Pop Sweep: August 8, 2015...


I'm ready to kick off the first of today's five "music sweeps" checking out the songs making their debut on this week's charts in Billboard magazine. As usual, I'll start off on the pop side of things, and then later in the day move on to the latest in rock, R&B, country, and dance music. And away we gooooooo...

On the "big" chart, Billboard's Hot 100, which combines tallies of sales (like iTunes and AmazonMP3), internet streaming (like Spotify or YouTube), and radio airplay from all formats, OMI's "Cheerleader" spends a third week at #1....

 Australian boyband 5 Seconds of Summer return in a big way as their new single "She's Kinda Hot" leaps in at #22. It immediately becomes their sixth top-40 pop hit in the States, and only one, "Amnesia", has gone higher at #16. It kind of sounds like they've turned into Sugar Ray V 2.0...


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Scottish DJ/producer/musician Calvin Harris lands at #60 with "How Deep Is Your Love" featuring British producers Disciples. Norwegian Ina Wroldsen provides the vocals on the record. Harris' last album, Motion, scored three top-40 hits in America with "Summer" (which he sang himself) reached #7...



Rapper Future's third album RS2, is the biggest-selling set of the week, and two of its tracks make their way on to the Hot 100 on their own (besides radio hit "Commas", which is at #73 after peaking at #55). First at #68 is "Where Ya At" featuring Drake...


While Luke Bryan's current country radio single "Kick The Dust Up" moves back up to #32 (it peaked so far at #26), another track from his upcoming Kill The Lights album, "Strip It Down", arrives at #81...


U.S. Virgin Islands-based production team R. City teams up with Adam Levine from Maroon 5 at #85 with "Locked Away"...


The other Future track making its debut here at #96 is "Blow A Bag"..


The fourth single from country star Kenny Chesney's The Big Revival album, "Save It For A Rainy Day", falls in at #99. The first, "American Kids", got as high as #23 on this chart...


R&B singer Ciara follows up her hit "I Bet", which peaked at #43 on the Hot 100, with "Dance Like We're Making Love" at #100...


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

On the Mainstream Top-40 radio panel,  "Cheerleader" rah-rah's its way to the top for its first week, while the aforementioned "Locked Away" from R. City comes in at #30...

The other entry at #37 is Dutch DJ/producer Afrojack with "Summerthing!" featuring Mike Taylor...


Meanwhile, on the older-skewing Adult Top-40 format, Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" clings to #1 for its third week...

Modern rock band Third Eye Blind is back at #39 with "Everything Is Easy". In the 90s, they scored four top-5 hits with "Semi-Charmed Life" and "Never Let You Go" both reaching #3...


Selena Gomez slips in at #40 with "Good For You" featuring rapper A$AP Rocky. She took "Love You Like A Love Song" (with band the Scene) to #13 in 2011...


Lastly, on the Adult Contemporary, or "easy listening" radio chart,  Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud" reigns for a 19th non-consecutive week...

Rock veteran Don Henley comes back at #27 with "Take A Picture Of This", from his upcoming September release Cass County, and my "Pop Pick of the Week". Don went to #1 on this chart back in 2000 with "Taking You Home"...


Fall Out Boy's rock hit "Uma Thurman" crosses over to this format at #29. It's only their second time on this chart, after previous single "Centuries" hit #26...


Meghan Trainor comes in at #30 with "Like I'm Gonna Lose You" with John Legend. Her "Lips Are Movin'" is still on the chart at #8 after peaking at #5...


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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