Pop Sweep: January 11, 2014...
Hey gang, it's time to kick off the first of today's "chart sweeps" checking out the songs reaching the various charts in Billboard magazine this week. As always, I'll start with the pop side of things, then later in the day tune in to the rock, R&B, country, and dance charts...
On the "big" chart, Billboard's Hot 100, Eminem and Rihanna spend a fourth week at #1 with "The Monster"...
In the lull of post-holiday releases, there are only four new songs on the chart this week, and the highest entry out of nowhere is from a French DJ/producer named William Grigahcine. Recording under the moniker DJ Snake, he's in at #38 with "Turn Down For What" featuring Lil' Jon. I'm not sure what makes this nearly three-month-old "trap" (a mix of dubstep and "crunk") leap into the top-40, but it's notable that it's under the Mad Decent label, the same responsible for the "meme" shenanigans of "The Harlem Shake" by Baauer (comically the magazine's #4 song of the year). Hmmm. It ends a four-year break for Lil' Jon from the top-40, when he last was in there was a guest on Jay Sean's "Do You Remember"...
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Two of the four entries on the chart this week are from the Disney animated film Frozen, which has already has dueling versions of the showstopper "Let It Go" from Idina Menzel (at #32) and Demi Lovato (#43) on the chart. At #65 is a song I included in my Christmas mixtape from this year, "Do You Want To Build A Snowman" from the cast featuring Kristen Bell, Agatha Lee Monn, and Katie Lopez. Besides her theater work, Bell is best known for her television roles on Veronica Mars and Gossip Girl...
The other Frozen track to enter is "For The First Time In Forever" with Bell and Menzel, and it's my "Pop Pick of the Week"..
Besides her turn on "Let It Go", Demi also comes in at #96 with the third single from her own album Demi, "Neon Lights". The first, "Heart Attack", made it to #10 last year...
...and now on to the radio format charts...
On the Mainstream Top-40 radio panel, "The Monster" also is on top for a fourth week...
Landing at #32 is Beyonce with a track from her self-titled #1 album, "XO". It's one of the two promoted "singles" from the "stealth" release, and the one getting some press, good and bad, for use of the NASA news footage from the Challenger disaster at the beginning of the song. Personally, I think while all is fair in art and literature, artistically this is pretty much a bad decision that doesn't help the song at all.
British indie-rock band the 1975 come in at #36 with their top-10 Triple-A rock hit "Chocolate"...
Another crossover hit, "Take Me Home" by the remixing team of Cash Cash with vocalist Bebe Rexha, is in at #40. It recently went to #3 on the Dance Airplay chart. They also co-wrote and produced Krewella's hit "Live For The Night"...
Meanwhile, on the older-skewing Adult-Top-40 format, OneRepublic holds on to #1 for a third week with "Counting Stars", while there are no new entries...
Finally, on the Adult Contemporary, or "easy-listening" radio chart, the mostly Christmas rush is subsizing, as Katy Perry's "Roar" jumps back to #1 from #9 for a sixth non-consecutive week, and the only songs replacing the holiday fare are re-entries...
I'll return in 90 minutes with the latest rock songs on the radio...
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