Pop Sweep: January 24, 2015...


It's time to kick off the first of today's "chart sweeps", checking out the songs making their debut on the various radio and club charts in Billboard magazine. As always, I'll start out on the pop side of things, and then move on to the latest in rock, R&B, country, and dance. And away we gooooo...

On the "big" chart, Billboard's Hot 100, which combines tallies of sales, internet streaming (like Spotify and YouTube), and radio airplay from all formats, Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars hold on to #1 for a second week comfortably with "Uptown Funk!"...

Landing all the way up at #17 thanks to the YouTube "streaming" portion of its points is Australian singer/songwriter Sia with "Elastic Heart", my "Pop Pick of the Week". The track, which originally appeared on the soundtrack to the second Hunger Games movie in a collaboration with producer/remixer Diplo and alt-R&B artist the Weeknd, is also on her 1000 Forms Of Fear album as a solo cut, which is what appears in this video featuring Shia LaBeouf and (again) Dance Moms protege' Maddie Ziegler. Sia's previous single, "Chandelier", also jumps up to #30 on the chart...


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Chris Brown enters up in the top-40 at #40 with "Ayo" with rapper Tyga. It's from their collab mixtape Fan Of A Fan 2. It's Brown's 22nd top-40 hit as a lead artist, and Tyga's third (they get equal billing). "Breezy" is also on the Hot 100 with three other records, including another upcoming debut and his featured spot on Nicki Minaj's "Only", which holds at #16...



British singer Ellie Goulding returns at #45 with "Love Me Like You Do" from the upcoming movie 50 Shades Of Grey. She's also on the chart at #90 with "Outside" with Calvin Harris.


While pop-punk band Fall Out Boy's lead-off single from their upcoming American Beauty/American Psycho album, "Centuries", falls to #15, another song from the set, "Irresistible", climbs in at #77...


A casualty of Billboard's counting YouTube views on the Hot 100 results in laughable drivel like 11-year-old Sophia Grace from England, made famous for making a clip karaoke-ing Nicki Minaj's sluttilicious "Super Bass". She now enters at #87 with the horrid Auto-Tuned shit of "Best Friends", which cribs Chris Brown's "Loyal" bassline with a totally inappropriate faux-street drivel. 


On the other side of the YouTube spectrum, post-hardcore band I Prevail move in at #90 with their cover of Taylor Swift's former #1 hit "Blank Space" (which sits at #2). I admit I really dig this..


Rapper B.o.B is back at #96 with "Not For Long" featuring Trey Songz. It's the lead single for his upcoming fourth album. His first and biggest hit, "Nothin' On You" in 2010, coincidentally the first hit for one of the guys at #1 this week, Bruno Mars...


Omarion, the R&B singer originally in the group B2K, enters at #98 with "Post To Be" featuring Chris Brown and Jhene Aiko. It's his first single from his fourth album Sex Playlist to make the Hot 100...


The final entry on the Hot 100 at #100 is a former "Pop Pick", "All About It", from "blue-eyed" rapper Hoodie Allen with British artist Ed Sheeran...


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

On the Mainstream Top-40 radio panel, Taylor Swift's "Blank Space" remains on top for a fifth week...

While Scottish DJ/producer Calvin Harris' "Blame" drops out of the top-10 to #11, his new single "Outside" featuring Ellie Goulding arrives at #30...


The presumed next radio single from Taylor Swift's 1989 album, "Style", pops on to this list at #39. (There's no audio clip as yet, so F off this song for now...)

Ne-Yo winds up at #40 with "She Knows" featuring rapper Juicy J. He's also at #19 with Pitbull on "Time Of Our Lives". He went to #1 on this format with "So Sick" in 2006...


Meanwhile, on the older-skewing Adult Top-40 format, "Blank Space" rules for a fourth week...

Modern Rock band Walk The Moon score their first hit at this format at #37 with the top-10 rock hit "Shut Up And Dance"...


Swedish DJ/producer Alesso and singer Tove Lo's club hit "Heroes (We Could Be)", which interpolates the David Bowie classic, sneaks in at #40. Tove's also up at #5 with "Habits (Stay High)", which reached a "high" of #2 on this chart...


Lastly, on the Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart,  Taylor's "Shake It Off" is at #1 for a seventh non-consecutive week...

Nick Jonas' pop top-10 hit "Jealous" finds a home on this format at #22...


Mary J. Blige comes in at #28 with the flawless track from her London Sessions album,  "Therapy". In her long career, it's only her third time on the AC chart; she went to #2 with the seasonal track "This Christmas"..


 Finally, Meghan Trainor shimmies in at #30 with "Lips Are Movin'". It follows her breakthrough single "All About That Bass" which falls from its peak of #8 to #10 this week...


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





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