Bruno Mars and Taylor Swift Rule the Holiday Charts

It was a pretty carbon copy week on the Billboard Charts as Taylor Swift and Bruno Mars continued to rule the Album and Singles Charts. In the last full week of 2012, Taylor Swift’s Red makes it six weeks on top with another 276,000 copies sold holding off a debut from rapper T.I. at # 2 with his new one Trouble Man: Heavy is the Head. Bruno Mars lands in third while the Hurricane Sandy charity album 12-12-12 debuts at # 9…. Also debuting this week was the soundtrack to my favorite film of the year, Les Miserables, which checks in at # 33 and tops the Soundtracks chart. Watch for it to skyrocket up the list next week after the film hit theaters on Christmas. In the meantime, take a look at the full top ten below.

Top Ten Albums on the Billboard 200:
1. Red- Taylor Swift (last week~ 1)
2. Trouble Man: Heavy is the Head- T.I. (debut)
3. Unorthodox Jukebox- Bruno Mars (lw~ 2)
4. Take Me Home- One Direction (lw~ 4)
5. Christmas- Michael Buble (lw~ 3)
6. Merry Christmas Baby- Rod Stewart (lw~ 5)
7. The World from the Side of the Moon- Phillip Phillips (lw~ 7)
8. Babel- Mumford & Sons (lw~ 11)
9. 12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief- Various Artists (debut)
10. Now 44- Various Artists (lw~ 12)

On the Hot 100 Singles chart, “Locked Out of Heaven” makes it three weeks on top for Mars who looks likely to go a few more frames in the pole position. One future contender for # 1 could be from rapper Macklemore with his first top ten hit, the infectious “Thrift Shop” featuring Ryan Lewis which charges into the top ten at # 10. For more on the Hot 100 and all the singles charts, head to Billboard here.

Top Ten Singles on the Hot 100:
1. “Locked Out of Heaven”- Bruno Mars (lw~ 1)
2. “Diamonds”- Rihanna (lw~ 2)
3. “Ho Hey”- The Lumineers (lw~ 3)
4. “I Knew You Were Trouble”- Taylor Swift (lw~ 10)
5. “Beauty and a Beat”- Justin Bieber w/ Nicki Minaj (lw~ 7)
6. “Die Young”- Ke$ha (lw~ 4)
7. “One More Night”- Maroon 5 (lw~ 5)
8. “I Cry”- Flo Rida (lw~ 6)
9. “Home”- Phillip Phillips (lw~8)
10. “Thrift Shop”- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (lw~ 13)

And here’s than funky fun new top ten hit from Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Enjoy some time in the “Thrift Shop” below.

Susan Boyle takes out T.I.

He may have hit the top with his last couple of releases, but recently incarcerated rapper T.I. couldn’t withstand the power of a little middle-aged lady from the U.K. as Susan Boyle’s The Gift held on to the top of the Billboard 200 Albums chart. Boyle sold another 243,000 copies for a total of 1.43 million. Boyle is a selling machine! … T.I. could only muster sales of 159,000 copies for his new disc, No Mercy, which debuted at # 4 also behind the enduring power of Taylor Swift and the Glee kids (who have two albums in the top ten). The only other big debut came from the Daft Punk Tron Legacy soundtrack which landed at # 10 giving them their highest charting album ever. Take a look at the new top ten below and head to Billboard for more chart news here.

Official Billboard Results for Week of 12.06.10

1. Susan Boyle, “The Gift” (last week~ 1)
2. Taylor Swift, “Speak Now” (lw~ 2)
3. “Glee: The Christmas Album” original television soundtrack album (lw~ 4)
4. T.I., “No Mercy” (DEBUT)
5. Jackie Evancho, “O Holy Night” (lw~ 3)
6. Nicki Minaj, “Pink Friday” (lw~8)
7. Josh Groban, “Illuminations” (lw~ 9)
8. “Glee: The Music (Volume 4)” original television soundtrack album (lw~ 5)
9. Rihanna, “Loud” (lw~ 10)
10. Daft Punk, “TRON: Legacy” original soundtrack album (DEBUT)

Can T.I. take Christina back to the Top?

