8/19/09: #1: Crying Lightning / Arctic Monkeys (5 weeks).

Arctic Monkeys hold on to the top for the fifth week, making "Crying Lightning" tied with Deerhunter's "Nothing Ever Happened" for the second-longest stay at #1 this year. "Crying Lightning" will need another month at the top just to tie Silversun Pickups' "Panic Switch," which spent nine weeks at the top this past spring. This may not be too far-fetched though given the fact Arctic Monkeys has turned away a pair of Mos Def jams, stalled the Roots out at number two after a speedy ascension up the Mixtape, and fought off Grizzly Bear and Animal Collective for a month.

Pretenders to Arctic Monkeys throne this week include the aforementioned Roots and Mos Def tracks which are all stuck in a holding pattern (#2-4), Neon Indian's bippy bleepy day dreamy "Deadbeat Summer" (moving from 10-5) and Atlas Sound's collabo w/ Panda Bear from Animal Collective, "Walkabout" (last week's 11, this week's 8). After that, nary a threat to our Sheffield boys lies waiting. At least not for the immediate future.

Smith Westerns have this week's biggest mover - one of the best of the recent glut of fuzzed-out homages to 60s pop - with "Be My Girl" (34-23). Hell, the Monkeys biggest competition might be themselves. A second track from Humbug, the band's third full-length release - out next Tuesday, is this week's highest new entry at 27. "Dance Little Liar" is currently a stand-out on an album that truly does get better with each listen. More on Humbug here.

Other new entries this week come from rapper Gucci Mane (30), the perennially overlooked Brand New (32), Lake (35), AM (39), and Choir of Young Believers (40). There are a lot of songs on the bubble, just waiting to crack next week's Mixtape. It looks like there will be room for three with Handsome Furs (36), Miike Snow (37), and Dirty Projectors (38) all taking dives this week. Perhaps we'll see Michael Franti and Spearhead's latest, "Say Hey (I love you)" crack the 40. The Big Pink's "Dominos" and Flight's "Flowers" have both been waiting patiently the last few weeks as well. We will know next humpday. Until then, soak up the rays and enjoy the summer days. They'll be gone before you know it.

1. Crying Lightning / Arctic Monkeys (5 weeks @ #1) iTunes MySpace
2. How I Got Over / The Roots iTunes MySpace
3. Life In Marvelous Times / Mos Def iTunes MySpace
4. Casa Bey / Mos Def iTunes MySpace
5. Deadbeat Summer / Neon Indian iTunes MySpace
6. Stillness Is the Move / Dirty Projectors iTunes MySpace
7. Summertime Clothes / Animal Collective iTunes MySpace
8. Walkabout / Atlas Sound iTunes MySpace
9. Got Nuffin' / Spoon iTunes MySpace
10. Never Forget You / The Noisettes iTunes MySpace
11. Two Weeks / Grizzly Bear iTunes MySpace
12. Easy / Deer Tick iTunes MySpace
13. Bull Black Nova / Wilco iTunes MySpace.
14. The End Is Near / The Fiery Furnaces iTunes MySpace
15. My Unusual Friend / Fruit Bats iTunes MySpace
16. It's Nice to Know You Work Alone / Silversun Pickups iTunes MySpace
17. Seasun / Delorean iTunes MySpace
18. Upside Down / Banjo or Freakout iTunes MySpace
19. I Can't Get Away / Stardeath & White Dwarfs iTunes MySpace
20. Lost Words / Ganglians iTunes MySpace
21. Sun Was High (So Was I) / Best Coast iTunes MySpace
22. Sour Milk, Salt Water / Port O'Brien iTunes MySpace
23. Be My Girl / Smith Westerns iTunes MySpace
24. Chosen Armies / Children Collide iTunes MySpace
25. Catch and Release / Silversun Pickups iTunes MySpace
26. Gold Girls Guns / Metric iTunes MySpace
27. Dance Little Liar/ Arctic Monkeys (NEW) iTunes MySpace
28. Silver Trembling Hands / The Flaming Lips iTunes MySpace
29. Uprising / Muse iTunes MySpace
30. Overboard/ Gucci Mane (NEW) iTunes MySpace
31. Fables/ Dodos iTunes MySpace
32. At the Bottom/ Brand New (NEW) iTunes MySpace
33. Break Bones / Internet Forever iTunes MySpace
34. Bones/ A Mountain of One iTunes MySpace
35. Madagascar/ Lake (NEW) iTunes MySpace
36. Radio Kaliningrad / Handsome Furs iTunes MySpace
37. Song For No One / Miike Snow iTunes MySpace
38. Temecula Sunrise / Dirty Projectors iTunes MySpace
39. The Other Side / AM (NEW) iTunes MySpace
40. Action/Reaction / Choir of Young Believers (NEW) iTunes MySpace