Weekly Chart Notes: William Shatner, 'Footloose,' the Original 7ven

by Gary Trust  |   October 21, 2011 11:05 EDT

MR. SPACEMAN: William Shatner boldly goes where he never has before ... to ... No. ...  1 ... on ... a ... Billboard ... albums ... chart!

As "Searching for Major Tom" bows atop Heatseekers Albums, the multi-media star treks to his first chart-topping set.

The album plays up Shatner's pantheon sci-fi status, sporting covers of such cosmic-themed songs as David Bowie's "Space Oddity," Peter Schilling's answer song "Major Tom (Coming Home)" and Steve Miller Band's "Space Cowboy." Guests include Sheryl Crow, Peter Frampton and Brad Paisley.

"Searching" is Shatner's third album, following 1968's spoken-word covers collection "The Transformed Man" and 2004's "Has Been." The latter set, co-written and produced by Ben Folds and featuring cameos from Joe Jackson, Aimee Mann and Paisley, debuted and peaked at No. 22 on Heatseekers Albums.

While Shatner makes his first voyage to the top of a Billboard albums survey, five soundtracks from the series that immortalized the real-life Captain Kirk have reached the Billboard 200. "Star Trek - the Motion Picture" rose to No. 50 in 1980, followed by "Star Trek II - the Wrath of Khan" (No. 61, 1982); "Star Trek III - the Search for Spock" (No. 82, 1984); "Star Trek IV - the Undiscovered Country" (No. 171, 1992); and, "Star Trek" (No. 49, 2009).

While the 80-years-young Shatner doesn't quote beam himself up to No. 1 like Scotty (McCreery) did last week, his new set concurrently launches at No. 131 on the Billboard 200, marking his first appearance on the ranking.

Following his latest musical enterprise, will Shatner return to his signature character portrayal?

"If J.J. (Abrams) (director of 2009's "Star Trek") were to ask me, I would certainly consider it," Shatner says. "It's a great role, and they were writing it so beautifully as the aging Kirk. The stages that human beings go through as they age; it seems to be a great interest in tackling 'Star Trek.'

"I don't know how he'd allow for the 45 years that have gone on since I was there, but, you know, that's science fiction."

LANDED: Shatner's one-time collaborator likewise debuts a new release, as Ben Folds' "The Best Imitation of Myself: a Retrospective" enters Alternative Albums at No. 11 and the Billboard 200 at No. 62.

The compilation includes Folds' 1998 Alternative Songs No. 6-peaking "Brick," as well as the new Ben Folds Five single "House," first released on the website for NBC's a capella competition "The Sing Off," on which Folds moonlights as one of the show's three judges. Both of Folds' fellow arbiters - Boyz II Men's Shawn Stockman and Sara Bareilles - are additionally showing the series' contestants how it's done.

Tuesday (Oct. 25), Boyz II Men releases "Twenty," a collection of 13 new songs and eight updates of hits from the vocal group's first two decades.

On Adult Pop Songs, Bareilles bullets at No. 39 with "Gonna Get Over You," the third single from "Kaleidoscope Heart," which opened at No. 1 on the Sept. 25, 2010, Billboard 200.

NEXT: After 27 years, a "Footloose" soundtrack reigns again

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Chart Juice: Tinie Tempah Debuts on R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

by Erika Ramirez, N.Y.  |   June 24, 2011 11:15 EDT

After conquering the Hot 100 chart with his first US single "Written in the Stars" - peaking No. 12 in May - Tinie Tempah debuts at No. 85 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart with "Till I'm Gone."

"Till I'm Gone," featuring Wiz Khalifa, has racked up 1.1 million listener impressions, according to Nielsen BDS. The UK rapper's debut was seen coming from miles away. His album "Disc-Overy" debuted and peaked at No. 2 on R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart last month. "Disc-Overy" has been No. 3 on Rap Albums since making it's debut on the chart on June 11.

There's no doubt that Wiz Khalifa's feature on "Till I'm Gone" was the cherry on top. Wiz has two Top 10's in his back pocket: "Black and Yellow" and "Roll Up." "Black and Yellow" peaked on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at No. 6 in February and "Roll Up" peaked at No. 7 in April. "Till I'm Gone" is Wiz's seventh charting title, six of which debuted on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart this year.

Wiz Khalifa Talks Snoop Movie, Amber Rose, Next Single in Billboard.com Q&A

Tinie Tempah has seen success beyond the US charts. "Written in the Stars" peaked at No. 5 on the European Hot 100 on Oct, 2010. In March, "Disc-Overy" peaked at No. 6 on the United Kingdom Albums chart.

