PLAYING THE ODDS, MUSICALLY SPEAKING

Who will have the most chart-topping singles this year? Justin Bieber? Adele? Rihanna? Someone else?

Biebs has thus far been outpacing the field, with his “Love Yourself” and “Sorry” performing especially well of late in the wake of “What Do You Mean.” Adele’s “Hello” had a monster run, though it hasn’t yet been followed up by another smash single (not that The Queen is particularly hurting, what with those 8.5m+ album sales). RiRi’s “Work” featuring Drake seems to be indefatigable, and we’ll likely have to wait a while before it declines enough to make room for a follow-up.

Meanwhile, what about ZAYN, who was strong out of the box with “PILLOWTALK,” or Beyoncé, who’s expected to drop an album in the near future? What other wild cards are out there?

You can crunch all the data in your fancy analytics reports in search of a likely answer; check the plays, likes, stations and so forth on Spotify,Pandora, Soundcloud,Vevo and YouTube; or you can peruse this piece at onlinegambling.lv, which consults the oddsmakers for predictions. We’re not sure how those odds are calculated, but if their methodology is anything like ours, they have some chicken entrails to clean up.

Please remember: Online Gambling’s odds on top singles are for entertainment purposes only. Gambling is sinful.