And the winner is . . . Paula Abdul, whose dance/pop gem "Forever Your Girl" emerged as this week's No. 1 pop single after an unusually fierce battle at the top of the charts.

But "Forever Your Girl" was by far the leader in radio airplay, which was just the edge Abdul needed to jump all the way from No. 4 to No. 1. That gave the L.A.-based singer/choreographer her second straight No. 1 from her "Forever Your Girl" album ("Straight Up" was champ for three weeks in February) and established her as the first artist to score two No. 1s in '89.