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Weekly Chart Notes: Adele, Def Leppard, George Strait

by Gary Trust  |   June 17, 2011 12:15 EDT

CHART ROYALTY: By notching a sixth week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" passes Lulu's five-week 1967 leader "To Sir With Love" and trails only Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" for most frames tallied at the summit among songs by British-born solo women.

(It's a fitting honor for a song that borrows from British vernacular. Adele, born in Tottenham, North London, describes "Deep" as an "adaptation of a kind of slang, slur phrase in the U.K. called 'roll deep,' which means to ... always have someone that has your back, and you're never on your own").

Here is a look at the songs by British-born solo female artists to spend the most time atop the Hot 100:

Weeks at No. 1, Title, Artist, Year
10 weeks, "Physical," Olivia Newton-John, 1981
6 weeks, "Rolling in the Deep," Adele, 2011
5 weeks, "To Sir With Love," Lulu, 1967
4 weeks, "Bleeding Love," Leona Lewis, 2008
4 weeks, "Don't Go Breaking My Heart," Kiki Dee (duet with Elton John), 1976

Adele likewise continues her domination on the Billboard 200.

As parent album "21" returns for a 10th week atop the album survey, Adele extends her lead for longest reign atop the list among sets by British-born solo women.

How does the chart-topping longevity of "21" rank among Billboard 200 No. 1s by all-British acts? Here is a recap of the longest-leading such collections dating to the chart's launch as a weekly survey March 24, 1956:

Weeks at No. 1, Title, Artist, Year
15 weeks, "The Wall," Pink Floyd, 1980
15 weeks, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," the Beatles, 1967
14 weeks, "A Hard Day's Night," the Beatles (soundtrack), 1964
12 weeks, "Faith," George Michael, 1988
11 weeks, "Abbey Road," the Beatles, 1969
11 weeks, "Meet the Beatles," the Beatles, 1964
10 weeks, "21," Adele, 2011
10 weeks, "Frampton Comes Alive!," Peter Frampton, 1976
10 weeks, "Elton John - Greatest Hits," Elton John, 1974

"21" (which, with 2.2 million sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan, is the top-selling album in the U.S. this year) includes an ode to a fellow British act.

Adele's cover of the Cure's "Lovesong," a No. 2 Hot 100 hit for the band in 1989, breaks into the top 20 (22-19) on Billboard's Jazz Songs chart.

LEPPARD SPOTS: Def Leppard likewise represents the U.K. well, as "Mirrorball: Live & More," the rock band's first live album in a career spanning more than 30 years, bows on the Billboard 200 at No. 16.

Released on Mailboat Records, home to (former Billboard Nashville bureau chief) Jimmy Buffett, the set also marks Def Leppard's first independent effort. The album begins on the Independent Albums chart at No. 5.

A Def Leppard album hasn't missed the Billboard 200's top 20 since the group's second release, "High 'n' Dry," peaked at No. 38 in 1981. (The band's debut, "On Through the Night," reached No. 51 in 1980). Beginning with "Pyromania," which spent two weeks at No. 2 in 1983, Def Leppard has sent 12 consecutive albums into the top 20.

The band has scored two No. 1s: "Hysteria" (six weeks, 1988) and follow-up "Adrenalize" (five weeks, 1992).

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Chart Juice: DJ Khaled's 'One' Hits Top 10, Adele Debuts

by Jason Lipshutz, N.Y.  |   June 04, 2011 10:00 EDT

"I'm On One," DJ Khaled's latest all-star rap opus, notches the producer his third top 10 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart as it moves 21-10 on this week's tally.

The posse cut, which features Lil Wayne, Rick Ross and Drake, garners 16.4 million listener impressions, up 53% from last week. In its third week on the chart, "I'm On One" has scored the fastest rise to the top 10 since Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" in 2008. Khaled's next full-length, "We the Best Forever," will be released July 19 after originally being slated for June 28.

Listen: Drake 'Smells Like a Vacation' on DJ Khaled's "I'm On One"

Meanwhile, Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" continues ruling the airwaves as it slides onto the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at No. 100. The singer, who announced the cancellation of her remaining U.S. tour dates due to laryngitis today (June 3), saw the first single from sophomore album "21" receive over a dozen spins each from San Francisco station KBLX and KMEL. The track still sits atop the Hot 100 and Mainstream Top 40 charts, and stays at No. 18 on the Rock Songs chart.

