Pop Sweep: February 8, 2014...


Hey gang, I'm ready to kick off the first of today's "chart sweeps" sampling the songs reaching the various singles charts in Billboard magazine this week, and as always I'll start out with the "big chart" and the pop radio lists....

On the "big" one, Billboard's Hot 100, which tallies sales, radio airplay, and internet streaming, Katy Perry scores her ninth #1 hit with "Dark Horse" featuring Juicy J (making it his first)...

The top debut of the week at #60 belongs to Texan teen pop singer Austin Mahone, who may just be in line to take the reins once Justin Bieber goes totally off rails. The 17-year-old has his second Hot 100 hit and his highest rank so far with "MMM Yeah" featuring rapper Pitbull (who just drops from #1 with his own "Timber"). This record interpolates the chorus from Lidell Townsell's "Nu Nu", which reached #26 in 1992, four years before Austin was born (ugh)....


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Rapper SchoolBoy Q comes in at #81 with "Man Of The Year". He's a featured performer on Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' top-20 hit "White Walls", but this is his best so far as a lead artist...


Enrique Iglesias returns at #85 with "El Perdedor" with Mexican artist Marco Antonio Solis. It's Iglesias' second Spanish language single to make the Hot 100 within the last year - he went to #80 with "Loco"...


Country prodigy Hunter Hayes got a primo spot on the Grammys last Sunday, and the song he performed, "Invisible", enters the big chart at #88. It's from his upcoming sophomore album; Hunter's debut sent five songs to the Hot 100, with two of them ("Wanted" and "I Want Crazy") reaching the top-20...


R&B singer Trey Songz is back at #91 with "Na Na". He has gone top ten on this chart twice, with "Bottoms Up" peaking at #6 in 2010...It riffs off the Teena Marie classic "Ooh La La" from 1988...



 British modern rock band the 1975 land at #96 with "Chocolate". The song, their first to make the big chart, is already top-10 on the Triple-A rock chart...


The last entry on the Hot 100 at #100 goes to singer and producer Rico Love with "They Don't Know". This is the first lead-artist hit for Rico, who has worked with Usher and Beyonce',


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

On the Mainstream Top 40 radio panel, Pitbull and Ke$ha's "Timber" spends a second week at #1..

The top entry at #31 is Grammy-winner and haberdasher Pharrell with his Despicable Me 2 track (and former pop pick) "Happy"...


Soul singer Aloe Blacc drops in at #33 with "The Man", getting a lot of exposure from being the soundtrack to ads for the new Beats By Dre headphones...



The third debut on the list at #38 is Swedish indie-electro-pop group NONONO with "Pumpin' Blood". The song made the rounds at rock radio last year, reaching #22 on the Alternative chart...


Meanwhile, on the older-skewing Adult Top-40 format, OneRepublic hangs tight for a seventh week on top with "Counting Stars", while the aforementioned Aloe Blacc track comes in the highest at #37...

Fitz & The Tantrums follow up their top-20 single "Out of My League" with this week's "Pop Pick", "The Walker" at #38. Ellen DeGeneres is also using the song in her Oscar promos...


Shakira and Rihanna team up at #40 with their collaboration "Can't Remember To Forget You"...


Lastly, on the Adult Contemporary (or "Easy Listening") chart, Katy Perry stands at #1 for a tenth non-consecutive week with "Roar" (while Sara Bareilles' "Brave" sits at #2)...

British singer/songwriter James Blunt makes it in at #26 with "Bonfire Heart". He topped this format with his first hit "You're Beautiful" in 2005...


Two recent #1 modern-rock hits reach this format; first at #29 is the Neighbourhood with "Sweater Weather"...


And British band Pompeii arrive at #30 with "Pompeii"...


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












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