Tuesday, September 30, 2014

September 30th Album Releases Battle For Supremacy


It's going to be along week ahead. With 8 major releases hitting physical and digital shelves this week, it's anyone's guess as to who comes out as the weekly bestseller. Will it be Tove Lo, Blake Shelton, Lady Antebellum, Prince, 3RDEYEGIRL, The Script, Steve Aoki or Colbie Caillat?  Okay maybe I've overstating it, but there are at least two albums that have their eye on the top slot. At least two. Let's take a look at the contenders. Be sure to read through the whole list before reading my overview at the end of the post.

Bringing Back the Sunshine
Blake Shelton
Download on iTunes
While Blake Shelton has been a Country genre superstar since his 2001 debut, it wasn't until the 2010's decade that his work became widely appreciated by mainstream audiences. Bolstered by a taut release date, his 2011 album, Red River Blue, debuted at #1 in the United States on sales of 116,000. By standards, that would have been pretty grim start on any other frame in 2011. Just a few weeks before, Born This Way debuted at #1 on sales of 1 million copies.

When the end of 2012 rolled around, another new album from Shelton had emerged. Cheers, it's Christmas, while failing to reach the United States top 5, sold over 500,000 and remained popular with Christmas album purchasers over a year after its release. Early 2013 brought his most popular album to date and the 9th most popular album of 2013 in the United States: Based On A True Story... While failing to reach #1, it produced a string of 4 #1 Country singles.

Unfortunately, Bringing Back the Sunshine failed to create a mainstream hit with its lead single ("Neon Light"), unlike his last album, which could weaken sales. However, being the most popular coach on the hit United States television show The Voice (which helped propel sales of his last album), could give Shelton's Bringing Back the Sunshine the push it needs to become the frame's top seller.

Queen of the Clouds
Tove Lo
Download on iTunes
Little known. Sorry. Scratch that. Previously little known Swedish artist Tove Lo has seemingly sprouted in popularity over night. Her track, "Habits (Stay High)", which has been available since the end of 2013, recently skyrocketed into success stateside. It recently landed in the top 20 of the Radio songs chart in the United States and the top 10 of the Digital songs chart.

A September 30th release date for her debut album seemed almost perfect, except for the fact that "Habits" still hasn't climaxed in popularity. That makes the US release Queen of the Clouds seem a little pre-mature. Still, this could end up being a good thing. Maybe the continued popularity of "Habits" could keep album sales steady for several weeks? It'll be hard to tell but all I can assure you of is that Queen of the Clouds won't be the week's best seller.

No Sound Without Silence
The Script
Download on iTunes
The Script has had varying 'degrees' of success in the United States (pun intended for hardcore fans), with their second and third albums  starting with sales between 25,000-50,000 copies sold. Their first had sales too low to compare. However, with No Sound Without Silence, the band has taken a completely different path in terms of promotion.

"Superheroes", the first single from No Sound Without Silence, has been vigorously promoted to Adult Pop and Contemporary radio formats, a style that caters to more matured audience (typically). That demographic in particular has been known to cling on to specific songs and groups, which have led to some albums or singles staying popular for a significant period of time. In a case like Pharrell's "Happy", the track became so popular on traditional Mainstream/Top 40 radio that it started getting adds at genre specific stations as well. That led to an extended chart run and pushed sales of the song's parent album (GIRL) forward. While the success of "Superheroes" doesn't really compare to that of "Happy", it is possible that a much more contained version of the story is repeated. In other words, No Sound Without Silence should be able to become the band's most popular record to date (in terms of first week sales in the United States), but will a huge amount of competition stunt its growth?

747
Lady Antebellum
Download on iTunes
Other than Prince, of course, Lady Antebellum has been a powerhouse when it comes to album sales. After breaking out with the singles "I Run to You" and "Need You Now" in 2009, the group's second album (Need You Now) shifted over 450,000 copies in its first week of being on sale. Their third album, released 20 months later, saw sales of approximately 350,000 a still large sum. The group's Holiday album (released in late 2012), while failing to reach #1, became a staple in the long list of Christmas releases and has since been sold over 500,000 (note figures for the other two releases were first week only). 2013's Golden opened with sales of 160,000 copies, a fabulous start given that album sales in general were down significantly since the group had last released a proper, non-Holiday album.

With even more erosion and the presence of a lone Mainstream/Top 40 single ("Bartender"), 747 could have a bit of trouble with reaching 100,000 (which would be a sharp drop from Golden). Still, 747 has a decent shot at claiming the top position.

ART OFFICIAL AGE
Prince
Download on iTunes
Almost everyone has heard of Prince (also known as at least 20 other names), whether it be through his standard discography or his contributions to the Purple Rain soundtrack (one of the 20 most successful albums in the United States). He has released countless...  34 studio albums, almost all of which ended up being somewhat successful, making him (along with Tony Bennett and Madonna) one of the longest lasting artists in the game. His last big album sold over 160,000 copies in its first week alone. If you've got that type of longevity, you're a legend to me (even if I'm not a huge fan of your work) as well as to most of the rest of the world.

