Billboard Hot 100 : 12/20/2014
Dec 11, 2014 3:00:02 GMT -5
Post by kanimal on Dec 11, 2014 3:00:02 GMT -5
Hozier Jumps To #2 on the Hot 100
Paul Grein, Yahoo! Chart Watch Writer
December 10, 2014
Hozier's “Take Me To Church” inches up from #3 to #2 in its 17th week on the Hot 100. This ends a 15-week streak in which female solo artists monopolized the top two positions. The streak began in August with hits by Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj.It continued for the next 14 weeks with hits by Swift and Meghan Trainor.
"Take Me To Church" is the highest-ranking song by a male artist or group since MAGIC!'s “Rude” logged its sixth and final week at #1 in August. It's the highest-ranking song by a male solo artist since Sam Smith's “Stay With Me” spent its second week at #2 the previous week.
"Take Me To Church" is #1 on Hot Rock Songs for the eighth week. The ballad brought Hozier a Grammy nomination last week for Song of the Year.
Hozier did not, however, receive a nom for Best New Artist. Nominations in that category are keyed to the release of an artist’s debut album. Hozier’s eponymous debut wasn’t released by the Sept. 30 eligibility cut-off. There’s always next year, right? Nope. Hozier won’t be eligible next year either, as a result of being nominated this year. (Trainor got caught in the same bind.)
Taylor Swift's “Blank Space” logs its fourth week at #1 in its sixth week on the chart. This enables “Blank Space” to tie Swift's previous smash, “Shake It Off,” as her longest-running #1 hit to date. “Shake It Off” drops from #4 to #6 in its 16th week.
"Blank Space" is #1 on Digital Songs for the fifth week (254K). This equals 2010’s "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" as Swift’s longest-running #1 hit to date on the digital chart. Swift has amassed 10 weeks at #1 on Digital Songs so far this year (with three different hits). If she spends just one of the next three weeks at #1, she’ll tie Pharrell Williams for the most weeks at #1 on this chart in 2014.
Meghan Trainor also has two songs in the top 10 on this week’s Hot 100. Her former #1 smash “All About That Bass” dips from #2 to #3 in its 22ndweek on the chart. “Lips Are Movin” jumps from #13 to #8 in its seventh week.
Maroon 5's “Animals” rebounds from #5 to #4 in its 16th week. The song reached #3. It's #1 on Radio Songs for the fourth week.
"Uptown Funk!" by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars jumps from #8 to #5 in its fourth week. It’s Mars’ 11thtop five hit. The crooner landed his first top five hit in March 2010 as the featured artist on B.o.B's “Nothin' On You.” Billboard's Gary Trust points out that Mars has had more top five hits in this time frame than any other artist. Katy Perry and Rihanna have each had 10 top five hits in this period.
The opening line of “Uptown Funk!,” which echoes hits of the 1980s, gives a name-check to a movie star who rose to fame in that decade: “This hit, that ice cold/Michelle Pfeiffer, that white gold.” Of Mars’s four top five hits as a featured artist, three have name-checked a famous personality. Travie McCoy's “Billionaire” mentioned Oprah, the Queen, the President and, most memorably, Angelina (Jolie) and Brad Pitt. Bad Meets Evil's “Lighters” mentioned Dr. Dre, Lebron (James), (Manny) Pacquiao, T-Pain, Kwame Kilpatrick and Wendy Williams—as well as Eminem, twice—as Marshall and Shady.
Sam Smith's “I'm Not The Only One” holds at #7 for the third week in its 14th week.
Nick Jonas's “Jealous” rebounds from #11 to #9 in its 13th week. The song has already climbed as high as #8. This is its third week in the top 10, which equals the longevity of Jonas Brothers's longest-running top 10 hit, 2008's “Burnin' Up.”
"Love Me Harder" by Ariana Grande & The Weeknd holds at #10 for the second week in its ninth week. It reached #7.
Two songs drop out of the top 10 this week: Selena Gomez's “The Heart Wants What It Wants” (which had shot from #20 to #6 last week; go figure) and Tove Lo's “Habits (Stay High)” (which peaked at #3).
"Latch" by Disclosure featuring Sam Smith tops the 2 million mark in digital sales this week. The song reached #7 on the Hot 100.
Look for a high debut by Ed Sheeran's “Make It Rain.” The song, from the TV show Sons Of Anarchy, enters Digital Songs at #6. “Make It Rain” is vying to become Sheeran’s fourth top 20 hit.
Another Sheeran song, “Thinking Out Loud,” cracked the top 40 two weeks ago. That song returns to #1 on the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart this week. This is its second week on top, making it Sheeran’s longest-running #1 hit to date in his homeland. “Sing” spent one week on top in June.
To My Readers: I’ll have another Chart Watch column drawn from the Hot 100.
Can't Hozier still technically get nominated for BNA since he was nominated as a songwriter ala Ed Sheeran or were those rules changed?
www.grammy.com/blogs/what-qualifies-a-best-new-artist-as-new
A GRAMMY nomination in a performance category in a prior year disqualifies an artist from competing in this category, unless the nomination came from a single or a guest spot on another artist's recording, and the artist hadn't yet released a full album.
In Ed Sheeran's case, he was nominated for songwriting last year, not performing, and so remained technically eligible.
In Ed Sheeran's case, he was nominated for songwriting last year, not performing, and so remained technically eligible.
Hozier would be eligible no matter what, while Meghan Trainor could still be eligible if she doesn't win for ROTY (since she hasn't released a full album).
