The latest news in the world of Billboard's definitive sales and airplay charts.
RETAIL AND RADIO GAGA FOR ‘DANCE’: Strong on sales (she’s No. 1 on Hot Digital Songs) and doing well with radio spins (holding at No. 5 on Hot 100 Airplay), Yonkers-born Lady GaGa earns her first No. 1 on The Billboard Hot 100 with “Just Dance” (Streamline/KonLive/Cherrytree). It is the first song to advance to the summit in 2009 and is the first debut single by a female artist to reach No. 1 since Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” topped the chart in July-August 2008.
While some think of Lady GaGa (birth name: Joanne Stefani Germanotta) as a dance artist crossing over to pop, with the ascendancy of “Just Dance,” she has earned her pop stripes. “Just Dance” had to settle for a second-place finish on Hot Dance Club Play; the single peaked on that tally the week of June 28, 2008.
“Just Dance” is the first No. 1 title on the Hot 100 to include the word “dance” since February 1991, when “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” by C + C Music Factory featuring Freedom Williams reigned for two weeks. And as long as we’re analyzing titles, “Just Dance” is the third No. 1 hit to start with the word “Just,” following “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)” by the Temptations in 1971 and “(Just Like) Starting Over” by John Lennon in 1980.
“Just Dance” is the first No. 1 not just for Lady GaGa but for her featured guest, Colby O’Donis. The 19-year-old from Queens, N.Y., has had two Hot 100 entries of his own: “What You Got” peaked at No. 14 in May 2008 and “Beautiful” went to No. 19 in December 2008.
LUIS GOES THE DISTANCE: “No Me Doy Por Vencido” (Universal Music Latino) by Luis Fonsi is No. 1 for the 17th week on Hot Latin Songs. That’s the second-longest run at the top among singles that advanced to pole position in 2008. The leader, at 20 weeks, is “Te Quiero” by Flex.
The longevity champ among the No. 1 songs of 2007 was “Me Enamora” by Juanes; that single also wore the crown for 20 weeks. The current champ needs eight more weeks on top to tie the all-time record of 25 weeks, set by Shakira and featured guest Alejandro Sanz with “La Tortura” in 2005.
“No Me Doy Por Vencido” is Fonsi’s fourth No. 1 on this chart. His first three chart-toppers were:
“Imaginame Sin Ti,” two weeks (2000)
“Abrazar La Vida,” one week (2004)
“Nada Es Para Siempre,” one week (2005)
Fonsi made his first appearance on Hot Latin Songs the week of Dec. 5, 1998, with “Dime Como,” which went on to peak at No. 23. That gives Fonsi a chart span of 10 years, one month and two weeks.
‘TIME’ LINE: Seasonal songs have disappeared from the Adult Contemporary tally, as they do every January. Faith Hill’s “A Baby Changes Everything” spent three weeks at No. 1 but is off the chart now, while David Cook continues his reign for the 13th non-consecutive week with “The Time Of My Life” (19/RCA). It’s the longest-running No. 1 by a solo male vocalist since John Mayer ruled for 16 non-consecutive weeks from March-July 2007 with “Waiting for the World to Change.”
Cook is the only male artist to dominate the AC chart in the last 54 weeks. Since the week of Jan. 12, 2008, this tally has been led by Colbie Caillat, Sara Bareilles, Leona Lewis, Hill and Cook. Before Cook, the last male artist to top the AC chart was Josh Groban, who had a three-week reign with “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” beginning the week of Dec. 22, 2007.
FIVE FOR ‘FEARLESS’: Taylor Swift stands pat in first place on The Billboard 200, as “Fearless” (Big Machine) leads for the fifth consecutive week. That makes Swift’s sophomore set the longest-running No. 1 album among the releases that assumed pole position in 2008.
The last album to have a five-week run at No. 1 was Josh Groban’s “Noel,” which started its reign the week of Dec. 8, 2007.
The last album to remain No. 1 longer than five weeks was “The Massacre” by 50 Cent, which spent six weeks at the zenith in March-April 2005.
PREVIOUSLY ON ‘PURPLE RAIN’: The “Purple Rain” (Warner Bros.) soundtrack by Prince & the Revolution spent 24 weeks at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 in the last half of 1984. The album is now a catalog item, having spent its last week on the main chart on Nov. 23, 1985, but is still eligible to appear on Top Soundtracks. Until this week, this classic release had peaked at No. 10 on the soundtracks chart, back in February 2007. And despite not appearing on this tally since August 2007, “Purple Rain” re-enters this week at a new peak position. How did it suddenly reach No. 9? Simple: the album was briefly on sale at Amazon.com for $1.99.
