Chart Watch
  • “#Beautiful” by Mariah Carey featuring Miguel enters the Hot 100 at #24, lower than I expected. I bet it’s lower than Carey expected, too. The ideal outcome for Carey would have been for Ryan Seacrest to grandly announce on tonight’s American Idol that Carey’s song entered the Hot 100 at #1. Carey has accomplished that chart miracle three times (more often than any other artist) with “Fantasy,” “One Sweet Day” (a collabo with Boyz II Men) and “Honey.”

    But it wasn’t to be. The song is easily the week’s highest new entry, but it’s only the eighth highest entry so far this year. Baauer’s “Harlem Shake” debuted at #1 in February. “The Way” by Carey sound-alike Ariana Grande featuring Mac Miller debuted at #10 in March. Other songs to have debuted at #24 or higher so far this year are Demi Lovato’s “Heart Attack” (#12 in March), PSY’s “Gentleman” (#12 in April), Luke Bryan’s “Crash My Party” (#18 in April), “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams (#19 in April) and Justin Timberlake’s “Mirrors” (#24 in February).

    Read More »from Week Ending May 12, 2013. Songs: #Letdown
  • Music From Baz Luhrmann’s Film The Great Gatsby enters The Billboard 200 at #2, just behind Lady Antebellum’s Golden. Gatsby sold 137K copies, about 50% more than initially forecast. This is the biggest one-week sales tally for a soundtrack since The Hunger Games: Songs From District 12 And Beyond sold 175K in its first week in March 2012.

    This is the third soundtrack to a film directed by Luhrmann to reach the top three. Romeo + Juliet hit #2 in January 1997. Music From Baz Luhrmann’s Film Moulin Rouge hit #3 in June 2001. All three of these albums have spawned hit songs. Romeo + Juliet featured the Cardigans’ “Lovefool” and Garbage’s “#1 Crush.” Moulin Rouge yielded a chart-topping remake of LaBelle’s 1975 smash “Lady Marmalade” by Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mya and P!nk. The Great Gatsby has spawned Lana Del Rey’s “Young & Beautiful” and “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)” by Fergie, Q-Tip & GoonRock.

    Read More »from Week Ending May 12, 2013. Albums: Great Gatsby Off To Great Start
  • Macklemore & Ryan Lewis this week becomes the first duo in the nearly 55-year history of the Hot 100 to reach #1 with its first two chart entries. They achieve the feat as “Can’t Hold Us” (featuring Ray Dalton) moves up to #1. “Thrift Shop” (featuring Wanz) held the top spot for six weeks earlier this year. Among all acts, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis is the first act to reach #1 with its first two chart hits since Lady Gaga scored in 2009 with “Just Dance” (featuring Colby O’Donis) and “Poker Face.”

    “Thrift Shop” tops the 6 million mark in digital sales this week. It’s the 20th song to reach that plateau. It’s the third by an ongoing duo, following a pair of LMFAO hits: “Party Rock Anthem” (featuring Lauren Bennett and GoonRock, 7,653,000) and “Sexy And I Know It” (6,102,000). “Thrift Shop” raced to 6 million in just 36 weeks, a pace topped by only one song in digital history. “Somebody That I Used To Know” by Gotye featuring Kimbra got there in just 30 weeks. Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” also took 36 weeks. (That smash tops 7 million this week. Details below.)

    Read More »from Week Ending May 5, 2013. Songs: Macklemore Pulls A Gaga
  • Kenny Chesney lands his seventh #1 album on The Billboard 200 with Life On A Rock. Only one other country artist, Garth Brooks, has topped the chart seven or more times. Brooks lassoed eight #1 albums between 1991 and 2001. Chesney has amassed all seven of his #1 albums since Brooks released his most recent studio album, Scarecrow.

    Chesney pulls ahead of Brooks in one respect: His #1 albums span a longer period of time (a little more than 11 years). Chesney first topped the chart in April 2002 with No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems. Brooks’ #1 albums spanned 10 years and two months, from Ropin’ The Wind in September 1991 to Scarecrow in November 2001.

