Friday, November 18, 2005

US Chart Analysis, 11/26/05

Billboard Hot 100 (Singles):

Fresh face Chris Brown tops the chart this week with his first single, "Run It," ending the 10-week run at the top for Kanye West & Jamie Foxx's "Gold Digger." "Run it" is another choice example of the the popular R&B sound of crunk, the style under such recent #1 hits as Ciara's "Goodies" and Usher's "Yeah!" The single's rap bridge comes courtesy of Juelz Santana, who has been in the top 10 twice before as a featured guest on Cam'ron's top 10 hits, the #4 "Oh Boy" and the #3 "Hey Ma." He also has a solo single climbing the chart; "There It (Sic) Go! (The Whistle Song)" moves up 6 places to #23. The rest of the top 10 is fairly static, with the exception of the newcomers. At #7, D4L's first hit, "Laffy Taffy" climbs six places and earns this week's Sales Gainer award. At #9, and The Pussycat Dolls make a big jump, up 9 to score their second top 10 hit with the earnest ballad "Stickwitu." Their first single, "Don't Cha," peaked with three weeks at #2.

Below the top 10, kudos to Madonna for reversing her chart decline. After two weeks of dropping, "Hung Up" rebounds strongly--up 13 places to #14. The single had debutted three weeks ago at #20. The rebound appears to be in sales, not airplay as I had predicted it would be, certainly generated by pre-album release buzz. "Hung Up" is #1 today on the iTunes sales chart. Mariah Carey's "Dont Forget About Us" is up three places to #17. This marks its last week on the chart without digital sales, as the track has been available since Tuesday, included with the re-released of Carey's The Emancipation of Mimi. Strangely the track is not among iTunes biggest sellers currently, given that it is hugely popular and not available on the version of the album the great majority of Mimi owners purchased. Must be lack of awareness, which will probably change soon. Trina Featuring Kelly Rowland earn this weeks Airplay Gainer award and move up 5 places to #19 with "Here We Go." Gwen Stefani makes a big move, up 10 to #29 with "Luxurious," the fifth single from her Love. Angel. Music. Baby.

50 Cent scores his 9th top 40 hit (13 if you count his "featuring" appearances) with "Window Shopper," which moves up 34 places to #30. The track is from the soundtrack to 50 Cent's current film, Get Rich or Die Tryin', which is stirring up controversy over a slate of violent acts committed in or near theatres showing the film. Two other new entries into the Top 40; Kenny Chesney, aka the former Mr. Renee Zellweger, at #39 with "Who You'd Be Today," up from #46; and All-American Rejects at #40 with "Dirty Little Secret," their first Top 40 hit.

A new entry in the Hot 100 come from Lindsay Lohan at #66 with "Confessions of A Broken Heart," Surprisingly, acording to my sources, this is Lohan's first Hot 100 single. She has previously charted on the R&R Top 40 chart with "Rumors," and just below the Top 40 with "Over." Eminem enters the Hot 100 at #87 with "When I'm Gone," with what will surely be a huge hit. It's his 12th Hot 100 single (again, if you count featured appearances, it's his 13th). The track is from his forthcoming greatest hits collection, Curtain Call, due for US release 12/6/05. Finally, Mary J Blige enters the chart at #93 with a great new single, "Be Without You," from her forthcoming release, The Breakthrough. Blige's career goes back 13 years now, producing some of R&B's most consistent quality work, most notably her #1 single from around this time of year in 2001, "Family Affair."

Billboard 200 (Albums):

For the second time this year, Kenny Chesney has a #1 album, this time with The Road and the Radio, which unseats Now 20 for the top Spot. Last time at #1 was in February with Be As You Are. Since then of course, Mr. Chesney married Oscar-winning actress Renee Zellweger, a relationship that Zellweger ended as quickly as it began with an annullment, citing "fraud." 50 Cent has to settle for 2nd place with the soundtrack to his current film Get Rich or Die Tryin'. Like Chesney, this is 50 Cent's second album release this year, following the #1 The Massacre, which came out in March. Technically, this is not a 50 Cent album but a soundtrack credited to "Various Artists;" however, 50 cent appears in 14 of the 18 tracks, making it in my mind a 50 Cent album. As such, it is his second titled Get Rich or Die Tryin', which was also the name of his 2002 debut. Neil Diamond debuts at #4 with 12 Songs. With the exception of a 1992 Christmas Colletion, Diamond has not had a top 10 album since 1982's Heartlight, inspired by the pulmonary organ of that year's favorite extraterrestrial--E.T. Floetry debuts at #7 with Flo'ology, their second album and first to make the top 10.

Also worth noting in the top 10 is the reappearance of Kelly Clarkson's Breakaway, which climbs two spots to #10. Since appearing on the chart nearly a year ago (49 weeks ago to be exact) at #3, the album has spent 19 weeks in the top 10 and has never fallen below #20, bolstered by the incredible chart performance of each of the albums (to date) four singles. In comparison, her debut album Thankful entered the chart at #1, spent 8 additional weeks in the top 10 and a total of 45 weeks in top 200. Even though Breakaway wasn't a #1 album, it's longevity should mark it as clearly more successful than Thankful, chartwise.

R&R CHR/Pop Top 40 (Airplay):

Lots of chart activity here this week. Kelly Clarkson spends a third week at #1 with "Because of You," and should stay there another week before facing serious competition from Chris Brown's "Run It," at #3 this week. There are a healthy 3 new entries into the top 10 this week, the highest of which is The Pussycat Dolls at #7 (up 5) with "Stickwitu." At #8 (up 5),

Mariah Carey continues on her comback bandwagon with the third top 10 hit from The Emancipation of Mimi, "Don't Forget About Us," a track recently added to the re-released platinum edition of the album. Carey's record on the chart is feast or famine. Starting out, she scored an amazing string of 10 #1 singles in a row, from her debut "Vision of Love" in 1990 to "Hero" in 1994. This was followed by three years' worth of another 8 singles to go top 10 (including 2 more #1s). Then her luck turned south, with 10 straight releases over the course of 8 years that made the top 50, but failed to make the top 10. This year she rebounded, having already scored two #1 singles ("We Belong Together" and "Shake it Off"). Doing the math, "Don't Forget About Us" is Carey's 21st top 10 hit.

Finally, at #10, Sean Paul scores his first top 10 hit since his massive 2003 "Get Busy," with "We Be Burnin'." It's his seventh R&R top 40 hit.

Beyonce Featuring Slim Thug is this week's biggest mover; they're up 8 places at #24 with "Check On It."

Lastly, there are an amazing seven new entries in this weeks top 40. Leading the pack at #29 is Eminem with "When I'm Gone." It's this week's biggest chart gainer and his 14th top 40 hit. Not satisfied with just one new entry, Trick Trick Featuring Eminem debuts at #39 with "Welcome 2 Detroit." Backstreet Boys continue their comeback with their third top 40 this year with the ballad "Crawling Back to You," which debuts at #40. It's their 17th top 40 hit. Other debuts are D4l at #33 with "Laffy Taffy," Trina Featuring Kelly Rowland at #35 with "Here We Go," Relient K at #37 with "Who I Am Hates Who I've Been," and Three 6 Mafia at #38 with "Stay Fly." Next week, expect Switchfoot to debut with their third top 40 single, "Stars."

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