GOING FOR THE ‘GOLD’: Another chart affected by the disappearance of holiday titles is Top Pop Catalog Albums, where “Abba Gold” (Polar/Polydor) reclaims the No. 1 spot, extending its supremacy to nine weeks. The first eight weeks were consecutive, starting with the chart for the week ending Aug. 2, 2008.
With its first turn at No. 1 fueled by the release of the film “Mamma Mia!” in theaters, the album returns to the top thanks to the release of the movie on DVD.
A nine-week stay at No. 1 does not make “Abba Gold” the lengthiest visitor among the albums that reached the top spot in 2008; Michael Jackson’s “Thriller 25” came up aces for 11 weeks. But “Abba Gold” may not be pushed aside next week, especially if “Mamma Mia!” picks up any Golden Globes this weekend.
THANKS, HANK: Hank Williams Jr. scores his 103rd entry on Hot Country Songs with the No. 60 debut of “Bartender Song” (Universal Republic/CO5/Curb) credited to Atlanta-based rock/rap quintet Rehab with a featured billing for Williams Jr. The song marks Rehab’s first appearance on the country chart.
The second-generation Williams made his first appearance on this survey the week of Feb. 8, 1964, giving him a newly-revised chart span of 44 years, 11 months and one week.
‘GONE’ BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: Sugarland collects its fourth No. 1 on Hot Country Songs, as “Already Gone” (Mercury) moves up a notch from No. 2. The duo, formerly a trio, first occupied the penthouse in December 2006 with “Want To” and then with the follow-up, “Settlin’,” in May 2007. Last August, “All I Want to Do” had a week in pole position.
Just counting that same time frame, from December 2006 to today, only three other acts have had more No. 1s on the country tally than Sugarland. Brad Paisley has had six and Carrie Underwood and Kenny Chesney have each had five.
DEBUTLESS: Charts normally slow down after the holidays as sales decline and record companies are reluctant to release new product in January. Still, it’s been exactly 11 years since there was a Hot 100 with absolutely no new entries. There’s not a debut in sight among the 100 most popular songs in the land for the first time since the chart dated Jan. 17, 1998.
TOP 10 SONGS OF 2008: My top 10 albums of 2008 are posted at Billboard.com, along with the annual picks of other Billboard staffers. Since I’m a singles-oriented guy, I traditionally put together a list of my top 10 songs of the year as well and include them in Chart Beat.
Some years it’s tough to find 10 songs that merit inclusion. This year I had the opposite problem: I had more songs that deserved to be in the top 10 than there were spaces. I didn’t want to cheat and have 10 ties, so I’m expanding the list this year to a top 20.
Some of my favorites were very, very popular and you’ll already know them. Some are from other countries, and unless you live in one of them, these songs may be unknown to you. Fortunately, there’s always YouTube if you want to do some searching to hear my choices (or watch their videos).
Eligible titles were songs released in 2008 that I heard for the first time in 2008. There’s at least one song in my top 10 that’s not due for release until next month, but the video of “The Fear” was posted at YouTube in December 2008.
I hope you discover some new music that you like. Here’s my top 20 of 2008:
1. “Viva La Vida,” Coldplay (Capitol)
2. “Mercy,” Duffy (Mercury)
3. “Empty Room,” Sanna Nielsen (Lionheart, Sweden)
4. “The Fear,” Lily Allen (Parlophone, United Kingdom)
5. “You Belong With Me,” Taylor Swift (Big Machine)
6. “This Is My Life,” Euroband (Hljóðhönnun, Iceland)
7. “Black and Gold,” Sam Sparro (Universal Republic)
8. “O Julissi,” Ishtar (ARS Entertainment, Belgium)
9. “Up,” The Saturdays (Polydor, United Kingdom)
10. “The World Should Revolve Around Me,” Little Jackie (S-Curve)
11. “Era Stupendo,” Paolo Meneguzzi (CMC, Switzerland)
12. “Crush,” David Archuleta (Jive)
13. “Dream On,” Christian Falk featuring Robyn (Data, U.K.)
14. “What’s Your Name,” Usher featuring Will.i.am (LaFace)
15. “Boyfriend,” Alphabeat
16. “Make It Mine,” Jason Mraz (Atlantic)
17. “Beating My Heart,” Jon McLaughlin (Island)
18. “The Girl That Got Away,” Ace Young (Pazzo Music)
19. “Casanova,” Gisela (CMC, Andorra)
20. “I Decided,” Solange (Music World/Geffen)
