A couple months ago it seemed ridiculous to think that urban music would have more than a couple albums in the top ten, but somehow, someway, five urban albums have managed to sneak into the top ten: Sade's "Soldier of Love" (#1), the Black Eyed Peas "E.N.D." (#3), Lil Wayne's "The Rebirth" (#4), Alicia Key's "
The Element of Freedom" (#7) and Jahiem's "
Another Round" (#8). Ok, ok, so I'm pushing it by calling Sade and Black Eyed Peas "urban artists", but with Susan Boyle dominating the charts (sorry for any mental image the words "Susan Boyle" and "dominating" may have stirred up), we need all the help we can get. So to summarize, other than Jay-Z hip-hop doesn't sell, but good r&b definitely does. Hey, I'll take one out of two.
And now onto the tracks:
Top 10 Songs with units sold
1. Artists for Haiti - We Are the World 207,716
2. Black Eyed Peas - Imma Be 202,152
3. Train - Hey, Soul Sister 158,370
4. Lady Antebellum - Need You Now 156,672
5.
Young Money ft. Lloyd - Bedrock 151,802
6. Ke$ha - Tik Tok 145,013
7. Lady Gaga - Bad Romance 133,594
8. Ke$ha ft. 30H!3 - Blah Blah Blah 120,481
9. Jason Derulo - In My Head 120,386
10. Justin Bieber ft. Ludacris - Baby 119,529
The Refined Take:
1) Good to see the Haiti song spend more than one week at number one. In this country we tend to care intensely about something for a few days, and then move on as soon as the next big thing hits. The people of Haiti needed our help before the earthquake, and they'll need it far after the last aftershock is just a distant memory.
2) "Bedrock" fell one spot, from number four to number five, which means that at least rate it should be out of the top ten by the end of the second Obama administration (knock on wood). I like the track as much as next man, but sweet baby Jesus America, we're not tired of
Young Money yet? Really?
3) Can someone explain t eh Black Eyed Peas to me? Not in general, I get that they're an addictive pop/r&b group, I mean the resurgence of their album "E.N.D." That album's been out for well over a year, was nowhere near the top ten a few months ago, and is now the number three album in the country? What happened? Did they start including a Fergie sex tape with every copy? Actually, that might decrease sales. Still, you get the point.
4) In a way I'm glad the Justin Beiber ft. Ludacris "Baby" song is in the top ten, it gives me another opportunity to call out all the supposed "hip-hop" blogs that posted it under a weak, "well, it's got Luda on it" premise. No, you just posted a song from pre-pubescent Tiger Beat teen idol and now you're going to have to live with the shame. Deal with it.
5) This week's Mr. Irrelevant Award, given to the song that sits at the absolute bottom of the charts (the number 200 spot), goes to Rihanna's "Disturbia", a track that's so old it came out before any of the Chris Brown drama every happened. Yeah, that's fu**king old.
