Pop Sweep: March 16, 2013...

Hey gang, thanks for dropping by, it's time to kick off today's "chart sweeps" sampling the newest songs debuting on the weekly music charts in Billboard magazine. Like always I'll start out with the pop side of the house..

On the big chart, the Billboard Hot 100, their screwed-up rules win again so that meme with the 30 second videos they count as "streams" (ahem BS, ahem) is the #1 "song" for the third week. Yeah. I'm still flabbergasted that the staff there thinks there is no problem with counting 54 millions "views" of a 30 second viewer-made "meme-joke" clip being made in the hundreds if not thousands.

The top debut of the week is by former Disney girl, current X Factor judge, and singer Demi Lovato, who leaps in at #12 with "Heart Attack". It becomes her fifth top-40 single; she has had two top-10 hits, with her duet from Camp Rock "This Is Me" reaching #9 in 2008. This is pretty pedestrian product that is geared towards casual tween listening.

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Christian-pop artist Britt Nicole debuts at #90 with her first charting single, "Gold". It's been big on pop radio stations, reaching the top-30 on the Mainstream Pop Songs list, and as child-protected as the positive song is, it's done in earnest and is miles beyond the Lovato track, and the anti-bullying video is endearing (yeah, maybe the ballet guy is endearing the most)...

After a four year stretch from his last non-seasonal studio set, Canadian troubadour Michael Buble' returns at #94 with the first single from his upcoming album, "It's A Beautiful Day". This is his seventh appearance on the Hot 100, with his pop breakthrough "Haven't Met You Yet" going to #24 in 2009. Seemingly engineered for anyone who watches The View, this new song is rather charming in its humor and lack of the need for vocal gymnastics or robotic augmentation. It's my pick of the chart this week.

Country rocker Brantley Gilbert (who I guess does top Buble' in the looks department), shuffles in at #98 with the third single from his debut album Halfway To Heaven to reach the big chart, "More Than Miles". His first two, both country #1 hits, made the top half of the chart, with "You Don't Know Her Like I Do" reaching #49 last year. Another "on the road" peon, the songs succeeds with Gilbert's understated delivery. Love it when a tough man cracks.

Another beneficiary of the Billboard chart change incorporating YouTube views, at least "Levitate" by London electronica act Hadouken! has done so with a viral clip of their own incorporating the whole song with clips of whacked out stunts. And it's a song you can feel you can listen to the whole thing more than once. The single is their first to chart at #99, though they have had top-40 success in their home country before....

...and now for the radio pop subcharts...

On the Mainstream Pop radio chart, Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" (without the goats) spends a seventh week at #1...

The top entry at #30 is the latest by Pink with fun lead singer Nate Ruess on "Just Give Me A Reason". Following up her hit "Try", this bombastic power-ballad-ish with both elements of Pink's gruffness and the band's snarky melodic sense make a really good pairing...

The aforementioned "Heart Attack" by Demi Lovato also comes in at #35, while somehow Baauer's "Harlem Shake" comes in at #38. Considering I have not once heard the song on the radio, I can't imagine who would program a track like that and expect to keep an audience without any visuals...

Meanwhile, over on the Adult-Top-40 radio format, Taylor Swift reaches the top for the first week with "I Knew You Were Trouble", while Pink's "Just Give Me A Reason" is the highest entry at #27, as her last single "Try" drops from the top to #4...

The other entry of the week is by twin lesbian sister rockers Tegan & Sara with their first pop hit "Closer" at #40. Critics may accuse them of going too "mainstream" on this track but it actually seems more inclusive to the rest of the world that way. And the no-holds-barred video drives it home with its pansexual party that anyone would want to be invited to.

Lastly, on the Adult-Contemporary chart, Phillip Phillips' "Home" hangs around for a seventh week at #1...

The sole debut this week is by singer Whitney Wolanin, from New York's capital city of Albany, with her second charting single "Wrong Guy (I Did It This Time)". Her take on "Frosty The Snowman" reached the top-20 on this chart this past Christmas. Considering this is on the same level as the Lovato and Nicole tracks, I'm sort of surprised it made this chart first, though it seems easier these days to get enough airplay to make the chart here.

That does it for this week's pop sweep, I'll be back in 90 minutes with the newest on rock radio, and in the meantime, you can check out my top-100 tunes for the week by clicking here...