With that being said, the release date and promotion for ART OFFICIAL AGE seemingly popped out of nowhere. With no supported singles or any sort of high profile appearances, it is hard to imagine this breaking first week sales of 80,000 in the United States. On the worldwide front, however, ART OFFICIAL AGE is the best selling album (at the moment), with the next biggest selling new release also being delivered by Prince. What? Yep. You read it correctly.

PLECTRUMELECTRUM
Prince & 3RDEYEGIRL
Download on iTunes
While it might be extremely rare for an artist to drop two separate albums on the same day (two you can't buy together), this sort of practice seems to be somewhat normal for Prince. He's the sort of artist that would release half a dozen albums in a single year just to get out of a record contract.

The lower profile album of the two he is releasing this week, PLECTRUMELECTRUM, created in collaboration with his all female band 3RDEYEGIRL, is bound to start with a much lower weekly total. Maybe 40,000? We'll have to wait and see.

Neon Future 1
Steve Aoki
Download on iTunes
Let's face it. Steve Aoki could never end up reaching #1 in the United States. He appears to be too extreme with his DJ techniques and while some of his material is fun and solid, there's a substantial amount of people who clearly dislike his tracks (notably "Delirious").

Either way, Neon Future 1 is an interesting case. It's poised to be one of the world's most popular new releases (behind only the new albums from Prince), but should underwhelm in the United States. I'm conservatively expecting 45,000 to 55,000 copies in the United States.

Gypsy Heart
Colbie Caillat
Download on iTunes
Colbie Caillat used to be a massive album seller. Keywords used to be. Unfortunately, the odd promotion of her new album will likely cause her winning streak to come to a screeching halt. It looks like Gypsy Heart could wind up as one of the week's worst performing new releases, currently barely holding within the top 20 on the tracking chart. To compare, her three prior studio albums all became massive successes, all reaching the top 10 in the United States. My guess is that Gypsy Heart will wind up with 45,000 copies sold in its first week, but that itself might be asking a little too much.

Analysis
Based on my quick looks and data above, it seems that Blake Shelton's Bringing Back the Sunshine will rival Lady Antebellum's 747 to claim this week's top debut. Both should open past sales of 110,000 copies, and like last week, the race could come down to the wire, with the winner of the week being determined by just a few hundred copies.

Prince's ART OFFICIAL AGE should easily wind up in 3rd place with maybe 80,000-90,000 copies sold. Tove Lo's Queen of the Clouds should wind up in 4th place with perhaps 60,000 copies sold. The Script's No Sound Without Silence could place 5th with 50,000. Steve Aoki, Colbie Caillat and 3RDEYEGIRL will probably scramble for 6th, 7th and 8th place.

Update: 
New predictions are saying that Blake Shelton's album is expected to sell 85,000-100,000 copies (less than 50% of the sales level that his last album did). Lady Antebellum is expected to sell 65,000-80,000 with their new album. Therefore, all sales prediction for the other albums are down at least 15,000 copies.

Come back for more posts and check this post later this week to see where the albums finally rank!

Monday, September 29, 2014

Vote For Your Favorites of the Week (Week 22)!

Hot New Track This Week:

"L.A. Love (La La)"
Fergie
From the forthcoming 2nd studio album by Fergie (Rumored to be called Smile Now, Cry Later. Due for release between December and February).
Release: September 29th

Thoughts: Fergie has never been a favorite of mine. I really just don't understand what people see her. Her newest track, "L.A Love (La La)", would have been a massive hit had it been released 8 years ago when she was still at her prime. I don't want to say that she's completely irrelevant, because we haven't seen how "L.A. Love (La La)" does in its worldwide expansion (it arrived to a handful of markets on Monday) on Tuesday. Based on what we've seen with the countries that already have the song available, and direct competition from Carrie Underwood, One Direction, and Lorde, it's likely that "L.A Love (La La)" ultimately fails to impress.

The track's biggest markets yet have been Mexico, Brazil, Peru, and Spain. The track's strength in Ukraine initially looked fairly promising (quickly skyrocketing to the top 10), but as of a few hours later, it is already on its way downward.

One thing I can give it credit for? Being strong... by Fergie's viewpoint. It's a much better song than some of her other hits like "London Bridges" (which it is reminiscent of) and "Fergalicious". I mean both of those songs were pretty much garbage.

Listen to the track below.



Now you be the judge. Does "L.A. Love (La La)" have what it takes to debut on the Hot 50? If yes, vote it up, if no, vote down.

Last Week's Outcome: "Warriors" by Imagine Dragons failed to come anywhere near the CDS Music Chart Hot 50.

New Entries:
"L.A. Love (La La)" by Fergie
- "Something In the Water" by Carrie Underwood
- "Steal My Girl" by One Direction
- "Yellow Flicker Beat" by Lorde

Note: The final positions of the songs at the end of the week is equivalent to the Social Songs 100 chart. This is only accounts for approximately 1/3 of all points entered into the Hot 50 weekly issue.

