Billboard Chart Review-1/3/13

So, as some of you know I am obsessed with Billboard and all of their charts. I check them every week, and I'm starting a new segment here when I will give you the lowdown of the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard 200. I will also include news about select songs and albums that made great gains or losses this past week.

First I'll start off by expressing how incredibly misleading Billboard's issue dates are. This week they dated their issue January 12, 2013. That hasn't happened yet, and what's worse is that this week's charts reflect the sales week that started on December 24, 2012-December 30, 2012. So in short, the chart dates are 2 weeks off. So the charts that I'm about to share were the most popular songs of LAST week.
The Billboard Hot 100:
Song                                        Position           Last Week       Peak
Locked out of Heaven            1                      1                      1
I knew you were trouble         2                      4                      2     *Digital Gainer*
Diamonds                                3                      2                      1
Ho Hey                                   4                      3                      3
Beauty and a Beat                  5                      5                      5
Gangnam Style                       6                      19                    2
Die Young                              7                      6                      2
One More Night                      8                      7                      1
Home                                      9                      9                      7
Thrift Shop                              10                    10                    10
This week a whopping 55.74 million singles were sold. That's the most for any week ever; leading the pack is Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" which sold 582,000 copies (the fourth largest sum for a single week and the third largest among female acts behind Swift's "We are never ever getting back together" with 623,000 copies and Ke$ha's "Tik Tok" with 610,000 copies). However, "I knew you were trouble" is only at number 2 because "Locked out of Heaven" is for some reason getting a crap load of airplay. I'm sorry, but I do not like this song, I think it's whiny and boring, and the stupid high-pitched sample in the background is irritating as shit. It needs to go. I'm glad people like "Diamonds" because I think it is one of Rihanna's best songs. "Ho Hey" is okay, it's pretty catchy, although I never expected it to crack the top 10, let alone the top 3. "Beauty and a Beat" is a monstrosity, people need to stop buying Bieber shit, even if it does feature Nicki Minaj. "Gangnam Style" I've discussed more than I ever wanted to in my worst songs of 2012 list, but I'll again highlight the fact that I really do not see the appeal. "Die Young" is falling because of the shooting, and it hasn't been able to regain sales or airplay since. "One More Night" is finally on its way out. "Home" is okay, although I'm also glad that it's starting to subside. I've never heard "Thrift Shop" so I have no opinion yet. Outside the top 10, many songs have made great gains because of Christmas. "We are never ever getting back together" rises 29-17, "The A Team" goes 17-16, "Try" unfortunately falls 13-18, "Call Me Maybe" lifts 43-27 in its 45th chart week, "Somebody that I Used to know" is up 49-48 in its 52nd chart week (making it the 31st song to spend more than a year on the chart), Bridgit Mendler's "Ready or Not" is the greatest gainer skyrocketing from 94-49, and Ellie Goulding's "Lights" falls 45-50 in its 54th chart week (it will most likely not appear next week because chart policy takes off songs that fall below position 50 after 20 or more weeks on the chart).

The Billboard 200:
Album                                     Position           Last Week       Peak
Red                                         1                      1                      1
Les Miserables                        2                      33                    2
Take Me Home                       3                      4                      1
Unorthodox Jukebox              4                      3                      2
Heavy is the Head                  5                      2                      2
Night Visions                          6                      46                    2
Unapologetic                           7                      19                    1
Babel                                       8                      8                      1
The Lumineers                        9                      24                    9
Pitch Perfect                           10                    45                    10
As you can see, Christmas was also kind to album sales. "Red" is in its 7th non-consecutive week at number 1. I was excited at first for this album, but as my review of it states, it kind of a bore, and I think it too needs to get out of number 1. It won't happen next week probably, only because January is always a super slow sales month and basically any album that sells above 100,000 copies could be number 1 next week. "Les Miserables" could possibly overtake "Red" if it keeps gaining sales. It jumps 33-2 because the movie was released on Christmas day. "Take Me Home" is a One Direction album...so yeah. The rest of the top 10 I don't own and probably won't listen to (I do have a life you know). So in other album news: "+" by Ed Sheeran rises 59-25, "Halcyon" by Ellie Goulding is a big gainer shooting from 116-38 (I LOVE that album by the way, you should definitely but it ASAP), "Kiss" by Carly Rae Jepsen bullets 92-42, "Sticks and Stones" by Cher Lloyd vaults 161-72, "Hello My Name Is..." by Bridgit Mendler also shoots from 128-77, and the biggest fall for an album is the Glee Christmas album plunging 54-157.

I will continue to keep you updated on the latest chart news every Thursday.