Today's Top Hit
“Just Not You”; that’s what RCA executive, P!nk, said to her fellow executives – Lady Gaga & Christina Aguilera – this past week, as she denounced their (non)-charting artists. P!nk’s second single from her upcoming fourth studio album tops the Hot Singles Chart with immense streaming power – after being the centrepiece for Spotify’s ‘Today’s Top Hits’ playlist this week – just two weeks after her lead track, ‘Shoot You Down’ (#6) shot to number one. P!nk exclusively told us that she did not expect ‘Just Not You’ to even chart within the top three initially, but - because of its overwhelming success – a ‘Video Mix’ has now been released to support the upcoming music video. When questioned why, P!nk responded; “Perrie told me that streaming is the future!”
P!nk also scores another top two single this week, as a featured artist on Kesha’s ‘Warden’. The track – while number-one on both digital and radio formats this week – lost out to ‘Just Not You’, as it trailed over twelve points behind on the Streaming Songs Chart. However, Kesha’s main aim this week was to demonstrate a sense of ‘Conviction’ – and that’s exactly what she did, as her newest studio album becomes her fifth number-one on the Top Albums Chart; leading by a narrow 0.6 points. Earlier today, Kesha announced that ‘Warden’ will now receive a ‘Radio Mix’, in hopes of pushing the track even further up on the year-end charts.
From one artist who is ‘#LOSTinPINK’, to the next; we, of course, speak of Perrie Edwards – the modern-day incarnation of Katy Perry. After finishing the race in first place last week with début solo single, ‘Ready Steady Go’, Edwards rallied herself for a second round – launching the Adam Levine collaboration, ‘Tastes Like Bubblegum’ (#3). Whilst ‘Ready Steady Go’ may have halted in its chart prowess – falling 1-12 this week, Edwards remains intent on heading full speed ahead; with a Rihanna remix of ‘Bubblegum’ being released alongside her self-titled début album, in the upcoming week.
Just like Edwards fell from the peak of the Hot Singles Chart, Rihanna also loses her grip on the Top Albums Chart – slipping 1-3 with the deluxe edition of ‘Showtime’. Rihanna – the number-one singles artist in yesterday’s midweek update – bows at a disappointing number-five début with the femme fatale collaboration, ‘Please Don’t Fall’, on this chart issue. While she initially held a phenomenal position on the ‘Streaming Songs Chart’, her impact there quickly dwindled, as she ceased all promotion for her current releases; instead, choosing to promote her top Cher tracks on social media. Earlier, Rihanna announced the international release of new track, ‘In and Out of Love’, alongside the ‘Wine Remix’ of ‘Please Don’t Fall’.
Let’s talk about men. The boys – whilst not matching the success of their female peers – closed the gap on the gender divide within the music industry, sporting not-so-strong muscle, but a strong and stable chart effort this past week. Leader of the industry’s “menimist” movement – Adam Levine – was nowhere to be seen, but the masculine personas of Troye Sivan and Shawn Mendes would surely make him proud! The deluxe edition of Mendes’s début record, ‘No Filter’ increases 4-2 this week, whilst Sivan’s latest single, ‘Make Me Feel’ (#4), dents the top five of the Hot Singles Chart with incredible radio payola airplay!
From the gays themselves to the self-proclaimed queen of gays; Kylie Minogue and Erika Jayne. Both released studio albums this past week. Minogue’s ‘Reasoning of the Universe’ spikes to a number-four position, while Jayne’s ‘The Royal Crown’ enters slightly lower (#6). Both of these older ladies also make a dent in the top ten of the Hot Singles Chart, with ‘X-Boyfriend’ (#8) and ‘Power’ (#10). While these ladies are doing brilliantly on the less-relevant digital metric, their downfall is the lack of streaming presence. We conclude that it’s true what they say; “You can’t teach an old dog, new tricks.”
The rest of the new album releases are rounded off by Selena Gomez and Adore Delano. Gomez’s second studio album, ‘Wanderlust’, sanders in at the number-eight spot – as she, presumably, wonders where she went wrong. On the flip-side, life’s not much of a ‘Party’ for Christina Ag... Adore Delano as her début record sits all alone at the number-nine position. If you’re wondering, Aguilera’s new single, ‘Mirrors’, shattered upon impacting Interscope Radio; with no time left to pick up the pieces, she falls in at the #14 position.
Finally, while we don’t have any new releases left to share (haha, Cher, get it Rihanna?), we have those to which we can look forward. Currently, in addition to the upcoming self-titled album by Edwards, Lana Del Rey has also announced her record, ‘HOLLYWEIRD’ – due for release on April 19th. Rey – who has recently been accused of plagiarising from Romanian girl-group, G Girls, due to some similarities between two songs of the same title (‘Milk & Honey’) – scores another top ten this week with ‘L.A. Girls’ (#9) as the aforementioned ‘Milk & Honey’ slips to seventeen. We would like to assure Rey that we will not ‘Call the Police’ over these ever-so-slightly incriminating accusations.