US Chart Analysis, 1/14/2006

D4L earns their first #1 hit with "Laffy Taffy," while Mariah Carey takes a big tumble from #1 to #7. Oscar Winner Jamie Foxx's debut album, Unpredictable, which debuted at #2 last week climbs to #1 this week, unseating Mary J. Blige. Radio & Records Top 40 airplay chart is on hiatus, so instead, I'll see what's going on at the Mediabase Mainstream Hit airplay chart. Click below to continue reading.

Billboard Hot 100

D4L scores the first #1 single of the year on the first week of the year with "Laffy Taffy." (It's nice not to have a #1 straddling between years, I always hate that). D4L, which stands for "Down For Life" are up from #4 and are this week's Sales Gainer. Chris Brown remains in pole position for a third week, and could possibly reclaim #1 with "Run It," as the single is bulleted (meaning gaining airplay and/or sales). Nickelback's "Photograph," which 12 weeks ago peaked at #2, move back up 2 places to #3, still with a bullet. Kanye West's "Gold Digger" and Black Eyed Peas' "My Humps," also both move back up within the top 10, although without bullets, at #4 and #6 respectively. After 2 weeks at #1, Mariah Carey takes a big tumble down to #7 with "Don't Forget About Us," the second #1 single from her album The Emancipation of Mimi. Fall Out Boy scores their second top 10 single with "Dance, Dance" up 6 to #9. It's just one place shy of the peak of their first single, "Sugar, We're Going Doing," which is #13 this week, up from #17. Just outside the top 10, All-American Rejects makes a big 10 place move up to #11 with "Dirty Little Secret."

The UK chart had some pretty unsual moves last week due to post-Chrismas downloads, and I suspect the same phenomenon is responsible for some unsual moves on the US chart this week. At #15, Weezer moves back up 14 places with "Beverly Hills;" at #15 its just 5 places shy of its #10 peak 14 weeks ago. Another alternative rock band that was big last year, Green Day, moves up 12 places to #19 with "Wake Me Up When September Ends." Older tracks by Lifehouse, Gorillaz, and The Pussycat Dolls also move up, but nothing is more shocking than the 41 place move up the chart at #34 for Ashlee Simpson and her old single "Boyfriend." 41 spots!! In the process, Ashlee leapfrogs over her newer single, "L.O.V.E.," which itself makes an impressive move up 20 places to #36.

Natasha Bedingfield is up 8 places to #32 with "Unwritten." The other new entry in the top 40 besides Simpson is Ludacris & Field Mob Feat. Jamie Foxx, up 4 to #39 with "Georgia." Mariah Carey also re-enters the top 40 at #37 with "We Belong Together," recently crowned the biggest hit of 2005. "We Belong Together" is actually this week's airplay gainer, probably due to figuring prominently in year-end radio charts.

Billboard 200 (Albums):

Two weeks ago I remarked on the prevalence of bulleted albums in top 50 (37 that week) and predicted there would be few this week. Sure enough, only 10 of the top 50 albums earn bullets, including this week's #1 album, Jamie Foxx's first album, Unpredictable, which debuted at #2 last week. Otherwise there's very little going on, although I was excited to see James Blunt's Back to Bedlam climb up another 19 places to #30. It was just announced that "Wisemen" would be re-released in the UK in a few months. Highest debut of the week is Ying Yang Twins (sic) at #45 with U.S.A. Still United.

Top 40 Airplay

Radio and Records' chart is still on hiatus, so I took a look instead at Mediabase, which everday keeps a rolling tally of the most-played songs over the last 7 days. Lots of songs are bulleted this week, due to regaining their airplay before last week's year-end shows displaced airplay of current tracks. Chris Brown is still #1 with "Run It," but The Pussycat Dolls could overtake him within 2 weeks with "Stickwitu." Beyonce's "Check on It" and All-American Rejects' "Dirty Little Secret" continue to gain strongly within the top 10. Kelly Clarkson's fifth Breakaway single, "Walk Away" is up 5 to #35.