a Boy" all are unchanged at Numbers 8-10. All Billboard Chart Information is Copyright © 2008, The Nielsen Company.

May 2009 Be Your Best Year Ever! Best Wishes From Your Friends At