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Welcome to Hit Parade, a podcast of Pop Chart History from Slate magazine, about the hits from coast to coast.

I'm Chris Malanfi, chart analyst, pop critic, and writer

of Slate's Why Is This Song Number One series. On today's show, 28 years ago this month,

in July of 1990, Billboard's Hot 100 was led by a number one single that would turn out to be quietly historic, the first of a new breed of chart topper, even though it's not the most memorable hit ever. The song was called She Ain't Wurping.

The song was called She Ain't Worthed The Girl Ain't Worthed.

The song was called She Ain't Worth It, and it was a one-off pairing between two young men

who had never met before the recording session and would never work together again.

A Hawaiian pop crooner named Glenn Mederos.

And dropping in more than halfway through with a rap bridge,

former new edition member,

and New Jack Swing megastar Bobby Brown.

One thing I hate is when a girl race fake and tries to make me late for another day.

Because I tried to make your mind from the last time. So take this in as a diss of a good buy.

She ain't worth it even though she's on an adjective.

She better get a grip and get a grip and get in a grip.

She ain't worth it holds two distinctions in Hot 100 history.

For one thing, it's the first chart topping, sing and rap, two-act pairing in Billboard history.

And second, with a couple of caveats, it is the formal debut of the word featuring on a Hot 100 number one hit.

The song credit read Glenn Mederos featuring Bobby Brown.

It is difficult to overstate how popular that word has become on the charts over the last

quarter century.

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