Chart Beat Thursday: Usher, will.i.am, B.o.B
As "OMG" becomes his ninth Billboard Hot 100 No. 1, Usher manages a feat last accomplished by Michael Jackson fifteen years ago.
‘OMG,’ FYI: Usher adds to his already impressive Billboard Hot 100 history, as “OMG,” featuring will.i.am, flies 6-1.
With the coronation, Usher ties for ninth-place among artists with the most leaders in the chart’s almost 52-year history. Here is a look at the most frequent visitors to the Hot 100’s penthouse:
No. 1s, Artist
20, the Beatles
18, Mariah Carey
13, Michael Jackson
12, Madonna
12, the Supremes
11, Whitney Houston
10, Janet Jackson
10, Stevie Wonder
9, Bee Gees
9, Elton John
9, Paul McCartney (*including titles credited to Wings)
9, Usher
With his latest leader, Usher becomes the third male soloist to collect at least one Hot 100 No. 1 from five consecutive studio albums. Usher has earned his nine leaders, beginning with “Nice & Slow” in 1998, from his second through sixth albums: “My Way,” “8701,” “Confessions,” “Here I Stand” and “Raymond V Raymond.”
Michael Jackson banked 10 toppers over the course of five consecutive studio releases between 1979 and 1995: “Off the Wall,” “Thriller,” “Bad,” “Dangerous” and the half-greatest hits/half-new material “HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I.”
Paul McCartney collected five of his nine No. 1s from “Red Rose Speedway,” “Band on the Run,” “Venus and Mars,” “Winds at the Speed of Sound” and “London Town” from 1973 through 1978. (The last three albums were officially billed as Wings releases).
Usher also joins Jackson among those with the second-shortest titles to top the Hot 100. “OMG” is the eighth three-character No. 1, two of which belong to Jackson: “Ben” and “Bad.” Jackson also sang on the Jackson 5’s 1970 No. 1 “ABC.” Britney Spears‘ “3” is the shortest title to lead the list.
BLACK EYED THREES: Not only is will.i.am credited as a featured artist on “OMG,” but he also wrote and produced the track. With the song’s vault to the Hot 100 summit, his group the Black Eyed Peas becomes one of just four acts to have topped the Hot 100 and boasted multiple members to reign in separate solo ventures. The Black Eyed Peas and Fergie have earned three No. 1s each.
Here is a look at the groups that have commanded the Hot 100 and featured more than one solo member to reach the summit on their own:
The Beatles (20 No. 1s)
George Harrison (3)
Paul McCartney (9)
Ringo Starr (2)
John Lennon (2)
Genesis (one No. 1)
Phil Collins (7)
Peter Gabriel (1)
Mike Rutherford (Mike + the Mechanics) (1)
Destiny’s Child (four No. 1s)
Beyonce (5)
Kelly Rowland (1)
The Black Eyed Peas (three No. 1s)
Fergie (3)
will.i.am (1)
The Black Eyed Peas-Fergie-will.i.am connection echoes deeper on this week’s Hot 100. The group debuts at No. 62 with “Rock That Body,” the fifth charting single from “The E.N.D.” At No. 95, Fergie bows as a guest with LMFAO (like “OMG,” another tech-savvy term prominent of late on Billboard charts) on David Guetta and Chris Willis’ “Gettin’ Over You.”
THE ‘ADVENTURES’ BEGIN: Though he cedes the Hot 100 summit to Usher, B.o.B, born Bobby Ray Simmons, debuts atop the Billboard 200 with “The Adventures of Bobby Ray.”
Billboard 200 chart manager Keith Caulfield points out that the 21-year-old rapper is the lucky 13th solo male to top the chart with a debut album since Nielsen SoundScan data began fueling the survey in 1991.
Here are the select male soloists to accomplish such out-of-the-gate success, a group that encompasses styles from pop and rock to country and R&B:
Year, Artist, Title
1992, Billy Ray Cyrus, “Some Gave All”
1993, Snoop Dogg, “Doggystyle”
1997, Mase, “Harlem World”
1998, DMX, “It’s Dark and Hell is Hot”
2000, Nelly, “Country Grammar”
2003, Clay Aiken, “Measure of a Man”
2003, Ruben Studdard, “Soulful”
2004, Lloyd Banks, “The Hunger for More”
2005, Omarion, “O”
2005, Rob Thomas, “Something to Be”
2006, Ne-Yo, “In My Own Words”
2006, Rick Ross, “Port of Miami”
2010, B.o.B, “B.o.B Presents: the Adventures of Bobby Ray”WEEKLY FOX NEWS, PT. 1: The cast of Fox TV’s “Glee” follows a week in which it notched its first Billboard 200 No. 1 by sending a personal-best five new tracks onto the Hot 100.