    Read More »from Week Ending May 5, 2013. Albums: Kenny Closes In On Garth
  • “Stay” by Rihanna featuring Mikky Ekko jumps to #1 on the all-format Radio Songs chart, displacing Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man,” which had ruled for five weeks. It’s Rihanna’s 11th #1 on the chart, which puts her in a tie with Mariah Carey for the most #1s in the chart’s 22-year history. (This isn’t the Hot 100, but rather the key radio chart that is a component of the Hot 100.) On the Hot 100, “Stay” rebounds from #6 to #3, which matches its highest ranking to date.

    Wanna know the rest of the artists with the most #1 hits on the Radio Songs chart? Billboard’s Gary Trust notes that Usher is in third place with seven #1 hits, followed by Ludacris and Kanye West, with six each. 50 Cent, Beyonce, Boyz II Men, Bruno Mars and Katy Perry have each had five.

    Carey and Usher are both reality TV stars this season (on American Idol and The Voice, respectively). It’s precisely these Radio Songs smashes that gave them the credibility to land these lucrative TV gigs. (Imagine what kind of money the networks would throw at current radio titans, such as Rihanna, Mars or Perry. Of course, those artists are a little busy just now.)

    Read More »from Week Ending April 28, 2013. Songs: Rihanna Ties Mariah
  • Snoop Dogg’s reincarnation as Snoop Lion is off to a less than “roaring” start. Snoop’s 12th studio album, the reggae-influenced Reincarnated, enters The Billboard 200 at #16. It’s only his third studio album to fall short of the top 10. Paid Tha Cost To Be Da Boss peaked at #12 in 2002. Malice N Wonderland peaked at #23 in 2009.

    It’s hard for veteran artists to remain on top, especially in the fast-changing world of hip-hop. Nearly 20 years have elapsed since Snoop debuted with Doggy Style in November 1993. Two other rappers of roughly the same vintage are still on top. Nas, who debuted in 1994, hit #1 in July with his most recent album, Life Is Good. Jay-Z, who debuted in 1996, has hit #1 with 12 albums.

    Read More »from Week Ending April 28, 2013. Albums: Snoop Lamb Is More Like It
  • The iTunes Store, which opened for business 10 years ago on Sunday (April 28), has had a revolutionary impact on the music industry. It gave fans the opportunity to buy the one song from an album they most wanted, a simple but vital thing that fans hadn’t been able to do since the era of physical singles came to a virtual halt in 2000.

    “Apple made music ubiquitous in a way it never was before,” Jeff Price, founder of TuneCore and co-founder of spinART Records, told Billboard. “…That ubiquitous-ness has driven a consumption of music that is unparalleled in the history of the world.”

    That’s not just music business hyperbole. iTunes’ growth has been phenomenal. The service sold its 25 billionth song on Feb. 6, just seven years after it sold its billionth song (Feb. 23, 2006).

    iTunes has been the leading music vendor in the U.S. since April 2008, when it surpassed Wal-Mart. It has been the leading music vendor in the world since February 2010. Last October, it was reported that iTunes represents 64% of the online music market.

    A whopping 186 songs have sold 3 million or more digital copies (through all services, not just iTunes). 40 have sold 5 million. Four have sold 7 million.

    Read More »from Chart Watch Extra: iTunes Turns 10
  • As recently as seven months ago, few of us had heard of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. This week, the hip-hop duo (rapper Ben Haggerty, 29, and producer Ryan Lewis, 25) has two of the top three hits on the Hot 100. “Can’t Hold Us” (featuring Ray Dalton) jumps from #5 to #2. (It will probably rise to #1 next week.) “Thrift Shop” (featuring Wanz) dips from #2 to #3. Moreover, they have the top two hits (and back-to-back #1 hits) on Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs. And their debut album, The Heist, returns to the top 10 on The Billboard 200.

    Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are the first act to have two of the top three hits on the Hot 100 in the same week since Rihanna scored in October 2010 with Eminem’s “Love The Way You Lie” (on which she was featured) and her own “Only Girl (In The World).” They’re the first duo or group to achieve the feat this since the Black Eyed Peas scored in 2009 with “Boom Boom Pow” and “I Gotta Feeling.”

    A third song by the duo, “Same Love” (featuring Mary Lambert), rebounds from #100 to #93 in its sixth week. The song has climbed as high as #89.

