Britney Spears Grabs Sixth No. 1 on Billboard 200

Britney Spears’ Femme Fatale flies in to take the number one spot on the Billboard 200 this week. This mark’s the pop diva’s 6th No. 1 on the chart which ties her with Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson for most times at the top. The only people who have more are Madonna with 7 and Barbara Streisand with 9.

“Spears isn’t the only big news on the Billboard 200 this week however, as Wiz Khalifa comes in at No. 2 with his major label debut, Rolling Papers selling 197,000,” reports Billboard. “He’s already topped the Billboard Hot 100 with “Black and Yellow” and bowed in the top 10 last week with “No Sleep.”

The rest of this week’s top 10 looks like this:

No. 3 – Adele’s “21”
No. 4 – Chris Brown’s “F.A.M.E.”
No. 5 – “Songs For Japan” charity compilation
No. 6 – Radiohead’s “The King of Limbs”
No. 7 – Jennifer Hudson’s “I Remember Me”
No. 8 – Snoop Dogg’s “Doggumentary”
No. 9 – Kirk Franklin’s “Hello Fear”
No. 10 – Mary Mary with “Something Big”

How do you feel about this week’s Billboard 200?!

Hear New Music First – HP

Nina finds lots of wins in the jukebox this week – have you too?

Guest blogger and HitPredictor member Nina C. reports on the new music finds and what she liked and didn’t like in the jukebox each week at HitPredictor. Many of these songs are still available so make check them out and let us know whether you agree or disagree! And, make sure you check out Nina’s other blog, TwilightNera’s Entertainment Hotspot for other news in the entertainment world!

Happy holidays to everyone at HitPredictor, I hope you ate plenty of food and had a great day! The last two weeks at HitPredictor have been pretty much a win, with just a few exceptions. “Perfect” by Headly was really heartfelt and good lyrics while “Sleazy” by Ke$sha makes me wonder what is wrong with the music industry now-a-days. I mean are people really listening and respecting someone who prides themselves on being sleazy? It is really disappointing that someone like her can become so famous. She definitely gets the award for worst song of the week.

“Love the Way You Lie” Part 2 by Rihanna feat. Eminem really is better than part one and is one of her best songs. I find the song really disturbing but it definitely has a lot of work put into it. I enjoyed both of the Michael Jackson songs “Breaking News” sounded like classic Michael and was really good. “Hold My Hand” feat. Akon was a really good collaboration and brought a nice sound to make it a solid song. “Coming Home” by Diddy Dirty Money was a strong rap song because it has good lyrics (good lyrics still count now-a-days don’t they?) “New Years Eve” by Snoop Dogg may not have been a heavy rap but it had a smooth beat and chill feel to it that gave it enough to keep it going. While Ciara’s “Gimme That” was only good because of its OK beat but I don’t think it’s enough to make it a hit.

“Fall for Your Type” by Jaime Foxx feat. Drake is a pretty solid collaboration between an R&B and a rap star. It has a real mood to it that carries the song really far. I thought “Love Letter” by Swayze was a pretty good rap/love song, you really do not hear that often so I enjoyed that. I was really impressed with Justin Bieber’s “Prayer,” it showed real substance and strength for the young artist. It is a really heartfelt song and I genuinely appreciate that.

Looking back at the last two weeks they were really quite good. There was one BIG exception that hopefully I can mention next week. Happy Holidays :)

Eminem notches sixth week atop Hot 100

Eminem has held on to another No. 1 week atop the Billboard Hot 100 as “Love The Way You Lie” feat. Rihanna continues to increase its airplay, with Billboard reporting a new high of 154.6 million listener impressions thanks in large part to the track now getting spins on R&B stations.

Lil Wayne had a big debut this week on the Hot 100 – despite being behind bars – as his new single “Right Above It” feat. Drake comes in at No. 6. Interestingly enough, Billboard reports that this song is the rappers first chart-topper (No. 1 on the Digital Songs chart) and best sales week on the Digital chart (225,000 downloads), and his highest debuting single as a lead artist on the Hot 100. So, maybe his time at Rikers isn’t so bad for his career after all?

The rest of the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 includes:

At No. 2, “Dynamite,” Taio Cruz
At No. 3, “Teenage Dream,” Katy Perry
At No. 4, “I Like It,” Enrique Iglesias feat. Pitbull
At No. 5, “DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love,” Usher feat. Pitbull
At No. 6, “Right Above It,” Lil Wayne feat. Drake
At No. 7, “Cooler Than Me,” Mike Posner
At No. 8, “California Gurls,” Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg
At No. 9, “Just The Way You Are,” Bruno Mars
At No. 10, “Magic,” B.o.B feat. Rivers Cuomo

Are any of these songs on your most active playlist right now? If so, which ones are you rocking out to, and which ones do you wish you would never hear again??