Hey guys! There have been some concerns and questions on voting for your favorite tracks every week. To make things a whole lot easier, you can now vote songs up and down the list. At the end of the week, the points will be calculated and the ranker will be reset for the next week! All votes count! Don't see your favorite song? Feel free to leave a comment and I will add it! I will be updating the ranker from time to time as new tracks become available!

Welcome to the 22nd week of voting! Your votes help determine the top songs on the CDS Music Chart Hot 50. Please note that only the top 10 most approved tracks will receive bonus points toward their scores on the upcoming chart. Make sure you share this to get your favorite tracks into the top 10. If this gets 250 voters and/or 5,000 votes by the end of Friday, each track in the top 10 will get 2x the regular votes and #11-20 on the list will get the score that the top 10 usually gets.


Lists on Ranker

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Album Review: Jessie J's "Sweet Talker" Is Her Best Yet


In less than 4 years of being a professional singer, Jessie J has experienced everything that artists normally take many, many years (if not decades) to experience. She's had a massive first album with 5+ chart hits, been featured on numerous soundtracks (The Mortal Instruments, Kick Ass 2, Easy A, etc.), shaved her head, broken her leg, experienced severe controversy (The Voice UK), released an album that was considered a critical and commercial failure and experienced a second coming in career. As an example, it took Britney Spears over a decade to complete a similar cycle (maybe 12 years), while it took Madonna roughly 25 years.

After the surprising outcome and subsequent success of the lead single from Sweet Talker, "Bang Bang", which was billed as Jessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj, people were finally starting to hop back onto the Jessie J bandwagon. All of a sudden, the British artist announced that she'd be releasing a new album to worldwide retailers on October 14th. Several days later, a not so good looking album cover was released and the album's tracklist soon followed. But does Sweet Talker having anything else besides "Bang Bang" that's 'sweet enough' to be marketed toward potential buyers and listeners? Based on what happened with her last album cycle ("Wild" and Alive), you'd think not. Fortunately, Sweet Talker is a marked improvement over J's previous album. In fact, I'd consider it her best if you (like me) think songs exclusive to Who You Are: Platinum Edition should be considered excluded because they were also released as a separate EP.


Although there are some distinct problems with several song on the album, the set as a collective piece feels like it works well enough to drum up enough sales. It has the already recognizable "Bang Bang", the album's instantly catchy second single ("Burnin' Up") and most surprising win of them all: the album's title track ("Sweet Talker"), which is mild yet extremely powerful at the same time.

While "Burnin' Up (feat. 2 Chainz)" is similar to some other songs we've heard recently (the french horn element has been really popular this year in grimy pop songs), it's diverse enough to be chalked up to a win. Here's what I said about it upon release:

"Burnin' Up (feat. 2 Chainz)" couldn't fit her new style better. Similar to Cheryl Cole's "Crazy Stupid Love", "Burnin' Up (feat. 2 Chainz)" is a trap inspired dance number with an irresistibly catchy chorus. The addition of a featured rap verse from 2 Chainz doesn't really feel necessary, but in this case, it doesn't detract from the quality of the song either. Bound to be an instant hit, "Burnin' Up (feat. 2 Chainz)" should easily replicate the success of "Bang Bang" in a handful of countries (namely the United Kingdom, Ireland and Scotland) and could potentially be another hit for the artist in the United States (where "Bang Bang" has reached #3).

Not only should it become a big hit, it could end up topping the United Kingdom charts as well.
As for other standout tracks, "Sweet Talker" would be my next favorite song from the album. While starting off much slower than the album's previous two singles, "Sweet Talker" packs a powerful punch, bolstered by impressive vocals from both the artist and her back up vocalists as well as a think skinned beat composition arranged by world class DJ Diplo. With a whizzing beat and out of the box production, the track feels like it could work on Adult Contemporary, Pop, Rhythmic and possibly Rap (if she re-releases the song to feature Tinie Tempah, the artist featured on the live version) radio formats and, while its likely that it won't, could become a hit in the United States.
However, there are several areas that need significant work. Elsewhere, on tracks like "Fire" and "Loud (feat. Lindsey Stirling)", Jessie J is thrown increasingly dramatic back beats. Unfortunately, the writers of those works decided that short handing the chorus and several portions of the verses would go unnoticed... untrue. I will applaud "Fire" for being in the style of a John Newman song (a style I like; he co-wrote it), but it just has too many kinks to work well. As for "Loud", Jessie J literally says the word loud nearly 100 times within the 4 minute and 30 second song. Violinist Lindsey Stirling doesn't add any value to the track at all; she's completely worthless on this song. I was expecting something along the line of Stirling's own "Shatter Me" (which would be a standout on this album). Unfortunately, no such luck. This is the biggest disappointment for me from the album.
Back to other tracks that deserve attention would probably be "Strip" and "Masterpiece". "Strip", while being reserved for the deluxe edition, is written and sung in the same vein that the artist's hit single "Price Tag" was. I could see it being used as a promotional tool/eventual single later on in the album cycle to drum up sales of the premium priced deluxe edition.