It’s been a rollercoaster year for Grammy winning pop diva Christina Aguilera. Despite two # 1 dance singles (“You Lost Me”, “Not Myself Tonight”), her last album Bionic bombed selling less than 300,000 copies. She also announced her impending divorce and has been a target in the media for her weight fluxuations and supposed “diva” behavior. Regardless of all of that, she has persevered and just released a fantastic new album in her soundtrack to her film debut Burlesque. The album is selling briskly and despite negative reviews, the movie opened decently to $17 million at the box office. Audiences polled have also been pretty favorable to the fun and very entertaining film. (I found it to be a really good time film with fantastic musical numbers and gave it a “B” grade overall). Currently on iTunes, Christina has several songs charting from the soundtrack with “Show Me How You Burlesque” in the top 30 and “Express” in the top 50. So, things could be on an upswing for Ms. Aguilera.
One thing that may cement her trek back to the top of the charts is a brand new collaboration with Grammy winning rap superstar (and criminal!) T.I entitled “Castle Walls”. It is from his new album, No Mercy, which drops on Nov. 7th and it sounds like a smash. It’s right in the same vein as recent # 1′s “Love the Way You Lie” by Eminem and Rihanna and “Airplanes” by B.o.B with Hayley Williams, so I’m expecting it to race up the charts. Check out “Castle Walls” below and let me know if you think it will put Christina back on top. Then watch her Dancing with the Stars performance of  ”Show Me How You Burlesque” from Burlesque below as well. It’s hot!

“Castle Walls” -T.I. with Christina Aguilera

Christina Aguilera “Show Me How You Burlesque” (from her Dancing with the Stars performance)

Susan Boyle, Rihanna, and The Beatles make news on the Charts while an Idol tanks…

The holiday shopping season is upon us and the music biz is finally perking up with 8 new debuts in the top ten of the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. However, it was a holdover that grabbed #1 as Susan Boyle’s seasonal collection, The Gift, stayed on top and actually increased its sales to 335,000 copies in week two. She held off a shockingly strong performance from another TV bred star, ten-year old Jackie Evancho of America’s Got Talent, whose holiday opera debut landed in the runner-up spot besting Rihanna‘s Loud which actually gave the pop star her biggest first week sales to date. Rihanna also has the new # 1 single in the country this week with “Only Girl in the World” which hits the summit just two weeks after her other song “What’s My Name?’ began its run on top.
Back on the album chart, Josh Groban, Kid Rock, The Glee Christmas album, Rascal Flats, Keith Urban and Nelly all made it into the top ten with the only other stalwart being Taylor Swift who hung on at # 9. Watch for strong sales for most of those releases throughout the holiday season particularly Groban and Boyle… It wasn’t good news for the latest American Idol winner, Lee Dewyze, though whose first album Live It Up tanked landing at # 19 with a paltry 39,000 for the lowest first week sales of any Idol winner or runner-up in the show’s history. Perhaps the more deserving singer he beat Crystal Bowersox will have stronger  sales power with her debut in a few weeks. Stay tuned…

Here’s this week’s top Ten albums:
1. Susan Boyle- The Gift (lw~ 1)
2. Jackie Evancho- O Holy Night (debut)
3. Rihanna- Loud (debut)
4. Josh Groban- Illuminations (debut)
5. Kid Rock- Born Free (debut)
6. Rascal Flatts- Nothing Like This (debut)
7. Keith Urban- Get Closer (debut)
8. Glee- The Christmas Album (debut)
9. Taylor Swift- Speak Now (lw~ 2)
10. Nelly- 5.0 (debut)

Back over on the singles chart, the Glee cast made more big news with “Forget You” featuring Gwyneth Paltrow which debuted at # 1 on the digital singles sales chart. That was the second # 1 in a row on the chart for the show which hit the top last week with “Teenage Dream”. The later single debuted at # 8 on the Hot 100 as well, but “Forget You” just misses the top ten debuting at # 11. The original version original version of that song “F*%k You (Forget You)” by Cee -Lo does grab a spot in the top ten though spurred on by the attention from the hit show to zoom up to # 9.

