Pop Sweep: August 4, 2012...

Hey folks, it's time for the first part of this weeks "chart sweeps", where I bring you the latest songs making the weekly music sales and radio charts in Billboard magazine. This time out I'll take a look at the new debuts on the all-genre Hot 100 and the Adult Pop charts.

On the Hot 100, Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" is on top for a seventh week, while no new songs make it into the top ten.

The highest debut, though, comes in all the way up at #12, thanks to it being the second biggest digital seller this week. It's A-list country singer Jason Aldean, who's had one top-10 on the big chart so far in his career, "Dirt Road Anthem" (thanks to a pop-styled remix featuring rapper Ludacris), as well as another top-20 hit, "Big Green Tractor". Now I've got a little issue with this song, because after penning a sponsorship contract with Coors Beer, he rerecorded the song switching out brands from Shiner Bock to "Rocky Tops", and contacting radio to play the new version. I mean really, please maybe be a little more subtle in your shilling? I know half of country music is one big "redneck" advertisement with keywords and talking points substituting for creativity, but c'mon!

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No Doubt are back at #34, and it's a scary fact that the last time they had a single out, 2003's "It's My Life", came before iTunes really got started and there was even a digital sales chart. Wild. Their latest is a preview of their upcoming sixth studio album, Push And Shove, due at the end of September. "Settle Down" brings the band back to their popped up reggae breakthrough of Tragic Kingdom, and everyone's hyping on it. It hasn't 100% won me, but then it hasn't burned out on me yet either...and Gwen looks flawless...and it's 10x better than "Hey Baby" was...

Rapper T.I.has been name-checked more recently for his incarcerations than his music, but the Atlanta native has accrued seven top-10 hits as a lead artist, including two #1 hits from his 2008 album Paper Trail, "Whatever You Like" and "Live Your Life". He also had a third #1 credit backing up Justin Timberlake on "My Love" in 2006. His new album Trouble Man is scheduled for September, and the fourth track from that to make the Hot 100 comes in at #77, "Go Get It", and it's the standard rap flow, not really meant for pop radio...

I'm psyched about the new Killers album Battle Born arriving in September, and the first single from it already is a big hit on rock radio, and arrives at #78 on the big chart. The Vegas rockers have scored three top-40 hits, including one top-10 hit in 2004 with "Mr. Brightside". Their newest is "Runaways", and here's the brand-new clip for it. It brings back the 80's pop-rock drama that won me over almost ten years back.

Jam Rock ensemble the Dave Matthews Band hope to extend their streak of five #1 studio albums with Away From The World due in September (of course). Their highest Hot 100 peak so far has been 2005's "American Baby" at #16, but they've always been an album-listen band as it is. Their latest single to preview the CD is "Mercy" at #95, and it's already a top-3 album-alternative rock hit (hipster rock to me)...and it's that "green rock" vibe that'll pack the women in again....

Meanwhile, over on the Adult Pop chart, Maroon5's "Payphone" remains at the top, while the aforementioned "Settle Down" by No Doubt is the top debut all the way up at #23.

The English five-man boyband One Direction are still in the top-10 here with "What Makes You Beautiful", but manage to come on at #37 with their followup, the bubbly "One Thing", which is also in the Hot-100 top-40 and made the top-10 in England as the third single from their debut album Up All Night, which just went over the million-sales mark in the US...

Scottish indie-rock band Snow Patrol got their big break with the worldwide smash "Chasing Cars" in 2006, which was a top-5 US pop hit as well. Their latest album, Fallen Empires, is a favorite of mine this past year, and the second single to hit the Adult top-40 list (after "Called Out In The Dark") pops in at #38, and it's "In The End"...

...and at #39 is a song by the Icelandic group Of Monsters And Men that just was #1 on the Modern Rock/Alternative chart last week, "Little Talks", form another recommended album, My Head Is An Animal....though this video does make the novice think everything female in Iceland is Bjork-ish.

That's it for now, stay tuned, in 90 minutes I'll bring you the latest on rock radio. Cheers!