Week Ending May 6, 2012. Songs: “Payphone” Hits Paydirt

It's too early to know if Jermaine Paul, the newly-crowned winner of Season 2 of The Voice, is going to become a recording star, but the show has done wonders for the careers of all four of its judges, especially Adam Levine. "Payphone" by Maroon 5 featuring Wiz Khalifa holds at #3 for the third week in its third week on the Hot 100. Even "Moves Like Jagger," Maroon 5's 2011 smash with Christina Aguilera, didn't hold up this well in its early outings. The song debuted at #8, but then dropped to #23 in its second week and #62 in its third. (That was its low point; it reached #1 in its 10th week and stayed there for four weeks.)

"Payphone" tops the 1 million mark in sales this week. It's Maroon 5's fastest climb to "gold" status. 2007's "Makes Me Wonder" took seven weeks to sell 1 million copies. "Jagger" took nine.

"Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye featuring Kimbra tops the Hot 100 for the fourth straight week. This ties the Singing Nun's 1963 smash "Dominique" for the longest run at #1 by an artist who was born in Belgium.

"Somebody…" also holds at #1 on Hot Alternative Songs for the 10th week and moves up to #1 on Dance/Club Play Songs. It's the first song in chart history to reach #1 on all three of these charts. Billboard's Gary Trust notes that just two other songs have reached #1 on both Alternative and Dance/Club Play: New Order's "Regret" and U2's "Discotheque." Despite having such broad appeal, neither song came within striking distance of #1 on the Hot 100. "Regret" peaked at #28 in July 1993. "Discotheque" reached #10 in February 1997.

"Somebody…" tops 300K in digital sales for the fifth consecutive week. It's just the third song in digital history to top 300K in weekly sales five or more times. "We Are Young" hit that mark seven times. "Love The Way You Lie" by Eminem featuring Rihanna reached it five times. Will "Somebody…" equal the record set just three weeks ago by "We Are Young"? Stay tuned.

"We Are Young" by fun. featuring Janelle Monae holds at #2 for the fourth straight week, following its six-week stint at #1. As of this week, the song has sold 4 million copies in 2012 (on top of 144,000 copies it sold in the closing weeks of 2011). This is the earliest in a calendar year that a song has sold 4 million digital copies. It breaks a record set last year, when "E.T." by Katy Perry featuring Kanye West topped 4 million in the week ending June 26.

(Before that, the record was held by The Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow," which was the first song in digital history to sell 4 million copies in a calendar year. It reached that plateau the week ending Sept. 6, 2009.)

Justin Bieber

's "Boyfriend" dips from #7 to #8 in its sixth week on the chart. It's Bieber's first song to spend six weeks in the top 10. "Baby" (featuring Ludacris) logged five weeks in the top 10 in 2010. "Never Say Never" (featuring Jaden Smith) spent one week in the top 10 in 2011. Bieber has been a teen idol for nearly three years (he first cracked the Hot 100 in July 2009 with "One Time"). This is right about the point that teen idols usually start cooling off. But Bieber may show more staying power than many of his predecessors.

Kelly Clarkson's

"Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)," which holds at #10 for the third straight week, tops the 3 million mark in digital sales. It's Clarkson's first song to hit this plateau. "My Life Would Suck Without You," her previous biggest seller, has sold 2,623,000 copies. "Stronger…" is the third song by an artist who rose to fame on American Idol to hit 3M. It follows Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats" (3,464,000) and "No Air" by Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown (3,420,000). Since "Stronger" is still selling briskly, it should easily surpass these other hits to become the biggest digital seller ever by an Idol alum.

Here's the low-down on this week's top 10 songs, but first a word of explanation. For contractual reasons, I may no longer show the top 10 in a list format. Going forward, I'll present the same information in paragraph form. This new format lacks the visual punch of the old format, but I'll still be able to get the info out to you, which is the most important thing.

The Top Five: "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye featuring Kimbra holds at #1 for the fourth week in its 18th week on the chart. This is its 10th week in the top 10. Digital sales rank: #1 (348K)…"We Are Young" by fun. featuring Janelle Monae holds at #2 for the fourth week in its 20th week on the chart. This is the 13th week in the top 10 for the former #1 song. Digital sales rank: #4 (187K)…"Payphone" by Maroon 5 featuring Wiz Khalifa holds at #3 for the third week in its third week on the chart. Digital sales rank: #2 (286K)…Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" jumps from #5 to #4 in its 11th week on the chart. This is its sixth week in the top 10. Digital sales rank: #3 (210K)… "Wild Ones" by Flo Rida featuring Sia inches up from #6 to #5 (a new peak) in its 18th week on the chart. This is its eighth week in the top 10. Digital sales rank: #9 (139K).

The Second Five: The Wanted's "Glad You Came" drops from #4 to #6 in its 17th week on the chart. This is its 11th week in the top 10. Digital sales rank: #10 (120K) … Nicki Minaj's "Starships" inches up from #8 to #7 in its 12th week on the chart. It has been in the top 10 the entire time. The song tops the 2 million mark in digital sales this week. Digital sales rank: #7 (147K)…Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend" dips from #7 to #8 in its sixth week on the chart. It has been in the top 10 the entire time. Digital sales rank: #5 (172K)… One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful" holds at #9 in its 12th week on the chart. This is its sixth week in the top 10. Digital sales rank: #6 (151K)…Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" holds at #10 for the third week in its 20th week on the chart. This is the 16th week in the top 10 for the former #1 song. Digital sales rank: #17 (72K).