Overall, I'd say it's worth the purchase... Alive wasn't.

Rating: 81/100 (B-)
Positive

Album Development: Calvin Harris Announces "Motion" Album, Dami Im's "Heart Beats"


Calvin Harris Drops Motion Cover, Announces November 4th Release

Calvin Harris announced the release of his upcoming 4th studio album, Motion, just last night. Alongside the title reveal, the British DJ revealed that the disc will be pressed just in time for a November 4th release date. The album cover was released a number of hours later. The placement of the album's release on the schedule is likely a solid move, with November 4th being the only date that lacks a lot of competition for the rest of the year (only Nickelback will compete alongside Harris), though holdover competition courtesy of Taylor Swift's 1989 and Lil Wayne's Tha Carter V could slightly tarnish sales.

Still, Harris should be able to score a big debut with the album, which has already spawned a slew of number 1 singles in the United Kingdom ("Under Control", "Summer" and "Blame"). In the United States, "Summer" reached the top 10, while "Blame" became his fastest rising track of all time. On the CDS Music Chart Hot 50, "Summer", "Under Control" and "Blame" all reached the top 20, with "Under Control" reaching #10 (the highest of the three thus far).

Alongside the first three singles from the album, "C.U.B.A" (released as the B-side to "Blame") has been confirmed on the final tracklist. There hasn't been any other confirmations on collaborations, but the album is likely to be jam packed with vocals from other artists (like 18 Months was). The album's 4th official single is expected to drop on October 27th, but this hasn't been confirmed by Harris himself.

More news on this is arriving soon, so stay tuned!


Dami Im Announces "Heart Beats", Her First Album Composed of 100% New Material

Dami Im, one of The X Factor Australia's most coveted winners in recent history, has announced that she'll officially release her 3rd studio album (2nd on a major label and first composed of entirely new material) on Friday, October 17th, 2014 in her home Australia. As for the rest of the world, we'll have to wait for an international release date. She'll be up against stiff competition from Jessie J and Nico & Vinz among others, but could end up landing her second consecutive number 1 album on the national Australian charts (ARIA) since her X Factor win in October of last year.

The new album comes preceded by two Australian top 20 hits. The album's lead single, "Super Love", reached #11 on the ARIA single charts after being released to digital retailers on May 16th. The album's second official single, "Gladiator", generated universal acclaim from contemporary critics in Australia. They claimed it to be reminiscent of songs by Katy Perry. Upon release to retailers on August 8th, the track also eventually peaked at #11 on the ARIA single charts (though it debuted lower on the chart).

On September 26th, the album was put up on iTunes Australia for pre-order. A new single called "Heart Beats Again" was released to promote the pre-order, and an additional countdown single could be revealed within the weeks preceding the album's release.

See the full tracklist:

1. "Super Love"
2. "Gladiator"
3. "Living Dangerously"
4. "Without You"
5. "Moment Just Like This"
6. "Speak Up"
7. "Beauty in the World"
8. "Let Go"
9. "One More Time"
10. "Heart Beats Again"
11. "The Hunger"
12. "Heart So Dry"
13. "Solid Ground (Stop the World)"
14. "Beautiful"
15. "Without You (Acoustic)"

Come back for more new posts and keep it here for more Album Development features.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett Set to Score #1 Debut with "Cheek to Cheek"? Maybe Not


Industry forecasters are saying that steep competition from veteran country singer Kenny Chesney and popular new groups Alt-J and Pentatonix could potentially push Cheek to Cheek to #2 when the final United States numbers run in.

Overview
Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga are some of the most popular artists of all time, with combined worldwide album sales towering past 75 million. Combined, they've won over 500 awards and have been considered among the top 10 artists of all time in their respective categories and genres (female pop and male jazz). When you put two artists like that together, you'd expect album sale results to be through the roof. Unfortunately for the artists, a fair amount of their fans appear to have skipped over their new collaborative album, Cheek to Cheek; forecasters are expecting a start lower than 125,000 copies. That's way down from Tony's 2011 album Duets II (which started with 180,000) and Lady Gaga's 2013 ARTPOP (which began with 260,000). So what's causing the album to 'underperform'? A number of things.

United States Performance
One of the most noticeable issues with the album as a whole is that the entire tracklist is comprised of "jazz standards". That means that every track had already been recorded by another artist (or, in some cases, multiple) before being re-recorded for Cheek to Cheek. In fact, most of the songs have a histories that began all the way back in the late 1940s. While Tony and Lady Gaga have certainly brought a fresh new take to the well known jazz collection ("Anything Goes", "Lush Life", "I Can't Give You Anything But Love"), some fans simply aren't used to Gaga singing someone else's work.

Not only this, a substantial amount of added competition is causing Cheek to Cheek to crack under the pressure. First week forecasts have Kenny Chesney taking the crown with his new release The Big Revival by a mere 10,000 copy margin. While Cheek to Cheek (like most Tony Bennett releases) is trending upward after being on sale for at least a day (which could give it a late week upward push), it may not be enough to get to #1. However, let's not forget that Bennett albums typically stay solid in sales for several weeks after release, which could help the album stay strong against forthcoming competition. While Alt-J and Pentatonix don't seem to attract the same core audience as Tony and Gaga do, their new releases are likely to eat away at a small portion of Cheek to Cheek's expected sales.

