Blog Posts by Paul Grein

Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend" sold 521K copies in its first week. Only one other song in digital history has gotten off to such a fast start. Flo Rida's "Right Round" sold 636K copies in its first week of digital availability in February 2009. So you might reasonably expect "Boyfriend" to enter Billboard's Hot 100 at #1. It doesn't. It opens at #2 behind "We Are Young" by fun. featuring Janelle Monae, which holds at #1 for the fifth straight week.

What gives? Digital sales are just one component of the Hot 100, which also measures radio airplay and, as of the past few weeks, on-demand streaming data.  "We Are Young" was ahead in airplay points (it jumps to #2 on Billboard's Hot 100 Airplay chart, while "Boyfriend" debuts at #24.) Also, "We Are Young" was way ahead in terms of streaming points (it remains at #1 on a separate On-Demand Songs chart, whereas "Boyfriend" wasn't available on most streaming services during the tracking week).

Lionel Richie gave Madonna a run for her money on this week's Billboard 200. Madonna came out on top with her new album MDNA, but Richie was a surprisingly strong #2 with Tuskegee, a collection of his greatest hits performed as duets with such country stars as Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts and Shania Twain. The album sold 199K copies, which is Richie's strongest weekly sales tally since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales for Billboard in 1991. Moreover, it's his highest-charting album since October 1986.

In addition, Tuskegee enters Top Country Albums at #1. Richie is only the fourth African American artist to top that chart, following Charley Pride, who amassed 12 #1 country albums between 1968 and 1980; Ray Charles, who topped the country chart in 1985 with Friendship, which was also a collection of duets; and Darius Rucker, who has had two #1 country albums, in 2008 and 2010.

Doris Day, 1989 [Photo: Barry King/WireImage]Doris Day turns 90 today. The iconic star, who rose to the top in recordings, movies and television, is one of a dwindling number of pop music hit-makers from the 1940s and early 1950s who are still living. The major stars of that era who are still with us are now in their 80s and 90s. A few, notably the eternally cool Tony Bennett, 85, are still going strong. But most have been in retirement for years.

Some have lived to see their work influence current artists. Pete Seeger, 92, was saluted on Bruce Springsteen's 2006 album We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. Patty Andrews, 94, watched Bette Midler score a top 10 hit in 1973 with the Andrews Sisters' "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." She also saw Christina Aguilera echo the sound and spirit of that 1941 classic on her 2007 hit "Candyman."

Doris Day [Photo: Martin Mills/Getty Images]Nowadays, we take for granted that top female singers will have opportunities in film and television, but this wasn't always the case. Such "triple-threat" performers as Beyonce, J.Lo and Jennifer Hudson owe a debt to such pioneers as Doris Day and Barbra Streisand. Both of these legendary stars are having milestone birthdays this month. Day turns 90 on April 3. Streisand turns 70 on April 24.

Day and Streisand have a fair amount in common. Both started out in supporting roles, but were too talented to stay in supporting roles for long. Day was the "girl singer" with Les Brown and his Orchestra in the mid-1940s before going out on her own in 1948. Streisand had a featured role in the 1962 Broadway hit I Can Get It For You Wholesale, before releasing her first solo album in 1963 and returning to Broadway in a star-making lead role in 1964.

"We Are Young" by fun. featuring Janelle Monae this week surpasses Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" as the best-selling song so far in 2012. "We Are Young" has sold 2,389,000 copies so far this year, compared to 2,246,000 for "Stronger." "We Are Young" also surpasses "Stronger" as the year's longest-running #1 hit on the Hot 100. This is the fourth week on top for "We Are Young," compared to three weeks for "Stronger."

This is also the fourth week in a row that "We Are Young" has sold 300K or more digital copies. Only four other songs in digital history have topped 300K in weekly sales four or more times. "Love The Way You Lie" by Eminem featuring Rihanna leads the pack, having topped 300K five times. Flo Rida's "Right Round," "California Gurls" by Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg and "E.T." by Katy Perry featuring Kanye West each topped that lofty plateau four times.

The Hunger Games soundtrack enters The Billboard 200 at #1. It's the first multi-artist soundtrack to top the chart since October 2009, when The Twilight Saga: New Moon achieved the feat. The Hunger Games has a lot in common with the Twilight franchise. Both are based on a series of popular young adult novels which were written by talented (and now very wealthy) women. Stephenie Meyer created the Twilight novels. Suzanne Collins wrote The Hunger Games novels. (This is the first in a planned four-film series based on those novels.)

The soundtracks from the first two Twilight movies both debuted at #1. The soundtracks from the next two installments both opened in the top five. Twilight is one of only two movie franchises in movie history to spawn four or more top 10 soundtracks. The other is Star Wars, which leads with five. It will be interesting to see if The Hunger Games franchise one day joins this little club.

Survivor's 1982 smash "Eye Of The Tiger" tops the 3 million mark in digital sales this week. Of the thousands of songs that were released in the 1980s, only one has sold more digital copies: Journey's 1981 hit "Don't Stop Believin,'" which has sold 5,068,000 copies. Michael Jackson's 1984 hit "Thriller" is in third place. It has sold 2,997,000 copies.

All three of these songs were top 10 hits back in the '80s, but only "Eye Of The Tiger" reached #1. The propulsive pop/rock smash topped the Hot 100 for six weeks in the summer of 1982. In August of that year, it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Assn. of America, signifying sales of 2 million vinyl copies. Thus, the song has been a multi-million seller in both physical and digital configurations.

With its album Up All Night, One Direction this week becomes the first British teen group to hit #1 on The Billboard 200. Four of the five members of the boy band (which includes one Irishman) are still in their teens. Six previous groups which included at least one teen member have landed #1 albums: Kris Kross, New Kids On The Block, Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, Destiny's Child and Jonas Brothers. All were American.

One Direction has a great "back-story." The five members tried out individually for The X Factor in the U.K., but failed to qualify in the "boys" category. After a suggestion by guest judge Nicole Scherzinger, they formed a group, thus qualifying in the "group" category. The group made its first live appearance in the U.S. on March 12 on NBC's Today show.