Chart Buzz: Robin Thicke, Queens of the Stone Age, Daft Punk, Miley Cyrus
Big week for Robin Thicke and Queens of the Stone Age, as they post career firsts. Daft Punk hold tight to their reign with album and single, while Miley Cyrus’s “We Can’t Stop” makes major traction
What a stunner this week has been.
First, the big news.
California rock band Queens of the Stone Age have pulled off their first-ever No. 1 album with …Like Clockwork, selling 91,000 copies on week one. With six albums behind them, only 2005’s Lullabies to Paralyze managed to climb to number 5 on the Billboard 2o0. That disc managed to sell 342,000 copies in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and featured the No. 2 Modern Rock hit “Little Sister.” The rock band is best known for their 2002 breakout hit, “No One Knows,” which became the first of many Grammy nominations for Best Hard Rock Performance. The group’s newest single, “My God Is the Sun,” has only managed to climb to number 18 on the Alternative Songs survey and number 35 on the Alternative Rock survey. Another big footnote in the QOFSA saga, 13 percent of Clockwork‘s sales were on vinyl (a whopping 12,000 copies), making it the second-biggest seller in that category since SoundScan started tracking LP sales again in January, 2010.
New albums by Megadeth (Super Collider; 29,000) and Sleeping with Sirens (Feel; 59,000) made big debuts this week, but the robotic dynamic duo Daft Punk rules once again. Three weeks after its release, Random Access Memories, their ode to ’70’s rock and disco, continues to hold steady to impressive sales. 62,000 copies were sold this week, which is quite impressive. The album is only inches away from crossing the RIAA-endorsed gold mark (500,000 copies).
Due to the CMT Music Awards last week, country albums received a big bump in sales. Blake Shelton‘s Based on a True Story moved up 5-4, selling 36,000 copies (down 13%), while Darius Rucker – still enjoying the high from his highly-acclaimed performance, rose 6-5 with True Believers (33,000). Florida Georgia Line also saw a major increase of sales for Here’s to the Good Times, which rose 17-8 with 28,000 (up 26%) sold.
Iconic hard rock/goth metal band Black Sabbath is dropping their first major album in years, entitled 13. The disc, slated to feature the return of Ozzy Osbourne to the lineup, plans to take the number one slot next week. Analysts predict it will sell over 120,000 copies, enough to fight off newer titles and Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories from reclaiming the top spot.
Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” the radio gem off of their RAM set, is already being propped up as the summer anthem of 2013. And it very well should be. Although the single has yet to hit the number one slot on the Hot 100, it has managed to hold down a number of hot spots. The track holds tightly to the number one spot for a third week on the subscription services-based On-Demand Songs chart (2.4 million, up 10%) and the Dance/Electronic Songs chart for a fourth week. It also hops 8-6 on Radio Songs (80 million, up 25%) and hold its place at number 2 on Streaming Songs (5.4 million, down 3%) and number 4 on Digital Songs (193,000, up 1%). So far, the single, featuring Pharrell Williams as a guest vocalist, has already sold more than one million copies in digital sales as is set to exceed the sales of their 2001 dance hit “One More Time” (1,047,000) as its best-selling download to date.
All hail Robin Thicke for producing the Number One single for this week. Sitting at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, “Blurred Lines,” also featuring Pharrell, becomes Thicke’s first-ever Number One hit of his carer. The uptempo jam, which also features a rap cameo from T.I., also becomes this week’s top Digital, Airplay and Streaming Gainer. The song is the first to claim all three honors simultaneously. It now reigns as No. 1 on Digital Songs, gaining by 38% to 315,000 downloads sold, and reaches the top 10 on Radio Songs and Streaming Songs: it vaults 17-8 on the former chart (73 million all-format audience impressions, up 50%) and 24-8 on the latter (3.5 million U.S. streams, up 66%), according to Nielsen BDS. Thanks to the popularity of the NSFW and edited concept videos, “Blurred Lines” has giving the blue-eyed soul singer a major boost in his career. It has already taken the number one spot at R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and also hit number one in a host of countries including Australia, Canada, France and the UK. Prior to the arrival of the 2013 single, the smooth romantic slow jam, 2007’s “Lost Without U,” was his best known hit (#14 pop, #1 R&B). “Blurred Lines” has already gone platinum in the US and in four other countries. It is currently featured on the Blurred Lines EP, which was released on May 24.
Probably the only other thing people are talking about in the world of singles is Miley Cyrus‘s sudden ascent to the Top 10. She’s not there yet, but “We Can’t Stop,” a single rumored to have once been given to Rihanna, jumps to number 11 and may eventually net yet another Top Ten hit for her. The track enters Digital Songs at No. 3 with 214,000 downloads sold. It’s her highest rank and sales sum since her lone No. 1 on the sales chart, 2009’s “Party in the U.S.A.” Her last Top Ten hit was 2010’s “Can’t Be Tamed.”
week of June 22, 2013
(Billboard/Nielsen SoundScan)
1. Robin Thicke – “Blurred Lines” (feat. T.I. and Pharrell)
2. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – “Can’t Hold Us” (feat. Ray Dalton)
3. Daft Punk – “Get Lucky” (feat. Pharrell Williams)
4. Justin Timberlake – “Mirrors”
5. Florida Georgia Line – “Cruise” (feat. Nelly)
6. Imagine Dragons – “Radioactive”
7. P!nk – “Just Give Me a Reason” (feat. Nate Ruess)
8. Selena Gomez – “Come & Get It”
9. Ariana Grande – “The Way” (feat. Mac Miller)
10. Icona Pop – “I Love It”
1. Queens of the Stone Age – …Like Clockwise
2. Daft Punk – Random Access Memories
3. Sleeping with Sirens – Feel
4. Blake Shelton – Based on a True Story…
5. Darius Rucker – True Believers
6. Megadeth –Super Collider
7. Imagine Dragons – Night Visions
8. Florida Georgia Line – Here’s the the Good Times
9. Justin Timberlake – The 20/20 Experience
10. Barenaked Ladies – Grinning Streak