Pop Sweep: March 12, 2016...


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

On the "big" chart, Billboard's Hot 100, which combines tallies of radio airplay from all formats, sales (like iTunes and Amazon MP3), and internet streaming (like Spotify and YouTube), Rihanna spends a second week at #1 with "Work" featuring Drake...

The highest entry of the week belongs to Canadian singer/songwriter Ruth B, who takes her first charting single "Lost Boy" to #75. It's my "Pop Pick of the Week"...


(Click below to see the rest of the post)


Country singer Dustin Lynch comes in at #85 with "Mind Reader", the third single from his Where It's At album. The first single and title track went to #42...


Rap duo Migos dances in at #87 with "Look At My Dab", jumping on the current dance fad. In 2014 they made it to #69 with "Fight Night"...


Alt-metal band Disturbed creep in at #88 with their top-3 mainstream rock hit cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound Of Silence". So far they haven't reached the top-40 on this list - the highest being their first, "Prayer", at #58 in 2002...


Alessia Cara took her first single "Here" to #5 on the Hot 100; now her follow up "Wild Things" arrives at #91...


The second single from rapper Ty Dolla Sign's first full-length studio album, Free TC, is "Saved" featuring E-40, which ascends to #93. The first, "Blase'", went to #63...


Rapper O.T. Genasis lands at #94 with "Cut It" featuring Young Dolph. Back in 2014 he peaked at #20 the "Coco"...


Brooklyn hip-hop artist Desiigner (aka Sidney Shelby) lands his first hit at #96 with "Panda"...


The last newbie on the Hot 100 is from Palestinian-Canadian rapper Belly at #100 with "Might Not" featuring the Weeknd...


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

On the Mainstream Top-40 radio panel, Justin Bieber's "Love Yourself" spends a fifth week on top...

Taylor Swift returns at #28 with the seventh radio single from her 1989 album, "New Romantics". The first five went all the way to #1, but the last, "Out Of The Woods", surprisingly stopped at #21... (There's no video or audio clip for this yet)

Fifth Harmony are back at #30 with "Work From Home" featuring rapper Ty Dolla $ign. They previously took "Worth It" to #4 on this chart...


Gwen Stefani's "Make Me Like You" climbs in at #31. It follows her "Used To Love You", which peaked at #21...


British singer/songwriter James Bay crosses over to this format at #37 with "Let It Go"...


Norwegian DJ/producer Kygo dances in at #39 with "Stole The Show" featuring Parson James...


As country singer Thomas Rhett's original version of "Die A Happy Man" climbs the Adult Top-40 chart, a cover from rapper/Autotuned singer Nelly moves in at #40 on this one...


Meanwhile, on the older-skewing Adult Top-40 format, twenty-one pilots climb to #1 with "Stressed Out", while Taylor Swift's "New Romantics" jumps in at #26...

Singer Andra Day, who was nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammys a couple weeks back, makes her way on to this list at #37 with the song she performed at the ceremony, "Rise Up"...


Rapper Flo Rida takes his top-5 hit on the Hot 100, "My House", to #38 here...


As Selena Gomez's "Same Old Love" holds at #7, her next single "Hands To Myself" slips in at #39...


Lastly, on the Adult Contemporary, or "Easy Listening" radio chart, Adele's "Hello" is on top for a 15th week, and there are no debuts on the list...









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