Chart Buzz: Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Chris Tomlin
Mars is still locked in first place on the Hot 100, while Justin Timberlake is looking to take that spot with new single; Chris Tomlin debuts at number 1 on the Billboard 200
For six weeks straight, pop/R&B prince Bruno Mars has been at the top of things on the Billboard Hot 100 with his single, “Locked Out of Heaven.” Next week, the competition is expected to shake up as Justin Timberlake‘s latest single, “Suit & Tie” (which some have suspiciously dubbed a “sleeper”) advances up the Hot 100. Radio is seriously picking up on it (debuting at No. 84 after two days of airplay, an accounted 350,000 copies sold will only push it up even further next week). Fans of Timberlake are also anxious to fuel the advance momentum behind the highly-anticipated “comeback” album, which is scheduled to be released later this year.
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis‘s “Thrift Shop” is also zooming in on the opportunity to take Mars’s place, as it jumps 5-2 on the Hot 100. With heavy sales and smart radio airplay, the song has already knocked Rihanna‘s “Diamonds” from off Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Songs’ survey.
The Lumineers‘s “Ho Hey” is also gaining traction, jumping 4-3, while the will.i.am./Britney Spears collaboration “Scream & Shout” jumps 8-6. Taylor Swift‘s “I Knew You Were Trouble” drops to number four; “Diamonds falls to five; Justin Bieber‘s “Beauty and a Beat” slides 7-8; Phillip Phillips’s “Home” stumbles 6-9.
New to the Top Ten this week is “Don’t You Worry Child,” an electro jam fueled by DJ trio Swedish House Mafia and vocalist John Martin. It jumps from number 11 to number 7.
In the word of record sales, there’s nothing to seriously be excited about, unless you’re Christian singer/songwriter Chris Tomlin. The CCM artist debuts Burning Lights at the top of the chart, becoming his first number one album of his entire career. The album sold 73,000 copies this week. It also posted the largest sales week for a CCM album since Casting Crowns dropped Come to the Well in 2011, which sold 99,000 copies. To help prop his ride to the top? Pre-CD sales at church conventions (Passion conferences) and digital downloads, according to sources.
Rock band Hollywood Undead came in at number two with their album, Notes from the Underground, which sold 53,000 copies. The Les Miserables motion picture soundtrack, Taylor Swift’s Red and Bruno Mars’s Unorthodox Jukebox concludes this week’s top five on the Billboard 200, in that order.
