new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/74385/week-ending-july-3-2011-songs-sons-of-a-legend/;_ylt=Au94J3Zv.TAxptwqJixtjw8PwiUvWeek Ending July 3, 2011. Songs: Sons Of A LegendPosted Wed Jul 6, 2011 by Paul Grein in Chart Watch
"Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett & GoonRock jumps to #1 on this week's Hot 100. LMFAO is a duo consisting of Stefan Gordy and Skyler Gordy, a son and grandson, respectively, of Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr.
Another of Gordy's sons, Kennedy Gordy (better known as Rockwell) spent three weeks at #2 in March and April 1984 with "Somebody's Watching Me." That smash, which has become a Halloween perennial, featured an uncredited backing vocal by Michael Jackson, who was then at the white-hot peak of his career. The LMFAO hit has made it to the top without a superstar assist (no offense, Lauren Bennett & GoonRock).
Berry Gordy Jr. oversaw virtually every hit that came out of Motown in its glory years in the 1960s and 1970s. He had a co-production credit on the Jackson 5's volley of four straight #1 hits in 1970: "I Want You Back," "ABC," "The Love You Save" and "I'll Be There."
"Party Rock Anthem" spent four weeks at #1 in the U.K. in April and May. It's the second U.S. #1 in a row that had previously gone all the way in the U.K. It follows "Give Me Everything" by Pitbull featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer.
OneRepublic's "Good Life" vaults from #18 to #9 in its 13th week. It's the group's first top 10 hit since "Apologize" logged four weeks at #2 in 2007. (The billing on that record was Timbaland featuring OneRepublic, which has always seemed wrong to me.) Pop groups like OneRepublic, Train and Maroon 5 live or die by coming up with hits. So I'm glad they've got another one.
Hot Chelle Rae's "Tonight Tonight" jumps from #13 to #10. Three different songs titled "Tonight" have made the top 10 (by Jonas Brothers, New Kids on the Block and the piano duo Ferrante & Teicher). And one song titled "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" has made the grade (Genesis). But this marks the first time a song titled "Tonight Tonight" has made the top 10.
Six Months: Last week, I posted lists of the top albums and songs for the first half of the year. I did so even though we only had 25 weeks of sales results in hand, to get the info to you in timely fashion. Now that 26 weeks of results are in, I've updated all the tallies in both reports. If you missed them, or are curious about the changes, here are links to lists of the year's top albums and songs for the first six months.
Here's the low-down on this week's top 10 songs.
1. LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett & GoonRock, "Party Rock Anthem." The song jumps from #3 to #1 in its 15th week on the chart. This is its seventh week in the top 10. Digital sales rank: #1 (258K).
2. Pitbull featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer, "Give Me Everything." The former #1 song dips to #2 in its 14th week on the chart. This is its ninth week in the top 10. Digital sales rank: #3 (192K).
3. Adele, "Rolling In The Deep." The former #1 smash dips from #2 to #3 in its 26th week on the chart. This is its 14th week in the top 10. Digital sales rank: #5 (152K).
4. Katy Perry, "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)." The song holds at #4 for the third week in its sixth week on the chart. This is its third week in the top 10. Will it become the fifth #1 from Teenage Dream, matching the record set by Michael Jackson's Bad? Stay tuned. Digital sales rank: #2 (206K).
5. Nicki Minaj, "Super Bass." The song holds at #5 for the second week in its 10th week on the chart. This is its fourth week in the top 10. Digital sales rank: #4 (169K).
6. Lady Gaga, "The Edge Of Glory." The song holds at #6 for the fourth week in its eighth week on the chart. This is its seventh week in the top 10. Digital sales rank: #11 (121K).
7. Katy Perry featuring Kanye West, "E.T." The former #1 smash holds at #7 for the second week in its 21st week on the chart. This is its 19th week in the top 10. Digital sales rank: #17 (90K).
8. Lil Wayne, "How To Love." The song jumps from #10 to #8 in its sixth week on the chart. This is its second week in the top 10. Digital sales rank: #8 (128K).
9. OneRepublic, "Good Life." The song vaults from #18 to #9 in its 14th week. It's the group's second top 10 hit. Digital sales rank: #12 (111K).
10. Hot Chelle Rae, "Tonight Tonight." The song jumps from #13 to #10 in its 12th week on the chart. It's the act's first top 10 hit. Digital sales rank: #9 (128K).
Two songs drop out of the top 10 this week. "Moves Like Jagger" by Maroon5 featuring Christina Aguilera drops from #8 to #23 in its second week. Bruno Mars' "The Lazy Song" drops from #9 to #12, ending a 10-week run in the top 10.
Jason Aldean's "Dirt Road Anthem" holds at #11 for the second week. The song ranks #10 on Hot Digital Songs (127K).
