Carly Rae Jepsen spends a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with her first entry on the ranking, “Call Me Maybe.” As the song follows previous leaders “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye featuring Kimbra and “We Are Young” by fun. featuring Janelle Monae, the Hot 100 sports its longest streak of No. 1s by lead acts making their first appearances on the list in almost 35 years.
Until the current crop of rookie rulers — “Somebody” led for eight weeks after “Young” reigned for six — no trio of Hot 100 newcomers had led consecutively since 1977. That July 2, Bill Conti fought his way to the top with “Gonna Fly Now” from the blockbuster film “Rocky.” Alan O’Day followed the song to the summit on July 9 with “Undercover Angel,” while Shaun Cassidy’s “Da Doo Ron Ron” took over at No. 1 the week of July 16. (Of the three, only Cassidy ever returned to the chart’s top 40 with follow-up singles; he scored three more top 40 hits, including two top 10s in 1977-78.)
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The last longer streak of domination by lead acts making their first Hot 100 visits occurred almost 45 years ago. Bobbie Gentry began the run the week of Aug. 26, 1967, with “Ode to Billie Joe.” The streak continued with the Box Tops’ “The Letter” (Sept. 23), Lulu’s “To Sir With Love” (Oct. 21) and Strawberry Alarm Clock’s “Incense and Peppermints” (Nov. 25). (All four acts made return trips to the Hot 100’s top 40.)
“Social media have really helped many of these newer artists explode quicker than they would’ve before, because it’s another way for friends to discuss and share their favorite music,” WHTZ (Z100) New York program director Sharon Dastur recently told Billboard. “Any kind of additional exposure that the audience gets to these songs, whether it’s from a viral video, a song being covered on ‘Glee,’ or parodied on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ only helps radio.”
“Call,” which has become a viral phenomenon due to its numerous cover videos by everyone from Justin Bieber and friends to the Harvard University baseball team, remains at No. 1 on the Digital Songs chart with 292,000 downloads sold (down 1%) in the chart’s tracking week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The track has sold 3.6 million to date.
On Radio Songs, “Call” bullets again at No. 2 with 126 million in all-format audience (up 8%), according to Nielsen BDS, granting it top Airplay Gainer status on the Hot 100. It racks a second week at No. 1 on On-Demand Songs with 967,000 on-demand streams (down 11%), according to BDS.
Gotye’s “Somebody” holds at No. 2 on the Hot 100, remaining atop Radio Songs for a fifth week (143 million, up 13%), slipping 3-4 on Digital Songs (195,000, down 8%) and keeping at No. 2 on On-Demand Songs (864,000, down 14%).
The Hot 100’s top three remains static, as Maroon 5‘s “Payphone,” featuring Wiz Khalifa, logs a fifth consecutive week at No. 3. The track has ranked at No. 3 for eight of its nine chart weeks; it shook things up with a rise to No. 2 the week of May 26.
Katy Perry darts into the Hot 100’s top five, as “Wide Awake” flies 9-4. The track claims the top Streaming Gainer award on the Hot 100, blasting onto On-Demand Songs at No. 24 with a 44% increase to 309,000 on-demand streams. Anticipation over the release of the song’s official video on June 18 and her 3-D documentary/concert film “Katy Perry: Part of Me” on July 5 surely helped swell the song’s streaming gains. Its sales and airplay also continues to vault the song up the Hot 100. It pushes 4-3 on Digital Songs (198,000, up 14%) and 14-11 on Radio Songs (57 million, up 17%).
Rounding out the Hot 100’s top 10, no new songs enter the region. Fun.’s “Young” drops 4-5, followed by One Direction‘s “What Makes You Beautiful” (5-6); Nicki Minaj‘s “Starships” (6-7); Rihanna‘s “Where Have You Been” (8-8); Flo Rida‘s “Wild Ones,” featuring Sia (7-9); and, Justin Bieber‘s “Boyfriend” (10-10).
Bieber, meanwhile, notches the Hot 100’s top new entry for a third consecutive week, as “As Long as You Love Me,” featuring Big Sean, opens at No. 21 on the strength of 168,000 downloads sold. With the teen superstar’s third studio album, “Believe,” released yesterday – and due to arrive with the year’s top opening sales frame atop next week’s Billboard 200 – the song follows previous album preview tracks “All Around the World,” featuring Ludacris, a debut at No. 22 last week (157,000), and “Die in Your Arms,” an arrival at No. 17 two weeks ago (185,000).
No act had scored debuts in the Hot 100’s top 40 for at least three consecutive weeks since Lady Gaga last May and June leading up to the release of her “Born This Way” album. Before that, the “Glee” cast did so for four straight frames in November/December 2010. In October/November 2010, Taylor Swift likewise logged four consecutive top 40 launches. Whereas the “Glee” troupe accomplished the feat due to weekly releases from the Fox series, Swift earned her bows a la Bieber and Lady Gaga, with then-preview cuts from her most recent studio album, “Speak Now.”
Check billboard.com/charts tomorrow (June 21), when all rankings, including the Hot 100 and On-Demand Songs in their entirety and Digital Songs and Radio Songs, will be refreshed, as they are each Thursday.