First! After 12 years of fussing with the Billboard 200, Pink finally scores a No. 1 with The Truth About Love. Her sixth platter sold 280K (Nielson SoundScan), which makes it the third biggest debut in 2012 behind Madonna (!) and Justin Bieber (!!). She’s also holding on to No. 1 in Pop Songs with “Blow Me (One Last Kiss)” — her eighth in that slot, meaning she’s only been bested there by Rihanna and Katy Perry, two other female pop stars who’ve used phallic entendre to score big. Pink’s hustle is not to be knocked though. She did the VMAs, Ellen, Today, The View and even Stewart leading up to the LP’s release. Bawse.
2 to 10: DMB, last week’s leader, has been cut down to size with Away From the World scoring No. 4 (62K). Someone called Little Big Town slipped down to No. 5 for something called Tornado (50K). That made room for a No. 2 and No. 3 we can get behind: Kanye West and Co. with Cruel Summer (205K) and the Killers with Battle Born (113K). Best of all, Grizzly Bear, who haven’t a single Hot 100 song to their entire oeuvre, land at No. 7 for Shields (39K). Carly Rae Jepsen had them beat at No. 6 (Kiss, 46K), but we’re betting she’s never caught a live salmon between her teeth. Dylan’s at No. 8 (Tempest, 35K), Avett Bros. hit No. 9 (The Carpenter, 30K), and Ben Folds Five close it out at No. 10 (The Sound of Life and Mind, 30K).
Yeah PSY-ence. South Korea’s viral outbreak, er, breakout “Gangnam Style” continues to horse-dance circles around the competition having sallied its way up from No. 64 on the Hot 100 two weeks ago to No. 2 now, and reared up on Taylor Swift to take No. 1 on Digital Songs. Last week, PSY was riding high at No. 1 on the Social 50, to which the folks at Guinness World Records said, “Duh,” since he now has the most “liked” video in the history of the Internet.
Ben Folds Ten? Despite the group’s decade-plus absence, BFF entered the Top 10 for the first time ever. They peaked at No. 35 in 1999 with the debut of their last album, The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, despite having gone platinum with ’97’s Whatever and Ever Amen thanks to their biggest hit to date, “Brick.” Apparently good things do come to those who get down with Ke$ha.
