Billboard's Dance/Club Hits of August 10

For the Billboard magazine week ending August 10, Cher's new single (with remixes), "Woman's World," usurps the #1 spot on the Dance/Club chart, as anticipated! It's really Cher's world; we just live in it.

Inaya Day will "Make Some Noise" if she damn well pleases. The perennial house music diva is back, up at #4 with Dj Escape on that number.

Plumb's "Need You Now" is now nestled in the top ten at 10th place with Kylie close behind as "Skirt" shakes it way to #11.  And "Soothe My Soul," by the UK's very durable band over the decades, Depeche Mode, is up at #12 . UK's equally durable Pet Shop Boys this week find their "Vocal" in 14th place and rising.

Upwardly mobile, though currently much lower on the Club chart, are the new Lady Bunny song (who was a Lady long before Gaga), "Take Me Up High" by an unfunny, serious Bunny as house music diva; Yoko Ono's "Walking on Thin Ice" 2013 driven by top-notch remixes from Dave Aude and Ralphi Rosario; and the 2013 remixes of Sylvester's "Mighty Real."

Billboard Beefs Up

Finally, there's some hope on Billboard's dance-music horizon now that "A Woman's World" by Cher is in the #2 position for the club chart ending August 3. It's poised to top the chart next week.

The always remarkable Inaya Day and Dj Escape's "Make Some Noise," is a true floor-filler, up at 6th place this week, while Jennifer Lopez's "Live It Up" is down at #8. The JLo tune peaked in first place, and was at #5 last outing. Fading but still strong.

Ciara's "Body Party," also a previous #1 (last week, in fact), steeply fell to 11th place but it was nice to find the girl charting for the dancefloors again.

"Need You Now" by Christian Contemporary singer, Plumb (nee Tiffany Arbuckle Lee), features strong remixes by RedTop, WaWa and Dave Aude. It's upwardly mobile on the dance/club chart at #15, as is venerable Depeche Mode's "Save My Soul," now in the current 16th spot.

Kylie Minogue works her "Skirt" into the 17th spot, and she's always a welcome presence on the gay club scene, this being no exception.  In the 18th spot, we have Anton Clamaran's "This Is My Goodbye" featuring diva Fenja. It's a pop-friendly high-NRG, trancey number that will seduce you to the dancefloor. Unfortunately, it peaked on Billboard at #13 last week, so it's falling now. Still, it's recommended. (Radio edit posted below.)

Dance/ Soul music idol Chaka Khan's "It's Not Over" truly deserved to be a #1. It peaked at a respectable #7 and is now at  #20.

And "Vocal" by Pet Shop Boys just cracks the Top 25 this week in the 25th spot, but moving up for sure.

Meanwhile, bubbling up in the Top 50, Lady Bunny gets even higher (#43) with the fabulous, ascending "Take Me Up High." New, 2013 remixes of Yoko Ono's "Walking on Thin Ice" (#47) and Sylvester's perennial disco classic and gay anthem, "(You Make Me Feel) Mighty Real," is at #50, rounding out the chart.

Dance/Club Play Top 25, Billboard 1/28 Chart

Let's work our way up the chart this week as I comment on the tracks I deem noteworthy. For the full club play top 25, go to Billboard.com.

Always a pleasure to see Erasure represented, and this week their song, "Be with You," nicely skips to #22 from 24th place last week. Gravitonas hangs in there at #23 with "Everybody Dance." By the way, the Swedish electro duo is the latest incarnation of producer/songwriter Alexander Bard of Army Of Lovers ("Crucified") and BWO fame. Gravitonas' vocalist Andreas Ohm is joined by Russian pop star Roma Kenga on this track. Good stuff!

The dreamy "Drifting" by Plumb en-trances as it drifts up from 23 to snag spot #20, while the Ultra Nate-meets-Destiny Child's Michelle Williams number, "Waiting on You" does its disco damnedest as it jumps from last week's 21st spot to #17. Lots of nice remixes to choose from for this one, too.

Traci Lords' "Last Drag" peaked at fourth place. It was at 10 last week, and now finds itself parked at a still-respectable #16. Lady Gaga drops to sixth place with the rousing "Marry the Night" (my favorite track off the "Born This Way" album), having captured the numero uno position last time we took a look. Rising from #9 to #7 is the sticks-in-the-head dance track, "Let Me Be Myself" by Rosabel featuring the divine club diva, Tamara Wallace.

"Shake It Out," Florence + the Machine, shaking it up to #4. Brilliant party song, brilliant band, glad to see it doing so well! Up one spot as well, Gloria Estefan's "Hotel Nacional," swinging Dr Buzzard-style with the #1 spot a real possibility at this point.

But this week's #1 song (and diva) is none other than "If It Wasn't for Love" sung by Miss Deborah Cox. I fell in love with this Janice Robinson-penned number from the start, before it entered Billboard's chart. Hello, Deborah; so nice to have you back where you belong! (You so deserve your spotlight.)

By the way, big thanks and kisses out to Slovenia! (You guys are crazy!) And love all around this world to all my friends, readers and party people. Until next week, keep on dancing!

