Chart Watch: A Not-So-Perfect Debut for Lady Gaga's 'Perfect Illusion'
Lady Gaga’s “Perfect Illusion,” her first single after a three-year hiatus from pop music, enters this week’s Hot 100 at #15. That debut chart ranking is right on “The Edge of Glory,” to cite the title of a 2011 Gaga hit, but it’s but not quite there. Nine singles so far this year have debuted in the top 10. It would have been reasonable to expect Gaga’s first single after a long layoff to follow suit.
It’s especially disappointing given Gaga’s track record. The first singles from her last three major solo pop projects all debuted in the top 10. “Bad Romance,” the first single from her EP The Fame Monster, debuted at #9. “Born This Way,” the lead single (and title track) from her second full-length album, debuted at #1. “Applause,” the lead single (and title track) from her third full-length, debuted at #6.
“Applause” was a major hit (it spent its first 14 weeks in the top 10), but the second and third official singles from Gaga’s Artpop album (“Do What U Want” and “G.U.Y.”) fell short of the top 10. “G.U.Y.” peaked at an embarrassing #76. Faced with resistance at pop radio for the first time in her career, Gaga wisely pursued other things. She recorded an album with Tony Bennett, Cheek to Cheek, which hit #1 and won a Grammy. She recorded an Oscar-nominated song, “Til It Happens to You,” for The Hunting Ground, a documentary about campus rape.
This is second time in the past two months that a female superstar has debuted disappointingly with her first single after a long layoff. Katy Perry’s “Rise” debuted and peaked at #11. Last week, the ballad, which was tied to the Summer Olympics, dropped from #53 to #62 in its eighth week. To be clear, a #11 record is nothing to be ashamed of. But it was disappointing given Perry’s hit-studded track record.
“Perfect Illusion” is the first single from Gaga’s fifth full-length studio album Joanne, which is due Oct. 21. Gaga’s song enters Top Digital Songs at #2, behind the Chainsmokers’ “Closer” (featuring Halsey). “Perfect Illusion” sold 100K copies in its first week. “Closer” sold 170K in its seventh.
Trivia note: “Perfect Illusion” is the third “Perfect” record to make the top 20 on the Hot 100. It follows Huey Lewis & the News’ “Perfect World” (#3 in 1988) and One Direction’s “Perfect” (#10 in 2015).
Top Songs
The Chainsmokers’ “Closer” (featuring Halsey) tops the Hot 100 for the fifth straight week. It also heads the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart for the third week. And it heads Top Digital Songs for the sixth week.
The entire top five remains in place from last week. twenty one pilots’ “Heathens” holds at #2 in its 13th week. Major Lazer’s “Cold Water” (featuring Justin Bieber and MØ) holds at #3 its eighth week. Sia’s “Cheap Thrills” (featuring Sean Paul) holds at #4 in its 31st week. The Chainsmokers’ previous hit, “Don’t Let Me Down” (featuring Daya), holds at #5 in its 31st week.
DJ Snake’s “Let Me Love You” (featuring Justin Bieber) jumps from #12 to #6 in its sixth week. It’s DJ Snake’s third top 10 hit; Bieber’s 11th. This is Bieber’s fifth top 10 hit so far in 2016, which is more than any other artist. Drake is in second place, with four top 10 hits so far this year. Incidentally, this is the second song titled “Let Me Love You” to become a top 10 hit. A Mario song with the same title logged nine weeks at #1 in 2005.
Calvin Harris’s “This Is What You Came For” (featuring Rihanna) holds at #7 in its 20th week.
Shawn Mendes’s “Treat You Better” returns to the top 10, jumping from #13 to #8 in its 15th week. In “Treat You Better,” Mendes urges a girl he likes to ditch the bad boy she’s seeing and give a nice guy a chance. Mendes sings: “I know I can treat you better than he can/And any girl like you deserves a gentleman.” Ne-Yo brought this rather old-fashioned word back into modern usage in the title of his 2008 album Year of the Gentleman.
Two songs round out the top 10. twenty one pilots’ previous hit, “Ride,” drops from #6 to #9 in its 27th week. Adele’s “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)” drops from #8 to #10 in its 18th week.