It's almost guaranteed that the collaboration album will land at #2 behind The Big Revival in the United States, but on an international scale, Cheek to Cheek easily has the top spot locked up.

Worldwide Front
Remember that country veteran I was just talking about (Kenny Chesney)? Based on a worldwide viewpoint, his album is currently outside of the International iTunes Top 100 album list (The Big Revival is at #110 or so). Meanwhile, Cheek to Cheek is the most downloaded album in the world for a third straight day. It will easily debut at #1 in at least 12 countries and could become one of the biggest/most successful jazz releases in years.

Come back for more!

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Need to Hear: Kendrick Lamar's Self Revolving "i"


I've never been a real big fan of Kendrick Lamar, but something about his latest release ("i") just feels special. It's not hard core rap, but its not something that doesn't count as rap either. It's a nice balance between grungy roots of Hip-Hop/Rap music and the stripped down works of R&B/Soul, something you don't see in a critically acclaimed rapper that often.

"i" has a funky beat and an instantly recognizable and catchy chorus. I can definitely see this becoming a massive success for Lamar, who just became a mainstream artist less than two years with the release of his most successful single to date ("Swimming Pools").

Unfortunately, "i" is likely to be overshadowed by the hype coming off of next week's major releases. See my post here to read more about this. By the way, "i" is predicted to sell just under 80,000 copies by the end of the tracking week (closing, Sunday, September 27th). That should be considered a strong win, given the lesser popularity of rap tracks in this day and age.

Either way, you'll want to give this track a quick look!


Rating: 8/10 (B-)

One Direction, Lorde, Fergie & More Return Next Tuesday, September 29th


It's going to be a tough frame for everybody next week, with "top selling singles" from Tove Lo, Jessie J, Meghan Trainor and Taylor Swift being joined by a slew of hotly anticipated singles from Fergie, One Direction, Lorde and more.

Note: This post is corollated directly with sales on iTunes and placement on the Billboard Hot 100. It doesn't reflect what will happen on the CDS Music Chart Hot 50 come the week of September 29th.

2014 hasn't been slow per say, with a handful of tracks clocking in massive opening and subsequent week totals (in terms of downloads on iTunes and other platforms in the United States), but aside from "Shake It Off", "Happy", "Dark Horse", "Problem", "Fancy", "Bang Bang", "Anaconda" and "All About That Bass" (and a handful of others), the year's sales has been severely dull. Only one single (Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off") has clocked in with an opening frame above 500,000, compared to several songs which had already done so by the same point in 2013. Songs are still selling in high volume, but they just don't stick as well (let me know when you find MAGIC!'s "Rude" on the iTunes top selling chart).

Thankfully, some of the biggest hit makers of the past decade are rejoining the competition with new releases rolling out this upcoming Tuesday (September 29th) to stir up the pot a bit. This slight overhaul in the market could potentially equate to a sharp rise in single sales. As to how long this could last, I honestly have no idea (mainly because songs this year have had sharp upward movements followed by sharp downward movements on iTunes; the Billboard Hot 100 has had longish running #1s this year, but that's thanks to Radio plays and online streams for the most part).

Anyway, let's take an in-depth look at what's bound to pan out next week.

One Direction
Among all major new releases, One Direction's "Steal My Girl", from their forthcoming new album FOUR, is extremely likely to launch with the highest sales. Based on previous lead single releases by the group in the United States, the single should open past 300,000 but no higher than 350,000. That could be just enough to lock up a top 5 debut on the United States Billboard Hot 100 and a #1 debut on the Digital Songs chart.

What separates One Direction from the rest of the crowd? Their massive track record thus far. As mentioned prior, the group has had smash singles every time they release something new, with every new single (released before an album) debuting with sales of 270,000+. This time around, pre-orders for their new annual November album began earlier than normal. FOUR was available for pre-order several weeks ago, prior to the release of a new single. That means that when "Steal My Girl" is released, all pre-orderers will instantly receive the track through an e-mail code (with each of these transactions counting as first week digital downloads if they are in fact redeemed by the user within the first week of release; in the case of One Direction, it's likely that fans will be waiting at their computers hours in advance just to prepared, so missing the deadline shouldn't be a big problem).

Additionally, a viral campaign that spurred 1.1 million free downloads of their single "Fireproof" in a single day, and a massive roll out for "Steal My Girl" (which surprisingly included one of the band members leaking 20 seconds of the track to generate some hype) are further signs that the band  the band's media team have taken lots of bold risks that could wind up becoming a positive for the group. The 20 second snip-it has been played 1.85 million times since launching a single day ago. Check it out below.


Still, if the song opens with just 330,000 copies sold, it could have a hand in turning the market around. As with their other singles, however, expect it to collapse heavily in week two before turning around in its subsequent weeks. Still betting on this to be the top song of the week next week, but further competition from artists such as Lorde and Fergie could cause it to suffer more than expected.

