Chart Moves: Badfinger’s ‘Baby Blue’ Enters Hot Rock Songs; Paramore Scores A First; Justin Bieber Returns

Gary Trust
·4 min read
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As previously reported, Lorde’s “Royals” leads the Billboard Hot 100 for a second week. Who else are queens (and kings) on the Hot 100 and other song charts this week?

— Badfinger: In its first full week following the finale of AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” the group’s “Baby Blue,” which reached No. 14 on the Hot 100 in 1972, roars onto Hot Rock Songs at No. 14 thanks to hefty sales and streaming gains. (Per Billboard policy, songs showing renewed activity past their initial release cycles are eligible to chart if ranking in the top half of the Hot 100 and genre hybrid rankings.)

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The drama series, which wrapped its five-season run on Sept. 29, featured “Blue” in its closing scene. In turn, it blasts onto Rock Digital Songs at No. 8 with 37,000 downloads sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Last week, it sold 5,000, up from a negligible amount the week before. This week’s haul represents more than a third of the song’s digital sales to-date (107,000).

— Paramore: More than six years after its first Hot 100 appearance, alternative trio Paramore is within striking distance of its best rank, as “Still Into You” soars 34-25 in its 13th week. The band has charted higher with just one of its prior eight entries, “The Only Exception,” which reached No. 24 in 2010.

“Still” concurrently becomes Paramore’s first top 10 on the Nielsen BDS-based Mainstream Top 40 airplay chart, jumping 14-10. Notably, it’s the tally’s first top 10 by a female-fronted rock band since Evanescence reached No. 7 in 2006 with “Call Me When You’re Sober.” (Apart from Paramore, lead singer Hayley Williams rose to No. 2 in 2010 as a featured vocalist on B.o.B’s “Airplanes.” She’s also nearing the list as a guest on Zedd’s new single “Stay the Night.”)

— Lorde: The Hot 100’s leader tops Hot Rock Songs for a sixth week with “Royals.” As her debut full-length album Pure Heroine debuts on the Billboard 200 at No. 3 (129,000 copies sold) and a retooled version of her EP The Love Club arrives at No. 65 (6,000), 12 songs from the sets infuse Hot Rock Songs, marking the most simultaneous charted titles by a woman; she and Lana Del Rey had each previously charted as many as six songs on the list at once. Mumford & Sons hold the mark among all acts, having tallied a high of 14 songs in each of three weeks last year following the release of their album Babel.

— Jason Derulo: “Marry Me,” his 10th Hot 100 hit, bows at No. 72 with 63% of its points from sales. Aided by the debut of its video on Sept. 23, it shoots 67-31 on Hot Digital Songs (38,000, up 64%). The song’s airplay is also growing: it soars 34-26 in its third week on Mainstream Top 40 (up 39% in plays).

— Justin Bieber: “Heartbreaker,” the first offering from Bieber’s planned 10-week “Music Mondays” series, debuts on the Hot 100 at No. 77 thanks to early sales (5,000; it went up for sale digitally just before Monday (Oct. 7), thus becoming eligible for this week’s sales tracking period). Expect a jump next issue following the song’s first full week of sales.

— Luke Bryan: With an eighth week at No. 1 on Hot Country Songs, “That’s My Kind of Night” bridges 47 years of history among songs by solo males, posting the most weeks at No. 1 among solo men since David Houston’s “Almost Persuaded” led for nine weeks in 1966. “Night” also dominates Country Digital Songs for an eighth straight week, selling 74,000 during the tracking week. It’s moved 869,000 sold to date.

— Billy Currington: On the Country Airplay chart, Billy Currington claims his seventh career leader with “Hey Girl,” which steps 2-1. He’d most recently dominated the list with “Let Me Down Easy,” which led the week of April 2, 2011.

Currington presides over a Country Airplay top 10 made up almost exclusively of songs by solo male artists, with Florida Georgia Line’s descending “Round Here” being the sole exception (6-10) … and even that act is all-male. (Consolation prize for the fairer sex: the word “girl” appears in the song titles of No. 1 and, thanks to Tim McGraw’s “Southern Girl,” No. 7.)

— Krewella: “Live for the Night” becomes the trio’s first No. 1 on Dance Club Songs (2-1). Remixes from W&W, Hook N Sling and Deniz Kayou & Danny Avila, among others, have contributed to the cut’s club success.

“Night” rises 4-2 on Dance/Mix Show Airplay and gains in crossover support, jumping to a new peak (36-31) on Mainstream Top 40.

Additional reporting by Gordon Murray and Wade Jessen

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