Pop Sweep: January 5, 2013...

Hey folks, it's time for this week's "chart sweep" checking out the newest songs making their way on to the music singles charts in Billboard magazine. I'll start with the latest on the pop side.

On the big chart, Billboard's Hot 100, which combines sales, airplay, and internet streaming tallies, Bruno Mars spends a third week at #1 with "Locked Out Of Heaven"...

The final entry from this season's The Voice is the top debut this week, as winner Cassadee Pop's version of Faith Hill's #33 hit from ten years ago, "Cry", comes on the Hot 100 at # 60. Now we can start the inevitable memory loss of every single Voice winner in the three seasons. Because really, as noble as those shows pretend to be, it isn't about the singers, it's about the judges, right? Well of course, "Cry" is perfect for Pope since the only notes she can hit are when she's wailing top-volume...

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Rapper Kid Cudi is back at #95 with the second track from his upcoming third album Indicud, "King Wizard". The first, "Just What I Am", made it to #74. He's continuing down the rap/rock hybrid mode, with a stoned-out chant behind the bragger track... (NSFW).

I don't understand the big to-do about the timing of Ke$ha's "Die Young" due to the tragic shooting in Connecticut, considering the zillions of other songs with the same exact wording, but whatevs, the trashpop queen has moved on and her hew single "C'mon" arrives at #99, and this lyric video seems to be perfect fr anything really really drunk (or something)...

The final debut on the big chart is the top-20 hit by American Idol third-placer Casey James, with "Crying On A Suitcase" at #100. It's Casey's first to make the Hot 100, and my favorite of his first album...

Meanwhile, over on the radio-monitored Adult Top-40 radio format chart, The Lumineers climb to #1 with "Ho Hey"...

The sole entry on the chart this week is Justin Bieber's top-5 Hot 100 hit "Beauty And A Beat"  featuring Nicki Minaj. It's the third single from his latest album to make this chart - "Boyfriend" went to #34 and "As Long As You Love Me" reached #27 earlier this year...

Finally over on the Adult Contemporary ("easy") format chart, it's all Rod Stewart all the time, as his "Let it Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" reigns for a fifth week, while his "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" is the sole newcomer at #28. In fact, he has four songs on the 30-position chart...His holiday set turned out to be the big Christmas album of the year, and like his series of "covers albums", it's both inoffensive and unnecessary...

That does it for part one...I'll return in 90 minutes with the latest on rock radio...