Lorde
While its a safe bet that One Direction leads the forthcoming week by a significant margin, Lorde's just announced The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 theme, "Yellow Flicker Beat", could end up doing some strong business in the marketplace this Tuesday. While Lorde hasn't been popular for long (about 18 months or so), she's already scored two US Billboard Hot 100 hits, including the 9 week #1 single "Royals". That's a feat that One Direction has yet to reach (they've gone as high as #2), and something that they'll spend quite a while trying to reach.

While I am in no way implying that "Yellow Flicker Beat" will reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, it certainly has a shot at a top 10 finish on this upcoming week's Digital Songs list. I'm modestly expecting a debut of 75,000-105,000 copies sold (which would place it somewhere in the middle of the Digital Songs top 10). If it does in fact wind up in the range I predict, it'll translate into a solid win for musical division of The Hunger Games franchise, which hasn't been too strong in terms of single sales (album sales, however, fair much better). In fact, anything above 60,000 should be considered a win.

It's unclear exactly how this one is going to play out, as I can only compare it to handful of songs, but here's my breakdown: it's bound to sell better than Coldplay's "Atlas" (which led off the second movie's soundtrack approximately a year ago), but levels similar to Charli XCX's "Boom Clap" (from The Fault In Our Stars), which sold approximately 1 million in sales during its first two months, might be a bit too difficult to reach.

Either way, "Yellow Flicker Beat" could in fact become the biggest success of all new tracks on September 29th. Not in terms of sales, but in terms of growth from its predecessors ("Atlas", "Elastic Heart", "We Remain", etc.).

Fergie
After a 3 year hiatus from music, Fergie returned with a single new track in 2013: "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (feat. Q-Tip & GoonRock)". The single, which was specially made for the Great Gatsby soundtrack, did little to rejuvenate interest in the once immensely popular singer and ultimately failed to replicate her prior successes (which includes 6 #1 singles and a grand total of 14 top 10 singles as a solo artist and as a part of The Black Eyed Peas).
Flash-forward 15 months later, and Fergie is preparing the release of another new single (this time one from her long delayed 2nd studio album) called "L.A. Love (La La)". I'll just come out and say this now, as to not offend anyone later on: I've never really been a big fan of Fergie (frankly I don't understand what people saw in songs like "London Bridges" and "Fergalicious"), so I believe that her new single (which has been partially played at various shows across the globe prior to release) is a bit weak.

With that being said, "L.A. Love (La La)" could easily become a major success in terms of sales both short-term and long-term. I'm going with a first week sales range anywhere between 80,000-200,000. It's just too hard to figure this stuff out when you're dealing with a once popular artist has been on hiatus for years and years. I'll give an update when the song's first day placement has been locked in. Personally, I'd skip "L.A. Love (La La)" and move right on to Gwen Stefani's "Baby Don't Lie", which will be released on October 6th. Fergie just feels like a rip-off of Gwen Stefani ("Hollaback Girl" vs. "London Bridges", "Luxurious" vs. "Glamorous"). Let me know what you think is going to happen with "L.A. Love (La La)" in week #1. Also, let me know if you think "Baby Don't Lie" will start off better or worse. 

Kendrick Lamar (Holdover From 9/23)
Lamar is on a roll right now. After hitting it out of the park with his latest album (2012's good kid, m.A.A.d city), Kendrick is finally back with a brand new single. "i" is the lead single from his third studio album, due out later this year. As of the current standings, the track is trending toward a debut frame of 140,000 copies (United States downloads only), and while it has already been released, it could hold considerably well on next week's standings. "i" is already at #42 on the building Urban radio rankings, just hours after release, and critical (as well as fan) reception has been extremely favorable.

It should be able to hold well throughout its second week (which will begin on September 29th), and could potentially lower the sales of other previously discussed impacting entries. The track is currently at #4 on the Overall United States iTunes Top 200, where it has been steadily moving upward since its release. Stay tuned for more.


Who do you think will dominate the United States download charts starting on September 29th. Will the slew of new releases be enough to push the industry out of its undeniably bad slump? Let me know below.

Monday, September 22, 2014

Jessie J's "Burnin' Up" Follows Up "Bang Bang" Perfectly


Following the success of her massive hit single "Bang Bang", which was released on July 29th in collaboration with Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj, British recording artist Jessie J needed another smash single to follow up her mammoth, multiplatinum hit. Thankfully, she was able to follow up the previous CDS Music Chart Hot 50 #1 single with a spicy, fiery new hit.

The singer has just released "Burnin' Up (feat. 2 Chainz)" as the album's second official single, and it couldn't fit her new style better. Similar to Cheryl Cole's "Crazy Stupid Love", "Burnin' Up (feat. 2 Chainz)" is a trap inspired dance number with an irresistibly catchy chorus. The addition of a featured rap verse from 2 Chainz doesn't really feel necessary, but in this case, it doesn't detract from the quality of the song either. Bound to be an instant hit, "Burnin' Up (feat. 2 Chainz)" should easily replicate the success of "Bang Bang" in a handful of countries (namely the United Kingdom, Ireland and Scotland) and could potentially be another hit for the artist in the United States (where "Bang Bang" has reached #3).