Two songs— Rihanna’s “Needed Me” and Charlie Puth’s “We Don’t Talk Anymore” (featuring Selena Gomez)—drop out of the top 10 this week.
Top Albums
Jason Aldean lands his third #1 album in a row as They Don’t Know debuts in the top spot on The Billboard 200. Aldean also debuted in the top spot with Night Train in October 2012 and Old Boots, New Dirt in October 2014.
They Don’t Know is the first country album to hit #1 in 2016. This is the latest in the calendar year that a country album has hit #1 in 15 years. The last time that we were this deep into the year before a country album hit #1 since 2001, when Garth Brooks’s Scarecrow hit #1 in the (SoundScan) week ending Nov. 18.
They Don’t Know also enters Top Country Albums at #1, displacing Florida Georgia Line’s Dig Your Roots. It’s Aldean’s fifth #1 country album. Trivia note: “They Don’t Know” was also the title of a Tracey Ullman single which made the top 10 in 1984.
Drake’s Views inches up from #3 to #2 in its 20th week. Views is the first album to spend its first 20 weeks in the top five since Taylor Swift’s 1989. That blockbuster spent its first 24 weeks in the top five in 2014-15.
The Suicide Squad soundtrack rebounds from #4 to #3 in its sixth week. It’s #1 on Top Soundtracks for the sixth week.
Bastille’s sophomore album, Wild World, debuts at #4. It’s the first top 10 album for the British rock group. Their debut, Bad Blood, peaked at #11 in September 2013. Both albums share their titles with hits of the 1970s. Neil Sedaka had a #1 with “Bad Blood” in 1975. Cat Stevens had a #11 hit with “Wild World” in 1971. Bastille’s album enters The U.K.’s Official Albums Chart at #1. Both of the group’s albums have reached #1 in their home country.
The Head and the Heart’s Signs of Light debuts at #5. It’s the folk band’s second top 10 album in a row. Let’s Be Still reached #10 in October 2013.
Travis Scott’s Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight drops from #1 to #6 in its second week.
The Beatles’ Live at the Hollywood Bowl debuts at #7. It’s the band’s 32nd top 10 album. Only three other acts have had as many or more top 10 albums since March 1956, when the album chart became a weekly feature in Billboard. The Rolling Stones lead with 36, followed by Barbra Streisand with 34. The late Frank Sinatra has also had 32.
Live at the Hollywood Bowl is a remixed, remastered and expanded version of an earlier Beatles album, The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl, which reached #2 in 1977. This marks the second time that a revamped (and retitled) version of a previous Beatles album has made the top 10. Let It Be…Naked, a new version of the 1970 album Let It Be, reached #5 in late 2003. The new album was released to coincide with the release of a Beatles documentary, The Beatles: Eight Days a Week, which was directed by Ron Howard.
Jack White’s Acoustic Recordings 1998-2016 debuts at #8. The 26-song set includes alternative versions, mixes and previously unreleased recordings. It’s White’s third top 10 album as a solo artist, following the chart-topping studio albums Blunderbuss and Lazaretto. But here’s a more impressive stat: This is White’s 11th top 10 album overall, counting three albums with The White Stripes, two with The Raconteurs and three with The Dead Weather. White has amassed these 11 top 10 albums in a little more than 13 years.
Ariana Grande’s Dangerous Woman rebounds from #11 to #9 in its 17th week. The album debuted and peaked at #2 in May.
Florida Georgia Line’s Dig Your Roots drops from #5 to #10 in its third week.
Six albums—A Day to Remember’s Bad Vibrations, Barbra Streisand’s Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway, twenty one pilots’ Blurryface, Rihanna’s ANTI , Beyoncé’s Lemonade and Frank Ocean’s Blonde —drop out of the top 10 this week.
Wilco’s Schmilco debuts in the top 20. Wilco isn’t the first artist to have this idea for an album title. Nilsson titled a 1971 album Nilsson Schmilsson.
Look for Drake to return to #1 next week, for a 13th week on top. The week’s top new albums will be Mac Miller’s The Divine Feminine, Aaron Lewis’s Sinner, and Usher’s Hard II Love.
