No. 1 with a bullet (and call-waiting)

From the wires:

Rapper Rick Ross' ringtone is now a blingtone.

Ross received a plaque bearing a golden cellphone Wednesday in New York when music industry officials honored 128 songs as the first batch of gold and platinum ringtones. Just like vinyl, tapes and CDs, the sounds of ringing cellphones will now translate into awards for sales of 500,000, 1 million and beyond. The awards by the Recording Industry Assn. of America (RIAA) were based on downloads of the ringtones.

"The ringtones are just another gateway to connecting with the kids and the fans," said Ross, whose award sported a shiny cellphone rather than the usual gold album.

We moved a long, long way from the 45. We now have singles hitting No. 1 that exist only in the digital universe, their sales on iTunes, etc., enough to justify their showing. Ringtones are, amazingly to me, more popular than many actual songs themselves.