Blake Shelton's "Honey Bee" dips from #15 to #16 this week. It has spent the last three weeks at #1 on Top Country Songs. If it stays on top this week (I'll know Thursday morning, when I'll update this item), it will become the first song to spend four weeks on top of the country chart since "The House That Built Me" by Shelton's wife, Miranda Lambert.
"Honey Bee" also tops the 1 million mark in digital sales this week. Lambert has topped the 1 million mark with two hits, "The House That Built Me" (1,276,000) and "Gunpowder & Lead" (1,176,000). Shelton and Lambert comprise the only country couple in which both husband and wife have digital million-sellers. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill deserve honorable mention. McGraw has reached the magic mark with "Live Like You Were Dying" (1,480,000). Hill's top-selling digital hit, "Breathe," is at 655,000. (It was released in 1999, before the advent of digital.)
Three of the four top contestants from The Voice made the chart this week with solo releases. Winner Javier Colon's "Stitch By Stitch" debuts at #17. Digital sales rank: #6 (145K). Runner-up Dia Frampton's "Inventing Shadows" debuts at #20. Digital sales rank: #7 (137K). Vicci Martinez's "Afraid To Sleep" debuts at #78. (Beverly McClellan's "Lovesick" failed to chart.)
Three of the four top contestants also scored with collabos. Colon's collabo with Adam Levine on Michael Jackson's "Man In The Mirror" opens at #45. Frampton's pairing with Blake Shelton on Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down," bows at #57. McClellan's teaming with Christina Aguilera on Aguilera's "Beautiful" opens at #74. (Martinez's collabo with Cee Lo Green on Pat Benatar's "Love Is A Battlefield" failed to chart.)
"Love Is A Battlefield," "Man In The Mirror" and "I Won't Back Down" were all originally hits in the 1980s. "Beautiful" was first a hit in 2003. Though it's much newer than these other songs, it has comparable stature. The Linda Perry song was a Grammy finalist for Song of the Year. ("Beautiful" was a gay-friendly song years before Lady Gaga's "Born This Way.")
Jason Derulo's "Don't Wanna Go Home" dips from #17 to #18 in its seventh week. The song logs its second week at #1 in the U.K. It's Derulo's biggest U.K. hit to date. "In My Head" spent one week at #1 in March 2010.
"Motivation" by Kelly Rowland featuring Lil Wayne rebounds from #23 to #21 in its 12th week. This ties its peak position to date. The song has been #1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs for the past six weeks. Will it stay on top for a seventh week? We'll see tomorrow, when I'll update this item. Either way, it's the longest run at #1 for a female-fronted record since Alicia Keys' "Un-thinkable (I'm Ready)" had 12 weeks on top last year.
Britney Spears' "I Wanna Go" jumps from #29 to #22 in its fourth week. It's vying to become Spears' fourth top 10 hit in a row, following "3," "Hold It Against Me" and "Till The World Ends."
Beyonce's "Best Thing I Never Had," the second single from the superstar's new album, 4, leaps from #58 to #29 in its fifth week. This matches the peak position of the first single from the album, "Run The World (Girls)." The album enters The Billboard 200 at #1 this week. If you read Chart Watch: Albums, you already know that. If you missed it, here's a link.
"Where Them Girls At" by David Guetta featuring Flo Rida and Nicki Minaj jumps from #38 to #32 in its ninth week. Guetta puts a second song on the chart this week. "Little Bad Girl," featuring Taio Cruz & Ludacris, debuts at #70.
George Strait's "Here For A Good Time" debuts at #65. The title echoes that of Gretchen Wilson's 2004 smash "Here For The Party."... Selena Gomez & the Scene's "Love You Like A Love Song" jumps from #72 to #66 in its second week.
Two Coldplay songs enter the chart this week. "Moving To Mars" bows at #90. "Major Minus" opens at #92. The band's "Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall" rebounds from #61 to #54 in its fifth week, three weeks after peaking (for now at least) at #14.
Kanye West's "Love Lockdown" tops the 3 million mark in digital sales this week. It's his fifth song to reach this milestone (counting his featured role on Katy Perry's "E.T."). "Love Lockdown" was the lead single from West's 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak. The follow-up, "Heartless," has proved even more successful. It has sold 3,782,000 digital copies.
Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" tops the 3 million mark in digital sales this week. It's her fifth song to reach this milestone...The Black Eyed Peas' "The Time (Dirty Bit)" tops the 3 million mark in digital sales this week. It's their fourth song to reach this milestone.
Two songs top the 1 million mark: Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" and "Backseat" by New Boyz featuring the Cataracs & Dev.
Somewhere along the line, Billboard became known as "the Bible of the music business." I think the real Bible, at least to those of you with a keen interest in pop music history, is Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles book. Joel has just published the 13th edition, which covers 1955 through 2010. It's as big as The Bible, running 1,216 full-sized pages. It's a monumental, definitive and essential research book. If you're interested in pop music history, this is the source. Here's a link to Joel's site.