Buddy Beaverhausen's Notes to Divas and other musings on music

Carol Hahn was a delight when she brought her powerful pipes recently to Splash in New York. She is simply a club diva's club diva who came to international attention in the 1980s with a few hiNRG hits. After taking time off reputedly to continue college (for something like 25 years?), she made a comeback a couple of years ago with her songs "Reach Out" and "Come Be My Lover". This year, she recorded and released two more well-crafted songs, full of energy and passion: "I Can Stop the Rain" and "Take Me and Dance," both of which made it up the Billboard Club chart. Buy/download her songs and move and groove to her; in short, take her and dance.

Of course, you've heard that Cyndi Lauper and Lady Gaga are the new faces of MAC Viva Glam, which benefits the MAC AIDS Fund. Ads will appear in February 2010 and Gaga and Cyndi lipsticks will be available a month later. Can't wait! And have you heard? Cyn met President Obama and he actually told her he thought Gaga was the new her. Well, certainly Gaga has the edginess but, I mean... Cyndi's the Ethel Merman of rock, right? Gaga's voice is pleasant enough in a Gwen Stefani way, but she can't belt it out like our Cyn. But don't get me wrong; I love Lady Gaga and am all set to buy her new "The Fame Monster" cd.

Madonna's latest single -- currently hosting a slew of white label mixes, the best attributed to Mike Danavan -- is "It's So Cool", which isn't. The beat is pumpin' but Madge is in preaching mode again imparting her banalities upon us. "It's so cool to be uncool/It's so right to be unright...." "Unright"? But that's so wrong! (Note to Madonna: run spell check.) Now, the theme of universal love is not such a bad thing, but, frankly, I could do without the holier-than-thou attitude it comes wrapped in.

Note to divas: Enunciate! I love Mia J's electropoppy "Headlights" but, I swear, when she gets to the chorus, it sounds like she's singing "caught in the head lice." Isn't she British? Why does her English sound like Agnetha Faltskog on a bad day? But it's ok; when I first heard Janet Jackson's "Feedback", I thought she was singing, "feed bag." Then, I thought it was "meat rack." No kidding. Enunciate.

Talking about Janet, club mixes of the extremely catchy "Make Me" are out to coincide with the release of her "Number Ones" album. She benefits from top-drawer remixes by Ralphi Rosario, Craig J, Bimbo Jones and Moto Blanco.

Whitney & Britney: Aesthetically diminishing returns from Whitney Houston, guys. She started on a relative high with "I Didn't Know My Own Strength". (Is anyone else feeling Junior Vasquez's sturm und drang mixes are getting a little played out by now? Wake up, Junior, the 90s are ovah! Really.) "Million Dollar Bill" was far less interesting and further showcased how deteriorated Miss Whitney's voice is. The current Johnny Vicious and Giuseppe D mixes of "I Look to You" do just about everything humanly possible to make it relevant but it is, sadly, a rather undistinguished effort. Nonetheless, her fans will love it and I expect it will be her third chart-buster on Billboard.

Far more interesting, surprisingly, is the latest comeback bid by Britney Spears. "3", as mixed by Groove Police, Lenny Bertoldo and (my fave) Rafael Lellis, is a spunky dancefloor tune that'll make you wanna twirl. I'm not sure what Brit's carrying on about (must have written the lyrics all by her lonesome) but she's claiming she's "caught in between" something. (Legs? I can relate.)

One of my favorite Swedish groups is back with a new dance hit that ought to be big internationally with the exception of the United States (a very boring, though huge, dance-music market). Alcazar (now back from a foursome to the original 3 -- oh, maybe this is what Britney's gurgling about!) returns with the snazzy "Burnin'" (and enunciating quite well, mind you, Mia J). Best mix award for this one goes to the stalwart team at Almighty.

Almighty, by the way, has just hired new management, MWR. Expect to see Almighty remixing more high-profile names, names, names as MWR are the folks who represent Jason Nevins, Wideboys, Cahill, Stonebridge and the omnipresent Moto Blanco.

And remixer Pete Hammond ("100 years old", as he claims on his My Space page) has another Billboard dance remix with Plumb's "Hang On" (Pete certainly has hung on in there, baby), which sounds grafted onto the beats and cowbells of his Dead or Alive "You Spin Me Round" production of some generations back. Pass the poppers and the Geritol! Barry Harris, meanwhile -- best remembered as half of Thunderpuss (keep the poppers and Geritol coming) -- resurrects himself with the camp "Drama Queen" featuring the always-welcome voice of Canada's Simone Denny ("All Things Keep Getting Better". The theme for "Queer Eye"? Remember them? So 2003!)

Finally, another note to divas from Buddy Beaverhausen: If you're going to cover a pop classic, you better have something new to bring to it. Hear that, Mariah Carey? I Want to Know What Love Is, that's all I'm saying. Except that, when in Chelsea, make sure you check out Rainbows & Triangles on 8th Ave. between 19th & 20th Sts. for a very choice selection of dance cds. All I'm saying.