Hear new music first – HP

Katy Perry holds top spot on Hot 100 for sixth straight week

Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” featuring Snoop Dogg continues to hold No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for its sixth straight week.

However, Billboard predicts it may be Perry’s last week on top since Eminem’s “Love The Way You Lie” featuring Rihanna, this week’s No. 2 on the Hot 100, is also the chart’s Airplay Gainer for a second straight week, which puts it in line to take over the top spot next week.

The rest of the Hot 100 Top 10 includes:

At No. 3, “Airplanes,” B.o.B featuring Hayley Williams
At No. 4, “OMG” Usher featuring will.i.am
At No. 5, “Billionaire,” Travie McCoy featuring Bruno Mars
At No. 6, “Dynamite,” Taio Cruz
At No. 7, “Cooler Than Me,” Mike Posner
At No. 8, “I Like It,” Enrique Iglesias featuring Pitbull
At No. 9, “Find Your Love,” Drake
At No. 10, “Ridin'” Jason DeRulo

Which of these songs have you been listening to on repeat this week?

Hear new music first – HP

Katy Perry extends “California Gurls” run to five straight weeks

How long can she hold onto the No. 1 position on the Hot 100? Well that’s a question that won’t be answered until – at earliest – next week as Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” extends its run on the top of the Hot 1oo to five weeks, with Billboard reporting that airplay for Perry’s first single off the forthcoming Teenage Dream is still continuing to build.

Perry and Snoop Dogg were able to fend off the huge leap Eminem made with “Love The Way You Lie” featuring Rihanna, which blasted in at No. 2 last week and held steady at that position. Billboard reports that most download-fueled top 10 debuts (such as this one) normally slip in their second week on the list, but that Eminem’s new track hardly dropped its download numbers at all. Another interesting tidbit on the Detroit-based rapper is that his first single from Recovery, “Not Afraid” moved back into the top 10 this week, giving Em simultaneous top 10s for the first time in his career.

The rest of the Hot 100 top 10 includes:

At No. 3, “OMG,” Usher feat. will.i.am
At No. 4, “Airplanes,” B.o.B feat. Hayley Williams
At No. 5, “Billionaire,” Travie McCoy
At No. 6, “Cooler Than Me,” Mike Posner
At No. 7, “Dynamite,” Taio Cruz
At No. 8, “Find Your Love,” Drake
At No. 9, “Ridin’ Solo,” Jason Derulo
At No. 10, “Not Afraid,” Eminem

Do you have any of these tracks on heavy rotation? Or, are there any you think are getting too MUCH airplay?

Hear new music first – HP

Katy Perry continues her reign on top of Hot 100

Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” featuring Snoop Dogg has held on to the throne at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a fourth straight week. Billboard reports the summer anthem has also earned the Airplay Gainer award for the third straight week.

It will be fun to see if she can pull of another week as Eminem’s collaboration with Rihanna “Love the Way You Lie” from his new album Recovery stormed the chart coming in at No. 2 on the Hot 100. Will it continue to gain steam next week to usurp “California Gurls”?

The rest of the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 includes:

At No. 3, “OMG,” Usher featuring will.i.am
At No. 4, “Airplanes,” B.o.B featuring Hayley Williams
At No. 5, “Billionaire,” Travie McCoy featuring Bruno Mars
At No. 6, “Find Your Love,” Drake
At No. 7, “Cooler Than Me,” Mike Posner
At No. 8, “Your Love Is My Drug,” Ke$ha
At No. 9, “Alejandro,” Lady Gaga
At No. 10, “Whatcha Say,” Jason Derulo

Other notable debuts in the Hot 100 this week are songs that many of our HitPredictor members have recently voted on including Selena Gomez & The Scene’s “Round & Round,” which debuted at No. 24, Maroon 5’s “Misery” which came in at No. 44, and Sara Bareilles’ “King of Anything” which came in at No. 59.

Do you have any of these songs in a current playlist? If so, which ones?

Hear new music first – HP

HitPredictor members right on the money with “California Gurls”!

A few weeks ago we asked our members in a poll mimicking a survey from MTV.com, what they thought the song of the summer (the 2010 summer anthem) would be.

The results of the poll show Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” taking nearly 40% of the vote of the five song selections, far ahead of Lady Gaga’s Alejandro which earned not even half that amount at 19.5%.*

Today, Billboard is reporting that just as our members predicted, “California Gurls” is an undeniable powerhouse not only holding onto the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for three straight weeks, but rewriting the mark for the most weekly plays in the 17-year history of Billboard’s Pop Songs radio airplay chart!