Adele's "Rumour Has It" holds at #16 (with a "star") for the third straight week...Usher's "Climax" inches up from #18 to #17 in its 11th week. The song holds at #1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs for the fourth week.

"Both Of Us" by B.o.B featuring Taylor Swift is the top new entry at #18. Digital sales rank: #8 (143K). The song is from B.o.B's sophomore album Strange Clouds, which enters The Billboard 200 at #5 this week. "Both Of Us" is a rare example of a hip-hop/country collabo. The first such pairing to do really well was "Over And Over" by Nelly featuring Tim McGraw, which reached #3 in December 2004.

"Both Of Us" is the third Hot 100 hit on which Swift has had a featured credit. The first two were John Mayer's "Half Of My Heart" (#25 in December 2009) and Boys Like Girls' "Two Is Better Than One" (#18 in January 2010).

B.o.B's "So Good," which drops from #19 to #32 in its 11th week, tops the 1 million mark in digital sales this week. The song peaked at #11.

Eric Church's "Springsteen" jumps from #23 to #19 in its 10th week. Bruce Springsteen hasn't been in the top 20 since a 1997 reissue of "Secret Garden" peaked at #19. Springsteen was last in the top 10 in April 1994 with "Streets Of Philadelphia," which brought him both an Oscar and a Grammy for the year's Best Song…"Dance Again" by Jennifer Lopez featuring Pitbull jumps from #25 to #20 in its fifth week. It's J.Lo's 12th top 20 hit as a lead artist…Karmin's "Brokenhearted" jumps from #32 to #26 in its ninth week.

Rihanna's

"Where Have You Been" vaults from #78 to #29 in its third week. It's the fourth top 30 hit from Rihanna's current album, Talk That Talk. Rihanna's 2010 album, Loud, also spawned four top 40 hits. The expanded version of 2007's Good Girl Gone Bad (a.k.a. Rihanna's Greatest Hits) contained seven. Rihanna performed "Where Have You Been" on Saturday Night Live on May 5.

Pitbull's "Back In Time" leaps from #48 to #30 in its fifth week...Miranda Lambert's "Over You" dips from #38 to #39 in its 16th week. The song has climbed as high as #35. The song jumps to #1 on Hot Country Songs. It's Lambert's third #1 on that tally, following "The House That Built Me" and "Heart Like Mine."

LMFAO's

"Sexy And I Know It," which drops from #37 to #42 in its 36th week, has sold 5,178,000 copies, but one 6-year old boy probably wishes he'd never heard the darned song. A first-grader in Aurora, Colo. was suspended for three days after he told a girl "I'm sexy and I know it," the key line from the song. The boy at Sable Elementary School is accused of sexual harassment and disrupting other students, according to a letter the school district sent to the boy's mother after he was sent home. School officials pointed to a school board policy that defines sexual harassment as any unwelcome sexual advance. There is no age limit. I wonder if six-year olds in 1992 were sent home for singing "I'm Too Sexy." Or in 1981 for chirping "let's get physical." Or in 1967 for singing "come on baby, light my fire." You can't make this stuff up.

Tyga's "Rack City," which drops #36 to #45 in its 24th week, tops the 2 million mark in digital sales this week…Usher's "Scream" vaults from #70 to #46 in its second week…Coldplay's "Paradise" re-enters the chart at #48 following the band's performance on American Idol last week. The song has climbed as high as #15.

Carrie Underwood's

"Blown Away" debuts at #66. Underwood sang the song last week on American Idol. Underwood's fourth album, Blown Away, entered The Billboard 200 at #1 this week. You already know that if you read Chart Watch Albums. If you missed it, click here.

Juliet Simms' version of James Brown's 1966 hit "It's A Man's Man's Man's World" debuts at #70. Simms finished second on Season 2 of The Voice…The Glee rendition of Florence + the Machine's "Shake It Out" bows at #71. This is one notch higher than the original peaked.…"We Run The Night" by Havana Brown featuring Pitbull jumps from #91 to #72 in its sixth week.

Alex Clare's "Too Close" re-enters the chart at #75. The song has climbed as high as #63…Trey Songz' "Heart Attack" leaps from #96 to #81 in its fifth week. The song has climbed as high as #65…Hunter Hayes' "Wanted" jumps from #99 to #88 in its second week.

Seven Beastie Boys songs land on Hot Digital Songs in the week after the death of Adam Yauch, better known as MCA. "Brass Monkey" sold 15K copies to rank #130 for the week. "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)" sold 14K to rank #134. The latter song hit the top 10 on the Hot 100 in February 1987. It gave a needed jolt of bratty energy to a top 10 that also included such hits as Bruce Willis' "Respect Yourself" and Lionel Richie's "Ballerina Girl."

Jason Aldean's

"Dirt Road Anthem" this week becomes the first song by a male solo country artist to top the 3 million mark in digital sales. But that's just the beginning of this story. Aldean has four of the top five digital hits by a male solo country artist. "Don't You Wanna Stay," which features Kelly Clarkson, ranks second, with sales of 2,051,000. "Big Green Tractor" is third (2,028,000). Blake Shelton's "Honey Bee" is fourth (1,953,000). Aldean's "She's Country" is fifth (1,944,000).

"Run This Town" by Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West tops the 3 million mark in digital sales this week. The song reached #2 on the Hot 100 in October 2009. It won two Grammys: Best Rap Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. It's the third 3-million seller for Jay-Z, the sixth for West and the ninth for Rihanna, which is more than anyone else in digital history.