Listen to "Burnin' Up (feat. 2 Chainz)" below, and let me know what you think of the song below.

Rating: 8.8/10 (B+)

Come back for my album review of Jessie J's "Sweet Talker" (in stores beginning October 14th).

Vote For Your Favorites of the Week (Week 21)!

Hot New Track This Week:

"Warriors"
Imagine Dragons
From the forthcoming 2nd studio album by Imagine Dragons (Title TBA)
Release: September 18th

Thoughts: Imagine Dragons have made my list a total of 3 times (with "It's Time", "Radioactive", and "Demons"), but only one of their releases became a decent sized hit on the CDS Music Chart Hot 50. Now, with "Warriors" leading off the group's 2nd studio album, they have a chance to chart again. 

This new sound is similar to that of what we heard on "Radioactive" (the group's best performing CDS Music Chart Hot 50 single), but it feels a bit darker. There's lots of raised voices, emotions and an overly rock vibe, which is similar yet different compared to their earlier work. I can't tell if I like it as much as their other stuff, but it is still decent.

Now you be the judge. Does "Warriors" have what it takes to debut on the Hot 50? If yes, vote it up, if no, vote down.

Last Week's Outcome: There was no voting last week. Sorry!

New Entries:
"Warriors" by Imagine Dragons
- "i" by Kendrick Lamar
- "Burnin' Up (feat. 2 Chainz)" by Jessie J
- "No Enemiesz" by Kiesza
- "Therapy" by Mary J. Blige
- "Whole Damn Year" by Mary J. Blige
- "Take Ü There (feat. Kiesza)" by Jack Ü

Note: The final positions of the songs at the end of the week is equivalent to the Social Songs 100 chart. This is only accounts for approximately 1/3 of all points entered into the Hot 50 weekly issue.

Hey guys! There have been some concerns and questions on voting for your favorite tracks every week. To make things a whole lot easier, you can now vote songs up and down the list. At the end of the week, the points will be calculated and the ranker will be reset for the next week! All votes count! Don't see your favorite song? Feel free to leave a comment and I will add it! I will be updating the ranker from time to time as new tracks become available!

Welcome to the 21st week of voting! Your votes help determine the top songs on the CDS Music Chart Hot 50. Please note that only the top 10 most approved tracks will receive bonus points toward their scores on the upcoming chart. Make sure you share this to get your favorite tracks into the top 10. If this gets 250 voters and/or 5,000 votes by the end of Friday, each track in the top 10 will get 2x the regular votes and #11-20 on the list will get the score that the top 10 usually gets.

Lists on Ranker

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Summer Songs 2014 Results: European Acts Dominate


For the past several years, I've published an annual feature that recaps the best performing singles of the summer season on CDS Music Chart Hot 50. This year's season began with the chart issue dated June 12th, and ending with the chart dated September 12th, reflecting the tracking period of Saturday, May 31st through Friday, September 5th. Within that 14 week period (which began and ended one week early when compared to previous years), 92 tracks were on the chart for at least one week each. That's up from the 86 that were on the list for at least one week during the Summer 2013 season. This year's season saw 17,923 points being doled out among the acts, down a noticeable 0.11% compared to last year's sum of 17,943 points.

How were the points listed below determined?
Every week, the CDS Music Chart Hot 50 ranks my personal favorite songs in order from #1-50... or not quite. New for this year, I allowed people to give me some personal input on their favorite music. Each week, the ten most voted songs by the public were given bonus points which helped boost their rank (and thus points) for that specific week. After counting my data and data from voters, the total points for each song was calculated. The song that scored the most points ranked at #1, with the song that ranked 50th in terms of points ended up in 50th place (the final slot). After being ranked, all  points earned during the week no longer have value. Instead, the songs in the top 50 are assigned a final value based on an inverse system; #1 receives 50 points and #50 receives 1 point. There's also a small set of additional points to award song for the amount of weeks they've spent on the chart. This can be a little bit confusing, so let me know if you want me to further explain this.

Among the top 10 songs of this year's season, only 3 of them had spent at least a week at #1 during any part of their run on the chart (January-September). That's down a noticeable 50% compared to last year, which saw 6 of the top 10 songs of the season claim at least a week at #1. In fact, only 6 songs in this year's top 50 spent at least a week at #1. Last year, 11 songs in the Summer Songs top 50 had spent at least a week at #1 sometime during their run.

Back to the top 10, this year's crop brought in a colossal sum of 5,767. That's up nearly 4% when stacked next to 2013's comparable sum of 5,557. While only one song passed 600 points (June-September points ONLY) this year, compared to two from last year, this year's #1 Summer song led my a massive 80 seasonal points. Last year, the top 2 were separated by a thin margin of 6 points.