Adele Cancels Remaining U.S. Tour Dates Due to Illness

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Ben Harper, Slipknot Debut on Social 50 Chart

by Kyle Bylin, Los Angeles  |   June 02, 2011 3:30 EDT

Roots-rocker Ben Harper makes his debut on the Social 50 chart this week at No. 47, thanks to buzz derived from his recent promotion of his latest album "Give Till It's Gone." He appeared on both the "Late Show With David Letterman" Web concert series "Live on Letterman" (May 19) and its parent talk show on CBS. The week following, the live set list premiered on Vevo, pulling in nearly 500,000 plays, a 290% week-to-week increase. Shortly thereafter, Harper continued his talk show march, making back to back appearances on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and "Conan" (May 24 and 25).
Likewise, heavy metal act Slipknot enters the tally for the first time -- though, not for pleasant reasons. Last week marked the anniversary (May 24) of the death of the late bassist Paul Gray, who passed away in 2010.

Slipknot Replaces Deceased Bassist Paul Gray

On May 23, Slipknot bandmate and drummer Joey Jordison posted a heartfelt letter to his fallen friend. In the coming days, several music news sites remembered Gray and for the first time since the tragedy his wife, Brenna spoke to Revolver. Though a sad week, Slipknot added 348,000 Facebook Fans (up 180% week-to-week) charted the group at No. 42.
The Social 50 ranks the most active artists on the world's leading social networking sites -- YouTube, Vevo, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and iLike -- using a formula blending weekly additions of friends/fans/followers along with weekly artist page views and weekly song plays.
In under a month, Beastie Boys debuted at No. 44 (May 4), ascended to a No. 16 peak (May 11), and have since stumbled to 37-45. Across all monitored music outlets, the trio realized a continued decline in plays and views (down 10% and 30% week-to-week). On VEVO, their much-anticipated, star-studded video "Make Some Nose" stalls at a humble 1.6 million plays.
With the release of Taylor Swift's latest video "Story of Us" (May 25) -- her latest single from her album "Speak Now" -- the pop star gained 814,000 VEVO plays, humbly moving 17-15. Additionally, Swift garnered attention for her fundraising effort on May 21 in Las Vegas. There, she sold tickets to the final dress rehearsal for her Speak Now tour in order to raise money to benefit those affected by the deadly tornadoes in the South. Her tour launched on May 27 in Omaha, Neb.

Taylor Swift Gets Schooled About Love in 'Story of Us' Video

Latin singer Don Omar grabs his eighth top 10 single on the Latin Songs chart this week as "Taboo" vaults 12-6, helping him fly 33-8 on the Social 50. This huge move is mostly fueled by his 19% boost in MySpace plays, as well as his consequent gain of 409,000 Facebook Fans (up 96% week-to-week). The rest of the top 10: Lady Gaga (No. 1), Justin Bieber (No. 2), Eminem (No. 6), Beyoncé (No. 7), and Lil Wayne (No. 9) all hold their respective positions, while Akon (5-3), Rihanna (3-4), Shakira (4-5), and Katy Perry (8-10) shuffle up and down in this week's chart. 
Notable re-entries: Daft Punk (No. 40), My Chemical Romance (No. 49), and Bruno Mars (No. 50).

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Weekly Chart Notes: Scotty McCreery, Lauren Alaina, Beyonce

THE START OF SOMETHING 'BIG': After a one-year break, the annual "American Idol" coronation single returns to the Billboard Hot 100's top 15.

Newly-crowned "Idol" champion Scotty McCreery's "I Love You This Big" blasts in at No. 11, making the country singer the ninth of the Fox series' 10 winners to launch their debut track at No. 15 or higher. Lee DeWyze snapped the streak last year when his cover of U2's "Beautiful Day" debuted and peaked at No. 24.

Here is a recap of how each "Idol" victor has fared on the Hot 100 with their introductory singles:

Year, Peak Pos., Artist, Title
2002, No. 1 (two weeks), Kelly Clarkson, "A Moment Like This"
2003, No. 2, Ruben Studdard, "Flying Without Wings"
2004, No. 1 (one week), Fantasia, "I Believe"

2005, No. 1 (one week), Carrie Underwood, "Inside Your Heaven"
2006, No. 1 (one week), Taylor Hicks, "Do I Make You Proud"
2007, No. 15, Jordin Sparks, "This Is My Now"
2008, No. 3, David Cook, "The Time of My Life"
2009, No. 11, Kris Allen, "No Boundaries"
2010, No. 24, Lee DeWyze, "Beautiful Day"
2011, No. 11, Scotty McCreery, "I Love You This Big"

As previously reported, McCreery scores the highest debut on Country Songs for a new artist since the chart converted to Nielsen BDS data in 1990. The 17-year-old also manages his first Billboard No. 1, as "Big" begins atop Country Digital Songs.

