'GIRLS' POWER: For the first time this TV season, the "Glee" cast sends five songs onto the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously, extending its record count to 173 charted entries since the series' 2009 debut.

As previously chronicled, "Glee" remakes of pop hits perform better than Broadway covers and this week's haul strategically features remakes of songs by P!nk ("Perfect"; No. 57) and Katy Perry ("I Kissed a Girl"; No. 66). The troupe also bows with its versions of Melissa Etheridge's No. 8-peaking 1995 hit "I'm the Only One" (No. 86) and k.d. lang's "Constant Craving" (No. 89), the original version of which reached No. 38 in 1992.

The most dramatic reinvention of the cast's quintet of debuts this week is its transformation of Cyndi Lauper's No. 2-peaking 1984 party anthem "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" as a ballad. Sung by Cory Monteith, aka, Finn Hudson, the song starts at No. 59.

"Fun" was previously stripped down, however, four years ago by singer/songwriter Greg Laswell. Released as a single, his take was later included on the "Confessions of a Shopaholic" movie soundtrack.

Why make "Fun" sound so sad?

"I've always loved Cyndi Lauper," Laswell tells Chart Beat. "I must have heard 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun' hundreds of times before I actually listened to the lyrics. (Once I did), I remember thinking, 'Wait a second, that might be a sad song!'

("My mother says, 'When you gonna live your life right?!'," read Robert Hazard's lyrics. "Oh, mother dear, we're not the fortunate ones").

"So, I slowed it way down, changed the melody so that people wouldn't recognize it right away and played it only on piano, in hopes of shining a spotlight on the lyrics."

While Laswell has not yet heard what Lauper thinks of his version, fan responses "have always been polarizing," he says. "Some people love it. Others really hate it, which is going to be the case anytime that you cover a well-known song in a completely different way."

Laswell is frank in stating that he wishes that "Glee" would've referenced that his creative vision paved the way for its version of "Fun." (In the show's first season, "Glee" similarly shook up Billy Idol's "Dancing With Myself" in the spirit of Nouvelle Vague's more obscure, less rock-leaning version).

"Of the 'Glee' version, I think they have enough talent over there that they shouldn't need to go rummaging through other artists' work.

"Public acknowledgement of their note-for-note rendition would have gone a long way."

(Fox had no comment when contacted by Billboard).

As the "Glee" cast charts with its (uncredited) ode to his creativity, what better opportunity to note that Laswell has enjoyed his own share of Billboard chart success. His most recent album, "Take a Bow," debuted at No. 3 on Heatseekers Albums last year and yielded the No. 5-peaking Triple A single "Take Everything."

Laswell also scaled Heatseekers Albums with "Three Flights From Alto Nido" (No. 13) and his "Covers" EP (No. 38) in 2009.


'ROYAL' WELCOME: Cross off another chart that Adele has topped in 2011.

Her "Live at the Royal Albert Hall" debuts at No. 1 on Music Video Sales, marking her first appearance on the tally, with 96,000 sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That's the highest total since Garth Brooks' "The Ultimate Hits" (173,000) on the Jan. 5, 2008, chart.

Since the beginning of the year, Adele's sophomore album "21" has led the Billboard 200, Digital Albums and Tastemakers charts, while singles "Rolling in the Deep" and "Someone Like You" each topped the Hot 100, Digital Songs, Radio Songs, Adult Contemporary and Adult Pop Songs.

"Deep" dominated as the most widely-crossed over song of the past 25 years, as it reached an unprecedented 12 Nielsen BDS-based Billboard airplay charts upon its July arrival on Latin Songs. The reach of "Deep" stretched to such wide-ranging genre rankings as Rock Songs, Alternative Songs, R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Dance/Mix Show Airplay.

Where does Adele rank among the top artists of 2011? We're less than 24 hours from finding out. Check Billboard.com tomorrow to browse our entire menu of year-end charts across all formats.


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