Here’s this week’s top ten songs:
1. “Only Girl in the World”- Rihanna (lw~ 2)
2. “Raise Your Glass”- Pink (lw~ 4)
3. “Like a G6”- Far East Movement (lw~ 1)
4. “We R Who We R”- Ke$ha (lw~ 6)
5. “Just a Dream”- Nelly (lw~ 5)
6. “Firework”- Katy Perry (lw~ 9)
7. “Just the Way You Are”- Bruno Mars (lw~ 3)
8. “What’s My Name?”- Rihanna w/Drake (lw~ 7)
9. “F#%k You (Forget You)”- Cee-Lo (lw~ 19)
10. “Bottoms Up”- Trey Songz (lw~ 10)

With Rihanna’s latest # 1, she now has a total of 9 chart toppers and that means she has more # 1′s than any other artist this decade. Pretty shocking, huh? Here’s a list of Rihanna’s # 1′s below.

Rihanna’s #1 songs (the most in the 2000′s by any artist):
“S.O.S.”
“Umbrella” with Jay Z
“Take A Bow”
“Disturbia”
“Live Your Life” with T.I.
“Rude Boy”
“Love the Way You Lie” with Eminem
“What’s My Name?” with Drake
“Only Girl in the World”

~and is it me or is it also shocking that “Don’t Stop the Music” didnt’ hit the top of the Hot 100? It peaked at # 3.

The lastl big chart news of the week belongs to The Beatles who finally made all their albums and singles available to iTunes. After just one week out, the supergroup sold over 450,000 albums worldwide and over 2 million singles. Looks like good music will always thrive. For more on all your chart needs, head to Billboard here.

And here’s your # 1 song in the country, Rihanna’s “Only Girl in the World”

Rihanna is Ready to Rule the Charts Again!

Did you know that Rihanna has had seven # 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart? Did you also know she’s had another eight top 10 hits on that chart? If you just look at the pop charts her numbers get even better and it looks like she’s about to grab another chart topper with her brand new single “Only Girl in the World” which debuted on iTunes yesterday and is already at the summit. With these strong sales for the dance single, watch for the track to fight Katy Perry (“Teenage Dream”) and Bruno Mars (“Just the Way You Are”) for # 1 on next week’s Hot 100. If she hits the peak, she’ll have back to back chart leaders following her current smash with Eminem ”Love the Way You Lie” which lead for 6 weeks. That’s quite an accomplishment for an artist who only debuted in 2005. Take a look at Rihanna’s # 1 songs below and watch for her new album to drop in November. She’s also venturing on an acting career with a part in the new big budget action film Battleship with Liam Neeson and Alexander Saarsgard. Finally, hear her new and incredibly awesome hit “Only Girl in the World” below.

~Rihanna’s # 1 Hits:
“S.O.S.”
“Umbrella” (with Jay Z)
“Take a Bow”
“Disturbia”
“Live Your Life” (with T.I.)
“Rude Boy”
“Love the Way You Lie” (with Eminem)

~Her other top 10′s include: “Pon de Replay”, “If It’s Lovin’ that You Want”, “Unfaithful”, “Don’t Stop the Music”, “Hard”, “Russian Roulette”, “Hate that I Love You” (with NeYo), “Run This Town” (with Jay Z & Kanye West).
~And here are her remaining top 40 hits: “Break It Off”, “Shut Up and Drive”, “Rehab”, and “Rockstar 101″

Rihanna “Only Girl in the World”