Chart Moves: A Great Big Jump For A Great Big World, Christina Aguilera; Volbeat’s Victorious At Rock; Howard Jones Notches First Top 10 In 21 Years

Gary Trust
·5 min read
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As previously reported, Lorde’s “Royals” crowns the Billboard Hot 100 for a ninth week. Who else tops and makes other notable moves on song charts this week?

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— A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera: After the premiere of the official video for “Say Something” on Nov. 20, the ballad storms 38-18 as the Digital Gainer on the Hot 100 and 12-6 on Hot Digital Songs (121,000 downloads sold, up 59%, according to Nielsen SoundScan). It bows on Streaming Songs at No. 45 with 1.3 million U.S. streams, up 74%, according to Nielsen BDS.

— Zedd: He completes his journey up Billboard’s Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, as “Stay the Night” (No. 22 on the Hot 100) rises to the top (3-1). The track is the second No. 1 on the tally for Zedd and the first for featured vocalist Hayley Williams of Paramore, who previously hit the top 10 three years ago when she sang on “Airplanes” by B.o.B. “Stay” concurrently becomes Zedd’s third consecutive No. 1 on Dance Club Songs (2-1), aided by remixes from Tiesto, Nicky Romero and DJ Snake, among others.

— Rihanna: Encompassing the first full week of the availability of its video, “What Now” blasts 39-25 on the Hot 100 and 23-8 on Streaming Songs, up by 74% to 4.1 million streams. 65% of the cut’s Hot 100 points are owed to streaming activity.

— Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert: The stars bring the first solo male/solo female duet to No. 1 in more than two years on Country Airplay, and just the fourth in the tally’s nearly 24-year history, as “We Were Us” (No. 30 on the Hot 100) steps 2-1. The last prior man and woman to split billing atop the chart (excluding featured roles) were Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, who topped the Sept. 10, 2011, survey with “Remind Me.”

— Ellie Goulding: Goulding grabs her second top 40 Hot 100 hit as a lead artist, following last year’s No. 2-peaking “Lights,” as “Burn” bounds 48-36 on the Hot 100. In between, she reached No. 16 (in August) as the featured artist on Calvin Harris’ “I Need Your Love.”

— Jay Z: The rapper claims a new airplay top 10, as “Tom Ford” (No. 57 on the Hot 100) rolls 11-9 in its ninth week on Rhythmic. It’s his 21st trip to the region, marking the fourth-most top 10s for a rapper. Lil Wayne leads with 32, followed by Ludacris (26) and Drake (22). Jay Z has sent three titles into the top 10 this year. His trade-offs with Justin Timberlake, “Suit & Tie” and “Holy Grail,” led Rhythmic for two weeks each.

— Lorde: As she rules the Hot 100 with “Royals,” she enters the Alternative top 10 with next single “Team” (15-9), which climbs 85-74 on the Hot 100. Lorde is the first solo female to take her first two Alternative entries into the top 10 since Alanis Morissette commanded the chart on her first two tries in 1995 with “You Oughta Know” (five weeks at No. 1) and “Hand in My Pocket” (one).

— Ariana Grande: Although Wham! made “Last Christmas” a modern holiday classic after its 1984 release, it’s reached the Hot 100 only once before Grande’s entrance with it at No. 96 this week. The “Glee” cast’s cover spent two weeks on the chart, peaking at No. 63, in 2009. Grande’s version jingles in with 40,000 first-week downloads sold.

— Volbeat: The Danish metal band scores its fourth Mainstream Rock No. 1, all consecutively, as “Lola Montez” lifts 2-1. Volbeat ruled the airplay ranking with its three prior singles: “Still Counting” (two weeks at No. 1) last year and “Heaven Nor Hell” (one week) and “The Hangman’s Body Count” (three) earlier this year.

The Mainstream Rock coronation of “Lola Montez” coincides with the discontinuation of the chart’s component Active Rock and Heritage Rock surveys. In recent years, few differences showed between the two tallies, while the Heritage Rock reporter panel had shrunk to below 20 stations. The Mainstream Rock chart dates to March 21, 1981, when it premiered as Billboard’s first list dedicated specifically to the genre.

— Linkin Park: The band lands its 17th Alternative top 10, as “A Light That Never Comes,” with Steve Aoki, climbs 12-8. Since the band first reached the region 13 years ago this week with “One Step Closer,” it boasts the most top 10s. Foo Fighters and Incubus follow with 12 top 10s each in that span.

— Cedric Gervais & Howard Jones: The pair explodes into the top 10 (16-8) on Dance/Mix Show Airplay with “Things Can Only Get Better” (marking the first top 10 for label Robbins since Afrojack & Shermanology took “Can’t Stop Me” to No. 4 in June 2012). Fans of the original, unremixed version of “Things” might want to check out the Howard Jones Chill Mix, an acoustic take miles away from the Gervais and Kaz James remixes. Jones’ original “Better” reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 10 on Dance Club Songs in 1985. The rise of the new version grants Jones his first top 10 on a Billboard chart since 1992, when his midtempo pop song “Lift Me Up” rose to No. 10 on Adult Contemporary.

— Toby Love: He climbs 11-8 on Tropical Airplay with “Hey,” his fifth top 10 on the chart. The Bachata singer scored his first No. 1 with his previous single “Todo Mi Amor Eres Tu (I Just Can’t Stop Loving You),” a Spanish rendition of the 1987 No. 1 Hot 100 ballad by Michael Jackson. Love’s cover spent a week atop the chart in April.

Additional reporting by Wade Jessen, Amaya Mendizabal, Gordon Murray and Rauly Ramirez

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