Chart Watch: Katy Perry Needed a Hit (and Got One)
Katy Perry lands her 14th top 10 hit as “Chained to the Rhythm” enters the Hot 100 at No. 4. It’s Perry’s first top 10 hit since “Dark Horse” topped the chart in early 2014. Perry is no doubt relieved that this single has gotten off to such a fast start. Her last three singles — “Birthday,” “This Is How We Do” and “Rise” — missed the top 10. That marked the first time in her hit-studded career that she missed the top 10 with three straight releases.
The song is expected to appear on Perry’s upcoming fourth Capitol album. The lead singles from her first three Capitol albums — “I Kissed a Girl,” “California Gurls” (featuring Snoop Dogg) and “Roar” — reached No. 1. She may well keep that record intact.
The song features Skip Marley, grandson of the late reggae legend Bob Marley. This marks the first time that a member of the Marley family has landed a top 10 hit. The previous high for a Marley family member came in July 1988 when Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers climbed as high as No. 39 with “Tomorrow People.”
“Chained to the Rhythm” instantly becomes one of the highest-charting hits in history with the word “rhythm” in its title. Others include Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” (No. 2 in 1990), The Cascades’ “Rhythm of the Rain” (No. 3 in 1963), The Happenings’ “I Got Rhythm” (No. 3 in 1967), DeBarge’s “Rhythm of the Night” (No. 3 in 1985), Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine’s “Rhythm is Gonna Get You” (No. 5 in 1987), Rod Stewart’s “Rhythm of the Heart” (No. 5 in 1991) and Snap!’s “Rhythm is a Dancer” (No. 5 in 1993).
Perry and Marley introduced the song on the Grammy Awards, even though it (of course) wasn’t eligible. (The eligibility period ended Sept. 30.) This was the third time that the Grammys have allowed Perry to perform a track that wasn’t yet eligible. In 2012, she introduced her brand-new single, “Part of Me.” Two years later, she performed her then-current hit, “Dark Horse” (featuring Juicy J), a year ahead of its eligibility. Perry has yet to win a Grammy, despite 13 nominations over the years. Will “Chained to the Rhythm” change her Grammy luck? We’ll find out in a little less than a year.
Top Songs
Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” tops the Hot 100 for the fourth week in its sixth week on the chart. That’s the longest run at No. 1 for a record that isn’t a collaboration since Adele’s “Hello” had 10 weeks on top from late 2015 into early 2016.
“Shape of You” sold 200K digital copies this week, which allows it to return to No. 1 on Top Digital Songs. This is its fourth week on top. It displaces Lady Gaga’s “Million Reasons.”
“Shape of You” tops the Official U.K. Singles Chart for the sixth straight week.
The Taylor Swift/Zayn collabo “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (Fifty Shades Darker)” jumps from No. 3 to No. 2 in its 10th week. This surpasses the No. 3 peak position of the biggest hits from Fifty Shades of Grey — The Weeknd’s “Earned It (Fifty Shades of Grey)” and Ellie Goulding’s “Love Me like You Do.”
It’s unusual, but not unheard of, for a song from the second movie in a franchise to climb higher than the biggest hit from the first movie in the franchise. This previously happened with such movies as Beverly Hills Cop II (Bob Seger’s “Shakedown” hit No. 1. Glenn Frey’s “The Heat Is On,” from the first movie, peaked at No. 2) and Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps (Janet Jackson’s “Doesn’t Really Matter” hit No. 1. Monica’s “Ain’t Nobody” and Az Yet’s “Last Night,” from the first movie, both stalled at No. 9).
Migos’ “Bad and Boujee” (featuring Lil Uzi Vert) dips from No. 2 to No. 3 in its 14th week. The song logged three weeks at No. 1.
The Chainsmokers’ “Closer” (featuring Halsey) rebounds from No. 7 to No. 5 in its 29th week. It’s the first song in Hot 100 history to spend its first 29 weeks in the top 10. It’s also the first song in history to spend a total of 26 weeks in the top five. It surpasses LeAnn Rimes’ “How Do I Live” and Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk!” (featuring Bruno Mars), both of which logged 25 weeks in the top 10. “Closer” logged 12 weeks at No. 1.
“Bad Things” by Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello dips from No. 5 to No. 6 in its 16th week. The song peaked at No. 4.
Bruno Mars lands his 14th top 10 hit as “That’s What I Like” vaults from No. 37 to No. 7 in its fifth week.
Rihanna lands her 30th top 10 hit as “Love on the Brain” jumps from No. 13 to No. 10 in its 18th week. Only two other artists have amassed 30 or more top 10 hits since the inception of the Hot 100 in August 1958—Madonna (38) and The Beatles (30). Rihanna pulls ahead of Michael Jackson, who notched 29 10 hits.
Rihanna has had as many top 10 hits as Diana Ross had combining Supremes hits and songs from her solo career. Ross had 18 top 10 hits with the Supremes; 12 as a solo star.