    Read More »from Week Ending April 21, 2013. Songs: Duo of the Year
  • Fall Out Boy’s Save Rock And Roll enters The Billboard 200 at #1. It’s only the third album with the immortal phrase “rock and roll” in its title to reach #1. The Rolling Stones, appropriately, had the first: 1974’s It’s Only Rock ’N Roll. Kid Rock had the second: 2007’s Rock N Roll Jesus.

    Note: Three other albums with the shorthand term “rock” in their titles have reached #1: Elton John’s Rock Of The Westies (1975), AC/DC’s For Those About To Rock We Salute You (1981) and Rod Stewart’s Still The Same…Great Rock Classics Of Our Time (2006).

    Save Rock And Roll displaces Paramore’s Paramore from the #1 spot. This marks the first time that albums by American rock bands have topped the chart in back-to-back weeks since September, when Dave Matthews Band’s Away From The World dislodged matchbox twenty’s North.

    Save Rock And Roll is Fall Out Boy’s second #1 album. The Illinois-based group first topped the chart in February 2007 with Infinity On High. That album spawned a pair of top 20 hits:

    Read More »from Week Ending April 21, 2013. Albums: “Rock And Roll” At #1
  • K-Pop star PSY has the week’s top new entry on the Hot 100 as “Gentleman” debuts at #12. That’s much higher than PSY’s breakthrough smash, “Gangnam Style,” which debuted at #64 in September. (The phenomenal hit shot to #11 in its second week and reached #2 in its third week.) Of course, YouTube streaming data wasn’t a factor in the Hot 100 back then, as it is now. The fact that such a massive hit as “Gangham Style” wasn’t able to make #1 (it logged seven weeks at #2) was no doubt a key reason that Billboard realized they needed to adjust their Hot 100 methodology.

    “Gangnam Style” was the first video ever to reach 1 billion YouTube views worldwide. It’s now up to 1.5 billion. “Gentleman” set a You Tube record by notching 18.9 million views in its first 24 hours on the site. It’s now up to 125 million. (Note: the Hot 100 takes only U.S. activity into account.)

    Incidentally, this is the first song titled “Gentleman” to hit the Hot 100. By contrast, eight different songs titled “Lady” have charted, including four that have made the top 10—by Kenny Rogers (#1 in 1980), Styx (#6 in 1975), Little River Band (#10 in 1979) and D’Angelo (#10 in 1996).

    Read More »from Week Ending April 14, 2013. Songs: PSY Gallops Back

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News for You

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    BERLIN (Reuters) - Germans lamented their unexpectedly poor showing at the Eurovision Song Contest, blaming Chancellor Angela Merkel's tough stance in the euro zone crisis for their failure to win any points from 34 of the 39 countries voting. Denmark's Emmelie de Forest won the event, watched by around 125 million people across Europe, with 281 points while German act Cascada was 21st out of 26 countries, getting just 18 points from Austria, Israel, Spain, Albania and Switzerland. ...

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    MONACO (AP) — The glittering star power of Cannes migrated up the coast to Monaco for front-row seats at Dior's colorful, sexy cruise fashion show.

  • Denmark's de Forest wins Eurovision song contest

    MALMO, Sweden (AP) — Denmark's Emmelie de Forest has won this year's Eurovision Song Contest with her ethno-inspired flute and drum tune "Only Teardrops," despite tough competition from spectacular stage shows by performers from Azerbaijan and Ukraine.

  • Native American actress proud to walk Cannes red carpet

    By Belinda Goldsmith CANNES (Reuters) - Native American actress Misty Upham never dreamt she would be walking the red carpet at Cannes to showcase a film shot on her reservation. Upham features in "Jimmy P. Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian", focused on the relationship between World War Two veteran Jimmy Picard, a Native American Blackfoot, and Georges Devereux, his psychoanalyst. Upham said like Picard, played by Puerto Rican actor Benicio Del Toro, she is Blackfeet, the largest tribe in Montana state. ...

  • Denmark favorite to win Eurovision Song Contest

    MALMO, Sweden (AP) — An ethno-inspired flute and drum tune from Denmark is the bookmakers' favorite to win this year's Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday, which also features a bizarre opera pop number from Romania and an Armenian rock song written by the guitarist of Black Sabbath.

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