Billboard reports the track logged 11,816 plays among the survey’s 132 participants, with an average of 90 spins per station in the June 21-27 tracking week, easily passing the previous record holder Ke$ha’s “TiK ToK” 11,224 plays logged in the Feb. 6, 2010 chart.

The song is proving to be a winner in other formats as Billboard reports “California Gurls” is up to No. 2 on Adult Pop Songs, at No. 26 on Adult Contemporary and at No. 29 on Dance/Club Play Songs.

*Full results of the HitPredictor poll
Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” featuring Snoop Dogg 39.7%
Lady Gaga’s “Alejandro” 19.5%
B.o.B’s “Airplanes” featuring Hayley Williams 18.2%
Usher’s “OMG” featuring will.i.am 14.4%
3OH3!’s “My First Kiss” featuring Ke$ha 8.3%

Do you like “California Gurls”? Do you think this momentum is good, or do you think it makes this track more vulnerable to people getting sick of it (from overplay on the radio!)?

Hear new music first – HP

Katy Perry continues to dominate Hot 100

Katy Perry hasn’t budged from last week’s peak on the Billboard Hot 100 as her collaboration with Snoop Dogg, “California Gurls,” continues to rule the roost for a third straight week, while also earning the chart’s Airplay Gainer award for a second straight frame according to Billboard.com.

The rest of the Hot 100 top 10 include:

At No. 2, “OMG,” Usher featuring will.i.am
At No. 3, “Airplanes,” B.o.B featuring Hayley Williams
At No. 4, “Billionaire,” Travie McCoy featuring Bruno Mars
At No. 5, “Find Your Love,” Drake
At No. 6, “Your Love Is My Drug,” Ke$ha
At No. 7, “Alejandro,” Lady Gaga
At No. 8, “Cooler Than Me,” Mike Posner
At No. 9, “Not Afraid,” Eminem
At No. 10, “Break Your Heart,” Taio Cruz featuring Ludacris

Billboard 200 golden boy Drake debuted four new tracks in the Hot 100 this week, adding to his other three that were previously on the chart. Billboard reports that in addition to “Find Your Love” at No. 5, “Over” is at No. 32, “Miss Me” featuring Lil Wayne is at No. 63. Of the new track debuts Drake locked in “Up All Night” at No. 49, “9AM in Dallas” at No. 57, “Fireworks” featuring Alicia Keys at No. 71, and “Fancy” with T.I. and Swizz Beatz at No. 87.

Billboard also noted that of his seven charting tracks, all are from his No. 1-debuting album Thank Me Later except “9 AM Dallas” which was concurrently released as a digital track.

Do you have any of these tracks on your iPod right now?

Hear new music first – HP

Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” tops out on Billboard 100

Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” featuring Snoop Dogg is sitting pretty atop the Billboard Hot 100, making it the second time Perry has topped out at No. 1 on the chart in her career, the first being with the infamous “I Kissed a Girl” in the summer of 2008. It’s also Snoop Dogg’s third time at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 out of the 31 chart entries he’s had on the list since 1993.

With Perry making her way to the No. 1, Usher is displaced and his single “OMG” featuring will.i.am dropps to the No. 2 position.

The rest of the Billboard Hot 100 includes:

At No. 3, “Airplanes,” B.o.B featuring Hayley Williams
At No. 4, “Your Love Is My Drug,” Ke$ha
At No. 5, “Billionaire,” Travie McCoy
At No. 6, “Break Your Heart,” Taio Cruz
At No. 7, “Alejandro,” Lady Gaga
At No. 8, “Nothin’ On You,” B.o.B featuring Bruno Mars
At No. 9, “Rock That Body,” The Black Eyed Peas
At No. 10, “Bulletproof,” LaRoux

Of note is the fact that “Rock That Body” from the Black Eyed Peas’ The E.N.D. is the fifth top 10 single from this multi-platinum set. Perhaps even more impressive is that in the 62 weeks since “Boom” hit the upper tier, the Black Eyed Peas have been absent from the top 10 for just 15 frames according to Billboard.com.

Do you have any of these tracks on heavy rotation?

Hear new music first – HP

Usher back on top of Billboard 100 with “OMG”

Usher finds himself back on top of the Billboard Hot 100 this week as “OMG” featuring will.i.am rallies for a third non-consecutive week at the top of the chart. Billboard also reports the track has reclaimed the No. 1 spot on the Digital Songs talley, recording 236,000 downloads according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The top digital download of last week, Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” featuring Snoop Dogg recorded 231,000 downloads this past week, and manages to come in at No. 3 on the Hot 100 in only its second week of availability.

