Billboard Hot 100, February 25, 2011

1. Born This Way - Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga scores the biggest #1 hit in recent memory with "Born This Way," the title track from her upcoming album due in May. It's hard to believe that the song still isn't a week old, having debuted around the world last Friday. It's #1 placement reflects just 3 days of sales and airplay, during which is sold 448,000 copies, the largest weekly digital sales by a female artist and third best 1-week tally overall. It's impact at radio was just as instant, where it debuted at #6 on Billboard Radio Songs (a record) and #14 on Pop Songs (second highest after Mariah Carey's #12 debut in 1993 for "Dreamlover"). As if those records aren't enough to distinguish it, it's also the 1000th #1 hit on the Hot 100, giving it a special place in history. I expected this song would do well, but to watch it become the fastest hit I've ever seen is pretty amazing. Of course its short history has already drawn a backlash, with naysayer poo-pooing it for sounding too much like Madonna's "Express Yourself" (as if that would be a bad thing). And her Grammy Award performance of the song Sunday night also drew mixed reviews, although the performance itself was overshadowed by her odd costume and apparent story that she spent the 72 hours leading up to the performance in that egg from which she "hatched." She is an odd one for sure, but she's certainly doing something right.

2. Firework - Katy Perry

Nothing else really matters besides Gaga this week, but there are a few other tidbits to note. One is the resurgence of Katy Perry's former #1 "Firework," which is bulleted and climbs back up a spot to #2. She owes this either to her song appearing on Glee, her performance at the Grammys or both. The song has spent 12 weeks in the top 3 now.

5. F**kin' Perfect - Pink
6. Tonight (I'm F**kin' You) - Enrique Iglesias (feat. Ludacris)
7. F**k You! - Cee Lo Green

It's official. All three F-word songs appear together in the top 10 this week, all lined up in fact from #5 to #7. Pink's drops a notch to #5 but is nonetheless bulleted and earns this week's airplay gainer. Cee Lo's hit reaches a new peak position at #7, buoyed no doubt by his rather lively Grammy performance with Gwyneth Paltrow. It's been on the Hot 100 for 25 weeks now.

8. S&M - Rihanna

Rihanna zooms up 23 notches to #8, scoring her 28th top 10 hit with "S&M," the third single from her album Loud. Rihanna has now scored three top 10 hits from every one of her albums except her debut, which had only the one ("Pon Da Replay").

11. What the Hell - Avril Lavigne

Canadian singer Avril Lavigne makes an impressive 12-spot climb to #11 with "What the Hell," her comeback single. If it can reach the top 10 next week, it will become her 6th single to do so.

18. Hit the Lights - Jay Sean (feat. Lil Wayne)

Jay Sean returns with little fanfare as he unveils the new single from his upcoming second album. It makes a pretty impressive top 20 debut, despite not having much impact at radio yet, far surpassing the peak of his last release, "2012 (It Ain't the End of the World)," which managed to only reach #31 despite getting a fair amount of radio and having a guest rap from Nicki Minaj.

19. Moment 4 Life - Nicki Minaj (feat. Drake)

Speaking of Miss Nicki Minaj, she climbs into the top 20 this week with "Moment 4 Life," which recently became her first #1 hit on the R&B chart.

23. I Do - Colbie Caillat

I don't.

25. Never Say Never - Justin Bieber (feat. Jaden Smith)

Bieber's new single finally lands in the top 40, up 24 spots to #25 on the back of his Grammy performance Sunday. I actually really enjoy this song. Probably my favorite from him so far. It's surprising that it flopped at top 40 radio, where it peaked at a a lowly #34. You'd think he'd be really hot at top 40, but despite all his press, he's still not had a really big hit.

34. Firework - Glee Cast
38. Thriller/Heads Will Roll - Glee Cast

The Glee kids land a couple more top 40 hits. "Thriller/Heads Will Roll" probably would have charted higher had its appearance on the Super Bowl Sunday special episode of Glee not messed up the timing of its sales chart-wise.