American Brandstand

I'm not even going to try to come up with a better subject line. Lucian James's American Brandstand project has tracked brand-name references in Billboard Top 20 singles since January. Now that the year is coming to a close, James returns to offer some key findings. Some statistics:

• There were 82 different brands mentioned in the Billboard Top 20 in 2003.
• Of the 111 songs in the Billboard Top 20, 43 had brands in the lyrics
• The most mentioned brand: Mercedes Benz
• The artist who mentioned most brands - 50 Cent.
• Only one branded song was not connected to hip-hop or R&B... Good Charlotte's "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous."
• The most amount of brands in a single week of the Billboard top 20 in 2003 was 47, on April 12th.
• The most brands crammed into one song... 14 -- by Lil' Kim in "The Jump Off."

The analysis also considers the inclusion of lifestyle brands launched by musicians -- a la Russell Simmons's Phat Farm -- and announces the top 10 brands. To counter the trading up trend, there are also some surprising examples of trading down: Payless Shoe Source, K-Mart, U-Haul, and Cool Whip.