Led by the medley “One Less Bell to Answer”/”A House Is Not a Home” at No. 53, the ensemble eclipses four simultaneous debuts it has accomplished four times, including in each of the previous two weeks. Included in this week’s arrivals are updates of two former No. 2 Hot 100 smashes: Christina Aguilera‘s “Beautiful” (No. 61) and the Pointer Sisters’ Bruce Springsteen-penned “Fire” (No. 64).
The “Glee” cast’s Hot 100 output now stands at 38 entries since it first appeared on the June 6, 2009, chart.
With a debut from last week, “Like a Prayer,” remaining on the chart at No. 96, the “Glee” cast claims six titles on this week’s Hot 100. Only one group previously totaled such a lofty share of the Hot 100: the Beatles tallied at least six entries 19 times, led by a 14-title showing the week of April 11, 1964.
WEEKLY FOX NEWS, PT. 2: Fox’s lead-in to “Glee” impacts Billboard charts, as well, as last week’s “American Idol” mentor and performer Shania Twain benefits from her two-night appearance.
Five songs debut on the 50-position-deep Country Digital Songs chart, and all of them belong to Twain. “You’re Still the One” enters at No. 19, followed by “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” (No. 38), “Don’t!” (No. 42), “It Only Hurts When I’m Breathing” (No. 44) and “Any Man of Mine” (No. 49).
Twain’s “Greatest Hits” concurrently re-enters the Billboard 200 at No. 68.
Two acts that performed on “American Idol” last Wednesday (April 28) also cash in on Billboard rankings.
After singing the song with Rascal Flatts, Shakira enters the Hot 100 with “Gypsy” at No. 65. On Latin Songs, the track becomes Shakira’s 16th top 10 (12-8) and third from her current album “She Wolf.” “Loba” spent five weeks at No. 1, and “Did It Again (Lo Hecho Esta Hecho)” climbed to No. 6.
On the Billboard 200, Sons of Sylvia – brothers Adam, Ashley and Austin Clark – debut at No. 33 with “Revelation.” The act is opening for Carrie Underwood on her current “Play On Tour.” On Heatseekers Songs, the group’s “Love Left to Lose” bows at No. 8. Ashley Clark co-wrote the track with the brothers’ second cousin: OneRepublic‘s Ryan Tedder.
CHART BEAT BITS: On the Hot 100 dated March 23, 1985, Alphaville’s “Forever Young” bowed at No. 95. It peaked the next week at No. 93. Re-released alongside a best-of compilation, the song reached a new highpoint of No. 65 in 1988. This week, Jay-Z‘s reinvention of the composition, “Young Forever,” featuring Mr. Hudson, reaches the Hot 100’s top 10 at last, rising 12-10. The song is based on the instrumental track of Alphaville’s recording. Despite the medium chart impact of the original version, “Forever Young” has since become a pop culture standard, appearing in numerous movies, TV shows and commercials …
Five-time Grammy Award winner Mary Chapin Carpenter celebrates her first No. 1 on a Billboard chart in fifteen-and-a-half years, as “The Age of Miracles” opens atop Folk Albums. Carpenter had last led a Billboard list the week of Nov. 19, 1994, when “Stones in the Road” ruled Country Albums for a fifth week and “Shut Up and Kiss Me” reached the top spot on Country Songs. The new set concurrently starts on the Billboard 200 at No. 28 and Country Albums at No. 6. On the former chart, Carpenter enjoys her highest ranking since “A Place in the World” peaked at No. 20 in 1996 …
Peter Frampton makes his second appearance on the Billboard 200 since 1989, as “Thank You Mr. Churchill” debuts at No. 154. Rock’s most noted talk box aficionado had last charted with the No. 129-peaking “Fingerprints” in 2006. From 1972 to 1989, Frampton sent 11 sets onto the chart, including 1976’s 10-week No. 1 “Frampton Comes Alive!” The singer’s new studio album, his fourteenth, features his first collaboration with his son, Julian Frampton …
Fearless Records’ “Punk Goes …” covers series dabbles in the ’70s and ’80s, as “Punk Goes Classic Rock” debuts on the Billboard 200 at No. 23. The set includes remakes of Tom Petty‘s “Free Fallin’ ” by the Almost, Def Leppard‘s “Pour Some Sugar on Me” by the Maine and .38 Special‘s “Caught Up in You” by We the Kings. Beginning in 2006, four prior “Punk Goes” tributes reached the Billboard 200: “’90s” (No. 186), “Acoustic 2” (No. 125), “Crunk” (No. 86) and “Pop Volume Two” (No. 15) …
It will take awhile before he matches the 2,336 hits he collected as a New York Yankee between 1991 and 2006, but Bernie Williams notches his second No. 1 on Jazz Songs, where “Ritmo de Otono,” featuring Dave Koz, rises 2-1. Williams is batting a thousand, in fact, on the Jazz Songs scorecard. The guitarist’s sole previous entry, “Go for It,” spent three weeks in the chart’s leadoff spot last summer.