CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

Billboard Magazine reports:

Songs are noticeably succinct in 2019, with, for instance, 19-week Billboard Hot 100 leader “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X the shortest No. 1 hit by song length since 1965.

Still, the record for the lengthiest Hot 100 hit by run time is rewritten this week, as Tool’s “Fear Inoculum” debuts at No. 93 on the Aug. 17-dated tally, becoming the first song in the chart’s history to make the list with a time exceeding 10 minutes.

At 10 minutes and 21 seconds, it bests David Bowie’s “Blackstar,” which, running 9:57-long, reached No. 78 in 2016. The song is Tool’s first new track in 13 years, as the band has made all its previous albums available on streaming and digital services for the first time.

Back when dinosaurs ruled the earth, songs longer than five minutes or so were often split as “Part 1” and “Part 2” on the A and B sides of a 45 vinyl single.