Once again Mariah stuck at #2 It's unbelievable that Mariah's latest single "We Belong Together" has reached the dilemma stage on chart, nowhere but #2. This time, the more ironic fact is... the only reason pulling off from being #1 is...the sales. Since the album Butterfly, Mariah's 12~15th singles has topped the chart thanked to the huge sales power, in order to compensate its insufficient airplay. The most evident one was 2001's "Loverboy", its poor airplay power stopped the song around #55, but since the retail single has been released, the monster single sales from her die-hard fans has helped the song soar right to #2 for 2 weeks. (We still argue about whether it was Tommy Motolla's intention to set Destiny's Child's "Bootylicious" CD single to be released on the same day as Loverboy in order to stop Mariah's record extending) After Mariah's 2001 flop, radios in American seems to out Mariah forever on their playlists. Mariah has never owned a radio hit, exclude from the collaborations on rapper's works. So, who would have thought Mariah can make a top 10 hit since 2001? As the Mimi regaining people's appreciation back, radio has suddenly emancipated Mariah from their ban on playlist. More than that, they play Mariah's new single in the way they've never done in the last 10 years. We Belong Together has officially being the #1 most played song on Billboard airplay chart this week, which the last time Mariah's achieved was 1995, with her biggest hit, One Sweet Day. So, by reaching this new summit, why We Belong Together still stuck at #2? That's the most ironic part, because of its sales. Should I be more precisely say, its legal download sales. Since the retail single has been out of the scene for serveral years, and the technology has pushed music industry into a new phase, Billboard is counting every legal download from Internet as the points to be calculated for the song's overall performance every week. Mariah's fans are surely astounded by finding they actually can't do nothing on helping Mariah's sales by the way they did before. You won't have the chance to pick up dozens of singles, because there's no retail single. You can only gain points by downloading the song. On a cost basis, 0.99 or less a song is cheaper than buying a real single, but who would have done that even for once since everyone has owned the song already? Buying retail singles, it has implemented with collecting value or as gifts to the friends. But by repeating downloading the same song, it is just nonsense, and so incentive-lacked for Mariah's diehard fans in doing so. Def Jam is seeking a way out by offering its remix version on iTunes, but I wonder how far this urban remix could increase We Belong Together's sales power. The only solution for making it a solid #1 still remains as the release of a retail single. The record company surely has the technical problem to realize it, because it takes time to work it out as a retail single, but in the meaning time, we can't assure how long and how massive We Belong Together's enormous airplay could be remained. You have to drop the single while it's hot, but the timing for now looks so impossible. What we can expect is wishing the remix version could enhance the sales power more than expected, or negatively, hoping the decline on Gwen's Hollaback Girl. But as we've seen Gwen has held the strong and steady selling figures for weeks, we can only pray. It will be decisive on whether it's Gwen's sales power falls short first or Mariah's airplay power falls short first to evaluate the possible chance for We Belong Together to be Mariah's record-breaking 16th #1 hit. I don't wanna put too much expectation on it, in case to be dissapointed too much. I've endured one of the greatest pain on Loverboy before, I just don't think I need to take another one, another harder one. Anyway, I have been amazed by how well We Belong Together is doing on chart so far. It's a real comeback for Mariah, I'm so glad, so so glad, so so so glad. The 3rd single has been confirmed today, which is my choice "Shake It Off". It will be another chart smash I convince. What more can I ask for? The #1 single No.16? If it really "belongs" to Mariah, they'll "belong together" at last. A.C, Taiwan --

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