“Love on the Brain” is the third top 10 hit from Rihanna’s current album, ANTI. That is Rihanna’s fourth album to spawn three or more top 10 hits, following A Girl like Me, Good Girl Gone Bad and Loud. All eight of Rihanna’s albums have spawned at least one top 10 hit.
“Love on the Brain” includes the phrase “close to you.” I can think of at least two other top 10 hits that included that phrase: Aretha Franklin’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” and, of course, Carpenters’ “(They Long to Be) Close to You.”
The Weeknd’s “I Feel It Coming” (featuring Daft Punk) jumps from No. 16 to No. 9 in its 13th week. It’s The Weeknd’s sixth top 10 hit; Daft Punk’s third.
Big Sean’s “Bounce Back” drops from its No. 6 peak to No. 10 in its 13th week.
Four songs dropped out of the top 10 this week. Lady Gaga’s “Million Reasons” dives from No. 4 to No. 18, Alessia Cara’s “Scars to Your Beautiful” drops from No. 8 to No. 15, Maroon 5’s “Don’t Wanna Know” (featuring Kendrick Lamar) drops from No. 9 to No. 17 and The Chainsmokers’ “Paris” dips from No. 10 to No. 11.
Maroon 5’s “Cold” (featuring Future) is the week’s second-highest new entry at No. 42. It’s vying to become the group’s 13th top 10 hit; their third featuring a rapper. “Payphone” (featuring Wiz Khalifa) hit No. 2 in 2012. “Don’t Wanna Know” (featuring Kendrick Lamar) hit No. 6 a few weeks ago.
Top Albums
The Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack enters The Billboard 200 at No. 1. It’s the first soundtrack to hit No. 1 since Suicide Squad — The Album last August.
The Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack debuted and peaked at No. 2 in the spring of 2015. This marks the fourth time that the soundtrack to a sequel has reached No. 1, even though the soundtrack to the first film in the franchise fell short of the top spot. The soundtracks to Bad Boys II, Furious 7 and Pitch Perfect 2 also topped the chart, even though the soundtracks to the original movies fell short. Bad Boys stalled at No. 26. The Fast and the Furious reached No. 7. Pitch Perfect stopped at No. 3.
Fifty Shades Darker debuts at No. 1 even though the film has fallen short of the top spot at the box-office. It ranked No. 2 in its first two weekends, according to Boxofficemojo.com, behind The LEGO Batman Movie. Fifty Shades of Grey spent its first two weekends at No. 1.
Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic rebounds from No. 7 to No. 2 in its 13th week in the wake of Mars’ twin performances on the Grammys. This is the album’s third week at No. 2. The album debuted at No. 2 behind Metallica’s Hardwired…to Self-Destruct, and returned to No. 2 in its fifth week behind Pentatonix’s A Pentatonix Christmas. The album has yet to reach No. 1.
Big Sean’s I Decided. drops from No. 1 to No. 3 in its second week.
Migos’ Culture dips from No. 3 to No. 4 in its third week. The album debuted at No. 1.
The Weeknd’s Starboy holds at No. 5 in its 12th week. The album spent five non-consecutive weeks on top.
Adele’s 25 rebounds from No. 21 to No. 6 in its 65th week in the wake of Adele’s five-Grammy sweep. The album spent 10 weeks at No. 1. It has never ranked lower than No. 28.
The Trolls soundtrack rebounds from No. 14 to No. 7 in its 21st week in the wake of the film’s release on home video on Feb. 7. The album has climbed as high as No. 3.
Lady Gaga’s Joanne drops from No. 2 to No. 8 in its 17th week. The album debuted at No. 1.
Beyoncé’s Lemonade vaults from No. 33 to No. 9 in its 43th week in the wake of Bey’s elaborately-staged performance of “Love Drought” and “Sandcastles” at the Grammys. The album debuted at No. 1.
The La La Land soundtrack inches back up from No. 11 to No. 10 in its 10th week. It has climbed as high as No. 2. The film is expected to sweep the Oscars on Sunday, which should give the soundtrack a jolt.
Five albums drop out of the top 10 this week. Reba McEntire’s Sing it Now: Songs of Faith and Hope drops from No. 4 to No. 16 (though it holds at No. 1 on Top Country Albums for the second straight week), Lady Gaga’s The Fame drops from No. 6 to No. 37, the Dear Evan Hansen cast album plummets from No. 8 to No. 132, Post Malone’s Stoney drops from No. 9 to No. 11 and RCA-List (Vol. 4) drops from No. 10 to No. 20.
Joy Villa’s five-song EP, I Make the Static, debuts at No. 12. Villa wore a dress imprinted with Donald Trump’s presidential campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” on the Grammy red carpet. The EP, which was released in 2014, enters Top Catalog Albums at No. 1, displacing Lady Gaga’s The Fame. (Gaga, of course, also knows a thing or two about attention-getting dresses at award shows. The “meat dress” she wore to the MTV Video Music Awards in 2010 is a classic.)
Coming Attractions: Look for Future to land his fourth No. 1 album in less than two years next week with Future.
