Zedd & Aloe Blacc Sweeten Hot Dance/Electronic Songs With ‘Candyman’ Cover
The DJ and singer recall Sammy Davis, Jr. (and Willy Wonka). Plus, Zhu debuts, Coldplay tops Dance Club Songs & more.
Zedd and Aloe Blacc bow on Billboard‘s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart (dated March 19) at No. 14 with “Candyman,” which starts with 15,000 downloads sold and 964,000 U.S. streams in the week ending March 3, according to Nielsen Music.
The song is a reinterpretation of Sammy Davis Jr.‘s three-week 1972 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “The Candy Man” (with the Mike Curb Congregation), originally sung by Aubrey Woods in the classic 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. The new version is a tie-in to the 75th anniversary of M&Ms.
Hear Zedd & Aloe Blacc’s Wonka-Factory-Worthy ‘Candyman’ Remake
While Zedd is a regular on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, with 14 hits, seven top 10s and two No. 1s, “Candyman” marks Aloe Blacc’s first credited visit. Notably, he is the unbilled vocalist on the longest-running leader in the chart’s three-year history, Avicii‘s “Wake Me Up!,” which spent 26 weeks at No. 1 in 2013-14.
‘CAR’ RIDE: Jonas Blue speeds into the top 10 of three Billboard dance charts with “Fast Car,” featuring Dakota.
The dance remake of Tracy Chapman‘s 1988 No. 6-peaking Hot 100 breakthrough hit cruises 12-9 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs; 15-9 on Dance/Electronic Streaming Songs (2.9 million U.S. streams, up 40 percent); and 15-8 on Dance Club Songs, powered on the lattermost list by remixes from Daddy’s Groove, Grant Nelson and Steve Smart, among others. The song is the first entry on all charts for Blue and Dakota.
“Car” also sold 5,000 downloads in the tracking week (up 19 percent) and motors 15-12 on Dance/Electronic Digital Songs.
‘MORNING’ ZHU: Further down Hot Dance/Electronic Songs is the latest track from Zhu, “In the Morning,” new at No. 23. The song sold 4,000 and enters Dance/Electronic Digital Songs at No. 15. “Morning” recalls the Rui Da Silva house hit “Touch Me” (featuring Cassandra) (think the lyric, “touch me in the morning”). Da Silva’s only Billboard hit reached No. 7 on Dance Club Songs in 2001.
10 x 3: On Dance/Mix Show Airplay, three songs reach the top 10. DJ Snake slithers 12-8 and snags his fourth top 10 with “Middle” (featuring Bipolar Sunshine); Kygo makes his first trip to the tier, as “Stay” (featuring Maty Noyes) jumps 14-9; and Deorro soars 19-10 with “I Can Be Somebody” (featuring Erin McCarley), his second top 10.
‘LIFETIME’ ACHIEVEMENT: Shifting to Dance Club Songs, Coldplay scores its third leader with “Adventure of a Lifetime” (2-1). The rock group previously led with “Talk” in 2006 and the Avicii co-production “A Sky Full of Stars” in 2014. Remixes from Audien, Matoma and E-Squire, among others, helped Coldplay’s “Adventure” lead to No. 1.