ADORIN' LAUREN: 2011 runner-up Lauren Alaina likewise translates her "Idol" exposure to residence on multiple charts, as her "Like My Mother Does" enters the Hot 100 at No. 20 and Country Digital Songs at No. 2.

Alaina logs the highest Hot 100 arrival since 2005 for a runner-up's single released alongside an "Idol" finale:

Year, Peak Pos., Artist, Title
2002, n/a, Justin Guarini (no single released)
2003, No. 1 (two weeks), Clay Aiken, "This Is the Night"

2004, n/a, Diana DeGarmo (no single released)
2005, No. 2, Bo Bice, "Inside Your Heaven"
2006, No. 60, Katharine McPhee, "My Destiny"
2007, n/a, Blake Lewis (no single released)
2008, No. 60, David Archuleta, "In This Moment"
2009, No. 72, Adam Lambert, "No Boundaries"
2010, No. 57, Crystal Bowersox, "Up to the Mountain"
2011, No. 20, Lauren Alaina, "Like My Mother Does"

(Lambert, Archuleta and McPhee each charted higher on the Hot 100 with tracks other than their official finale singles, while DeGarmo started at No. 14 with "Dreams," the lead single from her first album, "Blue Skies," shortly after the 2004 "Idol" season).

'YOUNG' LOVE: As Lauren Alaina scores her own chart success, the 16-year-old adds an assist on the continued chart path of the Band Perry's "If I Die Young."

Six months after topping Country Songs, "Young" debuts on the Pop Songs radio airplay chart at No. 36. While Universal Republic has been promoting the song to pop stations since the beginning of the year, Alaina boosted its profile when she sang the ballad on "Idol" May 16.

"Young," which concurrently bows on Adult Contemporary at No. 29, is the 15th former Country Songs leader to cross to Pop Songs and just the fifth by a group. Lonestar reached No. 7 with "Amazed" in 2000, followed by Bon Jovi's "Who Says You Can't Go Home" (No. 30, 2006), Rascal Flatts' "What Hurts the Most" (No. 22, 2006) and Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" (No. 2, 2010).

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Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way' Blasts Onto U.K. Chart

by Paul Sexton, London  |   May 30, 2011 12:15 EDT

Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" album made its expected powerful arrival to the U.K. chart Sunday (May 29), with the biggest first-week sale of the year here of 215,000 units, more than the rest of the top ten titles combined. "Give Me Everything" by Pitbull featuring Nayer, Afrojack and Ne-Yo, meanwhile, starts a second week atop the singles chart.

Lady Gaga's opening U.K. sales narrowly beat Adele's first-week tally of 208,000 for "21" in late January. "Born This Way" is joined in the top ten by its predecessor "The Fame," which rises 11-7 and now has U.K. sales of more than 2.5 million copies, according to the Official Charts Company. Gaga also has three singles in the top 20, with "Judas" falling 8-9, the "Born This Way" title track 16-17 and "The Edge of Glory" 6-18. "Hair" fell 13-68.

Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way' Projected to Sell 1 Million in U.S.

"21," which had spent 16 of the previous 17 weeks at No. 1, dips to No. 2, but Adele's previous album "19" holds steady at No. 3. The first single from the current album "Rolling In The Deep" moves back 34-26, as the "Glee" cast version of the track debuts at No. 49.

The new album chart also sees Bruno Mars climb back 5-4 with "Doo-Wops & Hooligans" and the Prodigy posting a No. 5 debut with the live CD and DVD "World's On Fire." Jessie J's "Who You Are" rises 8-6.

There's a No. 12 debut for Rhino/Warner Music's Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons collection "Working My Way Back To You" and a 17-13 climb for Noah & the Whale's "Last Night On Earth." U.S. soul singer Aloe Blacc continues his U.K. progress, as the album "Good Things" jumps 26-14 and the single "I Need A Dollar" 4-3. For the seventh straight week, "Now That's What I Call Music! 78" (EMI Virgin/UMTV) tops the compilation chart.

Pitbull's "Give Me Everything" keeps its singles chart crown as its predecessor at No. 1, Bruno Mars' "The Lazy Song," holds tough in runner-up spot. Romanian singer Alexandra Stan rises 14-5 with "Mr. Saxobeat," which has already been a substantial hit across much of Europe and beyond.

Snoop Dogg's "Sweat," which reached No. 4 in April, spends an eighth consecutive week in the top ten by rising 9-7, and Swedish House Mafia's "Save The World" climbs 11-10. Three major American female stars enjoy top 20 climbers: "I'm Into You" by Jennifer Lopez featuring Lil Wayne improves 21-13, Nicole Scherzinger's "Right There" 27-15 and Rihanna's "California King Bed" 36-20.

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