Pop Sweep: August 3, 2013...


Hey guys, it's time to kick off today's five-part "chart sweep" checking out the songs making the charts at Billboard magazine this week. As always, I'll start out on the "pop"side of things...

On the "big" chart, Billboard's Hot 100, Robin Thicke holds on to #1 for a seventh week with "Blurred Lines".

As opposed to last week, when Jay-Z placed two new songs in the top-40, the highest entry of the week doesn't come until down in the bottom half of the chart. Coming in at #58 is the winner of The Voice from last season, Danielle Bradbery, who rode Blake Shelton's coattails with vapid delivery and virginal pedo-appeal to dominate that show. Now she arrives with a song that made the country sweep last week, "The Heart Of Dixie", with just enough vague tribalistic buzzwords in the title to excite the meth belt. It's only time until she dumped on to the D-list reality show train....


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Sage the Gemini enters at #62 with "Red Nose".  Don't know it. Don't get it.  There.


Las Vegas modern rock band Panic! At The Disco return to the chart at #68 with "Miss Jackson" featuring Lolo. Their sole top-40 hit, 2006's "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies", went all the way to #7. Now even though it's my "Pop Pick of the Week", the video for this is decidedly not mainstream. I guess between them and Fall Out Boy (who now sounds totally identical), morbidity is in vogue...


Demi Lovato follows up her top-10 hit "Heart Attack" with "Made In The USA" at #80. I guess they crowdsourced another "Party In The USA". Meh.



Heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold come in at #83 with "Hail To The King" from their upcoming sixth album. This is their fourth time on the big chart, with "Nightmare" reaching #51 in 2010...Not bad, but nothing explicitly different...


Female vocal group Fifth Harmony, who came in third on the last edition of America's X Factor show, debut at #85 with their first hit single, "Miss Movin On". They definitely won't be competition for the much better British X Factor alums Little Mix...


John Mayer puts the second preview track from his upcoming Paradise album on the Hot 100 as "Wildfire" enters at #91. Although John has had six of his singles make the top-20, he hasn't reached the top-10 tier as yet. I don't feel this one will make it there, it's more the 'stoner track' that "Who Says" served on the last album...


Country hunk Chris Young lowers his standards to fit in the country-rock "hick" milieu on his new single at #97, "Aw Naw". At least his voice is still top-notch, and this would make a great two-step song...


The last debut on the big chart at #98 is Atlanta rapper Rich Homie Quan with "Type Of Way", his first hit...Again, nothing that great about his delivery, but it isn't meant for me... (NSFW)


And now on to the pop radio format charts...

On the Mainstream Top-40 radio panel, "Blurred Lines" reigns for a third week...

The top entry at #33 is Taylor Swift with British singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran in tow with "Everything Has Changed"...


You may not know Bonnie McKee, but most likely you've heard her work - she's had a hand in writing eight #1 singles, like five of Katy Perry's singles from her Teenage Dream album (including "California Gurls"), as well as tracks for fembots Britney Spears, Ke$ha, and Carly Rae Jepsen. She's in on her own at #38 with "American Girl". Like the rest of her work, product. And in this case, sickeningly obvious product.


Speaking of product, Disney dinosaurs the Jonas Brothers arrive at #39 with "First Time". I got to say the boys look mighty fine enough to distract from the song itself, which is your typical lite-EDM-pop fare...


And making the Jonases look like old news at #40 are One Direction with their brnad new single "Best Song Ever" (humble much?)...


On the older-skewing Adult Top 40 format, Maroon 5 land at #1 with "Love Somebody", while the aforementioned "Everything Has Changed" is the only new entry at #33..

Lastly, on the Adult Contemporary, or Easy Listening chart, Pink's "Just Give Me A Reason" with Nate Ruess spends a fourth week on top...

The sole debut at #26 is the modern rock group Imagine Dragons claiming yet another format with "Radioactive", though how "easy listening" is this?


That's it for the start of today's musical journey....I'll return in 90 minutes with the newest on rock radio...


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