Signal to Noise
This has been all over the web for a while, but it got a bit more of a push recently, so I thought I'd mention it.
Hit Song Science is software that measures the potential of a song to be a hit. Basically a song is measured against all the characteristics of every Billboard hit for the past 30 years and given a score. J-Lo, Anastacia and Norah Jones are already using it to make sure they only deliver surefire winners. Gak.
More about it
here.