Adele, Whitney Houston, Nicki Minaj & Chris Brown Add to Top 10
Katy Perry's "Part of Me" rockets in at the Billboard Hot 100 summit, while Adele, the late Whitney Houston, Nicki Minaj and Chris Brown all make notable news in the chart's top 10.
Following her appearance at the 54th Grammy Awards on Feb. 12, Perry, who performed "Part" in a medley with her former No. 1 "E.T.," engineers just the 20th No. 1 entrance in the Hot 100's 53-year history. Lady Gaga had last stormed in at the chart's top spot almost a year ago (Feb. 26, 2011) with "Born This Way," which also benefitted from Grammys exposure last year; "Born" reached retail and radio the Friday before last year's event, at which Gaga sang it.
"Part" marks the first start at the pinnacle for a single on the storied Capitol Records label. The song is Perry's seventh career Hot 100 No. 1.
After Capitol released it to radio and retail on Feb. 13, "Part," the lead single from Perry's "Teenage Dream" deluxe edition, "The Complete Confection" (due March 27), blasts in atop the Hot 100 and Digital Songs with 411,000 downloads sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan, marking Perry's best career sales week. On Radio Songs, "Part" launches at No. 36 with 35 million audience impressions, according to Nielsen BDS.
"Confection" picks up where the original version of "Dream" left off: producing a Hot 100 No. 1. Dream matched Michael Jackson's Bad (1987-88) by tallying five Hot 100 leaders, the most toppers from a single album over one release in the chart's archives.
A Grammy Awards afterglow likewise shines on Adele, whose three former Hot 100 No. 1s bullet in the top 10: "Set Fire to the Rain" holds at No. 2 (and No. 1 on Radio Songs for a second week; 143 million, up 4%); "Rolling in the Deep," the record and song of the year which Adele performed at the Grammys, charges back 17-5 (in its 59th chart week; 271,000, up 115%); and, "Someone Like You" jumps 11-7.
With the gains, Adele makes history as the first female ever to place three titles in the Hot 100's top 10 concurrently as a lead artist. Only one other woman had ever claimed a 30% share of the top 10: Ashanti, who charted a trio of tracks in the top tier the weeks of March 30 and April 6 in 2002. She sported featured artist billing, however, on two of those entries.
Until this week, Chris Brown last placed three songs in the Hot 100's top 10 as a lead artist the week of May 10, 2008. (More on Brown, who bows in this week's top 10, ahead).
Adele's historic week on the Hot 100 complements her record-breaking frame on the Billboard 200 albums chart. As previously reported, her sophomore set "21" logs a 21st week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, passing Whitney Houston's soundtrack to "The Bodyguard" for the most weeks on top for an album by a woman in the chart's history.
Despite Houston's posthumously ceding her Billboard 200 record to Adele, love for the singer following her death at age 48 on Feb. 11 results in a 7-3 Hot 100 jump for her signature 1992 ballad "I Will Always Love You." The song ascends with the chart's top Digital Gainer honor, improving by 89% to 367,000 in the first full sales tracking week following her passing.
Houston also rises on the Hot 100 with former '80s No. 1s "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" (35-25); "Greatest Love of All" (41-36); and, "How Will I Know" (a re-entry at No. 49).
Despite falling from No. 1 to No. 4 on the Hot 100 after two weeks in the driver's seat (fairly literally, considering the song's placement in Toyota's current Camry advertising campaign), "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" nets the Hot 100's top Airplay Gainer tag, motoring 7-4 on Radio Songs (91 million, up 19%). The cut decelerates 2-5 on Digital Songs (252,000, down 3%).
In between Adele at Nos. 5 and 7, fun.'s "We Are Young," featuring Janelle Monae, drops 3-6 on the Hot 100. Rihanna's former 10-week No. 1 "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, falls from No. 6 to No. 8.
Nicki Minaj, whose performance of "Roman Holiday" at the Grammys drew mixed reviews (to be kind), roars onto the Hot 100 at No. 9 with "Starships," the lead radio single from the rapper's second studio set "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded" (due April 3). The track arrives at No. 7 on Digital Songs (204,000) and No. 72 on Radio Songs (17 million, up 67%).
The bow marks Minaj's first arrival in the Hot 100's top 10 and tops her previous best, set two weeks ago, when Madonna's "Give Me All Your Luvin'," featuring Minaj and M.I.A., opened at No. 13. (After lifting to No. 10 last week, becoming Madonna's record-extending 38th top 10, "Luvin' " plummets to No. 39 this week).
Chris Brown rounds out the Hot 100's top bracket, as "Turn Up the Music" enters at No. 10. After he performed the song in a medley with "Beautiful People" at the Grammys, the cut vaults onto Digital Songs at No. 9 (180,000) and climbs 71-56 on Radio Songs (21 million, up 27%). "Turn" is also generating buzz for its remix featuring Rihanna, marking the first musical reunion of Brown and his former girlfriend following his domestic assault charges against her three years ago.
Check billboard.com tomorrow (Feb. 23), when all rankings, including the Hot 100 in its entirety and the Digital Songs and Radio Songs charts, will be refreshed, as they are each Thursday.
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