Nick Jonas's 'Jealous' Hits a New Peak

One of the hardest things for an artist to do is to avoid being boxed in by an out-of-date image. It can be especially tough on yesterday’s teen idols. That’s why must be deeply gratifying to Nick Jonas that he has found a way out of the faded-teen-idol trap with his current hit, “Jealous.” The sexy, stylish single jumps from #9 to #7 in its 18th week on the Hot 100. This is its highest ranking to date. It’s Jonas’s highest-charting single since Jonas Brothers' “Burnin' Up” peaked at #5 in July 2008 — when Nick was 15.

"Jealous" is serving the same function for Jonas that "Cry Me a River" did for Justin Timberlake. That image re-shaping 2003 smash was Timberlake’s first top 10 hit on his own following a string of seven top 10 hits with *NSYNC.

(I could have been snarky and made this week’s headline, “Are Kevin and Joe ‘Jealous’?” But I’m sure Nick’s brothers are happy for him.)

"Uptown Funk!" by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars logs its second week at #1 in its ninth week on the chart. The song logs its third week at #1 on Hot Digital Songs. It sold 341K copies this week, bringing its nine-week sales total to 2,098,000.

"Uptown Funk!" logs its fourth week at #1 on the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart. That’s the longest run at #1 in the U.K. since Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass” spent four weeks on top last fall. (One more week on top and it will be the longest run at #1 in the U.K. since “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke featuring T.I. + Pharrell had five weeks on top in 2013.)

Ronson won the 2007 Grammy for Producer of the Year for his work on Amy Winehouse's Back to Black, as well as his own album Version and Lily Allen's track “Littlest Things.”

Ronson is second Producer of the Year winner to later land his first #1 hit on the Hot 100 as an artist. He follows Pharrell Williams, who won his first of two Producer of the Year awards in February 2004 (as one-half of the Neptunes). He landed his first #1 (as a featured artist) 10 months later for Snoop Dogg's “Drop It Like It's Hot.” Williams landed his first #1 as a lead artist last year with “Happy.”

Eight other producers had #1 hits as artists that preceded their first Producer of the Year wins. They are: Dr. Dre, Peter Asher (he topped the chart in 1964 as half of Peter & Gordon), Phil Collins, Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Toto, Bee Gees, and Stevie Wonder.

Ronson’s album, Uptown Special, is expected to enter the Billboard 200 next week around #5, with surprisingly soft sales of about 60K. The album consists entirely of collaborations.

Taylor Swift's “Blank Space,” which logged seven weeks at #1, holds at #2 for the second week in its 11th week. It holds at #1 for the fifth week on the Radio Songs chart (which measures radio airplay across all genres). This is a new personal-best for Swift. “I Knew You Were Trouble.” and “Shake It Off” each headed this chart for four weeks.

Hozier's “Take Me to Church,” which peaked at #2, holds at #3 for the third week in its 22nd week. It's #1 on Hot Rock Songs for the 13th week. That's the longest run at #1 by any song since Lorde's “Royals” logged 19 weeks at #1 in 2013-'14.

Ed Sheeran's “Thinking Out Loud” holds at #4 for the third time in the past four weeks. This is its 14th week on the chart. The song jumped 13% in overall Hot 100 points this week, the biggest percentage gain of any song in the top 10. It is likely to vie with “Uptown Funk!” for the #1 spot in coming weeks.

Sam Smith's “I'm Not the Only One” rebounds from #8 to #5 in its 19th week. This matches its highest ranking to date.

Meghan Trainor has two songs in the top 10 again this week. “Lips Are Movin,” which has climbed as high as #4, dips from #5 to #6 in its 12th week. “All About That Bass,” which logged eight weeks at #1, drops from #6 to #10 in its 27th week. Trainor’s album, Title, is expected to enter the Billboard 200 at #1 next week, with robust first-week sales in the 225K range.

Taylor Swift also has two songs in the top 10 again this week. “Shake It Off,” which logged four weeks at #1, drops from #7 to #9 to in its 21st week.

Maroon 5's “Animals,” which peaked at #3, drops out of the top 10 this week.

Sia's “Chandelier” tops the 2 million mark in digital sales this week. The song peaked at #8 on the Hot 100 and received Grammy nominations for Record and Song of the Year. At this point, at least, “Chandelier” is this year's lowest-selling Record of the Year finalist. The other nominees have each sold way more than 3 million copies. They are: Meghan Trainor's “All About That Bass” (4,595,000), “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX (4,059,000), Taylor Swift's “Shake It Off” (3,673,000), and Sam Smith's “Stay With Me” (3,485,000).

"I Don’t F--- With You" by Big Sean featuring E-40 tops the 1 million mark in digital sales this week. The song reached #11 on the Hot 100 and has spent five non-consecutive weeks at #1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

AC/DC's 1990 track “Thunderstruck” tops the 1 million mark in digital sales.

To my readers: I’ll have another blog drawn from the Hot 100 that will focus on the week’s top debuts and key movers.

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