Friday, November 11, 2005

US Chart Commentary, 11/19/05

Billboard Hot 100 (singles)

Kanye West and Jamie Foxx spend a 10th week at #1 with "Gold Digger," cementing its status as second longest-running #1 single of the year, as Mario and 50 Cent slip into third place with nine weeks each. West is still #1 on the Pop 100 and Pop 100 Airplay charts. No change at #2 for Chris Brown and "Run It," which is #1 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart. The top 10 is rather static this week, with no changes also for #s 3,4,5,6,9, or 10. The only movement within the top 10 is Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You," which moves up from #8 to #7. The only new entry in the top 10 is at #8 with "I'm Sprung" by T-Pain, which moves up from #11.

Mariah Carey earns the Airplay Gainer of the week award with "Don't Forget About Us," which moves up six places to #20. The track is already #9 on Pop 100 Airplay, but still frustratingly not available to purchase from iTunes. Since the special edition of The Emancipation of Mimi, which includes "Don't Forget About Us" as a new addition to the album, is released next week, hopefully the song will be available for digital purchase. If it is, it will likely be a good contender for #1 on the Hot 100 the following week. Madonna and "Hung Up" continue to slip, down to #27, as increasing airplay has still not caught up with decreasing sales. "Hung Up" is #1 this week on the Dance (Club Play) chart. Fall Out Boy win the Sales Gainer award with "Dance, Dance," up 10 spots to #22.

Further down there are three new entries into the top 40. The highest of which is Joe Nichols, who climbs from #41 to #32 with "Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off," surely a favorite among conservative groups. Gwen Stefani also enters the top 40 at #39 with her fast-rising "Luxurious," the fifth single from her album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. to appear on the Billboard Hot 100. A five-single load from one album is quite a chart milestone in this day and age, where three hit singles seems to be the indicator of success for most major albums. The preceding four singles from L.A.M.B. were "What You Waiting For (#47)," "Rich Girl (#7)," "Hollaback Girl (#1 for 4 weeks)," and "Cool (#13)." Last new entry in the top 40 is Dierks Bentley at #40 with "Come a Little Closer." The highest new entry on the Hot 100 is at #48--this year's Pop Idol Carrie Underwood's "Jesus, Take the Wheel," the follow-up to her #1 single, "Inside Your Heaven." Both tracks are available on Underwood's debut album, Some Hearts, out next week.

Billboard 200 (albums)

Over on the Billboard 200 the Now That's What I Call Music series continues its consistent chart domination with Now 20, the latest volume of pop hits. Now 20 debuts at #1, knocking off last week's top album #1's by Destiny's Child, which falls to #5. Now albums do so well presumably because physical singles are no longer really a commodity in the U.S. Few acts release them widely and when they do, sometimes its months after the song's popularly on radio and TV has peaked. Of course the increase in digital singles sales, led by iTunes, has allowed consumers to once again buy only the tracks they want, so I'm a bit surprised that the Now series continues to sell so well, given that most (if not all) of these tracks are already available for purchase online (Note: I am unable to confirm this at the moment, as my iTunes appears to be having problems. I'll update later.) Santana* is the second-highest entry of the week at #2 with All That I Am. It's his third album in the recent string of hits, and like Supernatural and Shaman continues in the vein of featuring mostly collaborations with popular artists. This time featured collaborators include Steve Tyler, Bo Bice, Mary J. Blige, and a repeat appearance by Michelle Branch. Blink-182 debuts at #6 with their Greatest Hits and Third Day enter at #8 with Wherever You Are. Finally, I'm pleased to report that James Blunt's Back to Bedlam is #1 on the Heatseekers chart, which showcases new albums by new artists. Back to Bedlam is the top-selling album in the UK so far this year, has spent 9 weeks at #1 on the UK Albums chart, and spawned the #1 UK single and current US release, "You're Beautiful."

*Note: (updated 11/11/05, 2:42 p.m.) It has been reported that All That I Am is encoded with Sony BMG's copy protection software XCP rootkit, which has caught much recent attention for the damage it can inflict on home PCs. While the album does have a copy protection, it is not the XCP rootkit, but a different form of protection produced by a different company.

Radio and Records Top 40 Airplay

Kelly Clarkson scores the somewhat rare feat on the R&R chart of returning to #1 after a two-week absence with "Because of You." The song had been in pole position while Kanye West's "Gold Digger," topped the chart. Both songs showed gains this week (although West is now losing spins on Mediabase) and remain with 100 spins of each other. The last time a song fell from #1 and returned to the top spot was earlier this year when Mario's "Let Me Love You" spent at week at #2 to accomodate Ciara's "1,2 Step," before returning to the top. Prior to that, in 2003, 3 Doors Down took a 4-week break from #1 with "Here Without You" to accomodate Beyonce's "Baby Boy." The longest span since 1990 that a single spent away from #1 before returning to the top was 9 weeks for Savage Garden's "Truly Madly Deeply." The song spent 2 weeks at #1 in January 1998, then 9 weeks away from #1, during which time Celine Dion topped the chart with "My Heart Will Go On," before Savage Garden returned to #1 in April for 1 more week at the top. Spots 3 through 6 are jammed with rising singles for Nickelback, Chris Brown, Black Eyed Peas, and Fall Out Boy. The only new entry within the top 10 is at #9 for Pretty Ricky, who moves up 2 spots with "Your Body."

No big jumps of note within the top 40, but a couple of songs make strong entries. Kanye West Featuring Adam Levine (of Maroon 5) enter the top 40 at #31 (up from #41) with "Heard 'Em Say," the third single from West's Late Registration. Just below, and actually moving up faster is Beyonce Featuring Slim Thug with "Check On It," who climb to #32 from #43. The single is taken from Destiny's Child's hits collection #1's. Finally, Natasha Bedingfield scores her second top 40 hit with "Unwritten." The follow-up to "These Words" is up from #44.

Looking forward, expect new entries next week from Trina Featuring Kelly Rowland (Beyonce's cousin and former DC bandmate) with "Here We Go," D4L with "Laffy Taffy," and the very quickly rising Eminem with "When I'm Gone," which is a new track from his forthcoming greatest hits collection, Curtain Call.

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