We're well into the time of year now where the upper reaches of the Billboard Hot 100 chart remain as flat as a tomboy hooker through about mid-January, so let's instead turn our attention outside the Top 10. Kelly Clarkson's highly controversial "Already Gone" crawls up one more position this week to #13. Yesterday I drove to my eye doctor in Santa Monica after work to pick up my contact lenses and played this song about four times in a row, finally giving the lyrics and the melody a good, hard listen. My new contacts are super, by the way.
Way down at #96, Irish trio The Script crack the chart with "Breakeven," a single that was initially released last year overseas.
I really wanted to like this band way back, but they're just so...Fray-ish.
Over on the Top 200 Albums chart, Susan Boyle's I Dreamed A Dream spends a second week at #1, and has now sold 1.23 million copies in just 14 days. Billboard says that makes her set of warble-ready standards the tenth best-selling album of the year so far.
Lady Gaga drops from #5 to #13 with The Fame Monster, while The Fame—some copies of which have The Fame Monster packaged with it—replaces the former at #5. Rihanna, who doesn't have any double-packaged album excuses, falls from #3 to #16 with Rated R.
And finally, without a smash hit single yet to either of their names, Adam Lambert's For Your Entertainment drops from #3 to #21 in its second week, while Kris Allen's self-titled album is faring even worse at #52.
Sorry, boys. Looks like you should've F'd Susan Boyle for tracks.
The U.S. Top 10:
1. "Empire State Of Mind" - Jay-Z feat. Alica Keys *4 weeks*
2. "Bad Romance" - Lady Gaga
3. "TiK ToK" - Kesha
4. "Replay" - Iyaz
5. "Fireflies" - Owl City
6. "Whatcha Say" - Jason DeRulo
7. "Sexy Chick" - David Guetta feat. Akon
8. "Meet Me Halfway" - The Black Eyed Peas
9. "3" - Britney Spears
10. "Down" - Jay Sean feat. Lil Wayne