Pop Sweep: December 13, 2014...

It's time to kick off the first of today's five "chart sweeps" of the songs making their way on to the various radio, club, and singles charts in Billboard magazine this week. As usual, I'll start out on the pop side of things, and then later in the day move on to the latest on rock, R&B, country, and dance radio...

On the "big" chart, Billboard's Hot 100, which combines tallies of radio airplay from all formats, sales, and internet streaming (whether subscription like Spotify or on-demand like YouTube), Taylor Swift's "Blank Space" spends a third week at #1...

The highest entry of the week all the way up at #12 is an oddity - a track from a film score featuring an actress who has never sung on a record before. "The Hanging Tree" is pulled from the score album (not the soundtrack album) for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 from composer James Newton Howard, and has its star Jennifer Lawrence singing in character from the film..

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As Beyonce's self-titled album gets a nod for Best Album of the Year for next years Grammy Award ceremony, a track from the re-released version of the album, "7/11", comes in up at #18. It's the third song from it to make the top-40; "Drunk In Love" climbed to #2. Now tell me, is this Grammy-worthy? Read the lyrics cold and answer...

 Ariana Grande sleighs in at #65 with her seasonal selection "Santa Tell Me". Her current radio single "Love Me Harder" is at #10 this week...

The fifth single from pop/rock band OneRepublic's Native album, "I Lived", moves in at #71. It follows "Love Runs Out", which climbed to #15...

Another contestant from this season's edition of The Voice makes the chart at #84 as Craig Wayne Boyd from Blake Shelton's "team" (after being "stolen" from Gwen Stefani's) does a cover of the Johnny Cash classic "I Walk The Line". The original, a #1 country hit, went to #17 on the Hot 100 in 1957...

Country superstar Luke Bryan has been the biggest name in country this year, yet failed to get a single Grammy nomination. The sixth single from his Crash My Party album, "I See You", shows up at #89. Three of them have made the top-20 on the Hot 100 with "Play It Again" reaching #14...

Former X Factor US finalists Fifth Harmony plant themselves at #93 with "Sledgehammer", their third Hot 100 entry (more than any of the actual winners). It follows up "BO$$", which almost made the top-40 at #43...

The last debut on the big chart at #94 is Pitbull teaming up with R&B singer/songwriter Ne-Yo for "Time Of Our Lives". It's the fifth single to make the chart from his Globalization album; "Fireball" went to #23 earlier this year...

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

On the Mainstream Top-40 radio panel, Maroon 5 is on top for a third week with "Animals"...

One Direction jump in at #30 with "Night Changes". It's the second single from their Four album; the first, "Steal My Girl", peaked at #18 on this format...

Australian indie-folk singer/songwriter Vance Joy lands at #38 with his former #1 rock airplay hit "Riptide"...

Another #1 crossover, this time from the R&B Airplay chart, is newcomer I LOVE MAKONNEN with Drake with "Tuesday"...

Meanwhile, on the older-skewing Adult Top-40 format, "Animals" is at #1 for a second week...

Australian indie-pop band Sheppard, half of whom are siblings, nab their first hit at #36 with "Geronimo", a former #1 hit in their home country, and my "Pop Pick of the Week"....

British indie-folk singer/songwriter George Ezra comes in at #39 with his #1 Triple-A rock hit "Budapest"...

Ariana Grande's top-10 Hot 100 hit "Love Me Harder" with alt-R&B artist The Weeknd enters at #40. She's also at #12 with her collaboration single "Bang Bang"...

Lastly, on the Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart, their stations go full-speed to Christmas as the 30-spot chart has thirteen newbies, all holiday releases, as Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" is #1 for a fourth (and probably last) week...

The first American Idol, Kelly Clarkson, returns at #11 with the title track from her holiday album from last year, Wrapped In Red. Last year she went to #1 with "Underneath The Tree" from the same set...

 New York singer/songwriter Whitney Wolanin enters at #12 with her take on "Silver Bells". She landed at #2 last year (behind Kelly) with "Run Run Rudolph"...

I guess the semi-date-rape anthem "Baby It's Cold Outside" is gonna be the seasonal song being run into the ground this year, as it seems everybody is covering it, including two new ones on the chart this week to join Idina Menzel and Michael Buble, who stand at #2.  First at #15 is Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane with singer/songwriter Sara Bareilles.

It seems like so far acappella kings Pentatonix (who came to prominence on The Sing-Off when Bareilles was on as a judge)  have the biggest holiday release of this season with That's Christmas To Me, and the title track moves in at #16...

Christian-worship artist Kim Walker-Smith enters at #19 with her version of "Carol Of The Bells"...

Two lite-jazz sax legends get together for the holidays as Dave Koz and Kenny G swing in at #20 with "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow"...

As Meghan Trainor's now-Grammy-nominated "All About That Bass" (!?!?!) is at #9 on the AC list, her original holiday offering "I'll Be Home" is in at #21...

Country duo Dan + Shay arrive at #22 with their take on "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"...

The 30th Anniversary version of "Do They Know It's Christmas" from Band Aid 30, to benefit fighting ebola in Africa, makes its first radio chart as it's in at #24. The original popped on to the Adult Top-40 radio chart in 1998...

As pianist Jim Brickman's musical version of "Night Before Christmas" with John Oates climbs to #14 this week, his collaboration with Kenny Rogers, "That Silent Night", whispers in at #25...

The third "Baby It's Cold Outside" on the AC chart, this time from former Hootie & The Blowfish lead Darius Rucker with Sheryl Crow,  comes in at #26...

Australian vocal group and Vegas strip favorites Human Nature recruit CNN-HLN news anchor Robin Meade (who has released two country albums of her own) for "Sleigh Ride" at #27...

The final debut at #30 comes from Welsh opera singer Katherine Jenkins with "Silent Night"...

That's it for the first part of today's journey...I'll be back with the latest on rock radio...