The No. 2 track on the Hot 100 this week is B.o.B’s “Airplanes” featuring Hayley Williams, which also moved up past Katy Perry on the Digital Songs talley, recording 232,000 downloads which may put it in a tight battle for the No. 1 slot for next week’s chart as all three of the top contenders are all recording similar numbers.

The rest of the Billboard Hot 100 includes:

At No. 4, “Break Your Heart,” Taio Cruz featuring Ludacris
At No. 5, “Nothin’ On You,” B.o.B featuring Bruno Mars
At No. 6, “Alejandro,” Lady Gaga
At No. 7, “Your Love Is My Drug,” Ke$ha
At No. 8, “Can’t Be Tamed,” Miley Cyrus
At No. 9, “Not Afraid,” Eminem
At No. 10, “Rude Boy,” Rihanna

Do you have any of these songs in a regular rotation on your iPod or MP3 player?

There are several songs our HitPredictor members voted on last week that also made their debut on the Billboard Hot 100 this week! Check out the complete article at Billboard.com for info. on artists such as:

La Roux
Avenged Sevenfold
Muse
Gyptian
Christina Aguilera

New music first – HP

OMG! Usher back on top of Billboard 100

Usher has made his way back up to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 this week with “OMG” featuring will.i.am. This is the second time the single has been at the top of the chart. However, it wasn’t without some stiff competition from Katy Perry’s debut of “California Gurls” featuring Snoop Dogg, which opened strong coming in at No. 2 after shifting 294,000 downloads in its first week according to Billboard.com.

The rest of the Hot 100 top 10 include:

At No. 3, “Airplanes,” B.o.B featuring Hayley Williams
At No. 4, “Nothin On You,” B.o.B featuring Bruno Mars
At No. 5, “Break Your Heart,” Taio Cruz featuring Ludacris
At No. 6, “Not Afraid,” Eminem
At No. 7, “Your Love Is My Drug,” Ke$ha
At No. 8, “Alejandro,” Lady Gaga
At No. 9, “Rude Boy,” Rihanna
At No. 10, “Hey, Soul Sister,” Train

Which of these songs do you have on heavy rotation on your playlist?

New music first – HP

Katy Perry confirms release date, title of new album

Katy Perry, who was recently put on the top of Maxim’s 2010 Hot 100 list, and whose new single “California Gurls” has leaked early to rave reviews (and is available for you to rate now at HitPredictor) has confirmed that her new album titled Teenage Dream will drop Aug. 24.

With the announcement and the distinct pop-anthem sound of her new single, it’s clear that Perry has put a stake on the summer.

She recently explained the inspiration behind “California Gurls” to in a statement, explaining that she was inspired by Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” last year, but felt it was too New York-centric and wanted an anthem for her side of the world. She said: “Everybody was holding their drinks in the air and dancing, and I thought, ‘We’re not in New York, we’re in Los Angeles! What about California? What about all the homies, the gin and juice, the swaying palm trees, the sun-kissed skin 24-7? I decided that we needed to make a response. I want people to want to book a ticket to California the first time they hear it!”

To that end she said she knew she needed to bring Snoop Dogg on board since he is a West Coast icon, “We thought it would sound so cool and give the song another dimension,” she explained. “Snoop is as West Coast as it gets.”

Are you excited to hear more of Perry’s upcoming album? What did you think of “California Gurls”?

New music first – HP

Stars align to record “We Are The World” to benefit earthquake victims in Haiti

Lionel Richie and Quincy Jones have recruited a massive amount of star power to re-record “We Are The World,” a 1985 single written by Michael Jackson and Richie. The song was originally written and recorded to benefit those suffering from the famine in Africa, and is making a return 25 years later to aid the Haitian earthquake victims.

Among the artists reported by SPIN to have taken to the recording studio yesterday are: Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, T-Pain, Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Zac Brown, Brian Wilson, Carlos Santana, Celine Dion, Jennifer Judson, Pink, the Jonas Brothers, Usher, Rob Thomas, Miley Cyrus, Snoop Dogg, Jamie Foxx, Joel & Benji Madden and dozens more.

According to SPIN, the song will be debuted at the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics, Friday Feb. 12 on NBC before being released for purchase online with the proceeds going to the newly-minted non-profit, the We Are the World Foundation. The 1985 release raised more than $63 million in relief funds for Africa. How much do you think this recording can garner?

New music first – HP