What was most interesting to me, was that only one song in this year's top 10 wasn't recorded (or recorded in part) by a artist based outside the US. That song, was the 5 week #1 single "Maps" by Maroon 5. Last year saw 4 songs by United States based acts in the top 10. Canadian acts were un-surprisingly the most successful among songs in the top 10, coming in at #1, #4 and #6 (#11 was also recorded by a Canadian act). Swedish took 2nd place with two entries (#3 and #7), while tying the United Kingdom for the most acts with a song in the top 10 (3 each).

See the full top 75 best performing songs of Summer 2014 below, and stay tuned for the video version of the chart (which will contain the top 60).

Rank
Song
Performer
Summer 2014 Points
1
***SUMMER SONGS #1***
Hideaway
Kiesza
679.75
2
Rather Be (feat. Jess Glynne)
Clean Bandit
598.29
3
Undo
Sanna Nielsen
596.61
4
A+D
Vita Chambers
589.75
5
Maps
Maroon 5
575.78
6
Giant In My Heart
Kiesza
566.78
7
Do It Again
Röyksopp & Robyn
559.33
8
Chandelier
Sia
558.59
9
Fancy (feat. Charli XCX)
Iggy Azalea
521.59
10
Am I Wrong
Nico & Vinz
521.05
11
Satisfaction Guaranteed
Alyssa Reid
488.05
12
Pills N Potions
Nicki Minaj
478.33
13
Latch (feat. Sam Smith)
Disclosure
473.45
14
Dare (La La La)
Shakira
465.59
15
Problem (feat. Iggy Azalea)
Ariana Grande
441.75
16
I Wanna Feel
Secondcity
426.66
17
A Sky Full of Stars
Coldplay
409.75
18
Love Runs Out
OneRepublic
384.03
19
Summer
Calvin Harris
365.33
20
Boom Clap
Charli XCX
359.78
21
Crying For No Reason
Katy B
311.66
22
She Came to Give It To You (feat. Nicki Minaj)
Usher
308.45
23
If I Go
Ella Eyre
298.19
24
It Was Always You
Maroon 5
294.21
25
Strange Enough
VÉRITÉ
291.36
26
***CURRENT #1***
Bang Bang
Jessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj
277.21
27
Flashlight
DJ Fresh & Ellie Goulding
274.36
28
Me & My Broken Heart
Rixton
272.66
29
Magic
Coldplay
264.85
30
2 On (feat. SchoolBoy Q)
Tinashe
264.55
31
All of Me
John Legend
264.05
32
Empire
Shakira
224.2
33
Don't
Ed Sheeran
208.66
34
No Mediocre (feat. Iggy Azalea)
T.I.
192.55
35
West Coast
Lana Del Rey
182.25
36
The Big Bang
Katy Tiz
180.14
37
Angel In Blue Jeans
Train
170.91
38
Everybody
Oceana
165.27
39
First Things First
Neon Trees
160.62
40
Marilyn Monroe
Pharrell Williams
160.1
41
Stay With Me
Sam Smith
151.45
42
Ain't It Fun
Paramore
147
43
Black Widow (feat. Rita Ora)
Iggy Azalea
146.25
44
Anaconda
Nicki Minaj
138.15
45
Ready For the Weekend (feat. Ayah Marar)
R3HAB & NERVO
136.28
46
It's On Again (feat. Kendrick Lamar)
Alicia Keys
126.63
47
G.U.Y. (Girl Under You)
Lady Gaga
122.41
48
Rude
MAGIC!
112.36
49
Hey Brother
Avicii
110.99
50
My Love (feat. Jess Glynne)
Route 94
107.55
51
Glow
Ella Henderson
106.1
52
Team
Lorde
104.18
53
Break The Rules
Charli XCX
104.06
54
Goodness Gracious
Ellie Goulding
99.23
55
Superheroes
The Script
98.28
56
Animals
Maroon 5
82.03
57
Not A Bad Thing
Justin Timberlake
78.54
58
Shake It Off
Taylor Swift
77.06
59
XO
Beyoncé
68.02
60
Counting Stars
OneRepublic
67.5
61
Guts Over Fear (feat. Sia)
Eminem
64.03
62
Two Weeks
FKA twigs
61.1
63
Midnight
Coldplay
57.26
64
Good Kisser (Disclosure Remix)
Usher
56.36
65
All About That Bass
Meghan Trainor
53.21
66
Drunk In Love (feat. Jay Z)
Beyoncé
49.81
67
Break Free (feat. Zedd)
Ariana Grande
47.45
68
Partition
Beyoncé
41.54
69
We Are Done
The Madden Brothers
41.35
70
F For You (feat. Mary J. Blige)
Disclosure
40.55
71
Happy
Pharrell Williams
39.66
72
Dark Horse (feat. Juicy J)
Katy Perry
38.77
73
Jungle
Jamie N Commons & X Ambassadors
38.21
74
Say Yes
Destiny's Child
36.09
75
Bass Like Home
Lily Allen
29.21

Which songs of Summer 2014 were you're favorites? Let me know below or on Twitter! The top 5 most voted will be announced as a part of the video chart this weekend, so hurry!
Come back for more posts!
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